Armageddon (Sess, Effie)

Hitura Rael

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#41
"Do you think you got him?" Merida swallowed, shifting her attention around to the various systems and monitors that needed her attention.

James' reply came back light hearted. "Nope. You know the rules. No body, no death." He turned his head to grin back at her.

She scoffed and kicked him in the shoulder, lightly of course, which drew a feigned yelp from the man. "Don't you start! He can wait. Sofie needs us."

James turned his attention to the fight against the Zelvoid, pushing his visor up to sit better on his nose. For the moment, he was torn. His every instinct screamed to rush to her aid, to defend her from the disfigured monster baring down on her. Yet... Baby birds had to learn to fly. "She'll be fine. We taught her well. She needs to do this, and it buys time. Begin the preparations to activate the sphere. If she starts to flounder we'll jump in."

"But-" Merida's breath caught in her chest. He had a point, she hated to admit. A point that sat like bitter bile in her chest. She sighed and nodded. "Alright. Keep an eye out for your friend then..."

"You got this kiddo. Just keep him distracted. On my mark, break away and we'll execute the plan." His voice range clear; encouraging and proud to his daughter over the com system, only for her.
 
Feb 22, 2019
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#42
"Do you speak Gaelic or Irish because like, I don't fecking get what you're saying, fella," Sofie said in a growl as the familiars disappeared, tensing up only to tell herself to relax because hasty decisions were ways made when you're tense; or that's what she learned in horror movies.

"Papa!" Sofie said in jubilation, relieved to hear his voice, calming herself and only a moment later she heard the Zelvoid pilot yell, and instinctually turned her blade upwards as his voice rang out from above, yelling as she deflected the blade but it slid off of her own beamed blade and hit the exterior armor of the arm; no real damage but a good scuff and burn, exposing some of the wiring underneath.

"Go hifreann leat!" she growled, shoving the beam blade hard against the Zelvoid in attempts to shove him off of her, whipping out the rifle with the other arm, firing it close ranged at the opponent.
 

GEAR

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#43
The Zelvoid came thundering down from the heavens, blade whipping through the air towards Sofie. The crimson edge clapped against her own with a spray of sparks, her own weapon was thrust forward, almost blindly as it readied yet another slice-

Shunk.

Almost as quickly as it had started... It was over. The Zelvoid gave a shuddering gasp, the hilt of the Excellence's sword drawn up to the hilt, visible in its chest, the bright blue spear of plasma now visible as it extended from the middle of its back. Rivulets of a black, almost blood-like substance ran from the entry wound, a grey vapor emerging from its belly as it gave an errant twitch.

"Point... less..." Gasped the pilot, giving a wet, gurgling, chuckle.

"All of it... poi-"

Before he could finish, the Flyer's rifle was raised, its glow as bright as the morning sun. A blast of incandescent energy erupted, mere inches from the devilish Masouki's face, enveloping it in a cloud of saccharine fire as its features cracked - and then disintegrated. The lower body of the Zelvoid fell from the sky - all that remained of its once malevolent form - to clatter into the ruin below with an unceremonious thud.

The battle, it seemed, was won.




"...Not... Yet."​

It was faint, and still riddled with distortion... But that voice still persisted. Yet... from exactly where it was emanating from was uncertain. It rang between the pulverized buildings, the broken windows, whistling down the streets, to reverberate through the cockpit of the Genion GAI.

"Not... After losing so much...
My comrades...
My friends...
My everything...!
"​

The was a low rumble - almost imperceptible at first, yet growing in volume and ferocity with every passing second. The Genion's sensors would have whined an immediate warning - an incredible buildup of dimensional energy, coming from below. Buildings began to shake apart, streetlights clattering to the ground to be sucked into growing fractures, as the earth began to shake, emerald energy flowing from somewhere below, as an earthquake of staggering proportions began to tear apart whatever was left of the city.

