Galaxy's First Ruler

How many people in the world had heard the Red Dragon's laugh. For some, it was the last thing they had got to hear, and for some; it was a new beginning. And the end of this laugh marked the end of the less important topic.

"Take your seat, General Grimwald. Now let me address the subject of succession. But first I must ask, is there anyone relinquishing his/her right to the rank of Supreme Commander?" Imhotep asked.

Upon obtaining no answer, the Supreme Commander satisfyingly thought, 'As expected.'

"With time, people and culture must change. This time, as the Supreme Commander, I won't be recommending a candidate."

A ruckus occupied every nook and cranny of the chamber and the Kings and the Queen were already standing. The dense wave of mana released by the Queen forced Boudicca a step back.

"What are you trying to say?" King Hagen asked.

The Supreme Commander smiled, "All I said that this time you would have equal chances to become the next Supreme Commander. And for the sake of saving precious time, I have come up with a great way to implement this process."

Boudicca chanced upon King Hagen and King Antiochus looking at each other.

"Supreme Commander, what is this? What's wrong with the usual way?" the Queen asked.

"It is not about the right or wrong, Eluned. But about the transparency of the method. At least hear me out."

A deafening silence spread out in the chamber.

"We all know that the next Galactic War is upon us," Boudicca heard many dry gulps on the mention of the Galactic War. She also realized that it would be her first Galactic War. In 5 years, she would face the deadliest Trial one could ever face. She felt the Queen's hand on her shoulder and came out of her trance.

Imhotep continued, "And according to custom, we would hold the recruitment from Barren Earth after the Galactic war."

Boudicca wasn't unfamiliar with the concept of Barren Earth. Every Quadrant of the Galaxy contained millions of planets where intelligent races lived. But some planets had human races that were yet to evolve because of the lack of interaction with Mana there. These planets were Barren Earth. And as the recruitment usually lasts for decades, the First Emperor had used the time-duration of these planets as a standard.

Hence came the theory of BERT–Barren Earth Reference Time. And from then on, everyone had been using the time duration based on BERT, unless mentioned otherwise.

"I have been thinking of starting the recruitment 5 years ahead this time. All the Barren Earth in each Quadrant would go through the Dream Initiation Phase simultaneously. And the King, whose Quad would have the highest number of nobles left alive after 3 years, would be the new Supreme Commander. This would also give us a buffer period of 2 years to manage those recruits and prepare them for the war."

Boudicca noticed that the eyes of all nobles lit up on the idea of this suggestion. More early recruits meant more force for the Galactic war, which meant less sacrifice of the people under them. Even the Kings' minds were considering all the distinct possibilities.

But there was one who was just as relaxed, "I agree."

Boudicca saw her Queen taking a step forward and faced the rest of the Kings.

"And I won't agree to anything else."

The Kings became speechless at her words and even the Supreme Commander didn't expect this outcome. Three sighs rang out in the chamber, all for different reasons.

"I agree." The Kings also stepped out.

"Very good. The young must experiment with new ideas, for only in risks there are rewards."

Boudicca looked at Eydis and along with the other Dukes, she had only an unbelievable idea about what was about to happen next. Nobody had thought that the retirement ceremony of the Supreme Commander would turn into the Ceremony of Five Kings.

But the veteran of Barren Earth knew this ceremony by another name-The Night of Awakening.

*

31 May 2020

Earth

The pair of friends hadn't gone for even 100 m when Boomie suddenly stopped and, in panic, turned his pockets in and out.

"What happened?" Aldrich asked.

Boomie said, "I think I lost my iPhone, man. That shit was expensive, you know."

"Calm down, the phone is still in the truck. I thought you had purposely left it behind."

'What?' Boomie could have sworn that he felt his heart had skipped a beat at that moment.

"Wait, I'll be back in a zippy." Boomie put his backpack by the side of the trail and ran back to the truck.

Aldrich noticed Boomie took out the phone while talking to someone. And seeing the sulky face of Boomie, he wasn't optimistic about things.

Boomie came up to him and sullenly said, "Sigh, I don't know what to say, man. I guess I'll have to go to the museum."

Boomie was already feeling bad, because of the matter with Mindy, and now he would have to cancel the hike too.

"I am sorry Al."

"You don't have to be sorry. Why has the inspection team arrived a week early?"

"The manager won't be available next Sunday. So…" Boomie's mind shut off in the middle of the sentence.

"Wait, how do you know? Ah, never mind." Boomie was so down he didn't even want to seek any explanation.

"Let's go. I will drop you at home first."

"Go where? I am continuing with the Hike." Aldrich couldn't go back.

"Hey, you can't go alone."

"And why is that? Give me your Bear Spray, I have everything I need for the night."

Boomie reluctantly handed over the Bear Spray. He had learned to not try to convince Aldrich.

"I will come to pick you up in the morning. Or even better, I will come up to you over there. Nothing better than an early morning hike."

"Sure do as you please, our new Mr. Historian." Aldrich chuckled.

*

Aldrich set up his camp far away from the slopes of the Ridge. The night sky was clear today, a perfect time for some good stargazing. He had done the same hike quite a few times since his childhood. But the sheer number of switchbacks was still tiring. Aldrich took a mouthful of water and set up his customized telescope.

"Sigh, now this is life," Aldrich muttered, "and a perfectly normal Sunday night."

After a period of casual observations, Aldrich had his dinner beside the campfire and felt the vastness of the heavens. Once in a while, he came here to get away from all the noise. The noise out there and the noise within. Once in a while, he came here to contemplate his life. The data he had compiled in his mind. The things he had learned and what he needed to learn now.

He took a mental image of the sky sprinkled with stars. 'It might be the next masterpiece,' he thought.

There was neither lack of ideas and theories in his mind nor a lack of patience. But, being a human, there were still things that worried him from time to time. The most troublesome and tiresome thing had been his pursuit of the idea of 100% dream lucidity. No matter how much research or experiments had he done, he wasn't an iota close to the heart of the problem. Aldrich had combined the Eastern and Western theories. And he also created a set of principles, but a 100% chance of lucidity was still a dream.

'Sigh, the irony,' Aldrich sighed.

He summarized to himself some of the essential rules he had established because of his research.

To gain lucidity in the dreams, the most important thing is to never lose the sense of reality. Always be aware of the surroundings, the actions, and the thoughts. Before sleeping, the mind must be free of any tasks and one must remove the shackles of society. But the most stringent rule he had come up with, was to find one's 'Questions' that seem illusory and elusive. One must bring these questions to reality and contemplate them one by one, and that too in the dreams.

And the three questions he ultimately found for himself were: Who am I? Why am I? What am I?

He had spent countless nights thinking about these questions, but the most he could get out of these researches was a chance of 1 in 10. A 10% chance of having lucid dreams every night. Compared to the data of people who undergo this process frequently, it was monstrous.

"But it's not enough," Aldrich analyzed. He wanted to reign over his dreams. He wanted to explore the things there, not as part of it but as a master. There were some questions one could only answer and some colors one could only see in dreams.

Aldrich took a quick walk around the tent and double-checked all the traps. 'I must give Boomie a pleasant surprise for abandoning me. Haha,' Aldrich thought, on his way back to the tent.

He sat down in the meditation posture and took a deep breath. 'This is a dream, this is a dream, this…' The chants lingered in the silent atmosphere for quite some time.