For 30 generations, the T'laren have been hunted by a mysterious humanoid known only as "The Dullon". the origins of this unstoppable killing machine are lost in history.
20 generations ago, the Dullon was plunged into a star by Saint Sybex. the first hints of peace then came to the shattered Empire, and it began to rebuild.
[a lot of this story simply describes Serra's daily life. it could almost be boring, except that behind this daily life the realization that the Dullon still lives slowly unfolds. once that is revealed, the pace quickens rapidly to the deafening crescendo finale which finally ends the Dullon's campaign against he T'laren.]
On the artificial world known as Graaber's World, academia from the known Empire come to study. Graaber's World is one gigantic library, gathering and processing all known knowledge. Serra of Clan T'laren, direct descendent of Siera, has finally after many years of application been granted a permit to study on Graaber's World. She is studying the history of the Dullon. She learns about Kilgar and the Dullon. she learns about how the Dullon evolved over time, becoming stronger, quicker and more invulnerable with time. How by the time of it's final battle with Juun-to Io'pah T'laren its senses had evolved to the level that it could see through walls and memorize a persons genetic structure by looking at her. that was how it had memorized Juun-to Io'pah T'laren's genetic code and how it had left her decedents safe.
Serra dreams. she sees a humanoid figure in the center of a brilliant light. the figure seems to be floating - arms and legs outstretched. then she wakes.
Serra studies the history of Kilgar. Contradictory accounts of his life exist. Most contemporary accounts depict him as a kind and gentle ruler. All later accounts depict him as a bloodthirsty maniac bent on conquest, and these reports discount the prior reports as propaganda. She learns of the Right of Command and how Kilgar's last words had sent the Dullon on its destructive spree. we meet Serra's closest friend - a non-human telepath.
Serra dreams about figure floating in the white light. it floats, body tense, as if drawing energy from the light. Serra has a sense of scale - the figure is much larger than herself. she wakes.
Serra studies the history of the Dullon. she finds ancient, obscure records of how once long ago the Dullon allowed its self to be studied for 48 hours by a large corporation in exchange for prototype weapons. those weapons had been the prototypes for the Thunderstroke Gauss Pistols the Dullon became famous for using. some of the results show that the Dullon was immune to the most powerful energy weapons at the time, and that the scientists believed the Dullon might derive nourishment and power from solar energy. there are pictures of the Dullon. it appears to be nothing more than a handsome human. the report describes the Dullon as some type of superpowerful organic weapon. the scientists could take few measurements because the Dullon's body simply absorbed or reflected the energy from most of their instruments, but they made lots of hypotheses.
Serra dreams. once again, of the floating figure. this time, she dreams she is floating with it in the brilliant light. she moves around it. finally, she stops before it's face. she recognizes the face as that of the Dullon. she wakes.
the dream gnaws at Serra. she talks to others on Graaber's World who have studied Kilgar, the Dullon, and the time periods surrounding. everyone seems comfortably convinced that the Duon is long since destroyed. Serra isn't so sure. something gnaws at her. she shares her dreams with her good friend. her friend reveals that Serra has some low level empathic powers, and maybe the dreams do mean something. Serra learns that the ancient Amos - the only other being still alive besides the Dullon who knew Kilgar in his life - now stands lonely vigil at the Caverns of Souls. all souls must pass into the Caverns and be judged. those that have led complete lives may pass into the next realm, while those that have unfinished tasks must forever wander the Caverns hoping that someone will visit, learn of their plight, and finish the task for the lost spirit. Amos' vigil has become to telepathically record the memories of all spirits - living and dead - that venture into the Caverns. the dead cannot leave, but the living can. many tales exist indicating that Kilgar's soul wanders the Caverns, and many more believe it is because the T'laren still exist.
Serra dreams. the dream is exactly the same as her last one, except near the end. as she floats before the Dullon, studying it's face, its eyes open and focus on her. she wakes and has a panic attack.
Serra is now completely convinced the Dullon is not dead. she rereads every note she has ever taken regarding the history of the Dullon. she finds the scientific findings. she rereads them. she begins to panic - the Dullon derives power and nourishment from solar energy! plunging it into a star has only made it stronger! Serra begins to fight sleep as her enemy. she studies long and hard, hoping to gather evidence to prove the Dullon is not slain.
finally, Serra collapses and sleeps for several days. during that time, she
dreams fitfully. she dreams she is visiting the Caverns of Souls. she knows
where she is even though she has never been there. just inside the Caverns
entrance, she sees an old blind man sitting lotus style. she floats into
the caverns, and the old man looks up. he smiles. "You have come a long way
child. Ask your questions." Serra is startled. "Is the Dullon dead?" she
asks. "Who? I have not seen Dullon in 30 generations." "Is Kilgar's soul
trapped within the Caverns?" "So I have heard." "Was Kilgar an evil ruler?"
