Emergence: Chapter 32

“Otor was right,” Havn's voice blared through the com as Xaos listened to the transmission from Oblivion again, “the Adjeti are alive, and he is in talks with them now. Wait, hang on-” The transmission ended with shots fired and a static crackle; something had fired on the Xaosians. In Xaos's mind, the only logical answer would be that Otor had betrayed them. Logical that he would do so, Xaos berated himself, but he had always deemed Otor to have been honourable.

Luckily, he had a backup plan.

Rising from his throne, he strode over to the door and threw it open wide. Ignoring the two guards outside, he continued walking, wisely assuming that they would follow. A few seconds of silence passed, before one of the Guards, Atil, asked, “Where are we going, my lord?”

There was a quiet whisper in Xaos's ear, before he answered, “Buun.”

Even though he could not see Atil, Xaos knew that his forehead would furrow in the way that only lesser people do. “Why, sir?”

Xaos smiled. “Because you were right. You said that the Adjeti could not be trusted, you hated them; I saw you say it.” The whispering in his ear continued. “They betrayed us. We will better them; the Pyrkagia are their ancient enemy, we can recruit them, I'm sure.”

The other guard, Fugada, chipped in. “When will we be there?”

“Soon, don't worry your little minds.” Xaos smiled. “When we get in orbit, we'll go down in a Titan and meet the Primary in his temple on the Mata continent.” He beckoned to the guards to keep up. “Let's get to the ship ready.”

As he made his way to the ship, he took a quick detour to his personal vault in the centre of The Dominion. “Wait here.” The guards did as he commanded while he entered his pin-code and stepped into the vault.

The vault was large, larger than any of the chambers on the flagship, and housed an automated manufacturing plant. Conveyor-belts turned and whirred as robotic arms hissed and fizzed as they crafted what Xaos liked to call “Inducers”; small devices to keep those they were attached to under control. Even now, almost all of his troops had one embedded in their ear. Walking over to the belts, he found a complete Inducer; a small silver disc. He placed a handful of them in his pocket, before turning and leaving the vault. He beckoned his two guards towards him and stalked off in the direction of the hangar bay, knowing exactly how to recruit the Pyrkagia.

Moving the Inducers around in his pocket, he smiled confidently; he was in control.

Or at least, that was what the silver in his ear whispered to him.