Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 20:10:43 GMT
"The expeditionary force will be in position within 48 of their conventional hours." One of the temporal overseers reported, as the Prime Admiral carefully studied the reports. The hybrid fleet had travelled a great distance in order to avoid the more populated regions, as the ships they were escorting weren't blessed with the Ascendancy's stealth systems. So Dorin paused for a moment, then glanced up from the display back at the overseer.
"When they're in position, have them confirm deployment authorization." It was a short, simple sentence, but words weren't much needed beyond this. A response had been long in order, and at long last it was here. As Dorin spoke, she looked out over the command chamber; perhaps three dozen Heraldics carefully assessed the progress of fates and battles far and varied. Messages were whispered into the void, carried on the backs of ghosts, and from her spot the old warrior could feel the hum of her people's hearts, beating steadily into the night.
"Advise our emissary of the timing criteria involved," she added softly, as she considered the fleet moving silently towards its destination. But then again she pulled her gaze from the holographic display, and dismissed it, and instead stood quietly in the middle of the quietly busy command post. Pale blue lights cast cool shadows over their faces, and from time to time it felt more like a dream than a waking place. It fit them. she thought silently, to work in such an unreal light.
Elsewhere, across Distances that were All but Distances of Physical space. Shaw watched Quietly as he overlooked The Prime admiral and her staff as they oversaw the operations of their Directive. Guiding their Hosts vessels to their Destination. He shifted, looking across distances of the time-streams. this Not using the same methods he had used the last time he had visited. oh no, it was heavily apparent that the Flux were not of a people to allow the Grass to grow under their feet as it was, and it was more then likely that She had taken the initiative To cover that entrance. The time Drake Tilted his head thoughtfully as he watched them with a tone of Appreciation. After all, He had other methods of Gaining entry to her court.
But for now, he would watch. There was a time and place for everything, and his, wasn’t quite yet. Hw would wait for her other visitor to enter the Situation before the next step.
So as the Flux moved carefully and purposefully towards their fates, another approached rapidly. For Dorin in all of her confident superiority was not omniscient, nor omnipotent; she was ultimately quite a conventional soul, even while all the same remaining decidedly unnatural as well.
The newcomer was not anticipated by her, by Shaw, certainly. He must have watched with great amusement as he approached rapidly, his shoes clipping along at a staccato pace as he moved towards the Prime Admiral. But neither, Shaw nor Dorin, knew what he would say to here. He is, as many Flux are, a tall, thin man; his face is neither remarkable nor dull, but the simple way he moves conveys an immense sense of purpose, and anxiety.
“Prime Admiral,” the man murmurs softly. “I must speak with you.” And then much to the Prime Admiral’s surprise, he leans in and begins to whisper.
From his vantage point, the time drake watched the Scene quietly. Taking in the arrival of the newcomer with Careful Attention as he entered the command chamber. Making note of his features and Appearance. His Demeanor shifting from the almost Whimsical glee that he wore most of the time towards something much more cynical and Calculating as the Newcomer approached Dorin. Addressing her softly in tones too soft to carry far across the room, not that the members of the Flux would have deviated from their Tasks at hand to listen in.
The Time Drakes Ears twitched slightly as the Man began to whisper to the Aged Prime admiral. Relaying information that as of yet he did not know, Wanted to know. Gently and softly he shifted, his wings stretching themselves slightly before settling back and disappearing into his back as his listened to what was being relayed with his Strong sense of hearing. Paying close attention to what was said, as it was said...
He could only hear traces of it. The room, for all of its muffled business, did not accommodate eavesdroppers; and the newcomer with his cutting pace spoke under his breath, the breeze of which barely made its way to the old admiral's ears. Still Shaw leaned closer in his own way, and the traces of the conversation teased his ears illusively.
"...quite immediately, Prime Admiral..." the newcomer whispered, continuing in soft staccato bursts of words that flickered in and out of perception to the time drake. "...likely already..."
Dorin nodded slowly, licking her lips as she contemplated the news. Only so many people could be capable of causing such impending events, and the list was quite short and relatively unneeded; of those capable, only one came to mind who even knew they existed. She looked back at the aide quite alertly, considering judiciously how to respond. If she saved the lives of the two who would be taken by rewriting their timelines, he would likely take another two in their stead; lives simply couldn't be traded like that. More importantly, it would clue him into the fact that she already knew he was coming.
So she shook her head slightly, and one last word flickered into Shaw's perception.
"...nothing."
The Time Drake Sighed as the last few segments of the conversation drifted to his ears across the vast distance of the Link he had traced through his timelines. The Fact that the information had been Denied to him as of what the newcomer had notified the prime admiral of irritated him. making him Growl slightly under his breath. The flux were hardly a race to take lightly, and as they had proven. The less one knew, the more of a risk they could present themselves as being, even if he knew the timelines and of what was to come. He would have to be careful, and take things step by step...
Silently he stood, his armor Groaning slightly within the Cathedral Like orrary chamber he sat in, in a trancelike state as he watched the flux. The timelines that hovered in the air around him like that of the Council of five dissipating with a wave of his clawed hand. Presently he turned to address The Temporian standing near the Device that took up the center of the chamber, Clad in Dark, almost corrupted looking Temporian armor, the man kneeling as he did.
