The ruins of Eral spread for as far as the eye could see. Some buildings still stood, like monuments to past glory, but most of the ground was covered in debris of metal and stone. A group of fifty people stealthily navigated the rubble ridden streets, jumping over huge metal beams, wandering through the ruins.

Atrata raised her hand, “it’s here.” Her voice rang loud and clear. It was a voice used to command. For three hundred years she had been leading most of these people. They trusted her with their lives.

“Abyssal Legion incoming,” Zesin hissed. He was her second in command, and had the best sensing abilities among the group.

“Hide,” Atrata ordered. They couldn’t fight off an entire legion, and this mission required stealth. The group separated, dispersing midst the ruins. Atrata could feel pinpricks in her skin as the Abyssal Legion marched in the air above them. The slightest sound would alert them to her group’s presence. She peeked out and saw the Abyssal Legion leaving. With a sigh of relief, she gathered her group together again.

“This mission is fraught with risk,” said Beliar, “and may reward us with nothing.” Beliar had never ceased complaining during the whole trip. “Even if we do free him, he may just turn against us. We could end up unleashing another terror in the galaxy.” Beliar was an elf, and cautious about everything. He had reason to be.

“Five of us are the last surviving members of House Smith,” said Atrata. “He will not harm his own blood and those under their protection. Don’t worry so much.”

“He is the cause of all of this. There is a reason he was called the Wild Child. He is an anarchist with the intellect of a child. He will not help us.”

“This is the place,” said Atrata, ignoring Beliar.

They gathered in front of a gigantic ruin. Half the building had caved in, but the other half was magnificent. Stained glass windows remained intact on the structure’s far end, depicting the glory of the high elves, a glory that had long since faded out of the galaxy.

“Are you sure this is the place?” asked Zesin.

“According to what the god Ir said, this has to be it,” Atrata crossed her fingers, a habit that was particular to House Smith. “We have his weapons,” Atrata drew two imli daggers, “and we have his best friend.”

A man harrumphed from behind her, “how many times do I have to tell you that we weren’t friends,” Ovin had been saying this since the start of the trip. “He was just a kid, wet behind the ears when we met.”

“Still, you’re the only one of us that he will recognize,” said Atrata.

“That’s true I suppose.”

Atrata placed the device Ir had given her on the ground and activated it. An electric blue portal opened in front of them and the device began to beep.

“How does this work anyway?” asked Beliar. “He might never see the portal.”

“The device will contact the chip that all the Ancients wear. He has to see it. It’s our only hope.”

They waited for an hour. Atrata’s hopeful face began to fill with despair. The portal was sputtering now. It wouldn’t last long. Just when she was beginning to lose all hope, a gigantic hand made of aura caught the outer circle of the portal and pushed it outwards, enlarging it.

A man stepped out of the portal. He was shorter than she had expected. She was a head taller than him. He was quite handsome, and his eyes looked like they could see through everything.

“Grandfather,” she bowed towards the man. “We have freed you from your prison.”

“I can see that,” said the man, “and who are you calling a grandfather?”

“You are the ancestor of Zesin, Arian, Hiram, Apukalan and me Atrata.” Each of them stepped forward in turn and bowed. “We are the last surviving members of House Smith. Your blood flows within us.”

“House Smith,” the man laughed. “Well, I’m John. It’s nice to meet you, but don’t call me grandfather. Likel was my adopted son, and not of my blood. How long have I been trapped here?”

“Two thousand years. Duke Likel may have been adopted, but I am descended from your second son, Diamen.”

“I had a son?” John asked incredulously. His face was a mixture of emotions. Happy and sad at the same time. “What happened to the Empress and Aystrana after I got imprisoned? They were stuck on Rifa when I left. Is this Eral? What has happened to this planet?”

“The histories say that the dwarfs of Rifa repaired the waygate and the Empress Ana and Duchess Aystrana were set free. Duke Abzulon, with his mighty fleet, brought peace to Oor and Empress Ana regained her throne.”

“Abzulon and I were made dukes,” John smiled.

“As for this planet, Inashta ravaged it, just like she did all the elven worlds,” Beliar glared at John.

“Beliar,” Atrata raised her hand to quiet him. “Grandfather, we have brought you your weapons.” She handed John his imli daggers.

“These bring back memories,” John began playing with his daggers. “And what are you doing here, Ovin? The years don’t seem to have been kind to you. Your face is all sunken in and your forehead is creased.”

“Of course the years haven’t been kind,” Ovin growled. “I was looking forward to a nice peaceful retirement. Then you set that mad woman free, and the whole galaxy is still in turmoil because of it.”

“What sort of turmoil? I didn’t think her reaction would be so extreme!”

“What did you expect?” Beliar snarled. “That she would just let everyone live happily?”

“I thought she would settle things with the gods and exchange her Authority.”

“She did that and more,” Beliar laughed. “She summoned an army of Abyssal Legionaries from another galaxy and attacked the gods one after the other, forcibly taking their Authorities away until she had everything. She then wreaked havoc through the galaxy weakening the Laws so that she could reign supreme.”

“She has conquered everything?”

Atrata answered before Beliar could. She didn’t want her grandfather to get too upset. They needed his help. “Oor and Atar survived. They hold their capitals as well as their neighboring star systems.”

“What about the Conglomerate?”

“Destroyed one thousand six hundred years ago.”

“That’s a pity,” sighed John. “I wanted to destroy them myself.”

