AN:
Hello again. Now as a remainder for all of you readers that read my previous story Remnant of the Swarm you can skip this prologue and go right into the next chapter.
For all you new readers, read this prologue before continuing onwards. This has important info on Ceres and how he arrived onto the LOL universe.
Disclaimer: I don't own League of Legends or the StarCraft franchise, both are owned by their own respective owners, Riot Games and Blizzard.
"Normal talk"
'Thoughts'
"SHOUTING"
"Telepathic communication/Other"
Prologue Part 2: Death
Narrator Ceres:
After releasing me from that accursed prison, my queen officially indoctrinated my psionic signature as a commanding figure within the Zerg Swarms' hierarchy.
Later, on my queen's orders, I found some Terran clothes that I manage to salvage from the destroyed facility. Now I'm wearing a black long sleeved turtle neck sweater, dress pants with a black belt, a pair of combat boots, and an old lab coat with the bottom trim portion of the coat slightly damaged.
After getting dressed, my queen and I began to make our way to her Leviathan.
As we made our way to the Leviathan, my queen informed me of the previous events that has happened since my death and her plans for the future.
I was intrigued by her past stories, especially the ones about the Terran James Raynor, the Brood Wars, the Cerebrates successors the Broodmothers, and her conquest and evolution on Zeras. My queen also told me her reason for her return to lead the swarm.
Luckily my queen made sure that tyrant suffered before eradicating him, and now he is nothing but ashes to the wind.
Once we arrived at the Leviathan, my queen introduced her co-hosts to me. Suffice to say she has collected an interesting group.
There was Isha, a Zerg organism who was created by the old Queen of Blades for the sole purpose to house all of her collected knowledge and give information and status updates accordingly of any specific being, location or the Swarm itself.
There was Abathur, a unique Zerg organism that I'm all too familiar with. His purpose is to be the Swarm's evolution master, changing and improving the swarm depending on the situation and the will of my queen over all else. He was the one who first changed my queen into the old Queen of Blades.
There was Alexei Stukov who I already knew about.
And finally there was Dehaka, a Primal Zerg from Zeras. Now this being was both interesting and simple when it came to his motives. Dehaka said the reason he joined my queen was the potential to collect more essence for himself. He is similar to what the Terrans call a 'mercenary,' only fighting to reap the potential reward.
Also when I first saw him, I immediately saw the true reason why my queen allowed him and his pack to join the Swarm, as well as his part to play in the upcoming battle with the tyrant Mengsk.
I have taught her well.
My queen then introduced and opened psionic communications to me with the Broodmothers, Zerg beings that replaced and succeeded the roles that the Cerebrates use to have.
At first they questioned my queen's decision of allowing a Terran into the Swarms commanding hierarchy.
I merely replied by psionically crushing their minds.
When it comes to the Zerg hierarchy, the strongest and most powerful will lead. I didn't kill them, I just wanted to show them that I can if I wanted to and for questioning my queen's decision.
On the order of my queen, I released my hold over hundreds of Broodmothers, many of them having newfound respect for me.
After releasing them, my queen decreed to the rest of the Swarm that I, Ceres, will be her second in command of the Zerg Swarm and all those who question her and my authority will be punished severely.
None of the Broodmothers dared to argue back, they merely accepted her order and my new position.
After introductions, my queen ordered the entire Zerg Swarm to move to Korhal, the capital world of the Terran Dominion, for the invasion.
My queen then ordered me to go to Abathur and to tell him to upgrade and change myself in order to prepare for the battles ahead.
When I arrived at the evolution pit, Abathur greeted me and asked what was my purpose for the visit.
After explaining why, we proceeded to intergrade myself with the upgrades of my choice.
After five hours I stepped out of the chrysalis pod in my naked and newly upgraded body.
Visually, I still looked like a physically fit adolescent Terran, besides the carapace plating that is on my forearms. However, biologically and psionically I changed.
My first change was to my body, or specifically, my cells. To the molecular level, my body is entirely Zerg, this was done for two reasons. One, to fully be part of the Zerg Swarm once again, and two, in order to handle my full psionic power and upgrades.
Also due to having barely no carapace for protection, Abathur gave my body a regenerative factor that far surpasses the Roaches. With this regeneration I can replace limbs, organs and heal any wound in a matter of a few seconds. However, this will drain me of energy depending on the number of injuries I sustain.
The second change to myself is the ability to grow and house lethal Hydralisk spines inside my arms. This way I can shoot them from my wrist or hands with greater force and velocity than that of a regular Hydralisk.
Another change, and one of my favorites, is the retractable wrist blades on my forearms and the only part of me that shows my affiliation with the Zerg. Each blade is sixteen inches in length starting from the wrist and also are made from the same near indestructible materials used in the Ultralisks Kaiser Blades. I can also manipulate the density of each blade, meaning I can cut at a molecular level in order to pierce the densest of armor.
I can also channel my psionic energy through these blades like my queen does with the tips of her skeletal like wings. This makes them have the same cutting power as the Protoss psi and warp blades. Later I discovered that it can also block these same weapons and those that are similar.
Then there were the regular upgrades and benefits that came with being a Zerg, such as night vision, heightened senses, superior strength, superior agility, superior immune system, etc.
However, all these upgrades pale in comparison to the potential of the two of my most important upgrades.
The first upgrade is the ability to manipulate the Zerg DNA, similar to what Abathur does within the swarm. I can integrate new upgrades and evolutions to the Swarm, however, Abathur does it far more efficiently and almost instantaneously.
My second upgrade is the ability to create a Zerg larvae from essence alone. With this I can create a brood if I find myself separated from the rest of the Swarm in hostile or unknown territory or both for long periods of time. This most likely won't happen but it's good to be prepared for any situation.
