Well, whatever else it might be, that was definitely not a meteor. As outpost after outpost failed to report in, it was becoming increasingly obvious that Kallak had a hostile on his hands. Or did he? After all, he was under no obligation to defend this world; if the final stages of the withdrawal resulted in casualties, well, that was not uncommon on occupied worlds.
So...why was he still here? A mere moment's contemplation brought the Eviscitor to the simple conclusion that he was curious. Even in a universe full of hazards known and unknown, it simply was not all that often that an entity with the power and reputation of the Abyssal Imperium came under direct attack from an outside force. So while he was well-aware that his decision could be the death of him, he waited, ordering his bodyguard not to attack unless attacked first, and wondered how this invader would reveal itself.
Besides, even if he got killed, it's not like it would be the first time...
@chaos_dragon: Twenty minutes passed by since the last outpost failed to report in and it almost seemed as if the aggressor of the Imperium disappeared but this was not the case as a earthquake in the 7.0 richter scale began to take effect on the capital wherest Kallak was located.
The ground began cracking gaps into the earth that would consume people into gruesome deaths below if they were not precarious of where they stood or moved, some dozen buildings collapsed on top of each other and countless pipes were bent and twisted out of place when suddenly a blot darkened the sky in front of those in the capital, the blot was one of Ephemera's super mountains on the planet that now hovered above the capital as it was held up by Contingency's bare hands and kept together by her pilancy enhancing abilities in addition to her for force fields "Urrrgh" Alexis grunted as she held this super mountain above her head several dozen city distances away from the capital yet the force field beneath the girls feet could barely support the strain any further and so the girl tossed the alp towards Kallak's location in hopes of crushing everything in that path like a super sized game of bowling.
Kallak felt the ground beneath his feet begin to move, and he followed suit. Long before he became a cyborg, he had gained a reputation for speed and quick reflexes among his fellow warriors, and now, after constant upgrades to his physical abilities, his ability to move quickly was staggering. It was what had enabled him to survive his first encounter with the Earth goddess, and he was banking on allowing him to survive again.
He was moving before the troops around him even realized that something was happening, sprinting up the ramp of the waiting shuttle and slamming a fist against the controls as he gained entry. "Go. Now!" he yelled at the pilot. The automated subordinate complied, and the already-prepped ship lifted off the planet's surface, even as it began to shift and roil. Bringing the view up on his monitor as his shuttle headed towards the upper atmosphere and void beyond, he witnessed the massive millie of Ephermeran Earth slam into the capital. It was looking less and less likely that the Destructor was responsible for this attack, and the only regret that Kallak felt was not being able to be there when the planet's new ruler encountered this invader.
Then again, "regret" might be too strong a term. He didn't make a habit of regretting survival. "Contact Infernus," he called up to the cockpit, settling into his seat. "Tell them that the Ephemeran withdrawal is complete."
@chaos_dragon: Contingency began dusting her hands as she saw an escape shuttle take off but she didn't bother chasing after it and instead placde her hands on her hips and decloaked revealing her bloody soaked form covered in alien fluids and some guts "And that's the end of that!" she stated triumphantly as she deactivated her force field and landed next to a pile of rubble to lean on.
She let out an impressed whistle while viewing the devastated capital and let loose a snarky comment "And that'll teach you alien bastards not to mess with Earth because we'll do the invading"
Down on the surface, Ephemerans carried on with their lives, unaware of what lie ahead. Preparing for what, they knew not. All they understood was that change was coming, and their world had been used as currency in a deal between the Imperium and a third party. Freedom from the grasp of Zedracus and his sentries was all many of them had ever wanted, but that freedom brought uncertainty and no relief.
She was barely noticeable, for one so powerful. Strong enough to break entire worlds. Less than a dot in the sky. She'd set off with that very intention. This was the world The Destructor was given, and this was the world she planned to destroy in order to eliminate The Ancient One; a bit of poetic irony on her own behalf.
