CHAPTER 13: SOUN RILL
Edmund found himself in a state of bliss. He had no longer a care in the universe. He was floating around, there was neither up nor down. There was neither wrong nor right. There was only him. He felt himself leave his body, and he journeyed a spiritual journey. What was bliss? Bliss was neither happiness nor sadness. Bliss was the fine line in between.
He could not see, but yet, he could. In his mind, the knowledge of the years seemed to imprint itself into his mind. Questions he never asked before began to form in his head. Questions like, who was he? What was his purpose in the universe? Then Edmund's life deeds flashed before his eyes. He watched impassively.
He asked himself. Was that all there is? Was war something certain in life? The world war. The Human-Skaarj war. The Strider war. The tournaments. Edmund's concentration turned to the tournaments. He watched as the participants fought and died, and fought again. He watched as the people cheered and jeered at the participants. He watched as the participants won and lost. Up and down, that was the way of life. Or was it?
The presence came. This time Edmund did not shy away from it. He accepted it into his mind, and his thoughts were merged with it. It spoke.
"I have long waited for you."
"I know."
"Do you know who I am?"
Edmund paused. Did he? The thoughts of this being flowed into him. "Yes. Yes, I believe I do. You are the High Templar, Soun Rill. And you are not part of this bliss, this calm."
High Templar Soun Rill laughed. "No, I am not. This bliss you experience is part of the program I asked that the Unreal matrix run. This...calm, is make believe. I created it to clear your mind. I created it in hopes that you and I will be able to make speech without the interference of personal emotion."
Edmund shrugged indifferently. "I came here, because you called. Now I am willing to listen. Speak your mind, High Templar Soun."
The presence seemed to solidify into a shape in front of him. It was the shape of creature he had never seen before. With golden armor and eyes of wisdom. It walked with a grace Edmund had never seen before, and it spoke with a voice seduced and enthralled him.
It noticed Edmund noticing all this. It smiled. Beautiful isn't it Edmund? This was the physical body I once had, me and all my brethren. We were a proud and noble race then. There was not a star system that me and my brethren had not yet discovered. We were old. Very old. But now...now we are all a memory."
"I am dead. Do you understand that Edmund? I am a shadow of my former self. A wraith. And I am here to warn you so that your race will not suffer the same fate as mine."
Edmund shrugged noncommittally "What does it matter? Kill or be killed. If you kill, you simply live to repeat the cycle. Would it not be easier to simply be killed?"
"Ah. That is what you think, Edmund. But what do the other's think? They would want to live Edmund. It is not their wish to die yet. And because you are their only salvation, though they will never know it, you are responsible for the survival of their species."
"Survival of my species? What exactly are we talking about here?"
"We're talking about a universal xenocide, Edmund. We're talking about an invasion that would make the Skaarj incursion seem like a minor skirmish."
"But why? And by whom?"
"Because they believe that they area a purist race Edmund. They believe themselves as Gods, determining who lives and who doesn't. They are the same race that wiped out mine what seemed like an eternity ago."
"Tell me more...And where are my friends, my comrades? Shouldn't they listen about this too?"
"They are listening even know, Edmund. And I shall do better than tell you, I will show you."
The Neulor first found the Unreal core, on a desert planet of the Zeta Quadrant. It was situated in what seemed to be the ruins of an ancient civilization, more ancient than even the Neulor. The Neulor excavated the artifact and brought it back their mothership. The Neulor, being space nomads had no home. They had been driven out by their sister race, the Nemri.
The Neulor did not desire to fight the Nemri, their sister race, so they abandoned their homeworld, and have been traveling the galaxy ever since. This caused them to be the best space navigators in the universe.
The artifact was probed and inspected by the Neulor scientist caste. Using whatever data they recovered from the core, they were able to unlock the secrets of it. However, the moment the files were recovered, the scientists reported that the core had emitted a strange transmission, which lasted for only a few minutes. It seemed as if it was calling for someone, or something.
The Neulor immediately hid the artifact and conducted no more probes on it. A decade passed before the experiments continued. They discovered the matrix's ability to respawn people, though with a deadly side effects. The subject would finally be driven insane after years of respawning.
