| Generated by Google Gemini Pro text-to-video AI software, powered by Veo 3 |
It’s the year 2508 in the Sixth Key. Big things are happening today. For the
last several decades, Cedar Duvall has held primary control over the entire
galaxy. He had every right to this, according to just about everyone. It was
he who saved everyone’s life when the four original parallel realities were
collapsing. The main sequence was different. It was not going to collapse,
and still hasn’t. Everyone who was in it during the Reconvergence is out
there, living it up in another universe. If they were on Earth at the time,
though, copies of them are also here. Every living organism was duplicated
perfectly, and transported here along with everyone from the other
realities. These duplicates have no hope of returning home. They’re here in
this new reality now, and have had to make the most of it. Things were
chaotic when this all happened. Trillions of worlds with their own agendas,
divided into five civilizations of varying cohesiveness, and now only 400
billion stars to support them all. War for energy distribution was on
everyone’s lips, and a small group of leaders had to come together for
diplomatic discussions. These talks were successful, and the galaxy went on
in peace, even though the diplomats had trouble returning to their homes,
and most of them lost all power. Two of them got their power back, and
they’re about to get more. Or so they believe.
Following the Reconvergence, the main sequence copies didn’t want to be
known by their old nomenclature anymore, so they made the decision to create
a new identity for themselves. In keeping with the apparent numerical
pattern, they voted, and settled on renaming themselves The Seventh Stage.
Their reasoning was that this placed them above even the Sixth Key
itself, which referred to all civilizations collectively. This was effective
according to some, but not so much according to the supermajority. Even so,
it was their new name, and it managed to stick. The real main sequence was
back in the old universe, and there, it would stay. The diplomats in charge
of the Seventh Stage were a General by the name of Bariq Medley, and his
second-in-command, Judy Schmidt. They did not get along all that well, but
they weren’t overly antagonistic. In recent years, they’ve grown closer
because they’ve had to in order to raise two powerful children.
Clavia and Echo were not really brother and sister, but they didn’t know
that. The former was the avatar of a magical tree, and the latter a
projected consciousness of, fittingly, a temporal echo. Clavia corrupted
Echo, and tried to use him to gain even more power, so he turned the tables
on her, and regressed them both to childhood. They now have no memory of
their past life, and have been living as twin siblings under Bariq and
Judy’s care ever since. Today is their sixteenth birthday, and that changes
everything. This whole time, they have been cultivated and prepared to take
over for Cedar. It’s time for him to step down. The thing is, though, while
this has been in the works for some time now, Clavia and Echo aren’t mature
enough to handle the responsibility. At least, their parents don’t think
they are. Echo really warped their minds in order to rid the both of them of
all evil thoughts, and it has made it difficult for them to develop. They
still need their parents, who have experience with this kind of leadership.
Bariq and Judy will still be in control here, even more so now that Cedar
will be out of the picture. The twins may have other plans, though.
The time has come for the twins to ascend. They’re standing in their
ceremonial robes behind the curtains. They’re not the only ones being
celebrated and honored today, they’re just the headliner. They have to wait
for the other graduates first. They’re trying to not look nervous, but they
are. Judy comes up to them, and starts to make minor adjustments to the hang
of their robes, none of which will matter in a few seconds when gravity and
their movements readjust them anyway. She just wants an excuse to talk to
them. “How are you two doing?” she whispers.
“How are you?” Clavia asks her mother. “This day is as important to
you as it is for us. I know how excited you are.”
“I’m great. This is what we’ve been working towards.” She breathes, and
gives a sad smile to her son. “Echo?”
“It’s not right.” Echo doesn’t agree with anything that’s happening here.
Cedar has been a good leader, and it’s not like he made
every decision unilaterally. There are way too many people spread
across way too many worlds for him to know everything that must be done to
keep the joint-civilizations running. Still, he’s been number one this whole
time. Doubling that to Echo and his sister, or even quadrupling it to the
whole family, isn’t going to be much better. It doesn’t sit right with him.
It’s not democratic enough. Unfortunately, it might get worse before it gets
better.
“I know it bothers you, but this is the only efficient way to manage the
universe right now,” Judy tries to explain yet again. “Even with all of our
technology, we’re talking about undecillions of people. If we tried to vote,
it would take years.”
Frustrated, Echo takes his mother’s wrist, and pulls it away from his
collar. Gently, though. “Then it takes years. That’s what they should have
been doing while we were growing up; figuring out how to coordinate a
legitimate democracy.”
“Not all of the minor worlds recognize Cedar as the Sixth Key,” Judy says.
“Getting them to get on board with a vote will be even
more difficult. They simply don’t want to be a part of the new
civilization.”
“So we take power instead?” Echo questions.
