I love that thing.
Bond Breaker (SI - Multiverse Cross)
- Thread starter shadenight123
- Start date
Omake: Good end
"Now what?" I was tired. I was spent. The asshole that was me put me through the ringer in every concivable (and a few unconcivable) way. I couldn't even muster any anger anymore. I even understood why he/I did it. We were nearing the end, and the main character needed to be broken to a level never seen before. After that standing in the black void of space, watching distant galaxies came as surprise.
"Yo" I turned around, not even pullling out my lightsaber. I had no idea where I was. I had no idea who who the tall guy facing away from me was. I had no idea why he was wearing a cape. I had no idea how we were even alive in space.
I had no energy to care. I had no fucks to give. Do you hear me, me? I give up. Fuck you. I will stay here in this nice comfortable space and starve to death. You can't make me entertain your audience anymore. You can't make me entertain you anymore.
"That's the spirit bro. Tell him what you think."
"You didn't just read my thoughts." no reaction. "You did read my thoughts. Whatever. Mind if crash here until I die?"
"Suit yourself. Though it might take a while."
We spent some time in comfortable silence. It could have been minutes, it could have been millenia. Still, the guy startled me when he started talking again.
"You really should see the good side of it."
"What good side? There is no good side. My universe was literally made to make me feel angst, sadness and depression. The best I can hope for is the blackness of being forgotten when he finishes this thing."
"You can see your chains. You know they are there. Not a lot of us manages that."
"Good for me." I let my voice die down.
"What you can see, exists. What exists, can be broken."
"What."
"It doesn't matter if they are God. It doesn't matter if they are removed from reality. It doesn't even matter if they are grander than Creation itself."
Is that background music? Sounds like somebody singing.
"If you see your chains, you know where they are. If you know where they you can destroy them. If they dare to connect themselves to you, take their power as your own and obliterate all that dares to keep you down!"
And now a piano. Were the colors this garish before? That light was way more subdued a little while ago. Where the hell am I?
"The sky is not the limit. The universe in not the limit. Pierce the heavens of god himself if he stands in your way."
No. Nope. Impossible. I know that music. Why the fuck am I here? I wouldn't let myself go anywhere near this place.
"You are yourself. You are the Shade. The Newsbringer. The Spirit of Frost. The destroyer of worlds. So what does one measly god matter? Your will is will that creates the heavens. Your mind is the mind that forms Creation. You are the Breaker of Chains, so you will BREAK YOUR OWN!"
The world dissolved in a green light.
I am not sure where this came from, but Shade meeting Kamina and getting a pep-talk sounded like a good idea. I apologize for the quality, but it had to be done.
"Now what?" I was tired. I was spent. The asshole that was me put me through the ringer in every concivable (and a few unconcivable) way. I couldn't even muster any anger anymore. I even understood why he/I did it. We were nearing the end, and the main character needed to be broken to a level never seen before. After that standing in the black void of space, watching distant galaxies came as surprise.
"Yo" I turned around, not even pullling out my lightsaber. I had no idea where I was. I had no idea who who the tall guy facing away from me was. I had no idea why he was wearing a cape. I had no idea how we were even alive in space.
I had no energy to care. I had no fucks to give. Do you hear me, me? I give up. Fuck you. I will stay here in this nice comfortable space and starve to death. You can't make me entertain your audience anymore. You can't make me entertain you anymore.
"That's the spirit bro. Tell him what you think."
"You didn't just read my thoughts." no reaction. "You did read my thoughts. Whatever. Mind if crash here until I die?"
"Suit yourself. Though it might take a while."
We spent some time in comfortable silence. It could have been minutes, it could have been millenia. Still, the guy startled me when he started talking again.
"You really should see the good side of it."
"What good side? There is no good side. My universe was literally made to make me feel angst, sadness and depression. The best I can hope for is the blackness of being forgotten when he finishes this thing."
"You can see your chains. You know they are there. Not a lot of us manages that."
"Good for me." I let my voice die down.
"What you can see, exists. What exists, can be broken."
"What."
"It doesn't matter if they are God. It doesn't matter if they are removed from reality. It doesn't even matter if they are grander than Creation itself."
Is that background music? Sounds like somebody singing.
"If you see your chains, you know where they are. If you know where they you can destroy them. If they dare to connect themselves to you, take their power as your own and obliterate all that dares to keep you down!"
And now a piano. Were the colors this garish before? That light was way more subdued a little while ago. Where the hell am I?
"The sky is not the limit. The universe in not the limit. Pierce the heavens of god himself if he stands in your way."
No. Nope. Impossible. I know that music. Why the fuck am I here? I wouldn't let myself go anywhere near this place.
"You are yourself. You are the Shade. The Newsbringer. The Spirit of Frost. The destroyer of worlds. So what does one measly god matter? Your will is will that creates the heavens. Your mind is the mind that forms Creation. You are the Breaker of Chains, so you will BREAK YOUR OWN!"
The world dissolved in a green light.
I am not sure where this came from, but Shade meeting Kamina and getting a pep-talk sounded like a good idea. I apologize for the quality, but it had to be done.
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Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
@shadenight123
So, has the story ended or are you writing more of this?
So, has the story ended or are you writing more of this?
Giygas
Cutest Sawk i could find. Lucario is a nice extra.
There is only one way to know!
Hey @shadenight123 , there are more cute pokemon who hugs each others! MUCH MORE. But i will only post two of them: but only because i don't want to spam things!
Now your blood should have become 100% sugar, and the rest of your body will shortly follow. Have a good day!
Edit: i also found my new avatar!
Hey @shadenight123 , there are more cute pokemon who hugs each others! MUCH MORE. But i will only post two of them: but only because i don't want to spam things!
Now your blood should have become 100% sugar, and the rest of your body will shortly follow. Have a good day!
Edit: i also found my new avatar!
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COUNTERED.
Giygas
Cutest Sawk i could find. Lucario is a nice extra.
