Chapter 78 28:
Korr was able to hear the beating of his own heart resonating in his ears, observing that imposing being, stoic and devoid of emotion at first glance.
He had heard from Vexa that that man, the Great Regent, emperor in everything but name, seemed to know everything about everyone, and predict situations that under other circumstances should have been impossible.
He was the representation of the perfect specimen of the race.
He remained motionless, with his fist still over his chest, not quite knowing what to do now that the protocol had been broken by the one who had created it.
"Approach, little native," requested the Great Regent. His lips barely moved, yet the voice filled the entire abysmal hall with pretentious grandeur. "Rise to the dais. I wish to observe you closely."
Korr swallowed hard, his feet, though trembling, remained firm.
His rationality urged him to remain calm. He was an adult who would present himself before another adult, even though his body biologically told him otherwise.
He insisted on thinking that this was only another powerful figure within the planetary government. Like the leader of a state. In the past he had met one, he had even shaken his hand; he had never felt panic and disorientation.
But this being, his mere presence seemed to set off the instinctive alarms of his body.
Danger! his entire being screamed at him.
He wished with all his might to move away, but when he looked all around him, all he saw were soldiers, hundreds, thousands in perfect military synchronization.
Resigned to the inevitable, he flew forward in a restrained advance, holding his breath. The thousands of Viltrumites suspended in the sky remained in absolute silence, but the fact of being watched by every single one of them made him feel as though each of their gazes carried weight.
When he finally stopped twenty meters from the main dais, he raised his eyes toward Thragg.
The Regent slowly descended from his elevated position, his white boots resting upon the void, as though there were a surface beneath their soles. He moved around Korr in a slow semicircle, his eyes dark as the interstellar void examining every centimeter of the native.
"Interesting," murmured Thragg, stopping in front of him. "Very interesting, your presence is spectacular, almost like something apocryphal."
Korr did not dare speak. It was not his place to begin, according to imperial decorum.
"Do you know, young Korr-add?" continued the Regent, crossing his arms behind his back. "The Empire has engendered countless warriors throughout countless orbits. Excellent warriors, powerful as well as intelligent. However, all of us begin, myself included, from one particular quality; without exception. We take hundreds or thousands of cycles to develop the most primordial self-control of every Viltrumite. That, young native, is instinct."
He paused, and his eyes narrowed slightly.
Thragg extended a hand and gently touched Korr's shoulder, but the latter thought he was being pressed down by a mountain; no, by the planet itself.
"You, boy, are the perfect description of the imperial capitulations, the control of oneself, the imposition of our supremacy, the excellence expected of every Viltrumite as an individual... imperial ataraxia. The Empire has engendered an excellent warrior."
"You possess it. I do not know how, I do not know why. You have barely completed half an orbit of life and you have already demonstrated an instinctive ferocity that many of my most decorated generals took incalculable ages to achieve. The Empire has not merely engendered a warrior, Korr-add. It has engendered something more valuable: a warrior who controls his instincts."
Thragg stepped away and began moving slowly toward the edge of the dais, where the view opened toward the violet sky. His hands still clasped behind his back.
"You should know that your feat did not go unnoticed, little native, though not for the reasons you imagine. When the attack on the capital occurred," continued Thragg, "I was not on the planet; after concluding a campaign in the Luminus Sector with the subjugation of the Aizir, the Lanther Force, the Cosmos Empire, the Lithari," he spat the name of that race with venomous spite, "those damned Lithari, who had traveled with us as part of the colonial forces, decided to rebel halfway through the return journey. It is speculated that this rebellion had been conceived from the beginning; they turned their weapons against us in the void of space, light-years away from any reinforcement."
Thragg clenched his fists.
"The casualties among the colonists were considerable. The Lithari knew our formations and weaknesses; it was impossible to anticipate a possibility like that. They had served under our command for so long." He said, his words evoking those memories. "We exterminated them, of course."
Korr felt a chill run down his spine.
"We exterminated them; every last Lithari traveling with us was executed. Then those stationed in the colony, or in any other existing one. None were left alive."
Thragg approached Korr once more, and this time his voice became dangerously low.
"It was then that we captured one of the rebels. When we extracted the information from his mind... we discovered what they planned to do on Viltrum..."
The Regent fell silent for a moment.
"We discovered information about a bomb, the one you prevented from being activated. An unstable black hole, designed to detonate in the heart of the Dorymathos, so when we began the journey back, we flew home leaving the surviving colonists behind with a small group of generals so they could finish pacifying the sector."
Thragg stopped in front of Korr, and his eyes looked at him with an intensity that hurt.