"Spheres! I offer you everything that I am!
Give me the strength of the God-slaying sword!
To change this cursed fate!
To bring salvation in this final hour!
"
The brightness from below was now almost blinding. Around the two machines, the air seemed... thick, the sky taking on an almost glassy, unnatural hue as clouds curdled and warped, the very fabric of reality bending as the Spheres answered the will of their holder. At last, he issued one final cry, punctuated with an ear ringing snap:

Earth parted, shunted aside as something massive began to emerge from beneath its bosom. Three long, crimson-tipped structures burst from beneath the asphalt - fingers, as the dirt was sloughed from its form. It was... almost indescribable in its horror, a fusion of myth, beast and machine - metal roiled and simmered uncontrollably, a veritable sea of flowing, leering eyes, teeth, and claws, as if the might of the 10 Spheres that it contained flowed so freely that its own existence remained in constant flux. Those arcane relics glowed, nestled in its chest among the crawling chaos, ringing out to one another in sequence, as if singing their own strange hymn of the apocalypse.

Above a golden, tusked chest, tucked beneath a long, phoenix-like mane, a white and green visage peered down at James, flashing to life as another long, spindly arm raised from below an ornate, golden-tipped staff, terminating in a sphere-like point. Only its upper body bore even the slightest resemblance to anything human. Below, a massive, gnarled maw opened and closed, ringed by a series of dispassionate masks, its neck nothing but a thick mass of spines, trailing back to a body that invited comparisons to dragons, as well as other, more fantastic beasts. It must have stood at well over a hundred meters, towering over the Genion, even as the world around it seemed to scream at its very existence.

True_Geminion2.jpg


1556865985163.png

"James Steelheart!
No matter what...
I, the Black Charisma...
WILL SAVE THIS WORLD!
"​
 
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Hitura Rael

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#44
"Great job kiddo. I knew you could do it." James smiled at Sofie. He drew in a breath to comfort her, taking a life was never easy on good souls after all, but his attention was pulled elsewhere.

"...Not... Yet.
Not... After losing so much...
My comrades...
My friends...
My everything...!

"
He frowned, kicking off from the earth, the Genion defying the pull of the planet below as the thrusters kept her aloft. Merida worked frantically to quiet the sensors before the chaotic symphony deafened the pair. Below, the ground spider webbed and shuddered, groaning and heaving with the force of something quite assuredly unpleasant. "Damn. I hate being right. Pretty sure you pulled this in a campaign before..."

"Really? This is NOT the time!" Merida heaved a heavy sigh that echoed with a grunt.

"Spheres! I offer you everything that I am!
Give me the strength of the God-slaying sword!
To change this cursed fate!
To bring salvation in this final hour!
"
The Genion spun around, taking in the shift in the sky, the very fabric of space and time around them rippling and twisting. He pressed the nose of the visor to seat it better on his face. "No. It's not the time. We're all out of time. Everything ready?"

"RISE, GEMINION!"
That visor came in handy. He couldn't blame Enfield for having worn it most of the time he had known his elder brother. They were excellent for masking reactions, such as now. His face remained a serene mask, save for his eyes going wide with shock as the enemy began to emerge from the broken ground. How had that shadow encased mech become THIS? And if ten spheres could do THAT... What kind of monster would it turn the Genion into? He steeled his expression, letting the momentary shock and horror flitter to the back of his mind.

Merida nodded and focused on Sofie's link only, ignoring as the claws emerged from the ground like a horrible twisted hand from hell. "This is it. Stay strong. Stay focused. We love you sweety." James gave her a smile, the visors hiding the fact that it did not reach his eyes. He gave her a final thumbs up before killing the comm link to her, leaving her alone in silence. Merida exhaled, uncertain and shaking. She quickly slipped out of her buckle and climbed over the seats to sit on James' lap.

He looked down at her in a mild state of surprise, but gave her a kind smile, kissing her forehead before holding her head to his chest. "We go together. The three of us." He gave the Genion's console an affectionate pat before taking Merida's hand, holding it over his pounding heart. Below them, the monstrous beast pulled itself free from it's prison. Yet he felt no fear, no apprehension. He felt the all too familiar balance of despair and hope in his heart. Despair for what he was about to do, and hope for his daughter, the seed humanity needed to survive in some alternate timeline. If only she knew... He was the true villain of this story.

