shadowace2400
Planeswalker Extraordinaire
- Location
- Texas
Truly, the only answer can be an onslaught of hugs and fluff.
Knocking on Heaven's Door [MtG/Multicross/SI]
- Thread starter shadenight123
- Start date
- Crossover
Trusty_Chester
That One Guy
- Location
- Texas
As we pray, Unlimited Fluff Works?
shadowace2400
Planeswalker Extraordinaire
- Location
- Texas
Precisely. We must drown them in fluff until they can resist it no longer.
Trusty_Chester
That One Guy
- Location
- Texas
But how to get that much fluff...
- Location
- Elsewhere
One-Punch Slivers
So he needs to learn the power of youth from Planeswalker Maito Gai?
If Planeswalker Maito Gai happens, I'm blaming you.
- Location
- Quezon City, Philippines
For some reason, I'm reminded of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, with Shade!Walker being the stand in for Morpheus. Heck, I'm betting Shade!Walker already has contingencies in place, is making amends for some things, and will commit suicide by duty in the near future.
- Location
- St Louis
This needs to happen. Seriously.One-Punch Slivers
So he needs to learn the power of youth from Planeswalker Maito Gai?
If Planeswalker Maito Gai happens, I'm blaming you.
Chapter Fifty-Three (Mustafar)
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Fifty-Three (Mustafar)
In a world without water, and covered in molten rocks and lava, I reckoned that the Dahaka wouldn't be worrying about his weakness. I stood at the bridge of the Hive Fleet Gamma, the Blind Eternities surrounding us with their infinite uncaring hunger and desire for destruction as the Plane's borders stood a mere slip away from us. Assaulting a Plane wasn't difficult, and picking a specific world out of that Plane wasn't hard either. The hard part was ensuring the Plane's blockade to prevent the Planeswalkers from running away.
I unashamedly admitted having stolen the idea of Hive Fleets from those good old Tyranids, but as the biological imperative of evolution and continued existence warranted it, it hadn't been that difficult to craft Slivers the size of battleships, capable of transporting thousands of hibernated Slivers through the Blind Eternities unscathed by their effects.
I had lied to the likes of Fuuka, but it had been mostly warranted. Without the proper care, the Blind Eternities weren't just treacherous, but truly cruel. A normal human sent into them would disappear without trace, not from existence, but from the possibility of resurrection or reincarnation. It was the final death one could condemn someone to, the likes of which not even a Planeswalker could fight against.
The moment I punctured through the Plane with the Hive Fleet would be the moment the plane would get a wake-up call on who truly was the strongest entity in the galaxy. Judging by the age of the stars in that Plane, I would arrive in a time of strife and war. Of course, it would be meaningless for both parties to try to stop me, and I doubted they would even gather enough of a power to pose a threat.
"Creepy, too creepy," Nadia said from my side as I glanced at the Plane's barriers, not really visible to the naked eye, but more of a metaphysical existence beyond recognition. "Why do you always build things so creepily?"
"Fear is a powerful tool," I replied. "No normal man dares to stand in front of a giant, no lone soldier dares fight the monster with a thousand teeth," I hummed. "This, in turn, lowers casualties."
The twitching tentacles that had expanded carefully around the Plane's barrier came to a halt as they twisted, growing branches that began to surround the Plane on all sides. The Psionic Net so reinforced by the Hive Fleet burst into existence all over the Plane at the same time, the slip from the Blind Eternities into the Plane requiring but a split second of time. Mustafar's entire surface was now engulfed in a Psionic net, countless brains of Slivers working at full power to hold whatever Planeswalker was inside at bay.
"First, bombardment to soften hardened targets," I remarked, raising a hand as a Sliver's head materialized from the surface of the floor of the Command Ship, "Go get them, Tarkin."
The Sliver's head nodded, thrumming Mana of crimson color gathering as the gems stored within the fleet's ships sparkled brightly, before pillars of light and beams of thunder descended upon the planet's atmosphere, and past it straight into the ground causing massive holes to spread over the burning surface of the planet.
Around the pillars of light Slivers of crimson scales and sharp movements emerged, rushing across the surface of the whole world.
"Is the planet uninhabited?" Nadia asked.
"There are droids meant to gather rare minerals from the lava flow of the planet," I said nonchalantly as I felt the Psionic Net ping, Slivers suddenly losing contact as walls of stone engulfed them, shattering their bones and lungs with incredible pressure. "Oh, a lithomancer," I mumbled. "A planet of rock and lava with the Dahaka and a Lithomancer on it," I craned my neck. "This might actually make me sweat a little. Then again, it's a volcanic planet."
I turned to look at Nadia, who didn't even laugh. She just stared flatly at me. "What? You're a pacifist, so pacifically wait for me here."
"Being a pacifist doesn't mean sitting on a chair watching the world burn, it means going out with buckets of water to stop the flames from spreading!" Nadia retorted even as I transformed, countless redundant organs spreading through the massively enlarging frame as I outright broke through the bioship as if the walls were made of soft jelly, rather than hardened chitin. Nadia disappeared from the inside of the ship to reappear outside of it, pursuing me on the back of a large blue-scaled dragon.
Due to the fact we weren't meant to hit the atmosphere for a while, the dragon choked, and only its carcass kept floating downwards towards the planet. Nadia jumped off the back of the dragon, brilliant wings of light spreading from her back as she determinedly pursued me, her hand grabbing on to one of the many spikes that had grown upon my mutated back. She was relentless, I'd give her that. At the same time, I merely let go of the mutated skin and watched as she flailed in the emptiness of space before flaring brightly and disappearing with a quick teleport, reappearing once more on my back.
Relentless and headstrong.
There was a reason I despised pacifists with power after all.
I spread open my wings as the ribs within my body burst apart, unleashing downwards a set of flesh sacks which opened to reveal the vanguard of the Slivers. The crimson Mana siphoned from the planet turned their scales reddish and their bones tough, and yet they advanced rolling upon themselves with sharp spiked scales on their spines to keep a grip on the land, floating where lava took the place of solid rock.
