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<06/13/136,159 {Avion 134} - 23:11 | Altiri Temple, Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>

I can't begin to explain how crazy today is supposed to be. Today will be the most important congregation of our lives, and yet it still feels so routine. Every procedure from before is currently being followed for this kind of meeting.

Today was supposed to be our official second yearly meeting with the queen, two out of four each year, Meeting B in the Altiri Temple. However, there were already many differences compared to what would happen in our usual meetings. One such difference was the time and setting of this meeting. Each Aggressor Group gets an assigned cluster of dates for these four meetings that do not change once received. For us, the Cy-Stars, Meeting A always occurs on the first Wednesday of the month of March, or in our language, Cycle 376, 3.3. Consequently, Meeting B will be the second Wednesday of June, (Cycle 648, 6.10). Meeting C will occur on either the third or fourth Wednesday of September, only the third if there are only four out of five possible Wednesdays for that month, (Cycle 1,044, 9.17; or Cycle 1,072, 9.24). Finally, Meeting D Rally occurs on the final Wednesday of our year, in December, (Cycle 1,436, 12.27). Times of day are only what gets moved around most, and each aggressor group gets a totally different and consistent schedule.

For us Cy-Stars though, our Meeting B was delayed by a few days, instead of the rumors earlier poising truth to the idea it would happen earlier than expected; though today is not a Wednesday for any of us. Anyone with a single brain-cell would know what this meeting is going to be about. General meetings in the Altiri Temple are nothing more than just benchmark meetings between an entire aggressor group's life and the queen, often including within the meeting her Royal Scryers if relevant. Meetings however can cover any unusual or unique circumstance, be it isolated to one individual or to an entire world. Instead of expecting the usual questions about 'How I'm feeling,' or 'Have you taken an interest in anything new,' I was expecting anything but the usual rick-roll.

Julara, who has worked here as the receptionist has held her position for quite a long time now. Even she was trying to make everything seem so ordinary and usual, despite the fact that other aggressor groups have come and gone from this place in the last week, with many more to come and go after our turn. She wasn't totally static in her day-to-day life though. From what I can presume must have been written all over my face, Julara made sure to address the uncommon weight in me for this uncommon day. "Lumina! And Junko and the others too."

"Must I really be referred to as 'the others' every time I come here?" Rose knew her words were of minor import, though wondered if Julara had some strange reason not to address everyone by name, aside from the obvious that I am the leader of the Cy-Stars.

"I know it may not look like it from the outside, but the process is being expedited today. Everyone? You will each be speaking to a scryer one-on-one, instead of a usual group meeting with the queen. The queen will later converse with all of you collectively after you leave here today, through telepathy of course." She didn't even try to hide the uneasiness in her fake expression; Julara knew just as well how different this was.

I'm wondering why nobody has had a problem with this kind of setup already. "Don't you think that's a bit disrespectful? We always come here in these mandatory meetings to speak directly with the queen, as well as her Royal Scryers. Why now must they isolate all of us like this?"

Holding her head slightly in shame, Julara answered what she could. "I'm not allowed to say, but I can warn all of you to brace yourselves. Depending on what you have or have not seen, this won't be an easy day, I think."

So she knows already some of the specifics of what was revealed and released? She must know, else she would have nothing crazy to hide in the first place. "Right... Okay." Even I needed a moment to reset myself. I came here today uncertain what to expect, and it seems I was right to expect the unexpected. What kind of new shock are they expecting from us? Is the shock of learning alien life exists not the largest eye opener of them all?

I could feel some of the passive nervousness spread to all of my sisters, with all shared origin. I simply glanced back and nodded, knowing there was little I could do about this kind of situation. If this is really the way the queen wants to conduct herself, then none may oppose. Before a minute longer, an elegant woman I've never seen before revealed herself behind the main entrance corridor of the temple, entering reception to show herself to us all.

"Greetings Cy-Stars. My name is Ethsia. I am one of the many Royal Scryers under our great queen. I have been tasked with showing every individual to our many separate spaces for this meeting, where each of you will meet another scryer such as myself. Lumina? I will be speaking with you directly, as my role insists discussing the matter with leaders of each aggressor group specifically."

