‘I was rather more surprised by the Teran World Government system. Imagine it’s the same system for Alogostan. Take away the ruling junta. Have all Alogostani citizens directly vote in the members of the Upper House. Have each of the Alogostani provinces determine their Delegations to the Lower House. You’ll have a bicameral legislative body, the Upper House of which is determined from an individual citizen’s level, and the Lower House of which is determined from a provincial polity level. You’ll have further devolved Alogostani society. Furthermore, imagine deleting both the Alogostani President and the Upper House. You’ll have a unicameral body determined solely from a provincial polity level. The Eastern Islands can be nearly independent, but still in a kind of confederation with the other Alogostani provinces, each province being represented by a Delegation.’

This time it was Lili who raised her eyebrows.

‘What happens now?’ Elam asked before Lili could further comment.

‘The Commissioners retire to their Floating Palace. This afternoon at 5 pm they, or rather usually one of them, probably Lima herself, returns and hears proposals that have been approved by both the Upper and Lower Houses of the WDF. Each proposal must be passed by a 50% plus 1 vote in both Houses. It’s written down in a rectangular piece of plastic charged in a specific manner with dark energy, which allows it to accept a Seal’s image. A Commissioner then Seals the paper as an imprimatur. Traditionally, the Veiled Commission has automatically approved any such proposal, which then becomes part of the Common Law or takes the effect of an executive order to all the National Governments of Tera. In case of a tie, more Commissioners are summoned and they arbitrate.’

‘How are, hmm, WDF executive orders and laws implemented?’

‘The National Governments of all the Nations are mandated to do so. That’s how I got the authority to execute Pugos in Iladistan. There is an existing Teran Common Law that orders the execution of any person summoning darklings without the WDF’s authority, or abetting those who do so. The National Governments, and by extension National Agencies, function as the Executive bodies of the Lower House of the WDF.’

‘Suppose the National Governments can’t or won’t implement a Common Law or WDF Order?’

‘The WDF then relies on the effective Executive bodies of the Upper House, which are the Bounty Hunter’s League, the Bugu Supervisors’ Consortium, and the Cabal of WDF Enforcers. The Bounty Hunters, aside from ending darkquakes and terminating the darklings they bring, during times of crisis may function as an army. The latter two act mainly as civil servants, although the Cabal also performs police work.’

‘If Protocol 999 against the Iladistani Unitemple pushes through, which of those bodies implements it?’

‘You mean who does the killing? In case of Protocol 999, it’s carried out by available combat avatars of newly deceased MDEs, under the supervision of the Enforcers’ Cabal. Thanks to that little explosive caper in Buhi Port, Minister Kusgan now has more than a thousand of them available. Sworn Servants reprogram them into Dumot avatars, with directives to terminate all Iladistanis that refuse to abandon their Temple. The Dumots have the legal power to acquisition any government vehicle in Alogostan. They’ll head straight for the nearest airport and commandeer any military aircraft in order to go to the Mainland. It’s going to be a bloodbath where millions could die.’

Elam was taken aback. ‘Are you saying that Unitemplism is a deliberately created religion?’

‘Guru Duro and the Sun and Sky avatars who have fleeting recollections of possible events from the Dark War believe that it was the Veiled Commission itself that designed and created the proto-Unitemple. During a time when humanity was demoralized and unwilling to fight the darkling army anymore, the Commissioners created an intolerant triumphalist theology and manipulated the resulting proto Unitemplists into becoming their shock troops. Don’t be fooled though. If the leashed dog turns into an unmanageable wolf, its master will choke it.’

Elam pursed his lips. ‘If I understand Teran society correctly, everything at the top resembles a military organization. It’s as though a conquering military transformed into a small junta, allowing the conquered peoples to govern themselves. Although allowed to experiment with other political systems they generally copied the authoritarian tradition of their conquerors. Now and then the junta wakes up and does a purge.’

Lili lowered her voice. ‘The Veiled Commission has acted more like ancient royalty on a jade tower than a junta since the end of the Dark War. They don’t meddle much. President Tagas’ aim seems to be to push it into acting more dictatorially against Iladistan and the Unitemple. I do not think the Lower House will vote for Protocol 999. The Upper House may or may not, and if they do, it will be a tie. The Veiled Commission then will arbitrate, but traditionally, it has tended to maintain the status quo.’

Legate Speaker Tabi went down the sloping hall, accompanied by a middle aged secretary formally attired in suit and blazer. She carried a folder. Before he went up the stage, the woman gave him the folder. He climbed up, went over the Speaker’s podium, and began reading a schedule of topics up for discussion from the papers in the folder. ‘As host Nation, Alogostan has the right to have its proposals discussed first. May I present the new representative of the Alogostani Delegation. Ambassador Tigda?’

Ambassador Tigda spoke in Esperanto without any preamble into her table computer. Her voice was carried over to all the table computers of the Legates and Delegates, and via loudspeakers.

‘Due to time constraints imposed by the Veiled Commission, I am going straight to the point. The Nation of Alogostan accuses Iladistani Unitemple sects of directly summoning Demons, and the mainline Iladistani Unitemple of cooperation with them. We demand that the Iladistani Unitemple, all its chapters and sects, disband themselves. Furthermore if the Iladistani Unitemple refuses, we request for the WDF to implement Protocol 999 on them. I shall present all our evidences in the next few hours.’

‘There’s the Alogostani Ambassador stating the formal proposal,’ Lili noted.

Audio-visual moving holographs flashed onto the table computers of all the Legates and Delegates, and on the stage itself behind Speaker Tabi. It was the scene from Diha Island that Lili’s spy video cams had recorded. A tall masked figure drove his knife into the chest of a teenage girl. The audience gasped in shock.

Lili’s tabcom rang again.

‘Hello Lili, Lupad here. I moved as fast as I could. I flew back to the Shield, got the money, and flew back here in the emergency room. The good news is that the two slightly injured students are OK; just flesh wounds. I’ve paid for their admission fees, and contacted their relatives. They’ll be arriving here soon enough. Sukola, who is healthy except for a sprained wrist, will watch over them. I’ll be going back to the Shield in a short while.’

Note: Some of the terms don't have an exact translation in English; so I have placed multiple closest terms for some of them.

Lili - peek, spy

Lupad- fly

Sukola - resist, fight back

Duso - push

Bodhi - conscience

Elam - 'I don't know.'

