City-ship Naxos, intergalactic space
Max Black a.k.a. Quantum is now used to dealing with several kinds of aliens, but the fact that he’s talking to mermaids is very distracting… he has to constantly remind himself not to stare.
Fortunately for him, Kari Zel currently has the attention of their hosts, considering she’s informing them of the latest status quo of the Olympian Galaxy.
<…which is why Noriko was made Co-Empress.> she concludes.
<Fascinating. And without sleeping with a single god?> Kestral asks.
<You’re SO lucky she’s not around to answer, because talking like that could definitely start an intergalactic war.>
<Then Eros is not as valid as an informant as we thought.> he comments.
<Yeah he’s not exactly the most trustworthy source of information. Does everything you know about us come from him?> she asks.
<He’s the one with the most direct experience. Our galaxy doesn’t get much interaction with yours… we’re just too far away.>
<For commercial ships, maybe, but we’re going awfully fast.> Kari points out, looking around.
The bridge of the Naxos is much larger than that of the Ragnarok, or even of any ship she has seen before. The fact that it’s completely submerged in water is another strange thing: only the section immediately surrounding the Vanguard has breathable air.
Of the only two merfolk inside the bubble of air, Kestral is transmuting the air into water before breathing it, and the mermaid Myrrinha has a mask constantly supplying water to her mouth.
<The Naxos is one of our finest city-ships, but it’s barely half as fast as your own vessel. It will take her another… four and a half days before we reach our destination.> Myrrinha comments.
Looking away from her tail, Quantum just noticed her eyes shined for a moment before she gave the estimated time of arrival, and puts two and two together.
<You’re the one piloting the ship, aren’t you? You didn’t even look at the screen to know how fast we were going or how long it’ll take us to arrive.>
<No, the ship told me. My Drylon device allows me to talk to any form of technology.>
<That is so cool! What is it called!?>
<The ship? We already told you: Naxos.>
<No not the ship, I meant the device!>
<It… doesn’t have a name. At least I don’t think it does.> Myrrinha answers.
<Can’t you ask it? You said you talk to technology.>
<I can’t talk to Drylon technology.>
<That’s a bummer. I bet it’s something cool.>
<Max, knock it off, you are literally the only person who cares.> Kari chastises him.
<Alright, but if the fish dude’s transmutation device doesn’t have a name either… Philosopher’s Stone, anyone?>
<My name is Kestral, not “fish dude”, and I’m not a philosopher.>
<The Vanguard is not at all like I expected it to be. Is everyone from your galaxy so childish?> Myrrinha asks Torn, who hasn’t said a word since he set foot on the bridge.
<Don’t ask me, I’m not from their galaxy.> the Demon replies.
Kari mentally sighs in frustration for agreeing to lead the team, then moves to more serious topics.
<Kestral, I know things didn’t work out the way either of us expected, but hopefully we’ll still be able to establish formal relations between the Vanguard and Atlantis Rising.>
<You don’t hold a grudge against us for imprisoning your team and stealing your ship?>
<It’s not exactly the first time stuff like this happens. We share the same enemies and we have similar goals, it’d be silly to remain hostile.>
<Indeed. But I should warn you, it is not our custom to hold orgies for our guests.>
<Why would you think we’d expect… Eros?> she asks.
<Eros.> he nods.
<As soon as we report back to Noriko, that dude is SO dead.> Quantum whispers to Torn.
<The journey is still a long one. If we’re going to be allies, perhaps we should show them a little of our society.> Myrrinha suggests.
<What, you mean movies from your planet?> Quantum asks.
<Planet? Myrrinha, take us above Central Plaza, please.> Kestral asks.
As her eyes shine, the ship’s teleporter system dematerializes the guests.
At the center of the ship
All three members of the Vanguard have seen several advanced civilizations from multiple galaxies… but they didn’t expect to see what’s beyond the bubble of air provided by Kestral.
They’re floating above a full city, complete with skyscrapers that nearly reach the top of the transparent substance separating the water from outer space.
