Friday, 29th November 2024, 7:41 pm
"So, again, I thank each and every one of you from the very bottom of my heart. It has been my greatest pleasure to be a part of your journey thus far, and I greatly look forward to the many amazing things we will still do together for this planet. Hooray to Brannon-Brook! Reject the Impossible! Victory or Death!" Ravinok shouts as he finishes his speech from the center of the training ground. The audience soon follows in his chanting as they commemorate the last mock-battles they would perform as recruits.
After some short discussions and chats, the recruits are instructed to line up for power-core handovers. Rick Justice and Ravinok attend to the process, with Rick personally removing each recruit's power-core and Ravinok cataloguing each item.
"Don't think I'm giving up on that rematch, Mitchells." Rick whispers as he removes Reyn's power-core.
"Wouldn't dream of it, sir." Reyn replies with a snicker, causing Rick Justice to snort approvingly.
Glenn Foster, still woozy from his bout with Ghazal, finished off the event with a final, short speech and formal farewell before leading the recruits toward the facility exit, as they begin to leave the main training area, a sudden, thunderous crack shocks everybody's attention back to the main battle stage.
All eyes spread in abject horror as an invasion gate begins to appear above the training facility. The unmistakable swirl of overwhelming aetheric energy sparked and popped and cracked in a large, round manifestation that shimmered with unnatural light.
"Mitchells!" Ravinok shouts, stares intently at Reyn.
Reyn shrugs, wide-eyed, turning his empty nape toward the doctor to show his non-involvement.
"Justice! This is an invasion! Call support now! Get the recruits out of here! Quickly!"
As Rick Justice opens his mouth to yell the evacuation order, the entire compound suddenly falls to absolute silence as every moving molecule is brought to a stand still.
The portal above the training facility bursts open, pouring out unfathomable amounts of raw aether, and from the void, two figures emerge.
The Harbinger touches down first, in the shape of a nondescript young man. Short blond hair hung unkempt on his head above two unnaturally blue eyes that sat deep in their sockets, hidden by the shade of his brow. He wore typical jeans, t-shirt and sneakers that could be found on almost any teenager across the planet. As his feet touch the ground, his entire body slumps into itself, giving the appearance of a severely hunched individual.
The Architect touches the ground shortly after. He straightens his appearance as he lands. Touching at the tendril-like beards on his upper-lip, who gently touch back at him. He slips his fingers over his horns to check for dust, and slides his shoes along his calves to return their shine. Content with his appearance, he looks down to his brother.
"Oh, Father help me!" He laments as he takes stock of his brother's form. "This is not appropriate at all! How can you expect to evoke feelings of fear and desperation in these creatures if you appear to them like that. You are like one of their children. Why would they fear you?"
"The touched one, I merely followed his appearance. Is he not the strongest among them? Does the sight of him not invoke feelings of misery and despair on those who bear him witness?"
The Architect slaps his head in dismay.
"If only you'd read a single book! Just stand still, I'll fix it."
The Architect snaps his fingers, covering the Harbinger in a shimmering swirl of light. As the light fades, the Harbinger emerges reformed in the shape of an impossibly tall, buxom, dark-skinned woman clad in excessive amounts of tight leather further adorned with numerous belts, buckles and metal spikes. The Harbingers face furroughs as he contends with his new appearance.
"This will evoke feelings of misery and despair?" The Harbinger asks as he tries to pull at the tight bindings around his body.
"Oh, it will produce powerful emotions within them, I assure you brother." the Architect answers, hiding his smile behind his hand.
"Excellent, then let us begin. Shall I kill the rest and take…"
"No! Let me handle this, dear Brother. You just stand there and look pre… and look menacing, I will inform you when it's your time."
The Harbinger scoffs and turns back to fiddling with his attire.
With a flick of a finger, the Architect releases the compound from his grip.
The sudden appearance of the two powerful entities alert the senses of all present, and every eye turns to face them. As numerous emotions and thoughts flood every mind, Rick Justice finds his composure first and screams for all the recruits to evacuate. Victoria Amari acts next, quickly activating her aetherics and wrapping the enemies in a frozen bubble of time.