The Neulor found this piece of information to be of no use to them. They were not a military civilization, and had no intent on universal domination that this core could certainly help provide. But someone else wanted it. The Nemri. In a sudden savage assault, Nemri cruisers laid waste to half of the Neulor fleet, causing the death of millions of Neulor.
The second half of the fleet managed to evade the slaughter by jumping out of the system, bringing with them the Unreal core. The Nemri followed relentlessly. The game of cat and mouse continued, for a whole century, with the Neulor slowly evolving to adapt to the danger. Their ships were converted into fighters and their mothership configured with weapons of destruction. Finally, the Neulor, under the leadership of an elected High Templar deemed it time to retaliate, and with the help of the Unreal matrix launched an assault on the homeworlds.
The Nemri government was overthrown, and the Neulor won themselves a watchful peace. One century later, all that changed.
It seemed that someone had finally responded to the calling of the Unreal Core. They were called the Kulgans. The Neulor found out the truth. The core was actually a device that was planted by these strange alien Kulgans. It was meant that so that once activated by a sentient race, the Kulgans would come in and annihilate them. The Kulgans believed that they were the only beings meant to roam space. They believed in what they called universal purity.
Swift and silent, the Kulgans flagships warped into Neulor space and launched a massive invasion with the intent of wiping out the existence of the Neulor. At the same time, the unreal core, which the Neulor had used to defeat the far superior Nemri was deactivated and refused to respond to the commands of the Neulor. The Neulor were trapped and doomed.
The High Templar at that time was Soun of the Rill clan. He realized that this vicious fate would befall the next race that would discover the Unreal Core. The Kulgans would repeat the slaughter and bloodbath. Partly in vengeance to the Kulgans, partly in sympathy of the next victim, Soun transferred his mind into the Unreal Core, hoping to warn the future discoverers and help them defeat the Kulgans. Soun transferred also all knowledge about the strengths and the weakness of the Kulgans the Neulor had discovered during their short resistance against them.
The Neulor were wiped out, and all traces of their existence were erased. But they never discovered the mind of the High Templar which was hidden in the core. They left the system, and also left the core behind, a trap for the future victims.
Edmund found himself in a state of bliss. He had no longer a care in the universe. He was floating around, there was neither up nor down. There was neither wrong nor right. There was only him. He felt himself leave his body, and he journeyed a spiritual journey. What was bliss? Bliss was neither happiness nor sadness. Bliss was the fine line in between.
He could not see, but yet, he could. In his mind, the knowledge of the years seemed to imprint itself into his mind. Questions he never asked before began to form in his head. Questions like, who was he? What was his purpose in the universe? Then Edmund's life deeds flashed before his eyes. He watched impassively.
He asked himself. Was that all there is? Was war something certain in life? The world war. The Human-Skaarj war. The Strider war. The tournaments. Edmund's concentration turned to the tournaments. He watched as the participants fought and died, and fought again. He watched as the people cheered and jeered at the participants. He watched as the participants won and lost. Up and down, that was the way of life. Or was it?
The presence came. This time Edmund did not shy away from it. He accepted it into his mind, and his thoughts were merged with it. It spoke.
"I have long waited for you."
"I know."
"Do you know who I am?"
Edmund paused. Did he? The thoughts of this being flowed into him. "Yes. Yes, I believe I do. You are the High Templar, Soun Rill. And you are not part of this bliss, this calm."
High Templar Soun Rill laughed. "No, I am not. This bliss you experience is part of the program I asked that the Unreal matrix run. This...calm, is make believe. I created it to clear your mind. I created it in hopes that you and I will be able to make speech without the interference of personal emotion."
Edmund shrugged indifferently. "I came here, because you called. Now I am willing to listen. Speak your mind, High Templar Soun."
The presence seemed to solidify into a shape in front of him. It was the shape of creature he had never seen before. With golden armor and eyes of wisdom. It walked with a grace Edmund had never seen before, and it spoke with a voice seduced and enthralled him.
It noticed Edmund noticing all this. It smiled. Beautiful isn't it Edmund? This was the physical body I once had, me and all my brethren. We were a proud and noble race then. There was not a star system that me and my brethren had not yet discovered. We were old. Very old. But now...now we are all a memory."
