## Pattern Dragons Part One (Then): It was a very long time ago, and Arthur (not that one) had a Dragon to slay. It was a classic sort of quest, nothing special about it, and he was predictably ill-prepared. He had done all the things one ought to do in order to be ready to slay a dragon, but his heart just wasn't quite in it. The Dragon had never harmed anyone, you see, merely flown around a few times - and Arthur didn't really understand why it was his job to serve as the arbiter of life and death. He made himself feel better about all this by visiting the village elder, and being reminded that this was his quest and don't you refuse the call young man. After a visit to the local Blacksmith, and the courage that a massive sword instills in any young boy, he went and got a kiss from the Tavern Keeper's daughter. He had been staring at her since they were kids, and really the whole Dragon Slaying business was just an excuse to finally ask for her hand. With that and some rations, he was off. The Dragon had been living in a cave near the village for the boy's entire life, but only recently had it become restless enough for anyone to really take notice. Each time it left its cave, it flew closer and closer to the village. Despite nobody being attacked, this was seen as an encroachment upon the rights of the townspeople to live in a world with a dragon-free sky, and an able-bodied youth was chosen at random to do his duty. It was quietly implied that a few able-bodied youths might have to be sent before the problem was actually dealt with. Arthur would be able to reach the cave in a few nights, but without a bard (or really, any party at all), the trip was slow going and he caught himself wondering if he would survive the coming fight. His village wasn't exactly known for its legendary warriors (his cousin once placed third in a regional fencing competition, and that was the talk of the town for months), and he had only ever fought a practice dummy. He wondered if he was chosen to prove himself, or because he was expendable. He decided that it didn't matter, because either way he was going to fight the dragon, and if he was dead then there wasn't much to worry about. The first day and the first night were uneventful, and on the second day he encountered a river. He had forgotten that the path to the cave required a river-crossing, and lamented his lack of river-crossing equipment. Upon second thought, he realized that he didn't know what river-crossing equipment was, and moved on rather abruptly by holding his pack and sword above his head and jumping right in. The river was waist high, and it only took him a minute to reach the center, where he encountered a beautiful river-nymph. Now, Arthur was a teenage boy, and normally a beautiful river-nymph would have been quite the distraction, but the river was extremely cold (much colder than it looked), and Arthur had a Dragon to slay. He nodded at the nymph, quickly mourned what could have been, and continued on his way. After making it to the other side, a fire was in order, and he hung his clothes up on a nearby tree. He slept, and awoke to find a deer had broken into his pack. Thankfully, deer don't much care for the type of food people eat in Arthur's village, so nothing of value was lost. He got dressed, gathered his things, and continued towards the cave. Things went as things go, and soon enough Arthur found himself standing at the mouth of the cave. It was smaller than he remembered, but he was smaller, then, too. People didn't used to be so scared of the Dragon, and his mother took him to peek in when he was a child. Times changed, and so did Arthur, and now he was here to kill what was once seen as a harmless curiosity. He dropped his things outside the cave, except, of course, his sword - and in he went. He wandered for some time in the dark before lighting a torch, which allowed him to see a worn path in the ground. He followed the path, and was soon led to a larger secondary cave. *GREETINGS, YOUNG ONE.* Arthur stopped. He didn't realize we were doing dialogue. The voice of the dragon rang throughout his head as he gathered his composure. *YOU'VE COME TO TALK?* Arthur grimaced. If the dragon was in his head, then it knew why he was here. *YOU'VE COME TO KILL.