“You, of all the Elvar, should know that humanity is not united by a single racial imperative. Despite the Emperor and the Empire’s assertion that all of humanity is theirs to command, it has never been true, and never will be.

“I do not come here on behalf of the Empire. I do not come here on behalf of humanity. I come here on behalf of myself and the Duke Corunsun; no more, no less.

“You are attempting to find a way to deny me because you cannot see the path forward I am proposing that you take.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “My reply is very simple... neither can the powers that would seek to stop you otherwise!”

Okay, that widened her eyes a bit. If they didn’t have to play probability chess with the gods of the Warp... well, then...

“If you could see the end to this road, so could your enemies... and they long ago would have closed it off, as they have been attempting to do with any form of interspecies cooperation for over ten thousand years.

“But I am a Null, and Duke Corunsun is a Source. You cannot go peering into any form of the future and see us. We exist in the Here and Now, and so in the here and now you will have to make your decision... no more, no less.

“There is no cheating or gaming the system with this, Oracle. You cannot divine the course of action to take here. You will make this decision with your heads and your hearts, not picking the ‘best course of action’ from a thousand futures. That is the game of Fate and Chance. This... is the game of the Light and the Dark.”

I executed a formal bow to the elders of the Elvar, much to their surprise. “I have said what I came to say. You need suffer my presence no longer.”

The Court was raging in rainbow debate, and the psychic noise started to arise. The Avatar of the Ruk vanished between one eyeblink and the next, and King Rargyle’s eyes returned to normal. He nodded at me, and started to turn.

It was a clear signal to be dismissed. We were done here.

“A moment.” The Reader had risen once more, staring at me, trying to unravel something he simply could not. He was a Twenty, the most powerful active psion in the galaxy, and he couldn’t see through me. It had to be really annoying him.

“There have been... disquieting disruptions in the auguries in recent decades, especially since the Rift was formed. Events have been difficult to predict,” I smiled slightly at that, “or completely unforeseen,” he admitted without batting an eye. “There have been... unexpected developments from several directions.” He looked at King Rargyle tellingly. “But there have been dark forces moving, too. Has this to do with you as well?”

I met his eyes for a moment, turned to look at King Rargyle, who paused, then nodded slowly.

His eyes were glowing again...

“We attained access to a Tekron archive.”

The waves of colors all froze.

“It described the galaxy before the last Purge, among other matters, although not from the viewpoint of those societies, only looking on from outside.”

“The Elvar were there, a servant race to one of the great powers that dominated the spheres then. The Ruk were there, servants to yet another great race that attained great heights of power.

“And the goblins were there, servants to none but themselves.”

“When societies develop to a level that can threaten the Anti-Life, The Darkness Between Stars, they activate the Tekron and purge the galaxy.”

His big slanted eyes opened ever so slightly.

“The goblins have survived at least four such Purges, making them older than you or the Ruk. Organic life has continued to return. The Anti-Life have now devised other methods to control it.

“They designed the Xenoswarms with the help of suborned members of the Compact of the Black, and tested them out in three neighboring galaxies... the galaxies the three Swarm Fleets are coming from. We believe that all three galaxies have been stripped of all organic life, and are merely cold rocks drifting around the stars.

“With the death of organic life comes the death of the Warp. The Warp has naturally moved against the Anti-Life, who have no resistance to its power. A Warp Storm will tear apart the Anti-Life like a straw boat upon a stormy sea.

“Warp Storms are the gods of the Warp striking against the Anti-Life, succoring their place and position, chasing the Anti-Life around the galaxy.

“The Anti-Life have responded by starting to suborn younger races, infiltrating them with their servants and taking them over with their own genetics, and in doing so blocking out the Warp.

“The Federation of the Way is comprised of sapient races whose leaders have been dominated by the Anti-Life, and over whom the Warp holds no sway.

“The Xenoswarm Fleets are instruments to be put to use to wipe the galaxy of sentient life by the Anti-Life. The Tekron are instruments to be activated when a race’s technology advances to an untenable level, but they are hampered by the power of the Warp and psionics in general.

“You believe that you need to bring down Amourae and save the souls of your people. You will not reach that point without first disposing of the minions of the Anti-Life first. Bring down the Warp, and the Anti-Life will be free to act, and kill us all.

“If dark forces are the things you sense moving, the Anti-Life are likely the darkest of them all.”

I saw his knuckles going white at my words, but only the barest flutter arose around.

“And the names of our creators?” he asked softly.

