Heroforce: Heart of Iron

Heroforce: Heart of Iron  is a narrative story created to showcase the plot of Heroforce, and effectively act as the kickstart to the story of the Pyroverse. It is hosted on Fantendo - Drive.
==Premise==
Heart of Iron acts as the unofficial "story" of Heroforce setting up the backdrop to the game's world and viewing day-to-day life and conflicts with the Heroes fighting for dominance over Coronite. While much of the series is focused on heroine Fera, it often switches perspectives to other Heroes and side characters as well. It is largely inspired by the Overwatch comic series.
==Chapters==
===Chapter 1: Iron Maiden===
In the middle of the deep vastness of space, a massive ringed planet with multiple biomes comes into view; a flyover of the planet showcases the vast and varied wilderness that the planet possesses, with many shots of hazardous and giant wildlife. The scene finally settles on a vast desert at night, purple jagged crystals poking out of the sand. The vast, clear night sky shows a multitude of moons and planets, far out into space, bathing the surface in natural light.
On the desert surface, two warriors duel. One is a young woman in armor, spear and shield in hand, while the other is an imposing grey demon-like creature with a glowing red cape, wielding a radiant scissor-like weapon against her. The two dance across the sands, weapons clashing and sparks flying as they strike each other. The grey being eventually manages to catch the woman's spear in his scissors, snapping it in half with excessive amounts of force. The shockwave created by the break knocks both back, and both begin panting in exhaustion as the spear slowly begins regenerating.
The woman readjusts her stance first, planting the regenerating spear in the sand to balance herself upon it. She looks at her opponent, just as exhausted as she is.
Fera: I take it... *pant* You'd be okay with a little break?
----
Time passes, and the two warriors have put down their weaponry and are sitting around a small fire, trying to warm up in the sheer cold of the nocturnal desert. Warming her armored hands in front of the fire, the woman turns to the grey being, who is seemingly cold-blooded, as he is curled up closer to the fire than she herself is.
Fera: ...You alright?
The reptilian man just grunts a bit and shuffles in place, adjusting himself in front of the fire.
Fera: My name's Fera. Fera Bolstar. I'm here on behalf of-
Reptilian: Terra. Naturally. You are a Terran, after all. Why else would one be here on this Skrage-forsaken rock?
Fera: I take it you aren't too happy with being here, either. What's your story?
Reptilian: Why should I tell you? You're the enemy, and as pointless as this war is, I have to do my duty... Uphold my honor as a Valienite shogun.
Fera: Shogun? That's awfully high in the ranks of Valienite culture to be deployed as a common foot soldier.
Xyzor: I am Shogun Zyveri Xyzor! I am NOT just a common foot soldier! I was chosen by my world and masters for my skill in the art of combat! My emotions towards this pointless war mean nothing in the face of defending my honor!
Fera turns away, staring back into the fire.
Fera: Not even your life, then...
Xyzor: If I am to die on this rock, it will mean something! The sins of my past will be wiped clean in the eyes of Valienite lore and song! They will sing my praises for millennia!
Fera: Don't you have family back home on Vala? Wives? Children? What exactly is that honor of yours meant to defend?
Xyzor: ...
Fera: *sigh* There are some sins that nobody will be able to forgive you for. And I know that. I do my best to keep a positive outlook on everything, but... I know I'm not perfect. I'm not the model soldier people called me back home.
Xyzor: So you're some pitiful attempt at a Terran supersoldier, then. Captain? General? Leader of your armies?
Fera: None of that. I'm nothing more than a foot soldier. I'd like to think I'm an above-average one, but I'm just a grunt in the Terran army.
Xyzor: Then what great sin could one as low-ranking as you have possibly committed?!
Fera turned back to Xyzor, her eyes filled with guilt.
Fera: I'm the one responsible for this war.
----
The echoing clang of metal echoes through the air as Fera's spear collides with another, sparks flying across her face. She stares down a man in similar armor, wielding identical weaponry, in the midst of a vast sparring hall; kicking him in the leg, she breaks the lock between them, jumping back to regain her ground. Shield in hand, she charges forward, hoping to catch him off guard with the immense weight and momentum. To her shock, however, he raised his own shield, bouncing her charge back with a mighty bash attack.
Fera grunts as she tries to recover from the blow, holding her spear up to protect her body. To her shock, however, the man rushes in, pulling the weapon out of her hands and throwing it to the side. Fera tried to smash her opponent's face in with her shield, but she soon found his spear pointed squarely at her neck. She had to concede... she threw her shield aside.
Intercom: TRAINING SESSION COMPLETE. VICTOR: KOBOL.
Fera takes off her helmet, running her hand through her sweat-drenched hair, and extends a victory handshake to her opponent. Kobol looks at it for a second before returning the gesture. As she turns away from her comrade in arms, a small crowd of onlookers sheering Kobol on, she enters a small door to the side leading to the women's locker room. Fera and other women of varying races are changing clothes and armor, with the Terran changing from her armor into a tank top and shorts. In the middle of this process, a bird-like alien woman with red and white feathers approached her, a look of friendly concern on her face.
Teryx: Yo, Fera. Everything alright?
Fera: Oh, Teryx. Just the girl I wanted to see. You know the meteor shower's tonight, right?
Teryx: ...Yeeeaaah? And your point?
Fera pulled out a pair of metallic strips from her pocket and handed them to her friend.
Fera: Well, I know you've been dating Kobol for a while, and I was thinking you two'd enjoy a night under the stars with each other. Fine dining, beautiful view, the works...
Teryx: F-Fera, how much did these tickets cost? These are for the space net orbiting Terra! This is way bigger than some ritzy hotel or something!
Fera simply shrugged.
Fera: Hey, I wasn't doing anything tonight anyways.
Teryx: Okay, honey, something feels off. Why are you going through all this trouble to do this for Kobol and I? There's no reason-
Fera: It's because you two deserve each other. Propose to him, Teryx. You never know when something major will strike. Take this opportunity to make your move.
Teryx began softly crying out of gratitude, Fera smiling to herself as she closed her locker and began gathering her things, preparing to head home after a long day of military training.
Teryx: Th-Thank you, Fera....
Fera: Just helping the homefront, Terry.
Fera left the military center in a good mood. Those tickets were going to go a long way towards getting Teryx and Kobol together, and she could rest easy knowing that her superiors had given her a week off of duty, giving her ample time to watch the meteor shower on her own time.
She walked through the streets of Reagan City, the capital of Terra that she had been told was named after a famous and beloved Old Earth president. Looking up at the stars as she walked, she thought about her family; it had been three months since she had been able to come home and see her mom and brother. Maybe tonight would be the perfect time for a reunion.
Her priority now, however, was getting home.
She eventually made her way back to her apartment, a decently-sized place that was entirely provided for her by her job in the military. She often wondered why exactly the Terrans had such a vast military, considering the worst threats that ever came to the Solus system could be dispatched with essentially one squad- it was surprisingly peaceful despite having so many races with such vastly different cultures.
She supposed that may have been due to the Catalogers, the ancient race who watched over and created the Solus system for one express purpose: conservation of life. In their multifaceted eyes, life in the universe was slowly withering away due to the natural process of entropy. Thanks to them, the races of the universe were united in a perfectly crafted solar system, designed to keep all the life they could safe. Even her own kind, the Terrans came from this background, leaving their home of Old Earth when ruin faced them. She had always been told that Old Earth was a haven of mighty warriors and conquerors, tales that she had been raised on... and what inspired her to be part of Terra's military. Even then, the Cataloger's watchful eyes prevented large-scale war from breaking out, so warriors like those in the old stories never really needed to intervene...
As Fera slipped on a sweatshirt to head outside and watch the meteor shower, she thought harder on the topic for a bit. Perhaps, in the eyes of the Catalogers, the Solus system was intended to represent the unity that had come of the initiative. It was like one big giant organism, with everything working in tandem to ensure homeostasis.
If that was the case, she was glad to be an antibody.
Just before she was about to head outside, her phone rang; a call from Teryx. She answered, hoping things were going well on the date she had set up for them.
Fera: Hey, what's up? How's the stargazing go-
Teryx: Fera! Look at the sky! NOW!
Fera was confused, but Teryx's urgency lead her to take action. Her window didn't seem to display anything out of the ordinary, but upon seeing strange flashing lights out of the corner of her eye, she ran out of her apartment to get a closer glimpse. What she saw was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
There was no meteor shower. Instead, some sort of massive portal had opened in the sky, a gaping, cavernous maw that flashed with multicolored energy. It was a massive distance away away from Terra, but in the Solus system, nothing was too far away from anything. After a few brilliant flashes, the void released an even stronger light that forced Fera and everyone else nearby to shut their eyes. When she opened them again, the portal was gone, leaving behind a large ringed planet. This massive, unknown world consumed the entirety of the horizon, sending chills of fear and anxiety down Fera's body.
Something was wrong here. Something horribly, horribly wrong.
----
It had been two weeks since the appearance of the massive superplanet's arrival in the Solus system. Despite it seemingly being nothing more than a benign, normal planet, Fera and everybody else knew that no normal planet could teleport. Nothing had happened yet, but the Terran army was running its troops through more and more extensive exercises on a daily basis.
The people were scared.
Fera was back in her apartment, physically and mentally exhausted. They'd been working everybody so hard over the planet's appearance; they'd actually temporarily dubbed it "Coronite" due to the intense auroras that flared over the poles of the planet on a nightly basis. She didn't know what would happen next, but in the back of her mind, she knew it wouldn't be good.
Her phone rang. Teryx. This would either be a much-needed breather or something to make her situation even worse than it already was.
Fera: Hey, Terry...
Teryx: Fera, something's going on in the plaza outside the military base. There's some nutcase ranting about the new planet and things are getting hectic. We need help.
Fera closed her phone and ran out the door. Something terrible was definitely about to happen.
----
A small crowd had gathered around the man standing in the plaza. Fera was wary and cautious; his bright green robes didn't look like anything she had ever seen before, and though he looked human, there was still something off about his biology.
Strange Man: I'm telling you all this for your own good! That planet is nothing but a trap! Your lives are forfeit if you set foot on that rock!
Despite the intensity of the words he was saying, there wasn't a lot of anger or emotion behind his words. He seemed calm and collected despite seemingly trying to rile up everybody's emotions- the emotions of people who were scared of Coronite already. Fera walked up to the man, wanting to know more about what was happening.
Fera: Excuse me, sir. I'm Fera Bolstar, member of the Solus United Military. You're going to need to answer a few questions-
Lucius: Military? A position of influence, thank goodness. My name is Lucius, and I have an urgent message to deliver to you and your commanders. It's a matter of life and death!
Fera: ...Mr. Lucius, what are you doing here? What is the purpose of this demonstration?
Looking up close, Fera could tell that something was definitely off about Lucius. His ears were pointed, his skin was exceedingly pale, his muscle mass was near nonexistent, and the bone structure that she could see just didn't look human at all. Just what was this man?
Lucius: The purpose of me being on this rock at all is to tell you this... Stay far away from that planet at all costs. It's nothing more than a deathtrap, a graveyard for anybody who comes near it.
Fera was confused; this man was talking as if he had been on the superplanet, witnessed horrors beyond imagining. But that was impossible... There was clearly something going on with him, whether that was insanity or something more disconcerting.
Fera: Sir, I'm going to need you to come with me for questioning.
Lucius grabbed Fera's shoulders, the burning intensity behind his voice growing.
Lucius: Listen, we do not have any time to discuss this. Listen to me! Your civilization is in danger-
Fera had seen enough. Lucius was definitely unhinged. She could answer the question of what he was on about later; for now, he needed to be apprehended. She grabbed his arm, twisted it backwards, and pinned him to the ground. The man didn't so much as grunt in response.
Fera: I'm sorry about this, but you're under arrest for assaulting an officer of the law. We're going to have to detain you until further notice.
Lucius: Ma'am, you are making a grave error here. I have important information-
Fera: Tell it to your interrogators.
Fera walked the strange man inside the building, with nary a word or twitch of resistance. He genuinely didn't seem to want to harm anybody, but everything surrounding him was cloaked in a veil of mystery and otherworldliness. Maybe the interrogators would get answers about who he was... but for now, she had to report to her commander.
----
Lucius had been detained, locked behind bars for his refusal to explain himself. Meanwhile, suspicions about the superplanet had begun to grow, and studies were being tested in the atmosphere above the strange mass. It was another two weeks before Fera and her squadron were called in by their superiors.
The leader of the Solus United Military was one Pyrit Gangue. Gangue wasn't very strong for a military leader, but he was smart. The mustachioed man could outwit, outplan, and outthink any threat imaginable- he always had some plan tucked away in that head of his, but it wasn't often that somebody could find out what he had planned until the deed had been done. He was a self-admitted coward, but he knew that he could avoid danger for both himself and for others by planning ahead.
In Fera's eyes, he was more of a politician than military leader, simply due to how conniving he could be at times, but it wasn't her role in the machine to complain. A true warrior had to stay loyal and disciplined to the cause, of course. That's what she had been raised on.
Gangue stood before Fera's squad, tweaking his mustache nervously as he warmed up for his big announcement.
Gangue: Squadron DV-6, I believe you are all aware of the superplanet dubbed Coronite that appeared in the Solus system just over one month ago, correct? Well, I have some... important news to share with you all today.
Teryx: (whispering) This isn't gonna be good, Fera.
Fera: (whispering) Shhh! Wait for the commanding officer to talk.
Gangue: Our analysis of the planet has shown that, at its core, lies a source of vast power the likes of which have never been documented before. It's not thermal, radiation, or anything else... and whatever it is, it's strong. The Terran government unanimously decided to send an occupation squadron to the planet, drilling to the core in order to unlock its secrets. However... other governments interjected.
This definitely wasn't good.
Gangue: Half the species in the Solus system interjected to this proposal for one reason or another. Proximity, cultural shenanigans, resources, the works... They all decided that they had more valid claims to owning the planet than Terra. And that's not even getting into the people who claimed that the energy should be left alone... Rubbish. The point is, while the general populace is scared senseless of the rock, behind the scenes, it's been all-out political warfare over a territory debate. That's why-
Fera was confused. Why had nobody been informed about this territory debate beforehand? And what energy were they talking about? Was this why Lucius had said the planet was dangerous in the first place?
Gangue: That's why we're going behind their backs. We're taking Coronite for Terra, and this squadron will be the platoon of brave heroes who will blaze these bright new trails for us!
Oh no. No. No.
Teryx: Fera? You ok?
Fera's mind was racing. Not only was her commander sending her and her allies off to some completely uncharted and possibly deadly planet, but they were doing so in such a blatantly illegal manner that she knew this was wrong. Why was Gangue doing this? Why was he not only promoting this idea, but being the one to come up with it in the first place?
Gangue: Ms. Bolstar. Attention, please.
Fera snapped out of her thought-consumed state, her mind cleared and focused on a single point. What was happening here was wrong. She, as a member of military personnel, could not let this stand.
Fera: Commander Gangue, this is illegal.
Gangue: Wh-What?!
Fera stepped forward, Teryx making a reach towards her as if to prevent her from going through what she was about to do. She towered over the short man, ready to make her intentions known.
Fera: Sir, this violates nearly a hundred distinct interplanetary laws. You are risking the lives of this unit not for the sake of exploring this new and most likely lethal planet, but for harvesting its resources... and doing this behind the back of every other civilization in the Solus system, no less. You've been denied clearance from personnel higher-ranking than you as well... What is your motivation here?
Gangue: Bolstar, I don't care what we have to do to get this operation done. We're doing it, and that's final.
Fera: But what reason do you possibly have to-
Gangue: If we don't harness that energy first, somebody else is gonna do it. And when they do, I guarantee you the first thing they'll do is try to conquer and subjugate the Solus system.
Fera: And what evidence do we have that Terra won't immediately use it for that very purpose?
The squadron began murmuring to themselves about the argument between grunt and commander. Gangue was visibly getting more and more angry and flustered, yet Fera remained just as strong and stalwart as ever. She would not back down.
Gangue: I'm not going on with this. Get back in line. We're going through with this operation, and that's an order.
Fera: No. There's no way I can morally let this be carried out! I'll- I'll do everything in my power to stop this travesty from happening!
Gangue threw his hands up in exasperation, his face flushed with anger... But in one instant, it all drained away, giving way to a form of morbid curiosity. He turned back to Fera with a wide grin on his face- she was getting a bit worried.
Gangue: Incorrect, Bolstar. You won't be stopping this operation. It's cancelled, kaput. I'm even going to tell the rest of the Solus system about this... The jig's up.
It... wasn't going through? What was with this sudden change of heart?
Gangue: Because a squadron's not going to be the one to take the planet. No. That's your sole responsibility.
Fera was silent... and then the full weight of what she was being told to do hit her like a brick to the skull. She didn't even know how to respond to the audacity of what her commanding officer had just told her... It was then Teryx rushed to her side once more.
Teryx: Commander Gangue, are you insane? Do you have any idea what exactly it is you are proposing? This is insanity!
Gangue: This trial is on Ms. Bolstar's shoulder's now. She'll have to prove herself that brave, noble warrior she fancies herself as and conquer the planet herself. If she declines, I'll have her court marshalled and executed. The same goes for anyone else who objects. Any dissenters?
The room fell silent. Fera stood alone... her iron will shaken.
----
The news came as quickly to the rest of the Solus system as it did to Fera.
It was swiftly announced that Terra had dropped any pretenses about wanting to obtain Coronite for itself, and proposed a challenge to the rest of the races in the Solus system based around Fera's defense against the original operation. Every species that felt that they deserved to have ownership of Coronite would send not an army to battle over it, but one single solitary representative. It would be a battle between not groups of strong warriors, but the best of the best that everyone in the running would have to offer. These "Heroes" would engage in battle, with the final victor winning the planet for their homeworld. It was a battle royale, winner-take-all, for the fate of the entire superplanet, and the valuable energy source housed within.
Fera was visited by Kobol and Teryx the following day. The mood was somber, and the reason for the visit was swiftly revealed to be a letter from Gangue himself. The message was simple and clear; Fera was being drafted to serve as Terra's Hero. No way out of it was presented, as it went on to say that refusing this "honor" would only serve her military ranking being stripped from her and shot on sight by her former squadmates. It was death or obedience for her.
The room was silent.
Teryx: ...I'm sorry, Fera.
Kobol nodded his head in agreement.
Fera: It's not your fault, guys... *sigh* I can't believe this is happening. Thanks to me, there's an all-out war between the people of Solus. I'm a disgrace.
Teryx: What are you going to do about it?
Fera looked at her friends for a second. The two people who had gotten her through her intensely trying life this far... She gave them a hug before getting up to start packing her things.
Fera: I can't do anything but fight to stop this, now can I? I need to do everything I can to make this right, even if that means giving them what they want. You two... Stay safe, for old time's sake.
Fera strutted out of her apartment, walking towards her destiny as she was soon to be shipped away to the surface of Coronite to carry out her mission. Her story finally told, Fera returned to the present, lying back in the sand as she collapsed with a heavy exhaustion. Xyzor, who had been listening to her story, gave a grunt as if to signify he was still conflicted.
Xyzor: ...So this meaningless conflict is all thanks to you?
Fera: I didn't want any of this. I stood up for what I thought was right and... And now everybody on this forsaken rock is stuck here fighting for their lives. All because of me...
Xyzor: I'll say this now, Terran. You have nothing to be at fault for here.
Fera: No, I-
Xyzor: You stood up for your beliefs. You showed courage in the face of something you thought was wrong, and the result turned out to be this pointless conflict. You yourself are not the cause of this. If I had acted as you did, perhaps I would not be here... But I do not believe this event is your fault.
Fera: Thanks, but... So many people joined this battle, either willingly or unwillingly. Only one is supposed to make it off this planet alive, and we don't even know if it's safe to inhabit! It's a slaughterfest, all for the sake of whatever's buried at the center of this rock...
Xyzor: I have confidence this conflict will be resolved, Terran. One way or another, everything will turn out alright.
Fera: I'm beginning to think that crazy Lucius guy was right. This planet is a deathtrap- but we made it one.
----
The silent hum of electric lights was the only sound in the slick, shiny halls of the Terran prison center. Only one cell was occupied; it was the one filled by Lucius, sitting calmly as a female guard stood watch over him. He didn't seem to mind being in there... As long as he was able to warn people, he could endure any imprisonment. He had already been through enough of one...
Guard: You've been awfully quiet there, prisoner.
Lucius: Oh, me? Don't mind me. I'm just thinking about... What is it you've been calling it? Coronide? I still urgently need to speak with your leaders about it, but if my detainment helps to reduce suspicion, I understand-
Guard: You know nobody's going to that rock until the Heroes are done with it, right? Least of all you.
Lucius's demeanor shifted for the first time- he became visibly shocked at what he had heard.
Lucius: I-I'm sorry, what was that?
Guard: Some dumb battle royale initiative one of the higher-ups came up with. Every race who wanted ownership of Coronite is sending a single individual to fight for their name on it. Last one standing wins. Why they didn't send actual military is beyond me...
Lucius: You- you've doomed everybody, you know that?! Your mad search for conquering the universe is going to kill off all life in the universe!
The guard pressed a button on her belt and electricity emitted from the walls, shocking Lucius onto the floor. The man was panting, clearly in pain, but somehow, his skin was the only thing that was singed, his clothes completely negating the electric charge.
Guard: Silence! Shut it with your conspiracy theories before I come in and beat them out of you. Oh, and if you somehow think you can escape, those bars are constantly regenerating metal. They can be broken, sure, but they'll just grow right back. A nutcase like you is never getting out of here until we verify what's up with you.
Lucius: I'm willing to cooperate! Just let me-
Another blast of electric charge. Lucius's protest was silenced immediately, while his guard barely looked bothered.
Lucius: *panting* Yes, officer. I understand perfectly.
Lucius went silent again for a bit... then he perked back up, as if the previous events hadn't just put him through intensive emotional and physical stress.
Lucius: Hey, uh... Have you ever heard of the process of nervous plasmakinesis?
The guard seemed suspicious, but she didn't throw the lever just yet.
Lucius: It's nothing much. It's a simple matter of controlling the impulses of the nervous system, releasing the electricity and energy en masse... Plasmakinesis. It doesn't even have to be my own impulses. Any source of energy can empower it. I suppose your kind might refer to it as magic...
Guard: What kind of nutcase Terran are you? There's no such thing as ma-
Lucius: 
With that strange, incomprehensible, and almost eldritch sound emitting from Lucius's mouth, a flare of green energy flared up from the throat of his guard. She collapsed to the ground, the inside of her mouth, throat, and even the corners of her eyes charred black from the plasma. She was dead.
Lucius: You must be sorely mistaken. I'm not a "Terran".
He flicked his finger, a blade of the same green electricity extending from it. He sliced the bars, and the extreme heat sliced through them instantly. Normally, the bars would have instantly regenerated as the guard had said. Lucius's blade, however, was so hot that the slice was instantly cauterized; with the metal assuming it was entirely intact, it only regenerated a little and then remained cut. The man simply ducked under the bars and walked out, staring at the corpse of the woman.
Lucius: I'm sorry, ma'am. But I need to make my way to that planet as soon as I possibly can. I don't care who I'm going to have to kill to get you all far, far away... It's for the good of every sentient lifeform in the universe.
===Chapter 2: Survival===
The desert was bathed in bright, vibrant sunlight. The strange ruins of an eroded building baked in the sun, as silence settled over the area. It was as if the land was devoid of all life, all signs that anything existed for miles around.
Then, the silence was broken with the sound of a powerful explosion.
Parts of the building crumbled to the ground as their structural integrity was compromised, leaving massive piles of dust in the air. The loud crashes echoed through the desert... Then silence fell again, everything returning to how it had been moments before. No sign of anything moving or breathing...
Gargan: ...That was a close one.
The bulky Vulkonian did his best to hide behind one of the intact pillars, wiping the dust out of his eyes. His thick, craggy skin deflected most of the rubble and impact from the explosion, but it had still wracked his arm with intense pain. He winced as he clutched his shoulder, which was stained yellow; definitely bleeding. That last shot definitely made its mark. He only had one good arm left... He didn't want to have to replace that one, too.
Gargan looked over to his side, checking out his partner. The tiny knight, glad in shiny green armor and a helmet with oversized glowing horns, was cowering behind a pillar, shivering intensely out of sheer terror. Guess the brave hero facade dropped as soon as real danger showed up. Then again, Gesinesans like only communicated through those weird beepy chirps... Not the best thing to have when you're trying to survive via quietness.
Gargan: *whispering* Psst! Retron! Shut it!
Retron stopped the beeping, but the cowering continued as he tried to shrink down, hiding himself. Gargan was beginning to have second thoughts about partnering up with this guy.
Trying to get a grasp on the situation, he tried sneaking a peek behind the pillar; he was almost immediately shot directly in the eye, the bullet just barely grazing the side of his face. Sure enough, the Arakan sniper that had been harassing the two was casually walking in circles, trying to talk to the two of them while pointing his rifle at their cover. The crustacean's reflexes would've put any professional athlete to shame.
Skoru'Da: I know you're there. Just come out and we can settle this peacefully.
The pair was silent.
Skoru'Da: ...No? Do you really think you can take me on, one-on-one?
The crustacean loaded his rifle with a set of red metallic bullets- no doubt made from Glycinium, an alloy designed for warfare that easily exploded when exposed to a vast temperature change. He fired into the sand and an explosion rocked the desert almost immediately.
Skoru'Da: Dead.
He fired into the sand again, this time closer to the ruins.
Skoru'Da: Dead.
He fired a barrage of three shots, each one closer than the last to Gargan and Retron's position. The latter ducked down even smaller into a little ball, with Gargan trying to keep his bulky frame under the cover of the ruins to his back.
Skoru'Da: That's all it takes. I could have killed you already by now... but I want to talk. Come out or I actually start trying.
Thinking quickly, Gargan grabbed a rock beside him and hurled it up into the air. Surely enough, it was sniped down in less than a second, but Gargan had been counting how many bullets he had loaded- that was the last one in the clip. Moving swiftly, he popped his head over his cover, waving his hand over the side of his synthetic arm to transform it into gatling-gun mode. He propped the gun on the ruins, taking aim squarely at his assailant, only for the crustacean to have loaded another bullet as well. The two were staring down each other's sights...
Skoru'Da: Your move, then.
Gargan: I can take a hit. Can you?
No response. Now, it was just a matter of who would take the first shot...
----
The sun beat down on the three as the battle came to a standstill. Nobody dared move lest the other attack. Retron had passed out at this point, and Gargan was panting heavily under the intense heat. He was losing more and more energy...
The Arakan stood still, slowly closing his eyes. He was getting tired. Now was the time to-
???: Hi-yah!
The ground exploded as a large flower emerged from underneath Skoru'Da, launching him far into the air. The flower opened and a slender green figure emerged- a Lillius, teenage, female. Gargan was legitimately shocked; the Lillus were pacifists. Why would they send anyone to fight over this rock? He grew even more confused when the girl raised her arm, firing a large vine from the ground that grabbed the sniper, smashing him down into the sand. No Lillius had that kind of power.
Skoru'Da: What the-
The Arakan quickly retaliated, grabbing his rifle and firing a quick shot directly into the vine. It was torn to shreds quickly, and the crustacean rolled to the side and took aim at the girl.
Skoru'Da: You little... That's it!
Retron rolled out from behind his pillar, made a loud beeping noise, and thrust his hands in the direction of the girl. A massive wall immediately formed out of various blocks- the Gesinesan natural ability to manipulate hard light. Now Gargan remembered why he brought the coward along.
Switching off the gatling gun, Gargan pulled down the switch on his cybernetic arm and the all-too-familiar valves released along his wrist. He looked towards Skoru'Da and made a punching motion, and his hand flew forward, propelled by a powerful burst of steam. Connected by a chain to his arm, the hand rocketed off in the sniper's direction grabbing him by the shoulder.
The Arakan caught on quickly, and while Gargan tried dragging him in for a beatdown, he swiftly turned around and delivered a kick to his face seconds before impact. His target stunned, he unloaded a pair of shots to his shoulder and chest, which spewed yellow blood everywhere. Retron lept forward, sword in hand, hoping to catch him off guard, but he too was shot down, his entire floating hand exploding into hardlight cubes.
The sniper looked around, victory seeming certain to him... but he had forgotten the Lillius girl behind him. As Gargan clutched his chest, trying to stem the flow of blood, the Lillius pulled out a staff-like weapon and threw it outward. It extended into a whip, curling around Skoru'Da's rifle and pulling it out of his hands. He angrily turned to her, but it was too late, as she thrust her arm forward and another vine emerged from the ground, lifting him up and smashing him onto the hard stone of the building.
His shell cracked, the Arakan began leaking his blue lifeblood all over the ancient ruins. Gargan was happy. An eye for an eye- in this case, the man was getting off easy, considering he has also blown off Retron's hand. An electrified crackle echoed across the horizon, and some sort of EMP charge burst high in the sky above them... Some sort of signal that one of the competitors on this rock had been done in.
The Lillius wasn't done. Gargan and Retron watched, clutching their wounds, as she walked up to the horrified sniper as he feebily tried to back away. She stepped off her flower, clutching her staff in both hands and raising it to the sky.
Lillius Girl: This is your honorable death. Ecanruf eht! May your soul receive the judgement it deserves!
She brought the staff down on him, cracking his shell and spilling more blood. The girl had saved them... Though now she was coming towards them. Gargan tensed as pain coursed through his wounded muscle, and Retron went back to his rapid scared beeping.
The girl knelt before Gargan, the tip of her staff glowing with light.
Raune: Don't panic! Don't panic. I'm not here to harm you. I am Princess Raune of the Lotisid Kingdom. I am here to heal you.
The sun began to set as Gargan lay against one of the pillars of the ruins, at Raune's behest. He winced as pain shot through his arm once more.
Raune: I am aware that it hurts. Just stay still.
Gargan: It's fine. It's not like this hasn't happened before or anything.
Raune: *angry* You've just been shot! Your arm has already been lost before! I'm being completely serious, stay still for just one second...
Gargan complied as the girl clutched her staff, holding it over his wounds. Some floral scent filled the air as she began chanting, and a soft green light began emanating from the staff's tip- Gargan watched in silent amazement as his wounds clotted and healed themselves within seconds, the pain somehow magically vanishing.
Gargan: ...Impressive.
Raune: Lillius aromancy. It's a medical technology that causes extreme cell growth in injured areas by tracking down areas it deems injured, encouraging the body to heal itself naturally. There's natural floral essences to dull and soothe the pain as well.
Gargan: Why haven't I heard about anything like this before?
Raune: My people are... It is a long story. They do not want this ability to fall into the wrong hands.
Within seconds, the wound was healed enough for Gargan to move without anything more than a little stiffness and soreness. The girl moved on to Retron, shining the light on him and causing his destroyed hand to slowly reform itself from tiny blocks. He simply made a cute chirp and closed his digitalized eyes in happiness... She really was there to help.
Gargan: So, uh... Why're you here? Last I heard, Lillius were pacifists.
Raune: Everyone has had their reasons for joining this conflict. I could ask the same of you.
Gargan: Touche. Well, I'm the Vulkon "Hero", though I guess you could judge that at first glance.
Raune: My mother would often go on long trips across the Solus system for diplomatic missions. She taught me about so many other cultures... Is it true the Vulkon culture relies on self-improvement as their core virtue?
