Zeratul's Private Struggle

Time: Post Great War- About Two Years

character: Zeratul

age: 635

Race: Protoss

note: All mental talk is placed in italics

Chapter I: Aching Memories

The brave protoss warriors stood facing off against the unending tide of zerg that had come surging across the molten lava river. Warrior after warrior fell trying to buy enough time for the remainder of the warriors to escape. Zeratul and his matriarch Raszagal chief among them. The many photon cannons strewn throughout the large encampment continued to fire their ion blasts at the zerg mutalisks but were soon blown to pieces as the larger evolved versions of the mutalisks, called guardians, came and struck from a distance beyond the cannons reach with their acid. Overlords slowly flew overhead dropping off more and more zerg warriors to face off against the failing protoss defense. The five carriers that had been brought as a precaution continued to unload their interceptors at the zerg flyers but were still being harried by the scourge and mutalisks making it difficult to focus on the zerg ground forces. More and more robotic dragoons and reavers took to the field utilizing their own weapons as best they could, laying waste to scores of zerg that were quickly replaced by more. Overhead scores of scouts and the new dark templar air units called corsairs were fighting as hard as they could against the zerg flyers but were losing on every front. More and more protoss structures were getting damaged or destroyed. The large nexus had already fallen and the warpgate had been disabled so no reinforcements were available. The protoss warriors knew they were outmatched but kept fighting anyway if anything to prove to themselves and their ancestors that they were not cowards in the face of death.

Soon the massive ultralisks were utilized and tore through the protoss warriors like paper, its thick tusks easily shearing through armor, flesh and bone. With this the protoss knew the battle was lost but they kept fighting anyway. They would die as warriors not cowards! So they did all of them until there were none left save two. Zeratul and Raszagal. After the last of the protoss warriors fell the zerg stopped and stood or floated waiting. After a moment a shuttle appeared from somewhere and landed on the large hill where the stasis cell holding Raszagal stood only slightly damaged from the fighting. When it reached the surface it unloaded its cargo one protoss.. Zeratul. Standing tall despite the knowledge that death was fast approaching he walked over to the stasis cell and placed one of his hands on the glass. At the same time two overlords appeared only about two-hundred feet from him and unloaded their own cargo three beings. Two ultralisks who immediately moved towards Zeratul as if to corner him and one female. Tall, with Medusa spikes for hair and talons on the ends of her hands with green/brown skin and dull yellow eyes that seemed almost alive. As well on her back were two large bony wings that ended in large spikes that could impale anything and almost seemed to have a mind of its own sometimes. Kerrigan. She stepped forward a few feet but did not say a word. Zeratul slightly moved his hand across the glass and clenched one of his fists. Then with no preamble she said: " You cannot hope to free her Zeratul she is under my control". Zeratul slowly turned to the person he hated more than anything else in this universe and at this moment wished he could somehow destroy her now but could only contend himself with saying: " Curse you Kerrigan for what i am forced to do" With that Zeratul turned and slashed through the stasis cell with his warp blade and subsequently Raszagal. Kerrigan took a step back surprised. Raszagal crumpled to the ground only to be caught by Zeratul. Her eyes were half closed in a smile and she said, her voice constantly changing due to the mind control: "' You have freed me from her vile control at last. You have always served me with honor... thus i must ask you to watch over my tribe... Zeratul... into your hands i give the future. With that Raszagal closed her eyes completely and died. Free at last from the Queen of Blades control.

Kerrigan could not believe it and so her voice showed her surprise when she said: " I can't believe it... you killed your own matriarch. Zeratul lowered Raszagal to the ground, stood, turned to face Kerrigan and said: Better she died by my hand than live on as your slave... Kerrigan. Kerrigan responded: " Well clearly i've misjudged you. You are a true warrior. You are free to go. Zeratul was surprised he responded: What? Kerrigan said: " I said you are free to go. I've already taken your honor. Ill let you live because i know that your every waking moment will be torture. You'll never be able to forgive yourself for what i've forced you to do. That Zeratul is the best revenge i could have ever imagined...

Zeratul forcefully tore himself from the awful memory and began thinking again on the past and his current situation: It has been two years since the events that transpired during the Great War took place, where Kerrigan not only broke from her bonds to the Overmind but also ascended to the position of Queen of the Zerg, Zeratul bitterly recalled as he slowly trudged across the barren twilight deserts of Shakurus. To ensure that he was truly isolated, for such was his desire, Zeratul slowly looked and could see that he was at least fifty miles away from any Protoss city. Lest any wayward protoss seek my council. Isolation was something that he wanted these days, with all that he had seen and borne witness to, time to think was a blessing in disguise. At the same time isolation allows for one to see what has happened before and see how it could have been different. Zeratul continued thinking: It has been almost two years since the very woman who sought to bring peace to our races and put an end to the UED threat betrayed me and the rest of the Protoss race. Who forced me to kill the only one among my people who had commanded my utmost respect, my matriarch Raszagal. Yet the wound is still very fresh, still painful to even think about, Zeratul continued to think. I, with all of my heart, wish there was a way I could have changed the course of events that have transpired but I cannot and so I am stuck in this "self-dug hole" ,I believe I have heard Raynor say once, trying to figure my way out of it in some way. What was worse about this wound than any of the other wounds he had received over his many centuries of life, though, was that this one was self-inflicted.