"Those are buildings!" Nadia yelled in my ear, using an arm to try to divert my sight from the goal to a nearby enclave of crumbling metal. "I can sense living people in there!"
"Then go save them," I replied nonchalantly, "I have justice to uphold!"
Nadia yelled in a fit of rage, and then stomped hard with both of her feet against my back, using it to propel herself in mid-air and disappear, teleporting towards the living beings within the buildings. I increased my speed, the Slivers below me having grown to a tide of war in the meantime. Mana burned brightly as crystals spread evenly across their backs, their croons soon followed by the birth of Skeps all across the landscape, shimmering lights surrounding them to protect them from stronger blows.
Shadows and rocks blocked my view of the horizon as thunder and lightning streaked the darkening skies. Pulse of blue psionic energy lashed out across the atmosphere, throwing back the Planeswalkers who had tried to flee. Unfortunately for them, there would be no fleeing.
My wings flapped once, and the wind pressure burst the sandstorm apart, the skies clearing to their normal dark red hue, if without the sand to bother the sight of my Slivers. They spun around themselves as drills as the Dahaka came into their sights, long tentacle-like limbs of the mind that was the Legion, they roared their challenge and shattered the ground with their pressure as they scratched, ripped, impaled and broke the Dahaka's form on the ground.
Darkness spread across the limb made of the many, sand ruptured the skin, pulsing lights and fetid Black Mana burned large open wounds across them, but yet they did not cease their advance. The dead began to float up in the air, where gentle songs would knit their flesh and restore life to them, and once enough would gather, they would once more descend down towards their target, merging seamlessly with the rest.
The Dahaka would have still had a chance, but amidst his vision literally crawling with talons and teeth, a singularly stronger scythe-like appendage appeared for just an instant, shattering through his head all the way down to the bottom of his spine, before lashing backwards to split him open in half. My tail swished as Blue Mana gathered in enough quantities through the crystals in my hide to burst jets of water all around his frame, and as he screamed from the pain he was feeling, the final bit of resistance crumbled and his Spark came loose.
Columns of stone spread out to engulf the Slivers near his body, and as my Scythe-limb ripped itself free from the stone, I turned towards the kor-woman whose crazed expression told me everything I needed to know without even bothering to ask.
"The true gods have risen! Kneel through agony, Tyrant!" the woman bellowed as a multi-limbed creature appeared behind her, spreading shining light that blinded my eyes, making me howl as the rest of the Legion burst into a frenzy of evolution, the Thrums evolving rapidly into Primes, their tentacle tipped with sharp talons slashing through the air as they bind and ripped at the drone. "If you do not yield, you will be consumed!" with her next words, a large sinkhole spread open below our feet, jagged shards of stone engulfing and ripping apart with their magic a chunk of the endless Slivers.
It would not be enough.
"Your gods will die," I snarled as I drew near, my Scythe-like limb morphed into a hand, "And your soul will be the herald of their destruction!"
"Gods don't die," the woman said with a smile. "I am the first, Tyrant...but I will not be the last sympathetic to their call!" and as she widened her arms, as if ready to embrace death, my hand slammed home and gripped her forehead tightly.
"Death?" I laughed gingerly. "You will join the Coalition," I continued as her body began to burn, her screams growing shriller until nothing was left of her body if not for her Spark, which soon was joined by that of the Dahaka in my other hand. "I will not grant anyone the mercy of Death." I hissed as I engulfed the two Sparks, letting them shift and merge together with the rest, transferring them past Time and Space to the place where the others stood in silent agony, their energies suffusing the entire engine of war that belonged to the Hive.
For no soldier can march on an empty stomach.
And thus, no Hive can work without food.
In a world without water, and covered in molten rocks and lava, I reckoned that the Dahaka wouldn't be worrying about his weakness. I stood at the bridge of the Hive Fleet Gamma, the Blind Eternities surrounding us with their infinite uncaring hunger and desire for destruction as the Plane's borders stood a mere slip away from us. Assaulting a Plane wasn't difficult, and picking a specific world out of that Plane wasn't hard either. The hard part was ensuring the Plane's blockade to prevent the Planeswalkers from running away.
I unashamedly admitted having stolen the idea of Hive Fleets from those good old Tyranids, but as the biological imperative of evolution and continued existence warranted it, it hadn't been that difficult to craft Slivers the size of battleships, capable of transporting thousands of hibernated Slivers through the Blind Eternities unscathed by their effects.
I had lied to the likes of Fuuka, but it had been mostly warranted. Without the proper care, the Blind Eternities weren't just treacherous, but truly cruel. A normal human sent into them would disappear without trace, not from existence, but from the possibility of resurrection or reincarnation. It was the final death one could condemn someone to, the likes of which not even a Planeswalker could fight against.
The moment I punctured through the Plane with the Hive Fleet would be the moment the plane would get a wake-up call on who truly was the strongest entity in the galaxy. Judging by the age of the stars in that Plane, I would arrive in a time of strife and war. Of course, it would be meaningless for both parties to try to stop me, and I doubted they would even gather enough of a power to pose a threat.
"Creepy, too creepy," Nadia said from my side as I glanced at the Plane's barriers, not really visible to the naked eye, but more of a metaphysical existence beyond recognition. "Why do you always build things so creepily?"
"Fear is a powerful tool," I replied. "No normal man dares to stand in front of a giant, no lone soldier dares fight the monster with a thousand teeth," I hummed. "This, in turn, lowers casualties."
The twitching tentacles that had expanded carefully around the Plane's barrier came to a halt as they twisted, growing branches that began to surround the Plane on all sides. The Psionic Net so reinforced by the Hive Fleet burst into existence all over the Plane at the same time, the slip from the Blind Eternities into the Plane requiring but a split second of time. Mustafar's entire surface was now engulfed in a Psionic net, countless brains of Slivers working at full power to hold whatever Planeswalker was inside at bay.