There are vehicles moving around in the water, as well as merfolk casually swimming by; it’s an entire underwater metropolis, and they are right above a large square dominated by a statue of Poseidon whose height rivals that of the Statue of Liberty.
<Holy… how big is this ship!?> Quantum wonders.
<Translating to your system of measure, the Naxos is 250 kilometers long by 35 kilometers wide, or 158 miles by 21 miles… weird how your computers labels everything with two different systems, it’s got to be confusing.> Myrrinha answers.
<Wow, that’s… big. How many people are on this ship!?> Quantum asks.
<About 600,000.> Torn replies, receiving a confused look by his teammate.
<What? I feel their souls.>
<This is insane, Kestral. You took all these people with you just to capture us!?> Kari protests.
<The city-ships are our only method of intergalactic travel. I had no other option.>
<Didn’t Eros say that the Aegian Galaxy has a much lower lever of technology than our own galaxy? Because this looks pretty advanced to me!> Quantum recalls.
<The city-ships are much older than the Ichthyian civilization. If it wasn’t for Myrrinha, we wouldn’t have been able to reprogram them.>
<Just how many ships are we talking about here? How large is your organization?>
<Atlantis Uprising has a fleet of just 27 city-ships, housing a civilian population of 42 million people, plus about 5 million between agents and soldiers. Limited, I know, but we managed to make progress even without the Vanguard’s resources> Kestral explains.
<Yeah that’s pretty impressive with, uhm, so few people.> Quantum nervously replies, moving towards Kari to whisper:
<We might be over our heads with this. Maybe we should contact Noriko.>
<We can’t bail in the middle of negotiations; besides, knowing her, she’s already found something else to worry about.> Kari answers.
Hell, 163,000 light-years from Earth
Completely oblivious to her team’s adventure, Noriko enters the home of the old Demon woman who offered to provide the clues she needs to fight Gaea. This is not the first time she visits a Demon household, but this feels more lived in than Torn’s house.
It’s quite cluttered with all sorts of weird objects, most of which are completely alien to her.
<Please forgive the confusion. I was a bit of a traveler in my youth, and I took the liberty of bringing some souvenirs with me.> Maim explains, moving very slowly as she leans on her walking stick made of Blood energy.
<I thought you said you worked as a librarian for over 300 years. Demons are not immortal, you just age about four times slower than humans… it’s over 75 years.> Noriko points out.
<It wasn’t my only job. I was also part of a secret organization who took it upon itself to study the history of other races. In order to maintain Hell’s neutrality we had to avoid getting too much involved, but I figured some souvenirs wouldn’t be missed.>
<How come nobody told me anything when I became Hell’s Regent? How much secret are we talking about?> Noriko asks, browsing through the objects. She recognizes a few artifacts as being of Olympian or Lar origin, mostly little sculptures and rusty daggers.
<Secret enough to never give ourselves a name. Most of the Lords and Ladies of Hell never learned about our existence… we are very, very good at keeping secrets.>
<I can… wait a second. Is that what I think it is?> Noriko wonders out loud, already knowing the answer. She grabs the ivory object she spotted and examines it, her silver eyes glowing as she calls upon the information she absorbed from Earth’s collective consciousness… but even if she didn’t have that, she would’ve identified it as a crucifix by the images carved and the Latin inscriptions.
<Mid to late 12th century, probably from Denmark considering the resemblance to the Gunhild Cross. What were Demons doing on Earth nearly a thousand years ago!?>
<We’ve been to your planet a few times. Though I can’t say where exactly that object came from, since it was taken by one of my predecessors.>
<I guess it makes sense… I did wonder if Hell had any kind of influence on Earth; I guess you let slip some details in your visits.>
<I just kept it because I thought it was unusual to find a statue of Prometheus on such a primitive planet.> Maim admits.
<That’s not Prometheus on the cross, it’s… you know what, it’s probably a bad idea to discuss religion with Demons. I came for stuff like this, actually.> Noriko adds, putting down the crucifix to recover something native to the planet: an extremely realistic carving.
There are no photographs in Hell and the environment is too hot to make paintings viable, but whoever carved the image made it so realistic that Noriko can recognize the Demon it shows.
