Chapter CLXXV: The Test of Power – Balance-less Force ~Naaro/Markior

As the grey light stopped shimmering, Naaro’s eyes adjusted to its source. The Eye of Demenoz, which had appeared within the blackened remains of the Xel’Naga Capital building, hovered silently in front of him.

You have been chosen for the test of Power. To prove your worthiness as a mortal, you must defeat me in combat. Be warned, for I shall show no mercy. One's balance is quickly restored; if you were to perish here, I'll create a new good to counter your Evils.

Naaro looked at the Eye, and gave a nod.

“Alright then.”

I am the source of the Creation's Weapons. No longer do they belong to me, but they were crafted by my hand... I am the Eternal Balance.

The Eye floated up slowly, extending long, shivering tendrils of grey energy from its back.

Are you ready, child?

“As I'll ever be.”

So be it.

The rest of the area then appeared. Walls of light and darkness surrounded both Naaro and the Eye; walls that reached far up into the star-lit sky. A wide circle was formed by the rising pillars. The Eye of Demenoz floated backward and opened itself completely, its pupil narrowing. The tendrils of energy then lashed out at Naaro suddenly. Three of these tendrils struck forward diagonally with both the strength of creation and destruction, primal forces of energy bursting around them. Naaro squatted down to build up power and then took to the air, one of the tendrils catching him in the leg but causing him little harm. He looked downward at the Eye, and thrust forward a hand, shouting “GraviSlam!” With those words, super-gravity gathered around the monstrous Eye, and attempted to slam it into the ground.

The Eye’s pupil narrowed at the moment of impact, pushed down into the white floor of the area, which contrasted the black sky-ceiling. It did not make a sound of anger or pain, but moved back up, shaking the effects of the blow off.

“I see now, I have an adversary which powers are not of either path... interesting.”

The Eye's lids moved back to expose the full roundness of the grey Eye. The pupil of the Eye of Demenoz opened, as it retaliated with the opposite of Naaro's attack. A black hole within the Eye drew Naaro towards it with frightening force.

“Crap!” Naaro shouted as the Eye began to draw him toward it. He knew of only one way to counter this pull on his body, and that was…

“GraviFactor, Reverse Direction...x2!”

As he said that, the gravity field on his body began to push him back, trying to wrench him from the pull of the antigravity being given off by the Eye. The Eye’s tendrils lashed forward again. The moment Naaro's gravitational force placed him in a hover-still position, the gravitational fields cancelled each other out, leaving the Karmali's body levitating in the air. The tendrils struck forward, landing heavy blows upon Naaro's back and knocking him out of both forces' grip. Each strike of the tendril resulted in a small explosion of crackling grey energy.

It has been so long...

The explosions tossed Naaro's body to the ground, grey energy flowing over his body for a few seconds as he got up slowly. He removed his tonfers from their sheaths, and charged them with his Superheat ability.

“You seem to stand up to energy attacks well enough...how about a little physical force?”

He leaped into the air and charged toward the pupil of the Eye, the tonfers leaving red streaks as they soared through the air. The Eye of Demenoz drew back, floating backward as Naaro dashed toward it.

You do not understand...

Its eyelids closed over the pupil, and it let the tonfers impact upon itself. Knocked backward by the physical blow, it was suddenly charged with the energy of Naaro’s Superheat. That very second, its Eye opened wide again, and a sky-blue beam of pure Water- and Ice-element energy struck Naaro in the front. The Eye then floated up, shaking off the effects of the physical blow.

“L-l-lovely,” Naaro shivered as the beam chilled him to the bone. He returned to the ground, putting his tonfers back and looking up at the Eye.

*Alright, he has to have some sort of weakness that I apparently don't understand...* he thought.

Demenoz’s Eye was floating high above Naaro, basking in the grey energy that was his own. Blinking as it sensed Naaro’s questioning thought, it responded with a low tone.

My introduction to you was all the explanation you ever needed, child…

Its pupil opened wide again, and energy was drawn into it from the surroundings…reality seemed to stretch into the point where Demenoz's Eye floated. Looking down at Naaro, it emitted a thin beam of concentrated grey energy at him. Upon the beam's impact on the ground, reality itself tore. The beam shot towards Naaro across the ground.

You think in the physical. They always do…a long way they all travel.

Naaro widened his eyes, and dived aside. His hand began to glow with the brownish-white energy of Kamar, and, as he got back to his feet, he thrust his hand toward the Eye.

“Kamar Beam!!”

From the hand, a beam of Kamar energy flew forth, spiraling brownish smoke in its wake. The Eye widened as the beam of Kamar shot toward it. Trying to get out of the way, it was hit in its side, making it twirl around in mid-air rapidly, crackling with the energy. Twitching, it resumed a stable position, and hesitated.

This...it crackled. What… is this? A dead end…this…this has no counterpart…this… this has no balance!

It trembled, and flashed a blinding light of grey as a discharge of built-up power. Naaro blinked as he noticed the discomfort, maybe even pain that the beam gave the Eye.

