Cal begins to talk about the affairs of the greater galaxy. When he reaches the four-hour mark, the glossed-over looks, and grumbling stomachs tell him it is time to let them all eat a meal. So he does. Cal watches as the clan leaders eat in perfect silence, their mouths working on autopilot as they mull over the things that Cal has told them.

When they finally get to the end of Cal's discussion, they all look as if they might as well surrender. Pinetil surprises them all and steps up. "I know you all probably have a negative view of myself and my people. So I will simply say this: your people would be better off. There are things in the dark that my people barely fight off on a regular basis. So know that everything Cal has said is true, but not the whole picture."

Cal nods, "She is right. What she speaks of is a group of creatures humanity has called flare entities. In humanity's past, we worshiped them as gods, and they used us as playthings. So we killed them." Cal went on to describe the strange beings humanity had dubbed flare entities. They lived in the hearts of stars and often had strange reality-bending abilities, and they often thrived on the suffering of others.

With every word, Pinetil's eyes grew wider and wider. The blood draining from her face left her paler than normal. Finally, one of the high-ranking 'high priestesses' stood and spoke with disdain. "You mean to say that you killed your gods? You truly must be a demon, for no mortal can go against the will of the gods."

Cal and Pinetil both sharpened hawklike gazes on the woman who shrank under them. Before either could speak, a sudden outburst filled the room.

"You are all fools!" Nyla said, trying desperately to contain her emotions, "I begged for Cal to save my people. I went to the human homeworld and voted as a representative of our people to have humanity step in and help not only us but every race. The things I saw made me realize how little we know. Here is a man who is coming clean with you about what is happening, and you refuse to believe him. Instead, you place your faith in entities none of us have ever seen and who, if they really do speak to us, only ever demand war and suffering!"

Cal looked at Nyla with sadness in his eyes. Nyla spoke. "I should have left you all to rot; it's what you all did to me. The silver cities of the humans would have made for a wonderful home, and I could have been living a life you all could never understand. Do you think this hall that Cal built is something special? Yes, it is, to us who live in dirt and wood. The city that I saw on Earth would make this hall look like a child's plaything! If they refuse to come to their senses, I say we are done with them, Cal. I would rather spend the time on any world, even Pinetil's homeworld. At least there, we might be able to do some good."

The tears flowed down Nyla's face, and she turned to go to her room. When she left the hall, Cal smiled at the assembled leaders. "Well, there you have it. You all must decide if you want to come together to be something more than what you are now, or you must decide to continue to suffer. Please eat, drink, and be marry. I will come for an answer in the coming morning."

Cal left, and Artie and Pinetil left with him. Artie went to fetch Nyla at Cal's request, and moments later, the four of them were on the rooftop dining area, eating a small feast of their own. Pinetil had not dropped her eyes since the comments Cal made about Flare Entities. Finally, Cal smiled at Pinetil. "I guess I need to do some explaining."

Nyla looked from Cal to Nyla, and back then, Nyla and Pinetil nodded, and Cal settled into his chair and began to speak.

"Every star in existence houses a certain number of entities known to humans as Flare Entites, and like I said earlier, we once worshiped the one in our star as a god," Cal said, watching the two women for any strange reactions. "One of the unspoken rules of the galaxy is that to be a Precursor race, you must meet a few criteria, but the three biggest ones are as follows: One, you must have achieved space flight before any other surviving species in your galaxy. Two, you must have multiple planets inhabited. The third and often secretly kept requirement is that you must have either slain or thrown off your Flare Entities control."

Nyla and Pinetil looked at Cal with wide eyes, and he chuckled. "It is insane, I know, but being that humanity is the way it is, we killed our god and then set about wiping Flare Entities from the Milky Way. They started the war after seeking retribution for the death of the being who lived in our star, and we simply finished the war."

Pinetil was shocked. "But... But How! The gods are not able to be killed. That is why we must..."

