Bodhi raised a hand. ‘Furthermore, if the Sari intend to Drain Saria’s star, why would it affect Tera’s star, which is an echo of Bale’s star? After all, Bale’s star and Saria’s star are two different stellar systems.’

Pana smiled. ‘I’ll answer the second question first. Because of their short distance of separation, parts of the two star systems have already merged, as I’ve mentioned before. From the Tela’s perspective, the Bale and Saria star systems are presently almost the same unit. A massive nexus event in Saria would involve Bale as well.’

Alwana nodded, ‘I see.’

‘To answer the first question, there is such a machine in our Solar system. It’s in the Mysterious Coliseum in Ares. I confirmed it after I applied the spells, with the aid of my Baleian darkling Sorcerers, that enabled me to see through the Ares Coliseum portal.’

‘Really? Who built it?’ Alwana asked.

‘The Teran Anachronistas during the Great Dark Shift. Some of them came from technologically advanced civilizations where it was normal for them to drain their stars of matter in order to delay their transformation into red giants. They thought it would be a good idea to do the same thing to our Sun. They used dark energy from slain darklings in the Dark War to power it up. It’s designed to establish a random Connection to a star-system in another realm that contains another Star Drainer, and that turned out to be Saria where MDEs were also creating a machine that happened to be an echo of it. The Anachronistas decided to build it in uninhabited Ares to keep it away from Tera in case things went sour; one never knows what exactly will happen when one is establishing Connections to other realms. They De-occurred before they could use it. During the reality shift that accompanied their De-occurrence, I deduced that the machine somehow merged with the Coliseum in our present. It’s one of the pyramidal thingies in the Ares Coliseum.’

‘How do you know that? You’re in Bale, not in Ares.’

‘When I built the Portal used in your Summoning 6 months ago, it opened into the Ares Coliseum beside the Star Drainer machine there, probably because that machine was already linked to the one in Saria in this realm. I actually wanted my Portal to lead to Tera itself, but the inter Portal path punched through the weakest part of the Tela, which is the Fold between the Saria and Ares Star Drainer machines.’

‘You’ve been one busy girl, Pana,’ Aya commented admiringly.

Pana nodded. ‘Now here’s the crux. The Sari designed their Star Drainer in such a way that it would release their star’s matter into Tera in our realm. The Star Drainer pyramid in the Mysterious Coliseum in Ares would in turn drain our Sol’s matter to this planet Bale. In so doing, both Bale and Tera would be destroyed.’

‘What!’

Pana smiled. ‘So you see, my summoning you here is of colossal importance to Tera itself. We need to screw up the Sari’s plans.’

‘Why the heck would they want to destroy Tera? How do they even know there is a Tera?’ Alwana asked.

‘They know of the Teran system because that’s where their mirror Star Draining operation will occur; and they have apparently been studying it for years through advanced Dark Arts. They want to destroy Bale because they fear darklings. They always attack and destroy any darkling-controlled world in this realm that they encounter, and in any other material realm that they come into contact with. I don’t blame them. Terans would do the same in the Milky Way if they develop sufficient space faring capabilities. They want to destroy Tera because they apparently believe the Anachronistas lost the Dark War and that darklings now control our planet. I have no idea how they came to that conclusion; maybe their Dark Arts spy techniques on our realm went awry.’

‘How do you know so much about the Sari?’ Bodhi inquired.

‘Actually the Sarian voluntarily introduced herself to me. I’ll tell you about it later. To answer the technical aspect of your question, Father could penetrate through a Deceptive Disguise if he cast the proper spell over a suspect, although it takes a few minutes of effort. All MDEs could do the same. I believe that Father applied such a spell in the programming of Luto’s knife, which is how Luto got the ability in the first place. It’s not generally well known but Salig Commandos like me were also spell-programmed with that ability, just in case we encountered hostile Disguised agents in our infiltration missions. In my case, I’ve discovered that if any part of my gauntlets come into contact with a person in Deceptive Disguise, it emits a vibration that I can feel.’

Alwana had a surprised look on her face. ‘You never told us that!’

‘I lost the memory of how to wield this ability, although I do know that Gisaligans like me in theory came with a complete package of weapons both for combat and for spycraft, including this particular talent.’

Oisa straightened up on her chair impatiently. ‘Now that you’ve told us the general objective, how exactly are we to carry it out?’

‘We go to Saria via a Folded Connection my contact’s organization made.’

‘Huh?’

‘In addition to having the capability of doing Deceptive Disguises and draining stars, the Sari can make Telar Incremental Drives and Folded Connections. They seem to have been visiting Bale for hundreds of years, secretly. For them, it’s not that difficult to come here by Telar Incremental Vehicles and establish Folded Connections.’

Oisa drew out a breath. ‘I should have expected that. OK go on.’

‘Once in Saria, we go on standby near the Star Drainer. When the Sari commence the Star Draining spell, we hack it so that matter from Saria’s star erupts in the outer regions of the Teran solar system where it can’t do harm to lifeforms. Automatically, the material from our own Teran Sun will get released in the outer regions of the merged Saria-Bale star system.’

Bodhi stared at Pana. ‘You mean to tell us that we’re supposed to travel to an alien world where we don’t know anyone. Then somehow infiltrate what must be a heavily guarded project by a million year old civilization.’

‘The problem isn’t insurmountable,’ Pana said encouragingly. ‘As I’ve mentioned their present civilization rose up only ten thousand years ago, following their last catastrophe. Moreover, as I’ve implied, there is already an existing organization in Saria that wants the same thing we do.’

It took the four Arch Wings a few seconds to digest these facts. ‘OK, don’t look smug, Pana. Explain further,’ Bodhi told her.