"First, bombardment to soften hardened targets," I remarked, raising a hand as a Sliver's head materialized from the surface of the floor of the Command Ship, "Go get them, Tarkin."
The Sliver's head nodded, thrumming Mana of crimson color gathering as the gems stored within the fleet's ships sparkled brightly, before pillars of light and beams of thunder descended upon the planet's atmosphere, and past it straight into the ground causing massive holes to spread over the burning surface of the planet.
Around the pillars of light Slivers of crimson scales and sharp movements emerged, rushing across the surface of the whole world.
"Is the planet uninhabited?" Nadia asked.
"There are droids meant to gather rare minerals from the lava flow of the planet," I said nonchalantly as I felt the Psionic Net ping, Slivers suddenly losing contact as walls of stone engulfed them, shattering their bones and lungs with incredible pressure. "Oh, a lithomancer," I mumbled. "A planet of rock and lava with the Dahaka and a Lithomancer on it," I craned my neck. "This might actually make me sweat a little. Then again, it's a volcanic planet."
I turned to look at Nadia, who didn't even laugh. She just stared flatly at me. "What? You're a pacifist, so pacifically wait for me here."
"Being a pacifist doesn't mean sitting on a chair watching the world burn, it means going out with buckets of water to stop the flames from spreading!" Nadia retorted even as I transformed, countless redundant organs spreading through the massively enlarging frame as I outright broke through the bioship as if the walls were made of soft jelly, rather than hardened chitin. Nadia disappeared from the inside of the ship to reappear outside of it, pursuing me on the back of a large blue-scaled dragon.
Due to the fact we weren't meant to hit the atmosphere for a while, the dragon choked, and only its carcass kept floating downwards towards the planet. Nadia jumped off the back of the dragon, brilliant wings of light spreading from her back as she determinedly pursued me, her hand grabbing on to one of the many spikes that had grown upon my mutated back. She was relentless, I'd give her that. At the same time, I merely let go of the mutated skin and watched as she flailed in the emptiness of space before flaring brightly and disappearing with a quick teleport, reappearing once more on my back.
Relentless and headstrong.
There was a reason I despised pacifists with power after all.
I spread open my wings as the ribs within my body burst apart, unleashing downwards a set of flesh sacks which opened to reveal the vanguard of the Slivers. The crimson Mana siphoned from the planet turned their scales reddish and their bones tough, and yet they advanced rolling upon themselves with sharp spiked scales on their spines to keep a grip on the land, floating where lava took the place of solid rock.
"Those are buildings!" Nadia yelled in my ear, using an arm to try to divert my sight from the goal to a nearby enclave of crumbling metal. "I can sense living people in there!"
"Then go save them," I replied nonchalantly, "I have justice to uphold!"
Nadia yelled in a fit of rage, and then stomped hard with both of her feet against my back, using it to propel herself in mid-air and disappear, teleporting towards the living beings within the buildings. I increased my speed, the Slivers below me having grown to a tide of war in the meantime. Mana burned brightly as crystals spread evenly across their backs, their croons soon followed by the birth of Skeps all across the landscape, shimmering lights surrounding them to protect them from stronger blows.
Shadows and rocks blocked my view of the horizon as thunder and lightning streaked the darkening skies. Pulse of blue psionic energy lashed out across the atmosphere, throwing back the Planeswalkers who had tried to flee. Unfortunately for them, there would be no fleeing.
My wings flapped once, and the wind pressure burst the sandstorm apart, the skies clearing to their normal dark red hue, if without the sand to bother the sight of my Slivers. They spun around themselves as drills as the Dahaka came into their sights, long tentacle-like limbs of the mind that was the Legion, they roared their challenge and shattered the ground with their pressure as they scratched, ripped, impaled and broke the Dahaka's form on the ground.
Darkness spread across the limb made of the many, sand ruptured the skin, pulsing lights and fetid Black Mana burned large open wounds across them, but yet they did not cease their advance. The dead began to float up in the air, where gentle songs would knit their flesh and restore life to them, and once enough would gather, they would once more descend down towards their target, merging seamlessly with the rest.
The Dahaka would have still had a chance, but amidst his vision literally crawling with talons and teeth, a singularly stronger scythe-like appendage appeared for just an instant, shattering through his head all the way down to the bottom of his spine, before lashing backwards to split him open in half. My tail swished as Blue Mana gathered in enough quantities through the crystals in my hide to burst jets of water all around his frame, and as he screamed from the pain he was feeling, the final bit of resistance crumbled and his Spark came loose.
Columns of stone spread out to engulf the Slivers near his body, and as my Scythe-limb ripped itself free from the stone, I turned towards the kor-woman whose crazed expression told me everything I needed to know without even bothering to ask.
"The true gods have risen! Kneel through agony, Tyrant!" the woman bellowed as a multi-limbed creature appeared behind her, spreading shining light that blinded my eyes, making me howl as the rest of the Legion burst into a frenzy of evolution, the Thrums evolving rapidly into Primes, their tentacle tipped with sharp talons slashing through the air as they bind and ripped at the drone. "If you do not yield, you will be consumed!" with her next words, a large sinkhole spread open below our feet, jagged shards of stone engulfing and ripping apart with their magic a chunk of the endless Slivers.
It would not be enough.
"Your gods will die," I snarled as I drew near, my Scythe-like limb morphed into a hand, "And your soul will be the herald of their destruction!"
"Gods don't die," the woman said with a smile. "I am the first, Tyrant...but I will not be the last sympathetic to their call!" and as she widened her arms, as if ready to embrace death, my hand slammed home and gripped her forehead tightly.
"Death?" I laughed gingerly. "You will join the Coalition," I continued as her body began to burn, her screams growing shriller until nothing was left of her body if not for her Spark, which soon was joined by that of the Dahaka in my other hand. "I will not grant anyone the mercy of Death." I hissed as I engulfed the two Sparks, letting them shift and merge together with the rest, transferring them past Time and Space to the place where the others stood in silent agony, their energies suffusing the entire engine of war that belonged to the Hive.