Judy sighs. “If we hold a vote, and some refuse to vote, it will call the
results into question. There would be those who wonder if they truly
refused, or if we didn’t let them” She brushes the non-existent dust off of
his shoulder. “This way is cleaner. This is how the Tanadama ran things in
the Parallel, and it seemed to work for them.”
“They were treated like gods,” Echo reasons. “So is Cedar. So will
we once the people realize quite how powerful my sister and I are. I
don’t wanna rule with an iron fist. I don’t wanna rule.”
“I’m not talking about this anymore.” Judy remains calm and self-assured.
“If you just look at my proposal—”
“This is your Ascension,” Judy interrupts. She’s been a good mother; kind of
caring, but not very flexible. “I won’t be looking at anything today except
you two on that stage, accepting your new posts with grace and poise. Do you
understand?” she asks with a wide smile. It’s not really fake, but
it’s not entirely genuine either.
“Echo, just let it go,” Clavia urges quietly.
The Assistant Stage Manager, dressed in all black, hustles up to them. “It’s
time.”
“Okay, you’ll do great,” Judy tries to say.
“It’s really time, right now,” the ASM presses. “Let’s go, let’s go.”
“Okay, go,” Judy says, ushering them towards the curtains.
Echo and Clavia step into the limelight together. The crowd has been
cheering for the other graduates, but they cheer much louder now at
the sight of them. They smile and wave, just as they practiced. Echo is
faking it, of course, but Clavia isn’t all that excited about this either.
She doesn’t like the attention. Unlike her brother, she does want
power, but she would prefer to operate in the shadows. That’s where all the
important business gets done, where people can’t see it...and scrutinize it.
She has improved from her original self years ago, but their parents worry
that she’s heading back in that direction. Whatever was in her that gave her
a weak moral compass is still there. Yet the debate between nurture and
nature rages on, because she’s not evil. She’s been raised by good people,
and Echo is here to keep her in check. She’s not sure that she agrees with
Echo’s proposal for a galaxy-wide democratic republic, but she loves and
supports him, and certainly wants to see what he has to offer.
The two of them stand center stage. They’re meant to go over and accept
their diplomas and medals from the presider, but that can wait, because this
is what the audience wants. That’s not all they want, though. “Hit the
rock!” they chant. “Hit the rock! Hit the rock!” This is something that they
do. It’s just a fun little handshake that only works with the two of them.
Others may be able to approximate the move, but they can’t replicate the
grand finale, unless maybe if they integrate certain technologies, like some
sort of concussive weapon. Clavia holds her hand behind her ear like she
can’t hear the audience. They chant louder.
“Okay, okay,” she relents, using exaggerated gestures since she’s not
wearing a microphone. She gets in place in front of Echo, and he does the
same. They begin by punching the air between them without touching, but
quickly move on to the next phase. Their fists make contact in the middle,
and as they’re pulling their elbows back, their opposite fists meet. Then
they return to the first one. They go back and forth over and over again,
getting faster and faster until it’s just a blur to anyone else, even if
someone were to stand right next to them. Faster and faster still, the crowd
is going wild. They’ve obviously done this before, but never with this many
viewers. The whole galaxy is watching too, not just the people in the
auditorium. Faster, faster, until boom! Without speaking, they reach
back with both fists at the same time, and bring them back together for one
final move. An intense force is expelled from their hands, and spreads out
in a sphere, knocking caps off of people’s heads, and a few chairs over.
Several people spill their drinks, but they should have known better. It’s
not one explosion either. There’s a reason his name is Echo. A second wave,
a third, and a fourth crash into the audience to their great delight,
followed by a fifth, sixth, and seventh. They could have made more, but
given the numerology of the day, limiting it to seven seemed appropriate.
Again, they didn’t discuss this beforehand; that’s how in sync they are.
They might as well be actual twins.
The enthusiasm remains strong for a few moments afterwards as they continue
to smile and wave, but they do sense that it is fading. Deciding that the
ceremony should be over roundabouts now, Clavia and Echo take each other by
the and, and reach for the sky before a deep bow. Six bows later, they let
go, and begin walking down the runway, still encouraging the audience to
clap and cheer. The ASM catches up to them in the aisle between the runway
and the seating. “You’re not done yet,” she whispers loudly.
Clavia nods. She teleports to the presider, and takes the diplomas and
medals from him. She then teleports back to Echo so she can hand him his.
They wave and smile some more until the end of the walkway. They slip
through the doors under the balcony, and breathe sighs of relief. It’s over.
They’re technically in charge of the Sixth Key now. It is expected of them
to openly secretly grant all decision-making powers to their parents until
they’re considered mature enough to take over in a more official capacity,
but that’s not really what they’re gonna do. “You ready?” Clavia asks.
“Let’s do it.”
They teleport away. The Cloudbearer Dynasty has begun.
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