Chapter Nine

Zeidan IV.

It was the very cornerstone of the Unisance Guild and its influence, both politically and physically. With its Gateway connecting to a vast expanse of ripe worlds just begging to be picked, it was second only in terms of holding capacity to the Uniscens capital, Gripfon. And because of this world and many others like it, it was not long before the Unisance Guild became one of many impressive growing empires. They managed to have both the luck and willpower to survive their galaxy's indifference, and they certainly don't intend to lose their momentum.

But what made them stand out was not their extremely efficient, albeit unsustainable, form of slavery but rather just how relatively NEW they were in the playing fields. Though thousands of years old, the Guild might as well be a newborn screaming out their first cries into the void around them.

With history deeper than what any history book could record, a great many empires still stood strong, some of them simply too large to fall. The Guild had made it past the barrier that ended trillions of civilizations; that much could not be said for the unknown majority that faded back into obscurity as fast as they rose from it.

But lately, everyone, from the lowly slave to the drunken fool the Framich's called Emperor, felt the tension in the air. As the Framich's thousand-year-long civil war continued to rock their monarchy to its foundations, the wartorn rebels and monarchists alike were just... tired. The war efforts from both sides of the Korbaltian Confederation and Helioan Hegemony drained millions, if not billions, of hospitable worlds dry of the very things that allowed life to thrive. The toll on the soldiers and civilians alike was beginning to show, their ignorance shielding them no longer.

Though the rich and powerful, high in their golden towers watching their intricate games of espionage and distant war play out, couldn't care less, that could not be said for the rest. Everyone knew that this state of being could simply not last forever. Even the nearly limitless amount of battle-hungry warriors born into conflict knew that, at this point, the meaning behind such slaughter was long, long gone; the purpose behind it all fading long into history's nothingness.

It was simply death for death's sake.

Yet it was of the general consensus that nothing would change, that no matter the efforts from any of the thousands of perspectives and sides, it would only continue on. For what else could there possibly be for a galaxy, stuck in a perpetual state of loathing and struggle and horror, to do?

Perhaps the answer laid elsewhere, far beyond the grasp of ancient and uncaring civilizations? Perhaps today, one of the many blossoming heroes would find the answer, the reasoning behind all of the galaxy's tragedy and finally free all life from its self-destruction.

Today would not be that day. Nor the day after that. Indeed, despite all their hopes, everyone was aware that the end to such travesty would not and could not come any time soon.

And that was because the answer hid in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, her banishment self-imposed for sins unforgivable. Though the crotchety, cantankerous, and overall crusty Transcendent sleeping away the day would never admit to that, not to anyone... but herself.

Her arrogant, grouchy veil was expertly crafted, and her experience as a good teacher taught her that what she did then, what she allowed to happen to then... could never be allowed to happen again.

Better me stuck here than that being out there...

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A planet, though in reality, it had once been nothing more than an oversized asteroid, was barely caught in the grip of a long-dying sun. It wasn't long before the red giant was about to go supernova, and it seemed the planet itself knew that.

At least, from a distance. The cause behind the desolate, grey and tomb-like world was not because of the immense amount of radiation cooking nearly all of its other celestial neighbours. It was the arrogant folly of the 'native' lifeforms on it. Indeed, it was their failures stacked upon failures that lead this once magically splendorous world, brimming with life, to be nothing more than an embarrassing, half-assed display of what life would eventually be turned into.

But that story could be told another day. Though it might be one not so interesting. Especially when compared to the Transcendent Aughri, a short diety in her own right, who was just woken up by the roar of three engines below her cliffside cave.

The engines roared louder than any jet, bouncing off dried herbs and glossy stalagmites. The laughter and jeers of the culprits, the nomadic and murderous Yakgras responsible for this auditory mess, eventually hit the wrinkled, withered ear of crotchetiness incarnate.

