On the eve of their race's extinction, the twelve heroes would begin playing a game. They would make an admirable effort, but they would fail. Their civilization had not prepared them for the rigors of this game, and the ultimate reward would fall shy of their grasp.
The trolls have done this all before - and apparently, they fucked it up real bad.
This is a very strange way for their original session to have gone. The Hivebent trolls excelled at the game, and not just because Scratch made them so bloodthirsty. Many of them were gifted with incredibly powerful abilities, which allowed them to absolutely decimate most of Sgrub's challenges. These pre-Scratch trolls are the same people as their successors, and should have the same abilities, just different upbringings.
I suppose growing up in a peaceful world might have blunted their edge a little - but at the very least, trolls like Sollux and Equius should still have been obliterating Underlings. Even if their lives on preboot!Alternia granted them zero combat experience, it shouldn't take much skill to, say, pulverize Imps with gigastrength.
Though they could not recognize it for the bad omen it was, this session was not the one in which they had been spawned.
It doesn’t sound like the original Alternian session even had a Veil sequence. That is a bad omen, because its Players still needed to be created somewhere. If they didn’t find a way to close the loop and clone themselves, it wouldn’t even matter if they won their game; They’d be trapped in a doomed timeline either way.
This explains why they really lost, then. The pre-Alternians were forced to concede defeat and reset the game, even if Sollux could slay every Underling on his own. If they didn't, they wouldn’t have existed in the first place.
Such is the symptom of a subtle glitch affecting certain sessions, an error designed to trigger an unfathomable cascade of misfortune throughout paradox space. This glitch is the calling card of the one I serve. It is the discreet, gentlemanly manner in which he reserves his place in a universe for later visitation.
This sort of forced Scratch is right up English’s alley, of course. The guy is all about inevitable failure – and of course, he’s no stranger to exploiting Sburb’s mechanics to his advantage.
The heroes, understanding their defeat was absolute, sought advice from the mother of all monsters. She offered them a choice. The heroes could either accept their defeat along with the extinction of their race, and put no others at risk. Or, she could show them a path to a second chance, to a reality in which the chosen heroes of their race would be strong enough to succeed with ease, and claim the reward. This reset would come at the cost of wiping the failed heroes from existence. They would live new lives from scratch, playing different roles in the reset reality, with no memory of the game they played or the choice they made.
Once again, a Denizen offers a choice between life and death. I think Kanaya’s analysis was entirely correct - every Choice does involve facing your own mortality.
I wonder, though, if they paid attention to Echidna's exact wording here. If they chose death, they’d put no other beings at risk – but she made no such assurances about the consequences of choosing life. This deal was a disaster for the Alternians’ entire universe, and its original Players couldn’t possibly comprehend the damage it’s already done, let alone what it'll do once English enters the building.
Also... she only promised that they’d get a chance to try again. She never promised them victory.
The more I think about this deal, the more dubious it seems. I was kind of starting to think that the Denizens were on our side, but their ultimate loyalty is to Sburb – and we already know that Sburb loves fucking with its players.