“I told you,” Beliar laughed bitterly. “We are releasing another scourge in the galaxy.”

“Relax,” said John. “I don’t have any reason to harm anybody anymore.”

Atrata shook her head. “But you have to fix everything. Ir said that you would.”

John considered for a moment and nodded, “I have a score to settle with Inashta. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it on my own.”

“Alone?” Atrata was startled. “We are all immortals, martial artists and spell weavers. We can help. I have a plan.” She had spent many years coming up with a plan. Many people had given up their lives for the information she had obtained. Their sacrifice should not be in vain.

“What’s your plan?” John asked.

“This is the basic plan. We shall infiltrate her palace. You will be the bait that draws her out. While she is distracted we will attack her from all sides.”

“Okay. Let’s do it your way. Tell me a little about my son – Diamen you said his name was. I would have called him Tony.”

“He was a brave spell weaver and battled Inashta till the very end. House Smith has been fighting her ever since. It is our House’s mission. That is why there are so few of us left.” Atrata used to have a family of a hundred. Now there were just four distant cousins left.

“What exactly is Inashta’s goal in all this?”

Beliar snorted, “She just enjoys carnage. She tolerates you humans a little, but she hunts down every elf with a vengeance. She has released countless demons from the aether to aid in her search. She controls them like many little pets.”

Atrata added, “Humans are subject to her every whim. She has destroyed planets on occasion just because she thought them an eyesore. Trillions of lives have been reaped by her Abyssal Legions. They live off the life force of other people. By destroying the Laws, everything is dependent on her. Anything that displeases her she destroys. She once enslaved an entire city and made them fight each other in the Arena because one of them was a little late in bowing to her.”

“What happened to Sor Al, Sariel and Relar?”

Beliar said, “Sor Al fought against her and died one thousand years ago. Relar paid the same price five hundred years later. Realm Mistress Sariel helps us elves keep hidden from Inashta’s eyes.”

“Once we kill Inashta, how do we restore the Laws?”

“The gods will take back their Authorities and slowly restore the galaxy.”

Zesind suddenly raised his hand, silencing everybody. “Abyssal Legion incoming.”

“Quickly hide,” Atrata ordered. John did not move. She tried to pull him along, but he did not budge. “What are you doing?” she hissed.

“Why hide? I want to get a better look at this Abyssal Legion.”

“We can take on half a legion, but an entire one is too much.”

“You won’t be needed.”

John flew into the air. The others had no choice but to follow. The Abyssal Legion spotted him and charged. John twirled a wheel of light in the air around his finger. It grew larger and larger. He released it, and it flew towards the legion, bouncing back and forth as it cut off the heads of every one of them.

Just then a giantess appeared in the sky. John launched a fireball at it but it went through the figure. The giantess was a mere projection.

“My erstwhile champion,” she said. “Even I could not have escaped from the Dark Prison. How did you manage it? It is good to see that you’ve returned. Things are going to be so much more fun now.”

“Inashta,” John shouted. “I’m coming for you.”

“I look forward to it,” she laughed and disappeared.

Atrata flew towards John and pulled him by the arm once more. “We have to leave. She’s seen us now. She will send all her legions after us. Follow us to our ship.”

“Very well. Where’s your ship?”

Atrata pointed in its direction.

John waved his hand and Atrata blacked out for a second. The next moment all of them were standing in front of their ship.

“Mass teleportation,” Ovin gasped. “How did you manage that?”

“When I was in my prison, I got inspired by a certain God King.” John tapped Atrata’s shoulder. “How did you manage to get an elven Blade Dancer?”

“An elven battleship was sitting in one of the Emperor’s top secret facilities. Since it wasn’t doing any good there, we borrowed it.”

They boarded the Blade Dancer and docked with a battleship flying in orbit.

“Five minutes till we can activate the aether engines,” said Beliar, through the telepathic link. “Let’s hope that’s enough time to escape this place.”

The ships early warning system broadcast a message a minute later. “Enemy ships approaching.”

A holographic display appeared in the Bay, showing about fifty ships shaped like curved swords heading their way.

“Three minutes left,” said Beliar. “We won’t make it.”

“Let’s go introduce ourselves then,” said Atrata.

“Wait,” John held her back. “Look.”

At the corner of the holographic display, Atrata could see a new fleet of ships approaching. They looked like human battleships but she had never seen such a fleet before. Were they forces from some old human empire in hiding?

Our systems are being hacked,” Beliar panicked. The holographic display changed.

“John,” the holographic man said. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Sevens,” John laughed. “My old friend. It is really good to see you too.”

“I thought you might be back, from the Abyssal Legions’ messages.”

“You have hacked their communications network?”

“Of course we did. We hack everyone’s networks.”

“They’re AI,” Beliar gasped.

“Yup,” said Sevens. “He’s a bright one.”

The AI fleet opened fire on the ships of the Abyssal Legions. The Abyssal Legions were completely destroyed in a matter of seconds. Atrata shivered. These AI ships were too powerful. No wonder the ancient empires had proscribed them in the past.

“Where are you going?” asked Sevens.

“To meet Inashta,” John said cheerfully. Was he still not taking this seriously. The entire galaxy was at stake.

“Count us in,” said Sevens. “Follow our lead. We’ll lay low for a while. Inashta will be scouring this region of space soon.”

Atrata would have to modify the plan now that they had an AI fleet as their ally. The ships traveled into the aether one after the other. It was time at last to end this madness. It would be Inashta’s death, or theirs.