"No. He was fair and kind. To this day, I do not understand his last command."
"What was Kilgar's last command?"
"Dullon, my friend, by the Right of Command,
I ask that you avenge me! Vanquish the T'laren..."
Serra wakes.
she only stays awake for a few hours before her telepathic friend sends her back to sleep for more rest.
Serra dreams again. she is floating through empty space. she turns, and a great distance away, she sees a blazing orange-red sun. she plummets into the sun, and she dreams of the floating figure exactly as before. after it opens its eyes, she tries to wake up, but she can't. she tries to scream, but she can't. its eyes bore into her. the figure is many times her size and it looms over her. in a booming thunderous voice it speaks "Serra. I have foreseen it." It furrows its brow. "YOU will end my campaign against the T'laren." she wakes screaming.
Serra's friend is there to comfort her. Serra tries to explain her dream. she is terrified. she knows the Dullon will come for her. it will try to stop her. she will stop it. she doesn't know how. shaking, she goes to shower. while showering, she thinks about Kilgar. Kilgar the kind and wise who not until his dying breath had ordered the Emperor's Sword to kill anyone. She remembers Kilgar's last words and realizes why his soul still haunts the Caverns! she knows how to end the Dullon's campaign! she rushes out of the shower. she wants to tell her friend. her friend rushes to find her, and drags Serra before a television set - the news report is horrible - Juun-to s'Hi'n, which had become violently unstable in the last few days, has gone nova!
Serra borrows money from every one she knows. she buys passage on a tramp freighter to take her to the Caverns. this is the only vessel available that will take her directly there. and she is urgent to get the. news reports continue to pour in about Juun-to s'Hi'n. no one knows why it has gone nova. shortly after Serra leaves to go to the Caverns, her friend reveals Serra's work (not steals, reveals), but not where Serra has gone; only that Serra has gone to "end the Dullon's campaign." Suddenly, all those who laughed as Serra before begin to raid her research (which, fortunately because of Graaber's World policy is legally recognized as Serra's and it can't be stolen, per se).
days later, it is reported that Graaber's World was attacked by a mysterious force. Only those of T'laren decent died, but the World was knocked out of orbit and will have to be abandoned.
Serra dreams. she is being chased. she can't hide. she can't see what is chasing her. she can feel it; it makes her skin cold, it makes her sweat. her heart races. she is running. it radiates power and fear. she runs into a cave and it follows.
sleep has become her enemy. she has had almost no sleep since leaving Graaber's World and what little she has had was wrought with nightmares. each time she awoke screaming.
The freighter drops Serra at the Caverns.
Serra approached the Caverns slowly. What is she was wrong? Surely the Dullon was on it's way here. Inside the Caverns, she saw ancient Amos.
"If you would enter the Caverns, child, you must first share your memories with me," the familiar voice spoke. it was the voice from her dream. She approached him slowly, and he held out his hands. "Take my hands child, and let me see the universe through your eyes." She took his hands, and a calm washed over her. Without time passing, she relieved every moment of her life in perfect clarity, just as when she had been there. She hadn't realized how much her memories of those events had been reshaped by later events. Slowly she returned to her senses, still holding the ancient hands. The aged man smiled, "Kilgar. Yes. Now I understand," he said with surprise. "Go quickly child. As you seek Kilgar, so you shall find him."
Serra dashed into the Caverns. They were a maze, she had no idea where to go, or where the Caverns went. She searched for what felt like hours, she heard the voice of Amos again.
"If you would enter the Caverns, child, you must first share your memories with me," he said. "Ah, Dullon, my friend. It has been thirty generations. I have experienced your exploits through the eyes of others, now let me know them first hand."
***
Serra redoubled her efforts and finally she came upon a ghostly man, sitting quietly by himself on a rock. He was partially turned away from her. She knew without knowing that he was Kilgar. She approached him. "Emperor Kilgar?" she couldn't quite hide that for years she had been taught to hate him.
"Eh?," he looked at her, "did you address me?"
"Yes, I have..." she started slowly, realizing she wasn't really sure what she was doing, "come to free you," she finished lamely.
"Oh, really?" he sounded bitter. "That would make you the seven hundred and twelftÀh to claim that. Go away, I'll not be taunted again!" he flared with genuine anger.
"No," she said flatly, "perhaps I will leave, but not before you tell me what your final living words to the Dullon were."
"The what to what?" he replied. No one had ever before asked him what his final living words were.
"You final living words. To the Dullon. The Emperor's Sword. What were your final, living words?" Serra was determined. Perhaps this spirit had gone slightly mad in thirty generations of wandering the Caverns.
