2: Underneath A Thousand Skies

264 Reality (20)

In the city planet Xiannu, there existed a secret rendezvous only known to the rebel forces that opposed the government of Yueji. It was hidden underneath one of its many stone arches, where a temple which had long since cut ties with the Golden Princess in the dark served as its front.

Because of its strategic placement, it was difficult to discover and even more difficult to enter inside it. It was truly like an iron bucket with no leaks. [1]

The place where they held important meetings were inside an atrium about twenty meters in diameter, and the circular room itself were replete with marble archways and stone columns that followed Yueji's fondness for historical architecture. It was shaped like a chapel, with a domed ceiling and more than a dozen stained glass windows. Sculptures depicting the Hunter in various hunting poses—wielding a sword, holding a bow, grabbing the severed head of an enemy by the hair— was scattered in between the stone pillars.

At the center of the room was a large stone table, engraved with various symbols. Around it were intricately-carved wooden chairs with crimson velvet cushion on each seat.

And seated on those very chairs were hooded figures draped in cloaks depicting ancient mythical beasts, where they had bodies of men but the heads of an animal, like werewolves and vampires. Twining around the bodies of the mythical beasts, almost as if chaining them, were the barbed vines of red roses.

"We have to let the people of Yueji face the fact that our planetary system is declining with each decade," one of the hooded figures spoke, clasping his hands underneath his chin.

By the cadence of his voice, it was obvious that he had been delivering his speech for quite a while. Hearing his words, the other hooded figures nodded their heads in agreement.

"While I see nothing wrong with worshipping the Golden Princess, her edicts and teachings have led Yueji to become a governed planetary system filled with lethargic officials and passive priests and priestesses. A long time ago, the Hunter had conquered lands and seas, expanding our territory. He had been unstoppable. Fierce and unrelenting just like the thrust of his sword, everyone bowed in fear at the mere sound of his name. While the Golden Princess gave him his salvation, and also advanced our knowledge, in fact, what had brought us our former glory was the aggressiveness and fierce spirit of the Hunter. It is time for our era of long peace to be over.

"Wake up, my fellow brothers! We have already been far from peace. While a war hasn't broken out and destroyed the galactic alliance, many planetary systems that are 'at peace' are in fact far from peaceful. Most of them are having endemic violence that far exceed those coming from warfare. Traditional peace agreements and peacekeepers are simply closing their eyes to a long-ignored reality. Without a fierce wake-up call like war, our planetary system would forever keep the status-quo, a constant plateau of passive laziness that would do harm to our future in the long run."

The hooded figure who spoke was an excellent orator. The firm decisiveness in his tone and his clear goals roused the spirit of everyone that was listening. Questions and proclamations broke out, as if they were all injected by chicken blood.

"If we capture that girl and use her to blackmail 'him', would we really be able to threaten the other planetary systems?"

"At last we can finally make our move. Waiting and planning for this long, we have to definitely achieve victory!"

One of them hammered his fist on the table, showing the depth of his emotions.

"Perhaps the Hunter has seen our perseverance and blessed us all. Praise and honor to the Hunter!"

"Praise the Hunter, for he had heard our prayers!"

A cold laugh suddenly rang across the chamber, chilling them. It made the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end. Startled, the hooded figures looked around them.