There had been a debate whether to defend the charging artifact on the Spear of Adun where Amon's ground forces couldn't attack it, or defend it on Aiur where we could construct more fortifications. We had eventually agreed to defend it on the grounds of a Xel'Naga temple on Aiur. There, Amon's ground forces would be easily funneled through one of three entrances: north, west, or south (the eastern side of the temple was an impassible sheer cliff face). And there was ample space for the placement of photon cannons and spore crawlers on various raised platforms. And Amon would be forced to attack the Spear of Adun and the rest of our fleets to stop them from defending the keystone anyway - this way, even if he somehow managed to fell the arkship, he wouldn't automatically win.

We tried to cloak our approach as best we could, but the moment the Protoss shuttles ferrying the artifact and its guards landed at the temple, Amon's brood began to gather outside the temple grounds. The Protoss rushed to set up their defenses before Amon could attack, with Vorazun and the Nerazim holding the northern entrance, Karax and the Khalai securing the southern approach, Alarak and the Tal'Darim laying claim to the large western battle line, Rohanna and the Protoss fleet holding position over the temple, and Artanis and volunteers from the rest of the Protoss forces guarding the Keystone at the center of it all, waiting on standby to aid as needed.

The Zerg soon followed. Izsha and the Zerg fleet hovering in the atmosphere, Dehaka and the primal pack joining Alarak at the western entrance, Stukov and the infested supporting Vorazun to the north, Kerrigan and her portion of the Swarm defending the east with Karax, and myself and the remainder of the Swarm guarding the Keystone with Artanis, ready to reinforce any endangered areas.

"Remember to check your targets," I messaged Artanis, requesting he broadcast the instructions to his forces. "The Swarm's Zerg are colored purple. Amon's brood is colored red. We are color-coded for your convenience, so I do not want to see any friendly fire out there."

Artanis agreed, but Karax interjected, "What of the Golden Armada? Some of their starships may be difficult for the Zerg to distinguish from ours. Disabling the psi-matrix delayed their return but-"

I interrupted, "Amon's corruption emits a clear psychic signature. The Zerg will not confuse friend or foe, I assure you. But can your ships really warp that fast? I thought we'd bought ourselves enough time."

Artanis shook his head. "Some of our starships warp faster than others, so we can expect them to arrive in waves. But arrive they will." Artanis then expanded his telepathic signal to be audible to all his forces. "Amon will bring the full might of the Great Fleet to bear against us. Of that, there is no doubt. But we shall not break. We are the Daelaam, united as never before. En Taro Adun! En Taro Tassadar! En Taro Zeratul!"

I rolled my eyes, sensed Amon's brood stirring, and then smiled and spoke up myself, broadcasting my message to both Zerg and Protoss forces. "And we are the Swarm, embracing the glory that is our birthright! En Taro the multitudes who have died, Protoss and Zerg, to ensure the enduring survival of their evolved progeny! Fight well, comrades!"

At the conclusion of my little speech, half-sincere and half-parody-humor, Amon's ultralisks bellowed and his mutalisks screeched, and his forces launched their first attack.

It was clear the zerg forces streaming towards the temple were only a tiny fraction of Amon's forces, but it was what Amon had readily available in the area, and Amon didn't want to give us the chance to freely construct still more fortifications while he waited for reinforcements. Thus, though this wave of enemies proved a challenge, our combined forces dispatched them without significant losses.

We earned ourselves a few minutes respite as the keystone continued charging, and then Amon launched his next wave.

The bulk of his forces hit the northern entrance, but with the aid of Artanis and I, Vorazun and Stukov held the line.

Another minute. Another wave of enemies. On and on it went, Amon's onslaught never fully abating, as he thoroughly tested every entrance into the temple, trying desperately to destroy the keystone. When our ground fortifications clearly grew too much to handle, he started trying to bypass them with escorted overlords and nydus worms, but our fleets and orbital bombardments made short work of them. He began focusing his efforts on our fleets, sending all manner of flying Zerg units at the Spear of Adun. Our fleets held the line easily at first, but then the Golden Armada began to warp in. Motherships cloaked scourge and phoenixes escorted mutalisks, and Amon began to gain ground in the space battle.