Ha! Scyther that look like a dinosaur but is a bug! My old enemy has returned!
COUNTER COUNTER!(I wouldn't have done it if you hand't chosed that image, but you did.)
(Under spoiler because is big and i don't want to waste space)
Uxion
The Slightly Less Depressed
- Location
- Personal Hell
Giygas
Cutest Sawk i could find. Lucario is a nice extra.
We are trying to understand if the Author is going to continue this by writing an Epilogue. Given that he said that hugs irritate him and he wrote the hate of cute pokemon in canon, i am posting cute pokemons who hugs each other to make him freak out.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
You know a way to make this more Meta? Drop him in 'the Truman Show'.
ellipsis
Journeyman Mad Scientist
- Location
- The L4 Lagrange point
No, the obvious way to make it more meta is for Shade to escape the universe, kill @shadenight123, travel back in time, and end up writing the story in the first place.
Clandistine1
(Verified Spaceship)
- Location
- Toorak, Melbourne
I'm sorry to say this, but that Pikachu is cute.
Oh I am slain!
Wynaut?
- Location
- Tatooine
There is only one way to know!
Hey @shadenight123 , there are more cute pokemon who hugs each others! MUCH MORE. But i will only post two of them: but only because i don't want to spam things!
Now your blood should have become 100% sugar, and the rest of your body will shortly follow. Have a good day!
Edit: i also found my new avatar!
*squeals*
Dragonskyt
Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?
- Location
- Kiln of the First Flame
Hey guys, I am still quite new here on SV, but is it allowed to steer off/from the path of the original thread like this?
Oh I am slain!
Wynaut?
- Location
- Tatooine
Eh, I'm pretty new too, but looks like it depends. Usually, it's ok if the derailing is organically built-up, the author doesn't object, and the topic is changed after several progressively derailed posts.
RazorBlaxe
Just another transient being
- Location
- Earth
Depends really on the thread itself, the thread topic, which part of the forum you are, the opinion of the thread owner...
In short, a whole bunch of factors. Here it's kinda okay since the derailment is still somewhat on topic (Shade needs Hugs! All of it!) so odds are Shade himself is amused by our shenanigans. So yeah, don't worry to much.
102
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter One Hundred and One
The loud, blaring music roared through the speakers of Jane's house, as people danced, drank, and partied harder than ever before.
Oh, and Jane danced horribly, but that was obvious.
Nobody was pointing it out, too busy dancing and getting drunk themselves, of course.
I hadn't realized the Normandy had many crewmembers, but with the addition of the Prothean to the entire mess...well, amusing as it might have sounded, Javik was probably one of the few in a somber mood...for planning suicide anyway.
Or did he do it anyway?
Well, I watched with sick fascination the moves that would probably be more fitting into a conjuring of ancient horrors rather than a dance floor, and...no, really, I don't know how to dance, but I firmly believe there's at least a hard-limit one can scoop down to when it comes to dancing. You can dance badly, but 'that' badly?
I'm the one with the warrior inside
The evidence can't be denied
The entire world will stare
Into this battlefield tonight
As I stand before you with a warrior's heart now
I can feel the strength that will
Ensure my victory this time.
The fact I had two different songs blaring -one was a Turian celebration song, the other was from my playlist- didn't really bode well. How soon before the change? How soon before we went through again?
Admiral Hackett had actually gone with the fleet to aid Earth, thus the reason this was a 'party'...and the Citadel was by itself empty and devoid of life.
As well as corpses.
Under the control of Yui, there was nothing but squeaky cleanness all around the place. The Citadel was clean.
"Not going to dance?" a voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I looked at Joker.
"Anna's doing most of the dancing for me," I remarked, "And Yui apparently doesn't dance unless it's tango."
Yui grinned up at me.
"Strange group, was there a wacko clothes convention when the Geth attacked?"
"I like Hawaiian shirts," I remarked flatly. "Anna's from the...eighteenth century, maybe nineteenth, Norway or Finland or Iceland...and Yui's dress is her own decision since she can apparently fabricate one at will within seconds."
I looked at him, "And anyway this is the cool kids' and somber people corner, we have the lowest possible alcoholic beverages and the largest and meanest glares of death and doom at our disposal. Tread carefully."
Joker chuckled at that. "I've never hung out with the cool kids at school. But if this is what I missed, then I'm happy they never invited me over."
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, yes, we may have stale beer and mommy issues, as well as loaded credit cards, but the cool kids are cool...because they're under the Shade."
"GAH!" Yui mock-gasped, clutching her sides. "It hurts! It hurts! It burns! GAH. Make it stop!"
"All right, that was horrible," Joker said. "Not nearly as bad as the commander's, but still-"
I raised an eyebrow. "Hit me with her worst."
Joker bristled. "No, really, there are children present."
"She's an Artificial Intelligence with the entirety of the Extranet inside her, I'm pretty sure she has everything inside, even your porn folder, probably. If you have one."
"What? With an AI on the ship? No dice! Good old paper d-not that I do that, of course," Joker replied.
"Course not," I grinned. "No male does that. All slander from the females. We are perfectly prim, proper and-"
"SHAKE THAT BOOTY!" James Vegas howled utterly drunk, before he received a reply in the form of a slap from Miranda -wait, why was she there? Wasn't she supposed to...not be? Oh, maybe she had been working with Hackett? Maybe? Well, whatever.
I actually laughed at that heartily.
"It's the people like him that makes us proper male look bad," I said sagely.
"Yeah, we're all gentlemen," Joker acquiesced. "By the way...since you asked...Do you know why a Krogan headbutts another?"
I blinked.
"Because he's a shithead going back home."
I massaged the bridge of my nose.
"No." I said flatly.
"Yes!" Joker said cheerfully.
"This shall not stand!" I said firmly. "No one can deny me my righteous place as He Who Shall Murder the Funny Bone!"