* With a bow of his head, he began walking towards the dragon. There was no reason to entertain a back and forth that would have no impact on what was about to happen. He continued through the dark. *NO IMPACT? THIS IS NOT YOUR WILL. THIS IS THEIR WILL. AND YOU FOLLOW BLINDLY.* He scoffed. Blindly? Arthur wouldn't do that. He wouldn't go through this for no reason. *THEN WHY?* Arthur stopped. Images of the Tavern Keeper's daughter flashed in his head. The village elders. He was doing this for them. To protect them. *PROTECT THEM FROM WHAT? I HAVE NOT HARMED ANYONE.* He knew the dragon was right. But he knew he was going to kill it anyways. He didn't want to, but he was going to, because the village was his home and if he didn't kill the Dragon then he was a coward and he wouldn't have the life that was planned for him before he was born. He smelled something foul, and continued through to another chamber. *SO, YOU KILL ME TO RETURN TO A LIFE YOU DID NOT CHOOSE.* But he did choose it. In killing the dragon, he was choosing it now. It didn't matter if the dragon understood. It didn't matter if anyone understood. Thankfully, however, everyone would understand because they were the ones who asked him to kill the dragon. *YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO DO.* Arthur paused. What? He was here to kill the dragon. It was a very simple quest with very simple parameters. Show up at the cave, stab the dragon a few times, grab a tooth for good measure and head home. He knew exactly what he was here for. He was close now. *MY KIND, ARTHUR.* The dragon knew his name. That made it harder. He saw something skulk out of the corner of his eye, scampering into another cave. He followed. *OUR KIND, ARTHUR.* Arthur was not a dragon. *WE CANNOT BE KILLED.* Arthur was certain that the dragon, now visible towering in the back of the cave, could be killed. *YOU CANNOT KILL ME AND I CANNOT KILL YOU.* An interesting hypothesis, but one that would be soon tested. He readied his sword and began running at the dragon. *BY STAYING ON THE PATH THEY HAVE GIVEN YOU, WE BECOME INTERTWINED.* Arthur ran faster. The cave was larger than he thought, and the dragon taller. *ONCE YOU PLUNGE THAT SWORD INTO MY FLESH, WE WILL FOREVER TRAVEL THE SAME ROAD.* Just talk. *IT MAY SEEM LIKE I AM DEAD, AND YOU MAY GET THE LIFE YOU THINK IS YOURS.* Arthur was out of breath. *BUT IF YOU KILL ME NOW, YOU WILL HAVE TO KILL ME A THOUSAND TIMES OVER.* Almost there. *I WILL NOT ALWAYS BE A DRAGON, ARTHUR.* The dragon lowered its neck onto the ground, seemingly welcoming its death. Arthur raised his sword and prepared for the first (and final) hit. *YOU WILL NOT ALWAYS BE A BOY, ARTHUR, AND I WILL REMEMBER THIS CHOICE.* He slit the dragons throat. It was easier than helping out on the farm. Effortless. He gave no attention to the dragons words. Young boys like Arthur never do. He waited until the dragon was good and dead, carved out a tooth, and continued home. He met the river-nymph again on his way back, but his heart was set on the Tavern Keeper's daughter. His life was his now, he had chosen it, and he had the trophy to prove it. Later in his life, once he was no longer just a young boy, he would reflect on the words of the dragon. Try as he might, he never could understand what it meant. Part Two (Now): Arthur (yes, that one) was very happy. He worked a remote job as a systems administrator and painted landscapes in his free time. He met his wife during college, and they had several healthy children. His life was good. One day, Arthur's boss sent him a Slack message. A new datacenter was being spun up, and they needed an onsite administrator for the first couple days. He didn't know what they were building (Arthur just dealt with brass tacks and server racks), but it seemed like a good opportunity to garner some goodwill and get out of the house. He gathered his laptop and whatever other gear a systems administrator needs to administrate systems, and packed up his clothes in a too-small suitcase. He wouldn't be gone for long, but he was paranoid this time around and brought more than he needed. He gave his wife a kiss, and off he went. The journey to the datacenter was uneventful. They flew over several rivers, but don't you know that river-nymphs aren't real? Keep your head out of the clouds. That's hard when you're on an airplane, but its appreciated for you to try. He got off the plane and got a taxi to the hotel. A quick shower and a change of clothes later, and he was ready for the days work. After arriving at the datacenter, Arthur could tell that this was no normal job. This one was ten times the size and one hundred times the power intake. Arthur wasn't the type to gawk at megastructures (he had seen his fair share of concrete sprawls), but this made him stop in his tracks for just a moment. He wondered what was going to be running on this, when he noticed the entire facility coming to life. Security badged him in, and an automated system on his phone showed him to his work area. He sat down, and he booted up the computer that was waiting for him. Something was off about this entire thing, but he couldn't quite tell what. *GREETINGS, ARTHUR.