13:30 IST, Fifth day, First month, 3079 PV | Castera / Vaux-Itokin Human Embassy / Gala Hall / Ray & Ko's Dressing Room
The day is here. The 4,907,368th New Years Celebration Gala Kicks off in just thirty minutes. The entrance call for extra guests, which contestants are cast into, is in fifteen minutes.
Ray and I are waiting together in our dressing room. Initae, with no technical invite, is waiting in shipy doo for our signal. Both of us are dressed up in our outfits that came a couple days prior.
I am in a beautifully made tuxedo. It is mostly purple, but in the center lies a silver circle with a large amethyst thread (real amethyst!) crescent moon. Ray and I's now the official symbol. The suit comes with some beautiful onyx/diamond embroidery, mimicking the markings that lie on my skin. In addition, I am wearing two earrings, both crescent moons. One is silver and one is purple. My purple hair is brushed back very nicely.
Ray is absolutely beautiful. She is wearing a long silver dress. It has some embroidery done in a beautiful Iolite thread, made out of literal Iolite (a dark blue gemstone). In the center, lies our crest, outlined with a beautiful border of emerald thread that perfectly contrasts with the amethyst of the moon. She has a similar pair of earrings.
However, the piece de le resistance, we are wearing twin capes. Made out of thread woven from actual Lunar regolith (don't ask me how it works, I don't know). The dark gray color of the capes are dotted with stars, the same stars that Initae uses in her clothing.
Which by the way is actually a special material made out of pure inae, a type of inae that can only be refined with special techniques that she didn't share with me. Interestingly enough, when absorbing raw inae, a pure inae gives off a brilliant glow like that of starlight. Meaning I am constantly feeding a small amount of raw inae into our capes. Consequently, the pure inae casts brilliant starlight across our capes, almost making it look as though they are the moon reflecting sunlight.
Together we look like a pair of dazzling super heroes. Come to save all the partygoers from boredom with our dazzling skills. Oh, and we for sure will, we've been practicing some cool stuff.
"Ar' ya ready for this, Mrs. Genius Prodigy with an appetite?"
"Sure thing Mr. Worthless piece of junk Jerk. Let's dazzle them until they can't see anything but the two of us."
AI:"Attention contestants, please proceed into the Gala hall, it is time for your entrance."
With zero hesitation, we move towards the antechamber where the other contestants wait.
We enter the antechamber and get our first glimpses of our fellow contestants since the ascension gala. Everyone seems quite different, though I suppose it must seem that way too.
Geo, April, Marcos and Brian are standing around the same table, chatting in a very friendly way. It seems those four have allied in some way, which is very much allowed and expected. They all appear to be quite close with each other.
Geo is wearing a pretty simple yellow tuxedo, it has no special features.
April however, is wearing a gown that was clearly specially made. It is a very light shade of blue, but it is decorated with various musical notes that seem to glow somewhat. I'm sure it was quite an interesting thing to design. She also has her signature music note earrings of course.
Marcos is not in his generals uniform this time. He is wearing a light blue tuxedo that matches quite well with April's. It is embroidered with various designs that appear to mimic waves you'd find on a beach. In fact, his entire demeanor seems to have changed, he seems to invite conversation much more.
Lastly, Brian. He is wearing a very.. Unique design. It is a shirtless tuxedo jacket, and he is wearing very short shorts. They seem to be made out of a strange green fabric that shimmers as he moves. The strangest part, on his back, is a large circular disk. Across his exposed skin runs some wires and electrodes attached to his skin. I wonder what kind of strange device he has cooked up.
Last in the room is Luna Aurora. She is standing in the corner, alone. Her dress is stunning (hopefully Ray never reads this, she might kill me). It appears to be made out of diamond thread. As she moves every part of the dress sparkles. Also, around her neck is another choker. This time the emblem appears to be that of the full moon. Also, she seems to feel very strange. I can't quite explain it, but something about her just feels off. Not in the way that Inae would, in a completely different way. Rather than her presence commanding reality (as it would with inae), it's almost as if reality itself is completely controlling her. Geez, I suck at explanations, anyways she has a strange vibe.