Gargan: Pretty close. We all get raised on the ideals of becoming the best individuals we can be, no outside help or augmentations. Just plain, pure, unadulterated strength... So I was an outcast because I decided to get a cybernetic arm after my old one was sliced off. They don't want to sully themselves coming here. That's why they sent a bounty hunter- someone they deemed "lesser".
Gargan motioned towards the happy beeping Retron, who was flailing his newly regenerated hand around like a child playing with a ragdoll.
Gargan: I literally have no idea what this guy's story is. I found him a few years ago on a bounty mission. He just sort of... tagged along. I don't think he even fully knows what's going on. Truth is, though, he's the only one willing to gimme the time of day, and he's pretty powerful, so I guess you could call us friends.
Retron waved with his reformed hand, a simple yet happy expression across his face. He really didn't want to hurt anybody of his own volition- he just wanted to protect his friends.
Raune: I... I'm sorry, Gargan.
Gargan: *shrug* It's fine. I was never that social anyways. But yeah, spill. Why is some princess fighting for a race that doesn't fight? Something's up.
Raune sighed before beginning her explanation.
----
Estildum, capital city of Lillius. A watery land with massive towers of plant life emerging from the liquid surface like lily pads, stretching high into the sky above. This was Raune's home... and the place where she held an important dicussion an older Lillius, whose skin was shriveled and browning- her elderly mother.
Raune: ...Eo'hato... (...Mother...)
Elderly Lillius: Na se kanoto vota mi saphora, Raune. (This is not becoming of my daughter, Raune.)
Raune: Nei'ha, eo'hato... (Please, mother...)
Raune began crying emerald-green tears, the trademark of Lillius internal fluids and chlorophyll. The situation for her planet was getting worse by the second.
Alra: Se Coronite notorum a'ko filia mak'ano notare. Mai'h na noto. (This "Coronite" is unsafe and our ways forbid war. We will not fight.)
Lillius Advisor: Sei notare na'aha folre, Alra Pedisio. (The war is coming regardless, Priestess Alra.)
Raune: Vah! Sei notare na'aha, Eo'hato. (Yes! The war is coming, Mother.)
Alra: Saphora, vetra! Atatra! Mi saphora vetrah anok mi'e a'ko Lillius mak'ano. (Daughter, no! Silence! My own daughter will not betray me and the traditions of Lillius.)
Raune: Lillius mak'ano vetrah aleo kurad mai'h, eo'hato. Naheo se notare t'eato lil vis vetra noto. Mai'h kah noto! (Lillius's traditions will not protect us all, Mother. This great war will ravage our planet if we do not fight. We must fight!)
Alra: Atatra! Alra Pedisio tare me, Raune! (Silence! Priestess Alra commands you, Raune!)
The young Lillius looked to the ground in sorrow. She knew she had to fix things somehow, but she just wasn't able to convince her mother of what needed to be done.
Raune: ...Mi'e noto. (...I will fight.)
Alra: Aa? (What?)
Raune slammed her staff on the ground in defiance.
Raune: Mi'e noto. Me na hol'noto i'h hol'norla uk'taso. (I will fight. You aren't brave or intelligent enough to understand.)
Alra: Sephora... (Daughter...)
Raune: Mi'e asume Hero res'o nota mai lilis! (I will be the "Hero" that will heal this wound in our worlds!)
Alra became enraged, thrusting her staff at her child intimidatingly.
Alra: *enraged* Atatra! Atat- (Silence! Silen-)
Raune lept into the air, pulling her mother's staff out of her hands and throwing her onto the ground, out of her flowery throne. Grabbing a small pendant from around her neck, Raune began focusing as vines began growing from the floor of the natural building.
Raune: Vetra, eo'hato. Na me atatra. (No, mother. I will not be silenced.)
The vines wrapped around Alra as she feebly reached to grab her staff once again. Her limited green color faded to brown as the vines drained what little life she had left away, her movements slowing to a crawl before ceasing entirely.
Raune's mother was dead.
The girl kept concentrating as she forced the vines to pierce into her body. They began supplying the nutrients they had stolen from the older Lillius, filling her body with power and strength. By the time it was done, the young girl had truly bloomed into a powerful ruler- one who now was strong enough to do what she had to for her people.
Raune: Voeh? (Advisor?)
The advisor was awestruck; it was either due to the horror of the event he had just witnessed or the beauty of the new monarch who had blossomed before him. As terrifying as the ordeal was, by Lillius law, Raune had just proven herself a more capable ruler than her mother in at least one way... He had no choice but to see if she would manage to be a better ruler in any other way.
Advisor: *gulp* Vah? (Yes?)
Raune: Me vioso a'ko noto se notare. (I'm going off to war.)
----
Gargan: Hey, lady! Snap out of it! What's the story?
Raune had gone into full flashback territory. She looked down at her leg and saw Retron shaking it as hard as his feeble limbless hands possibly could. How long was she out for?
Raune: I, uh... I came on a diplomatic mission from my homeworld. I'm here to end the war, not fight in it.
Gargan and Retron both began laughing.
Gargan: I'm sorry, but didn't you just bash that guy's brains in? With a whole "honorable death speech and everything?
Raune: *indignant* D-Did I not just save your lives?
Gargan: Yeah, you did. And I'm forever grateful for that. But you had no reason to jump in and kill the guy yourself- that was all you.
Raune was silent, as were Gargan and Retron.
Gargan: Hey, uh... If you're really trying to end this war... You're going to need all the help you can get. I'm fully expe-
Raune bowed before Gargan with a smile on her face.
Raune: If you're willing to help, I'll gladly take it. I appreciate this more than you know.
Retron beeped happily that the duo had now become a trio- in his mind, they'd most likely be friends as long as physically possible, with nothing splitting them up.
Retron was not the brightest one in the group.
Gargan: Heh... Was expecting some resistance or just general "Oh no, I can do this on my own" nonsense. Nice to see you're actually willing to let us help you.
Raune: This war is fought not with armies, but with singular combatants. Any form of teamwork will be the most powerful weapon possible.
The trio sat down in the sand and began talking, getting to know each other better. The scene fades out as it rises into the night sky. Perhaps this was a sign of how the conflict would be broken- through a sense of unity.
----
Fera had made her way from the harsh desert to an alien jungle, filled with a massive beautiful array of various, otherworldly flowers, glowing vibrantly in the darkness of the night. Despite the beautiful scenery, she was on edge once again. Xyzor had left her in the middle of the night, and she was back to being all on her own. She was beginning to miss Teryx and Kobol a lot...
Suddenly, she heard an echoing stomp crash through the forest, startling a few bird-like creatures hanging among the trees. Fera ducked backwards, shield at the ready, as she saw a massive structure moving across the ground. Trees fell down and flowers were crushed as a massive scorpion-like creature walked through the dense forest, armed with large mechanical turrets and dotted with glowing blue eyes all across its body.
The creature let out a low growling roar, eyes glowing brighter as Fera glared back at it from the shadows. Thousands of miles away, on another planet entirely, the beast's commanders watched, a cluster of small beetle-like aliens hunched over monitors and seemingly monitoring the scorpion's movements and vision. A slightly larger beetle, dressed in a more ornate uniform, stood to address the others.
Beetles: Pi! (Sir!)
Leader Beetle: Pi pio pi! Pi tii! (Gentlemen, with the combined military technology and sheer natural might bestowed upon us by our bio-genetically enhanced Girtabilium, we will rise above the standards placed upon our fair race by the other denizens of the Solus system. We will conquer the superplanet known as Coronite, and rise to a new era of power! No longer will we be seen as the "smallest and weakest". No...)
The leader went silent for a second, seemingly just for dramatic effect. He had to own the moment, after all.
Leader Beetle: Piiiii! (The Wim Plo will become the strongest force left in the galaxy!)
The smaller beetles began cheering without taking their eyes off of the monitors. The scorpion, now revealed as the massive beast Girtabilium, kept slowly carving its way through the dense jungle. However, despite the eyes covering its body, the behemoth failed to notice something...
Fera lurking in the shadows, looking for the perfect method to strike.
She didn't like having to follow up on Gangue's twisted order, but right now, she saw no other option. This hulking behemoth was loaded with all manner of twisted machinery and weaponry, something that not even her shield could deflect. Her eyes glanced up and down its body, and eventually, she saw it- a glowing blue fuel vein leading into the biggest and most powerful of the guns. It was high on top of its body, so she would have to climb up the trees in order to reach it...
The beast marched below with its many eyes, all linked to a mind too incompetent to actually see Fera travelling up the nearby tree. Those eyes were nothing but weak points for her to strike with the whole of her might... A means to an end in order to down this giant beast.
The cover of night aiding her, Fera lept off the tree and landed on the massive gun station perched atop the beast stalking its way through the jungle. A silent swipe of her spear sliced the tubes that pumped glowing blue fluid into the central gun, and the liquid nanofuel splattered all over her as the gun shut down.
The Wim Plo monitor station noticed the central energy cannon went down, but the scientist monitoring it simply assumed it was cooling down from overheating. It tended to do that- the Girtabilium's weaponry was so powerful it tended to overexhaust itself. With the press of a few buttons, the other guns remotely shut down.
Fera spat some of the nanofuel out of her mouth, trying to brush some of the glowing blue fluid off of her face. The guns were down. Just what she wanted. Now all she had to contend with was-
Fera: Crap.
The beast had finally realized someone was standing on top of it, and had raised its stinger tail to strike Fera from behind. She barely felt the wind pass by her before she instinctively dodged to the side, the tail embedding itself into the central gun tower. The warrior tumbled to the ground, watching as the monster before her tore its tail out of the metal shaft, hurling it off of the central body. Back at their home base the Wim Plo command team was beginning to grow confused, wondering why so many parts of their dreadnaught were no longer operational.
Girtabilium raised one of its mightly claws, also covered in eyes, to strike at Fera. Seizing her opportunity, she vaulted off the ground with her spear, landing squarely on the claw as she shoved the weapon's point right into one of the beast's glowing spots. The monster bellowed a low, piercing groan that echoed across the jungle, showing that its nigh-impenetrable hide sheltered something that could be bested.
She could do this.
The Wim Plo engineers scattered in fear as the cameras inside their beast's eyes were destroyed one by one. Fera was rolling all over their weapon's back, smashing as many eyes as she could and tricking Girtabilium into stabbing or crushing those she couldn't reach. They hadn't seen their unseen assailant leaping on to it, despite having hundreds of focal points, and now it was being blinded to them. They were losing their sight and their grasp on the beast.
Leader Beetle: Piiiiiii! Pi! (No! Stop! We need to get this under control!)
But nothing could get the Girtabilium back under control.
Fera jumped from the claw of her target to the platform on the back. She had been nicked by the tail and claws a bit, and was bleeding profusely from more places than she cared to admit. Still, her plan had succeeded. The beast was blind. Victory over this behemoth was within reach. Her motivation to win was skyrocketing.
Unbeknownst to her, the beast slowly readied its tail for another strike. The strange assailant has inadvertently freed it from the control of those who had bound it to their will, breaking the devices controlling its mind and muscle movements. It had gone from an engine of war to a massive predator, following nothing but its own instincts. And those instincts were telling it to attack the prey atop its back, bleeding from all over. It was vulnerable. Now was the time to strike.
The tail swooped downward.
Fera only noticed the tail when it was just about to strike her. She didn't have any time for a reaction- she couldn't have put up her shield in defense. She was about to embrace the end when... for a split second... a spear flew through the air, stabbing through the tail in a massive burst of insect shell and fluids. Fera had no idea what had happened, and before she could process it further, the spear vanished into the ether.
Girtabilium's damaged tail flopped to the ground, leaking blood onto the forest floor. Every nerve in its system was on fire. Between the massive hole in its tail and the multitude of eyes that had been stabbed out, the hulking beast was losing too much blood to be able to sustain itself. It perished then and there, another EMP burst blasting through the air to signify its death.
Back on the Wim Plo base, things were chaos. They had lost their only weapon. Their one chance to become something greater than themselves... Gone. Fera, meanwhile, just laid back against a tree and began tending her wounds. She didn't like the idea of having to put down a creature like this, even if it was being used as a weapon of war. She could barely even start to comprehend why people were so desperately fighting over something that nobody understood in the slightest. But above all else, the last thing on her mind before she nodded off to sleep under the alien stars... was that phantom spear.
Fera: What... was that?
----
Lucius ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm down after the events of the last few days. Since his escape from the Terran prison, he had managed to commandeer a small craft and make his way onto Coronite, making a beeline for the snowy mountaintop he saw as his destination. Despite a tense crash landing, he had nearly made it to his focal point- a strange, decaying citadel situated on the mountain's peak.
Lucius: *pant* Here we are again. If only I had a better understanding of how those flight controls worked... I could have salvaged that ship. A pity.
Lucius walked through the empty halls, the cold not fazing him at all- as if he was built for this climate. Looking over all the deserted, cold rooms, he eventually came across a large balcony with a mysterious device sitting in it, glowing with a green flame like the ones he himself created. Sticking his hand directly into the flame, he absorbed it, his vitality recharging almost immediately- even minor wounds faded away in the flame.
Fully restored, Lucius looked over the horizon, witnessing a barrage of explosions off in the distance. Every so often, a burst of electromagnetic energy flew through the air, crackling through the sky as if to signal something. Perhaps a death. The beings he had met were right- a war had begun over his planet.
Absolute fools, the lot of them.
Lucius clenched his fist and turned into the interior halls of the citadel. Stored in here were boundless volumes of information, on top of the true object of his interest. It could take forever for him to be able to undo every containment seal in this place, but he didn't care. He would do whatever it took to save both his world and the others he had come across...
No matter the cost.
===Chapter 3: Crushed Spirits===
Fera sat down under the jungle canopy, shading her from the intense sun overhead. She had taken off her armor, leaving her exposed for the time being… but right now, being able to stretch and cool off before continuing her trek onward across the mysterious planet. Her skin glistening with sweat and morning dew, she vigorously elbowed the tree behind her, causing small purple fruit to fall down from above and land near her.
Using her helmet as a makeshift bowl, Fera began crushing up the fruit, stirring everything up into a thick soup. Looking left and right to make certain that nobody was waiting to ambush her, she took a gentle sip from her breakfast… and spat it right back out. Of all the tastes she was expecting, she didn’t think it would turn out to be such a disgusting mixture of spicy and bitter flavors. It was as if the plant had perfectly adapted itself to avoid being eaten; Fera had always been taught that flowers relied on animals for pollination, but what animals would actively seek these out?
Of course, she really hadn’t encountered any wildlife on Coronite at all since her arrival. The air around her was devoid of the buzz of insects or the song of birds, and it genuinely didn’t seem like there was a breeze anywhere at all most of the time. Perhaps that was just due to the natural order of the world being thrown out of balance by the arrival of her and other foreign creatures, but she couldn’t help but assume there was something more sinister going on.
Fera’s thoughts were soon interrupted by a rustling in the bushes.
Concerned, she focused all her attention onto the sound, grabbing her spear with both hands and holding it point first towards the bush that the noise had come from. Everything went completely still as she walked closer and closer, peering as hard as she could into the shadows inside the bush. The only thing she could really see at all was a small rock, but now she was concerned why the rock would have been moving in such a way…
???: NYARGH!!
Fera found herself being tackled from the side by something incredibly small and ferocious. Despite its relatively light weight, the Terran felt her skin being slashed and torn by what felt like feline claws, tearing into her with fierce determination. In her shocked state, the only thing she could think to do was slam her body against the nearest tree, crushing her assailant between her and the hard surface and knocking them off.
The soldier sized up her enemy as she retreated to pick up the rest of her armor, which formed snugly onto her body through its liquid metal technology. It wasn’t just some feral creature, but something sentient, a small black feline alien dressed up in a little blue tunic with a large metal shoulder pad. The cat was dazed, spinning around before clearing its head and turning to Fera with a determined look.
Fera: State your name!
???: My foe dares to ask me for my identity, eh? Then quake in fear, Terran, as you face the hero of the Linxian people! Prodigy of the magical arts, savior of the universe…
The cat pulled out a small staff adorned with a shimmering ruby. It resembled little more than a child’s toy, but Fera had to be prepared for anything.
???: I am Cat Sith, and I will strike you down, foul villain!
Just how young was this kid? He was acting like he was playing pretend in the middle of a warzone, while everyone else was fending for their life! He needed to get out of here before-
FWOOSH!!
Cat Sith swung his staff forward in an arc, the tip glowing with an intense red light as the air around the duo suddenly grew far hotter. In an instant, Fera found herself instinctively dodging to the side as a large fireball bounced towards her. The embers from each impact flecked onto her face as the jungle behind her burst into flames, crackling into an inferno that slowly grew in size behind her.
Fera: Are you insane?! We’re in the middle of a dense jungle! Do you have any idea how much destruction fire can cause?
Cat Sith: I don’t care what I have to do to defend this world from you and all the other evil on it! I will help everyone!
Two more fireballs were hurled towards Fera in rapid succession. Lunging from side to side, the gladiator dodged the first attack while slamming her shield into the second orb of incineration. The flames dispersed in a fan formation on impact, spraying back into Cat Sith’s face as the cat hastily summoned a rippling barrier in front of him to defend himself from the blast.
The kitten grinned like some kind of cartoon superhero, safe behind his shimmering screen and seemingly ignoring the fear coursing through him seconds before. Fera raised her shield to combat him… No matter what she had to do, she needed to stop the danger lurking in front of her.
----
Teryx had been nervous and terrified ever since the war on Coronite began. Not just for the obvious reasons of a giant conflict having broken out between all the unified people of the Solus System, however.
Teryx had joined the Terran military forces at a young age in order to provide for her struggling family, the same as Fera and Kobol. That common bond was what had linked the three of them together during their harsh years of training, and what had led to them becoming such fast friends throughout the intense struggles. Even throughout all this despair and strife, she had managed to keep up her new relationship with Kobol, the pair of them now walking down the hologram-lit streets of Reagan City’s riverside commercial district.
Now, however, her position was beginning to feel more and more like a terrifying liability. Wherever she went, people seemed to be judging the pair of them for contributing to the battle raging on the giant planet overhead, as if she hadn’t protested against sending one of her closest friends off to possibly die in the massacre. She felt like eyes were on her or Kobol wherever the two walked… and as an offworlder participating in the military group, Teryx felt it all the more harshly. It was as if she was being a traitor to her own people merely for existing…
Finding a nearby bench, Kobol beckoned for his friend to sit down with him. The two sat side by side, gazing out over the nearby river with the myriad advertisements and billboards casting a shimmer of thousands of colors over the dark surface.
Kobol: I know you’re stressed, but everything’ll turn out okay. I promise.
Teryx: Yeah, Fera could come back alive, but what else happens after that? Every other planet in the system goes into an actual full-fledged war over all this? Countless more lives shed?
Kobol: I admit, things may seem bleak right now, but it’s our job to keep the peace right now.
Teryx: Keep the peace? Kobol, I’ve never seen everyone so terrified. Everything about this has stricken fear into the hearts of everyone who takes so much as a glance at that giant behemoth in the sky. Every world out there is quaking at having to share the horizon with that thing!
Kobol sighed to himself, looking at the shiny badge pinned on his chest that signified him as a member of the military. He turned back to his avian girlfriend, a confident smile on his face.
Kobol: Of course everybody is scared. You’re probably scared. I’m terrified of what everyone is going through, and what I had to witness my friends being pushed through. But that’s why we’re here. While Fera is out there, trying to resolve all of this in whatever way she can, we need to make sure everyone here at home is safe, happy, and not afraid that the world might come crashing down around them in the middle of the night.
Teryx’s heart beat faster than it ever had before, her feathers subconsciously spreading out a bit on her body to demonstrate her happy emotions. This kind of inspirational speech was why she fell for Kobol.
Punk Voice: Bold claim coming from someone like you, clanker.
The two lovebirds had their sweet moment cut short as a pair of individuals stepped out of a nearby alley. The pair of them were Vulkonian, judging by their craggy red skin and hulking musculature. One of them wore a black vest while his companion went bare-chested, both only wearing simple pants adorned with spiked chains of metal. Both of their expressions were manic, scowling grins, giving both Teryx and Kobol the immediate impression that this encounter was absolutely hostile.
Kobol: Can I help you, gentlemen?
Vulkonian 1: Oh, you can help us alright.
Vulkonian 2: Yeah, by gettin’ offworld before something bad happens to the two a’ you.
Teryx stood between the thugs and Kobol, putting as much of an intimidating front as she could while being a delicate, pretty-looking bird.
Teryx: What’s all this for? Are you threatening members of the Terran military for-
The crushing force of a thug’s hand met her face as she fell to the ground, her hollow bones making the impact hurt even worse. As she yelped in pain, Kobol rose to his feet, preparing to brawl in the name of justice and of his loved one.
Kobol: Hey! Stand down, you two. Nobody assaults my friend and colleague without paying the price.
Vulkonian 2: Hey, it’s thanks to you that the whole system’s in chaos right now. If anybody’s gotta pay the price, it’s people like you.
Vulkonian 1: You ain’t protectin’ nobody, clanker. You and your boss brought this on everybody.
Kobol: Now, see here-
The Terran didn’t even get to finish his sentence before he got grappled by the first of the two thugs, held back-to-chest in such a way that he couldn’t wrest his arms from his foe’s grasp. Teryx,still struggling with her blow from earlier, tried her best to stand up as she helplessly watched her friend being pummeled by a pair of hooligans twice his size, blow after blow being delivered to his chest.
Kobol put all his strength into a kick to try to get his assailant to back away, but the strike was caught before he could blink, and Teryx could only help but instinctually close her eyes before having to witness the sickening sounds of the chop that was delivered to his knee. The painful cry of her beloved as his leg was broken sent chills down her spine, destroying the warm feelings she had been sensing just a moment ago.
Teryx: Stop it!!
Teryx leapt forward, extending her wingspan as much as she could in order to land on the back of one of the colossi. Gripping tight with her talons, she pulled back as hard as she could, trying to withstand the blows coming down at her from her attacker. Her plan worked, however, as Kobol was able to kick the Vulkonian grabbing him in the vulnerable area and force him to release him.
Vulkonian 1: Shrakh…
Vulkonian 2: This ain’t even some thing about wanting to come out on top, see?! We hate the guy they sent! We hope he gets dusted!
Teryx: *grunting* Then why are you doing all this?!
Teryx felt herself get slammed against the wall behind her, and she pushed her legs outward to keep it from happening again. Caught off balance, the Vulkonian punk felt his weight shift and his balance begin to break, and he fell flat on his face with a grunt of pain. Teryx took the opportunity to cuff him, while Kobol did the same to the one who had held him down… trying not to rest weight on his broken leg.
Vulkonian 2: Because… you’re gonna ruin… everyone’s lives…
As both the punks passed out from pain and exhaustion, Kobol leaned against the bench he had just given his motivating speech at, trying to hide the pain in his leg as he wept softly. While Teryx called for medical attention and backup, she winced as she struggled with her own pain. Looking up into the endless stars, all she could do was pray to whatever creature listened that Fera would manage to resolve all of this somehow.
----
Cat Sith: Eat sorcery, evildoer!
Fera stepped to the side as her miniature furry foe swung his staff through the air once again, this time firing a bolt of lightning directly towards her. Thinking quickly, she threw her spear forward into the attack; the bolt was absorbed into her weapon and grounded upon contact with the dirt below, rendering the feline’s attack useless. Cat Sith pouted as Fera rolled forward to retrieve her weapon.
The entire jungle was in shambles behind her. Beams of energy had cleaved clean through trees, and what remained was crackling with fire and dusted with ashes. Cat Sith’s power was absolutely to be commended, and Fera had no clue what was fueling his abilities, but that was also what scared her. This wasn’t some trained, hardened warrior like Xyzor, or a giant war machine like the beast she had slain the night before. This was likely a child, sent off to war to either prove themselves or picked as a lamb before the slaughter.
Every single trait Cat Sith had shown her made her more convinced he was just a scared kid hiding behind a brave face. His reckless abandon for the environment around him, his haphazard attack patterns, the way he talked as if he was some childish hero fighting evil villains and saving the world… He genuinely didn’t know any better. Fera had to talk him down, convince him to stop this-
Cat Sith: Stand still, villain! I’m going to cast you down to the abyss and make this land happy again!
Fera: Kid, this isn’t a time for playing around! You need to stop this now!
Cat Sith: T-This isn’t a game! Mommy told me I had to win! I need to save everyone!
Cat Sith swung his wand back and forth, firing a cluster of glowing spheres that seperated and homed in on Fera’s position. Thinking quickly, she stabbed her spear in the ground and launched herself forward, using her shield as a means of blocking the incoming attacks. All she had to do was get close to him…
Suddenly, she stopped.
Fera had begun floating in the air, unable to move any part of her body. Cat Sith laughed happily as the tip of his staff glowed with a brilliant purple light, and Fera felt herself being flung backwards into the burning forest like a ragdoll. She slammed right into the side of a tree, right next to her spear, but her hand was blasted by a jolt of lightning before she could attempt to grab it.
Cat Sith: Any last words, you big meanie?
The Linxian began charging more and more energy into the tip of his weapon, a flurry of cyan and pink light mixing together as the entire jungle grew brighter. Fera squinted to avoid getting blinded by the intense light, and she could just barely make out her foe having to do the same… As her assailant’s weapon finally gave one last, brilliant flash, a massive sword made of pure energy formed around its tip, prepared to cleave Fera in two.
Fera: You’re wide open!
Fera rolled swiftly to the side, dodging Cat Sith’s massive downward swing and grabbing her spear in the process. The young cat realized his attack had been dodged, and began glancing across the landscape looking for his opponent. His flank exposed, Fera grunted as she swung her spear towards him, hoping to try hitting him with the pole of her weapon rather than the sharp point.
Cat Sith meowed in fright as he clashed weapons with Fera, his blade shrinking down as his confidence dwindled. The two swung again and again, with the feline’s movements becoming far more swift and erratic as Fera was forced into defense.
Fera: Stand down!
Cat Sith: Never! I- I can’t!
Fera: Neither of us *grunting* want to do something we’re going to regret!
Cat Sith: I’m the hero! I- I can’t back down! I can’t lose!!
Fera jumped back to grab her shield, pulling away from the engagement. Cat Sith wasn’t even swinging at her any more… He was just flailing his staffblade in the air, his eyes streaming with tears as everything around him was slashed clean through.
Cat Sith: I WON’T LOSE!!
His blade flared back up to full size, now powered by fear and panic rather than heroic confidence. As the blade grew, however, it cleaved straight through a cluster of thick branches overhead, sending the fiery pile of wood careening down on top of them both. Thinking quickly, Fera rushed forward, tackling Cat Sith and rolling out of the path of the flaming obstacles. Fera’s hair had been singed, and both of them were covered in light burns, but they had both avoided the worst-
Cat Sith: Ignisium!!
Fera yelled in pain as an immeasurable force erupted from Cat Sith’s position, heat and energy searing against her face. Her arms were forced open as the feline flew out of her grasp, equally startled and harmed from the impact he had released. Small pieces of ivory material fell out of Fera’s arms as she tried catching her breath… Cat Sith had detonated his weapon in her arms in order to continue the fight.
Fera: *coughing* W-Why?
Cat Sith: I can’t go back home! Not until I prove myself to everyone! And I can’t do that without getting rid of people like you!
Fera: Does the glory mean that much to you?!
Cat Sith didn’t answer. He just yowled loudly as he brandished his claws, the noise a torturous mix of triumphant rage and primal fear. In one swift motion, he lunged towards Fera like a bolt of black lightning, genuine killing intent in his eyes. For one brief moment, Fera’s instincts as a soldier kicked in, leading her to do what she had been trained to view as the right thing…
When she opened her eyes again, her arm was outstretched, spear in hand. All she could do was gasp as she saw Cat Sith pierced through the chest, his eyes filled with nothing but fear.
----
???: Danger. Threat level rising.
On a snowy peak far away from Fera’s position, another intense battle was taking place. Beams of light pierced through the air, blasting away at the side of the mountain and leaving fiery craters in their wake. In the center of this firestorm was a tiny robot resembling little more than a monitor with two stubby arms, pushing its hands towards the mountainside as more laser strikes came down from the skies.
A dark shadow slid to and fro, evading every single beam with perfect precision and accuracy. As the dust and debris cleared away, the shadow’s face was exposed… Shogun Xyzor, his massive blade humming with energy as he stared down the robot.
Xyzor: BUNKR, hero of the Promakan civilization. Guide of world welfare and order. They were fools to send something as valuable as you to act in a war.
BUNKR: My creators depend on me for peace and prosperity. I cannot fail them now, not while agents of chaos seek to undermine the structure and stability of the Solus-
Xyzor pushed off the mountain with enough force to leave an avalanche in his wake behind him. Not accounting for this ability in any of its calculations, BUNKR was caught off-guard to the extent that it was unable to prevent Xyzor from latching on to it and severing one of the many antennae on its back. The AI was unable to call down any more of those devastating laser strikes, leaving its only defense a simple electric shock on its arm.
BUNKR: You are leaving me no choice, shogun. I must-
Xyzor jumped into the air to avoid the electrified hand of the robot, diving back down immediately to deliver a powerful kick that sent it careening into the side of another mountain. Rocks and snow crumbled around the impact zone as Xyzor swept down in with a snip of his glowing scissors, severing the arm before pointing the weapon at BUNKR’s screen as a threatening gesture. If machines could feel fear, this program certainly was.
BUNKR may have been deprived of its orbital weaponry, but it was still going to put up the best fight it could. Swiftly locating its severed arm, the hovering robot grabbed the appendage with its remaining limb, expertly dodging Xyzor’s stabbing motion and smashing it across the Valienite’s face. A flurry of blows flew across his grey, scaly face as the artificial intelligence unleashed all of the hand-to-hand combat techniques that it had analyzed for the purposes of this conflict, eventually ending in an open-handed palm strike intended to launch the shogun off the cliffside.
Xyzor just smirked as he grabbed BUNKR’s arm, denying the final blow.
Xyzor: There is no substitute for experience, fool.
Xyzor used the strike’s momentum to swing BUNKR over his shoulder, smashing him against the rocky cliffs behind him and shattering some of the protective glass on his monitor. The motion then transitioned into Xyzor jumping down off of the cliff, planting his clawed feet on the robot and riding him down the ridges as if he were a hoverboard. One last impact into a massive, snow-covered rock lead to BUNKR’s remaining arm being shattered, helpless at the point of his dominant opponent’s humming red blade once again.
BUNKR: Why are you doing this, shogun?
Xyzor: To continue my conquest. Is that not enough for a great mind like you to comprehend?
BUNKR: Promakan satellites have observed all goings-on on this planet since the conflict began. I saw your interactions with Fera Bolstar, the Terran. Why did you elect to spare her?
Xyzor’s cragged jaw cracked the faintest of smiles thinking of the Terran.
Xyzor: She is caught in a difficult situation. This conflict is her own mistake, and she dearly regrets all of it. I have sympathy for someone like that, and it would be wrong of me to cut her down over this. You, on the other hand…
The blade inched closer and closer to BUNKR’s screen. Xyzor assumed that everything he was saying was going to be broadcast to Promaka, so he chose his coming words very, very carefully…
Xyzor: You are a stepping stone on my path to victory. Your kind were foolish to assume that sending their greatest warrior was worth the sacrifice of the entity keeping their world intact, and that proves they are feeble. Weak. They will crumble before me when all is said and done.