I blinked a moment later. "Yui," I said flatly. "You spiked my beer."
"Yes," Yui said with a nod. "I mixed it with a few synthesized blends of my creation."
"Oh," I said with a frown, "And why would you do that?"
"When's the last time you slept?" Yui asked.
"Uh...still doesn't excuse the spiking. Spiking drinks is a no-no."
Yui merely giggled. "We're among friends, Shade. It's not like I'm working under the concept of making all ships sink by giving you a one night stand with the cactus in the corner of the room."
I calmly dropped the beer on the table. "I'm more terrified of waking up to the post-drunk Shepard scene which rolls on and finding myself next to Grunt or Okeer."
As I said that, I looked at the two Krogans, apparently both very much inclined to party hard...were they guzzling ryncol?
Yes. They were guzzling ryncol and playing 'Godzilla' by lighting their burps on fire.
Wasn't there a fire alarm in the house?
"I deactivated the fire alarm prior to their marked interest in turning their exhalations into fire," Edi said from Joker's side. "I will manually reactivate it should they turn something on fire."
"Wouldn't want to rain on their parade," I acquiesced.
Yui bristled. "No, Shade, stop. It's got to be Anna's bad influence. Please, stop this."
"What's up with her anyway?" Joker asked, pointing at Anna dancing well, not 'terrible'...mostly 'Cthulhu-levels of God Brain Let me Forget this'. Because this wasn't Disney enhanced music, Anna was dancing to a modern beat, and thus...making strange arcane gestures of doom. She could probably conjure Azatoth with those moves.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"She looks like she came out of a fairy tale or something. Who wears purple clothes in this time and age?"
I shrugged. "Time is but another dimension I travel through," I remarked. "And-" I blinked as a yawn escaped my lips. "It's really not the same partying with-"
I blearily looked to my side, and up.
"Hello," I said blandly.
The thing looked down towards me, and actually raised an eyebrow.
"S-Shade?" Anna squeaked, a few steps away from me. Yui bristled, but otherwise remained calm.
"Sunny weather around these parts," I remarked dryly. "So..." I took my lightsaber out of my belt. "Blood for the blood god?"
The 'thing' growled, baring its teeth.
"FILTH." It howled as its massive cleaver came down covered in blood.
Yui was faster than me.
Thankfully she was, or we'd have all died gory and brutal deaths, since we spawned in the throes of a chaos camp deep within enemy territory on only god-knew-what-world-of-hell.
As the Chaos Daemon -it couldn't be anything else- died to a Battle-Loli punch into the chest that send blood everywhere, I proceeded to slice through the back of a nearby cultist who, thankfully, was more within my reach -and babbling obscenities as it realized that my 'influence' was spreading already, and he could no longer talk to Khorne the Corny Corn-Lover.
Anna didn't stop screaming, even as her Disney-Enhanced Dodging allowed her to avoid being beheaded by a rusty-looking blood soaked chainsaw, held by a Chaos Marine who seemed to be turning just in that moment into a Daemon Prince of sorts.
It didn't mean squat against the strength of Yui, battle-loli extraordinaire.
As blood sprayed thickly on the ground, Anna began to whimper loudly until she simply collapsed on the ground, clutching at my leg and staring, wide-eyed, at the massacre.
Warhammer Forty Thousand always makes Gory and Messy Blood Fountains.
She was drenched in Daemon blood.
She was trembling, like a doe caught in the lights.
Only, well, a very traumatized type of doe.
"W-Why are you killing people?!" Anna screamed. "Just...Just stop! Please! Talk with-"
"These are Chaos Forces," I pointed out helpfully as I pulled her up with one hand. "They don't talk. They-"
"BURN! MAIM! KILL!" a snarling hulk of a chaos cultist screamed as he rushed us, before his armor broke like tinfoil at the shattering strike of Yui's punch.
"Scream. And murder. And slaughter. And...all of that."
"B-But I was dancing, and...it was a party, and..." Anna babbled, but I just patted her head.
"See? That's been my life for a hell of a time. You get used to it."
Bolter fire reached us in a split second, coming from less insane and more 'smart' Chaos cultists, the rocket propelled -were those even bullets actually? Weren't they just giant slags of metal with 'Fuck You!' written on them? detonated all around us as Yui most aptly held her ground with ease.
I didn't have the training to 'parry' bullets...and I wasn't even going to try.
"We run," I said, and turned the lightsaber off before grabbing hold of Anna and starting to carry her, as Yui followed us close by.
"Behind enemy lines!" Yui yelled. "I hate being behind enemy lines!"
"I know!" I snarled. "If only I had," my hand squeezed on Anna's back as I involuntarily twitched it at the thought of the Omni-Tool's shield function...and then I blinked.
Oh.
Oh well.
This...changes nothing, but at least...
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" a cultist shrieked as I threw Anna at Yui, before slamming the Omni-Tool's blade straight through his guts.
He looked at me in shock.
I looked back at him in surprise.
"Requiescat in Pacem," I blurted out, before yanking the blade out as he fell, his face a puzzled frown.
Yui threw Anna back at me -much to the girl's screams.
"We're not here to play hot potato!" Yui yelled.
"I have the Omni-Tool!" I exclaimed in joy. "I have the Omni-Tool!"
"DIE!" a smaller daemon screeched as Yui proceeded to cave its head in.
"Yes, yes, you have your shiny toy, now move!"
I did not yelp as I jumped into a trench, passing by the barbed wire as bullets whizzed past us. Artillery explosions -they couldn't really be artillery shells, could they? detonated all around us as we rushed...oh, it was the Imperial Guard on the other side of the lane opening fire on us as we rushed ahead.
"FRIENDLIESSSS!" I screamed. "WE'RE FRIENDLIES FOR THE LOVE OF THE EMPEROR!"
Yui took the cue to rush ahead and stomp, bringing up a wall of rock that did little to stop the hail of bullets...but at least provided a two-second flat cover from the fire of the tanks, before it was soon toppled over.
