Chapter CLXXVIII: Revolution: The Gaia Stone ~ The Markior
Markior crossed his arms and stared at Pyrak. Surely, the Infect would make the wisest choice and retreat... But, yet again, things would not go the way of the good guys. Turning his head swiftly towards the sounds he heard, he was greeted by the explosion of a Protoss Forge, leaving nothing in place of the once proud weapon enhancement building except for a sandy cyclone. The distraction was all Pyrak needed. Even before the energy from the gap in the sky could reach Prism, he gave her a firm elbow in the back, sending her soaring to the ground. "EeeeeAH!!" She cried. Markior turned again and roared in anger and frustration of this turn of events. Pointing up his fist, he narrowed his eyes quickly as a surge of grey-coloured energy surrounded it. Throwing the orb of energy towards the red robot send Pyrak plunging to the ground, the grey energy still crackling within his circuitry. Pyrak got to his feet and cracked his metalic neck. He was much more powerful than folks took him for. Deftly he backanded Prism, who got up again and regained the offensive, before unleashing a powered blast. Prism dodged once again, but with no way to reach the Star Road's energy, the tides had really turned. The robot drew his rifle and shot the overhanging roof, dropping a chunk of the ceiling on the Markior. Markior looked up and saw the falling piece of the yellow building, knowing it wouldn't harm his spirit-shape, but with Prism standing near him, he had no choice. Solidifieing and holding up his hands, pushing Prism out of harm's way before taking the piece of ceiling on. "AAGH!!" Pyrak laughed, starting out back. He stopped as he felt a dull tugging on his leg. "I could ignore that.", he began, smashing a boot into Prisms forehead. He chuckled slightly as he exited. "But then I wouldn't be me.."
Markior grunted, dissolving to move up from the rubble, holding his head.. He looked around at the destruction... "... Animals..." He grumbled, before turning around to see Prism laying on the ground. "Oh no.. For Adun's sake, do't let her be dead.." He picked up the princess and carried her into the Nexus, placing her on a bed. He ordered his best protoss doctors to take care of her and nurse her back to health. He went outside again and clenched his fists... "Havering..." He hissed through gritted teeth. "HAVERING!!!" He yelled, his dark voice booming through the forest. In pure anger, he stood there, eyes shining brightly, the ground trembling under his feet. "How... could he have found the base.... How does he KNOW.. EVERYTHING...?!!" He let out an angered roar, ramming his fist into the ground. "That's it... no more. NO! MORE! There are too many objectives to perform, so I'll just start out with the plainest.... destroy that DEMON." The forge had been destroyed, meaning a new one had to be warped in in order to build photon cannons, and upgrade the Protoss's weaponry... Rooftops of both the Templar Archives and Stargate had been damaged, but nothing serious enough to pose a threat to the buildings' functionality... Plus the roof of the Citadel of Adun had been cut off. He looked up into the sky, getting a clear mind.
At the dark castle, Golden Ulrezaj grinned as he looked at the events unfold on the screen... "Aah... wonderfull." He grinned. "Such splendor.. such unnescessairy destruction.. a sight for sore eyes." He smirked, clenching his fist. "Aurora." He said, the Yoshian princess walking out towards the Golden Dark Archon. "Yes, master?" She asked. "Aurora.." He grinned. "How is Dragon proceeding? Has she let anything be heard already?" He rubbed his disembodied hands in glee. Aurora shook her head. "No sir. Dragon hasn't contacted us yet. But I believe she's still in the Protoss City." Ulrezaj hovered there, silently for a while.. "Well... she can take her time. It seems Light One won't get far anyway." He grinned again.
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Or so Ulrezaj, and perhaps Havering... might think. Yet, before all this happened..
Markior stood high atop of the crystal point of the Nexus, looking out over Zolott... And once again, the question arose... ... ...Does Zolott have a Light and a Dark Gaia?
...
Each planet possesses two souls.
An external face and an internal face.
Lightside and Darkside.
Growth and Decline circle to two wills.
At the will of Lightside, new life is born.
At the will of Darkside, ice ages descend.