Bugu - stupid

Kusgan - strong

Lihok - move

Tigom - gather

Dumot - grudge, hatred

Tabi - divulge scandalously, rumor, intrigue

Tigda - articulate

Guru - teacher, mentor

Duro - many, numerous

There was nothing else better to do but to listen to Alogostani Ambassador Tigda and watch as she continued with her audio-videos.

‘They made a film out of the Sanag River incident.’ Lili observed. ‘The Alogostani Delegation will probably next show hours of films on terrorist acts and all the evidences it possesses. Then there will be a long and furious debate.’

The films presented not only all terrorist acts in Alogostan territory, it was updated with Lili’s most recent footages from Cephalia and Kindred Ghetto City. DATA Deputy Minister Duso’s voice-over explained that a Folded Connection had been Spelled into existence by Unitemple sects originating in Iladistan, providing for a veritable army of Cephalian Possessed in Eastern Antigua Continent.

For security purposes, no one was allowed in or out of the Convention Center. There was no lunch break. Instead, there were tables at the back of the hall full meats, fish, puso (sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves), puto (rice cakes), and drinks. Anyone could eat there standing up if she got hungry.

After several hours of presentation, Tigda again recommended the illegalization of the Iladistani Unitemple. The Convention Center hummed like bees’ wings beating. The reacting Delegates passionately discussed the issue with one another, directly and via their table computer communication system.

‘In view of the seriousness of the matter, I have decided that the Alogostani proposal shall be the only topic for this day. Discussion on other topics shall be deferred until tomorrow,’ Speaker Tabi announced.

‘This is how WW3 started,’ Lili told Elam. ‘That’s why everyone is so excited. There was a debate on the abolishment of Bugu coins and the legitimacy of the Unitemple in the WDF Assembly. Both Upper and lower Houses voted to a tie. The Veiled Commission refused to make a decision, instead declaring the Nations should settle the issue among themselves in whatever fashion they chose to, on the condition it did not involve summoning darklings into Tera. The Nation from where Unitemplism originated, Hilistan in the south coast of central Antigua Continent, then invoked a rule in the Code of Challenge, that a polity may Challenge another in case of disagreements or power struggles. Hilistan and its vassal Nations Challenged Cephalia and its Nova Continental allies. When the Veiled Commission still refrained from arbitrating, Hilistan launched an immediate and obviously prepared attack on the Cephalian Navy on both North Nova Continental coasts with its submarine fleet. The affair quickly transformed into a worldwide war with most Theocracies siding with Hilistan and most secular Dictatorships with Cephalia.

Elam reacted with astonishment. ‘The Veiled Commission allowed a world war to happen, when it could have stopped it?’

‘Yes. It has never moved to stop wars big or small, as long as no darklings are involved.’

The Hilistan Ambassador was next to speak. He condemned the Alogostani position. Several more speakers followed. Elam nearly dozed off. Lili kept on texting to other DATA agents outside the hall on security matters, even though technically she was there as an observer Maestra. The day passed by quickly to the buzz of repetitive arguments and endless debates.

‘They’re going to decide on the basis of National self-interest, not on the merits of the case against Iladistan,’ Lili predicted.

The last speaker of the day well into the afternoon was the Dalokistani Ambassador.

‘I am deeply and gravely concerned by these reports from our Alogostani colleagues. However, we must bear in mind that the world has been in an era of relative peace since WW3. I urge restraint on the part of Alogostan. Surely both contending Nations can negotiate over this matter.’ He proceeded to give a 10 minute diplomatic double talk speech which effectively said that the Dalokistani Delegation would vote against Alogostan.

‘Damn!’ Elam quietly exclaimed. ‘Scores of Dalokistani soldiers and MDEs just died in the Trough caverns. How could they not support Alogostan?’

‘Since becoming a formal Theocracy at the end of WW3, Iladistani technology and economy has stagnated. The upper caste clerics rely mostly on revenues from their extensive holdings in the Iladistani Trough mines. Many of the Multinational Corporations that operate in and profit from the Iladistani economy are owned by Dalokistani oligarchs, including President Dako. Notice that it wasn’t Dalokistan that brought up the matter of the darkling attack in the Dalokistani Trough caverns, but Alogostan. A regime change in Iladistan could well turn up a new government that would be more nationalistic and kick out most of the Dalokistani companies.’

‘How about you, Lili? You work for DATA, one of the organs of control by the center. Where will your loyalty lie if crunch time comes?’

‘To my people,’ Lili answered without hesitation. ‘I never thought deeply on it before, but my two years stay in the Shield as Guru Duro’s protégé and neighbor to the Sun and Sky avatars, even if I was spying on them, changed my worldview. Minister Kusgan probably knows; but I am too good an agent to let go. Basically, we’ve agreed that I will continue working with DATA; in return DATA will refrain from giving me assignments that are harmful to the Sayabi. Tamawo agents like me are extremely valuable; and with its reliance on human intel and field operatives, DATA will keep on employing me.’

Tabi had once more taken to the podium. ‘I think we have spent a sufficient amount of time on this topic. I now call for a vote by the Assembly. First, the Upper House.’

The Legates, who were seated closest to the Speaker’s podium, began to announce their ayes and nays, and punching in their votes into the small table computers in front of their chairs. Words flashed on the giant virtual billboard screen behind the podium. Abstain, abstain, abstain…

‘Damn! They all abstained,’ Elam noted, clearly surprised.

‘It has happened before. It’s the Legates’ way of saying they are washing their hands off this vote,’ Lili said. ‘They’re telling the National Delegates, it’s a Nation versus Nation conflict. It’s your call, not ours.’

Lili stopped, puzzled. ‘No there are only 12 abstentions; one of the Legates has not voted yet.’

Tabi continued talking. ‘Before the Upper House will complete its vote, I now call for the vote by the Delegations.’ There was a surprised murmur among the Delegates, but the Ambassadors duly began typing in the votes of their Delegations. Plus and minus signs began flashing on the stage’s billboard. Beside each vote was the name of the Nation that submitted it in.

‘As expected the Theocracies are voting negatives, most of the Dictatorships and Representative Democracies positives. There goes the Dalokistani vote and its allied block in northeast Antigua. They’re saying no. The Unitemple wins again.’

