Rising

To Nate, death was something that he never expected to occur for at least half a century to him. He had barely broken into the tennage years and was still quite early in his life. There was a lot he was looking forward to.

Then he died.

It wasn't even a exciting or worthwhile death in his opinion. In fact, in hindsight, it was an utter failure of a method to exit the living. What was it exactly?

Nate's foot had slipped on a staircase and the weight of his school backpack had toppled him forwards and over the railing when he tried to regain balance, leading the boy to fall to his death a few stories down. It was a clean and simple wound really, a smooth snap of the neck that yielded utter darkness. How unfortunate, Nate thought rather cynically, and then died.

O O O

5th Day: Cycle 5001

He woke up to the buzzing of flies.

It was a persistent sound in his ear, the hum and throb of tiny wings that never ended. A slight tickling sensation on his cheek signaled that one such fly had landed on his cheek, and his body shivered in response, startling the insect and sending it buzzing off. Slowly, his eyes opened up, eyelid cracking open to view what afterlife he had been sent to.

He was sure that it was the afterlife after a quick look, for he was lying ontop of what seemed to be mutilated corpses.

Indeed, several pale and lifeless limbs were sticking out of the pile he had awoken ontop of, the bodies clad in pathetic attempts at clothing and he was no different. He took a quick look at himself as he gently slid off the corpse pile, noting he was wearing what seemed to be a poor excuse of a hospital gown.

The glint of light caught his eye and he turned to examine this new item: a broken mirror, sticking out of presumably a trash pile that was stacked neatly next to the dead bodies. Gingerly, he pulled out the broken shard and tilted it carefully to examine himself. There was a low and shocked gasp as he nearly dropped the shard, stunned by his appearance.

He wasn't human. In the mirror, the boy once known as Nate still saw a young boy, but definitely not a human. For one, his ears weren't normal; they were pointed and sharp, sticking out of his oddly blue colored hair. His eyes drew his attention next, the golden irises tilted vertically much like a snake. His complexion appeared to be quite fair to the point of almost becoming a ghost, and he was incredibly slim. What in the world was he?

The Firstborn. The term sprang to his mind without any effort, as well as its meaning. We are the first of this universe.

With that, an entire well of knowledge surfaced in his mind, as well as a new name: Zane. This life became blindingly clear, all the suffering and the pain pressing in. He clutched his head his brain throbbed with agony, memories literally slicing his nerves.

This was the world of Ark. The home city of the glorious Firstborn race. Its majesty and elegance took form in glorious skyscrapers, nodes, crystal generators. It was a bustling hub of life, the central government, the perfect city upon a hill.

That was, until one took a look at the lower levels of society.

His memories were broken and shattered from trauma, but Zane could remember fragments and important details. He was born in the slums of the city, with a family poorer than mice. His parents died very soon after his birth, their death unnoticed by all but their children. Growing up on the streets had done nothing to bring happiness, and had only instilled a very tough and harsh attitude upon him. Then...

His memory refused to pull up any more information, a harsh flash of pain clouding the time before his...death?

Zane remembered one detail out of that time; seeing his own heart getting ripped from his body. That was enough.

With a deep breath, Zane turned to look back at the pile of bodies and, for the first time, noticed their desecration. There was very clear evidence showing that they had been operated upon, then discarded. To what purpose or end though?

Looking around, Zane finally took in his surroundings and found his next step forward. He and the pile of bodies and the pile of trash appeared to be in a dimly lit enclosed metallic room, walls and floor stained with the blood of countless corpses before him. At one of corners of the room, there was a metal door, illuminated by a red power streak that ran across it. Come to think of it, it was the only real source of light in here. Where did the rest come from?

"All personnel, please prepare," An unseen intercom blared, as if answering his question. But it wasn't exactly a good answer. "Incinerator now activating."

The ground below him suddenly began to move as Zane realized with sinking horror why the bodies were tossed in here. A burning heat was felt by his legs as he scrambled away from the widening gap in the center of the room, the boy staring down into a pit of fire that his corpse would've disappeared into. I'm going to die again!

That realization jolted him into action as Zane rushed to the metal door and began pounding on it. Nothing! He kicked. Nothing! How was he going to get out?!

In a fit of frustration and anger, Zane slammed his fist into the door. There was no reaction besides aching bones, but then- a spark! His hand came alight as electrical currents coursed from the door's energy to him, a intense feeling that left Zane screaming as his body tried so hard to accept this new power source. He collapsed on the ground in pain, noting how close the maw of the incinerator was now. There really was nothing he could do, was there?

Then the door, its power source gone, activated the failsafe: opening up to reveal a shocked masked person at the controls of the incinerator. "What the hell?!" The man's angered shout snapped Zane out of his reverie of pain and the boy lunged forward, rolling into the control room just as the gap reached him.

The would-be murderer got out of his seat and fiddled with something at his belt, but Zane was already on him, fists cackling with electricity as he punched the larger individual. The sudden melee attack brought the man down and Zane proceeded to simply pummel him. It was only when the struggling stopped and the resisting hands fell limp did the boy paused and fall back, taken back by the wave of exhaustion over him. Moments later, he was hit by another realization as he looked down at the lifeless body in front of him.

Zane had just killed a man. The shock of killing another washed over him as he shivered, but almost immediately, it was then gone. It was replaced by cold efficiency and resolve as the boy began to search the body for anything useful. They tried to kill me. It's my life or theirs, and I value my life far much more than they value mine.

There was only one thing he could really take, and that was a small baton object from the man's belt. Was this what he was trying to go for in the struggle? It was almost as long as Zane's head, nothing very special.

