The Core

Zorac stared intently at the empty seat across from him. The longer his gaze stuck there, the more he realized that the young girl had taken off with all his secrets and she knew everything to rip The Core to shreds from the inside out. She was no ordinary Advisor and this infuriated him. None of the others would have acted so human-like and run away.

Zorac dragged a red swirled hand down his face. The others had the room spiraling with whispers and he couldn’t focus. With a thundering boom, the oldest man’s fist slammed painfully hard onto the sturdy tabletop. Silence fell over the room instantaneously. All heads were facing the man and he eyed them all before beginning.

“Speak only of the destruction of Palimea while at this table at this time. We shall not utter the words referring to she who has sacrificed the higher living for human death,” he bellowed, filling the silence. His fists tightened and his knuckles grew whiter. He was so infuriated by just the thought of what she had done.

She was always his favorite. The way her eyes shone when she made a smartass remark made his lips turn to a smirk. He had taught her that. He had also improved her knifing skills in secret and she was like his own child. He had raised her, taught her how to protect herself, and then she goes and runs away. Was she not grateful for everything that he had done for her? He could have killed her mother and her. He had all the power in the world and yet he didn’t use any of it to harm her.

To his immediate right, Anthrax spoke, slicing the silence. “Sire, if I may?” Zorac turned his attention along with the others. Once all attention was on him, he spoke, “This war would be more than easy. Palimea isn’t prepared to be attacked by beings like themselves. Their weapons are used to hunt and protect themselves from the animals of the forest. They wouldn’t know how to handle an onslaught of more strategic planning that we could provide.”

Ornic began speaking before Zorac could reply. “How does starting a war benefit anyone, Anthrax?” he asked skeptically. “How does announcing our presence to a place that has no clue benefit us? We are living the high life. It would be stupid to just say ‘Oh here we are! You got too powerful so now we must destroy you!’” he mocked in a voice that was unlike Anthrax’s.

Zorac stared at the blonde haired boy who had finished speaking. “You do have a point,” he offered. “They are blissfully ignorant when it comes to knowing of us. They could never plan an attack onto us, but they may find that they would like to expand and venture into the woods which could lead to complications with Dartem, their neighbor.”

“The people of Palimea have morals along with their sins, thanks to us,” Ereisa began with a giggle. “As a whole, they would never sacrifice an unknown culture because they happened upon it, firstly. Secondly, they won’t even be able to make it through the forest and mountains to Dartem, or even Grangha, for that matter, unless we leave their activity unsupervised.” She ran a hand through her blonde curls as her eyes danced across the faces of the table.

The room was silent for a moment. Zorac could not think of anything to add for the Advisors were all presenting valid points. He wanted Palimea gone though, for they posed a personal threat. He was not concerned with the consequences of what this destruction could lead to because his own reason was enough to blind him.

The concern of Treticha was that although an advancing civilization would be destroyed, their technology would also fall victim to the war. “I say we go ahead and kill them all, but not before we,” he paused, searching for the proper word. “Not before we confiscated their technology. There is no reason that the equipment should be sacrificed for your petty games.”

“Petty games?” Zorac bellowed. “You think this is some game? Advance may be a game to you, but the elimination of Palimea is not.” His frustration seeped through every syllable, lacing his tone with malice. Fire blazed in his eyes as he stared at his Advisor.

“Well, sire, if you were looking to eliminate someone that actually posed a threat, why are we overlooking Dartem?” Merieta voiced. “Not that I’d care to murder an entire civilization either way, but Dartem is so overrun by sin that’s it’s becoming out of control.” She shot Ornic a glance. His twin had let him seep into Dartem until it was too broken to try and fix.

“The elimination of Dartem is not even an option.” Zorac’s tone set a degree of finality to the topic. There would be no touching Dartem if Zorac did not agree so it was useless to even try to persuade him otherwise. Merieta raised her hands in surrender as if to signal that she would not ask again.

“Dartem minds its own business anyways, Existence,” Anthrax said.

“And even if they didn’t,” Zorac said through clenched teeth, “We would not worry with them unless it was necessary. Now, back to Palimea.”

Lavena raised her small voice to reach across the table, “Perhaps, Palimea isn’t the one that must be destroyed. Perhaps, it’s Grangha that poses the most threat. They do have more resources than the others and they have enough money. Besides, they are the closest as well.”

