9 A Talk With Zero

In the morning, Roland was in a meeting with Isabella who was still pretending to be Zero. Meanwhile, Zero was in the courtyard, observing and analyzing the castle and the things in it. Suddenly, Steven came up to Zero.

"Hello Zero", said Steven.

If Zero was surprised, she didn't show it. Instead, she answered, "You must be mistaken, I am Isabella."

Steven laughed and then said, "lets not continued to play tricks with each other. I know about you. And I know about your Soul Battlefield."

This time, Zero could not hide the shock on her face. All of her secrets have been exposed. "Tell me how do you know all of this?", demanded Zero.

Steven smiled. "Very well", he said. "You see, I am from another world. This world and everyone who exists here is part of a story, a book. I have read what will happen in the future and I know all about you. Roland is also from another world, a world almost identical to mine. The only difference is that Roland is a fictional character in my world, along with all of you."

Whatever Zero was expecting, this wasn't it. Zero struggled to make a coherent response. "You… You are telling me that you somehow know everything about us because you read about it in a book."

"Yep", responded Steven. "Also, all the technology that Roland has developed, it is made from the knowledge from his previous world. You see, our world is so much more advanced than this world. There is no magic, but man has compensated by creating tools and machines which accomplish so much more. We live in cities of millions of people, powered by splitting apart the most fundamental building blocks of the universe; we are fed by food produced from farms worked by a few people using machines to farm hundreds of acres."

Steven continued his exposition. "Each person can talk with someone hundreds of miles away with a tap of their finger, using devices called cell phones. We can capture and record images without the aid of magic and copy them and send them around the world instantly with the internet. The life of an ordinary man would seem like the life of a king to people living here." Then, Steven took on a darker tone. "Yet, with all that mankind has improved the world, we have also gained the power to destroy it. We wrote in the letter that the old ways of war are obsolete. Let me tell you about what war was like back on Earth."

Steven paused for a moment to prepare himself and then began speaking. "What you call snow powder is a precursor to what we now call gunpowder. The power of gunpowder revolutionized the world. A single cannon could launch a massive metal ball over a hundred kilometers. Machine guns allowed a man to shoot hundreds of bullets a second. The fields were bathed in blood and in some battles hundreds of thousands of people died."

Steven looked over at Zero who was staring silently in shock before continuing. "Then we built massive monstrosities called tanks. These beasts of iron ran through a battlefield destroying all in its path. Our ships were massive and made of metal and armed with cannons. Then there are planes which soar through the sky and deliver bombs to those below them. All this is only the beginning. With the creation of missiles, bombs can be delivered anywhere in the world and nowhere was safe. The most frightening bomb was known as the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was show powerful that it could wipe out an entire city by itself. And these are not the tiny cities you have here, these are cities of millions. This terrible weapon was only used twice, but it cast its shadow over the world. Two countries built up tens of thousands of these bombs. In this time of madness a single person had the power to destroy the entire world."

"This is the power that we know of, and this is the power that will crush all opposition. The demons will fall before the power of technology", Steven said. Inside, he admitted that missiles probably wouldn't be developed any time soon, but he was going for the full shock effect here.

Finally, Zero spoke. "You have the power of gods", she said quietly.

"I can see that you want this power", Steven said. "I know you wish to use your Soul Battlefield to take Roland's memories. But I know the future. In the original story you did try - and you lost."

"Lose? How could I lose to him. I have won against hundreds of people", Zero said indignantly.

"With all the power of the modern world, how could you stand a chance", chided Steven. "Both me and Roland know of how to defeat you. Should you try to fight us you will die." Steven then took off his God's Stone of Retaliation and threw it away. "Try me if you dare".

Zero shook as she processed what Steven had said. Was it true that all her work was for nothing? Was Steven just boasting to her with these fantastical tales? Steven knew everything about her down to her ability. He held all of the cards while she knew nothing. Zero saw Steven who was looking straight at her with a look of complete confidence. When Zero looked into his eyes, she knew that there was a battle she could not win.

Zero's world has been turned upside down. "Was everything I have done for nothing", she murmured to herself. "How could I have been surpassed by these commoners, who I have looked down upon all my life." Zero was devastated as she found out all that she had worked for was gone.

Steven watched as Zero sank to her knees and screamed. Zero cursed the deities and then muttered, "So I was no chosen one… I was not blessed by God. It was Roland all along." She stood up and asked Steven, "Well if I am not the one blessed by God, then what am I even doing. Why am I even here"?" Zero's tone became increasingly desperate.

Steven walked up to Zero and told her, "Gods, deities, why do they matter." Steven paused for a moment before saying, "Back in my world there was a song that said, 'There are no supreme saviors, nor deities on which to depend. To create humankind's happiness we must entirely depend on ourselves!'"

"From this day forward, rely not on hopes of an outside power. To earn victory you must do it yourself", said Steven.

When Zero exited, she left as a new person, with new hopes, new convictions, and new confidence.