The moment we enter the room, everyone looks at us, and they stare. The group of four's jaws' drop, literally. They seem to be shocked to see us, almost as if we aren't supposed to be here. Luna just looks at us, with a completely blank face.
To be honest, I can understand their reaction, we are literally shining moonlight from our capes and our perfectly coordinated outfits. And of course, there is me, with my strange insignia that is on my forehead and markings on my face. Staying close together, we move over towards the group of four and Ray engages in diplomacy.
"Hiya there fellow contestants, it's been a moment hasn't it? How have you all been? I trust you've gotten to enjoy yourselves, it's been a blast for us!" She says this in a very energetic and inviting tone. The effect is instant, they seem to be encapsulated within her trap.
April is the first one to recover from the bedazzlement and quickly speaks, "Hello there, you're so beautiful! Where you get your dress from, it's so pretty, those designs…..", [incomprehensible discussion overflowing with feminine energy between Ray and April about dresses and such ensues].
Meanwhile, while Ray is busy with April, I turn to the other three.
"Sup."
"Sup." x3
Ko:"So, how have you guys been?"
Geo:"Fine", Marcos:"Ok", Brian:"Busy"
Ko:"Brian is it? What's up with the weird rig?"
Brian: "You'll see later, what's up with the insignia and tattoos?"
Ko:"Youll also see that later. Well, good chat."
Marcos:"Good Chat Indeed", Geo:"Pleasure Talkin to ya", Brian:"Sure"
With that, Ray and April's chat ends. Ray and I walk away from the group. Socialization successful. We notice Luna standing in the same spot, this entire time she has been specifically focused on me. We approach her, hoping to figure out what her deal is.
The moment we get within speaking distance, she speaks. "Shoo, I don't deal with pieces of trash like yourselves."
Ray:"Speak for yourself, what, did you just pick a bunch of gems off a tree and string them together? Is that the height of your fashion? Or are you simply hoping your flawless charm will compensate? If so, I'll show you the way to irrelevancy, just like the way of natural diamonds once synthetics gained market share."
Ko:"oooo, sick burn. Not quite as bad as her skin will be burned from all that chafing. Diamonds are one of the hardest materials, her skin must be as drier than a desert to withstand that."
With that, we promptly walk away, not even giving a chance for her to rebuke us. Her mask doesn't move though.
Ray:"Nice assist, though your delivery was a bit dry."
Ko:"Nice sucker punch, but hey, I've never been great with the deliveries. Also you left me at irrelevance, where the klack was I supposed to take that setup to?"
Ray:"Hey, I tried, but diamonds aren't exactly the easiest thing to insult, they are kinda well known for being pretty. Unlike that klacker, she gives diamonds a bad name."
Ko:"Indeed, she seems like bad news indeed. I think we should endeavor to remove her supplies of gemstones."
Ray:"Great idea, we can put that right beyond becoming the administrators of humanity."
We make sure to have this conversation at a distance where Luna can definitely still hear us. Although she still doesn't flinch. Who the klack trained that girl? They must've been monsters.
AI:"Attention Contestants, it is now time for your entrance. Note: The hosts have specifically requested that Rayleigh Inan and Kovon Ducker are the last to enter the hall."
At that mention of us, everyone once again turns to give us a look. We both merely shrug. Although, as you'll soon find out, this is all part of our plan. With a little assistance from Initae's overwhelming influence.
After a brief moment of staring, all the other contestants file into the Gala hall. From the crowd's cheers on the other side, they are definitely doing a bit of crowd work. It gets the loudest when Luna exits, right before us.
"You ready, Ko?"
"You better believe it, let's dazzle their world."
With this last confirmation, we exit out the doors into the gala hall. It is a very large space, it must be 150x200 meters. Its ceiling is an impressive seventy meters high. The walls and ceiling are decorated with beautiful murals that appear to be depicting Vauxian culture.