Despite being eighty years since they last saw movement from her, considering how much of a nuisance she was in their ancestors' past, the tension between the two groups was apparently still very high. But

Aughri, unlike the last remnants of the planet that managed to survive the Yakgra's slaughter, did not fear the barbarians hooting and hollering for her to reveal herself.

Oh, not in the slightest. Blinking away crusty tears that were nearly as dry as Aughri's very own, grey and ancient skin, the last of Aughri's eyes, all the others gouged out long ago, only exhibited one thing: sheer annoyance.

And she was about to let them know that.

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"Tremble and toil, blister and boil! They're simplistic animals, nothing more!" Grumbling to herself, the midget-like Transcendent rose unceremoniously in her bed. "Hrrrn... Gah!" Short, stubby, grey fingers with dull nails literally scrapped against her ancient scalp. Aughri's poofy grey hair was more like a web than anything that resembled a woman's locks.

Her age of nearly four billion made every joint and bone in her body pop and crack as she shook away the dust gathered on her body. Though she certainly wasn't laying down for that long, it did feel like that. Her stocky legs and hunched-over body swung over the edge of her tiny cot. Off we go-oh?

Being constructed for the sole purpose of keeping Aughri comfy for her daily decade nap, all it took was that minor movement to cause a total collapse. Thankfully, the miniature cot was barely larger than Aughri, its legs even more so. Giving out all simultaneously, the legs of the dusty cot cracked and forced Aughri to plop onto the floor with a look of confusion. "Well then!" She had to spin her head all the way around so she could spy with her one eye how the rest of the rickety cot and its crusty blankets crumpled as soon as her weight left it.

Frowning deeply in annoyance, all she could do was grunt dismissively, which turned out to be the worst idea she had thought of in a literal thousand years. The dust from her movement and the eruption caused by her trusty bed made the entirety of the cave a dusty haze, her snorts taking it all in. "G-gah! Pu-pu! By the-COFF!"

Without her trusty cane nearby to help move away, all she could do was suffer the consequences the best she could, her hands waving desperately. To add to the chaos, the small group of Yakgras revved their jet-bikes some more, causing a growing headache to appear in the agitated Aughri. "Co-ragh! Insistent-KAK-Yakgras! Nothing seems to h-ACK changed."

Shaking her head, her tangled, withered dreadlocks were like the fan that finally blew away the last of the dust. Huffing triumphantly, she massaged her last remaining eye before everything finally became clear. "There we are! Hmph."

Her well-rounded head spun on her stocky, dense shoulder blades when the engines and poor laughter finally stopped. There she heard them beginning to do their irritating chant. Truth be told, she never really bothered their language as they never really had the best relations. "Come out, Vulve Vitch! It's time to see what you're made of, eh, boys?!" The rest cheered with their rambunctious leader, making Aughri roll her eye. But even then, when she heard one of them begin yelling, she couldn't help but feel surprised as she actually understood his words. Maybe they've changed... if only a little.

Aughri only pushed herself up onto wobbly legs, but the effort alone made her make various grunts and groans that only old age could force you to make. "Foolish Yakgras! When I get... my eye on you... Hoo! Shit, I knew I fooling around back then would come back to haunt me, just not like this! Damn... hips! Come on, Aughriiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..."

The Yakgras outside could only look at each other, unsure how to feel hearing this fearful legend of theirs, their boogeyman essentially making those... noises. It was hard to be intimidating when the most intimidating thing here was the effects of old age. Thankfully, she finally managed to balance herself out, her short arms going around her back. Popping her entire spine, her good posture lasted for a second, only for her to immediately slouch back over. "There we are! Now, where is my cane..? Hmm... Ah! There you are." Her old wooden cane, nearly as old as she was, stood valiantly in the corner, hidden behind a collapsed drawer or two.

In truth, furniture all looked the same to Aughri, especially when covered in as much dust as they were now.

With one hand on her hip, she began to waddle and shuffle her way over to the other side of the room, passing all sorts of bits and baubles, remnants of a past life long, long ago. Some were weird ornate pieces of gold and silver, glorious alien artifacts from a better time. Most of them had been simply reduced down to fragments of their former selves, broken in by the waves of time.