Lightside wills intelligent beings.
Rapid progress takes root.
Darkside's will breeds fear and disharmony.
Thus is the balance of each planet.
On most worlds, they came to be called "God" and "Devil".
...
Markior closed his eyes, placing two fingers on his fronthead. "This planet was created from bits and pieces of other planets..." He thinks. "It had become clear ever since my arrival... both Shakuras and Aiur were recognised here." ... He thinks on. "Eternity and Infinity gave each world a Lightside and Darkside at their beginnings, in order to bring balance to that planet. Time, space, and thoughts merge inbetween this everlasting couple... yet... were they able to give Zolott both sides?" He looked down. "I am Markior. I, and I alone, excist inbetween shapes. So... I can simply... go and see." ... ... He hovered down and slightly above the ground. Closing his eyes and crossing his arms, he let himself sink into the earth. His heart racing in his throat, a thumping in his temples which soon grew to a stinging pain as he let himself be lowered into Zolott, the spirit passing through the many layers that made up the planet. Soon he came to the depths that were known as the Underworld, a world filled with white and black sand, countless crystals and an everlesting sky of clear blue crystal, reflecting everything from the outside world. On Yamauchi, the underworld had been explored long ago.. Even green pipes lead into the underworld on Yamauchi. Through all this seemingly unnatural splendor, he kept his eyes closed and moved towards the underworld's "sun". A hovering orb of energy that brought warmth to the depths of the planet. Upon reaching it, he became engulfed in it's light...
Upon opening his eyes, he stood in a corridor surrounded by black nothingness. The corridor was like a long light-blue path, hovering buddha-like grey faces staring at him from within the depths of the nothingness. This is Gaia Stone.. He started to move forwards quickly, the pounding in his head growing larger and more painfull with each passing minute. After what seemed like hours of floating forwards along the path, the area around him disappeared, and he appeared on a 5-corner platform. What he expected to see was Light Gaia and Dark Gaia circling around each other, fighting their forever-lasting battle for the fate of the planet. But instead, both Light Gaia and Dark Gaia remained perfectly still, looking at the Markior. The two crystal-like entities staring blankly. In unison, they started speaking. "You are grey." Markior stood before them, bowing in respect before nodding. "I am neither light nor dark." The Gaia's paused, then responded. "You are not Havering." Markior again responded simply. "I am the Markior. I am from another world. My place of origin is your creator's home." Dark Gaia now responded alone. "Havering is not mine. I am not to blame." Markior shook his head. "I have come to realize that." Now it was Light Gaia who spoke alone. "Why has the grey one come to see us?" Markior sighed. "I have questions." The Gaia's responded in unison. "We shall answer."
Markior crossed his arms. "Why are thou not fighting?" He asked.
Light Gaia and Dark Gaia said, "Because the balance is no more."
Markior quirked a non-exsistant brow. "Then what has happened?"
Dark Gaia said, "Havering."
Light Gaia added, "He is the third now."
Markior placed two fingers on his fronthead. "I do not understand. The third?"
The two Gaia's frowned. "He is of darkness alien to this world. We neither control him. Now he is equal to us and beyond. He is the third of us."
Markior blinked slowly, and looked at both Light and Dark Gaia. "There is no light without shadow. the is no shadow without light. Why do both Shadow and Light look so weak?"
Dark Gaia and Light Gaia indeed looked weak. They responded, "Havering."
Markior asked, "What does he do?"
The Gaia's answered, "He is draining us."
Markior blinked again. "How.. tell me how!" The pain in his temples started to worsen.
The Gaia's took a deep breath and answered, "Each planet passes through growth and decline. This cycle is the balance that keeps a world in one piece. When people die, their souls take place in new bodies. After decline comes new growth. But Havering has broken this cycle."
Markior clenched his fists, falling down as if falling to one knee, once again asking, "How??"
Light and Dark Gaia answered, "Havering has placed Harvesters in us. These claim the souls after the body's decline for their own. They also drain the land of lifeforce, and turn the souls of the people into energy to feed Havering."
