Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 18:27:06 GMT
Del’s demise was a remarkable thing. The Heraldic were infamously difficult to kill, after all; they could see blows before they were delivered, and some said that they truly did have eyes in the back of their head. That being said, the Council of Five fell into deep reflection when the news reached them.
“Yet Del’s mission seems accomplished…” The First noted cautiously as he gently turned the pages of an ancient book, bound in the skin of those unfortunate enough to have fallen prey to the Zellic. “Their books still speak of him…”
“The prophecy is different.” The Third murmured in response, as her lithe fingers pointed to particular lines in that ancient text. “Someone has been very clever.” She said it with a strangely unimpressed tone, which was hardly called for in the situation. They all were suspecting more or less the same things now. While the Council of Five were not Heraldic, they shared a certain amount of cunning, and a substantially greater sense of wisdom.
Against the primitive Zellic tribesmen, Del should have had a perfect victory; several, in fact, had the timeline not gone askew as it now seemed to. Yet they could map to the precise instant where Del’s life-the Del they knew, at least-ended. And more importantly, they knew who had done so, to a degree. There was a blank spot in the timeline that only the most powerful Timecasters could project, and it left a strange silence in their thoughts as the few names capable of such a blindness passed through their minds. It was likely this blindness that led to Del’s undoing.
“…it cannot be the enemy precisely,” the Fourth contributed softly. “If the Tenebraen had discovered our presence among the Zellic, the timeline would have been altered much more dramatically.” Indeed; perhaps the Exceion massacre would have not been such a one sided massacre if someone had gone back to intervene in it. In fact, this had been the Asendancy’s hope; they had placed fleets in position to ambush the Timecaster’s ships which they had hoped would respond to the attack, and thus totally disable their foes. But instead, Exceion had burned, and now a long and silent war was beginning.
“There were few Followers of Chaw who possessed these skills…” the Fifth warned, as his eyes narrowed in contemplation. “But surely they would warn their brothers of what we have in wait if they knew.”
“It is only logical,” the Third added, “that whoever ended the life of Del did not want Del’s presence, or our presence, to be known. They may be planning the same things we intended, but for their own aims…we must notify those in our command of the implications.”
--oOo—
“Emissary Dalyth,” the apparition stated in greetings, as Dalyth settled into her seat in her quarters. “Your service for the Overlord has left great echoes upon the seas of time. I take it you are comfortable with your position?”
Dalyth feigned a smile-no, she was certainly not comfortable, never comfortable at all-and nodded slightly. “The work is not too strenuous at all.” That much was true; the Immortal Empire had provided her quite comfortably, and Lord Carron’s sudden new prominence in the court had led for further favours towards her from those seeking the Ascendancy’s guidance. The Exceion attack had been efficiently executed-barring Carron’s peculiar smiley face being burned upon one of the system’s many moons-and now she, like many others, found herself waiting patiently for the next development.
“We have news to convey to the Overlord regarding a rising threat.” The phantom warned. “A Heraldic was killed on Zel. We believe a timecaster was involved.”
Dalyth abruptly stiffened. “Has the Ascendancy become known to them?” Her pulse began to race as the only possible solution to that unthinkable occurrence played out across her mind. It was too terrible to fathom-
“No.” The spectre said forcefully, before pausing for a moment. “No, the timeline remains stable. Whoever killed the Heraldic has no intent to reveal it as far as we can ascertain. They must surely know the repercussions of such an act.” The vision shimmered before her as it continued to speak. “You are to inform the Overlord and his council that the Zellic Empire may be anticipated to commence a crusade against them shortly. We retain great confidence in Prime Admiral Dorin’s capabilities of defending the border against intrusion, but it will be an inconvenience regardless.”
Dalyth nodded. “They will be told.” Lord Carron’s forces should prove a fair match against the largest fleets the Zellic could assemble; for as ferocious fighters as they were, they were unorganized and haphazard in stellar combat, and Carron’s fleets were well drilled and ruthlessly efficient. Add to that the silent backing of the Ascendancy, and the danger, while ever present, seemed quite manageable. But a question rang in the back of Dalyth’s head.
“Does the Council of Five hold suspicions towards who committed this act?”
--oOo—
“Impossible.” Prime Admiral Dorin said with scorn in response to the apparition’s words. “I was there, you know. I stood with them when the Khamood-Urr destroyed-“
“They are not convinced of this, but there are always survivors, Prime Admiral. The Followers of Chaw were numerous, and it is only logical to presume that they harbor ill wishes to those that aided in the defeat of their leader.” The figure before her shimmered in the cool light of Dorin’s quarters, and behind it a pair of Heraldic guards stood silent. They would never reveal any secrets to anyone but the Council of Five; but still Dorin felt a great calling not to give the Council any secrets at all.
