Part 7

The shabby dolls stood outside the throneroom door. The smaller one paced the width of the hall. Its footsteps clacked at a fast tempo.

“What the hell is taking him so long, anyway?,” the small one ranted. “Oh, I know... he’s full into the role of Big King Guy, and making us wait because he can.”

The taller doll stood still, its eyes fixed on the door. The smaller one continued, “Everyone, I mean, EVERYONE knows that Klalech is broke. His name is synonymous with failure in every nook of the Outer Worlds, and the one loyal soldier he still has on Earth comes to give him the means to get back on top - - “

“Dupff,” said the taller one, a spray of dust falling out of the mouth hole in his mask.

“Sorry, brudduh... TWO.. two loyal soldiers show up to give him the key to success, and what does he do? He makes us wait, like we’re here on a job interview after the job’s been filled. That ticks me off!”

Just then, the doors shifted. The taller doll stepped back. A guard gestured for the two of them to enter.

“See, big brudduh, I told you Klalech won’t keep us waiting long. He’s a Demon Lord’s Demon Lord, he is.” The two dolls entered the throneroom. Klalech was seated on a large chair made out of the same organic shapes as the sculptures along the wall. The chair seemed to radiate waves of forms outward from Klalech’s shape. Beside the chair stood Savan on one side. A mosaic of crystal patterns in a circle on the floor gave off a subtle yellow glow. The dolls stopped just at the edge of the circle. The taller one knelt.

“Lord Klalech,” the smaller one began, “I apologize for not showing you the proper respect by kneeling, but this dumbo didn’t give me any knees.” The smaller doll waited for laughter. None arrived.

“I love what you have done with the place, by the way. We don’t get to be in the presence of royalty much anymore ever since...”

“What do you want?” barked Klalech.

“It’s not what we want, Lord Klalech, it’s what we can give you. We found a place on Earth unchanged for the last thousand years,” the small one said.

“You will refrain from using the name of that place in my presence,” Klalech warned. “Who are you, anyway?”

“Oh.. sorry. We used to be one of your soldiers... Gomash Gome. We were in the first wave attack on... that place... and one of the ones who made it through whole. You know, only a few of us made it through so we could think and talk and all, and since we didn’t really have any direction, with communication being cut off because of the barrier that got raised or whatever it was...”

“We are all aware of what happened on that mission. So glad you made it through. Good job.”

“Yeah, well as you can see, we aren’t in the best of shape these days... but we stayed on the job. We spread your seed, and tried to make more hosts for the rest of us if you ever got through the barrier. You know, one time, we just ripped through an entire village in one day. One day! Almost seven hundred humans! This guy was so stoned afterwards, he climbed into a grain silo and...”

“I think I can wait to read it all after you publish your memoirs. Why are you here again?”

The smaller doll looked up at its companion, then turned back to Klalech. “Over two thousand of them, ripe for the picking.”

Klalech stared blankly at them. The dolls rocked on their toes with satisfaction.

“Two thousand WHAT??” Klalech bellowed.

“Virgin souls, my lord. Two thousand of the sweetest, most naive human souls you will ever taste. No defenses, no knowledge of the outer worlds, and nothing stopping you from snatching them up.”

Klalech sat still for a moment, then repositioned himself and glanced over at Savan. Savan returned his glance.

“I tell you, if you pull them over, you could get Chobo off your ass and buy his own mother -”

KRAK!

The smaller doll was knocked back by some invisible force half the distance to the doors. Klalech stood and pointed a meaty finger.

“NEVER mention that name!” Klalech breathed hard, and settled back into the throne. The smaller of the dolls sat up, then crawled around on the floor. Its black obsidian paws clicked and scraped over the stone, searching for something. Klalech watched this odd act, but his curiosity soon returned to impatience. Finally, the doll found what it was looking for, a black crystal circle about the size of a thumbnail. The doll pushed the dot back into its eye hole, then returned to the side of its companion.

“And just how do you propose I get these virgin souls here? I don't believe the Keepers of the Gateway would overlook something like that.”

“Well, my lord, you see... not only are the people untouched, the land is, too. The land is ripe because it is protected by a guardian. A very old, sick guardian, whose powers are diminishing... if you were to, say, send someone in to infect him... then get ... someone to incite some terror, perhaps some Bogen to stir up the more primal fear energies... that place would be so friggin ripe, like a pregnant zit... POP! ... your own gateway!”

The doll finished his sentence with a grand gesture. It froze in that position. Klalech’s face became vacant for a long time considering what this strange doll had to say. The doll lowered its arms and looked over at its companion. The companion nodded.

“Gateway generation is impossible. Many attempts have been made even with a spore from the one still operating,” Savan asserted.

“Ah, but in this particularly fertile environment... a spore would surely root... especially if it was growing from the remains of a certain guardian... the energy from a thousand year old magan alone would be - “

“And how would we get ahold of a spore from the gateway?” Klalech returned with added pecimism.

The dolls looked at each other and then toward the floor. “Well, we hadn’t worked out all the parts yet, we just thought you would like to know about what we found.”

Klalech shifted again in his seat. “Hmm. Out of loyalty, I imagine... what are you expecting to get for this information?”

“Well, now that is something else... years ago, we happened to run into another one of our soldiers. She had been to the continent to the south with a squad, and they found an old wargolem from a long time ago. This machine of woop-ass was built by some Humans a long long time ago. This thing had been moved around from Magan to Magan since the ice-age, and ended up with this crazy old Magan rotting in a stone temple. It has an operating system and everything, all it needs is a good hearty soul to drive it around.

“Look at us, boss. We got our eyes fallin’ out, and our joints are held together by spit and glue. We want to be worthy to serve you, and what better way to do that than toolin’ around in a sharp suit of destruction with your flag flying from its ass?

“A new gateway, and the blades of destruction marching around its perimeter... man, you will be the fucker of gods, and King of Earth!”

The small doll threw its hands up to where its mouth should be and inadvertantly knocked out its own eye. The same one. It bounced onto the floor. Tak-tak-tak-takkakkakka. The small doll stood frozen.

Klalech shifted in his seat another moment. The small doll stood frozen. Savan finished watching for Klalech’s reaction and turned to the dolls.

“Thank you, Lord Klalech appreciates your loyalty. We will consider your suggestion and be in touch.”