Mosh sat on the edge of the seat, the woman before him, or at least her body shape suggested she was a woman, her face too mutated to betray a gender, sipping at her coffee. He could feel her trying to calm him, and he knew she meant no harm, but ever since the day before he was tense, too stressed, and he knew no one blamed him or expected anything different, but it still bothered him. Her words startled him and he gathered his thoughts and tried to focus, to listen to her. It seemed he would finally learn some of what was hidden.
“So, first off, I am going to ask a question that will determine the depth and breadth of how you will be affected by the Game. You can choose not to answer, but it will help me help you if you do.” Shiel paused, looking him up and down, “What is your evolution potential?”
Mosh did not understand her caution in asking. Sure, some considered asking about the tiers to be rude and crass, but all of Earth worked together, what was their hide? “My Evolution potential? Tier 10. It seems to be high, but I have never heard of it and don’t know if it works the same as the other indices since it says potential and not index.”
Shiel looked at him in shock. “Did you say Tier 10? I didn’t mishear what you said, did I?”
Mosh looked at her, “Tier 10. I was happy when I saw it since I have never heard of anyone having an index at Tier 10. But then I had no idea what it was, and I kinda stopped paying attention when the whole lottery business was announced.”
“Mosh, that is extraordinary.” Shiel paused, swallowed and continued, “Tier 10 sounds almost too good to be true. Some of those who have been in the Crucible for the longest have raised their Evolution potential that high, but I have never heard of someone starting there. It is both good and bad. Your evolutions will be more beneficial, and will seldom have side effects, but the physical changes will most likely be more pronounced. I hope your family are not Purists!
Mosh was startled, he knew of the Purists, who hadn’t heard of the terrorists? “Of course not! My parents don’t even allow us to watch the Game out of respect for those in it!
Shiel chuckled, “Hopefully they will watch to try and see you now. Those of us in the crucible do not resent those watching, only those who bet on our failure.” Shiel paused, “But to answer your earlier question, Evolution Potential is slightly different than the indices, but not by far.” She leaned back, sipping her coffee as she stared upwards. “Conceptually it resembles a gate. Within the Crucible, and I will explain that to you soon, killing is the way of existence. It is also the path to power. As you kill, you will accumulate evolutionary mana, and be offered evolutionary advancements depending on what is killed. And those evolutionary advancements do exactly what they say, they evolve us, and thus the physical changes. But the physical changes are not the only ones possible. We can grow our indices, we can evolve not just our bodies, but our mind, mana and soul,” on saying the last, she surreptitiously watched him, and seeing him not react with confusion at the term, she took it that he had a Soul index as well. “The evolution potential governs two things, the first being how high we can evolve the indices to, the other being the purity, and thus the side effects, or lack thereof. The higher your potential, the greater the evolutionary effects and the lower the side effects. Another important factor, it grows, allowing greater evolutions as it is raised. Not easily, it seems to be slow, but we can absorb raw evolutionary energy from what we slay. It is our greatest survival mechanism as well as our greatest curse!” She stopped, waiting for Mosh, giving him time to digest what he was hearing.
“Why do you call it the Crucible and not the Lottery or the Game? I get the evolution bit; it makes sense given how you and the others have changed. But why the Crucible?
“The Crucible is not what people or even the Earth Mileu think it is. The first ones learned from others, from those from other worlds within the Greater Mileu, but we cannot talk to those on a Lottery World about it. The punishment is even worse than talking about the Evolution Potential, so NEVER repeat this outside of the Crucible or outside of a Mana Privacy shield!" She paused, looking at him waiting to gauge his reaction as she spoke, "It is not a punishment. Other races from non-lottery worlds enter it voluntarily. For them, there is no threshold to leaving, and they can leave at any time though they cannot return. Why? To gain power. The more you evolve, the more powerful you grow. They hold massive competitions just to pick out those whom they will allow to enter and the competition is fierce, deaths are not uncommon even though all deaths are investigated and the killers are sentenced as murderers if deemed deliberate. But it goes beyond just personal power, those who can make it to an Evolved level of Tier 25 qualify to be Magistrates, assistants to the Magisters who sit on the Greater Mileu council and represent their planets. To be a Magister, you need to make it to Evolved Tier 50, and above them are the Arbiters at Evolved Tier 100 or higher! Yes, you can grow your Evolved Tier outside of the Crucible, but it takes much longer, and few grow anywhere near the thresholds to even be a Magistrate. And that is why we are there. Earth cannot be on the council until we have at least one person qualified as a Magister to take a seat, Earth cannot have a representative on the Inner council until we have at least one person qualified as an Arbiter. There is an Upper Council that the Arbiters report to, though we have no idea what is required to qualify for that! Thus, the Crucible. Just as an ordinary crucible is used to refine iron, so the Crucible refines us, makes us stronger.”