But none of them were taken care of as well as the shiny rock mirror she had put in the very corner of her dimly lit cave-room. It was three times her size, carved by a 'nephew' of hers before her arrival to the heap of rock she was on now. Between all her prizes, this was by far the most prized of her possessions, not only for the memories but for the very practical use of admiring herself.

Which is what she found herself doing right now. With a sudden stop and a pop in her hips, she leaned back with a 'surprised' look like she just remembered the most important thing in her life. "Well, hello there, you!" Using her free hand, she flicked away a stray, thick lock of silver hair covering her eye with a dramatic flourish. "RAVISHING as always, you sexy thing! Kekeke." Though she believed that with all of her four billion-year-young heart, beauty was still in the eyes of the beholder.

If you looked at her, it would be like looking at a poorly ironed leather purse, what with the number of wrinkles being pulled TIGHT over her dark grey face. Her area around her nose-- something that appeared to have fallen off years ago, leaving only two holes in her face-- was scrunched up almost in a permanent frown. However, that did not deny her making a cocky and prideful expression the more she admired herself. Her skin was like a corpse managed to surpass its expiration date using every last bit of wisdom to keep itself alive. Her slim, dark purple lips did not help her case, her smooching mouth looking like it had lost all the blood in her lips long ago.

But you were not allowed to chalk her up to be nothing more than an old hag about to die. Though she resembled a walking bag of bothersome bones more than anything else, her wits were as deadly as ever. Sharp cheekbones jut out beneath her eyes, giving the old coot a wily appearance, especially how they made her one small, beady ungouged eye seem all the sharper. Her grey eyebrows punctuated this impressive detail all the more: they were thick, bushy things, curved with years of practiced exasperation watching the mortal youth stumbling, bumbling around.

She didn't even bother checking out her body; she knew her stocky body was the object of many women's and man's desires back in the old days. I may have shrunk an inch or so, but I've sure still got it! She lifted up the simple red robe that barely worked in covering her more delicate bits, winking... blinking at her revealed ankle with a promiscuous stare. Between her thighs, knees, and shins were barely any distance, combined with her small yet thick torso, the reasons for her unbearably short stature were revealed as well.

Yet, she found those just be another set of her perfect imperfections. Sadly, that was all the time she had to admire them, for the Yakgras were beginning to sound like their normal selves: rambunctious, angry, and extremely demanding. Aughri couldn't help but snort at that as her cheeky expression faded back into its default state of perpetual annoyance. "You and me both, children... Bah! You all still ruined my sleep! Just you wait until I get my eye on you..!"

Making the rest of the way with only an occasional bump, trip and fall, she finally made her way over to the cane. Just with the simple act of grasping it tightly in her hand, all the awkwardness of walking alone vanished into thin air. With that vanishment, her mind began taking in every single memory she had made with this cane in her hand, all in a flash faster than light.

Letting out a sigh, equal measures comforting and eased as melancholic and troubled due to everything coming back at once, she composed herself as quickly as she always did. No time to sit here and recollect... Not when I still have to deal with these little babies! Turning with a grumble, with a stride of anger and confidence, her cane propelled her faster towards the many hallways she carved herself. Her strut shook her side to side in a low boiling fury as the sounds outside at the bottom of her mountainside abode began to REALLY annoy her.

She was feeling her way through the dark halls with her cane, lighting up long-dead torches with life once again as she went along. But, turning around one last corner, she let out a displeased huff as the sunlight made her jet-induced headache worsen. Her age was causing her breath to be short as she began to stomp harder than she ever did before, seeing the last stretch before her. But I'd rather finally die than let these little hooligans see me as weak as they would like me to be! "Out of all of Life's great creations..."