"I am dead. Do you understand that Edmund? I am a shadow of my former self. A wraith. And I am here to warn you so that your race will not suffer the same fate as mine."
Edmund shrugged noncommittally "What does it matter? Kill or be killed. If you kill, you simply live to repeat the cycle. Would it not be easier to simply be killed?"
"Ah. That is what you think, Edmund. But what do the other's think? They would want to live Edmund. It is not their wish to die yet. And because you are their only salvation, though they will never know it, you are responsible for the survival of their species."
"Survival of my species? What exactly are we talking about here?"
"We're talking about a universal xenocide, Edmund. We're talking about an invasion that would make the Skaarj incursion seem like a minor skirmish."
"But why? And by whom?"
"Because they believe that they area a purist race Edmund. They believe themselves as Gods, determining who lives and who doesn't. They are the same race that wiped out mine what seemed like an eternity ago."
"Tell me more...And where are my friends, my comrades? Shouldn't they listen about this too?"
"They are listening even know, Edmund. And I shall do better than tell you, I will show you."
The Neulor first found the Unreal core, on a desert planet of the Zeta Quadrant. It was situated in what seemed to be the ruins of an ancient civilization, more ancient than even the Neulor. The Neulor excavated the artifact and brought it back their mothership. The Neulor, being space nomads had no home. They had been driven out by their sister race, the Nemri.
The Neulor did not desire to fight the Nemri, their sister race, so they abandoned their homeworld, and have been traveling the galaxy ever since. This caused them to be the best space navigators in the universe.
The artifact was probed and inspected by the Neulor scientist caste. Using whatever data they recovered from the core, they were able to unlock the secrets of it. However, the moment the files were recovered, the scientists reported that the core had emitted a strange transmission, which lasted for only a few minutes. It seemed as if it was calling for someone, or something.
The Neulor immediately hid the artifact and conducted no more probes on it. A decade passed before the experiments continued. They discovered the matrix's ability to respawn people, though with a deadly side effects. The subject would finally be driven insane after years of respawning.
The Neulor found this piece of information to be of no use to them. They were not a military civilization, and had no intent on universal domination that this core could certainly help provide. But someone else wanted it. The Nemri. In a sudden savage assault, Nemri cruisers laid waste to half of the Neulor fleet, causing the death of millions of Neulor.
The second half of the fleet managed to evade the slaughter by jumping out of the system, bringing with them the Unreal core. The Nemri followed relentlessly. The game of cat and mouse continued, for a whole century, with the Neulor slowly evolving to adapt to the danger. Their ships were converted into fighters and their mothership configured with weapons of destruction. Finally, the Neulor, under the leadership of an elected High Templar deemed it time to retaliate, and with the help of the Unreal matrix launched an assault on the homeworlds.
The Nemri government was overthrown, and the Neulor won themselves a watchful peace. One century later, all that changed.
It seemed that someone had finally responded to the calling of the Unreal Core. They were called the Kulgans. The Neulor found out the truth. The core was actually a device that was planted by these strange alien Kulgans. It was meant that so that once activated by a sentient race, the Kulgans would come in and annihilate them. The Kulgans believed that they were the only beings meant to roam space. They believed in what they called universal purity.
Swift and silent, the Kulgans flagships warped into Neulor space and launched a massive invasion with the intent of wiping out the existence of the Neulor. At the same time, the unreal core, which the Neulor had used to defeat the far superior Nemri was deactivated and refused to respond to the commands of the Neulor. The Neulor were trapped and doomed.
The High Templar at that time was Soun of the Rill clan. He realized that this vicious fate would befall the next race that would discover the Unreal Core. The Kulgans would repeat the slaughter and bloodbath. Partly in vengeance to the Kulgans, partly in sympathy of the next victim, Soun transferred his mind into the Unreal Core, hoping to warn the future discoverers and help them defeat the Kulgans. Soun transferred also all knowledge about the strengths and the weakness of the Kulgans the Neulor had discovered during their short resistance against them.
The Neulor were wiped out, and all traces of their existence were erased. But they never discovered the mind of the High Templar which was hidden in the core. They left the system, and also left the core behind, a trap for the future victims.