Zeratul had been so lost in his self-loathing that he had not noticed that an Aiur protoss had come from another part of the twilight desert and had started to walk next to him. Aiur protoss, Zeratul's brethren seemed to like to call the refugees this even though those same refugees were not that much different. After a moment of mental silence Zeratul finally broke it by saying in a mental voice that any Terran would associate with dry leaves rustling: Brother, what brings you here to my place of isolation, you are very far away from any of the cities? Although this planet is devoid of any real harmful creatures it still is important to stay close to your family. A wave of calm and,surprisingly, good feeling washed over Zeratul and he could not help but wonder what had made this young protoss so upbeat. His answer came when the protoss thought: My brother;I am elated because I have found you at long last. You see, me and a small group of other Khalai from Aiur have decided that we are ready to learn the ways of the Dark On- I mean the Dark Templar so that the rift between our two people may finally be mended.

Zeratul could not help but fell a small tinge of pride creep in his soul at the young protoss's enthusiasm towards his people's history and culture. However, he hated when this feeling came around, he knew that there were certain aspects of the Dark Templar's history that would need to remain hidden. Zeratul looked at the protoss, who was doing his best to mentally conceal his excitement but was clearly failing at it; as Zeratul could easily feel the young Khalai's almost uncontrolled eagerness to learn and study, and so feeling somewhat heartened, said: I am willing to teach you about our people but understand all that you will learn will not be everything we are. Parts of our history I would prefer to remain exactly that; our history, for our people only. As well some parts are rather dark and don't need to see the light of day as it were. Zeratul could see the passion start to die in the protoss' eyes and took pity on him, saying: But perhaps in time when the rift between our two people has been repaired we will be willing to share our past. The protoss shook his head vigorously in understanding and responded: I will do my utmost to learn everything from you and use the knowledge to help the whole of the protoss people heal! Zeratul saw the passion flood back into the protoss's eyes again like some recently built dam had been torn down and sent a wave of happiness to the protoss which seemed to make him even more passionate about the learning experience.

The protoss turned his back to Zeratul then proceeded to run in a seemingly random direction, though Zeratul knew well that the protoss knew where he was going. The student ran in long graceful strides that would be impossible for all except the fittest of Terrans to keep up with, yet Zeratul had no problem catching up to and even surpassing the protoss. Which made the protoss start to run even faster. Soon enough the two protoss, teacher and student, were in a race to one of the protoss cities where Zeratul would begin the young student's instruction. For the first time Zeratul felt somewhat... competitive and desired to beat his new student, although he would not feel pain if he lost. They were soon within a few miles of one of the protoss cities on Shakuras. Neither protoss seemed out of breath... if they could breath like the Terrans did, but they didn't. Rather they expressed weakness in the body through sensations that did not necessarily require the Khala to feel. They both stopped abruptly near a large, dead, oddly shaped tree. Zeratul had seen this particular tree many times during his walks of isolation but his student seemed to be somewhat fascinated by it. It looks dead but it is not is it teacher, came a thought from the young student. Zeratul slowly nodded his head and responded saying: You are correct this is the rare Shakuro tree. Only five exist on this planet. It is the only official life other than us that exists here. We dark templar look to this tree as a symbol of tenacity and strength for even though Shakurus is mostly a desert and there is no rainfall to help keep this tree alive it continues to still be here as though in defiance of nature herself. The young student nodded his head slowly in understanding as he realized he had just received his first lesson about the dark templar. Zeratul turned in the opposite direction of the tree, regarding the vague shadow of the protoss city and then turned to his student and said: I can defeat you in a race to the gates of the city. The statement was rather blunt and although Zeratul secretly regretted how brash his words were he was surprised when the student did not seem to show any disappointment. Rather the student simply replied: I will defeat you, teacher, in a race to the gates of the city. With that the two protoss resumed their rather humorous chase.

After a short time, both protoss had made it to the large purple and blue walls of the city. Of course Zeratul had made it there first and almost failed to resist a quick jab at the student for his loss. Rather Zeratul quickly focused on the task at hand and gave an order for the gates to be opened giving his name and rank just as "insurance". The guards, both Aiur and Shakurus protoss, used their different psionic powers to open the large purple and black gates. As they were opening Zeratul had, for the first time in two years, the pleasant thought that things were going to work out well. At least this will be a useful distraction from my grief. With that final thought he shuttered his mind and proceeded past the now open gates into the bustling city.

Authors note: I Walker of Shadow would like to personally thank my dear friend Silent Hunt for "allowing" me to take a few names and ideas from his own story and integrate them into my own. It really created for me a new type of plot that added a sense of intrigue for me. I hope that in the future we may assist each other with stories as well. Thank you again Silent Hunt.