Markior gritted through his teeth... Never could he have expected something this vile and diabolical. He dropped to the ground.
The Gaia's continued. "You, the grey one... must save us...." Their voices started to fade as Markior began to lose consciousness. "We shall bring you back to the surface world... once you awake, you shall know where they are."
Then, everything went black...
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Many days passed after that untill Pyrak appeared. Whatever happened inbetween those days is still a mistery. For now.
A few days passed as repairations began... Markior doubled the amount of probes available. Soon, the buildings were restored and the GanthritorII was airborne once again. Prism was brought back to health, Dragon misteriously remained in her quarters, Dev the zergling was found within the woods after having wandered off, and soon, everything was back into action. Markior was behind his desk, scrolling through the Observer screens. "Observer #45. Observer #29. Observer #81. Next. Next. Next. Next. Stop. Go back one screen. Stop." He stared at the screen... something in the forest was following the returning Observer. Upon closer observation, it appeared to be a Terran. He looked at the information given by the screen.
Observer #34 output:
Species: Terran/Human.
Age: Between 17 and 20.
Weapon: Sword.
Clothing: Casual 20-century first-earth.
Armor: 1.
Powers: Item-based. RightPath. Elemental.
Markior looked thoughtful. There was no indication of how well he could handle these powers. With the current threats of both Havering and Ulrezaj, who could very well have mindcontrolled someone, he decided to play it safe. "Yge'Lla, please check out the terran at Observer #34's location. Your objective is to ask his motivations. Do not kill him." He spoke to the female dark templar on the screen. The female nodded and headed off towards the forest. Dark Templar are assasins from heart, but also professional spies. They are trained in bending the light around themselves, thus becoming invisible. She moved swiftly from tree to tree untill she met up with the Terran. With a leap, she managed to surprise the Terran and grabbing his arm. She spoke to him mentally in english, knowing he probably didn't know the protoss language. "I am Yge'Lla of the Dark Templar under direct orders of Executor Markior. My warp-blade is currently pointed at your chest. It kills instantly." Markior looked at the screen and slapped the palm of his hand in his face. Yge'LLa continued. "Who are you? Why did you come here?" Opty looked surprised at finding the invisible hand around his arm, hearing the voice of the invisible person attached to it. "The name's Opty. I was following the flying invisible object up there." He points his free hand up. Yge'Lla was dissappointed of the Terran's objectives, hoping he had bad intentions so she could have another kill on her list. She looked up at the observer, waiting for Markior's instructions. Markior frowned. "Always the hostile one, Yge'Lla... You can allow him to proceed." He said to the Dark Templar. The female released Opty's arm. "Terran, you're free to move on. Sorry for the misunderstanding, but the Executor has doubled the security since the last attack of the Infects." Opty blinked. "Terran? Executor? Infects?" He shrugged and continued towards the protoss city, hoping to find some answers. Markior was outside the Nexus to greet him. "Welcome, Opty. I am Markior Archonius Xel'Naga Grey. Come with me, we have much to discuss."
One day passed, in which Opty was informed about Havering, Havering's infects, the Protoss, the city, Markior himself, Prism, Dragon, even Dev, Ulrezaj, and everything Markior found important enough to tell the human, except any information about Light and Dark Gaia. Next morning, the recovered Prism, Opty and himself boared the GanthritorII. Dev and the sleeping Dragon remained as defense for the city, as did the full Protoss land-force. Three Corsairs and Two scouts followed the GanthritorII as it flew along the heavens... Markior grinned. "It is time..." He said while standing inside the hull of the Ganthritor. "You shall see Havering in person soon, Opty... as will you, Prism. I know you are worried, but this is something that has to be done."
