Chapter 35: Attacking Time Assassins

The afternoon came once again, and the sun would slowly become yet another sunset on Kiln, as its orbit made it creep closer to the horizon. The beam it emitted, striking at Red Mountain and around Empire Capitol, was a cause for concern and panic for the gilanian people, both aligned to Gollog, and those that are not aligned to him. Its destructive attack was already dangerously angled, and the Kiln Keepers would have to adapt without the constant barrage of energy. Elsewhere, however, a special organism was being deployed. Specifically, the carrier behemoth on the hexagonal moon.

The carrier behemoth was filled to the brim with zerg organisms, and it was flying toward the planet and deploying several drop-pods from orbit. The behemoth matched the acceleration and velocity of the pods it was deploying, launching several in a wave as it went into free-fall and dropping down toward the entry-point, which was the place that the zerg pods were going to land on.

From the information that Kay had gleaned from Bubbles' mind, he had to calculate and plan his drop-pods to land at just the right moment. Kay had a hunch that if he did not do this now, then his past will become more complicated once the next day comes around. Already, he can remember meeting twenty era agents disguised as tribal hunters, when he knew he had only met with three in the first place! Time was of the essence, and it was running out.

At the southern pole of the planet, it was a constant twilight in a dusk-like setting. It is to be noted that Kiln's orbiting sun had never rose above or descended below the horizon at the poles. The hemispheres never experiences winter or summer in the traditional sense, because the orbit of Kiln's sun was never a perfect orbit, if it ever orbited at all. Kiln's core was displaced and unbalanced, off-centering its rotation into a constant axis where the northern hemisphere absorbed more daylight than the southern hemisphere. In turn, Kiln's sun was always fixed into a rotational axis where it's north pole is always facing the sun. It doesn't explain why such a planet experiences seasons still, but it reaffirms the suggestion of Kiln being an artificial planet that had its own artificial climate changes.

But within the dim lands, where the moon darkened the skies in constant moonlight, existed two facilities that were neighbors with one another. One of which happened to be the facility that the zerg had escaped from, which was cleverly hidden in plain sight by the various boulders that covered it. However, there was little memories that Kay could draw from the zerg hivemind on the details of such a facility. For a lack of better words to use, the escape from the facility was nothing more but a blur of quick actions and general panic. Several guards did try to contain the zerg outbreak, only to suffer from the consequences of the scientists summoning them in the first place. After breaching containment, the zerg were free to escape and find a better location to generate a hive cluster on.

But their neighbors were a more dangerous group. They were an agency that specialized in changing the timeline to benefit themselves, or others for profitable gain. The Era Agents, and the agency they maintain, are the most dangerous group of assassins in the world. They are the only force on Kiln that hold the reigns of power when it comes to time travel. The facility that they worked in was defended by a time-dilation locked bubble, which prevented physical objects from entering unless they were experiencing time that was thirty times faster than normal. The agency was modern and cubic in shape, which had several glass pyramids installed as skylight windows, yet there were other light sources that were artificial, and some were constantly left on. The light from outside the facility was unusually dim, since time from outside the agency was slower than inside of it. The surrounding environment outside of the bubble was but a collection of toppled stone pillars, and the agency was built right on top of it, the facility kept aloft by tough granules of gravel. Since time was thirty times faster within the temporal bubble and inside of the agency, the light that falls on the agent's facility is reduced by thirty times when shined into the time-dilation field. Under the ground lies the rest of the facility, and deep within its confines lies the assassins' most impossible weapon: The time gate. The target of the zerg.

Zagion, the seneschal of this timeline's agency, stared with dull interest as one of his agents was mercilessly beaten by two other agents. After several minutes of this exchange, the punished agent was allowed to fall to the ground and recuperate from his injurious lesson. A minute later, Zagion, a gilanian with an incredibly portly midsection and wearing a white and orange uniform, stepped forward and leaned down slightly to stare at the bruised Era Agent. Zagion sighed. "You fucking idiot."

The wounded agent on the ground, which happened to be the supposed leader of the group of Era Agents that had intruded into Kay and Virid's territory at its center, coughed and gasped for air. Bubbles had a wheezing cough before he answered. "You don't understand! He was going to kill us if we didn't retreat! *COUGH COUGH* ... You would too if you were in my shoes, sir!"

