1. The Palace of the Triad

Coliph looked nervously at the time. He felt the shift in the universe as the flow of space and time seemed to move faster by the second. The Palace of the Triad was located in a realm separate from reality, yet it somehow managed to maintain the same laws of quantum physics. Coliph was terribly late, but couldn’t help staring into the marvelous holographic display of the universe.

Another minute went by before he forced himself to head for the council chambers. He was one of the most honored of the gods. Why should they care if he is late? As he neared the entrance of the chamber, another warrior met him outside.

“General! There you are! Your thirty minutes late. All details and testimonies have been heard.” The boy spoke so quickly, he failed to breathe in between sentences.

“Have they come to a decision?” asked the general.

“Not yet. They are considering it now. There still may be time for your input to be heard.”

Coliph looked at the youth, thinking back to how he used to be: young, strong, eager. These things left him long ago. He was still strong, and through experience, he was brilliant. But his youth and eagerness to fight were gone. Gods may be immortal, but youth belongs to those who maintain it. And Coliph’s youth was sacrificed for honor and glory.

Fortunately, the Triad chose to hear more testimony before making a decision, giving the General more time to enter. A single man was standing in the center of the room, before the three thrones. The thrones were set on one side of the round chamber on tall, pillar-like structures. They were simply large, fancy chairs set on a hydraulic platform, but such high structures seemed to intimidate everyone. The Triad is the center of the pantheon, the creators of all life. No one would hide the truth from them, and being larger than everyone else made sure of that.

The captain in the middle of the room uttered words of urgency. “You see, Lords? Our very way of living could be lost, unless we act now. Please, heed my words, or we shall all pay!”

Pirrhus, the God of Strength, answered first with his imperial sounding voice: “I’ve heard enough. We must fight these fiends. Fire will force them to flee. Crushing their defense will be their defeat. Their fortress will fall at our flaming forces.”

Cortiss, the Goddess of Love, responded to her colleague: “Don’t dare think that we can deal with these demons in that way. We should declare peace. We should answer with diplomacy. Dealing with such demeanor will deem them as ones that require discipline, not as devils.”

Wing-shu, the God of Knowledge, spoke: “I’m afraid this isn’t so simple that we can say such things. Their soldiers will not fall easily. They’ve succeeded in proving so. But it is clear that they will not stop until satisfied. We must be smart.”

At this point, Coliph took his seat at the table near the center of the room. “Ah, General Coliph. How nice of you to join us. I’ve trust you’ve been briefed on this predicament.”

He replied, “I’ve heard details, but I cannot make an informed decision. Not until I’ve heard the report that was mentioned so much in the briefings.”

“Very well! Play the report.”

The report began a few seconds later, accompanied with the sounds of war: “Attention! Attention! This is Tropolis Theta reporting. We are under attack! I repeat! We are under attack! We’re not quite sure who it is yet, but. . . it looks like the Demons of Forton. From what we’ve seen in their attack strategy, and intelligence confirms this, they seem to be after the Order of the Cosmos. Tropolis will be gone soon. We are unable to stop them ourselves. Please, please, stop them. We—“

The almost deafening sound of static was all that was left. Coliph rubbed his beard as everyone stared at him, waiting for a response. Every great strategic warrior did something to show that they were thinking for some reason. Golobo rubbed his forehead a lot. Mahjabaad constantly buttoned and unbuttoned his outer garments. Coliph rubbed his beard.

“What is left of Tropolis?” he asked.

“Sadly,” said Wing-shu, “there were no survivors.”

“What about gods? Surely there must have been some immortals.”

“They’re dead. From what we investigated, it appears the Demons may have a weapon that even immortality will not protect against.”

The old man rose up and walked to the center of the room, and began:

“It seems that we have no choice. The Demons are after the Order, the very force that binds our universe together. It’s a physical object, yet we call an order. Without it, there is no order. We have foes that fight us for control of that object. Of course, that force is in the center of the universe. It is unmovable, powerful. But in order for them to use it, they need the Jewel. The Jewel is the key. They can fight their way to our palace here and seize the Order, but without the Jewel, they cannot manipulate it the way they plan. Therefore, if we wish to save our ways and save our universe, we must protect the Jewel.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” asked Pirrhus.

“I suggest we move it. The Jewel is kept near the Order for quick use, and the demons are coming here for it. Letting them fight their way to us will provide a nice distraction, while whoever we give the Jewel to can come up a plan to end this war.”

Cortiss asked, “Who do we give the Jewel to?”

Wing-shu responded, “Someone we can trust. Bring up the map.”

A large holographic model of the universe displayed in the middle of the chamber. The lights dimmed as the blue glow of the universe took its clearest form.

“To begin,” began Wing-shu, “we must find a location the demons would not suspect, perhaps, a developing society – one not as advanced as the more prominent ones.” The map zoomed in, navigating into galaxies and solar systems. “How about this one? One of Terraheim’s races has just entered the bronze age.”

“Bronze age is good,” said Pirrhus. “That means they have some way of defending themselves.”

“It’s not enough,” said Cortiss. “Who is their guardian?” Information displayed next to planet that was selected. “Ah, Certainja, goddess of the Raelians. She has an excellent history of loyalty with us.”

“Very well, Certainja will hold the Jewel.”

“There is more,” spoke Coliph. “It’d be a good idea to send in someone from the palace to help guard the Jewel and defend the race and guardian that is protecting it.”

“Who do you recommend?”

“How about Captain Parkelous?”

“Parkelous? Your protégé? We can’t assume a soldier will be our best defense against our foes simply because you trained him.”

Cortiss then spoke up, “Not so fast, Pirrhus. We can’t accuse the general of favoritism so quickly. Parkelous has proven himself in combat before. Why not give him a try?”

“Also,” continued Coliph, “the report said that our enemies have a weapon that can kill gods. Parkelous possesses a sword that can do the same.”

“It seems like it’s worth a try to me,” said Wing-shu.

With a hint of displeasure in his voice, Pirrhus said, “Very well.”

“Then it’s settled. We will give the Jewel to Certainja of the Raelians. We will all send Captain Parkelous to their home world of Terraheim and help in defending the Jewel. There, they will also assist in ending the war. This meeting is adjourned.”

As everyone began to leave the chamber, the young soldier went up to Coliph and said, “Good job, General! I hope your plan works.”

Coliph responded, “I better work. I went through to much crap to get here, and I’m not letting getting through all that crap be in vain.”