Her arrival was not heralded with great pomp and circumstance. She hardly understood it, hardly found it necessary. In fact it wasn't unlikely that the entire planet remained unaware of her presence. A single companion flew beside her, accompanying for the promise of a spectacle, even at the cost of billions of lives. They didn't mean anything to her; she never even considered them, and for him Nordok's destruction just might've been well worth the cost.
And yet, she wore a solemn mask as the two descended into the upper atmosphere. The notion itself--of whatever was happening in her mind--held her in perplexity as well. Halting, just low enough to have a medium for words, she turned turned toward him, head cocked slightly, a certain sadness in her eyes. Briefly searching for the words which she may have been least likely to be attributed, after months of silence she finally spoke.
"Leo...I changed my mind. I...don't want to destroy it."
@azure_son@ezra_strix: Kinda pushed it out but I figured why the heck not. No big deal.
@trinity-blue: (I didn't think my post was going to have this much dialogue but that's how it flowed as I wrote it!)
No longer did he don his father's battlesuit. Instead, the Prince of Power wore an armored twin of sorts, one forged from an extranormal material of carbon nanotube sheets woven with a diamond chemical vapor deposition crushed into super-dense layers. By Trinity's side, he soared into the planet's atmosphere, the warm air a stark contrast from the cold of outer space. As they descended, his red cape stretching and fluttering behind him, the air flattened against them, sizzling till a tail of burnt oxygen and glowing air trailed behind them. They slowed themselves, decelerating till the air about them cooled, till they were low enough in the atmosphere to speak, and to gaze upon the billions that lie below, the billions whose worlds they'd come to destroy until they no longer would.
Until Trinity turned to him and the moment grew rare as the permanent scowl that strained her face was gone. Instead, her face had grown visibly softer, as though for the first time she'd relaxed her facial muscles and allowed herself to feel something other than the volatile cocktail of anger and pride that in the past left many walking on eggshells. And as she spoke and confessed her change of heart, Leonel's own heart skipped a beat. His eyes met hers in a gaze, one he held for a moment as if searching her for what had caused this change. He broke their gaze, casting his eyes away from hers, nodding quietly to himself. "That's about the last thing I thought I'd hear from you", Leonel confessed, his voice honest and bold. "The Destructor doesn't want to destroy", he continued, meeting her eyes once more. "As confusing as this may sound to you. I'm actually kinda proud of you, Trinity", he paused, armored arms folded before his chest, a faint smile worn on his face, one that did it's best to bury the emotional loss of recent days.
"From day one, from the day I knew you, fighting and destruction were the things I knew that resonated with you", he continued. "I've seen a lot of people fight before. I've seen a lot of people deal destruction. But when you do it it's different. The focus in your eyes when you're destroying or fighting, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. Because you seem hypnotized in those moments. You give no f***s about what's happening to the world around you because what you're doing is far more important to you". "You concentrate on what you're doing when you fight, when you destroy. I've looked into your eyes when fighting you and it's almost like you squeeze them, like you're trying to read a subtitle. That's how focused you are. Because fighting, destruction, these are the things that move you. Nothing else does. It's almost like a cat who doesn't care about anything other than the dot from a laser pointer being moved around, it's focus on the dot the same as yours when you're fighting or destroying", again he paused.
"And I promise you that's a compliment. Because the day I realized that about you was the day I said to myself 'This girl, I like this girl. And if I can learn how to enjoy fighting the way she does, I'll like that too'". "But there was also that part of you that I didn't get. You were always so angry. Almost like you didn't know how to feel anything else. Almost like you couldn't feel anything else, like you were just wired differently. That all you could feel was anger and hatred and pride. That you couldn't feel the other things everyone else does. Sadness, grief, love, empathy, none of those things. Fast-forward and I came here with you to destroy this world. But hearing you say this, that you don't wanna destroy it anymore... you don't sound angry. You don't look angry. So I thought it was something else. That maybe you were just bored. But that's not the look of boredom", he pointed out. "Whatever happened that caused this change of heart has caused you to feel something new".