Even this Ethsia is not someone I can say no to. It still makes me wonder what exact reason they could have for separating us to discuss anything. I know already that they are not doing this to mishandle our own information. If a single one of these scryers lies to one of us, given we all have mostly private telepathic links to one another, me and my sisters will catch the lie outright and instantly. "Understood Ethsia. May I make one small inquiry before we begin?"

"I will answer what I can in the scope which I have been granted."

That's elegant talk for, 'if I feel like it.' Oh well. "I wish to incur the reason why the queen herself will not be seeing us, even though the nature of this visit is known to be irregular enough already."

Ethsia didn't stutter or think much of it when she replied. "Our great queen is most busy with her related tasks at the moment. With new information coming to light, she must make many unexpected preparations at this time."

Hm? So even the queen learned something that shocked her? What is this?

"Also, if I may make a swift suggestion, I ask that all of you currently suppress your active telepathic link with each other, no matter how difficult."

"And why pray tell would we do that?"

"Lumina, right?" Ethsia spoke directly to me, despite addressing every Altiri in the room, even in Julara's presence. "Forgive me for revealing this small intrusion into your affairs earlier. As you know, our great queen instructs us to periodically intrude on the telepathic happenings of other aggressor groups; such is widely known, and is usually done to enforce the aggressor group communication ban. However, our priority of such lately has been to determine the progress and current awareness level of each aggressor group as it pertains to recent clairvoyant scanning of the ACS system. May I presume you already understand why I bring this up?"

"I do..." It was hard to look at her after such an admission, even though this is fairly normal for everyone here. The queen herself has the ability to snoop into private psionic data of others like myself and my sisters, and to some extent can train other Royal Scryers to do the same. Even something as private as telepathy is never really private, even though the snooping happens randomly with no indication we are being listened in on.

This also means that Ethsia herself must already understand where we are as a team, in terms of the recent progress we've made in scanning the ACS system. It was a task I assumed would be easy. Instead, over the short span of a few months' time I had to learn about the alien world, the data I returned gave me nothing at all, just a fragmented glimpse of the strange place. I'm not the only one either. Every one of my sisters also struggled to get any echo return data of ACS414, certain we had the destination and target correct. Hurma got more than all of us did, proving there was sentient life down there, but the data revealed very little at all about a particular zone of frozen ice and snow in that other world.

"Then I am correct in assuming all of you know much less than what our scryers were able to ascertain about this world recently."

It's not my fault though. I had Hurma's help reactivating my clairvoyant ability, but even after months of training, using it at such a long range is surprisingly difficult. It isn't supposed to be. Distance from a psionic target is not supposed to have any effect on the difficulty of ability usage, but it turns out the reason for this has more to do with different thought dynamics in our immediate space versus distant space. I had to freshen up what I could on psionic theory at the same time. So, I've only been scanning ACS414 recently.

Ethsia continued though, ensuring we all understood what to expect. "This may not be easy to believe, but what you all learn today will not be absent from some negative emotion and feedback. We assume this is best not to channel through several nodes of telepathic monitoring during our meetings, and is mostly the reason why we wish to consolidate data from you all separately. If you would all follow me?"

So there is more shocking news to come of this. It's impossible to hide it from me, though I suppose the most I can do now is wait and be patient. "Of course."

I followed Ethsia down the corridors of shifts and turns while going over all the little scenarios in my head, playing out like some infinite movie of possibilities. I came here prepared today, despite our failure in understanding much about this alien civilization, to address the biggest concern on our minds. Information acquisition is fine, but any planned interference with this other civilization can have major consequences, which is something these scryers and the queen must realize. If any of them tries to downplay this concern, I'll ensure that our voices will all be heard.

After directing each one of my sisters to separate rooms with their own Royal Scryer ready to take and give information, Ethsia showed us our room for the day. Aside from the slight mist of the freezing air escaping from the A/C ventilation, this tiny room was designed with unique ascetics, and a frozen one-meter wall with a flat top perfect for placing any personal items on, not that we had any. Ethsia pulled up something from the ground on her side, placing one of many water bottles on top of this counter, as she sat opposite from me, ice to ice and chair to chair.

I took the offer of the drink, carelessly forgetting to carry enough with me from the ship. These strange designs of our water bottles, made mostly from a collection of non-melting ice creates the shape of a triangular spiral to contain the fluid, enhanced with a certain isotope which prevents the drink from freezing, less it enters our body again as designed. Keeping the importance of hydration in play, I sipped on some of this water while waiting for this meeting to get started. No matter what Ethsia tried though, nothing could keep the growing tension out of the air.

