When we reached Aiur, Artanis informed us as to the locations of the key components of the psi matrix, and we quickly divided them up between us. When I asked him how he intended to handle the Golden Armada when they finally warped in the slow way, he proposed unleashing the energy of the keystone to remove Amon from the Khala long enough to allow the corrupted Protoss to sever their nerve cords. We all supported the plan except Alarak, who of course wanted to simply destroy the corrupted Protoss, but we all overruled him. "We'll do that if we have to, Alarak," I replied consolingly when Artanis finished his angry protestation, "But if we can take every corrupted Protoss away from Amon without risking any of our forces, that would be the sounder tactic."
"And the ones still on Aiur, guarding the psi matrix? We will have to fight through them one way or another. You would have us risk ourselves when we could simply eradicate them from orbit? It is folly!"
"The deaths of some of the khalai will be unavoidable," Artanis conceded angrily. "But an orbital bombardment will destroy far more than necessary. In addition to the lives of our comrades, we would sacrifice the Citadel of the Executor, the great Xel'Naga temple, and the Xel'Naga Caverns, the ancient sites in which the psi matrix power structures were constructed. I will not destroy Aiur in our efforts to save it!"
I hesitated, glancing over our scouting data on those sites. Amon's defenses were not negligible.
"I only council wisdom," Alarak said matter-of-factly. "If you do not wish to hear it, I will say no more."
"Artanis," I began placatingly, "I think we should consider Alarak's plan."
"What? You too, Magis? Perhaps you do not value Protoss lives as..."
"It's not that," I interrupted. "No one is asking you to destroy all of Aiur. I've seen your orbital bombardments, they can be quite precise. If we nuke the sites from orbit, we will only destroy Khalai we would have to kill anyway in order to safely take down the power structures. The only thing we would be destroying that we could otherwise save are those historical sites you mentioned, but you've already discarded so much of your heritage for the sake of safeguarding your people's future. What's losing a few dusty old structures compared to losing your whole caste system and your khala?"
Artanis scowled, and looked around at the other Protoss leaders. "And the rest of you, what do you think?"
Unsurprisingly, Rohanna staunchly argued for preserving the sites of Protoss heritage. "I can no longer tell you of the joy the Protoss felt as the first pulse charged the psi matrix, of the wonder felt by the explorers of the Xel'Naga caverns. Without the Khala to preserve memories… all we have left are these sites! We cannot so brazenly discard them!"
More surprisingly, the other Protoss leaders hesitatingly agreed with my plan.
"Fenix has fond memories of the Citadel," began the robotic Protoss. "I would look forward to seeing the place he so loved… but the memories are from an older world, a world that is no more. If we must raze the citadel, we will build a better world on its ashes!"
"Many of my people are seeing Aiur for the first time," Vorazun added. "It is a wonderful thing to see the homeland, but much of its history is the history of the Old Conclave, not the new united Daelaam. I would sooner sacrifice a citadel than the life of one of my templar."
Artanis sighed. "I see. Perhaps it is better for our histories to be viewed through the lens of our present needs, that a new history might be secured. We will not fail to honor the firstborn who devoted their lives to the old system… but well have we learned that sometimes traditions must be discarded. Very well. I give the order: bombard the sites! Destroy the psi matrix!
"As you command, hierarch," Karax answered simply, his hands already on the controls.
I turned my attention away from the screen to look instead out the Leviathan's eyes. I watched as streaks of blue and gold fire fell screaming from the Spear of Adun, crashing violently into three distinct locations around Aiur.
It was a sobering moment, one of great symbolic significance. The Protoss really were changing. The Terrans prided themselves on their adaptability, and yet I doubted many would be willing to give up as much as the Protoss had. Oh, historical sites were probably less significant to them, but they cared an awful lot about their traditional Terran bodies, even when better Zerg bodies were on offer. It's true what Dehaka says. You have to evolve to live. To stop changing is to stagnate and die. That doesn't mean disrespecting what came before… but it does mean sacrificing it when something better comes along. And if the Protoss can now understand that basic principle of evolution… perhaps there will be room for Zerg and Protoss to coexist long after Amon's defeat.
