Trial of Isolation Part 1

In this multipart short story, let's take a look back to hundreds of years before The End so we can better understand what The End is.

Centuries before The End, there was an event that risked triggering the apocalypse much sooner. This is now referred to by historians as the Trial of Isolation. In this time, the fabled Valley of Reclamation had to make a choice that became a turning point in their history. The Valley was an isolated city-state nestled between deeply forested mountains. Their city looped through branching trees and the sidewalks trekked through leaf-shaded land. The Valley was at the time the most advanced city in the world.

They were a civilization of strictly non interventionists that looked out for their own through a clan based communal system of government. The city was run by five clans that were considered the descendants of the original five families who founded the city. It was a policy that when a child was born from one of the five clans, they would be paired off with the offspring of another clan’s child - one serving as a highly skilled protector and the other serving as a member of the city’s government. The protector was a superfluous role in much of the city’s history as the city was peaceful and secluded, but the role was still an important one. An elder of each clan would then act as a member of the city’s high council with a sixth member selected based on experience and regardless of clan status. This member acted as the city’s leader - The Clan mother, matriarch of The Valley. 

This system carried them to success for thousands of years. The Valley stood as a mythological pinnacle of technology, strategy, political power, and even spiritual fervor to the gods known as The Five - godly figures who took the form of tigers that kept the realms in balance. The Five chose the people of The Valley to be the protectors and caretakers of a powerful artifact. The people followed the god’s teachings of balance, non intervention and isolation to maintain balance. Here is where the issue arose as a young noble of the house Lao was given a task that fell outside of the people’s protectorate faith, but deep inside her moral core.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The hiss of hydraulics compressed as the heavy door shot open with a smooth pop as it latched into place. A thin framed woman with a sharp jawline, high hollow cheeks, and a stern gaze stepped through the door. Her skin was a soft caramel and her eyes were an unnatural purple. Behind her a man with short brown hair and focused attentive brown eyes craned his neck down to look at a hologram projecting from a ring on his finger. He flicked through tabs by interacting with the hologram and brought up important information. He leaned forward and whispered to the woman. She nodded, and her short black hair bobbed in confirmation. To her other side, a shorter woman with a muscular build stood with her arms crossed. Her brown hair was pulled back into a bun, and two blades - one resting on her back, and the other at her waist - shimmered in the high intensity lights of the situation room. She wore the steel gray armor of a warrior of The Valley with a gray mesh under suit.

 The long table of over a dozen people all stood to attention as the woman stepped in and took her place at the head of the table. Her silk tunic ruffled as she took her seat and crossed one leg over the other. Her small entourage took seats on each side of her, and looked out on the table of bureaucrats, clerics, and tacticians of The Valley. Delegates all sent from different governmental departments to discuss the matter at hand. She gave them a nod in greeting and waited in silence for a moment. “Well?” her voice grimaced from behind a forced smile. Her technical assistant let out a quiet mumble then flicked an image from his personal device outwards towards the room. It rose to the center of the table in all directions and dimensions. The room dimmed and a video began to play in the center of the table.

It was a  playback of bolts of fire, burning trees, and explosions. A dark smoky haze blacked out the sky, and left the air thick with soot. A man turned the recording device towards himself, his face covered in blood, mud, and ash.

“Day 726 of this… this new push - I  - we - they… the border hasn’t moved. The trenches re-dug - deeper… we’re losing more than what we can bring in…” The camera shook and he let out a heavy cough as a green spittle rushed down his chin, “but…” his eyes glazed over and the camera fell away for a moment, he collapsed to the ground and his shaking hands rushed to grab the camera from the earth. The screen became as dirty as him, “They can’t move us, so they must be running low too… we need help, we need… we need a miracle.” The video clicked out. The technician sighed with discomfort,

“This video was sent by the Bownsend Militia - a small city that split off from Caaremen territory approximately 80 years ago after a loss of faith in their goddess, The Duchess. They thought that sending an update from the fronts might push someone to intervene. As of now, I have confirmation that the only response they received was a ‘tough luck’ reply from Caaremen and increased bombardments from their adversary - The also underdeveloped city, Shill. As you can tell, this is an extremely complicated situation. Morally, the council has decided it is now a priority.``

“Okay,” The woman clasped her fingers together and brought them to the table, “and what do we think of involvement?” The air ran cold. Silence rang through the meeting hall. The strategic minds sat in silence, glancing around each other, waiting for someone to talk. Her smile didn’t waver, “Oh? Shall we play the video again, Dantly?” Her technician, Dantly, nodded and put his finger to the hologram,

“No, Lady Vey… that won’t be necessary.” An older man dressed in ceremonial garb raised his hand to the air.

