The chamber was alive with chaos
A circular hall carved from shimmering mineral stone glowing faintly in pulsing blue and silver-golds. The ceiling rose impossibly high disappearing into a swelling nebula that churned like a living sky dropped indoors.
Dozens - maybe hundreds - of aliens crowded the amphitheater-like seating.
Some looked humane, with elongated limbs and glowing veins. Others, well they resembled towering beasts of bones and plated armor whereas the rest were simply creatures of mist and light shifting shapes with every breath.
Voices clashed, overlapping in panic.
"Ner'throkh" (Impossible )
"Sael Ner'throkh Kha'ren Thren Vorthys"
(How could a human wield it)
"Vorthys Thren Kha'ren Ner'throkh Sael"
(It chose a human and mustn't be questioned)
"Vael'kha Reth Vorthys. Zyth Kerr'oth"
(Then it has erred. It must be corrected )
A powerful boom boom like thunder cracking through metal cut the air
Silence reigned.
At the front of the chamber rose thrones arranged in a curved formation but only seven were occupied. The being at the central throne - the largest curved of dark blue stone veined with crimson light - leaned forward. All discussion died in an instant. Nikolious.
He was...arresting to look at. Half ethereal. half corporal with a form that never remained entirely still. His body seemed carved from obsidian and starlight - fracturing and shifting like a cracked mirror reflecting galaxies. Tall, impossibly tall, with a stillness that made him seem gentle almost restrained.
Two sets of eyes marked his face:
-The lower pair, soft almost human, glowing a calm ice-blue.
-The upper pair sharper, elongated, blazing with deep violet flames.
His presence demanded respect whereas his aura demanded fear. When he finally spoke his voice rumbled like a planet's core shifting:
"Aeth" (Order)
The word alone forced the last echoes of murmuring to die. Behind him the other six councilors watched silently.
Nikolious raised a hand and a sphere of light formed above his palm unfolding into a holographic image that hovered above the thrones.
A young human with tired eyes and dark hair, breathing hard and running for his life.
Allan Jacob Mercer.
The hall erupted - whispers, gasps and curses took over.
"Mael'keth" (Last cycle) he announced, "Kha'ren Prexen Aevron-veil in Ne'thren Ximo. Tres'kan Aeshry'n Umbral Es Raesomnus...Ber'thran Za'korr"
(This mortal breached the veil of Aevron during a state of unconsciousness. He appeared within the umbrella Forest...and escaped the grasp of general Za'korr)
The name lashed through the room like a whip.
Za'korr.
Head of the planetary defense army, a warlord feared across galaxies.
"Sael'ka - " (Furthermore) his upper eyes narrowed with dangerous intensity, "Vorthys Thren Kha'ren" (Vorthys choses him)
Rumbles of anger shook the walls.
The larger faction roared:
"Kha'ren Ner'throkh Thren. Ner'ul"
"Vael'threx"
"Melanie. Vor Thryss Ael" (kill him before he destabilizes the planes)
The smaller faction tried - futiley - to counter:
"Vorthys Thren Jyra. Ner Kael" (The saber choses the worthy not the powerful)
"Vorthys Thren. Ner Thren. Sovei zyth"
( If it chose him we must obey)
But their voices drowned beneath the fury of the majority.
Nikolious let the chaos peak, then let out a shockwave of energy pulse from him.
Silence reigned once again.
His eyes swept over them, cold and unreadable as always.
"Sa'reath Ner'ul Vorthys Thren"
(Vorthys has not chosen a bearer in a millenia) He intoned.
"Thren Kha'ren Ner'ul Ul'reath" ( And never in all recorded ages has it chosen a human)
He leaned back in his throne, the starlight around his body dimming, darkening.
"Ner Thren Kha'ren Khal'd Vorthys - zyth"
(But whether we like it or not...the human holds it's mark)
The factions bristled.
The hologram flickered above them, Allan unaware of the cosmic attention now focused on him.
Nikolious finished in a low growl.
"Orthis Vyr Kha'ren" (The boy will change everything)
The chemist down the street smelled faintly of antiseptic and citrus cleaners. A bell chimed softly when Allen entered, the sound almost too brightly for how hollow he felt. He purchased a bottle of painkillers with trembling hands.
"Rough morning?" the cashier asked casually.