“I first Occurred in Bale as part of an anomalous darkquake. Yes, darkquakes also happen here, but Bale’s resident darklings don’t like any rival groups barging in and have formed a highly efficiency planetary organization similar to the WDF to terminate them, named Alien Darkling Affairs. The Bale Hierarchy functions as their Veiled Commission.

I was lying in a shallow cave up in a mountain cliff. Blood was smeared all over the walls and floor. I was disoriented and instinctively crawled over to the cave’s entrance.

The first thing I saw outside was that of a group of darklings in combat formation flying from a camp on the mountain’s slope near me toward an unorganized rabble of another group of darklings below me. Human reporters with caps marked ‘Press’ were taking videos from the camp where the organized darklings had come from. That had me weirded out. The darklings also had appendages that looked as though they were modified tentacles. I did not know what to make of the scene.

Knowing that darklings can sense my avatar nature, I transformed to my Child Aspect. The human-associated darklings attacked. Two or more of their high Dans would hit a single hostile high Dan simultaneously. An enemy low Dan would be attacked and terminated by a single high Dan or several low Dans. They were well organized, and they actually carried firearms and RPGs. The battle finished a lot quicker than the ones fought in Tera by human MDEs. That is in just a few minutes rather than one to four days.

Afterward a darkling Adept flew to me. He had spotted me earlier when he shot an enemy darkling in midair near my perch. I was ready to Transform into my Arrow Form.

‘Hey kid, what the hell are you doing up here in a darkquake battle zone?’ The darkling flew inside the cave.

‘Damn!’ He was gesturing at all the blood. ‘Those you’re companions? You from the village near the camp? Stupid human kids, always climbing into trouble. See, your friends just got eaten by those alien darklings. You a defective Esdi? How the hell did you and your friends get up here?’

I was so surprised that my mouth must have hung open. The darkling was speaking in perfect Esperanto and was evincing no hostility.

I told him the simplest answer. ‘I don’t know, sir.’

‘You must have climbed up the trail up the cliff. Whatever. OK, I’m about to grab you and fly you over to the camp. Listen now, kid; if you struggle, I’ll just drop you off this cliff. I’m doing you a favor as it is.’

He then grabbed me and flew me to the camp. I did not offer much resistance because I was still confused and astonished that a darkling was actually trying to help me.”

The Archs’ mouths did hung open in astonishment. Pana grinned.

“The camp resembled the ones the WDF sets up near darkquake zones, with all the tents and buzzing human activity. Except that darklings clearly controlled the camp. They would issue directives to large humans that I later learned were called Kempatay, who then would order smaller humans around- you know, the Esdi.”

‘So you just woke up in a cave up a cliff?’ Bodhi interrupted. ‘How did that happen?’

“I’m not sure; although I strongly suspect that some Baleian cult actually summoned me in some dark ritual that also triggered the darkquake. I can’t ask them for details because my summoners got eaten by the darklings the darkquake brought in.”

‘OK. So what happened next?’

“The darklings in the camp mostly ignored me, but the first humans to see me backed off in disgust at my ugliness. They later detained me for being an abominable mestiza, a hideous crossbreed between a Kempatay and an Esdi.”

The four Arch Wings laughed. Pana glared at them. “Shut up, do you want me to continue?”

Sure dear,” Aya said. “It’s just we’ve never heard anyone in Tera call you ugly.’

Pana grimaced, and continued.

‘‘When I first arrived here, I was mistaken to be a defective Esdi that had somehow lost most of her memories. The humans here are echoes of Teran humans, and essentially belong to the same species, but I don’t look exactly like any Baleian, which proved to them I was a defective. Our features are similar to the typical Antiguan, which is like a cross between Esdis and Kempatays. My hair is colored distinctly yellow with a tinge of red, and that doesn’t exist here. Esdis have hair that resembles bleached fiber; the Kempatays’ are jet black. I was assumed to be a hybrid mestiza between the two races and that’s regarded as an abomination. So when I got captured the Baleians automatically sent me to the fighting pits as a defective Esdi.’’

‘Damn! You were a gladiator?’

‘Yes. I was known as the Coliseum Ugly and the Devil of the Gladiators for my looks and prowess.’

The four Arch Wings laughed again. Pana threw dagger looks at them.

‘Sorry dear,’ Aya apologized.

Except for their disgust at my face, I was treated quite well. The law also mandated that anyone that fought in the contests was to be treated with respect before an event that could be her last. I was even asked who my closest relatives were so they could acquire my personal possessions when I died. I told them I did not have any, and my handlers left it at that. They seemed happy because it cut down on their paperwork.

Next day, I was brought to the nearest town from the darkquake zone. I was pushed into a caged rink together with a dozen defective Esdis and four criminally condemned Kempatays. No one had any weapon. It was a hand to hand scenario.

With so many darklings around, including some in the audience, I had decided to maintain my Child Aspect. As you probably have guessed by now, the darklings forbid the creation of avatars and the training of Sealed human MDEs, as they could become rivals. I did not know how Baleians would react to me if they found out I was an avatar. Now in my Child or Beauty Aspect, I am unarmored, but I still have nearly all the strength and speed of my Arrow form. These Aspects could be deemed as elaborate masks, similar to Deceptive Disguises, except that they are real intrinsic parts of me, designed to fool people into thinking I am human.

I thought it was the end. I knew my programming prevents me from directly harming or killing humans. What I did was the simplest strategy. I ran and ran from fights, until only two of my opponents were left, who unsurprisingly were two powerful Kempatays. They apparently had made a silent agreement to terminate me before they squared off.

One of them positioned himself in front of me; the other behind. Then they rushed me.

