Hao Ren led his crew through the curtain of light and into the meeting hall. The first thing he saw was a bunch of eminent individuals with worried looks on their faces. There were generals, ministers, cardinals and even Uruk, the representative of the werewolf tribes. Basically, almost every single person he had met before was in the hall.
Lily looked at the broken table, which was surrounded by everyone. The atmosphere felt more like a memorial service than anything. “That table must have been expensive?” the husky asked, feeling rather bewildered.
Given how her thought process worked, Hao Ren and the rest could not even be bothered.
“You’re back?” It was literally a case of speaking of the devil as Ophra was just contemplating about looking for Becky before these bunch of outsiders popped out of nowhere. “That black…”
“Spaceship. That was the ‘spaceship’ I told you about before.” Hao Ren waved. “That’s a done deal. The ship is destroyed so you don’t have to worry about it coming back for revenge. The pilot has also been taken prisoner and is now captive in a very secure cell. Even if it was a god there’s no escape.”
A few ministers who understood the outsiders immediately let out a sigh of relief as they heard that. As if they had escaped apocalypse again. The moment the black spaceship escaped, everyone’s gut fell and the whole meeting prior revolved around whether the evil god would make a comeback. That left them in a lurch on what to say to calm the nerves or what to do to defend against it. Now that the threat of the evil god’s retaliation has been neutralised, everyone could finally calm down a little.
Ophra however noticed that things were not that simple from Hao Ren and Vivian’s looks. Frowning, she asked. “There’s trouble following?”
“Trouble from eons ago.” Hao Ren looked around as he noticed Cardinal Orben and a few other familar cardinals while the centre seat was empty, he immediately realised that the seat was probably the Pope’s. “I suppose the clerance of everyone here is high enough?”
Ophra was troubled. “You… What have you discovered?”
The first time Hao Ren appeared, he had brought news of the First Born, and disclosed the Disciple of Glory’s tenuous founding. Ophra remembered that like yesterday and her gut feeling told her that these group of outsiders were bringing more news regarding the Goddess. They had encountered a ‘evil god’ afterall.
“We have managed to get in touch with the lord of the black spaceship and found out a few new things.” Hao Ren looked at Cardinal Orben. “This has something to do with your faith… Don’t worry, it’s not heresy, but something even more profound. So I need your assurance that everyone present is reliable, and won’t let this secret slip. After I’m done, you can decide on what to do with the information, or to choose to trust me or not.”
Cardinal Orben nodded in understanding. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the guards and scribes.
Ophra noticed that Hao Ren’s serious demeanour mean that he is going to say was no laughing matter. This was also not the first time he had used some otherworldy powers to save her world. She trusted the outsiders. Sweeping through the remaining personel in the hall, she nodded softly. “This are all the core members of the kingdom; the generals, the ministers, cardinal’s and the king’s right hand. They are all trustworthy persons and their loyalty beyond doubt, but…”
Her gaze fell on Uruk and the latter immediately realised the gravity of things. “Oh, right. I’m an outlander too, I’ll make my exit then…”
“It’s okay.” Hao Ren shrugged. “This matter not only involves the Kingdom of Holetta but every living being on this planet.”
Cardinal Orben finally could sense danger from Hao Ren’s demeanour and he stood up. “I need your confirmation, that your announcement will or not shake the foundations of the Disciples of Glory. If this massively affects the religion, I hope that you will let us know first before announcing it to the rest.”
The cardinal has their own worries, and even if the Kingdom of Holetta had a unique symbiotic executive and religious structure where both the royalty and the church ruled the society. But on certain matters, they have their own domain of control.
Ophra gave the cardinal a disapproving glance but she did not say anything. The Marshal hated politics and religion, and for someone her age and experience, she had enough of such petty squabbles. Hao Ren, surprisingly waved the cardinal off. “No, this does not just affect your religion.”
He did not wish for one party to have a monopoly of the information only to gave it buried or manipulated.