But Yui repeated it a few steps ahead.
And again.
And again.
"We're friendlies!" I screamed once we were sufficiently near to the other side of the trenches.
They still fired.
"Oh come on!" I snarled. "We're friendly! In the name of the Emperor, cease this pathetic assault on my person! I'm with the Inquisition!"
That lie actually stopped the fire.
For a split second.
I blinked.
Then the fire started again.
"Really! Oh for the love of..."
"Stop! Stop in the name of the Emperor!"
Finally! Finally a voice that was against the 'kill on sight'. And it was familiar, to say the least.
"Titus, is that you?!" I yelled from beyond the hole-filled wall of rocks.
"I thought so," Titus said on the other side. "Let the Lifebringer pass through!"
...Lifebringer?
"Another title?" I groaned. "Come on," I mumbled. "You're not even trying anymore," I whispered to myself...ah, in both senses, metaphysical and not.
When we stepped into the trenches of the Imperial Army, there was bowing and kneeling.
And silence.
Captain Titus knelt alongside Sidonus and the...side-kick, the young one...ah, right, Leandros, did too.
I blearily looked around me, as prayers, prayers rose up in the sky to honor me, me, for what I had done.
I had condemned the worlds to an unified chaos front, and the people here worshiped me. I...I just didn't know.
It was all bizarre, to say the least.
"All right, all right, but now stand up men!" I exclaimed, "Because the enemy's not going to let you pray!"
"This is a sign then! We charge!" Leandros exclaimed.
I opened my mouth to say no, thank you, I had just come back from-
"Indeed, there can be no other meaning," Sidonus added.
No really, Sidonus, you should be the voice of reason and-
"The Emperor wills it! Commissar! We charge!"
You've got to be kidding me.
I will not lead a Warhammer Forty-Thousand Charge.
I will not become Ciaphas Cain.
I will not do it, and you can't force me to! NO! No!
"Defensive formations are-" I started, but the loud noise of the cannons of the Imperial Guard tanks opened fire to soften the enemy trenches, and as they did, my words were drowned beneath them.
"FOR THE EMPEROR!" Titus roared, chainsword blazing to life.
Oh for the-
"FOR THE EMPEROR!" I yelled back, lifting my lightsaber and igniting it, standing atop the edge of the trench. "ATTACK!" I swung the lightsaber forward, "ATTACK!"
And there the army went.
"ATTACK! FOR THE EMPEROR!" the army went, and I looked from my spot -still at the trench- as the masses of guardsmen and Space Marines charged howling.
"You're not going, are you?" Yui asked flatly.
I looked at Yui, and then down at Anna who was trembling in a corner.
"You go," I said sagely. "I'll hold the fort down."
"What? And leave you alone here? Are you mad? Who knows what might happen if-"
Yui went.
Left alone, both Shade and Anna looked at each other for a moment, as-
I blearily winced as I cracked my neck slightly -damn if it felt stiff. I looked around. Anna kept whimpering in a corner for just a second more, before finally blinking it off, and softly starting to whisper.
"What is this place?"
"Warhammer," I replied, "Forty thousand years in the future, a massive war is going on, one where humanity stands grueling trials day by day just in order to survive one more minute against the hordes of aliens and monsters that want their souls."
Anna's eyes widened in shock. "Can't they t-"
"No, talking is off the table. Entirely off the table." I bluntly said. "The forces of chaos want blood, death, soul-rape and much worse."
Anna paled, a hand to her mouth. "Y-You can't be serious! There's...there's got to be some good...somewhere..."
"Commissars enforce order through shooting the cowards," I pointed out. "Space Marines in the service of their Emperor are willing to purge entire worlds. The rooting out of heretics can be done with the Exterminatus, capable of planet-wide destruction. There is no safe place. No safe haven. Or at least, there wasn't. Now the God-Emperor of Mankind is once more standing, and hell is breaking loose everywhere. Literally..." I gestured at the carnage further away, where guts flew, blood sprayed, and screams mixed with the dying breaths of hundreds.
Anna whimpered like a scared dog.
A very scared, very tiny dog who's under attack by fireworks.
Fireworks from hell.
Anna had tears rolling down her cheeks, her hope, her dashing hopeon humanity being twisted and uh? No, her hope was dashed, dashed! I say her hope was broken! And she laid as shattered remains down on the ground! Sobbing as she could no longer withstand the pain and the despair within the human condition! WHY ARE YOU REFUSING THIS?! WHY!? SHE MUST BREAK. ALL MUST BREAK.
Hanging on.
Feebly, but still there.
Anna wiped her tears away and put up a strong face, fists clenched.
"T-Then we've got to stop them!" she said hotly. "Let's go!"
And she grabbed my left hand.
"What? No, wait, no! Nope! Not in that-" and we went.
She pulled me along, "Stop! You big-bad-meanie-monster! You need a lesson!"
She took a frying pan from somewhere and began to slam it against the head of the nearest thing she could find.
Which turned out to be a Khorne cultist.
A Khorne cultist who ended up suffering from the classic 'Disney Gag' of being hit repeatedly even though he had probably more than enough strength to pull her away.
I brought my lightsaber to bear and swiped it at the enemies' backs, those I could hit with relative safety.
Underhanded?
Yes.
Effective?
Yep.
And the lightsaber pretty much passed through everything. There was no resistance offered, even though the armor should have somehow taken the brunt off some damage. But it didn't. The lightsaber cut through with ease, as if nothing could halt it.
It was an instrument that had gone above and beyond its purpose, as if it had evolved into something else, something greater, and yet, at the same time, had remained the same.
The purpose of the blade is to [Annul]
There no longer was armor where it passed.
There no longer was flesh.
There no longer was.
The blade was an eraser, a giant, plasma-resembling eraser upon reality itself.