Thanks to these new upgrades and changes, my body can now fully utilize my psionic powers. However, unlike my queen who uses her psionic powers for her devastating attacks and my previous nature as a Cerebrate, I use my psionic powers more defensively. My mind specifically is protected from all psionic abilities, only psionic users that rival or are greater than my queen can have any hope of breaking my psionic defenses, and even then they will find that I'm not so easy to break. I can also detect any cloaked or non-cloaked beings in a large area around me and can suppress my psionic signature in order to avoid detection from psionic sensitive beings.
Besides these defensive psionic abilities, I have some offensive abilities. Other then the basic psionic abilities, I can read and control the minds of any non-psionic user and even some high level psionic users from both the Protoss and the Terrans. Like stated before, only those with psionic powers and training greater or equal of that of my queen can they possibly block me out of their minds, though with great difficulty.
With mind control, it's different between psionic and non-psionic users. With non-psionic and even with some average level psionic users I can control them indefinitely and use them to spy on the enemy. However, with powerful psionic users like the Protoss, If I can break their mental barriers, I can control them, but I can only do so for a limited amount of time depending on how powerful the individual is.
Due to my psionics being as powerful as it is, this can allow me to control millions of Zerg units without the assistance of overlords, however, in order to do this feat, I must become immobilized in order to concentrate on my control. I can also possess and control any Zerg units besides the commanding hierarchy of Broodmothers and the queen herself, for obvious reasons. As I'm in control, I can use and channel small amounts of my psionic powers in order to make the Zerg unit I'm possessing and those within my vicinity much more powerful.
After reviewing my upgrades and changes with Abathur, I dried myself off and went to put on my clothes that I previously discarded before entering the chrysalis pod.
As I was getting dressed my queen entered the chamber when she received news of the completion of my upgrades.
When she saw me fully dressed, she gave me a questioning look, she expected me to look more Zerg than Terran. My queen then questioned why I still look like a Terran.
I gave my queen an answer that greatly satisfied her.
*Flashback*
Kerrigan received word from Abathur about Ceres's completion.
When she arrived, she was surprised to see that her second in command looked exactly the same. However, she can tell that he did in fact changed, just not as visually as she expected. She turned to Ceres giving him a calculating stare, then to Abathur giving him a hard stare.
"Ceres. Why do you still look like a Terran? Abathur. Did you even upgrade Ceres like you're supposed to do?"
Before Abathur can answer, Ceres interrupted and answered first.
"Yes. I did receive a number of upgrades and changes to my body from Abathur, my queen. And as for why I still look like a Terran, I specifically asked Abathur to keep my visage," Ceres explained as he looked towards his queen.
Kerrigan looked towards Ceres then to Abathur for conformation.
"Is this true Abathur?"
"Yes. Organism Ceres. Fully upgraded to serve Zerg Swarm. Requested to keep Terran organic visage. Reasons unknown," Abathur replied as Kerrigan turned her stare back to Ceres.
"What is your reason for this," asked Kerrigan with a questioning tone.
"My queen. If you and I met on the battlefield, not knowing what I am or what I could do, what would be your first impressions of me be?" Questioned Ceres, as Kerrigan gave him a calculating stare.
She then answered "If I was the old Queen of Blades than I would've seen you as an easy prey. However, as I am now, I would just have questioned myself as to why is there a child on the battlefield and would most likely ignore you, even if you'd attacked me?"
"Exactly, my queen. Due to my visage, I would send you into a false sense of security and thus you won't perceive me as a threat until too late. With this visage I can disguise myself and any enemy soldiers or commanders I will encounter will most likely won't perceive me as a threat, not knowing what truly lies underneath this skin. To them I'm a weak and a lone Terran, but to me, their naivety will be the opening I need to eliminate them," Ceres explained to Kerrigan as the latter just realized the strategic reasoning behind it.
Suffice to say Kerrigan was reminded why she held so much respect for her guardian in the past. Not for his ferocity or power, but for his strategy, tactics and observational skills that brought many victories for the Zerg.
The corner of Kerrigans lips twitched upwards, forming a smirk of satisfaction. "There is an old Terran saying that describes someone like you. You're a wolf in sheep's clothing," Kerrigan said.
The Cerebrate in turn smiled.
"I couldn't agree more, my queen."
*Flashback Ends*
After my queens visit and her receiving the summary of my upgrades from Abathur, the Zerg Swarm arrived at the Dominion capital world. Korhal.
Before the invasion commenced, my queen had a discussion with Prince Valerian about the evacuation of the civilians of Korhal, specifically Augustgrad.
Overall Prince Valerian asked my queen to give them enough time to evacuate the Terran civilians by landing the Swam outside the city walls, my queen gave her word.
Once the conversation was over, my queen ordered the invasion to commence.
This would be my first battle in over four years of imprisonment.
Millions upon millions of drop pods were dropped to the surface, however, the Dominion planetary defenses were holding against the Swarms onslaught.
But like all defenses, they can break. Thanks to my queen's intervention, the Zerg Swarm destroyed the defenses of the capital city of Korhal one after another, getting closer to Mengsk with every victory.
In a last ditch attempt, Mengsk ordered the activation of the most infamous weapon of the Zerg, the Psi Destroyer. A weapon that attacks the Zergs psionic connection, ripping them apart.
This would've turned the battle to the tyrant's favor, if were not for Dehaka. My queen foresaw something like this happening and Dehaka and his pack of Primal Zerg, due to not having any form of a psi connection with the Swarm, were the perfect force for this battle. He and his pack destroyed all of the power links to the psi destroyer and then with my queen, they destroyed Mengsk's last hope for winning this battle.
After the destruction of the Psi Destroyer, the Swarm arrived at Mengsk's last defense in the Imperial sector, it was defended by his most elite units.
