The Phalanx's exclusive use intranet was accessed by Ilu Nla's generals. Users became fluorescent tesserae. Entering that virtual microsphere was like coming across the red screen of a Playstation 2. A tunnel of green binary codes appeared, spinning at high speed like a crazed particle accelerator.
The tesserae plunged into the tunnel and arrived at a reality like a lithograph by Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher. A colorful, vivid reproduction of the Waterfall. An aqueduct and a mill connected to a waterfall that subverted every notion of modern physics. Its waters flowed upwards.
It contained within it a walled citadel with rounded roofs in the style of Amalfi. The flora was made up of giant mosses that grew wild around the building. Stone-stepped hills lined with shrubs remained unbalanced. Above the octahedrons of the Waterfall towers, the tesserae stopped.
The cyan-colored one with silver details communicated with the other two, an obsidian tesserae with bronze details and an emerald one with gold details:
Cyanite tesserae: U2FsdGVkX19M0oMEdoRnTCwKz2vPaCObivRnOfa1lNjF7d0xaqYdVHwz61x8l5o1
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Obsidian tesserae: U2FsdGVkX19d8+rPPVCqLMHO1x6gUzBFCfYrpsVXHII6Qg2INssSuzdSwur/iayM
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Emeraldine tesserae: U2FsdGVkX1/4p2swapSRXtCv/d/gJa8SZWPbC/rPwYzwGnZb7FtGhFzSBEEZR7QQ
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This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
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Cyanite tesserae: U2FsdGVkX18CEpMggjh51aMiOtWgQ2UpgbHR89246w7oOTnQrDR+zE9VMEWYchpN
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Obsidian tesserae: U2FsdGVkX1/wnYeCEuHLi7LJxyvZJflrmQLi9FnxKPV5PVu3Jya3jkeJps0rEBir
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Cyanite tesserae: U2FsdGVkX199qrk/k1rf+Ojc9gA0Jo259RgpnYYciH8A6yUNqi6iyLjWgTJ32a95
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Obsidian tesserae: U2FsdGVkX1/L2vJKH70WjvaACinOzgc8QoJ1Qe7qUeU9L2JnyftHyyqE2b+GAEO7
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Cyanite tesserae: U2FsdGVkX1+LhuS/iLJaObFPoEmnQo+irKDduy4LGH32HwL8FheWIpji99bTOIZK
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Emeraldine tesserae: U2FsdGVkX1/XnnOpWAOqDvZ6eNmW7mEVzfJXLAF6NkXE+f6utQvsyiCAArb19Imo
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Obsidian tesserae: U2FsdGVkX1+9PVRlv6N2tQ96F1MPaE5HPritvevkgh8OfkFC0StbwS1RYfqhGz+x
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Emeraldine tesserae: U2FsdGVkX1+btNEy311N9m6z7nY7IlY7hSNRJgSdkHb364KZFLhu4m4N0twDQRg4
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Obsidian tesserae: U2FsdGVkX19OaTwVwC5+oszyZTWD730MIZwDEh9OMZai7/27yl0p0Sl43TX1dLL4
Cyanite tesserae: U2FsdGVkX1+M1SYFV+TANn0LtLkr9cDh70edIu3hZzaQ8cCO/rij8FHILIJC8xNy
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After the cyanite tesserae evanesced into thin air, the other two continued to float around each other. Then they followed suit.
The members of the Phalanx had made up the Royal Guard. They had risen to these positions through the cybernetization of the Ilu Nla Armed Forces. They competed for the preference of the royal house and won. The Circle of Sages, once considered the Voice of the King, was now nothing more than a secondary institution.
The government started investing in cybernetic troops. Transhuman soldiers with capabilities far above normal, capable of operating in extreme conditions. Men and women bio-sculpted with DNA editing. A new type of soldier never seen before, thanks to technology from Ojwang. Weapons accepted and technology desired.
The Phalanx had the most advanced cybersoldiers of their generation. They were devoted to the strange cause of Ojwang, who had emerged as a scientist who was too influential in the affairs of state. Now he was no mere minister, but the head of state and the armed forces, with the institutions dissolved and his iron hand moving the puppets in Ilu Nla.
On the chessboard, his generals were the equivalent of a queen. They could move wherever they wanted, but they had to obey and protect the king. Nothing new on the front, that's what wars are made of.