I scooted out of their incoming bodies. They inadvertently collided. I used that distraction to jump up the back of one of them, piggy back. I grabbed his head and snapped his neck at C-2 C-3 level, paralyzing his diaphragm and chest muscles. The remaining one tried to grab me. I ducked and jabbed him in the solar plexus. As he doubled over in pain, stepped to his side and I punched him again on his temple. I did not have a gauntlet on, but even with my bare fist, I have the power to fracture a human skull and mash the brain inside. He fell down, with a fatally squashed midbrain.

The crowd was stunned into silence. Then a roar rose. ‘Ugly, Ugly, Ugly.’ That moniker stuck in my later fights.

I was stunned too. I had killed two humans. Apparently our programming prevents us from killing Terans, not humans from other planets. Nevertheless my mind and body felt terrible after the fight. I excused myself into a bathroom and vomited out all of my stomach juices.

Afterward, my prime handler, the surprised owner of Bato Company, had me spar with his best gladiators. We used all sorts of weapons or none at all. A handful would be regarded as extremely good, even better than Alogostani frogmen commandos. These people were bred for physical prowess after all. But of course any avatar would best them easily. I exerted just enough effort to beat them but not injure them.

The format was ideally suited to me. We were paired against another Bulang-Tawo Company. Each Company would send in a fighter that would fight each other with a weapon chosen randomly before each fight. The winner would face the next fighter from the opposing Company without a break. After all the designated fighters from one Company had died, the Company with the surviving gladiator was declared winner.

I requested Bato that he save me for the last, as it would be best to have me fresh near the endgame of the Company duel. My real reason is that I feared that killing more humans would incapacitate me or drive me insane. Unfortunately Bato’s fighters were a lot worse than our opposition. The 49 designated fighters ahead of me got killed. I still had to face forty straight humans that day, Esdi and Kempatay alike.

I killed them all, quite easily. Given any weapon- sword, mace, shield, spear, trident, knife, shuriken- I simply used my preternatural speed and strength to score a direct hit on their heads. Nothing like those fanciful martial arts movements you see in TV fights. Thrice I was given a bow and arrow. I found out that I could not shoot my opponents. My hands trembled and I could barely hold on to the bow. They shot at me of course. I dropped my bow, batted their arrows out of the air with my hand, walked over to them, and bashed their brains in with my fist. After every two or three fights, I would slink off to a corner of the arena and retch and vomit my guts out, before facing the next fighter. After I killed the last opposition fighter, I exited as quickly as I could, and promptly collapsed into a coma. Fortunately I woke up just as Bato was carrying me in his arms to a nearby private hospital across the coliseum. I would not answer any of his questions as to my odd behavior and bodily reactions, except to say I will give him the success he desired, as long as he stopped questioning me and if he makes sure I fight as few humans as possible.”

‘Damn! You were in hell, Pana,’ Aya interrupted.

“Yes I was. The guilt of killing humans gnaws in my chest like a rat eating my innards until now. But there was a silver streak in all my pain. Bato listened to me, and comprehended that I could die if I kept on terminating humans. He asked me if I could win a fight against a darkling. I said yes, but specified it had to be a low Dan Pawn, and only one on one. In order to confidently beat higher Dans, I would have to transform to my Arrow Aspect, and it would be evident to all that I was an avatar. It is known that the best Kempatay warriors, properly armored, could kill a darkling Pawn 1% of the time. I told Bato to trust me in this, and that owning an Esdi that could kill a darkling would catapult him to the Supremo’s Coliseum.

And so it happened. I was paired off with a darkling Pawn in the charter day celebrations of the province in the Provincial coliseum. The Darkling Governor, a Prince, personally attended. I donned on the lightest armor possible, and a knife. I knew that strength would have little to do with the fight. The speediest would win.

The Pawn stupidly rushed me. To the human eye, she was a blur, but I could see her alright. Moving faster than my opponent, I flicked the knife into her eye and leaped out of her onrushing body. The Pawn dissolved into dissipating dust. The crowd roared.”

‘Why didn’t the Bale darklings suspect that you were an avatar,’ Oisa asked.

“You know well that Salig Commandos like me are maximally designed for both combat and infiltration. I simply maintained my unarmored Child Aspect, and convinced my boss to hide me from all interviews and spell examinations. Baleian law allows that for gladiator owners. The audience thought that Bato had discovered an esoteric spell that allowed a human fighter to move with preternatural quickness.

After that, Bato would arrange one on one fights with darkling Pawns, at the rate of once or twice a week. In order to maintain the illusion that I was a defective Esdi, I would usually feign difficulty in terminating my opponents and prolong my fights. In between I trained new recruits for four hours a day, and then had the rest of the day off. The Company made millions of Bugus. (Oh yes, they do use Bugu coins here too.) My fights were always jam packed.”

I soon learned that Baleian culture was a lot like Tera’s. We are echoes of one another. The darklings take the place of the WDF; the Hierarchy functions as their Veiled Commission. In public, darklings are hardly ever seen. Human life goes on as normal, in a society that’s approximately also at our technological level. The main difference is that there is a slave class, the Esdis. Or maybe not. The Esdis seem to be similar to Tera’s lower economic class, people born into poverty and with no hope of improving their financial situation. You might find this weird, but in spite of the ruthles dogmas that govern Baleian society, which includes throwing all genotypically and phenotypically defective people into the Bulang-Tawo pits, the Esdis are well taken care of in terms of food, shelter, clothing, education and medical needs. They can avail of vacation leaves. They marry and raise families, on the condition that their children belong to their Kempatay masters of course. The Esdis actually have longer average lifespans than the typical Teran lower class person. There are no such things as vagrants, beggars, hobos, or people that die for lack of meds in Bale.

