The soft caress of gentle hands, the tormented and twisted screams of inhuman creatures burning alive, the smell of flowers in the air. Billions of hands grasping forward, burnt and decayed, seeking revenge…seeking justice. Worlds are born into a new era of civilization, continents are consumed in holy flame, bodies writhe against each other in ecstasy…a calm bliss overwhelming the senses…a feeling of inescapable dread rises to consume all. Hope blossoms in the most unlikely of places, death sweeps across a galaxy, betrayal at the hands of a father. A million voices rise up in praise, billions groan in horror, silence consumes all.
"You are the Lightbringer! The one to free us from the shackles of darkness!" An adoptive father, declaring his son's fate.
"The Emperor believes in you, trusts you, warn him of what is to come." A trusted son, advising his father.
"I love you, no matter what the others think, we are meant to be." A lover most terrible.
"You are a failure, a tool of our enemies, you shall be purged just like them." A father in his moment of betrayal.
"You were my brother! But you chose to betray us…to choose Xenos over Humanity…you will die for this treason!" A brother, torn between love and duty.
With a gasp, two pounding hearts, and three lungs struggling to gain breath, a lost son awoke on a volcanic world. He struggled to his feet, bruises across his body writhing in pain from the new movement, hidden behind his thick plates of adamantium, plasteel, and ceramite armor, the once beautiful black armor with gold details now covered in innumerable gashes, craters, and scratches…a testament to the amount of firepower that it had been subjected to. A helmeted head in the shape of a golden skull with blood-red eyes rose up to look around at his surroundings, a slight groan emanating from beneath it at the stinging pain of heavy bruises as they soon began to rapidly heal. Eventually the figure looked down at the dust and dirt at his feet, seeing before him his two weapons, a master-crafted double-edged chainsword with no covering over its tip or rear blades of adamantium, heavily engraved in ancient runes and symbols of fire and flames, and a strangely yet masterfully constructed weapon which seemed to be made of two different weapons…one a piece of fine engineering that spit out bolts that could tear apart even the strongest of foes and another who's beam vaporized even the thickest of armors. The Lost Son bent down and picked up the two weapons, both of which had claimed thousands of lives themselves, and gave their user a newfound sense of purpose as he began to limp off in a seemingly random direction, leaving nothing but a rapidly drying pool of blood behind him.
He walked for nearly an hour, past lakes of burning magma, through the featureless hot ash, dust, and dirt covered valleys and hilltops. The Lost Son's mind wandered, was this all that was left of his home, had he survived the bombardment, how? These questions and more raced through his mind, driving him mad as emotions ran through him, and ultimately it culminated in an ear-shattering scream directed at the sky as the lost son stared up at the stars hidden behind clouds of ash.
"Why have you forsaken me, father!? I tried to save you! SAVE EVERYONE!" The lost son shouted, anger, rage, hatred, and pain all flowing through him as he let loose another roar of agony into the uncaring air…into a sky without care for him.
Flames began to envelop his body, bright, red and orange, crawling across his gold and black armor, across his exposed skin…and yet he did not howl in pain…only further rage and anguish. The inhuman noise emanating from the Lost Son's throat echoing in the valley he found himself in, going on as if for miles into the sky, reverberating through his very soul.
"I WAS LOYAL! I KILLED FOR YOU, SERVED YOU, I WAS YOUR INSTRUMENT OF DEATH! WHY DID YOU BETRAY ME, DESTROY MY PEOPLE, KILL MY SONS!? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!?" The Lost Son's screams went unheard and soon he fell to his knees, defeated in mind and body, his questions unanswered and his agony nigh unbearable.
The Lost Son knew that soon the voices would come, they always did at moments like this, his moments of pain and weakness. They'd promise him everything he'd ever wanted, power beyond his belief, glory beyond what he already had, recognition for who he really was…so on and so forth. Every time before he'd been able to deny them, to fight back, to say no…but now…now they could offer him nothing more than the sweet release of death and he'd accept…he knew it to be true. But they never came, their seductive voices, their enticing offers, their subtle power…it never came. Anguish gave way to confusion, confusion gave way to curiosity, and curiosity led the Lost Son to throw his psychic might into searching the Warp…only to find it amazingly calm…and amazingly desolate.
