[400] 5.24 The Arbarra Summit I

Arbarra II, Grand Ceremonial Palace, Year 16,369 A.I. (18 weeks after Seraphina’s Awakening)

I had grand expectations for what to expect when I stepped through that large door of pure-white marble and entered into the palace proper.  Lavish artwork and decorations I had only read about in books.  Maybe even paintings on the ceiling and other pictures made not of paint or ink but of precious stones all meshed together in patterns that would take a person weeks to envision and months more to bring into fruition.  Maybe less with special [Artist] Skills, but still a long time for all but the highest-leveled of talents.

What I did not expect was the equivalent of an entire town or maybe fortress hidden within the palace walls.  The space is so expanded through glyphwork that I cannot see the ceiling from here on the ground.  Further enchantments paint the illusion of an artificial sky, even going so far as to include a sun and clouds and wind that I’m not sure if it is artificial at all.  Trees— real trees, not replicas— grow in patterned arrays on either side of streets made of rustic cobblestone.

Throughout this city-in-a-palace, there are even more buildings stretching out for… miles, I guess?  It’s so hard to tell.  Even more than that, in this space that defies all reason, Madison and this Chancellor guy are completely unfazed.  I want to speak up, to ask how all of this is possible.  I want to learn how to do so myself, what magic and miracles combined to create this place that should not exist.  I do not.  I instead remain silent and keep my face as plain as I can in this chamber of mystery and I do not let it show to the extent that I physically am able to not let it show.

The wolfkin man who continues to eye me warily also says nothing.  He carries no weapon, but I have every reason to believe that those claws are weapons enough.  He is stronger than I am, but not by so much that I cannot hold my own for long enough to retreat or for someone else to seek help.

We move at a pace that seems leisurely to me, but to the attendants maintaining the facilities, I suppose it’s not very leisurely at all.  [Speed] works in a weird way; if I lean into my combat parameter, I can move with a degree of celerity akin to the world itself bending slightly around me to accommodate.  A stroll for me is the same as a sprint for a Level 50 woman who lags behind us with an expression of panic on her face and loose papers in her hand that I dare not read.  A sprint for me would be much, much faster still.

At the end of the long but straight road is another massive building.  My first thought is to wonder if there’s yet another city buried within.  A cascading compounding of stretched space which extends indefinitely until the concept of space itself stretches as far as space can without tearing.  But no, I can see inside and the space is interior in nature, and not much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Dozens of conversations occur simultaneously between creatures the likes of which I’ve not seen or even read about before.  One powerful woman with a queenly majesty has a serpentine body, with only the final few feet of her long body standing upright.  The rest of her is coiled at her back.  Her eyes glance in Madison’s direction before narrowing.  I look away before her haunting gaze can turn its attention toward me.

There are humans as I would recognize them— a clear plurality of the gathered diplomats and staff, but not a majority.  One person whom I pegged as a human at first glance, I realize is no such thing.  The aura of death, the innate hunger, the hypnotic elegance that would captivate me had I not previously experienced it before.  Hopefully this vampire is less keen on permanently silencing me than the last one I encountered.  I would not want to cause an extra headache for Madison for the apparent crime of defending myself.

I move a little closer to Madison.  Not out of fear, but out of a desire to make sure she is properly protected in accordance with my role.  Yes, that’s it.  Definitely no fear from all these powerful people, some of whom actually could crush me with a wave of their hand.

It’s odd, though.  Like Madison and I, nearly every diplomat is far stronger personally than their attending bodyguard is.  I hadn’t realized it at first because Chancellor Versinum had been masking his power and I sure as hell wasn’t going to try [Anomalous Decryption] here, but now that he isn’t, I know that he is not that much weaker than Madison.

So then what, exactly, is the role of us bodyguards and attendants in this conflict?  I have a feeling it isn’t quite as simple as Madison has informed me to this point.

My eyes dart not to the diplomats, but to their chief attendants.  Most of them are standing on the outside of the room, watching.  None say anything.  None gives me more than a cursory glance before moving on to the next.  I know I am being watched, sized up for what strengths I have, what weaknesses they might try to exploit.  I have the advantage here.

I join them, keeping an eye on Madison as she continues conversing in a language I have never before heard, at a rate too quick for me to understand or try to decipher.  She is better at masking her emotions than I am.

It’s odd.  Some sort of game is afoot, and I can’t help but feel that Madison should have properly told me what I was to do.  Maybe her not telling me was part of the rules of the game.  In either case, it’s frustrating.  All I can do at this point is play to the best of my ability.  And my abilities are pretty good, especially in the realm of intelligence gathering.  I’m going to win.

I employ [Anomalous Decryption] on the wolfkin from before.  He's now standing warily about twenty paces from me, his eyes ever watchful.