After a month, I was going out into the public. I would go to malls, watch movies, eat in restaurants, walk in parks, browse through bookstores. I always wore heavy make-up and a hood or cap in order to hide my celebrity face from my horde of autograph and interview seeking fans, but all in all I felt I was falling into a normal human life; although I always kept on missing our Order’s presence and you gals of course.

But it was not to be. One day I went to a coliseum bathroom after a fight. An Esdi girl tried to slip me a piece of paper. I caught her hand instinctively. I was in full armor then, and my gauntlets vibrated. I instinctively knew that she was in Deceptive Disguise. By the way, that’s how I discovered my gauntlets can penetrate a Disguise. I drew back and assumed a defensive stance, but the girl just dropped the paper and fled.

Back in my hotel room I opened it. It read:

<Doc> I love pretty much everything you write these days. :D

Good advise.

I'm in an ongoing project to write and upload minority Philippine languages grammar books in you tube (apart from making daily hospital rounds and operating on heads), but I will try to stick to schedule and write one chapter of the Darkquake series per week (",).

‘Damn!’ Alwana exclaimed. ‘Who could possibly know who you are in another realm across the Tela?’

“I have my suspicions but at that time I was shocked. I realized I was under the complete mercy of the letter senders, and that I would have to meet them. So I went to the rendezvous. It was the same Esdi girl that approached me in the bathroom.

She motioned for me to follow her. We went over to a mall beside my hotel, and entered a cinema. We sat side by side in the dark at the back, where there were few people. The girl wasted no time.

‘You are Pana. I’ll be honest; I’m a foreign agent in Deceptive Disguise. However, trust me that I am your ally. Now listen well, because the fate of our worlds depends on what we do.’

For the next several minutes she explained about the Sari and the Sun Drainer. How I could return to Tera during the interval when Tera and Bale merged. She passed on to me a USB drive that contained powerful spells for summoning Arch Wings.

And she told me how I could become ruler of this world.”

‘She told you to kill the reigning Supremo, in a one on one duel, didn’t she?’ Bodhi said with a sure tone to her voice.

‘You’ve guessed it, genius,’ Pana affirmed. ‘I guess it’s obvious that Bale’s darklings operate on the same Challenge Code as Tera’s Kindred and the darkling invaders during the Dark War. You claim what you kill.’

‘So how did you do it?’

“By my second month here I had become a world celebrity. The Esdi that slays darklings. My boss Bato managed to get an invitation to the Supremo’s Coliseum. I was to fight a series of darklings.

I turned out to be easier than I thought. I was paired with a series of Pawns. I managed to slay them all without pushing myself to the limit. Then that was supposed to be it. My spy friend advised me to do something more.

I surprised the crowd, including boss Bato, by requesting the Supremo that I Challenge any Adept in the audience. The darklings laughed, amused; the humans gawped, shocked. No human had ever beaten an Adept in a duel. Presently, the Supremo signaled at one of his subalterns to accept my Challenge. The Adept was a Dan 11. We fought one on one. I had on a light armor and a knife as usual. This time, I moved as fast as my abilities in my Child Aspect would allow me. It turned out I was much faster than the Adept. I slew it by jamming my knife into its maxilla, up through its ethmoid bone, and into its brain.

I kept on Challenging. Three more Adepts answered, a Dan 13, 17, and 19. I slew them all. By this time, the mood of the darklings had changed from amusement to shock. There was a human that was actually killing winged darklings! At this point, the Supremo stood up and asked me if I, a mere human, dare Challenge a Master.

Spy Girl had predicted that this moment would come. She had informed me that the Supremo had eliminated every darkling of Senior Regent rank and above as a threat to his political power. If I killed the Supremo, the highest Dans left that could Challenge me were the Junior Regents, in Tera the Dans 51 to 60. Those I could handle in one on one fights.

I called out ‘Supremo of Bale, I Challenge you!’

The Supremo was an ancient High Demon King, a Dan 97. Against such a creature, I knew I had only one chance. I should shoot my arrow into the Supremo’s eye while it was open. If he closed his eyes, I’m doomed. My arrow can’t penetrate the closed eyelid of a High Demon or any part of its skin.

The way to make him keep his eye open is by triggering him to attack physically. On the attack, any darkling opens its eyes by reflex in order to deliver its blows more efficiently.

The Supremo stared at me in disbelief. I yelled at him that he was a coward, cementing his power by assassinating and executing subalterns on the slightest of excuses, and not even being able to stand up to a mere girl.

The Supremo roared and sprang down at me from his box, talons extended for a killing blow. Naturally he kept his eyes open to see where I was. I instantaneously transformed into my Arrow Aspect and shot him through the eye in midair. He fell at my feet. I could still see the surprised look upon his dead face before he dissipated.

Spy Girl had told me very definitively that once I had slain the Supremo, I had to act fast in order to cement my claim. I followed her advice to the letter. I spoke in a dark-powered voice to the Hierarchy in the tiers above me. ‘I am Pana, a darkling like you. I Occurred two months ago in a darkquake. I have issued a Challenge to your Supremo and have slain him in a one on one combat. I claim my right to rule this world.’

Another Junior Regent, a Dan 59 leaped at me a claw outstretched, not knowing I could don on battle gauntlets. As he was reaching for me, I willed my gauntlets to appear. I jammed my gauntleted right hand into his claw, breaking the metacarpals, then thrust my left hand, fingers stiffened, into his nose, sphenoid, and midbrain.

Simultaneously, another Dan 53 was also leaping toward my back. I thrust out my suddenly booted foot straight at it. The combat boot’s spiked tip entered his eye and pierced his brain.