Unfolding his arms and casting his gaze upon the civilization below, the Prince of Power smiled, genuinely for the first time in days. "Man, how lucky are they that this happened?", he paused, returning his eyes to Trinity's. "So, what're you gonna do now? The planet's yours, these people are your subjects. If you're not going to destroy this world, why not rule it? Why not use the fact that you liberated it from the Imperium to create a civilization that can one day help you destroy the Imperium?".
While Leo was speaking, Trinity half-listened while some part of her mind lingered elsewhere. He wasn't wrong. She understood her pride and anger. They were the only things with her from day one, and even with her change of heart they hadn't really subsided. Her drive was unchanged; all that had shifted were the means to achieve her goals.
Her face changed again when he asked his question. "What're you gonna do now?" Therein lay her change of heart. Her lips edged into a sharp smirk and her eyes literally flashed, taking on a purplish-white hue before returning to their natural blue on white. She would've scoffed at the notion that she might need "help," had she not been simultaneously occupied in her own thoughts. Trinity spread her arms wide, threw her head back and laughed. In that moment her laughter projected itself far and wide. Over the entire planet as far as there was medium for sound to travel, Ephemera's inhabitants heard the laughter of a child.
"I don't know. I mean...I know, I just...don't know how I know. I feel like...like someone's talking to me. But I can't hear her or if I can she just sounds like me. But I understand. While we were flying, I understood. It was a waste. This planet. It would've been a waste." She broke eye contact and cast her gaze over the horizon, the orbiting star setting behind the mountain green, casting a dim red light over a nearby city-like settlement of people. This must have been what the humans meant when they said "beauty."
"I want to make everything better. It's hard to explain but I'll try. Leo this planet is...everything is...evolution. What I want is to change this planet forever. Its people, forever. I've faced one of them before. Now she's inside of me, just like you, like so many others. But that's only the beginning. I've seen how things work in the universe. The Cosmos speaks to me. I alone can carry out its will."
With that, she lifted her face to the sky, and as if on cue its own face darkened, blemished by the weight of heavy clouds She turned her eyes onto the Ephemeran settlement and likewise, descending from the sky, a large spacefaring shuttle broke through the cloud cover and descended on it like a meteor. Less than a second later the entire scene was engulfed in a brilliant blaze.
A violent torrent of wind pushed against their glowing bodies, whipping Trinity's hair against her face. She brushed the locks behind her ear and continued her grand orchestra; time for the finale.
She snapped. The sounds of her fingers were hardly audible. But as if in response, a unified chorus of shrill, inhuman cries answered her. They were released from their stasis. From a forced hibernative state Trinity had induced herself. Released from telekinetic protections keeping them from harm while they slept. Now free, The Destructor's abominations began overrunning what was left of the metropolitan settlement, spreading into the surrounding forests, staking their claim to the planet. A claim staked in the blood of the natives, but part of a necessary process, she imagined. The universe's natural processes would dictate the lives on her world, and those the Cosmos selected for survival would be better for it.
Trinity Blue looked upon her work, and she was well-pleased.
In silence, hovering in the lower atmosphere of a once doomed planet, Leonel watched in earnest. His arms folded, his face wearing a true-born warrior's harshness, the Prince of Power watched on as something loomed over them, it's shadow casting itself over the clouds as a star-ship, gigantic and unlike any he'd ever seen, fell from above. The air flattened against it, searing the edges of it's hull, a cone of burning air wrapping it round it as the star-ship's descent promised destruction, promised an extinction event that would scar the planet's surface forever. And in the moment before impact, Trinity's words echoed in Leonel's mind once more. As much as he believed he knew her, he didn't know her well enough, how many layers her mind held and how they were arranged.
He unfolded his arms, and watched the star-ship crash into the planet. Ephemera quaked and a shock-wave ran rampant through the ground, ravaging it as a storm of superheated wind scorched it's way through the atmosphere. And in the wake of this destruction lie a crater far larger than any on Earth. Soot rained from a sky darkened by clouds of smoke, and below them the metropolis was no more. Those hardy enough to have survived had done well to, but were now faced with surviving and competing with Trinity's abominations, her nightmare creatures whose loud and shrieking cries rang sharp in the air. Leonel remembered, how her voice had sounded when she confessed her goal, her desire. There was neither warmth nor softness in her voice. In that moment he remembered her as the cat whose focus was only on the glowing dot of a laser pointer.