“Right. So everyone take an oath.” Ophra did not give anyone else a chance to speak. She stood up and her sword drawn. “In the name of His Majesty, the Goddess and family, unless we have a two thirds majority, nothing said in this room is to be shared with anyone outside. Aside from His Majesty.”
This was the famous ‘Secret Council of Hodeceus’ recorded in history books in the future. Its special nature captured the imagination of the people; the persons involved were unusual, not only the military, the government or church was present, a werewolf cheiftain and a few outlanders were involved as well; the contents of the meeting was of the highest secrecy and it took about a hundred years for the royal court and the church to slowly disclose the matter to the world, and the revelation changed the entire planet’s culture and history. The people of later times used their imagination to wax lyrical of the scret council. Some of them depicted a solemn roundtable meeting in a scary underground hall. But in truth, Hao Ren and the group of officials were discussing the matter around a broken table.
“First thing first.” Hao Ren looked at Cardinal Orben solemnly. “The lord of the Black Spaceship was not a ‘evil god’. His real identity is a guardian. The guardian of the Goddess.
A furore immediately exploded in the room as Prince Hoffman clutched his chest. “…I should not have came here today…”
Vivian motioned towards the cardinals to calm down. “Don’t get so agitated yet. If I’m not wrong, your ancestors have a hand in the Goddess’ death. Yes, indirectly too. Alright, now you can get agitated.”
Hao Ren wondered if Vivian did that on purpose. She really had that side to her afterall!
The truth of what happened ten thousand years ago was complex and convoluted and there were many things that needed clarification before the locals could understand it. Hao Ren took a good while to explain things to them and the whole tale could be summarised as such:
The Goddess of Creation had created life in the universe and what happened inbetween is immaterial at the moment. Ten thousand years ago, a group of mortals who probably got too full of themselves with their technological advancement and their invincibility drove them to seek out godhood. So thus was their plan, to be a god, they need to kill a good. Through lies and deception, they managed to steal a part of the Goddess’ powers, and had managed to convince their ‘mortal brethrens’ that had a special link with the Goddess to their side. Everything was in place.
So in the dark of night, they commited matricide.
The brethrens that were convinced by the usurpers heard the Goddess’ cry for help, but as they were too yearning a piece of the divine powers, chose to collectively keep quiet.
At the end of this tragedy, the guardians who witnessed it decided that leaving the mortal races alive was a mistake and they had since been ‘correcting’ that ‘mistake’. And that was the truth of the apocalypse that befell many worlds.
But the Goddess, before her death had managed to order a few of her guaridans to activate the safety protocols of the Seed of Life. Her wish was to preserve her children, and that was the truth behind the slumber of the First Born on many planets.
“And… I’m done.” Two hours later, Hao Ren finally heaved a long breath as he pulled out a water bottle from his Dimensional Pocket. As he opened the bottle he looked at Cardinal Orben. “So it’s up to you on how you want to tell this to the masses.”
The silence in the hall was palpable. Throughout the two hours, only Hao Ren and his crew spoke, while the rest kept a stupified silence. It took a long while before a cardinal broke the awkward silence as he leapt up from his chair, his leap actually almost took him above a table. “Non..nonsense! This.. this is preposterous! Illogical! And…”
“And it does not fit your current historical narrative?” Hao Ren knew what the cardinal was going to say. “Actually it does fit. The brazenness of mortals angered the Goddess, leading to the Goddess condemning worlds in a sea of fire. This is in the creed of the Disciples of Glory. And the truth is not too far from that, just on a larger scale, and more extreme and… harder to swallow. I know it’s hard to believe that your Goddess is dead, and even harder to believe that she was killed by your own ancestors. But it’s the truth. I have no reason to lie to you. I could have just left you lot blind to the truth and leave, but I strongly believed that you have the right to know of your history and that’s why I opted to tell you this much.
The MDT who had kept silence for all these while suddenly popped up, summarising everything. “Mother had treated you well, and you lot stabbed her in the back. All the conflict and misery started from this.”