"What did you say your name was?"

The Chairwoman's voice echoed around the room bouncing off the walls and floors in the large open space, causing something of an echo to reverberate through the room. The GA council sat in full for the first time in centuries, multiple delegates, multiple political leaders, and many military leaders sitting straight-backed in their chairs , staring with mixed expression at the two men standing at the center of the room.

The human delegation sat in unrestrained awe, their mouths hanging wide, their eyes as wide as moons staring from their faces. Off to their side, the Drev council sat warily staring at their allies, back and forth between the human delegation and the source of their awe.

Between them, the Celzex delegation had not strayed markedly from their usual air of dispassionate calm. Lord Celex looked almost bored, though that was made up for by his son, who leaned forward with great interest., and all around the room reactions were mixed, there was fear, skepticism and even annoyance on the face of the delegates mistrusting of what they were seeing, skeptical of what they were being told.

"My name is Adam, though for the sake of avoiding confusion, you can pick one of the many iterations. I Like Adham personally. I like the way it rolls off the tongue, but Adom would work or Adama if you would like." With a smile the man's eyes flicked towards the Drev delegation, "I understand that some of you cannot pronounce that though, so Ka'an might be a good substitute."
All across the room multiple translation implants took the word and ran it through algorithms faster than firing neurons inside brains.

Ka'an

The first.

The man smiled.

Off to the side Admiral Kelly stood her face wrinkled into a deep frown, "Ka'an, the first, and you claim your name is Adam. Forgive me for presuming, but are you tying to say that you are.... The First Adam, as in Adam and Eve, as in the first man?"

Before them on the floor, the man smiled, his timeless, ageless raceless face breaking into a perfect replication of what a human smile was designed to be, "If I were to say it outright, that would take all the fun out of your speculation."

Despite his non-answer, the human delegation muttered with shock glancing between each other with wide eyes, some in complete disbelief while others looked on with some measure of awe.

The Drev representative stood turning to look at the human delegation, "With no disrespect to our human friends, and on behalf of the rest of the council, I think all of us would like to know the significance of that statement."

There was nodding around the room.

The human delegations looked between each other, but eventually, it was Admiral Vir who stepped forward.

"Our apologies, council, we would be happy to explain." His voice failed him for a moment, lost in his mouth as he searched for words which were also lost somewhere on their way from his brain to his mouth." He struggled for a moment, trying to figure out how to phrase what he wanted to say, and eventually took a long deep breath.

"In human history there has existed a single story that has been passed down through generations first by word of mouth, until finally it was written. Once written this story became the foundation for multiple religions that survive on earth until this day, three of those major religions Judaism, Christianity , and Islam. All three have seen splits since their foundation and have multiple iterations, but the one thing that they tend to agree on, is the use and existence of a set of books called the Old Testament."

Overhead the alien council listened in rapped attention, the Drev quite intrigued, as their society too had been founded on faith and spirituality.

Though these topics were rarely mentioned between the species.

"I am no religious scholar, and up till this point, I had not aligned myself with any one religion though my family line is historically Christian, so I cannot say weather these words are true...." He trailed off nervously.

"I can."

The group turned to look, watching as one of the Admiral's marines stood and stepped onto the council floor.

"And what do you know of this/" Asked the council woman

She opened her mouth but Admiral Vir spoke first, "She is our Ships chaplain, so she can actually preform certain religious rites if required.... Its her job."

The room muttered and Admiral Vir stood back as she took the floor, "The admiral has been right up to this point, those three major religions do share a common belief in the old testament teachings, though it isn't always called that. The old testament is a collection of books translated from manuscripts that date back more than four thousand years in some cases, and speak of events that happened even longer ago than that. Before humans had systems of reading or writing, or before they had tools to do either, they passed down stories through word of mouth, or oral traditions. Eventually these stories would have been inscribed on stone tablets and then on papyrus or other forms of paper and then compiled together to form the books that set the foundation for these three major religions." She paused turning to look out towards the stars that dappled the sky beyond the glass, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void; and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

The room was silent now, and beyond the station window, stars and galaxies spun past in a slow spiral dance, "Genesis 1:1. And 1:2" She said quietly, "There are multiple translations of these words, but, the spirit of the book remains the same. Genesis is the first book of the old testament, and supposedly describes how God created the universe, separating dark from light, the land from the sea and the sky from the water.... How he created light." The room shifted subtly.