After a minute, Tabi spoke again.

‘The Lower House has voted. The nays have won by a close margin 47 to 43, with 11 abstentions. I now cast my own vote as a Legate.’

A plus sign appeared on the billboard. There were more surprised murmurs.

Tabi completed the pentagram. To Lili’s consternation, he began retracing on his first drawing, effectively making another pentagram on top of the first.

‘What the hell is he doing?’ Lili exclaimed.

Two score of General Kuot’s Presidential Aides repositioned themselves in front of the stage in guard formation.

Tabi began to chant. The black pentagram’s interior began to glow red. It floated off the floor and stood up, two of its inferior points seemingly acting as legs. It resembled a doorway shaped like a five-pointed star. Eleven figures in the black and white robes of the Veiled Commission stepped out of it and onto the stage.

It happened with shocking suddenness. Half of the Presidential Aides morphed into Vampires. Moving preternaturally fast, they sank their claws and teeth on the nearest humans to them, including other Presidential Aides, Legates, and dozens more that were unlucky enough to be sitting close to the stage.

It was organized pandemonium, orderly for the darkling attackers, chaotic for the humans. Three Demon Kings among the darklings immediately went after all the combat avatars in the hall. Talons slashed, teeth bit, horns gored, tails pierced, hooves kicked, and wings chopped. The avatars were no match for the high Dans, and in a couple of minutes they had been dusted off into dissipating ash. Humans who got in the way were casually slain by the high Dans en passant. The lower Dans flew to strategic places around the perimeter of the Convention Center and into the middle of the audience, killing uniformed security personnel.

Beside Elam a Demon Prince landed. Elam cringed anticipating an attack. To his surprise, the Prince just stood there. A Presidential Aide agent in civilian clothes in front of them turned and shot the darkling with his 9mm pistol. The bullets pinged off its hide. The Prince casually stepped up to him and drove its talons into the agent’s heart, easily penetrating his bulletproof vest.

One of the Maestro observers near them began to call on his tabcom. The Prince promptly leaped at him and tore his arm off its shoulder socket. Lili, who was about to call the Balanghay avatars, deferred her obvious movements. Instead she discretely punched in the buttons for videocam mode and the Sun and Sky distress call in the Shield’s broadcom channel.

A score of Maestros rushed for the exit just behind them. To Elam’s eyes, the Demon Prince just disappeared. It reappeared at the exit. It met the inrushing crowd with blurry quick movements of its claws. In seconds all the escaping MDEs were reduced to dismembered slices of steak.

‘No abrupt movements; and don’t call on your tabcom,’ Lili whispered. ‘If they wanted to we would all be dead by now. They’re just killing the uniformed guards and anyone trying to escape or call on their tabcoms and table coms; so they must be keeping hostage taking as an option. They must have been summoned by that traitor Speaker when the Possessed Presidential Aide agents sacrificed their pals. Tabi actually spelled into existence two pentagrams on the same physical plane. One is the Origin in a Folded Connection to the Commissioners’ Floating Palace. Then he fooled all of the MDEs in this hall by using it as a cover to create a Dark Portal like the one you saw in Diha Island, used for summoning darklings directly from a dark realm. This Portal though is Unbounded, and so darklings can freely pass though. The pentagram on the stage is actually two superimposed figures.’

Lili’s tabcom silently vibrated. She glanced at it surreptitiously. It was a text message from Bantay. ‘A Folded Connection has sprung up between the Convention Center and the Floating Palace. Because of our proximity and the way Connections seem to attract each other, one of its walls has adhered at one point to our Room 5 Folded Connection. I stepped in as soon as you signaled an emergency and saw the inside of the Convention Center. I saw a Maestro making a Summoner’s Dark Portal over there. At the same time there has been an upsurge of darklings pouring through Room 5. Bodhi and Alwana are dealing with them. I’ve gone back to Room 5.’

Lili pushed on a key. It relayed a video of the darklings in the Convention Center killing people to the avatars in the Shield. Her tabcom was patched into the DATA CCTVs and spy vidocams and also relayed moving images in real time. She pushed another key activating her tabcom’s ear plug, and discretely placed it on her right ear.

‘You can talk; my ear plugs are on,’ Lili texted.

‘Why can I see them via Bantay’s tabcom video, but could not when I was in Room 5?’ Elam was furtively peeking at Lii’s tabcom screen.

‘This is one of the cases where the observer influences reality. Bantay sees through the Tunnel, and is willing for us to see them; and therefore so does his tabcom. If there are no avatars in Room 5, only mechanical tabcoms, they would not record anything. Uh oh, something’s happening to the pentagram.’

Lili touched texted Bantay surreptitiously into her tabcom. ‘Dark Portal has just disappeared. Was ephemeral, existing long enough for a dozen darklings to pass through. So they can’t access reinforcements. A single Wing can neutralized them easily. Contact Oisa.’

Bantay replied verbally. ‘Oisa is still in South Continent. I’ve called her up on tabcom and she’ll be on her way back as soon as she terminates a pack of zombies.’

Armed opposition inside the hall ceased. The panicky pandemonium slowed and quieted down. The Commissioner nearest the podium unveiled himself. It was Duwa. He spoke into the microphone urgently.

‘In the name of the Veiled Commission, I command you darklings to cease all hostile actions.’

Another Commissioner on the stage laughed in a contralto voice. Lili noticed that dark energy from the pentagram was flowing into her. She unexpectedly disrobed herself to reveal a splendid black and white uniform with a breast patch of 6 pentagrams, the insignia of a Marshal of the Teran military.

‘Surprise, Duwa. They’re mine to command.’

‘Lima!’ Duwa exclaimed.

‘Yeah, I’m charged with enough dark energy to mortally wound any of you cowardly jerks, always hiding beneath veils. Now I claim all of you as my prisoners. Anyone care to Challenge me?’

The Commissioners remained immobile, as if they were avatars on freeze mode.

After a few more seconds of silence, Lima drew another black pentagram on the stage floor. As she drew, she chanted.

‘What the hell, Commissioner Lima is making a Bounded Pentagram,’ Lili whispered.

To Lili’s senses, a continuous flow of glimmering dark energy was pouring into Lima from the first pentagram and into the second, charging up the latter.