Hearing her mighty words over their engines, the Yakgras screamed out in infantile defiance, all of them ignorant to what was about to reveal itself. "That I, Mother Aughri, have had the permission to see..." Her frown-like face had become a full-on grimace as the screams outside forced her to remember awful memories of the past she once lived. The end of her curvy cane hit the rotting floorboards below her hard enough to leave dents as her frustration was making herself known. "None of them are as USELESS, as downright BOTHERSOME..!"

Aughri burst out of the small entrance carved out years ago by a friend that was long gone by now, her cane swinging like she was in a bar fight. "As you stupid YAKGRAS!" Her own roar was meant by a roar from the blurry Yakgras down below, making her headache worse. Truth be told, I honestly don't even really care about these little shits anymore. Nothing more than dregs compared to... them. A flash of shame made Aughri close in her eye, but the challenging screams of the blurry, distant Yakgras brought her back. I could deal with them at any time I want, just as I did before. But I still have to wonder WHY THEY HAD TO COME THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING! THE SUN ISN'T EVEN OUT!

Aughri's hand cupped her mouth as she yelled down, her displeasure clear as the morning. "What do you little shits want now?!" She cupped her ear, rolling her eyes as she struggled to hear their distant screams. Whether she admitted this to anyone else or not, her hearing wasn't what it used to be, which only made the situation she was in all that more awkward. They said... something, but thanks to the roar of the massive engines that made up over half the size of the juk bikes these particular Yakgras were known for, she only heard mumbling from the 'leader.'

She did, however, hear the passionate cheers following the far-off words, which meant that whatever he said was either a declaration of a hunt or a rousing speech declaring this 'war' of theirs will finally be coming to an end. But to Aughri, it really didn't matter which of the two it was.

Because it gave her an idea. One that allowed her to make a sound that was something between a chortle and a mischievous giggle. "Oh, this will get them riled up! Kee kee kee kee... Ahem. W-WHAT WAS WHAT?!" Her frown was disappearing as she decided to make the best of this situation, her old age having the one advantage of sounding completely senile.

Her lips pursed in gleeful anticipation as she tilted her head over the plateau from which she was standing above them. And she heard exactly what she wanted to hear not a moment after she did so: moans, groans, and curses unimaginable. "Hoh! Nyohoho! Ah, perfect." She did a little solitary jig right before composing herself.

Which immediately broke after she started laughing when she heard the exact same demand for her to come down there and fight them again. "HO! NYAHAHA! Oh, but do these IDIOTS never learn!" Her breath wavered for a second as she barely composed herself, and for a second, she didn't know if she was going to be able to do it again. But after finding the willpower of a thousand gods, she settled down enough for her gravely, senile voice to come back. "HUH?! YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?! SORRY, BUT MY HIPS CAN'T TAKE THAT TREATMENT ANYMORE, NO CAN DO!"

She scratched her hairy chin, looking away for a moment while the Yakgras voiced their disgust once again. Which is a total lie... Finally, cluing in to what was allowing her to once again make them seem like fools, Aughri saw the leader starting barking orders at the smaller blurs around him before they darted over to the bikes to shut them off.

Before long, and with a visibly exasperated shrug of his own, Aughri huffed in disappointment as the fun was over way before she would've liked it too. "Just getting to the good part too! Harumph..." But they were still guests, unwanted as they were. A good host always listens! I suppose I should as well. "THANK MY FUCKING STICK, YOU FINALLY SHUT THOSE UP! NOW, WHAT DO YOU MORONS WANT?!"

She heard the barbaric growl from even how high up she was, but she was not the least bit impressed. Much like a grandma ignoring the arguments of a petulant child, she only got comfy leaning on her stick. "It's time to finish our ancestor's desires! We want to see what you're made of! We thought you were Transcedent but it seems like you're nothing more than those Felklings rats you guard!"

Aughri's eye shot open when they said that, her orange eyes sharpening to an edge sharper than any of their dull minds. Me? Guarding those disappointing FAILURES! The AUDACITY! "IS THAT RIGHT?! I don't have to take this, much less from a pile of wasted space like yourselves! But I, Mother Aughri, am in a GENEROUS mood! I suppose I'll just... give you what you want! You want a fight? Oh, then you'll get it!"

