My Hermes System

Chapter 405: The Politics of Gods

Arms, weapons, a higher civilization-- all of those are meaningless in front of an absolute power. Thousands of years ago, they waged wars against each other. For territory, for food… for dominance. And by the end of it, on the brink of mutual destruction, they found peace with each other.

And never once did war show itself again to their doorsteps. There were hidden and secret conflicts that led to bloodshed, but not to the point where lives would be lost at the millions once again.

The war happened because one thinks they were better than the other. But in the front of a being that surpasses all their arms, their weapons, and their technology-- how would one even start a war?

Supreme Minister J'kub's mouth had been completely dry for almost a minute now; his eyes reflecting the screams and shrieks of the man being burned alive in front of a thousand people.

The thousand people, which one screamed for blood, were now completely sedated as they saw Governor S'thra struggling to get off the cross he found himself stuck on-- but alas, the only thing his struggle does is scrape off the melted scales that were slowly being ripped off from his body.

The smell was of a certain roast-- on any other occasion, or if one did not know what was being burned, then they would have definitely thought that it even smelled nice. But that thought circling in their mind almost made them want to puke.

"Everyone…" Van then spoke, his words echoing throughout not only in the plaza they were in, but in the nearby cities as all of the cameras were pointed at him, "...As you may already know, this man is responsible for killing the unborn child of the queen of Osiris. He deserved a fate worse than death, worse than even this…"

Van then pointed towards Governor S'thra, who was now no longer moving, "I could have been looking at all of you… and all I would see are creatures that should be killed."

Hearing Van's words made the quiet crowd even more silenced; some of them even held their breaths so as to not be noticed by the powerful presence in front of them. Most of them were already kneeling… as who would not, if you saw a humanoid floating from the sky?

"But this one act prevented what could have been a disaster to your people," Van then looked towards the direction where Supreme Minister J'kub and Vivati were sitting, "Your leader prevented a war that would have decimated your planet… but I am afraid that all of you are not safe yet."

"!!!" Supreme Minister J'kub immediately stood up from his seat as soon as he heard Van's words. He did everything that Van asked him to do, going against the wishes of his advisors as he truly thought that Van would let his people be… but what does he mean that they are not safe yet?

Is Van… going back on his words?-- Supreme Minister J'kub thought as his breaths slowly became fettered.

"Please relax, Supreme Minister," Queen Vivati then breathed out before Supreme Minister J'kub's face could become even more twisted, "You are about to hear something that would change the course of our history forever."

"W… what?"

"You may know me as an alien that came from outside the thing you call a Barrier," Van then continued his speech; his unusually long hair reflecting the fire still burning beside him, "But in truth, I am a Messenger-- and my message is something that the people of this galaxy should hear…

...There is a threat coming. If you are already scared of me, then you will be utterly terrified of them. My people call them the World Eaters… and I fear they are coming soon."

Van then continued to tell the people of Mizhra about the existence of the World Eaters. But not only them, but the rest of the other planets listened to him; and even as the ashes brought forth by the fire withered, his story continued.

***

"Are… all of that true?"

"Yes."

After the Governor's public execution, Supreme Minister J'kub had formally asked Queen Vivati for a meeting with Van to clear his doubts with what he just heard. If a race like that truly was coming, then the Common Circle should garner all of their militaries to build a force that was enough to drive them away.

"But, how do we know--"

"The father of my unborn child that your people killed is him," Queen Vivati's voice echoed throughout the large room that they were now in, "I am sure you know what that entails?"

"You… have his memories."

SM J'kub's back almost fell on his seat as he heard the confirmation from Queen Vivati's mouth. And after a short few seconds of trying to collect himself, he turned his attention to Van, who seemed to be discussing something with Ameera.

"King… Evans," SM J'kub then breathed out, "These World Eaters… they are a race of humans from another universe that have lived and advanced for millions of years-- doesn't that mean their technology is even greater than ours?"

"I would think so," Van then replied as he gestured to Ameera to stay, "Are any of you capable of turning ordinary rocks in space into habitable planets?"

"If they were capable of such miraculous things, if they are capable of giving life to a dead planet… should we really be seeing them as our enemies?" SM J'kub muttered, "Such a technology will bring forth more land for the people, endless land and food."

"Do you remember the debate our ancestors had a thousand years ago, Supreme Minister J'kub?" Queen Vivati was the one to answer J'kub's questions as she stood up.

"...Debate?"

"About the book, 'The Greatest Parasite'."

"...That's been debunked as the mere words of an environmenta--"

"The World Eaters are the greatest parasite, Supreme Minister J'kub," Queen Vivati did not let J'kub finish his words, "They terraform worlds and leech on their nutrients for thousands of years until the worlds die-- they expedite what should be an event that happens only in eons."

"..." J'kub remained quiet for a few seconds after Queen Vivati's words, but after a few more moments, he turned to look at Van, "You talked to us, King Evans. You're a being that is probably capable of wiping us out… but you chose to talk to us instead. What makes us really think that they can't do the same? We could probably find a path to--"

"Because I think of you as equals, Supreme Minister J'kub."

And before J'kub could finish his words, he was once again disrupted as the sound of Van's seat lightly screeched as he stood up,

"The World Eaters' first response to another species is to conquer them or kill them. What makes you think they would listen to people that might as well be a race of monkeys to them?"

"That may be true if it was only us… but we will have you as our leader, King Evans," J'kub did not stray from Van's eyes as he returned his gaze, "You are a literal god born from their universe and another, superseding their authority--"

"Authority? The reason I was born in the first place is that my mother ran away from them in fear," Van then let out a small chuckle as he headed towards the door, "Do you really think they would listen to a child?"

"...I still think there's a way for this to end peacefully, King Evans."

"Let us think of a way to pass through the Barrier first, Supreme Minister J'kub," Queen Vivati interjected, "If we really want to be seen as a threat enough to have a conversation with, we can't do it with just us…

...we need to connect with the worlds outside the Barriers."

"But the Space Force has tried for more than a thousand years and have been-- Wait, now that we have someone who was able to pass through the Barrier… then we could probably?"

"Yes," Queen Vivati then turned her head towards Van, who was about to leave the room, "If you allow us, King Evans… we wish to run some tests on you."

"W… wait, Queen Vivati. Are you sure that we should be talking to him about--"

"Okay," Van only shrugged his shoulders, "But I will only agree to it if you and Ameera are there, Queen Vivati."

"The tests will be done on my world, King Evans. You can be sure of that."

"I'll leave it to you, then," Van then said as he suddenly headed outside with Captain Ameera.

"He… he agreed that easily?"

"You are forgetting who I am, Supreme Minister," Queen Vivati then also started heading to the door, "King Evans and I are one and the same now… I will never do anything that would harm him."

"Wait… where are all of you going?"

"Your governor is not the only one that killed my child, J'kub," Queen Vivati breathed out, "The group called Scavengers…

...we're wiping them out from the face of the galaxy."

***

"I finally found your abode."

"...and you didn't even knock?"

"You have something of mine, I want them back."

In a sea of nothing but white; where the things that twinkled in the endless horizon were the ones to produce darkness… Evangeline stood; her every step, causing rings of shadows to ripple on the immaculate surface.

And in front of her, was a man… or perhaps a woman-- it was unclear from the thick and long hair that adorned the top of his head; but if Van was to be here, then he would quickly recognize him as the Man in his hidden memories.

"Oh, have we met before?" The Man said before he raised his hand and used some sort of stick to pick his teeth.

"You claim to not know me…

...and yet you're using one of my feathers to clean your teeth."