Zagion shook his head. "It's evident that these monsters are smart. And apparently, this Kay person said to you that we will be sending assassins into his past to perform an assassination contract on himself. An otherwise impossible target to assassinate in my opinion. With that said, we are going to need to find a way to kill our current annoyance in the self-inflicted destruction he has assured for himself." Zagion turned to his desk and pressed a button on some kind of gilanian communication device. "Zel. Inform the alternate agencies in the timeline network that we have a problem. Request resources and help, and request information about a race of insectoid lizard hybrids capable of breeding as fast as sin. Code-named 'Zerg.'"

[Yes, sir.] His receptionists said, her voice emanating from the device.

Zagion sighed and turned toward Bubbles. "Bulschtein, how did he learn my name? How does he know that we will attack him within his past? How can terabytes of information simply vanish when information stored on our temporally protected database contains several contradictions? This tells us one of two things: One, these 'zerg' creatures have acquired time travel technology and have targeted our agency. Or two, we have a mole on the inside that will join their ranks soon, and have already shared our secrets. Fess up and I'll be sure to be more lenient with your... you most grievous and recent mistake."

Bubbles sighed. "But sir, this could only mean one thing. There might be a variable that's putting our timeline in danger."

Bubbles was rewarded with a foot to his face. Zagion grunted as he placed his foot back on the ground and waddled to his desk. "I don't want to hear any of your complaints. As of now, I'll have you contained until we have definite proof that you're loyalties remain unchanged to us." Zagion clicked a button onto his desk's communication device again. "Zel. Any word of the agencies from the alternate timelines?"

[No sir. The other agencies are saying that your current timeline has became unique. This is an anomalous occurrence, and they said that you must document the event.]

Zagion sighed. "Fucking figures. If they sense that our own timeline does not benefit the other agencies, or our inception point is in any danger of being intercepted, then they're going to block off our access to their alternate agency databases, AND their timelines. Dammit!"

Bubbles looked up, pausing and then gasping. "You don't mean..."

Zagion left his desk and picked up Bubbles, bringing him to his feet. "We're at a high risk of getting stuck in a dead timeline. We'll need to requisition and transfer data containing all information relating to this 'zerg', and pool what information we can from them." Zagion went to his desk again and clicked the comm device's button. "Zel. Send an assassin squad to learn about the zerg and send them after the zerg leader. "

[Yes sir. Should they activate the recursion protocol if they are unsuccessful?]

"Not on their own. Have them ask permission from you before they go off on a recursion mission. As such, you are to grant permission to all assassin recursion requests asked from you regarding this particular mission. Once they come back from a successful mission, you are to write a report and send it to me. And tell me the exact composition of the assassins sent to each recursion in the report. Understand?"

[Yes sir.]

"Good girl, Zel. Carry on." Zagion un-clicked the comm device and sighed as he furrowed his brow. He sat himself down and leaned back from his desk. "Huuuuuhhh... I don't know how much you have fucked us, Bulschtein. Time travel is a tricky business, and we have to be smart about our time traveling in order to keep ourselves in the game. We know that the zerg have attacked our forces in his past, but we are learning from him that we already have, or will be, sending our assassins after him to prompt the attack. This exchange wouldn't be possible had Lovechief Kragnon decided not to tell someone, in his description, of what the Era Agents are. We have already deduced that Kragnon was the one that leaked information about our operations, but we had no idea that he shared this information with the Kay, the leader of the zerg! This is a very big conundrum if I ever heard of one."

Bubbles looked at the ground and sighed. It was obvious that this whole scenario was his fault, and he had no idea that he had been made a fool in the presence of his seneschal. "So... what we got to do is find where the zerg originated, and then take them down in that timeline."

Zagion glared at Bubbles, but then gave a subtle smile. "Now there's a thought. Hopefully, the assassins I contracted are going to have a better time finding their origin point on our world." He said leaning back in his chair further.