"James Steelheart!
No matter what...
I, the Black Charisma...
WILL SAVE THIS WORLD!
"
For a fleeting moment, he hesitated. He could give them the sphere, fully powered and resonating with the rest... There was only one left then that he would need. He could do it. He could save this world... He didn't have to do this. He didn't have to damn this timeline, his family. He could stand with this Black Charisma, using an artificial sphere to power Genion again. They could try...

Merida gripped his hand tightly, silently staring up at him with an unusually soft expression. She rarely used that one, that calm, quiet, comforting gaze. He sighed and smiled, squeezing her hand back. "Damn you woman. I can't help but love you. Are you sure this is what you want? We could..."

She nodded with a smile. "You know there is no averting this. You've known for a long time, there are no more happy endings here."

James nodded and closed his eyes, exhaling heavily and bent down to kiss Merida one last time. The Genion's blue phased away, resuming her normal form as she raised her arm high. "Sphere of the Quarreling twins, we offer our everything. Grant me your boon, fulfill my wish to stop this madness before it has a chance to flower. Send Sofie back before this nightmare took root, so she may be the one to burn these seeds before they ever bare fruit. Protect our little one from being followed."

A crackle of emerald energy danced across the Genion's arm, traveling up from reactor to palm. The currents of energy increased in frequency and intensity as James spoke the words, invoking the sphere's power. It coalesced into a brilliant verdant orb in the center of the Genion's palm. It's glow intensified into a brilliant hot light. Finally, as the last words were spoken, the energy exploded into a white hot pillar, piercing the sky and parting clouds.

The voice channel to the Excellence went on one last time.

"Goodbye, my little princess."

"Remember that we will always love you."
 
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Feb 22, 2019
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#45
Sofie felt the reverberations within her cockpit, trembling as she held her controls, and watched as the Zelvoid fell in two, eyes wide; the first life that she took.. Her breath was ragged as she drew it out, not realizing that she had been holding it in. Sofie would have probably lost it and began to cry had it not been for the voice she heard come through the intercom links and her nerves were steadied, instantly.

"Papa! You're okay.." she breathed, smiling in relief, feeling a brief moment of tranquility.

Brief it was.

"Who in the.." she muttered, looking around for the potential source of the voice, turning to watch the Genion, following suit to keep higher ground, "Geminion..?"

Her focus was broken as she heard Merida's voice over her comm, looking toward the Genion, as if it made hearing her mother or see her father any better. There was a chill that broke out in her heart, it made her heart beat faster, louder and jump to her throat, but yet there was also that cold, scared clutch that made it feel like she was plunged into ice.

"G.. Got it, mama, papa.." Sofie replied, obeying orders, but still.. very hesitant; she was still so young, and was virtually about to flee the nest of warmth and comfort. But she knew this day was coming from the start of it all; it still didn't soften the blow any less.

"Papa wait--!" Sofie gasped as her hand reached out to the video comm right as it was killed. Her eyes were wide, her fingers trembling as she let her hand hover right where the last visual of her parents, burned into her mind forever.

Not again. Not again. No no no. Not this nightmare..

She clutched her own head briefly, as if that were any help in shutting out the horrific images of her childhood out; the blank faces of her birth parents, the shadowed faces of her two brothers, all burning brightly in a wave of flames--

She glanced up, eyes wide and tear stricken as she heard the voice yell out her father's name and her reality came back crashing down around her. She shakily gripped the controls of her Excellence, lips quivering as tears rolled down her cheeks, eyes unblinking for fear she would miss the last moments.

The young Irish girl watched in stilled horror and expectancy as the flowers above her were separated by a piercing pillar of bright light and her focus was distracted once more as she heard her parents' voice again, which made it all too much for the young girl.

"MAMA! PAPA! NOOOOOOOooooo--!" she screamed, her voice going ragged and cracked right at the end, clenching her eyes shut, even though she knew it was to pass; she had to go, in order to save the future. This timeline was doomed, but maybe with this small chance, she could rewrite the future and save everyone.

Her throat burned as she stifled her cries, head hung down as she initiated the jump sequence and then-- just like that, she was gone from this time.
 
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GEAR

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#46
The power.