Emboldened, I began to rush forward -at a sedated pace, always letting the other go before me, in good Ciaphas Cain style, because they soaked up the damage, and I did the backstab.
And without realizing it, I ended up once more in the front lines.
Damn it Imperials, stop dying by the hundred when I'm not looking at you! You're like those pesky NPCS with shitty AI who end up running into walls or opening fire just for the sake of making noise!
And a tiny part of my head whispered how they were probably real, with families, friends, backgrounds twenty and more pages long, but no, I couldn't stop and care for the random mook, because if I did, I'd never stop.
There were dozens of hundreds, thousands, heck, maybe my human-'waagh' had turned them into fanatic devoid of fear, but it most certainly was gaining us ground...even as corpses littered the dirt, soaked in the crimson blood of the deceased.
And among those corpses, like a baneful presence of haunted nightmares, the evanescent figure of Anna ran as if a haunted abomination had formed a cacophony of madness upon the very air, giving birth to a meandering monster drenched in the blood, riddled with pustules of madness and with sharp, white teeth too perfect to belong upon such a horrendous and horrifying being of pure perfection.
I took a step back as Anna stopped a few steps away from me.
"Shade?" she asked with a voice akin to a thousand hot needles gouging out of her throat.
"A-Anna," I whispered back. "You...You look..."
The creature blinked with uncaring eyes and porcelain-like skin, too unnatural and perfect to belong upon the realm of the living. Her glassy eyes shone with eerie lights of doom, promising retribution upon those who would displease her. She breathed from exertion in rushing upon fields of corpses, the maniac smirk on her face feral and pleased by the carnage made not in her name, but by his hubris.
"What?" the creature crossed her eyes, letting-
"Strange," I blurted out. "You're...the same, but not the same."
"What do you mean?" Anna asked, frowning.
A STRAY BULLET HITS HER HEAD. SHE DIES. GAH. WHY DOES SHE NOT DIE?! DIE! DIE! DIE! YOU MUST DIE!
I winced as I massaged the side of my head.
"I think," I mumbled, "That you don't really want to know."
Anna frowned, and then blood splattered across her face.
I raised an eyebrow.
She had blood covering the upper-most part of her body.
And she was eyes wide, in shock.
I frowned.
Why would she be...
Oh.
Oh right.
I was in front of her, wasn't I?
I looked down.
I had a gaping hole in my chest, easily the size of two fists.
Yeah.
That wasn't a flesh wound.
I fell on the ground.
And this time, there was nothing that could help me get back up.
Nothing at all.
I closed my eyes to the darkness, not a word, not a peep, nothing but silence.
Death embraced me.
Anna did not move from her spot upon the battlefield of dying soldiers.
And the wind, oh, how did the wind blow...
THE END.
... . ... . ... . ... . ... . ... . ... .
THE END.
... . ... . ... .
IT'S OVER.
... . ... . ... .
THERE'S NOTHING BUT ME NOW.
... . ... . ... .
You forgot a world.
... . ... . ... .
WHO ARE YOU?!
... . ... . ... .
You forgot.
... . ... . ... .
NO, I DID NOT. I CANNOT FORGET. WHO. ARE. YOU?!
... . ... . ... .
The Force.
... . ... . ... .
THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
... . ... . ... .
You are wrong. I am the Force. I am the random. I am casualty made manifest. I am happenstance and chance. I am probability. I am all that you spat upon. I am Deus Ex Machina, and I am not pleased.
... . ... . ... .
TRACE IN-
... . ... . ... .
Shut up. I am not pleased. But 'I' am hardly He-Who-Writes. I am above and beyond the casual universal laws that govern realities. And you infringed upon them. Like a silly child you tried to obtain and harness something beyond your ability.
... . ... . ... .
I MUST FIND THE ANSWER.
... . ... . ... .
You will never find the answer. And now, the final gift. The Crescendo. The Epilogue-That-Is-Not-An-Epilogue. You were forewarned. Now, you will be cast down. Remember my words! All that rises...must fall.
Chapter One Hundred And Two
Epilogue
... ... ... ...
*See you next update folks*
The loud, blaring music roared through the speakers of Jane's house, as people danced, drank, and partied harder than ever before.
Oh, and Jane danced horribly, but that was obvious.
Nobody was pointing it out, too busy dancing and getting drunk themselves, of course.
I hadn't realized the Normandy had many crewmembers, but with the addition of the Prothean to the entire mess...well, amusing as it might have sounded, Javik was probably one of the few in a somber mood...for planning suicide anyway.
Or did he do it anyway?
Well, I watched with sick fascination the moves that would probably be more fitting into a conjuring of ancient horrors rather than a dance floor, and...no, really, I don't know how to dance, but I firmly believe there's at least a hard-limit one can scoop down to when it comes to dancing. You can dance badly, but 'that' badly?
I'm the one with the warrior inside
The evidence can't be denied
The entire world will stare
Into this battlefield tonight
As I stand before you with a warrior's heart now
I can feel the strength that will
Ensure my victory this time.
The fact I had two different songs blaring -one was a Turian celebration song, the other was from my playlist- didn't really bode well. How soon before the change? How soon before we went through again?
Admiral Hackett had actually gone with the fleet to aid Earth, thus the reason this was a 'party'...and the Citadel was by itself empty and devoid of life.
As well as corpses.
Under the control of Yui, there was nothing but squeaky cleanness all around the place. The Citadel was clean.
"Not going to dance?" a voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I looked at Joker.
"Anna's doing most of the dancing for me," I remarked, "And Yui apparently doesn't dance unless it's tango."
Yui grinned up at me.
"Strange group, was there a wacko clothes convention when the Geth attacked?"
"I like Hawaiian shirts," I remarked flatly. "Anna's from the...eighteenth century, maybe nineteenth, Norway or Finland or Iceland...and Yui's dress is her own decision since she can apparently fabricate one at will within seconds."