Using her arms, she grasped her cane with two hands this time, slamming it down right in front of her mangled, broad feet. Forgive me, everyone. I know I swore it off, epsically after what happened. But these little shits oughta know that I am not some elder to rip and tear into their little experiments! They should know that they're dealing with AUGHRI! Whispering an ancient tongue almost as old as she was, the cane took on a new appearance. Bright white runes appeared like a spiralling serpent, eldritch snowflakes falling onto the cold hard ground she stood on. But unlike the human's power, the runes seemed to be growing gradually... dimmer, almost like the longer she was powering up, the more she realized that what was happening was something that she just couldn't be bothered with.

In actuality, that was exactly the case. Too many memories... Hrmmm.

Perhaps it was just her old age. But whatever the case was, Aughri felt a smidgen of the power she once had, which oddly made her relieved. Means this shit actually worked, being banished and all! Ha! I told him it would, too.

All she intended on doing, after calming herself down, was giving just giving them a little jolt, a flash from Life itself to scare away ignorant children far too over in their heads. "Ho ho, E-SHAL DA! SHUUUUU-AI!"

So that's why, when she felt a wave of energy blast through her person, she nearly broke the plateau under her in half. The burst of energy she didn't expect coming from behind her suddenly amplified the blast of white about to erupt from her staff, encasing the entire mountain range she made her home on. The sound of it was like crystallized glass shattering, and it took Aughri's pointy ears completely off guard. "By the-! WHAT-IN-THE-!?"

Her single eye expanded as she felt the wave that caused this problem to arise, and what she felt was... familiar, to say the least. No... It couldn't be! I-impossible!

As quickly as it came, it left Aughri's body through her body. Though it had no form, at least no form that anyone in this dimension could see, the sensation of it leaving knocked every last bit of air out of her body and her to her knees. Oddly enough, she seemed to be the only one that reacted to it as the silence from down below made her crawl over to the ledge again. This is wrong! I haven't felt anything like that since we did our last stand on Hecantore Prime, and that was... close to two million years ago now! How is this POSSIBLE!?

Aughri curled her gnarled fingers over the edge, putting just enough of her face over the ledge to spy over with her one eye, slightly shocked by the aftermath of the explosion. That was meant to just scare them... How much power have I really lost? But I also certainly don't remember this spell being able to do THAT down there! "Oh shit." Coughing awkwardly into her tiny sleeve, Aughri gave one last look before looking both ways like she was attempting to act like she didn't see the giant red stains painting the idle, untouched, jet bikes down below idling.

Curling up into a ball, she rocked back and forth like a turtle flipped onto its shell to gain enough momentum to flip herself back onto her tired legs. "Hoooooooo... Bah! Woo! Aughri, you are getting OLD. Mmm hmm! Now, I can't really do anything about THAT, so it might be best if I head back inside... espically with that damn Guild starting to fly about. Fuckin'... pricks."

Wobbling back inside and through many old tunnels and hallways carved out by an old friend, long, long gone. The torches she lit earlier made the task significantly easier than first leaving the place. I'll have to thank you when I see you again, Rien, old friend... It wasn't long before she found herself back where this day first started so abruptly. Looking around the dim room, she tapped her cane rhythmically, like she was looking for something. "Now, where is my chair..? Hmm... Ah! There you are, my sweet!"

Pointing and wiggling her finger at a dusty old chair like it was an old friend, she started to chuckle at all the fond memories she had in that chair. Telling stories of creation to my all nieces and nephews never got old! Ah, the good old days... Though just before she sat down before she allowed herself to fully immerse herself back in her old memories with a fond, nostalgic smile... the cane and the power that came from it reminded her just what those good old days led up to.