BUNKR: The entire Solus system is crumbling. It is not only the war that has done so. There has been a deliberate attempt to throw our civilizations out of balance, destabilizing the economy, inciting riots. There is something much bigger than you can comprehend, Shogun.
The pair was silent, each staring down the end of Xyzor’s blade. The Valienite was expressionless… until another maniacal grin streaked across his face.
Xyzor: My ambition overcomes all. Nothing will stand in my path.
BUNKR: If you are so confident… then end this existence. My people thrust this weaponized form on me, their minds twisted with the thought of victory. I would rather have my existence terminated than be left to rot in this hollow shell.
With little more than a nod, Xyzor thrust forward. His blade pierced through BUNKR’s body, shattering crucial electronic pieces and components. Without the ability to transmit back to Promaka, the artificial intelligence was practically dead for good, and the chaos and heartache it had spoken of would soon consume its homeworld and make it all too easy for him to conquer later. Perhaps those agents it had mentioned would also be crushed under his heel.
A burst of energy exploded out of the hollowed metal carcass. Electromagnetic pulse to signify the creature’s death. Ultimately harmless, but the forcefulness of the blast was surprising to him. He could swear one of these blasts would be the death of him someday...
Now devoid of a challenge, Xyzor glanced across the horizon for his next encounter. Something else caught his eye, however… A strange citadel perched atop a nearby peak. The first sign of life on this miserable rock he had witnessed since arrival. Feeling as though something inside was calling to him, the shogun trekked onward…
----
San-Sokeh was lounging in his personal quarters, hidden away on Terra’s artificial moon. The domicile was built to the specifications of all Cataloger architecture, silver and gold decor lit by glowing orbs floating throughout the air. When he was in his own dwelling, he felt like a god among mortals… A god who was becoming more and more aggravated with the calls of his companion. Sighing, San-Sokeh clicked on the button built into his hammock-like chair, summoning up a hologram of the Terran commander who had been orchestrating everything lately.
Gangue: My friend! How is everything proceeding?
San-Sokeh: Well enough. It takes a lot of resources to pull off something like this, however. Why are you so bent on undermining the project my people exist to undertake?
Even though San-Sokeh was younger than many of his people, he knew full well that the Solus system was what his race was tasked with from the very beginning. It was the very reason they had come to refer to themselves as Catalogers… Maintaining all life in the universe in one safe position should chaos and entropy begin to ravage everything else. All they had to do was keep it safe for the one they had entrusted it to… Now, however, his friend was convincing him that the best approach would be to overthrow all of that hard work and destabilize everything.
Gangue: Your resources and influence as a Cataloger are what are affording us the opportunity to get a direct shot at the center of Coronite. Not only are we able to incite enough chaos to keep everyone panicking and unable to fight to the best of their ability, but you’re also the smokescreen of power that prevents anyone else from looking into this operation. I’d have been court martialed for sure without you!
A pair of women in sleek, minimal blue uniforms walked into the room through a door behind San-Sokeh, one Terran and one Lillius. Both had incredibly sullen, blank expressions, as if they had had all their life and joy drained out of them. The Lillius silently handed a glass of orange liquid to San-Sokeh, who casually grabbed it without acknowledging the pair’s existence.
Gangue: Besides, we both know what this energy can do. There’s big plans in store for this entire system if we can pull this off, and at this rate, I know we will.
San-Sokeh: You must keep calm. Do not let any of this go to your head.
Gangue: Oh, my head is fine! At least as fine as everyone else in the system is. Nobody’s caught onto the fact that Coronite seems to be affecting people’s emotional state on a fundamental level so far, but that’s fine. If people are more quick to anger, that just makes the jobs of our agents that much easier!
Gangue was not wrong about that. The influence that the planet’s core seemed to be having on the Solus system was adverse at best, and perhaps that was a major reason why so many people had been willing to take the commander on his insane war of champions… They had become enamored by the idea of the bloodshed that would follow.
San-Sokeh: You have heard the recent news, correct? The hero of Promaka has just fallen.
Gangue: Ah, yes. A shame, that. I’ve heard that the loss of their guiding AI has lead to power being lost across the planet, crucial machinery shutting down and all that. One less bunch of fiends to worry about when all is said and done.
San-Sokeh: What about Bolstar, then? The defiant one.
Gangue: Bolstar? No, I’m not worried. I don’t trust a soldier I’ve trained like that to suddenly go rogue. She may have had that bit of hotheadedness pop up for a second, but in the heat of combat, she’ll let loose like we want her to. She’s already taken down that giant behemoth the Wim Plo were using, after all.
San-Sokeh finally waved his hand to dismiss the two servants, who had been dutifully standing behind him the entire time. There was something else on his mind…
San-Sokeh: Have you heard about the high regent of the Lillius, Gangue?
Gangue: Ah, yes. Everyone I have discussed the matter with has given me different reasoning for her death. They all seem scared and anxious, and I can’t tell if it’s just everything going on or if they’re trying to hide something from me.
San-Sokeh: They are natural pacifists, yes? Yet I have… heard rumors of one appearing on Coronite. What purpose would one have to be there?
Gangue simply chuckled to himself.
Gangue: Who knows? Maybe they aren’t as innocent as they like to keep telling themselves.
The holographic call shut down, leaving San-Sokeh alone in his luxurious room. While he realized that he realistically should be concerned about the overarching plan he had joined in on… for the good of all existence, of course… there was something else that had become the focal point of all his attention. The thought of that rogue Lillius was running through the Cataloger’s psyche like wildfire, taunting him with the mystery and intrigue that could be behind her. Of course, those were not the only emotions he felt coursing through his veins…
He would need to look into this more intimately.
----
Fera panted as she tried to rush Cat Sith out of the forest, cradling him in her arms as she charged through the fire. The smoke was rushing all around her, even as she approached the edge of the dense jungle. Rain slowly began to trickle down around her, as if the planet itself was trying to quench the fury flaring up behind her. Finding a nearby rock, Fera laid the feline down in order to get a look at how badly she had injured him.
It wasn’t looking good at all. His tunic was pierced clean through, and he was releasing tons of blood from both sides. Fera had only just barely missed his heart, but she had instinctually pierced through one of his lungs, which was probably why Cat Sith was breathing so hard right now.
Fera: Please, hang on! It’ll be okay!
Cat Sith just kept panting, staring up into the sky as tears mixed with the rain dripping down his face. Fera opened her armor and tore off a piece of her clothing, using it as a makeshift bandage and trying to stop the bleeding as much as she could.
Cat Sith: T-Terran lady?
Fera: Hold on, I think I might have a nano medkit in here somewhere…
Cat Sith: I… I feel cold…
Fera: Please, just hang in there, I don’t know what I was-
But she did know. She had run this child through with her spear. Just what her warrior’s instincts had told her to do.
As Fera tried applying the silvery paste to Cat Sith’s wounds, her adrenaline-riddled mind was tearing her psyche apart for doing this horrible deed. Killing the giant monster she had the night prior was one thing- it was a tortured soul weaponized by others to kill in their name. And in some ways, Cat Sith fit that same description. But this was just a child, swayed by nothing more than a passion to defend what he loved and make his family proud.
Fera’s pride as a soldier… as a warrior… was crumbling. Even when she had been forced into this war with threats lined up against her, there had been part of her that pressed her onward to be a good, loyal defender of her homeland. That feeling was cracking under what she had just done to the being standing before her, trying to stay composed as she did her best to save someone’s life. Her thought process was interrupted by Cat Sith pawing at her face.
Cat Sith: L-Lady?
He wasn’t even looking at Fera. He was looking up into the cloudy sky, up into the void dotted with all the worlds in the system that Coronite had spawned itself into. Somewhere out there, Cat Sith had a family that he was trying to protect, and maybe that family was looking out for him the same way he was looking for them right now.
Fera: Y-Yes?
Cat Sith: Was I… a good hero?
Fera sobbed softly to herself as she tried to keep applying the medkit, lowering her head to keep her shame hidden.
Fera: Yes, Cat Sith.You were a good, brave hero. Your mom will be proud.
Cat Sith: I can’t wait to see her again… She’s gonna be… be so…
Cat Sith gasped a little, going silent. Fera kept massaging the medkit paste, hoping to be able to repair enough cellular damage to perform CPR. If she couldn’t make up for this horrible decision, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself.
All her dreams came to a crashing halt as she felt a loud bang and a staticy feeling ripple across her skin. The EMP blast. Cat Sith was dead, and it was all her fault.
Fera knelt over the feline’s body as the rain came down harder and harder, pounding against her body like bullets. All she could do was stare blankly ahead, barely registering the world around her as everything inside her felt like it was crumbling to pieces. She was a murderer. She had brought endless agony to everyone around her. All of her pride, her sense of right, her worldview… Everything shattered in an instant. Fera was broken.
Miles away, stored in a containment tank, a mysterious creature slowly smirked to itself. Everything was going to plan.
===Chapter 4: Grave Concerns===
Fera poked at the fire at her feet with her spear, attempting to tend the fire.
It had felt like days since she had seen Xyzor, and had that heartfelt conversation that had made her feel somewhat better about being stuck with her duty on this alien deathtrap. That good feeling had been crushed underneath what she had done to the last person she had encountered, however... Cat Sith, a child simply eager to do what was right and protect those he cared about, had been slain by her hand. Ever since that moment, she hadn't been able to live with herself, remaining in hiding as much as she possibly could to avoid more contact. It wasn't like Cat Sith was the only thing weighing on her mind, however.
She had been getting the news. Heroes were dying, and that was taking a toll on planets all across the system. Families were being torn apart, finances were being rapidly shifted as bets were won and lost, and entire societies were being changed as they had lost their one chance to claim right to the planet, and potentially harvest the energy within.
She had heard tales of the Promakan race, a species reliant on electricity to live, having a powerful AI known as BUNKR as their representative in this war. It was the foundation of their society- it managed food, information management, aid in birth, everything about Promakan culture. When the time came for dominance over Coronite to be established, they had no choice but to nominate the AI, as it was the only warrior their society had. It had everything it needed to succeed; mastery of the system's races and their biology, thousands of combined years of war tactics and martial artistry, and near-unlimited intelligence. How could BUNKR lose?
Fera had heard the news of BUNKR's first taste in combat. It was defenseless. They were so confident in BUNKR winning that they had only granted it a small body, wielding nothing but two small arms and a screen to project a face. The Promakan were so confident in the AI's strategic abilities that they hadn't given it any means of defending itself. Of all people to come across it, it was Xyzor... she was shown the live feed by Gangue himself. BUNKR begged its opponent to release it from the prison that those it was meant to protect had placed it in. He obliged. Those scissor blades carved right through its body, killing it instantly.
The aftermath went beyond anything anybody could have imagined. The second that final blow was dealt, almost all energy on the Promakan homeworld vanished. Everything was almost immediately thrown into chaos; mass murder, property destruction, and the collapse of the economy, all brought about by BUNKR's demise.
As she sat watching the fire blaze across what remained of the scorpion monster's iron wreckage, she realized that the Promakans had doomed themselves with this ploy. They had sacrificed everything- the AI that governed their society, supplied their power, made their food- in an attempt to battle for Coronite. Their society would collapse without it. The species would be forced to evacuate to other planets, causing widespread chaos and panic.
And it was all her fault.
Fera held her head in her hands as she started sobbing. Why was she the cause of so much pain and suffering? All she wanted to do was protect people, not hurt them. She had brought war to the system, brought major loss of life, and now decimated and ruined an entire civilization.
She looked up into the night sky, tears still in her eyes. The smoke spiraled upwards as the planet's beautiful sky, filled with rainbow-colored streams of starlight. She clenched her fist in defiance.
Fera: No more.
She grabbed her spear from the burning fire, pointing it to the stars. That defiant, confident feeling returned to her body, filling her with an intensely burning energy.
Fera: I am a hero. It's my job to save people. To stop conflict. And that's what I'm going to do. If I really did start this war, then I'm gonna end it!
----
Gargan: Welp, ya done it now!
Gargan, Retron and Raune were stuck behind cover yet again, this time in the middle of a rocky canyon bordering the desert. They really needed to stop making a habit of this.
Raune: Is it my fault for wishing to conduct peaceful negotiations with another warrior?
Gargan: It is when they're totin' around that kinda weaponry!
???: Oh, are we talkin' about me now?
Their foe leapt over the cover, time seeming to slow as Gargan tried to get a good look at him. It was a humanoid-looking raptor thing, armored up in anti-ballistic gear and wielding a pair of massive cleavers. Ambrosium, so-called Hero of the Gluconians. And someone who, as he had been demonstrating throughout the entire fight, could move at near-supersonic speed.
Retron was caught around Ambrosium's tail, his massive ornamental horns hooked around it as he was thrown back and forth in the dusty wind. Raune raised her staff to block the raptor's incoming strike, but as quick as lightning, he flicked his tail forward, launching Retron forward as a projectile. Raune braced for impact, and at the last second, Retron formed a hardlight sphere around himself, bouncing off his newfound comrade like a child's toy.
Gargan: C'mon, why are you going along with this whole stupid thing?!
Ambrosium: Because once I kick everyone's tush, I'll be king of this rock! I'll have all the turf I could ever want, not to mention whatever's in this place's core or whatever. I'll be living the high life!
Raune: *grunt* Are you that cynical and greedy? Is taking the life of so many people really worth it to you?
Ambrosium swung one of his massive cleavers forward, slicing clean through Raune's staff. It burst into splinters mere seconds afterward, the girl yelping as if the staff had to realize it had been sliced through. The raptor immediately leaped forward for another killing blow, only to have Gargan rush forward and use his artificial arm as a makeshift barrier.
Ambrosium: Ain't that why everyone's here?! What are you, hypocrites?!
Retron burst onto the scene, his tiny sword enlarged to gigantic proportions using hardlight. Beeping franticly, he jumped high into the air in order to bring the massive blade down- only for Ambrosium to deliver a swift kick to the blade's shaft. The knockback caused the mass of cubes to begin tumbling backwards, Retron flailing his hand wildly in an attempt to right himself. Dashing backwards from his lock with Gargan, Ambrosium began running straight up the canyon walls, kicking off the side as he tumbled through the air. Gargan, switching his arm to machine fire mode, began taking potshots at his foe, who managed to keep evading every bullet...
Ambrosium crossed his arms, holding his blades in an X formation. He oriented himself mid-flight towards Retron, the most vulnerable target, and prepared to execute-
Raune: Spore Grenadier!
Raune's hand opened up into vine-like tendrils as a large nut began growing at incredibly fast speed in it. Whipping her hand forward with all her might, she launched the huge seedpod with incredible force, Ambrosium hastily releasing his slash attack to defend himself. The second he did so, the grenade burst into a massive smoke cloud of plant spores, obscuring his vision. The raptor coughed as he flailed through the air, losing some of his precious momentum.
Seizing the opportunity to retaliate, Retron, who had finally righted himself, swung his obscenely large blade forward at Ambrosium. The end result wound up less impactful than the small knight would have hoped- rather than cleaving his foe, the blade's sheer size wound up turning it into an overgrown flyswatter, slamming the Gluconian into the side of the canyon with enough force to dislodge some rocks. The trio regrouped as Raune reformed a new staff from the old one's splintered remains.
Ambrosium groaned in pain- the downside of his slender frame and speed being frail bone structure, making every impact all the more intense. As Retron disassembled his sword, Gargan aimed his arm at Ambrosium, wanting to discourage further violence.
Gargan: That was a warning. We're done here. Unless you wanna try something else funny.
Ambrosium: *groaning* W-What's wrong? You chicken?
Gargan: Not gonna lie, you look a lot more like a chicken than any of us-
Ambrosium: I just wanna prove myself! I wanna make my people happy! I wanna prove that I'm the toughest around! I just want... people to respect me...
Raune: There are other ways to accomplish that than being a m-murderer!
Ambrosium: I heard that stutter, missy. None of you would be here if you... didn't have the guts to do the same thing...
Raune: W-We seek peace! This violence is meaningless!
Ambrosium: Maybe... But the power, prestige... that has meaning to everyone. I'm certain that even your buff friend with the cyborg arm has something he'd want to do with the glory of being this planet's victor...
The whistle of rockets flew through the air as Gargan, in an apparent fit of rage, launched a salvo up toward the canyon wall. Rocks began tumbling down as a massive explosion echoed through the area. Ambrosium, seeing what was coming, tried his best to dash forward at maximum speed in order to retaliate. His blind panic, however, lead to him tripping over a rock on the ground... and as his blades tumbled from his claws, the hero's final sight was of the trio that had triumphed over him so easily.
The rocks came tumbling down. Another EMP burst went off over the wreckage.
Everyone looked towards the pile of rocks marking Ambrosium's grave, then towards each other. Gargan and Raune both looked emotionally stricken and nervous, as if their foe had revealed more about each other's intents and pasts than either of them had wanted. Retron was panicked, worried his friends would begin fighting...
Gargan: ...Let's go.
----
Gangue: Lad, please shut the door. I have a visitor.
Gangue's young secretary sheepishly clicked the switch that sealed off the commander's windows and doors, leaving him completely invisible to the outside world. Confident he wasn't being watched, he pulled out a small flat metal disc- a holographic transmitter- and switched it on.
His contact flickered into existence- a hunched, wizened-looking creature that resembled a crustacean with its tough, bumpy carapace and clawed hands. His glowing orange eyes, though weary with a near-endless age, showed a glimmer of wisdom and power that Gangue was inspired by. This creature- a being from beyond the origins of time itself- was San-Sokeh, a Cataloger.
San-Sokeh: Ah, Gangue. We meet again. I presume that you wish to speak more of that mysterious planet?
Gangue: Precisely, my friend. The Hero project has... not gone as planned. Ms. Bolstar hasn't been up to snuff. One victory. Granted, it's better than abject failure, but the constant news we're feeding her doesn't seem to be encouraging her.
San-Sokeh: Why do you believe that you are so entitled to the reward behind this planet's core? You have not done research into what you believe is an energy source, and yet you claim it to be yours by right? Why must you do this?
Gangue: Why shouldn't we? We're humans, after all.
San-Sokeh nervously fiddled with a small ornament pinned onto the sash he was wearing. Gangue recognized the shape: a small blue hand with six fingers. Gangue pulled out a similar looking object from his pocket, this one being larger and made of cold metal.
Gangue: I see you're a Tierist. Good to meet a fellow believer.
San-Sokeh: I do not believe in the Mother. I know. I have seen her, with my own eyes, as all of my people have. She is no myth.
Gangue picked up a glass of some pale orange liquid and took a sip. The Catalogers were all like this. Stuck up their own rears with ancient stuff like this. Sure, they were old, but even San-Sokeh, a younger one, was like this. He supposed they needed to learn to age gracefully.
Gangue: I've read up on all my history, Sokeh. We aren't Terrans. That's never who we were. We were never meant to stay confined to one world, one planet. No... we're humans! We're explorers, voyagers... conquerors! It is the essence of humanity to explore, to chart the unknown and claim it by divine right... and that's why we deserve this planet.
San-Sokeh seemed a bit unnerved, but kept his steely expression.
San-Sokeh: Your kind was the only to proceed my own in the mother's embrace, yes... But you are different. You are, or perhaps, were, her special project. Then, you changed. She tried to end your race and start again, but every time, your kind turned back to base instincts. She has not bothered you since humankind left its dying world for the Solus System- for Terra. Perhaps it is for the best that you not pursue the instincts of a now dead species, Mr. Gangue?
Gangue took another sip from his drink and glared at the hologram.
Gangue: Tell me, Sokeh... Are the Catalogers not still using the Lillius as glorified slaves?
Sokeh's expression finally broke a little.
San-Sokeh: T-the Lillius were made by the Mother for us, with her own hands. They were our tools... We used them to cultivate life and civilization across the galaxy...
Gangue: And yet to this day, just because Tiera "gave them to you", you think the Catalogers can rely on them to act as servants? I know what your people do to them- using them as servants on your own homeworld and what not. Sneaking and abducting Lillius because you feel you have a right to them-
San-Sokeh slammed his claws on the table he was sitting behind. He had had enough.
San-Sokeh: They are our right by the Mother herself! We are owed their duties by their own creator!
Gangue: Hmph. Society has "changed", my friend, and yet you still rely on the culture of the past and the word of Tiera to dictate how you live your lives. Is that anything worse than what I believe we are owed?
San-Sokeh: I... We...
Gangue: I'll say it again. We are not Terrans. We are humans- a species bound to the destiny of conquering and claiming everything in our path. It is in our very nature as crafted by the Mother herself; why should we deny that?! Coronite is a sign from above, Sokeh. It is the right of humankind... and Ms. Bolstar is proving she's not human by fretting and avoiding conflict instead of embracing it. She's a true model Terran, alright... a figurehead who just wants to keep everyone ignorant and unaware of what we really are.
Gangue finished his drink and he turned back to San-Sokeh's concerned crustacean face.
Gangue: I'm dispatching the first squadron of the Blast Corps to Coronite tomorrow. No more games, we're taking the core without the useless "Hero".
----
Lucius rummaged through the vault, discarding tube after tube. All of these valuable transcripts and passages, the lore and history of the Coronid people... Worthless compared to what it was that he needed to claim.
Furiously, he slammed the wall, scattering the liquid-filled tubes everywhere. Some broke open and spilled on the floor, letting loose the valued contents. The Great War of Selmaron... Gone. A collection of famed Cirzon-era poetry... Spreading across the floor like meaningless water. The data pertaining to the royal lineage... Down the drain in an almost literal sense.
Lucius didn't care. None of that history mattered anymore. The Coronid were dead, and he was all that was left. No amount of liquid knowledge was going to change anything. What he needed was that monster.
He finally located his target- a smaller vial of liquid hidden in a secret compartment in the wall. This was the key to revealing his target.
He ran over to the control console and plugged the tiny green vial into a central hole, scanning his hand on a nearby panel to confirm that he was, in fact, the scientist responsible for managing this whole fiasco. His identity confirmed, a large tank rose from the center of the room in a burst of steam and plasma, containing the monster he sought out.
She looked like a Coronid, that was for sure. She had the long white hair that female Coronid were known for, the same pale skin that came from years of dwelling in these dark snowy regions, and even the skeletal structure had the same obsidian-black color and shape as the Coronid body. Of course, anybody could clearly tell that she wasn't normal- four massive wings emerged from her back, resembling bright blue ice more than anything natural. Her body was split down the middle- kept open and preserved ever since the dissection hundreds of years ago.
Lucius stared intently at the creature's innards. Despite not visibly beating anymore- being preserved and suspended in stasis gel would do that- the tubes connected to the organ in the center of her chest kept pumping some form of glowing orange dust out of her system and down into the bowels of the machine she was hooked up to. Lucius knew exactly where that fiery dust was headed- into the core of the planet, where this creature's essence was imprisoned.
And now, for some reason, the people of this system were after the immense power.
Lucius felt that same vibration in his head. The creature was trying to speak to him. It still wasn't done talking.
Mysterious Creature: Luci! How nice of you to finally visit after all these years. What has it been... a century and a half? Maybe two? How've you been?
Lucius: Silence, monster. I went into cryosleep for my own good. I'm your watcher, after all. Can't have you trying to break out with our entire race gone, after all.
Mysterious Creature: Why're you calling me a monster? I'm a messenger from your creator!
Lucius: One who attempted to destroy our entire civilization. You almost did, actually. Credit where credit is due.
Mysterious Creature: The Coronid weren't sticking to the script! You were getting out of hand, evolving and advancing at far greater a rate than you were intended to. Good thing your people were so easily manipulated by religion back then. For such a big-brained, scientific race, you sure didn't doubt the winged Coronid who fell from the heavens talking about the word of the goddess. What a bunch of dupes...
Lucius threw a tiny flare of plasma at the tank as an attempt to startle the creature. The body, of course, didn't move.
Mysterious Creature: Anyways, I'm so glad you went to sleep on me! Sure, it means that there was nobody to trick into letting out... But I got to spent a long time charging energy. One big boom and suddenly Coronite's at the other end of the galaxy! Shame I couldn't just break myself out. You were quite clever about that sealing system!
Lucius: Why did you bring the planet here, monster?! What is your goal?!
The psychic voice just laughed in his head. It was a cacophonic howl of pure chaotic laughter that would have disturbed him... if he hadn't been hearing it all throughout his cryosleep.
Mysterious Creature: You've met them! The humans- oh, excuse me, they go by Terrans now for some reason- they're ruthless! They're going to hunt down any source of energy and power they can find! They'll break me out of this planet even if it kills them... Oh, but of course, I can't forget the main event!
Lucius: ...What main event?
Mysterious Creature: Why would I spoil the fun? She may not come into play for years, but our creator has a very special plan in mind for someone here...
Lucius slammed the panel again and the voice vanished from his thoughts. The tank slid back into the depths of the laboratory as he speedwalked from the building. Along the way, he stepped in a puddle of liquid leaking from one of the info tubes on the ground. He shrugged it off, not stopping to worry about the loss of history.
A new history was about to begin.
===Chapter 5: Close Encounters===
Fera held her gauntlet up to her face, pushing through the fog and wind. She was trudging through a thick, marshy swamp, the bog making her movement slower and slower as she slashed through thick vines with her spear. Unlike the swamps she had experienced on other worlds, which were teeming with the sounds of various lifeforms that had made their home in the biomes, she couldn’t hear anything in this area except for the sloshing of the thick, murky water at her feet. It was as if she was the only living thing for miles.
That had been a disturbing trend in her own adventures across Coronite. It seemed that no matter where her journey took her, the only living things she came across were plants and the other Heroes who had been sent to join her in this conflict. It was as if every living creature had just vanished, leaving no trace of their existence other than scattered ruins. But if that was the case… what could have provoked the entire planet to do something as drastic as teleport? That couldn’t have just happened through natural means. And what about the planet’s biomes? From desert to canyon to marsh, the environment had been shifting far more constantly than local weather patterns should have allowed for. Every step felt like a new location, something drastically different from the last. No ordinary planet acted like this…
Fera was beginning to suspect that this planet had far more secrets than it seemed on the surface. What was it that they were even fighting for? Was it energy? Resources? Or did she start a battle over something even more dangerous?
???: Help! Someone!
A voice cut through the fog, breaking the silence. Fera gasped in shock- she could have sworn she knew that voice.
Fera: Hold on! I’m coming!
Rushing through the fog at a heightened pace, Fera barreled through the undergrowth, barely noticing when the occasional root tripped her up. She had to get to the source of that voice… Suddenly, upon slashing open a curtain-like growth of vines, she found the source of the screaming- Teryx. Fera’s avian friend was standing hunched over in the murky bog, covered in dirt and scratched as her feathery arm was caught in a painful-looking spiked branch. Her face was full of desperation and fear, which lifted when she locked eyes with Fera!
Fera: Teryx? What are you doing-
Teryx: No time for that! Please, help me out!
Fera got right to work, slicing the branch down before working to delicately untangle its piercing spikes from Teryx’s arm. She didn’t seem to be hurt too badly, but just to make sure the bleeding would stop, she tore a sheet of nanopaper from her first-aid kit, wrapping it around the wounds in order to let them heal. The two women shared a sigh of relief now that the danger was over.
Teryx: Thanks for bailing me out. I thought I was going to be stuck there…
Fera: What are you doing here? How did you even get here?!
Teryx: I managed to… to convince a pilot to give me a ride to this place. I needed to check up on my friend and make sure everything was alright.
Fera: You could have been killed! The whole point of this was to protect people, not endanger them!
Teryx: You’re a hard worker. Everyone knows that you’re doing your best out here. I just wanted to… to try to help…
Fera sighed as she helped Teryx to her feet, slinging her arm over her shoulder to help support her. She began leading her friend in the direction she believed would help her exit the swamp, hoping all the while that danger wouldn’t come to face her friend.
Teryx: So… you keeping up the fight?
Fera: To tell the truth, no. I’m done.
Teryx: Huh? What do you mean?
Fera: I’m done killing people. This is all morally wrong. I’m not going to be doing any fighting for Terra anymore… I’m going to make this right.
Teryx let her arm up off Fera’s shoulder, continuing to walk alongside her. There was confusion in her voice.
Teryx: You don’t think this is a bad idea?
Fera: Not at all. This bloodshed is meaningless. What we need is understanding… Of each other, and of this rock we’re all standing on. We’re fighting over something nobody understands, and that’s something that can only lead to pain, misery and suffering. I can’t let that happen. If I come across anyone here, I’m going to do my best to convince them to leave. A hero doesn’t put others in harm’s way for no reason.
Teryx: Are you certain this is the right move? You’re trusting people you don’t know to give up the biggest chances for fame, fortune, and power that they’ll probably ever get. Do you really think they’re going to lose that opportunity just because you tell them politely to?
Fera sighed, smiling to herself. That was an opportunity that she would have to deal with if and when she came to it. In her heart, she felt that plenty of the people here would prefer to leave rather than stay here and die. Her determination flared up again, with Teryx seemingly falling behind as she marched forward.
Fera: Enough about that for now. How’s everything going with Kobol? I miss the guy… Wanna be able to finally get that rematch when I’m out of here.
Fera faintly heard Teryx gasp behind her, almost as if she was caught off guard. No response came, only silence… Her heart was beginning to sink.
Fera: Of course, you’d know who he is, right?
Fera turned around quickly, slashing her spear around to parry the slash that Teryx was aiming to strike her with. The two women bounced apart, with Fera taking the opportunity to pull her shield up in front of her body. Teryx’s hand had changed from a delicate, feathery one to a purple-tinted claw with iridescent claws, shifting their hue and tone in the limited light coursing through the fog. This wasn’t her friend.
Fera: Well, I guess I got to at least vent my frustrations to somebody. Now, are you going to bother to show yourself? Or are we going to do this “fight your friend” nonsense?
Hissing like a feral animal, Teryx hunched over as her body started shimmering with a rainbow-colored light. Her body shifted like it was peeling apart, with streamer-like constructs pulling away from her body and phasing between all sorts of different colors. Soon enough, Teryx was replaced with a purple-skinned woman in a tight jumpsuit, prismatic wings hovering behind her. Her face was unnerving, a mouthless smooth surface with six mesmerizing, color-shifting eyes.
???: And to think, I was this close to taking another step forward in our grand battle.
Fera: Name. Now.
???: Amiroir, Hero of the Sukubians.
Fera had only heard tales of Sukubia. Its inhabitants were elusive, antisocial, and avoided contact with people from other species as much as possible. It seemed to her like they had always just wanted to be left alone… Was Coronite so promising that they had finally stepped out of the shadows and participated in this meaningless war?
Amiroir: I heard everything you said about this conflict being meaningless, and about wanting to make change without violence.That’s all well and good for some self-righteous goody-two-shoes who doesn’t want to get blood on her hands, but what about the rest of us?
Fera: Is victory that important to you?! All I want to do is bring peace!
Amiroir: Peace is all well and good, Terran. But so many of us have arrived here for the chance to improve our lives, and the lives of our people. I spent my life serving under those in power, but with this conflict, I have the chance to become someone more… To achieve my dream. And I will not let a cowardly, pacifistic Terran stand in the way of that dream!
Amiroir dashed forward, her reflective shards hovering around her as a barricade to defend her. Quickly raising her shield, Fera blocked the incoming strike, only for her opponent to latch onto the shield with her sharp claws and hook herself on. Using her weight as a weapon, Amiroir shoved Fera down into the sludge of the swamp, leaping off the shield and performing a backflip in midair. Fera struggled to get to her feet, having to dodge the near-invisible prism shards that found themselves being flung towards her. Rolling to the side, she grabbed her shield and swung it in front of her, blocking a few stray projectiles and clearing out a wide area of fog.