That was, until his fingers brushed over and pressed a small button at the base. With a surprising amount of force, the baton unfurled quickly, snapping into the shape of a long and thing pole. Zane staggered a bit from the sudden shift in weight, but he quickly recovered and tried hefting it around. It swung almost effortlessly for the boy, almost as if reacting to his demands and adjusting for them. It would most certainly do for a weapon.

Noticing that the pole would hardly fit through the door unless he held it in a very blatant way, Zane pushed the button again and the weapon folded back up into a baton with ease. He had no belt to hang it off like the dead man, but just having something in his hands made Zane confident. He could find a way out of this place.

The door to the control room hissed open and Zane nimbly dashed through, pressing himself aganist the nearest wall out of instinct. He was right now in an empty corridor, one that seemingly lead to many doors, paths, leads. There thankfully seemed to be no cameras, as that would most definitely raise alarms if they saw an escaped test subject. However, where was Zane supposed to go?

Again, as if answering his question, an intercom cackled to life over his head. "All personnel, please note that subject 263 has escaped from his cell. Repeat, subject 263 has escaped. Code yellow."

263? Zane glanced down at his meager clothes and saw the number 262 sewed on the upper left chest area. So they didn't know that he was alive and running around. But then who else escaped?

He didn't have time to think about that question any longer as one of the doors just a few meters away opened up and two grumbling security guards in red armor emerged from it. "Code yellow, my arse," One of them muttered through a helmet. "Probably going to be caught before we even start our rounds."

"Can't they just accept nobody's going to care for them?" The other guard harshly suggested, straightening his belt. "Well, let's get it over with-"

Without hesitation, Zane unfurled his weapon and slammed the end into the back of a guard's helmet, sending the man sprawling forwards. The other guard immediately turned around to meet this sudden attack, but he was greeted by a pole to the face as Zane struck in one smooth downwards motion using the other end. This caused the man to bend over in pain, and the boy quickly followed up with a kick to the abdomen that knocked the guard down next to his partner. The two were still alive, but were definitely not going to get up for a while.

Not wanting to lose anymore time searching for an escape, Zane took off opposite the door the guards had emerged from. He had no real idea where he was going, but he was determined to get out of this facility. But it was going to very much more difficult now.

More and more guards were appearing in the corridors that had once been empty, and many of them spotted Zane before he could bolt in a different direction. "You there! Stop!" They had shouted before taking off in pursuit. Soon enough, he had an entire squad of them trying to catch the boy as he rounded corner after corner in this endless maze of corridors. How in the world was he going to lose them?!

The answer was somehow far simpler than expected when Zane decided to take a chance and went into one of the many random doors. As he passed, his hand brushed against the control panel inside and sparks flew as the escapee shivered. The panel short-circuited and the door slammed shut, locking itself as was the random nature of such electronics when a fuse was blown. "He's locked himself in the armory!" The faint cry of the guards could be heard as Zane looked around in surprise.

Indeed, he appeared to be in a room filled with weapons and armor. Racks upon racks of rifles were stacked neatly against the walls, and hundreds of various odd shaped batons, handles, and nightsticks were scattered around the room on tables. They could easily outfit an entire army in here!

What drew Zane's eyes was a set of interesting looking silver gauntlets on one of these tables. He wasn't exactly sure why they alone stood out to him, it was just as if they called to him. With slight hesitation, Zane slide them on and rotated his hands experimentally. The armaments surprisngly left his wrists quite free and flexible, and they hardly constricted any movements. What did they do?

He had no idea. But then, the light glinting off the gauntlets led him to look involuntarily up to the ceiling and the lone lightbulb in the room. And just right next to that light bulb...perfect.

"We've got him!" The guards cried out as they finally managed to rewire the door to open and stormed in. They had weapons out and ready to subdue the escape captive, but he was nowhere to be seen as they turned the armory inside out looking. In the rather loud clatter of noise they made, none of the guards heard the thumping of metal right above their heads.

Zane grunted a bit as he crawled through the small vent, thankful that his child sized body was quite adapted to this environment. He passed over several grates that showed the corridors of the facility, and he immediately saw that solo escape would be very difficult. There were just too many guards in the place for a single person to evade; another escape plan would have to be enacted.

But there was one grate that made Zane paused as he reached it. It was quiet and dark, unlike the others he had passed over by, and it reeked of...something. It wasn't a very pleasant smell, that was for sure. The boy leaned over to see if he could get a better look of what was inside.

And then the grate collapsed under him, Zane tumbling out of the vents and crashing onto the ground below as he got up and looked at the vents in bewilderment. Ah...it would appear that much like the room he was in now, the grate was quite poorly maintained and gave way easily under the boy's weight. He would have to be a bit more careful from now on.

Just as that resolution set in, a pair of powerful hands reached over Zane's shoulders and put him in a choke hold, dragging him off his feet as he frantically beat against his captor's wrists. Realizing he couldn't just hit his way out, the boy opted to bend over and throw the attacker over his head- a risky maneuver, as it could snap his own neck, but it worked as the choke hold was broken and Zane was freed from his captor. He scrambled back up to his feet and looked to make out his attacker just as his assailant was doing the same. There was a pause.

"...Brother?"

A/N: And a Happy New Year to you all. This is my gift. The Protoss Rebirth!

...okay, so I should probably explain myself. "In a few weeks" suddenly turned into "in a few months" as I realized how massive Into the Void was for the franchise. Possibly the last Starcraft game we'll be getting for a while. Hence, I decided to go back and do a quick rewrite for the first few chapters to better set the mood to reflect that of the new expansion. I do hope that you are all still interested in this series and will continue to support it!