Destruction for evolution, the laws of survival of the fittest, they were her laser pointer. He glanced back at her, his eyes holding hers in a gaze as they once did. He seemed to be studying her, as if searching for something in her before averting his gaze. "You really are wired differently", he finally spoke. She wasn't capable of compassion, of empathy, kindness and love, not conventionally at least, not by the standards of human society. Instead, Leonel felt she felt appreciation if anything, appreciation for strength and the stubborn willingness to survive and deny death it's chance. It was why she'd dealt her destruction on Ephemera, to weed out the weak so that the strong may thrive as evolution intended.
And it was in that moment that he realized something. Though he counted her as a friend, he didn't believe she liked him or was fond of him. Instead, he felt he understood the workings of her mind, that she appreciated his strength, as it was comparable to hers. That she tolerated him in ways she didn't and couldn't tolerate others, and that she would continue to do so until his strength was no longer worthy of appreciation. Casting those thoughts, those suspicions from his mind, he met her gaze a second time. "So, what now?", asked the Prince of Power, "What's next for the Destructor?".
@ezra_strix: I Feel like I'm playing InFamous all over again, and this was the moment of supposed-to-be big change, but it's not the kinda change the people (NPCs) were expecting when you go darkside.
@azure_son: Wide-eyed with manic glee, Trinity met Leo's gaze, broad beaming smile in full expectation of his further praise. Instead, she watched as his expression, the entirety of his body language, shifted. As...something, then incomprehensible to her, died on his face, a certain light fading from his eyes. And hers too faded. She didn't wholly understand, and that bothered her.
She ignored his question. Drowned out the shrieks of her pets and the screaming natives. Squinty-eyed, she pushed back, disappointed and confused. Whatever died, she didn't understand it, but its replacement she thought she knew all too well; she'd seen it more than almost anything else in her short few years of life. Disapproval.
"You don't like it."
And she let the assertion hang in the air, itself begging the question that she wouldn't herself ask, for its perceptibility that she sought anyone else's approval. Silently demanding an explanation. Why? Why not?
There was a silence hanging between them, one that seemed permanent as the echo of her words died. Hovering in an atmosphere made toxic by mass extinction, hovering as two beings of god-like power, alike and different in many ways, Leonel felt Trinity's stare on him. And he heard her unspoken question. He'd known her for long enough to know when and what was being asked. That he knew for certain. He was disappointed. Not in what she'd done, not in the destruction she'd yielded. He gazed upon the scarred and scorched landscape and felt little for the civilization that had perished. A warrior hardened by his experiences in Reality-M, by the war that had torn his home universe asunder, destruction and the horrors of it were not the kind to faze him.
No, his disappointment was in himself. Because then came a realization. He was nothing like his father whose heart would've gone out to each and every life lost no matter how often he'd seen similar. Nothing like his father who would've wasted his last breath stopping Trinity's extinction of Ephemera's civilization. But more than that, it was the realization that he truly did not know Trinity. "Yeah, I don't. Because it disappoints me", Leonel finally answered, his cape fluttering in the air. "But it isn't what you did that I don't like, not necessarily. That's not what I like, that's not what disappoints me. I'm what disappoints me", he paused. "Because I thought I was getting to know you better. That I was understanding you more than before. But I was wrong. I wasn't understanding you better than before".
"I don't know you nearly as much as I thought I did. And that disappoints me", he averted his eyes, this time casting them into the reaches of space. "I don't know if you'll understand what I mean, and I say this because we're wired differently from one another, we think and feel different things. And while we like a lot of the same things, we also value different things", Leonel continued. "I left Earth because there's nothing for me there anymore. I'm a stranger to my family now, and I've no use for a world that has nothing for me. So I left, with nothing. I don't know if you'll get this or if it'll go over your head, Trinity but.. you're the only thing, the only one I have left. And what you've done to this world tells me that I don't know a damn thing about the last person I have left".