The Immaterium was silent, not a single storm, not a single wave or even a few eddies, it was quiet and seemingly lifeless. The Psyker searched through the Warp and found to his amazement that his presence attracted nothing, nor could it find even that obnoxiously overpowering presence of his father…or even the slightly less bright essence of his brother…for the first time the Lost Son felt alone in the Warp. That loneliness brought back the Lost Son's anguish, he couldn't find his sons, he couldn't find the source of those voices he'd become so used to, he could find nothing…and he came to the conclusion that this was Hell…he'd died on Raxium and gone to Hell for the sins he'd committed in life. Suddenly though, the Lost Son felt his head forced back by a heavy-hitting force and the sound of high speed metal bouncing off his helmet rang out…soon followed by the sound of a strange mechanical chatter. Opening his golden eyes from beneath his helmet's mask the Lost Son turned his head to look towards the strange chatter…and found something that made him confused and angry. A strange mechanical figure with strangely backwards arched legs, three fingered metallic hands, and a single brightly shining 'eye' was looking at him alongside several other machines just like itself…in its strange hands was a rifle-like object with a few small wisps of smoke coming from its barrel.
"Abominable Intelligences? If this is Hell, then I am not surprised to see you here…you annoy me, be gone." The Lost Son commanded, extending an armored hand out towards the machines before suddenly ethereal flames shot forth, consuming the machines in white-hot flames that seemed unnaturally intense, as if from the center of a star, they had less than a second before they were melted and then simply vaporized by the intense heat…leaving nothing but glassed earth behind to show where they had once stood.
With a groan the Lost Son once more stood up and listened carefully on the wind as he heard it carry the distant sounds of battle, if this was Hell then it seemed it wanted to test him. With a resigned sigh the Lost Son took up his chainsword and combi-weapon and began running towards the sounds of war…resigning himself to an eternity of battle.
/
Therum, 2183...
Commander Jane Shepard blew away a strand of her red hair that was annoyingly not tucked behind her like it should've been while under her helmet, her freckled face scrunching up in annoyance as she tried to ignore the offending piece of hair as bullets flew by her small piece of cover in the form of a supply crate that hadn't been brought into the dig site by the time the Geth arrived. All around her the fireteam she'd brought down on the Mako fought fiercely against the overwhelming numbers of Geth that were doing everything they could to keep Shepard and her team from reaching the archeological dig site and the Asari within.
"Garrus, cover me, I'm moving to new cover!" Shepard ordered, preparing herself as Garrus's icon on her HUD blinked green in confirmation.
The sharp crack of a rifle signaled another Geth down and the fire lessened somewhat, telling Shepard he'd took down one of the big ones again. The slight decrease in incoming gave Shepard all the time she needed to sprint out from behind her box towards a new one slightly forward, steadying her Avenger on the crate she let loose two quick bursts of fire that caught two Geth troopers before being forced back down by an overwhelming barrage of return fire.
"Shepard, more Geth reinforcements are on their way, I've got several dropships on scanners." Came Joker's voice through her earpiece.
Shepard cursed and before she could respond heard Tali over the same earpiece, "Shepard, two armatures are setting up to our front, we're losing control of the situation."
At this rate she was going to need to order a retreat as she ordered, "Tali, try to hack one of those armatures, Wrex, Garrus, try to pick off a few more of those Primes. Confuse the Geth so we can capitalize!"
She got two affirmations and a grunt in reply as she crouched around her cover and began firing into a Prime's shields, giving Garrus the weakened target he needed in order to force the Geth to compensate for the loss of a command unit, with a gunshot that stood above all the others Garrus's rifle roared and the Prime's head exploded into a shower of metal, hydraulic fluid, and wires as his shot rang true. And although the loss of the Prime gave the fireteam the opportunity to lay into the Geth it lasted only a second before once more the Geth gained fire superiority on Shepard and her team.
"It's no use Commander, we can't take them all on by ourselves!" Garrus called over the team's comms, a hint of reservation and perhaps even annoyance in his tone.
"Tali, how's that armature going?" Shepard asked, ignoring her sniper for the moment.
"I can't get through Shepard, those dropships are starting to make up for the losses the Geth are taking on the ground, if we stay any longer they'll overrun us fully." Tali replied defeatedly, and to be fair, Shepard herself was having a hard time being optimistic considering there were far more Geth here then they could've imagined.
