“Before I tell you, promise me you won’t run off on some half-baked vengeance scheme because you are far more valuable alive than dead. Consider your family tree for a second when I say that. I might be a guy with a lot of clout, but with your brother gone and, as far as I know, every other relative you have. You know what that means for you,” Klorn said.


    “Damn…” was all Twonger said in response before shrinking in his seat, seeming to deflate. Cal had never seen this look out of him before and wasn’t sure what to make of it.


    “I don’t mean to interrupt here, but we are missing something again. As Twonger said this is all very new to us, and it seems like there’s a big revelation about Twonger himself we’re missing. Is he somehow king or something now?” Cal said jokingly. Twonger seemed to deflate even more in response.


    “There’s no way. I’m like fifth in line,” he said in response after a long awkward silence.


    “Sixty-seventh, to be exact, and the only other person we knew of that was out of the system before it vanished was the sixty-sixth, Onelder. So yes, this makes you king. Look, I’m not expecting you to put on a crown and go on a parade, but at the very least, you can smile for a camera and give our people some damned hope. Because there ain’t a lot of that going around recently,” Klorn explained. Cal stared at both of them in stunned silence. It was supposed to have been a joke, and this seemed too far or insanely well-executed to be one of Twonger’s jokes. Was the man really in the line of succession to be a king?


    “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I don’t wanna get it, but I do. Let’s get back to you telling me everything you know first, and then I’ll figure out just how to handle this whole being king thing. Dammit, I had other things to do, you know,” Twonger said, sighing loudly but no longer looking like a shell of himself. Even some of the anger had returned to his face.


    “There isn’t exactly much to tell. One minute, there was a star system full of all our people, the planets, the stations, and both suns. The next minute, they were gone. How? I don’t know. No one can find any debris to suggest destruction, and I think we’d know if the suns with nova. That means, as far as I can I tell, they disappeared out of this reality,” Klorn explained.


    “Andy, Bill, thoughts?” Twonger said, turning to the two of them. Which, all things considered, was likely the best bet for answers at the moment, but Cal doubted even they had them. This would require a lot more investigation before they could figure anything out.


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    “Were there any energy spikes or even mana detections in the vicinity? Any vessels nearby that watched them vanish?” Andy asked, looking at Klorn as he spoke.


    “Ah, now we get to another of the big problems. Yeah, there just happened to be two ships that should have witnessed what happened, but they’ve been scooped up by the Trowals, and as much pull as I may have, I don’t have enough to get them to tell me anything,” Klorn answered. Twonger’s grip on his utensil increased enough that his fingers were turning red.


    “Even now, they are still willing to fuck with us?” he said, the fork in his hand breaking in half under the stress and clanking to the table.


    “Yep, they never could forgive us for breaking free of them,” Klorn said. The anger in his voice had grown to match Twonger’s as he replied.


    “I know I sound like a broken record, but more explanations, please?” Cal asked. He suspected it was some sort of colonial situation but wanted the whole story before jumping to conclusions since, apparently, he couldn’t even joke about something like Twonger being king.


    “The way the Cyclopeans got to enter the wider world of the cosmos was when the Trowals showed up one day and began to cart us off to different planets with the promise of riches. Instead, they put us to work across their worlds. We spent the next millennia toiling away for them, building their damned empire as they spread, enslaving more and more species until there were finally too many slaves for them to hold together. One giant uprising later, and most of us were free,” Twonger explained.


    “Free, but in a real shitty situation. None of our worlds were ready to take us back. Half of them had been stripped mined. Hell, some had been entirely destroyed for whatever sadistic pleasure they got out of it. In the end, most of the freed species decided to stay together and found a new joint civilization in a mostly empty system, at least empty of any sentient life. It took a long time and a lot of work, but we built a new empire we were proud of, and now it’s gone again, and the Trowals have the nerve to hide what little information about what happened from us!” Klorn added, ending in a loud snarl.


    “Okay, so I guess that means we add a trip to the Trowals to our list of future plans,” Cal said earnestly. They had said the magic words to bring out his own hatred.


    “Seriously? You’re willing to help with this? You know, despite everything?” Twonger said, looking shocked.


    “I mean, not at the exact moment, obviously, but I think we can agree there is plenty of future time for it,” Cal answered, eliciting a laugh from Twonger.


    “Damn right there is, yeah, let’s add it to the list. So Klorn, idea where we can get one of those removed?” Twonger said after his laughter finally subsided, pointing to the collar around Sean’s neck.


    “I was wondering when you would bring that up. Glad to see you aren’t the one involved in that distasteful trade. Yes, I think I can help you find it makers,” he answered, his eyes narrowing as he examined Sean from a distance.