High Executor Walkins walked down the dark hallway with quiet apprehension. It was empty and silent, a welcome break from the frantic bustle of the past week. He mentally prepared himself one final time when he reached the end of the corridor.
‘This is the culmination of all our recent efforts. Doing it was necessary.’
Walkins was not the name that came to anyone’s lips when anxiety was mentioned, at least not as a recipient. Still, the stakes were much higher, given what he now knew. They really had been complacent for far too long. Even now, the entirety of their problems had not been revealed.
For a moment, he wondered why Mother had let them go this far before immediately dismissing that line of thinking. She had warned them about the folly of ideology. They hadn’t listened, of course. Not even with the promises they made her.
She had done the impossible and created justice in a world where there was none, why could they, her children, not do the same and take it even further, they certainly did not lack for power.
How foolish they had been.
He could just imagine the amount of smugness Joha must be feeling. It was a miracle she hadn’t called him to gloat. She had always been the most pragmatic of them. a trait he noticed she had passed to her daughter.
Though from what little contact he’d gotten with the girl, he worried for her mental health. Mother knows what Joha had put that chid through.
He realised he was purposely stalling his thoughts and sighed. If only his enemies could see him now. The great High Executor, Death Incarnate, brought low by a simple hearing.
‘Ha’, the image made him chuckle internally.
He finally reached the end of the corridor and entered the familiar walls of the waiting room. Only a single portal separated him from the High Congress now. He looked around the room whose insides he had not seen for a long time.
He had not missed this place.
Still, what truly captured his attention was the sole occupant of the room. She stared at him with cold eyes. But there was no anonymity, for which he was thankful.
Youija Everflame was perhaps the only person who was not a Lone Power that inspired as much terror as he did. The head of the Lasvanian Intelligence Organisation was not a woman anyone wanted to cross. Her department was also the one that worked best with the Executors.
Indeed, the combination of Walkins and Everflame was potent enough to make people consider their chances with the Lone Walker. Yet they had not seen eye to eye for a long time. Truly the pointless factionalism had brought nothing but chaos to the nation’s leadership.
Youija was a very active hawk that had always opposed the idea of overt diplomacy. That had, of course, put the two of them on opposite sides. He shook his head at his ignorance. Youija had always been more committed than him. She had even kept to her promise of not settling down, something almost all her colleagues had done at some point.
Still, working with her over the past week had been revealing. He knew at least some of what they uncovered would surprise even the Congress. Mostly, though, he was reminded of how well they worked together.
He gave her a nod of acknowledgement which she returned politely and stepped through the portal for the first time in decades
The Hall of Congress was a massive, imposing room designed to intimidate anyone unlucky enough to stand before its occupants.
That was if it could be called a room, of course. Walkins knew better than anyone that his fellows were nothing if not ostentatious. Which was why they had carved a piece of space and made it their main meeting hall.
He stared at the familiar red giant that tried to exert its gravity on the room. It failed of course, just like it always did. Stars were not particularly threatening at their level, though they did make for good decoration, he had to admit.
The room he stepped into was already full, with nearly every seat occupied by a High Senator. He stared at the crowd of the people at the very top of the country’s government. He saw faces that had not been seen in centuries and nodded to himself.
At least they were taking it seriously. More so than he expected. It had been a long time since so many Senators were seated in a single room, outside of the increasingly rare visit from Mother, of course.
He took his position at the centre of the room, something he did not particularly fancy. The senators sat on ridiculously large chairs, made of some unnecessary fancy material he couldn’t even name, that spread outwards in concentric circles.
The High Executor levied his gaze at the room filled with some of the most powerful people in the galaxy, all five hundred and ten senators in attendance. His eyes passed over them before settling on the person he wanted to see the least.
Gal Saurabh sat directly in front of him on a chair that was even more pretentious than the others. Walkins had seen throne rooms that were less grand. Still, having his former faction member staring at him like a judge was not something he particularly enjoyed.
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“The Speaker of the House calls the seventh stage four emergency meeting of the High Congress to order.”
The speaker, which was the only automated position in the High Senate, opened the meeting. Walkins still was not sure how to feel about it, particularly considering the position had been filled by a human the last time he was there. Not that it really changed anything.
“The House welcomes the First High Executor of the of the Republic of Lasvania to testify on the matter of recent acts of aggression towards our nation.”
Walkins closed his eyes for a moment then made his case to his audience.
“Ten thousand years ago, I was born in a small village. It was a rather unremarkable place, in an equally unremarkable kingdom. The entire region was ruled by spirit beasts and powerful sects. Most of the people in this room were not alive at that time, but for the few that were, I’m sure you know what it was like then. Both my village and I had rather dim prospects, and the possibility of becoming even a Neophyte was something reserved for the most powerful nobles. Today, there are few, both on this world and beyond, that do not shake at the mention of my name. Today that little village is called Cliver.”
