Acknowledgments
Thanks to all who have supported Citadel Superverse stories thus far.
Chapter One
Secrets Revealed
“Let me tell you a secret, a small thing to carry along the way. Come closer. I am speaking from a world away, though I might just be a whisper on the wind. Planet Tora is where I am, a Level 10 security world where none get in or out without scans and special permission, save those wardens who come to check and keep things right. A dirty little prison off the grid of the time-space Continuum and all Superverse traffic. Just perfect for me to ‘see out my days,’ they said at my farce of a trial. They sentenced my soul core to ride the wind from one moment to the next to prevent my return and watch the squabbles of primitives below for entertainment. But I have a surprise for them—and you. I’ve found a crack in their prison, a thimble of a chance, but it’s all I’ll need.
“I am someone you shall come to know for better or worse, and my age stretches beyond the creation of the mortal coil. I have been called many things since the court was convened—‘Betrayer’ most of all. It wasn’t always like that. I had to make a change to put things right…and others in their place. They all cheered me on at first. Though I was once revered, now I am despised, and my brothers and sisters of the Evercycle Council never speak my name—except my mother, who does what she pleases. As you follow what unfolds below, I leave it to you to decide, but I beg you not be hasty, lest you misread and be led astray. This mortal world with its weather and war can hear me now on the wind. It took some time, but now I have the ear and minds of a few. They are my way out, you see, sacrifices to a just cause, and they’ll go happily into the night when I offer what they can’t refuse.
“Who am I, you’re asking? What am I? Haven’t you been listening? I am Herrex, Lord of Balance, that’s who. Some know me as ‘Hex,’ others as the ‘Dark Star.’ All labels mean the same thing: omnipotence. They shall rue the day they locked me up for good on this pinhead of a planetoid. I tell you now, I am not good or evil as many have me painted. I have been harshly judged by corrupt peers. Such urges are for pitiful gods and mortals to play with. They are tools and nothing more to achieve the necessary goal. You understand. They never did, or at least played ignorant.
“Sacrifices had to be made to balance the slate. I was the first to see the trouble emerging. The time-space Continuum’s very existence was at stake. We were heading to oblivion fast—still are, I’ll wager. A world or two erased, a few advanced races in this galaxy dissolved for the good of all…What of it! A trifle that had outlived their time or else were stuck with their obsession over tiny games of science and technology. I chose only those who were in the way inhibiting the balance. See the bigger picture: that’s where I’ve always stood. Surely you understand, page-turner. It had to be done, and my actions were serving Council guidelines. Zero, Lord of Life’s Spark, said so himself before sentencing me to exile, the hypocrite. The senate of gods and mortals lent their support in the beginning, only to lose the stomach for what had to transpire quickly. I was strong enough to see it through, though. They were weak.
“My concern has always been to balance the Continuum’s well-being. When they washed their hands of what we began and locked me away with accusation of horrid things, I still stood my ground. I had the clearer view. It made them shudder when I vowed from the pulpit that they would all pay for leaving me to shoulder the debt alone. That time is coming soon, you’ll see. For on this little world, I’ll show you all I can’t be subdued.
“Know this: in the minds of those responsible for the birth of existence—the Evercycle Council by name— the Superverse has always been divided in two fundamental regions, with a delicate balance in between. Spirit-siders on the left in a multitude of realms and havens where gods and great beings of all substance rule one region or another. And on the right stands the M system: an ocean of galaxies, worlds within worlds, physical life in all its stunning random selection. A place where mortal races, both powerful and insignificant, intertwine in a dance of free will, generating an ocean of karma that flows this way and that. Most beneath us are often guided by much greater and inconceivable intelligence. There’s the lark, page-turner. Remember that.
“Lives in each existence are not measured by beginning and end, only the Continuum’s advancement from one cycle to the next. That’s the value for those who created it all. For them, life and free will of just one seemingly insignificant individual can alter the course of the very time-space Continuum itself. That’s how it all started: they begged me to turn the tide in intercosmic evolution, ensure the tree of life ‘remains strong,’ they said. And then they dare call me ‘Betrayer!’
“Follow the cold rain’s fall on this bleak night to the sodden pastures, red-stone mountains, and forests below, and you shall see something unfold that will take your fancy. I have come to love the volatile elements of this world. They make all inhabitants struggle for choice, which often benefits me and helps to pass the time. The mortals who infest this landmass call it ‘Ludd.’ They have all agreed it means ‘heartland,’ though the reasoning for such a meaning escapes me. It holds only struggle to live, hostility, and infighting clans, from all I’ve observed. Contested borders divide treacherous lands steeped in a delusion of ancient customs, flimsy studies of element manipulation, and skill in execution and close-quarter combat. The ebb and flow of karma here have been key to my coming resurrection.