The Beginning: The Early Wars

A weary Archelaus took a deep breath. It appeared that most of the leaders who would attend were already present, and had been waiting for quite some time, despite their rigid or careless postures.

It was time to begin a meeting that would decide the fate of the Alteriian and Kazequi peoples, if not the universe. At least Archelaus was one of the best public speakers in that universe. Life and death for his beloved peoples may well hinge around the phrasing of a single sentence.

"Greetings, from the K-A Alliance, my friends, my fellow leaders, my brothers and sisters around the universe. We have gathered in this place today, as never has been done before in the long history of the universe. Because there is a threat to that universe we hold dear unlike any we have ever seen before."

Archelaus paused for half a moment, allowing drama to take its tenuous hold, as his voice subtly shifted from formal and orderly to passionate, fiery, and logical.

Ice and fire spewed from his words, while anger and a smothering sadness cascaded from his voice.

"This choice is simple. You have seen Robless' evil, when he drove the Plutonians from their homes, Lady Nightstalker can attest to this, your own spies no doubt have told you of the storm brewing deep within Valderis' space. You know that war borders on all of your lands, and when this vicious monsoon has reached its full potential, it will have destroyed us all!"

Archelaus kept his script simple, moving, and powerful. There was simply not enough time to debate the situation. What was happening was to happen.

"Therefore I plead with all of you that we fight this monster together. Unified, we have a chance of slaying this beast, of dousing the flames before they consume the forest, of dispersing the storm before it swallows every dimension that Valderis can reach. Stand with me, stand with us. We have not lied to any of you, and you know that. The choice is clear."

Again, a dramatic pause. Archelaus' hand had found Aurora's, without his knowledge of it, and he gently squeezed it with his final few words:

"We fight together, or we die."

Zyria rested her hands on the table. biting her lip. "My military is stretched enough to protect my own people. I'm afraid I cannot join in the fighting." The look on everyone's face made Zyria say the next part in a rush. "/But/ I may have an idea. Yes, I have seen Robless's power firsthand. I'm dying as we speak, because of him. Seeing his strength does not make me want to fight, though. Nor to run.

"I plan to stop him."

As the others looked at her, either curiously or patiently, she looked down and picked at her fingers. "And, by stop him, I mean literally. I am working on a device that I created in.....where I'm from. We had to evacuate before it could be finished, though, so I was unable to save my home." Zyria looked up, looking in each leaders' eyes. "I am confident that, when it's finished, it can stop Robless, if only temporarily, so we may devise a way to handle him. I can finish the device myself, but I could use information about things here, what resources there are, information about the 1st Dimension, things like that."

Zyria didn't have anything else to say, not really, but it seemed like an odd way to end her little speech. "If any of you have any doubt, think about the difference it would have. There could be a war, with many fights. Or, there could be a single battle. ...I myself prefer the latter."

Now Tam spoke up. "Lady Zyria, we certainly appreciate your ideas to stop Robless. My only concern would be... the possibility of spending so many of our resources on creating this weapon of yours that we are left with not enough to protect ourselves and our people. The kazesqui would gladly help provide for the project... given that we are able to view the plans and that we believe it has a high chance of success upon completion." She glanced over at Archelaus for a moment, but said nothing more.

Zyria nodded, understanding. "There's no need to worry, I won't be needing resources, all except for one thing. One or two power sources from each leader should be enough. They do not have to be large power sources, but any average generator, if that is all you can provide. I merely asked about the resources so that my scientists can factor it into their predictions. Mostly, I will be requiring information about the 1st Dimension. I can go search it myself, but if you know of important locations there, I'd appreciate the insight." ((This is where Crenel is mentioned. Just whenever it can be slipped casually into the convo))

Zyria looks to her wrist, on a small bracelet showing a bar slowly draining. I'll have to hurry this up. She looked back around the table, then at Tam. "While I acknowledge your request to look at the plans, well...."-Zyria slipped out of her formal speech-"I would if it was a mere project that my men were working on. But, uhm, it's only me. And....well...I'm very territorial when it comes to my personal projects. No one has seen the plans but my first in command and I. Not even my father was allowed near my work." She looked to Tam sheepishly, hoping she understood. If Zyria was to be forced to show her private work for the first time, well, the luck would be terribly against them, as would her mentality.