“There are other options, yes,” the ghost added, “but it was the one which held the most of the Council’s discussions-“
“Was there any talk of when our fleets might begin our push into enemy space?” Dorin inquired with false politeness. “We have thoroughly established a defensive line, and I have more than enough ships to spare for a penetrative-“
“Prime Admiral, the Council of Five is aware of your desire to triumph over your enemies as soon as possible; but you must remain patient. The dead will die again in time. Then Prime Admiral, the war shall begin in earnest.”
--oOo—
On Vastra, no chances were taken when the Heraldic came to suspect the presence of a timecaster. Within minutes, almost fifty Heraldic Guards had come to land around the dead and empty shell of the atmospheric dome, and surrounded the eerie ruins it encased. The Heraldic only respect the things that threaten them, and truly it can be said that the most threatening things were those that shared their visions of the future. Timecasters were the greatest threat, and to kill one was to achieve an incredible honour that would last well past eternity’s end.
Thus, after they established a perimeter, they began their hunt. They moved silently in groups of four, and they crept with incredible purpose; even then, their caution kept them in the shadows. They watched every flicker in the timestream with incredible intensity, every glimmer of light in the darkness was scrutinized, and some might even say that, deep within the confines of their armour, they were sweating. The passed contorted bodies and frozen papers, and room by room, floor by floor, they penetrated the confines of the structure.
It was an ungodly thing; the base had depressurized rapidly, and those inside it had been caught thoroughly unaware. Screams were frozen upon the corpses, and the mighty wind of life leaving the dome had upset the neat stacks of machines and research materials which had been arranged with solemn purpose there. It was as if a child had knocked a tower of blocks aside; only the blocks were bodies, and empty space suits, and computer cores…
In time, the base proper was flushed entirely; every corner was cleaned, swept, searched, and reexamined. Whoever had attacked the dome was evidently gone…that, or they had done something somewhat odd.
Diveth peered into the shaft leading down beneath the ruins; it descended at roughly a forty five degree angle, and was sparsely lit at great intervals by ad hoc bulbs burned into the icy sides of the passage. It descended for a considerable depth, and the possibility that the attackers had fled below gave her pause. If they were there, they would remain there; the Unnatural Domain was transmitting an anti-teleporation field so strong that the Khamood-Urr himself couldn’t land on Vastra had He desired it. Whoever was down there was securely trapped in the hole they’d climbed down…
“Retrieve any research material you can from the base,” she ordered as she peered down the long, dark hallway into the planet’s depths. “I want to know what they were doing here.” She considered ordering a scouting party into the labyrinth beneath them, but paused. First research. Then the hunt.
“Yet Del’s mission seems accomplished…” The First noted cautiously as he gently turned the pages of an ancient book, bound in the skin of those unfortunate enough to have fallen prey to the Zellic. “Their books still speak of him…”
“The prophecy is different.” The Third murmured in response, as her lithe fingers pointed to particular lines in that ancient text. “Someone has been very clever.” She said it with a strangely unimpressed tone, which was hardly called for in the situation. They all were suspecting more or less the same things now. While the Council of Five were not Heraldic, they shared a certain amount of cunning, and a substantially greater sense of wisdom.
Against the primitive Zellic tribesmen, Del should have had a perfect victory; several, in fact, had the timeline not gone askew as it now seemed to. Yet they could map to the precise instant where Del’s life-the Del they knew, at least-ended. And more importantly, they knew who had done so, to a degree. There was a blank spot in the timeline that only the most powerful Timecasters could project, and it left a strange silence in their thoughts as the few names capable of such a blindness passed through their minds. It was likely this blindness that led to Del’s undoing.
“…it cannot be the enemy precisely,” the Fourth contributed softly. “If the Tenebraen had discovered our presence among the Zellic, the timeline would have been altered much more dramatically.” Indeed; perhaps the Exceion massacre would have not been such a one sided massacre if someone had gone back to intervene in it. In fact, this had been the Asendancy’s hope; they had placed fleets in position to ambush the Timecaster’s ships which they had hoped would respond to the attack, and thus totally disable their foes. But instead, Exceion had burned, and now a long and silent war was beginning.
“There were few Followers of Chaw who possessed these skills…” the Fifth warned, as his eyes narrowed in contemplation. “But surely they would warn their brothers of what we have in wait if they knew.”
“It is only logical,” the Third added, “that whoever ended the life of Del did not want Del’s presence, or our presence, to be known. They may be planning the same things we intended, but for their own aims…we must notify those in our command of the implications.”
--oOo—
“Emissary Dalyth,” the apparition stated in greetings, as Dalyth settled into her seat in her quarters. “Your service for the Overlord has left great echoes upon the seas of time. I take it you are comfortable with your position?”