Her tabcom vibrated again. It was Walay in the Daan Polytemple ruins. Lili could hear her on her ear plug. ‘I’m receiving sounds and images from you, Lili. Me and Talatala have stepped inside the Folded Connection and walked into the second Connection between the Convention Center and the Floating Palace via the sticky point. Like Bantay we saw the inside of the Convention Center. We’ve gone back to the ruins. I can confirm that right now they can’t call in more darklings because the Dark Portal superimposed on the Doorway that they used to summon those dozen darklings inside the Convention Center has disappeared. As for the darklings from the Tower, Bodhi and Alwana are interdicting all of them in Room 5.’

‘Describe a map of the important points beginning from the Origin in the Dark Realm,’ Lili typed on her tabcom.

Walay, who had training both in spy craft and the Dark Arts, knew exactly what Lili meant, and began to elaborate. ‘Regarding the Long Folded Connection from the Shield, mark Point A as the dark realm Origin adjacent to the Tower. Mark Point B as the pivot in the Daan ruins. The pivot Point B is expanded into a large Chamber from which multiple Insertion passages branch off. There is a stable one to the South Continent (which was used by Oisa), one to the Eastern Antigua Trough Region (used by the darklings that slew Ihap), one going off into an unknown place I can’t properly sense, and one ending at the sticky point of the second Short Folded Connection from the Convention Center to the Floating Palace, which I shall call point C. Then there are at least a dozen ephemeral Insertions that continually phase in and out of the Point B Pivot Chamber, most of them ending in the Daan ruins. These Points and Tunnels don’t follow normal Teran geometry, and so directions and distances are skewed from an outside perspective, and keep on changing.’

Lima had completed the second smaller pentagram, and was still chanting. The interior of the second pentagram glittered red. The darklings on the stage gently pushed the other Commissioners into the Bounded Pentagram prison.

Sugo, up in the Tower Command Room, suddenly interrupted them. ‘Check your incoming messages. Oisa, just texted that she’s about to enter the Insertion in South Continent. She’ll be there soon.’ With him were other Veteran avatars, Tahum, Tukib, Boylo, Bugsay, Husay, Koryen, Limpyoha, Tenloa, Henloa, Lupad. They were attired casually in cargo pants, shorts, polo and T shirts, denim skirts, and tank tops. Yet there was a silence on their motionless figures that bespoke of readiness for immediate action.

Lima stepped forward toward the trapped Commissioners. ‘Now you old fossils are going to accept a Binding Compulsion of Loyalty me.’

‘No they are not.’ Oisa stepped out of the first pentagram holding her flaming blue and yellow doble espada. Her wings were glowing yellow, as though they had been aflame. ‘Damn! Who the hell rigged that Tunnel with explosive spells? What the hell is happening here?’

The three Demon Kings leaped for her. Her Wings blocked off the talons of the two Regents swiping at her sides. The onrushing Monarch in front of her launched a flying kick at her face. Oisa drove the blue point of her doble espada straight into incoming hoof. It split the hoof, foot, and leg of the Demon. She then angled the doble espada upwards, while crouching below it. It was too late for the Monarch to stop its forward momentum, and it proceeded to slice its thigh, torso, chest, neck, and head on the doble espada. Its cleaved body fell apart in two sagittally cut sections.

Oisa whirled on the floor like a spinning top moving from a crouching position to a standing one, while simultaneously holding out her Wings and doble espada. The two Regents at her side were sliced into multiple cross sections.

Oisa turned to face the Commissioners imprisoned inside the second pentagram, and noticed a familiar face. ‘Commissioner Duwa! What’s..’

Behind her a black tail snaked out of Commissioner Lima’s back, and streaked toward her like a striking cobra. At the last moment, Oisa became aware of it and immediately turned to face Lima, while ducking at the same time. The tail struck the top of her head, perforating her skull. Yellow blood and pink brain matter oozed out from an open fracture on her right superior frontal bone. Dazed she turned toward tailed Commissioner, but Lima was already leaping at her with unnatural quickness. Her nails transformed into razor-like talons. Oisa managed to flex a Wing in between them. Lima closed her hands into piston-like diamond-hard fists and hit the protective wing. The tottering groggy Oisa was pushed back into the first pentagram. Lima immediately chanted a command spell.

Walay - stem word Wala- none, nothing

Tala-tala - just a bit crazy

Sugo- to order, command

Bantay- to watch, to protect

Luto- to cook

Tahum- beautiful

Tukib- to find out, to discover

Boylo- to accelerate

Bugsay- to row

Husay- to fix

Koryen- from Koryente- electricity

Limpyoha- from Limpyo, clean up

Tenloa- from Tenlo, clean up

Henloa- from Henlo, clean up

Lupad- to fly

Duwa- two

In Room 5 of the Shield’s Tower, Alwana turned her head sideways to look at Bodhi while decapitating still another darkling attempting to pass her.

‘I’m going in there, Bodhi, directly in case the Dark Sorcerers have set up more traps in the Connection Tunnel that Oisa has not yet triggered.’

‘OK,’ Bodhi agreed. ‘Bantay, Luto, Pana help me out while Alwana goes there. There’s been a surge of incoming darklings. They might be attempting to bring in a darkling army right into our Houseboat through our Tower Connection, and I feel that whoever is masterminding this affair is there in the Dakobalud Convention Center. Pana, Bantay, Luto, I’ll take out the higher Dans. If any lower Dans escape me, terminate them.’

‘Terrific,’ Pana exulted. ‘A real battle with darklings in a tower, not wimpy undead in a trench.’

Alwana exited through the eletrain parked outside of Room 5, and flew directly toward the Convention Center.

On the stage Tabi turned to Lima, arms raised in supplication. ‘Marshal Lima, we claim our prize. We ask for the full Burnt Transformation.’

‘So that we can serve you more fully,’ General Kuot hastily added.

The tailed creature reached for them and touched their shoulders, chanting softly. More dark energy flowed from the pentagram Doorway, into her body, and on to Tabi and Kuot. They screamed in agony as their bodies emitted smoke and soot, while morphing into lean gargoyle-like creatures. Superfluous tissues and cells in the subcutaneous layer, omentum, spleen, liver, and other organs were reabsorbed and their matter redistributed to new body structures. Horns sprouted from their heads and wings from their backs as their middle age paunches melted away. Their shoes ruptured as hooves burst out of them. Their skin grayed to the color of ash. They stopped screaming and grinned; showing mouths full of barbed teeth. Their profiles shifted, with Kuot retaining his human face except for its gray-glazed sheen. Lili stared at Tabi’s new face.