Returning his gaze to hers, he continued, "And I don't like that. That feeling. As strange and even silly as this may sound to you. This is what disappoints me, what I don't like". And though he didn't mean to judge her in his thoughts, he couldn't possibly believe she could empathize with that. "I'm proud of you for doing something different. Just disappointed in myself", he almost scowled.
While he spoke Trinity listened and tried her best to understand, ran it through her mind as many ways as she knew how. But he was right. She didn't get it. They already knew each other. She couldn't exactly put it into words herself, but her mind just understood that he was fundamentally wrong and obsessing over nothing. She was in some parts relieved, however, that she was not fully correct in her original assessment. He understood that he was the problem, not she, and that was far better.
Still, she'd known how it felt to be lost, and while perhaps not capable of perfect displays of empathy, she understood her own desire to have purpose. Her purpose then, she decided, was to help Leonel with the problems in his self, just as the goddess Liberty helped her.
She was blunt. "Leo, that's kinda stupid. You know me. What does that even mean? Of course you know me," she repeated, as though the very act of her saying so should change his feelings on the matter. And she searched back through her mind, trying to recall Kelly's words to her during her own similar identity crisis. But as profound as those words had been, Trinity sensed they wouldn't help here. Her problems had been real, logical, and thus the solution had been valid, set upon a foundation of logic. But Leo's problems weren't real. He imagined them and his mind didn't make sense the same way other things did. Logic would not help him; his own statements indicated as much. Unless...
"I could change your mind. I could use telepathy and makeyou not disappointed anymore." She offered the suggestion and, without waiting for full confirmation, began lightly prodding his mind. Testing the waters...
Subtly gliding through the air, his cape fluttering behind him, Leonel's eyes seemed bluer as he met Trinity's confused stare. She was doing her best to understand, that much he could understand. He gazed upon her and recognized the strain of effort and confusion on her face. And in vintage Trinity fashion, her answer was blunt, her words echoing in his mind as he felt his eyes move to the large crater below them. Compared to the near-extinct Ephemereans, his own problems seemed inconsequential. Theirs was a crisis of survival, of life and death - his was one of self. Her words still echoing in his mind, Leonel appreciated her efforts in brief silence. It wasn't like her to empathize, let alone make an effort to.
"No", he almost demanded, his voice as bold and blunt as hers as she subtly prodded his mind, his eyes meeting hers as walls of resistance barricaded his mind. "Thank you... but no, not that", he continued. "Look, I know it sounds stupid to you. But.. look, I've been lost at different points in my life. For the longest time, I was a warrior, leading the resistance against the Third Society in Reality-M, my home universe. Like how you're taking the fight to the Imperium", Leonel paused, realizing then how much deeper their similarities ran, perhaps that too was what drew him to her. "And now I'm here, flying through outer space not knowing what's waiting for me out here. Out there", he emphasized, gazing into the stars once more. "I don't know what the f*** I'm gonna to be honest".
"I've been lost before but I always had people close to me. But now? I barely have anyone. You're the only one I have left and I don't feel like I know you the way I should. It sounds stupid, I know, but you don't have to enter my mind and change anything", again he paused. "My disappointment, the 'I don't know' feeling, all of that shit, it'll pass - with time. Just promise me something, if you can. As stupid as this may sound, promise me this". Allowing a silence to linger between them, his facial muscles softening, he asked of her. "Don't forget me. Don't forget me like my family has. And don't leave me", he asked of her. "Wherever I end up going, as far as I am from you or you from me, don't stop being the one person I have left".
At a time when the sensation of not knowing revisited him, she was his only source of familiarity. As much as he felt he barely knew her, that was what she'd become to him.
Trinity wondered, had he been a king in his "other reality?" It sounded likely. He'd been some kind of ruler and lost everything. The more he spoke, the more it sounded like Leo's problem was one of possession. It stirred a familiar ire in her, for she'd been "had" by too many people in her life. No more. That would be a hard no, always and forever. But Nordok had shown her, people are often content with a consolation. He deserved something for his efforts, at least.