For no soldier can march on an empty stomach.
And thus, no Hive can work without food.
That sounds very environmentally unfriendly.
Fallenblades643
Seeker of the Divine Taste
Welcome to Old Walkers versus New Walkers.
Old walkers where Chaos of the highest highs and lowest lows. New Walkers are frankly modest in comparison. And when you toss in an Old Walker meddling about to keep the New Walkers under control, Many of the events and trials that pushed the Old Walkers to their heights don't happen.
Walkers waging reality destroying war against one another was frankly the norm.
Huh not sparing any of those sparks for bombs? Worked well against Phyrexia
C4d
Has approximate knowledge of many things.
- Location
- Germany
Well he isn't killing them, hes ripping out their sparks and using the infinity of their existence as an inexhaustible energy supply for the swarm.
And even between Oldwalkers there where massive power differences and Shade is aptly demonstrating that experience and time to prepare are the ultimate measure of power for them.
cupcakeviolater
Verified Cupcake
- Location
- USA
Well, it's like pitting Nicol Bloas against Tibalt. Even post mending Bolas can kick Tibalt's ass up and down the Blind Eternities. Yeah, they're both walkers, but one is a motherfucking Elder Dragon who's been around since before Urza had his little spat with Mishra, and the other is... Tibalt. Enough said.
troyamonga
Caffeine Dependent Hero
- Location
- United States
@Nothoughts
I am enjoying this story immensely, too! I understand what you're saying too, though. I can accept Shadewalker being OP due to his age, but if he kills Nicol Bolas Ill be a bit frustrated. Bolas is at this point almost 20,000 years old, and IIRC Shade is only about 5000
I am enjoying this story immensely, too! I understand what you're saying too, though. I can accept Shadewalker being OP due to his age, but if he kills Nicol Bolas Ill be a bit frustrated. Bolas is at this point almost 20,000 years old, and IIRC Shade is only about 5000
shadowace2400
Planeswalker Extraordinaire
- Location
- Texas
Well Shade DOES have a plethora of oldwalker sparks fueling him...so yeah
Chapter Fifty-Four (Mustafar)
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Fifty-Four (Mustafar)
The madness screams without end. Pain to the newborn skin shall feel like countless scissors rusted upon the most delicate of nerves. Tremble and reveal your secrets, for without legs, you cannot escape, but a mouth to scream I will grant you, so scream! Scream, my pretties! Scream, and tell me what He wishes to know! We who have no remorse query, and you who know not of peace will answer!
I sighed as I let the Coalition work its way through the memories of the captured duo. The Slivers in charge of the storage vault would do a great job, as always, but they'd need a bit of time in order to seep through their memories, and then patch their thoughts up. It didn't matter if this would have probably been considered worthy of being declared the king of all evils, because it worked. Thus, practically speaking, it was a flawless reason to rip out the very core of a living being in order to acquire the memories necessary to understand just what was going on.
Nadia wouldn't have approved, but she was busy saving the people of Mustafar that actually lived on this forsaken planet make of lava and molten rocks.
Meanwhile, the tendrils composed of the countless Slivers were done shattering through the planet's crust, eagerly gripping into their own talons the rare metals that, while utterly worthless to the likes of me, could still be processed into enhanced armor to be worn by my prized Apex troops.
A powerful earthquake rippled the ground beneath my feet, even as the Prime Slivers stood serrated around me like children eager to please their mother, though it was mostly in their genetics to do so. A twitch, and one of them developed the Dahaka's surprisingly refined sand control. Another twitch, and one of them learned to wield the might of the streams of Time a bit better. A spasm in one's fingers, and rock morphed and merged like clay. The knowledge was being taken and integrated, the Hive's hunger for resources second only to the thirst for knowledge.
The Hive had no secrets with one another, no need to lie, or to betray. Everything was for the glory of the Hive, and the glory of the Hive wasn't victory, but evolution, and past evolution, it was merely the guarantee of a continued act of existence. The Hive merely wished to survive. Things like eating everyone else, or consuming whole worlds, they didn't bother the Slivers, and never belonged to the Queen's main purpose. Even the Hive-Lord didn't seek conquest, but mere expansion to make space for more clutches of eggs into the Skep.
Already, one of the Skeps built within the world's surface had finished reaching the planet's core, and like the popping of a bubble, overheated air left the countless tunnels towards the surface, passing through organic generators that would transform that heat into energy, energy that would be stored into crystals to be later transformed into Mana, and from there, it would become an unending supply for both myself and the yet dormant Hive fleets.
The art of military maintenance and supply logistics wasn't lost to the Hive, it simply never factored in.
"Shade!" Nadia screamed as she appeared a short distance from me, her clothes covered in soot and ashes. "Tell your creatures to stop!" she looked at me, "They're breaking this world!"
"My children are hungry, Nadia," I replied quite nonchalantly. "I must let them eat."
"Your children don't have to eat this world in particular," Nadia replied, glaring at me. "There are people here who call this place their home!"
"So what? It's as good of a world as any others, and there are no Sparks yet to be born here anyway," I answered. "If you want to, just drag the survivors elsewhere. Use the New Nautilus. Wasn't it meant as a colony ship to begin with? You have one hour until this planet's core is completely spent. I am even holding the atmosphere together to give you the time to do that," I continued.
"I'm not as skilled as you are, and gathering everyone on this planet's surface will take more than a hour," Nadia said, only for my smile to make her falter. "And if I do that, you'll just disappear into another plane while hiding your tracks, won't you?"
"That I will," I said while shrugging, "But then again, I've successfully dealt with your pursuers, and eventually will find out why they've been hounding you. I've got more pressing things to worry about now than holding a prattling granny by my side to ponder on why people shouldn't be killed ruthlessly," I inclined my head to the side. "Or do you perhaps wish to try to stop me?" not one of my Primes stood up from their positions. They had no need to threaten, nor any desire to fight, because it wasn't my desire, so it wasn't theirs either.