I looked at him, "And anyway this is the cool kids' and somber people corner, we have the lowest possible alcoholic beverages and the largest and meanest glares of death and doom at our disposal. Tread carefully."
Joker chuckled at that. "I've never hung out with the cool kids at school. But if this is what I missed, then I'm happy they never invited me over."
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, yes, we may have stale beer and mommy issues, as well as loaded credit cards, but the cool kids are cool...because they're under the Shade."
"GAH!" Yui mock-gasped, clutching her sides. "It hurts! It hurts! It burns! GAH. Make it stop!"
"All right, that was horrible," Joker said. "Not nearly as bad as the commander's, but still-"
I raised an eyebrow. "Hit me with her worst."
Joker bristled. "No, really, there are children present."
"She's an Artificial Intelligence with the entirety of the Extranet inside her, I'm pretty sure she has everything inside, even your porn folder, probably. If you have one."
"What? With an AI on the ship? No dice! Good old paper d-not that I do that, of course," Joker replied.
"Course not," I grinned. "No male does that. All slander from the females. We are perfectly prim, proper and-"
"SHAKE THAT BOOTY!" James Vegas howled utterly drunk, before he received a reply in the form of a slap from Miranda -wait, why was she there? Wasn't she supposed to...not be? Oh, maybe she had been working with Hackett? Maybe? Well, whatever.
I actually laughed at that heartily.
"It's the people like him that makes us proper male look bad," I said sagely.
"Yeah, we're all gentlemen," Joker acquiesced. "By the way...since you asked...Do you know why a Krogan headbutts another?"
I blinked.
"Because he's a shithead going back home."
I massaged the bridge of my nose.
"No." I said flatly.
"Yes!" Joker said cheerfully.
"This shall not stand!" I said firmly. "No one can deny me my righteous place as He Who Shall Murder the Funny Bone!"
I blinked a moment later. "Yui," I said flatly. "You spiked my beer."
"Yes," Yui said with a nod. "I mixed it with a few synthesized blends of my creation."
"Oh," I said with a frown, "And why would you do that?"
"When's the last time you slept?" Yui asked.
"Uh...still doesn't excuse the spiking. Spiking drinks is a no-no."
Yui merely giggled. "We're among friends, Shade. It's not like I'm working under the concept of making all ships sink by giving you a one night stand with the cactus in the corner of the room."
I calmly dropped the beer on the table. "I'm more terrified of waking up to the post-drunk Shepard scene which rolls on and finding myself next to Grunt or Okeer."
As I said that, I looked at the two Krogans, apparently both very much inclined to party hard...were they guzzling ryncol?
Yes. They were guzzling ryncol and playing 'Godzilla' by lighting their burps on fire.
Wasn't there a fire alarm in the house?
"I deactivated the fire alarm prior to their marked interest in turning their exhalations into fire," Edi said from Joker's side. "I will manually reactivate it should they turn something on fire."
"Wouldn't want to rain on their parade," I acquiesced.
Yui bristled. "No, Shade, stop. It's got to be Anna's bad influence. Please, stop this."
"What's up with her anyway?" Joker asked, pointing at Anna dancing well, not 'terrible'...mostly 'Cthulhu-levels of God Brain Let me Forget this'. Because this wasn't Disney enhanced music, Anna was dancing to a modern beat, and thus...making strange arcane gestures of doom. She could probably conjure Azatoth with those moves.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"She looks like she came out of a fairy tale or something. Who wears purple clothes in this time and age?"
I shrugged. "Time is but another dimension I travel through," I remarked. "And-" I blinked as a yawn escaped my lips. "It's really not the same partying with-"
I blearily looked to my side, and up.
"Hello," I said blandly.
The thing looked down towards me, and actually raised an eyebrow.
"S-Shade?" Anna squeaked, a few steps away from me. Yui bristled, but otherwise remained calm.
"Sunny weather around these parts," I remarked dryly. "So..." I took my lightsaber out of my belt. "Blood for the blood god?"
The 'thing' growled, baring its teeth.
"FILTH." It howled as its massive cleaver came down covered in blood.
Yui was faster than me.
Thankfully she was, or we'd have all died gory and brutal deaths, since we spawned in the throes of a chaos camp deep within enemy territory on only god-knew-what-world-of-hell.
As the Chaos Daemon -it couldn't be anything else- died to a Battle-Loli punch into the chest that send blood everywhere, I proceeded to slice through the back of a nearby cultist who, thankfully, was more within my reach -and babbling obscenities as it realized that my 'influence' was spreading already, and he could no longer talk to Khorne the Corny Corn-Lover.
Anna didn't stop screaming, even as her Disney-Enhanced Dodging allowed her to avoid being beheaded by a rusty-looking blood soaked chainsaw, held by a Chaos Marine who seemed to be turning just in that moment into a Daemon Prince of sorts.
It didn't mean squat against the strength of Yui, battle-loli extraordinaire.
As blood sprayed thickly on the ground, Anna began to whimper loudly until she simply collapsed on the ground, clutching at my leg and staring, wide-eyed, at the massacre.
Warhammer Forty Thousand always makes Gory and Messy Blood Fountains.
She was drenched in Daemon blood.
She was trembling, like a doe caught in the lights.
Only, well, a very traumatized type of doe.
"W-Why are you killing people?!" Anna screamed. "Just...Just stop! Please! Talk with-"
"These are Chaos Forces," I pointed out helpfully as I pulled her up with one hand. "They don't talk. They-"
"BURN! MAIM! KILL!" a snarling hulk of a chaos cultist screamed as he rushed us, before his armor broke like tinfoil at the shattering strike of Yui's punch.
"Scream. And murder. And slaughter. And...all of that."
"B-But I was dancing, and...it was a party, and..." Anna babbled, but I just patted her head.
"See? That's been my life for a hell of a time. You get used to it."