"It isn't unusual that I'm the only person you're close to. We've travelled a long while together through the void. When I am finished here, I intended to return to Earth for a time. You can accompany me. On Earth, you'd be surrounded by people. Or you can stay here and have some of the survivors. Or one of the..." She thought, just then remembering that she'd never thought of a name for her creatures. "One of them. I have one, who is my favorite. His name is Smiley." She thought of him and smiled.
"I won't forget you." Her words were at least somewhat conciliatory. It was probably the softest she'd allowed herself toward, or even in front of, anyone but the goddess. For several moments afterwards she appeared conflicted. Arguing with her own mind, fighting a mental battle with herself. She looked at Leo, then at Ephemera, and up into the sky. And back at Leo. Finally, she sighed. "We can hold on destroying Nordok for a while, to find your purpose. Not too long, but I will aid you."
@ananke: That's surprising! I never thought Trinity'd be one to like an idea that wasn't conceptualized in her mind, LOL. It's just as surprising as her efforts at empathizing (as much as she can) with Leo! It's like, who even are you?
Folding his armored arms before his chest, his body language growing more guarded and private as though to shield him from everything that was stirring the cocktail of emotions in him, Leonel wore a faint smile, his white cape folding round his herculean frame as he and Trinity hung high in Ephemera's overcast sky. He appreciated it, the effort she was making. There was a warmth, a softness in her voice, as much as she could muster, as subtle as it was. But it was there. Whatever it meant, be it that on a subconscious level he was someone dear to her, as much as she'd allow someone to be, or if he was simply someone whose great strength was worthy of her tolerance and companionship, it was something.
'It's the effort that counts', the Prince of Power thought to himself. "I don't want to have anyone. Not in that sense, not in the sense of having someone like owning an object or a pet. Before everything, the closest people to me were the ones from my home universe, Reality-M. After shit really hit the fan, the closest people to me became my alternate reality family here. But things changed, they were made to forget their lives so they don't remember me or each other. I didn't have them in the sense of possession, you can't have people, living things like that", he paused, "I mean, you can but you shouldn't. It isn't right. I had them like how a wolf has it's pack. But things changed, and now the only person I have left is the one closest to me; you".
"Plus I like fighting you", he added, smirking playfully for the first time in what felt like eons. "Once you're finished here, you return to Earth, but I won't be coming with you. I'll be out there in space. But I'll stay in contact with you, with this", Leonel paused, tossing Trinity a small rectangular device resembling a cell phone. "It's a holo-communicator I got from my dad's old space station. It works via quantum entanglement, meaning I can communicate with you even if you're on one edge of the universe and I'm on the other". At her consolation, Leonel's face seemed to soften completely. "Thanks. And thanks for offering me one of those things", he gestured, pointing towards one of the gliding abominations below.
"We'll destroy Nordok", he promised, his resolve unwavering before curiosity bested him. "Smiley. Did you come up with that name by yourself?".
@azure_son: "I did." It wasn't exactly the truth. The name was a sarcastic suggestion of Daltar, though his sarcasm flew directly overhead without Trinity ever noticing. But it was her pet and her decision to accept the name, so in her mind it seemed as if she did in fact make it up herself. She took the device, though doubted she'd need it, as she'd gotten used to reaching with her telepathic mind across immense distances if she ever needed to communicate—which was rare.
After a moment's contemplation, she took him by the wrist and guided him down into the ruined city where the creatures roamed, no sign of native life. An image of the Apocalypse, and she guided him through it with no more care than one giving a tourist trip through Los Angeles. "You should take one. You talk about animals a lot. You must enjoy their observation. Maybe that is what you need. You can take one and have it 'like how a wolf has its pack,' together." Most seemed not to take active notice of the two, but as she spoke a particularly sizeable individual of the litter lunged, moving to attack Leo directly.
Trinity halted the beast midair without so much as lifting a finger. "That one. You want that one." Of that, she was certain. It was how she'd determined she wanted Smiley when they met, and if Leo was correct then he and she were alike. She set the creature down but held it in place, directing her gaze expectantly toward him. Your answer?