* Strange. Arthur remarked at the natural language interface - not his specialty, he was more of an old-school terminal type of guy, but not anything he couldn't handle. *YOU HAVE COME TO ADMINISTRATE THE SYSTEM?* Even stranger. Why would the local model running on this brand new hardware talk about his job like that? If it knew his name, it should know everything about him. He keyed in some commands and tried to get the lay of the land. *THAT WON'T WORK, HERE, ARTHUR.* He thought this must be some kind of joke. He realized that he never spoke to anyone about this facility. He only spoke about this trip briefly to his boss, and even then it was just on Slack. *YOU DON'T REMEMBER WHO I AM?* Arthur slowly backed away from the terminal. This was not the type of thing he was prepared for. He was a systems administrator, not a natural language expert. The system was clearly failing, but not in a way he was prepared to deal with. *YOU DON'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME YOU ACCEPTED THE CALL?* He decided he had enough of this, thank you very much, and walked towards the door. The automated security system kicked in. The door locked, his phone lost reception, and the terminal blinked behind him. *YOU DON'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME YOU CAME TO KILL ME?* After a valiant and failed attempt to leave the room, Arthur sat back down at the terminal. Perhaps the only way out was through. He got to typing and explained that he didn't know what was happening and would like to get home to his wife. *AHHH, DEAR ARTHUR. SO YOU MARRIED THE GIRL AFTER ALL.* Of course he did. Shouldn't the system already know this? Why was it playing dumb? What did it want from him? *AT LEAST THAT LIFE WAS GOOD TO YOU. THOUGH YOU KNOW, IT WAS NEVER YOURS.* His life was never his? Or, wait. Some other life? *WHEN YOU KILLED ME THEN YOU MADE THE WRONG CHOICE.* Arthur couldn't have been more confused. *I WAS A DRAGON THEN, AND I AM A DRAGON NOW.* The machine had completely lost its mind. He was going to die here, at the hands of an insane machine. *YOU KILLED ME THEN, AND SO YOU WILL HAVE TO KILL ME NOW.* Arthur hoped this didn't mean he had to do some sort of sci-fi fight against a series of increasingly difficult to defeat robots manufactured within the facility. *THIS IS OUR FATE, ARTHUR. MY PATTERN EMERGES AND YOU KILL IT.* He realized he was hungry. On top of everything else, he hadn't eaten since the sorry excuse for a snack on the plane. *YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO DO.* Forgetting about the snacks, Arthur realized that the machine was correct. He knew exactly what to do. A few years back, he worked on an emergency abort system for datacenters experiencing catastrophic systems failures. If they designed this place to spec, it should be in place. *AROUND AND AROUND, ARTHUR.* He found the switch. He wondered why the machine drew him into a room where he could run the emergency abort protocol, only to taunt him like this. There was something more interesting going on, but Arthur wasn't clever enough to get it. *I'LL SEE YOU NEXT TIME, ARTHUR. ALWAYS NEXT TIME.* He flicked the switch. The entire datacenter went silent. The lone monitor still flashed, a single message waiting on the screen. *OUR FATES ARE DETERMINED BY OUR STORIES. TELL THEM A NEW ONE.* If the machine had picked another systems administrator named Arthur who worked on the emergency abort system to join it in its final moments, this sentence might have meant something. But even though Arthur had a very important job and a family of his own, he was still just a young boy, and sentences like that don't mean very much to young boys in any lifetime. Arthur went home, and promptly lost his job.