Cal looked at Pintil sharply. Pinetil clapped her mouth shut, realizing she had been about to divulge secrets. Cal nodded. "I figured that was about it. I noticed it when I set foot on your world, Pinetil, and it explains so much about your people. The reason you all make so many suffer is why your people are as devout as they are. You may have slain the Flare Entity in your home star, but another far more powerful one showed up and forced your submission, didn't it?"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Pinetil meekly nodded. "The dark God Ixkan, may his wrath spread through reality."

Cal and Nyla waited, and Pinetil drew a deep breath and then began to relay her people's secret history. "When we killed the Flare entity in our home star, we rejoiced. We thought that we could grow into a peaceful people. We began to explore our galaxy in earnest. We discovered many hundreds of species. We strove to be friends with them all. Some were slaves. I will admit that my people have never had compunctions about slavery. But for the most part, we would meet a species that had left its home planet, and we would help them throw off their own Flare Entity, and then we would establish friendly ties with them."

"You used to be friendly?" Nyla said, surprised.

"Yes, Nyla, my people used to be great peacemakers," Pinetil said wistfully. "Regardless, it all ended when we encountered the apostles of the Dark God Ixkan. They were a horde the likes of which we had never seen before. So we fought them when we had to. The different species we had met along the way helped here and there. But it was mostly the Jix fighting. We finally realized that many of the worlds we helped were beginning to fall to the dark god. When that happened, the entire population of the species would change from whatever they were before to more of the swarm. The leadership of the Jix concluded that to stay as we are, we would have to walk a fine line between worshiping this god and fighting against the changes and the swarm. We also realized that the only way to guarantee the continuation of our friends was to protect the species ourselves. Remove them from a position of power and place ourselves in a position to shield them from what would come. So we made them an offer: become our slaves and have your species continue on, even if it is in some limited form, or see if you can hold out against Ixkan."

"When you found the humans, why didn't you ask for help?" Nyla asked. "I am sure that Cal would have helped, and humanity seems rather helpful in general."

Pinetil laughed. "Oh, we would have, but unfortunately, we have encountered Precursor species before, and they have tried to help us, and they have all joined the swarm. Though I must admit, none have been so advanced as humanity. When we encountered the humans, we nearly thought it would end the same. But back to the not-so-kind history of my people. Of our allies, four agreed to become our slaves and to modification, and even agreed that we should modify them to assist as best as possible. The first of these was the Keln; they were already on their way to being a slave species willingly, so this simply accelerated the process. Their entire species feeds off of the endorphins and pheromones released by sex; as such, they have evolved to be compatible with any form of sex, and also the ability to change their form to entice their partners."

"The second species was the Lin'Pat." Pinetil continued, grateful that Cal and Nyla were simply letting her speak. "They are what you would call generalists, so we use them for most household positions, servants, guards, et cetera. Third came the Dentros, a multilimbed species with dexterity and precision beyond anything a machine could reproduce. They now do a vast majority of the manufacturing and assembly of the entire Jix empire. Last came the Paggnot, A species that was rather unremarkable and was modified for dumb labor. Their already average intelligence was dropped lower, and their brains restructured to literally crave the feeling of completing an order. This is what we did to our allies, to our friends in the name of protecting them."

"Why are you so cruel to them then?" Nyla demanded, "The things I saw in your world, the way that the slaves were treated, how do you justify that?"

"I would bet that they don't," Cal said, looking at Pinetil with an appraising gaze. "I think that what she just told us is something not shared openly, and honestly, even if I were to go and slay Ixkan now, they would probably not be willing to give up their slaves. She just said that one of the species is responsible for the empire's production. But you knew all this, Pinetil. Why would you tell us this? You could have just said you had no idea what I was talking about, and that would have been the end of it. So why?"

Pinetil looked like she might scream and rip her hair out with how panicky she looked. "I want out. My mother wants out, and we have no way to protect those we care for other than to continue to hold power and continue the delicate balancing act against Ixkan."

Pinetil dropped to her knees before Cal, grabbing his hands in hers. "I have never had hope before, Cal. Never, I will do anything I must. You can have me as a slave, take me as a wife, or pass me around the entire population of Earth as a sex favor if that is what it will take, but I have hope because of you. You, and through you, humanity, are a force unlike anything I have seen. Please, Cal, save my mother, save my people."