Once he looked up at the ceiling, however, Zagion's expression changed from the satisfaction of doing Era Agency business, to one of great confusion as he saw something beyond the skylight of his head office. Several awkward seconds had passed before Bubbles decided to break the silence. "Uh... Sir?"

A few more seconds of pausing passed before Zagion pointed up. "What... the hell are those?"

Everybody looked up and saw... some things they did not recognize. The light from outside the complex was dim, so it was hard for Zagion, Bubbles, and the two other agents to make them out. They appeared to be malformed balloons that have spiked ends at the bottom. There were several tentacles that trailed behind each of them, and they all seemed to be aligned side-by-side. Bubbles was hesitant to answer, but he had no information on the... things that were above the facility of the Era Agents. "I... don't know at all, sir."

Several more seconds had passed before Zagion's eyes widened even more. There was something that he had suddenly remembered at that moment. "... Uhhhhhhhhh how long until the era agent facility resets its anchor point?"

Bubbles looked down on a time-telling watch on his left wrist, and paled when he sought Zagion's answer. "... We have three seconds sir."

Zagion had only three seconds to wildly react in time to put the station under lock-down. However, he hesitated simply because he was too stunned by the appearance of the zerg drop-pod sacs. If he had reacted in time, then the agency could have had time to prepare against the zerg invasion. But the problem with the agents in the Era Agency was that they never expected an attack to assault them in their own base of opperations, so they never had a reason to look up before. Until now.

Suddenly, hell broke loose as a flash of light brightened the agency's base of opperations. Everything within the bubble simply slowed down enough for the zerg to enter unaffected. The wave of zerg drop-pod sacs became more animated and faster, and they collided with the Era Agent facility in an amassed force that was devastating and sudden. The skylights blew open, the lights flickered off, the ground outside the facility was quickly covered in creep, and a blaring klaxon noisily broke the silence. The zerg were here.

The zerglings, the fastest out of all other zerg strains, quickly overwhelmed and pacified the staff within the agency, by pouncing on them and gnawed at their weapons until they broke. Other gilanians had tried to barricade themselves from the zerg infiltrators, but roach acid had eradicated their defenses with laughable speed, which further enabled the zerglings the unimpeded advantage of pacifying more staff. Agents that tried to fight back, or any gilanian that attempted to fight back against the zerg, were brought down without mercy. The sharpshooting gilanians met a quick end when a hydralisk's sharp spine tore through their flesh and went through brains, lungs, hearts, and livers, killing most gilanians in a sudden instant. If they had powered armor suits, like those worn by a terran marine, then the agents could have lasted somewhat longer. But they did not have such impressive terran marine powered armors, and the top portion of their facility still fell in under a minute.

Zagion's eyes were wide with surprise and fear, since the visage of a zergling was inches from his face. He knew that if he made one false move, then his chubby cheeks would have been bitten off. But even with the zerglings that stood on top of him, He, Bubbles, and the two other agents that had beaten Bubbles as a method of punishment, were still alive. A couple of minutes had passed, and Zagion's heart was beating fast due to his heightened horror, and he realized too late that his facility was overrun with the zerg. He dared not say, or breathe a word since he was so frightened.

And when worse came to worse, more zerg creatures had entered into his office. One of which was a slug-like creature with spidery arms. It slithered into Zagion's office, followed by a couple queens that seemed to have trouble getting around within the slightly tight confines of the office. The slug seemed to gaze at everyone within the office with cold scrutiny. Once it locked eyes with Zagion, it pause and then slithered toward him. "Designation, Zagion?" It said, pointing at him.

Zagion paused for a long time. He had no words to say. He didn't know that there were other zerg creatures that could talk. But then again, one of the creatures that Gollog's men referred to as a 'caretaker' did talk to his agents a chapter ago. After such pregnant hesitation, Zagion still had no words to say since he was in awe, fright, and surprise.

However, this slug monster bared a similar appearance to an evolution master known as Corvurn, who was still residing on the hexagonal moon and slowly progressing with his adaptation against the gilanian nanites. The evolution master that Corvurn had created was born a little differently in shape, bearing longer limbs, a shorter height, and larger eyes. Its eyes narrowed, and it grumbled when it didn't receive its answer. It took one of its bladed arms to Zagion's neck. "Answer. Are you Zagion?" It growled with a slightly higher pitch compared to Corvurn's own voice.