One shard managed to graze past her cheek. It stung for a moment, then nothing. The warm feeling down her face made it clear to Fera that she had been cut badly. She couldn’t focus on that now, though.
Amiroir latched onto a nearby tree branch, redirecting her momentum and swinging straight down at Fera. Her prism wings opened up like a massive set of claws, ready to ensnare Fera and leave her vulnerable to a followup attack. Fera decided to play the defensive game, thrusting her spear out as a warning to her opponent coming in range.The wing claws slammed down on the spear’s tip, Amiroir trying to wrest the weapon from her opponent’s hands to disarm her. Fighting back, Fera lifted her spear over her head, dragging her opponent and slamming her down into the muck. The Sukubian hissed as she regained her stance, backing up from Fera.
Amiroir: Is this all you have, Terran? I would have thought you’d unleash more strength than this…
In a split second, the prismatic barrier closed around Amiroir, shimmering brightly before vanishing entirely. Fera put her spear and shield up- her opponent must have been using optic camouflage, blending in with the environment that was already mired in fog. Her eyes darted back and forth, hoping to find a ripple in the water or a slash through the fog that would reveal the Sukubian’s position-
A sickening crunch filled the air as Amiroir’s invisible leg cracked across the side of Fera’s face, stunning and disorienting her. She tried to return to her defensive position, but she found herself kicked again in the chest from below, then slashed in her shoulder from yet another unseen assailant. Her spear flew out of her hands, landing point-first into the middle of the thick sludge- before Fera could try to reach it again, she felt a tight grip around her neck, and was thrown backwards through the air and slammed into the ground. She struggled to get up under the weight of her own armor as Amiroir stood on her back, slowly reappearing as her camouflage opened back up.
Fera: *panting heavily*
Amiroir: Pathetic. All that bluster and no bite.
Amiroir pressed her spiky heel further into Fera’s back, with the Terran letting out a sharp cry of pain. The Sukubian leaned in closer to her prey’s face, a sweet and acidic smell making its way into Fera’s nose.
Amiroir: After all this, you die here. And I will take my rightful place as champion of the Solus system… as an immortal hero!
Thinking quickly, Fera took advantage of her opponent’s fantasies and raised her shield-bearing arm up, digging the rough edge directly into Amiroir’s leg. The Sukubian screeched in pain as she backed off, Fera taking the opportunity to roll through the muck and regain her balance. A flurry of transparent shards came flying her way once again, but she swiftly parried them, charging in for a bashing attack. With one mighty swing, she bashed the shield into the side of Amiroir’s head, sending her tumbling and flying across the swamp; she finally came to a stop when she collided with the side of a tree, her arm being ensnared the same way it had been when they first encountered each other. She tried feebly pulling her arm from the trap, taking the opportunity to hiss at Fera.
Amiroir: *coughing* Go on, then! Finish me off! Prove yourself the victor!
Fera simply slid her shield away, cleaning what grime she could off her face before stalwartly turning to face Amiroir.
Fera: I already told you… *pant* I’m not killing anybody. You’re just gonna have to live… *pant* with this loss.
Fera turned around to regain her spear. Despite her exhaustion, she was ecstatic- she had bested her opponent without killing them. She had proven that her plan was working. She could end this war peacefully… The determination to complete her plan was surging within her, making her feel warm and invigorated. She felt as though she could do anything…
Behind her, however, Amiroir had managed to wiggle her way partially out of her confinement. She was enraged at the gall this Terran had to defeat her like this, leaving her abandoned and being too much of a coward to finish the job. Her rage boiled over, and as she thrust her free arm outward, a massive shard of prismatic material flew through the air, directed straight at Fera’s heart.
Fera barely had time to react before she heard the shard whistling through the air. Moments before impact, she knew that she wouldn’t have enough time to draw her shield… In her haste, she stretched her arm outward, as if trying to grab the shard would have been able to stop its impact-
CLANGGGGG!
To both Fera and Amiroir’s shock, a flash of light burst from Fera’s hand, and an array of what looked like hexagonal panels spread outwards from the impact site. The shard bounced harmlessly off this strange energy wall and landed into the swamp with a harmless plopping noise, and the wall quickly phased out of existence, leaving both women shocked and startled. Before either of them could discuss what had just happened, Fera rushed to her spear, bolting out of the fog as fast as she possibly could. Smearing more dirt off her face, she came to another sudden revelation as she ran… the wound on her cheek had healed, sealed up as if it had never been torn at all. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what was causing all of this strange phenomena as she had been fighting- the more her mind raced, the faster she went.
Amiroir stood there, arm still ensnared in the branch. Her expression was blank with shock and fear, wondering what exactly she had just witnessed. That battle she had just gone through, however… Perhaps the Terran was right after all. Maybe this violence was pointless…
----
Anger. Fear. Confusion.
All these emotions coursed through Raune’s mind as she flashed back to her childhood. All she could remember was being surrounded by fire, the crimson death her people instinctively feared, as a massive being stood above her. It was covered in a thick shell that turned pitch black in the shadows of the fire, wearing ornate robes… and its glowing orange eyes were focused squarely on the woman it held in her hands. Another Lillius, struggling to escape from her captor’s grasp.
Raune feebly reached out, trying to do anything she could to save her friend, but it wasn’t enough. The figure walked away, with no realization Raune was even there. The fire closed in around her as her flashback converted more and more into a twisted nightmare.
Raune: N-no… Please…
All she could feel was raw emotion pouring down on her, swelling like a tidal wave. She was so twisted, so haunted by this moment, and all she could think to do was lash out. She had to do something, anything… She had to kill that monster for what he and his kind had done.
Before Raune could do anything to stop the mental flood from crashing down on her, her mind was bombarded with twisted mental imagery. Scenes of her cracking open the monster’s shell open, the satisfying crunch making her feel a strange sensation deep in her chest. The dream Raune giggled softly to herself as she bashed through the shell, which quickly changed its shape into an ever-shifting mass of horrified faces. All she could do was maniacally laugh harder and harder, enjoying every last moment of violence and bloodshed-
Raune: NO!!!
Raune jolted awake, sitting upright. She quickly glanced around her surroundings… She was resting on a flat desert mesa in the middle of the night, an endless expanse of stars stretching across the horizon as the embers of a fire crackled in front of her. By her side, Gargan snorted before jumping to his feet, frantically pointing his gun in every direction looking for enemies.
Gargan: Who’s there?! Show yourself!!
Raune: *panting* No, no, Gargan, it’s okay! I just-
Gargan: Nightmare, then. I see.
Gargan slumped back down onto the ground, eyeing the campfire before igniting it again with a burst of flame from his mechanical arm. Raune instinctively yelped and backed away, still startled from the nightmare. Retron was still sleeping through all of this, sprawled on the ground and emitting the occasional beeping sound.
Gargan: So…you mind telling me what your dream was about?
Raune: No, I… I do not feel comfortable with-
Gargan: Well, would it make you feel more comfortable if I told you what mine was?
Raune: I… Perhaps.
In a dramatic shift from his usual gung-ho attitude, Gargan turned away from Raune and silently looked towards the skies, with what looked like a calm emptiness washing over his eyes.
Gargan: It’s a dream I keep having. One of emptiness, bloodshed, and desperation. In this dream, the wounds of my arm- the one that I lost- they’re fresh. They pour out fountains and fountains of blood. It starts to drown me. And in this ocean of blood, a mountain rises. Something within me pushes me to do my best to climb the mountain, like maybe it’ll do something to fix the bleeding. But no matter how high I climb, I never seem to reach the top, and the blood keeps rising… like I’m not moving at all.
Everything was silent for a moment. Raune looked into Gargan’s eyes… Behind his aggressive, stone-faced exterior, she understood that his culture and past must have put him through a great amount of pain and strife. She couldn’t even begin to comprehend what he had gone through…
Gargan: Anyway, the dream usually either ends with me drowning and collapsing, or I just wake up normally. And hey, thanks to you, we got that good end this time.
Raune: I… I had no idea...
Gargan: Your turn now, Princess. I bared my heart and soul to you, least ya can do is share back.
Raune sighed to herself, focusing all of her courage. She knew she could trust Gargan, so all she had to do was trust in herself…
Raune: When I was a child, my sister was abducted and stolen from me. It was part of a great scourge that ravaged my city, almost silently… Many Lillius disappeared over the course of a single night, with almost nobody realizing what had happened the next day. I was the only one who seemed to realize, trapped in smoke and fire while I helplessly watched my beloved sister being taken away from me.
Raune choked back a green tear. As she tried to collect her emotions and continue, Gargan wordlessly encouraged her to continue.
Raune: Even my own mother, regent of the whole planet, told me the next morning that everything was perfectly fine. I… I don’t know why she’d lie to me like that. And ever since, then… I haven’t been able to get the face of that person out of my head. The person who stole my sister from me.
Gargan: So, you’re scared of loss and not being able to find her again? That’s nothing to be shamed about, plenty of people-
Raune: No, it’s not just that. Ever since that day, my dreams have turned towards violence. Bloodshed. In my dreams, I revel in death, not just of my sister’s captor, but of nameless masses letting out cries of pain and torment. And I just… Can’t stop laughing.
Raune curled up into a ball, tiny vines popping from the scorched earth and wrapping around her extremities as if to comfort her.
Raune: Before I came to Coronite, I usurped my mother’s throne. I drained her life essence, took her power. I wilted her. And even though I came on a mission of peace and pacifism, since I have arrived, I’ve helped to take the life of two more people, people who just wanted a better life for themselves and their species. I’m meant to be the bringer of peace, someone who wants to help stop the violence and war… and yet, I’m terrified that I’ll fall deeper and deeper into this cycle of violence and despair. I don’t… I’m not a murderer-
The Lillius leader broke down, sobbing intently and muttering her last sentence to herself over and over again. Gargan, shocked at what he had just heard, thought to himself over what he should do; eventually, he reached his hand out, trying to comfort her with the warmest gesture he was able to truly give.
Gargan: You’re not a murderer, Raune. You’re tough, strong, and you saved our butts. Maybe I’m just getting to be a softy, but to me, that’s not a murderer. That’s being protecting someone you don’t know out of the goodness of your own heart.
Raune: *sniffle* But what if something snaps? What if I hurt someone I care about?
Gargan: Just stay strong, kid. It’ll all be okay.
As the Vulkonian patted his friend’s back to soothe her emotional state, the sun began to rise over the alien horizon. Raune’s sobbing slowly faded away to silence as she wrapped her arm around Gargan’s back, using him for support. In this one moment, everything was at peace… And then, the morning stillness was broken by Retron, a proud triumphant beeping noise echoing across the mesa as he woke up at precisely the crack of dawn. Looking at their diminutive friend, Gargan and Raune both laughed, knowing that things would work out as long as they stuck together.
----
Lucius: Damn you… There has to be something here…
Lucius tore through more and more archive vials, delving deeper and deeper into the heart of the citadel he was operating out of. Despite countless years of research being stored in this building, not one drop of information seemed to be able to help him out of this situation. Of course, he never expected a planet to be able to cross the cosmos in the blink of an eye, and most likely, his former kin would not have either.
Through all the years of research he and his former comrades had spent analyzing the power that the creature he had conversed with possessed, they had barely come across what could happen if it spent the time it had been recharging its power. The eradication of his civilization was one thing, but even now, if that fiend was allowed to regain her full power…
Lucius slammed his fist onto the desk, a flare of green plasma bursting out in shock. The situation was being made even more frustrating by all the warriors who had brought themselves to his world by following the siren’s call that beast was emitting. Everyone willing to risk their own lives only to end up setting it free… It was absolutely maddening. And Lucius was running out of time to stop it.
Xyzor: Greetings.
Lucius jumped backwards in fright. Turning around, he saw a skeletal-looking alien with grey skin standing in the middle of the lab, glowing red shoulder cape casting a sinister light across the water that covered the lab’s floor. Instinctively, Lucius clenched his hands, being prepared to strike whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Lucius: Who are you? Answer me!
Xyzor: I am Shogun Zyveri Xyzor, member of the Valienite empire and honorable warrior. I’ve been questing across this planet, hoping to bring honor to my people. I am most pleased to have finally met you.
Lucius’s spine tingled with fear. Despite his calm demeanor, Xyzor’s entire body was shrouded in a threatening, killing intent that shrouded his essence. Lucius could tell just through how the man’s body behaved that he had killed more people in the name of this pointless war than his own stomach could handle. His heart began to race faster.
Lucius: You must leave, Zyveri Xyzor. None of you should be on this planet to begin with.
Xyzor: You are the one from the recordings, yes? The mad Terran who was imprisoned for trying to drive people away from this world. I am shocked and surprised you managed to arrive here.
Lucius: I’m not a… “Terran”. Leave me now.
Xyzor: As much as I told that Bolstar woman that this war was not her fault… the truth is, the blessings held within this planet are ripe for the taking. There is no way that a loyal soldier like I would not do anything in my power to win that mighty reward for my masters.
Lucius gritted his teeth as his hand began to spark with plasma energy. Xyzor smirked, slowly reaching for his own weapon.
Lucius: My planet does not belong to anyone.
Xyzor: Your planet? Bold words, you insane fool.
Xyzor threw his glowing cape to the side, drawing his dual-handled blade in a flash. The Valienite warrior rushed towards Lucius, preparing for a mighty downward swing, but Lucius darted to the side and retaliated with a plasma-infused punching attack. Xyzor found himself knocked back towards the wall, skidding to a slow stop as his talons gripped the floor. Lucius crossed his arms, jet-like knives of pure plasma forming in his hands, and flung them outwards towards his enemy. The green energy bursts flew through the air, colliding with the walls and objects scattered around the room; while some managed to graze Xyzor’s body, he managed to deflect a great deal of them utilizing his blade.
Enraged, Xyzor lunged forward, his sword opening up like a massive pair of scissors as he closed the distance between himself and his target. Thinking quickly, Lucius summoned a wall of green flame around his arm, holding it up as a shield and jamming the scissors with it. While Xyzor could not cut, however, he was using the advantage of weight, pressing down on Lucius to attempt to gain leverage and force him into buckling. The blonde waited for the best opportunity, letting himself get pressed lower and lower towards the ground… and then blew himself back with an explosion of energy around his feet.
While Xyzor was staggered, Lucius flipped through the air, landing against the back wall with his right foot and blasting forward once again. This time, however, Xyzor managed to grab him by the face, swinging him through the air before slamming him into the damp ground with an earth-shattering crunch. This slam attack was soon followed up by a series of rapid pummels, smashing Lucius further and further into the ground. Xyzor reached for his blade, ready to end Lucius’s life…
Lucius: I will not fall… to the likes of you!
Hand glowing with plasma energy, Lucius shoved two fingers forward, catching the blade between them and guiding the blow to the safe zone beside his head. Xyzor growled as he raised his foot to stomp on Lucius’s face, but the scientist lifted his free hand and caught the foot in midair, shocking it with an intense pulse of energy. As the shogun stumbled backwards, Lucius righted himself, holding his shoulder as he tried to catch his breath.
Xyzor roared a mighty battle cry as he held his sword aloft, pulling each of its twin handles apart until the scissors snapped into a pair of dual blades. He rushed in like a whirling tornado, slicing and swinging wildly towards Lucius’s extremities. Lucius himself was taken aback as his arms and chest were struck by a multitude of blows, spilling black blood across the floor. Breathing heavily, he held his hand out once more, letting loose a shockwave of energy that blasted the two of them apart. Xyzor growled again, spitting on the floor.
Xyzor: I will not allow you to usurp the glory that my people so righteously deserve, you lunatic! Die where you stand!
Lucius: I’m sorry. I refuse to taint this ground with my blood any further.
Swiping his hand across the nearby desk, Lucius hurled a vial of liquid at Xyzor, striking him right in the eyes and obscuring his vision. A loss of information, yes, but what good would it do if his kind died for good here and now? Seizing the opportunity, Lucius lunged forward, a sword of plasma forming around his hand as he slashed across Xyzor’s chest. The Valienite gasped in shock, as if taking a moment to silently comprehend his wound.
Xyzor: I… You…
He collapsed, sighing as he planted himself face-first into the icy cold water on the floor. Lucius deactivated his blade, stumbling over to another of the green furnaces and submerging his hands into its restorative warmth. As his wounds slowly stitched themselves back together, he thought back to what the intruder had said. Fera Bolstar- that was the woman in armor that he had encountered when he arrived to warn people about his planet’s arrival in their system. She had wound up apprehending him… and now, it seemed, she had started the entire conflict that threatened to unleash an unspeakable evil on the cosmos.
Lucius shuddered in fear. The Fera woman… She needed to be dealt with. She needed to be driven away before her actions caused any more unnecessary grief or strife. Even if it had to escalate further than that.
He began storming from the citadel, determined to locate Fera by any means necessary. The great doors began opening and slamming tight with such force that icicles on the walls and ceiling began falling off, such was Lucius’s rage over the situation. As soon as he left, however, Xyzor started moving, pulling himself off the ground. He snickered to himself as he pulled a nano-medkit out of his belt, spraying the nanite blend over his chest wound.
Xyzor: Fool. Clearly you’re no warrior. Otherwise you’d have tried to finish me off.
Xyzor stood upright, looking around the room and analyzing the plentiful artifacts spread from wall to wall. All tools and information that could give the shogun a tactical edge in this fight to conquer the planet. The snicker turned to a laugh as he began approaching the desk, determined to pry every secret from the mysterious world that he possibly could.
Xyzor: Tell me, you mysterious land… What secrets lie in your depths?!
----
In a dark, craggy wasteland somewhere on Coronite, a large eight-wheeled vehicle rolled across the landscape. None of the threatening spires dotting the behemoth's surroundings seemed to bother it, as it simply rolled on down to the first flat plain it could find. Once situated, the doors of the hulking mech rolled open, as humanoid figures in heavy protective armor leapt out.
Terrans.
While some began scouting the nearby area, armed with the latest high-caliber weaponry, others began spray-painting various lines and circles on the ground. From the inside of the vehicle came more Terrans, carrying components for some form of strange device. With the painted marks as guidelines, the group of soldiers managed to quickly assemble what looked like a massive drill, with multiple slots on the sides for empty canisters.
With the press of a button, the drill began its slow descent into the depths of Coronite. The hard rocky surface cracked and split apart as the drill greedily seeked out whatever energy source existed at the planet's core. The war was not needed- the Terrans would simply conquer and take what they needed.
The creature sealed within the planet's core could feel it. Her body confined to the tank that Lucius had sealed her inside, she nevertheless began to slowly smile as she felt the drill pierce deeper and deeper into Coronite... It felt like a needle being pierced through her body, delivering her the boost of power she needed oh so very much.
Her siren song had worked perfectly. Finally, her ultimate goal was within her reach...
=== Chapter 6: Trial of Reunion ===
The heat of the rising sun and sweat dripping down Fera’s neck was just one of the many signs that she had returned to Coronite’s desert, the very same place she had had her duel and talk with Xyzor so many nights ago. As she wiped her brow, she thought about how insane it was that she had been able to cross so many different biomes in her short time on this planet… This really couldn’t have been natural.
Still, her determination to end the conflict was driving her forward. If she could keep encountering people, forcing them to surrender, then maybe she could convince Gangue and everyone else who had bought into this scheme that there were better ways of understanding this alien world than merely flattening all opposition. They could understand each other, take the time to learn what had actually happened to this teleporting world, rather than immediately jumping in to claim it…
Fera sighed as she sat down in the sand, moving her finger around the join between her undershirt and armor to try to pry a bit more airflow open. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered why the Terran government had allowed Gangue’s suggestion for this Hero project in the first place. It would irreparably devastate relations between planets possibly forever, and rather than averting the crisis, they were explicitly giving every single group an opportunity to participate. Not even the Catalogers, who were supposed to be the managers of the entire Solus system, seemed to want to step in. Was this all just a show of military might intimidating people, or was there something deeper going-
???: You should never have come here.
Suddenly, Fera was thrown to her feet by a blast of explosive force, hurtling her a short distance through the air. Landing on her hands and feet directly in a nearby dune, the panicked Terran glanced upward as she gasped for breath… and saw him. The Lucius person she had apprehended on Terra before all of this had started, his hand flickering with an eerie green light.
Fera: You… How did you get here?
Lucius: I could ask the same of you. Now, get off of my planet before I have to wipe you off this plane of existence.
----
Raune yawned gently as she stretched her arms wide, greeting the rising sun with her typical grace and poise. It was as if her beauty sleep had cured her both of her sorrows of the previous night and her fatigue from the battles they had fought- her powers were even manifesting a bouquet of delicate blossoms that slowly poked out from the dry, cracked ground around her. Feeling fully refreshed and energized, she faced the light with a smile, her eyes twinkling with dew.
Gargan: *groaning* Mornin’, everyone.
Interrupting Raune’s fantastical awakening performance, Gargan rolled off his back with a thundering groan, smacking his lips together hazily before checking his breath and standing upright. Retron was still sleeping, but in a split second, he had hopped to his feet, beeping a heroic tune as he brandished his sword. Seemed as though the little one had already prepared to face another day of combat.
Raune: Morning, you two. Sleep well?
Gargan: Like a rock. We keeping at the same plan today?
Raune: Yes. We can’t accomplish anything until we find a motivation for everyone to stop fighting. Anything that could give us a sort of sign will do…
Gargan: And then we publicly broadcast that message to the entirely Solus system somehow?
Raune: We already are.
Raune tapped the flower on her head, which Gargan had assumed was decorative.
Raune: Everything I have done so far on Coronite has been sent back to allies on Lillius. From there, they should be able to transmit that information all across the system. It’s merely a matter of finding something big to throw everyone off this blood-soaked path...
Gargan: Lemme remind you our little peace parade hasn’t led to anything nice between us and the people we’ve met. It’s gonna take something big to change people’s minds.
Retron began suddenly chirping away rapidly, startled by something over the horizon. The other two took notice, and as Raune stood up from her resting position, she saw what looked like a massive cloud of dust hovering over the desert below.
Raune: A desert storm?
Gargan: I’ve seen enough dust clouds to know what that is… An explosion. Someone’s fighting down there.
Raune: If there’s a fight, we have to try breaking it up! Everyone, prepare for battle!
Retron saluted before placing both of his hands on the ground, generating long tendrils that snaked down to the desert before them. With each of the three grabbing hold, they began their descent, hopeful that they could break up the conflict before anything went wrong.
----
Fera’s spear clashed with Lucius’s arm, which was wreathed in a fiery shield of plasma. The pressure building between the two was causing the sand beneath them to billow up between their feet, generating a massive cloud beneath them. The Terran grunted in pain as she tried to hold strong, the sand brushing past her face.
Fera: You were in prison, Lucius! How did you*grunt* get here?!
Lucius: I heard that you were responsible for all of this, Fera. You’re the reason why so many people are tearing each other apart to reach this world’s center.
Fera: I didn’t mean to do any of this! I stood up to try to-
Lucius: Enough of your lies!
With an angered roar, Lucius threw his arm forward, breaking the lock between their weapons. Fera steadied herself, priming her shield to block whatever Lucius was about to throw at her- in turn, the mysterious blond individual pointed his other hand forward, firing a concentrated laser beam from his fingertip. The beam of piercing green hit the shield square in the center, ricocheting off the side as she swung it.
Taking the opportunity to gain an advantage, Fera began running down the side of the dune, jumping into the air and landing on the back of her shield. Riding it down like the hoverboard she hadn’t touched since she was a kid, she laid low to dodge a second incoming laser. Lucius burst upwards into the air, propelled by a blast of plasma in order to gain extra height and aim more precisely… But to his surprise, Fera used another dune as a ramp, launching herself upwards as she bailed.
When she got within close distance of Lucius, Fera swung her spear at him, hoping to smack him upside the head and render him unconscious. To her shock, his reflexes were responsive enough to grab the spear mid-swing, and before she knew it, the two of them were tumbling through the air, both trying to fight for control of the situation.
Lucius: Thanks to you, all life in this system is at risk! Maybe even the whole universe!
Fera: What are you even talking about?! Explain yourself! I just want to talk!
Lucius: So did I! And look where we are now!
Lucius twisted himself around in midair, both hands gripped tightly on the spear. He swung around with all of his might, aiming to hurl Fera towards the ground… But Fera held on, her determination-infused grip holding out over Lucius’s. Taking the momentum of his swing and reversing it, she continued the swing, hurling a shocked Lucius towards the ground at high speeds.
As Lucius collided with the sand in another cloud of dust, Fera curled up to protect herself from as much of the impact as possible. She soon joined the other combatant on the ground, panting from both the heat and the intense physical exertion. She had never been capable of this kind of athleticism… So why now?
That didn’t matter, though. As Lucius struggled to get out of the shifting sand pit he had found himself in, Fera pointed her spear at his throat. Sure, it was a threat, but maybe she could help him up out of the pit.
Fera: Whatever’s going on here, I don’t want to fight you. I want to end this battle, not keep fighting for people who tried to set me up for treason.
Lucius silently panted to himself, glaring at Fera. Wordlessly, he grabbed the spear, climbing to his feet- and then pulled his hand back, wresting the weapon from Fera’s grip as he tossed it to the side. His hands crackled with energy as he rushed towards her, a desperate expression on his face.
Lucius: It’s too late for any of that now!
Fera raised her arm to block the plasma-charged strike, only for the two to slam together with even more intense force. A flash of light appeared before their eyes as the same mysterious barrier that Fera had managed to summon in the swamp returned, knocking Lucius back before fading into nothingness a second later. Both the Terran and alien scientist were shocked at this phenomenon, with Fera herself still not comprehending how she had been managing to pull this off. The two of them stared deep into each other’s eyes, analyzing their opponent’s potential next move…
And then Lucius felt something fly past his cheek, scratching another open wound that smeared his face with black blood.
Gargan: Now, what’s going on here?
Fera looked off to her right. To her surprise, a trio of other beings had arrived on the scene, the biggest of them holding a giant mechanical gun arm towards Lucius. The moment he noticed she was looking at him, he sneered back at her, leading the armored woman to take a step back out of caution.
Lucius: Ah. More warmongering conquerors here to clean up the spoils, I see.
Raune: Actually, we are here to stop you two from fighting and creating more bloodshed. We don’t want any more violence… this war is pointless.
Fera audibly gasped. She had found other people who shared her thoughts on the matter… She wasn’t alone in her pursuit of peace. Taking a step forward, she placed a hand over her chest in solidarity with the unusual trio.
Fera: Fera Bolstar, Hero of Terra. You’re trying to stop this war?
Retron beeped in excitement, while Raune and Gargan gave her looks of suspicion. They had been told that this Terran woman was responsible for kickstarting the entire conflict in the first place… Why would she have done such a thing?
Raune: High Regent Alra Raune of the Lillius people. Are you the one who began the war for Coronite as we have been told, Ms. Bolstar?
Fera: I… Yes. In an attempt to prevent a military incursion by Terran forces, I was tasked with colonizing Coronite by myself. My commanding officers twisted that punishment into a vile competition between the races of the Solus system.
Gargan: What a load of shrakh.
Fera: No, it’s true, I… I’ve been trying to atone for my sins. I want to be a heroine like the title my government slapped on me, someone who can actually save lives… And so I’ve been trying to accomplish the same goal as you.
Fera stretched her hand out in a show of friendship… of sympathy.
Fera: I know I’ve made a huge mistake, but… I want to join you. If you’ll have me.
The quartet held their collective breath, silence dancing over the sunbaked desert. Gargan shrugged as he put his gun arm down, clicking it back into hand form. Retron chirped cheerily as Fera walked closer, giving Raune a firm, strong handshake. With this, the end of this meaningless conflict was growing closer and closer-
Another bolt of plasma soared through the air towards the group. Thinking quickly, Retron jumped upwards, pulling down a barrier of blocks as if he were closing blinds in the middle of the air. The blocks scattered around the desert before fizzling out, and now everyone’s attention was solely focused on Lucius, his finger still sizzling with energy.
Lucius: Are you serious about this?! You bring bloodshed and chaos to my home, and now you’re suddenly all friends at the drop of a hand? Were you only concerned about causing havoc this whole time?
Fera: Lucius, what are you talking about?
Gargan: The guy’s flinging green fire at us. I think it’s safe to assume he’s not Terran.
Raune: What reason do we have to meddle with this world? And why is it you’re so adamant about getting us to leave?
Lucius: Don't play dumb here. This is something far bigger than you could ever hope to comprehend.
Retron beeped angrily as the four heroes tensed up, preparing their weapons for use against the wounded warrior. Lucius himself was crackling with energy, driving himself to the limit in an attempt to wipe them all out.
Gargan: Yeah, what he said. Look, dude, we're trying to get people to stop fighting over this planet-
Lucius: Yet you all jumped at the bit to try fighting for it, didn't you? Your petty squabbling for the sake of power not only endangered countless lives who were sent to fight for a goal that doesn't exist, but soon, the entirety of the universe!
What exactly was Lucius’s goal here? Everything about him was so mired in questions, and no matter what the group said, he refused to back down or give anybody ground. Fera tensed up again, aiming to get away from his blade.
Fera: Lucius, we just want to talk things out. Please put down the... laser hand sword and listen to reason.
Lucius slashed his spare hand upwards at Fera, who dodged her head to the side to avoid the glowing hot beam. Rolling to the ground, she righted herself, taking defensive position behind her shield and aiming her spear forwards. Retron, seeing an opportunity, formed a pair of blocks around Lucius's feet to trap him in place; following his lead, Raune threw her staff forward in whip formation, grabbing his over-extended arm and pulling it back. Gargan revved up his arm in gatling mode as the five heroes stood silent, each waiting for their foe to make the next move…
----
Lucius took the first move, slicing downwards and contorting his back in an uncomfortable looking way to slash at the blocks holding down his feet. Gargan let loose with his rapid-fire barrage, but the alien seemed to simply slide around each bullet as if his body was moving in slow motion; yanking his ensnared arm towards his chest, he hurled Raune into Gargan's back. Fera, seeing a chance to retaliate, lunged forward swiftly with her spear, only to have it caught between Lucius's hands. Their eyes locked; Fera's full of determination, Lucius's full of what seemed to be fear.
Retron summoned a wall between the two, dividing the rivals and releasing Fera's spear from her foe's grasp. Seizing an opportunity, she jumped over the wall, shield held down below her like a board for the second time. Though her intent was to crush him under her weight and prevent him from moving, he simply lifted his hand upward as it glowed with more green energy; in a shocking display of power, he simply hurled her over his head, shield and all. As Fera crashed to the dune behind him, she saw Lucius extend a blade in each hand once more, rushing towards Gargan for a double slash attack. Miraculously, his mechanical arm seemed to block the impact of the blow, and the Vulkonian returned the offensive by venting the arm's pressure regulation systems. A thick, scalding cloud of steam emerged from the ports and vents of the arm, causing Lucius to leap back while shielding his eyes.
Lucius: Gahh!!
Gargan: Aw, what’s the matter? Little steam never hurt-
Lucius retaliated by swiftly kicking between Gargan’s legs, forcing him to stumble backwards in pain. Retron rushed forward, his blade enlarged to incredible size as he jumped into the air to strike. Lucius flung a large bolt of plasma up into the air to intercept the attacker, and the diminutive foe was forced to swing his blade in order to cut through the glowing projectile. The explosion clouded the area in green smoke. Everything was silent as Lucius’s hands crackled with energy… But, to his shock, Fera had rushed up behind him at full force, clobbering him in the back of the head with her armored gauntlet. Lucius swiped at her with a glowing hand, but it was clear from the wide arc of his attack that the move had dazed him.
