--"Arka" Hachiman Takemichi POV--
I had taken every precaution.
The invitation list was discreet.
The location an isolated vault deep within the substructure of Ark Leto my personal vessel, it was one of the most secure spaces left in the fractured world.
Even the internal surveillance systems had been rerouted through a private circuit.
No AI, no observers, no risks.
Or so I thought.
Seven other Arkas, the sovereign lords of the Arks throughout japan, sat around the polished obsidian table.
Their faces, carved from the burdens of leadership, bore a rare uniformity silence and expectation.
They were men and women who rarely convened too proud, too private but today, they had come at my request.
I, Hachiman Takemichi, presided at the head of the table.
I rose, giving the room a slight bow, formal but brief.
"Fellow Arkas," I began
"Let me dispense with pleasantries. We all understand the reason for this gathering." I said, as I sat again and tapped a sequence onto the holopad.
A soft chime followed. A hologram blinked to life in the center of the table an old news broadcast frozen mid-headline.
The grainy image of Kendra Arata stared back at us, smiling faintly beneath archaic spectacles.
"Two years ago," I began, "the fossil reawakened."
My voice was clipped, controlled but no amount of practice could fully hide my disdain curdling beneath my tone.
"He built public facilities overnight. Distributed wealth through auctions of his precious artifacts. 'Humanitarian gestures,' they called it. I call it calculated madness."
I reached into my coat and retrieved an antique brass lighter 18th century, allegedly and thumbed it to life.
The flame danced before me, casting light across my face.
"I still don't know why he did it. And that," he said, eyes narrowing, "is exactly what terrifies me."
With another tap, the hologram shifted to a more recent image.
Encrypted logs from YGGDRASIL, decrypted only days ago.
An unknown account had activated. The login location?
An unregistered node inside Ark Icarus, which is one of Kendra's Ark.
Murmurs passed like ripples through the gathered Arkas. No one needed me to explain further.
YGGDRASIL.
The name hung in the air like static, its implications clear.
Before I could speak again, the double doors at the far end of the chamber swung open.
Alden the attendant of Kendra stood there, impassive as ever, holding the door with ceremonial grace.
And beyond him, Kendra Arata entered.
My blood ran cold.
I stood up on instinct.
The others did not move.
"Forgive the intrusion," Kendra said, his tone almost bored. "I was told someone I needed to meet was here. Alden was quite insistent."
His voice bore no malice. No recognition of the weight his presence carried.
Yet to me, it felt like an executioner had entered wearing the mask of an old friend.
Not a single Arka spoke.
Not one.
The silence was profound bordering on reverent, or perhaps paralyzed.
Tic.
Tic.
Tic.
Raindrops resounded against the glass pane behind Kendra.
I hadn't even noticed it had started to rain.
Kendra did.
"It's raining," he mused softly, stepping toward the window.
"Feels strange. So familiar… yet hollow. No matter how real they make it look, it never smells the same. Never tastes the same." He didn't turn as he spoke. His voice was wistful, distant.
I sat frozen, muscles taut.
Every instinct screamed that this was no coincidence.
That somehow, impossibly, Kendra had known.
But how?
'Was there a leak? A plant? A loyal hound with teeth hidden beneath these people?' I questioned in my mind, trying to find a reason for this mishap.
That is until Kendra finally turned.
"Oh, forgive me," he said lightly.
"I'm prone to musings these days. Please, don't stop on my account."
His eyes passed over each of us unblinking, patient, piercing.
"I see some of you were preparing to leave. Surely, not on my account?"
My throat was dry. I tried to respond, but my words betrayed me.
The others, too, sat rigid.
The meeting had changed.
In an instant, all my prepared points, arguments, and grievances had turned to ash.
The agenda of our growing dissatisfaction with Kendra's unpredictability, our fear of his influence was now impossible to speak aloud.
So, we pivoted.
The discussion that followed was hollow, fragmented.
We spoke of trade routes, of territorial management, of Ark system latency.
All while avoiding the one presence in the room that commanded absolute gravity.
Kendra remained impassive throughout, nodding occasionally, even offering a casual remark.
He played the guest well unaware, unassuming.
But I knew better.
After the meeting, none of the attendees lingered.
They returned to their Arks with strained smiles and silent minds.
The faction if it had ever truly been one did not convene again.
Messages went unanswered.
Channels went quiet.
No one wanted to be seen opposing Kendra, not after that.
As for me, I spent the rest of the evening reviewing every log, every file, every spoken word that had led to the meeting.
And in the dead of night, I deleted it all.
Even the memory of it.
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Ark = a dome like structure encompassing cities, where only the wealthy can live in.
Arka = someone who owns an Ark
Arkas = Plural form of Arka
Oh yeah also don't forget to leave some comments and power stone, and maybe I'll post something?
Heh I'm starting to get a hang of it