‘It’s Maro, the Righteous Fire as_hole who murdered the sacrificial girl,’ Lili murmured. ‘He must have escaped from Diha Island. He could have assassinated the original Tabi and Disguised himself as him.’

A sun-colored form crashed through the roof of the Convention Center. Alwana landed on the stage, gold feathered Wings extended, blue and yellow mono espadas aflame.

She glared at the tailed Commissioner, ‘Where did you spell-push Oisa to? You’re a Demonya, damn you, Lima.’

The demonic Kuot and Maro, snarled at her. The rest of the darklings shrank back. Kuot’s tail came up over his shoulder and abruptly shot toward her chest. Alwana easily caught it in midair. She tugged hard, and Kuot was pulled along with it. She speared him through the neck with a blue mono doble espada, taking care not to damage the carotids, trachea, and spinal cord. Kuot’s ashy face grimaced in pain as he hung on Alwana’s blade. He tried grasping at the offending weapon, and then screamed again as his clawed hands burned on the flaming blade.

‘Then I Challenge you, Demonya. If I win, instead of your life, you shall tell me where Oisa is.’

Demonic Lima eschewed Alwana’s proposition. ‘I’m a bit brighter than your sorry hostage, Arch Wing. You outrank me; I don’t have to accept your Challenge.’

Alwana brought the tip of her other mono espada to the impaled Kuot’s eye. ‘I’ll skewer his brain if you don’t tell me where Oisa is.’

Lili’s Sun and Sky Seal was glowing blue and yellow. ‘Don’t kill him, Alwana,’ she yelled from the audience. ‘I’ll explain later.’

The Demon Prince by the exit, hearing Lili shout, crouched and readied itself for an attack on her. Alwana abruptly withdrew her mono espada from Kuot’s neck and threw it across the hall. It flew straight for the Prince’s head. At the last moment the Prince managed to place a palm in front of it, trying to capture it, but it was no Demon King. The bladed stick shot through and through its metacarpals and buried itself in its head, frontal lobe to brainstem. It disappeared and reappeared in Alwana’s hand as the Prince crumbled to dust and the suddenly freed Kuot stumbled back.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Lima arched her tail overhead, going for Alwana’s head. Unlike Oisa earlier, Alwana was prepared. She moved her head sideways to the right, causing the tail to miss by a centimeter, while simultaneously driving a mono espada forward with her left arm.

A foot away from Lima’s neck, Alwana’s blue mono espada twanged loudly. It was blocked by a yellow mono espada, wielded by Tabi’s secretary who had somehow sneaked up the stage. The secretary’s face blurred and sharpened; her plump body slimmed and lengthened. Golden Wings extended across her back.

Peering inside point B of the Folded Connection in the Daan ruins, Walay and Talatala saw Oisa’s body moving toward them in slow motion from sticky Point C.

‘She’s spell-charged. Tala don’t try to stop her; she has the momentum of a crash-landing jet plane. Bodhi, incoming!’ Walay yelled into her tabcom. The two DATA agents ducked as Oisa floated above pass them.

In the Shield Tower’s Room 5, Bodhi addressed Pana, Bantay and Luto. ‘I’ll deal with this. Cover for me against the darklings.’ The three stepped into the Tunnel. Bodhi retreated behind them, turning about face. As she viewed Oisa’s incoming body, Bodhi crouched and braced her feet and hands on the Connection’s floor. She flexed her wings in front of her, forming a kind of feathered net. Oisa’s body hit her wings hard, but Bodhi absorbed the impact, and transmitting it to the Tunnel’s substance and on to the Tela, dissipating it.

Behind the busy Bodhi, three darklings attacked. Bantay smashed a Pawn’s forehead into its brain with his mace, Luto stabbed another one in its neck with his knife, and Pana shot the one in the middle through the head. She continued shooting at the onrushing darklings, with Bantay and Luto on her sides helping out.

Bodhi heaved Oisa’s body out of the Connection Tunnel and into Room 5. Then she slid past Pana and Bantay, skewering an onrushing Monarch King in front of them through it eye. ‘Oisa was being spell-pushed into the dark realm linked to Room 5. Thanks for covering for me. Now get back to Room 5 and see to Oisa.’

Pana, Bantay, and Luto hastily jumped out of the Tunnel, phasing back to Room 5.

Bantay examined Oisa. The most lethal of warriors could have passed off as a young beauty taking a siesta, except that golden ichor was smeared over her face and a hole gaped open on her forehead. ‘She’s unconscious with an open skull fracture, but fortunately it’s shallow and the damage seems confined only to the frontal lobes. She should be OK after we infuse her with dark energy.’

Luto called up the Tower Command Room. ‘Get someone down here to take Oisa to the clinic.’ Tahum and Tukib rushed for the stairs for Room 5.

At the Dakobalud Convention Center, before a surprised Alwana could react Aya spun around to her left. Her left wing almost took off Alwana’s head. At the last moment, the latter managed to flex her own left wing in a blocking maneuver. Aya’s wing slammed into Alwana’s with the force of a speeding racecar. Alwana was thrown off the stage and into the audience.

It was as if a helicopter had crashed into a crowded room. Macerated body parts of Delegates, Maestros, and pieces of chairs and computer tables blew outward from Alwana’s impact site.

Aya smiled ferociously, showing vampiric dagger teeth.

Lima called out to Maro and Kuot. ‘Let’s get out of here!’ They scrambled for the pentagram Doorway and disappeared inside it.

One of the Delegate’s computer tables had crashed through a back window near Lili. She grabbed Elam and jumped through it to the outside, just as the darklings in the hall attacked Alwana. They were low Dans, ranked Pawn to Lord, and Alwana had no trouble dispatching them. She spun and leaped like a ballet dancer on fast forward, extended wings and doble espadas slicing cross sections of darkling heads.

On the stage, Aya’s wore a snarl that was a grotesque perversion of her usual gentle expression. She leaped off the stage toward Alwana, bringing down her doble espada on Alwana’s head. Alwana blocked it with her own weapon. Kaboom! The resulting impact created a shockwave akin to that of an exploding quarter ton bomb. Crushed chairs, tables, and bodies flew away from them.