"Send him word." he said. his voice lacking the Cheerfulness that it usually held. "He'll have his samples before tonight is perceived." He turned and looked back at the Scene within the flux command chamber. uttering one last silent message to the corrupt Temporain before sending him away.
The time was right he knew as he drew his staff, or rather. it was a Right as it was going to get to take the next step in the Initiative.
The aide moved back silently, vanishing into the crowd like they were a peaceful sea accepting a stone, and Dorin stood there coldly, feeling that sort of cold desperation when fate, as flexible as it was, demanded something unpleasant. Shaw. She thought of him with a strange combination of horror and disdain. So many, herself on occasion included, treated him like he was the devil incarnate; Chaw'Hast, The Demon. Privately, she suspected she was one of the few who saw him as something else from that, but it was simply a matter of classification.
Chaw's merited lamentation, she thought silently. It was somewhat analogous to gods be damned, and it fit. She looked around the room, wondering how he'd do it; all she knew was he'd do it soon. Very soon. She needed to be here for it, because he knew he would make a show of it. He delighted in terror, after all; for him it was the spice of life, much as illusion was what kept the Flux happy. She resisted the urge to check the dagger on her belt, for she knew it was there and there it would remain until she removed it.
Even as she contemplated the Dark time casters arrival, Within the ancient and opulent chamber of his ship. Shaw took a moment of pause to reflect on his next course of action. Waving a claw in the air momentarily to reveal the timelines available to him in his immediate future. He wanted this to go smoothly, he thought. And the time for playing games was long over he knew. if things went sour, he could easily enact a retroactive re-work of the events, but in light of his obligations. He would try to keep this as simple as possible. That and he knew, the most simple methods. could also be the most terrifying. and if what he had in store for the prime admiral, he would want that subtly.
With a simple wave, he dismissed the Projected timelines back into obscurity within the dim amber lit air. Taking a step forward with his staff already beginning to glow as he moved through the time streams to the prime admirals close location with as much ease as one would walking through a Veiled door. Yet even as he did he did, his form began to shift. Much like he had when he had first addressed her in her quarters. His true form was impressive yes, Deadly as well of course... But for this encounter, he wasn’t going to need it. at least, not right away. He thought as he smirked with a half reformed mouth as his jaw shortened.
his body shifted rapidly, growing shorter. Becoming slightly more then 6 feet in height. his wings and back spikes seemingly melting back into his body as his clothes and armor plating shifted to match. He closed his eyes for a moment as he felt his skeleton reshape itself, his muscles stretching and compacting, his skin changing its tone and texture. Only his Grey hair and golden hazel eyes remained as they were as he flexed his shortening fingers as the transformation completed. Leaving him with the appearance of an apparently human man of slightly aged features and solid build as he entered the flux command structure just within the entrance of the room that Dorin stood within, His arrival as of yet unnoticed by the flux. His Calvara form tucked away from the moment as well as he leaned against the wall with a relaxed gesture.
"Hello dorin." he said. Addressing the aged prime admiral.
== ( o(O)o ) ==
For a moment, Dorin imagined she couldn't hear him. She desperately did not want to hear him, and she closed her eyes for a very brief instant, the briefest of instants really, before replying. She didn't turn her head to speak to him, but answered regardless.
"You intrude on our shadows." She replied, not certain whether or not to raise her voice in reply, she could feel the temperature of the room change, though not in the literal sense, and far less than a true Heraldic would have; but there was a change to the tone and the temperature of the room, as the Heraldics she surrounded herself with rapidly became aware of the non Flux on their midst.
The Dark Temporian Smirked slightly at that. Not enough to be seen by those in the room, but enough to let any of the flux who would lay an eye on him that he found it mildly amusing to hear spoken by one of them. "You cant intrude on your own shadow Dorin." He said, tilting his head to look at the heraldic s that Were around them. Silently taking them into account before speaking again, his tone that of a parent playfully speaking to a young child. " How are your pet projects?"
At this, she turned to face him; the room felt polarized, even to a non-sensitive like herself. While there was no horror visible on their faces as it would have gone against the entirety of their breeding and training, having the devil come to visit was hardly a stress-free event in the room. It was still, all still, and in the dark room with the pale blue lights, Dorin peered into Shaw's eyes without any indication of her mentality.
Truth be told, she was unsettled too.
"No, you stand in our shadows." She repeats evenly as she addresses the figure lurking in one of the many arched entrances to this place.
It was dark, after all, and the man-if she felt like calling him that lurked in the darkness, and it irked her. She knew he was going to start by toying with them, and if she could not save the two souls he would take, she would at least take the pleasure of the banter from him.
To her surprise though, the Dark time caster simply shrugged at her attempt at countering his banter. Raising and slumping his shoulders in a gesture that spoke hugely of indifference. "Alright..." He said in a voice not unlike that of an exasperated adult speaking to a overly stubborn child. "If that’s what you would want to think Dorin. You can think that..." He looked at her again, peering just as deeply into her eyes as she did his, Deeper perhaps. While he would have enjoyed toying with her, he would instead lead her on a bit at least before he did.