In the room, by quick count, I estimate there are around 7000 attendees. Far larger than those at the ascension gala. A perfect crowd for our demonstration.
The moment we walk through the door, every single eye in the room snaps to us. More of them seem to be staring at me, a few likely recognizing the significance of my markings. Many are aware of the Order's existence, but don't know what they do other than they are very important. So naturally, a contestant walking in seemingly as a very important member of such an organization, makes a large impact. People from every species immediately start discussing, many of them pointing right at me.
Now, that's not to say that Ray isn't standing out in her own way. She still has a good 40% of the eyes upon her stunning beauty. But, this is nothing, we have simply entered the room.
We take a few steps until we are at the top of the large staircase, it must be about 70 steps long. But, we have no intention of walking down.
I wrap my arm around Ray's waist and expand my bubble of inae around us. Simultaneously, I channel more inae into the pure inae that is in our cloaks. We light up like glittering stars. I gently glide us over until we are hovering above the center of the dance floor.
Then we slowly descend, the lone ones on the dance floor. Every single eye is watching us closely, the other contestants forgotten. The moment our feet touch down on the floor, I trigger a switch that sends a signal to Initae. Instantly, reality rumbles. A booming, yet somehow still bearing the childlike tone of Initae, voice resonates around the room.
"Hmm, what's this? A party? And I wasn't invited? I've had to learn about this grand celebration from my dear friends Rayleigh and Kovon. I can't believe no one thought to invite me!
Well, to be fair, it has been about one billion years since I last attended a similar event. So I suppose I can forgive you this time, but in exchange, I shall attend this one, uninvited!"
The moment she is done with her speech. Above us appears none other than Initae. She is wearing her beautiful starlight gown. With her long hair dotted with pure Inae that makes it appear as if she is a being made out of stars. She gracefully floats in the air, does a couple spins and lands beside us.
"Why hello there dear Ko and Ray! It's been, what, a few hours? I missed you so much! Being Transcendent is quite boring without friends!"
At the mention of the word transcendent, every single Itokin in the room (of which there are several hundred), sink into a deep bow. Many others from other species sink into kneeling positions. Those that don't are urged by those nearby to also sink into kneels, which they quickly do. The air fills with an intense tension. Many of the non-Itokin crowd look very afraid, almost as if little Initae is the harbinger of death and destruction herself.
There are only eleven people that are still standing; Initae, Ray & I, the five other contestants, a Vaux that is otherwise known as Gamekeeper, a very ornately dressed Shesah, and a Zekan who is clearly of high standing. The Shesah and Zekan must all be leaders or very high up in their governments to not feel compelled to show some display of respect.
Initae:"Please, please, no need for all that bowing and kneeling! For those of you not aware, I am known as the transcendent. I head one of the branches of Itokin governance. This display is quite dramatic don't you all think?
This is a party, we are all here to celebrate, we can't very well do that when everyone is on the floor now can we?" Her voice resonates around the room, it's almost as if it instantly cuts the tension. However, many still look upon her with intense fear. What the klack has she done to earn such all-consuming fear?
Everyone slowly returns to standing positions. However, no one moves. All the eyes in the room are focused on the trio of us. Next up, Ray takes the front.
"Now, now, I know you all want some explanations. Simply put, I, Contestant Rayleigh Inan, and Ascendant Kovon Ducker, are now accepting the full support of Itokin.
Lil miss transcendent here just wanted to pop by to say hello. But it seems she wasn't invited. She wanted to make a big fuss, so we kinda set up a grand display. Much apologies for making a scene."
At this casual pronouncement that carries massive weight, thousands of gasps can be heard from the crowd. Ray's skills seem to have a great effect upon the crowd. All of the contestants aside from Luna have looks of awe/shock on their faces. I think I see a couple people faint.
The Vaux known as Gamekeeper steps forward onto the dance floor. Their voice projects easily through the silent room.
"My, my, what an exciting start to this wondrous event! I, on behalf of the organizing committee, do humbly apologize to you Miss Transcendent, we were not aware that you would be interested in such a small event. Or any event for that matter."
