Earth.
Within the European Administrative Region.
This area was once known as London, the capital of the United Kingdom in early human history. At that time, it was one of the world's central hubs of political and cultural activity.
By the current era, however, while London still retained symbolic significance, it no longer held the same level of importance. Earth itself had become the true center of human civilization.
At orbital ports, tens of thousands of spacecraft docked simultaneously. From the ocean floor to Mount Everest, and from the upper atmosphere to the planet's core, every layer of the world was filled with human structures.
The planet's climate systems and tectonic activity were regulated in real time by central computational systems. Natural disasters no longer existed, and natural barriers that once constrained development had long been eliminated.
Engineering capabilities had advanced to the point that the manipulation of weather systems or the redirection of oceans was routine. Even the Sun itself had been partially enclosed by massive energy-harvesting structures, supplying power to surrounding habitable worlds.
Human civilization now possessed capabilities comparable to — and in many respects exceeding — those once attributed to mythological gods.
---
At this time, Ra arrived at a location within the former London region.
On the surface, the site appeared to be an ordinary lake. In reality, it concealed a palace situated within an alternate-dimensional pocket space. Due to its protective barriers, neither ordinary humans nor typical psykers could perceive the structure; even those passing directly through the area would not detect it. Only individuals with prior knowledge could recognize and enter.
Ra approached and knocked. The doors opened shortly thereafter.
Proceeding along an ornate, spacious corridor, he entered a hall where the ceiling projected a star-filled night sky.
There, he saw Orsaga seated with Elsa at his side.
Ra stated his request without preamble:
"I want you to spare some alien species of limited threat so that humanity may have opportunities for contact."
Orsaga, without looking up, replied:
"The Abyssal Contract I made with you contains no such terms."
Ra, anticipating resistance, immediately offered terms:
"I can provide additional fragments of the Void Dragon."
Orsaga, however, declined:
"I have little use for such fragments now."
Fragments of the void dragon were no longer relevant to his research; he already understood their fundamental structure.
As Ra prepared to offer another concession, Orsaga unexpectedly interrupted:
"Wait. I will grant your request. No payment is required."
Confused but unwilling to press further, Ra accepted the answer, turned, and departed without further dialogue. He understood that negotiations with Orsaga did not operate on the basis of personal bonds or obligation. Orsaga treated acquaintances and strangers with the same indifference; directness was the only efficient method of engagement.
The palace doors closed behind him.
---
Within the hall, Elsa lowered her head and said quietly:
"I am sorry."
It was her intercession that had influenced Orsaga's decision.
Orsaga dismissed her concern:
"There is no need for apology. It was only a passing thought."
To him, the matter carried little significance. He never required his companions to share his perspective. Their compassion, when exercised within limits, was acceptable. His actions, as a Chaos God, were dictated solely by personal inclination.
Yet Elsa remained uneasy. As a human, she knew the dangers that saturated the universe. Without preparation, humanity risked catastrophic failure in its first encounters with external civilizations. Her intervention had stemmed from this awareness.
However, reflection deepened her uncertainty.
Her original homeland had long ceased to exist. Nations, cultures, and genetic lineages had shifted beyond recognition. Modern humanity differed from her own era not only in thought and values but even at the biological level.
She found herself questioning:
Am I still truly human?
Are they?
Do we still belong to the same species?
Looking at her unchanged hands, preserved after tens of thousands of years, she realized that aside from physical resemblance, she shared little in common with the humanity of the present.
The realization left her unsettled.
After prolonged thought, she concluded:
'There is little more I can do.'
Raising her head, she said to Orsaga:
"Let us go home. We need not return here again."
Sensing the change in her resolve, Orsaga replied simply:
"Very well."
For them, the concept of "home" did not apply to this place.
In the next instant, they departed silently.
The great palace, which had stood for more than ten millennia, collapsed almost immediately. Both the structure and the dimensional space that contained it dissolved into nothingness.
_____
T/N:
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