"i appreciate the invite to play my child. But I’ve come to speak to you on other reasons." He said, his voice now stern. "We'll have the pleasure of idle banter at a later time..."
Dorin's eyebrows went up a notch. "Invited?" She mouths the word once or twice before looking back at the time caster. For a moment, she knew exactly what she wanted to say to him. She wanted to tell him how careless it was to dare to imagine he was invited here, and to send him back into the dark place he came from with all the force the Heraldic guards could muster. It was their specialty, after all; they may have relied more on genetics and technology than the damnable supernatural, but they were bred to kill time casters.
Then again, Dorin thought, he's either very stupid to walk into a place like this, or he has a good reason why I'm not going to.
"Invited." She repeats the word again, before turning away from the timecaster, and then rapidly turning back to him.
"Invited. Not by I. Not by any of us at any time." She spewed the words sharply, with a strange and unfamiliar tone in her voice. She was angry, oddly enough, but it was tempered and flavored by the cold calm that comes with lives that stretch on longer than they should. Shaw would have recognized this somewhat, in all likelihood, and Dorin falls silent again, before gesturing with her hand towards the crowd.
"Well go on, Chaw'. Raise hell. Go and take what you came for, and leave believing you've won something. I don't have time to pretend anymore than you do."
Her unintended Invitation to the dark time caster to fall upon her staff assembled in the room would have little affect at the moment however. As the Time caster merely raised an eyebrow in response to the gesture and challenge, not bothering to point out where there had been several holes in her logic. "Really Dorin? Well, it sounds like you just "invited" me to kill your staff, right in front of them no doubt." He said, gesturing out towards the crowd as well. " Well that’s rather..." He paused as he thought for a moment. "No, that’s not too dark for you at all." He smiled and made a gesture at her with a pointed hand. "I knew that I made a good decision with you Dorin. But no, that’s not the immediate Reason I’m here." He paused for a moment, making an odd gesture with his staff. "No" He said after a moment. "That’s not the reason at the moment at all..."
"i actually want to talk to you, about your Crystal toys that you have poised to take out entire Territories of Ancerious actually." he said. Pausing to Repeat something to himself softly, as if keeping track of it.
"Yes. I wanted to congratulate you on that." He said, smiling. "You've been doing a Great job on your end Dorin. I couldn't have done it better myself." He said, weighing the multiple responses that he had seen as he had reviewed their conversation multiple times over their eventually interwoven timelines.
"Now don’t get me wrong." He said, his voice stern. "I know very well about the FSEMCEs and their tested abilities, I'm not taking that lightly, nor am I fully joking about it."
Dorin's jaw shifted unsettlingly, before she turned her back on Shaw. The man's joviality was frustrating admittedly, but more important to her were...other matters.
"We were both in better health before now, that much I agree with," she concedes softly as she gently removes the dagger from her belt, holding it in the pale blue light and appreciating the reflection it shows. The reflection shows madness really; an ironic fact given the topic addressed. Heraldics, not being able to be perceived by artificial means, interact oddly with mirrors; and so the only bit of tranquility in the reflection is herself, and Chaw'Haust. She is perpetually closer to death than not, and while Chaw'Haust pretends to be well; he is similarly near his end for far longer than he deserves.
"... But you are somewhat in error though to compare the two of us." She looks back over her shoulder for a moment, her withered appearance amplified by the pale setting. Dorin looked strangely similar to the man who was about to change her destiny so radically.
"I have not raised a finger against you, so you grow bold. Do you know why that is, Haust?" She drops the honorific now quite deliberately, as she fondles the knife's handle idly. It is more nervousness that compels her to carry it now more than preparation for violence; she knows she is not a fighter anymore, but there is comfort in the weapon's weight.
The Time caster Looked at her the jovial look not leaving his face as he stared at her back. "Because..." He said after giving a moment of silence. "I know that you assume, That i assume, That your Race is no better then a group a children that have found time traveling toys. That, you presume to know what i really think of you." he said as he took another step towards her, The features of his drake form appearing as he did. His jaw and bones creaking slightly as they shifted in shape. "I know exactly what your kind is capable of dorin, what, they were built to do."
it would not have been without some amount of question to say that the Heraldics surrounding her would have responded to the Rapidly shifting drake approaching them. However, as she likely would notice in the next instant, they had not shifted from their positions they had stood in when the drake had made the gesture with his staff. A quick glance would have shown her the same could be said for the crowd. Save for a select few individuals.
"Now." He said, shifting the topic of their conversation, an air of calm and playfulness in his tone. "If you’re still planning on helping us out even further by initiating an apocalypse of the territories. I was hoping, that you'd let me have the eternal honor of giving the order to launch the strikes?" He asked her. His drake form now fully established as he did. "How is your reputation by the way dorin?"
She took quiet pleasure from his inaccuracy, but fumed silently as he carried on with the logic that all they were doing was helping her. The man, she thought bitterly, if it is a man at all, needs to be brought down in size.
The irony in that, she added as she peered up at the Drake form, which now almost brushed the chamber's ceiling, was self-evident.
