Chapter CLXXI: A Terran,
a Twilighter, and Some Xel’Naga
Ghosts ~Markior
Magnificent... isn't it?
The destruction of the Protoss's lair on Yamauchi was essential- He, the
accidental creator of the world-devourers, will have no choice but to move into
his space-station. You know him- He won't bother to rebuild that old castle. It
was severely outdated anyway.
Yep. What am I here for again,
master? A ring?
Not just any ring, dammit, but none other then the Ancient's Relic.
I have felt the Protoss' thoughts. He wants to
return. Surely, he'll send his allies here to retrieve it. We'll just take it
before they arrive.
Wonderful. It's
been a long while since we've been here, no?
Ah, memories of the great war. The Xel'Naga were weak, not to mention cowardly for fleeing…stop making
me nostalgic, pupil."
The black irises within the man's eyes returned. Rising from the ashes
of the cold, barren Xel'Naga Homeworld,
he dusted off his high-tech Terran armor on one side,
while scratching the dirt off of his Zerg carapace
with an inhuman nail. Grinning a half-fanged smile, he
stepped forward, polishing the emblem on his shoulderplate,
which read "Terran Confederation." The
confederation bit had a large scratch through it, making it barely readable,
which had been obviously made purposefully. Clicking on the side of his visor,
he scanned the area. Reading the powerpeak from the nightvisor's output screen, he flicked his hand around the
handle of his modified C12 Canister Rifle, loading it. In the distance, he saw
the Spectrum slowly landing.
There they are…this'll be so much
fun…
He turned to the side and dashed towards the Capital city, leaving a
trail of flying ash caught in the upward draft.
--------------
This feels like a deja-vu, Markior, Tassadar echoed,
looking at the Grey Archon.
Markior stood in the centre of the astral plaza, surrounded by five pillars of
energy which reached high into the skies. He looked upwards, the light
reflecting off his shouldershield, of which Xel'Naga readings were reflected upon the paved ground.
Indeed, my friend. Saying goodbye
again, we are.
Fenix paced restlessly back and forth, clenching a long-fingered fist. Don't be overconfident, Great Templar. Your
friends haven’t got the Relic yet.
Markior nodded. I have full confidence that
they will have it soon.
Dimatrioch looked at Markior as well, holding out his Xel'Naga cape. Remember
when we gave you this, Markior, Third Creation?
She sighed. Markior turned towards his female
creator and nodded, holding out his hands and accepting the dark piece of
transparent cloth. I do…
Dimatrioch slid her hand over the cape. At
first, we were disappointed about the fact that your life ended without
becoming Perfect... but now, you must keep this in mind… she said.
Markior tilted his head. Dimatrioch continued, ...that whatever destiny brings to you, we will
ne'er grief. Even if you will not become the perfect lifeform…we'll
still be content, for we are the creators of you, the individual.
Markior smiled and hugged her. Thank you,
Dimatrioch.
Raszagal looked at the cape. Last time you
left here, you took that and your shouldershield
along. Shame we cannot give anything to you this day that might aid you.
Markior grinned, gesturing an arm in a slowly to the side. That's okay, my friends. Do not worry. Whatever obstacles I might meet,
I'm sure I've trained here long enough to handle them all.
Tassadar narrowed his eyes, reaching into his Templar armor, removing a small
marble. Now that it's mentioned... Here's
something. Take this marble along, why don't you? It enabled me to channel my
energies into a beam shape.
Markior widened an eye, picking up the marble between his fingertips. Yes, I was wondering how you did that, being
a Templar and all...
Tassadar
nodded. I don't know how it'll be of any
aid to you, but use it as you see fit.
Markior nodded in thanks. I will. He
had been crossing indexfinger over thumb back and
forth repeatedly by now.
Raszagal looked at the Archon's hand. Nervous?
Not at
all.
--------------
If there was ever a more haunting sight to mortal eyes, it would've been
the Abyss itself. As Lich stepped out of the engine room, a cloak of dust fell
over him like a blanket. Coughing loudly, the biting dust being rejected out of
his sensitive nose, his eyes slowly grew accustomed to the darkness. The
post-apocalyptic world of the Xel'Naga lay before
him... Xel'neh-Mi.