“Brother,” Vey addressed the cleric, “what does the divine tell us of the struggles of man and creature in this realm?” The aging cleric stood up, steadying himself on the table. His darkened sun kissed hands folded and pressed into the cold metal of the table, 

“Not as much as we’d like, good Lady. But we get messages of war from the deities that be. Centinu preaches everlasting war as the way of the realm, but trusting in champions sent by the divine is the secret to salvation. Oran-Koh preaches love and pacifism. Omnibek of the poor commoners tells that war is fought by the physically strong who became the socially weak. The great divine five tell us that balance is present, even in the chaos of the battlefield… we do not talk about the intervention of a more advanced power, only that balance is with us.”

“Hm.” Lady Vey mused.

“Many pray to the gods, but other than the occasional champion or gift of a demi, the gods will do little other than tell their flocks what to do.” The cleric furrowed his brow and took a breath, “Is it our place to choose a side, or to push for peace? Who attacked who? Whose land is whose anymore? To convince both sides to step down would be futile.” Vey nodded,

“Thoughtful, Brother, and yet… inconclusive. I think you just wasted my time with a very large ‘I don’t know.’” Her voice took on a tone of irritation and she flicked her head about the room. There was a scoff from the other end of the long table, “Ah.” Lady Vey pointed across the table, heads dodged out of the way to avoid being called upon. Her finger met with the scarred face of a woman. She was clearly a protector in her younger years - Lady Vey thought she may be from the same house as her own life protector. Her steely eyes sized up the young Vey and her broken toothed grin in response showed just how willing she was to continue the conversation,

“Thank you, Lady.” The woman stood - false bravado exuding from her - and brought forward her own device, displaying a satellite view of the war, “See here are the trenches on either side. The center there,” she zoomed in on the no man’s land filled with projectile damage and scorched chemical poison, “holds the key. Look here.” She changed the setting, and a thermal scope appeared. There were people inside the toxic fog of war. Some struggled, crawling across the ground. Others wearing gas masks and wielding blades walked through the volatile land gashing out any remaining life. “See, here is the outcome of the brutish war. Ecological destruction, the sickening haze of war, lives ruined. These people destroy the very land which feeds them, and call it profound, and we sit and watch and -”

“Ma’am?” Vey interjected.

“Yes, Lady?”

“Are you a military expert or an environmentalist?” The woman’s face flushed pale, and the others in the room faltered,

“Well - I - well…” She shook her head, “I was getting to that, good Lady.” Vey brought her hands down to her lap and sighed,

“We don’t have time for a lecture, please do get to it quicker.” The woman nodded,

“Right - well… what I was saying before about the key to this…” the woman began to regain her composure and stood a little taller, “Consider eliminating this zone. We have the terraforming technology specifically to reclaim land ravaged by war, what better time to use it then to take the battlefield away from them?” Vey nodded,

“Without that haze, they have clearer shots at each other… Do we want to stop the war, or just give them a fresh board to play on?”

“Right! And you are absolutely right, good Lady, but I think that a well placed terraform bomb, followed by an EMP would neutralize the war - if only temporarily - and maybe give time for cooler heads to prevail.”

“EMP’s stop bombs, guns… it stops a lot of things, but it does not stop human will. You terraform, you cut out technology, what’s left? Savagery!” A man spat from across the room. Lady Vey nodded in response to this new voice.

“And who are you?” Vey called after the shouting man. The man stood and began manipulating the hologram, 

“Just another old warrior, Lady. But you’re right to doubt this one.” He shot a look at his compatriot and she glared back. 

“This is not the place for rivalry, and I will gladly have you both escorted out if you cannot stand to be civil on this very difficult topic.” Vey looked to her right, and her protector nodded, stood up and placed a single hand on the sword on her hip.

“Forgive us, Lady.” The man said, bowing his head, “Although my comrade has a thoughtful solution, the full truth is that we have power beyond this. We could just take control of the warring nations and completely end the skirmish. Both the Bownsend and the Shill would bow to our power and we would end the conflict, drop the terraforming bomb,” He conceded looking at the woman, “and end the talks. These are both floundering small cities that have tried to split off from much larger city-states, this could be an opportunity to spread our message of balance throughout Astra and rescue them from drowning in the process.”