"Actually, it's a bit more simple than that," Dorin said as the guards abruptly began materializing weapons out of their arms, filling the room with a grating, hissing noise as metal came out of air and blades sharpened from nothingness. "You see, I realized something after the last time you stopped by to bother me. If the Khamood-Urr," she said, fixing the strongest sort of eye contact she could on her opponent while relishing the moment of finally revealing a bit of personal heresy, "isn't the god he said he was, than what does that make you?" The crowd hardly stirred, but she knew how they thought, to a certain extent. She'd just blasphemed rather badly, yet all the while she was certain that the logic was sound, and the Heraldics were terribly logical creatures.
"Not much." She said, answering her own question. "If he wasn't a god, than you're hardly more than a man either. A very strange, unnatural, unhealthy man, but admittedly...admittedly we're not the most natural or healthy either." A sardonic irony permeated her words now, and she glanced away from the drake and back at the crowd.
"The Khamood'Urr may have created us to fight that...thing," she said, gesturing towards the overblown lizard in the center of the room, "and we did. Then he left, and slowly, we've realized how disposable we were to him. But if he's just a man, then you-" she said, twisting her head back towards Shaw, "you, Haust, you're not worthy of our attention. Now I've tolerated your machinations on Zel; I held myself in check while you've thrown our ships together and while you've trounced around us playing Demon. I even hid you once, because I was afraid of you. But you know of all the people in this room..." she said with a pronounced and unsettling sort of humor, "I'm rather confident we're not the ones who should be nervous."
"Oh Really? Dorin? would you be willing to bet on that?" The Time drake said, Even more impressed at the Fluxs small speech and how she had essentially stepped right into his Door with what she had just said. Doing Exactly what he had hoped she would do eventually, she had Planted doubt. His tone and posture communicated this even before he began to Chuckle as if to a particularly funny Joke or comment, his grin reappearing. it's genuine tone and appearance unsettling to the prime admiral as it revealed to her that more then one aspect of her Explanation, Had been Dead wrong.
"Allow me to correct you on a few Aspects of your Thoughts" The Drake said, Taking a few steps more towards the prime admiral. not taking his eyes off the Heraldic s and their Temporal movements. Not to mention the Temporal Blank that was cradled in the Prime admirals Hands. "It's a Little bit more complex, but you were right on at least some things." He said, tilting his head approvingly.
"The Khamood-Urr was no god, you Were right on that. in fact, "Commodore, Dylan Horton." Was Bested physically multiple times by None other then human beings. At least twice by Spartans i recall." the Drake Explained. "But that Doesn’t make me any less of what i am, I Never lied about that." He Looked at dorin, Taking in her Set face and features. "Truth is, and i'm sure that you might know." He Said. his ears twitching slightly.
"The commodore, Was what "I" I made him out to be. His Creation of you, Was in response to me, and my select Actions alone." He said, pausing as he looked at the Prime admiral as realization of what he was hinting at dawned on her face. The Heraldic’s following suit as their postures shifted in shock. "He may have made you and your Race Dorin, But like you said. You Were made to fight me, and select actions i made in the past.... Actions that are mine alone to Change." He paused for a moment.
The Clockwork Man: "So Tell me?" he said." Raising a clawed hand almost casually towards one of the Heraldic s That had made the choice of taking a half step towards him as he had responded to the Prime admiral. The Response was immediate, and Gruesome. The Armored figure Contorted, screaming within its helmet, a fine grey dust pouring from the joints that allowed for the movement of the pheromone expelling growths in their sides. before being Launched backwards off of his feet. Trailing a cloud of dust as it was flung across the room before impacting the far wall, its armor shell coming apart at the joints and tumbling down to the floor amongst the crowd in a pile of rusted metal, dust, and ancient, crumbling bones.
"Who is being Tolerated by who dorin? And Who here, Should Really, be nervous?" The Drake said, lowering his head to look at the Prime admiral. "You and your people haven't been doing "Anything" That I didn’t want you to... Now." He said, looking from Dorin to the Other heraldic s. his tone again jovial. "Can i, or can i not. Give the order, for the FSEMCEs. I Really want to see the Fireworks..."
The room was a very mortal place for a moment as the corpse disintegrated. For a creature who enjoyed taunting his foes, Shaw had just made a minor, but noteworthy, error of judgments, though error was likely in itself an erroneous term. He was, after all, consulting the varied outcomes of the multitude of timelines that swept through the place, but this was particularly difficult to do with other time travelers. Had Dorin had the time to contemplate, she would have attributed this apparent lack of wisdom to two outcomes; one, that Haust, having not fought time travelers in a considerable while, had gone soft; or alternatively, that he simply wanted blood. Ironically, the latter option was true, but only as true as the first.
It is, after all, very difficult to track the movements of time travelers, especially by timelines. They are constantly and inevitably bucking their own tracks, looping off in strange destinies and eschewing common logic almost as a hobby. Where less blessed races moved in straight lines, their timelines interwove with reality rather neatly, as if it were a tapestry in a loom; and as this room was full of time travelers, it was akin to trying to track simultaneously dozens of individual threads all racing through a multitude of looms; whereas for the Heraldic guards who had drawn their weapons against him, he was but one thing to focus on; infinitely complex, of course, but comparatively this was a much easier task than watching a room full of altered timelines.