When the battle started, Mengsk's elite forces fought tooth and nail against the Swarm, however, my queen destroyed the gates leading to the Imperial center for the rest of the Swarm to move in, causing even more death and destruction to Mensk's forces.
The most surprising event that has happened during the battle was when James Raynor and his army decided to aid the Swarm in attacking Mengsk's defenses.
In all my years leading the Swarm, this was the first time that a Terran, with more reasons to hate my queen than most, would willingly aid the Zerg Swarm.
With this new addition to our forces, the Swarm destroyed all pockets of resistance and defenses protecting the capital building.
My queen then proceeded inside the building alone in order to kill Mengsk, once and for all.
After an hour of waiting, the swarm felt that their queen in pain and her screams of agony echoed in our minds.
I myself sensed a strange psionic signature within the building with each flare of its energy accompanied by my queen's screams of pain. I almost went inside to try and save my queen, however, her moment of pain vanished as I also sensed James Raynor. He saved my queen for the second time from that tyrant.
Soon I sensed a massive buildup of psionic energies generating at the top of the building where they were.
After a brief moment there was a fiery explosion where I could sense my queen and James Raynor, both of them were alive and fine.
Knowing that the battle is over I ordered all Zerg units back into the Leviathans, preparing for departure and our next battle.
A year has pasted since the battle of Korhal, the Terrans and the new Dominion were rebuilding, the Protoss were preparing to take back their home planet of Aiur and my queen and the Zerg Swarm were busy trying to find any clues about Amon's location.
For a whole year, there has been somewhat of a peace between all three races due to each busy with some form of preparation.
However, this peace has ended abruptly.
It all started when reports of the Terran controlled worlds all over the sector were being attacked by the once missing Moebius Corps, the entirety of the Protoss and their fleet The Golden Armada was corrupted and was under a mind control, and thus started eradicating all life on every planet they come across. The remnants of the Zerg Broods from both Aiur and those not under my queens control started attacking various worlds. And the Tal'darim were secretly preparing for something and attacking the last free Protoss under Artanis.
This was not a coincidence. Reports of Hybrid abominations are seen leading each of these armies into battle.
This was when the different individuals within the three different races of the Korpulu sector knew that Amon has arrived and the End War has begun.
During all this chaos, my queen redoubled her efforts of finding Amon by herself, leaving me as her second in command to overlook the defense against both the Golden Armada and Amon's Zerg Broods.
With the Zerg Swarm under my command I fared better against Amon's armies compared to the other two races, however, I was fighting a losing battle.
The Golden Armada bared their most powerful weapons of destruction upon the Zerg Swarm, eradicating any opposition, while Amon's Zerg Brood are mainly used as meat shields and distractions till the Golden Armada arrives to eradicate any opposition that is left over. The hybrids were also killing Broodmothers in order wrest and gain control of those broods from the Swarm, adding to their armies. However, even with these losses, I was learning their tactics and made sure to make them suffer for every victory they gain.
During this time, my queen heard whispers in her head to head to the home of the ancient beings of creation, the Xel'naga, located in the Alterian Rift.
This new information led my queen to Ulnar where the Xel'naga made their home.
Once there, my queen had to fight through Amon's forces as she made her way to the center of the Xel'naga temple. During her fight with some of Amon's Hybrids she encountered the Protoss Hierarch Artanis.
With the aid of Artanis, they both made their way through the temple and discovering both the origins of the Xel'naga and the prophecy of the ascension of two beings. One purity of form and the other purity of essence.
Knowing that they themselves were these beings, they fought their way to the Chamber of Ascension hoping to meet the Xel'naga.
However, hope is the first step to despair as upon arrival they discovered that Amon has already killed all the Xel'naga within the temple.
During their grief, Amon communicated with them and told them of the body that he was forming from the sacrifices of both Protoss and Zerg beings.
Outraged by this, Artanis and Kerrigan held off Amon's minions until the remnant of Artanis's army arrived, closed the large void rift within the chamber and made their escape.
After escaping, Artanis offered to join forces with the Zerg in order to fight Amon. However, my queen declined his offer and told Artanis to gather his own allies while she herself recuperates from this battle.
Once the Protoss left, my queen returned to Char to regain her losses. By the time she returned the controlled Protoss, Amon's Zerg Broods and hybrids retreated from Zerg territory due to the massive losses I inflicted onto Amon's armies but the Swarm also sustained massive losses.
Once she arrived, she ordered her consort and half of the remaining Zerg Swarm to mobilize and make their way to Ulnar.
Once the Swarm arrived at Ulnar, my queen ordered the swarm to clear-out the entirety of Ulnar and to search for possible ways to hurt Amon.
During our clean-out and mass search of the temple, Artanis gathered as many allies that he can find, including their once mortal enemies, the Tal'darim who were lied to by Amon and now seeks revenge.
Then with his new army, Artanis crippled Amon's Hybrid production facilities and the Moebius Corps armies then led his new army to Aiur.
Once on Aiur, Artanis and his allies destroyed Amon's host body and Aiur's Psi-matrixes in order to delay the returning of the Golden Armada and the corrupted Protoss.
Once in position Artanis and his allies prepared the Xel'naga artifact, the Keystone, that they acquired from the Terrans, and used it to banish the influence and corruption of Amon from the controlled Protoss back into the void, thus ending the End War in their victory.
One month later after all three races were regaining their losses from the End War, especially the Protoss.
During this one month, the Zerg searched the entirety of Ulnar for any information about Amon, and during this time my queen heard the same whispers from the void that lead her to Ulnar.
Near the end of the month my queen discovered that Ulnar can be used to open a portal into the void.
With this new information, my queen psionically called for a meeting with both Artanis and James Raynor at Ulnar.
Once they arrived with their forces my queen met with both Artanis and Raynor in Artanis's ship, the Spear of Adun, and informed them of Amon's eventual return and the need to destroy him while he's weakened.