Shepard and her team were good, there was no doubt, but there were limits to even what a four-man fireteam could do and these endless waves of Geth were becoming too much. At this rate, Shepard knew she had only one option left, call the retreat and consolidate on the Mako before having the Normandy come in and drop Kaiden, Ashley, and the entire Normandy marine detachment…they'd have to take this dig site by force seeing how they couldn't do it with precision.
And so, with reservation and defeat Shepard ordered, "Garrus, Wrex, cover Tali and I, we're pulling back to the Mako. Leapfrog from cover to cov-"
*BOOM*
The sudden explosion that engulfed one of the Geth Armatures caught Shepard off guard and caused her to trail off as suddenly a beam of light appeared behind the second one before that too blew apart from the beam's touch.
"That's not my doing Shepard." Tali quickly informed as her voice betrayed a hint of awe.
Suddenly the sound of a…chainsaw(?) or something similar filled the air and the ground seemingly trembled as a previously unseen hulking figure emerged from behind the flaming wreckage of the two armatures and fell upon the now stunned Geth forces who barely had time to turn around before the awesome black-armored and flaming figure fell upon them. With the terrible sound of whirring metal tearing through metal, the fiery figure cut a Geth juggernaut in half as if it was nothing more than paper before moving with inhuman speed so fast that Shepard physically couldn't process the figure as it bisected several other Geth troopers unfortunate enough to be standing nearby. The giant weapon the figure wielded looked like a cross between a medieval knight's sword and a chainsaw, though certainly bared many of the traits of the latter as it sawed through two more primes and then an entire squad of Geth troopers. Shepard shook herself from her momentary awestruck staring and took aim at the now fully confused Geth who also seemed to be unable to track the figure who moved so fast it seemed it simply teleported from foe to foe, cutting down several troopers herself as they seemingly forgot about her fireteam but couldn't act as command unit after command unit fell to the figure's blade. Her team followed suit soon after and the Geth began falling in droves as they were caught between a monster that was cutting them apart single-handedly and the elite team of operatives who were accurately and efficiently cleaning up whatever the monster missed.
As Shepard continued firing into the Geth she noticed something disturbing about her team's 'savior'…he…or she…or it was completely silent save for the sound of its armor deflecting round after round from the Geth, the hydraulics of its seemingly powered armor, and of course the whirling of the figure's blade as it cut a clean path through every Geth it could find. It did not let loose a war cry, didn't taunt the Geth, didn't even call over to Shepard and her team…it just cut through the Geth like an inhuman warrior sent down from heaven itself…or considering the figure was covered in flames that didn't seem to do anything to it, Hell itself. Within a minute the Geth were completely slaughtered, nearly two hundred units, mostly regular troopers, lay in various heaps and states of destruction and among their midst was that single, solitary figure who's black and gold armor was wreathed in flames as if it was a demon from Hell. The figure's back was to Shepard but slowly, carefully, silently almost, it turned, and the Systems Alliance Commander soon found herself staring into two blood-red eyes bored into a golden skull that seemed to gaze into her soul. Carefully Shepard stood up from behind her cover, keeping her rifle at the low-ready position as she took a few steps towards the huge figure.
"I'm Commander Shepard of the Systems Allian-" Shepard was cut off as the figure raised his left arm and pointed a strange double-barreled weapon straight at her, she could hear her team behind her raise their weapons in turn though for a split moment Shepard wondered if they'd even stand a chance considering what she'd just seen.
Then the mysterious savior fired, one of the barrels erupting in light as the projectile rocketed out towards its target, Shepard waited for the pain, the impact on her shields and armor before the inevitable tearing of flesh…but it never came. Instead the figure lowered its arm and adjusted its gaze slightly, just enough for Shepard to realize it hadn't actually been looking at her until right then, and so with a slow turn of her body she noticed the Geth Hopper slump into the ground with a very large hole in its 'torso'.
Looking back at the figure Shepard opened her mouth to speak but was beaten to it when the figure for the first time spoke in a language similar but seemingly foreign to Shepard's native English as her translator worked to piece together his meaning, the deep baritone voice seemingly echoing all its own, holding an ethereal beauty in nature, "Do not thank me, Commander Shepard. It is a sacred duty of mine to wipe out Abominable Intelligences wherever they may roam."