Any faint smile she might've had on her wrinkled face disappeared in an instant and was promptly replaced by her trademark scowl. "Bah!" Spinning on her heel with surprising elegance, she slammed herself down onto the chair behind her, coughing through the puff of dead dust that erupted from it. "Gah gah! Ah, curse this dead planet!"

She started rubbing her chin in thought when the cloud finally dispersed. However, I can get to that later! What was that just now? Surely, it can't be what I THINK it was, right? They... all died off millions of years ago now, after our Great Tribulations! Only their Gates are left, and even those are starting to break down! It HAS to be someone or something else. Aughri started rocking back and forth as her thoughts got the better of her, her mind racing.

What... or whoever it was that released that wave must've only just unlocked it; I have known Lia'ikian CHILDREN with better self-control than whoever that wave belonged to. But by Life, did I feel the potential strength behind it: raw and untamed, that should've ripped whoever it was that unleashed that into pieces! But the fact that it was able to persist for as long as it did means that they MUST HAVE SURVIVED! But surely that's impossible! All the Teachers, including myself, are either missing or dead! There's no way the rest are starting to wake up, not after Vren'gilia swore everyone to that idiotic oath! How could something survive such power, epsically not one of their blood?

For a few seconds, Aughri surmised it to be that she was doing nothing more than finally losing her mind after all these years of isolation, that she simply imagined it out of the pure boredom she was feeling nowadays. After a solid thirty minutes of pondering the past and the present, the realization hit like a fully loaded train. Not everyone agreed to let this galaxy die off. Not me and... her. Not before the Great Tribulations began! Aughri's gasp echoed down the hall before she jumped out of her chair, waddling back and forth, blowing her crazy hair out of her eye and mouth.

She knew that she could be a cold-hearted bitch from time to time, so when she felt her single eye and the remains of the one still left in the other damaged socket grow heavy with hope and disbelief, it took her by surprise. But I saw her die; saw her sacrifice herself so we could make it out. We-we left her! How could it b-!? "T-the orbs! But how?!"

There was no other explanation. Aughri started to chuckle lowly, but soon, she was cackling into the air as loudly as she could have. "AHAH HAAAAAAAA! Oh, Vren was right: I was a HORRIBLE influence on you, little sister! You got greedy, didn't you?! Wooo whoop! Ho hooo!"

Doing a little jig and scatting on the spot, she was nearly about to break into song when she started hopping over to the mirror. "You FILTHY little parasite! You must've gotten bored on that shitty planet Vren insisted you be buried on, took things into your own hands! What with how you have no hands yourself! Hahahahah!" She found herself staring into the mirror, confusion beginning to overtake the jubilation on her face, though that didn't mean that the weight a million years was beginning to lift off her shoulders.

Though Aughri knew that it may have been impossible and that she was just blindly hoping after millions of years of pure despair and regret... it was nice finally having something to believe in. "So what happens now? From what I can tell, I only received the very last bit of it. There is quite a distance away from the source..."

And it still managed to do that to me... Just what IS your host, baby sister? Looking into her own eye with a pondering gaze, Aughri held that place for a few seconds as she got lost in the mirror to her soul. And for the first time in a long time, she didn't see anger or a perplexing mix of mischievousness and self-loathing.

"Hmm... Well, whatever it is, it doesn't look good on me. Bah!" Waving away her own reflection, Aughri walked back to her seat, feeling her grim attitude already returning. "You're getting ahead of yourself, you old coot! Time will tell, as it always had and as it always will. What's another few years, eh? When Life choses to do something, you of all people knows it doesn't hold back. All you gotta do... is wait! All in good time..."

And so, the Transcendent sat there, rocking back and forth. But for the first time in a hundred million years, as she stared at herself in the memory, Aughri saw something in her she thought she had lost long ago.

Hope.

The next three years would pass on at a pace Aughri thought insufferable, but during all that time, during the most slowly painful three years she had ever experienced, that same ugly spark of hope never left her eye. And it got even brighter when she heard two gruff and idiotic voices right below her mountain.