"We have offered up corpses of Gohkamorian-bred monsters killed on Earth freely to anyone, both organizations and prominent individual. The evidence of a Gohkamorian hand in the decade-long invasion of our world is widespread and well-known. It can not be suppressed and easily verified with a little investigation."

"Again, fabricated evidence!" the Gohkamorian representative shouted, slamming an open palm into the desk in front of him, rattling the wood and sending a crack of noise through the room. "They could have been bred to match ours closely or bought from someone who did."

Eik sighed. "And as I said back when your compatriot attempted this particular argument at the Alchemist Guild in Gimleh, neither Earth nor I personally have the knowledge nor the connections to do any of those. Any idiot would realize that."

"What did you just—" the Gohkamorian began but Eik cut him off before he could get all of the words out, speaking directly to the judge.

"Judge, sir, I think it is clear that I had no choice in the outcome of this matter. While I was certainly stronger than all of my attackers, I am not some kind of invincible beast who could have withstood a combined assault without fighting back. I was given no other way out."

The judge rested his chin on steepled fingers as he listened.

"The fact that I left non-combatants alive—something Mr. Gthark himself revealed to us earlier—proves that it was certainly no simple murder spree for fun." There had been no time to collect testimonies before being hauled away, but Eik knew he had the truth on his side. A truth he had been vocal about these past days.

Gthark seethed and made many rebuttals as well as new arguments in an attempt to buttress his case.

"Does Gohkamoria deny giving orders to have Mr. Magnasen captured in the event of a failed negotiation as he has claimed?" the judge asked.

"Absolutely. While I still very much doubt his claim that my compatriots attacked him first and without any provocation, even if, against any reasonable assumption, it is true, it would mean that our delegation went rogue and against the desires and judgement of Gohkamoria. We would consider it an act of insubordination of the highest order and an unforgivable sin punishable by death."

"And yet they have already died as Mr. Magnasen's hand, never to speak of the matter," the judge said dryly.

"A most unfortunate situation, yes." Gthark said with a regretful shake of his head.

"Then why are you seeking justice on behalf of Gohkamoria itself? This case should have been made on behalf of the bereaved."

"Only if Mr. Magnasen's claims are truthful, which we do not accept. Gohkamoria still treats this as a blatant assault on an official delegation conducting peaceful negotiations for the good of our people."

For more than two hours the judge dug deeper and deeper, seeking gradually more minute detail of the case and their arguments. Eik thought he handled himself all right but was immensely grateful for Andihar's support as he stumbled through some of it.

When finally the judge called for adjournment, Eik was exhausted. A lot of the procedure had been different from what he had seen on TV back in the day but still much reflected a similar style. One thing he was pretty sure was different from old Earth was that, to his surprise, he was now allowed to go home.

Feeling convinced that the reported mass murder wasn't quite as cut-and-dried as he had originally been led to believe, the judge apparently didn't see sufficient reason to keep him locked up for the remainder of the trial process. Whether his initial stay in the cell had been a simple formality or to make sure he wouldn't avoid his own trial, Eik wasn't sure.

To be completely honest, he was kind of surprised that the judge seemed so impartial. After dealing with the bureaucracy of the Alliance a few times now, he had lost a lot of faith in their processes. It was nice to see that it wasn't all as rotten as he thought.

"Son, did you really kill all of those people?" Eik's father asked once they were back outside in the night air.

Eik didn't like the look in Rasmus' eyes. It was moments like this that revealed just how much more rapidly he had changed and adapted to the new reality they lived in compared to most other humans. Most longed for the peace of days past, but Eik, while he could do without the dangers his family faced, thrived in his current life. "… Yes, I did. But I swear that everything I said in there was the truth. I really didn't have a choice. It was me or them. They're responsible for mom's death! And Torbjørn's!" He just wanted his father to understand.

Rasmus shot him a weak smile. Eik knew for a fact that his father was one of the people who had trouble accepting that the world had changed so drastically, even to this day. In his dreams they still lived in that lovely house in a peaceful neighborhood in northern Copenhagen.

He had asked Eik to stop putting his life on the line so often, and Eik had tried to follow his wishes, but things just kept popping up. "Well, I'm just very relieved that you're okay, my son. But I worry about this whole trial thing."

"I think it's likely to go well, Rasmus," Andihar said calmly with a hand on the father's shoulder. He and clan leader Gul had begun to visit Rasmus' restaurant more and more frequently, often around closing time. Once the last customers had gone home, the three of them would have a drink and play some games.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Gul and Andihar had become particularly infatuated with the game of chess. There existed many similar games in the Unified Mass, but apparently chess had managed to combine simplicity and complexity to a degree that outshined many other such games while also applying many of the mindsets and strategies employed in real battle.