Both leaders agreed with my queen, and thus activated the portal to the void and the allied armies of all three races descended into the void.
As soon as we entered the void, we were beset upon by the shadows of the void itself and Amon's shadow minions and void constructs.
However, thanks to the efforts of Artanis, we manage to create a foothold for our armies to deploy on one of the many floating islands in the void. We also discovered that the void constructs that Amon uses to create fields of damaging shadows, house a bright khaydarin crystal that emits a golden powerful and ancient energy that rejuvenates our armies.
From this crystal, we hear a voice that we're all too familiar with.
The voice was Tassadar, begging us to free him from the being that trapped him in the void.
This being that was imprisoning him was Stukov's and my most hated enemy. Narud or also known as Duran.
Duran now, without a human form, looked like an abomination fitting for his role. His entire skin was grey with black markings and had an elongated head with glowing red eyes. He also has six large, tentacle like appendages coming from his back with each tip glowing with red void energy, and four small arms when compared to the rest of his body size, surrounding a red glowing khaydarin crystal in the middle of his chest.
He greeted us and gloated in his power as he sends his army against us.
However, with our combined forces we manage to push back Duran's minions and destroyed his void constructs holding more shards of Tassadar's trapped soul.
Then finally weakened, Stukov and I confronted Duran and we both had the pleasure to finish him ourselves.
*Flashback*
After defeating Duran's minions, Ceres and Stukov confronted Duran face to face. As they stared at Duran's weakened state, Stukov stepped forward as Ceres followed.
"Hello, Duran. Do you remember what you did to us?" Asked Stukov with a cocky tone.
"Stukov… Cerebrate… You both have come to gloat, haven't you," Stated Duran with annoyance.
This time Ceres answered "No. We've come to see you die for what you did. Stukov, would you do the honors?"
"Gladly." Stukov then raised his hand and fired a psionic blast at Duran, killing him, permanently.
As Duran exploded, he revealed the last shard used to imprison Tassadar.
As everyone gathered around the shard, Tassadar spoke.
"Artanis, you must come to me."
*Flashback end*
It was soon revealed that Tassdar that we've been following all this time was actually the last of the Xel'naga that opposes Amon.
This Xel'naga was named Ouros, and he explained that the prophecy was to lead my queen into the void in order to for him to merge his essence with her and ascend her into godhood in order to defeat Amon once and for all.
After hearing this, James Raynor was greatly against the idea, however, my queen made her choice and started the merge with Ouros.
While she was merging with the Xel'naga, Raynor, Artanis and I defended her from Amon's armies until she completed the merging.
During the merging, we defended her against the onslaught of Amon's minions, if it weren't for James Raynor's assistance in the defense and my queen stopping the merging to kill some of Amon's more powerful minions, we would've fell to overwhelming numbers.
After waves upon waves of Amon's minions attacking, Kerrigan completed the merge with Ouros and eradicated all of Amon's minions within the vacinity in an explosion of pure psionic energy.
What happened cannot be put into word, you just had to see it once to understand.
*Flashback*
After Kerrigan was nearly complete with the merge with Ouros, Raynor, Artanis and Ceres gathered underneath her waiting for what she has to say.
"That's it… I have nearly all of the Xel'naga's essence," Says Kerrigan as she glowed with power. Ceres then stepped forwards and bowed onto one knee.
"I have been honored to serve you once again, my queen," Ceres says.
Kerrigan then looked down at Ceres and said.
"The Swarm is yours, Ceres. Protect it as you have protected me."
Ceres than stood and looked at Kerrigan with a smile.
"I will… My queen."
After the conversation was done, Ouros stated "It is time."
Then Kerrigan curled into a fetal position in the air surrounded by powerful energies as the last strands of the Xel'naga's essence merged with Kerrigan.
"With the last of our essence, a new eternity dawns," says Ouros as he continued.
"The infinite Cycles have come to their end."
With his last words the ancient Xel'naga sent his last strand of his essence and died.
Artanis, honoring the Xel'naga's sacrifice, bowed to one knee and hands clasped in front of him.
Then, with the last of the Xel'naga's essence, Kerrigan's limbs started to glow with golden energy as it spreads all over her body.
When it finally covered her entire body, there was a blinding flash of light. As the light quickly died down, Kerrigan's final transformation is revealed.
No more was she the Queen of Blades, but a being of pure golden energy and power that can only be described as a deity, she was over 16 feet tall, has a body resembling that of a human female, hair of golden fire, and wings of pure golden energy.
"She is… Xel'naga," Stated Artanis in awe from his kneeled position.
Ceres and Raynor couldn't agree more as they also stared in awe.
She turned to look at us in her full glory, then after a moment she turned towards the void.
"End this thing," Raynor says as Kerrigan changes her new powers.
"Once and for all."
In a bright golden flash Kerrigan flew deeper into the void to end Amon once and for all.
*Flashback end*
After my queen's ascension to godhood, she traveled deeper into to the void in order to destroy Amon.
We followed her and established bases in the floating lands around Amon.
However, Amon has surrounded himself in an impenetrable barrier of void energies. Fortunately, we could destroy this barrier by destroying the void crystals that powers his barrier.
It was a difficult task of destroying these Void crystals, but with Kerrigan and her new ascended form, we eventually destroyed all of the crystals.
When the void barrier vanished, Kerrigan confronted Amon.
*Flashback*
After destroying the last void crystal, Kerrigan made her way to confront Amon once and for all.
"It is over, Amon!" Stated Kerrigan with conviction as the Dark Xel'naga looked upon her.
"You are but a product of the flawed cycle. Manipulated for the entirety of your existence…" Amon insulted, however, Kerrigan would have none of it.
"You know nothing about me! I care little for the Xel'naga's infinite cycle or your twisted lies. No, I choose something different. I choose freedom… For all of us."