Ravinok disappears, appearing shortly after in The Director's office screaming for assistance.
Glenn Foster's ARCH-unit erupts to life as he whips up a gigantic sphere of air and quickly whisks away several of the recruits while other veterans use their abilities to save and evacuate multiple people.
Within seconds the training ground stands almost empty. With only Victoria Amari and John Buchanan present.
Victoria pumps all her aetheric power into her chrono-bubble, pumping layers upon layers of frozen reality on top of each other in an attempt to contain the invaders. John watches on in shock and fear, but ready to jump in and assist at a moment's notice.
Victoria suddenly screams, and John watches helplessly from across the battle stage as blood erupts from her nose and mouth, and her eyes erupt in their sockets. Her body slumps to the floor as she screams in anguish, forcing the evaporation of her aetherics while John rushes over to apply healing.
"Wow! You're right, Brother. Truly like insects. They move so quickly." The Architect chuckles. "Now then, let's try this again."
He flicks a finger and every person that had just escaped the training facility suddenly appears, all packed together tightly in a huddled mass. Their bodies stand frozen in place, unable to move a muscle except for their eyes.
The Architect twirls his fingers some more and the humans all lift into the air like stiff, plastic dolls as he arranges them in a neat circle, spaced evenly around him on the center of the battle stage.
"There we go! I must say, that was not a very cordial introduction on your part. The time capsule, especially, was in poor form. Alas, we shall forgive these transgressions, for we come bearing great news!" the Architect proclaims excitedly as he speaks to the humans around him. "Now then, formal introduction. You may call me the Architect, for this is what I do, research, learn and prepare the plans for fulfillment of my Father's dream." He says, bowing deeply as he introduces himself. "Beside me, my other half and kin, the Harbinger. My Father's conquering sword, who leads his armies to glorious battle to fulfill his mission."
The Harbinger snorts, flicking up a hand as a gesture of greeting.
"We come seeking the one who has been touched by paenessense. This human has shown me that my plans that I have worked on for so long, have not been naught. Your species truly possesses a unique form of potential, and the touched one is proof of that. As such, we'd like to do a little test of our own, we wish to see what your species is capable of given a direct bond with paenessence. So please, touched one, step forward." The Architect smiles widely and the Harbinger sneers as he glances across the ring of humans.
Everybody around the two entities suddenly feels their body released from the Architect's grip, whimpers and crying breaks out among some of the group while others fall to the floor, unable to maintain control of their bodies in the presence of the otherworldly beings.
Reyn and Ravinok stare intently at one another, sending hidden signals with knowing looks and facial movements.
Both men's eyes shift to Rick Justice on the other end of the circle. Rick stares at the entities frozen in a daze of dread.
"Rick!" Reyn yells out, holding an open hand in the air and pointing the other to his nape.
Rick snaps out of his delusions and quickly scrambles into his wait-bag for the power-cores. He grabs a random stone and tosses it to Reyn as fast as he can.
The Architect looks on inquisitively.
Reyn catches the power-core. It digs a hole into his palm, causing him to wince in pain as he digs it out of his hand.
He quickly slips it on his nape and powers up his ARCH-unit, as he dips into his mind, he would find another already there waiting for him. He doesn't have a chance to splash into his inner-ocean.
The Harbinger floats in the sky about the ocean of his mind, grabbing him by the neck and forcibly dragging him back to reality in a flash of blinding light.
"So, you are the touched one." The Architect says while Reyn coughs and splutters as he settles back into reality. "Relax, human, let us converse for a moment. There is much I would like to learn about your species. Harbinger, please look after the rest, we will be back momentarily." The Architect announces and the Harbinger answers with a nonplussed nod.
A moment later Reyn and the Architect vanish, leaving the Harbinger with the rest of the humans.
The tall, afroed entity falls to the floor in a seated position, releasing a deep sigh as he does and causing some of the people around him to gasp and cry out in fear.
Rick Justice and Ravinok still stand motionless, unsure of the best, or any, course of action, until a voice whispers at them over their ARCH-unit communicators.