*I think I just understood.*

The Eye of Demenoz’s tendrils grew in length, the Eye itself crackling in an intense grey color.

Then congratulate yourself… you might've begun to comprehend something beyond your own mortality…

The Eye charged forward, its tendrils lashing out at the Karmali. Naaro held his hands over his head, a Kamar aura developing around his body. His eyes took on a brownish-white glow, the glow given off by the eyes of a Kamar Master.

"Have another taste of my balance-less energy...KAMAR CRESCENT SHOWER!!"

As the words left Naaro's lips, he thrust his hands down to the ground. The tendrils snapped against his back, but it was too late, the attack had already commenced. Several crescent-shaped beams of Kamar energy fell from the sky, spinning like deadly shuriken, their blades looking to impact upon Demenoz. The Eye’s lids closed tightly around itself, charging a shield of Grey power around the floating form. Batted from side to side of the impact of each crescent beam, it rumbled in a sensation best described as pain. The beams ate away at its shield, diminishing it rapidly. As the last one finally impacted upon it, the Eye was batted into one of the pillars of energy surrounding the area. Crackling, trying to shake off the effects of the impact, it slowly floated upwards again...

Naaro ran a hand gently across the marks on his back left by the tendrils, then rose up. It stung a good bit, but the Kamar aura acted as a sort of adrenaline counter for the pain. The Eye's words then started to echo.

This is impossible... I create a counterpart for all and everything. For Good there was Evil, for Chaos there was Order, for Fire was Water, for Space there was the Void.

It trembled, finally shaking off the brown energy, its eyelids twitching in the loss of strength.

Let's see how you handle the very source of everything there was and will be.

It looked up and emitted a thundering sound, encircling itself with what appeared to be a corona. Finally, an immense arc of gray energy burst free from it.

ETERNAL GREY!

The arc formed into a pillar of energy and jetted straight for Naaro. Naaro's eyes widened, and he quickly powered up a Kamar beam. He fired it at the pillar of energy, hoping to stave it off... the Eye’s energy thinned out as the beams absorbed each other, but its sheer mass still rocketed toward Naaro. The Eye opened itself wider, extending its tendrils, drawing more power from the area itself. The pearl-white floor shuddered and cracked open, pillars of stone rising from the ground.

“YEAAAAARGH!” Naaro shouted as he thrust both his hands forward.

There was a crackle...then a bright flash. From the space in front of his hands, a portion of Naaro's own natural energy appeared in ball form, and then projected itself forward in the form of a much more massive Kamar beam. Layers of skin on Naaro's palms began to burn off as the sizzling energy contained within the beam ripped through the air toward the pillar of Eternal Grey.

The Eye's pillar of energy clashed with the enhanced beam of Kamar force in a dazzling display of crackles of energy, which ricocheted off of the place where the two forces crashed, railing along the walls and the torn floor. The Eye’s ‘voice’ then echoed in the area again...

Your strength is great...

Suddenly, the Grey beam stopped, and the blast of Kamar slammed into the area's wall of energy, where it subsequently disappeared. The Eye of Demenoz could no longer be seen…

Naaro glanced around, checking behind him first, then looking upward...he saw nothing. He walked out into the middle of the area, and put his senses to work...

*Is it over? Or is he just waiting to catch me off guard...*

The Eye’s voice was then heard again, continuing, But only through self-sacrifice, apparently.

The burning on Naaro's hands felt even more evident.

Give it up, mortal. Markior is only one soul. One of so many others…

“Yes, he is one soul; one soul who has friends. And those friends want him back. I may not know him that well, but if I give it up now, then I never will know him.”

The Eye’s voice echoes through the area.

Friends…he was created as a Champion of Darkness. He brought forth hatred, destruction and terror across the multiverse. He devoured worlds and consumed the innocent. He was an incarnation of Evil itself, until he was forced to see that his ways were wrong...

The words stopped momentarily.

Does that sound familiar to you, mortal?!

Naaro nodded.

“Yes, yes it does. I was of the dark side once too. Look at me now. I'm fighting for somebody I barely even know. All of the brightest spirits are dimmer than all at some point in their existence.”

* * *

Elsewhere in the Nexus, the battle had drawn an audience. Gathered on the square in front of the Xel’Naga temple, Markior and his Protoss companions stood, listening to the battle in a secluded part of the Nexus by a mental connection. Markior clenched a fist, his eyes closed tight in concentration as he listened to Demenoz and Naaro's words.

A…peculiar coincidence…it appears that Naaro and I share a similar history…

He rumbled. Raszagal placed a hand on his shoulder.

Is he winning, Markior?

Markior opened his eyes and looked at the Dark Templar Matriarch.

So far it's going relatively fine... they both haven't had any hard blows yet, but Naaro realizes what Demenoz's… err…‘weakness’ is.

Behind Markior and Raszagal, Gezriach paced back and forth.

This has never happened before, my love.

Dimatrioch looked at her husband.

No, it hasn't. The great Keeper of the Nexus never insisted on three challenges before he'd revive an immortal soul. Why now? Why Markior?