Tam narrowed her eyes. A stranger, asking for power sources, with no explanation of what the weapon would be and unwillingness to show the plans. It was suspicious, really. Tam was a trusting person, but she wasn't naive. She decided to go with bluntness to relay the point.

"Lady Zyria, you are a stranger to us, and... how do we know that you won't take advantage of our help and then use this new weapon against us? You don't seem like that kind of person, but you could always be simply a good liar. This could all be a ruse. I understand your reluctance to share the designs, but we must know that we can trust you before we will help you or accept your assistance." Tam didn't mean to be unkind, but this was a touchy situation. Anyone could be working for Robless; they already knew that the man was clever.

Zyria didn't understand. All of the suspicion after meeting one another, it was just...weird.

Of course, Zyria hadn't actually spoken with other leaders before. When she'd been in the 3rd NegaDimension, she'd merely avoided the others, because she knew them to be violent. There was never much sneaking behind each other's backs with lies, it was attack or defend. Here, well, because they all had a common enemy, Zyria figured it was just 'defend' as Robless 'attacked.'

Poor Zyria had lived a long life already, but she'd hardly been exposed to anything through the years. She knew to suspect others when meeting them, but if they didn't kill you that moment, well, Zyria failed to realize that others didn't trust that simply.

Zyria tilted her head as she spoke. "Uhm, I'm sorry? Take advantage of you?" What an odd notion. "Well, you ask of the one thing that goes against my natural behavior, just as you naturally seem to suspect most people. Well, I suppose you may not suspect most people, you might possibly trust others, it may just be me." Something caught her attention though, in a late reaction. "Weapon? This is no weapon. If it was a weapon, that would imply violence. As I said, this stops him, surely, but not violently. It can be easily deflected, if one knows what to expect. That is why, once revealed, the invention will be of no use to anyone. Robless, though, knows nothing of it; he may not even know that I am working on something. That is the benefit of my not going into detail about it with anyone but my First in Command."

Zyria touched her midsection lightly with her hand. She had to hurry up this meeting, or she'd start bleeding again. There's no telling when her internal injuries would make themselves known again, and Zyria wouldn't want to perform surgery on herself here in a meeting room full of leaders.

Now, what kind of first impression would that leave?

((Ugh, poor, slightly-naive Zyria. She just can't understand that after meeting someone for the first time, if you survive the introduction, you're still not trusted. She acts the opposite way, very suspicious before meeting someone, but once she's officially met them, she sees no reason in not trusting them (unless they've betrayed her before). >.< ))

His eyes narrowed in thought. "This device, why should my people help? We are capable enough to protect ourselves, it is you who are week. Prove me wrong lady Zyria and perhaps I shall reconsider." He scratched his beard for a moment and then looked onward. "And as Eris-Tam has stated, what is stopping you from using it against us? You will find it unwise to cross my people."

Zyria looked toward Nedreiz, not angrily, more curiously. "You believe us to be weak? If my people were weak, I would not be here. None of my people would. We'd been surviving Robless's wrath long before news of him traveled here. The point is not to be able to protect oneself, it's to be able to survive the constant attacks. And no one can hold a shield forever, no matter how strong. I am quite sure that many of you could protect yourself from one of Robless's attacks. But, could you survive ten? Fifty? One hundred? A mere thousand? Robless is persistent, and relentless. If he's not stopped, all of us will fall, one by one."

"As for my device..." Zyria looked down at her hands, fighting internally with herself. Maybe...maybe I can tell them a tidbit or two, to try to calm them. If Robless were to receive a little information, he would still have trouble discovering what my invention is. "As I said before, it is easy to protect oneself from my invention. The trick with Robless is that he does not know /what/ to protect himself from. Once my device is activated, though, it will be obvious that most basic defenses can stop it. I cannot speak about what the device will do specifically, because Robless would find out, but I can try to ease worries this way:

"My invention will take a tremendous amount of power. I have enough energy devices to power most of it, but, as I said, I could use a few more basic generators to completely activate it. The trick that may calm you is that, even with so much power, my device will maybe affect a small planet, if that. It would be enough to stop Robless personally, but in no way could I use it against an average-sized planet, let alone an entire Dimension.