"Uh…he means the Geth, right?" Garrus asked as he approached from Shepard's back right.
The skull turned away from Shepard and she looked to see both Tali and Wrex joining the Turian by her side, it then turned back to her and asked in a weary tone, "What did that Xenos say?"
Shepard pursed her lips at that, it seemed this figure must have been some form of Human if he could understand Shepard but didn't have a translator which worked for Garrus, and so she proceeded with caution, "He asked if you meant the Geth...I've never heard them called 'Abominable Intelligences' before."
The figure was silent a few moments before a sober chuckle escaped him, "Do you know what I am, Commander?"
Shepard shook her head at the question and replied neutrally, "No, I do not know who you are."
/
The Lost Son…
Now that…that was strange, stranger than the three Xenos creatures that stood by the human Commander speaking in what the Lost Son thought was a rather archaic version of Low Gothic, how did she not instantly recognize what he was? No other individual in the Imperium was so misinformed that they wouldn't instantly be able to recognize a being as a Primarch, maybe not their name or anything like that, but still the stories of the Primarchs were far and wide within the Imperium. Wait, that was it, this wasn't the Imperium, this is the…Systems Alliance?
"Curious." The Lost Son muttered more to his train of thought than to the group's unknowing of him, he'd have to figure out where exactly he was, it was becoming more and more clear this wasn't Hell…so was this a test perhaps?
Had his Father left him on a yet to be Imperialized world? Or had He thought it uninhabited and so left the Lost Son here to die? A million questions and few answers, the Lost Son would need to be careful, to take in what information he could and contemplate the facts.
And so, he looked up from his musing and introduced himself to the human Commander, "I am Liberius, of the planet Raxium, you claim to be a Commander of the Systems Alliance…is this your world?"
The human hesitated, to Liberius it was clear in the way she held herself that she was confused by his answer, for the mind of a Primarch her return answer took centuries but was only a moment in truth, "One of many…yes. Listen, Liberius, I'm afraid we're short of time. Right now, the Geth have several dropships on their way to drop a lot more units on our heads, my team and I are attempting to secure an Asari scientist inside the dig site up that ramp over to your left. If you wouldn't mind, we could use your help, who knows how many more Geth they already have inside."
Liberius thought it over and figured that if these Abominable Intelligences they called the Geth wanted this 'Asari' then he best deny them it, and so with a quick nod he began stomping up the ramp towards the dig site itself…leaving behind four operatives who shared a quick look before following after him with haste.
After they entered the long tunnel that led down into the dig site, the Commander strode in front of him and held up an earpiece, before Liberius could ask what it was for she explained, "It's a translator, you'll be able to understand my crewmates with this and the environment in here is safe enough to put it in…that is if that, umm, fire surrounding you won't fry it."
Liberius looked down at his right arm as if he hadn't noticed the flames that covered him from head to toe, and with a simple mental command it disappeared, looking back to the human he took the offered earpiece and studied it a moment. Without further words he brought his free hand up and triggered the helmet seals, with a slight hiss the skull helmet came off and revealed a rather well-built if somewhat long and angular face. Liberius had a strong jaw, a prominent chiseled nose, piercing eyes of literal golden color that seemingly held an ethereal glow, proportional ears that ended in slight points, and his raven-black hair was shaved down to better fit within his helmet, overall his face even with his pale skin looked like the artwork of a god…which in a sense it might as well have been. As Liberius placed the earbud in his pointed right ear he noticed the Commander's stance, it was certainly off put, she had not expected to see what she had.
"You are surprised, Commander?" Liberius asked, the commander portion being synthesized as he reequipped his skull-faced helmet.
"Y-you're...human?" The female Xenos with the same strange backwards legs as those 'Geth' asked…this time Liberius could understand her thanks to the earpiece.
"Yes…and no. It is a long tale, one not suited for a field of battle." Liberius answered, turning back down the tunnel and continuing to march forward.
"Well, this tunnel is long enough to give us a minute." That original Xenos to speak outside stated, rather plainly in-fact.
"It is a tale that takes more than a minute Xenos." Was all Liberius replied, before simply adding, "Let us leave it at I am something better than a simple human. My show earlier should be more than enough proof of that."
