Part 23. Compromise

"I'll admit," Jack eventually shrugged, "It does look like Belmadir was at fault then. It even explains why Irvetrani didn't trust him in battle. So there's a chance he faked his own death somehow. Or there's a chance–"


"Wait," Alex interrupted, "We never knew he died. He built a machine that he said would cost his life to activate, and he wasn't there later. We only have his word for it. It's strange that we haven't had any more memories to confirm that. None of us remembered mourning him, for example. Admittedly, we equally don't remember having thrown him out of the Council, but that could be explained by the fact that we know he could interfere with the system that allows us to recover these memories."


"Well, Madir was the one to worry about back then. But with Ammadrine... If he's killed her, or whatever his plan was, trapped her in that crystal. We didn't release her?"


"Three scenarios," Alex always found it easy to be the voice of reason, presenting a possibility like she was researching ancient history, and trying not to jump to conclusions. But even she was finding it hard to keep her emotions in check as she imagined these people – her friends – in the story of betrayal they were trying to unravel. "First, Madir tried to kill her. He was thrown out of the Council, exiled, but Ammadrine left too because she could no longer trust Nico for his part in the plot. Outside our observation, anything could have happened to those two.


"Second, Madir killed Ammadrine and sealed her in his crystal thing. We threw him out, he went into exile or was killed, but we didn't know where the totem was. In that case, it's entirely possible that in his next incarnation he could have recovered it. Remembering that he can tamper with our memories, in that scenario it's entirely possible that Ammadrine has recovered false memories, and could be working for him.


"Third, Ammadrine found out about this plan and fled the city. He activated the system that was supposed to take his life, and we assumed he was dead. Then he went to kill her. In that case, we could have believed for all these incarnations that Ammadrine could be our Enemy."


"We're still missing something," Arnie shook her head, "None of those feels right. I can't see what's wrong, but I know those stories just don't feel right." There were a couple of nods around the table.


"As much as I hate to hold on to ideas," Jack spoke slowly, "We still can't treat Ammadrine as an ally. She's been present at the monster attacks, we know that much. We don't know what Belmadir has done to her memories. It's possible that he did something to destroy her loyalty to the group. Maybe he erased her memories of everyone but him as she reincarnated, and then left her to take some kind of sick vengeance as he sacrificed his life to his machine. In the present day, we only know that she's in the body of a selfish man who mentioned conquering the world, so either of them could still be our enemy."


"No," Mel shook his head. "Because we've seen her in armour. And the Enemy said that when he finished his armour, it would be too late to stop him. And what's the obsession with the Princess?"


"Belmadir was in love with the Princess?" Violet hazarded, "He was jealous because Amma just got told off for having feelings, but if he said what he wanted he might be banished or something. Because the Immaculate Princess absolutely cannot have emotions, that was true even on the old world. Her power came from her purity. But now Madir's gone crazy, he wants to have the Princess even though it would ruin everything, and he's using –"


"No," Amber stood up suddenly, "I know what we've missed. I'm sorry, I got it all wrong."


"You told us everything, and we all..."


"I can't tell you the bits I didn't understand. I can't even remember them. But the Enemy said he's nearly ready, so we have to finish this. I have to finish this. But there's things Orsertro knew that I think I can't... Jack, can you come with me? I think maybe this needs a man."


* * *


Cyradin Belmadir flexed muscles almost petrified after myriads of years trapped in the computer matrix on Mimas, and looked out over the dawn city. It was nothing like the spectacular vistas of the city he had raised from the ocean so many thousands of years before, but that didn't matter. He could imagine coming to rule here, with the powers of the whole Council at his disposal. They didn't realise that some fraction of their abilities was sealed away with their memories in the crystal computer, so they had never understood how powerful he was becoming. He could raise the city on his own now, he was sure of that. But even the thought of being a sole ruler didn't excite him.


Cyradin did not want to be a king. He wanted to serve and protect the world spread out before him. And he wanted to do it with the Princess at his side; not sharing her affections with anyone. Soon it would be time. He would have his Princess, and she would have only the memories he deemed suitable. Between them they would conquer this world of stupid monkeys, and they would rule forever as the last survivors of the true intelligent race.


It wasn't a dream for Cyradin. It was simply the way things were going to be, the way they were supposed to be. Nothing could possibly interrupt destiny, not even death. Because there was one memory he had ensured the others could never recover. Long before their empire fell, in alien bodies and alien minds, the Immaculate Princess had rebelled against her role. She had wanted someone she could share her burden with, someone she could admit weakness to. She had wanted feelings, even though she had imagined something very different from the hormonal surges of these ape bodies. Madir knew now that she had dreamed of being his lover, even if she didn't understand it at the time. She had sworn by the sacred rings of the cycle of time, and so by her power it was done.


The Princess and her Council of the Rainbow would be reincarnated, again and again, until it was possible for her to find love. Until she could satisfy feelings she hadn't even known the words for. Through the decline of a race, the dissent triggered by her unorthodox proclamation, a hundred thousand years of a civilisation collapsing under the weight of its own pride, a million years waiting for intelligent life to evolve elsewhere in the solar system, a scant half-millennium under the rule of the Pangean Empire, the demon wars that had slain Knights before their time and left them never alive at the same moment, and the long ages while Cyradin waited for the timelock he had set to come due, that destiny was still unstoppable. And now the lock was open. With seven members of the Council on Earth at the same time, Cyradin had returned. And as he had predicted there was still a child in their ranks, and they were too disorganised to stop him completing the prophecy.


Now it was time. The Princess was down there in the city, he could feel her. It was time to raze this grimy city, and plant the foundation stone of a new empire. He closed his eyes, and meditated on the diamond and turquoise shards in his hands. Slowly at first, the only such technology constructed for twenty thousand years, his armour began to form. And in response, the tiny parts of his consciousness that he had scattered across the Earth began to gather power; seeking out human and animal hosts, promising to grant their wishes if he could only use their bodies for a moment. Their deaths opened the veil to the world of the dead, bringing back the soldiers of the Dead Legion.


This time, he could keep control of them.


This time, the demons would march at his command.


This time, the Council would cease their cycle of death and rebirth, their purpose fulfilled.


This time, he would have both the Princess and the world.

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