"Since taking up the mantle of the Tyrant, you've changed, Shade," Nadia said. "Once, I'd chalk up your words as mere bravado, but now...you'll really do it, won't you?"
"Waking up a Hive fleet is costly in terms of energy. I am recouping my losses," I said. "If you want to keep wasting time talking, I suggest you spend it summoning your New Nautilus and getting the people out of here and over to the closest world."
"The energies of an entire plane aren't enough!? Energy here, energy there...how much do you even have stored away like a squirrel for winter!?" Nadia snarled, "Are you telling me you can't just let these people live? Are you telling me you'll take away their homes just like this?"
"What is cruel to the ant is mere garden work to the builder," I replied dutifully.
"Just because we have these powers doesn't mean we have to use them so cruelly! You were the one who taught me this, Shade! You did! You said that power came with responsibilities!" Nadia clenched her fists.
"I did, didn't I?" I said with a sigh, "But then why does man squash ants? Why does man eat fruits? Why not just die, trying to feed off the sun and the wind? Well? Why not?"
Nearby, a formation of rocks broke as the lava began to spin in a whirlpool, greedily being sucked in by hungry mouths. "They aren't ants!" Nadia yelled, her right hand clutching the pendant around her neck, a perfect mimicry of the Blue Water pendant. "They are living beings! They have a future ahead of them, hopes and dreams!"
"So do dogs," I said, "And yet when a dog bites a hand, he is put down. A death sentence, just because they aren't humans. The difference in treatment still exists, does it not?"
"They didn't bite anyone's hands, they don't even have the teeth capable of biting yours!" Nadia yelled, "If it's energy that you want, then I'll give it to you!" she continued, "I haven't been travelling much, but I have enough! More than what you could gather from this planet! Just let this planet be!"
I raised a hand, and the tremors all around us ceased. The Slivers slowly began to stand and disappear one after the other, the hole into the planet's core sealed shut as I furrowed my eyebrows. "Nadia, bring out the New Nautilus."
Nadia faltered, and she took a single step back before catching herself.
My eyes began to burn. "You went to worlds where space travel existed in order to improve on that ship, and if you aren't summoning it, then it means just one thing," I bared my teeth, "It's currently being used."
"Shade," Nadia whispered. "You aren't like this."
"I am not the Tyrant this multiverse deserves," I hissed, "I am the Tyrant this multiverse needs," I growled. "Where is it?"
Nadia shook her head. "I don't know! I just keep it summoned," Nadia swallowed. "It's to evacuate people, Shade. Innocents can take refuge elsewhere, where they can be safe from Eldrazi and Phyrexians, where they can—"
"Where they can corrupt the worlds with just a tiny vial of Phyrexian oil, or have the Eldrazi spread their tentacles upon new Planes!" I bellowed out. "Zendikar is there for a reason, Nadia! The people are trapped there for a reason!" I clenched both of my fists. "I didn't make it a law, but I reckoned it was obvious it would fall under consorting with either of the two factions!"
Nadia took a step forward, her eyes ablaze with determination. "I thought you would...dismiss my words," she said next, her glare turning sad. "I thought...I thought you would say that you'd never let people suffer like that on purpose. I thought...I don't know, I thought there was still something of Shade left in you, but...is that what you've become? A cruel and petty Tyrant who destroys worlds on a whim?"
"What else could I have become?" I retorted while shrugging, "A wise king with a big white beard on a golden throne? A conquistador with a sword in hand? Why is it that if you put a net in an open field, you people must always slam against it head first? Why can't you just avoid the net? Why do you have to cut those ropes for no reason? The net is there as a safety for you, but...but you don't understand it, do you!? I am deeply sorry for all those governments who passed laws that the people refused to understand were for their own good!"
"People will always oppose tyrants, Shade," Nadia said. "Because we want to be free."
"Then you are free to die," I answered. "You are free to suffer. You are free to be corrupted, and compleated. You are free to have your soul devoured by the Eldrazi, and you are free to sacrifice yourself in whatever folly you may wish. But," I roared, "You aren't free to drag others down with you! You aren't free to stretch the corruption to other planes! You aren't free to force me to enhance the blockade! You aren't free to force my hand into killing more and more people than necessary! Because of you! Because of your naivety, of your pathetic childish dream of pacifism and whatever the fucking else you believe in, now countless innocents will have to die!"
Nadia's eyes widened as she began to glow, arcane runes spreading all other her skin as the Prime Slivers around me in turn shifted from a passive to a belligerent stance within seconds, "No, Shade-You can't do that! You can't even know if they're corrupted or not!"
"You are no Uther Lightbringer, and I am no Arthas," I growled, before bitterly laughing, "But at the end of the day...If two or three planes burn, just as long as the rest survive, then that is reason enough."
"Please don't do that," Nadia whispered, her hair starting to glow and change, becoming the color of the deep ocean as Mana gathered around her fingertips. "Please, Shade, please don't..."
"I cannot allow such a plague to continue unchecked, and that is why I must stop it before it can grow," as I spoke, I extended my left hand. In answer, Nadia's smile grew bitterer still, until she finally closed her eyes.
"I hope the New Nautilus isn't in use right now," Nadia said, and then blasted the Blue Mana she had been gathering straight through her head, the streams of time and space slipping through as I hastily rushed for her, only to be rebuked as an invisible field held me back those tiny precious seconds that she needed in order to complete her gamble, and send her mind backwards in time.
When my fingers reached her head, it was too late. Most definitely, I could age her brain, but the memories on it wouldn't be the same as before. She would merely have the memories of her seeing the same scenery for countless years. It was done. She had wiped them all out. She had erased them, leaving nothing behind. Her last memory in her head was of bitter acceptance at the sight of her great-great-lots of great-granddaughter being left at her doorstep, and the sadness and grief of a child who had lost both of her parents so young had made her feel guilt for not being capable of helping those of Zendikar in turn.
