by G. P. Hudson
They also blamed him for their botched attack on the humans. They claimed they had lost favor with the gods due to his heresy and that their defeat was punishment for having a blasphemer on the throne.
Miira pleaded with him to make peace with the humans. She said that Jon Pike might even help him against his opponents. Kriss knew better. His forces had betrayed Pike’s trust and had gone against Kriss’s word. No, Jon Pike would not help him.
In fact, he considered the Empire lucky that Jon Pike did not seek vengeance against them. The humans had again proven that they were the superior fighting force. With the Empire mired in civil war, Jon Pike’s forces might prove unstoppable.
Walking alone through the palace’s ancient passages he contemplated the Empire’s future. Would it survive this challenge? Or would he be the last of his line? The Emperor that saw the fall of the great Dvorkan Empire, not to any external threat, but to the greed and ambition of its own citizens.
When he neared the ancestral chamber, he told his Taymati guards to wait outside. Inside rested the relics and images of every one of his ancestors. All the previous emperors. Over one thousand years of family rule. It was here that he spoke to them. Here that he sought their strength and guidance.
Kneeling before his father’s gold encased ulna, Kriss entered a meditative state and waited for guidance. This had been the custom of the Dvorkan people long before the conversion of the Empire. Dvorkans revered their ancestors and seeking their wisdom was an ancient practice.
After a time, a feeling of motion and energy surrounded him, and he opened his eyes. He lurched to his feet and jumped backward in fear. There before him, a swirling field of red energy had formed and within it, Kriss distinctly made out a set of eyes peering back at him. Blue and green swirling forms took shape, and similar piercing eyes appraised him.
“You know who we are?” the swirling blue form said.
“Y-yes, you are the Antikitheri. But, I don’t understand. How are you here? Didn’t your treaty compel you to leave our galaxy?”
“The agreement prevents us from intervening in your affairs. This is not an intervention.”
“Then what is it? Why are you here?”
“You have strayed from the path!” the green form said, electricity arcing outward from its swirls.
Kriss cowered before the fearsome display. “No. That is not true. The AI became a tyrant. It turned against me. I had no choice.”
The swirling forms studied him silently, and Kriss felt as though his knees would buckle.
“You have forsaken us,” the red form said.
“No…no… that’s not true. I am still your faithful servant.”
“If that is true, we can assist you.”
“Assist me? How? I thought you couldn’t intervene?”
“We can advise you. Show you the correct path. We have not abandoned this galaxy.”
The Antikitheri sent him a vision of the future. Multiple images flashed in his mind. A narrative took shape, and he began to understand. With their help, he would crush the generals, win the civil war and return the Empire to glory. The Empire would continue for another thousand years. He would become the Empire’s savior, regarded by history books as the greatest Emperor that ever lived.
Kriss felt a yearning deep inside him. More than anything, he wanted this. All of it. He couldn’t let the Empire collapse. He owed it to himself, and more importantly, to his ancestors. He knelt before the three swirling figures and bowed his head in reverence. “What do you want me to do?”
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Other books by G.P. Hudson
Fall of the Terran Empire Series:
War Without End – Fall of the Terran Empire Book 1
The Tortuous Path – Fall of the Terran Empire Book 2
The Pike Chronicles Series:
Sol Shall Rise – Book 1 of The Pike Chronicles
Prevail – Book 2 of The Pike Chronicles
Ronin – Book 3 of The Pike Chronicles
Ghost Fleet – Book 4 of The Pike Chronicles
Interstellar War – Book 5 of The Pike Chronicles
Vanquish – Book 6 of The Pike Chronicles
Galactic Empire – Book 7 of The Pike Chronicles
Armada – Book 8 of The Pike Chronicles
Galactic War – Book 9 of The Pike Chronicles