They didn't even wait for Dorin to speak…
To be continued....
"When they're in position, have them confirm deployment authorization." It was a short, simple sentence, but words weren't much needed beyond this. A response had been long in order, and at long last it was here. As Dorin spoke, she looked out over the command chamber; perhaps three dozen Heraldics carefully assessed the progress of fates and battles far and varied. Messages were whispered into the void, carried on the backs of ghosts, and from her spot the old warrior could feel the hum of her people's hearts, beating steadily into the night.
"Advise our emissary of the timing criteria involved," she added softly, as she considered the fleet moving silently towards its destination. But then again she pulled her gaze from the holographic display, and dismissed it, and instead stood quietly in the middle of the quietly busy command post. Pale blue lights cast cool shadows over their faces, and from time to time it felt more like a dream than a waking place. It fit them. she thought silently, to work in such an unreal light.
Elsewhere, across Distances that were All but Distances of Physical space. Shaw watched Quietly as he overlooked The Prime admiral and her staff as they oversaw the operations of their Directive. Guiding their Hosts vessels to their Destination. He shifted, looking across distances of the time-streams. this Not using the same methods he had used the last time he had visited. oh no, it was heavily apparent that the Flux were not of a people to allow the Grass to grow under their feet as it was, and it was more then likely that She had taken the initiative To cover that entrance. The time Drake Tilted his head thoughtfully as he watched them with a tone of Appreciation. After all, He had other methods of Gaining entry to her court.
But for now, he would watch. There was a time and place for everything, and his, wasn’t quite yet. Hw would wait for her other visitor to enter the Situation before the next step.
So as the Flux moved carefully and purposefully towards their fates, another approached rapidly. For Dorin in all of her confident superiority was not omniscient, nor omnipotent; she was ultimately quite a conventional soul, even while all the same remaining decidedly unnatural as well.
The newcomer was not anticipated by her, by Shaw, certainly. He must have watched with great amusement as he approached rapidly, his shoes clipping along at a staccato pace as he moved towards the Prime Admiral. But neither, Shaw nor Dorin, knew what he would say to here. He is, as many Flux are, a tall, thin man; his face is neither remarkable nor dull, but the simple way he moves conveys an immense sense of purpose, and anxiety.
“Prime Admiral,” the man murmurs softly. “I must speak with you.” And then much to the Prime Admiral’s surprise, he leans in and begins to whisper.
From his vantage point, the time drake watched the Scene quietly. Taking in the arrival of the newcomer with Careful Attention as he entered the command chamber. Making note of his features and Appearance. His Demeanor shifting from the almost Whimsical glee that he wore most of the time towards something much more cynical and Calculating as the Newcomer approached Dorin. Addressing her softly in tones too soft to carry far across the room, not that the members of the Flux would have deviated from their Tasks at hand to listen in.
The Time Drakes Ears twitched slightly as the Man began to whisper to the Aged Prime admiral. Relaying information that as of yet he did not know, Wanted to know. Gently and softly he shifted, his wings stretching themselves slightly before settling back and disappearing into his back as his listened to what was being relayed with his Strong sense of hearing. Paying close attention to what was said, as it was said...
He could only hear traces of it. The room, for all of its muffled business, did not accommodate eavesdroppers; and the newcomer with his cutting pace spoke under his breath, the breeze of which barely made its way to the old admiral's ears. Still Shaw leaned closer in his own way, and the traces of the conversation teased his ears illusively.
"...quite immediately, Prime Admiral..." the newcomer whispered, continuing in soft staccato bursts of words that flickered in and out of perception to the time drake. "...likely already..."
Dorin nodded slowly, licking her lips as she contemplated the news. Only so many people could be capable of causing such impending events, and the list was quite short and relatively unneeded; of those capable, only one came to mind who even knew they existed. She looked back at the aide quite alertly, considering judiciously how to respond. If she saved the lives of the two who would be taken by rewriting their timelines, he would likely take another two in their stead; lives simply couldn't be traded like that. More importantly, it would clue him into the fact that she already knew he was coming.
So she shook her head slightly, and one last word flickered into Shaw's perception.
"...nothing."
The Time Drake Sighed as the last few segments of the conversation drifted to his ears across the vast distance of the Link he had traced through his timelines. The Fact that the information had been Denied to him as of what the newcomer had notified the prime admiral of irritated him. making him Growl slightly under his breath. The flux were hardly a race to take lightly, and as they had proven. The less one knew, the more of a risk they could present themselves as being, even if he knew the timelines and of what was to come. He would have to be careful, and take things step by step...
Silently he stood, his armor Groaning slightly within the Cathedral Like orrary chamber he sat in, in a trancelike state as he watched the flux. The timelines that hovered in the air around him like that of the Council of five dissipating with a wave of his clawed hand. Presently he turned to address The Temporian standing near the Device that took up the center of the chamber, Clad in Dark, almost corrupted looking Temporian armor, the man kneeling as he did.