"How can you be so sure, Andy?" the red-haired human asked.

"The Gohkamorians never expected Eik to be so public about their harassment and the evidence thereof. When they first started sending their monsters, none could have predicted how explosively Earth would climb—all thanks to your son here."

"Really?" Rasmus' face was painted in equal parts worry and pride.

"Oh, yes. Older civilization tend to keep even rather severe transgressions committed against them close to the chest so as to not appear weak. They believe the damage to their reputation caused by such information becoming widely public knowledge is almost always worse than dealing with it internally. On the other hand, fresh worlds almost always take at least a few generations to reach any kind of real relevance within the Unified Mass, if ever, leaving them with no avenue to bring their grievances into the light."

He looked at Rasmus with a firm and sober gaze, making sure the man was listening to his every word.

"That was the biggest mistake the Gohkamorians made—thinking you voiceless while simultaneously expecting the same shallow pride that many others try to maintain. The situation your world is in is not exactly great, but it is the most favorable version of it for you, if you ask me."

"Would your own worlds have spoken up if it happened to you?" he asked both Andihar and Gul, who was walking with a hand on Ihasu's arm.

Andihar considered it a moment. "At the point where my world was as fresh as yours it would still be many, many years before my birth so I can't say for certain, but now…? I doubt it. We would have pursued a solution without outside involvement, I think, whatever that might entail."

"Grandpa?" Ihasu asked Gul.

"Same," the old man covered in piercings and tattoos concluded gruffly.

"It's going to be okay, dad," Ihasu reassured Rasmus with a side hug.

"Yeah," Rasmus said with a smile, but he didn't look overly convinced.

Eik, eager to introduce a new topic and raise the mood, spoke up. "What's the oldest world in the Unified Mass anyway?"

"I'm not really sure. A number of civilizations are older than their worlds after all," Ihasu said.

"How so?" Michael asked.

"What do you know about the center of the cosmos?"

"I mean, not much. As a concept I kind of get it, but otherwise I'm blanking pretty hard."

She nodded as she thought of how to phrase her answer. "When the path a world travels comes too close to the center, also called the Chasm, it is swallowed completely and obliterated. Capable civilizations will ideally have moved long before then."

"What the fuck?" Heath exclaimed. "Yo, how long do we have? Remind me to put aside some money to invest in cosmic property."

Ihasu laughed. "I think you'll be fine, Heathy. We're talking thousands of years. If it's any consolation, you'll be dead long before you have to start worrying."

"Yeah, okay. Good," the smith grunted.

"But that's actually very much one of the reasons why civilizations are so eager to always accumulate more and more resources and space. Whatever they currently have is very much finite on a cosmic time scale."

"And how do you know that we have so long until we get too close?" Olivia asked. "What if Earth is close right now?"

"Because the most widely accepted theory of the foundation of the system and the powers granted to us by it is that it originates from the Chasm. And the emergence of the system on a world is more or less a phenomenon caused by proximity to the Chasm. Advent of the first signs of Ak'ki occurs when the world reaches a specific distance from the Chasm. And from that moment it will continue to approach at a more or less steady pace."

"That is… fuckin' crazy…" Heath breathed.

They split up with clan leader Gul and Andihar by the Earth fracture. Eik and Ihasu picked up Bin at a friend's house on the way home, Eik handing out cinnamon buns from his belt pouch of holding to both the kids and the adults.

"Are you going to go check on the oracle before coming home tonight?" Ihasu asked him as he closed the garden gate behind them.

"I'll check on them tomorrow morning. Sitting and doing nothing in a cell for a few hours takes it out of ya a lot more than I expected," he chuckled.

"It's going to be all right, you know. You have righteousness on your side."

"Yeah, of course. I'm not worried," he lied.

"Then you can hang out with us tonight," she said.

He ruffled Bin's hair as the key clicked in the lock. "Hell yeah! And I have someone to introduce to the two of you."

Ihasu narrowed her eyes as she pushed the door open. "Eik… What did you do?"

"Hey, don't be so suspicious. Are you trying to hurt my feelings or something?" He called into the house. "Mis? Mis, where are you? Can you bring our new friend here, please?"

Their cat came galloping to the door, followed closely by their other cat which— Huh? Wait… Huh?

"There are two of Mis!" Bin squealed with pure glee, running in to hug both of them! "And the new one is so cute and blue and jelly!"

Ihasu stared intensely at him while he very specifically didn't look back. "Eik…"

It would seem it was about time to check levels…

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