Lili dragged Elam away from the Convention Center. Around them, survivors were fleeing the trembling building. She could see President Tagas, Minister Kusgan and Deputy Ministers Lihok, Tigom, and Duso running away from the main exit. A series of small explosions could be heard from inside as Alwana and Aya were exchanging mighty blows and throwing each other around.

A kilometer away, off the shoreline, they could see the aircraft carrier that was the Floating Palace. Closer to them was the Shield. A flying figure was approaching them from it. In a few seconds, Lupad had landed beside them. ‘Need any help?’

Lili turned her back to Lupad. He positioned his arms below her armpits. Lili in turn pulled at Elam and embraced him tightly. Without a word, Lupad sprang into the air, his short stubby wings beating furiously, and flew directly to Floor 5 on the Shield’s Tower.

There was an eletrain parked to Floor 5’s side. Lili tapped on its exterior manual control panel. It opened. Lupad carried them in. Lili again tapped on an interior control panel. The side of the eletrain in apposition to the wall off Floor 5 opened. They entered.

Bantay, Luto, Pana, and Bodhi were inside the Folded Connection located next to the wall facing the stern. The former three had gone back in the Tunnel and were fully armored, weapons out for combat. Bantay was in his blue and yellow plated armor and helmet, Luto in his blue lamellated one, and Pana in her golden scales. Inside the Folded Connection Tunnel, Luto suddenly lunged, stabbing a darkling Pawn that had gotten past Bodhi.

‘She has her hands full. She always prioritizes terminating the Demon Kings, which we combat avatars can’t handle. Now and then, she allows an Adept or Pawn to pass her as she battles a higher Dan. Me and Luto take care of it. Pana shoots anyone who gets past us,’ Bantay explained their set up via tabcom. ‘On the rare occasions a Demon Prince evades Bodhi, we attack it from both sides in order to distract it, allowing Pana to shoot it through the eye.’

‘You three stay here on guard. Lupad come with me. Elam, go join Sugo and the other avatars in the Command Room.’

To Lili’s Tamawo vision, the Tunnel looked like an eletrain transport tube, a translucent cylinder large enough to accommodate three people inside comfortably. At the moment, it originated from the stern facing wall. It continued halfway toward the center of Room 5, then turned upward toward Room 6 above them. She stepped inside, closely followed by Lupad. The Tunnel’s upward turn abruptly changed into a leftward one from her perspective inside the Tunnel. Bodhi was several meters to the right of her, in the act of driving a mono espada into the head of a darkling Adept. In the same movement the Arch Wing spun around, transversely transecting the darkling behind the first at mid thorax. Pana, Bantay, and Luto stood at the ready, between Lili and Bodhi.

Lili took the left turn. She and Lupad continued walking and after what seemed like a minute, the Daan Polytemple ruins appeared. Walay, Talatala, and Huna were inside a room-like expansion of the Tunnel. Around a dozen passages branched off, most of them shifting in and out of phase with the Tunnel’s Chamber.

‘Colonel you’re here! You can see them clearly there.’ Talatala pointed to a stable passage that went to the point where the Long Connection they were in was sticking to the remains of the Short one to the Convention Center.

Lili hesitated. ‘Let me deploy a spell that will neutralize traps inside that passage and also acts a moving drone that zooms in our visual field.’ She chanted for a few seconds, her Seals glowing. A large translucent dolphin appeared in front of her hands. The image swam down the passageway, pass the sticky point, and into the Short Connection.

It was as though they were peering through the dolphin’s eyes. A ghostly dogfish floated by the side. The dolphin pounced on the small shark, and swallowed it whole.

‘An explosive spell,’ Lili commented.

The dolphin neutralized two dozen more booby trap spells that looked like small sharks and squid, before reaching the Convention Center Portal. It appeared as an open pentagram-shaped Doorway. Beyond it, Aya and Alwana were now engaged in a more intricate subtle combat inside a collapsed building. There was no slamming, throwing, or flying anymore. Instead, their movements resembled a fluid tango dance playing at super-fast forward. They were hardly hitting each other, and on the rare occasion they did, their strikes resembled that of loving caresses more than lethal hammer blows.

Lili stared at them in astonishment. She rang up Kusgan in her tabcom.

‘What! How did you get there and how are you able to call me up from there?’

‘It’s just slightly off phase with Teran reality, but still sufficiently congruent enough so that some radio waves can pass through.’

‘Very well. What have you got to report?’

‘I’ll explain how I got here later. I’m looking at the Arch Wings from inside the pentagram Doorway on the Convention Center’s stage. They’re in a Fugue Fight. I can sense that part of their essences are being projected into possible futures, and they are anticipating each other’s moves before it translates into reality. All MDEs have studied this theoretically, but I’ve never seen one. They’re evenly matched and so I believe that this can go on forever, until they run out of energy, which they won’t because they are drawing in the auras of the darklings Bodhi is slaying through the Doorway on the stage. I’ll also explain that later. A distraction could break the equilibrium, giving one of them the upper hand. As of now, the important thing to do is to cordon off the Convention Center. Humans rushing in are sure to disturb Alwana more than Aya, since she would tend to avoid hurting them, giving the advantage to Aya, who’s now undead. I’ve a lot to report, but this takes priority.’

‘Very well. Fortunately most of the KIA interior security were Presidential Aides; most DATA external security are still alive. Stay in contact.’ Kusgan started giving orders as he was hanging up.

Walay spoke up. ‘Lili, Lima came rushing in here the moment the Arch Wings began fighting, along with Maro and Kuot. Before they reached us they took a turn into that Passage.’ She pointed to a passage on their right. ‘It’s the one whose exit I can’t sense well, which means it may not end back in Tera but into some other realm.’

It took Lili a second to form a decision. ‘I’m going in for a little reconnaissance. Lupad come with me; with your flying ability you might be able to help out in an emergency.’

Lili took a step toward the Passage.

Huna had abruptly appeared in the Chamber of Branches inside the Folded Connection. She bowed asian style in her unhurried way. ‘They’re in a dark realm out of phase with Teran Reality, but geo-physically still within the Preservation spell that maintains the Polytemple ruins, so that we ghosts can sense them. There are two Demon Kings standing guard, ready to slay anyone that follows them. Lima and her party also seem to be observing the Fugue Fight between the Arch Wings by means of sorcerous proxies like your dolphin.’