"Now, if you would think that I would..."-shudder-"use it against you personally, you will have your armies with you, as well as your allies, so you would be able to have your men save you quite easily. But of course, that would be thinking in quite a pessimistic direction, in my opinion. Then, if you think that Robless's men could save him, I have done the math myself, and, with each leaders' military there, Robless's men would have no time to stop fighting to save their leader. They wouldn't be able to continue fighting without their leader, either, though, so, it is a 'lose-lose situation,' as others would say, for Robless's army. Without anyone there to save Robless right away, the device would be activated long enough to make the effects quite permanent.

"If it helps in knowing this, my invention most likely won't survive the activation. It is a prototype, and with such power, I expect it to overload. The device blueprints would be placed in the archives, because, with knowledge of what it does, no one would be able to use it, because it takes a tweak in mere basic defenses to protect against it, as I've said. It would be pointless to try to use it against anyone."

Archelaus frowned slightly, listening to the small side conversations of other leaders in the room, most of which were nervous and scratchy. Then he turned his face towards Nedreiz, a flash of passion intoned in his voice.

"And what do you think we are, Nedreiz, weak? Would you dare call us powerless or defenseless? Would the Alteriians call for aide in a war they thought they could win themselves?"

The anger evaporated into a still heat.

"The problem with waiting until Robless is at your doorstep, is that there are no allies left to aide you. Make no mistake, Robless plans on domination, and he will hound your people until the dusk of days, just as he is about to attack mine."

His eyes refocused upon the entire room, as eyes attached to his booming voice and expressive speaking talents.

"We have a chance here, if what Zyria says is true, to avoid the slaughter of millions of innocent children, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters...! I know not if she can be trusted, but what alternative do we have but trust?"

Eris-Tam nodded slightly at Archelaus' words, and then spoke up. "Princess Zyria... I speak on the part of the kazesqui when I say that we are willing to volunteer to help you. You seem trustworthy enough, and your words have comforted me. I would normally worry, in forming alliances, that you might not be able to contribute equally--and by this I mean specifically that if my people were to be attacked, I would worry that you, as our ally, could do nothing to help us. But seeing as a few power cells is really all that you need... I suppose it is not a large commitment on the part of either party."

Tam sighed, though, and her shoulders sagged slightly again.

"Still... I fear for my own people, and for the Alteriians. We know that our homeworld is pretty high on Robless' list of targets, and though we are strong... I'm not sure if most of us will survive repeated encounter. We are still in need of allies, if anyone would be willing to come to our aid..."

((The idea is that no one does. I can speak for Emerik, too. He wouldn't ally with us.))

Archelaus' diplomatic and pleading air turned to ashes.

"Enough."

His eyes blazed with the light of a furious fire within his heart, contempt riding the wave of his speech.

"There is no one with courage enough to face their fears in this room. One day their reckoning will come. Their planets will fall, one by one, into the vicious hands of Robless and his evil armies. Their children will never sing the songs of their people, and their women will not of the time to cry the tears of their history as they are ground into ash, and spread into meaninglessness."

His words sparked as blue ice:

"There is no one here with the courage."

The ice cracked.

"No one here to face the darkness."

He turned his back to the council of silent watchers, leaders from dozens of planets, shocked into immovable, anxious silence.

"I thought perhaps you at least, Emerik, would have the gall."

He strode out of the room.

Tam stood, reaching out to him, "Archelaus, wait--" but he was gone from the room, and Tam quickly went after him. As she reached the door she paused, and looked back at the other leaders. Her eyes said a thousand words which she did not have time to speak. They apologized for Archelaus' behavior. They explained that he was under so much stress, because of the very problem which they had come to ask for help with. They told of how many had already died, friends and good people. And then they showed her disappointment, in all of them, that they would not reach out to help when soon they would be the ones under attack and Kazesqui and Alteriians would be gone--when no one would be left to save them as they'd had the opportunity to save her people, Archelaus' people. The last thing was a final plea, desperate yet unashamed, for them to change their minds.

She turned back and left the room, following after Archelaus, until she caught up with him near the docking bay.