She had left that last memory in her head specifically for me.
"Shade?" Nadia said, "Why are you holding my forehead in your hand?" Nadia asked next, "If you've come to visit, now isn't the time. My latest Granddaughter is..." she moved her head away from my hand, and then furrowed her brows, "What kind of place is this?" she asked next, before looking down at her clothes. "Oh, my adventuring clothes, it brings back memories..." she grinned, before suddenly raising an eyebrow. "Wait a moment. You had your hand on my forehead! Did you just erase something from my head!? Shade!" she yelled, "You'd better not have done something nasty and erased it!"
My shoulders began to shake.
A Planeswalker shall not aid Phyrexia or the Eldrazi. The sentence for it would be death.
Erasing one's memories...it didn't count as death, did it?
"Shade...you look sad," Nadia murmured, "Did something happen? Was it like that time with the brain disease? Did...did you have to do something horrible?" she neared, her arms slowly surrounding me. "It will be all right, Shade," she whispered. "Whatever you had to do, I'm sure you can fix it."
I gingerly returned her hug.
My fingers trembled as they applied a gentle pressure to her back, my mind barely registered the smell of sandal wood that she naturally emitted as a perfume of sorts from her skin. I took a small, deep breath, and then I did the only thing I could do.
I was the law.
The law that is not absolute is not the law.
Had Genryusai been here, without fault, he would have cut Nadia down.
One cannot order others to do that which one himself will not do.
"Bye, Nadia," I said in the end as I let go of the embrace. "May we never meet again."
"Shade?" Nadia's befuddled expression was the last thing I saw as I slammed a fist straight through her guts, pulses of White Mana binding her like chains as Blue Mana burst into her head, knocking her unconscious before she could as much as counter my magic.
I threw her through a portal that would land her straight into the entrance of her home in the middle of the Savannah, and as countless Slivers instead pulsed and pushed themselves into her world, they easily lifted themselves to the borders of her Plane, sealing it from the rest of the Multiverse.
As the portal closed, and the Slivers near me stood in wait, I began to laugh.
"Awaken the fleets," I roared as the Slivers around me began to fly in a frenzy, skittering and increasing the volume of their chatters, "Awaken all of them and scour the Multiverse! Find them! Find the survivors of Zendikar and destroy them down to their last!" behind me, a sudden eruption of lava was accompanied by the loud sound of thunder, "meanwhile..." I passed both hands through my hair. "It is time I spoke with Nicol."
I disappeared into yet another portal, but this one would take me in an all-together different world.
The massive pyramids coated in gold shone brightly with eternal flames atop them. The Mana was rich and thick, and as it gathered in the air in steady streams, the towering figure of a gigantic dragon easily dwarfed the pyramids themselves. No, the pyramids were nothing more than places for the dragon to let his claws rest, his head's horns blackened by heat and encrusted blood, a gem the size of a house floated between the two curved horns.
His wings widened to blot out the sun as his voice made the very earth shake, the humanoid creatures reverently serving him all around us bowing and screaming as they ran for their lives, his breath as hot as the sun uncaring as it scorched those closest to him, the ones in charge of cleaning his sharp claws, or bring splendor to his scales.
"How annoying," Nicol Bolas spoke a single word, and yet it was enough to let the sand beneath us turn to glass. "You come to me only when you wish to ask me aid, never to bring me gifts."
"No fact escapes you," I replied as I knelt, the glass surface shattering under my knee, "My teacher."
Nicol Bolas laughed, and his laughter was both mocking and cruel.
It also rang with the truth of the Multiverse.
There is always a Greater Power.
The madness screams without end. Pain to the newborn skin shall feel like countless scissors rusted upon the most delicate of nerves. Tremble and reveal your secrets, for without legs, you cannot escape, but a mouth to scream I will grant you, so scream! Scream, my pretties! Scream, and tell me what He wishes to know! We who have no remorse query, and you who know not of peace will answer!
I sighed as I let the Coalition work its way through the memories of the captured duo. The Slivers in charge of the storage vault would do a great job, as always, but they'd need a bit of time in order to seep through their memories, and then patch their thoughts up. It didn't matter if this would have probably been considered worthy of being declared the king of all evils, because it worked. Thus, practically speaking, it was a flawless reason to rip out the very core of a living being in order to acquire the memories necessary to understand just what was going on.
Nadia wouldn't have approved, but she was busy saving the people of Mustafar that actually lived on this forsaken planet make of lava and molten rocks.
Meanwhile, the tendrils composed of the countless Slivers were done shattering through the planet's crust, eagerly gripping into their own talons the rare metals that, while utterly worthless to the likes of me, could still be processed into enhanced armor to be worn by my prized Apex troops.
A powerful earthquake rippled the ground beneath my feet, even as the Prime Slivers stood serrated around me like children eager to please their mother, though it was mostly in their genetics to do so. A twitch, and one of them developed the Dahaka's surprisingly refined sand control. Another twitch, and one of them learned to wield the might of the streams of Time a bit better. A spasm in one's fingers, and rock morphed and merged like clay. The knowledge was being taken and integrated, the Hive's hunger for resources second only to the thirst for knowledge.
The Hive had no secrets with one another, no need to lie, or to betray. Everything was for the glory of the Hive, and the glory of the Hive wasn't victory, but evolution, and past evolution, it was merely the guarantee of a continued act of existence. The Hive merely wished to survive. Things like eating everyone else, or consuming whole worlds, they didn't bother the Slivers, and never belonged to the Queen's main purpose. Even the Hive-Lord didn't seek conquest, but mere expansion to make space for more clutches of eggs into the Skep.
Already, one of the Skeps built within the world's surface had finished reaching the planet's core, and like the popping of a bubble, overheated air left the countless tunnels towards the surface, passing through organic generators that would transform that heat into energy, energy that would be stored into crystals to be later transformed into Mana, and from there, it would become an unending supply for both myself and the yet dormant Hive fleets.