Under his breath Admiral mouthed.

"The architect."

"Eventually it depicts the creation of animals and plants which were put on earth, and finally, the creation of man."

She turned to look over at the still smiling human, whose expression was one of fond memory, while at the same time shaking his head slightly in amused disbelief.

"Adam was the name given to the first man that was ever created, and if true, it is the oldest name that we have."

The muttering sprung up around the room again.

The chairwoman leaned forward in her seat, "So, let me see if I understand this correctly. Humans have a religion that sounds remarkably like the stories laid out I the Eden archive, and no one bothered to mention this?"

Admiral Vir stepped forward, "Please, Chairwoman, I.... it's a bit more complicated than that. The story that is set out by the archive, while similar has some fundamental differences that....."

"Fundamental differences." She said sternly, "What differences are important enough to be fundamental. A supreme being created the universe and separated light from dark. It seems to me that all the important similarities are there." She sighed and turned her head to look at the still smiling human, "And you, You are claiming to be a fully matured Deus, AND this supposed "First Man."

There was silence around the room again as all the delegations leaned forward to hear him speak.

Their breath was held.

No one spoke.

Outside the universe trundled on, hiding an immense conflict that had existed since the beginning of time.

"Yes, you are all very clever." The first man smiled his perfect face split by a grin that showed his perfect white teeth, " I suppose we should have prepared for this." He paused as the room stared on in pure shock, "Both of you are right of course, there are some fundamental differences between the old teachings and the information you would have found in the Eden archive. Oral tradition is not generally considered reliable, but as I said before you are all very clever. We should have assumed something like this might happen."

He almost seemed proud as he looked around at the group of them, "Look at you all, how far you have come since I first stepped foot on earth, back in my day we didn't even find it a necessity to wear clothing too often." He turned in a circle, "Much less build what you have, and simply out of stardust.... Incredible." His smile did not falter, "But I suppose it makes sense, with names like the makers and the Architect, it would make sense that you just wouldn't be able to stop..... building or creating or moving forward. We should have known that there was a day where you would find us, discover where you came from, and so that day has come."

he turned his smile on them, and it seemed to bathe them all in a beam of warm light, like a father smiling encouragement at his children.

The room said nothing.

"We have been protecting you for eons, the fight has been long and hard, and the battle rages on in the darkness beyond us invisible but ever present. There were those who urged the Architect to stunt your growth, to send you setbacks because the more powerful you become the more we all knew you would call attention to yourselves..... and we did for a time, try to cull the population, try to reduce your forward momentum ." he glanced over at Admiral Vir and Maverick, "Floods, and plagues and earthquakes and fire." He sighed, "But still the anima needed constructs to keep them safe, and we needed more, soon it became apparent that trying to control technological advancement was not going to be a solution. You moved to quickly, and fought to hard for forward momentum." He sighed, "it seemed that everything we tried only brought you closer and closer to doom." He tilted his head, " Though does it not seem odd that thousands of years could be spent at a relative standstill, and then within a matter of a few hundred years you could have mastered space flight. Sixty six years it took from the first flight to the landing on your moon, and you didn't even think that was odd."

He turned to look at the rest of the room, "Took the rest of you longer, but that was because we were still trying to control how much attention you were bringing to yourselves."

He sighed.

The group stared on as if they were listening to the babbling of a madman, not sure what to believe.

"Our enemy is strong, and its..... being so malevolent that it has tainted and affected you without your knowledge for thousands of years. Its reach is wide, and despite not knowing where we hid you, it could still creep into your thoughts, but now.... Now it has found you, now it has found you, and we can no longer protect you like we once did. Despite being merely children, you might have to join our war."

There was more muttering around the room.

"Nonsense."

The group of them turned looking over to find that the Vrul council had taken to their feet, "We will not involve ourselves in your war, no matter what sort of lies you are willing to make up."

The first man turned to look at them with a sad expression, looking them over calmly, "Seems Ironic, that the first of our children the darkness ever tainted..... was the Vrul."

These words did not impact the room into silence, but into outrage.

The Vrul council was on its feet in indignation, while the neighboring Drev council warily raised their spears. The Bran sided with the Vrul and all hell was close to breaking loose.

It was then that a call echoed around the room, loud enough to force everyone to drop their anger and reach for their ears.