Kerrigan then gathered her immense power and fired a golden beam of pure energy hitting Amon. She could see that her attack was slowly destroying Amon as his face and the rest of his body started to break from the power of her attack.
Then in a bright flash, Amon exploded.
As the light died down James Raynor, Artanis and Ceres noticed that the Void, once filled with Amon's hatred and disorder, is now more calm.
They also noticed that Kerrigan, a human who was forced into subject to change and fate, is now gone.
Raynor couldn't see her anywhere.
Artanis couldn't sense her in the area.
Ceres couldn't even feel her presence anymore.
James Raynor was the most effected by her disappearance out of the three, however, he was comforted by Artanis.
"Friend Raynor, Kerrigan did what she had to do. She sacrificed herself in order for our universe to live on. She will be remembered, not as the Queen of Blades, but as Sarah Kerrigan, who faced the darkness when we could not," said Artanis with conviction.
James Raynor then was brought out of his misery at the thought of this.
"Thanks Artanis. I understand that now… now let's get out of this place and head home. I've had enough fighting for one day," said Raynor in a tired tone as they made way to their respective ships.
Ceres on the other hand stood in his place, staring where his queen once was.
"I know you're not gone my queen… I know you're still alive somewhere and you will come back to lead us once again. Until then, I will honor your last wishes to lead and protect the swarm from those who dare harm it. Until you come back… I will be the Guardian of the Swarm," Ceres promised and then turned towards his Leviathan, ready to head home.
*Flashback Ends*
Present day 3 years later
Ceres opened his eyes after remembering all the events that has led up to this moment.
It has been three years since the End War.
It has been three years since his queen has ascended to godhood and defeated Amon.
It has been three years that he has started leading the Swarm
Three years of waiting for his queen's return.
During these three years all three races of the Koprulu Sector recuperated and was then ushered into a new golden age of peace and prosperity.
The Terrans established a new Terran Dominion led by the new Emperor Valerian Mengsk and supported by admiral Matthew Horner. Together they rebuilt the Dominion from the ashes of war, and prospered like never before.
The Protoss, now unified as one, established equality between each of the different factions are now calling themselves the Unified Protoss. With this new alliance, they left their old traditions and embraced change like never before and created new customs such as the cutting of the nerve cord when a Protoss reaches of age. They rebuilt their once great cities from the ruins and ashes of the old, and now Aiur is once again a beacon of innovation and advancement throughout the galaxy. However, the Tal'darim refused their alliance with their faction, and thus left to find a new home for themselves. However, reports of a rogue Tal'darim force splits themselves from the main Tal'darim faction and thus started attacking Terran worlds near Zerg territory after the war. They were never caught.
The Zerg Swarm now led by the Cerebrate Ceres, was busy re-establishing their defenses, reclaiming the planets lost due to the End War and reclaiming pockets of feral Zerg broods that were used by Amon back in the war. Ceres, true to his word, fiercely protected the Zerg Swarm territories and sought to make the Zerg even more powerful.
Two years ago, the new Terran Dominion and the newly established Unified Protoss wanted to form an alliance of sort with all three races cooperating together.
Ceres refused this alliance with the other two races, however, he did promise two things. Peace with both of them as long as they don't encroach upon his territory without permission and to keep his Swarm within their own territory.
Both Emperor Valerian and Hierarch Artanis accepted his terms of peace and thus formed a peaceful alliance between themselves instead.
During these three years, with the assistance of Abathur, Ceres has been busy evolving the swarm with new upgrades aside from the normal upgrade for some of the units within the Swarm.
Hatcheries, Lairs and Hives can now produce Zerg larva at twice the rate and can hold up to a hundred, thousand and two thousand larvae respectively.
Every Zerg ground units can burrow move but at half their original speed, there are a few Zerg units that are exempted from this decrease of speed.
The drones can now be hatched four at a time in a matter of five minutes from one egg, thus makes expanding a lot faster and more efficient.
Queens now have the ability to spray a pheromone onto eggs in order to increase the productivity within the eggs and thus in turn decrease spawning time by halve the amount it would usually take.
Changelings spawned from an overseer no longer have a limited lifespan, however, they must now assimilate their victims entire body in order to disguise themselves, gaining their victims entire memory, intelligence and DNA. Perfect to spy on the enemy alongside his mind controlled thralls.
Zerglings now have both strains of the Raptorlings and the Swarmlings combined into one. The zerglings looks normal except they have slightly longer and angular wings due to the raptor strain, and much of the leaping comes from the newer stronger leg muscles that Ceres and Abathur had evolved. With this upgrade, they can use it to leap across the battlefield and onto higher ledges. They can also be hatched 4 at a time from one egg at the same amount of time it takes to hatch two normal zerglings
Roaches now have a much denser carapace armor plating than before, virtually resistant against all small arms fire but the highest possible hand held caliber. With this new armor, they can shrug off explosive rounds and the piercing blasts from the Terrans and Protoss. However, they're still vulnerable to the larger caliber weapons from some of the larger more powerful vehicles and robotic constructs from both the Terran and Protoss armies.
Hunter killers are now reintegrated back into the Swarm since the "death" of the Old Queen of Blades. Many changes and upgrades were made to the hunter killers after their reintegration. They're slightly larger and vastly stronger than the average hydralisk, they have red colored flesh that is visible and not covered in their light brown carapace. Their crown like head has blood red colored wave like markings, originating from their red glowing eyes, this was used for an intimidation factor against the weaker willed enemies. They can shoot their spines in bursts and at longer range, speed and accuracy than a hydralisk. They are faster than hydralisk on creep, able to close in on enemy positions in a matter of seconds, and can burrow move at the same speed. Their scythe like claws are each serrated and the blade edges are mono-honed, able to pierce and rip through the toughest of armor and plasma shields within seconds.