“Are you suggesting a military overthrow?” Vey laughed, “Please, you can’t be serious. You’re not serious right?” The man began to stammer but Lady Vey cut him off, “Get out.” Her smile dropped away and the laughter halted, a steely gaze now piercing through the man.

“But good Lady I -”

“Out.” The man dropped his head and trudged out of the room, the door hissed behind him and snapped shut. Lady Vey’s protector sat down and put her hand at rest on her lap. Vey stood up, snatched the device off Dantly’s finger and restarted the video. As it played she walked around the room, observing each person’s face. She walked to the furthest wall where the metal faded away to a window overlooking the lake in the middle of the valley. The video came to an end. “We have the greatest minds in the world - That’s what the Lao family raised me to believe. That’s what the Elder Mother tells me… but we can’t figure out how to stop a damned war? Are you the greatest minds or the most persuasive brutes that could force yourself into a room?” Vey stared out the window at the beauty of the city. She looked up the rolling tree and building covered hill that cut through the valley up to the council chambers. “Dropping bombs, taking over foreign governments, terraforming warzones, nonsense about the deities - who will almost certainly do nothing!” She swung around, and the room jumped back, “If I don’t start hearing good ideas, I’ll send you fools to the front lines to treat every wounded soldier until this war ends.” 

“Good Lady,” A meek voice said from the table, “The people of Bownsend requested our help, perhaps we should -”

“I do not give a damn about the Bownsend people!” Vey’s voice bounced off the walls, hitting everyone with an intense echo. The entire room cowered away from her. To hear someone of such high social caliber raise their voice was rare and typically embarrassing to the clan, but Lady Vey wielded righteous indignation like a soldier would wield a rifle. “I couldn’t care less if they were Bownsend, or Shill, or Faren, or damned sorcerers of the Eucan order of priests!" She took a deep breath in, and tried to gather her composure. "We are here to save lives, and be civil, and all you give me is this brute force, manipulative trash, spiritual bullshit, and you call that a solution? You think this is about what side they’re on? We don’t choose sides! We choose life. We choose existence, you short sighted fools. So no, I don’t care about the Bownsend. I don’t care about the Shill. I care about people.” Vey slammed her hand down on the table, and glared at each member of the meeting. “The next person who gives me another ridiculous idea, will be ostracized, and I’ll be sure that you never come back for as long as the Lao family reside on this valley’s council.” Her smile returned and she walked back to her seat, sitting with her hands in her lap again, “Now, where were we?” 

The entire room was drowning in silence, every member was too afraid to give any solution at all. 

“The five who bind us say that even when we cannot see it, balance is present. Good Lady, is it our place to arrive and change the situation, or are we the foretold balance?” The cleric’s shaky voice called.

“Ah, philosophy. We could debate this all day and come no closer to answering the question, no closer to a solution. Whatever happens is the dictation of the five, and so whatever choice we make will be part of the balance, but first we must make a choice. That’s my interpretation and so it is the interpretation the council will use for this situation.”

“So our choice is the word of the five?” a woman asked from the group. Laughter was stifled throughout the room,

“Don’t buy into exceptionalism.” Vey’s eyes narrowed, “No. Any choice made across the world is the will of the five and therefore the balance of all things. We do not create order or chaos. We make choices off of what’s right and wrong, and this adds and subtracts to universal balance. Don’t buy into the superiority of our Valley. We are sentients - just like them. Now, I may say, we are more advanced, more successful - beyond any other culture or civilization. We are to our core, no different than those beyond our Valley. You fools stand as proof of our lack of superiority.” Vey looked down at her lap and shook her head, “That’s the problem here isn’t it?” Another voice piped up,

“Lady?”

“You are recommending all these horrid ideas because… well because you think that these factions, these militias, city-states - whatever you’d like to call them - you think they are beneath us and it’s our job to pull the strings of the foolish mortals and make them dance? Do you think us gods of Astra on the brink of the stars?” Lady Vey stood up. Her entourage followed her. A member of the group spoke up,

“No Lady that isn’t what w-”

“Hush.” Vey raised a hand. She walked to the door, speaking as she left, “Think about how you’d handle our Valley in a civil war, then talk to me about how or if we should help the Bownsend AND the Shill.”