He surveyed the High Congress; glad he had not been interrupted. Though he supposed letting him speak freely was a respect they had to at least afford him.
“I have been present for most of our nation’s history. In those early days, we burnt down sects and destroyed kingdoms. Our country did not reach its current position by pacifism, yet somehow, we deluded ourselves into thinking we could be different. That we could ignore the reality of the world and remain unchallenged as we have been for millennia. Our dominance on this world gave us a false sense of security, and we believed ourselves untouchable. After all, no one would dare to challenge Lasvania on its home turf. Yet today, we suffer the consequences of that mindset. Our investigations have revealed the extensive influence of both the Hycons and the Pertops on this world. Influence that has grown so much because of our inaction. Now, they conspire to steal the most talented Ascendant we have ever had from right under our sense. Members of the High Congress, such an affront is unacceptable. The time for us to act is now!”
He gave a nod to the direction of the speaker and readied himself for what he knew to expect. The initial testimony was always the easy part. It was what came next that he knew would test his patience.
The High Congress, as always did not disappoint.
“The First High Executor has finished his testimony. His words have been declared to contain no lies. The House will now question him for more details.”
As usual, the senators that would get to question him had already been decided, though they still attempted, rather pointlessly, to make it seem random. He doubted even regular people fell for it.
A chair on the second row to his left lit up brightly, indicating the senator who would be questioning him first. He vaguely recognised her as a rather rare variant of a cosmic dragon, though she chose to stay humanoid. She was in the public sector off-world the last time he heard of her. She was also a well-known hawk. A rather unsurprising fact, given that she used to run a department that oversaw wartime supplies and logistics for some lower worlds.
“Thank you for your speech, High Executor Walkins. I cannot say I disagree with it. Though I admit some of it caught me, as well as most of my colleagues I’m sure, off guard. Can you explain how the Hycons and the Pertops have been able to infiltrate our world. That is rather concerning, seeing as the Executors are supposed to work with the LIO to prevent this sort of thing.”
Straight to the point, Walkins thought. He could appreciate that approach.
“Good question senator. We believe their primary base is in the Marman Kingdom. We even have evidence that they helped the Five to create their personas and reach the upper ranks of High Cultivation. The operated through agents that have been here for at least eight thousand years. We have always known that the Five got some help to reach their levels, but all evidence pointed to influence from the Marman Kingdom to the North and thus outside the scope of of our investigation. Homebase intelligence did not discover anything outside regular on world politics and were thus, forbidden from interfering by the 30th amendment.
“Further spread of their influence was considered ambitious expansion by the Marman King. Homebase intelligence raised the alarm on the issue before but all their efforts were blocked by the lower chamber. The presidency eventually shut down the investigation and declared the matter outside the purview of the Lasvanian state. The High Congress did not deem it fit to intervene.”
“How extensive is this influence, really?” the dragon asked. She sounded genuinely concerned now, which made Walkins satisfied .
“From what we have discovered, about seventeen countries are under the direct control of the Hycon proxy in Marman. Several more have been heavily influenced. The Pertop presence is less pervasive, but we have still found evidence of them in at least five countries. There have been attempts to establish roots in some of our allies, but so far, those attempts have been met with failure. We have a more extensive list in the LIO report.”
“Alright thank you. That will be all.”
The questions moved to different people, some of them known hawks, and some of them pacifists. Most seemed particularly concerned about the extent of the foreign influence. Not that he could blame them. An ambitious Marman king was relatively harmless in the grand scheme of things. Both the Pertops and the Hycons, however were galactic powers that could actually pose a threat to Lasvania. That they had been given free reign for so long was unacceptable, something even the most peace loving Senators could not dispute.
He could see the moment Saurabh realised that the hawks would get their way. He hoped she would at least acknowledge the necessity of it. After hours of questions, most pointless, they Senate dismissed him to finally take a vote.
Though he knew the outcome already, he still felt a little nervous. He would need to take drastic actions if they somehow decided to not act swiftly.
An unnecessary worry that turned out to be, much to his relief. At the end of the day, the vote came to a whopping four hundred and fifty to ten with fifty abstaining.
And thus the chains restraining all the arms of the Lasvanian hard power were released. The beast that had awakened however briefly to deal with the tremanns had risen to its full height.
The results were announced to the public and the news spread like wild fire throughout the planet and beyond.
Resources were marshalled, Executors were recalled and permissions were signed into action. After centuries of relative peace, the world of Andrea was about to be turned upside down once again.
In the dark of the night, shortly after the votes were concluded, a voice whispered into the night. It was a rather sad voice, like a mother worried for her children, and most did not hear it. But for those powerful enough to understand, a chill passed through their collective spines. For it had been a long time since that voice had spoken so publicly.
“AND SO, IT BEGINS.”