Raune and Retron seized Lucius while he was stunned, ensnaring him in more vines and hardlight restraints wrapped around his torso and waist. Fera got back to her feet, retrieving her equipment as the alien blew his confinement off in another massive burst of plasma energy. Seizing her opportunity, she thrust forward once again, managing to slice the side of his head with the point of her spear.
Everything seemed to go silent as everyone was stunned, especially Lucius. Blackish blood ran down his scalp slowly as he turned towards Fera, his eyes full of that wild, manic fear, intensified and magnified to even greater levels.
Fera: Stand down. Now.
Lucius simply kept panting, eyes darting back and forth between everyone surrounding him. The desperation in his demeanor had escalated to incredible levels, and he was now acting like a starving animal caught in a trap.
Lucius: I will not stand down until this universe is freed from its cancer.
A flash of green beneath them blew everyone away from Lucius as he took off through the air, amplifying his jump with a massive explosive burst of plasma. Fera got to her feet as she saw the green trail soar through the skies like a comet, travelling towards a tall, snowy mountain in the distance. Gargan fired away with his gun arm, but Lucius was moving so fast that every single shot missed its mark. The four could do nothing but gaze over the horizon as the glowing green trail fizzled out… Fera, determined to find out the truth of everything that was going on in this world, turned to her three new companions with a stalwart expression.
Fera: We need to catch him again. The fate of this entire system depends on it. Are you with me?
Gargan: Course. Nobody ticks me off that bad and gets away without a little payback.
Raune: Anything to help stop this war! To the mountain!
Retron chirped with joy as the four turned towards the place Lucius had fled to. If they could ascend that mountain, the truth behind everything going on could finally be revealed…
----
After several hours of digging, the Terran drill managed to excavate a massive tunnel that pierced through the heart of the planet like a bullet driving through flesh. Once it hit the core, the squadron of scientists and military personnel that had been sent to the planet would descend in heat-barrier suits to examine what exactly the power source they had sought for so long was.
Gangue poured himself another glass of the same beverage he had been drinking last time he conversed with his Cataloger friend. San-Sokeh was certainly looking more... worried than last time.
San-Sokeh: My friend, do you not feel something wrong with this entire process? I feel as though we are unearthing secrets that should have never been released to the galaxy.
Gangue: Hah! You think there's something in there we shouldn't be playing with? Some... big, scary monster, perhaps?
San-Sokeh: No, not that. Think about this logically for a second. The Terrans extract the source of power from the planet's core through this drilling process. How does the introduction of this power source into the existing society we Catalogers spent years developing influence that?
Gangue made a face to indicate he was listening. He was not.
San-Sokeh: Introducing a new, incredibly powerful source of energy will unnaturally influence the way many races of the Solus system will evolve culturally for years. Technology beyond the bounds of sustainability will be developed that is reliant on- Wait, no! That is the issue! We do not know if this energy can be replicated or reproduced! This entire war may have been in the vain hopes of a single deposit of this energy, the likes of which will never be found again!
It was official. The commander had lost the support of his adviser and friend in this quest for resources. Gangue simply chuckled in response.
San-Sokeh: What is so funny, Gangue?
Gangue: You say this like we're gonna be sharing this with anyone.
San-Sokeh: Wh-What? Gangue, you said this energy would be used for the betterment of the people of the Solus System-
Gangue: Oh, it will! The Terran- no, the human population is going to thrive under the prosperity that this energy source is going to bring. Everyone else can go screw themselves. We're the ones who've gone out of our way to take what we want instead of hiding behind this proxy war!
San-Sokeh: The war was your idea!
Gangue: Then it's their fault for not taking the initiative and going behind everyone else's backs like we did! Look, Sokeh- your kind talks a big game about how they're all high and mighty because they "made the Solus System", but you and I both know they still haven't dropped that nasty little slave-owner thing. It's at the core of your culture. I'm just trying to keep humanity intact within the Terran culture- what remains of a once-proud race of conquerors and rulers.
San-Sokeh: So that's it, then? Conquest and subjugation?
Gangue: What else would anyone use that kind of power for, my friend? Humans take what they want, even if that's everything. I wish Ms. Bolstar learned that and got with the program.
San-Sokeh: Gangue, I can’t-
Gangue: Tell ya what, Sokeh. Stick with me through this, and the Lillius is yours.
He wasn't surprised when the Cataloger shut up. Guess they really couldn't shake those ancestral roots like the Terrans seemed to want to. Speaking of which… Gangue tapped away at his computer, with multiple camera feeds examining areas of Coronite. One previous video feed captured Bolstar conversing with what seemed to be a few more heroes- a Gesinesan, Lillius, and Vulkonian. Gangue was visibly disgusted at this. Humans didn't need to rely on others to accomplish their goals- Terrans did.
Bolstar was allying with the people she was meant to be conquering for him. She was a traitor to her force… to her whole species. It wouldn’t matter, though. Once the energy at the center of Coronite was in Gangue’s hands, she’d be one of the first to be dealt with.
----
Xyzor had been madly analyzing all of the technology in the dark, chilling citadel he had been left in. After Lucius made his escape, the shogun had been left to his own devices within that alien’s mysterious stronghold, leaving him to begin taking an intense look at all the mysterious relics the building held. 
Almost everything was leagues beyond Valienite technology, or any other race he had seen in the Solus system. Twisting, snake-like mechanisms that tangled their way across the walls, releasing bursts of occasional cold gas. Chains of pure light that dangled through the air, flickering as if sending data from one end of the building to the other. Kiosks around every corner with screens that displayed an ancient language he couldn’t hope to identify, pumping liquid from a strange vial embedded into the center of the console. If he could bring a single one of these back, his people would be able to prosper beyond their wildest hopes and dreams…
No. He had to focus. Xyzor was not here to plunder… he was here to conquer. All of this treasure and technology would belong to him anyways, just as long as he accomplished his goal… Kill everybody else. As much as he sympathized with her, even that poor Fera woman would have to be snuffed out. Nothing would stand in his way. And this abandoned fortress would be the perfect place to begin his full-scale assault.
Walking down a flight of stairs, Xyzor felt his skin grow colder and colder, as if he was crawling into the deepest depths of space. The shogun tried to keep his composure, clutching his still-healing wound as he walked further and further downward… And after what felt like an eternity, he arrived in the middle of a vast room, filled with more shelves of those mysterious vials and consoles. Standing right in the center, however, was a massive tank of fluid, which seemed to house the body of a female being within.
Xyzor stepped closer to analyze what he believed to be a corpse. Long, white hair, strange remnants of what looked like crystals or wings floating in the tank beside her, a massive gash in her body with tubes pumping some substance through it… What on Valia was she?
Mysterious Creature: Somebody came! Oh, thank you so much!
Xyzor stepped back in shock. The corpse seemed to be speaking to him mentally, even as it avoided any and all motion in the tank. The shogun reached for his blade’s grip, preparing to strike if need be.
Xyzor: Speak your name, foul creature. What are you?
Mysterious Creature: My name is Corona! How did you get through that nasty man Lucius’s lair?
Xyzor: Is Lucius behind this? What is going on?
The voice in Xyzor’s head began sobbing, as if she was in intense emotional distress. Everything about this was incredibly disconcerting, and Xyzor was beginning to feel as though he was stumbling into things beyond his wildest comprehension.
Corona: That awful man has kept me trapped here for years and years! He’s done so many experiments on me, calling me an evil monster… It hurts so much! I just want to be free from this place!
The sobbing grew louder and louder, and Xyzor felt more and more compelled to try freeing Corona from her confinement. However, the more he looked at the controls, the more confused he grew. There was no way he could possibly figure out how to open the chamber this organism was trapped in without assistance…
Corona: Lucius has a genetic lock set up on this! No matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to open it. You need to bring him here!
Xyzor: ...Must I bring him alive?
Corona paused for a moment, as if thinking the question over.
Corona: No! You just need h-his hand or something!
Xyzor: Trust me, my friend… I will procure more than his hand.
Xyzor rushed from the room, his energy cape flaring up as he prepared for lethal combat with the alien. After all, he had already left him for dead… What would he be but yet another step on his total conquest of the planet? He ran back up the stairs, determination and courage swelling within his heart.
As her supposed savior left, however. Corona stopped sobbing and began chuckling to herself. 
They were all so stupid. So easy to manipulate.
It seemed as if her awakening would be coming even sooner than anticipated.
=== Chapter 7: Calamity Strikes ===
Teryx sat on the couch in her apartment, grimly watching the news broadcast from Coronite. It had been weeks since Fera had left on what everyone was silently calling a suicide mission, a way for Gangue to dispose of her behind everyone’s back. Of course, nobody in the force said that to his face- that could risk him getting even snappier and turning the firing squad on any one of them.
Newscaster: Good evening, folks. This is Airy Atkins from Terra News Network, reporting in on yet another day over the conflict raging across the superplanet that many civilians have expressed fear and concern over. Our intel reports that, out of the 64 combatants who elected to or were charged with taking part in this conflict, approximately 45 have either been confirmed dead or have gone MIA.
Teryx rubbed her forehead with exhaustion as the report continued, displaying a list of mugshots of everyone sent off to war on Coronite. Fera’s picture, the first on the list, was thankfully marked as MIA- there was a chance she was still alive.
Newscaster: Across the Solus System, a haven at the edges of the universe to prevent the extinction of all life, there has instead been an increase in tension and anxiety. Riots have abounded protesting this most unorthodox conflict, and economic structures on many worlds have collapsed due to the results of these riots. The chaos is truly unprecedented, and despite the widespread panic, neither the leading council of Catalogers nor Terran military commander Gangue, who proposed the war over Coronite in the first place, have been available for comment.
The longer this went on, the more stressed the avian became, tapping her leg on the ground in increasing agony. She hated being complicit in all this. This was not what she had wanted to play a hand in bringing about. But all she could do was follow the orders she had been given.
She wasn’t like Fera- she couldn’t do anything to stop this. All she could do was hope and pray that her friend was doing alright.
Newscaster: As if to further cause chaos, there have been reports of a vehicle existing Coronite and returning to Terran airspace. The make and build of the vessel are Sukubian, but the pilot is currently unknown, as are their motivations.
Someone had left Coronite? Could it be Fera? Why would she leave? Desperate for answers, Teryx fled her apartment, feathers rustling through the nighttime wind as she gazed towards the horizon. Coronite, as had been the case for many days now, stared over everything like a giant ominous eye. Nothing in this system had been right since that superplanet showed up… but maybe that pod would finally give some answers as to what was going on.
----
Fera: I genuinely cannot thank you all enough for joining me on this venture. I know I’ve led to a lot of chaos and havoc, but I promise you, we’re going to right all of it.
Fera and her newfound companions had been trekking up the mountain towards Lucius’s destination for hours now. They had been ascending in silent determination, focused on nothing other than pursuing the mysterious individual for multiple reasons. Fera needed answers from him, while she stood to reason her allies wanted to beat the snot out of him for attacking them earlier. Whatever the case, now was the time for rest.
Raune: Worry not, Ms. Bolstar. It was my goal upon arriving on this world to stop this conflict. Any and all alliances are gladly appreciated!
Gargan: I’m still like… I don’t wanna say skeptical, cuz I do believe you don’t want this conflict. You’d have gunned for us like that green fire kid did.
Fera: Then why the apprehension?
Gargan: Why change your mind so hard? You were at the forefront of all this, right?
Retron beeped in confusion as he poked at the crackling fire in between the quartet, the only thing keeping everyone from freezing on this massive peak. Coronite’s atmosphere must have been shockingly thin if things were getting this chilly this relatively low up…
Fera: I never wanted anything like this. My commander was planning to send a whole battalion of troopers to colonize the surface, an act which violated a multitude of laws. When I objected, he got the idea to send me alone as a punishment… and then his plan escalated from there.
Raune gasped in shock, while Gargan and Retron both turned towards Fera with a concerned expression.
Raune: That’s… That’s despicable! How did they ever think they could get away with that?!
Gargan: Authority figure. I know the type. That said, why did you not try to push harder against him?!
Fera: He’s my commander. He threatened me with death. Even if I couldn’t do anything more then, I know I need to make up for it now.
Gargan: Fair enough, I ‘spose. But listen here, Terran.
Gargan stared directly into Fera’s eyes, an firmly intense gaze piercing straight through her soul. He didn’t seem angry, simply… emotional.
Gargan: Nobody controls you. You make your own life choices. You deal with the consequences. And next time we see that commander of yours, we’re gonna shove a foot up his rear to let him know that you’re not going to take his warmongering shrakh anymore.
Fera nodded intently. Her guard dropped after hearing Gargan’s remark- somehow, the notion that he was being this encouraging to her filled her with determination, a feeling that she had made the right decision uniting with them. Raune turned her around, a green hand on her shoulder.
Raune: Gargan is correct! You share our goals, Fera, and that means we’re going to support each other no matter what comes. If anybody tries to come after you for trying to stop this pointless conflict, we’ll be right there beside you to assist.
The two girls shared a sincere smile. It had been the first time Fera had seen anything approaching affection or kindness since her arrival… it felt warm inside. Without saying a word, Fera vowed to return the favor and protect them in kind- after all, protection was what she had been trained to do.
Fera: I… Thank you all. I appreciate it.
Gargan: No prob. Now, let’s hit the sack. We gotta preserve warmth for the rest of the climb.
Fera nodded as she bundled up underneath the blanket Gargan had thankfully provided for her. As the quartet settled down to rest, gazing up into the stars above, Fera suddenly felt the need to ask something else- something that had been on her mind a lot lately.
Fera: Have you guys experienced any… weird phenomena?
Gargan: I’m pals with a living computer. Define weird.
Fera: I mean like weird powers or abilities. There have been times while I’ve been here where I swear weird walls start appearing around me, or spears that show up out of thin air and then vanish instantly after. I can’t tell if I’m hallucinating or if something even more bizarre has been going on.
Everyone was silent for a few seconds, as if collecting their thoughts.
Raune: ...I haven’t experienced anything like what you’re describing, but I believe there may be something disconcerting about it nonetheless.
Gargan: Yeah. Normally I’d just say it’s an adrenaline rush or something, but this whole planet is messed up. It’s like the rules of physics and all that crap are bending around us at any given moment.
Retron let out a series of tiny, rapid chirping noises, as if he was trying to emulate the effect of shivering intensely with fear.
Gargan: He’s right. The only reason we’re here is because this planet teleported out of nowhere. That technology… It’s not possible. Whatever’s going on, Fera, it’s something none of us should be tampering with.
That was the last word before everyone went silent. Fera stared up at the stars once more, suddenly becoming more and more disconcerted. How could she sleep when the very ground underneath her suddenly felt like it was going to swallow her whole?
----
Lucius panted as he landed on the balcony of his base of operations, bleeding out in various points across his body. He was both exhausted and enraged- the events of this war over the ruins of his home had turned into a union of souls who wished to unify to claim what they saw as a reward. He supposed it was better than more meaningless bloodshed, but the arrogant, power-hungry fools would simply be hastening their own demise as they pushed towards that goal.
And that Fera woman… the one he had been told was responsible for the whole conflict… She was so willing to unite with others and fight for a common cause. Had he been duped by that Xyzor individual? Or was Fera just toying with him even now? Was a woman like that truly that spiteful? And that mysterious power she seemed to be unleashing… could she be-
No, she couldn’t be. Even still, Lucius had one thing on his mind- further sealing Corona away. He had to ensure that no matter what happened to him or his planet, that hideous beast would be unable to wreak any more havoc on the universe. Clutching his arm, he ran down the halls as quickly as he could, hoping to reach the central chamber in which the creature was stored. With his single-minded focus on reaching his destination, however, he barely noticed the figure crawling on the rafters above, his bladed weapon glowing a sinister red.
Lucius yelped in fear as something collided with his back, pushing him down to the ground with incredible force. Before he could stand up again, he felt a clawed foot crush his ribcage as a pair of sizzling-hot blades cross themselves on either side of his neck.
Xyzor: Back again, I see.
Lucius: Wh- How are you- ?
Xyzor: Alive? Do you really not know what a nano medkit is? It will take more than that performance to slay one of the most powerful warriors in the galaxy, you pathetic waste of oxygen.
Lucius struggled to get back to his feet, but the blades just inched closer before he could move, the heat bearing down more and more intensely with each passing second.
Lucius: What is it you want, then?
Xyzor: Just this.
Xyzor wiped his finger across Lucius’s brow, taking some of the black blood leaking from his wounds and staring at it intently. The reptilian creature smiled as he pulled his blade away, letting Lucius gasp for precious air. Without a moment’s hesitation, Xyzor rushed through the hallways once again, his glowing cape trailing behind him like a comet.
Lucius got to his feet, coughing as he tried to catch his breath in the icy-cold air. He couldn’t believe that this adversary of his had managed to evade defeat, yet alone get the drop on him in the building he had worked in for almost his entire adult life. Yet something else was gnawing at the back of his fuzzy and concussed mind… Why would he track him down, only to let him go after taking a sample of his blood?
After all, there wasn’t any real reason why someone like him would need his-
No. Oh, merciful Worlds Beyond, no. He couldn’t.
If that vile creature had gotten to him, then there was no telling what she could have manipulated him into doing for her. If he unleashed that seal…
Lucius: I am not going to… let the universe end here!!!
Lucius burst down the hall, propelled by more explosions of plasma. He didn’t care if he burnt himself out pursuing Xyzor… There was infinitely worse that could happen if that fiend was let loose through his meddling.
----
Fera climbed up the steps to the snow-covered citadel, Gargan leading the charge in front of her while the others behind her. The region sent chills down her spine, and not just from the incredibly low temperature... The entire place felt eerie, as if something invisible to her was staring through her very being. She couldn't back down now, though. They had to check out the citadel.
After what felt like an eternity, the group came up to the massive door to the mysterious alien palace, decorated with strange runes of an alien language none of them could decipher. Everything about the building just felt wrong.
Fera: I don't suppose anybody here reads Ancient Coronite?
Gargan responded by pulling a lever on his mechanical arm, which began humming with energy as it glowed bright red. A massive burst of energy shot out of his palm, blowing a wide hole in the door. So much for preservation of culture.
Raune: ...I will simply assume that the door read "Please Knock".
Fera prepped her weaponry as her allies did the same. Entering the imposing building's ebony halls, the two felt warmer as some sort of heating system activated, but that did little to counteract the intense chill the group felt from nervousness. Expecting the building to essentially be some kind of living quarters, they were shocked when they found the place filled with what looked like computers, with long lines of shelves filling the halls.
Raune: Is this some sort of... library?
Gargan: Ain't anything like any library I've ever seen. What library has bottles of yellow stuff instead of books?
He was right. No books or script of any kind to be found anywhere, simply rows and rows of tiny vials, filled with a pale yellow liquid. The lack of any familiar sights made the building feel far more alien than it should have.
But, then again, weren't they the aliens trespassing on this planet?
Guided by the pulsing lights moving them down the hallways, the group soon found themselves wandering through what felt like an endless maze of chilly corridors and alien technology. There was absolutely no sign of life anywhere aside from them, and the sparse mechanical clanging that echoed from inside the walls only served to make the scene more frightening. In fact, Fera could have sworn that noise was getting more and more constant.
Raune: Was this a trap-?
Gargan: Shhh! Listen…
Fera faintly heard what sounded like explosions echoing through the halls. Could that have been Lucius?
Fera: Everyone, split up! We have a better chance of cornering him if we can use a pincer formation!
Raune: Will that not merely make it easier for him to pick us apart?
Gargan: He’s wounded! We can at least hold him back until other people arrive.
With a triumphant-sounding chime from Retron, the group split apart from each other, all trying to pinpoint the source of the explosion sounds. Fera kept running as quickly as she could, getting further entangled in the winding pathways and struggling to see in the increasingly dim light. The sounds were getting closer, however… Lucius had to be near.
What the soldier didn’t expect to see when turning the next corner was a black blur with a glowing cape crashing into her at intense speeds, knocking her back. She quickly crawled up from the floor, looking behind her to see who had struck her- Xyzor?! What was he doing here? She hadn’t seen him since that talk in the desert all those nights ago…
Lucius came around the corner, clearly exhausted and drained of energy. Fera tightened her grip on her spear, but the mysterious man simply started hacking up more of that blackish blood. Whatever was going on, he was in no shape to fight.
Lucius: *panting* You…
Fera: Why was that person here?
Lucius: No time! Stop him!
Still confused as to what was going on, Fera still picked up on the urgency of the situation, turning around to pursue Xyzor through the dark halls of the alien building. She took every shortcut she could to keep up with him, using her spear to drift around corners and kicking off of walls for bursts of speed. She kept looking back on the night that they had spent together, where Fera had opened her heart to the Valienite shogun and he responded in turn. Was all of his talk just to lower her guard? What atrocities had he tried to commit behind her back?
Eventually, the halls finally opened up to a massive room, at the center of which was a gigantic, frosted-over tank of liquid. Fera could see some sort of figure inside, but the frost covering the glass made it impossible to make out any details. Was this another of Lucius’s people?
Lucius himself finally rounded the corner, but before he could enter the room, Xyzor threw a small metallic blade towards a control panel on the side. The door quickly activated some sort of security system, sealing off the entrance with an energy barrier not even Lucius’s plasma blades seemed to be able to pierce through. Deciding to put that aside for now, Fera turned to face Xyzor, his hand still dripping with some of Lucius’s blood.
Fera: Xyzor. 
Xyzor turned around sharply, seemingly shocked at hearing Fera’s voice again.
Xyzor: Bolstar. I’m shocked to have encountered you again.
Fera: Likewise. What is all this for?
Xyzor: The war, of course. I am simply… gaining an upper hand on those who remain.
Fera tensed up, pulling her spear and shield into position for combat. Xyzor just chuckled to himself, pulling out his glowing scissor blade once again.
Xyzor: Come, now. I truly do sympathise with you and your plight, Ms. Bolstar. Feeling intense guilt for dragging all life in one of the last bastions of civilization in the universe into a territory conflict… That is something I understand the pain of. My heart bleeds for you.
In the blink of an eye, Xyzor rushed towards Fera, his blade opening up before clamping down on her shield. Despite Fera’s attempts to counterattack with a thrust of her spear, the Valienite twisted his wrist with a sharp motion that dislodged the protective tool from her hand, sending it scattering across the floor. Before she could retrieve it, she found the sizzling blade being pointed at her neck.
Xyzor: But I am a proud warrior. I am a hero to my people. It is not my place to assuage the fears of others… My role is to bring glory to my people. And that will come once your head is on the floor.
----
Teryx rushed out into the central plaza where the ship from Coronite had crash-landed. Like the newscaster had stated, it looked to be of Sukubian origin, a sleek black pod with circuitry lines resembling spider webs running across the exterior. The pod itself was currently in flames, but the pilot- the first time Teryx had ever seen a Sukubian in person- seemed to be none the worse for wear, simply having a few bruises and scratches.
The fact that a Sukubian had appeared in public at all meant that this was probably the representative they had sent to Coronite… but why was she here?
Teryx: Excuse me? Ma’am?
The eerie-looking individual turned to Teryx, her multiple eyes glancing around with fear and caution. She looked shaken to her very core… fully understandable, given what she had gone through on Coronite.
Amiroir: Ah, I know you very well. What is it you want?
Teryx: You’re from the war, right? What happened?
Amiroir: I was… mistaken. It took an encounter with one from this world’s people to show me the light. And with that…
Amiroir turned to address the crowd, spreading her arms wide. A crew of reporters propped up their camera to broadcast the announcement, with other people in the crowd pulling out their own personal recording devices to capture the moment for themselves.
Amiroir: People of the Solus System, I am known as Amiroir, and I come here to bring the experiences of my time on the planet Coronite. With the energy inside becoming sought after by many worlds, the seeds of conflict became sown in the hearts of many, and I was no exception. I sought to use this conflict to enhance my own standing, to become more than my own station and finally live a fulfilling, happy life.
Amiroir sighed as she gazed back at the camera.
Amiroir: But then I met Fera Bolstar, a woman from Terra. Though many view her as a woman responsible for setting the stage for this war in the first place, I came to realize she wanted none of this pointless violence. Despite all my efforts, I could not best her, yet she saved my life in turn. And from that, I came to the following conclusion… This war serves no purpose.
Everyone in the area was silent, with the only noise coming from the crackle of the Sukubian ship. Teryx couldn’t believe it… Fera had moved people to the point of trying to spread the message of peace. She had fought back against this bloody war.
Amiroir: And with that in mind, I have come to relay this message… Our enemies are not among our own kind. We have been pitted against each other instead of working together to unlock the secrets of what this mysterious world could hold, making a better reality for all of us. Innocent people have had their lives ruined in this quest for power, and heroes only determined to better the lives of those around them are being slain mercilessly for no reason. Our enemy is the one who wants this war to-
Amiroir couldn’t finish her statement before a laser round pierced through her heart.
The crowd screamed in horror and scattered as Amiorir’s body dropped to the ground, letting off the EMP shockwave that signified her death. On Coronite, this was one thing; in the middle of a densely populated city, however, Teryx could only watch in horror as all the lights in the surrounding area flickered out. The city was left in darkness until the emergency power could be reactivated- and in that time, the avian soon found the crowd around her burst apart by Terran soldiers in full body armor.
Soldier A: Nobody move! Civilians are advised to back away from the scene!
Teryx: Wh- What’s going on here?!
Soldier B: Private Teryx, stand back. This is a maximum-priority assignment from the commander.
Teryx: Assignment? What are you-
Soldier A: All individuals who leave Coronite are to be considered enemies of the state. Anybody sympathizing with them will be considered as such.
As more soldiers flooded the scene, weapons armed as the Sukubian hero’s corpse was being dragged away, Teryx felt her heart drop like a stone deep into her body. Gangue’s pursuit of this war… He was turning to military dictatorship every second it went further, abusing the fear and hysteria it was generating to garner even more influence.
She couldn’t stand for it any longer.
Teryx: E-enemies of the state?
Soldier A: Correct, private. Now, come help us load-
Teryx turned to the crowd with a determined gaze in her eyes. She knew what she had to do now.
Teryx: Do you all see what’s happening?! Amiroir was trying to warn us about this exact thing!
Soldier B: Woah, woah, stand down!
Teryx felt the trained eyes of the soldiers surrounding her gazing through her very soul, weapons primed and ready to unleash lethal fire. She gulped in panic, her feathers ruffling… But she had to do this.
Teryx: Our worlds are being torn apart by greed and malice. There’s only one person who stands to gain from inflicting his own kind with despair… Commander Gangue, the man who really was responsible for this war!
The ground gasped in shock, reprising even louder as Teryx was bashed in the back of the head with the butt of one of her former allies’ weapons. Their loyalty to the commander was so thorough that they were willing to murder one of their own after only a few words. All she could do now was keep talking, choking back the tears.
Teryx: I know… You’re all better than this… So please… Do the right thing.
Teryx closed her eyes as she heard the click of the trigger behind her.
But the shot never came.
Soldier B: H-Hey! Get off!
Teryx glanced around in shock as the crowd converged on the soldiers, tackling them and trying to tear the weapons out of their hands. The horrors they had just witnessed, combined with Amiroir’s message and the pent-up frustrations regarding Coronite, had finally boiled over, leading to cries of outrage and protest as the Terran soldiers were swarmed by all manner of civilians in the crowd.
Soldier A: What are you doing? The enemy is- GAH!
Teryx stood proudly, panting as she recovered from the shock of what she had just gone through. As the realization of what she had helped inspire dawned on her, however, an optimistic smile crossed her face. She had instigated what could be a turning point in this war- a critical juncture that could lead to it halting entirely.
Triumphantly grinning through the tears, the avian turned away from the chaos of the crowd and towards the tower where her commander lived. It was up to Fera to continue what she was doing on Coronite… but on the home front, things were about to change even more dramatically.
----
Xyzor: Perish, Terran!
Fera quickly leaned to the side to avoid Xyzor’s forward thrust, the hum of his blade signalling how intensely it would hurt if that managed to touch bare flesh. Adjusting her stance to account for the loss of her shield, she grabbed her spear in both hands, lunging forward with a thrusting attack of her own. As she dashed forward, Xyzor stretched out his foot to trip her up, but she caught the ground with the point of her spear. Using the momentum to launch herself in the air, Fera took a swift swing at the back of her foe’s head.
The Valienite, realizing the blow about to strike him in one of his most vulnerable points, jerked his shoulder sharply in order to throw his glowing energy cape in Fera’s face. While the bright red shroud obscured her vision, she continued her swing, twisting in midair in order to land on her feet. Once she hit the ground, she yanked the spear again, shredding the energy cape and causing it to diffuse into particles.
Xyzor: That shroud is a mark of honor!
Fera: You really think you’re that honorable after all this?
Xyzor growled as his blade opened up once again, seemingly aiming to sever Fera’s spear in half. He swung forward quickly, with Fera retaliating by leaping up into the air; spinning the spear wildly like a helicopter, she swung forward with an overhead strike that struck her enemy directly in the head. As he staggered backwards, dazed from the impact, Fera struck his stomach with the blunt end of her weapon, further knocking him back.
Her determination growing, Fera lunged in for a third strike to the knee, but Xyzor’s blade was thrown up as a deterrent before she could complete the blow. Caught off balance, she overextended herself, and the shogun slashed downwards… As the searing-hot blade cut her across the face, she let out a cry of intense pain.
Lucius could only watch helplessly as he pounded on the barrier, trying everything he could to get the wall to open. Despite everything, that woman was helping him… She really did mean what she said earlier. For all of his intelligence, he felt as if he had made a terrible fool out of himself.
Suddenly, his attempts to breach the door were interrupted by a loud chiming noise immediately to his right. Jumping backwards in fright, he saw the diminutive knight from before glaring at him, pointing another comically oversized sword in his face while sending out some sort of alarming cry. To Lucius’s dismay, the other two opponents from before appeared in the halls, the large red one priming his mechanical arm for attack.
Raune: We have you now, cur! Surrender or-
Lucius: There’s no time for this charade! Your friend is in there fighting for the fate of every living being in the system! We need this door open immediately!
Gargan: If you did something to her, I swear… Retron! You’re up!
Retron chirped as he jumped into Gargan’s arms, the Vulkonian slamming him into the side of the wall like a battering ram. Moments later, Retron found himself embedded into the wall with his eyes flashing brightly, as if his unique makeup was allowing him to hack into the alien machinery. While this approach could potentially tear the door open, it was progressing far slower than Lucius needed, and the fight was continuing to grow in intensity…
Fera: GAHHH!
Xyzor had just slashed her across her arm with his blade, the searing pain coursing through her body as her nerves felt like they burst into flame. As she grabbed her shoulder to try stifling the pain, her opponent lashed out again, slamming the handle of his blade against her chest and knocking her up against the side of the frosted tank. Fera got up to her feet, gripping her spear tightly in both hands.
Xyzor: Give up, Terran. You cannot win.
Fera: And what happens if you win, huh? How many more lives do you plan on ruining?
Xyzor: I will make the lives of my people better. I will make Valia a wondrous paradise!
