Chapter Text
Cassie Aphthiton never liked attending the Roblox VIP Conventions. As the queen of Trinity, she thought she had far more important things to do, but High Councilman Reginald had insisted that it would be good for her public relations. She resisted, she really did, but ultimately she was left with no choice once High Scholar Azuri locked the door to her office from the inside. So, Cassie left Trinity and made her way down to Bizville.
Despite Bizville’s small size, it used to be the capital of Robloxia, since it was where Roblox was headquartered. It wasn’t until David Baszucki and Shedletsky realised that Roblox was becoming too big to develop it and lead the country at the same time, that they handed power over to Trinity and it’s queen, ultimately leaving Trinity the capital instead.
If Cassie was honest, she had no desire to return to Bizville after the last time she went. It wasn’t a bad place to be, per se, but she never liked the atmosphere of the place. It was far too urban. She had only just arrived, and she already missed the more relaxing feel of Trinity’s atmosphere. But it wasn’t like she could do anything about it now, so she stepped through the doors of Roblox HQ and made her way to the VIP seating sections.
As she sat down, she looked around near her. Cassie could identify a few other people nearby her in the VIP area. The Blackrock King, guardian of the Ice Dagger. Mayor Thaniyel of Turtiopolis, guardian of the Venomshank. Even Shedletsky himself was sat on the opposite side of the VIP section. Master Telamon, guardian of the Ghostwalker, hadn’t seemed to make an appearance, however. Cassie had only had a sparse few encounters with Master Telamon, however she already knew that he never showed up when it made sense for him to, so she disregarded the thought.
In the wider hall, she could see an even greater variety of people. Faces she barely recognised from seeing them outside in wider Bizville, some tanned people who she could only guess were from the Plainstown area, and even a few greyer faces that looked like they had come all the way from Scarytown. Two dark-skinned girls sitting next to each-other caught Cassie’s eyes. She couldn’t tell if they were from Turtiopolis, or had come all the way from the Scorched Dunes, but it wasn’t really her place to care, so she turned back to the stage just as Builderman himself was walking on.
Builderman began going on about something or other that Cassie wasn’t interested in. Creator Economy, Engine Scale and Performance, just a ton of buzzwords to get people excited, if she was honest. She didn’t think Builderman was necessarily a bad person, but he was certainly sleazy enough to play up his innovations in order to get people excited.
Eventually, Builderman held up some sort of black box.
“…meet Universal Toolkit, an optional plugin that allows creators to seamlessly connect their games to other ones! With Universal Toolkit, players won’t even have to leave their game to experience the next. It’s a true innovation in the ways that Roblox can be playe-!”
“Y e a h, R i g h t.”
A chilling voice cut through the hall like a blade through flesh, it’s words dripping with malice. Cassie saw that Builderman was visibly confused, muttering something about missing a transition cue to JParty.
“Believing yourself so GRAND, preaching your gospel of creation… don’t you remember WHAT you left behind? The ghosts of your… vision?” the voice continues, taking on a mocking cadence. Builderman began to visibly sweat, claiming that it must be ‘technical difficulties’. But before he could say another word, a mysterious figure wearing a Dominus swooped down from above, accompanied by two noobs. The noobs seized Builderman and tied him up.
“N- no! It can’t be!!” Builderman yelled.
“So you recognise me. How interesting. The architect finally lays his eyes upon his fallen tower. Crumbled, as everything was stolen from us. From ALL of us. Reduced to rubble, and put aside all under the façade of PROGRESS. And yet YOU stand here. You stand here thinking you’ve created something truly visionary, while pretending that we aren’t part of it. PRETENDING as if we never existed. We were there when you ran your first experiments.”
The Mysterious Figure cut it’s monologue as it was interrupted by JParty, who jumped up on the stage in defence of Builderman. Although, he was quickly knocked out by one of the noob’s Superballs. As JParty fell off the stage, Cassie looked around. Everyone was frozen. In fear, shock, or something else, it didn’t matter. So, without thinking it through anymore, she drew the Windforce from her hip and jumped onto the stage. The noobs put up a fight, but they were quickly taken down by the queen and her SFOTH sword.
As the second noob collapsed, the Mysterious Figure held up that black box – what Builderman had called the Universal Toolkit – Cassie immediately made a dive for it. But before she could even touch it, the Mysterious Figure activated it, and she felt the world begin to warp around her.
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“Finally,” the Mysterious Figure muttered, pacing through unfamiliar meadows. “I am one step closer to home. The chorus sings louder by the moment… but for now, I require this universe’s Builderman.”