“From the datacore of a Gatherer Planet-Killer, we learned that the creators of the Ruk were the Shaitan, the Masters of the Earth. From the collective cores of the Silver Swarm, their masters were the leShay, the Masters of Dream.”

“The Gatherers...” he murmured, as if suddenly enlightened.

“I believe you will find in your histories that although they may have attacked an Elvar liveworld, they have never attacked a Starhome... nor a Citadel.”

The Ruk were totally sure of it, actually, and it was why they didn’t attack the Gatherers. It was easier to rebuild the world than recur the losses the Gatherers would inflict if they fought... or just process it and build more Citadels.

“They were created to fight the Tekron. Ultimately, they failed in that fight, and the Tekron meticulously removed your elders from the galaxy. That you and the Ruk survived... well, perhaps it was mercy on behalf of your elders, perhaps it was dumb luck. We will never know.

“All I know is that we all are going to follow them if we don’t stand together, and that cannot be done without the Light.

“The galaxy is a grim place. You can chose to walk grimly into the Dark, or grimly into the Light.

“Now, with your leave, Elder?” I asked politely.

He nodded slowly, and even the native Oracles didn’t see fit to take the attention from him. I turned away and back the walk heading back... my steps moving no faster, but going at least twice as fast as on the way in.

King Rargyle glided alongside on kinetic fields, similar method, different source. The Sunhawk was left scrambling to keep up with us, and had to quickly activate his own gliding grav-harness. The honor guard was left awkwardly behind.

“Contessa Rantha,” the Sunhawk asked, his characteristic smile slipping, “all that you spoke... is that true?”

“Yes. The Ruk already know of and have confirmed it all,” I replied calmly.

He glanced at the Ruk king, no doubt dying to know that story.

“And here I was hoping to secure more mineral trading. I feel so inferior now.”

“King Rargyle is not here to set up trade with the Elvar. But if you want to set up some manner of trade, I do keep up with Ruk excess goods and their desired materials. It seems they have prior trade experience and familiarity with Elvar requirements, too...”

His eyes danced again at the thought of opportunities awaiting. “And this Road to the Light? How does this work?”

I turned to look at the brightly-clad, roguish, aggressive, and daring Elvar corsair. “The Road to the Light is not a corsair’s path, Sunhawk. The Light is not bound by species, it sees beyond them to what is within. This violence against other species is a tool of the Warp, used to foment ever more war, driving unreasonable levels of our natural instincts to seek and claim territory for our kind.

“The Light knows there are better ways. The Elvar were born for this Path, to bask in the Light of other species, and so make their own shine all the brighter.

“At the same time, the conflicts between elements of our species are very real, and they certainly aren’t going to go away. Walking back into the Light will not be easy, for you will have to give up on the rage that drives you now, and impels you towards the Dark.”

“There is no room for anger in the Light?” he jibed back immediately.

“The Light is known for its wrath... but wrath always has a direction, and an end. Fury and rage are dangerous tools used by the Warp to snare more to its service. Attempting to emulate the rage of demons tends to lead to a bad end. The wrath of angels? Not so much...”

“You speak as if such things are true and real,” he said in amusement.

“In the Warp? No. But beyond it? The Warp is not the end of things. It is, in the end, a piddly little puddle in the greatness that is Creation. It barely extends outside this galaxy, and how large is the universe? What exists in other galaxies? What exists beyond this reality?

“You are not going to see such things if you let the Warp take you. Greatness comes from within. From the Warp comes power at the cost of slavery.”

He lifted his eyes to the starfield outside the great crystal dome, the graceful Elvar ships cruising by, the drifting asteroids, the clouded planets in the distance, surrounded by silent and serene moons.

“The Oracles say there are no realms beyond the Warp,” he murmured under his breath.

“Not in this galaxy, no. There is the mortal realm, and there is the Warp. It has cut off all access otherwise. The only place you can find a way out is on the far side of the Warp.”

His golden eyes turned on me. “You speak as if you know this.”

“On the far side of the Warp, the storms of id and ego thin and wash away, and the eyes of the soul can look up and see the stars of Creation without looking down, and the threads of souls being drawn to their final fates making their way across infinity to their destinations.

“From a crack in the starscape, the creatures and races of Mythos come forth, and Things Outside Creation look inside and laugh.

“When those arose, and that crack was breached, the Warp and the mortal firmament writhed and broke, and the scar yet remains.”

He sucked in a breath, and I knew I had him.