Chapter 193: Chapter 58: What goes on in the shadows
Floating in a sea of darkness, Brakagi scanned around the environment around him and sought to find any sense of familiarity and normalcy, only to fail and retreat into the dark again and again. There is nothing around him, and he could see and feel nothing.
In the deadly quiet, there is only his thoughts.
'What.....where.....how.....why...'
Four questions came in one after another and brought him sharp headaches with their grandiose arrival. Even that is too much for him to think about, as if he was trying to move around in the dreams of a lousy speaker. Anything too sharp is only going to result in him cutting himself.
Then, a crack of light formed in the darkness.
The crack grew outwards like the web of an ecstatic spider, extending out from it's random point of origin and crawling towards Brakagi until he is fully surrounded and engulfed by it. Then, the head of Senator Zender poked through.
'What...what has happened...' Brakagi asked, 'why are you here...'
'What was the last thing you remembered?' Senator Zender asked.
'I....' The presence of Senator Zender in this space brought a strange sense of grounding to Brakagi which he appreciated. Then, his eyes widened and his hair stood up, 'artifact avatar mode...what did I do?'
'You don't know?' Senator Zender asked, his image staying so close to Brakagi, yet his voicing sounding so far.
'I only went into it once, and...it was just too unstable to be controlled by me right now...' Brakagi said painfully, 'ironic, right?'
'Ironic indeed.' Senator Zender said, 'but we have managed to contain you, so all you destroyed is a gas giant.'
'My people?'
'We have got them.'
'...'
The two shared a rare silence. Both presented an aggressive and dominant outward image for their dreams. And yet when the two came to face one another, they both elected to remain quiet and observe one another for the time being. However, within the heads of the two, ideas flooded and thoughts raced.
'Have I lost?' Brakagi asked at last.
'What do you mean?' Senator asked back, 'the fight, or your goals of creating a new Olympus?'
'...' Brakagi looked down at his hands, and the very own that laid down the destruction to the original Olympus system.
'What are you going to do?' Brakagi asked.
'I am going to win the election, with your help.' Senator Zender said with a bright smile, 'but I am not going to tear down New Olympus at all.'
Looking up at Senator Zender intrigued, Brakagi's eyes had a strange mix of regret, hope and sadness.
'I know what you have done to Olympus B, but...' Senator Zender shook his head, 'responding to destruction with more destruction makes no sense. Instead, I can promise you that the Rockies on Geb 4 will carry on with your legacy.'
'You are not going to tell the galaxy the truth about Falling Star?'
'There is no benefit for me.' Senator Zender shook his head, 'In exchange, you and your artifact user friends will be working for the greater good of us all.'
'And that involves working for you, just like all the others?'
'Partly.' Senator Zender said, 'it's not like I am asking you to sacrifice your lives or anything. It's an easy deal to make. You get to keep whatever you have built, and all you will say to the public is that you are medically retiring and transferring your duties to whoever's next.'
'I will deal with the Galactic Governments on my end.'
'...It's not like my opinions matter anymore.' Brakagi said bitterly, 'the words of a loser are no words at all.'
'Perhaps.' Senator Zender said, as his image inside Brakagi's mindspace began to fade, 'well come to the new galaxy, Brakagi.'
Opening his eyes, he found himself surrounded by Caliditas, Jozzor, Vindy, Hong Fu and Miss D.
They were all worried, and they have been waiting for him to wake up.
Turning away from the table, Zero lets go of his hand from Brakagi's body and asked Lady Lily besides him, 'the simulation is all online?'
'All done, for all of them.' Lady Lily nodded, 'and the reeducation should be done soon.'
'Good.' Zero said, cracking his neck as he walked out of the medical wards, 'now that this is over, perhaps it's finally time to deal with the aftermath of it all.'
In the meanwhile, the bearers group together in another room around Rydel and his heavily injured left hand. He has been awake for a long while, and yet his left hand is still fresh with pain. Occasionally, pulses of artifact energy will shoot out, making Rydel twitch with pain as if a wound has tore itself open.
Valerie and Alrith are on each side of Rydel's body holding onto one hand each for him while the rest of the bearers sat around in various places quietly.
'...If I may say so...' Finally, Elmyra was the first one to draw everyone's attention, 'have we really done the right thing? Can we know?'
'Nothing is as black and white as we want it to be, right...' Rydel murmured, 'have we just taken away the hope of all of those people on New Olympus?'
A hologram flickered up in the room, and it featured Zero as Senator Zender making a speech to the public. Within it, he declared that he has confronted directly with Brakagi and made him admit his intrusion and assault on the GBI. However, he will not be arrested by the Galactic Government on the grounds that the GBI had indeed interfered in prior Rocky politics. Instead, Senator Zender has received the blessings of the Rocky president to carry on his legacy in his stead and in the upcoming galactic election.
A new age for the galaxy is about to arrive, and it will be one of unprecedented prosperity not just for the humans, or the Aquarians and Rockies, but for all three species.
Then, the image of Brakagi appeared, and another passionate speech is made to the public, confessing his mistakes and offering his blessing to Senator Zender.
The bearers shared a glance with each other before going into deep silence again. There is no saying what Zero will do now, and the bearers will be hard pressed to trust him fully in the future despite their two recent efforts.
'Let's get out of here.' Ol said before Zel stood up from his seat and opened up a portal into his pocket domain through which all of the bearers have walked through.
Like before, all that the bearers can do now is to watch from the shadows. If Absolute Being is up to no good, it will be up to them to put a stop to it.
This is the first of many victories for Zero, and it is highly unlikely that he will stop there. In fact...his story is just beginning.
The galaxy continued moving forward in time, and the Galactic Election arrived as expected. Senator Zender, for his efforts in not only rescuing Olympus Prime as well as dealing with Brakagi, have gained supports for the majority of the public, as his ventures made an extremely compelling story for Zero's people in the media.
Dr Dorry May rallied few support from both her previous relationships with the Big Ten as well as from the public for her slow reactions to the Falling Star event, which is now deemed as nothing more than an unfortunate cosmic anomaly. General Kuviar didn't make or lose any grounds, though the very first move of Senator Zender after being elected as the chief senator was to make a move on the GBI, driving a reforms and releasing previous records of their interference in various events.
In those released files, all were exposed apart from those relating to artifacts or artifact users.
Then, in an unnerving meeting between Cellica and Zero in the middle of the GBI headquarters, Zero and Lady Lily laid down everything they were planning for the galaxy.
'We will wait until the last artifact user is with us, and then we will march onto the greater universe.'
'How does that sound, Chief?'
'Chief?' Cellica asked before Zero pushed over a badge forward.
'Yes, Cellica Uleric, Chief of the GBI.'
Her body frozen and her eyes still. Cellica didn't know what to do with this information as Zero and Lady Lily stood up before leaving the tiny office. Her office is about to get a hell of a lot bigger.....that's for sure.
Looking out towards the edge of known space, the barrier and the darkness surrounding the bubble of space around all of them are thinner than ever, and Torelamri had also contacted her earlier about the impending end of the countdown.
Taking intelligence from everyone together, there had already been 19 artifact users around.
Rydel, Valerie, Ol, Torelamri, Alrith, Cellica, Elmyra, Zel, Sadie, Lady Lily, Sir Deva, Zero, Miss D, Brakagi, Jozzor, Caliditas, Vindy, Hong Fu, Anozee...
Cellica wondered what would happen when the last one appeared. Would the galaxy ever be the same after that day? Would the truth regarding the danger that she has been feeling since day 1 be revealed?
What really lies beyond the boundary....?
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