Oh, it was like nothing else they had ever experienced - the liar, the peddler, that so-called "Priestess" of her nihilistic, insufferable false God - all of them had been oh-so-very wrong, their imaginations all failing to grasp just how terrible the might of the Spheres truly was. It was agony, oh yes - such sweet suffering, like experiencing death and rebirth with every moment, as the unbidden strength of a forgotten deity flowed through their veins, and the amount of willpower it took simply to keep their head, as it were, above the rising tide was unbearable.

It would destroy them - this much was certain. The artifacts were the instruments of a higher power, and had never truly been meant to be used on a scale like this - not by human hands, but it would be worth it.

It would all be worth it... Just to see one last sunset.

Something tugged at their vision as the transformation completed - whether it was their eyes or Geminion's, or if the two were now simply one and the same, the Black Charisma could no longer tell... But they could see.

A spear of verdant green punched into the skies.

Up, up... Higher and higher it climbed, until it was nothing more than a glittering emerald, as it vanished into the atmosphere. And then - there was a second, brilliant light of white - peeling off from the main stem, enveloping the other machine, until it blinked out of existence. It cared little for the other device, yet the swiftly-dispatched Zelvoid had been fixated-

...​

Something gnawed at their senses. A kind of... Emptiness, a vague sense of unease, like rotten floorboards giving a treacherous creak before giving way, plunging one into the dark below. It was like a distant scream, a realization bubbling to the surface even in their fractured, shattered psyche, that refused to be denied, as if all Ten were howling in protest at this ruinous twist of fate.

Gone! They cried in unison. It could no longer sense them - The Spheres, the Ten - they were all that was left! The roar, the cacophany erupting from within, was deafening, crushing.... And in that moment, the Geminion's head turned down towards its younger sibling.

The dust whistled at the two's feet, as a faint green pulse rippled across the surface of the Sun. Slowly, tremulously, in a hushed tenor, the Black Charisma spoke:

"What... have you done?"​
 

Hitura Rael

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#47
The light slowly faded, leaving the annoying green-purple after image burned in his vision where the Excellence had stood. Fitting, the last thing seared in his mind to be the image of his little angel aglow with pure white light. His attention turned to the trembling voice of Black Charisma. Oh he could have laughed, if he had the strength. But alas, he could not even feign it.

The Genion's arm fall to her side slowly, standing as a soldier finally at ease, her head turned toward the sun. James wore the last shit eating grin he ever would wear, only for the Black Charisma to see. Color faded from the machine, graying at the toe and finger tips, slowly spreading upward toward the center of the unit.

"I sent her where you could never reach her. And I made sure you couldn't follow. You want the sphere?" He found the strength to give a weak laugh, pulling the weak body of his co-pilot closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled her face into his chest, closing her eyes for a final time. Her breathing was shallow, if at all. It didn't matter anymore to him. He'd love her still, alive or dead. And he would join her soon enough. The Genion pointed a finger up at the sun, where the emerald ripples had been so briefly. "Have fun going and getting it. That is... if it doesn't set off a chain reaction."

The genion dropped it's arm again, the last of it's energy reserves depleted. "A shame you went insane. We could have worked together to reverse everything. But now... If this history survives. Let them know me as the Slayer of Hope. And may my soul never find rest, damned for all eternity." He closed his eyes. "My only regret is not having been able to settle down and raise a big family..." He sighed, "But what can you do?" He gave a soft smile to Merida and closed his eyes one final time as the gray spread into the cockpit, bleeding all color and life from the interior and the two nestled within.

"Cheers, whoever the fuck you are. Enjoy the end of the world." Dust drifted on the wind, pulled from the Genion. The deterioration was slow at first, but steady. Inch by inch, the mech faded black before crumbling to dust, until nothing was left but ash on the wind.
 

GEAR

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#48
No.



NO!



There was an earth shuddering CRASH as the bladed staff impacted where the Genion had stood only moments before, sundering the ground beneath in a volcanic explosion of power. It was for nothing - the Genion's pilot, in a last act of what could only be described as heroic spite had denied him his prize. There was a possibility that the Sphere still existed, that it could have survived the impact with the celestial body above, but...

But...

The Black Charisma's mind raced, desperately seeking an out, the Geminion's frame shuddering as it bristled in defiance, mimicking the actions of its pilot, though whether conscious or simply an after-effect of melding man and machine, none could say.