Ceres saw the need for an assassin/bodyguard unit for the Swarm in order to either kill or protect a high value target. The hunter killers were the answer to that and with Abathur's assistance, he made them even more dangerous than before. However, the drawback is it takes three times as longer to hatch one compared to a normal hydralisk.
He also reintegrated back the scourge, a suicidal anti-air unit that can be hatched 4 at a time from a single egg.
And lastly, the brood lords can now spit globs of highly corrosive acid at long range against air units for massive damage. This gives them an anti-air capability against large capital ships such as carriers and battle cruisers alongside their anti-ground attack in the form of broodlings.
These were the changes that Ceres and Abathur had integrated into the swarm. Other than these changes, some of the other zerg units were left as they were for now, as they were already changed perfectly to fit their own roles within the Swarm.
With each of these new upgrades, Ceres tested them on rogue pirates, Protoss and mercenaries hired by rogue scientists that enters his territories. The experiments were a success and the zerg were feared in the underworld of the Terrans after many of their incursions into zerg territory.
During these three years nothing notable happened, until the second year when reports of the now famous hero James Raynor went missing. Both the Dominion and Protoss search the entire sector for any whereabouts of him and even asked Ceres if his Swarm seen him at all within his territories.
Ceres also searched for this Terran, for he owes Raynor a debt for saving his queen's life in two occasion. However, no matter how thorough his Swarm searched even he couldn't find Raynor. After four months of searching, all three races of the Koprulu sector eventually gave up the search, thus the Dominion erected a statue of James Raynor in the imperial capital in the memory of his deeds.
Since then nothing notable happened in the sector, and now here is Ceres, sitting on his throne on Char. Bored out of his mind.
He's still wearing his original attire for he felt somewhat attached to this look, and has acquired many copies from the new Dominion stored in his personal chamber.
It's been a year since the last mercenary group came into zerg territory. If he would've known that was the last bit of action he would get in a year, he would've savored it.
Now he is sitting here with absolutely nothing to do.
'The fires of Char are still burning. The mutalisks are still shrieking. And still no signs of my queen,' Ceres said in boredom, however, he was soon brought out of his thoughts when Stukov entered his chambers.
When Ceres succeeded the zerg throne, he appointed Stukov as his second-in command for his previous expertise as a vice-admiral. Stukov was surprised by his choice but soon accepted his new role whole heartily stating that "It will be like my old job as vice-admiral. Except I will command swarms of flesh eating monsters with scary claws and teeth."
Stukov approached Ceres's throne and asked "are you alright Ceres? You seem to be tired nowadays, which is most unusual for a zerg being such as yourself."
Ceres gave Stukov a blank stare.
"Stukov… Even a zerg being such as myself can get tired. It's been a year since the last time the zerg fought anything. Pirates stopped coming in, mercenaries have gotten scared, every planet in this part of the sector fully colonized, and I'm starting to resort to watching zerglings break dance to try to elevate my boredom," he explained in a tired tone.
"Do you want me to call in the zerglings to entertain you?" Stukov asked in a cheeky tone. Ceres just gave him a blank stare.
"No, don't send them in. You came here for a reason, what is it that you have to report?" demanded Ceres.
"This latest report from one of our outer hives. It's urgent." This has caught Ceres's attention.
"What has happened?"
"The hive under Broodmother Poronsa reported that Tal'darim forces arrived at the planet Carnifex and attacked her brood. Fortunately, she is holding them in space, however, she needs reinforcements soon" As Stukov explained the situation, Ceres stood from his throne with a serious expression on his face.
"This must be the rogue Tal'darim force that broke off from the main faction after the death of Amon that I've been hearing about. Fine then, Isha prepare the Leviathans, I'm going out."
And with new vigor, Ceres and Stukov left his chambers, unknowingly for the last time.
Location: Carnifex
In the deep emptiness of space lay the planet Carnifex, a garden planet with two moons that was long ago colonized by the Zerg swarm for its strategic spot as a supply center for the Zerg Swarm.
Five Leviathans then warped in from warp jump.
Ceres and Stukov arrived at the planet and immediately saw pieces of both zerg and Tal'darim ships floating in space as well as the three surviving Leviathans fighting a what seems to be a stalemate against a sizable Tal'darim fleet.
"It looks like the major battle already passed, and now both sides are at a stalemate," stated Stukov as he and Ceres examined the remaining fleet composition of the Tal'darim.
There were still 10 void rays, 14 carriers and three mother ships that remained. After examining the Tal'darim forces Ceres contacted with the Broodmother in charge.
"Broodmother Poronsa, we have arrived, what is the situation?" Ceres asked.
"My lord you have finally arrived, the Protoss attacked my brood, we held them off for as long as we could. They destroyed most of my Leviathans with strange energies that they fired from their mother ships." As soon as she explained the situation the center mothership started charging massive amounts of unknown energies as it started to swirl around the ship.
After a moment of charging it fired all the energy it collected in a projectile of swirling energy. The projectile rapidly approached one of the three surviving Leviathan. The Leviathan tried to dodge the projectile but it was too late, it hit the Leviathan and the energies started to swirl around the massive ship ripping it apart inside out.
With a final roar the Leviathan exploded with blood and gore, dispersing the energies that was used to kill it and pieces not eradicated from the blast. As soon as the Leviathan died the mothership that fired the projectile started siphoning the same unknown energies from the two nearby motherships at its side.
Ceres, after sensing the unknown energy, realized what exactly the energy that's being used is.
"It's void energies. They're collecting void energies and firing it at our fleet," this statement brought Stukov out of his shock.
"It looks like the head mothership is collecting void energies from the two motherships escorting it, creating a void barrier. We cannot harm it," Stukov explained as Ceres nodded in agreement.
