by D N Meinster
“I am unfamiliar with Belliore, but if their support requires votes, then you’re going to have to earn them. Which of you struck up the best relationships there?”
None of them offered an answer.
“Wonderful. And Terrastream?”
“I’ll go!” Aros volunteered immediately.
Doren knew his friend would want to go back there. “So that means we’re splitting up?” He didn’t like the idea of leaving Rikki again.
“Not all of us,” Yveen replied. “You’re coming with me, Prince.”
“Are you kidnapping me again?” he dryly responded.
“We’re going to see the Empress,” she replied. “That means you get to go to Belliore.”
Rikki was nonplussed. “Simma welcomed me last time I showed up unannounced.”
“Faunli cannot believe that a mage coerced her into action,” Yveen replied. “The Prince will do.”
“Can you not call me that?” Doren requested. He wasn’t sure if he despised the title or his full name more.
Rikki’s eyes darted back-and-forth as she tried to concoct an excuse to not return to Belliore. “The Bellish aren’t fond of mages either.”
“But they might feel guilty about what they did to them,” Aros helpfully suggested.
“Do the Bellish feel now?” Yveen asked.
“More than their automatons,” Doren replied.
“Auto what?” Yveen asked.
“One thing she will never understand!” Aros exclaimed. “Bellish technology.”
“You don’t understand it either,” Doren stated.
“I think I handled myself pretty well in Belliore,” Aros replied.
“With M’dalla’s help,” Rikki reminded him.
“So they have some new technology?” Yveen asked rhetorically. “And they’re only a velizard ride away.”
Doren hadn’t even considered how Bellish technology might affect the other kingdoms. None of them could possibly be prepared for what they might see from their northern neighbors. “We better hope they stay in their dome for now.”
“The rest of Ghumai isn’t ready for what they have,” Rikki said.
“Then I suggest you hurry and make sure they don’t go exploring,” Yveen said.
Rikki nodded.
“Where do we go?” Aros asked. “Afterward.”
Before Doren could suggest Radite, Rikki put forward her own proposal.
“Tunsev Manor.”
“Me and Aros can’t shift anyone else there,” Doren said.
“Better than having no meeting place, isn’t it?” Rikki retorted.
Doren didn’t want to argue before they parted ways. He grabbed both her hands. “I’ll see you there.” And then he moved in for a kiss.
“Everyone’s falling in love, huh?” Yveen commented as she walked back to her velizard.
Doren and Rikki held each other in a minutes-long embrace before turning their attention to Aros.
“You’ll be able to make it there?” Rikki checked.
“To Loraya?” He smiled. “See you on the Islands!” And with a spin, Aros shifted away.
Rikki backed away from her boyfriend. She looked like she wanted to say something, but instead, she simply winked at him and shifted to Belliore.
Doren sighed as he watched Rikki fade, and he sluggishly made his way over to Lady Yveen.
She patted the back of her velizard. “Get on.”
Doren obliged and tightened his hands on Yveen’s waist to keep steady.
“Good thing Rikki already left,” she teased, subsequently urging her velizard onward into Faunli.
Chapter Twenty-One
Direct Contact
The dome could not contain the light. As its intensity increased, cracks began to form in the once-impenetrable outer layer.
Versil watched as each of his monitors was overtaken by it, transforming them into blank white screens. He swiped through them all, trying to determine if the cause was some sort of technical error. But the feeds were all reading accurately. Whatever was outside was causing the distortion.
Flinging himself off his seat, he trudged through his lab, past rows of vacant cylinders and unlit instruments, until he reached the door to the outside. Though his body had been repaired, he hadn’t stepped out much since his resignation. The entire affair was rather embarrassing, and word had spread that he’d been the cause of the MR. Most of Belliore was rather infuriated with him. So he continued doing what he’d done for the last century: watching his kingdom virtually from his laboratory. The only difference was that since he’d given up the title of Project Head, no one sent him any communiques. He’d been completely isolated.
