Reignor Read online

  “What were you doing in Hadarak territory?” Davis pressed.

  “Trying to feel the lightside. And it was working, but the veil was fully lifted when they destroyed my landing craft and left me behind. I felt more alive then than I ever had, and I have no wish to go back into that stagnant trance.”

  “You sound different. And you feel different.”

  “I am different. I have discovered that what I call the Natural Code and your Lightside are the same, and the Anti-Code is your Darkside. The natural code is what the universe is meant to be, and the anti-code is there to prevent it from being. The prophecy of the Endgame is wrong. The anti-code cannot achieve it. The Neofan cannot achieve it. The Hadarak’s masters and their peers cannot achieve it. Only those who use the natural code can. It is not about the pre-born. It never was. The anti-code resets every failed attempt. And I believe there have been many lightsiders before you that have tried and failed. We inherited some of their technology and genetics, walking in the footsteps of giants that came before us and were reduced to ash, for I bring you a warning, my friend. You are in the process of triggering the Endgame, and in the Endgame all those who are corrupted with the anti-code grow stronger.”

  “To focus us rather than destroy each other,” Davis guessed.

  “Indeed. They will be drawn to you, to spoil your chance of achieving the Endgame, then they will turn back on each other. The natural order I spoke of earlier is an attempt for those races heavily imbued with the anti-code to avoid their own destructive nature. They delay the inevitable internecine. And your beacon of light will delay it further. They will all come for you.”

  “I already knew that. But I do not understand what you mean by an Endgame trigger. What do we have to do to set it in motion?”

  “What the code urges you to. The natural code is the instruction manual for the creation of something grand. Something lightside. And when it is built, it will trigger the Endgame. Your empire is that construction. You are nearly there. I do not know what specifically, but as you get closer the darkside will come for you from galaxies far from here. I have seen this. My vision ability shows it to me. The potential for another challenge to Endgame is already here. And it is Star Force. But it is not the end of the universe. I believe it is the end of an age, and with it a paradigm shift of some sort will happen. The universe, or this section of it, will upgrade in some way. It’s possible there have been other lesser Endgames that were passed to give us our current state. I am unsure of this, but I do not believe the Endgame is the end, but a significant transition.”

  Davis’s face altered slightly, with his eyes shifting out of focus on the Neofan for a moment.

  “You know something of this?” Plausious asked.

  “It’s possible that the Endgame births a new race. One on an entirely different level than the natural ones.”

  “Why do you think this? Has your vision ability shown it to you?”

  “No,” Davis said starkly. “I think I’ve already met one.”

  www.aerkijyr.com