That seemed to be enough for the Xenos, though Liberius couldn't see him from being in the front of their group, the Xenos did not pursue the topic any further. As the group reached the bottom of the long tunnel they came across a large cavern that fell into a deep chasm, an elevator along the side of the cavern would provide a safe way down for them all and so they made their way along the edge of the chasm towards the only way up and down.
As the group entered, with Liberius being forced to duck slightly in order to fit, the Lost Son asked, "What does an Asari Xenos look like? I don't know what we're looking for I'm afraid."
The Commander's pose again betrayed confusion, her expressions even underneath her sealed armor as easy to read as a child's book for the Primarch, as she replied, "Like a blue human female...she'll have tentacle-like appendages on her head instead of hair, Asari are ethereally beautiful some say, it's hard to argue against that."
"Hmm...a Xenos that who's appearance seeks to replicate human beauty, interesting. Only the Eldar came close in my travels in the Galaxy." Liberius noted, though a bit uneasy about bringing up the Eldar so soon, he needed to see if they would be known to this Human and her strange Xenos companions.
"Eldar?" The large red-armored Xeno grumbled in interest from Liberius's side, "Never killed one of those before...let alone heard of one."
"I've never heard of an Eldar before either...where'd you say you were from again?" The female Xenos asked, curiosity piquing her voice.
"It does not matter Xenos...your innocence on the matter is most revealing, and most troubling." Liberius noted neutrally, though inside he was beginning to grow worried, these creatures and their human handler were seeming all the more foreign to him as time went on...where was he and what had happened between the Scourging of Raxium and now?
The normally contemplative Primarch however did not have time to dwell on that as the Human Commander asked, "How troubling?"
"Not enough to interfere with your mission Commander...that is all you need to know." Liberius answered vaguely, he was not yet willing to give away too much.
As if on cue the elevator stopped and opened with a screech that indicated a need for oiling of its parts, Liberius watched the others walk ahead of him as he took up the rear, trying to give himself a moment to think as he followed behind slowly. So far, he had learned that whatever this Systems Alliance was it was united with or at least working with several Xenos species, there were Abominable Intelligences running around, and none of them had heard of the Eldar or Primarchs...and most likely not of the Imperium. To round things off Liberius couldn't sense either his brother or his Father, yet his powers granted to him by the Immaterium seemed unaffected, which meant either they no longer shined within the unusually calm Immaterium or...or what? Liberius wondered this point as he followed the others off their current platform to another one below by jumping off the broken upper platform to the more intact one below. Even if they were both in Warp travel at the exact same time Liberius still should've been able to find them, even communicate with them...which meant one of two things, either they were both dead, something Liberius thought impossible...or they simply didn't exist here.
If they didn't exist here though...then where was here? It had not escaped Liberius that the weapons and technology both these Systems Alliance operatives and those things they called the Geth were far below the standards of the Imperium, but technology regressing to inferior states was not an unusual occurrence for lost human worlds after the Age of Strife...but then again this didn't seem like regression so much as simply a complete and utter different baseline. After all their weapons seemed not to use chemical propellant like the common Autogun would, and some parts of their wear and equipment seemed rather sleek and advanced, just not to the same degree of advancement as Liberius was used to. Perhaps something far more sinister was at hand here, Liberius knew he'd need to do more digging to figure it out, digging he wouldn't be able to do at some xenoarchaeology site.
Before Liberius could think further on this train of thought however he heard the faintest whisper of a voice, he thought through his earpiece...but he wasn't certain of anything other than it being feminine in origin, "Hello!? Is someone there? I could use some help!"
"Did you hear that?" Liberius asked as his companions seemingly kept moving without hearing the voice.
"Hear what?" The large Xenos asked.
"Someone called for help." Liberius answered simply, he grabbed his master-crafted chainsword off his hip where it had stayed maglocked and took lead as the group stepped aside to follow.
A small recess in the side of the cavern seemed to be the only place for that voice to have come from, currently too small for Liberius to fit through, but certainly large enough for even that oversized Xenos to enter. Closing his golden eyes underneath his skull-faced helmet Liberius let his power once more wash over him as the flames returned, and then to the amazement of the operatives behind him he shrunk down to only about seven feet even in his armor, a little over six had he not been inside the master-crafted armor fit for a Primarch. Without a word he began down into the dark recess, lighting up the small tunnel with his ethereal flames.
