Creation's Fallen Gods

The dress looked like an illusion. If I were to take it's model into account, it was very simple,even a little vintage: a bustier that enhanced my bust and marked my waist, descending in a skirt to my knees. But it literally displayed constellations in motion, like a screen exposing the images of a colored telescope. Bright nebulae, sometimes a comet, ill.u.s.tration of the central disk of a galaxy and hundreds of stars shining beautifully in the ever changing, dark halo.

My neck was covered by a large diamond necklace as beautiful as the dress, with a matching pair of ear cuffs that spiraled around each ear. My hairstyle on the other hand was quite simple: my hair was tied sideways, down the side of my bust, with curls and jewelled hairpins that mingled with the stars of the dress.

I tried to wonder if I'd ever look so pretty again. I couldn't even tell if the look was overdone or if it was ideal. Even my make-up looked somewhat translucent and changed according to light.

Shortly after, Henry also entered the preparation room. Apparently, he had also received treatment from the spa. He wore a classic suit, navy blue, almost black, without a simple tie. His messy hair, which had grown longer as mine during the time of seclusion, were tied in a low, tame ponytail. He reminded me of an exquisite pirate, and I did not know how to react, whether grateful, impressed, or embarrassed.

"Great! You're gorgeous!" he said as if it was nothing much, "Any problems?"

"I don't know... I guess all this doesn't suits me... it looks too surreal…" I said slowly looking at the mirror with a timidity that I did not know where it had come from. "Why do you always give me all these things? This must all have cost a fortune!"

Henry frowned at the question, as if it were rhetorical.

"I don't know... why not? Money is not to be spent?" Then he smiled, "Come on, apparently you are the star of the night, and even if the party is under that cretin's wings, it's about time you were introduced to others."

I did not like. I just felt more nervous.

"Star of the night.... how convenient," I thought looking at myself in the mirror again. Henry covered me with a long, shiny black fuzzy cloak and we both went to the ship, leaving for the palace. The central district, where the palace stood, was as "close" as Henry once said... twenty minutes in that haunting ship, and there we were at the entrance.

The party, however, was not nearly as private as I imagined it would be. It was being held in the main garden, which displayed the facade of the palace illuminated by powerful blue light cannons, and at least ten thousand people should already be there, plus the commotion of people outside waiting to enter.

The garden access staircase was surrounded by two rows of a hundred security guards each, wearing gala uniforms and checking the identity of the newcomers. Henry offered his arm to me and moved on without bothering to stop or introduce himself to anyone. Henry did not speak to the security guards, and none of them spoke to us, or asked for our invitations. I noticed that as we entered, more and more people turned their heads towards us and began to whisper. Many people stared openly at us and some even pointed.

Soon I also noticed that one of the more enthusiastic people tried to approach, but was almost immediately redirected by another random person who stopped in front of him and took him to another place.

"Undercover guards... I should have imagined", Henry commented on seeing a couple being pulled away from them almost by force, by another couple emerging from nowhere.

"You're a real celebrity, aren't you?" I asked impressed.

"Yeah!" he replied promptly as if he were commenting on the weather, "But always one of the guests comes with the idea of taking pictures of the notables, to sell for news vehicles, or even increase their own status... and I am appearing in public for the first time in years and this time I am accompanied. This is great news. More than me, many here must be wondering who you are. But Marco will probably not allow any of his pictures to leak, not there we need to worry about that with me here to take care of you."

I ended up getting even more nervous.

"I thought I should not be calling attention…"

"Do not worry about it. As long as we do not let anyone find out who you are and what your origins are, no one will ever be able to use it against you", Henry sighed annoyed, "but I really am concerned about Marco's intentions in using the Imperial New Year festival as an occasion for his presentation reception."

I looked around. We were not even halfway between the entrance and the palace. It was getting harder and harder to walk straight, due to the density of people gradually increasing. Sometimes we had to take a turn or two to get going.

"Where are we going?" I asked, after a particularly tense scene where a boy started yelling "Siever, Hey Siever !!" which was ignored by Henry and then silenced by security guards.

"This part of the festival is just a mere political formality to gather alliances and celebrities "Henry said annoyed", there's a reception inside the palace for the personal friends and people closer to the Emperor.

"Are you in the personal friend close to the emperor?" I asked wryly. He did not respond to my teasing.

Finally at the palace gates, there was an even more impressive line of security guards stationed on the steps and above the first floor. They were flanked almost shoulder-to-shoulder, forming a human chain all around the perimeter of the building. On the first floor you could see that there was a huge decorated patio where some people talked. But the interesting thing was that even if I tried, I could not focus on the face or the shape of any of them. It was impossible to identify them.

Again Henry approached the stairs and crossed without introducing himself to anyone. On the other hand, the security guards, seeing him approaching, formed a solemn passage through which we could climb the stairs surrounded by servants in reverence.

From the top of the main hall of the palace, I could see all the immensity of the garden. A rising sea of ​​heads. There should have been many more people there now than when we entered.

Two pages appeared and bowed to us. One of them offered to store our coats. Henry gently helped me out with mine, which made me slightly startled by his change of posture, increasingly sociable. Soon after, the second page offered to accompany us to our places in the upper room, where the "special guests" were being received.

I felt myself blushing tremendously when Henry held my hand in a way that was much more intimate than usual, and we climbed hand in hand together into the next room. A ceremonialist received us and announced us to those present, and all the heads of the hall turned to us as soon as we were visible at the entrance.

Compared to the number of people outside, this part of the reception seemed empty. There were not even thirty people lost in a huge outdoor patio, which allowed us to see the full extent of the gardens.

Then all the guests crowded together and come to talk to us. They greeted Henry and introduced themselves to me. They were people of the most different kinds. But apparently they were all Jomons. I also noticed that they were not the same Jomons races. Of the nearly thirty people there, there were at least twenty different Jomons breeds. Some are much lower, others are much higher. One had the short body and a long neck, the other had the head and the eyes much larger than the average, and so on.

The most impressive part is that I could actually recognize from the newscasts several of those present as extremely important people. This was the peak of the world. The place that brought together the most important people of the human race in one place. And I was in the middle.

The Sruar couple were also there chatting excitedly with Henry's cousin. Iago Kairoh chatted excitedly with a stranger, and Cássira smiled sympathetically at his side. Those who approached presented themselves, thanked me for my courage and praised my exotic beauty. I did not know what to say to everyone. I remembered again that I had not brought the simultaneous translator, and although I understood them, they might not understand what I was talking about. I began to feel depressed again, as if it were just there as an accessory for Henry to be displayed. A doll. Just a new reliquary to keep the precious Creation Relic from these strangers and nothing more.

"But that's exactly what you became!" A familiar incorporeal voice answered directly to my thoughts.