Zagion was hesitant to answer, but he slowly nodded and gulped. "Uhhh... Yes. I am him."

The evolution master huffed. "Explain how facility works. If information sufficient, will allow to live. If information insufficient, facility will be dismantled. Comply?"

Zagion tilted his head, his gaze slowly turning into confusion. "... What?! Why should I tell you that?!"

The new evolution master grumbled. "Past in danger. Need to learn functions of facility. Answer now, or consensual option removed. Final warning."

Zagion paused, but his head slowly developed a left-to-right shaking motion that increased in size, and then in speed and rapidity. "Never. Not even in a painful afterlife where I was given another chance to choose this option again. I will say no to you every time, even if I died every time after choosing that answer."

A stinger that was attached to one of the evolution master's arms shot into the abdomen of Zagion, and he screamed and gurgled with the stabbing sensation, followed by a buildup of pressure. The new evolution master growled in indifference. "Consent removed. You will become one with Swarm."

Once the stinger was removed from Zagion's abdomen, he lurched over and clutched the entry wound on his belly, which seeped with a trickle of blood that mixed with a glowing green fluid. Several seconds had passed, but Zagion could only feel a sense of dread when he felt his own intestines moving. It felt like worms were swimming around in his gut. "Gh... What did you... do to me?!"

The new evolution master leaned down and inspected Zagion for several seconds. It paused for a while before speaking again. "Curious. Shows no symptoms of immediate infestation. Unknown variables detected."

It was true. The gilanians beforehand that had been infested so far had their intestines inflate and deflate at odd intervals, coughed to the point of releasing speckles of blood, and had severe seizures. Not Zagion, for some reason. He hissed as he clutched his belly. "I don't know what the fuck you are talking about... but I sure as hell don't like what you did."

"Indifferent to animosity. Knowledge needed. Swarm hivemind overrides will." The evolution master backed away from Zagion and addressed to the subdued gilanians, waving his many hands high and raising his voice. "Listen now! Defiance causes consequence! Consequence involves death or infestation! Understand warning, or suffer consequences!" After the evolution master's announcement, the slug monster slithered away, leaving the gilanians there with the zerglings, and a few of the hydralisks and roaches, behind to watch after the captives inside of Zagion's room.

Zagion grunted as he felt a burning pain go through his veins. Bubbles slowly turned his head to look at his seneschal master. "... Uh... Sir? Is something wrong?"

Zagion shook his head. "I've been injected with something, Bulschtein, of course something is wrong. I can feel the venom moving in my veins now. What else did you think those stingers can do? Serve cold treats? Ow..." Zagion clutched his belly again. "It hurts to be angry."

Bubbles shook his head. "Whatever that thing did to you, we can try and go back in time and stop this from hap-MNFH~?!" Bubbles was silenced when the forelimb of a zergling covered his mouth.

Zagion chuckled. "Heh. Well... Wherever this is going, I can tell that we're not on in control any... more." Zagion shuffled forward, doing his best to keep the fluids in his belly from leaking out of his body. The roaches and hydralisks parted when he neared them. He noticed that his way was made clear, but he was unsure of this current change in the zerg's behavior. "... I think these guys are only aggressive if they think you can hurt them. Nice bit of info to know before this shit happened..."

By an unknown will, an injured Zagion waddled forward and into the agency that was being infested by the zerg. Several gilanians had zerglings sitting on top of their pinned bodies, but several more zerglings were seen still filtering into the facility, followed by several more roaches, hydralisks, queens, and a bunch of changelisks. Still however, he felt compelled to follow the procession of zerg organisms. They didn't seem to mind Zagion much as he waddled with them. "No no no no no keep away don't come close stay back shoo shoo shoo shoo leave me alone go away go away go away I want to be alone please no please no please no." he saw a woman in an extravagant dress of blue and pink cloth keeping the zerglings away with a chair, using its legs to prod them away. When she saw Zagion traveling with the zerg, her eyes widened. "... Sir?"

"Stay where you are, Zel. Whatever you do, don't attack them." Zagion growled out as he continued following the swarming zerg.