Six of the darkling Princes had crouched, readying themselves to attack but holding back, not knowing exactly what was happening or what I was. I shot all of them through the eye with my arrow. Apparently they did not know I could reacquire moving targets in milliseconds, reload at the speed of sound, and shoot my arrow at nearly light speed. They weren’t even moving but just standing there, which made my job easier and faster than usual. Darklings that invade Tera know to defend their eyes from a Salig Commando, but these did not do so. I suddenly realized I could shoot all of the remaining ones down. The higher Dans were already dusted off. But I should not do that. Without the Hierarchy, Bale would be thrown into a civil war among competing darkling factions.

At this point the Hierarch you know as Taklong stood up and raised his hand in a stiff salute. ‘I accept you, darkling Pana, as my Suprema.’

I was surprised. Spy Girl had proven right again. That Taklong would come to my side. She said that he had been an odd man out of the higher Dans and was marked for termination by the Supremo. I later learned that she had in fact talked to Taklong beforehand and secured his cooperation.

Spy Girl also mentioned that approximately 50 lower Dans were known to be particularly loyal to the Supremo or had bad attitudes. She had advised me that when I take over, it was best to eliminate them then and there before they could conjure up plots against me in the future. I backed off until the edge of the tier so I could survey the Hierarchs. She was right. 51 Hierarchs were openly glaring and growling. I let loose my arrow 51 times in a second or two. If they all had jumped me simultaneously, I would have been overwhelmed, but they were still confused at the turn of events, and were offering themselves to me as stationary targets. Most of them were lower Dans, whose bones my arrow could penetrate. I shot most of them though the heart instead of the head, sacrificing accuracy for speed.

‘We are having a change in administration,’ my dark-powered voice boomed out. ‘Darklings that growl and glare at me are considered Challengers. Anyone dispute this?’

One actually snarled at me. I shot her dead.

‘All of you kneel before me and swear the Baleian Oath of Fealty,’ I commanded.

‘I swear I am loyal to Pana as Suprema of Bale,’ Taklong immediately announced, kneeling. Most of the remaining Hierarchs followed suit.

Another dozen or so Hierarchs had kneeled but did not verbally swear allegiance, apparently still bewildered. I shot these confused silent ones dead. Spy Girl had advised me that the more ruthless I seemed to be, the better.

In the end only 23 of the Hierarchs remained alive. Only Taklong was of Junior Regent rank. Spy Girl had told me that this could happen, and that about two dozen were the ideal number of Hierarchs for me to rule Bale. Too many and there could be too many conspiracies to catch in their early stages. Too few and there would be less check and balance among the Hierarch factions, to tell on each other if there are plots against me.”

I'm curious if some of the Hungarian and other Eastern European folk dances have similarities to some of our dances from Western Visayas? Here are examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bp...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSA...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7_...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox0...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu6...

The servant girl looked completely ordinary dressed in a Palace maid’s uniform. Pana wasted no time in introductions. ‘This is Kayut the Esdi girl I told you about. Kayut, this is Oisa, Bodhi, Aya, and Alwana. Is everything ready?’

‘Yes. Who’s this?’ Kayut the spy girl was staring at J-1.

‘I am Communicator avatar J-1 of the Coliseum Tours Company. I’m here by plain bad luck. If I may say so, I had a dream about you.’

‘What!’ Pana exclaimed. ‘Avatars don’t dream.’

‘I mean like a vague recollection that I can’t quite clarify completely,’ J-1 explained.

Kayut was still staring at J-1. ‘That’s funny. You seem familiar yourself.’

The avatars looked at each other. Alwana grimaced. ‘Oh, no. Another ghost reality coming our way?’

‘If you can’t recall a memory of a ghost timeline, then the Tela does not mean it to be remembered,’ Bodhi asserted firmly. ‘You either remember it clearly or you don’t. No point wasting time on it. So what’s next, Pana dear?’

Pana waved her hand, beckoning them. ‘Let’s go then. Come on.’

With typical avatar promptness Pana walked through the curtained backdoor, with Kayut close beside her and trailed along by the four Arch Wings and J-1.

‘Mind explaining where we are going?’ Oisa asked. Behind the door was a tunnel lighted up by LED lamps. It sloped down underground.

‘To Saria. There’s a Folded Connection at the end of this tunnel,’ Pana answered. ‘Or rather, this is an emergency exit that I had extended toward a Folded Connection that Kayut’s organization discovered near Palace grounds. It was used by Sarian spies in the past. We are going to attend the Nangin-Sari Confederacy Assembly in Saria. Kayut, will brief you on the details of our plan.’

The tunnel branched several times. They passed through three locked doors. Pana opened each one with keys from her pockets.

Kayut began the briefing as they walked along. ‘The Confederacy Assembly will hold a final holographic meeting on the grounds where the Star Draining Spell will be effected. After the final tally of votes, the Spell will be cast. A structure that represents a control console machine, made of dark matter, is already in place there. You’ve seen them or at least their replicas in Ares’s Mysterious Coliseum; it’s pyramidal in shape.’

‘I take it that chances are that the Confederacy will approve since you helped summon us. When it begins, how exactly are we going to hack into their Spell?’ Alwana inquired.

Kayut loosened the top of her blouse, revealing a necklace. On it was a diamond the size of her thumb. ‘This diamond is an anting-anting charm, an object imbued with a dark-empowered virus that has been designed to tweak the Star Drainer spell. Once the spell begins, we throw it into the Dark Console. The virus hacks into the Spell. From there everything follows automatically.’

‘We just lob a stone into a pyramid? Sounds mighty easy to me,’ Bodhi commented. ‘What do you need us Arch Wings for?’