The Ganthritor II slowly made its way along. As it flew, it was a placid scene; seemingly totaly unaware of the chaos to follow. On the skyline, a green blur appeared. It quickly raced along. Finally, Vaurix landed on the massive ship's top side. As a cannon honed in on him, he gave a wave. From the ground below came a storm of epic proportions. A sandy wind made the vessel buck and sway as Anubarik took his position on a tower of sand. "WATCH OUT!" Markior yelled as the ship started to lean forwards, the Markior standing still in the centre while Opty and Prism hang onto the ships' insides. A green acid cloud enveloped the ship as Necronimus took stride on a pillar of bones. The infects unleashed an ambush to out do ambushes. As the scouts and corsairs attacked, they did little damage to the Infects and were quickly disposed of. Pseudo stepped to the edge of the mountain range. Breathing in the crisp air, he looked at the Ganthritor II. It would have drawn envy if he wasn't above it. The demon snickered, winding up. A row of green energy spikes ran the length of the ship. As it began to go down, the twilighter waved his hand and signed a cursive SPH on the ship with another energy blast. The insides of the ship started to shake, Markior narrowing his eyes as he send out the full force of the mighty Carrier. Dozens of high-powered, ultra-fast Interceptors swarmed from the outer hull of the ship, attacking the Infects, ship-mounted Plasma cannons firing at everything that moved. Though it was downed, the GanthritorII certainly wasn't out. It fired three more times, toppling Anubarik and Necronimus, a well as docking the wings off Vaurix, causing him to smack into the ground hard. "You ok?" Necronimus asked. "Never better." Vaurix groaned, brushing the dirt off. The robot crossed to a row of shrubs. "You fine?" "Shrubs are very green." Anubarik moaned, removing himself from the bushes. Pyrak landed on the far side of the clearing, arms akimbo. "Yo, bros! The boss wants us for something!" He announced loudly. "In a sec...d*** this aches.." grumbled Anubarik, removing some leaves from his person. The group ran off, leaving no trail, but an imprint and some messy brush.
Inside the ship, Prism and Opty laughed. "They're running off! Way to go Mar--" They stopped their cheers as Markior threw them a stare, his eyes lighting up. "Silence! Silence, please... This isn't over yet. We are stranded here for now, and you can be certain they'll be back.. We've just hurt them, not defeated them." He moved his hand over the panel, a doorway opening from the ship where land-based warriors stepped out of. Zealots, Dragoons and one Archon to protected the crashed Carrier. Much to their surprise, they had crashlanded right near the Protoss city, since during the fight, the GanthritorII had made a sharp U-turn to prevent one of Vaurix's attacks. One zealot slowly turned around and saw a train-like vehicle speeding towards the city. Pointing his psiblade towards it. "They're returning!!" He yelled. Markior immediately teleported out of the ship and moved into the building nearest to where the train stopped... he knew he had to confront Havering.
The infects all piled out and marched into the Protoss city with Havering at their rear. A brigade of zealots ran forward to attack, yet the Infects easily stopped their psi-blades by grabbing the zealots by the wrists. "Come on, ya wuss, is this all you got?" Pyrak snickered, gaining the upper hand. The Infect leader proceeded on into one of the undamaged buildings. He kicked aside a pile of rubble and snapped a finger; quickly striking the Markior with a red blast of electricity. The attack hit him harder then expected, and he held a hand on his chest. He held himself up as Pseudo crouched and folded his arms. "Well, Markior, ready to admit defeat? I may let you live and serve me if you simply bow down and worship me. Yes or no, meet me on the mountain North-East of here. I hope you don't mind, but I'll have my infects as lookouts; I want to speak with you alone or I have them play with you." With that the door opened and a zealot fell in; arms broken. A similar fate had befallen its comerades and the Infects had divided to kill the heroes. Pseudo smiled before bowing and leaving in a burst of blue fire.
Prism and Opty ran in, with Prism crying out. "Markior! Markior, are you alright?" The spirit mumbled something unaudibly and got up, glowing brightly. "I'm fine..." He grinned, motioning towards the doctors to help the wounded.. Broken bones were easy to fix with Protoss technoligy. Opty crossed his arms. "So that was Havering? He doesn't look that threatening, but I know never to judge an opponent by looks.." Markior smiled. Prism looked at Markior again, worried. "No, it's alright... Everything's going according to plan." He placed two fingers on his fronthead. "Prism... I have opened the passage to the Star Road... contact your people there, and tell them to let Super Stars rain down on you and Opty... You two must use the temporary invincibility of the Super Stars to slow down the Infects. I have a sense they're on a mission to kill the others." Opty already wanted to ask questions like "Super Stars?" and "others?", but Prism had already grabbed him by the jacket and pulled him along.