The door hissed shut behind her and her entourage. They trekked back through the city’s communal hall at the center of the forest. The white tiled floor beneath them hummed and lit up blue under their every step. As they made their way through the hall, Lady Vey turned to Dantly, “That went horribly, didn’t it?” Dantly sighed and shook his head,

“We’re no closer to a solution. The elders are breathing down our necks, and a group of people who are supposed to be the very best only making recommendations that would draw us into war… I’m not hopeful, Vey.”

“And what if we went with the option of war?” Vey’s protector asked,

“Cherize.” Vey eyed her, “You know we can’t.” Cherize shrugged,

“I know but… what other choice do we have? I mean, as much as I hated to hear all that in there… we don’t have many options.”

“Why didn’t a single one of them push for a true diplomatic solution? Why didn’t you?” Vey looked to both of her associates. They avoided eye contact. “Is life so dull here that it would be droll to go to war? Is that it?” Dantly shook his head,

“We’re isolationists, Vey. All our government knows is self defense. We’re asking a government of isolationists to do something about a war. We don’t have diplomats… we have weapons for self defense, we have bombs to neutralize enemies.” Cherize nodded along,

“Slit-jockey’s got a point.” Dantly shot a dirty look at Cherize.

“Slit isn’t going to catch on. It’s a personal portable communication and analysis device - PCAD.” Dantly said as he twisted the ring on his finger. Cherize stifled a laugh. Lady Vey carried on, ignoring them,

“Okay so we need a diplomat then? Where do we get one of those?” The trio broke out into the courtyard outside the communal hall. People walked about enjoying the day, surrounded by the sleek, white, vine covered buildings and beautiful flowering bushes that poured over onto the footpath ahead. A fountain in the middle depicted the known universe in intricate gently carved stone, Metal tigers cradled it all as water shot through the center of the sculpture, cascading down around Astra. Vey walked to the fountain and sat down on its lip, “Hm… a diplomat.”

“It isn’t hard to broker peace I bet… we just need to bring both the Bownsend and the Shill to the table, keep things calm, and talk through the issues… right?” Cherize asked.

“It sets a terrible precedent - that the Valley of Reclamation will always swoop in to quash any disagreements… we are not a police force. We are a sovereign people, our job is not to watch after others. Also the precedent of isolation would be shattered, and then what? We can’t be some unknown variable in the world anymore.” Vey added.

“Then we ignore the call for help?” Dantly pushed a little in his language.

“We are a moral people, we cannot ignore a suffering scream for help…” Vey shook her head. “Just because it was never requested or heard doesn’t mean there haven’t been countless screams on other fronts around the world… the Vineyards, Verdimire, Calt… so many more. Those are just the worst of them. We answer one call, we give hope. We ignore that call, we bring shame upon ourselves and worse… doom people to suffer”

“There is no easy answer, V. We already knew this.” Cherize added in a gentle tone.

“What if we held a summit of peace? All parties around the world who are willing, meet in a demilitarized zone, and we begin the process of ending all the wars at once?” Vey said.

“That’s… a lot…” Cherize weighed the thought in her mind. Dantly shook his head,

“Do you really think generals, and leaders would take our external force weighing on them? Now, the Bownsend and the Shills are different in that they’re calling for help on all channels… but all the others? They would turn on us before we got a word in. Some big super power shows up and announces we’re in charge? They wouldn’t like that…”

“If they turned on us we would burn them to the ground.” Cherize’s voice took a serious tone,

“That defeats the purpose!” Dantly yelled, throwing his arms in the air. Cherize shook her head,

“We give them a chance and then -”

“Stop! Both of you stop.” Vey couldn't believe this debate was even tearing those closest to her apart. They'd all been together since they were infants, and now a desperate plea for help was turning into a confusing nightmare in The Valley. At this point citizens were looking at them confused as they passed by. The public didn’t know about this yet, and Vey was hoping to shield them from the moral dilemma at hand. “There is no easy solution, but I think that the only true solution is one in which we solve this through grace and care.” Her shoulders fell and she looked up to the sky, “Void, bring me balance”

“What are you thinking, V?” Cherize put her hand on her shoulder, and Vey leaned against her arm,

“I think I have a proposal to make to the elder council - a diplomatic solution.”