‘The Dark Console starts whizzing toward Saria’s star at near light speed the moment the Spell is activated, and it automatically avoids any intruder on intercept course to it. Very few creatures possess the speed and control to align with it properly and throw in an anting-anting.’

Oisa slowly nodded. ‘I see. You want us to go zipping after it in space. Why don’t I just go and destroy it with my doble espada?’

Kayut puckered her mouth. ‘There are actually several Control Console Pyramids, approximately a dozen, scattered all over the planet. They’ve designed a redundant system. Most of these are in tight security places, or in locations we don’t know. This is the only one that’s easily accessible to us. If you destroy it, the Sari will probably launch the rest simultaneously. Just one reaching their star will initiate the Drain. Even if you manage to destroy them all, the Sari would just make another in the near future. The key idea is that we have to allow the Draining Spell to commence before acting. Hacking into just one of the Control Consoles would do the trick, but only after it has been activated.’

They entered a door on a small side tunnel. ‘This labyrinth of tunnels is the Supreme’s emergency escape route,’ Pana explained. ‘Over the centuries many of the unmaintained ones have collapsed. Perhaps beginning hundreds of years ago, Sari spies started creating Folded Connections, with at least one in an unused portion of this maze.’

‘Uhm, no Suprema. As you know, Baleian darklings have lost the knowledge of making powerful anting-anting, and we do not have human Masters of Dark Energy to do so. So I had it made in another realm. I offered a cult of Sorcerers there human Esdi sacrifice. The order I placed for more back-up Charms did push through but some accident happened to the couriers. They were supposed to have delivered it around the time of the Arch’s summoning through an alternate Portal in my estate, but when I checked they never did.’

‘Hold on! Human sacrifices, you say?’ Alwana was frowning.

Taklong nodded. He pressed a key on his tabcom. A hologram of a macabre scene appeared on top of it. Darklings were slitting the throats of Esdis inside a pentagram of salt. As the humans died, the pentagram’s interior glowed.

Taklong’s voice took on a lecturing tone. ‘The pentagram is on my estate, but is metaphysically linked to another one like it in another random realm where Dark Sorcerers exist. It is as though it were these Sorcerers themselves doing the sacrifice, allowing them to power up their spells. Apparently in that realm, human sacrifices are illegal, and so they can’t do it openly and in bulk. I bought thousands of defective Esdis ostentatiously for the Bulang-Tawo pits, and had my lower Dan darkling minions sacrifice them.’

Alwana looked as if she were about to puke. Taklong pressed another button on his tabcom. The scene shifted. Figures with hazed-out faces appeared in a circle, weaving their arms in the air. White sparks jumped out of their hands and coalesced in the air into diamond-like stones. The gems dropped onto the ground in front of them.

‘As you see, they sent me videos of their success through metaphysical means. They did manage to make the Charms, but they never reached me.’

The Arch Wings looked at one another. ‘Damn!’ Oisa exclaimed.

‘What?’ Pana asked.

‘Those look like the stones the Extraordinaire squad I terminated carried. Don’t tell me they were Taklong’s couriers.’

Pana’s brows knotted in puzzlement. ‘It can’t be. The odds that Taklong’s Sorcerers reside in our Solar System is virtually nil. Must be a coincidence that the Charmed stones look the same. In any case it takes several days to make a Charm that powerful.’

‘Yes, Suprema. We have no choice but to carry through with the mission with this one Charm alone. I am profusely sorry.’ Taklong bowed in apology.

There was rubble piled randomly around the chamber. At the far end was a standing pentagram, an entrance to a Folded Connection.

Pana turned to Taklong. ‘You’ll stay here in Bale as planned, cover up for my temporary absence.’ She began speaking to the pentagram.

‘Mirror mirror on the air. Who’s the ugliest in this lair?’

A mechanical voice came out of the Portal.

‘It must be you assuredly, oh Coliseum Ugly.’

Alwana burst out laughing. Pana glared at her.

‘That’s a spelled password, moron, not a joke.’ With a huff Pana entered into the Portal and disappeared.

They entered what looked to be a basement. Two weird-looking humans rose up and saluted them. One was over seven feet tall with red skin and hair; the other was a dwarf with yellow skin and white hair.

Pana and Kayut saluted back. Kayut’s skin color abruptly changed to orange; her features seemingly more exotic. She had shed off her Esdi Deceptive Disguise.

Without any further word, they climbed up the stairs into a residential type two story house, completely made up of plastic, glass, and metal. The colors and decorations were all computer generated holograms. There were a dozen people inside a large lounge. Somehow, they gave the impression of being soldiers on a mission or ER interns on duty; all alert and ready to move. The avatars stared at them. There was another seven footer giant, built like a hulking Kempatayan. Another was nearly as tall but as thin as an egret. There was another dwarf. Two were covered in thick fur. Two had wings. Some seemed to have grown prehensile tentacles on various parts of the body. The rest looked ‘normal’ human; except that their skins and hair were colored like the rainbow - blue, green, yellow, red, and all shades and combinations in between, plus jet black and silvery white. Their clothing was as varied as their looks.

‘That’s what you get from genetic engineering.’ Pana explained in Sinayabi. ‘Parents can have their sperms, eggs, or zygotes taken out of their bodies and genetically spliced and order for a child they want according to specialty of function or aesthetics. All of them can interbreed with each other though, and all are part of Homo sapiens. The humans as far as I can tell are almost exact echoes of ours, except for the genetic and phenotypic modifications that make them much stronger, faster, and healthier than Teran humans. Not as strong or as fast as Tamawo in Tera, but the Nangin-Sari culture bans avatars, Maranhig Possessed, Nasipak Abominations, Hybrids, Tamawos, or any other dark-augmented being.’