Allan gave a weak nod, not trusting his voice. He walked straight to the bathroom at the back of the chemist and slipped inside, locking the door behind him. The moment he was alone his shoulders finally relaxed.
He twisted off the bottle cap and tossed two tablets into his mouth, slowly swallowing dry.
He leaned over the sink and turned the faucet and splashed called water onto his face again and again.
Calm down. Calm down. It was just a dream, it wasn't real and it didn't follow you to reality.
Then he realized it had become awfully silent. The kind of silence that devoured sound. The kind of silence that reminded him of the forest.
He then heard it. A low whooshing sound sipped into the room like air being sucked through a narrow crack. Allan's breathing stutted. His fingers clutch the edge of the sink until his knuckles whitened.
Whispers. The language sold in the foreign way too foreign yet he could understand. He could understand it all.
"...he should not exist..."
"...a mistake, a danger..."
"...the human must be dealt with..."
Anger crackled in their voices, accompanied by fear.
He swallowed hard and reached to touch his temple. A surge of pain exploded beyond his eyes. He clutched his skull with both hands gasping.
"N - No - Stop - "
The mirror rippled. It's surface turned to liquid, a dark and fluid like spilled ink.
Waves pulsed outward, bending the reflection and distorting it.
Large. Powerful. Skin like stone and burning metal marked by cracked large dull orange light.
Allan stumbled backward in terror. Another arm emerged and then a face. Those red eyes, the same ones that had stared at him in the forest.
The mouth twisted into a snarl as he forced more of himself through the fluid mirror, his presence tearing at the air like a wound in reality. Allan shrieked he tripped over his own to feet and fell -
- into someone's arms.
"Whoa - hey! You okay, man?"
The voice sounded human. Allan blinked, disoriented. The stranger had just stepped out of one of the bathroom stalls and caught him mid-fall. Clean shaven. Concerned. Normal.
Alan weept his head towards the mirror.
Nothing.
He's swallowed, his chest heaving.
"Yeah," he forced out, his voice shaking. "Yeah, I'm fine I...I just haven't slept..."
"You sure? It seems you were fainting."
"I said I'm fine sir, I'm alright. Thank you."
The man hesitated before letting him go.
"Kk...just take it easy, yeah?"
Alan nodded numbly and walked out of the bathroom, through the chemist and out into the daylight - his legs feeling like wires ready to snap at this slightest tension.
As soon as the door shut behind him the man in the bathroom exhaled. His skin peeled away dissolving like ash blown off a campfire revealing the truth beneath:
Za'korr.
The alien's eyes flared red as he turned slowly toward the mirror. The glass rippled again - and on the other side, visible only to him, was the alien council. The seven heads sitting on their towering Thrones and behind them the full assembly of the alien world.
"Johoth es Keith"(He is weak)
"Ithara'keth Vae-mir"
(He broke under illusion)
"Khar A Vael"(A human will doom us all)
"Ereth. Velani Vorthys vor Thren Kha'ren"
(It's a mistake. Kill him before he's fully chosen)
"Saleth Herek Us'ream Vor Xepa"
(End this madness before the entire realms pay the price)
The approar was deafening. Za'korr smiled, pleased by their fear.
From the thrones, one of the seven rose - Miranoy.
She was beautiful, in an alien way. Her skin shimmered like polished Opal. Her eyes were bright and merciles. She moved with the grace of royalty, danger woven into every step.
She lifted her chin.
"Nikolious" she said, her voice cold and ringing through the chamber."Us'threx. Vae-eth"( the decision is unanimous)
All eyes turned to the middle throne.
Miranoy continued:
"Es Kha'ren Velani Vorthys Vor Thren. Axu Us'ream Nex Gri Juhe Reth Kha'ren" (The human will be eliminated before the saber finds his hands. The fate of the universe and all dimensions shall not rest in the grip of such a flawed creature)
The chamber quieted in agreement. Murmurs of satisfaction rippled through the crowd. Nikolious closed his eyes... and when he opened them - they glowed with a muted blue, dim with reluctance. His decision no longer mattered. He simply lifted his hand and one by one, so did the other six.
Streams of celestial light burst from their palms and shut upward, piercing the cosmic ceiling of the courtroom.
A decree sealed. A death sentence cast. And far below, Allan Mercer walked alone - unaware that the universe had just voted for his execution.