Zel stared at Zagion for a moment before returning to prodding the zerglings away with her chair again, muttering in abject terror. But Zagion, on the other hand, was following the zerg as they skittered into the building and entered deeper into the complex. Doors did not bar their progress, for they had already destroyed the doors. Below the facility, cleaner walls were molested by the blood and crossfire of conflict, and many armed agents were made dead by zerg claws, spines, and acid. What remained of the guards after the many battles within the complex consisted of blood splatters, pieces of their armor, and forgotten strips of flesh that were too mangled to piece back together. Whatever happened to the rest of them, Zagion didn't know, and didn't care to find out.

Before he knew it, he was walking into the inner complex of the agency, and he saw the evolution master again, standing next to a door that led to the rest of the facility. The evolution master slithered out of Zagion's way, and he inputted a code that only he would know. After pressing the twenty digit password, the door was unlocked and slid open, which also prompted the klaxon to shut itself off. Zerglings, roaches, and hydralisks stormed into the remaining complex once their way was made clear. It took Zagion a second to shake his head as he came upon a sudden realization. Why did he just opened the door for the zerg invaders? "... What... Just happened?"

The evolution master turned to the seneschal and growled. "Swarm infestation rooted into brain. Makes will susceptible to command. Command organisms forces overriding will to other strains. Commanding organism also commands infested organisms." The evolution master pointed at Zagion. "Now infested organism. One with Swarm. Fate worse than repeated death and given consensual choices."

Zagion felt his head thump with a migraine. "... Oh."

The evolution master waved its hand at Zagion. "Infestation taking place. Thoughts and knowledge connecting with swarm hivemind psionic network. Sleep now. May need later."

Zagion tried to fight and resist, but he felt compelled to find a nice cozy spot and nap there. "N... No d-dammit. No..." But still, Zagion turned and went to a nearby wall, even when the gunfire was blasting off in the next room and the rooms beyond. But Zagion planted his ass onto the ground and started closing his eyes. Soon, his vision blurred and he eventually entered into an uncomfortable sleep.

But the evolution master stayed back until the inner complex was completely under control. Once the agency's inner complex was captured, the evolution master would get to work dissecting the technology. It would try to understand the mechanics of time travel, just like its father did with the manifestation altars. Researching this facility would enable the zerg to understand the inner workings of the Era Agents' agency better, but the zerg had only their own claws, and the knowledge contained in intact brains, to work with. But it didn't stop the new evolution master. It had a task to do.

Meanwhile, Kay and Virid was keeping track of the new evolution master as it dropped from a zerg drop-pod sac. However, the moment it collided with the facility, the psionic signal that it, and the zerg that it came with, became incredibly difficult to understand, becoming like... ultra low-frequency static. Kay frowned and shook his head. "Well that's it. I can't sense him anymore."

Back in the sanctuary that is the Hidden Water Spring Tribe's underground village, Kay sighed as he lost the psionic signal to the newest evolution master that had been spawned. He stood with Virid, and she too expressed frustration. "Even so, sending the newest evolution master to intercept the time assassin agency was the only logical tactic we could employ."

Kay turned to Virid. "How so?"

Virid bowed. "The newest evolution master has the ability to command subordinate strains, just like I, you, and Corvurn can. This is the power of the swarm's command strains. The second-born evolution master will set out on its previous task on its own. Upon completion of its current task, the newest evolution master will seek to return to the hive, or establish a connection with us later. However, I sense that the facility would be destroyed beyond repair had we not sent the newest evolution master with the infiltrating swarm of drop-pod sacs. If our forces were to operate without an overriding will, they will become feral and fight each other, potentially destroying the curious time travel technology that the era agents have."

Kay nodded as he gave a mental command to the carrier behemoth to deploy the rest of the zerg forces still inside itself. Outside of the temporal bubble, the zerg quickly populated the area with creep and hatcheries. "I'll have to congratulate Corvurn once he gets better. In the meantime, how about we name the new evolution master?"

Virid stared, deadpanning at Kay as he announced his suggestion. "Why are you terrans so insistent on naming things?"

Kay shrugged. "Consider it a timeless hobby that even us humans don't understand. But if you don't want to name him, then I can."