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Chapter Theme Shift: Pax Deorum ~ Enya

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It felt like minutes of silence passed between us before Ethsia finally spoke to start all of this. "Lumina, leader of the Cy-Stars. You have been brought here today to determine on an individual level what you have learned about this mystical civilization beyond our Phobium Cloud."

"You said it yourself earlier, that you snooped into our minds. Why bother asking us what we know if you know it already?"

"There's no need to be crass, Lumina." After taking another breath to reset herself and her manners, Ethsia dispensed with some of her previous formalities. "The purpose of our snooping was inspecific; designed only to answer some basic questions per target aggressor group. One question was whether or not the group took on the task of scanning, or chose to remain stagnant and isolated from the cause. The other question was to determine general progress of such scanning; whether it was going well or not. I know personally that you did not learn much about the alien world Lumina, but it is protocol that I ask the specifics at this time, and that you answer, as though I know nothing of your details. Please Lumina. Tell us all that concerns your decision and findings from scanning the ACS system."

She's really going to play the long game, though I can't say I'm surprised. It only makes sense that they would want our information before handing over what they learn to us, if they do at all. Maybe I can get my point across using this opportunity. "Very well. I'll tell you everything."

Keeping my own word, I disclosed every little detail about my recent past, delivering to Ethsia that which concerned me most about this. If Sierra really cared about or previous contest, she probably won by a wide margin, though I made sure to emphasize the dangers of revealing our presence to this alien civilization. It was one of the most important moments I highlighted to Ethsia, about the sanctity of conducting ourselves most carefully as to not disturb or harm a civilization that is likely to be just like us. After about thirty minutes of my recap to her, involving not just myself, but all of the happenings of my sisters too, I let Ethsia take it all in, which took her some time.

"So I want to get this as clear as possible, Lumina. Your efforts to scan ACS had only the intention to prove to us and the queen, by use of your information and others combined, that we should never-ever consider any contact with these aliens, unless there is a very good reason to do so?"

"I couldn't state it any better if I tried." It was oddly relieving to hear it from her though, since I can now be assured she understands my reason for all of this.

"I'll first dispense with any fearful notion of this ever becoming a real concern. Between you, me, and the others I work with, this matter has already been discussed into the ground. The queen easily understood the potential dangers to either of our worlds in a contact scenario, so it was never something you or others needed to worry about in the first place."

"With what you all keep secret, it isn't sensible to assume from others that we would know."

"The purpose of this meeting is two-fold Lumina. I only needed to confirm everything from your angle, to ensure we are all on the same page when it is my turn to diverge information, which seems to be at the present moment now."

"You mean, you'll share with me all you know?"

"I will share with you all that is known about the ACS system at least, myself and the other scryers speaking to your sisters now. Such was not only planned, but required as the nature of Meeting B in this star cycle."

I wonder what they're like. I was about to learn firsthand all about this alien world right now, and even knowing that, my curiosity expanded so rapidly. It's so refreshing not having to worry about the morality of our quest, since it was something the queen already shared to begin with.

"I hate to be the one to inform you of this."

"Huh?"

Ethsia's face held such a serious and stern look, not one of anger, but of premeditated pity. "It's strangely admirable, I think, when someone like you shows such strong interest in protecting any part of an alien species, as if it were part of some holy policy. Had you been able to learn much more about their world before coming here, well, I wonder if your concerns would have been in the same vicinity."

"What are you talking about? What information do you think would turn me away from my own honor-bound morals? Disrupting the culture of any civilization would be seen as a negative action on our end, would it not?"

"Let's just start from ground zero Lumina." Ethsia, who had been standing a moment ago, took her seat in the frozen chair, crossing her arms and a single leg. "I must first begin with tactical information about planet ACS414, prior to focusing on the personoids, as it entails the current situation of the planetary ecosystem as well as some current events and even difficulties surrounding our efforts of data acquisition."

"Go ahead." I didn't want to let her know I was annoyed by this, but I had no choice to listen and wait patiently for the news, even though she decided to hold something dooming over me.