<You immortalized one of Torn’s battles?> she asks, as the carving shows her friend holding hands with a Demon woman, both of which are raising their arms in victory; the carving is so intricate she can see the multiple scars on their bodies and the copious amounts of blood all over them.
<That’s not Torn, that’s his father Reaper at his own wedding.>
<They look like they barely survived a massacre!>
<A Demon wedding. I was there, beautiful ceremony: they defeated over six hundred warriors. It was a bit of a controversy at the time… it was very unusual to have non-Demons attending.>
<That doesn’t sound like a Demon thing, at all. Who were they?>
<You sound intrigued, youngling. I didn’t picture you to be interested in gossip.>
<Well, Torn talks so little about himself and his culture, it’s not like I have a lot of chances to explore it… and I am technically the head of state of this planet. Besides, considering the amount of trouble I had to go through to gain access to Hell, I don’t think we’re talking about regular people.>
<Indeed we are not. I knew these guests quite well: they took great interest in our secret organization. Especially the girl.> Maim explains, rummaging trough her collection to recover another carving.
<Here. I believe this is the only remaining proof of these three working together.> Maim says, showing Noriko the carving. It shows Torn’s father next to a human male with a beard and a dark skinned girl in her late teens. Noriko would recognize his beard and her voluminous afro anywhere.
<Ulysses and Roxiana… which means Torn’s father was a member of the Zenith. Were they also part of your “nameless order”?>
<We never admitted non-Demons in our midst. And it was not called “nameless order”, it never had a name of any kind.>
<Well I have to call it something. Does the order still exist?>
<Most of the members I knew are dead, and I wouldn’t know how to contact the others.>
<So you’re my only chance of learning anything about Heaven. Let’s hear it… what the heck is it?>
<I don’t know exactly. It’s mentioned in some Lar scriptures that date back to the time of the Eden empire… we believe the Eden were the first to discover it.>
<Figures. So it’s a location? From what Teraph told me, I guessed it was a parallel dimension.>
<Yes, one that can only be accessed from specific locations we called Gates. The Drylon sealed them off so completely that even a Primordial God can’t open them.>
<Until Teraph built the key. Where can I find one of the Gates?>
<Torn’s father lead an expedition to open the Gate of the Irkalla Galaxy, the realm of Ereshkigal, but he never came back. The second is in the Aegian Galaxy, the realm of Poseidon. The Eden theorized the existence of a third Gate in the Celestial Galaxy, but never dared to reach it.>
<The Aegian Gate must be the closest one, plus I have some people there right. Though I’m worried that Ereshkigal might have access to a Gate herself… she seemed to strike some sort of alliance with Poseidon at the latest Assembly of the Nine Gods. But the big question is why would anyone want to go there?>
<According to Lar scriptures, anything is possible in Heaven. Anyone reaching it would wield power that could dwarf even a Primordial.>
<Hmm, that might explain the different goals they have… Nyx wanted to destroy the Keys because she fears the competition, but Gaea wants them to increase her own power.> Noriko deduces.
<You’re not thinking of going to Heaven and wield its power as your own, are you?>
<Not gonna lie, the thought has crossed my mind. But if Teraph went there and came back to just let himself die and the Lar Empire crumble, things can’t be so clear-cut… there has to be some massive drawback to use this power, some price he wasn’t prepared to pay. Even I am not reckless enough to do something like that without further study.>
<Between our order, the Lar and even the Eden, millions of years have been spent to decipher the mystery of Heaven. You don’t have enough time to solve it before Gaea’s curse destroys all life in the Olympian Galaxy.> Maim points out.
<True. My best option is to play both sides: I’ll have to both destroy and preserve the Key of Heaven at the same time.> Noriko says, taking out of N-Phone and composing a number.
<Hi Vesta, I don’t have much time, reception is terrible in this Galaxy. Can you convince the Amazon queen to give me control of their entire planet? Just for a little while, I’ll give it back.>
<That’s quite a request, Noriko. How long do you need it?>
<I have to solve a problem that’s riddled a couple of pantheons for billions of years… I’d say eight to ten hours, tops.>
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