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If the red-eyed goddess of love and war had ever been inclined to claim a solar system for her own, she could not have found among her choices a territory so wholly dedicated to her than the war-like Rigell system. The home solar system of the twin Celestian worlds. Worlds at civil war for nearly a hundred years now, and they showed no sign of reaching a peace.
These seemingly insignificant, provincial Celestian worlds, Tiasenne and Orian, why should I even care about them? The composed, almost stoic voice of a free man wondered. He had no affiliation with either of the planets, nor their people. Why should I even be here in this primitive solar system, half a galaxy away from our Imperial home? Why shouldn’t I already be on the remote planet Kiel3, after sacrificing so much to get there?
He could see the end coming. The Celestian peoples were on a crash course towards mutual annihilation, and he didn’t want to be there when it happened. Nothing could be done to stop it, in his opinion. Have the Celestian peoples ever been under control? He thought back, critically. He was a civilized man of taste and perception, intelligent, a hunter content to watch others fight their battles at an appropriate distance. A general himself, he preferred tactful leadership, and wouldn’t deign to initiate a battle against an unworthy adversary if it was not necessary. He didn’t hide the fact that he held the people of the Rigell system in very low regard. He had no special love for either the Tiasennians or the Orians.
Wild and less civilized than his own people had been, both races could be easily distracted and manipulated, and they had been for as long as he could remember, though at least they had once followed good leadership.
Alessia and I watch them. We are the ones to keep their peace, if we can. But we are not alone. We give them what guidance we can, but it is not her place to save them. It would not have been, but for what she did to interfere in their lives. And her devotion to her mentor Hinev.
The man who made her immortal. For love of him she would come here and attempt to save his colony from the brink of disaster. They do not know that they are our people, and of the many enemies our empire made. They do not know that only a few thousand light-years away lies a vast empire of our greatest enemies, and that the aliens of the lai-nen empire would obliterate our kind out of the universe. If these lai-nen creatures knew that there are some of our race living in the Rigell system, there would be no stopping them until we were nothing but dust, and no memories left to ever mark that we once lived.
Alessia’s courage is notable, but for what purpose, when we have an errand of more vital importance to fulfill? We must find the singularity of infinite power. The supernova that destroyed our planet did not destroy the eternal emperor Marankeil, the dark god, and there is no telling to what galactic system he has gone to recreate his tyrannical control over life and destiny.
Selesta, the greatest starship in the universe is at our disposal. The only thing left for us to do is to traverse the galaxy and begin a hunt which may never succeed.
The irony is that Alessia does not yet know my identity. Day after day I live in isolation in this cold, metallic prison, as she takes flight to the upper ground of the Tiasennian surface. She dwells in solitude, in a cave, at the watch. We do not speak of our purpose, or of our presence, to anyone alive on Tiasenne.
Here I dwell in a cold, metallic prison. It may be my hell.
I never let her know that I am here. She believes I am a voice of modern science, the non-human mind that guides the greatest starship ever to be. I cannot blame myself for what must remain only my understanding. I keep her safe, and she does not even know who I am. With minimal interference, she must watch.
She is not entirely under my control yet. Long ago—I remember a time when she was stronger, wilder, braver. She is afraid now of the creature she released on the galaxy, the leader of the Orian race to whom she gave the gift of immortality. He is a dangerous foe, a titan among men, a god and wild animal, Sargon of Orian.
There is no peace at the watch. She thinks that there is power in her hands to change destiny. To tame and stop the Orian Sargon whose life she made immortal.
As for me, long ago, I was a better man. I have her to thank for bringing that soul back to life.
But, I am still evil.
And I want her soul for my own.
I am fascinated by Hinev’s creation. In her resides the best shards of soul that ever existed in the universe. She is more than 50,000 years old. If only I could fulfill the supernatural task I have set myself to achieve.
To bring back the dead. Resurrection of the dead that we once thought impossible.
I will return to the past. When at last I gain the power of the Enorian singularity, after so long.
She has freedom. She believes she is in control. She thinks she is the one who can save this world, and ignores me. But she is my creature. And she does not even know.
I give her time to play god to this world. It is only a small fraction of infinity, and I cannot give away my advantage. The disadvantage is in my sacrifice to accompany her. I have not lived in fifty thousand years.
I am not flesh. I am darkness. I reside in the shell of this dark vessel, Selesta, the greatest starship to ever found an empire across time, her fallen paradise, and my eternal tomb.
I will say nothing to her for now. I can wait a little longer.
To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?
—Cicero
Chapter Two