Kayut’s colleagues were looking at the Arch Wings with the silent air of mixed curiosity and apprehension a human exhibits in opening a box full of snakes.

Bodhi looked back at them. ‘Are they descended from clonal archetypes?’

‘Originally, some of them are, in the distant past. The winged ones for example came from a spliced archetype that was cloned millions of times; and later allowed to interbreed with other types, including ordinary unmodified humans. In the winged archetype, the acromnion bone on the shoulder was genetically manipulated to elongate and form a wing. Cloning nowadays in order to propagate a single genotype except in special circumstances is discouraged, in accordance to the Nangin-Sari adherence to universal diversity. So no two of them are exactly alike genetically.’

Oisa bowed Asian style before the Sarians before anyone else could speak. ‘OK I guess our reputation precedes us but there is no need to be scared. First things first. Why are you helping us? Forgive my bluntness but I would like you to clear up that matter before we cooperate with you. I am Arch Wing Oisa, the Warrior, by the way.’

One of the beautiful winged humans bowed back, and began speaking in Esperanto. The dialect was somewhat different from that of Tera’s and Bale’s, but completely intelligible.

‘May you abide in the Sari-sari, the many, Arch Wing Oisa, destroyer of the rigid and the insensitive. Welcome to Abot, Saria. I am Pako. There are many of us Nangin-Sari-sari who think that destroying two whole worlds that have evinced no aggression toward us is wrong, notwithstanding the presence of darklings in them.’

‘What’s wrong with darklings? You know that we Arch Wings and avatars in general are essentially darklings too?’

‘Yes; and that’s why they are banned from the Nangin-sari Confederacy. In the case of Arch Wings however, historical accounts have always deemed you as incarnations of basic Telar principles, that exist only for certain purposes. You are no threat, unless you go rogue; and such probability is acceptably miniscule to us and our allies.’

‘Who are your allies?’

Pako looked uncomfortable. ‘Just a few. Given the adversity of our culture to darklings, your presence here would be deemed controversial by many of our countrymen, which is one reason why all this is covert. We are also obviously a group with an illegal purpose, which is to sabotage the Star Draining spell. I assume Kayut has explained that to you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Which mean the less we know of your allies, the better,’ Bodhi interrupted.

‘Precisely right, Arch Wing.’

Pana tapped Oisa’s shoulder. ‘It’s alright; I asked them the same questions you asked and will probably ask. They have my trust.’

A slim young man led them through a door at the back of the lounge and into a large room, with Kayut following. ‘I’m Dasig, Arch Wings, preservers of the myriad. As you can see, there are 6 beds, a bathroom, a ref, and a small kitchen with stocks of food. Most of us are vegetarians, and so everything here is derived from plant matter, although some taste exactly like meat or fish. There is also a Viewer attached to your room.’

‘Oh good, we of the Sun and Sky subside mainly on fish, rice, corn, and, vegetables. Tastier than Bugu coins.’ Alwana went over to the refrigerator and took a bottle marked ‘Orange Juice.’ She unscrewed the top and gulped down. ‘Hhmm, tastes like genuine orange.’

Dasig looked puzzled at the mention of Bugu coins, but said ‘Oh we have those type of foods as well. It is genuine orange. Our realms are echoes of each other as Kayut or Pana must have now explained to you.’

‘Oisa was also looking puzzled. ‘I thought I felt something when we entered this room. Maybe it’s because it’s a bit stuffy and dark in here.

‘Oh sorry, Ach Wing Oisa, partitioner of the powerful. House, air conditioner at 21 degrees. Light it up a bit,‘ Dasig announced.

A vent on the ceiling promptly began blowing cool air. The ceiling panel lights brightened.

‘Dasig was talking to the Room computer. You can request it for temperature settings and lighting. Most houses and other structures contain non self-aware computers that comprehend Esperanto and other languages,’ Kayut explained. ‘We don’t have your Communicator avatars to interphase with computers, or any other avatar, as they are banned in the Confederacy. Computers that can act as if they are sentient are also banned. Surviving records and oral tradition indicate that darklings, avatars, and AIs were responsible for some of our civilization’s worst catastrophes. The last one occurred around ten thousand years ago. It reset our civilization nearly back to zero, and deleted most historical data previous to that.’

Aya was walking toward the Viewer. ‘This looks like a wall hologram of a tropical forest after heavy rain. The mud sure looks real.’

Dasig nearly jumped in order to block Aya from walking into the hologram.

‘I apologize Arch Wing Aya, upholder of the small.’ Dasig bowed.

Pana looked amused. ‘Your hologram is an actual view of the forest. This is called a Viewer Portal; and it’s a Folded Connection that allows light to pass through. The Dark Arts here are much more advanced than ours in Tera. They can make Folded Connections where the tunnels are so short that they are virtually stable doors through the Tela that instantaneously take you elsewhere. If you walked through that ‘hologram’, you would have ended up in the forest wallowing in muck. It’s been spelled to be a one way tunnel, in order to prevent unwanted life forms from coming in, so you would have been stuck there until we modified the controlling spell so that the Connection would allow you entry back into this house.’

The four Archs gaped at the forest.

Dasig ahemed. ‘Most houses have such portals, to various places. You can walk to almost anywhere in the Confederacy through these portals.’

Pana was still smiling. ‘Yeah, so don’t bother to look for roads when you get outside. There are vehicles in the Confederacy, but they can usually hover and fly as they are powered by the Telar Increment Drive, same as our House Boat. See that second door beside the one we went through?’

Aya nodded. ‘Huo, yes.’

‘Come let’s go through it.’ Pana led the four Archs through it.

