Ekological Chimera
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Chapter 1 - The Custodian
🕑 Added 2024-09-15 18:07:10 +0000 UTCSerana sat on the shore of a tranquil lake, the ornate marble table she was seated at looking quite out of place in the otherwise undisturbed landscape. She was tall, her silver hair cascading down her back, spreading over the unadorned white robe she wore. Serana’s young features were at odds with her ancient grey eyes, both of which currently stared at the man opposite her. Completely ignoring the two armoured bodyguards standing behind him, along with her own handmaiden, who similarly stood behind her.
Midnight neared and the light was sparse, provided only by a few bioluminescent plants. Agnu, the blue gas giant their moon orbited, dominated the night sky, blocking the pulsar star’s light thoroughly.
Serana sat as still as a statue, staring at the strange officer, the low amount of light no obstacle for her eyes.
He was young, of average height, with short black hair and blue eyes. He wore a strange blue uniform adorned with dark purple stripes that probably signified a high rank, along with three medals that similarly meant little to her eyes. As she stared, he shifted in his seat, unnerved by her. Unfortunately for him, midnight was still a few minutes away, so he’d have to endure.
Not that it mattered much. The Goddess slept and would continue to do so for decades to come. Despite the ceremony, the officer would get to talk only to her own insignificant self. She would engrave his words into her memory and convey them to Eternity Herself when she awoke, as was her duty, but she did not need a ritual to do so.
Were he one of Serana’s own people, she’d be worried about passing on his words before his death, but she doubted that the officer cared. She doubted he even believed in Eternity’s existence.
Even so, the ritual was useful in other ways. The foreigner's conduct told her much. It gave her hope that they would prove reasonable, in the end. Those blind to Eternity’s glory rarely were, but these visitors from the stars were full of surprises, not to mention knowledge.
These strange people were quite contradictory in that regard. They knew so much, yet understood so little.
Serana almost flicked her eyes upwards to the metal construct above the sky, but managed to stop herself. It had been a long time since she had encountered something so utterly new. That it came from people untouched by Eternity’s benevolence only made it stranger.
She was being too harsh on them, she knew. Her memories from the early days were hazy, but she still remembered how in the beginning only the most foolish or desperate took the priesthood at their word. The rest required convincing, so convinced they were.
She would just have to do the same now. Hopefully, they would abandon those silly notions of “amending” the Eternal Laws afterwards.
When the clock struck midnight Serana spoke as the ritual dictated, her soft voice piercing through the silent night, “Speak, visitor, and be content in the knowledge that your words shall be heard by Eternity Herself.”
“Ehm, Venerable Custodian,” The officer began awkwardly, “I have been sent here to discuss with you the issue of-”
A sharp gasp behind Serana interrupted the officer.
Serana sighed, while the officer’s eyes darted around her face. The military man had seemed awfully young to her, but to blunder so was still strange. Was he just some sort of a figurehead? Or perhaps he just did not care.
“To speak to Eternity Herself without introducing yourself first is to disrespect Her,” Serana explained, not truly bothered by the young officer’s misstep. She knew the Goddess did not care about such things, but they were very important to Her people regardless. As evidenced by her incensed handmaiden, who looked ready to start lecturing the man.
She would not, of course. To interrupt during the Ritual of Invocation was an even worse taboo, so the handmaiden stayed silent. Besides, they were both treading new ground. The man deserved a little leeway.
“Right, of course, my apologies.” The officer said, a bit too quickly. “My name is Colonel William Ashwood and, as I’ve tried to say, I’ve been sent here to discuss the issue of the Draugr colony, that is, the problem of establishing the presence of the Terran Republic on your world.”
Draugr, what a ghoulish name. At least his Sirnesian sounded acceptable. Perhaps suspiciously so, considering the date of their arrival.
“All are permitted to live under Her protection, Colonel,” Serana said, though she knew what the problem really was.
This might have been the first time she spoke to the Colonel, but the “Terrans” have been trying to, unsuccessfully, obtain land for their “colony” for weeks. They tried everything but violence to get someone to agree to let them break the Eternal Laws, yet, to their complete confusion, no one did. Serana was mildly impressed by that. Usually, someone tried to bend or even outright break the Laws every few decades. It had been quite a few years since the last time.
The Terrans had then spent most of their time slowly working their way up, contacting various nobles and royals, doing their best to find someone with the authority to change the Eternal Laws. Until they were, reluctantly, directed to her.
She, of course, could do nothing about the Eternal Laws either. However, as the Custodian of Eigos, she was the only one who could speak to Eternity Herself, who could.
If she was awake.
Serana doubted the man in front of her understood the difference, however.
“Yes, yes, of course,” The Colonel responded dismissively, “But no one is willing to sell us land, Lady Custodian.” He added, his voice more serious, “We have much to offer you. Surely we can reach an accord?”
“Eigos belongs to Eternity, Colonel Ashwood,” Serana responded. “We cannot sell what does not belong to us. You already know this.”
The Colonel’s eye twitched.