Initae:"Oh, well fair enough. Just be sure to invite me to any that my dear friends Kovon and Rayleigh will be attending! I intend to join them in their ventures. Let's all be friends!" She says this in a very friendly tone, almost as if she truly wants to befriend everyone. It helps to ease the fear slightly, but it seems many still don't trust her one bit. I'm starting to think there is a reason why she has been called devil in the past.
Gamekeeper:"Well, now that everyone is here. Whaddya say we kick off this thing! Welcome, everyone, to the 4,907,368th New Years Celebration Gala! This time, we have some special guests! The seven contestants of Humanity's Trial of Ascension. Do be sure to give them a warm welcome.
Without further ado, I, with the power vested in me, pronounce the 4,907,368th New Years Celebration Gala to have started!"
The moment they make this pronouncement, the air seems to lose its stillness. People start to chat and the room fills with sound. Traditional Vauxian music starts to play. However, many eyes are still trained on the three of us. Many still look upon Initae with an intense fear.
Naturally, Ray and I take this as the perfect chance to initiate phase 2 of our grand plan. I give a nice bow to Ray and proffer my hand to her. She graciously accepts it.
Taking to the beat of the music, I expand my bubble of inae around the two of us. I then begin to guide us, simultaneously. We perform a series of extraordinarily complicated moves flawlessly, and effortlessly. Thanks to the bubble of inae, only I am required to actually do anything. Given my ability for processing large amounts of information quickly, this makes the pair of us gods at dancing.
We take over the dance floor. Everyone in the crowd watches in awe, as we perform insane combination after insane combination. All perfectly timed to the beat and without missing a single step. But, this is only the beginning.
After about ten minutes, I start phase 2-2. I gently lift us into the air. We are now floating several meters above the dance floor. Our beautiful capes glittering and casting moonlight in all directions. Next, I start to channel raw inae into the soles of our shoes.
Guess what, they are specially made. The soles are made of a large chunk of pure inae. They start to light up like glowsticks. Hovering over the dance floors, our cloaks of moonlight, our shoes glowing. We look like a couple divine beings just descended. Which is the exact intention. We are the rulers of this game, this dance floor, and of humanity. No one else shall take this from us.
Next up, phase 2-3. We begin to dance, in midair. I take us through the heavily practiced motions. At first we start with normal dances, our shoes and cloaks leaving streaks of light as we gracefully move through the air.
But then, we step it up a notch. We start to add verticality, doing dips and dives. We surge high into the sky, touch the ceiling, only to dive back down. The entire process uses just about all the mental energy I can muster. But, it's worth it.
The crowd stares in pure awe. Even the contestants can't take their eyes off of us. For a brief moment I think I might see Luna's mask fracture, but that might just be my imagination.
But we aren't quite done yet. We enter into our climatic sequence. We do loop-de-loops, spins, barrel rolls. All the while maintaining perfect cadence with the music. We leave glittering streaks in our wake, as though we are but shooting stars dancing across the sky.
Once we finish our sequence, we glide to a stop, right where we started. We give a mid-air bow to our crowd. Most everyone starts to clap or cheer. It seems phase 2 was a grand success. I gently bring us down to the ground, where Initae greets us.
"Brilliant work! You two were like professionals, in fact, I don't think professionals could've beaten you two! You've definitely gotta do that again at your wedding, it's just perfect."
"Waah, Wat? Wedding!?" Ray and I simultaneously answer. Blushes instantly appearing on our faces.
Ko:"Preposterous, not a chance."
Ray:"Nope, never, definitely not, absolutely not in a million years."
Initae:"Oh right, whatever you two say I guess." She says this with a tone filled with disbelief.
Both of us, still very red in the face, move into the crowds to proceed with phase 3 of our grand plan: large-scale socializing. Now, this is Ray's time to shine.
We intermingle with hundreds of different people. All the while spreading laughs, jokes and cheer. We get many, many, compliments on our performance as well. Ray seems to be beaming with genuine happiness. (personal grand plan: massive success) I too, of course am filled with happiness.