The art of military maintenance and supply logistics wasn't lost to the Hive, it simply never factored in.
"Shade!" Nadia screamed as she appeared a short distance from me, her clothes covered in soot and ashes. "Tell your creatures to stop!" she looked at me, "They're breaking this world!"
"My children are hungry, Nadia," I replied quite nonchalantly. "I must let them eat."
"Your children don't have to eat this world in particular," Nadia replied, glaring at me. "There are people here who call this place their home!"
"So what? It's as good of a world as any others, and there are no Sparks yet to be born here anyway," I answered. "If you want to, just drag the survivors elsewhere. Use the New Nautilus. Wasn't it meant as a colony ship to begin with? You have one hour until this planet's core is completely spent. I am even holding the atmosphere together to give you the time to do that," I continued.
"I'm not as skilled as you are, and gathering everyone on this planet's surface will take more than a hour," Nadia said, only for my smile to make her falter. "And if I do that, you'll just disappear into another plane while hiding your tracks, won't you?"
"That I will," I said while shrugging, "But then again, I've successfully dealt with your pursuers, and eventually will find out why they've been hounding you. I've got more pressing things to worry about now than holding a prattling granny by my side to ponder on why people shouldn't be killed ruthlessly," I inclined my head to the side. "Or do you perhaps wish to try to stop me?" not one of my Primes stood up from their positions. They had no need to threaten, nor any desire to fight, because it wasn't my desire, so it wasn't theirs either.
"Since taking up the mantle of the Tyrant, you've changed, Shade," Nadia said. "Once, I'd chalk up your words as mere bravado, but now...you'll really do it, won't you?"
"Waking up a Hive fleet is costly in terms of energy. I am recouping my losses," I said. "If you want to keep wasting time talking, I suggest you spend it summoning your New Nautilus and getting the people out of here and over to the closest world."
"The energies of an entire plane aren't enough!? Energy here, energy there...how much do you even have stored away like a squirrel for winter!?" Nadia snarled, "Are you telling me you can't just let these people live? Are you telling me you'll take away their homes just like this?"
"What is cruel to the ant is mere garden work to the builder," I replied dutifully.
"Just because we have these powers doesn't mean we have to use them so cruelly! You were the one who taught me this, Shade! You did! You said that power came with responsibilities!" Nadia clenched her fists.
"I did, didn't I?" I said with a sigh, "But then why does man squash ants? Why does man eat fruits? Why not just die, trying to feed off the sun and the wind? Well? Why not?"
Nearby, a formation of rocks broke as the lava began to spin in a whirlpool, greedily being sucked in by hungry mouths. "They aren't ants!" Nadia yelled, her right hand clutching the pendant around her neck, a perfect mimicry of the Blue Water pendant. "They are living beings! They have a future ahead of them, hopes and dreams!"
"So do dogs," I said, "And yet when a dog bites a hand, he is put down. A death sentence, just because they aren't humans. The difference in treatment still exists, does it not?"
"They didn't bite anyone's hands, they don't even have the teeth capable of biting yours!" Nadia yelled, "If it's energy that you want, then I'll give it to you!" she continued, "I haven't been travelling much, but I have enough! More than what you could gather from this planet! Just let this planet be!"
I raised a hand, and the tremors all around us ceased. The Slivers slowly began to stand and disappear one after the other, the hole into the planet's core sealed shut as I furrowed my eyebrows. "Nadia, bring out the New Nautilus."
Nadia faltered, and she took a single step back before catching herself.
My eyes began to burn. "You went to worlds where space travel existed in order to improve on that ship, and if you aren't summoning it, then it means just one thing," I bared my teeth, "It's currently being used."
"Shade," Nadia whispered. "You aren't like this."
"I am not the Tyrant this multiverse deserves," I hissed, "I am the Tyrant this multiverse needs," I growled. "Where is it?"
Nadia shook her head. "I don't know! I just keep it summoned," Nadia swallowed. "It's to evacuate people, Shade. Innocents can take refuge elsewhere, where they can be safe from Eldrazi and Phyrexians, where they can—"
"Where they can corrupt the worlds with just a tiny vial of Phyrexian oil, or have the Eldrazi spread their tentacles upon new Planes!" I bellowed out. "Zendikar is there for a reason, Nadia! The people are trapped there for a reason!" I clenched both of my fists. "I didn't make it a law, but I reckoned it was obvious it would fall under consorting with either of the two factions!"
Nadia took a step forward, her eyes ablaze with determination. "I thought you would...dismiss my words," she said next, her glare turning sad. "I thought...I thought you would say that you'd never let people suffer like that on purpose. I thought...I don't know, I thought there was still something of Shade left in you, but...is that what you've become? A cruel and petty Tyrant who destroys worlds on a whim?"
"What else could I have become?" I retorted while shrugging, "A wise king with a big white beard on a golden throne? A conquistador with a sword in hand? Why is it that if you put a net in an open field, you people must always slam against it head first? Why can't you just avoid the net? Why do you have to cut those ropes for no reason? The net is there as a safety for you, but...but you don't understand it, do you!? I am deeply sorry for all those governments who passed laws that the people refused to understand were for their own good!"
"People will always oppose tyrants, Shade," Nadia said. "Because we want to be free."
"Then you are free to die," I answered. "You are free to suffer. You are free to be corrupted, and compleated. You are free to have your soul devoured by the Eldrazi, and you are free to sacrifice yourself in whatever folly you may wish. But," I roared, "You aren't free to drag others down with you! You aren't free to stretch the corruption to other planes! You aren't free to force me to enhance the blockade! You aren't free to force my hand into killing more and more people than necessary! Because of you! Because of your naivety, of your pathetic childish dream of pacifism and whatever the fucking else you believe in, now countless innocents will have to die!"
Nadia's eyes widened as she began to glow, arcane runes spreading all other her skin as the Prime Slivers around me in turn shifted from a passive to a belligerent stance within seconds, "No, Shade-You can't do that! You can't even know if they're corrupted or not!"