"That is true. However, it's draining all available energy from those two mother ships escorting it, leaving their shields down. Before it fires again, we must destroy those two motherships, then that would leave the main mothership defenseless," Ceres explained as he started communicating his Broodmother.
"Poronsa, prepare your remaining Leviathans and attack the fleet with us. Aim for one the two motherships that's escorting the main one," as soon asCeres ordered, Poronsa's Leviathans started advancing towards the Tal'darim fleet as well as his own fleet.
As soon as they were within range, the Tal'darim carriers and void rays started to fire their energy lances and beams and simultaneously launched their fighters and interceptors against the zerg Leviathans.
Ceres and his zerg fleet in turn fired bile swarms and used the Leviathans massive tentacles to pound nearby Tal'darim ships as they're making their way to the motherships. The Leviathans also started to launch scores of mutalisks to dogfight the fighters and interceptors, corruptors and broodlords to focus down the void rays and carriers under the protection of the mutalisks, and swarms of scourges are sent heading towards the mother ships to destroy them.
The main mothership finished its charging and once again fired the projectile of void energy towards the zerg fleet, eradicating all the scourges that were sent towards them.
"AVOID IT!" Ceres's and Stukov's leviathan manage to dodge the projectile, however, the projectile hits the Leviathan behind them.
The Leviathan died in the same matter as the first. Lucky, even with the loss of one Leviathan the Tal'darim's forces were soon overwhelmed.
Mutalisks outnumbered the fighters and interceptors ten to one and eventually destroyed them and started focusing on the larger ships.
The corruptors, broodlords and Leviathans were literally ripping apart the void rays and carriers with their acid globes, parasite spores and tentacles.
Soon it was just the three motherships. Ceres ordered the remaining Leviathans to approach them.
"Once we're within range, fire bio-plasma at the two escort ships," Ceres telepathically ordered as the Leviathans made their way to the motherships. As soon as they were within ranged he gave the order.
"Fire!"
All at once six Leviathans fired huge globs of bio-plasma at the two motherships, three for each. In an explosion of void energy and plasma, the two mother ships simultaneously explode. As both motherships exploded the last one started to move.
"The last ship is trying to retreat!" exclaimed Stukov.
"They will not get away! Release the scourges to cripple it!" Ceres ordered.
The Leviathans once again released swarms of scourges towards the remaining mothership, however, this time they manage to reach the ship.
The scourges started to suicidality dive into the mothership's shields. Once the shields were down the scourges started to ram themselves into various parts of the ship. Eventually the ship stopped moving due to the damage it sustained from this mass barrage and the rest of the scourges retreated from the mothership.
Ceres then turned toward Stukov "We crippled the ship, now I'm going in there to personally deal with any survivors and find out the reason why they attacked the Swarm. You will stay here in case if they called for any reinforcements." Stukov merely nodded his head as Ceres made his way to the drop pods.
Location: Tal'darim mothership
Ceres was making his way to the motherships psi matrix after he landed via drop pod. So far he only encountered small pockets of resistance in the forms of zealots and stalkers, due to the scourges killing most of the Tal'darim warriors that was on the ship.
As he dealt with the meager resistance and making his way closer towards the psi matrix, he could sense a large buildup of psionic power emanating from the center of the mothership. His instincts are telling him to proceed with extreme caution.
When he arrived at the center he could see what seems to be the remanence of the Tal'darim forces of six zealots and a single Tal'darim ascendant, who was solely focused on the large red khaydarin crystal in the middle of the entire ship. Ceres soon found out that the buildup of psionic energy was the khaydarin crystal.
When Ceres arrived the six zealots activated their psi-blades, Ceres in turn extended his wrist blades and channeled his own psionic energy through his blades, making them glow bright orange. After a moment of silence, the Tal'darim ascendant turned to greet his new guest.
"Aaaah… If it isn't the zerg abomination. I've been expecting you, tell me, how does it feel to know you're the last of your misbegotten siblings?" asked the ascendant in a sinister tone.
"That's where you're wrong, I am the Swarm, and we are never truly alone. Now who are you and why did you attack my brood!?" Demanded Ceres as he pointed his right blade towards the Tal'darim.
"Ha ha ha ha ha! I am 5th Ascendant Karanax of the Fleet of Amon, and as to why I'm here you will know soon enough. Warriors, eliminate this abomination!" Ordered Karanax as he turned back to the khaydarin crystal.
Soon all six zealots charged towards Ceres, psi-blades at the ready.
Ceres immediately shot bursts after bursts of spines towards the nearest zealots that were charging him. One zealot sacrificed himself in order for his brothers to get close enough to fight in melee, this was a mistake.
Ceres can easily kill these zealots. Since his freedom from the Skygeirr Facility, Ceres has been training himself in both battle and his free time in the art of close and long range combat and mastering his natural combat instincts. After many battles against each race and unimaginable foes, his martial skills are at equal standings with some of the greatest of the Dark Templars and Protoss leaders and is considered far greater than the average zealot in close combat alone.
Suffice to say, these Zealots didn't stand a chance. The first zealot's left slash was parried by Cere's left blade and was immediately stabbed in the chest with the same blade, thus died in a whirl of psionic energy like all Protoss when they are fatally wounded. The second zealot seeks to stab him with his right blade, but Ceres dodges to his right as he cuts the offending arm off from the elbow. Before the zealot could scream in pain, he was immediately stabbed in the face by Ceres's right blade. With the second dead, the remaining three zealots attacked simultaneously, one from the left, one from the right and one from the middle head on. However, as they converged Ceres merely activated his psionic mind control to stun the charging zealots, just long enough for him to kill each one of them with a single strike each.
With all of the zealots dead he went to confront Karanax.
"Karanax! It's over, you have lost!" Stated Ceres as he was 15 feet away, Karanax turned around to look at him once more.