Anyone would take at least two steps back before thinking about walking
forwards again. The haunting horizon of the broken world would remind anyone of
the cruelest of deaths. However, the compass started to draw at him, and the
indecision was cleared from his mind as quick as it had appeared.
Behind him, a British voice chuckled in amusement, “I do say... someone
partied here. I remember this place, you know. Occupied with
a species addicted to a single goal. It was pathetic, really.”
Lich turned and snarled at the ghostly Twilighter.
"You don't know what you're talking about...The Xe–"
His voice stopped in his throat as a sky-blue, transparent, feminine
hand slid across Havering’s cheek. The Twilighter blinked, looking at the hand. His gaze followed
upward, the arm appearing from the wrist the more he looked up.
“What the...” Havering said.
From the arm, the shoulder appeared, and finally, the face. A ghostly
female, with a face not unlike a Twilighter's, only
differing in size and forehead, appeared hovering in front of the Spectrum’s doorway, looking at Havering. Havering blinked again,
moving forwards by the touch of the female's hand.
"I..."
Lich looked at the scene, aghast. The ghost Xel'naga
girl was actually…making a move at Havering. Ghosts to ghosts, of course. Her lithe hands cupped the Twilighter's cheeks and moved his face forwards. Havering had stopped drawing back, entranced by the
spiritual being like a crewman of Theseus’ to the
Sirens. He leaned out far out of the Spectrum,
only holding on to the great vehicle with a single hand on the doorway, his
feet on the ridge.
The Xel'Naga nearly touched her forehead to
his in an intimate gesture, but drew back again. The rest of her scantily clad
body had appeared, her lower body vague as mist, her middle and chest wrapped
by many pieces of cloth, her body hovering horizontally in the air…Havering, dumbfounded and entranced by the seduction,
released the Spectrum and stumbled
down, the barren ash whispering under his boots as he stood upon the dead
planet. The female ghost moved forwards and wrapped her lower arms around Havering's neck...
Sssseeeeuuu... she cooed, as she looked into Havering's eyes.
The pale smooth skin drew back into the ghost's head, stretching out
around her transparent skull. The spiritual flesh of her arms tore away from
her skeleton as her fingers grew out into bony spikes, her hands flicking to the
sides, leaving deep gashes into the ghost Twilighter's
neck.
"GACK!!" Havering yelled,
knocked back into his senses and out of the enchantment by the burning wounds
in his neck, falling to the side on the ash world.
The bony ghost screeched, dashing through Lich, ignoring the mortal
Yoshi as she lunged at Havering. More of the skeleton
ghosts appeared into view near Havering, only
appearing where Havering stood. The Twilighter got up, holding his neck, dodging a bony scythe
of a ghostly Xel'Naga male. The souls of the Xel'Naga started tearing at Havering,
slashing out at him. Overwhelmed, the Twilighter
crawled back up into the Spectrum,
shielding his face, especially his eyes from the other ghosts' reach. The
ghosts disappeared when reaching into the Spectrum.
Havering lay inside the engine room, looking up at
the ceiling, breathing raggedly. Lich looked around him, and finally searched
the Mana Field. Hundreds of thousands of thin high peaks radiated on the field,
each a Xel'Naga soul unable to find peace.
"I think it's in your best interest to stay aboard, Havering." Lich said, looking
back.
Havering slowly moved back onto his feet, holding his neck. Behind him, Naaro and Rainstorm walked into view, standing in the
doorway.
"You can't go alone, Lich. What if those ghosts don't only attack
evil ghosts, like Havering?" Rainstorm said.
Naaro nodded. "I'm coming with you."
Kyanosa, in the next room, quirked a brow and stood up, walking towards them. "Me too. I don't know where, but, me too. It's a new
policy- Always go along with someone or miss the good stuff."
Lich tilted his head. "You sure?
This'll…just be retrieving a ring...It won't be anything special. Well, except
the talking to the great creator and balance-keeper of all things astral and spiritual..."