Mosh digested the news, looking at her. “So that is why none of those from the lottery support the anti-Greater Mileu movement! You know what the target is, that it is not just to oppress us, but why not speak of it? I don’t understand why no one knows this!”
“It is forbidden, we don’t understand either." She shook her head, her mouth full of dagger tooth briefly flashing. "Now, the next major thing. Those outside the crucible know their class and Tier measurements, but not much else. They are not connected to the mana records. Or the Akashic records as some term them. Those in the Crucible are. You cannot access it until you are exposed, but when there, and in the first instance you are safe, say ‘Initiate Interface’. It may sound strange, but it will create an interface to the Mana records, and you will see so much more than those who have never entered the Crucible!
Something else to consider, which I do not know if it is in the school syllabus about the Game yet. The Greater Mileu Council acknowledges none of us had knowledge of the genocide or knew those who did it. A benefit they offer us is a mentor. Once you activate your interface and have time to integrate it properly, your mentor will be revealed to you. They are helpful and truly seem to genuinely want to help, but most of us remain wary of them. They are still the creatures of the Greater Mileu, we cannot be certain they have our best interests at heart.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She stood, “The time for talk is over. We will talk more, much more, over the next few days, but it will be in breaks between training.” Shiel inspected Mosh, looking him up and down,” Physically you look fit. Please tell me that you were one of those who hoped for a combat class and took the self-defence classes seriously?” Mosh’s embarrassed look must have told her everything she needed to know, “Never mind, it will just mean you are going to be worked harder. Your family will need to understand your limited access to them, we prepare you for your survival.” She took a deep breath, leading Mosh to the training caravans to begin his torture!
***
Arbiter Zak stood before the large, windowless, grey cylinder. The Void Jumper, was the fastest way to travel when no teleportation platforms were available. He sighed, stepping inside into the hollow cavity within. Nothing was there, only twenty other travellers and himself. They all wore nothing, but the tight-fitting organic single suits used for Void travel, anything non-organic being destroyed when the Void was entered unless within a specially prepared void box, and no organic being could survive in those, thus there was separate craft for organic beings and cargo. Four of them were dragons, their large forms lost in the immensity of the Void Jumper’s interior. All looked up as he entered, the dragons shifting to humanoid form before dropping to one knee, as did all the others. Zak nodded and waved for them to stand.
“My apologies to you all. All your journeys will be extended due to my needing this emergency transport. Please send your details to my local comms, your trips will be paid for by myself.” Those present, bowed, a few protesting it was unnecessary, but all passed on their details. Polite protestation is one thing, but going against the word of an Arbiter? Unthinkable!
Zak took a seat, cross-legged, on the ground, sinking into a mana trance, hoping it would alleviate some of the discomforts of Void travel. He almost envied those before him, none bore the marks of the evolved. For them, Void travel was uncomfortable, a mere itch, unlike for the evolved, where it tugged and pulled, interacting with the energies evolution used to cause pain. And the more evolved, the more the pain. He sunk into his trance, thinking of his parting with his darling Rophel.
“You have to go where? To some bunch of ingrates who committed genocide? To soothe their hurt feelings because they feel we are being unfair? They had dragons on that planet! True, our unevolved and not yet sapient cousins, but dragons! Their own stories talk about them, make heroes out of those who fought them, as is correct, fair combat is honourable! But their genocide, killing them as cowards, using mana deprivation as a weapon? Let them be upset, perhaps they will be upset enough that we will have an excuse to wipe that planet out just like they killed their dragons!” She had not objected beyond that, not wanting to spoil the last few moments they had before he left, but he noted she returned to her dragon form as he turned to leave, normally she waited until he was out of sight out of deference for his feelings, knowing how he mourned his inability to return to his own, true, shape.
