The Cycles of Revelation Series

Artifact of the Dawn: Candor (A Queer Sci-Fi Adventure)

Episode 42: Mathias reveals how the century of war between his ancestors and the Athla’naa ended.

Ardyn sat forward, intrigued to hear more from Ard Mathias.

“After a century of constant fighting, our ancestors were gaining the upper hand,” Mathias said. “They developed better weapons that were more accurate and could kill more efficiently. I never understood everything described in the historical texts, but they had a plan to eradicate every Athla’naa on Vestos.”

“Then how are my people still here?” Ardyn asked. “How did they ever agree to a truce?”

“There was a decisive battle that happened about a month before the Medellan forces were ready to move forward with their plan for eradication,” Mathias revealed. “In that battle, the Athla’naa slaughtered every Medellan on the field, wielding some strange weapon that shot beams of light at them. I believe you call them rahn’ora?”

Takyra’s breath hitched at the revelation.

“The Aria’asharra resorted to using our weapons? That goes against everything they believed in,” Aerys said, sounding bewildered. “After Takyra revived us, I had my techs do a full inventory. None of our rahn’ora are missing.”

“They returned them as part of the treaty agreement,” Mathias explained. “With those weapons, they nearly wiped out our ancestors, instead of the other way around. Those who survived surrendered in defeat. The Triumvirate wrote the treaty and gave our ancestors no choice but to agree to all terms. That included destroying their pistols and rifles.”

“So, my ancestors made them destroy the technology they already had?” Ardyn asked, unsure how to feel about that revelation.

“Only the weapons,” Mathias replied. “That was part of the treaty. Both sides agreed to stop using advanced weapons of any kind. The Triumvirate returned all their weapons to where they found them, and my ancestors agreed to melt ours down. The treaty specifically states that neither side could use weapons more advanced than bows and arrows or spears. However, we were able to use metal for anything else. So, we still make many things out of metal, from the buttons on our shirts to the pots we cook in.”

Ardyn stood and made his way over to the windows and stared down at the valley as the tower cast a long shadow in the late afternoon. “Aelrynd admitted the Triumvirate had been purposely restricting the Medellans from advancing their technology, but…” Sighing deeply, he hung his head, folding back his ears. “Maybe Takyra’s right. Maybe the Athla’naa people should leave this planet so your people can finally develop the way you were meant to.”

“Don’t you start with that nonsense,” Mathias said with a growl. “Why don’t you ask us what we want first? Stop trying to decide for us. It was our ancestors on both sides that agreed to that damned treaty, and they’re long dead. We’re the ones here now, and we should get a say in the matter.”

Takyra came over to where Ardyn stood, placing an arm on his shoulder and turning him to face everyone still seated. “All of you are still like children — ” she began.

“Children? How can you call us children? We’re all adults here,” Tomas protested.

“I meant technologically, Tomas,” Takyra clarified. “Your people are more advanced than those on Vestos, but from the look of your flying craft, your people are still centuries away from the level of technology used to build the Rahn’naa.”

Looking around the room they were in, with its pristine walls and digital displays, Jevan wondered how different the ship coming from Aria’naa might be. “Aren’t you centuries away from the technology the people on your homeworld probably use?”

Nodding. “You’re not wrong, Jevan,” Takyra admitted. “Although at least we would still understand certain scientific principles that I think your people would struggle to grasp.”

Cradling his head in his hands, Jevan grumbled. “I think I’ve had about enough for today.”

“Why don’t we change the subject?” Takyra suggested, walking back to the seating area and pouring herself another drink.

Ardyn followed suit, settling himself next to Jevan once again.

“As Jevan just reminded us, the Athla’naa are about to be reunited with those from our homeworld,” Aerys said, speaking up. “Along that vein, I think we should celebrate the historic reunion of your people.”

“Yes, this is indeed historic,” Tomas said, raising his glass, and everyone followed suit.

After everyone took a drink, Tomas turned to Takyra. “I have been meaning to ask, would you be able to set up a means for us to communicate with our people in Ateria? We sent a brief radio message from our aircraft before we landed, but your mountains are blocking our signal and we haven’t been able to reach them.”

“Yes, of course,” Takyra replied. “I’d be happy to.”

“Thank you,” Tomas said. “We have much to update them on. Now that we know that a Medellan population is thriving here on Vestos, we should let them know to make arrangements in case any of the Medellans wish to return home. I think your people have been banished long enough.”

Home? It was difficult for Jevan to think of Ateria as home. Vestos and his way of life here had always been home to him. Now he realized why Ardyn hadn’t been eager to visit his people’s homeworld. The idea of leaving behind everything he’d ever known was both exciting and terrifying.

“How will they take the news of the Athla’naa presence here?” Takyra asked.

Tomas shrugged. “They’ll want to meet you.”

Ardyn leaned forward. “Do you think they would want our people to leave your world, or would they be amenable to having some remain if they chose to?”

“The ship that brought your people here crashed twelve hundred years ago, and your people have developed their own society here, right?” Tomas asked Ardyn, who nodded in response. “I don’t think it’s up to my government to decide what happens on Vestos, although I can’t speak for them. They’ll probably send a representative to assess the situation first.”

“Thank you. That is good to know,” Takyra said. “I will take that into consideration. Our crashing here twelve hundred years ago complicated so many things, but it is a moot point until the ship from Aria’naa arrives. Once they are here, it would be wise to have representatives from each group on this world meet with the captain of that ship. Then we can all discuss what we should do to move forward.”

“When do you expect them to arrive?” Aron asked.

“We’re not entirely sure,” Takyra admitted. “We’ve had two communications from them, neither was clear, but they both made it sound like they would be here faster than it took the Rahn’naa to travel here. The reason we needed the cryopods is that we expected the journey to Maal’dak Five to take around twelve years. It took us roughly six years to arrive here.”

“You think your people have advanced enough to arrive sooner than that?” Aron asked with a slight scowl.

“I believe so, yes,” Takyra replied.

“One thing is for sure,” Tomas said. “It will take a long time to explain everything to our people back home, and I don’t think they’ll believe everything at first. We certainly found a lot more than we bargained for.”

Ardyn looked at Jevan and let out a genuine laugh. That was one of the truest statements they’d heard all day.

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