"You are no Uther Lightbringer, and I am no Arthas," I growled, before bitterly laughing, "But at the end of the day...If two or three planes burn, just as long as the rest survive, then that is reason enough."
"Please don't do that," Nadia whispered, her hair starting to glow and change, becoming the color of the deep ocean as Mana gathered around her fingertips. "Please, Shade, please don't..."
"I cannot allow such a plague to continue unchecked, and that is why I must stop it before it can grow," as I spoke, I extended my left hand. In answer, Nadia's smile grew bitterer still, until she finally closed her eyes.
"I hope the New Nautilus isn't in use right now," Nadia said, and then blasted the Blue Mana she had been gathering straight through her head, the streams of time and space slipping through as I hastily rushed for her, only to be rebuked as an invisible field held me back those tiny precious seconds that she needed in order to complete her gamble, and send her mind backwards in time.
When my fingers reached her head, it was too late. Most definitely, I could age her brain, but the memories on it wouldn't be the same as before. She would merely have the memories of her seeing the same scenery for countless years. It was done. She had wiped them all out. She had erased them, leaving nothing behind. Her last memory in her head was of bitter acceptance at the sight of her great-great-lots of great-granddaughter being left at her doorstep, and the sadness and grief of a child who had lost both of her parents so young had made her feel guilt for not being capable of helping those of Zendikar in turn.
She had left that last memory in her head specifically for me.
"Shade?" Nadia said, "Why are you holding my forehead in your hand?" Nadia asked next, "If you've come to visit, now isn't the time. My latest Granddaughter is..." she moved her head away from my hand, and then furrowed her brows, "What kind of place is this?" she asked next, before looking down at her clothes. "Oh, my adventuring clothes, it brings back memories..." she grinned, before suddenly raising an eyebrow. "Wait a moment. You had your hand on my forehead! Did you just erase something from my head!? Shade!" she yelled, "You'd better not have done something nasty and erased it!"
My shoulders began to shake.
A Planeswalker shall not aid Phyrexia or the Eldrazi. The sentence for it would be death.
Erasing one's memories...it didn't count as death, did it?
"Shade...you look sad," Nadia murmured, "Did something happen? Was it like that time with the brain disease? Did...did you have to do something horrible?" she neared, her arms slowly surrounding me. "It will be all right, Shade," she whispered. "Whatever you had to do, I'm sure you can fix it."
I gingerly returned her hug.
My fingers trembled as they applied a gentle pressure to her back, my mind barely registered the smell of sandal wood that she naturally emitted as a perfume of sorts from her skin. I took a small, deep breath, and then I did the only thing I could do.
I was the law.
The law that is not absolute is not the law.
Had Genryusai been here, without fault, he would have cut Nadia down.
One cannot order others to do that which one himself will not do.
"Bye, Nadia," I said in the end as I let go of the embrace. "May we never meet again."
"Shade?" Nadia's befuddled expression was the last thing I saw as I slammed a fist straight through her guts, pulses of White Mana binding her like chains as Blue Mana burst into her head, knocking her unconscious before she could as much as counter my magic.
I threw her through a portal that would land her straight into the entrance of her home in the middle of the Savannah, and as countless Slivers instead pulsed and pushed themselves into her world, they easily lifted themselves to the borders of her Plane, sealing it from the rest of the Multiverse.
As the portal closed, and the Slivers near me stood in wait, I began to laugh.
"Awaken the fleets," I roared as the Slivers around me began to fly in a frenzy, skittering and increasing the volume of their chatters, "Awaken all of them and scour the Multiverse! Find them! Find the survivors of Zendikar and destroy them down to their last!" behind me, a sudden eruption of lava was accompanied by the loud sound of thunder, "meanwhile..." I passed both hands through my hair. "It is time I spoke with Nicol."
I disappeared into yet another portal, but this one would take me in an all-together different world.
The massive pyramids coated in gold shone brightly with eternal flames atop them. The Mana was rich and thick, and as it gathered in the air in steady streams, the towering figure of a gigantic dragon easily dwarfed the pyramids themselves. No, the pyramids were nothing more than places for the dragon to let his claws rest, his head's horns blackened by heat and encrusted blood, a gem the size of a house floated between the two curved horns.
His wings widened to blot out the sun as his voice made the very earth shake, the humanoid creatures reverently serving him all around us bowing and screaming as they ran for their lives, his breath as hot as the sun uncaring as it scorched those closest to him, the ones in charge of cleaning his sharp claws, or bring splendor to his scales.
"How annoying," Nicol Bolas spoke a single word, and yet it was enough to let the sand beneath us turn to glass. "You come to me only when you wish to ask me aid, never to bring me gifts."
"No fact escapes you," I replied as I knelt, the glass surface shattering under my knee, "My teacher."
Nicol Bolas laughed, and his laughter was both mocking and cruel.
It also rang with the truth of the Multiverse.
There is always a Greater Power.
Algalon
Herald of the Titans
- Location
- Celestial Planetarium
Wohoo! Finally!
Enter Stage, The Dragon Planeswalker himself! Ladies and Gentlemen, Nicol Bolas!!!
Also, Nadia screwed up big time. The least she could have done is make thoroughly sure that there were no Eldrazi or Phyrexian agents or influence among the refugees. Instead, she was careless and let herself be guided by pity and compassion, ignoring the present risk.
Now a whole bunch of planes might be in the process of enjoying becoming 'perfection made flesh' and more.
Enter Stage, The Dragon Planeswalker himself! Ladies and Gentlemen, Nicol Bolas!!!
Also, Nadia screwed up big time. The least she could have done is make thoroughly sure that there were no Eldrazi or Phyrexian agents or influence among the refugees. Instead, she was careless and let herself be guided by pity and compassion, ignoring the present risk.
Now a whole bunch of planes might be in the process of enjoying becoming 'perfection made flesh' and more.
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troyamonga
Caffeine Dependent Hero
- Location
- United States
Goddamn planeswalker sith