A curtain of white steam billowed up from a crack in the floor thick with the choking scent of sulfur. With every step Adam made the ground crackled gently. A part of him worried about the integrity of the floor, concerned that one wrong step could open up a fisher in the ground and send him plunging into a vat of boiling liquid.
Cooking to death was probably around number one on his, list of least ideal ways to die.
Another gout of steam burst up from the floor, hot and heavy with moisture, which condensed and beaded on his exposed skin. From where he sat, on Adam's shoulder, Lord Celex made a face his piggish nose scrunching up against the overpowering smell of brimstone. He was in his original form for a multitude of reasons, number one because it would have been awkward to carry a grown ass man around on his shoulder perched like a parrot, but primarily because Adam had no intention of going into this situation unarmed.
Lord Celex was his secret weapon.
His insurance policy.
He had already put himself at a distinct disadvantage, but it was the only way he could get this meeting. The Council of Zealots wasn't an easy group of people to seek audience with. He had a feeling he was only accepted BECAUSE he was an alien to them and otherwise he might have been completely ignored.
A third reason for bringing celex was because he was one of the only other people who could understand what everyone was saying, and Adam was eager to have someone with him, who was clever enough to understand the machinations of politicians. Adam had a habit of taking people at their word, which wasn't always ideal. During his life lord Celex had been a shrewd political leader and warlord, too clever for his own good, and those were attributes Adam would rather have on his own side.
All of that inside the body of a Maker, and these were none the wiser.
Adam didn't know why or how they had gotten here, but he knew they couldn't simply let these people go without a warning against the void, so he had asked Auditor Mitzen to grant them audience to whoever was in charge. From what the little creature had explained that was, The council of zealots. Personally Adam found the name to be rather.... On the nose if not slightly eerie, though he didn't mention that to his new little friend as he didn't think that would be entirely polite.
As it turned out, their arrangement was not entirely dissimilar to the Galactic Assembly, there were several planets and multiple moons that had joined together to form a sort of coalition that cooperated through the intergalactic economy to broker trade agreements, pass laws, and police intergalactic maritime space, but that is where the similarities ended. Where the GA was a sort of representative democracy, their new friends were ruled under some manner of religious theocracy. From what Adam had gathered from Mitzen all of the participating planets were subject to a religion which, didn't have an equivalent name in English so, Sharanism would have to work. Sharanism was a monotheistic religion that believed in the great light, or goddess Shinohara who was, in essence the embodiment of all light, light provided heat, provided warmth and made all life possible. There were different sects of the religion primarily arguing over weather shanshara had a physical form or not.
Some believed she was more of an incorporeal concept, while other saw her as a being of living flesh and bone, but either version of the belief meant you were part of what was called The Conclave of Shanshara. It was kind of like the distinction between Christianity and Catholicism in a way. Sharanism was the name for the overall belief system and The Conclave of Shanshara was the specific religious sect that currently had control over the theocracy by way of majority in something called the "Council of Zealots". The council of zealots was the primary theocracy head with thirteen members, an odd number so they would never be tied in a vote. They were the ones who passed the laws and interpreted religious texts.
These religious texts could be anything, but most of them were written by a sort of shady and unknown figure called the Theocrat who acted as a sort of prophet or pope. He wasn't as directly involved with the making or interpretation of religious law like the Pope might be, but the comparison still stood. As far as Adam understood this unknown person stayed in the shadows and occasionally produced religious texts which were then interpreted by the council of Zealots.
So you had Sharanism Ruled over by the council of Zealots who currently supported the Conclave of Shanshara by a vote of ten to three. The Council received religious texts from the Theocrat which they interpreted along with regular law. Beneath them you had different divisions of governmental/ religious leaders including the Auditors who were probably comparative to bishops, holey men and women schooled in both religion and other particular areas of interest. They tented to oversee specific regions and were often sent in to deal with complex issues. The Overseers like the one he had met previously, were comparable to priests or town mayors.
There was only one to two auditors per planet but there was only one overseer per city.
So Adam had asked Mitzen if he could get an audience with the council of Zealots. Mitzen hadn't been so sure if that was possible, and he didn't speak directly to the council himself, but he put in a petition that was granted surprisingly quickly for any type of bureaucracy, and now he was here, on this strange little moon that was basically just the space Vatican.
It was a rather small and smelly volcanic moon that orbited a glowing whitish gas giant, which was important to Sharanism in a way he could not have explained. The ground on which he walked was a mixture of pure white mineral crystals formed over thousands of years by the hot springs creating an elaborate set of tunnels arches and natural cathedrals which lends itself perfectly to a mysterious religious organization.
The further they walked the thicker the steam became, and the more Adam became aware of a strange sound on the air, a sort of distant humming. On his shoulder, Lord Celex perked an ear leaning forward to listen more closely.
"What do you hear?" Adam asked, keeping the conversation inside their head. He tried to read the mind of the acolyte in front of him, acolyte being one step above Auditor, but the little creature's head was almost completely full of nothing but prayers and chants to shanshara.
Completely devoted.
"Its like music but not quite right..... chanting perhaps?"
Adam tilted his head, and as they got closer the more he had to agree.
Deep humming chanting that caused the crystals to vibrate gently in the walls.
It was both eerie and fascinating at the same time.
He had been brought to this planet by way of one of their own alien ships, Sunny hadn't liked it one little bit as he would have no way off on his own and no contingency, which is why Celex was coming with him in the first place.
To even step foot on the moon Adam had to make quite a few major concessions, and those included the use of his mechanical eye and leg, which he had been forced to leave back on the ship so as not to offend the council. His exo skeleton had been another thing entirely, but Mitzen was not without reason, and the strange little creature had simply urged him not to mention it.