Lili bowed back at Huna. ‘What do you suggest, Sri Huna?’

‘The Preservation spell allows us ghosts to access to any part of this Temple complex, including its iterations in realms out of phase with Tera. I can step right into their out-of-phase reality. I can go there to, hmm, spy on them.’

‘Do it then, Huna,’ Lili tersely proposed.

Huna bowed again, stepped into the Chamber’s wall and disappeared.

Lili’s tabcom rang an alarm.

‘Yes?’

‘Lili, it’s Sugo. There’s something happening in the Resort. I’ll feed you videos taken by the Shield’s telescopes.’

Moving images of Dakobalud Resort appeared on their tabcoms’ screens, as viewed zoomed in from the Shield. All civilians were running away through side exits in the resort or down the beaches. In the area around the collapsed Convention Center, a hundred DATA agents had spread out in guard formation, some of them inside a score of Armored Personnel Carriers. Parked outside the south entrance about a kilometer away from the Convention Center were two dozen military trucks and a dozen highly robotized T-17 tanks, the most advanced armored fighting vehicles in Tera. They had Presidential Aide markings on them. Men in combat gear were deboarding the trucks and entering the Resort, accompanied by the tanks.

‘What the hell!’ Lili rang up Minister Kusgan on the emergency DATA channel.

Kusgan’s tabcom rang five times before he answered.

‘Be quick, Colonel Lili,’ the DATA chief barked out tersely. ‘We have trouble.’

‘Yes sir. It’s what I’m calling about. Sugo in the Shield has his telescopes looking at a battalion of Presidential Aide troops and a dozen tanks entering the Resort.’

‘Yes. I’ve just talked to their commander, a Colonel Sulong. He claims that General Kuot has commanded them to attack rogue avatars inside the Convention Center, and arrest any DATA agent that would hinder that directive. It’s a set up. They were previously stationed in the next town north of Dakobalud Resort, with orders to standby. Apparently when Alwana came out of the Connection, Kuot issued an attack order to them.’

‘Sir, but General Kuot is in this!’

‘I know. The Presidential Aide is answerable only to the President. Unfortunately, President Tagas was hit by a flying piece of concrete on his head as he was evacuating from the collapsing Convention Center. He’s now unconscious. There’s no one left to countermand Kuot’s order. I’ve requested Colonel Sulong to try and contact other senior colleagues of his, so as to bide for time.’

‘Sir, if they manage to enter the Convention Center, they’ll just distract Alwana. If Aya wins their duel, it’s going to be a disaster. You saw them at the beginning of their fight. You know how powerful and destructive an Arch Wing can be. All the tanks of Iladistan won’t be able to stop a rogue Aya.’

‘Yeah, we know that. The APCs we normally use for transport into high security areas such as this WCN Assembly have their usual complement of anti-tank guided missiles, but they’re limited. We’ll try to hold the Aides and their tanks, until Alwana wins. If she doesn’t, it would not matter much because your now undead Aya will probably destroy us anyway, and the Aides too. I’ve got to organize the defense here; signing out.’

‘Wait!’ a voice interrupted from Lili’s tabcom.

‘Yes Walay,’ Lili replied.

‘I’m patched in to your DATA channel and overheard your conversation. If I remember correctly from one of my readings on the Dark War, combat avatars were programmed to terminate armed opposition first, with the option of taking unarmed hostiles as prisoners. Aya may be undead, but it’s possible she retains this directive. If the DATA agents drop their weapons, would not a rogue Aya, if she attacks humans, go after the Presidential Aide agents first?’

Huna came back before Lili could think of an answer.

‘One of the darklings detected me, so I had to step back here. Fortunately I managed to camcord them,’ Huna reported.

Huna held out her left arm. Her long sleeve fell back, revealing a tabcom on her wrist.

‘Hey that’s cool, Guru. If ancient monks had tabcoms, I definitely need to be one when I retire,’ Tala asserted. She reached forward to touch it. Her hand made contact with both the tabcom and Huna’s wrist.

‘The goings on of so many Sayabi speakers in this complex has made us more and more real in your here-and-now plane of existence. We now have access to paraphernalia such as our tabcoms. We are also now seeing our Temple complex from your perspective, as ancient ruins. However, we can still dematerialize and cross into that Dark Realm.’

A holographic moving image sprang out on top of Huna’s tabcom. It showed a darkened replica of the Daan Polytemple complex in a monochromatic gray world. The buildings were intact, not ruined. Lima, Maro, and Kuot, and their darklings were standing in front of a small pagoda that was shimmering with dark energy. On its entrance door was inscribed another pentagram-shaped Doorway, guarded by two Demon Kings. Further inland, on the slope of a smog covered mountain, an immense army of darklings camped, squatting and flying about.

Lima was in winged form. She seemed to be talking to another Demon King at the head of a party of a dozen darklings.

Lili cursed. ‘Sh_t, that’s a Dark Realm! Lima is really a damned Demon King. Or Queen. She’s talking to darklings led by another Demon King.’

‘Take a look at the next images,’ Huna said. ‘I was curious as to what was going on that smoky mountain, and so I zoomed in.’

The view began zooming in on the mountain. There was a pentagram-shaped Doorway etched on the side of it, sharp and angular in contrast to the swirling smog about it. ‘It’s beyond the Preservation spell and so I could not go there. Fortunately I was in a straight line to it, and my tabcom could pick up radio waves from it.’

Huna turned up the volume of her tabcom. ‘Damn, you let that one get away, Luto!’ It was Bantay’s static riddled voice. ‘Don’t worry, I shot it through the eye.’ Pana’s voice this time.

‘I’m picking up radio waves from Bantay and Pana’s tabcoms in the Shield.’

For a second they just stood there, stunned. Then Lili started talking.

‘The pentagram Doorway on that Smoky Mountain must be the Origin of the Shield’s Folded Connection to the Dark Realm. It enters Room 5 of the Shield, then pivots again in the Daan Polytemple ruins, where it branches off to several Insertions, most of them ephemeral. One of the Insertions proceeds to the sticky point of the now defunct Short Connection and into the Convention Center in Dakobalud. Another stable one loops around and Inserts into the Small Pagoda near Lima and her party. I was about to step into it and encounter Lima and her entourage. That Demonya Lima obviously has a working relation with the other darklings of that Realm.’