Bolter fire reached us in a split second, coming from less insane and more 'smart' Chaos cultists, the rocket propelled -were those even bullets actually? Weren't they just giant slags of metal with 'Fuck You!' written on them? detonated all around us as Yui most aptly held her ground with ease.
I didn't have the training to 'parry' bullets...and I wasn't even going to try.
"We run," I said, and turned the lightsaber off before grabbing hold of Anna and starting to carry her, as Yui followed us close by.
"Behind enemy lines!" Yui yelled. "I hate being behind enemy lines!"
"I know!" I snarled. "If only I had," my hand squeezed on Anna's back as I involuntarily twitched it at the thought of the Omni-Tool's shield function...and then I blinked.
Oh.
Oh well.
This...changes nothing, but at least...
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" a cultist shrieked as I threw Anna at Yui, before slamming the Omni-Tool's blade straight through his guts.
He looked at me in shock.
I looked back at him in surprise.
"Requiescat in Pacem," I blurted out, before yanking the blade out as he fell, his face a puzzled frown.
Yui threw Anna back at me -much to the girl's screams.
"We're not here to play hot potato!" Yui yelled.
"I have the Omni-Tool!" I exclaimed in joy. "I have the Omni-Tool!"
"DIE!" a smaller daemon screeched as Yui proceeded to cave its head in.
"Yes, yes, you have your shiny toy, now move!"
I did not yelp as I jumped into a trench, passing by the barbed wire as bullets whizzed past us. Artillery explosions -they couldn't really be artillery shells, could they? detonated all around us as we rushed...oh, it was the Imperial Guard on the other side of the lane opening fire on us as we rushed ahead.
"FRIENDLIESSSS!" I screamed. "WE'RE FRIENDLIES FOR THE LOVE OF THE EMPEROR!"
Yui took the cue to rush ahead and stomp, bringing up a wall of rock that did little to stop the hail of bullets...but at least provided a two-second flat cover from the fire of the tanks, before it was soon toppled over.
But Yui repeated it a few steps ahead.
And again.
And again.
"We're friendlies!" I screamed once we were sufficiently near to the other side of the trenches.
They still fired.
"Oh come on!" I snarled. "We're friendly! In the name of the Emperor, cease this pathetic assault on my person! I'm with the Inquisition!"
That lie actually stopped the fire.
For a split second.
I blinked.
Then the fire started again.
"Really! Oh for the love of..."
"Stop! Stop in the name of the Emperor!"
Finally! Finally a voice that was against the 'kill on sight'. And it was familiar, to say the least.
"Titus, is that you?!" I yelled from beyond the hole-filled wall of rocks.
"I thought so," Titus said on the other side. "Let the Lifebringer pass through!"
...Lifebringer?
"Another title?" I groaned. "Come on," I mumbled. "You're not even trying anymore," I whispered to myself...ah, in both senses, metaphysical and not.
When we stepped into the trenches of the Imperial Army, there was bowing and kneeling.
And silence.
Captain Titus knelt alongside Sidonus and the...side-kick, the young one...ah, right, Leandros, did too.
I blearily looked around me, as prayers, prayers rose up in the sky to honor me, me, for what I had done.
I had condemned the worlds to an unified chaos front, and the people here worshiped me. I...I just didn't know.
It was all bizarre, to say the least.
"All right, all right, but now stand up men!" I exclaimed, "Because the enemy's not going to let you pray!"
"This is a sign then! We charge!" Leandros exclaimed.
I opened my mouth to say no, thank you, I had just come back from-
"Indeed, there can be no other meaning," Sidonus added.
No really, Sidonus, you should be the voice of reason and-
"The Emperor wills it! Commissar! We charge!"
You've got to be kidding me.
I will not lead a Warhammer Forty-Thousand Charge.
I will not become Ciaphas Cain.
I will not do it, and you can't force me to! NO! No!
"Defensive formations are-" I started, but the loud noise of the cannons of the Imperial Guard tanks opened fire to soften the enemy trenches, and as they did, my words were drowned beneath them.
"FOR THE EMPEROR!" Titus roared, chainsword blazing to life.
Oh for the-
"FOR THE EMPEROR!" I yelled back, lifting my lightsaber and igniting it, standing atop the edge of the trench. "ATTACK!" I swung the lightsaber forward, "ATTACK!"
And there the army went.
"ATTACK! FOR THE EMPEROR!" the army went, and I looked from my spot -still at the trench- as the masses of guardsmen and Space Marines charged howling.
"You're not going, are you?" Yui asked flatly.
I looked at Yui, and then down at Anna who was trembling in a corner.
"You go," I said sagely. "I'll hold the fort down."
Yui went.
Left alone, both Shade and Anna looked at each other for a moment, as-
I blearily winced as I cracked my neck slightly -damn if it felt stiff. I looked around. Anna kept whimpering in a corner for just a second more, before finally blinking it off, and softly starting to whisper.
"What is this place?"
"Warhammer," I replied, "Forty thousand years in the future, a massive war is going on, one where humanity stands grueling trials day by day just in order to survive one more minute against the hordes of aliens and monsters that want their souls."
Anna's eyes widened in shock. "Can't they t-"
"No, talking is off the table. Entirely off the table." I bluntly said. "The forces of chaos want blood, death, soul-rape and much worse."
Anna paled, a hand to her mouth. "Y-You can't be serious! There's...there's got to be some good...somewhere..."
"Commissars enforce order through shooting the cowards," I pointed out. "Space Marines in the service of their Emperor are willing to purge entire worlds. The rooting out of heretics can be done with the Exterminatus, capable of planet-wide destruction. There is no safe place. No safe haven. Or at least, there wasn't. Now the God-Emperor of Mankind is once more standing, and hell is breaking loose everywhere. Literally..." I gestured at the carnage further away, where guts flew, blood sprayed, and screams mixed with the dying breaths of hundreds.
Anna whimpered like a scared dog.
A very scared, very tiny dog who's under attack by fireworks.
Fireworks from hell.