Dalyth feigned a smile-no, she was certainly not comfortable, never comfortable at all-and nodded slightly. “The work is not too strenuous at all.” That much was true; the Immortal Empire had provided her quite comfortably, and Lord Carron’s sudden new prominence in the court had led for further favours towards her from those seeking the Ascendancy’s guidance. The Exceion attack had been efficiently executed-barring Carron’s peculiar smiley face being burned upon one of the system’s many moons-and now she, like many others, found herself waiting patiently for the next development.
“We have news to convey to the Overlord regarding a rising threat.” The phantom warned. “A Heraldic was killed on Zel. We believe a timecaster was involved.”
Dalyth abruptly stiffened. “Has the Ascendancy become known to them?” Her pulse began to race as the only possible solution to that unthinkable occurrence played out across her mind. It was too terrible to fathom-
“No.” The spectre said forcefully, before pausing for a moment. “No, the timeline remains stable. Whoever killed the Heraldic has no intent to reveal it as far as we can ascertain. They must surely know the repercussions of such an act.” The vision shimmered before her as it continued to speak. “You are to inform the Overlord and his council that the Zellic Empire may be anticipated to commence a crusade against them shortly. We retain great confidence in Prime Admiral Dorin’s capabilities of defending the border against intrusion, but it will be an inconvenience regardless.”
Dalyth nodded. “They will be told.” Lord Carron’s forces should prove a fair match against the largest fleets the Zellic could assemble; for as ferocious fighters as they were, they were unorganized and haphazard in stellar combat, and Carron’s fleets were well drilled and ruthlessly efficient. Add to that the silent backing of the Ascendancy, and the danger, while ever present, seemed quite manageable. But a question rang in the back of Dalyth’s head.
“Does the Council of Five hold suspicions towards who committed this act?”
--oOo—
“Impossible.” Prime Admiral Dorin said with scorn in response to the apparition’s words. “I was there, you know. I stood with them when the Khamood-Urr destroyed-“
“They are not convinced of this, but there are always survivors, Prime Admiral. The Followers of Chaw were numerous, and it is only logical to presume that they harbor ill wishes to those that aided in the defeat of their leader.” The figure before her shimmered in the cool light of Dorin’s quarters, and behind it a pair of Heraldic guards stood silent. They would never reveal any secrets to anyone but the Council of Five; but still Dorin felt a great calling not to give the Council any secrets at all.
“There are other options, yes,” the ghost added, “but it was the one which held the most of the Council’s discussions-“
“Was there any talk of when our fleets might begin our push into enemy space?” Dorin inquired with false politeness. “We have thoroughly established a defensive line, and I have more than enough ships to spare for a penetrative-“
“Prime Admiral, the Council of Five is aware of your desire to triumph over your enemies as soon as possible; but you must remain patient. The dead will die again in time. Then Prime Admiral, the war shall begin in earnest.”
--oOo—
On Vastra, no chances were taken when the Heraldic came to suspect the presence of a timecaster. Within minutes, almost fifty Heraldic Guards had come to land around the dead and empty shell of the atmospheric dome, and surrounded the eerie ruins it encased. The Heraldic only respect the things that threaten them, and truly it can be said that the most threatening things were those that shared their visions of the future. Timecasters were the greatest threat, and to kill one was to achieve an incredible honour that would last well past eternity’s end.
Thus, after they established a perimeter, they began their hunt. They moved silently in groups of four, and they crept with incredible purpose; even then, their caution kept them in the shadows. They watched every flicker in the timestream with incredible intensity, every glimmer of light in the darkness was scrutinized, and some might even say that, deep within the confines of their armour, they were sweating. The passed contorted bodies and frozen papers, and room by room, floor by floor, they penetrated the confines of the structure.
It was an ungodly thing; the base had depressurized rapidly, and those inside it had been caught thoroughly unaware. Screams were frozen upon the corpses, and the mighty wind of life leaving the dome had upset the neat stacks of machines and research materials which had been arranged with solemn purpose there. It was as if a child had knocked a tower of blocks aside; only the blocks were bodies, and empty space suits, and computer cores…
In time, the base proper was flushed entirely; every corner was cleaned, swept, searched, and reexamined. Whoever had attacked the dome was evidently gone…that, or they had done something somewhat odd.
Diveth peered into the shaft leading down beneath the ruins; it descended at roughly a forty five degree angle, and was sparsely lit at great intervals by ad hoc bulbs burned into the icy sides of the passage. It descended for a considerable depth, and the possibility that the attackers had fled below gave her pause. If they were there, they would remain there; the Unnatural Domain was transmitting an anti-teleporation field so strong that the Khamood-Urr himself couldn’t land on Vastra had He desired it. Whoever was down there was securely trapped in the hole they’d climbed down…
“Retrieve any research material you can from the base,” she ordered as she peered down the long, dark hallway into the planet’s depths. “I want to know what they were doing here.” She considered ordering a scouting party into the labyrinth beneath them, but paused. First research. Then the hunt.