Gezriach stopped moving and looked at his wife.

I do not know...

Markior replaced his two fingertips on his forehead, establishing a psychic connection. Naaro, here speaks Markior. As odd as it is that a Karmali should fight for the life of their ancient counterpart species' guardian, do not give up…do not underestimate the Keeper of the Nexus. Demenoz might represent creation and destruction, the ‘Eternal Balance’, but he does not have the determination of a physical planes' species, like us. Keep going!”

* * *

Right, Naaro responded, the scene returning to the battle at hand.

The Eye burst into appearance, its invisibility wearing off. Charging its body with Eternal Grey energy, it dashed into Naaro's body. Its tendrils wrapped around his ankle and threw him into the sky. Looking up, its pupil opened wide and blasted two, then another for three bolts of Grey towards him.

“Argh!!”

Naaro soared into the air, the energy put off by the tendrils whisking over his body. He flipped over and saw the bolts coming towards him. With a quick charge, he thrust both palms forward, sending a spiraling blast of Kamar energy at the bolts heading towards him. The Eye of Demenoz’s bolts were batted to the side by the blast, impacting on the walls and exploding in bright flashes as they crashed. The Eye then started to gather energy, charging up for a finishing attack... bolts of light and darkness gathered into the pupil, the Eye crackling with raw power. Naaro chuckled.

“Now it’s time to let loose.”

Naaro then shouted, “PHATRA BLAST!!!”

As the words left his lips, the glow in his eyes faded, and he held out his arms to the side, palms open. Kamar particles began flowing from the tips of his fingers to the palms of his hands, forming into energy balls...

“All that time you were hiding, I was powering up for this one…”

Naaro remarked, a smile on his face. The Eye narrowed… Naaro’s hands began to glow like white-hot stars, and liquid flames burnt around them. The Kamar balls soon became quite large, and Naaro pulled his arms back to throw them...

“HAVE A TASTE OF THIS!!!”

Naaro tossed both balls at the Eye. They moved much faster than would be normal for their great size. The Eye of Demenoz floated backwards rapidly as the balls approached it, but was surprised by the speed of which they soared towards it. Opened wide, it trembled as the power of the Kamar energy exploded against it. Blinding waves of energy soared outwards from the focal point of the attack before the tiny nuclei of the Kamar balls split, and all proverbial hell broke loose. A multi-megaton blast was abruptly unleashed by the awesome power of the Phatra Blast, needle-like columns of energy shooting into the air from the massive, burning dome of Kamar. Opened wide, it trembled as the power of the Kamar energy exploded against it. Its own charging energy fading, it emitted an ear-piercing mental roar. The ground beneath it fully broke away. The physical mass of the Eye blackened and diminished until only the pupil of the Eye remained, hovering in the air like a core. The intense heat of the blast singed Naaro’s skin and hair as it consumed much of the area. Naaro’s body hit the ground as the blast subsided, his lungs hurting from all the air he had to take in to recover from the immense energy output.

Naaro got up slowly, weakened by the drain of power, and looked at the tips of his hair. He sighed, muttering, “Dammit.”

He then looked over at the Eye. As the last remnants of the blast cleared away, only the grey pupil of the Eye remained, the rest of the Eye lying in ashes. The area lit up in an intense grey light, so intense that Naaro was unable to keep his eyes open.

“Ack!” he cried as he closed his eyes. A hand touched Naaro's head.

I am impressed, mortal. You've defeated my Eye.

Naaro's body felt better through the touch upon his head, the wounds and burns clearing away.

Very well then... now only the tests of Wisdom and Courage remain. I'm sending you back to the Xel'Naga world.

“Great,” Naaro commented, glad to be done here.

The pupil, which had now taken the full form of Demenoz, even though the great light made sure Naaro couldn’t see him, silently echoed,

However, now that I've discovered this Kamar power, it is my duty to create its counterpart…Be warned, child. Your force of Kamar will once be challenged by its equal.”

With that, the touch upon Naaro's head disappeared. Once he opened his eyes, he was back on Xel'Neh-Mi. Artanis looked at him, and moved from his Scout towards him.

Welcome back, the Protoss nodded.

“Thanks,” Naaro acknowledged.

Artanis looked at him curiously.

You sound a little... speechless, or lost for words, Yoshian, he hummed. Is everything alright?

Naaro gave a nod.

“Yeah. And, it’s Karmali, not Yoshian.”

Artanis blinked. “Oh, I apologize, I did not know…”

His gaze turned from Naaro to the place where he and the others had stood when their challenges had first been given to them.

I take it went well then…congratulations! The others have not returned yet, though…we shall wait.

“Sounds good to me,” Naaro remarked as he sat down on a fallen pillar.

The first test is finished. With the power of Kamar, the spawn of Demenoz was defeated, its eye-like appearance having turned to ashes. Now only the tests of Wisdom and Courage remain…will Markior be revived and rejoined with the group? Why did Demenoz, for the first time, insist on the tests in the first place? Will Markior have gained enough strength to properly help stop the Twilighter Council once he's revived? To be continued…