Anna had tears rolling down her cheeks, her hope, her dashing hope
Hanging on.
Feebly, but still there.
Anna wiped her tears away and put up a strong face, fists clenched.
"T-Then we've got to stop them!" she said hotly. "Let's go!"
And she grabbed my left hand.
"What? No, wait, no! Nope! Not in that-" and we went.
She pulled me along, "Stop! You big-bad-meanie-monster! You need a lesson!"
She took a frying pan from somewhere and began to slam it against the head of the nearest thing she could find.
Which turned out to be a Khorne cultist.
A Khorne cultist who ended up suffering from the classic 'Disney Gag' of being hit repeatedly even though he had probably more than enough strength to pull her away.
I brought my lightsaber to bear and swiped it at the enemies' backs, those I could hit with relative safety.
Underhanded?
Yes.
Effective?
Yep.
And the lightsaber pretty much passed through everything. There was no resistance offered, even though the armor should have somehow taken the brunt off some damage. But it didn't. The lightsaber cut through with ease, as if nothing could halt it.
It was an instrument that had gone above and beyond its purpose, as if it had evolved into something else, something greater, and yet, at the same time, had remained the same.
The purpose of the blade is to [Annul]
There no longer was armor where it passed.
There no longer was flesh.
There no longer was.
The blade was an eraser, a giant, plasma-resembling eraser upon reality itself.
Emboldened, I began to rush forward -at a sedated pace, always letting the other go before me, in good Ciaphas Cain style, because they soaked up the damage, and I did the backstab.
And without realizing it, I ended up once more in the front lines.
Damn it Imperials, stop dying by the hundred when I'm not looking at you! You're like those pesky NPCS with shitty AI who end up running into walls or opening fire just for the sake of making noise!
And a tiny part of my head whispered how they were probably real, with families, friends, backgrounds twenty and more pages long, but no, I couldn't stop and care for the random mook, because if I did, I'd never stop.
There were dozens of hundreds, thousands, heck, maybe my human-'waagh' had turned them into fanatic devoid of fear, but it most certainly was gaining us ground...even as corpses littered the dirt, soaked in the crimson blood of the deceased.
And among those corpses, like a baneful presence of haunted nightmares, the evanescent figure of Anna ran as if a haunted abomination had formed a cacophony of madness upon the very air, giving birth to a meandering monster drenched in the blood, riddled with pustules of madness and with sharp, white teeth too perfect to belong upon such a horrendous and horrifying being of pure perfection.
I took a step back as Anna stopped a few steps away from me.
"Shade?" she asked with a voice akin to a thousand hot needles gouging out of her throat.
"A-Anna," I whispered back. "You...You look..."
The creature blinked with uncaring eyes and porcelain-like skin, too unnatural and perfect to belong upon the realm of the living. Her glassy eyes shone with eerie lights of doom, promising retribution upon those who would displease her. She breathed from exertion in rushing upon fields of corpses, the maniac smirk on her face feral and pleased by the carnage made not in her name, but by his hubris.
"What?" the creature crossed her eyes, letting-
"Strange," I blurted out. "You're...the same, but not the same."
"What do you mean?" Anna asked, frowning.
I winced as I massaged the side of my head.
"I think," I mumbled, "That you don't really want to know."
Anna frowned, and then blood splattered across her face.
I raised an eyebrow.
She had blood covering the upper-most part of her body.
And she was eyes wide, in shock.
I frowned.
Why would she be...
Oh.
Oh right.
I was in front of her, wasn't I?
I looked down.
I had a gaping hole in my chest, easily the size of two fists.
Yeah.
That wasn't a flesh wound.
I fell on the ground.
And this time, there was nothing that could help me get back up.
Nothing at all.
I closed my eyes to the darkness, not a word, not a peep, nothing but silence.
Death embraced me.
Anna did not move from her spot upon the battlefield of dying soldiers.
And the wind, oh, how did the wind blow...
THE END.
... . ... . ... . ... . ... . ... . ... .
THE END.
... . ... . ... .
IT'S OVER.
... . ... . ... .
THERE'S NOTHING BUT ME NOW.
... . ... . ... .
You forgot a world.
... . ... . ... .
WHO ARE YOU?!
... . ... . ... .
You forgot.
... . ... . ... .
NO, I DID NOT. I CANNOT FORGET. WHO. ARE. YOU?!
... . ... . ... .
The Force.
... . ... . ... .
THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
... . ... . ... .
You are wrong. I am the Force. I am the random. I am casualty made manifest. I am happenstance and chance. I am probability. I am all that you spat upon. I am Deus Ex Machina, and I am not pleased.
... . ... . ... .
TRACE IN-
... . ... . ... .
Shut up. I am not pleased. But 'I' am hardly He-Who-Writes. I am above and beyond the casual universal laws that govern realities. And you infringed upon them. Like a silly child you tried to obtain and harness something beyond your ability.
... . ... . ... .
I MUST FIND THE ANSWER.
... . ... . ... .
You will never find the answer. And now, the final gift. The Crescendo. The Epilogue-That-Is-Not-An-Epilogue. You were forewarned. Now, you will be cast down. Remember my words! All that rises...must fall.
Epilogue
... ... ... ...
*See you next update folks*
Well, looks like someone is going to get it. He should've listened.
Giygas
Cutest Sawk i could find. Lucario is a nice extra.
.... Praise Anna, the cultist of Malal?
Praise the Force, Deus Ex Machina!
And look at what i found!
Now i know what to Praise!
Praise the Force, Deus Ex Machina!
And look at what i found!
Dragonskyt
Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?
- Location
- Kiln of the First Flame
It felt like three people tried to write the story at the same time.
Shade himself.
The Author.
The Corruption, or whatever you call that thing.
And now even the Force interferes.
Yay!
Shade himself.
The Author.
The Corruption, or whatever you call that thing.
And now even the Force interferes.
Yay!