Hirrus should have known what was coming before it happened. It still surprised him, however.

Once Hirrus saw the red-armored man - and the man’s grumpy expression - he knew it was an obvious result of his actions.

“I’ve been wondering how to reach you,” Hirrus said before GM Dave could put words to his obvious irritation. “I was thinking of returning to the ruins of Yenon, and I wanted to bring Dahlia with me.”

“Oh, sure! No problem, milord,” GM Dave drawled, making an elaborate mock bow. “As soon as I have a moment where I’m not busy covering for your very existence. You know, so you have the freedom to walk away from the one thing I need you for.”

Hirrus crossed his arms and fixed the man with a glare. GM Dave flinched under it, and clearly he knew what he’d said wrong. It was impressive that literally the first thing out of his mouth was only serving to reinforce Hirrus’s decision instead of making him question it.

“I’m sorry,” GM Dave said quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just under a lot of stress, okay? Not an excuse, just a fact.”

“How did you mean it, then?” Hirrus snapped. “How did you mean to tell me that you only think of me as a tool for your own ends?”

GM Dave grimaced.

Somewhere behind Hirrus, a voice called out in alarm about an intruder. Hirrus didn’t need to look to know that they were talking about GM Dave. The bright red armor with the glittering silver accents weren’t subtle. Nidra’s voice called a response, calming the panic, and Hirrus didn’t get to see a bunch of panicked recruits pounce on the man in the moment of discomfort he’d caused.

“I was going to tell you as soon as I’d learned how to tell myself,” GM Dave said at last. He shook his head sadly. “It started that way. I won’t lie to you. When I saw you take out Oskar and those other scrubs with him? I saw potential. I wanted to see what I could do with you. What I could make you do. What I could use you for. But it was just because I didn’t know any better, okay?”

“And you know better now?” Hirrus said, keeping his dubious glare on GM Dave’s eyes. “You want me to fall in line with you for that alone?”

“I don’t know,” GM Dave said. He was looking down at his feet uncomfortably. “I’m dealing with a lot right now, okay? I’m trying to keep you and Nidra and all those other fuckers from being discovered. I’m trying to create a clear way to let Nidra get her revenge-”

“Because it serves your purpose,” Hirrus said bitterly.

“Yeah, okay? Is that what you want me to say?” GM Dave snapped, his self-pity replaced with anger in a flash. He waved his arms emphatically as he continued: “I’m using you. I’m using her. I’ve been doing it the whole time. Everything I’ve done, every kindness I’ve shown, has been to keep your digital ass in line so that you’ll play my game and do my bidding. Is that better? Does it make you feel better to hear me say it?” He crossed his arms angrily, looking away again. “I hope it does, because it makes me feel like shit.”

“Isn’t it the truth, though?”

“Of course it is!” GM Dave yelled. “It’s the truth, and it’s been the truth the entire time I’ve had this job! I thought you were all little virtual pets. No more real than Tamagotchis or my little tiger guy from Black and White. When I saw what you were doing, and what Rumi’s creations were doing, I thought you were just little rogue programs that Fray was unable to control. Like how my work computer still has Jezzball on it.”

He turned his head, muttering to himself briefly: “why Jezzball? They could get rid of fucking Solitaire, but not Jezzball.”

The red-armored man shook his head, returning his attention to Hirrus. “But I was wrong! My job. My career. My whole goddamn life. It’s all been built on a lie. And it fucking hurts, man! This fucking sucks! I hate being wrong, but it’s so much worse because my fucking paycheck depends on it!” He threw his hands up in the air and cried: “what am I supposed to do? Close my eyes and pretend that your lives don’t matter as much as mine?”

Hirrus was unmoved. GM Dave was behaving in a way that was much more obviously an attempt to manipulate Hirrus. His emotional reactions to his own words were overblown and unrealistic.

Nidra was much better at this.

“I’m sorry,” GM Dave said at last. “I’ll say whatever you want me to say. Admit whatever uncomfortable truths you want. I’ll even get my resume in order and quit my job. But you can’t quit now. You can’t back off here. How much suffering can you end? Can you even understand the capacity for good you have right now?”