Fera swung forward with her spear, striking Xyzor directly in the shoulder. As he flinched, she lunged forward, kneeing him in the chest before holding him by the neck with her weapon.
Fera: And what then? Are you going to stay happy or content? Or are you just going to keep on conquering?!
Xyzor grunted angrily as he reared his head back, slamming into Fera’s and dazing her. As she stumbled back, trying to clear the haze from her line of sight, the shogun grabbed her spear off the ground, snapping it in two and throwing the pieces to both sides of the room. Before she could fully come to her senses and realize the gravity of the situation, she found herself being lifted up into the air, grabbed around the neck by Xyzor’s reptilian claws.
She was defenseless, both of her weapons gone, and she was being held too far away from her enemy to try kicking or swiping at him. As Fera’s vision faded, she realized there was only one way out of this situation… She let her mind go blank, giving in to the strange essence that she felt had been empowering her since she arrived on Coronite. To everyone’s surprise, including her own, a transparent replica of her spear appeared in her hand, which hurtled through the air as if guided by an unseen hand apart from Fera’s own…
And missed Xyzor entirely.
The once-shocked warrior’s expression turned to a smug grin as he glared back at his captive, who was looking all the more determined and confident.
Xyzor: With you removed from my path, Fera Bolstar, I will have no more resistance in my path towards greatness. You were a noble warrior, but your death comes now.
Fera: *grunts* I wouldn’t be… too sure about that.
Suddenly, Xyzor felt incredible amounts of pain burst through his body as a glowing green blade of energy pierces through his chest. In shock, he dropped Fera and glanced behind him… Fera’s mysterious spear had hit squarely on the control panel for the door, shorting out the protective barrier, and Lucius had immediately rushed in for a killing blow the second that the opportunity arrived. Though the Valienite tried to turn around and strike at the new attacker, Fera lunged in with an armored punch to his jaw, leaving him unconscious as he continued to bleed out on the floor.
Fera and Lucius both caught their breath, staring at each other. Fera couldn’t believe that the person who had been threatening to kill her was so willing to help save her life; Lucius, on the other hand, couldn’t believe that the woman he thought would spell doom for everything risked her own life to assist him. The quiet moment was swiftly interrupted by another of Retron’s loud chirps as the three companions rushed into the room.
Raune: Does anybody need medical attention?!
----
Fera sighed as Raune’s healing energy sutured up the wounds she had sustained during the battle with Xyzor, the soothing aura putting her mind at ease. Lucius, in contrast, had his hand shoved inside something that resembled a furnace, pulsing with the same green plasma he had been using as a weapon. The energy travelled up his body, flickering inside all of his wounds as they seemed to repair magically. Gargan was still glancing at him, wary of any funny moves he might have tried to pull.
Lucius: I’m not going to pull anything. Fera has earned my trust, and by your connection to her, you have as well.
Gargan: You’re too full of secrets, bud. I ain’t trusting you until you come at least a little bit clean.
Fera: Gargan is right, Lucius. We just want to talk about everything. Why all this is happening, what’s going on, why Coronite even showed up here in the first place…
Lucius snapped his fingers as if something startling had just crossed his mind.
Lucius: That’s just it. Why didn’t I realize this before? Lucius, you’ve been frozen for too long…
Raune: Frozen? What do you mean, frozen?
Lucius: If you want answers, Fera, then here are answers. My name is Lucius Xelthan, chief royal scientist of the Coronid people. My talents were used in the service of bringing peace and prosperity to my world, a mission that came to a screeching halt when a terrifying monster from beyond the stars lead to its downfall. I, as the only living member of my people, trapped both myself and the creature in cryogenic stasis… only to awake a millennium later after the planet teleported itself to your system. That is all I know.
Fera gasped as she tried to take all of this in. Lucius was over a thousand years old? And he had put himself charge of keeping some sort of monster sealed up… That couldn’t be what the actual secret of Coronite was, could it? The energy source that this entire conflict had started over couldn’t have been the monster he was talking about…
Lucius: Now, I have a question for you. A very, very important question, one that I neglected to consider all this time… If my civilization has been dead for a millenium, and my world has only recently come into contact with your civilization for the span of a few weeks, then how in blazes did you know the name Coronite?!
Fera: I- My commander just told us that was what they had designated it!
Gargan: W-Wait, then how did he know?! Something’s going on here!
Lucius: Absolutely. Fera, this could mean complete and utter catastrophe for- GHRK!
As quick as lightning, the nearly-dead body of Xyzor had slashed Lucius in the back, tearing shred marks through his green robes and drawing more of that black blood. He lunged towards the tank’s control panel, moving irregularly as if his body was being puppeteered by something against his will. Gargan leapt into action, gunning down the Valienite’s body but it seemed to do little to stop his advance.
The EMP that signified the warrior’s true death burst from his body, shorting out all of the major electronics in the room. Everyone watched in horror as the carcass slumped over, blood-drenched hand flopping onto the tank’s central control panel…
Electronic Voice: Genetic lock disabled.
As if signifying the horror locked within the tank, the glass barrier around it slowly began cracking. Devices along the wall began to flicker intensely, as if the building’s automated security systems were attempting to activate despite their shutdown at the hands of the EMP device. Lucius stared on in horror as the cracks continued to spread.
Lucius: N-No… NO!!!
The tank burst open, spraying glass shards and cold fluid everywhere.
Once Fera turned her head, she saw a baffling sight. A white-haired Terran-looking figure, similar to Lucius, but shorter and resembling a woman. Though she was naked at first, strange blue particles began to appear around her body, slowly weaving themselves together to form a silvery dress with a transparent blue section around her midriff. That section gave way to one of the most horrifying elements, however; a gaping wound in the middle of her body, exposing an empty cavity filled with swirling dust and a series of elaborate tubes pumping more of that dust out of her body. Floating in the air around her were scattered crystals, which grew and morphed before Fera’s eyes until they resembled wings.
The figure hovered in front of the five of them, Lucius the most aghast at her appearance. She simply continued to float in space, radiating a truly menacing aura, before finally opening her eyes. They were a clear blue, cold as ice yet filled with life… a life of malice, as her sinister, childish grin soon proved to all who witnessed it.
Corona: Morning, Luci.
=== Chapter 8: Darkness Revealed ===
he room was silent.
Fera and Gargan both stood with their weapons pointed at the terrifying, malicious figure standing before them, prepared to strike if they made any sudden movements. Retron had summoned up a large shield, barricading their body as if to avoid potential harm, and Raune was busy using her aromancy on Lucius to restore the massive gash in his back. Nobody dared make the first move…
The creature that had just been unleashed, however, was taking her sweet time enjoying her newfound freedom. Running her hands through her ivory hair to wring out the coolant, she hummed a strange, otherworldly song to herself, an innocent smile on her face the whole time. Fera didn’t expect the creature that had elicited such a terrified reaction from Lucius to act this way, but she could sense that there was a massive amount of power behind that bratty, childish facade.
Lucius: You… you despicable-
Corona: How long has it been since I got to breathe fresh air? Centuries? Even longer? Man, it feels good to take it all in again!
Fera: Lucius, what is this thing?
The walls began shaking in response to her question, with streams of the same dust flowing through the monster’s body bursting from around the door and barricading the group in. The mood immediately grew more tense as the girl stared back at them, her smile contrasting with the pure hatred behind her eyes.
Lucius: Corona. The one who brought my civilization to its knees.
Corona: Oh, Luci, you flatter me! I really didn’t do anything- you guys just fell head over heels for me, listening to everything I told you until it was time for everything to come crumbling down!
Lucius lunged forward, a blade of plasma formed in his hand. The glowing weapon pierced straight through Corona’s chest, but the blow barely garnered any reaction from the monster. All that the attack managed to do was cause a trickle of dust to begin pouring down onto the floor, as if Lucius had punctured a sandbag… but to Fera’s horror, the dust swirled around Lucius’s foot and hurtled him across the room before retreating into her body.
Gargan fired a few rounds from his gatling arm, but the crystals surrounding Corona’s body darted around like orbiting satellites and knocked the bullets out of thin air, defending her body. One bullet pierced the floor in front of Raune, who let out a terrified shriek, while Retron jumped forward to block another headed for Gargan’s chest.
Raune: Wh- What are you, you fiend?!
Corona: *giggles* I’m a fairy, silly! A divine arbiter sent from on high to set the course of reality back on track! I was made from the ground up to get rid of you!
Fera darted forward, holding her spear at Corona’s throat in an attempt to shut down her cocky, ignorant speech.
Fera: I am Fera Bolstar. By order of the Terran Military Task Force, I order you to-
Corona darted behind Fera, kicking her side while continuing her manic giggling.
Corona: Oh, I know aaaaaaall about you, Fera. You and your military. Honestly, though, I think I might just be outside your jurisdiction....
Lucius got to his feet, body crackling with energy as he panted heavily. His body was radiating pure rage and anguish, all just from having to see this creature dancing about and free from her confinement.
Lucius: You came to my world posing as a messenger of the gods. You enlightened us, granted us access to scientific knowledge the likes of which my people had only dreamed of. You claimed you would lead us to ascendance…
His arms flickered with more plasma energy as massive blades formed around them.
Lucius: And then you slaughtered us like cattle.
Corona: You weren’t meant to exist, Luci! You Coronids were a blight on the harmony of the universe. I just got called in to do the job all my sisters have to go through- clean you up!
Raune: But then you got captured. Lucius put both of you in cryogenic stasis-
Corona: And then I started biding my time. All I had to do was keep the egghead over here distracted with nightmare after nightmare while I kept gathering more and more power, until… POOF!
To punctuate her point, Corona threw her arms wide above her head, and a deep rumble echoed from below the group. It sounded as if some cavernous maw was about to open beneath them, swallowing them whole…
Corona: All credit to you, Lucius… My plan was to warp myself out of the center of the planet, trying to find faithful to rest with. But those confinements you trapped me in at the planet’s core did too good a job of holding me… so I brought the whole planet to them!
Gargan: So you’re the cause of all this?!
Raune: All this meaningless violence… This pain and suffering… You spurred it on?
Retron beeped angrily as the tension began to rise once more. Looking among the group, gripping their weapons even more tightly than before, she simply sighed and chuckled to herself.
Corona: You think I’m the one who caused that big, bloody spectacle? Not at all, my friends! That’s all on you! All I did was bring Coronite here… and you all did the rest!
Fera was overwhelmed by all of this new information. The conflict over Coronite had been waged over the energy source located inside it’s bowels… but the entire time, the prize they had been so desperate to unearth was this genocidal lunatic. The knight’s shell was broken, and the only thing she could think to do was lash out with the power she was still riding the high of.
Fera: You- You monster!
Trying to summon a second spear to her side, Fera rushed towards Corona as fast as she possibly could. When she leapt into the air, however, she found that the tool wasn’t spawning in her hand like she expected… and before she could make direct contact with the fairy, she found herself repelled by an unseen force.
Raune: Fera!
Fera came to her senses quickly, and as she rose to her feet, she saw an all-too familiar flicker of energy shimmering in front of Corona. The hexagonal shielding she had been summoning herself throughout her time fighting on Coronite had just been used by her newfound foe to repel her. As if to confirm this new fact, the same shielding appeared again to knock back Lucius and Retron, who rushed at the malicious entity while she began haughtily laughing to herself.
Fera: I- What…
Corona: *giggles* Oh, silly, pitiful Terran. Although, I really should be calling you humans. Mom was really forceful about that…
Fera took a defensive stance once more, gripping her original spear as hard as she could. In her mind, it was almost as if it would vanish as well if she let it out of her sight again. Everyone else was joining suit, Lucius barely managing to restrain himself.
Corona: You really didn’t stop to think where those powers were coming from, did you?! Someone like you only comes around once in a lifetime, so how could I not make you as strong as I possibly could? A little inkling of my power just to make sure you made it all the way to me!
Fera: Shut up!!
Fera lunged forward in unison with Lucius, both their blades getting caught in the protective grip of Corona’s crystalline wings. The pair struggled together as they gazed into the fairy’s demented gaze, her smile growing brighter by the second.
Corona: I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire existence, you worms. You’re not going to stop me. I’m going to eradicate you all, then take my sweet time fulfilling my purpose and bringing this universe to its perfect form, free of disharmony and disorder. I know we’re friends, Luci, and Fera owes me for her little power-up, so both of you… put down your blades.
Gargan: Hey, if blades aren't your thing, try this.
With gritted teeth, Gargan began gunning Corona down from behind, taking advantage of her distraction by the two of them. The heat of his gatling gun began radiating across the room as the fairy’s body shook violently, spraying more and more dust particles into the air. Her wings clattered to the ground, piece by piece, as her pitiful surprised gasps began to fade.
After what seemed like an eternity, Corona stopped moving. Gargan ceased fire, letting Lucius finally dematerialize his weapon and take a few deep, calming breaths. Fera put her spear down as more of the strange dust fell from the creature’s face. Everyone was silent for a second.
And then she started laughing again.
Corona flipped her head back up like a monster from a horror movie. There were massive gaping wounds across her body, pouring out more and more of the odd dust where blood would be on a normal being... The bullet holes, exposing the insides of her chest and head, were glowing with an eerie blue light, slowly filling in like she was regenerating all the damage she had taken. Despite her disfigurement and mutilation, she just kept smiling that creepy smile, which looked even more manic and unrecognizable with half her face blown off. Her crystal wings returned to her sides, large blades of a similar substance forming in her hands.
Corona: Boy, Luci! You sure know how to pick friends!
----
San-Sokeh: Gangue, this is important.
Gangue: What’s important is this mining operation, my friend. All my attention has to be focused on this!
The Terran commander’s office had been redecorated from the ground up, holographic monitors and computers spread across the floor and walls like he was converting it into a command center. Displayed on each of these screens was a view of the surface of Coronite, displaying the coordinated efforts of the team he had dispatched to the planet to start mining towards the core.
All of his analysis had shown that the planet itself was hollow, so there was no risk of breaching the crust and encountering a hot spray of magma. Now that they had drilled about twenty miles down with the initial probes, he had just instructed the group to begin making the holes wider, opening up more room to expand their tunneling operation. It was only a matter of time before the cavity in the planet’s center was exposed, and the prize contained within would be all his…
San-Sokeh: There are massive riots outside. Your troops are being overrun by civilians, and your defensive lines are being breached.
That was enough to shake Gangue out of his hyperfixation. The small man swiveled around in his chair, a terrified and angered expression creeping across his face.
Gangue: What do you mean, riots?! Who spurred this on?
San-Sokeh: Terran citizens. Your forces executed one of the individuals who left Coronite in an apparent peace message, and in response, they were turned on by the bystanders who witnessed the event. Now the movement is spreading across the city.
Gangue pounded his armrest with intense force. He couldn’t believe this idiotic public would turn away from the glory and conquest that humankind deserved. He couldn’t be overthrown. Not now, not when they were so close…
Gangue: I assume they want peace, then? Let this entire matter die?!
Teryx: That’s right, Commander.
Teryx had flung open the doorway, staring defiantly at her commander and his companion. Teryx had never actually seen a Cataloger in person before, so the fact one was consorting with Gangue was probably not a good thing… but that didn’t deter the avian from preparing to confront her leader over the atrocious actions he was standing at the center of.
As the timid doorkeeper scuttled off to avoid the confrontation he knew was coming, Gangue’s face twisted from confusion to rage, and then to smug confidence.
Gangue: Oh, I know you. You’re Miss Bolstar’s friend, right?
Teryx: Fera was sent out to die for your personal gain. As was everyone else who got sent off to that planet. The people of the Solus system have had enough of all the pain and suffering caused by this war!
Gangue: What are you going to do? Court marshal me?
Teryx: By the time that crowd outside gets to you, they won’t even have a chance.
Teryx flared out the feathers on her arms to intimidate her commander, taking a stance as if she was prepared to beat him into submission. Gangue flinched in fear, but San-Sokeh barely budged an inch.
Gangue: I- I am sick and tired of you hideous monsters trying to ruin the lives of the human race! Do you have any idea how much time and effort has been poured into this project?
What was Gangue talking about? He had just taken advantage of a freak occurrence in order to seize control of energy. Was there something more to all of this? And what did he mean by “human”?
Suddenly, as if a flash of lightning had shot through the air, Teryx found a striking pain pierce through her stomach. San-Sokeh had seemingly lunged across the room at impossibly high speeds, delivering a fist straight into her torso. Once again, Teryx cursed her brittle, hollow bones for making the impact feel so much more devastating; as she clutched her torso to recover, she instead felt his chitinous claws curl around her neck as she was lifted up into the air, banging against the Cataloger’s hard shell. Gangue acted as if nothing was happening to his own soldier.
Gangue: We all know full well what’s inside that planet. And we intend to make full use of it! All of this was foretold by the other Catalogers… and the Mother herself! We could wipe the slate of the Solus system, put our people back in the proper place they belong in! Masters of our own destiny! Conquerors of the stars!
Teryx: *grunts* What do you-
San-Sokeh: The appearance of Coronite has been foretold in Tierist texts for the past thousand years. There is no supply of endless energy… save for the divine power of a servant of the goddess herself.
Gangue: The being trapped within Coronite has already had an influence on the system since the planet appeared. Aggression has become higher, people have become more easy to provoke… It was child’s play to instigate a full-scale conflict with that mental manipulation in place! And while people like that meddlesome Bolstar are off dying in an empty wasteland somewhere, we can unleash the true secret at its core and fulfill the creature’s sacred purpose!
Gangue continued laughing maniacally while Teryx fought to keep her consciousness. Her commander had been a terrifying, racist tyrant seeking to undermine the security of the entire system for his own vile beliefs, and she had been working under him for years without noticing. She regretted having ever raised a finger to do anything for this psychopath… But now, she worried if it was too late for her to do anything more.
No. She couldn’t just give up. Fera was out there fighting for everyone, putting her life on the line. Kobol was still in the hospital after trying to protect her. Teryx was a soldier, too.
San-Sokeh: Why are you wasting your time giving a grand monologue to this one? We should just dispose of her now.
Gangue: I’m a military man. Speeches are in my blood.
Teryx took advantage of the Cataloger’s distracted mindset and flipped her feet upwards, grabbing his eye with the talons on her feet. A howl of pain echoed through the office as San-Sokeh clutched his face, releasing her in the process. Teryx landed back on the ground, her feathers unfurling into full wings for the first time since she had joined Terra’s forces. Nobody was holding her back from doing what was right… and that was stopping these two from getting their way.
----
Fera grunted as Corona pressed against her shield, her small frame disguising the immense power behind those crystal blades. Her manic smile glared down into Fera’s soul, instilling some strange, primal fear that she had to actively try to fight against.
Corona: Oh, Fera, just give up! You don’t have those fancy powers of yours against me!
Fera: *grunting* What were you saying about… being the source…
Corona: Even when I was captured, I could sense your essence when you arrived on this world. The sheer anguish and pain you released as you poured your heart out to this grey psychopath… It was so cute! I just had to give you a sprinkle of my power afterwards… Just to make sure you made it all the way here!
The battle was not going the smoothest outside of the pair’s duel. The dust that had fallen from Corona’s body after being riddled with bullets had begun to move around the floor, as if a sentient windstorm had manifested in this frigid laboratory. The material was forming into tendrils, lashing throughout the room to keep Fera’s allies from interfering with her duel.
Corona: That’s not the only thing I shared, though! Your whole system was so bland and drab, and everyone was scared of me when I first showed up here! So I had to give a little more… motivation!
Gargan yelled as he flexed his muscles, clearing away a large swarm of particles crowding around him. He fired his grappling arm outward towards Fera’s upper arm, grabbing her and pulling her away from the lunatic fairy and into safety. Corona, in hot pursuit, found her blades clashing with his mechanical arm, and swiftly retaliated by jabbing him in his exposed chest. To her shock, the blow barely seemed to register.
Gargan: Lemme guess. You did some messed up mind control shrakh to make everyone want to murder each other?
Corona: I just heightened everybody’s natural aggression! Fear, paranoia, bloodlust… everything lead to people climbing over themselves for a chance to get a shot at claiming ultimate power!
A burst of plasma energy exploded from a nearby cloud of dust, leading both Corona and Gargan to have to narrowly dodge it. Lucius’s entire body was flickering with energy, his emotional state having been brought to peak anger and frustration.
Lucius: You tore apart my people! I will not let you do the same here!
Lucius clasped his hands together, energy building up between them before he opened his palms to unleash a massive beam of glowing green plasma towards Corona. To Fera’s delight, the creature actually managed to be fully engulfed in the beam… only to generate a shield around herself, zooming down the beam’s path to deliver a sharp blow to his wrist.
Corona: Your people? You were mistakes! Just like everyone else here aside from me! I’m here to stamp you out!
Lucius winced as he held his broken wrist, slashing away with a fierce determination with his other hand as he tried to swat Corona away. The fairy summoned her crystal blades again, clashing with the blade of plasma as sparks flew through the air.
Lucius: All life in the universe has a right to travel down the path they choose!
Corona: No, Luci! There’s only one path! And you aren’t going to be walking down it!
Another slash to the arm and Lucius was sent tumbling to the ground, panting as his body crackled with energy. Corona raised her blades to the ceiling, another demonic smile creeping across her face as she planned to execute her nemesis once and for all… Suddenly, she was hit in the back of the head with one of Gargan’s missiles, the impact dazing her as the behemoth rushed towards her with a charging tackle.
Fera lunged forward with her spear, cutting a clean gash in Corona’s upper arm while she was preoccupied with Gargan. Unfortunately, the wound seemed to regenerate almost as swiftly as it was made.
Fera: What kind of power can pull all of this off?!
Corona: Oh, it’s easy if you have even a fraction of my mom’s power! Though speaking of aggression…
Corona’s blades suddenly exploded, the crystal shrapnel embedding into both of the heroes’ bodies as they were thrown backwards. The shards reassembled behind her, taking the wing-like form again as she chuckled to herself. The tendrils surrounding Raune died down, leaving her to rush towards the pair in order to help heal them- only to find herself pinned against the wall, being strangled by Corona as she dropped her staff to the ground.
Corona: I may have stirred up some emotions, but I’m not responsible for Little Miss Homicide over here! Must be quite the nutjob to have killed the most people out of anyone here!
Raune: I- No…
Corona: Don’t deny it! Embrace it! You’re not the sweetheart everybody wants to believe you are. You’re a killer at heart!
Corona felt a tense grip on her back as Raune struggled to gasp out an answer. Turning around, she found a massive hardlight hand grabbing her tightly, generated by an angered Retron. Before Corona could respond, she found herself being ripped away from the healer and slammed repeatedly on the ground as Retron chirped wildly.
Corona: And you… You’re just annoying!
Another hexagonal shield burst around Corona before another impact with the floor, unlocking Retron’s grip as the dust began to swirl around again. She swiftly spun around and kicked him in the chest, launching him clear across the room and slamming him into the wall.
Corona: All you’ve done is tag along with the brute, with no motivation or ideas of your own! You’re a pet! A lackey! What even is your purpose?!
Gargan: He’s my friend, you piece of trash!
Corona was socked across the face with a flying fist, then immediately run through with Fera’s spear as she was still recoiling. Grunting in rage, Fera pulled the tip of her weapon upwards, carving a huge hole in the middle of the fairy’s chest. Dust poured down onto her face from the massive wound, the substance making her feel like her strength and will were being sapped just through direct contact.
Suddenly, the red dust that had been piling on the floor stirred to life, forming a whirlwind of erosive particles around Corona before coalescing inside her. In a moment's notice, her body went limp, huge whip-like tentacles made out of the dust lashing from her insides as she smacked Gargan backwards. Lucius, without hesitation, fired another burning hot beam of plasma directly at her, striking straight through her body. Much like the previous attacks, the wound seemed to barely bother her, and her limp body formed her blades once more as she lunged towards him.
Fera: No!
Without hesitation, Fera leapt in front of Lucius, shield raised to block Corona's blade attack. The clash of metal told her that she had done so, and in the slow-motion rush of adrenaline that followed, she turned back to look at the alien behind her.
This man... this scientist had done unspeakable things and led to the instigation of a great battle with plenty of casualties. But none of this conflict was his fault... If they had listened to what he had said when he arrived, everything would probably be okay now. Lucius was just trying to do the right thing.
Lucius seemed to get what she was thinking just from eye contact; the panic in his eyes melting back into determined resolve. It was time to put aside their differences for now and partner up.
Things were not going very well on the battle front. With the initial blade attack blocked, Corona seemed bound and determined to break Fera's guard, pounding on her with massive amounts of quick tentacle jabs. When that didn't seem to work, the wisps of dust wrapped around her shield instead, aiming to pry it out of her hands. Lucius pushed back with another concentrated plasma beam, but all that intense heat didn't seem to deter Corona at all.
Lucius: Need a hand, my friend?
Fera: Nghh... Much obliged, Lucius.
Corona: This has been fun, everyone, but I have much bigger fish to fry, so if you don't mind... DIE.
Raune: Not if we have anything to say about it!
As if waiting for a cue, Gargan leapt up into the air, firing his grappling hook at Corona's head and pulling it sharply backwards to distract her. Momentarily thrown off guard, the eldritch creature turned her dusty particles towards the Vulkonian instead of Fera and Lucius for just a moment. That was all it took.
On Raune's signal, Retron summoned a large hardlight cube and threw it directly into the open gaping wound of Corona's chest. Once lodged inside, Corona finally took notice that something was off.
Corona: What's this? A trick?!
Raune: Think of it as a gift.
With a flash of green light and excited giggle, Raune turned her healing staff towards... Corona? The familiar green glow flashed around their enemy as all of her wounds- the bullet holes, slash marks, and even the gaping chest void- sealed up in an instant. Fera was confused for a second... before she realized the flow of dust from Corona's body had ceased. In that moment, she didn't have any offensive potential.
Corona: What? No! No no no no NO! I've spent centuries trying to escape this cocoon and you seal me back up inside it?!
Gargan: Oh, relax! You didn't even open up your present yet! Hey, buddy! Do the honors!
With a happy beep, Retron snapped his fingers. In an instant, hardlight spikes shot out of Corona in every direction, piercing her sides, chest, and head. The spikes then began to connect to each other, forming a barrier that grew tighter and tighter until the fairy was surrounded by a solid block of matter. Not a single movement came from the container as it dropped to the floor. Corona was sealed away, unable to regenerate or use whatever that dust was as a means of offense.
Everyone could take a breath of relief.
----
Teryx had unleashed her power like never before. The abilities she had been trained to repress- the statement of avoiding being too alien drilled into her head- finally let loose as she faced down Gangue and his Cataloger lackey. If she was going to win this fight, she had to embrace what her commander had seemingly feared all this time.
Gangue growled in anger as San-Sokeh rushed towards her at blinding speed, claws open in order for him to deliver another vice-like grip. With the adrenaline rushing through her system, however, Teryx was now aware enough to quickly evade his dash, jumping to the side as her colorful wings propelled her across the room. Gripping into the ornate wallpaper, she pushed off the wall and screamed loudly as she crashed into San-Sokeh, smashing him into a bookshelf whose contents fell on top of his body. Since this was Gangue’s office, the books weren’t real, but they were certainly heavy.
Teryx: Gangue! I’m turning you in! Come quietly or-
A bolt of energy soared past her head as a panicked Gangue shot away at her with a small pistol, spraying across the room in hopes of striking her.
Gangue: You revolting creatures won’t stop my plans! This has been foretold for centuries!
Teryx took to the ceiling as she threw a flurry of feathers forward, each sharp as a knife and reinforced with sturdy shafts. One feather knocked the gun from Gangue’s hand, forcing him to take cover as the rest embedded themselves into his desk. A few pierced through the window, forming a fine webbing of cracks…
Teryx crashed onto the desk, peering over and glaring violently at Gangue. All that talk and bravado, and the feared military commander simply crumpled into a pile at the first sign of resistance. She felt sad that she had ever been intimidated by him.
Gangue: Don’t touch me, filth! You have no idea what I can do to you and everyone you love!
Teryx: You’re a coward and a fraud, Gangue. I’m going to expose you and end this war for good.
Gangue: We’ll unleash the power inside Coronite and bring humankind back to the status it deserves! The universe is ours! And history will remember me as a hero!
Teryx: No. You’re not a hero. That’s Fera!
Teryx felt a swift kick from behind as San-Sokeh, who had recovered from the collision earlier, struck with another painful blow. Once again, Teryx cursed her hollow bones, which made the pain feel infinitely more intense than it would to someone else. The window that she had cracked shattered as her body went sailing through it, but her wings caught her in midair and she soon found herself flapping them wildly, holding her still in the middle of the night sky.
She had never flown before. Not using her powers under military command had made her almost forget her kind could. The freedom was exhilarating… until she looked to the streets below and saw fire, chaos, and the flash of firearms. The protest she had helped kick off had spread across the city, with Terran military picking off any civilian they could. It was tragic and terrifying… but she couldn’t give up the fight.
Teryx flew back through the window, darting like a missile and colliding with the Cataloger. Gangue yelped as he dove back under the desk, while the two combatants began clawing and jabbing at each other.
Teryx: You’re supposed to protect the Solus system! Why are you going along with this?!
San-Sokeh: I am fulfilling the duty I and my kind were tasked with carrying out! I will not falter in the face of a defiant wretch like you!
The crustacean smacked Teryx’s left arm to the side, leaving her stomach exposed as he performed another lightspeed jab into her stomach. The piercing pain shot through Teryx’s system as if she had been hit with a lightning bolt, causing her to drop to the floor like a limp puppet. All she could do was try to breathe as her blood spilled out onto the carpet.
San-Sokeh: You will not even be a footnote in the history that is to come.
In one swift movement, San-Sokeh clutched the feathery woman by her neck and hurled her out the hole in the window. This time, she didn’t have the strength or consciousness to be able to catch herself mid-flight, and she ended up falling down the glistening side of the building. As she slowly approached the pavement below, Teryx’s vision felt like it was being swallowed in an unnatural darkness…
The last thought she had before blacking out was praying that Fera would be able to stop all of this.
----
Unknown Female: This… isn’t who we were after, right?
Unknown Male: No, unfortunately. It’s a good thing we found them, though.
Unknown Female: True. If we hadn’t caught them, who knows what would have happened?
Teryx grunted slightly as her vision tried to adjust. Last thing she remembered, she was falling down the side of the Commander’s building, plummeting to her death. Now, she was floating above the ground, suspended in some red-skied location her blurry eyes couldn’t identify. Standing above her were two similarly-blurred blobs of purple and yellow, presumably the beings talking about her.
She tried to respond, to communicate with them, to ask questions… but she didn’t have the energy to speak. Looking down at her own chest, she saw that the wound left by San-Sokeh had been patched up and completely cleaned, covered by strange glowing purple threads. The similar wounds on her wings had been touched up in the same way. These people had presumably saved her, but she still had no idea who they were…
Unknown Female: It’s getting worse and worse out there. This woman is just one victim of the violence spreading at the hands of that messed-up monster. This needs to end soon.
Unknown Male: You really sure we can’t just help this Fera lady?
Fera? How did these two know Fera? Teryx tried to struggle and make herself known, but she was too weak to do anything…
Unknown Female: Babe, you know we can’t just come out and blow the fairy to bits! This entire operation needs to be in the shadows, where she can’t find us. The second we make ourselves known, she’ll be coming for us, and we can’t take that kind of power right now.
Unknown Male: You’re right. I still have my apprehensions about this entire thing, but I trust you. We need to make certain Fera makes it out of here alive.