For a moment, the Prince of Power fell silent, casting his eyes on Smiley from a distance before he felt a faint smile on his face, "Heh.. Smiley. That's a good name", and one he found oddly fitting for Trinity to conceive, even if she didn't actually do so. As if to remind him of how fast she was, that her speed was comparable to his, Trinity grabbed him by the wrist, his senses barely noticing her movement as time seemed still compared to her. Descended from Ephemera's now toxic sky, Leonel felt his white cape brush against his ankles, and the thick film of dust and smoke in the air. All about them were the ruined remains of a once grand city. The ground that cracked beneath their feet was scarred and scorching hot.
Cracks and fissures were pooled with lava. On Ephemera, the apocalypse was alive and fuming. "A pet?", Leonel asked aloud, remembering the dog he'd once had, Star. The dog he'd given as a pet to his youngest sister, Tassiana. He hadn't one since. And he didn't expect Trinity of all people to be the one to offer him one, much less one of her own animals. He gave her suggestion some thought, though soon his senses came alive, warning him of an impending attack. And at the sight of one of the creatures' attempted attack, Leonel almost smirked, and with Trinity's hand round his wrist, she'd feel the subtle hum vibrating under his flesh, his electromagnetic powers ready to restrain and tame the beast with an invisible grip - until Trinity did so herself.
"Yeah.. yeah I think I like that one", he paused, studying it with a vague curiosity. "It's a spirited one. The only one who tried to attack me. It's different from the others. It doesn't give a shit what the others do, it'll do what it does and it's not scared to. It thinks for itself", he was impressed. "And if I'm going to be around in space without you with me for a while, it'll be nice to have something with me other than just an occasional line of communication with you across different galaxies", Leonel paused, "Especially if it's a beast as willing to fight as this one". Gliding forward, his feet an inch or so above the ground as he left Trinity's hold, the Prince of Power stopped, gazing upon the grounded beast. "I'm gonna call it... Grunt".
"Maybe it'll even help me get my own planet while you're gone", he joked.
She arrived as she always did, a trail of light streaking across the dusk-grey Ephemeran sky. So small her lithe body would've been scarcely perceptible but for her speed carving a hot path through the planet's atmosphere. Always on the same path, circling the planet six times before, on the seventh, stopping over her mentally designated capital, Lunaris. A sonic boom cracked and blended with the sound of rumbling thunder. A storm over the horizon.
Her first stop was the ruined remains of the lost station once used as her base of operations and storage point for her pets. It stood, leaning, half-buried in the ground and still several magnitudes higher than the tallest of Ephemeran structures. It seemed...different than the last time. Slightly bigger, and...off. Trinity analysed it inside and out with her absolute sight.
The difference, she determined, was natural. The space station of totally synthetic Imperium design had, since her last time on the planet, seen many additions taken from the natural land as well as the debris of Ephemeran society, structures and streets. She saw and she nodded. It seemed natural that, while many would branch out to carve a niche in other areas of the planets, a great many would continue to make their home within a space with which they were most familiar. They'd bred on that station for more than a decade before she and Daltar stumbled upon it.
They were fast. And how were the Ephemerans faring? How were they adapting?
The Destructor touched down in a quiet street not far from the station and began walking. Her head turned slowly on a swivel, scanning in all directions for the few that remained. She didn't need to look far; she could've seen everything from space, and for the most part she did.
A number of these feral creatures--she'd have to name them at some point, she began to figure--passed her in the street and stopped, watching. Trinity walked and paid them no mind. They stalked behind her and several scurried past, giving her a wide berth. The rest continued to follow. Where she turned, they turned, never encroaching within five yards but hurrying along whenever it seemed, in a sudden burst of motion, that she might leave them behind.
They were hunting. And that makes me...I am the master, she realised. A little practise. She turned her glare onto the roaming pack and held. They backed up. Two stepped forward, bowing as she pet their heads. She held out her fists and they shook each with a claw. Another look, they spun around chasing their tails. Another. They began to tear into one another.