‘Yes. We passed through a short-cut from the lounge on the first floor directly into a room on the second floor. The Portal-Door is actually a representation of several Folded Connections into various rooms of this house. If you notice there is a control panel beside the doorknob. You can order it to choose any room to go to. The rest of the rooms also have these intra-house Connections. Now if you don’t want other people in the house walking in while you are asleep in your room, the Portal is made so that you can lock it like any other door. And before you ask, yes, most houses, buildings, and other structures in the Nangin-Sari Confederacy are full of Portals like this one.’

Kayut walked up the Viewer Portal that Aya had mistaken for a hologram. She stuck her hand in it and muttered ‘Seashore.’ The view changed from that of a tropical forest to a sandy shore beside a blue sea. ‘Now that’s safer. If you walk in, you’ll find yourself on a harmless beach.’

Kayut turned toward the avatars. ‘Each Portal, whether house Door or Viewer, contains behind it several Folded Connections. The owner and inhabitants of a house are spell-linked to the house’s Portals so that they can control through which Connection they will pass. It takes a Master of Dark Energy to spell-link you, so as of now you would have to use the mundane doors in this house if you wish to go from one part of it to another without us accompanying you through the short-cut intra-house Portals.’

Alwana had finished drinking her bottle of orange juice, and dropped the empty container into a small garbage can. She frowned and peered inside more closely. ‘Heck, where’s the bottle?’

‘Oh, that Garbage Bin is also a Portal, to this Town’s Recycling Factory. The Bin automatically sorts the type of waste that you throw in into biodegradable, non-biodegradable, and dangerous types.’

Bodhi sighed. ‘I suppose even the toilet bowl here is a tunnel through the fabric of reality for the instantaneous travel of turd and pee?’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x__...

After the avatars had taken a bath, changed to new clothes (which looked like ordinary Teran dresses to them), and eaten snacks from the ref, they settled down in their room watching various documentary and news channels in their rooms table computer’s holographic 3d screen. Many of the news broadcasters were dressed in what looked like ordinary Teran clothes.

‘J-1, what’s on your mind? You haven’t spoken much since Ares,’ Aya asked.

‘I am on recording mode,’ J-1 answered. ‘When in a situation I cannot control, I am programmed to stay silent unless directly questioned, and record everything in my tabcom and personal memory.’

Oisa bowed before J-1. ‘I apologize for slaying J-2. Under those circumstances, I had little choice. May she reincarnate to a better life in the Tela.’

J-1, not having been asked any question, remained silent.

Aya was watching the computer 3D monitor. ‘The Sari do not seem much different from us Terans,’ she commented. ‘At least that’s my impression from these videos.’

‘Nope,’ Alwana dissented. ‘We’re backward savages compared to them. They have a culture that possesses an ubiquitous system of technologically advanced Folded Connections, the Telar increment drive, and a star spanning civilization.’

‘No Bugu coins though. What are their energy sources?’

Pana pursed her lips. ‘They use their Folded Connections to create momentary stable rifts in the Tela to the Dark Realms in specific industrial complexes. Dark energy is stored in pyramidal shaped consoles. These are controlled by spells and are not AIs like our Bugu coins. The Nangin-Sari’s adversity to dark AIs rivals that of our Unitemplists.’

‘I can completely understand most of these broadcasters. Seems that a dialect of Esperanto is the lingua franca here in Saria,’ Oisa commented, watching the 3D.

‘It is,’ Pana replied, ‘and all throughout the Nangin-Sari Confederacy. Esperanto was chosen because it is a dead language. There is no species or race that speaks it as mother tongue; and it therefore cannot act as a language of colonialism. Speaking it does not accrue any higher unfair social status to any race or ethnic group. It acts as a sociologically leveling tongue hereabouts.’

‘Isn’t that the same situation in Tera nowadays?’ Alwana asked.

‘Yes but it did not start that way.’ Bodhi noted. ‘In Tera, our echo Esperanto is regarded as official Teran international language because it was enforced in the Great Dark War as the most common language of the Anachronistas. Had the Anachronistas decided to stay permanently in Tera, it would have become their colonial language, the tongue of the elite.’

‘Hey, I like the Nangin-sari’s attitude,’ Aya stated.

‘You’d like it even more when I tell you the way they have set up their political structures.’ Pana was smiling.

‘How so?’

‘For starters, the Nangin-Sari Confederacy is highly decentralized. The basic social structure for most of its worlds is called the Balanghay.’

‘What! You mean like in a cruise ship aka our Balanghay House Boat?’

‘They use the same word. We are in Abot Balanghay, Saria Planet, Nangin-Sari Confederacy. I suspect our own Household started out similarly; and sometime in the dark-shifted past, members of our Order emigrated into a cruise ship powered by Telar increment drive. It became the Shield; although with our shifted and deleted memories we probably will never know for sure.’

‘Our House Boat is designed to host the population of a Teran small town. Are you saying what I am thinking?’ Bodhi said.

‘Yes,’ Pana further elaborated. ‘There isn’t any large polity in the whole of the Confederacy. It’s all partitioned into what Terans would regard as towns, which is typically small enough so that anybody knows everybody. Political decisions are made by a Balanghay Council, whose members are usually democratically elected by people that know them. Regarding very important decisions, most of the townspeople can actually directly meet in a holographic computer-generated conference; participative democracy in action. Towns can merge some of their functions under a bigger body, called Districts. Districts can do the same to form loose Provinces. However no central body dictates it so. Merging and partitioning of polities happen all the time, as they please. The idea of a permanent Nation or any polity with rigid boundaries is anathema to them. The largest merged polity is the Confederacy of the Nangin-Sari; it’s tasked to decide on issues that concern the entire system. The Towns, by tradition give 1% of their residents’ taxes to the Confederacy so it can continue to exercise its minimal functions.’