"Our long-range clairvoyance gives us the power to see the targets of those we want, either from a first-person visual perspective, or from a third-person immediate aerial perspective of the peripheral environment. This variance has allowed us to observe and see visual of what this world is like, as well as observe some visual details of the people on this planet. Because our clairvoyance also includes some sounds, we were also able to immediately identify that this intelligent species, while not currently as advanced in technology as us Altiri, is intelligent enough to use verbal language, of a dialect we do not yet understand. Two major points from this were the confirmation of a serious language barrier problem, as well as the present lack of potential psionic awareness, pending further study."

So then Hurma's concerns were more on point after all. This other species doesn't speak the same language as us, and if they are not even psionic in nature, they may never even be capable of becoming aware of us in the first place... "Please continue."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Very well. Using what verbal dialects we were able to congregate, we determined that some of the chiefs of tribes have most commonly referred to their planet by gross material, translating among other possible co-words. The planet surface itself is something quite amazing; there are many different eco-systems within the same lithosphere, tall mountain rages that have reduced temperature zones from thinner atmospheres, plenty of ice and snow in some regions, and a vast majority of the surface consisting of melted mineral water. The creatures however are land-dwellers, preferring a kind of climate that is hostile to our own bodily needs. Much of the land-surface of this planet consists of soil, dirt, mud, clay, and other ground that is suitable for supporting vast amounts of plant life, and so it does. The inhabitants therefore refer to their planet as the very floor in which they stand on; ground, clay; Earth."

"Earth?"

"It may come to pass that 'Earth' will be the chosen nomenclature of this planet by the natives there, in terms of majority, though this remains to be seen. Despite how things are now, it seems that there is more water on this planet than realized. Evidence of a coming ice age, followed by a continental meltdown is the current affairs of their world. However, as I have already stated, there are many zones within this planet that remain in a more heated environment, some places exceeding the 55 Nixus danger zone of temperature, while others apparently exceed a hundred."

"That sounds really dangerous."

"For us it would be," Ethsia agreed. "Our Altiri bodies are specifically designed only for the cold environments, while any proxima encounter with higher thermal energy would dry our skins out, drain all hydration from our bodies, and cause every internal organ we have to liquefy, except for bone. These humans on the other hand appear to thrive in a strange balance zone, favoring a mid-point zone of sixty degrees Nixus."

"Humans?"

"Another dialect we picked up, more common than 'Earth'. They refer to themselves by this strange term, humans, long variant of something called man. If you and I are referring to ourselves as Altiri, then their equivalent species name must be known to them as humans. We can therefore cease referring to this race as personiods, since they have aptly named themselves already, despite many variations from dialect difference."

"You keep saying dialect difference, as if there is more than a single language used on this world."

"That there is. The humans employ many unusual languages, alien even from each other on the same planet. We have seen that they are a primitive species, their technology level equivalent to how we were near the very beginning of our time, in Avion 2."

"Does that mean we found them at the beginning of their time?"

"Hard to say. Evidence currently mounts to suggest that these humans have been there for much longer, though any estimates are not well known at this time, even to their own race. They seem to be at a time in their era of cluster civilizations, disjointed classes of groups and families living separately in peace. While not unified, they are adept at their own abilities for hunting and survival."

How did I ever think I could teach them anything if they're so far ahead of me? I'm sure no lone aggressor group learned this much; all of what Ethsia is saying now is coming from all of us, combined, filtered, and revised to make more sense of the collective information. This is the power behind a Royal Scryer system, and how The Unity can learn so much so fast. "Is this the reason why my efforts to scan this planet were in vain? Was it all because I had yet to realize that there were actual information dead-zones all around the Earth planet?"

"Mostly. We are still just now learning that even some of the individual target humans that we want to use for clairvoyance are not easily compatible with the process of echo return data from thought dynamics, pending further study. Some of it may have also been combined with your rustiness in relearning an ability you've abandoned for a little too long, though you should fully recover this power if you keep at it."

"I see. So some of this is my fault, and some of it is not." Ethsia didn't try to correct or console me, only because I couldn't be more right. If ACS414 has super-heated zones of environmental heat where some humans do live, then it means those same humans would have a full immunity from our clairvoyant scans. Furthermore, if they prefer more heated environments than cold, then the larger civilized communities would probably flock to these dead-zones.