There wasn't anything we could do about it from the ground, so we concentrated on continuing to exterminate the swarms of enemies Amon flung at us to keep us occupied. When one of his waves began to make progress, destroying key defenses, he would immediately send another massive force escorted by enormous hybrid to try to hammer that hole into a passageway. At the same time, he would send waves to other locations, or even send parts of the Golden Armada to fly in from the east or from one of the corners of the temple in order to keep our forces occupied and prevent us from reinforcing the troubled section. Throughout it all, Amon taunted us, broadcasting telepathic insults and declarations of the hopelessness of our task.

All in all, Amon showed impressive tactics, given what he had to work with. If he'd known we were going to this temple and had had more time to prepare, I'm sure this would have been much more difficult. And if he hadn't already lost so many of his followers at Slayne, Endion, and Ravenscrest, I'm sure this would have been much more difficult. But as it was, Amon had eight separate fully prepared armies to deal with, as well as two enormous fleets. He had his work cut out for him.

And even so, it was all we could do to hold our ground under Amon's constant barrage of attacks. But the fleets, which were taking the bulk of the attention of the Golden Armada, were faring far worse. The Protoss began to lose the ability to call down orbital strikes and other defenses from the Spear of Adun, even as us Zerg began to lose the ability to call down drop-pods of reinforcements from our Leviathans, as Amon's forces viciously and suicidally threw themselves at our capital ships to destroy our fleets at any cost.

I lost track of time in the intensity of battle, but it felt like hours passed this way. Finally, when the keystone was nearly fully charged, the last starships of our once mighty Armada warped away to avoid total destruction, and Amon's fleets could finally attack us unimpeded. They threw themselves at the artifact, caring nothing for our defenses, desperate to stop us.

But it was too late. Our ground fortifications held out and our fleets had bought us the time we needed. Abathur and Karax called out telepathically that the artifact, which I could now sense was full to brim with mysterious energies, was ready. We ordered our forces to fall back to the keystone and let the remaining possessed Protoss come to us, and then Artanis and I looked at each other.

"Care to do the honors, Artanis?" I asked, gesturing at the keystone.

"Together," he declared simply.

I nodded, and in unison we pressed our palms to the keystone and mentally willed its activation.

BOOM.

The blue energy nova I had become familiar with immediately exploded outward, a tidal wave rushing throughout the temple and far beyond. But this time the force was less physical and more psionic, sending my mind reeling even as my body remained standing upright. Then, the direction of the energy nova reversed, and the energy came back rushing into the keystone from all directions like a black hole sucking away a star. But what the keystone pulled in was not stellar matter, but void energy. Void energy, red and crackling, washed away from the possessed Protoss' nerve cords and into the keystone like driftwood caught in a hurricane. There was a dark screaming sound as the last of energy flew into the keystone, and then, abruptly, everything was quiet.

We all slowly came back to ourselves, and as I looked around I realized that the possessed Protoss, who had been fighting so hard to reach us and the keystone, were no longer possessed. They stood shaking their heads, their eyes glowing normal Protoss blue instead of Amon's red.

Artanis wasted no time. "Templar!" he shouted. "Rid yourselves of Amon! Sever your nerve cords!"

Suddenly, the keystone lifted high into the air and began emitting a dark red light, energy crackling like lightning around it. "No," Amon's voice declared. "We are one in the Khala!"

The formerly possessed Protoss looked around in fear and hesitated. A nearby female Protoss who had fought particularly viciously spoke up telepathically. "Without the Khala, what will we become?" she cried out, her voice tinged with despair.

Artanis looked directly at her. "Free," he answered."

"LIES!" Amon screamed from his prison. Red cracks were beginning to appear on the artifact.

"Believe," Artanis pleaded, as the formerly possessed Protoss looked mournfully at their nerve cords, their connection to the Khala, their hivemind.

Then, one by one, the Protoss took up their psi-blades and, screaming, cut straight through their nerve cords. As their appendages clattered lifelessly to the ground, I couldn't help but reflect on their courage. It must have been like intentionally putting out one's own eyes, and they must know they will feel blind without the Khala. And yet, better to be blind than a slave.