Naaro and Kyanosa nodded.
"Yeah," Kyanosa smiled. "You
know, this whole thing is just like…like a story. All supposedly boring things
will turn out weird and exciting someway."
Naaro nodded. "Either that, or stay on the Spectrum and wait for you."
Lich looked at Rainstorm behind the two. "And you?"
Rainstorm looked at Lich. "I'll be helping Sapphire patch up Havering." He looked at the other train segment.
"If we got ghost bandages."
Lich nodded. "Okay. We'll be on our way."
Naaro went inside to kiss Rynn goodbye, then
returned and stood outside with the other two.
As Lich, Naaro and Kyanosa
walked towards the main blacked city, the voice of Havering
was heard; "I don't need any of your
bloody help, Whyrdammit!! Get your grimy paws off of
me!"
--------------
Meanwhile, way up high...
Where did you want to go, anyway,
Artanis didn't respond. He turned back to the screen in front of him. He looked
down, spotting the charred planet in the distance...pondering how he was going
to solve this problem, he looked back at
Now is the time... Artanis thought.
He slowly motioned forwards to Ark. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at the
Yoshi.
His eyes opened wide when Artanis Mindblowed him: the Protoss'
technique of overloading a "lesser being’s" mental capacities with
psycho-kinetic power, making it feel like a large hammer just hit them upon the
head - lesser beings meaning, of course, a being with less control over the psionic field. With a strained look on his face and a
twitching eyelid,
--------------
Naaro tapped an end of Might and Light into the palm
of his hand as the two Yoshies and the human walked with quick pace towards the
capital city. All around them, there were signs of poltergeists: moving
objects, sliding dust without any wind, whispers...Lich looked around
cautiously, but not warily.
"It's a good thing the ghosts aren't attacking us…you saw what they
did to Havering," he said.
Kyanosa nodded at Lich. "Yeah. Nasty.
I wonder what keeps 'em here. You know, not...'moving
on' and all that."
Naaro looked up at the darkened skies. "They can't find peace. You
wouldn't find peace either if your whole species was destroyed without what you
believe their destiny to be being fulfilled."
Lich suddenly turned to the side, drawn towards the Ancients' Relic. Naaro and Kyanosa responded a
second later, catching up with Lich again and walking along. The silence
trembled shiveringly in the air as the sound of their
feet was absorbed by the ages-old ash. Within the charred capital city of the
planet, they looked up at the torn buildings. Surreal technology mixed with
ancient stone, the buildings stood silently, a reminder of the great holocaust.
"Still," Kyanosa broke the silence,
"you gotta wonder what made those ghosts attack Havering. Maybe they thought he was part of the species
that destroyed the Xel'..err..
Naga?"
Lich looked at the human. "I don't know,” he said. “It hasn't been
told who or what destroyed this world."
With a stumble, he noticed a certain pressure falling off of his body.
The compass had stopped functioning. Lich blinked and looked around. They had
entered a great hall, the darkened skylight falling through the torn gaps in
the hollow ceiling.
"Guess we're here,” he said. “The Relic must've been kept on a
plaque or statue or something..."
The three started searching. Of course, there was a chance the ring had
rolled away during the holocaust.
*snicker*
Naaro looked
around. "What's so funny, Kyanosa? What'd you
find?"
Kyanosa blinked, dropping the rubble he had lifted. "I didn't say
anything."
Naaro stood up. "But I heard someone snickering."
They both looked at Lich. Lich looked behind them, his eyes widened. The
two turned around, Kyanosa tugging "Sword"
from his back, and Naaro holding out Might and Light.
"One little, two little, three little adventurers..." the
male's voice rose from the silhouette standing in the shadows.
He stepped forward, holding his rifle aimed at the middle Yoshi's head.
"Come to find a little ring. Shame for you though, I think it fits
me better." He held up a leather-gloved hand, showing the golden ring with
a glass-like gem in it.
Lich drew the Cyan Arc from his belt, mumbling, "Samir Duran..."