"The planet has an axial tilt, combined with a specific and mostly consistent star revolution and rotation that causes the eco-systems to undergo temporary yet consistent changes, providing seasonal weather which, depending on the time locked to each individual revolution, dramatically changes the average daily temperature of these zones. You in particular tried to target many of these zones during the planet's beginning of its warmest seasonal duration. I suppose you can chalk it up to bad luck if you want. In addition, their affinity to warmer climate also suggests that their psionic cores have yet to be developed, though, as I said before, this is pending further study."

"What regions of the planet should I have targeted instead?"

"There are many isolated pockets of cold space where smaller families or tribes live, and many more that are on the move, using their tools to hunt wild prey. Humans have to drink water just like we do in order to survive, but they also require additional nutrients not present exclusively in their atmosphere or water supply. They find, kill, and eat other animals to satisfy this required condition, some animals larger than them, others smaller, though very few if any of these animals appears as intelligent. As for your answer, Gaul and Kemet."

"Gaul and Kemet?"

"There is a vast open landscape of wild lands westward from a central region, a land many refer to as Gaul, among other names. This vast landscape appears to have the most balanced and tempered climate zone, so study of this place is not always available, but the space appears to have a wealth of human population, despite the fragmented density. I have also heard of a zone called Kemet, lying further eastward. Kemet is spoken by locals around the zone, though we have failed to see into the zone of Kemet in 100% of our efforts. The current theory is that Kemet is one of the hottest regions on the planet, blocking off all view we have of this mysterious land. This is about all we currently know about the density and spread of the land on this planet."

Ethsia certainly gave me plenty to take in. It seems that these humans can live in a wider variety of certain climates, and unlike regular animals, are intelligent enough to build basic tools and speak vocal language, more than one at a time, yet they have different survival requirements, very different from us Altiri. They don't sound anything like us at all, despite retaining basic shape and form.

"I'm personally curious to understand their language, as a means of better understanding their world through the indirect means of clairvoyant snooping. Their planet is clearly habitable for them, and even contains a few isolated areas that would technically be habitable for us, mainly the north and south polarity spaces of the planet's magnetic zone."

"That would be interesting, if ever we could theoretically reach them, which isn't possible, is it?" I really don't know anymore. Who knows if those rumors were actually true or not? I obviously missed a lot.

"We were able to confirm more than once, that the physical distance between us is even greater than we thought. Our solar systems are in fact so distant, that the light from each star would yet be visible to each other, even if magnified through a telephoto-lens thousands of spans the normal visual range. They don't appear to be advanced enough to reach the depths of outer space, and we don't have the technology to warp to the other side of the universe, if ever such technology could exist. The human race and we Altiri are therefore, two alien species to each other, which are destined to never meet. For reason of impossibility by technicality, the concern you brought with you today is easily entertained. We cannot be of any physical threat to ourselves if our arms never reach. Our eyes can see them, but their eyes only see forward. If we ever do decide to make contact with the humans, I estimate this would be tens of thousands of years into the future, if we ever do at all."

"You make it sound like you don't want to contact them, but that works just as well for me."

"Ignorance sure is bliss, isn't it Lumina?"

Finally annoyed at the evasions, I stood up so fast that the chair under me slid backwards, though I controlled what little anger was unleashed inside. "Ethsia? Stop dancing around the secret and just tell me already. All I've learned so far tells me nothing that would have changed my mind before. What damning detail would have everybody in such a strange shift?"

Ethsia studied me like some kind of experiment, though she didn't seem happy at all. "I won't tell you to sit, because what I tell you next isn't something I think you will take very well. As we continued our studies of the human race, we determined many other variations of biological differences within them as well, such as the fact that their aging cycles might give them extraordinarily shorter life spans, or that they have a harder time avoiding death than we do."

"Spit it out already."

"Do you remember the genetic glitch which gave birth to The Unity's greatest enemy, the same threat which brought about the fall of Zinod?"

I gasped, my body becoming colder than it already was. She wouldn't ask that question for nothing, because everybody here remembers the fall of Zinod, and how Legasso was the only one most responsible. Just recalling the detail makes my blood boil, simmering with a hint of sadness I could no longer remember. She should know not to bring this up! "Why would you ever bring that up now?"

"Because," Ethsia nodded with discern. "We never had any particular term for Legasso's genetic difference for the longest time. When he first became known, we looked up to him as a god. When he turned his lust for power into a blade cutting through all of us, we referred to him as an evil tyrant, a hostile person who wanted nothing but war and conflict. We referred to his kind as heathen in our language, not as a name meant only for him, but for all beings in the universe who dare share any similar traits to such a person. And as it turns out, the phrase 'man' in 'human' describes this exact same genetic difference, one that separates gender on a sexually divided level; male, and female."