"En Taro Artanis!" screamed the female Protoss, lifting her psi-blade into the air as the last and most reluctant Protoss finally severed their nerve cords.

"NOOO!" Amon screamed in rage as the Keystone violently imploded, unleashing a torrent of void energy that exploded outward back towards the Protoss, but found no purchase there. The energy then rushed up into space, dissipating back into the void from whence it came.

I released the breath I didn't know I had been holding. I closed my eyes, exultant in our victory. That was it. The battle was won. I felt Amon's control over the remaining feral zerg slip away. The fallen Xel'Naga had been banished back to the Void and the Koprulu sector was safe for the infested once more.

...

The silence lasted for one long beautiful moment. But even the most beautiful moments pass. Soon, the Protoss around me fell to chattering, as the newly freed wished to hear the tale of our endeavors against Amon and those I had fought alongside hoped to find their loved ones among the newly freed. I removed myself from them and called for my Zerg. "Well done, my friends," I said proudly, opening a telepathic channel to all my allies connected to the hivemind. "The day is won. Let us leave the Protoss to celebrate their reclaimed homeworld and return home ourselves."

"Once again we stand victorious atop the broken bodies of our enemies," Kerrigan replied, smiling, but clearly exhausted, as Dehaka and Stukov murmured similar sentiments.

Artanis saw me walk away and sensed my psionic communication. Extracting himself from his conversation with the female Protoss, he marched over to me. With his long strides, he reached me quickly. "Magis," he said, catching my attention. "The Protoss will not soon forget what your Zerg have done this day. Whatever others might say, I do not believe we would have succeeded without you. Though we have been enemies, for as long as I live and as long as the Zerg continue to act with honor, I swear we shall be friends."

I felt Artanis extend a tentative psionic connection towards me the way a Terran might extend a hand. I looked up at him. The large Protoss wore an earnest expression. I nodded. "I would like nothing more," I answered. "The Zerg and the Protoss are both children of the Xel'Naga. Let us therefore be as brothers." I grasped his offered telepathic connection with my mind, and images and memories flowed readily between us. The gesture had all the significance of a Terran handshake, plus the vulnerability of exposing a part of your soul to another.

"En Taro Adun, Artanis," I said, breaking the connection after a moment. "Farewell."

"Embrace the glory that is your birthright, Magis," Artanis replied, nodding. "Until we meet again."

Months passed. Alarak and the Tal'Darim returned to the territory from which they came, refusing to ally permanently with the rest of the Protoss. Still, it seemed they, too, had no plans for more war for the foreseeable future. The rest of the surviving Protoss gathered on Aiur and set about rebuilding their once-mighty civilization, but without the Khala, the caste divisions, or any of the old traditions. They forged a new path for themselves, and I was optimistic that that path would be good for both them and the infested for a long time to come.

Meanwhile, the Zerg returned to Char, and we set about replenishing our forces and taking back some of the territory that had been lost to Amon, reclaiming feral zerg wherever we found them. Soon, I would have to get back to the old project of infesting the Terrans, and hopefully find Nova in the process, but first the Zerg would have to be prepared.

Dehaka and his pack left us during this time. With the threat of total destruction no longer looming over us and so much essence consumed, Dehaka felt that the Koprulu sector no longer had much to offer him. Part of me disliked the idea of allowing of a powerful alien force to wander the universe consuming things. Certainly, Abathur urged me not to allow Swarm essence to escape our purview. But Dehaka had earned my respect, and I was curious what sort of creature he would turn into in the end. So, I wished him well and asked that he check in with us occasionally.

Dehaka's answer was a noncommittal grunt. "Promises foolish. Change constant, cannot know where I will be, what I will be. But… I grew much here. I will remember." So saying, Dehaka took his leave and disconnected from the hivemind.

It wasn't until several weeks after Dehaka and his pack left that I received the signal. The garrison that I left at Ulnar reported that a gateway to the Void had opened. Shortly after, Kerrigan began to complain of strange whispers once again…