"It's Martinez. I'm gonna assume you can hear me. Don't move, we're assessing and working on a POA. Sit tight, we'll get you out there." The Director mutters.
On the dark side of the moon, Reyn finds himself seated across from the Architect who was enjoying Japanese-style tea.
"What's your name human?"
"Fuck you!"
"Hm, I'm not very familiar with all your different cultures and languages, though I eagerly strive to learn, I must admit, this name seems… unlikely."
"It's Reyn Mitchells! You stupid fuck! What the fuck do you want from us?"
"Exactly what we are getting. Knowledge. Well, I will admit the accrual of frivolous information regarding your species is more of a personal pursuit. But your species has been giving us exactly what we wanted since the moment you first touched the paenessence…"
"I don't know what the hell that means. If you got what you want then leave us the fuck alone!"
"Please, enjoy some tea. Personally prepared. I would really appreciate your opinion on the flavours." The Architect says, gesture to the steaming cup of tea in front of Reyn.
He slaps it away, dousing himself in scorching liquid, but he ignores the pain and stares at the entity intently.
"You remind me of my Brother. Not in a good way, honestly. Look, it's probably pointless digging into details here, the point is, your species is doing what they do best, waging war and building new innovations driven by it. The works you have done harnessing the power of paenessence… It's art, quite frankly. Which is a lot coming from me, I've never known true art until I met your species."
Reyn looks on, angry and bewildered.
"Are you fucking with me? Just fucking fight me demon-looking piece of shit!"
"Ah, there it is! This is what I'm truly after, an understanding of the human psyche. I've read your stories and myths and legends, they're filled to the brim with men like you. Rash, focused and emotionally driven to action. Heroes of your histories. Where are they now? Dead. Forever. The proof of their existence is left only in different forms of memory, which too, fade with time. Yet you are willing to throw away your one and only, single form of existence to an act of pure folly. Absolutely inconceivable! Do you not fear death, human? You fear not the empty void that will swallow your sentience when your flesh forsakes you?"
"What…" Reyn asks, his face wrapped in confusion.
"Hm, are you perhaps an… hm, the word… oh, are you perhaps an idiot?" the Architect asks pointedly.
Reyn stares at the Architect, unimpressed and frustrated.
"Look, I'm not a philosopher or anything. I don't know about death and shit. I don't care. We all die anyway. I've got a job, ok. A purpose. And it's to kick the asses of monsters like you!"
"Ah, of course the first touched among your kind would be an imbecile… " the Architect says, slamming his tea cup onto the table as he wags his head. "I swear, I praise your species all I can, and when I finally meet one, it's defective. This is a pointless exercise, apologies for wasting both our times, let's return, shall we?"
Reyn scoffs.
The Architect flicks his fingers and the two instantly appear back at the GAARD HQ's training facility where the rest of the mock-battle attendees still stand mostly motionless around the Harbinger who was on the brink of dozing off.
"Brother! How unbecoming!" the Architect yells, shocking the Harbinger to his feet while Reyn is forced to kneel before the tall, horned figure.
"Finally! It is time for war!" the Harbinger roars.
"I'm afraid not, Brother. This touched one has proven itself defective. Our time here has been for naught. Perhaps in another 15 years. They have been making amazing progress, I'm sure if we wait…"
"No! An accord was made. You gave me your word. Leave the meat-tubes, and feast on death and destruction. Your words!" The Harbinger scowls.
"A fair observation. These creatures will barely pose a challenge, but if you insist…"
"I'll kill one. You said if I kill one, the others get stronger. Breaking barriers. Was this not also your words?"
"Oh, look at that! You can listen and learn. Bravo, Brother! That is correct, while more of an hypothesis, I do believe striking down a human that the touched one holds especially dear may indeed provoke him into a state of emotional distress that could provide you with a worthy fight. Let us find out how much truth my hypothesis holds!"
The Harbinger breaks into a smile. He lifts his hand and swings it down, sending every human on the battle stage slamming face-first into the concrete, leaving many faces bruised and bodies broken.