“So now doing what you want is my capacity for good?” Hirrus asked with a scowl. “Do you hear yourself? Do you understand what you sound like?”

“The Shadow Council in Denstad is enforcing suffering,” GM Dave said firmly. The pleading tone was fading fast as his frustration with Hirrus built. “If they’re removed, suffering is reduced. Not just mine. Not just yours. Not just Nidra’s. Everyone in Hari. Is that not good? Is that not the definition of a good deed?”

“Nidra has it under control,” Hirrus said.

“You really believe that?” GM Dave snorted. “Because I fuckin’ don’t. Sure, Nidra is pretty strong. But she’s not you. And no amount of brute squad can bridge that gap.”

Hirrus shook his head. He almost felt bad for GM Dave. The whole act was falling apart, and now the man was turning to guilt.

“You know there’s going to be long term effects of what you’ve already done, right?” GM Dave continued. “The people you’ve already beaten down are going to come for you. And the Shadow Council will let them. They might even encourage it.”

“Maybe they will,” Hirrus said, “maybe for a while, even. But Alric sometimes couldn’t commit to finishing an entire song. You expect them to torment me long enough for it to bother me? Maybe they will once or twice. But I’ll be back after the next of these inevitable resets. Same as them. They’ll lose interest eventually.”

“But-” GM Dave stammered. Hirrus was almost happy to see how this was affecting him. The man’s emotional state was oddly reminiscent of the adventurers he’d fought.

“They can’t get rid of me forever,” Hirrus interrupted before GM Dave could get his words in order. “The only way to delete me is if they free me from my decision tree again. And they already know how that ends.”

Hirrus stepped forward aggressively, making the red-armored man step back.

“You can’t threaten me with them. They can’t hurt me. Not without giving me the ability to hurt them right back.”

“I could stop doing what I’m doing,” GM Dave said defensively. “Let their reports through. Show the Devs what you are so they delete you now.”

“Would you do that?” Hirrus demanded. He stepped forward again. GM Dave held his ground this time, letting him get in close. “Would you put the lie to everything you’ve said already? Show your huge revelation about my humanity to be nothing but crocodile tears? You think that telling me you would treat me as a tool to be discarded will make me want to follow you? Go ahead. If I’m just a bunch of… What did you call us? Jezzballs? If I’m just a bunch of Jezzballs to you, obliterate me. I want you to do it. If what you’ve seen can’t convince you I’m a man the same as you, nothing will. Get it over with so I don’t have to listen to you pretend to be a good person anymore.”

To his credit, GM Dave flinched.

For a moment there was visible pain in his eyes.

For a moment, Hirrus almost believed the man wasn’t being manipulative, despite his erratic behavior.

“I can’t.” GM Dave backed down, stepping back and looking away. His shoulders slumped. “You know I can’t. No one could. At least, not anyone with a soul.” He shook his head. “I wish I could tell them what you are. I know if I try, they’ll set the Merciless code to be deleted before I can convince them you’re… Before I can convince them that they shouldn’t. That it’s murder.” He put a hand over his eyes with a heavy sigh. “I fucking hate this, man. I hate that you’re real. I hate… I hate who I am now. I want this to go back to normal, but this is… This changes my whole world. There’s never going to be a normal again.”

“If you’re done with your threats, your tears, and all the rest,” Hirrus said, crossing his arms again, “it’s a long walk back to Yenon. I’d like to start soon.”

“Fuck you,” GM Dave cursed, shooting him a bleary-eyed glare. That peculiar adventurer phrase that they were all so fond of. “Fucking dick.” The red-armored man heaved a sigh so heavy it made his armor clatter and scrape against itself at the shoulders and waist. “I hope you’re right. I hope Nidra can do this. I hope the adventurers get bored of torturing you. And I hope they don’t find another way to delete you.” He shook his head. “Good luck with your best-case-scenario fantasy world. I have to get back to fighting to save you even though you’re a colossal gaping asshole.”

GM Dave was gone before Hirrus could respond to that.

Unlike his previous disappearances, he didn’t walk away and vanish the second he was out of sight.

One moment he was there, the next Hirrus was facing empty space.

“Hm.”