Finally, the barrage ended. "It is done," Rohanna announced tearfully. "The Citadel of the Executor, and parts of Antioch, have been reduced to rubble. The Ancient Temple grounds lie in ruins, and the Xel'Naga Caverns have collapsed. Countless Zerg and many corrupted Khalai fell beneath our onslaught, and so did the psi matrix power structures. Now, Amon will not be able to warp the Golden Armada to Aiur in time to defend himself."
Artanis nodded. "We must destroy his host body before it fully awakens. For the sake of our people, we cannot falter."
Suddenly, the lights dimmed. The bioluminescence on board the Leviathan, the crystal lighting on the Spear of Adun, even the very stars themselves, all their light was obstructed by a mass of ambient void energy so large and powerful even I could sense it, like the electricity in the air just before lightning strikes.
And then the Dark God Amon spoke to us. "Your actions have not eluded my gaze," it declared with the reverberating voice of an angry deity. "Your plans are not hidden from me." It paused. "And you... are too late. Behold, the form of your god!" An image was suddenly forced into my brain, an image of an enormous hybrid with skin as black as the void. It's power… I felt as though this hybrid could leap up and swat the Leviathan out of the sky like an overgrown housefly. And its face… if ever I had beheld an incarnation of pure malice, pure evil, this was it. "The culmination of a cycle set into motion when the stars were born," the dark voice continued. "As I was your beginning - so shall I be your end. Protoss, Zerg, know the truth: your beliefs, your hivemind, your khala... everything is a lie. There is nothing left of you. "
"There is plenty left of us!" I retorted angrily at the foolish deity that wanted me to believe it was almighty. "We have each other. We have our weapons, we have our motivation, we have our breath! We need nothing more to destroy you!"
At the same time, I dimly heard Artanis reply from his own ship. "You are wrong. We are finally free to become something more, and you will not stop us. Brace yourself for the full might of the Firstborn and the Secondborn!"
And then, as if to prove his fearfulness, Amon's presence receded, and the lights brightened once more.
"Stooping to throwing us empty threats." I shook my head. "He wants us to believe he's omnipotent… but all these performances tell me is that he is a freaking cartoon character! He has no understanding of his creations. Unless he follows these words with an immediate assault on our ships, all this display shows is that he's frightened, which will embolden us, not dissuade us! Foolish god. We will destroy that evil host, I promise you that." I scoffed, then turned my attention back to the screen. "Where is Amon's host body? Let's glass that thing from orbit!"
"It has been constructed on top of the Overmind's carcass," Artanis answered. "The abomination is made of that monster… and the flesh of my brethren."
"Indeed, hierarch," Karax inserted himself into the conversation. "But we will not be able to bombard it from orbit. Sensors indicate his form in consuming void energies at an alarming rate. So long as the void energy remains in and around him, even our most powerful weaponry will have no effect upon Amon."
"Then we must cut off his connection to the void," I replied. "But I don't understand anything about how the void works. What must we do?"
"Look, these shards…" Rohanna began, pointing at a map of the area around the hybrid which she had called on screen. As I looked at where she indicated, I saw several massive pillars of black stone crackling with red lightning. "They generate Void energy and drain life around them to feed his host body," Rohanna explained. "They must be destroyed."
"Well then, can we bombard those from orbit?" I asked.
"It will not be very effective," Karax answered. "The area around the shards… it's as though he is turning the land and air into the Void! Everything has been destabilized, and few of our shots will reach the destination."
I sighed. "A ground invasion, then."
"That'll be difficult - look!" Kerrigan spoke up, pointing at the map. Little red signals representing enemy units were popping up all over the place. "It seems Amon is shaping the void energy into defensive forces and fortifications."
I groaned. "Now the void can create, not just destroy? Is there anything this 'void' can't do?"
"There's a reason Dark Templar culture honors the void," Vorazun replied, amused. "To those that master it, it is a force as strong and flexible as gravity."
"We are running out of time," Artanis interrupted. On the communications screen I thought I could just barely make out a bored Alarak nodding his head dramatically in response. "Warriors, ready your blades," Artanis commanded. "We fight for the future of Aiur!"
I nodded. "The strategy for this one is simple. Find any open area to land our respective forces and rush in and destroy these void shards!"