"Send him word." he said. his voice lacking the Cheerfulness that it usually held. "He'll have his samples before tonight is perceived." He turned and looked back at the Scene within the flux command chamber. uttering one last silent message to the corrupt Temporain before sending him away.
The time was right he knew as he drew his staff, or rather. it was a Right as it was going to get to take the next step in the Initiative.
The aide moved back silently, vanishing into the crowd like they were a peaceful sea accepting a stone, and Dorin stood there coldly, feeling that sort of cold desperation when fate, as flexible as it was, demanded something unpleasant. Shaw. She thought of him with a strange combination of horror and disdain. So many, herself on occasion included, treated him like he was the devil incarnate; Chaw'Hast, The Demon. Privately, she suspected she was one of the few who saw him as something else from that, but it was simply a matter of classification.
Chaw's merited lamentation, she thought silently. It was somewhat analogous to gods be damned, and it fit. She looked around the room, wondering how he'd do it; all she knew was he'd do it soon. Very soon. She needed to be here for it, because he knew he would make a show of it. He delighted in terror, after all; for him it was the spice of life, much as illusion was what kept the Flux happy. She resisted the urge to check the dagger on her belt, for she knew it was there and there it would remain until she removed it.
Even as she contemplated the Dark time casters arrival, Within the ancient and opulent chamber of his ship. Shaw took a moment of pause to reflect on his next course of action. Waving a claw in the air momentarily to reveal the timelines available to him in his immediate future. He wanted this to go smoothly, he thought. And the time for playing games was long over he knew. if things went sour, he could easily enact a retroactive re-work of the events, but in light of his obligations. He would try to keep this as simple as possible. That and he knew, the most simple methods. could also be the most terrifying. and if what he had in store for the prime admiral, he would want that subtly.
With a simple wave, he dismissed the Projected timelines back into obscurity within the dim amber lit air. Taking a step forward with his staff already beginning to glow as he moved through the time streams to the prime admirals close location with as much ease as one would walking through a Veiled door. Yet even as he did he did, his form began to shift. Much like he had when he had first addressed her in her quarters. His true form was impressive yes, Deadly as well of course... But for this encounter, he wasn’t going to need it. at least, not right away. He thought as he smirked with a half reformed mouth as his jaw shortened.
his body shifted rapidly, growing shorter. Becoming slightly more then 6 feet in height. his wings and back spikes seemingly melting back into his body as his clothes and armor plating shifted to match. He closed his eyes for a moment as he felt his skeleton reshape itself, his muscles stretching and compacting, his skin changing its tone and texture. Only his Grey hair and golden hazel eyes remained as they were as he flexed his shortening fingers as the transformation completed. Leaving him with the appearance of an apparently human man of slightly aged features and solid build as he entered the flux command structure just within the entrance of the room that Dorin stood within, His arrival as of yet unnoticed by the flux. His Calvara form tucked away from the moment as well as he leaned against the wall with a relaxed gesture.
"Hello dorin." he said. Addressing the aged prime admiral.
== ( o(O)o ) ==
For a moment, Dorin imagined she couldn't hear him. She desperately did not want to hear him, and she closed her eyes for a very brief instant, the briefest of instants really, before replying. She didn't turn her head to speak to him, but answered regardless.
"You intrude on our shadows." She replied, not certain whether or not to raise her voice in reply, she could feel the temperature of the room change, though not in the literal sense, and far less than a true Heraldic would have; but there was a change to the tone and the temperature of the room, as the Heraldics she surrounded herself with rapidly became aware of the non Flux on their midst.
The Dark Temporian Smirked slightly at that. Not enough to be seen by those in the room, but enough to let any of the flux who would lay an eye on him that he found it mildly amusing to hear spoken by one of them. "You cant intrude on your own shadow Dorin." He said, tilting his head to look at the heraldic s that Were around them. Silently taking them into account before speaking again, his tone that of a parent playfully speaking to a young child. " How are your pet projects?"
At this, she turned to face him; the room felt polarized, even to a non-sensitive like herself. While there was no horror visible on their faces as it would have gone against the entirety of their breeding and training, having the devil come to visit was hardly a stress-free event in the room. It was still, all still, and in the dark room with the pale blue lights, Dorin peered into Shaw's eyes without any indication of her mentality.
Truth be told, she was unsettled too.
"No, you stand in our shadows." She repeats evenly as she addresses the figure lurking in one of the many arched entrances to this place.
It was dark, after all, and the man-if she felt like calling him that lurked in the darkness, and it irked her. She knew he was going to start by toying with them, and if she could not save the two souls he would take, she would at least take the pleasure of the banter from him.
To her surprise though, the Dark time caster simply shrugged at her attempt at countering his banter. Raising and slumping his shoulders in a gesture that spoke hugely of indifference. "Alright..." He said in a voice not unlike that of an exasperated adult speaking to a overly stubborn child. "If that’s what you would want to think Dorin. You can think that..." He looked at her again, peering just as deeply into her eyes as she did his, Deeper perhaps. While he would have enjoyed toying with her, he would instead lead her on a bit at least before he did.
"i appreciate the invite to play my child. But I’ve come to speak to you on other reasons." He said, his voice now stern. "We'll have the pleasure of idle banter at a later time..."