Stepping out of the shadows, the Terran's face
appeared. Negro in appearance, one side of his face was partially covered with carpace, which blended into his skin and flesh, a result of
being assimilated into the Zerg Swarm. Naaro and Kyanosa looked at the 'Terran' awkwardly.
"You know my name. I'm touched," he grinned, looking at Lich's
weapon. "Ah, what have we here... you're the bearer of the Xol'Arago? What an interesting turn of events…" His
voice sounded like it had a rumbling sound in the back of his throat, like a
feral canine ready to strike its prey.
Lich widened an eye. "I know you... Markior
told me about you. You betrayed the Terrans and the Zerg, and now, no-one knows…what you are."
Duran grinned in reply. "Ah, yes. That's me alright. I also wiped
away that little lair of the Protoss’ off your world,
in case you've forgotten," he snickered in amusement.
Lich took a step forward. "Hand over the ring! Now!"
Duran held his rifle in his hand, pulling out a small canister of red
fluid, the canister not of glass, but looking quite…alive. He placed it in the
loading chamber of his rifle. "I think not."
Duran charged forward, roaring out as he left a trail of red light,
ending up with his knee in Naaro's stomach. Kyanosa jumped at him, sword swinging forwards, but Duran
leapt up, jumping over the other human and rammed the butt of his rifle against
the side of Kyanosa's head, making him twirl around
in mid-air and land on his back. Naaro rolled to his
side and jumped up, twisting around and charging the tonfers
with heat, before slamming the burning weapon into Duran's side. Samir fell to the side, caught himself on one hand, and
rolled forwards, aiming his rifle at Lich and pulling the trigger. Lich
responded quickly, throwing the Boomerang of Light at Duran. The weapon cleaved
through the canister shot at him, which exploded in a shower of red corrosive
goo nicknamed "Plague". Duran ducked the Boomerang and leapt away
against a pillar. His mutated hand clawed into the pillar and made him stick to
it. From this high place, he shot his rifle numerous times at Naaro and Kyanosa, dust flying up
when the bullets impacted upon the ground. The two barely dodged the shots,
each leaping to a different side. Duran turned in time to see Lich thrust out
his hands towards him. Leaping up from the pillar and hanging from the ceiling,
he dodged a long pillar of ice shot towards him. The icicle grazed loudly over
the pillar, snips and bits of ice falling to the ground as it turned, following
Lich's hand-guiding. The icicle flew towards Duran again, who released the
ceiling and fell down, locking his rifle in mid-fall and blasting Lich and Kyanosa with it. The canister it was loaded with exploded
in a shower of green slime, restraining the Yoshi and Human's movements.
Kyanosa's eyes were wide as he pulled at the strands of goo. "That...that
is just…SICK!!"
The icicle, unable to move fast enough because of Lich's restrained
hand, was shattered by a number of Duran's bullets.
Aiming at the ensnared Lich and Kyanosa, he
grinned. "Cya later, kids!"
His finger tightened on the trigger before he fell forwards from a
fierce kick of Naaro’s in his back. "GAH!!"
Lich slowly moved forward, trying to free himself from the ensnaring
slime. Duran held his back and mumbled a curse, turning to see Naaro levitate in front of him. He dashed forward and
rammed the Yoshi out of the sky, sending him flying into a pile of rubble.
Finally, the slime around Kyanosa and Lich
dissolved. Duran turned, and twirled around, burrowing himself into the ground
in a blur of movement. Lich and Kyanosa looked around
warily, while Naaro levitated the rocks off of him,
muttering under his breath. With an explosion of dirt, bricks, and ancient
metal, Duran unburrowed underneath Lich, grabbing him
around the throat and pointing his spiked claw at the vulnerable part under his
chin. He slowly backed away.
"ONE move, and I'll tear your oesophagus
out," he grinned.
Naaro and Kyanosa looked at the 'Terran', clenching their fists. Lich looked up at Duran,
holding the Cyan Arc.
"And don't think about that, either," Duran rumbled.
Lich narrowed his eyes. "You could've killed me by now...why don't
you?"
Duran grinned again. "Because, Yoshi…that weapon of yours should
belong to my species...dismantle the Sylph Ren-Retu Tirbon..."