"H-how...what did I just see? Did you guys see that, I'm not going crazy am I?" The female Xenos in the team stammered on behind Liberius, he paid her little attention as he continued down the tunnel, seeking out the secrets that lay within its darkness, bringing light to the inky blackness.
"Yeah, no, I just saw him shrink a foot or two...I don't know what's going on anymore." The smaller male Xenos stated, not so much confused as he was seeming stunned by the tone of his voice.
"The powers of the Warp are a pathway to many possibilities...none of you possess abilities in it?" Liberius finally asked, if only to stop their gawking behind him, it seemed that both the flames and shrinking we too much for their weaker minds.
"No...no none of us have any idea what you just said or did." The Commander stated, Liberius swore he could hear the materials of her suit moving as if she was shaking her head.
"Mhm...troubling." Liberius noted before he spotted the faintest of light ahead, he began to move faster until he came across a large oval-shaped gate of energy.
On the other side was a Xenos that was suspended spread-eagle within some sort of bubble, female by the looks of it, in some sort of rubbery suit that left her head exposed but nothing else. She was blue, and not just from the gate between Liberius and her, but her skin was literally blue. She looked tired, bags under her eyes, her head-tentacle things slightly drooped...but the real tiredness was in her bluish-purple eyes as they stared straight at Liberius.
"Oh great, now I'm hallucinating demons..." The Xenos spoke in exhaustion, giving a tired laugh at the sight of Liberius.
Liberius for his part cocked his head the slightest bit, too little for most to notice, before he righted it again as he replied, "I'm no daemon Xenos, and I most certainly am no hallucination."
Before the Xenos could reply the human Commander caught up and stated, "Good work Liberius...that's Dr. Liara T'Soni, exactly the scientist I was looking for."
"I...how do you know my name?" The Xenos woman now identified as Liara to Liberius asked somewhat unbelievingly.
"Dr. T'Soni, I'm Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance military and Council Spectre. I've been tasked with retrieving you for questioning and denying you to Saren."
"S-Saren? The Turian Spectre? I...I don't know what's going on, but please, I've been trapped in here for days. Can you free me?" The Xenos seemed to beg, a small part of Liberius even felt bad for her suffering...a very small part.
"How do we do that Xenos?" Liberius asked bluntly, to the point.
"I locked myself in here when the Geth attacked, using the control panel in front of me, I must of hit something I wasn't supposed to though because it activated this containment field I'm stuck in. If you keep going down you'll find another control panel like this one at the bottom of the cavern...maybe you could get inside with that? The only problem is that it's broken, lacking power, you'll have to find some way to reconnect it to the Prothean network." The Xenos known as Liara explained.
"Tali, do you think you might be able to work Prothean tech?" The human commander called over to the female Xenos in her team.
She replied quickly, "Maybe, we'll have to see what it looks like downstairs."
"That'll have to be good enough, alright Dr. T'Soni, we'll be back as soon as possible. Just stay calm." Commander Shepard stated to the trapped Asari.
"Be careful Commander, there was a Krogan with the Geth. And please, hurry before they figure a way in here too." The Asari gave a parting warning as the team turned and left, Liberius taking up the rear.
"Krogan? What's that, another Xenos?" Liberius asked once they had gotten far enough away from the trapped scientist.
"You're looking at one Human." The large Xenos answered, before adding, "You live under a rock the past few centuries?"
Liberius raised an eyebrow underneath his helmet and replied, "You didn't exactly introduce yourself Xenos."
"Quiet, both of you, here...I'll rush introductions so you know who's who." Shepard interjected, Liberius had to give her credit, she was either extremely dumb or extremely brave to order a Primarch around, then again she didn't know what a Primarch was so perhaps it was just ignorance, "That's Wrex, he's a Krogan, that's Garrus, a Turian, and she's Tali, a Quarian. Introductions are over for now until we're off mission."
Liberius's eyes gazed upon each of the Xenos as the Commander pointed with each introduction, he took in their features as much as he could considering they all wore sealed suits that blocked his vision of what lay beneath. With that out of the way however Liberius noticed that the rest of the trip down to the floor of the cavern was in silence, requiring just a quick trip down a metal ramp until they met with the darkened dirt floor of the cavern. Liberius scanned the area and took in what his surroundings held. There was some sort of archaic looking drill, some scattered crates here and there, and by the far end of the cavern was a panel that looked suspiciously out of place before another one of those glowing gates.