It made Serana’s mind wander. She knew the Terrans did not ascribe much importance to her or even to Eigos itself, but at this point, they had to have understood that she spoke for the entirety of their little moon. Yet the Colonel seemed unused to diplomacy, unprepared even. Well, their loss was her gain.
Colonel Ashwood breathed out and put his hands on the table, “Look, I’ll give it to you straight. What you have accomplished here, it’s very impressive for the level of technology you possess. Lost colonies so far gone are usually just murdering each other and dying of disease, yet you’ve established a stable and orderly society.”
The Colonel paused, likely seeing the expression her handmaiden undoubtedly wore.
Serana herself could not truly be mad at the Colonel’s casualness, since she did goad him to it. It was not proper, but that only made the entire situation more exciting.
It had been so long since anything exciting had happened on Eigos. An easy burden when Eternity was awake, yet her sleeping periods have been growing longer. Perhaps Serana was not coping as well as she had thought.
Before she could deliberate on her unseemly emotions further, the Colonel continued, massaging the bridge of his nose, “You still do not understand. We have been sent here to obtain land and there is no universe in which we do not. I, we, would rather resolve this peacefully, but, ultimately the only thing that matters is achieving our mission.”
Serana stared at him, unblinking. She could feel her heartbeat slightly increasing, her heart’s steady rhythm broken for the first time in decades.
The officer was right. She did not really understand. She had almost forgotten how that felt. She knew the Terrans were powerful, for they travelled the stars, but had little idea about anything tangible. Nor did she understand why they were so open about their desire to break the Eternal Laws, instead of trying to do so in secret, like so many before. It did little to dampen her mood.
“The Eternal Laws cannot be broken, Colonel. You are proposing war.” Serana responded, barely stopping herself from smiling.
“This is what you aren’t understanding!” The Colonel raised his voice, “There will be no war! What can arrows do to steel? A few thousand of your people will die for nothing along with your authority!”
“You would not kill me?” Serana asked, her voice curious.
The Colonel breathed out. He probably didn’t expect that to be her takeaway.
“With your laws broken, your authority would plummet, but I did not lie when I called your society impressive. By all accounts, you were instrumental in its creation. Someone of your ability would still be more useful alive,” Colonel Ashwood finished, looking to her for a reaction, his gaze quickly sliding off towards her handmaiden.
Serana cast a cold look behind her shoulder, silencing any possible outbursts from her handmaiden. Perhaps it was a mistake to bring her.
“I appreciate your candour, but it changes little.” She responded. “There is only a single being who can alter the Eternal Laws and She has no interest in doing so.”
Colonel Ashwood looked at her, staying quiet for a few minutes, before speaking again, “Then I suppose we must convince her,” he said, before gesturing to one of his guards.
“This is going nowhere. A demonstration is in order. Transmit coordinates of that hill to the Captain, Jameson,” the Colonel said in a language unfamiliar to Serana, pointing to a small hill on the opposite shore of the lake, a few kilometers away.
Serana didn’t understand the language, but she was smart enough to guess what the Colonel intended to do. A show of power. How convenient for her.
She looked at the hill the Colonel pointed at, then moved her gaze upwards. It stood to reason that the Terran’s demonstration of power would originate from their biggest asset, their starship.
Eigos’s atmosphere was thick and the Terran’s starships far, but Serana eyes were anything but ordinary, easily piercing through hundreds of kilometres of atmosphere and void, letting her look at the Terran’s metal construct in all its glory.
An ugly, rectangular thing of truly mind-boggling proportions, at least for Serana. She had spent most of her time since the Terran’s arrival weeks ago staring at the metal construct and so could confidently say that nothing was out of place.
Serana wondered what they would do. From the Colonel’s actions, she deduced they aimed to do something to one of the nearby hills, but she could only guess what it could be. Perhaps some sort of a projectile weapon?
It wouldn’t matter in the end. Her power stemmed directly from Eternity, after all. For all their apparent genius, these Terrans were still just human. What could a human do against a God?
In the next moment, the ship lurched, a projectile leaving one of the tubes on its front.
Serana’s eyes widened. Whatever it was, it moved incredibly fast, much faster than anything she had seen in her entire life.
She had barely seconds to react.
More than enough for her, however.
Tracking the incredibly fast projectile with her eyes, she channelled Eternity’s power through her veins, bending reality to her will and inadvertently making her eyes glow silver. To be safe, Serana continued pouring power into the spell right until the last moment, using up more of Eternity’s power than she had in decades.
A second later the projectile impacted. The hastily erected barrier held effortlessly, but did little to dampen the deafening sound. The shockwave arrived a moment later, causing her already startled handmaiden to fall and the Colonel to grip the table. His armored bodyguards seemed unaffected, which did not go unnoticed by Serana who similarly did not react. Outwardly at least.
Inwardly, she winced. She had dealt with the attack easily enough, a fact which the Terrans had yet to notice, but the power behind it… Such a weapon could easily destroy a city. Not a power that mortals should possess.
She understood better where the Colonel’s confidence came from, now.
Releasing his hold on the table, Colonel Ashwood looked like he was about to speak, before pausing and sharply turning his head towards the hill.
His mouth promptly fell open.
“What the fuck,” He exclaimed in the Terran’s language.