Lich blinked..."What are you talking ab–“
****CRASH!!!****
Stone and ash tumbled down, the charred building shaking in its unstable
foundations as Artanis's Scout flew straight through
the roof, bashing Duran away with its "nose" and sending Lich flying
towards Kyanosa and Naaro,
who were, meanwhile, hiding from the falling rubble under Kyanosa's
parasol. Duran screeched out loudly, flying through a wall. When the falling of
the torn-apart roof stopped, a hiss was heard from the Scout, and Artanis jumped out.
Finally, I made it.
Lich and Naaro ran forward while Kyanosa got back to Sword power.
"Artanis!" Lich yelled. "Are you ok? Where's
Artanis looked up, rising to his feet again. Inside my scout. I Mindblowed
him into unconsciousness.
A rumbling laugh was heard. "Aaah...you fools!"
Duran was standing on top of the scout. The Spear of Darkness was
hovering in front of him.
"Look…look at what you've brought me. It's
the Zen'Xi Ara..."
He held out his hand, not touching the Spear directly, but twirling it
around with a mental connection to the weapon. It glowed in a corrupted light,
as if power was being flooded into it.
Lich looked at his brother's weapon with wide eyes. The Boomerang of
Light seemed to glow a cold light as he held it.
Duran snickered at the Yoshi. "Confused, Bearer of the Xol'Arago? Don't be...your weapon was forged by a Xel'Naga...but, this Xel'Naga had
a brother, Eriuch...who was corrupted by us, my
species, the Shadows. The Shadows and the Xel'Naga
were at war for many centuries...and this brother forged his own weapon to
counter his brother's...while your Xol'Arago was
forged with Light powers, this, the Zen'Xi Ara, was forged with the powers of Darkness. The corrupted Xel'Naga had become a Shadow, and betrayed his brother. At
the moment of his death, Tarabach threw the Xol'Arago and himself into a time rift...with the Zen'Xi Ara still sticking into
his heart. Of course, the Spear was part of the Shadows, and I can restore it
to its full power and use it as my own...much as a pureblood Xel'Naga could do with the Xol'Arago...but,
oh yeah! I forgot...we killed all of them!" He grinned. "Only logical
that these two weapons would be held by…" he looked down into the Scout,
"...rivaling brothers, am I right?" He showed a fanged smile.
Swallowing deeply, trembling on his legs, Lich looked up at Duran. "That...
that is..." he began, but Duran laughed and looked at Artanis.
"Ah, Praetor! Fancy meeting you
here."
Artanis clenched his fists, his psi-blades appearing
around his wrists. Duran!
As Samir finished charging the Spear of
Darkness with power, he thrusts his hand forward, the Spear singing through the
air, leaving a long red streak visible as it soared towards Lich. Lich quickly
blocked it with the Boomerang, but was sent flying backwards from the impact.
Artanis jumped up onto his Scout, his metal legs clanking onto the same yellow
metal of his ship as he thrust his psiblade towards
Duran's heart. Duran jumped backwards and kicked the Protoss
with insane power in the chest, making him fall back into the Scout. Duran
laughed loudly and aimed into the cockpit, pulling the trigger many times,
firing into the Scout with Artanis and
Lich crawled back up from the rubble, wiping blood off his lip. Duran
looked around in time to see Artanis rise from the
cockpit, the bullets clinging into his psionic
shield. The metal finally fell to the ground as the psi-shield
stops. Roaring, the Protoss jabbed his Psiblade into Duran's shoulder, who falls backwards off of
the Scout.
"AAARGH!! You ****!!" he cried, getting up, blood
spilling from between his fingers as he held his shoulder.
He quickly aimed at Kyanosa, who used Wing and
flew upward, shooting numerous times until he hit Kyanosa's
leg.
"AIEEEAA!!" Kyanosa cried, rapidly
flying around and upside down in pain. Lich, clutching a fist tightly, charged
Mana around him, green arcs of Mana strength dancing around him. He pointed his
clenched hand at Duran and suddenly lifts his hand, his fist snapping open
above his head. Green explosions of raw Mana power burst around Duran, sending
him flying from one blast into another before being thrown back onto the floor.