Three hours later, Markior floated up the mountain North-East of the Protoss city... He could feel the tension building in his mind... This was going to be all or nothing. He arrived on the top of the mountain where he was greeted by a grinning Sir Pseudo Havering, who was swirling some red wine in a glass... How he loathed his sight by now, remembering Zolott's Light and Dark Gaia's words. A xel'naga always respects his enemy, but for Havering, he was gladly making an exception. He floated forwards and crossed his arms. "I am here, Havering..." The twilighter slowly stood up and smirked at the spirit. Markior looked swiftly sideways, catching glimpses of three of the Infects surrounding him. Certainly, Havering knew the warrior was a threat, even through all his weaknesses. Havering looked at Markior again, before speaking, "Well, here we are. What a view, hm?" He grinned. Markior narrowed his eyes. "It is. I wish it could stay that way." He responded seriously, much to Havering's amusement. "Aaah, Markior, Markior... You know, you've caused me a lot of trouble. You and that opponent of yours who refused to obey me are a real pain." He smirked. "But guess what? I can carry out my will without your pitifull Twin Crystals. I don't need them anymore. Does this come as a shock?" He laughs in Markiors face. "I have already won. And since you're already sort of dead, I came to give you an offer. Either admit defeat and worship me, or be..-" He was cut off by Markior holding up his hand.
"Havering..." He rumbled. "What am I?" He asks. Havering grinned.. "Stretching your time? Hmm.. I don't know. You look like the extracts of gasoline through a very old car. With eyes." He and the infects snickered. Markior grinned too, his grin turning Havering's laughter into an evil look. "I am an executor. Even now, I control 200 Psi worth of Protoss men and women by thought." Havering smirked. "That's too bad, Markior. Your army isn't here, and their full force couldn't stop me and my three 'companions'." Markior grinned in response. "Havering... Now.. Don't be foolish. Do you know what I yelled out loud when we first battled?" Havering failed to remember. "I'll tell you. I yelled, "Don't underestimate the Protoss."." He smirked. Havering blinked and stared for a while at Markior's slightly transparent face... before grinning.. then laughing out loud. "HAH.. HAHAH... Oh, that IS rich! You're looking straight into the face of death, you're surrounded by 4 beings who're three times more powerfull then you, we've killed or broken most of your army, crashed your flagship and destroyed your town. And YOU try to threaten me?!"
Markior narrowed his eyes... "Maybe... Because you know, Havering... All this you've done to me, to the protoss, to the heroes gathered here, and Zolott itself... I shall pay you back TENFOLD!!" With that he snaps his fingers, beams of red light flashing into the sky from various locations on the planet for only a nano-second. Havering crackles with green energy, crying out an ear-piercing sound and falling to the ground. The infects surrounding the mountain look stunned. "You see, Havering!" The Markior talks fast. "I have talked to the Light and Darkside of this planet... And you are killing them! But now, I know ALL of the locations of the Harvesters." He grins. "And when I just snapped my fingers, I ordered the dozens of Dark Templar surrounding each Harvester to put them in reverse!" He laughs. "You, Havering! You're nothing more then a MERE PARASITE, drawing the life from this planet and stopping the cycle of rebirth! At this very moment, all the energy from your body is being sucked out of you by the Harvesters and send back into the planet!! You can feel THAT, can't you? The pain and suffering from this planet and it's inhabitants!" He roars out and clenches his fist, his eyes shining bright white light as he jets his fist towards Havering's torso. "Psionic.. PUNCH!!" He yells, slamming his charged fist into the twilighter's body, sending him soaring into the other mountain miles away. The infects look at the flying Havering and quickly jet after him in an attempt to safe him from impact, though as Markior sees the cloud of dust on the mountain miles away, he knows they're too late. He moves out of the 'punching' pose and stands on the mountain with balded fists... "The time for payback has come." He grins.