Dorin's eyebrows went up a notch. "Invited?" She mouths the word once or twice before looking back at the time caster. For a moment, she knew exactly what she wanted to say to him. She wanted to tell him how careless it was to dare to imagine he was invited here, and to send him back into the dark place he came from with all the force the Heraldic guards could muster. It was their specialty, after all; they may have relied more on genetics and technology than the damnable supernatural, but they were bred to kill time casters.
Then again, Dorin thought, he's either very stupid to walk into a place like this, or he has a good reason why I'm not going to.
"Invited." She repeats the word again, before turning away from the timecaster, and then rapidly turning back to him.
"Invited. Not by I. Not by any of us at any time." She spewed the words sharply, with a strange and unfamiliar tone in her voice. She was angry, oddly enough, but it was tempered and flavored by the cold calm that comes with lives that stretch on longer than they should. Shaw would have recognized this somewhat, in all likelihood, and Dorin falls silent again, before gesturing with her hand towards the crowd.
"Well go on, Chaw'. Raise hell. Go and take what you came for, and leave believing you've won something. I don't have time to pretend anymore than you do."
Her unintended Invitation to the dark time caster to fall upon her staff assembled in the room would have little affect at the moment however. As the Time caster merely raised an eyebrow in response to the gesture and challenge, not bothering to point out where there had been several holes in her logic. "Really Dorin? Well, it sounds like you just "invited" me to kill your staff, right in front of them no doubt." He said, gesturing out towards the crowd as well. " Well that’s rather..." He paused as he thought for a moment. "No, that’s not too dark for you at all." He smiled and made a gesture at her with a pointed hand. "I knew that I made a good decision with you Dorin. But no, that’s not the immediate Reason I’m here." He paused for a moment, making an odd gesture with his staff. "No" He said after a moment. "That’s not the reason at the moment at all..."
"i actually want to talk to you, about your Crystal toys that you have poised to take out entire Territories of Ancerious actually." he said. Pausing to Repeat something to himself softly, as if keeping track of it.
"Yes. I wanted to congratulate you on that." He said, smiling. "You've been doing a Great job on your end Dorin. I couldn't have done it better myself." He said, weighing the multiple responses that he had seen as he had reviewed their conversation multiple times over their eventually interwoven timelines.
"Now don’t get me wrong." He said, his voice stern. "I know very well about the FSEMCEs and their tested abilities, I'm not taking that lightly, nor am I fully joking about it."
Dorin's jaw shifted unsettlingly, before she turned her back on Shaw. The man's joviality was frustrating admittedly, but more important to her were...other matters.
"We were both in better health before now, that much I agree with," she concedes softly as she gently removes the dagger from her belt, holding it in the pale blue light and appreciating the reflection it shows. The reflection shows madness really; an ironic fact given the topic addressed. Heraldics, not being able to be perceived by artificial means, interact oddly with mirrors; and so the only bit of tranquility in the reflection is herself, and Chaw'Haust. She is perpetually closer to death than not, and while Chaw'Haust pretends to be well; he is similarly near his end for far longer than he deserves.
"... But you are somewhat in error though to compare the two of us." She looks back over her shoulder for a moment, her withered appearance amplified by the pale setting. Dorin looked strangely similar to the man who was about to change her destiny so radically.
"I have not raised a finger against you, so you grow bold. Do you know why that is, Haust?" She drops the honorific now quite deliberately, as she fondles the knife's handle idly. It is more nervousness that compels her to carry it now more than preparation for violence; she knows she is not a fighter anymore, but there is comfort in the weapon's weight.
The Time caster Looked at her the jovial look not leaving his face as he stared at her back. "Because..." He said after giving a moment of silence. "I know that you assume, That i assume, That your Race is no better then a group a children that have found time traveling toys. That, you presume to know what i really think of you." he said as he took another step towards her, The features of his drake form appearing as he did. His jaw and bones creaking slightly as they shifted in shape. "I know exactly what your kind is capable of dorin, what, they were built to do."
it would not have been without some amount of question to say that the Heraldics surrounding her would have responded to the Rapidly shifting drake approaching them. However, as she likely would notice in the next instant, they had not shifted from their positions they had stood in when the drake had made the gesture with his staff. A quick glance would have shown her the same could be said for the crowd. Save for a select few individuals.
"Now." He said, shifting the topic of their conversation, an air of calm and playfulness in his tone. "If you’re still planning on helping us out even further by initiating an apocalypse of the territories. I was hoping, that you'd let me have the eternal honor of giving the order to launch the strikes?" He asked her. His drake form now fully established as he did. "How is your reputation by the way dorin?"
She took quiet pleasure from his inaccuracy, but fumed silently as he carried on with the logic that all they were doing was helping her. The man, she thought bitterly, if it is a man at all, needs to be brought down in size.
The irony in that, she added as she peered up at the Drake form, which now almost brushed the chamber's ceiling, was self-evident.