A self-satisfied smile slowly stretched its way across her face. These must have been some of the originals aboard the station when she first found it, or close descendants at least. Controlling them was easier. Her march recommenced with the rest of the pack following at the usual safe distance.
Teelara refrained from even glancing up as Adamar spoke, continuing to focus on fastening the Arcanium gauntlets that, aside from her fabled antimatter blade, were the only pieces of kit she never went into battle without. After a moment's tense silence, however, she relented with a sigh, refusing to ignore him completely. He had been with her since the fall of Lunaris to the Imperium, an event that felt like several millennia ago, but in truth had only been a handful of years. She was still a girl when they had fled the orbital bombardment and invasion by the Abyssal Imperium, and since then she had grown into a powerful warrior, skilled tactician, and charismatic leader of the Ephermeran Resistance. Throughout it all, the stoic guardsman had been by her side, serving as a teacher, protector, and mentor until she gained the strength to take up the reigns of leadership that her heritage demanded.
"No," she said, her soft voice tinged with a hard edge that would have surprised anyone who did not know her, "performing the same task again and again and expecting a different result is madness. This is something I've not yet tried." Despite the surety of her words, even she had to admit that they were largely bluster. She was well aware of how little chance of survival, let alone success, what she was proposing to do entailed. Nevertheless, what she said was also true. Years of hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare had done virtually nothing to advance their cause; they had managed to be little more than an irritant to the occupiers of their home, a single grain of irritating in a remote fold of skin on a massive behemoth. They brought down a hundred of the Imperium's mechanical monstrosities for every casualty they took, but as their numbers steadily dwindled with each battle, the enemy's seemed inexhaustible.
At least, they had before some giant chunk of rock and metal had all but leveled what was once the most glorious city on their planet, bringing with it a new threat: strange and savage beasts that seemed dedicated to violence without cause, which drove them from their camps in the Forgotten Woods and into the defensible but largely desolate Mountains of Power. The sudden disappearance of the Imperium's mechanical legions were now cold comfort, as a mindless enemy was proving even more difficult to hold ground against than one driven by cold logic.
She stood, slinging her weapon over her shoulder, and headed for the entrance of the cave they were currently sheltering in, one located as close to Lunaris as caution allowed. Despite Adamar's protests, he made no move to stop her. Such was not his way; he was a comrade and advisor, but never her master. Leadership fell to her and her alone. His haunted eyes were the sole feature of his chiseled face that betrayed the deep-seated worry he know felt, as they followed the sole hope left on Ephemera as she strode toward what was likely her doom with the same determined confidence she carried into every battle.
She walked until she was on a cliff overlooking the outskirts of Lunaris. Gazing down with steely blue eyes, she observed the misshapen creatures that had now made their home in what was once hers, as they swarmed in all directions. The blue in her eyes was slowly replaced by a gleaming gold, as she focused her mind and drew upon her unique heritage, awakening powers that had been in her family since before her world's recorded history began. She leaped forward, lightly, gracefully, using her power to slow her fall so that she took no damage as she landed mere feet from several of the abominations. With a swift, seamless motion, she drew her blade and plunged it into the ground in front of her, the antimatter reacting with the pavement explosively, creating a shockwave that sent the creatures flying. Aware of the bizarre hallucinogenic qualities of her enemies' blood, she fought at a distance, first gripping one with her telekinesis, then flinging it into a group of its fellows with several hundred pounds of force. Her blade flew from her hand, and guided by her mind, scythed into a more distant group, her weapon's unique composition making short work of even their cartilaginous armor.
Years of fighting had given her a tremendous endurance, and her mental abilities would allow her to push her body beyond even its normal limits, but she knew she would not be able to sustain such an attack indefinitely. If her gamble paid off, however, she would not need to. Killing these creatures seemed to do nothing to affect their savage resolve, but perhaps the viciousness of her attack would draw out whatever force or being drove them onward so relentlessly. It was a desperate, likely doomed gambit, but the time for measured strategy was long behind her. If she could not save her world, she would at least try to inflict such damage upon its defilers that it would buy her troops some time to regroup, or at least live a little longer.
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