"What are you saying? I know you don't actually mean—" I couldn't finish the thought. She was going into so much detail about heathens and the idea of heathenism that I wanted to just fall out on the spot, but my nerves were tightening too much for me to lose myself in panic. I instead fought the purge to punch a hole right through this steel wall.

"Every Altiri in The Unity, with exception to Legasso, is biologically female. Once upon an era, we used to procreate using a process within us since our very beginning, giving birth to more of ourselves without having to do anything required for birth. Based on currently observed body structures and other features of these humans, we have determined the presence of two sub-species within the same classification. The first sub-species is most similar to our own, female, in the sense that they may bare and produce more children, and with genitalia similar to our own once they remove their temporary armor. However, the second sub-species of these humans, appears to be biologically most similar to the traits Legasso once had. It gets even worse, because the similarities between the two are not entirely physical, but psychological in nature as well."

If Altiri had the ability to puke on command, I would have done so now from pure disgust. I had to hold my left hand against the wall, for I could barely stand any longer, my body trembling from the abhorrent and unexpected news. Is she saying there are heathens on this other planet too, descendants of The Unity's greatest enemy? "That can't be right. There must be some mistake!" My very breath became rapid, though Ethsia seemed to be expecting even this from me.

"After checking carefully, we have confirmed that a rather vast number of humans fit the category of both sub-species. While we are uncertain of exact population numbers, there are suggestions that state their population count may soon rival our own. In terms of distribution, it currently seems that about half of all humans are female, while the other are confirmed heathens."

This can't be right! This can't be right! I don't care how I must appear to her now; she must be mistaken! All of those humans, all of those lives down there, living among so many heathens, so many different versions of Legasso! Their world will be destroyed long before first contact can be made if this is true. How can there be so many copies of Legasso on another world?!

"We tried looking into the reason for this abnormality, and we are not yet certain of the significance of men on their planet. We do notice that the females do not procreate exactly the same way that we do, in that they do not become pregnant on their own, rather by means currently under investigation. That being the case, even if it is disgusting, I'm sure there is some reason." Even Ethsia, who has remained fairly monotone and professional all this time nearly spat through her teeth in her final word, having nothing more to say, and only the sensation of the news to reach for.

I cared not for her continued ramblings, for I already heard more than enough. "Heathens! Heathens! Heathens! All of them are heathens! All of them are just like the heathen that destroyed that world, that brought chaos and ruin to us all!" Every nerve tightened in my body. My teeth clenched in a threat to shatter the bones in my jaw. It was all the reminder I needed to see red, to hear his aggressive, spine twisting laugh, mocking all who were below him. "Legasso! He killed them! He killed them all! He killed my mother and everyone else on that world!" It was as if time all around me left the space, reality itself glitched and shifted between the moment of now and the moment I broke all those years ago. The amount of time since the fall of Zinod never mattered to anyone; always was it dangerously fresh on the mind, our strongest memory.

Before I knew it, it was like I was there all over again, witnessing the moment of doom on repeat, doom amplified into several fragments of time, since he caused so many to happen. The impossible sight of Zinod being blown into chunks of dead burning rock dominated most of our memories, and in its place where my mother should be, there is nothing left but hazy shadows, all information about her corrupted beyond recognition!

None of the Altiri would ever forget that moment in time, nor would we ever forgive that parasitic monster for what he did, his reasons never justified in all the brutality, in all the death, where Lady Q wanted only prosperous harmony. After all of that, Legasso died in the very same explosion, but he escaped a fate well deserved! That heathen should have survived long enough for us to torture him eternally, until he was a shell begging for death!

And now all of this? This alien world shows up, and it's populated by a bunch of evil heathens bearing the same marks as he? That's unfair! That's impossible! It's all unacceptable!

"Lumina?"

The voices of my past warmed my mind, clouding all surrounding us. All we knew in this moment of our reawaking and survival was death, the death we shall inflict upon any and all heathens of the universe! "I'll kill them! I swear I'll kill them." "I'll kill them all!" All I realized in the moment was that my thoughts began to escalate to the screech as far as my lungs could carry them. The loud crash beside us was the only noise which brought me back to my senses, just barely.

