Ceremony 6

"Is that so..." The Arboreal Maiden stood there, analyzing them. "It certainly doesn't seem that way."

"What?"

"You may understand that what has been done is done, I don't believe you have isolated yourselves from your previous attachments completely. In your case," She pointed a finger at Donovan, "it seems like you never had any attachments to begin with. Though I suppose that isn't as surprising given your origins."

"My origins? Are you referring to project Eternum?"

"In part. Altering the seams of life is a risky ordeal that can have many unintended consequences. I was suggesting that your upbringing might have left you without any attachments. Tell me, is there anyone aside from your mentor that you feel remorse over losing?"

Don was stunned, paralyzed at how much this person knew about them without even having been in the same universe.

"Um, Captain Thompson? Admiral Adirondack? Maybe a few more. I think?"

"And did you mourn them? Did you mourn Draco Helmsguard?"

...

...

"I didn't."

The Maiden offered a bitter smile. "Of the billions of people who lived around you, you only formed an emotional attachment to three of them, save Diana and that ARC who is a part of your ship. If you didn't, couldn't, feel sorrow at their passing, I would be remiss to label those meaningful attachments.

Would you say the same?"

Donovan nodded his head, slumping his shoulders.

"How do you know all of this?" Diana was quick to jump on the discontinuity. This was their first time meeting. Forget Project Eternum, how could she possibly know how they were raised.

"I have been watching, of course."

"Watching what? Us? For how long?" Diana had abandoned courtesy in a panic. If she knew about Project Eternum, what else did she know. Had she deciphered their secrets? Uncovered their history? There were a host of things that could put them on the back end of the negotiation table.

The Maiden made for a table in the corner of the room, gesturing them to follow with a slow beckon.

"How long I wonder... 'The beginning' is what I suppose would be the answer best suited for your question."

"That's awfully vague. Could you elaborate?"

"I have been watching ever since the first glimmer of life appeared on that otherwise barren rock you once called home, though the scales of time were completely different. Two years to watch those specks grow into fantastic scaled beasts, five before they all fell, and one year before your ancestors first found fire.

From that point until now, two hundred years? Maybe less, probably more. Centuries are easier for me to keep track of a this point than individual years, though I will admit I remember more about your race growing to the point you are at than I do any other.

I remember your greatest triumphs, biggest failures. I know of your virtues, your efforts, your desires," Her voice lost its neutral tone, "and I have borne witness to your atrocities."

'Shit' was the word that went through both of their minds simultaneously. There were a plethora of events she could be referring to, none of them they could consider high points of human history.

The events of the 1900's probably took a few of the top spots in that regard.

"Worry not. It is not my prerogative to blame you for crimes that you did not commit, nor would I have the authority or right to intervene should you perform a similar act in the future. My purpose seems to be something of an arbiter of neutrality. So long as you leave the Great Csillacra and the residents of the Sanctum out of it, then there is nothing I can do to intervene."

"We would never do such a thing." Donovan, absolutely certain she was referring to genocide, had to retort to that attack on their character.

"I would not be so certain." The Arboreal Maiden cut him off at the pass. "In fact, it would not surprise me if you succumbed to some superiority bias upon interaction with the denizens of this reality. They are not without their vices, excessive bloodshed and cruelty among them, but I have never once heard of an incident where a people was systematically slaughtered because of something so inane as believing in a different deity."

She lit up a fire underneath a kettle using some of that Split magic that had been displayed for them aboard the Oberlux.

"I will be honest with you. We, that being the Great Csillacra and I, made the conscious and purposeful decision to reduce your species in size. We had our reasons, as I will soon explain, but we had no intention of letting your numbers dwindle so low as two.

For that I apologize immensely."

Her head was practically touching the table in a bow.

"You . . . killed of our people on purpose?" Diana was baffled at the straightforwardness displayed by this woman. Normally this would be the type of thing that would be kept secret. "Why?" She wanted an apology less than she wanted an explanation.

"Because this universe, plane of reality, galaxy, whatever you may call it, is unprepared for your existence. Likewise, your people were ill-prepared to deal with an existence beyond the bounds of their own solar system. You needed a clean slate, or at least something close to it, to both buy you time to build up for proper interstellar interaction and give the rest of our universe the time needed to shore up their defense and not be completely blindsided by your industrial might."

"And you thought killing us off was the best way to go about this? Tell me, how our atrocities worse than your own at this point." Forget a genocide in the millions, the blood of billions, literally all but two, was on her hands.

"Because our intention was to only really eliminate your industrial and political systems. A mere fraction of your population would have perished, perhaps not even a percent, but it would have been enough to shake your people up enough to leave them open for change and integration into the greater community. Even the two of you alone still represent a colossal danger to every sovereign nation that exists."