Mitzen was wise, and he seemed to really believe in the tenant of his religion, but that didn't make him close minded. Certainly he thought things should be done a specific way, but he wasn't under the impression that others had to know and understand those ways, or even be aware of them immediately. All in all he was an attentive listener, compassionate, understanding and helpful. He was also well educated and intelligent as far as Adam could tell.
He had explained to Adam their beliefs on the use of artificial augmentation. Basically to change one's body by way of machine was some sort of sin because it denied the natural order, which was a creation of Shanshara. To upgrade your body was to challenge Shanshara and attempt to play god yourself. Oddly enough this did not extend to technology used outside the body, so power armor was actually totally fine. The reason they didn't like Adam's armor was not because of its augmentation abilities but because of its paint job .
There were, what mitzen referred to as, pure colors, and impure colors. Kind of like Kosher or Halal but for colors? Perhaps that wasn't an ideal comparison, but It was all he could think of.
Another gout of steam had Adam's hair plastered in a soggy mass to his forehead. Lord Celex was looking like a particularly annoyed drowned cat as they stepped into a new room. This one was as big as a cathedral and had openings in the top to let in light from their sacred gas giant. The interior of this particular room was very steamy, but that owed itself to a central pool that took up most of the floor space.
The water was bright iridescent blue and gave off foul smelling steam.
Adam kept tight to the wall, not wishing to get to close.
Shanshara color rules were as follows, colors permitted = sacred metals like silver/grey, gold/yellow/orange, and blue/purple. The colors not permitted red/pink, green, black, teal etc etc. Adam had no idea what differentiated the colors as metal could be black and purple but he wasn't planning on arguing that with them.
So for this little trip Adam was without one leg and all of his depth perception. To get around his was wearing his old set of wrist crutches with his signature eyepatch over one eye. He was particularly vulnerable but had the advantage of being able to read minds without them knowing, and Lord Celex who could transform into anything basically on command.
So he wasn't worried.
They passed through the room with the boiling pool and into another set of tunnels.
The chanting was growing stronger now echoing down the corridor with a throbbing thrumming beat that he could feel vibrating up through the sole of his foot, past his ankle and up into his knee. Beside him Mitzen hopped along unsteadily. Adam had wondered why the creature didn't fly where he would obviously be more comfortable, but as it turned out Mitzen's planet had a very extreme cultural belief in politeness that included the insistence that it was rude to do anything other than behave in a manner most similar to those you were a guest of
So if no one else was flying than neither could you.
The crystals in the cave walls vibrated and shivered with the rolling chanting, first high and then low and then high again. One moment it was almost like song, and then the next moment it tanked downward into a low rumble that seemed intent on shaking the walls apart. Beside him Mitzen shivered with glee and Adam could sense the excitement emanating from his mind. Mitzen had never actually stepped foot before the council of Zelots.
This would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for him.
The atmosphere, the crystals, the steam, and the thrumming sound of chants had him near rapture.
Personally, Adam was rather uneasy, and he could sense that same feeling emanating from lord Celex. Memories flashed through both of their minds, and Adam was given a small glimpse into Celex's own history. He had always though the Celzex to be a group without religion, but it turns out that was not at all the case. In his youth Celex had seen the rise and fall of a crystal cult that included, to no one's surprise, cannibalism and live sacrifice.
The memories of his childhood were fond.
Adam just shook his head.
For his part, Adam's family had not been actively religious. His mother's side had always been some flavor of Christian, but he knew members of his father's family that were practicing pagans, and even one who believed in the Norse pantheon, whatever that was called.
It was a near abrupt halt that knocked him violently out of his musings, and he nearly fell over unpracticed on his crutches.
The acolyte turned to them a glassy expression on his face.
His mind was almost completely empty.
"What lies before you is the Zealot chamber . When you enter do not speak unless spoken to. If you must address the council members directly you will say Divine one Or holy one. Do not contaminate the water and stand several feet back from the pool if you can."
He went over several more rules before, finally, they were led around the last corner.
And into a large open air amphitheater.
It was late, early in the night, and the sky above them was mostly dark except for the bright glowing curve of the distant gas giant which rose and fell in a perfect semicircle over the horizon, lighting the amphitheater with pale silver light, which reflected off the crystals giving the impression that the entire thing was glowing.
Large crystal arches and strange rock formations dominated the upper rim of the little amphitheater, just silhouettes against the bright white backdrop of the gas giant. At the center of the large circular space, encompassing a large indent and a hole in the center of the floor, was another. The surface didn't boil, but thin wisps of steam rose up into the night air to vanish against the black sky. The pool was rather large, and standing before it, in a tight semicircle-
Was the council of Zelots
They were very tall, and very thin, standing on four long spindly legs, their front legs longer than their back legs. They had long sort of crooked necks like vultures, and their heads were unusually birdlike, less like a Drev though and more like a dr Seus illustration so strange were their proportions. Their eyes were hidden partially by the folds of their hoods, and their bodies were swathed in crimson red robes the color of fresh spilled blood.
Adam was momentarily taken aback as he thought red was one of those bad colors....
As they continued to watch, the zealots lifted to smaller sets of arms, unseen before, from inside their robes. Each held a packet of some sort, dark and dripping with a black substance. At the height of their chant the group released their packages into the hot spring, which slowly began to bubble and dissolve until the water turned black.
Adam shifted nervously on his crutches
Lord Celex was surprisingly calm when he joked.
"My money is on packaged dismembered bodyparts, How about you?"