"You think you have won abomination. I'm still alive right in front of you!" Karanax then started to float higher in the air gathering his psionic energy. Ceres merely went into a crouching position with his blades at his sides.
"Let's change that shall we."
With a burst of speed Ceres charged forwards towards the Tal'darim. Karanax immediately launched a psionic wave towards Ceres hoping the incinerate him, however, Ceres simply gathered more of his own psionic energy through his blades and cut through the wave as he soon leaped towards Karanax. Karanax launched a psionic orb in panic but that too was slashed to aside by Ceres. Ceres then collided with the Tal'darim and smashed him on the ground, breaking his shields and stabbing both blades into his chest.
As Karanax was dying, he started to laugh.
"Ha ha ha… you fool. I'm just merely a distraction, all of this was. I knew I would lure you to fight me, so I merely distracted you from my real goal at hand… To gather enough energy in that crystal to destroy you... Now my revenge for lord Amon is complete…." Then Karranax faded away.
It was only after Karanax's death did Ceres realized the immediate danger. Karanax has been using the majority of his psionic powers to hide the energy gathered within the massive Khaydarin crystal. Now since he was gone, Ceres can feel the crystal was about to explode in full force, with no hope of escape. How careless he has been, now he will suffer the consequences.
He immediately contacted Stukov "Stukov take the Leviathans and get as far away from here as possible!"
"What is happening!? I can feel the unstable psionic energies from the mothership all of a sudden! You must get out of there!" Exclaimed Stukov, but Ceres shook his head.
"I might not survive this, but you will, I need you to get far away as possible, that is my will!" Ordered Ceres.
"NO! I WILL NOT ABANDON YOU!" Exclaimed Stukov, however, Ceres merely overrode the Leviathans under Stukovs temporary command and started to rapidly move them at a safer distance.
"If I don't make it out of this alive… take care and protect the Swarm, Alexei Stukov." Once Ceres lead the Leviathan at a safe distance he cut the connection.
As soon as he cut the connection the red khaydarin crystal started to rupture and crack, failing to contain the stored energy any longer.
'Sorry my queen. It looks like I won't be able to keep that promise.'
In a blinding flash, an explosion engulfed both the entire mothership and a large area of space around it.
Stukov spectated this from a safe distance seeing the massive explosion. Once the explosion died down, he immediately began searching for any signs of Ceres, however, he couldn't find any trace of him or the remains of the mothership.
The Zerg Swarm lost another leader, once again
Location: Unknown
A lone figure can be found forging through the forest.
It was currently night as the moon was high above the sky, bathing the forest below with it's calming light.
The figure wore a white robe with the hood brought up, hiding her face.
The figure is seemingly foraging through the forest for herbs as she crouched down to collect some of the surrounding plants.
BTOOOOOOOM!
The figure immediately looked towards the direction of the loud explosion as the very ground shook and the trees rocked back from the explosion.
Curious as to what made the explosion, the robed figure quickly made her way through the forest as fast as it could.
Soon she arrived to a startling scene. A large smoldering crater clearing out a significant portion of the forest, the smell of fire and ash filled the air.
However, what caught the robed figure's attention was what lay in the very center of the crater.
It was an unconscious man.
Throwing caution to the wind, the robed figure ran towards the unconscious stranger, only once beside the stranger did she see the full extent of his injuries.
The stranger's clothes were burnt but seemed salvageable, however, he was burnt to a total crisp. His skin suffering horrible burns, flesh burnt to the bone and face almost unrecognizable.
To the figure, he seemed to have been a handsome young man, but now he is barely alive. The robed figure could sense it, no matter how faint it was.
So with nothing else to do, the robed figure immediately knelt besides the unconscious stranger and place her hands over the stranger's chest.
The robed figure concentrated and said a series of words. Soon the figure was rewarded with bright soothing, gold lights emanating from her hands.
The figure was using healing magic. Something she were taught when she was but a young child.
The magic went to work, however, to the figure's shock and fascination the body started to heal at an accelerated rate. The once burned skin flaked off as it was immediately replaced with new flesh and skin. Black hair grew back on the now recognizable young man's head. Soon enough the young man was completely healed with no visible scars or burn marks whatsoever.
However, what caught the robed figure's attention the most was the strange brown armor covering the young man's arm. She herself doesn't recognize the material of the armor from anywhere, could this stranger be a traveler? A warrior? A spy?
But none of that matters right now. He was hurt and he needs to be properly cared for.
So with great effort, the robed figure dragged the unconscious man through the forest and back to her home village.
AN:
And that's a wrap. Now you readers can move onto the next chapter.
Now I know some of you might have some questions for me concerning about this chapter, if you do either PM me the question or ask through the comment box and will answer them to the best of my ability. Here are two that some of you might have that I'll answer.
1) The theory behind the Protoss plasma shield, not being able to block melee, is from many of the Legacy of the Void cinematics where you see zealots and dark templars dying to zerglings and to each other and the fight between Artanis and Zeratul. Throughout these scenes not once you see a shield flare to defend them from any melee encounters.
2) The reason for the Hatcheries, Lairs, and hives able to produce so much larva is because of the simple fact that in the Heart of the Swarm campaigns and the many images of actually canon size, a Hive of that size should be able to spawn and hold at least a thousand larva and eggs inside it, not just three and then they stop producing more, that's Blizzard trying to make the playable races in the game fair and not OP.
3) So as you can see I'm trying to take somewhat of a realistic approach with the StarCraft universe, but don't hold that against me because I'm going to probably tweak some things for the Zerg as I see fit, and don't worry I won't change something dramatically and pull something stupid like "They all of a sudden found and assimilated a super god-like rock and now are unkillable!" Don't worry, the zerg in this story will be not too weak either.
So thank you for reading this chapter and if you can, leave your reviews and comments for this chapter for it will help me make these stories a lot better for you guys and girls that are reading this.