Virid rolled her eyes and scuttled away. "You may do so. I am indifferent to this inanity."

Kay stared at Virid as she went away, and shook his head. "I guess I'll name him Corvurn Junior for the moment. Oh! I could nickname him C.J! That's even better!" Kay said excitedly, hitting his fist into his open hand.

[Kay. Come in, Kay.]

Kay's head jutted sideways when Kragnon's voice stung his ear. "GAH! ... Oh. Uh... Hi Kragnon?"

[Yes yes, hello and everything. It's already nearing sundown. I just wanted to let you know.] Kragnon said, sounding more energetic than normal.

Kay nodded his head. He had completely forgotten that he had an info-lens on his face. Currently, it was retracted from his view, but with a simple tap to the device that was attached to his right ear, the info-lens could be activated and accessed. "Ohhh... I think I get it. Do you want to see the state of your old town?"

[Glitter Towers may have been my old home, but I still want to bear witness to the day that Empire City is finally destroyed. With info-lenses equipped onto your zerg forces, I may be able to see my dream come true.] Kragnon replied.

"Uh... Wait, haven't I already destroyed the city?" Kay asked, tilting his head.

[For one, you destroyed A city, but Gollog calls that settlement 'Empire Capitol'.]

Kay paused for a second. "... Wait a minute. Are you saying that there are two cities that has 'Empire' in their names?"

Kragnon sighed. [There are many other cities that also bears 'Empire' in their names. It's usually what happens when Gollog takes control of a population's city. Empire Flats. Empire Village. Empire Vale. Empire Valley. Empire Town. Empire Resort. Empire Flatlands. Empire Woods. The list of the names of the empire owned cities is unimaginative, frankly.]

Kay rolled his eyes. "So what is so special about Empire City?"

[I told you. It is the seat of Gollog's power, and it's where his Castle of Dreams resides.]

If Kay could roll his eyes harder, he would have. "I kind of hoped that he was at the capitol city. Would've made hunting him down easier. But uh... I guess not. Where is Empire City anyway?"

[It is at the north pole of the planet, in the center of the Day Circle on the Shallow Ocean.]

"The... Day Circle?" Kay asked.

[The Day Circle is a wide geological area where the sun never sets in the horizon. Kiln has a unique rotation where it's axis always tilts in a specific direction. Inversely, the south pole has the Night Circle, where it is constantly the late evening.]

This bit of information confused Kay. "... So wait, how does your world experience seasons?"

Kragnon paused before he grunted. [Dunno. My guess is low frequency microwaves are used to heat up our atmosphere on a global scale.]

"Uh... Isn't that unhealthy?" Kay asked, feeling a little worried about the general health of the entire world.

[If you are high in the air during the daytime, yes.]

"So these microwaves are made by Kiln's sun, huh? Interesting." Kay said, arching his eyebrow.

[Of course. Speaking of the sun, I believe it is about time that Gollog's smiting attack is going to be too angled to be used against you. May you please send your info-lens-equipped zerg forces so I can finally see the world in their perspective?]

Kay sat down on the creep and laid his back onto it. "You sure you don't want to go outside on your own?"

[With that creep stuff outside my tower, the Golden Star Empire wanting to capture me, the Kiln Keepers being activated, and the Era Agents on the loose? Fat chance.]

Kay smiled. "Suit yourself."

With the sixth day finally passing, turning into the twilight of dusk once more, the sixth night had came and enabled the zerg free reign to attack without Gollog's imposing divine smiting power hindering and killing them. As of today, the zerg will experience exponential growth the likes of which Kiln was never prepared for. The underground domes that contained hatcheries, and a few nydus networks and resource generating structures interspersed several kilometers apart, had expanded to an impressive size of three hundred kilometers in diameter. The distance that the zerg had tunneled reached far, even passing under Citadel Gargantua in its ever extending tunnel network.

And as of now, a new target is in the zerg swarm's mind. Empire City.

Oh, and perhaps visit the facility that the zerg escaped from too. Kay decided to make a mental note to come back to that place later.

A/N: C.J. in the house! ... Uh... I meant to say 'in the Era Agency'. X3