Chef in the Apocalypse

Rubick leaned forward a little after hearing Jayce’s explanation. Judging from the small grin on his face, he was pleased that he had managed to break out of the prison despite not knowing about its properties.

"It seems I may have underestimated you Jayce. You truly are the #1 supporter." He commented, making Jayce feel a little uncomfortable.

Jayce was silent for a moment before gathering the courage to ask something. Now that he knew that Rubick was human, there was a part of him that had let down his guard towards this man.

"I’ve always wondered about that supporter list of yours. How did you come up with it, and what made you put me at the top of the list?" He asked seriously.

Rubick pondered the question, as if he was deciding whether or not to answer it or not. In the end, he sat back against the couch and relaxed a little.

"When we first met, I had called you the supporters of Cataclysm. That was a lie." He said simply, with no change in expression.

"You could say that the list is merely derived from my impressions of one’s character and ability."

Jayce frowned. He didn’t expect such a response, nor did he understand what kind of traits Rubick was looking for. To be honest, he wasn’t even sure what the man’s motives were.

"How could you even know about our character and ability? It’s not like you—"

Jayce’s words were cut off as his mind started to shake. Before he could even finish his sentence he began to piece the puzzle together, starting from the time he woke up in his room after dying in his previous life.

Rubix corporation, Full Dive technology... Cataclysm: World’s End.

[There he is, my number 1 supporter! Thank you for your patronage. I hope you are loving your special class that we assigned you, I picked it out myself after rummaging through your memories.]

His mind replayed the scene of Rubick speaking to him in the beginning, stating that he had gone through his memories. His immediate guess had been the VR capsules that they used to access the game, as it used the neural pathways to achieve the full dive feature.

Yet this theory had a few flaws. The first one was motive, while the second was created when Jayce was notified of the evolution of Earth.

Originally it was thought that the game Cataclysm: World’s End had descended upon Earth, mainly due to how similar the game world was to the apocalypse. This was something that Jayce had believed for over 10 years.

Yet not even 6 months ago, his world had been turned upside down after hearing that this was not the case. Jayce was so flummoxed that he had stopped trying to think of theories, deciding to focus his efforts in getting stronger.

However, now that he was in front of Rubick, those few words of his had already illuminated some of the missing pieces that had been plaguing him.

Seeing Jayce’s scrunched up face and his mind at work, Rubick let out a mild chuckle, yet he did not interrupt.

Once Jayce had got his thoughts in order, he lifted his gaze and stared at the thin man.

"You created Cataclysm: Worlds End and the VR technology to prepare us for what was to come..." Jayce stated, trying to look for any change of expression in Rubick’s face, however there were none.

Therefore he decided to continue.

"You then read our minds and looked at our progress within the game before you came up with your supporter rankings. That’s why everyone who became a supporter had played the game."

"But there is one thing that is bothering me throughout all of this. I don’t know your motive. Are you a friend or foe?"

Clap clap clap

Rubick waited for Jayce to finish, his face frozen apart from a small grin which was tugging at the corner of his lips. Without warning, he began to clap slowly, which echoed throughout the quiet room.

"My my. It seems that you have been doing a lot of thinking lately, I’m impressed."

Although the words sounded condescending, Jayce did not feel that way at all. There was no sarcasm or venom laced within the words, he sounded genuinely pleased and impressed at his deduction.

"You are correct. I distributed the VR technology on Earth, however I did not create it. As for whether I am a friend or foe... Do you think I would be here casually chatting with you if I was your enemy?"

Rubick raised an eyebrow, directing the question to Jayce who was still reeling from his theory being correct. He merely shook his head in response to the question, if Rubick was an enemy there was no reason for him to intervene, the Human Alliance had already been dealt a huge blow without his interference.

"As for my motive..."

Rubick’s brown eyes seemed to glaze over as he looked past Jayce. His next words carried passion and determination as well as an unbending will.

"I wish to return Earth to its former glory. Destroying all the bastards who conspired to usurp us."

Jayce’s eyes widened, not believing his ears. There were too many things to unpack in those words, all of which pointed to a history and machinations that he was in no position to understand at this point in time.

However, that didn’t mean that he wanted to stop asking questions. Now was a once in a lifetime moment to answer his questions over two lifetimes, he was not about to let it pass.

Jayce composed himself, not wanting to blow the chance which had appeared on his doorstep.

"This would be Earth’s second time Evolving correct? Does that mean you were from one of those generations while Earth was a higher plain of existence?"

After hearing Jayce’s question, Rubick’s eyes returned to normal as he turned his gaze towards him.

"That is not relevant right now. We have other pressing matters."