"Actually, it's a bit more simple than that," Dorin said as the guards abruptly began materializing weapons out of their arms, filling the room with a grating, hissing noise as metal came out of air and blades sharpened from nothingness. "You see, I realized something after the last time you stopped by to bother me. If the Khamood-Urr," she said, fixing the strongest sort of eye contact she could on her opponent while relishing the moment of finally revealing a bit of personal heresy, "isn't the god he said he was, than what does that make you?" The crowd hardly stirred, but she knew how they thought, to a certain extent. She'd just blasphemed rather badly, yet all the while she was certain that the logic was sound, and the Heraldics were terribly logical creatures.
"Not much." She said, answering her own question. "If he wasn't a god, than you're hardly more than a man either. A very strange, unnatural, unhealthy man, but admittedly...admittedly we're not the most natural or healthy either." A sardonic irony permeated her words now, and she glanced away from the drake and back at the crowd.
"The Khamood'Urr may have created us to fight that...thing," she said, gesturing towards the overblown lizard in the center of the room, "and we did. Then he left, and slowly, we've realized how disposable we were to him. But if he's just a man, then you-" she said, twisting her head back towards Shaw, "you, Haust, you're not worthy of our attention. Now I've tolerated your machinations on Zel; I held myself in check while you've thrown our ships together and while you've trounced around us playing Demon. I even hid you once, because I was afraid of you. But you know of all the people in this room..." she said with a pronounced and unsettling sort of humor, "I'm rather confident we're not the ones who should be nervous."
"Oh Really? Dorin? would you be willing to bet on that?" The Time drake said, Even more impressed at the Fluxs small speech and how she had essentially stepped right into his Door with what she had just said. Doing Exactly what he had hoped she would do eventually, she had Planted doubt. His tone and posture communicated this even before he began to Chuckle as if to a particularly funny Joke or comment, his grin reappearing. it's genuine tone and appearance unsettling to the prime admiral as it revealed to her that more then one aspect of her Explanation, Had been Dead wrong.
"Allow me to correct you on a few Aspects of your Thoughts" The Drake said, Taking a few steps more towards the prime admiral. not taking his eyes off the Heraldic s and their Temporal movements. Not to mention the Temporal Blank that was cradled in the Prime admirals Hands. "It's a Little bit more complex, but you were right on at least some things." He said, tilting his head approvingly.
"The Khamood-Urr was no god, you Were right on that. in fact, "Commodore, Dylan Horton." Was Bested physically multiple times by None other then human beings. At least twice by Spartans i recall." the Drake Explained. "But that Doesn’t make me any less of what i am, I Never lied about that." He Looked at dorin, Taking in her Set face and features. "Truth is, and i'm sure that you might know." He Said. his ears twitching slightly.
"The commodore, Was what "I" I made him out to be. His Creation of you, Was in response to me, and my select Actions alone." He said, pausing as he looked at the Prime admiral as realization of what he was hinting at dawned on her face. The Heraldic’s following suit as their postures shifted in shock. "He may have made you and your Race Dorin, But like you said. You Were made to fight me, and select actions i made in the past.... Actions that are mine alone to Change." He paused for a moment.
The Clockwork Man: "So Tell me?" he said." Raising a clawed hand almost casually towards one of the Heraldic s That had made the choice of taking a half step towards him as he had responded to the Prime admiral. The Response was immediate, and Gruesome. The Armored figure Contorted, screaming within its helmet, a fine grey dust pouring from the joints that allowed for the movement of the pheromone expelling growths in their sides. before being Launched backwards off of his feet. Trailing a cloud of dust as it was flung across the room before impacting the far wall, its armor shell coming apart at the joints and tumbling down to the floor amongst the crowd in a pile of rusted metal, dust, and ancient, crumbling bones.
"Who is being Tolerated by who dorin? And Who here, Should Really, be nervous?" The Drake said, lowering his head to look at the Prime admiral. "You and your people haven't been doing "Anything" That I didn’t want you to... Now." He said, looking from Dorin to the Other heraldic s. his tone again jovial. "Can i, or can i not. Give the order, for the FSEMCEs. I Really want to see the Fireworks..."
The room was a very mortal place for a moment as the corpse disintegrated. For a creature who enjoyed taunting his foes, Shaw had just made a minor, but noteworthy, error of judgments, though error was likely in itself an erroneous term. He was, after all, consulting the varied outcomes of the multitude of timelines that swept through the place, but this was particularly difficult to do with other time travelers. Had Dorin had the time to contemplate, she would have attributed this apparent lack of wisdom to two outcomes; one, that Haust, having not fought time travelers in a considerable while, had gone soft; or alternatively, that he simply wanted blood. Ironically, the latter option was true, but only as true as the first.
It is, after all, very difficult to track the movements of time travelers, especially by timelines. They are constantly and inevitably bucking their own tracks, looping off in strange destinies and eschewing common logic almost as a hobby. Where less blessed races moved in straight lines, their timelines interwove with reality rather neatly, as if it were a tapestry in a loom; and as this room was full of time travelers, it was akin to trying to track simultaneously dozens of individual threads all racing through a multitude of looms; whereas for the Heraldic guards who had drawn their weapons against him, he was but one thing to focus on; infinitely complex, of course, but comparatively this was a much easier task than watching a room full of altered timelines.
They didn't even wait for Dorin to speak…
To be continued....