‘It doesn’t make sense,’ Lupad asserted. ‘Why is the darkling army attacking through the Smoky Mountain, which is guarded by Bodhi? Why not just go through the Doorway in the Small Pagoda behind Lima? They’ll end up in this Chamber and there is no Arch Wing standing guard here.’

‘Because that Passage has just been recently created, with the energy of the darklings the Arch Wings have been slaying in Room 5,’ Huna replied. ‘I don’t think Lima has conveyed any info on its existence to the Dark Realm darklings; she seems to be keeping it as a trump card for future use and as a free battery. As long as the Natural Darklings keep attacking and dying in Room 5, the Tunnels of this Folded Connection remains saturated with dark energy, and she’s channeling lots of it into that Small Pagoda. She gets a free load of dark energy. Lima has manipulated the darklings into sacrificing themselves wholesale in order to provide dark energy for her and her spells.’

Lili spoke into her tabcom. ‘Bantay, can you capture the aural energy emanating from the darklings Bodhi is slaying?’

‘We’ve already been doing that, Lili. We’ve infused Oisa with some of it; she’s up in Aya’s Clinic, healing. It might take a while since her brain’s frontal lobes were fungating right out of her skull. There’s just too much of the energy. We’re quite full. Most of it is diffusing into and saturating these Tunnels. You want me to call all the avatars here to get their fill of it too?’

‘Will you do it for the sake of closing this Folded Connection?’

‘Yes,’ Huna replied unhesitatingly. ‘Many of us feel we’ve been long overdue, trapped in this shades’ existence.’ She smiled. ‘Perhaps the Tela can upgrade me into an Anachronista prophet like Elam in my next life.’

Lili raised up her hand. ‘OK. Let me think.’

‘Uh oh, the war has started,’ Captain Sugo unexpectedly interjected.

Sugo’s feed into their tabcoms from the Shield’s telescopes showed a DATA APC exploding as an Aide tank fired its cannon into it. The other APCs taking cover behind the Resort’s buildings began firing their ATGMs at the Aides’ tanks. One ATGM targeted the front of a charging tank, but the T-17’s computer detected it; and the tank’s active protection systems kicked in, blunting the attack. The tank was partially damaged though, and it stopped and retreated behind a restaurant. Another T-17 fired its cannon into the offending APC, blowing it up, along with its driver, commander, and gunner. More ATGMs struck at the second T-17, and damaged, it turned sideways behind a hotel building. Agents-turned-soldiers from both sides fired their AK assault rifles on each other. Hotels, casinos, clubs, gyms, eateries, restaurants, shops, sports complexes, and other structures in the Dakobalud Resort were struck by bullets, shells, and missiles. They promptly began to transform into rubble decorated by bodies of dead DATA and Aide agents.

Lili ignored the video of the firefight on her tabcom, still thinking fiercely. After a minute of silence, Lili spoke into her tabcom.

‘I have a plan. Bodhi, I’m assuming you’re fully charged up with the dark energy you’ve absorbed from the auras of the darklings you’ve slain. At my command initiate a Winged Wave attack in your Haloed Aspect on the darklings in front of you and disrupt the organization of the darkling army positioned in their Realm beyond the Origin.’

‘What the f_ck!’ Lupad exclaimed.

‘Yeah, I know it sounds drastic, but this darkling army is obviously set for an imminent invasion of Tera. If Lima reveals to the Natural Darklings that she can create multiple passageways into Tera, well.., who wants another Great Dark War? We have to try to terminate Lima and disrupt the darkling army.’

Tala grinned impetuously. ‘I’m ready to Reincarnate into my next life whatever your plan is, Madame Colonel.’

‘You’ll have to sit this one out Tala. It will be an all-avatar operation except for me and the ghosts. Huna, I need you to give me a detailed blueprint or map of that Tall Pagoda.’

‘No problem, Sri Lili. It’s a replica of one of our own pagodas here. I can step right in with you into the Dark Realm and guide you around as long as we’re physically within the Preservation spell.’

‘Damn it,’ Sugo’s voice interjected. ‘More trouble.’ Their tabcoms screens showed a feed coming in from the Shield’s telescopes. A dozen combat drones with Presidential Aide markings were swooping down the Dakobalud resort. The DATA agents were firing at the drones with their AKs, but the bullets were just bouncing off their steel hides. Apparently the DATA agents did not possess surface to air missiles. One drone fired a missile at an APC. It exploded.

Lili shouted into her tabcom’s DATA channel. ‘General Kusgan, if Aya gets free, drop all your weapons! She would go after all armed men and vehicles first.’

There was no response from Kusgan.

Lili again spoke into her tabcom. ‘There’s nothing we can do about that now. Pana, Bantay, Luto, Lupad, I need you to come with me to the Dark Realm on a dangerous combat mission.’

‘Yehey! I get to be the first suicide operative!’ Pana announced happily, over in Room 5.

‘Shut up and get your cute ass over here Pana. And no one freaking dies.’

Pana chortled. ‘No problem, Lili.’ She turned to Bantay and Luto. ‘Let’s go combaters. Isn’t this exciting?’

‘Huo, yeah. We’re just going to a Dark Realm for what might be our last mission,’ Luto wryly replied. ‘See you later, Bodhi.’

Thanks yet again <Annie>. I'm tempted to speak for the whole website, but I'll just say I'm a better place with you at cg.com. )_}&

I tried to make one of those "manual emoticons" you guys make. I think I got what I was after but I'm not sure which of the four points of the compass is supposed to point north?

<Annie, Ohio>

I've mentioned this several times over the years but I do have a place and so do you guys and all other forum owners.

I don't know why but in my mind I have very specific spatial areas for all, and they never vary.

From me (the center lol) <Ohio> is south-southwest.

<Annie> is south-southeast. So is <Dom> but <Annie> is directly east of him.

<Travis> is directly west of me.

The <ChessBookForum> is directly south of me.

I used to have some friends in the north but they all left, it seems.

<Ohio> in my atlas I would be <easticafischerqueen>.

You might be <Western Ohio>.

<Annie> Really I meant cg.com is a better place because of you, and for me because I belong to the website.