Reyn sits frozen on his knees, watching helplessly as the Harbinger breaks the bodies of his friends and loved ones.
"Watch closely, Reyn Mitchells. I'm quite interested in your meta-physical reaction. Please, let our actions evoke powerful emotions within you, they may prove to be the path to our salvation!" The Architect says to Reyn with an air of encouragement. "So, little human, who is your most cherished among those gathered here today? Please, choose just one, the compound effect of many lost lives may diminish the overall reaction and complicate mental processing of the event. We can experiment later with increased loads."
Reyn whimpers, and as the situation dawns on his mind, he bursts into defeated anguish, crying erratically.
"Please! Please .. I'll do anything! Please. Just leave them alone. Take me!"
"Outstanding! Just like the books. This behaviour must be innate to their physical biology. Truly fascinating. Good! Reyn Mitchells, you are doing good! Now, the choice!" The Architect proclaims with a wide grin.
"Please! Don't do this!" Reyn pleads as he wipes at tears and snot.
"Excellent! This is working, Brother. Inflict more pain, please. His emotions are building!" The Architect calls out.
The Harbinger cackles with laughter as he lifts his hand, lifting the body of every human in attendance off the floor and whips it down again, slamming Reyn's people deeper into the concrete.
The screams of torment fill his ears, but it's Jocelyn's whimpers that unleash his anger.
"Fuck you! Just fight me you motherfuckers! Leave them alone!" He yells, using all his power and aetherics to lift to his feet.
"The anger! It's coming! It's coming, Brother! More pain! More pain!"
The Harbinger lifts the group up again, higher, and slams them down, with greater force. The sound of crushing bones and tearing flesh hits Reyn's brain like pounding hammers.
His ARCH-unit erupts in a flurry of energy, sparking wildly in every direction. It rips apart his skin and flesh as he sucks out every inkling of power from his power-core and he screams in pain and fury as he works to unleash all his strength.
"Here it comes, the climax! Quickly, Reyn Mitchells, the choice! Make your choice!" The Architect yells out as Reyn's mind is overwhelmed by the influx of aether, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. "No! No… he is lost in the paenessence, his emotions are overwhelming his mind! We need a catalyst! Quickly! Who among you is his most cherished?" The Architect shrieks.
Nobody dares utter a word as each human surrounding Reyn succumbs to their own powerful emotions, drowning themselves in wailing cries and tears as they lay in puddles of their own blood.
"So unbecoming! If no one shall volunteer, we will use you all as fodder for his transition!" The Architect proclaims. "Brother, kill them all!"
"No!" Reyn shouts out, coming to his senses as the Harbinger lifts the group into the air once more.
"Ghazal Merkaan! Best Mate! And ready to kick your arse!" Ghazal yells out, wincing in pain as each word deeper embeds the cracked ribs lodged in his lungs.
"Excellent! These creatures are truly amazing, Brother. You see! Just as I predicted. That one, bring him here." The Architect says excitedly.
The Harbinger drops the rest of the humans and they slump to the ground, no longer able to cry out in pain as their bodies survive purely on the remnants of aetheric energy still helping maintain survival functions through their ARCH-units.
The Harbinger floats Ghazal down toward the Architect, who grabs him by the head as soon as he is within reach.
"Is this correct, Reyn Mitchells? This one is your most cherished?"
Ghazal dangles before Reyn, his body broken and bleeding from every visible surface.
The Architect's long, slender finger wraps around Ghazal's head, hiding most of Ghazal's face behind his palm and fingers, only a sliver of Ghazal's mouth remains visible to Reyn.
"Gaz…" Reyn whimpers.
Ghazal's mouth turns to grin as trickles of blood leak from its corners.
"Reject the Impossible" He whispers aloud, straining every muscle to form the words.
"Ah! Perfection. This is it! Now watch closely, Brother. Witness the true power of these creatures manifest before us." the Architect cackles as he lift's Ghazal high above Reyn's head.
"Victory or…" Ghazal whispers.
He is silenced before he can finish his words as the Architect crushes his skull and his headless body drops before Reyn.