He poked his head outdoors first, then stepped entirely beyond the threshold. The sight flummoxed him. His dome was an opaque white, with only growing fissures to dim its luminosity. Was the image projection malfunctioning? Or was someone intentionally trying to disable it?
As Versil kept his head tilted upwards, he saw the first white shard break off and plunge down to Cortex.
Theories flooded his head as he contemplated the cause of this extraordinary incident. Was it a coincidence that this was happening after his own tenure had ended? Could this be part of the Directorate’s plans?
Broken pieces of the dome began to rain down on the city in a breathtaking deluge. Never before had precipitation been so beautiful or so deadly.
Versil couldn’t detach his eyes, even as bits of the dome shattered on nearby platforms. The only other time the precipitation had been this far beyond his control was when the Kytherans had been here.
Finally, he looked away. This was because of them. Or, more accurately, it was a result of their failure.
Versil rushed back inside to try and confirm his hypothesis.
“Launch an HDR immediately,” he ordered while sprinting through his lab.
He took direct control of the drone’s flightpath once he was back behind the monitors. While he ordered it higher, it became challenging to navigate through the storm of shards as more of the dome collapsed. More than once, it was nearly brought crashing down with the illuminated bits. But it always recovered and hovered higher than before.
Eventually, he reached a space where there was no more dome to fall. The hole was large enough for the orb-like HDR to fit, and he sent it into the sky, where no Bellish object had been in hundreds of years.
The drone’s camera zoomed in on the encompassing environment. A mere rudimentary analysis of the images confirmed Versil’s hypothesis.
Null space had been filled. The other kingdoms were back in their rightful place. Ghumai was once again whole.
Versil stared at the distant geography; that which he had not beheld in centuries. Ghumai had been separated to prevent Neanthal’s return. Its reunification could only mean one thing: Neanthal had been released from his prison.
There was no reason for this restoration to occur if the Kytherans had been successful. The only reason to alter the status quo was if a potentially cataclysmic event had transpired. Hatswick must have bested the foreign trio. So the Parting was undone by Neanthal to make his reign easier, or by that trio to unite the kingdoms against him.
Whatever the case, the dome could not handle the force of the reunification and shattered. Bellish technology undone by magic once again.
Versil shut down all the monitors. “Emergency protocol 48.” A data stick emerged from the wall before the entire facility went dark. He snatched it up before heading back outside.
He’d abandoned Belliore shortly after Neanthal’s arrival the last go-round. And given what had happened to Staut Mair and Cortex, he’d always considered it the best decision of his life. He did not know what would happen should Neanthal discover his immortality, nor did he know if he could survive a confrontation with the alleged demigod. It was better to stay as far away as possible.
Waiting out the last Dark Reign meant he’d avoided slavery and torture. There was no reason to expect any differe
nt this time. Neanthal’s methodology was well known to the historians and was likely to remain unchanged. Thus, abandoning Cortex was the sole option when it came to ensuring survival.
An AGT filled with supplies and a preset destination was waiting for Versil at the end of the platform. He looked to the adjacent buildings one last time before entering the vehicle. He could only hope that some vestige of the city he built would still be standing by the time he returned.
The Directorate rarely gathered in person, so to see them all sitting in their respective seats in the hearing room was a truly noteworthy occasion, but it was one that Rikki could not appreciate. It had taken much cajoling to get them all to this point, and without the Project Head’s assistance, she would have most assuredly failed.
The entire room was painted in a similar shade to the peacekeepers that occupied every entrance and exit. That dull silver comprised the elevated and elongated desk at which each director sat so they could look down upon their Kytheran guest.
Rikki had to tilt her head up just to glimpse the top of the silver dais, from which she could make out the faces gazing down at her. At one end were the disapproving eyes and fanciful gray dreadlocks of Maevus Trustt. Next to her was Keisler Fantom, whose white irises were more noticeable than his pointy nose. At the other end sat a man whose name she didn’t know but whose orange hair appeared to have been drawn on top of his head. Sitting next to him was a young clone of a man she knew to be deceased. And in the middle of them all was the new Project Head, whose swirling purple hair and neatly trimmed tuft on his chin distinguished him even before he held the title.