"It is common knowledge that there is no knowledge of The Core. Does any society here really pose a threat whatsoever? Think this thoroughly, Zorac. We destroy Palimea or Grangha, how will it be accomplished in a way to keep our existence a secret? Not all will perish, we saw that when the previous Core created Palimea, supposedly destroying Dartem,” Carno’s deep voice spoke calmly.

Ornic took advantage of the speechless space. “We aren’t the previous Core, Carno,” he hissed. His father was weak when it came to setting sins and the world became corrupt with morals. The only place his father was permitted to reign freely was Dartem and even then that was taken away from him. The previous Core made sure of it. Ornic refused to be compared – even in the slightest insinuation – that he was like his subordinate father.

“Well, of course we aren’t. I was just making a point. It would be impossible for Existence and Imagination to create something that would surely kill everyone. There are bound to be stragglers. Then what happens when they spread and tell the other places? Do we just kill off the entirety of Amerada and start over?” Carno paused for a moment. “Or are we to stop everything here and track down the survivors ourselves?”

The room was silent once more.

“Our strategies are more than sufficient to ensure total demise,” Anthrax stated, shattering the soundlessness.

"Is that really wise? Should we really kill off everyone? It's not right, it's evil. We're not evil; we're for the greater good of Amerada,” Ereisa stated forcefully. She was right though. The existence of The Core was to concentrate on ensuring the success of Amerada.

“Ereisa, just because something is wrong, doesn’t mean we aren’t going to do it,” Ornic spoke, giving his twin a glance that expressed all their secrets.

“I suppose you have a point, Ornic. But at this moment, the decision of death should be placed in the hands of the people in the places. They kill who they think are unnecessary and until it poses a threat toward us or their safety, we are not to interfere.”

Zorac’s fist slammed onto the table once more. “I think we all know the purpose of The Core, being members, Ereisa,” he directed. “We do not need your consistent explanation of our purpose. Personally, the threat that Palimea poses is too great to risk not taking them down now. They are quickly advancing in their technology,” he paused, glaring at Treticha. “Soon, their education will include some kind of preparation to our existence. We won’t be secret for much longer. Especially now.”

There was a mumble of agreements at this.

“How are we to destroy it, sire?” Merieta spoke up. Her voice quivered at the thought of having to kill her creations. “I’m sure there’s a much more humane way than a sickness.”

Lavena spoke up then, “What if it just goes boom? Boom!”

“It can’t just go boom, Imagination. If we did that and some did survive the blast, how would they begin to explain this supposedly random bomb raining from the sky? That will surely give us away,” Anthrax said viciously. He could not stand the young girl for she did not understand the variables that The Core had to take into consideration during some matters and this bothered him. She shouldn’t even be allowed into The Core. Who needs Imagination anyways?

Lavena shied away from his harsh tone, and in a motherly way, Merieta scolded Anthrax, “That was unnecessary. She’s just trying to help. Besides, you don’t appear to be coming up with any useful solutions.”

Awestruck, Anthrax mumbled something able her inability to be hostile when the situation demanded it because she was a woman. The argument was quickly stifled by Ornic’s suggestion. “I say we overrun the city with lust. Eventually, they will just kill each other over sex and it’s problem solved.”

“Ornic, besides the fact that you already have your sinful fingers in place in Dartem and Grangha,” Ereisa began, “That would take far too long. It would take years or may not even happen. Dartem is a prime example.”

Zorac spoke, silencing the room, “For once, Morals has a decent point. That would take indescribable amounts of time and I would appreciate them gone now.” He ran a hand over his chin, looking over the table. “Fate, any suggestions?”

“All suggested courses will bring the ultimate demise of Palimea but will not end every Palimean life. The people of the place are very strong and some will survive every course of action that has been drawn into question,” Pernix answered detachedly.

Ornic resented this. Human nature would force the people to succumb to the sin and wear out. He was moments away from pointing this out but his thoughts were cut off as Zorac spoke again.

“Well, what should we do then?” Zorac’s voice was surface calm but underneath lied turmoil waiting to drown the first person to respond inappropriately.

“Learn the secret to their resilience, sire.” Pernix’s voice was hardly above a whisper because although this was the only way, it was impossible to do so without Lark present in the room.