"That must be it, Tali, check it out." Commander Shepard ordered.
Liberius watched the female Xenos move across the dirt floor of the cavern before halting before the panel and activating some strange orange hologram that surrounded her left forearm. The Xenos pushed a few 'keys' on the hologram and Liberius continued to observe closely and quietly as the hologram seemed to then scan the raised panel a few times.
A few seconds passed before the Xenos known as Tali stated, "The problem seems to be a cut connection line, probably rotted away after fifty millennia, should be an easy fix."
"That's a relief, how long do you think it'll take?" The Human Commander asked the Xenos as Liberius watched on passively.
"A minute, maybe two if I go slow." Tali replied, Liberius swore he could sense a tone of pride from the alien's voice.
True to her word it took just a few seconds short of a minute for the connection to be repaired and the panel came back to life with a holographic interface that sprung up in an eerie green glow. The Human Commander then approached, gave a quite pat on the Xenos's shoulder and then studied the holographic display a few moments. For Liberius the display was a great jumble of Xenos symbols, incomprehensible without some sort of prior understanding of their meanings and how they translated to something more comprehensible. However, it seemed that the Commander, unlike Liberius understood the symbols...or at least enough to hit a key within the display which lit up a moment before the entire display disappeared. And with the disappearance of the display so too did the energy gate that stood just beyond the raised panel.
"Alright, let's move." The Commander stated, Liberius followed behind their group quietly, as quietly as the hydraulics and heavy footfalls of his armor would allow at least.
They soon came upon a lift another of those strange panels in the middle of it, once again the Commander knew what she was doing as she brought it up a single level and the group found themselves behind the Asari who was still held spread-eagle within a security bubble of energy.
The Xenos tried looking over her shoulder as she called back, "Hello? Who's there?"
"Don't worry Dr. T'Soni, it's Commander Shepard." The human calmly replied as she came across and used a third panel now to deactivate the field around the Asari.
It was somewhat humorous for Liberius as he watched the Xenos collapse to the ground in an undignified heap, exhausted and most likely both dehydrated and malnourished.
"Dr. T'Soni! Are you okay?" The Human Commander called out as she rushed over to the Doctor's side, her concern seemed genuine, and that was strange for Liberius to see from a normal Human.
The Asari huffed before replying, "Yes, I should be...just forgot how to use my legs these last few days."
Suddenly the ground began to violently shake, enough for even that backwards legged Xenos named Tali to lose her footing and fall down. Shaking this violent could only mean one thing, Liberius knew, this place was about to experience a seismic event that it wouldn't survive.
A few moments later the shaking calmed just enough for the Krogan Xenos to exclaim, "What the hell was that?"
The Asari warned weakly, "The ruins, they aren't stable, we may have accidently activated some sort of self-destruct sequence with that panel. That lift you used, it should get us to the top in time to get out, we should go now."
"You're in no condition to walk, let alone run, Garrus help me carry her." The Commander ordered.
"I don't think we have enough time to drag her, Commander Shepard." Liberius noted and before the Commander could reply he took a single step towards the prone form of the weak Asari and hefted her up to hoist over his shoulder with his free left hand with little effort.
The flames that covered Liberius began to spread over Liara at the connection and although she squeaked in surprise she didn't feel any pain, seeing the others staring at him as he turned around to carry the doctor to the lift Liberius explained as he moved past them, "It burns only those who I want it to burn. NOW. MOVE."
Liberius realized his tone was a bit harsh, and perhaps a touch too loud, but the Xenos and their Human Commander didn't seem to complain as the shaking came back, and even stronger. The group was in a near sprint towards the elevator as the Human Commander seemed to send a vox message to someone called "Joker" to bring something called the "Normandy" over to their location immediately. Liberius didn't question it as the group finally got on the lift and the Commander dealt with the elevator control panel to send it up to the top.
As they waited agonizing seconds for the elevator to reach its destination the Human Commander asked the Asari doctor, "Dr. T'Soni, are you ok?"
"Um...I think so...I think I'm on fire...or is that a hallucination?" The doctor asked in confusion.
"It is no hallucination Xenos...but it will not burn you...not yet anyways." Liberius stated bluntly.