Crying out, Lich leapt forward, yelling out "FIRE!!" in his
native tongue. A beam of laser fire sprouted from the Boomerang as Lich thrust
it down towards Duran. Duran shrieks, and tries to shield himself,
then cried out loudly when his hand is cut straight off by the laser.
His eyes bulging from his sockets, he held his hand and cursed, spitting
on the ground as the wound burned shut with his acidic blood. His hand twitched
insect-like on the ground, the Ancients' Relic still stuck around the finger.
Getting up, he charged his remaining hand forwards, sending the Spear of
Darkness flying towards Lich. From his side, Naaro
charged towards him and hit him against the ground with raw physical strength,
the Spear falling onto the ground with a clattering noise once he lost control
over it. Rolling onto his back, Samir mumbled another
coughing curse, then widened his eyes as Kyanosa fluttered above him. He changed powers from Wing to
Stone. Duran blinked.
"Oh .. SHI–!!"
*CRASH!!!*
*Some time later…*
Naaro looked into the hole in the floor where Duran was laying when
"Either he disappeared, or he's become so flat I can't see him,"
Kyanosa grinned. "I totally wasted him. Did you
see the look on his face when I was about to fall on him? A true kodak moment– ow, watch it!" Artanis was busy
healing the wound in Kyanosa's leg, Naaro waiting for his turn.
Ark was listening to everything that was being said...he pretended to be
still knocked out, knowing that with only the aid of Mana, he wouldn't be able
to lure Artanis back into the Scout and fly him off.
The Spear still lay outside the scout, no-one wanting to touch it because of
the SRRT.
Lich held the hand of Duran, tearing off the ring. Putting it on his own
finger, the metal folded around his flesh to suit him appropriately. He read
the encryptions of the ring: "Once every millennium, retrieve an immortal
soul," it spoke in both Xel'Naga and Rhenzin.
He looked at Artanis, who had healed Kyanosa's leg and was now finishing up on Naaro's arm.
"Ready, guys? Let's revive Markior!"
he smiled.
Naaro, Kyanosa and Artanis
nodded and moved closer, looking at Lich hold up his hand. He wasn't sure what
to do, but he trusted in the ring's abilities to understand him.
"I want to speak to the keeper of the Nexus,” he called out. “I
want to revive an immortal soul."
The area surrounding them started losing colour. Then themselves, their
skin colour - Artanis's teal, Lich's orange;
everything faded into a single shade of grey. In front of them, reality seemed
to be pushed back a bit, until a single closed eye, vertical in appearance,
appeared. The eye opened slowly, looking at the ring.
It spoke in Rhenzin,
Lich took a step back, watching the hovering grey eye stare at him.
Kyanosa whispered in Lich's ear, or at least, where Kyanosa
thought Lich's ear would be, "An eye? What's next, a floating ear during
the commercial break?"
Lich and Naaro nudged Kyanosa
in the side, and Lich replied, "Markior Archonius Xel'Naga."
After a moment of silence, the Eye of Demenoz blinked, another shade of grey washing over its iris. The one you call Markior…
It seemed hesitant, blinking
numerous times in thought and contemplation. The group looked at the eye,
waiting.
It can be done… the Eye began.
Lich started to smile.
…after you prove your worthiness
as mortals.
Kyanosa threw his hands into the air. "I knew it! See? There's always a
catch."
The Eye continued, "You will
be the first. You shall do my test of Power. You, the one they call Naaro." The Eye turned half a degree. "Then, you shall do my test of
Knowledge. You, the one called Kyanosa." The
Eye looked back at Lich. "And
finally, you, bearer of the Ancients' Relic. You will do my test of Courage." The Eye of Demenoz hummed. "Only
when all three of you complete the multiversal
trinity, shall the one called Markior be revived. Let
us…commence."
With a flash of grey light, the Eye, Naaro, Kyanosa and Lich disappeared. Artanis
blinked in confusion for a second, before going back into his Scout's cockpit
and tying
Hope they're back soon...and
revive the Executor...Adun be their guide.