(For those who haven't read the first part yet: http://www.comicvine.com/forums/rpg-9/cocytus-open-cnvu-planet-1663800/#18/)
The Circle had stood for thousands of years beyond memory, a symbol of that which held the species called Time Siphons together. The Circle was the surviving original Time Siphons, people who had grown up together. Though the Circle never trusted one another they had always been careful not to cross a line. Then Raeyn was summoned and The Circle attempted to kill him. Instead, Raeyn destroyed it's leader...and The Circle was broken. The moment it broken, the very second ashes hit the ground the entire Time Siphon race turned upon one another in a split that rocked the fabric of space and time. Roughly half of the species supported Raeyn, she was the one that had always lead them, the one that had always taken them out of their dark times and seen that the species survived. The others hated her for destroying an Empire that should have never been forged. Ancient loyalties came to the surface and a race of beings capable of manipulating and feeding upon time unleashed its powers on Cocytus.
A Time Siphon battle was a hell of a thing to watch, people screamed and died with no obvious cause...but mostly their powers clashed together and rifts were torn into Space and Time. Cocytus was a wound in the universe and now hundreds of others were being torn into it. Raeyn stood at the center, standing on the precepiece of The Conflux itself, the greatest tear in Space Time that existed throughout the universe. He reached out and coiled around it, trying to feel its power for a moment and ignoring the battle around him. He held the keys in one hand and felt the power of The Conflux. It lay just out of reach, beyond his current power level...but he could FEEL it anyway. His thesis, the theory he had been working on for a thousand years...he could feel it. The Conflux was more than a rift in Space and Time, it was a gateway to infinite dimensions each with an identical rift in time. Cocytus existed in every reality and it every reality it sat atop The Conflux.
Unlimited access to time, infinite temporal realities. Boundless Temporal Energy without end...if I could just touch it...consume The Conflux itself and become infinitely immortal and never hunger again. Maybe Raeyn was crazy...or maybe he was right. He closed his eyes and sighed, it was beyond his power right now either way. He turned from the rift and opened his eyes to the battle beyond. Half of the Circle reached out as one, coiling around his temporal line. Even with his ability to deflect such attacks there were simply too many to deflect all at once. It seemed hopeless.
But his name was Raeyn. Raeyn sent a pulse of Temporal Energy into the keys and revealed the truth.
There were ten Temporal Hounds, creatures of great power specifically designed to hunt Time Siphons, made virtually invincible by genetic science now thought lost to the aeons. It was believed the creatures had been made by whomever had created the Temporal Hunters to aide them. Everyone that knew about Time Siphons and their history believed the creators of both the Hunters and Hounds to be a race that had once been enslaved by the Time Siphons. They couldn't be more wrong.
Nine Temporal Hounds materialized between Raeyn and the half of the Circle that had turned on him. The traitors backed away suddenly, releasing his Temporal Line in reflexive fear. They stood in shock when not one of the Hounds turned on Raeyn. Raeyn's smile was sinister and it grew slowly. "That's right." He said. "I made them, I made all of them, the Hounds, the Hunters...I designed species perfectly created to destroy us."
"By the gods...why?" One of them managed. For now the Hounds stood, not attacking...they were studying their prey.
"Because we were weak. We sat on-top of an empire of lies, a foundation of shifting sands ever vulnerable to the world around us. We are children frightened and hiding in the dark. We need to grow strong, we need to make sure no one ever pushes us around again. One memory I have managed to hold onto after the most recent time I assembled my full Memory Pane was the moment I saw our first civilization die, the moment I watched my mom get run through by an alien sword and my father have his head blown off. I will not allow that to happen again."
"You've started a war that will destroy us all!" Another protested as they slowly backed away from the assembled Hounds.
"No, that was your doing....but we won't all die, those of us that live will be stronger than ever before. The Temporal Energy of the entire Time Siphon race will be consolidated into the hands of a few hundred and we will reforge our species stronger than ever before." Raeyn gestured and the Hounds leaped into action...right over the heads of the traitor Circle. Raeyn needed leaders for her opposition, destroying them simply was not in his best interest just now.
The Hounds tore into every Time Siphon they came across with world crushing strength. The plan worked perfectly and the Time Siphons began to scatter and flee Cocytus. They would not fight where the Conflux could be torn apart. Instead they would spread through the Universe, fighting against each other as individuals, groups, armies even. They would spread out and conquer and take for themselves the empires of others so that they had resources to throw at one another. The Universe would tremble, not because Raeyn wanted it...His plan had been different, less destructive, but this was what he was left with. Raeyn put his only remaining key, the other nine having been consumed in activation, back into the hidden vault into his armor and sealed it once more.
Eventually they will come for me and my allies will do the same. The final battle of the war will be fought on Earth, hopefully I can minimize the damage...I have time to figure out a plan for that. He looked into The Conflux and its swirling Temporal Energy. I can save us all, if I can just figure it out. Our war will spread out across the stars and buy me the time I need. It's unfortunate, but necessary with the hand I have been dealt. In the end there will be no more hunger, no starvation...no need to kill innocents to survive. The sacrifice of lives now will save lives in the future and will make people stop hating us.
Raeyn turned his gaze to the stars and launched himself into space with the anti-gravity system of his armor and headed straight for Earth. Its worth it.
Over the course of the next several months news of the war would spread through the universe. Civilizations would be thrown against one another by the most powerful of the Time Siphons as armies in a war they should have had no part in. More devastating would be the temporal battles between groups of Time Siphons that would make the Universe itself bleed and tear holes in the fabric of creation. The more they fought the more the Time Siphons would feed.
As Raeyn flew back to Earth he couldn't help but feel second thoughts. Countless innocents would die. But this Civil War was not my plan, I could only use it to my advantage when it happened. Its not my fault. One day, Raeyn might even believe that.
Log in to comment