We quickly coordinated our respective landing positions, then warped over Amon's body and began deploying troops. We had the host surrounded. Artanis and the Khalai swiftly established a base in the nearly undefended southeast, and then set about helping Vorazun and the Dark Templar in the east and Alarak and the Tal'Darim in the south. Meanwhile, I launched a hundred droppods to clear out an area to the northwest, then set about helping Stukov establish a base to the north and Dehaka land his pack in the west.
With the Void shards completely surrounded, Amon's void forces were stretched thin. We began by sending in small probing forces, testing Amon's defenses while we continued deploying, morphing, and warping reinforcements. When we were confident we knew the weak points in Amon's defenses, we bided our time until everyone was ready. For some reason, Alarak and Vorazun were eager to send in small groups of their own forces without backup, but Artanis and I were able to convince them to wait for the opportune time to strike. Finally, Artanis gave the order. "Templar and allies of the Templar, strike with great fury!"
"Amon's downfall is at hand…" Alarak announced gleefully. "Tal'darim, your highlord demands the Dark God's blood! Do not disappoint me!"
Vorazun shouted, "The blades of Shakuras descend upon the Dark God!"
Dehaka bellowed a primal roar and then declared, "They are dust! We are the wind! I go to destroy!"
Stukov spoke up. "The enemy requires more infestation."
Kerrigan certainly was not about to be left out. Leading the charge from the northwest, she screamed, "Amon, now at last you will know my wrath!"
I smiled as I took my place on the ground besides Kerrigan. "Let's get 'em." I said simply.
Innumerable Khalai, Nerazim, Tal'Darim, Swarm, Primals, and Infested streamed into Amon's defenses from all directions. The void forces had taken the forms of familiar units for whatever reason, of marines and zerglings and zealots, of thors and battlecruisers and mutalisks and ultralisks and colossi and carriers. What was more, the ambient Void energy was clearly toxic to our living forces, slowly damaging zerg and protoss cells alike. Nevertheless, our forces crashed into them like a tidal wave. Our fleets flew overheard as our armies pushed forward on the ground, all the while accompanied by some of the most powerful heroes the Koprulu sector had ever seen. Even with all that, we still lost hundreds of supplies' worth of forces apiece, as Amon's void entities held their ground until the last. It took up nearly all my concentration trying to keep my forces healed despite the void energy stabbing at us with every step. I quickly lost track of how long we fought there. It could have been minutes or it could have been hours - when six seconds is the difference between life or death, time feels distorted. Finally, the solid dark pillars of void energy were too heavily damaged to sustain themselves, and they began to violently explode into gaseous void energy and dissipate.
One. Two. Three. Four. Aaaand… five! The last one fell to the Protoss, the void energy receded, and I quickly shot out a telepathic command. "Now! Bombard the host with everything you have!"
Just then, as I looked towards the host body standing over the Overmind's carcass, I realized with horror that it had become animate, detaching itself from its construction scaffolding. It brought its hands together. "DIE" it screamed with the all the hatred of a losing god. Red void energy shot out of its hands in a beam of utter destruction, instantly annihilating Artanis' base and then my own, simply by pointing its hands at them. There was absolutely 100% no way we would be able to beat this thing conventionally. It would slaughter every army we threw at it.
"All vessels, fire your weapons now!" Artanis commanded, fearful but determined. "Templar, unleash your fury!"
The Spear of Adun's blue and orange hailfire, the Tal'Darim motherships' red crackling lightning strikes, the Leviathan's balls of acid spit, the Alexander's laser batteries, everything we had plummeted to Aiur and crashed into that enormous host hybrid with dizzying force. Its beam ceased, but I could still sense it screaming under the weight of our bombardment. "Don't let up!" I shouted. "Do not give it a second of peace!" We kept up our barrage for over ten minutes, filling the sky with our armament, until finally we all sensed it: the host's exoskeleton was pierced, chunks of flesh exploded away from it, and the thing succumbed to its wounds. It rose up and evaporated like all other hybrid, in the process unleashing an enormous explosion of void energy that flowed high into the atmosphere before finally dissipating.
When the bombing stopped and everything finally returned to an eerie silence, I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding. Amon had been defeated. We had won.
Now all that remained was removing him from the Khala.