“A quorum has been reached,” Lestrapel Humuratos stated. “This meeting will come to order.”
“Motion to dismiss,” Maevus yawned.
“Seconded,” the clone of Lodmac Cron stated.
Rikki knew she had let down Maevus but hadn’t expected her retribution to come in the form of a vote. During their initial chat, she showed no sign of holding any sort of grudge. Apparently, she’d merely been waiting for this moment. There was one Director she couldn’t count on.
Lodmac Cron was another. His ill temper was reasonable given that her friends had been responsible for the original Lodmac’s death. This clone wouldn’t even see her and had to be coerced into attendance by Lestrapel.
“The motion to dismiss is before us,” Lestrapel said. “I will call the roll. Director Trustt?”
“Affirmative,” she replied.
“Director Cron?”
“Affirmative,” he answered.
“Director Fantom?”
“Negative.”
“Director Batch?”
Rikki gazed at the veiny man who she’d never formally met. Northo Batch was Versil Talap’s replacement as the Director of Research. She couldn’t recall ever meeting him or even seeing a clone of his. That hair and those light orange eyes would have certainly stuck out.
“Negative,” he responded.
“And I vote in the negative,” Lestrapel ended the roll call. “The negatives carry and the motion to dismiss is suspended.”
Maevus and Lodmac let their displeasure be known through their facial expressions, but they didn’t state any further objection.
Rikki was relieved to have won the vote, though it was very odd to depend on such a fickle mechanism to make decisions. Why the smartest minds had settled on a system reminiscent of the Twilight Islands’ elections was a mystery. And if they were going to mimic it, why not give everyone a vote? Why only these five?
Government by a single leader, whether elected or inherited, made much more sense. She’d have debated the merits of it with the Directorate if she was not there for issues more paramount.
“The Directorate will hear the testimony of Rikki Nasem, Grand Mage of Kytheras,” Lestrapel said. “You may begin, Rikki.”
“Honorable Directors of Belliore. We were all of us lied to. Five Keys were not required to open the Door of Amelia’s making. It only took one. Neanthal, the Divine Corruption, the Beast of Faunli, the Immortal Prisoner, was freed. King Halstrom Tunsev of Kytheras was his first victim. Neanthal took his place and now rules my kingdom. And he will not stop there. It remains his goal to conquer our lands, to conscript all who are able, and to march us into the Bastion to topple the Goddess Herself.”
“Absurd,” Lodmac grumbled.
“The Director will not interrupt this testimony,” Lestrapel spat. “Please resume.”
“It is not absurd,” Rikki said. “It is his goal. It always has been. He told us as much when we met him. Neanthal was to take advantage of the Parting to subjugate each kingdom individually. To counter him, we reunited all of Ghumai.”
“So you’re responsible for the loss of our dome,” Northo stated.
Rikki didn’t respond to his comment, instead continuing with her plea. “We know what he is planning. We know he intends to use Bellish weaponry to give him an advantage against Magenine. But I cannot stand alone against him. The Five Kingdoms must join together to defeat our greatest enemy. Belliore must use its weapons against Neanthal before he takes them for himself. I have come before you to ask for your help. Will you stand with us against him?”
A pervasive silence followed her question. The eyes of the Directors stayed on her, but their mouths remained closed. Were they considering their options? Could they be thinking of allying with the Beast? She knew Belliore’s history. Would they try to prevent what happened before by joining him willingly?
“Have the other kingdoms already consented to this allegiance?” Lestrapel asked.
“We are in negotiations,” Rikki answered.
“And the likelihood of this alliance you ask for?” Keisler asked.
“Faunli will come to our aid,” Rikki stated. “Terrastream is divided, though we have allies there that we can depend on. The Twilight Islands is recovering from tragedy, but they may yet join us.”