Sunny stood at the center of the room, her head raised her spear planted against the ground. With the room quieted, she closed her mouth and cut off the cry that had rent the air in half, "Be civil." She hissed , or "I" will remove you personally.

Voices did not die away completely, but they did go quiet.

No one wanted to go against the words of the saint of Anin.

"These words, they are all very Flowery and impressive of course." It was the Tesraki leader speaking now, standing against his lectern. His body was relaxed despite the tension of the room, and he wore a well-tailored coat after the style of human fashion. He even wore a matching hat to go with it. he spoke like a politician, though everyone knew he had the mind of a businessman." He leaned against the lectern, "There is a rule that we practice in business, and it is one that has kept me both wealthy and safe for the past so many cycles, and that is the understanding that you never make an agreement without proof of payment.' He looked on pointedly at Adham, "So, go on and prove to us you are what you say you are."

The room muttered in agreement.

Both Maverick and the Admiral shifted back away from the man as he nodded slowly.

"That seems like a reasonable request."

"As far as we have seen you are simply a human, you could have been hired to play a role, or maybe you drugged our friends into hallucinations to make them believe you. Either way there are multiple possibilities, each of them just as likely, so, why don't you go ahead."
Adham nodded .

Admiral vir and Maverick stepped back even further to avoid what they knew was to come.

Admiral Vir raised a hand.

And Adham burst into flame.

The screaming about the room was immediate and horrified watching as flames leaped up from the man's skin roaring across his body and into his hair. The flames were white hot, so white they were blue, and in a matter of seconds the temperature of the entire room had risen to unbearable degrees. Flames billowed with and through his hair, slicking up his arms and around his body in a swirling spiral. More flame rose from his back and stretched out to his sides creating the illusion of to flaot at the center of the room, great spreading wings.

Cries of fear led some of the delegates to rush toward the doors, but a hand was thrown up, and the exits were locked shut.

Adham held the doors close as flames licked around his body before slowly melting away, tongues of flame turned to living , dancing petals of water which rolled over and around his skin dripping onto the floor and creating a puddle around the man, which evaporated and dried a moment later as the droplets condensed into tiny points of bright white light that circled his body like a swarm of stars.

The light in the room dimmed and soon the man was standing at the center of a micro galaxy that whirled around his body in a halo of light.

His feet rose from the floor bringing him into the air his hands out like an embrace, "behold your proof" When he spoke his voice boomed, plunging deep and rising high echoing with the crashing of waves and the roaring of flame dropping into radio frequencies that caused the Vrul and Finnari council to bend double in their seats clutching their receptors or their eyes.

And then the stars collapsed, spilling to the ground like dust which burst out across the floor in a perfect four pointed star from under the man's feet.

The light regained their luminance and he slowly sunk to the ground.

Around the room, all was still.

Behind him, Maverick and Admiral Vir Crouched with their hands raised before them peering through their fingers. Across the room other s cowered in fear.

Admiral Kelly stood in awe, joined by the Drev council, and Lord Celex.

"IS that proof enough."

The room stayed silent.

Adham sighed, "This is, not how I wished this meeting to go. I was not sent here to threaten you, or to hurt you I would never dream of taking such actions against our own young, but I must e blunt, You are in grave danger." He turned to look at the Admiral and Maverick who were just getting to their feet, and then around to Sunny and Krill, and Conn, Admiral Kelly, and the chairwoman, "I should have known."

The room waited for him to speak, "Out of all the Anima I have ever known, out of all our children, it would be you who discovered the truth."

Silence continued, "You were always the strongest and most determined, eager to be part of the war despite how you weren't ready. It seems as if you may be granted your wish."

Admiral Vir opened his mouth to speak, Just as the lights began to flicker.

This was not a dimming like before, but it was a rolling darkness that started at one end of the room and rolled to the other side, and as it did the hair on the back of the Admiral's neck stood on end. Inside his body there was a feeling of sudden Evil so strong, he reached for his spear and whirled in a circle. To his side maverick had pulled her gun.

The rolling darkness began to flicker and undulate.

The room stood.

"Stop doing that." One of the council members commanded.

Adham remained still at the center of the room.

"That isn't me." He said grimly.

Adam, insides clenched as he felt a feeling he had only ever felt once before, and never wished to feel again.

To his side.

Maverick's face grew hard.

She knew this feeling all to well.

Was all to familiar.

It seemed as if feeing to space had not saved her after all

The malevolence was here.