"No... It's not over! IT'S NOT OVER YET!!!"" - They cried into the vast, uncaring wastelands, voice tearing through what was left of Cape Town;

"The Immortal Souls...! I can still-"​

Yet... They paused in med exclamation, the howl dying in their throats. Another realization bobbed to the surface, like an errant blob of mercury, sitting on the forefront of their consciousness.

It was... quiet.
Even the Ten had ceased their endless bickering, seemingly... Cowed into silence, as something loomed. All around them, the world... Had paused. Not even the slightest creature stirred. The fading morning lights of the stars too, seemed little more than fixed pinpricks of particulate in the sky, as even the clouds which the Genion's final strike had dislodged slowly ground to a halt. A final, deathly whisper escaped their lips:

"...oh... no..."

They were out of time.​
 
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GEAR

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#49


Through the endless expanse of time she came, delicate feet pressing gently against the waters of creation, leaving ripples with every footstep.

Inevitable.

These ripples spread out into the myriad realms of man. The worlds consumed by the crawling dark withered before it, fading into nothingness, leaving it pure, clear, and pristine.

The bringer looked out upon all of creation, which had so long denied her, forcing her back by any means that it could, only so that it could inflict more and more harm on itself... and she wept great tears - pearls of mercy that ran down her pale cheeks, plopping into the boundless ocean below.

Because, the end is not unkind.

It is not malevolent, or vindictive.

It simply "is".





All across I'sola... Everything stopped.

Every molecule, every minute interaction - even thought itself was no longer possible, as electrons ceased to pulse across neural pathways.

In the space above the Earth, the armies of the King of Ruin and the Alabaster lady were locked in place. Bullets loosed from firearms, streams of dark energies, the clashing of lit plasma blades...

All of it, suspended, turned into a living photograph. As if something had hit the collective pause button on all of existence.


And then... It began to fade.


No, perhaps a better term would be melt.​


With the Akashic Records no longer there to hold it in place, the very structure of reality shuddered... and crumbled, as several thousand years of delayed atrophy collided with it, all at once. It wasn't violent, more akin to a collective... exhale, as the composite matter that made each entity up dispersed, oozing into the world that surrounded it, like a wet watercolor painting.

The Black Charisma could do nothing. Everything was swept away, vanishing into nothingness - not the blackness of the crawling dark, or the silence so venerated by the mad followers of Lasfitot, but a true unmaking, as all returned to whence it had came...

Returning to the great sea of creation.​

Pulled into a smothering, numbing, and wholly inescapable embrace.







...
The Excellence plummeted through time and space, an oscillating corridor of all that is, was, and ever would be. Fragments of the past, of the future, and a present that was in constant flux, flew around its azure, pointed frame as it hurtled towards an uncertain fate. Behind it, there was nothing - only a vast, gaping expanse of grey. The frame of the machine handled it smoothly, gliding through the ages with ease and grace, propelled by the last act of James and Merida, and the sacrifice of the Sphere of the Quarreling Twins.

Perhaps now, at least... She could rest, as the adrenaline coursing through her veins finally subsided, and began to exact its cost, forcing heaviness upon her eyelids.

...Yet, as tiredness would have weighed upon her shoulders, something may have occurred to Sofie.

The Excellence's HUD had been bleeping a warning, slowly and steadily, albeit one that had been suppressed by the cluster of alerts brought up by its sudden temporal shift.

DANGER: PROXIMITY ALARM

External cameras flickered, displaying something wrapped around the ankle of the Excellence - like the roots of a black tree, trailing back into-

In what must have felt - could only be - a scene from a nightmare, a sharp pain shot through her right arm.

From the darkness of the cockpit, a hand had closed about her shoulder, its grasp tightening so hard as to draw blood. It was ash-grey, gnarled, and burned, with chunks of cindered flesh still attached to bleached bone-

"Didn't I tell you?" Hissed a familiar voice, right by her ear, as something came into view on the rear camera, dragging itself up the Excellence's form;


zelvoid.jpg
"It's pointless!"​

As the Excellence crossed the horizon of infinity, a final shock of sardonic laughter filled the air - and then...

Everything went black.​
 
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