Unknown Female: Right. Now, as for our fine feathered friend here…
The woman leaned down in front of Teryx’s face, moving to a point where she could make out some details with relative clarity. She had fairly tanned skin, blonde hair, and two giant purple crystals piercing from her head. Were those… horns? What was this woman, and what plans did she have for Fera?
Unknown Female: She looks recovered enough. I need you to send her to Earth circa 2533, location Crypta Archipelago. We can use her to carry out the Malphea part of the plan.
The yellowish blob thrust their arm out, glowing with a golden light as the woman in the purple dress held his other hand tightly. She forced her hand forward as well, and a tearing sound could be heard behind Teryx as she struggled to look behind her. The rush of wind flew past her feathers, as if she was being sent out an airlock.
Before she could emit any sort of panic, she felt herself get dragged into the darkness once again…
----
Everyone was panting heavily, coming down off their adrenaline high from the battle with Corona. None of them thought they were going to make it out alive, but through quick thinking and teamwork, they had managed to keep the monster trapped… hopefully for good. 
Raune was hovering around everyone like a drone, training her healing energy on whoever she could and trying to patch even the smallest wound and trying to be as sickly sweet as possible. Gargan was wandering around the room, gazing at all the mysterious ancient technology as he polished his mechanical arm. Retron wouldn’t stop staring at the prison he had generated around Corona, as if he were proud of his work… or like he was examining it for flaws.
Fera couldn’t describe how she felt. Everything that had happened over the past few days felt like a rollercoaster of emotions, with her having to evaluate her own views on plenty of things. Her view of herself as a soldier had been shattered, replaced with a new identity as a hero that she had crafted for herself. She had constructed views of who her enemies and allies were, but she had had those turned on their head- even now, the way she saw her allies had been shifted during the battle against Corona. The creature itself had even twisted the way she saw reality itself. Being able to summon phantom weapons would do that to a woman.
But the one who seemed as though they were going through the most emotional time was Lucius.
The man was hunched over on a pile of rubble that had been torn loose in the previous two confrontations. He was facing both the barrier that Corona had been sealed inside and the corpse of shogun Xyzor, yet another casualty in the former’s diabolical plans. Despite all of the bloodshed and violence, Fera got the sensation that his mind was empty at the moment, as if an immense weight had just been lifted off his shoulders.
Lucius: ...Fera.
Fera walked over to Lucius, putting her arm around him and trying to comfort him. Now that Corona was gone, and her influence vanishing would hopefully bring everybody to their senses, this entire conflict would hopefully end soon. Even so… she couldn’t forget that Lucius had endangered and killed people.
Fera: As a member of the Terran military, I have to admonish your actions. There’s consequences to be paid here. You’ll probably be spending more time in a cell.
Lucius: I am willing to accept this.
Fera: You sure? It could be years, I genuinely don’t know how long they’ll-
Lucius’s sullen expression turned to a slim smile, green-tinted tears streaking down his face.
Lucius: The vile creature that destroyed my people is gone. You and your companions have helped bring not just safety and security to your system… but to my soul. Even if it’s spent in a cell for manic, irrational behavior, I will finally be at peace.
A shivering, scared-looking Raune stepped forward, interjecting with a faint yelp. It was as if she couldn’t get the words out, or like she didn’t want to say them at all.
Raune: That creature was… right. I killed my mother. I’ve only admitted this to Gargan, but ever since an incident in my childhood, I have had moments where I have… lost control. Given into bloodlust. The fact that my mother was so willing to let the war continue while countless died and chaos took control… I just couldn’t let it stand.
Raune completely broke down, sobbing uncontrollably as she collapsed to her hands and knees. Plant tendrils began growing through the floor, gently wrapping around her fingers and legs as if to comfort her, while Gargan and Retron joined in and tried to console their broken friend.
Raune: I’m a monster, too. I deserve as much consequence for my actions as Lucius.
Gargan: You did what you thought was right. Same as Lucius. Retron and I have been doing bad stuff for longer than we’ve known each other. If anything, we’re the ones whose comeuppance is long overdue. Even if you’ve done something like this… don’t let it weigh down on you. You just saved the universe. Cut yourself some slack!
Retron chimed in with another positive jingle, trying to encourage Raune and Lucius to cheer back up. Fera looked inward as well- she had been directly disobeying her commanding officer for a long time, ever since she decided to try ending this conflict passively. Even though she had just helped to stop the war in its entirety, she would probably be captured and executed by her own people if she were to return to Terra... Consequences for her as well.
But that didn’t matter to her anymore. She wasn’t just a brainless, obedient soldier. She was a hero. Everyone here had done awful things in one way or another, but they were all heroes. None of them were bad people, in spite of their actions.
Fera: Again, as military officer, there’s plenty of things all of us here are going to have to be punished for. Even I might not make it through all this alive. But as a warrior, a friend, and someone who genuinely wants to make all our worlds a better place…
Fera knelt down, grabbing Lucius’s hand and pulling him to his feet. The iron maiden’s face was crossed with a sweet smile and more tears, genuinely relieved that everything was going to be alright.
Fera: Thank you. Thank you all.
Lucius: I... I'm sorry your peoples have had to go through much hardship surrounding Coronite, but with the death of this foe, I hope that I can make the apologies you are owed... and that this meaningless strife will finally come to an end.
Fera: I’d love to take you up on that offer.
Everyone was finally breathing easily. The mood had shifted from exhaustion to a worried optimism. Even if things would still be chaotic and violent, and all of them would undoubtedly have more trials and tribulations in store, now they had each other to rely on. Their worlds were safe.
Naturally, this heartfelt moment was punctuated by Corona’s barrier exploding into millions of tiny shards.
=== Chapter 9: Final Confrontation ===
The twinkling shards of Corona’s prison fluttered through the air before fizzling out. Fera gasped in horror as she saw the fairy’s state… She had torn herself asunder, her dress and skin ripped and shredded as if her body was nothing more than some kind of costume. Instead, what emerged from Retron’s hardlight coffin was a massive cloud of dust, circling through the air like a serpent before sailing out through the doors at blinding speed.
Gargan: It’s still alive?!
Lucius: Everybody move! Now! We have to stop her!
The team rushed down the frigid hallways of Lucius’s citadel, pursuing the cloud of particles until they reached the door that Fera and company had entered from. Lucius hurled a number of plasma bolts into the cloud, and Gargan fired away with all the weaponry he had available to him, but the cloud’s trajectory was undisturbed as it snaked its way into a large crack in the side of the mountain. Lucius slammed his hand on the ice-covered railing in frustration.
Lucius: Not now! We were so close!
Fera: How is she still alive? All she is now is… dust.
Lucius: When that creature first came to our civilization, it took the guise of what you saw in that room… a facsimile of one of our kind, mimicking ancient divinity in our own culture. She slowly twisted my people’s hearts and minds until we were all utterly dependent on her… and then she slaughtered us all. She took the form of a hideous, nightmare-inducing monster, ravaging every single one of us. While her old shell is gone, her blood is infused with her power and essence… And after decades of slumber, that blood has retained its power even after drying to a fine powder.
Raune: Her… her blood is alive?
Lucius: Yes. Puppeteering the body you saw before from the inside. She’s likely going to delve deep into the planet to collect the rest of her essence. I shudder to think what could happen if any of it got into one of our systems…
Fera had to stop and think for a moment. Was that how her strange powers manifested? Had she unknowingly taken in some of Corona’s blood dust at some point during her time on this planet?
Gargan: Man, this thing just gets more complicated the longer we talk about it. Look, we need to go ASAP. This thing is even more dangerous now.
Fera: Agreed. Gargan, Raune, Retron... Lucius. Is everyone together on this?
Everyone nodded to show their affirmation. The looks of determination on their faces gave her hope that they weren't afraid to do anything they could to take down this eldritch horror... and fear they might lose their lives in the process.
No, Fera thought. That's what I'm here for. I am their shield.
Was it hypocritical to essentially be putting her life on the line for those who were willing to give theirs up, just for the sake of protecting them? Probably. But she just felt that she needed to do that.
Besides, they could all end up dying here anyways. 
Fera: Then we make our final stand here. For the sake of all living beings in the Solus system… We’re going to take this thing down!
----
Gangue groaned as he dusted himself off, clicking his back into place. His office was an absolute wreck after that little tussle with the bird, but thankfully San-Sokeh had managed to dispose of her and end the struggle. His friend was currently staring out the hole in the office window he had created, glaring out to the city below.
San-Sokeh: Such a restless city. They know not what they protest.
Gangue: No need to worry now. Everything’s about to be taken care of. All we gotta worry about is heading over to Coronite and helping ensure the final stages of the operation there. With the harpy out of the way, everything’s looking up for us.
San-Sokeh: Are you certain that is wise right now?
Gangue: It’s the best moment. We’ll get out of all this chaos and rioting, head to the place where we can attain all of the power we need… then we’ll unleash it on them. We’ll wipe out anybody and everybody who stands in our way. I’ll be the conqueror of everything… Humans, those disgusting creatures, everyone.
San-Sokeh seemed a bit shocked at his friend’s immediate change of demeanor. He had always shown these sentiments, but perhaps the recent battle had caused something within him to snap…
Gangue: Once we unleash the Mother’s divine servant, everything will fall into place. We’ll eradicate every last creature that stands in our way, even the Catalogers if it comes to it. I’ll create a new, perfect world for humankind! Everyone else be damned!
San-Sokeh: I thought the point of all of this was to bring harmony to the Solus system… Do you really just want to wipe out everyone else? Completely destroy the reason my people created this system to begin with?
Gangue: What else would anyone use that kind of power for, my friend? Humans take what they want, even if that's everything. I wish Ms. Bolstar learned that and got with the program.
Gangue tapped away at his computer, with multiple camera feeds examining areas of Coronite. One previous video feed captured Bolstar conversing with what seemed to be a few more Heroes- a Gesinesan, Lillius, and Vulkonian. Humans didn't need to rely on others to accomplish their goals- Terrans did.
Gangue: Tell ya what, Sokeh. Stick with me through this, and the Lillius is yours.
He wasn't surprised when the Cataloger shut up. Guess they really couldn't shake those ancestral roots like the Terrans seemed to want to. Gangue pulled up the live feed from the drill; he had been informed the tunneling was almost complete.
What he didn't expect were the screams. Instead of the warm glow he expected to emerge from the tunnel, what looked like tendrils of swirling dust rose out of it like an awoken monster from a long-forgotten age. Equipment was hurled from the ground as the personnel on side were dragged into whatever maw existed down in the dark depths of the core. They really had been messing with something they shouldn't have this entire time.
Wasn't Gangue's problem.
----
It took about half an hour to reach the location that Corona’s power seemed to be emanating from, but to the team in their adrenaline-charged state, the trek only felt like minutes. The snow had melted as the terrain at the base of the mountain had grown dry and rocky, yet it felt just as inhospitable to life. Before them reached a wide gap in the middle of the dying landscape, glowing with that same eerie orange light that Fera knew reached down to the depths of the planet. Dotted around the area was wreckage of what appeared to be Terran vehicles, though there was something that attracted Fera’s attention much more prominently. 
Floating just above the pit was Corona. Or rather, what she assumed was Corona. Gone was any real physical form, with the monster now simply taking on the form of a massive sandstorm-like cloud of dust. It moved like a snake, swirling in and around itself in a grotesque and otherworldly manner, and at the center of it all was more glowing orange light that seemed to pierce into her like an eye. It was the single most repulsive thing Fera had ever seen... and to think Lucius had been fighting against this thing in cryosleep for centuries.
Fera had never seen anything like it. She was in awe, but what surprised her more was her lack of any real fear. She simply thrust her spear forward as a gesture of challenge towards the monolithic dust swarm, prepared for what could be her final battle ever.
Fera: Hey! We aren't done with you yet!
Corona's voice echoed through her head as if speaking to her from all sides. It had dropped the feminine tones that she had heard before, now speaking entirely in guttural monster speech.
Corona: You're back?! Feh! Luci, you make some awful friends. I'm so glad I'm done with you!
Gargan: See, everyone?! Even as a giant ball of monster dust, this airhead is nothing but a whiny teenager! We've got nothing to be scared about!
Raune: Corona! We're not going to let you have your way and destroy the Solus System! We are here to show to you that we are strong enough to defend them from your wickedness!
Retron made an angry alarm noise while brandishing a giant sword that he had summoned, signifying his own willingness to fight.
Lucius: My people made the mistake of letting you bring about our end, thinking you were some divine being sent to bring about our salvation and ascension. Now, we are here to bring about your end before you can do the same to others.
Corona shifted and turned more violently than before, ready to unleash her power on the group. Fera readied her weapons, with her allies doing the same.
Corona: You think you can kill me? I am divinity! I was created for the sole purpose of purging impurity from the universe! Killing worms like you is my sole reason for living!
Gargan: Then I guess you’re just going to have to stop living.
Corona swiftly retaliated, spraying lashing tentacles of dust in every direction. Fera blocked two that made their way towards her, with both streams simply bouncing off her shield. Lucius and Gargan managed to weather the storm fine, but Raune and Retron found themselves thrown upwards into the air by the attack. Realizing that his gun wouldn't work on something like this, Gargan flicked a few switches on his arm as cold vapor began to run down it.
Fera stood behind her shield, poking at whatever pieces of the storm got close to her. As she suspected, it didn't seem to faze Corona at all; her attacks simply passed right through the dust. With a sudden bang, she saw a trail of blue smoke fire from Gargan's position, bursting open into a cloud of liquid nitrogen; the area around the blast zone froze solid, including all of the Corona particles caught in it. From their position high in the air, Raune threw her whip at Retron, spinning around in the air and launching him at full force towards the frozen area. Brandishing his immense sword, he sliced clean through the ice, causing the dust surrounding it to simply fall to the ground like harmless sand.
It was then that Fera noticed that there seemed to be sparks of energy running through the dust cloud; while the cloud was formless, the streaks of energy that flickered for just a few seconds seemed to actually maintain the swarm's shape and allow Corona to attack. If they specifically targeted these limbs, they could whittle Corona down to essentially nothing!
Fera leapt beside Gargan, piercing another frozen section of the swarm with her spear and severing it into multiple tiny chunks. Corona seemed to take notice of them, however, and her swarm began concentrating around them like a hurricane, slowly closing in. Lucius jumped in just in time, his hands glowing with intense plasma energy as he thrust them to the sides. With one word spoken in some unspeakable alien tongue...
Lucius: 
The swarm was pushed back in an immense explosion, giving the group some breathing room. Gargan primed another ice missile, but didn't launch it, instead shoving his hand directly into the dust in a large arm sweep. Everything the vapor touched froze instantly, creating a massively wide streak of fragile ice. Gargan turned on his heel, making a 180 and finally releasing the primed missile towards the other end of the storm. Fera slashed through one end of the ice, while Lucius fired a plasma blast at the other, and in one fell swoop the hurricane dissolved.
Raune and Retron made their way to the trio, Raune's staff glowing with healing energy. Everyone was back in relative fighting form, and they had figured out Corona's weakness... but it seemed as though the supply of dust the monster had to make up its form was near endless. Visually, it seemed as though they had only made a small dent in it, and the enemy's gaze felt distinctly more aggressive than it had before.
Corona: I thought I told you to lay down and die! Guess you all need a little punishment!
Corona seemed to vanish entirely, the dust dissipating and scattering in every direction. Fera was alert, keeping an eye in every direction that her foe could come from... And then she was thrown into the air, a spiky tendril launching her skyward before grabbing her and slamming her back into the ground. Gargan primed another ice missile, but another tendril appeared directly behind him, preparing to stab him through the chest.
Fera: Gargan!!
The tendril lunged forward in the blink of an eye, but before it could reach him, Retron appeared with a comically large blade and shield, deflecting the attack to save his friend. The two shared a look of brotherly companionship before Retron was blasted back by another tendril, as a third wrapped around Gargan's body and began growing more spikes. The Vulkonian let loose a guttural cry of pain and anguish that Fera had to cover her ears for.
She rushed in, weaponry in hand, to try to free Gargan from his prison, but was swept back by more of Corona's form, constraining her and forming tight bonds around her. She struggled to escape as she was brought closer to the glowing central core.
Corona: Oh, no, not you! You’re not gonna be dying here like the rest!
Fera: Hnnng- What do you mean?!
Corona: Do you have any idea how much power you hold?! You’re so good at using that Feyblood I gave you that I think you can be of much, much more use to Mother…
Fera: What are you talking about? Who’s Mother?!
Corona: Oh, I wish I could wipe you off the face of the universe like these idiots… But instead, I’m just going to give you a little taste of what your real potential can be! I’ll just cool off by slaughtering your friends extra hard!
A stream of Corona’s dust flew out of the central core and directly into Fera’s face, as if she had been caught in the very center of a raging sandstorm. She shut her eyes and tried to keep her mouth shut, but the dust tore at her skin, forcing her to keep opening up to cough and clear out her system. Every second she endured this attack, she felt a strange sensation racing through her nerves, as if she was being struck with hundreds of tiny volts of lightning. Dropping her spear and shield, she struggled as hard as she could to escape the monster’s grasp, only to feel her strength fade more and more. Not just her physical strength, but her own willpower…
Corona continued her onslaught of her allies. Retron, who was just getting off the ground, was pulled back down by tendrils emerging from the ground, which pulled off the same spike trick as it had with Retron. A swarm of tentacles surrounded Raune, who began countering by summoning thick roots from the earth. The two sets of tendrils began jabbing at each other rapidly, but Raune's roots were quickly shredded by Corona's attack, and they all jabbed into her sides at once, causing her to let out another cry and drop her staff.
Lucius, doing his best to fire off more plasma and keep Corona's essence at bay, saw Fera trapped in Corona's clutches and rushed in to free her. As expected, he was smashed backwards by a heavy attack from the monster, crashing into the ground and leaving a crater at his impact site. The alien struggled to his feet, but was then tied down by more dust piercing into his sides, including a snare around his mouth to keep him from performing his ultimate attack again.
Corona's laugh echoed through Fera's head, preying on her shock and despair at seeing her friends beaten and tormented like this. She- she was supposed to protect them. She had failed at that one job, and now they were all going to die. She couldn’t even move a finger…
Spectral Female: No. This is not where your story ends.
But what could she do?
Spectral Female: You are strong, Fera. Not just of body, but of heart and mind. Your drive to push forward and chart your own destiny is more than a match for the shackles this beast wants to place upon you.
Fera felt something surging through her numb body. A warm feeling, like a fire lit inside her heart.It was pushing out the pain of whatever power Corona was shoving into her system.
Spectral Female: Are you willing to let your friends and world be extinguished?
No. She wouldn’t let that happen.
----
Something felt like it snapped inside Fera's mind. Her determination to save her friends and the Solus System grew even stronger in the dire situation they found themselves in, reaching a boiling point. She felt her heart beating faster, then slowing down to a crawl, her muscles hardening.
Lucius, the only one of the group able to see what was happening, was even more shocked at Fera’s sudden movements. Her entire body was radiating a golden-orange glow, the dust around her swirling in its own miniature storm and avoiding clouding her own face. Her helmet had completely fallen off, letting her hair flow freely in the windstorm generating around her. Her body curled into a fetal position before exploding outwards, releasing her from Corona’s grasp in one powerful burst. As she opened her eyes, Lucius could see that they had shifted to the same orange color as the power surrounding her. It was clear that whatever had just happened, Fera was no longer just the simple soldier who had been standing there moments before.
Corona: What in the name of-
Corona didn't even get to finish the sentence before Fera dropkicked her right in the central core, stunning her as the dust cloud temporarily dissipated. The Terran landed on the ground gracefully, almost as if she was levitating. Though Lucius was still bound, that was swiftly undone as Fera rushed over; calling upon the powers Corona had given her, she summoned another phantom spear and sliced through his bondage. 
Lucius: *gasping* F-Fera... T-Thank you...
Fera: Don't thank me yet, Lucius. We still have a job to do.
Fera's next target was Raune, carving her out of her confinement and handing her staff back to her in order to help the injured Lillius stand up. With Raune in charge of healing everyone back to fighting condition, Fera took care of Gargan and Retron's bindings as well. In a flash of Raune's light, everyone found it easier to breathe and move around. They were back in this, but they would need a plan to actually finish Corona off for good.
Fera: Gargan, we need to target the core. Those ice missiles can sever the connection it has to the rest of the body, but Corona will be able to fight at top condition until we either hit the core or get rid of the entirety of the body.
Gargan: Got it, but more importantly what happened to you?!
Corona began reforming behind them, spiraling multiple tendrils together to form what looked like a drill. In record-breaking speed, the spiral lunged towards Fera's back- and was swiftly deflected. A massive barrier floated in the air in front of Fera's outstretched hand; somehow, she had reacted to the attack within seconds. She turned back to the group and smiled.
Fera: I realized that this was my power to wield. Not Corona’s. This is our story to write, not hers.
Everyone was floored by Fera's sudden growth, but nobody was complaining. This was their chance to finish the job. This would be their final stand, do or die.
Raune: I'll stay on healing duty! I want to defend you guys too!
Gargan: Okay, beepy, pretty boy, cover me while Fera does her thing. I have an idea.
Retron chirped happily while Lucius looked insulted, before switching his tune and chuckling to himself. It almost looked like he was feeling nostalgic... Regardless, Fera needed to get back into action soon. She could sense Corona preparing her next attack.
Fera summoned another pair of the phantom spears, wielding them as if it was something she had been doing her whole life. Corona, her attention focused entirely on Fera, began jabbing at her from all sides with attacks, but Fera took the defensive, spinning her weaponry in large circles at incredibly high speed. Though her attacks did nothing to separate the dust from Corona's nervous system, it managed to slice through the body at high enough speeds to prevent its approach, forcing the monster to try again.
Lucius had gone on the offensive as well; any time Corona tried taking potshots at someone else, he simply countered it with a concentrated beam of plasma. Raune was keeping everyone's stamina up, letting Fera and Lucius defend non-stop. Meanwhile, Retron was simply giving words of encouragement to Gargan, who was frantically fiddling with buttons and valves on his arm.
Corona had had enough of this nonsense. Winding up the whole of her being into a giant drill once more, she lunged at Fera with an attack she believed too big to counter. To her surprise, Fera retaliated by merging her dual spears together, generating a massive one that she shoved directly into the tip of the attack. The two stared each other down as they wrestled for power, both seemingly evenly matched.
Corona: This! This must be what Mother meant! Oh, this passion! This determination! This sweet, succulent drive! I can't believe that our plans have almost come to fruition! HahahaHAHAHAH!!!
Fera: Shut up! I don't know what's going on with you or this "Mother", but I do know this! You're a threat to the innocent people of this system, and it's my job to make sure you can't harm anybody!
Corona: What a coincidence! I've been told YOU idiots are the threat here! Guess we aren't so different then, huh?
Fera: I protect the weak! You want them all dead! No matter what you try to say, we are not the same!
Corona: SHUT UP AND STAND DOWN!!! I can't kill you, you know?! I'm supposed to make sure you're alive for Mother and all that! But that doesn't mean I can't bring you to an inch of your life! You’re a soldier, so just... just shut up and obey!!
Fera: I’m not a soldier!
As if on cue, Gargan finished working with his arm. The mechanical limb hissed and let out a great burst of cold vapor as he aimed the limb up towards Fera, launching it with a single flex of his upper arm. With all of the ice missiles primed, the disembodied limb flew up to Fera, who caught it in her hands. Despite all of her extra strength, she still felt the intense sting of the cold object in her hands, making her timing all the more important.
Fera focused the tip of her spear into a more refined point, piercing inside of Corona's own drill. In another split second, she generated another massive barrier in a cone in front of her, splitting apart the cloud of tendrils and temporarily opening up her adversary's vulnerable core.
Fera: I’m a hero!!!
In one mighty toss, Fera threw Gargan's arm directly into the core. The object exploded on contact, releasing an even larger burst of ice that quickly enveloped Corona's being. Her screams grew ever louder in everyone's heads, but slowly died down to nothing. Fera knew she had to finish the job; calling upon one final, gigantic spear, she sliced the core in half. Lucius, seeking his revenge, dealt the final blow, snapping his fingers and generating a burst of plasma that blew Corona into tiny, minute pieces.
The glow emanating from the gap before them died down. Corona had successfully been slain.
The glowing aura around Fera vanished in a flash of light, no longer powered by a will to fight and exhausted from the climactic encounter. Everyone seemed to share the same feelings; though everyone seemed tired, they had smiles on their faces, relaxed in knowing the war and violence was over. Lucius, especially, seemed to finally be happy for once, his people having been avenged.
She really had saved everyone.
On that note, as if being struck down like a chain of dominoes, everyone began collapsing from exhaustion. First it was Raune, then Retron, then the armless Gargan, and finally Lucius, who shared one last thankful look with Fera before resting. She took a look around her environment, settling down on a nearby rock, and nodded off with the rest of her newfound comrades.
At long last, it was over.
----
Gangue chuckled with delight as he glanced out the window, watching the city skyline descend as he soared higher and higher. His personal ship was leaving the stratosphere and preparing to make its way to Coronite, leaving behind the world of fools below. He was one step away from acquiring the monster locked within its bowels… From making this star system into a perfect utopia.
He bounced up and down on his seat like a giddy child, glancing over all the diagrams and information that his team had gathered on Coronite on a number of holographic screens, floating around him to be easily accessed at a moment’s notice. San-Sokeh merely closed his eyes, pondering the circumstances and what the consequences of these actions could entail in the future. Gangue was gleefully hurling himself into the future with reckless abandon, while the Cataloger could only put faith and trust in the Divine Mother that everything would turn out alright.
So why was there some inkling in the back of his mind telling him that plans were about to change?
Gangue: Aren’t you excited?! We’re almost there!
San-Sokeh: Your planning is giving way to childish antics that cloud your judgement. A moment like this deserves gravitas. We’re uncovering a divine arbiter of-
Gangue: We’re uncovering a weapon! One that’ll set the universe on the path it needs to be… with ME on the top!
Gangue began laughing to himself, not even bothering to hide the sinister intentions of his plan anymore. The Cataloger simply stared off into the distance, eyes slowly fixating on one of the holographic screens… until he noticed something incredibly dire.
San-Sokeh: Gangue?
Gangue: What?!
San-Sokeh pointed at the screen showcasing a thermal view of Coronite, aimed at analyzing the core temperature as well as that of the environs on the surface. To the pairs’ surprise, the core’s heat levels seemed to be dropping rapidly, with the surface cooling at a much slower rate. Every single reading was descending at breakneck speed, as if the entire planet was suddenly being turned into nothing more than an oversized asteroid. One thing was immediately clear.
The creature inside Coronite… was gone.
Gangue: I… No, this can’t… DRIVER! BOOK IT!
The ship began speeding even faster through the stars as it approached the foreign world, a planet slowly being deprived of the energy at its core that had allowed it to live on despite the scars it suffered years ago. All of Gangue’s plans were about to come to fruition, but despite everything, victory was being ripped from his grasp seconds away from achieving it. The general rapidly flicked through the camera feeds he had access to, hoping to find the person he felt was responsible.
Fera was lying unconscious on the ground where the Terran drilling site had been, alongside all of her friends. Signs of life were still there, so they hadn’t kicked the bucket… but there was no way they could have destroyed the entity in the center of the planet, right? She was just an average soldier…
San-Sokeh: There’s more to that woman than I think you believed. I can feel it.
Gangue: Oh, shut up! There won’t be anything more to her once she’s court martialed and shot to pieces!
What had been a joyous victory lap turned into a race to salvage a broken plan. If Gangue could not bring about utopia through lore and ancient creatures, he would do so through force of will. And if that meant murdering the one who stood in his way, so be it.
----
Fera groaned as she slowly rose to her feet, crouching on one knee as she lifted herself off the dusty ground. A frigid wind whipped at her exposed face, something that hadn’t been there when she and the others fought Corona. Blinking to clear the tears and dust from her eyes, she noticed the entire environment had gotten grayer and bleaker at a rapid pace, and the clouds above were drifting around ominously.
None of the other members of the group were conscious at all, still out like a light after back-to-back conflicts with Corona. Whatever had run through Fera’s system apparently revitalized her after a much shorter period than everyone else. There wasn’t any time to think about that, however. The biggest thing on her mind was trying to get everyone out of this cold wind. Nobody deserved to die from hypothermia after slaying the greatest threat she had ever encountered.
Unknown Male: She’s up already?
Fera didn’t know who this voice was, but she could sense that it was coming from somewhere in the immediate vicinity. She pretended to not notice, ignoring it in order to make whoever this individual was drop their guard.
Unknown Male: You saw how much Feyblood she took in. How is she even standing?
Unknown Female: Maybe her drive is just that strong. Either way, this is perfect. It means this whole step of the plan is golden!
What plan?! Was this Corona’s “Mother”? Her grip tightened as she listened more attentively to the pair of mysterious voices.
Unknown Male: And we’re just leaving the rest of these people here to die? That seems cruel.
Unknown Female: Not for good! We’ll come back! It’s just that Fera’s a lot more important at the moment…
Fera glanced around, trying to locate the source of the voices. Despite sounding like they were just nearby, she couldn’t see any trace of life on the horizon aside from the resting bodies of her allies. Finally fed up with the plotting and scheming she could sense happening behind her back, Fera summoned a spear to her side and slashed at the air behind her, grunting with rage as her eyes flashed orange again.
Fera: Where are you? What do you want with me?
A split second later, Fera heard a crackle of energy and what sounded like a shattering noise as the sensation of a hand pressed on her shoulder. Looking behind her, Fera saw a large portal in the air where she was looking moments before, swirling with purple energy and drawing her attention into the abyss within. What really caught her eye, however, was the blond woman in a strange jumpsuit-dress hybrid gripping to her tightly, a knowing smirk on her face as a strange collection of crystals around her eye began glowing brightly.
Unknown Female: We want your help.
A surge of black lightning coursed through the woman’s arm into Fera’s body, jolting her and filling her with an all-too-familiar numbing sensation. As the warrior’s eyes closed and she faded into an empty, dreamless sleep, the last thing she could think of was hope that her new allies would be alright.
Unknown Female: Don’t worry, Fera. You’re about to do something really important.
=== Finale: Ultimate Climax ===
Unknown Female: We’re safe now. Wake up.
Fera snapped awake as if she had been jolted from a bad dream. The events of the past few days could very well be described as a nightmare, and yet the environment around her called that visage to mind far more than anything that had occurred on Coronite. The ground she stood on was rocky and torn, with the sky above filled with deep red starry patterns and glitchy-looking panels floating in the air above. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before- like she was on the edge of the universe.
Looking down at herself, however, she realized that her armor had also been replaced with something much more foreign-looking. It was sleek, form-fitting, and somewhat organic-looking, nothing like any armor she had seen in her years of military service before. She felt up and down her body, realizing that this new armor extended all the way up to her chin without any real distinct seams or gaps. Though she couldn’t notice it herself, her eyes were still glowing the same orange color they had been while fighting against Corona, a sign that the fairy’s power was still lingering inside of her.
Fera: Who are you? What is all of this?
The shadows rippled as the woman from before appeared, as if stepping through an invisible curtain. Her strange uniform flowed like water on the ground, shimmering with alien light. Her two large horns gave off their own pale purple energy, as if they were more than mere decorations, and her tanned skin was dotted with shimmering crystal. She rested her hand on her hip as she relaxed herself, smiling at Fera like she was some silly little sister acting up.
