--- Xal'gul and the Lumarian Council. ---

We had placed ourselves before the large projector. Ter'ghal, Rash'ral, Tri'tal, Wesh'ra and myself. It had been around two months, Earth time, since our occupation. Standard Moderator procedure indicated we make contact with an Administrator of The System. The problem with this lay in the fact the Administrator for this sector of the Galaxy was also the one who inducted my kind into The System before we became Moderators of any real standing. Back when we had been harmonious beings who wished to debate and watch the steady ebb and flow of time.

I came to attention, as did the rest of my kind on Earth as the communication hub came to life. There stood our Administrator. The Ixian, nothing alive save The System and the Master knew the creatures real name. We called him what his species was called initially before he killed the rest of his kind to ensure he became The System Administrator. All Administrators were required to be the sole surviving member of their species before The System granted them that honor. Even to become a Moderator Species needed you to have less than five-hundred of your kind left living before The System offered it to you. Before any of us could rise to a grade two Moderator, we would have to cull another two-hundred of our kind before the option became available. It was a cruel system of loss and pain. One that we of the Council felt was not yet worth it to accomplish. Instead, we sought to induct new species and planets into The System to stave off further culling by the ever hungry Ixian.

The monster that was The Ixian looked upon those gathered, a sneer curling along its reptilian snout before he spoke in its hissing language. "Your progress is slow, as always you filthy little cretins. Why do the Humanoid water-bags residing on Earth still maintain such a large population outside of the Games? Must I come and interfere myself?"

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Alarm swept through us all at the thought, our natural luminescent bodies shifting toward purple. Ter'ghal, our Council head spoke. Her voice was calming most of us, though all maintained a tinge of the purple of fear. "No, my Lord Ixian. Forgive our slowness in culling Humanity. We are awaiting another uprising before beginning again. Fear from our last culling has kept them mostly in the dark. We know of another movement that will begin soon though."

The beastial creature regarded Ter'ghal, a slender serpentine tongue licking along the bottom of the beast's jaw. Hunger was flaring to life as he regarding our leader. The Ixian loved to feed on our kind, had frequently told us we tasted like pure souls. "I care not for your excuses, little morsel. Begin culling them further, or I will arrive and cull you all."

He cut the transmission then, and we began deliberations. Our choices would determine which population on Earth would perish to meet our quotas yet maintain a steady stream of Players to feed The System itself. "We must cull more! We cannot let the butcher kill more of us before we are ready to ascend toward the second grade Ter'ghal!" The angry voice of Rash'ral cut in, ever an instigator and violent member of our kind. To be fair, he had been on the front lines as the single Ixian systematically butchered our race, he had seen his family devoured before his very eyes.

"Soon, Rash'ral. Humanity, at least those on Earth, must come fully into The System before we can begin. Killing them too soon will gain us nothing. "Ter'ghal responded. With that our deliberations continued, all while I was checking in on my 'Chosen Warrior' for The System. Time would tell if my plans panned out. Tomorrow the Humans would begin sending messages to the Players, or they should. Perhaps I will make a stop at his mothers, a personal visit.