Villain Retirement

"So all this time, all the planets you've destroyed… were to try and save Theran?"

"Maybe."

Somewhere within the airspace of Theran, Pirate Queen Xra's gigantic warship the size of several airship carriers hovered freely. And inside its war room—a literal war room—a holographic layout of the stellar system of Theran filled the entire area.

There were several people inside, they all remained quiet, however. The only voices that have really been sharing the space with the holograms were the voices of the themarians, Osk, Aerith, and Diana; mostly the latter.

Xra was not really interested in what they were saying, as she was just waiting for this war to be over. Elder Olseyir, on the other hand, could not help but look back and forth between the exchange of words; her pink robes, almost floating from her curiosity.

Elder Olseyir's curiosity, however, was not a match for Tedi, whose hologram avatar floated almost right beside Caitlain.

As someone who pursued knowledge, Caitlain was almost like a celebrity for Tedi; or any other norinlads for that matter.

Not much is known about Caitlain's life except for her achievements and crimes, but no one could argue that she was one of the brightest minds in the Known Universe. Of course, Tedi has never been short of smart colleagues surrounding her; after all, Elder Skeem was arguably perhaps the creature with the highest intellect in the universe.

But Elder Skeem, due to the physically weak and fragile physiology of his race, is focused solely on tools of violence...weaponry. And as a norinlad, Tedi could not be any less interested in him.

Caitlain, on the other hand, has had her claws in almost all the revolutionary breakthroughs the Universe had experienced throughout the years.

The Room of Revival—resurrection. Mostly considered a failure due to the ridiculous and impossible amount of energy it required, it was able to fully revive smaller and lesser creatures permanently; but for intelligent life, one could really only live again for seconds, sometimes not even.

Cloning—Caitlain did not start it, but she was the one that mastered the technology to the point that the Common Council had to ban it.

She even had a hand in perfecting hyperspeed, and paving the way for warpspeed, which to this day, was still not fully stable.

And now, she had single-handedly created a planet that could move across the expanse of space like a ship—but that isn't what was impressive—it was the fact that the planet was a smaller replica of Theran.

Theran, where everything seemed a million times denser.

[If I may?] Tedi then raised her hand as her hologram flew in front of Diana,

[Caitlain—Diana. If the things you said just now are true, and the planets that you've destroyed were indeed already on the brink of planetary collapse, then this changes the severity of your crimes dramatically. Don't you agree, Elder Olseyir?]

"I don't know, I'm just new to the Common Council," Elder Olseyir just shrugged.

[...Why are you even an Elder?]

"The severity of my crimes remains unchanged, Norinlad," Diana smiled as she looked at the floating avatar in front of her, "The planets were indeed dying, yes—but I expedited the process by decades, sometimes even a century. Also, I still experimented on their people to try and create a new, stronger species."

[I… have heard about that,] Tedi's robotic voice became excited as she turned her eyes toward Riley, [Is he…?]

"No," Diana chuckled as she also looked at Riley, who was just examining the stellar map around them, "He's… sort of a freak accident; even I have no idea what he is."

[Uhm… since I might not have another chance, may I ask you another question? Why… are you truly trying to create another species?]

"I've answered that a couple of times already."

[...Sorry, I—]

"But I'll answer it again, this time differently," Diana sighed as she looked at the two other themarians in the room,

"Do you know the original reason why themarians do not travel beyond Theran and its stellar system?"

"..." Aerith and Osk did not really open their mouths as they just waited for Diana to answer her own question.

"The reason changed throughout the years," Diana started walking; letting her eyes reflect Theran's hologram as she circled around it,

"Sometimes, the reason is noble. Themarians are ridiculously strong, therefore the universe will be better without us out there. And this always gets skewed by the generation that follows, the ideal becomes skewed; the people out there are weak and worthless, and therefore not worth the themarians' attention… and then, Theran sometimes just becomes god."

"..."

"There are many more," Diana sighed, "But I believe the very first reason…

…was that there is no one out there that could challenge us. The evaniels tried, they almost went extinct. Norinlads are powerful, but they would rather be wiped out before they would dip their silver hands in battle."

[That is true,] Tedi nodded.

"It's ridiculous, don't you think?" Diana then stood beside Osk and Aerith, "A themarian could travel through entire stellar systems at will with just our physical bodies alone, and at the same time, we could destroy those stellar systems on a whim. We clap our hands, and planets would crumble. Themarians could be said to be the closest existence to gods; one would think that our numbers would be contained in a single digit…

…and yet there are 700 million of us."

"..."

"Our existence is… misplaced," Diana breathed out, "If I create a species that could tip the balance of strength in the universe, if I could create a species as strong as a themarian—then perhaps I could get them to leave Theran on their own. It is a foolish and injudicious plan, but my options are… limited."

"...Father?" Aerith's eyebrows furrowed.

"And many more," Diana let out a wry chuckle, "I proposed a plan—creating a new world, a new Theran. But my generation, and many of the previous generation did not like it, they think Theran is sacred—their god."

"I… could attest to that," Aerith looked to the side before closing her eyes.

"In truth, the people of Theran do not deserve to die with Theran—they aren't causing its destruction," Diana's eyes once again reflected Theran,

"Earth, my children's home planet, started to form around 4.5 billion years ago; another billion to form its first life, and the creature that would later become the common human was born just a million years ago. Most more advanced civilizations share the timeline, they just evolve a little faster. Theran…

…Theran was formed just a billion years ago. Something was different with Theran, its underground was formed already capable of sustaining life—but it was harsh. Harsh to the point that it gave birth to creatures that could destroy planets like Earth in a blink of an eye, none of them, however, could go to the surface. Hundreds of millions of years passed as the creatures continued to adapt and evolve, Theran was like an aquarium that held the most dangerous creatures in the universe, and from there…

…the Themarians were born. We were able to grow and dig our way through the surface. Out of all the species in the universe, we were the ones that had to literally evolve and crawl our way through planet eaters. We were Tempered—smarter, stronger, more powerful, and just…

…better."