"Love..." but she knew not what words to speak. Nothing she could say would make this any better. The other leaders would still never help them, and... they were now faced with the nearing extinction of their people.

In all the training and preparation they had received to become council members, they had never expected to face something like this. Their allies had forsaken them. They were left alone now, and Tam was afraid.

She drew closer to Archelaus and caught his hand, pulling herself close to him, looking into his eyes that sparked with such frustration, and she knew that the fear was there, in him, too. She knew that he would cover the fear with rage and with determination, and courage, but that the fear of losing everything would still be present. She rested her head against his chest after a moment, closing her eyes and taking this moment just to hold him and let herself be held by him. What was coming would try everything that they were worth and Tam knew that. She didn't think she could bear it if now, so close to what might be the end, she could not indulge at least a little in being close to him.

Archelaus softened as clay beneath Aurora's touch, moved as he always had been by the tiny intricacies of her emotions, the flutterings of her spirit, that underlied the fierce determination and passion that stirred within. Seeming so delicate, so elegant, but a harder diamond one could not hope to find.

Archie's shoulders slumped, visibly. His hand, as if pulled by the unseen forces of the gods, found its way into Aurora's. Her form rested gently upon him, as if designed. His eyes found their way back to hers for the hundred-thousandth time, yet he could not help but blink away a single word that appeared in his mind. Perfect.
Moments passed.

Archelaus tried not to think, simply... to be...
But alas, his people demanded his leadership.
At last, he gave voice to his thoughts, echoing dully what his emotions had already told her.

"Forgive me, my starlight... but I could not bear to stand one more second in their company. That they, our friends, our comrades that we have laughed with, shed blood for, lived among... would condemn us to the dust, to... the thought, the idea that..."

His words stopped again. They needed no words. Their hearts were closer than dearest of stories could ever hope imagine. And gods, it was wonderful. To care about someone so much that your hearts throb in your chest, hurting with the emotion, the dreams, the wishes...

"...Sometimes, when you stand for the light, for truth in this world, for life, for courage and honor, you stand alone... but I am not alone. I have you, and you have me. My people yours, and your people mine. Have we not each other?
Of course we do.
Then hope we have still."

Archelaus smiled, faintly.

"But... I think I'll take this opportunity, as the moments are far too rare, to say that I love you."

Tam's heart always felt ready to burst with joy whenever he said those words. Whenever he held her like this, and whispered to her, and told her how much she meant to him--verbally or otherwise.

She smiled into his shoulder and kissed it lightly, enjoying being close to him despite all of the trouble they were going through. Despite the fact that their friends had just abandoned them, and that the only person who had stepped up was someone they didn't even know.

But Tam let none of that matter, and focused almost all of her mind on putting Archelaus more at ease. Only a small portion of her thoughts remained on plans for the upcoming fight, and how to keep the greatest possible amount of people safe.

"As I love you, my sun and my sky. Of course we have hope. We are made of hope, so we may never lose it. We must always stay hopeful, for without that... we are nothing. Our people will fight, Archelaus, for their lives and their world... and no matter whether we fall or whether we succeed, there will always be some hope left."

She smiled, then, and pulled away slightly, still holding his large hand firmly in her thin one, and started for the ship they had arrived on once more. "Come now, let us return to our home. Our people will need us, very soon. We must prepare for what is coming."

The Alteriian smiled. There was no one who could comfort him so effortlessly as she... "Yes. Yes indeed we are."

It was hope that had forged the alliance, hundreds of years ago, it was hope that kept their people's together, and it was hope that would give them strength to fight yet another fire. It seemed together, that hope was woven into every member of their two races, twined into their inseparable closeness. It was their very nature, together, to hope.

"To home we go. Robless will regret the day that he dared to raise the ire of the Alteriians and Kazequi. He has fought fire, killed thousands upon thousands, but we are storm that he will never forget, we will fight for every hill, stand upon every life, and love with a love I doubt his tortured mind can even understand."

He nodded his head, and his eyes narrowed, ever the warrior, the justicar.

It will be HE begging for mercy... and we have work to do."



<<<Meeeh sorry about the muddy post, but should we create a new file? I'm not sure where history is going at this point :/ >>>

((S'okay. I think we need to figure out what we're going to do with the actual war.))