With phase 3 of our grand plan complete, we have successfully completed our masterpiece. First, we made an entrance that is sure to leave a mark. Next, we gave a dazzling performance, convincing everyone that we are it. And lastly, we reinforced our wonderful performance by personally interacting with many and spreading our names around. I think it's safe to say that everyone at this event solidly knows who we are, and aren't going to forget it for as long as they should live.
On another note, we figured out what Brian's contraption was while we were conversing. We noticed the group of four go out onto the dance floor. They then proceeded to perform a quite nice dance, somehow balancing April between the other three to form a wonderful four-way dance.
The contraption, why of course, was to assist Brian with his horrid dancing skills! It seems to have made him at least competent at dancing, and he manages to not screw anything up. It's quite a fascinating sight.
Luna also takes to the dance floor, and gives a pretty impressive showing all by herself, nothing compared to ours however. Though afterwards she leaves the dance floor and the hall altogether, she has quite a mean look on her face. She is certainly furious that we showed her up so badly. But, that is simply what we do. We walk into the room and tear down people's pride and egos, like taking scissors to paper.
Now that our grand plan is complete, Ray and I do not overstay our welcome. We depart about 70% of the way through the gala. However, we don't head right back to the shuttle. Instead we wander the complex for a while.
We come across a nice and cozy balcony that overlooks some of Castera's vast plains, dotted with various herds of large animals. The forests also have some truly astonishing trees, some must be 150m tall! There is also a beautiful snow-capped mountain in the distance.
Together we lean on the rail, staring out at the scenery.
We stayed that way for about an hour. Just silently observing the scenery.
I then start to get a bit tired. All that inae manipulation and socialization has really left my worthless NEET self quite drained. I lean over and rest my head on Ray's shoulder. Somehow, she lets me. We stay that way for quite a while. Just absorbing each other's presence amid the beautiful scenery.
After a while longer, Ray speaks.
"Hey Ko, how much energy do you have left?"
This question gets me standing quite quickly. I think I've still got a decent bit left in me, so I answer back.
"Ive got a decent bit left, what do you have in mind?"
"Why don't we give the guests one last show as they depart?"
"How so?"
"You remember those old planes that used to write messages in the sky using smoke? What if we did that but with bits of pure inae from our shoes?"
"Genius."
I pick up Ray in my arms and quickly take off.
We once again dance a beautiful dance through the sky. This time in a specific pattern. While we do this, Ray is busy chipping away some of the pure inae from the bottom of one of her shoes. Scattering a cloud of the dust behind us.
We start to notice many ships leaving the complex, presumably to return to wherever their homelands are.
Once we complete our brief dance, we land once again on the balcony. It is time for the moment of truth.
"Here we go."
Ray grabs on tightly to me. I start to gather a large amount of raw inae in a ball in front of me. After a few seconds, I stretch it out and project it in a large cone out into the sky.
Moments later, the raw inae reacts with the pure inae.
In giant letters spells, "Ray + Ko > Everyone" it blazes brilliantly across the plains and forests in front of us. It should be easily visible to any sensors in space. I fully expect this to be all over the net within a few minutes.
With this bonus stage of our plan completed. We head back to the shuttle. Our mission is complete. The people of the universe definitely can no longer ignore us.
So, going into the future. We shall continue to win, together. At the end of this all, we will stand together and declare ourselves administrators over humanity. No matter what it takes. We will win. So, bring it on.
End of Chapter 25
A/N: Welcome dear reader. It's the author here. Wow, wouldya look at that, it's already chapter 25! Geez, it's really flown by.
Do be sure to stay tuned. We've still got a long way to go yet, we haven't even seen the first trial! Big stuff is still to come, so be sure to stick around.
As always, if you are enjoying reading, be sure to follow/favourite/rate/comment a fun joke, it is always appreciated. Until the next one, dear reader.
Cathrix
PS: This is the largest chapter yet, coming in at a whopping 4203 words!