Ethsia's eyes were wide as I'd ever seen them, and she was staring at the destruction I let loose from my left arm. Only upon glancing to my side did I realize how much of my anger I let loose to the current moment, my hand the center of a massive hole collapsing from the damage to the structure. It seemed that I had unknowingly punched this wall in my rage, and as a result, broke a good piece of it into metal chunks lying on the ground. I would have normally apologized in shame immediately, but whatever I felt right now was still too intense, too strong for me to desire caring about the here and now... But after enough fast breaths, I seemed to find myself again. "I— I..."

Ethsia just sighed, so uncertain was I to guess what she was thinking. "It's alright Lumina. I need you to remember that the people on Earth are out of our reach. We couldn't kill all of their heathens even if we wanted to, though they could never touch us up here anyway. As upset as you are, what happened in the past is over now. I need you to stay level-headed at least, as we are not under any real threat of heathenism at the moment."

I couldn't help it Ethsia! I couldn't help it... Nothing I could say mattered anymore, for in my aggressive breathing, all I could do now was apologize in silence, as I trembled before tears anew, dropping from my eyes. Ethsia wanted to hug me as I stood here going from crying to sobbing, though she refrained from touching me, due to the hole I split into the steel wall. Though I could get only muffled sobs from my breath, nothing I said would ever make this okay. "I'm sorry Ethsia! He killed so many people! He killed my mother, and the friends of all my sisters too! I don't know what else to do."

Humiliated by my own display, I kept letting the tears soak my rough hands, haunted by every horrifying memory of the past I wished I could forget, and tormented by all the positive memories I wished I could remember. Too much changed that day, and I ceased being the innocent person I once was. Most of us Altiri are innocent in such conflict, but now our hearts rage with vengeance left burning eternal, our justice for those we lost never served duly. Legasso and anyone of his gender has ceased to exist in our present world for just over a hundred thousand years. I thought I would never see or hear about a live heathen ever again, but that new world of certain ruin is filled with them!

"That's the fourth time we've had to repair this wall. I know how you feel Lumina, but everything is going to be okay." Ethsia knew not to be surprised by this development. Most Altiri in this world have almost the very same reaction to this specific news. Others too have used violent outburst to deal with their repressed anger, and it would only break hands and bones to reinforce the wall any further.

How could I forget that I'm not the only one who feels this way? Still, the fact that I still can't deal with this without breaking down only proves I'm not any better than I was before. Sierra might have thought I've changed, but she couldn't be more wrong.

"Listen to me Lumina. There is zero shame in how you feel, and if ever you need even more people to talk to, we offer personal counseling here as well."

"Almost everything I ever cared about was taken from me Ethsia. So you tell me how in the world counseling is supposed to help any of us!" I can't ever feel better about this. In my last military training session, I broke down just like I did a moment ago, and the instructors were not so pleased by the display. How can I ever possibly hate heathens this much, enough to train killing them, if I can't hold my own composure together doing so? All those painful memories of the past keep flooding up no matter how much time passes.

"Being this upset isn't the problem. It's what you do in that moment that counts most. You can schedule training sessions any time you want; in fact, we're offering all Altiri expedited training to help them attain better control..." Ethsia was silent, perhaps realizing that I didn't care for her condolence, not coming from someone like her. "Or did you think people like me were immune from such distasteful practices of malice?"

What is she going on about? Ethsia was looking at me with the same face I made a moment ago, fighting back painful tears as she really spoke to me for the very first time today. "We're all just elite Royal Scryers to your aggressor groups. Our thoughts and feelings are supposed to be put second just for your sakes when conducting personal meetings, and you even go so far as to assume we don't feel the same way, that we are merely puppets and drones to our great queen. Even she is most distressed about the very same thing you just learned; it is the reason she is not making personal appearances."

It wasn't something I could put together right away, but I knew I should have felt bad now. Here she is, one of the infamous Royal Scryers, the most professional kind of Altiri in our entire world, letting her emotions project to me directly, proving that her heart is not made out of gold. Does the queen realize that her own policies force such separation of understandings like this? Does the queen understand that even those most loyal to her suffer as everyone else does?

No... Ethsia just let slip that the queen herself is getting a taste of the same medicine. If even our great queen is upset about the same news, then all it proves is that we are all the same; we are all important and one with each other, together, existing, unified.