[[Name: Lurin Gormella]

[Level: 115; Experience: ##,###,###; To Next: ###,###]

[Current Stats: [Health]: 55,941 / 56,325; [Ether]: 13,378 / 14,513]

[Class 1: [Natural Savager]]

[Class 2: [Master of 1,000 Tongues]]]

I blink.  Twice.  I look away before I get a chance to peer into any of his Skills or further at his parameters.  It appears that this man has at least one full [Translator] class, in addition to a martial class that I assume is based on his body’s natural weapons.  He eyes me again.  I turn my attention elsewhere.

I still my breathing and force my heart to beat in its usual cadence.  It takes a few seconds, but I am able to counteract my autonomic fear response, staunch the flow of adrenaline and endorphins into my bloodstream, and prevent the leakage of cold sweat that would indicate a fear response.  Yes, I am surrounded by powerful people.  Yes, I lack the experience both on and off the battlefield that these diplomats and ambassadors have.  No, I will not succumb.  Madison wished for me to be here for a reason.  I will not let her down.

The Chancellor— who I presume is Arbarra’s own governor-equivalent, given how he seems to be the center of most of the discussions here— raises his hand.  All conversations cease, and eyes turn in his direction.  The gathered diplomats who had previously been discussing matters cease.  They step away from the man in unison.

The man’s hand lowers with a gentle flourish.  The ceiling lights up.  In a flash of golden light, a saucer-shaped dais appears out of the Chancellor’s [Inventory].  He steps up to the lectern within and commands it upward into the air.

The ground opens up, revealing a massive toroidal table with seating for five hundred.  Each of the sections is cordoned off with massive walls.  A giant terminal appears next, then subterminals for each of the hundreds of diplomats as they gather at their respective seats.  The bodyguards start making their way to positions next to their charges.

I follow along to a rhythm I have to calculate through watching and learning on the fly rather than formal lessons in etiquette.  It is difficult to determine what I must do.  My [Mind] is high enough that I can do so despite the enormous volume of information to process.

Dozens of computer screens appear in front of each diplomat.  As I stand behind Madison’s chair and stand at attention just as all the other guards are doing, the monitors each turn on.  A translucent barrier appears behind me, warbling slightly.  The chamber, previously abuzz, goes deathly silent to the point where I can even hear Madison’s heart, steady and unflinching as always.

“Are you nervous?” she asks.  “You may speak freely now.  These barriers are erected from formations among the strongest known in the Milky Way.  Even I would have difficulty breaching them.

I press my hand against the wall, expecting it to give as I lean more into my [Strength] and push more weight onto it.  It holds fast even as I approach my full fighting capacity.  Her point made, I return back to attention.

Regarding her question, I want to say no, that I am unbothered and managing the situation to the best of my abilities.  Curiosity still gets the better of me despite an adage about cats that I do not quite understand.

“Why, exactly, did you bring me here?” I ask.  “I am not so strong as to be your bodyguard.  I do not possess the knowledge necessary to serve as a proper ambassador.  Had you needed someone with more knowledge about interplanetary politics, you could have picked a random individual off the street rather than a cyborg who has only been operational for less than half a year.  I appreciate getting to attend with you, and I don’t want to sound ungrateful for this opportunity I know to be a great honor.  But I cannot help but wonder why despite all of this, you wanted me here.  What am I supposed to be doing?”

I feel a little better having finally asked the question, despite how raw and vulnerable I feel afterwards.

Madison just smiles.  “I asked you to accompany me here because I want you to experience as much of this world as possible.  I want you to see the ugly sausagemaking of interplanetary governance and diplomacy.  I want you to see that sometimes conflict escalates, that alliances can be fragile, shattered and re-formed as temporary interests wax and wane.  I want you to see the sapient peoples of the Milky Way at their very best and at their very worst.  To see how people can come together in dark times…  Or how they can turn on one another as they fight over the scraps.”

That’s…  I’m not quite sure how to take all that in.  But, after thinking through things and analyzing my memories over the past few weeks of what she and I have gone through while not busy training me further.

“So what happens now?”

As if responding to my question, the screens in front of Madison flash on.  Static flickers over them for a second before images of several of the diplomats appear on the screens.  The central and largest of the monitors is fixed directly on the Chancellor.  Even Madison stops her conversation with me and looks up toward where the ursine man hovers.

His voice carries a tone of discipline and authoritative finality.  I do not know if he is the highest political power in this galactic sector; if he is, I would not be surprised.

“Esteemed representatives,” he says, pausing for rhetorical effect.  “I want to thank everyone for attending this emergency summit on the ongoing extragalactic anomalies currently plaguing the local supercluster and nearby voids.  I now open the floor for speech and debate.”

A red button appears on the desk in front of Madison.  She wastes no time in pressing it.