Emergence: Chapter 28

After centuries of persecution, Otor felt old. Constant fleeing from town to city, city to town took more than a lifetime of energy from him. Hiding in the shadows left his joints ache from the hours of staying still, and the constant fear of discovery left his nerves broken. In all the centuries since he saved Oblivion, he found himself stranded on Xaos, the first place his escape capsule took him. Stealing food in a dull-brown shroud helped him blend into the the slums of the cities, but wherever he went, soon enough an angry mob showed up. Flames held on archaic wooden torches: apparently a source of fear, but Otor never understood; if you're going to attack in the night, why bring a light along? It just gives the enemy an advantage that it wouldn't have otherwise. Otor, however, wasn't going to complain; the light granted by fire had saved him more than once.

But, he reflected as his ship reached its destination, it took only one screw-up to get captured. Go down one damn alleyway, and there was a Xaosian Soldier troupe waiting. By the time they hauled him to the capital, Otor had resigned himself to his fate; he had nothing to lose. But instead of going to the chopping block, he was taken to Lord Xaos instead.

His ship docked, and he stood up ready to exit. Touching his eye, he found it sensitive to the touch, but fine other than that. The airlock opened, and Otor stepped out of his ship and into the hangar bay of The Dominion. Xaosians, like insects, were already swarming the smaller craft, greeting the returned. Otor ignored them; he had no time for the insignificant. He jogged through the vast ship, ignoring the Xaosians who stopped to stare, or those who hurled abuse at him; not all of them agreed with him being allowed to live, even if he was bringing a huge advantage to their side.

Xaos's chambers were guarded by two large Xaosians, who each wielded a ceremonial halberd. “Move.” Otor commanded. “I need to see Lord Xaos immediately.”

One Xaosian looked at him suspiciously and raised the halberd slightly, before the other stopped him. “Of course,” said the Xaosian, gently holding the other's halberd back, “no worries.”

Otor thanked them both, giving the opposer a glare as he went past. As the doors to Xaos's chambers closed behind him, he heard the two arguing in hushed tones. He smiled.

“Otor.” Xaos sat behind a desk in his twin-parabola-styled throne. “It seems you kept up your end of the bargain, just as I have kept mine. Thank you.”

Otor suddenly remembered to kneel; they had taught him with pain. “And thank you my lord.”

“Stand, Otor.” Otor obliged as Xaos continued. “It is time for the second part of our bargain.” Xaos tilted his head slightly. “You can deliver, can't you?”

“Yes.” Otor thought it was obvious; Xaos had spared his life for two services; killing the Lord, and gathering him an army. “Once I get to the Oblivion Gate, I can save my race, and you will get your army.”

Xaos smiled. “Good.” He stood, and extended a hand to Otor.

Otor took the hand, but noticed something silver and unfamiliar in Xaos's ear. He pointed at it. “What's that?”

Xaos slapped his hand down. “None of your concern. We tried your weapon, though. The Earth-Scorcher.”

Otor was filled with sudden dread; he had built it for them, but he never expected them to use it; obviously he had underestimated Xaos. “Where did you use it?”

“Raan,” Xaos grinned, “right on the Sea of Oil.”

“And the damage?”

“Quakes across the entire world began after the flames reached the core.”

Otor grimaced; he couldn't give anything away to this maniac. He nodded forcefully. “Now get me to the Oblivion Gateway. Where are you headed?”

“I will send you to the Oblivion Gateway with a fleet of Titans.” Xaos seemed unsure. “As for my next move; I must deal with the situation with the Narcsia survivors. Then, I will move on New Orbus.”

Otor nodded; now he knew exactly where to find Xaos. “Good. Get me a crew. I will be waiting in hangar bay.” Without waiting for a response, he left the room, noticing the glare from one of the guards outside the door.

As he went round the corner, Otor stopped and leant against a wall, head in hand; Xaos had used the Earth-Scorcher, something Otor never imagined he would actually do. Swearing to himself, he remembered as the Xaosians used the pain inducers to force him to build the weapon. He remembered the testing on one of Xaos's moons, the chaos it had wreaked. And he used it on the one planet he should not have; Raan. The prison world for the Corlens, the Adjeti had battled them for decades in a war that felt like a bloody stalemate, until finally, the Adjeti gained an upper hand and drove them into the core of Raan.

Otor shook his head and continued to the hangar bay; When I restore my race, I will kill Xaos first.

*

The Titan on which Otor travelled reached the Oblivion Gateway much quicker than he expected; space travel had improved dramatically since he was last able to use it, and this left him in awe of the adoption and evolution of technology. From the AIs controlling and regulating the life-support and gravity systems, to the upgraded L-Drives, Otor respected those who took the technology given to them by the Adjeti, and built upon it. Upon realising these advancements, he couldn't help but feel excitement to see how the Adjeti had upgraded their own technology.

The Oblivion Gateway. Otor could see it now as the Titan stopped next to it. A giant metal octagonal ring which free-floated in space, surrounding a shimmering black surface, which stood out from the rest of space due to its depthlessness. There was one single operating station, and that was where Otor had to go.

A Xaosian by the name of Guran helped Otor into a spacesuit. Otor liked Guran; the young Xaosian seemed to be fascinated with the Adjeti and, while Otor sometimes found his persistent questioning irritating, he was pleased that someone seemed to think that the Adjeti were heroes, even questioning the nature of the attack on Orbus, which the Adjeti were blamed for. Apparently, many scholars also questioned it, but Otor didn't give a damn about them; Guran was a nice guy, and one was of the few Xaosians Otor had no quarrel with.

With the spacesuit on, Guran wished him luck, which Otor accepted. The airlock opened and Otor swam out, getting used to the sensation once more. He pushed himself over to the operations platform, and imagined a clang as his feet touched down. Pulling off the glove on his suit, he pressed his palm to the control panel; only Adjeti could use the Gateway's controls due to the DNA recognition.

The Oblivion Gateway was, essentially, a portal to the space near Oblivion, which resided in an different solar system to the rest of the Empire. It worked by sending whatever entered it to the coordinates programmed into the Gateway. However, an unfortunate oversight left the coordinate panels working on only one side of the portal, cutting Oblivion off from the rest of the Empire, after Otor himself changed the coordinates to save his world from the World-Burner. The World-Burner was fired into the Oblivion Gate in retaliation for the supposed Adjeti attack on Orbus, presumably decimating Oblivion.

However, the portal actually led to a long-dead world, where it was the safe for the World-Burner to be fired, saving Oblivion. The screen in front of him flashed on, and he changed the coordinates of the portal; he remembered them exactly after all these years. The shimmering darkness disappeared just for a moment, before it returned once more. Otor leapt off the platform and swam back to his ship. As he arrived, he couldn't help but smile as he pulled off the spacesuit and the ship sped through the portal.

A darkness surrounded the ship and Otor could feel his fellow passengers' fear; they didn't trust him at the best of times, and especially not now with their lives in his hands. A few minutes of tension followed before they emerged out of the darkness.

Satellites were strewn around the space around the golden orb that was, as Otor recognised it, home. Using the screens, he zoomed in on the planet and saw ships and aerospace vehicles flitting about in heavily-urbanised areas.

Oblivion was alive.