When I lost control of my own anger last time, the only thing that brought me back were the voices of my sisters, forcing me to realize that I wasn't alone anymore. When that beautiful world blew up, all we had left was each other, our greatest instrument of all. Our hearts cry and sing together, always and forever. If I'm this bad at handling the situation, I bet the others are crying out in pain too. "My sisters!" I chanted, realizing where I should be right now. "I need to see them."

"You will soon. The meeting is almost over, I promise."

"They were all told the same, weren't they?"

Ethsia hesitated, standing stone still before nodding to confirm. "All of them are being told the same thing at the same time. As for what we discuss after, I figure that should be obvious too."

I realized only now why they wanted to separate us this way. What I just did, it wasn't my best display. Had I been standing next to my sisters, I may have accidentally hurt them. Otherwise, if I were in front of the queen, such a display would ill-suit me greatly, humiliating our entire team. Who knows how far our rank has dropped since? "You're just going to have to say it. Even if I can feel all your pain flooding my mind, you've walled off the rest of your thoughts."

"You made a big deal moments ago, about displaying the desire to protect the cultural interest of this alien world from our interference... Do you still hold that desire now?"

I wanted to ask how she could even wonder what my answer would be. It was still a curve I had not foreseen, and so I was left silently considering every vector and possibility. No matter what I thought about before, the impassible fact is that this alien world is tainted with evil, an evil most strong and potent, it shall spread to the entire sphere, consuming all that exists there, until that world is one day destroyed. "The heathens that are on that world will one day move to control their planet. Even if lots of females exist on that world, the proportion of heathens dwarfs those who might be innocent, unlike how it was in our world. Those monsters have already violated the sanctity of what could possibly be called a potential paradise, or intelligent life for that matter. I want nothing to do with ACS or its people. The world may destroy itself before long. If that happens, good riddance."

I folded my arms as I spoke, too certain of my words to take any of it back. I still feel the fires of vengeance burning in me so strong, how much I would love to land on that world, to slash and slaughter every last heathen until there are no more! It is a cursed world with a cursed future. Heathens retain within them an irredeemable evil which they will all pay for, whether I make them pay, or whether nature takes its own course for us.

"In fact," I continued, "why are we even discussing it? The world is tainted with heathens, so first contact protocols would automatically be out of the frame of possibility, would it not?"

"I would think so myself, but until I hear it from my great queen directly from her lips, such will not be ruled out. I surmise we will be in agreement with this once the queen has had such time to reflect on the matter."

It was a loaded answer I would have to accept, but only with the peace of mind we all needed. "Ethsia? If a single Altiri person tries to ever contact one of these heathens, especially to sympathize with one, well, you better be prepared to do something about it, as I will act first if none act quick enough."

"You know that would never happen. In the span of our entire history, I know I'll never live to see a day where humans and Altiri could ever get along, especially if it involves a single heathen."

"Glad we can agree on something..." I hope my sisters are doing okay hearing all of this.

"I know. Never would have thought the alien world would be so vile and untamed."

"Are you scryers even going to continue watching this other world?"

"I know that at least that much will be resumed by at least a select few. I think other aggressor groups may continue to watch as well, at their own discretion. It may be a while before we resume efforts though."

"Yeah..." I can't believe I was still holding in that much energy. I'm going to have to keep up with training, now more than ever, just to ensure I can handle myself in the presence of such a monstrous enemy. Still, I never thought I could agree so much with one of the Royal Scryers...

Ethsia was right, unfortunately. I and the others had this strange notion about them, that they were merely stuck-up Scions who only cared about raw information... They're all people instead, people just like us, people who feel pain and anguish despite masking it for their important roles. "I'm sorry Ethsia."

"It's okay... Are you going to be okay?"

Is it not so obvious? Ethsia was right on point; I have every right to feel this way, but I lack the control I need to harness that energy for anything greater than an outcry. "Not for a while." I was always like this, though I used to be worse. I don't understand why I forgot my mother, but when it happened, I guess I just lost all sense for who I was, and it took countless visits with Sierra until I was good enough to continue more days without my best friend... Huh... Looks like she won our little contest, but lost a bigger battle because of it.

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't worry about it." Guess Ethsia didn't have a clue who I was thinking about, but it's all for the best. I don't mean to gloat at all. I simply wonder what Sierra would say to me now, after we meet up again.