"The Dullon? You mean Dullon Duralloy? Gone and gotten a bit lofty, hasn't he?" the spirit asked. "We spirits have great memories, you know. My last living words were 'Dullon, my friend, by the Right of Command, I ask that you avenge me! Vanquish the T'laren who has vanquished me.' "
"NO!" Serra exploded. Her angered startled the spirit. "NO! You're last words were 'Dullon, my friend, by the Right of Command, I ask that you avenge me! Vanquish the T'laren.'! 'VANQUISH THE T'LAREN!'" She screamed. "You're Sword has spent the last thirty generations slaughtering innocent T'larebecause you ran out of breath before you died!" Her eyes spat hate.
"What? What?" the spirit staggered as if punched. "What?" it asked shocked. Then, it raised its head high and looked down the hall behind Serra. "Hold, Dullon!" Kilgar spoke with conviction. Serra turned suddenly, and there it was - the Dullon! It stood in the corridor behind her, its arm raised and energy pulsating around its outstretched hand. It looked like a handsome human, sheathed in a corona of glowing flame. It was tall, but not the superhumanly tall figure she had seen in her dreams.
"As you command, my Emperor," its voice was a rich alto; rather than being a terrifying thunder, it was calming. It lowered its arm, but its hands still glowed.
"Dullon," the emperor spoke, "it is good to see you again. You have changed, my friend. This energy corona is new."
"Yes," it spoke again, apparently oblivious to Serra's presence now that its Emperor spoke to it, "I am recently from the core of the star previously known as Shepard's Folly, more recently known as the Savior's Burial Ground. It was an exhilarating experience being able to fly through space under my own power. But, I'm afraid I've exhausted a lot of that energy."
"What brings you here now Dullon? You're last visit was shortly after my death."
"I am here because the young Serra is here."
"So you two have met then," Kilgar asked almost with disappointment. "Then perhaps you can clear something up for us. You have never lied to me, what were my last living words to you Dullon?"
"Your last living words were 'Dullon, my friend, by the Right of Command, I ask that you avenge me! Vanquish the T'laren.'" Kilgar gasped, and Serra shuddered.
"Oh," Kilgar said simply and quietly. "D-Dullon, remember nothing until I command otherwise."
"As you wish," it said. Its posture did not change, and Serra wondered what that meant.
Kilgar sat down again on his rock, and held his head in his hands. "By the Gods, a great atrocity has happened." He began to weep. Serra shuddered again. She was terrified and angry and happy at the same time. "Billions of T'laren have died horrible deaths because of my mistake. NOOOOOO!" He wept louder.
"KILGAR!," Serra shouted, her anger breaking through her confusion, her vision becoming clear. She remembered her revelation on Graaber's World: "Kilgar, you must order the Dullon to stop hunting the T'laren! Until you order it to stop, it will continue to slaughter the T'laren and your soul will never be free of these Caverns!" Her revelation - the answer -revealed, Serra again lapsed into silence.
"Of course!" Kilgar sighed through his tears, "Dullon, attend me!"
"My emperor?" the Dullon asked.
"Dullon, a great crime has occurred. My last words were not the words I had intended to speak. It had never been my intention that the Clan T'laren should be hunted and slain; I had only meant my revenge upon the one who murdered me," Kilgar wept. His voice strengthened as he stood tall, like the Emperor he was, "By the Right of Command, from this moment forth you have discharged your duties to me. Let the T'laren no longer fear you; let you no longer hunt them. I formally pass the Right of Command and the Right of Guardianship to Serra of Clan T'laren. The Rights shall pass matrilineally through her line until such time as her decendents pass those Rights on."
"Kilgar," the Dullon said gently, as one old friend to another, as a soft, pure light began to surround the weeping spirit of the old Emperor, "be at peace." With a weak smile on his face, the spirit of Kilgar, his unfinished tasks finished at last, passed into the next realm of existence. The Dullon turned to face Serra and it asked, with genuine compassion, "My Empress are you well?"
Serra stared hard at the spot where Kilgar had been. She looked at the Dullon. The Dullon. She had been raised on legends of its terrifying power. Legen of its ruthless bloodlust and relentless slaughter of T'laren. She looked at its eyes, and saw concern and affection - for her! This being has destroyed stars, she thought to herself, and now it's going to follow the orders and protect the lives of me and my decendents for generations to come?
"My Empress?" it asked again, as it stepped towards her reaching out an arm to steady her. It was a normal human now, its energy corona absorbed into it. "My Empress, are you alright?"
"Just...," she stammered, "Just call me Serra, okay?" and it gently caught her as the exahaustion ovwhelmed her.