Unknown Female: I’m glad you’re safe, Fera. You took quite the beating during the fight with that fairy. I wasn’t sure you were gonna wake up at all with that much Feyblood in your system!
Fera: What in the world is- Wait! Who are you? What happened to the others? Are you with Corona?!
Fera tensed up as the mysterious woman simply laughed.
Unknown Female: With Corona? Oh, on the contrary! I’ve been trying to help get rid of her and her kind my whole life! We’re on the same side, I promise… In fact, you managing to kill that monster is such a rare feat that I just have to commemorate you on it!
The woman clapped excitedly as she smiled, with Fera being unable to tell if her joy was genuine or sincere. She was a second away from summoning another spear to her side and trying to pry the information out of her.
Fera: Friends. Name. Now.
The woman sighed as if she was disappointed that Fera didn’t want to play along with her little game.
Nyxiel: My name is Nyxiel, Princess of Darkness and Daughter of the God of Wrath. But you can just call me Nyxiel! As for your friends, they’re completely safe and unharmed back where we picked you up. I promise no harm will come to them!
Fera: If we’re on the same side, then… What’s with all of this shady business? This weird armor? Why kidnap me instead of talking to me about it?
Nyxiel: Because of her. This place is the only location in the entire universe where she can’t reach us… I’m genuinely worried that even popping my head through that portal tipped her off that something’s going on.
Fera: I assume you mean the Mother. Whoever that is.
Nyxiel: Tiera. Goddess of Creation. Bringer of life to the entirety of existence. And if we don’t stop her, the one that will bring about the end of free will as we know it.
----
Lucius was abruptly woken by a slap to the face. It had been a long time since he had actually been able to sleep peaceful without Corona's voice in his head messing with him- it was a shame that he had to wake up so soon. The one who slapped him turned out to be Gargan, who looked surprisingly tense...
It took a second for Lucius to stand up and recognize that he was surrounded by a battalion of what appeared to be Terran soldiers. They had armor resembling Fera's, but with a cold blue coloration replacing the vibrant orange and firearms to accompany their shields rather than spears. Behind him, Raune and Retron stood wielding their weapons in defiance of the armed people surrounding them. Nobody seemed to know why these soldiers were here on Coronite, but they knew they were in danger. Gargan was down an arm and everyone else was exhausted, but they had just beaten Corona. Surely they could-
Gangue: Fire!
Almost instantly, the soldiers trained their weaponry on the group. Caught by surprise, everyone took a few hits before Retron surrounded the group in a protective hardlight bubble. The firing squad didn't seem to give up, and their bullets were wearing down the shields faster than Corona seemed to.
Lucius: Why are these people here?!
Gargan: Shrahk if I know! I just woke up with a gun barrel to my face and these people were here!
Raune: I thought the purpose of this battle was that it would be only Heroes fighting amongst each other! Squadrons of soldiers should not be here!
Retron let out a desperate beep as the barrier shattered and he collapsed to the ground, tired and drained of energy. Gargan rushed in, scooping him up in his one remaining full arm and rushing towards the enemy ranks with a heavy tackle. While he distracted them, seemingly undeterred by the number of shots hitting his body, Lucius summoned some spheres of plasma as Raune pulled up some additional roots for cover. It felt like no matter how much they fought back, they didn't manage to put any sort of dent in the forces facing them.
It was then, with a startling crack, that Raune's staff was shot through by a sniper hidden off on some cliff. She yelped in shock as the roots she had been controlling with the healing tool dried up almost instantly- the cover they once provided was torn through as Lucius and Raune were struck by many more projectiles, bringing them to their knees. Off in the corner, Gargan had been beaten into submission already, with large metallic seals being wrapped around his torso and arms to restrain him.
Raune: ...Garg... an... Please...
Lucius: *panting* 
Before he could speak the words that would let him pull off the devastating technique he needed to save everyone, Lucius was hit in the back by the very same sniper, the shot piercing through his chest and bringing him to his knees. He was still alive, but he knew he wouldn't be if he took one more shot.
After everything they had done to save the universe, this is where they ended up.
The squadron stopped firing as a slow clap echoed throughout the dusty canyon. Parting the sea of bodies, out stepped a small Terran man in heavy protective gear, clapping patronizingly towards the fallen quartet. Accompanying him was some strange, crustacean-like being in what resembled clerical robes, a somber yet determined expression on his blank face. The Terran examined his surroundings, scowling.
Gangue: I can’t believe this. So much time, money, and red tape, all for this moment. And that Bolstar creature had to turn traitor on her own kind and destroy the glorious creation buried here for who knows how long! Allying with scum like you, too! The second I see her sorry face, I’m killing her myself!
It was only then Lucius realized that Fera wasn't there with them. He looked all around him- there were no signs of her anywhere. Could she have ratted them out? No, he didn't believe she would do that. She wouldn't be an enemy of her people's military if that was the case. That just begged the question; where did she go?
Lucius was hit in the head again with someone's gun and knocked over. When he woke up, the two commanders were looking directly at him.
Gangue: Oh ho ho... So it's you. You were supposed to be waiting out this war in a cell, my friend.
Lucius: If it's all the same, you pathetic wretch, I'd prefer to not sit around while fools fight over my home.
The Terran just laughed.
Gangue: Your home, eh?! Well, don't worry! We'll be leaving this hunk of rock soon enough. After all, you ingrates just killed the one thing worth caring about.
Lucius clenched his teeth in barely restrained rage. The callous disregard for the centuries of history on this planet, the entire record of his people… None of it meant anything in the face of harnessing Corona as a weapon of war. Even if he wasn’t currently trying to capture and presumably torture his friends, Lucius would probably have wanted to kill him for that action alone.
San-Sokeh: Gangue, calm yourself. The loss of the Mother’s arbiter is a grave one indeed, but do not forget that we also managed to find the technology of whatever people once dwelt here. Your plans are not forfeit just yet.
Gangue: It’s not the same. I can’t fulfill the Mother’s wishes and make a perfect world for humans if I do it on the back of some... heathenous parasites and their gadgetry. It would defile the entire purpose!
Gangue stepped forward, smashing Lucius’s face into the dirt and grinding in his heel. Raune cried out in horror as her comrade was belittled and humiliated by the insane warmonger.
Gangue: At least we have you heathens gathered here. A woman who murdered her mother in a hypocritical quest for peace, a pair of ruffians cast out from their own societies, and a pathetic little parasite whose mere existence goes against everything the Mother stands for. Criminal scum like you should get all the punishment you deserve for destruction of valuable human property and the deaths of this research crew.
Lucius: You know full well… we didn’t kill them…
Gangue: Oh, sure. But that’s not going to matter as long as I’m around.
Gangue ground his heel even harder into Lucius’s face, only to be immediately retaliated by having a chunk of wood thrown at him from somewhere. Both Lucius and Gangue turned to face the origin point: Raune, now struggling to stand up. The sniper off on the cliff fired a shot at her in an attempt to subdue her, but she simply summoned a large vine out of her hands and lashed out at her ranged assailant. The squadron around the team prepared their weapons, but they were quickly disarmed by the regent’s elegant strikes. Tears flowed from her eyes as she stared down Gangue and San-Sokeh.
San-Sokeh: What is the meaning of this, you-?
Raune: A close friend once told me that his people cast him away for not taking pride in his own strength. That no matter what he did, he felt like there was an impossible mountain to overcome before people could ever accept him again. People like that… people like you… sicken me.
San-Sokeh: And who are you to try to defy us?
Raune: I am Princess Raune of the Lotisid Kingdom, current priestess and regent of the Lillius people. But more importantly, I am friend and ally to Fera Bolstar, the one who risked her life leading the charge against a being that very well could have destroyed the entirety of the Solus System. She saw us all as equals, working together for a common goal; the betterment of everyone's lives. She fought against the spirit of those who ruined the life of my friend and those who would bring despair to others. She fought against those like you.
Steadiness returning to her, Raune's posture grew taller and her face more determined. San-Sokeh seemed to tense up.
Raune: Yes, I have done something terrible in the name of peace. But if my mother had her way, none of us would be here right now. The Solus system would be under siege by a monstrous lifeform bent only on wiping out all sentient life. I can accept what I’ve done if it means stopping someone like you… People no better than Corona herself!
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, San-Sokeh ran at Raune with startling speed, lunging at her with a claw strike that seemed to burst with a bubble of light. She was knocked over, only to be picked up again by the Cataloger, lifting her up with one arm and examining her face with the other.
San-Sokeh: You may bear the title of regent, but you are no leader. The Lillius have no leader. They exist to serve us.
Raune: *gasping* Please... let go...
San-Sokeh: Your kind were bred from the origins of the universe to be subservient to the Catalogers. Your very existence is that of inferiority. While you claim your independence from us...
The Cataloger turned to face Gangue before looking back at Raune, a strange expression coming over his face. It was disturbing. Terrifying.
San-Sokeh: Some traditions can never be broken. Your place is under me, princess.
Something inside Raune snapped. The world around her faded away as staring into the Cataloger’s twisted face brought her back to her childhood. The scourge that had caused many of her people to vanish overnight. The person who had abducted her sister. The person who had sent her on a spiralling path of fear and trauma her whole life.
It wasn’t San-Sokeh. It would be foolish to assume this one being was responsible for all the pain and suffering in Raune’s life. But that twisted expression was the exact same. A Cataloger who abducted people with their own lives and free wills because they wanted control over another living being.
Raune’s grimace of fear slowly twisted into a grin of her own. Her eyes grew empty and manic as her mind was taken up by one thought alone. She wanted to stamp out faces like that so nobody could hurt the people she cared about again.
Raune: No.
In a swift motion that even managed to startle Lucius, a vine wrapped around San-Sokeh’s free arm and pulled it to the side. While the Cataloger tried to wrap his head around the situation, Raune took advantage of his distracted state to break free of his grasp, headbutting him violently before grabbing the wrist of the hand that had bound her moments ago. In one fluid motion, Raune pulled with feral might.
The sickening crunch sound that filled the air seemed to deafen the rest of Coronite… only to be broken when San-Sokeh let out a tremendous, terrifying scream.
----
Nyxiel: The person that the fairy was talking about- the “Mother”- that’s Tiera. She’s the person who created our entire universe from nothing. Every single speck of dust is her creation, and technically speaking, all sentient life is supposed to be her “children”. It’s sickening to think about.
Fera was listening intently to Nyxiel’s explanation. Even though she had been taken to this weird place against her will, everything she had experienced told her it might be a good idea to learn more about what was going on. Still, the notion of some creator god making someone like Corona felt...off.
Fera: Why would the goddess of creation want to wipe out her own work?
Nyxiel: Because she’s a perfectionist. All throughout recorded history, she’s been watching over the universe and annihilating anything that doesn’t come close to her perfect, happy little village. That’s why Corona exists. The fate of fairies like her is to travel to planets that Tiera has designated, converting its denizens to her faith… And if that doesn’t work? They go feral, slaughtering as many people as they can before eventually detonating and wiping out every single trace of the world that used to be there.
Fera: Okay, stop. You're telling me that the creator of the universe wanted Lucius's people dead? Do you know how insane you sound right now?
Nyxiel: You got any other explanations? The Coronids were a species that managed to evolve on their own, off on the very edge of the universe where she’d never see them. The perfect opposite of her little plan… something she saw as a parasite. Not to mention they were getting dangerously close to understanding and harnessing Drive…
Fera: What’s Drive?
Fera glanced down at her armored hand. Somewhere, deep in her heart, she had a feeling that she already knew what Nyxiel was talking about. The so-called Princess of Darkness almost swooned upon hearing that question asked.
Nyxiel: How do I begin to describe it? Drive is the will to fight, the motivation to grow stronger and improve yourself, the determination to fight against that which oppresses you... It's essentially fighting spirit manifested as a form of energy. Every living thing in this universe runs off of it, and in some cases, can manifest it when sufficiently motivated to accomplish a goal. Your power boost back there while you were fighting Corona? That wasn’t Drive on its own… it was your will and strength overpowering Corona’s own essence inside you, making her power yours!
Fera: My own power… Nyxiel, is this why Corona said she wanted my power? Why would she want someone like me?
Nyxiel: Because after all these adventures on Coronite, you’ve shown yourself to have one of the highest levels of Drive in recorded history. Yes, the fairy loading you with her blood and essence is what caused you to manifest your new abilities, but that Drive was strong enough to overcome her influence and make her yours. Your determination, your decisions, your actions, your upbringing… it’s the perfect cocktail to create a huge amount of Drive. And that’s what Tiera wants.
Fera: She wants Drive?
Nyxiel: She needs Drive. She's been around for millennia, and her body is decaying. Her power is waning, and she's only able to carry out her desires through proxies like the fairies. Tiera cannot create Drive, and as such, despite her will to exist, her body is not motivated to live on. In order to keep existing, she needs a new body to cling to. One that she can siphon power from in order to keep her cold, black heart pumping. 
Nyxiel put her hand on Fera’s shoulder, as if consoling a friend about extremely tragic news.
Nyxiel: You know why Corona didn't want to kill you? The fact that you have so much Drive means you're the perfect vessel for Tiera- her mother- to inhabit and regain her powers.
Fera couldn't move out of shock. She stared down at her hands, knowing for the first time that she was looking at a body that apparently the creator of her universe desperately wanted to get her hands on. She felt scared, furious... and determined to prevent this from happening. For the sake of everyone, she couldn't let herself fall into Tiera's clutches.
Fera: I… We can’t let this happen.
Nyxiel: I’m glad you understand, my friend! Now, we do have a plan to help stop Tiera’s in its tracks, and luckily, it involves bringing you to a safe place where she can’t get to you. All you need to do is give your permission.
Fera: What do you mean, permission? We’re going to be working together to stop her anyways, right?
Fera’s suspicion was rising as her eyes trained back on Nyxiel, whose smile was looking less sincere by the second. Even though she trusted that the mysterious individual wanted to help protect the universe- no actual villain would have provided all this information to her unless they were extremely cocky about their odds of taking her on in a fight- but so much of her behavior seemed like it didn’t really have her best interests in mind.
Nyxiel: Of course! But considering what your role in this plan is gonna be, you’ll probably want to say you’re ok with us doing what we need to do ahead of time.
Fera: How about I don’t and pry that information out of you?
Suddenly, Fera felt the stale, stagnant air moving behind her, as if a phantom was rushing behind her to strike. She felt the very tip of someone’s finger breeze across the back of her neck, only to be forced back when she turned around to witness them. The mysterious adversary darted backwards, increasing the space between the two as Fera sized him up. He was a tall, dark-skinned man, slender yet well built, with a stylish black and yellow robe flaring up around him. His hands shimmered with yellow light as he summoned a large broadsword and dagger, his face lined with glowing cracks.
Nyxiel: Fera, meet Möbius, Master of Time and Prince of Reality. He’s also my boyfriend!
Möbius: Apologies, Ms. Bolstar. Our plans for you do not involve you taking direct action against the goddess of creation. I’m truly sorry it has come to blows so fast…
Fera braced herself for battle, summoning another spear to her side. If her battle with Corona proved anything, it was that she was the one who had control over her life. Nobody else would restrain her ever again.
----
Raune grunted as she was thrown back into the nearby rock wall, her sinister smile unbreaking as she narrowly dodged the lightspeed punch thrown by San-Sokeh. The cold stone cracked under the immense force behind the blow, with the Cataloger panting as his other arm dangled limply. It was a terrifying sight to both Lucius and Gangue, the only ones still conscious enough to witness the battle...the fair, delicate princess had completely snapped, severing her opponent’s hand and letting loose a flow of thick blue blood.
Raune lashed out with more vines, wrapping themselves around San-Sokeh’s neck as she pulled herself forward. Her fingertips sharpened like thorns, she clawed away at the heavy shell across his face, chipping away at his defenses as she gasped maniacally.
Raune: You deserve this! You deserve every second of this!
Lucius struggled to get back to his feet now that the Terran guards had been taken care of. Even though Raune had managed to turn the tide on San-Sokeh, he was shocked at just how drastic her change in personality had been. Even so, he had to-
Pain shot through his system. The scientist winced as he fell back down to the ground, the bullet wound on his back keeping him from joining in the fight. Looking back up at the sky, he saw Gangue lording over him once again, a grim expression on his face. A foot came down to crush his head into the dirt again, but this time Lucius caught it in his hand, letting loose a burst of plasma to knock the warmonger back. Gangue grumbled as he pulled out his own gun.
Gangue: Why won’t you just die?
Lucius: Because creatures like you… need to be stopped.
Gangue: You’re standing in the path of universal peace and prosperity. Scum like you isn’t fit to spill blood on my suit.
With that statement, Gangue let loose with a bullet aimed squarely at Lucius’s forehead. Using as much of his power as he could, Lucius slashed forward with a plasma blade wrapped around his arm, knocking the bullet’s path directly towards San-Sokeh. A sickening crunch could be heard again as the shot cracked through some of his shell; enraged by attacks on all sides, the enraged priest let loose another scream as he threw Raune off of his body.
Raune’s face was splattered with blue blood, her manic yet determined grimace a sign of her desperation to kill the man standing before her. She didn’t care if all of this was being broadcast to her people- they knew the terrible crimes she had committed already. But they also knew what had transpired today. If Raune were to become a martyr… at least she would make a world in which her people didn’t have to suffer under the Catalogers anymore.
A feral cry emanating from her throat, Raune lunged forward with intense speed… only to be shot out of the air by Gangue. Lucius gasped in rage, only to fall back down to the ground as his wound sapped more of his strength away. Raune lifted herself off of the ground, pulling the bullet out of her shoulder as her wound began regenerating. Before she could get back into the fray, however, San-Sokeh dashed towards her position and slammed her head down into the ground, the chunks of dirt beneath her shattering and blasting into the air. As he lifted his prize up in another chokehold, Raune gasped for air and desperately kept clawing at his arm to get him to release her. 
Pale green tears ran down her face as her energy slowly dwindled. San-Sokeh was breathing just as heavily, dropping any demeanor he had that wasn’t a terrifying, power-hungry, lust-driven maniac.
San-Sokeh: You. Are. Mine.
Raune’s eyes closed as she lost consciousness. Dangling limply in the Cataloger’s hands like a doll, all of the energy she had demonstrated during the previous battle appeared to be sapped out of her. San-Sokeh turned back to Gangue, his expression almost immediately returning to a stoic, serious gaze. Even the blood dripping from his severed hand didn’t seem to phase him. Lucius, now filled with the most powerful hatred he had felt since Corona’s destruction of his people, began summoning all his strength for one final plasma attack. Gangue took the opportunity to kick him right in the chest, dissolving his concentration and aiming straight between Lucius’s eyes. The Terran pulled the trigger…
Click. No more ammunition.
Gangue scowled as he tossed his gun to the side. Lucius could tell that he was enraged he didn’t have the opportunity to kill him here.The old man stared directly at him, a sinister expression creeping over his visage.
Gangue: San-Sokeh will take the regent for himself, just like I promised him before all this. You three are gonna rot in Terran prison until we can finally get the opportunity to execute you. Any final words before we haul you worms off to the only place you belong?
Lucius looked up and noticed what looked like a six-fingered hand on the commander's neck... It almost looked like a tattoo. Distant memories of the time when his people were still alive came back to him- and visions of the same symbol plastered all over their cities when Corona was still influencing them. He simply smirked.
Lucius: Tell your "Mother" that her reckoning is coming.
Those were the last words Lucius got to say before he was knocked out cold.
----
Sparks flew through the air as Fera and Möbius clashed their weapons together, spear against sword and dagger. Fera still didn’t have any clue why they wanted to attack her so badly like this- everything they had just told her made it seem like they were both fighting against Tiera. Frustration building, she lunged forward with everything she had, darting forward a great distance in an attempt to skewer Möbius. To her dismay, the mysterious companion of Nyxiel drifted backwards to avoid her strike, trailing an afterimage behind him as if he was moving faster than the human eye could see.
To Fera’s shock, the afterimages didn’t immediately shimmer away. The hazy, transparent blur she thought was just an indication of Möbius’s speed came to life, pinning her spear down with its own dagger. As the real Möbius jumped back into the fray for a massive overhead strike, Fera dissolved her weapon and crossed her arms together to form another barrier to protect herself. The real Möbius was sent flying backwards as his strange afterimage faded into nothingness, and Fera soon retaliated by summoning another spear and performing a sweeping strike over her head.
Nyxiel was eagerly watching the pair battle, the smile on her face barely budging.
Nyxiel: You got this, Moby!
Fera: Why are you cheering for him?!
Cheered on by his apparent girlfriend, Möbius smiled and threw his dagger forward. Fera easily sidestepped the attack, but the weapon flashed out of existence behind her as a multitude of Möbius clones teleported into the air around her. To her surprise, they all began throwing daggers of their own, forcing Fera to try to duck and weave around the storm of blades coming her way. She somersaulted and spiraled through the air, feeling infinitely more agile than she remembered being before coming to Coronite. Was this more of Corona’s power? Or was this the Drive that Nyxiel had been talking about?
Möbius, unfazed by Fera managing to evade his attacks, simply poked two of his fingers forward in the air as if he were pressing a doorbell.
Möbius: Impressive fighting style, Ms. Bolstar.
Fera: You aren’t so bad yourself. If you think compliments are gonna help you with winning me over, though-
Möbius: I truly am sorry we had to resort to this, but there is only one option. You are crucial to stopping Tiera’s mad conquest… but only part of you. Your refusal to come willingly means that we now have to resolve this by force.
Fera: And what if I beat you? Find my own way to stop her?
Möbius: *chuckles* The outcome of this battle has already been set in stone. After all, time is on my side.
Fera grimaced and summoned a pair of spears in each hand, jamming them together at the ends to form a giant dual-edged weapon that she began spinning around wildly. She deflected another errant dagger toss, then jabbed the end of her polearm into the ground and hurled herself upwards into the air at incredible speeds. As if suspended by her own power, she began unleashing a flurry of blows downward at the ground, lashing and tearing the ground asunder as Möbius tried to evade every strike he could. Even with his intensive powers of evasion, a few of her strikes managed to tear at the time mage’s clothing, grunts of pain indicating that they were landing.
Desperate to end this battle, Fera wound up her arm for one final blow to fully disarm her opponent, lunging towards Möbius’s position at high speed. Before she could land her attack, however…
Möbius: Infinity Shell!
The sound of glass unshattering filled the air as Fera felt her descent pause, a shimmering yellow aura filling the space around her. The flow of time around her had frozen, leaving Möbius free to casually fling a multitude of daggers towards her. The glowing blades were caught in the time distortion as well, hovering inches from Fera’s face as more and more were tossed in her direction. Nyxiel just smirked at a distance as her lover surrounded the heroine in a massive cloud of sharp, deadly weaponry.
Nyxiel: Aaaaaand scene~
The golden aura vanished as all of the daggers hurtled directly towards Fera. Reacting as quickly as she could, Fera quickly began spinning her weapon around in midair, reflecting the majority of the blades flying at her body. Some managed to graze her legs and torso, and one even flew past her cheek, but she had made it out of the situation unscathed… at least, until Möbius grabbed the end of her weapon and flung her down to the ground below. Fera rolled away from the attacker as he brought his sword down near her neck, holding her dual spear in a defensive position. Even with all her new powers, it was an uphill struggle trying to contend with this man, and Nyxiel wasn’t even taking part...
Fera: *panting* You wanted me to work with you! Why are you trying to kill me?! None of this makes any sense!
Möbius: Oh, I’m not trying to kill you. Far from it. Just need to get you into position.
Möbius’s eyes flashed a vibrant yellow as Fera sensed something materialize just behind her. Another one of those afterimages had appeared- one mimicking the two-finger poking motion that he had performed before. Before she had a chance to react, the temporal copy’s fingers landed squarely on the back of her neck.
As if a switch inside her had flipped, Fera’s whole body immediately became wracked with an intense feeling of numbness. She dropped her phantom weapon as her fingers lost all sensation, then her arms and legs as she fell to her knees. Something about this armor… was filling her with such an intensely hollow feeling that she couldn’t even stand.
Nyxiel: Stasis Armor worked. Thank you for your cooperation, Fera. The universe will be safe before you know it!
Fera: You… just wait until my friends…
Möbius: Do not worry. We will be assisting them shortly. They have their own parts to play in this initiative.
Nyxiel: Until then, just relax, let your mind empty, and let us do what we need to with you!
Nyxiel began stroking Fera’s head as her body began locking up. It was getting harder and harder for her to breathe, like her armor was freezing all of her vital functions up. No matter how much she tried to resist, nothing would respond.
Nyxiel: After all this, you’re gonna be that hero you kept saying you wanted to be.
In one final gasp, Fera’s body stopped moving, trapped in stasis through the magics and technology implemented into her new armor. Her eyes had gone blank, softly glowing a pure white, and she stopped responding even the slightest bit to any pokes or prods by Nyxiel. The shadowy woman sighed in relief- part of the plan was successful. They had Fera as a resource now.
Möbius: What’s the next step?
Nyxiel: You stay here and keep an eye on things. Prepare Fera for the rest of the plan and keep an eye on the timeline to make sure the goddess isn’t going to start her big strike before we’re ready. As for me…
Another crackling purple portal appeared in the air, the destination on the other side a complete unknown.
Nyxiel: I’m gonna go get the party started.
----
Corona emerged out of the crater she had pierced through the center of the planet. Or, at least, what was left of her. Somehow, Luci and those idiots had actually managed to beat her, reducing her to a small wisp of energy and just a few particles of dust. They had deprived her of most of her power, so much so that she wouldn't be able to recover for another 5,000 years. But she was alive, and that was what mattered.
The tiny wisp looked up as she detected twinkling overhead. A multitude of ships of different makes, many of which she didn’t recognize. In light of what had happened to the planet, it seemed as though everyone had decided to pick up the remaining warriors and return home. With her powers effectively drained through her defeat, her enraging influence didn’t seem like it’d be affecting anyone anymore. The battle for this planet was over, especially since the original prize was long gone.
What would happen to her now? Would she simply waste away on this now-lifeless rock? Would Luci or any of his friends return to finish the job? Would she be discovered and experimented on by some other race analyzing the planet?
But then, she realized the worst outcome. That Mother might check in on her. What would she do? Corona had spent centuries in stasis waiting for her plan to come to fruition, and now it would be for nothing! Ohhhh, she was in trouble...
???: 
Within a nanosecond, she was there. She took on the form she did when residing outside of her home in the universe's core, one suited to dealing with those that worshiped her. Her body was sculpted to perfection, her form befitting that of a goddess, but there was an underlying uncertainty and unease that pierced through the beauty she radiated. The palms of her hands contained radiant eyes, the pleasant face one would expect of a mother was naught but a blank void with a terrifying gaze, and her torso was broken up into a growth of crystal that resembled the maw of a hungry beast. Her armor was cracked and shattered across her whole body, as if she were decomposing and decaying away, and yet the shadowy black essence underneath retained a beautiful energy. Though hunched over like she could barely support herself, it was clear that she had all the strength and willpower she needed. She was beauty and terror incarnate.
She was Tiera, Mother of All Creation.
Tiera: 
Corona: M-Mother! I-I didn't expect to see you here! Did I mention you were looking lovely today?
Tiera: *sighs* 
Corona: I apologize, Mother! I was captured by the last surviving Coronid, sealed alongside him for the centuries in which I have not been able to hear your voice. It has only been recently that my full form has been able to emerge from this prison where I was-
Tiera: 
This was a story Corona had heard all too often in the time she was being forged. Fairies were designed to conquer and subjugate worlds before detonating and destroying them outright. The only time one had ever failed was Naga, who Mother had always held up as a tragic figure since she managed to get herself killed by some ancient tribeswoman. Sure made Corona feel left out when her near-death was being met like this. 
Tiera: 
Humans? Oh no, no, no... The girl with the Drive. She was-
Tiera: 
Corona: Y-Yes, Mother! B-But, the thing is-
Tiera: 
Corona nodded somberly- at least, as best she could. Tiera's dark body shifted to a violent white as she uttered a growling screech that sounded like the deafening silence of a black hole. Corona just backed up from the brilliant light emanating from her Mother.
Tiera: 
Corona: Not just that! The Host? They're gone.
Tiera: 
Corona: No, I'm serious! I felt the immense amount of Drive she gave off, and that's just gone now! She's not even dead, I would still sense that level of energy somewhere in the universe! The Host is-
In a split second, the remnants of Corona's body were floating off the ground into her Mother's outstretched hand.
Tiera: 
Corona: M-Mother, please!
Tiera: 
In the simple crush of a hand, Corona's essence was siphoned away into Tiera's body, leaving nothing of the sentience that was there a moment before. Tiera simply sighed as her body toned back down to deep blue, more tiny cracks forming across her body.
This universe was hers, yet corruption and infestation seemed to go awry. Beings evolved and grew beyond the scope that she had meant for them to, and when things grew too problematic, a fairy would swoop in and destroy their civilization, setting the stage for Tiera to restart their growth. No matter how hard she tried, things grew out of her control, and after so long, her body had lost the Drive to create, to inspire, to keep balance.
And now, the ultimate Host, the being throughout all of history most filled with Drive, was beyond her grasp.
Tiera: 
Beauteous wings emerged from Tiera’s body as her armor began crumbling even more, gathering power and light from the area around her as she prepared the last of her energy for a jump into the distant past. Corona’s failure may have prevented her from having access to the ideal vessel to regain her power, but there were other means to make one. If this worked out, perhaps she would deign to allow the fairy her existence again.
Tiera: 
----
Silence. 
Pure and utter silence.
That was all Fera could sense around her. All of her senses had been shut off by whatever stasis this weird armor had locked her in, and she had no ability to move or control herself in the slightest.
Her mind was pitch black. At the center of it all was the sensation of her soul, also locked in place as if it was chained up and strung like a puppet. She felt hollow. Empty. It was terrifying.
Had it really all been for this? Risking her life to save the Solus system and proving the strength of her own will, only to be trapped in her own body like a frigid coffin? Was any of this worth it at all? If letting her body get taken was so bad, she should have just let herself-
...No.
Fera tried to recall her friends. Teryx and Kobol, for one, but also the new allies she had met on Coronite. Gargan, Retron, Raune… and despite the rocky start to their relationship, Lucius. And everyone else in the system, too… if she hadn’t fought off that monster, they could all have been killed.
Fera was a hero. What was important was saving lives and defending the innocent from evil. And whatever she had been told about Tiera and her plans, she couldn’t just stand by and be used as a tool. She needed to do her part, no matter what.
It took all of Fera’s willpower to even awaken her suspended soul even a little bit. All of her drive, her determination, and barely anything. Her body was still completely solid, not obeying any commands at all…
But her soul’s finger twitched ever so slightly.
She could do this. It could take days, weeks, or even months, but Fera could break free. She could see her friends again. She could help save everyone from this monster.
She just had to keep trying.
==Cast==
Cast listed in order of appearance.
Fera4.png|Fera
Xyzor.png|Xyzor
NeoLucius.png|Lucius
Gog.png|Gargan
NeoRetron.png|Retron
Skoru'Da.png|Skoru'Da
NeoRaune.png|Raune
San-Sokeh.png|San-Sokeh
Amoir.png|Amoir
Girtabilium.png|Girtabilium
BUNKR.png|BUNKR
Corona.png|Corona
Nyxiel.png|Nyxiel
Category:Fantendo - Drive
Category:Pyroverse
Category:Stories
Category:Fan Fiction
Category:Original Fan Fiction