"Oh...that's...comforting?" The Xenos questioned just as the lift reached its destination.
The group however found they could not leave as an unhelmeted Krogan Xenos and half a dozen Geth were waiting for them at the exit with weapons raised.
"Surrender, or don't, more fun that way." The large reptilian Xenos creature demanded.
"Are you insane!? This whole place is coming down and you want to fight!?" Shepard called out indignantly.
"Relax Commander, I will fulfill his wish." Liberius announced as he revved up the chainsword in his right hand, and in a moment was suddenly on the move.
The mortal Xenos couldn't keep up with him as Liberius surged forward, cutting down the two Geth closest to him with a single swing before continuing by jumping nearly across the room towards a sniper hiding behind some crates, cleaving the machine in half from the head down. With rage and anger Liberius continued to, without a word, dance around the Krogan as he cut down Geth after Geth...and soon there was only Liberius, the Xenos on his shoulder, and the Krogan left...all of his machines having been torn asunder by adamantium teeth. To his credit, the Krogan didn't seem fazed by this, rather he charged and let loose a black from his weak shotgun, the rounds bouncing off Liberius's armored torso as if they were nothing. However, Liberius stood his ground and watched the Krogan charge into him...and then bounce off as if he was made of rubber. Then the Krogan began to scream, a blood-curdling howl as he found himself on fire, a fire he'd run straight into...a fire that began to melt his armor, a fire that began to melt his flesh and cause his muscle and fat to bubble off the bone, a fire that began to turn him to ash from the sheer heat of it all and in seconds the Krogan was reduced to nothing but ash in the non-existent subterranean wind.
The entire time Liberius watched the Xenos burn in eerie silence, only once he was ash did Liberius look away and towards Shepard and the three other Xenos with her, "Come on, we have little time left."
As if to accentuate that point, rocks began falling from the cavern's ceiling just outside where the exit was, and without a work Liberius and the team ran for the tube that would let them leave this doomed dig site. All around them loose boulders fell, the shaking grew in intensity, and Liberius could see sprouts of lava entering the cavern below, he wondered a brief moment if they'd activated a volcano, it wasn't too far off consider the state of this world he'd found himself on. And then, then they were out, Liberius had held himself back but he was impressed at the speed these unaugmented creatures could achieve as they ran up that tube and into the sunlight of day. And there before them was a rather small ship with a lowered ramp, close enough for everyone to jump upon it, Liberius tossed the Asari off his shoulder and onto the ramp where the flames ceased to surround her without a connection to him...and then he did something he rarely ever did, he hesitated.
"Liberius! Come on!" The Commander called Shepard shouted at him from the safety of the ramp, but Liberius still hesitated, turning to look at the onrushing lava that was now coming straight up from the tube and towards him so fast that even he probably couldn't avoid it if he dallied too long, he looked to this molten landscape that surrounded him and had to actually ask himself...what to do?
If he left with these people he could miss something, something from Raxium, maybe this was Raxium...but no, it couldn't be, Liberius knew this. He knew he was being foolishly sentimental, knew he was being bullheaded, and yet...even if staying meant death perhaps that would be preferable...after all what did he have left after his Father's betrayal? What was left for him after the death of so many of his Sons, so many of his people, and the devastation wrought upon his world? Yes, death was preferable, at least then he could join those he cared about in whatever afterlife the Immaterium would offer him.
"Please, come." A quiet, feminine voice sounded in his mind, Liberius's eyes shot open as he turned his head from the molten landscape to the source of that voice, or what he thought was the source of that voice...the Asari who looked at him through tired bluish-purple eyes.
His hesitation now gone, Liberius jumped forward onto the ramp just as the ship was pulling away, and with one final look over his shoulder Liberius watched the molten magma spill over where he'd just been a moment before. With a deep breath Liberius turned away and continued up the ramp and into a cargo hold of sorts where the other Xenos and Human Commander were waiting...behind him Liberius heard the ramp close and with its closure his choice was made.
/
Author's Note: Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed the first chapter to the Lost Primarch. Please feel free to leave reviews with any criticism you might have, however just a warning for those who will post looking for the next chapter, I'll be posting the chapters irregularly because there's never enough time in the day and because I write rather large chapters so hopefully quality will make up for quantity. With luck, next chapter will be up sooner rather than later, and I hope you all have a good day.