He was pulled out of his recollections and sought to re-enter his trance as the first cold traces of the rising void touched his feet, a small pain, that of a scratch, but growing rapidly as more nerves were ignited, the pain spreading and growing as the void rose, filling the chamber, covering him. He struggled to maintain his concentration, to maintain his mana trance to control the pain, but he was unable to. He could see the sympathy in the faces of his fellow travellers, they knew that the evolved suffered in Void travel, but had most likely never seen it, nor could they know the pain an evolved of Tier 170, like himself, would feel. And he felt the pain as if he had been thrust into a bonfire. Every nerve singing its unique note of pain as the void penetrated and raced along his nerves. He screamed, the pain rising, wishing he could pass out, wanting the oblivion of unconsciousness, but that was denied by the void, he would remain awake throughout the trip.
The pain was endless, eternal, yet only momentary. Void travel was fast, not as instantaneous as teleportation, but the galactic distances spanning stars traversed in mere minutes. Zak came to his senses, the pain dropping off as the Void dispersed. A message, conveyed on mana, spun before him
He moved to stand and one of the other passengers helped him up.
“Allow me, Arbiter. I am disembarking here as well.” Zak nodded at him.
“Your role here?” His voice was raw after his screams of pain.
“Inspection, there is talk of them trying to revive their forbidden technology.”
Zak frowned, “I will be calling for a temporary halt on your inspection and other enforcement on the planet. We have a crisis of our own making. We will need to turn a bit of a blind eye to some of their infractions for the moment.” He patted the being’s shoulder, “It is not a reflection on your work, but on the Greater Mileu Council, the Elders have their priorities, dictated by Upper Council.”
He walked towards the exit, the man helping him along as he recovered from the void ordeal. Exiting, the light was brighter than he was used to, a large yellow sun shone down, the bright blue sky with whisps of clouds chased by the wind unlike the darkened sky tinted by the deep red of their sun back home. He looked around, at the rising buildings, and the paved roads, clean and light. The void jumper pad outside a tall building painted white with purple trimmings, the colours of the Greater Mileu. Armed guards looked on passively, trying to avoid catching his attention. Supposedly they were here for his and the other travellers’ safety, but he could feel their hostility towards him. He sighed, there would be no cure for that, not until they had their Magister and knew the purpose for the lottery and, what they called “the Game”, was exposed. He stepped into the building. Not look forward to having to humble himself as was needed, but knowing it was inevitable.
***
Sinead watched as the ancient tomb rose from the ground. They stood on an ancient continent, hidden for centuries as it had sunk deep beneath the waves when mana was removed. From within the depths of the Marriana Trench the island rose bearing pristine buildings and walkways, bare stone devoid of any marks of time or creature. Mere moments passed before it was dry, a slight shimmer in the air and a man stood there. His piercing blue eyes examined his surroundings and the woman standign before him. They flashed briefly and he grunted. “So, we failed, they are back.”
“Yes, Lord Myrddin, the Greater Mileu is back, mana reintroduced, and the great purification undone. We have our puppets causing trouble, a necessary distraction while the greater work is carried out.” Sinead dropped to her knees as did those around her, their heads bowed.
“No fault of yours, it was always a possibility. Still, I would have prepared to sleep for eternity.” His piercing gaze swept over the surrounding waves, searching the horizon. “Make sure the wards are secure and remain undetected, and summon whoever remains of the council.Others should have gone dormant, let us see how many remain and how we can try to reclaim our rightful position and break away from the Greater Mileu. One gambit has failed, mana is back, but the war is still being fought.” He paused, his piercing gaze shifting and settling on Sinead, “Has the one we were waiting for in this situation been born?”
Sinead her head remaining bowed, “Yes, Lord Myrddin, he is born and thus why you were awakened as he enters the Crucible today. But it has been only three centuries, and he is not one of us!”
The news surprised Myrddin, and his gaze became defocussed, introspective. “Interesting. Is this random chance or is someone working against us? Vigilance shall be our byword. Direct me to my chambers and summon those who have authority here until the Council is reconstituted. I need to learn of this time and what is transpiring outside.”