“And Kytheras is lost already,” Northo said.
“Sounds like you don’t have an alliance at all,” Lodmac said. “You have one kingdom and three outcasts.”
“It’s only the beginning,” Rikki said. “But we need Belliore.”
“You ask for help now like you did with our Key,” Maevus stated. “But you failed to keep Belliore’s Key safe, and because of it, Neanthal is free. You will never have my support, Rikki Nasem.”
“If I recall correctly, Director Trustt used me and my friends to amass political power at a time of crisis,” Rikki bluntly replied. “Or at least tried to.”
Maevus looked ready to jump down from her seat and tackle Rikki, but she merely sucked on her lips and stared indignantly at her.
“Sore subject,” Lestrapel whispered.
“Belliore does not need other kingdoms to keep itself safe,” Lodmac said. “Nor does it ally itself with murderers.”
“Murderers that saved us from the MR?” Lestrapel responded. “Or have you all forgotten the role Rikki played in curing our city?”
“We are in her debt,” Northo said. “And Ghumai is stronger together.”
Rikki was relieved to hear Northo’s sentiment. The only one who hadn’t spoken up was Keisler.
“I don’t think we require any further debate,” Maevus growled. “I demand a vote.”
“Seconded,” Lodmac stated.
“Very well,” Lestrapel said. “The motion to join an emergency alliance against Neanthal is before us. I will call the roll.”
Unsurprisingly, Maevus and Lodmac voted in the negative. But Keisler and Northo voted in the affirmative.
“I vote in the affirmative,” Lestrapel said. “The motion carries. Belliore will join your alliance, Rikki.”
Rikki finally relaxed her posture and leaned against her staff, though she wished there’d been a chair for her to take a minute in. She thought better than to summon one up and watched for the Directors to leave before she took any further action. However, they all remained in place.
“We will share our weap
onry with you and our new allies,” Lestrapel went on. “What else might you require?”
“The peacekeepers would be an invaluable resource against our enemy,” she said.
“They would be, wouldn’t they?” Maevus spoke up. “But the former Project Head reconfigured them and disabled the master control before his resignation. He didn’t like that the automatons could be used against him. They all run on his preprogrammed orders and cannot be changed. So sorry.” Her expression was one of glee and not apology.
Rikki tried to decipher the meaning of her words. “That means…what exactly does that mean?”
“Peacekeeper duties are locked,” Lodmac answered. “They cannot be used in any offensive action against Neanthal or for any other objective that is not preset.”
Rikki’s gaze moved onto Lestrapel, who confirmed the statement with a nod. So the peacekeepers were effectively useless? Before she could get too depressed by the news, the Project Head offered some hope.
“They are not irrevocably locked. The change can be undone by the one who created it.”
Versil Talap. Rikki was in much better standing with him than she was with two of the Directors before her. She was certain she could get him to use the peacekeepers against Neanthal.
“Unfortunately, former Director Talap has not been seen since the dome was disengaged,” Keisler stated.
“We haven’t been able to locate him,” Lestrapel said. “Perhaps your magical spatial shifting will enable you to do what we have not. But even without the peacekeepers, our weapons and facilities are at your command. I will even put out a call for volunteers for combat, though I suspect few will apply. Belliore will remain at a heightened alert, and we will only grant your envoys entry to Cortex. As previously discussed, exploration of the external kingdoms will remain forbidden. Without objection, this meeting is dismissed.”
The Directors rose from their seats and shuffled to their exits. None stayed for further instruction or inquisition.
Rikki knew she could not yet leave Belliore and return to her friends. While she’d successfully convinced the Bellish to join their alliance, it was more of a half measure without the peacekeepers. Those automatons would supply them with numbers that no human army could match. Right now, they could only guess at the number of Neanthal’s Massku and recruits. With the peacekeepers, they’d have an equivalent force. Without them? The Corruption maintained an advantaged.