Tess was taking pictures of the enemy equipment with her Poketech. At least the camera function still worked in this nonsensical place.
"They're taking machines that transfer power, no, lots of power, inside the building. I wonder if anything there needs to be charged?"
"We can't say for certain," Sycamore said, "But it isn't any good. Hey, is that Cypress?"
It was. Cypress was stumbling directly to the edge of the island, clenching his gut. Emrett appeared next to him, and noticed his poor condition. "My lord, I have done what you commanded...are you all right?"
Before Cypress could answer, there was a sucking sound, and then light, light streaming everywhere, illuminating everything. But the light was not a light that gave relief. No, it pierced and tore, blinded and burned, providing no rest or comfort. Tess shielded her face from the terrible sight.
Still, she simply couldn't look away from it. It was so brilliant that no detail was distinguishable, but in the center appeared a human figure made of nothing. None. Void. Ex Nihilo. A absence that shone. A nothing that gave illumination. It had human features, but all wrong, like a head with iron hair, and a back with negative wings. Emrett was lying on the ground, moaning in ecstasy. "Master...master...ohhhhh..."
But worse was Cypress. Something changed about his appearance. His normally full head of hair appeared sparse and brittle. His ears lost color, and became nearly translucent. He seemed to have shrunk, his uniform now too large for him. His skin was now mottled gray in pallor, so much that if he was but a little older, he would have resembled a decomposing corpse. Cypress managed to speak from shrunken lips, as though far away, from a deep dungeon.
"Hungry...exhausted...dead..." And to Tess he did look dead. This must be what he would appear like if he had not been resurrected at Anthien City over a month before. The other grunts near the apparition muttered oaths and prayers. "Beautiful...beautiful..."
It was beautiful, in a terrible way, like a nuclear explosion is beautiful. But this sight was truly horrible to Tess, and the others with her. AZ gasped, and was trembling with horror. "Its him...the one in my dreams...he told me how to build it...the Ultimate Weapon!"
Tess saw that she was looking at the back of a being that was facing Cypress, its terrible glow cascading everywhere. Cypress raised his head, giving a gurgling, faint cry of worship.
"My lord king...why...why have you forsaken me? Why have you withdrawn your spirit from me? Have I not...given myself wholly to you? To serve you? With my full heart...heart and being?"
"SILENCE!" Came the response in a voice so phantasmagorically piercing and awful that it made Tess want to cover her ears and hide. "YOU DISGUST ME! LOOK AT YOU! YOU DARE SUGGEST THAT YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO OFFER ME, BESIDES YOUR PATHETIC FRAME?! YOU ARE DRUNK WITH POWER, WHOSE SOURCE IS FAR BEYOND YOUR OWN! YOU ARE MERELY A VESSEL! A TOOL! A JAR OF CLAY FOR MY PURPOSES! AND YET YOU PARADE YOURSELF AS IF YOU HAD A SHRED OF VALUE!"
"Ohhhh...ahhhh...my king...no, I-"
"YOU DO NOT EVEN UNDERTSAND THE MEANING OF THE WORLD SILENCE! YOU ARE NOTHING! NOTHING. YOU HAVE NO POWER TO RISE FROM THE DEAD! YOU, HAHA, WERE A CARCESS! STIFF AND MUTILATED! AND ASIDE FROM MY POWER, YOU WOULD RETURN TO THE EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES, DUST TO DUST!"
"Spare me o lord, I have loved you and longed to serve you! I will do anything for you for all-"
"SPIRIT OF WORTHLESSNESS! IN TOTALITY, I WILL BORROW YOUR OTHERWISE USLESS SKELETON ONCE AGAIN. BUT IF YOU CANNOT FATHOM IT...I MYSELF WILL REMIND YOU OF WHO YOU ARE! YOU...ARE NOT ME! I...AM NOT YOU! YOU ARE MERE...INVENTORY...GOODS AND SERIVICES. YOU ARE A PIECE OF EQUIPMENT! AN AFTERTHOUGHT IN MY GRAND DESIGNS! AND YOU MUST NEVER DARE IMAGINE OTHERWISE!"
"Never...never...I am...humbly at your service..."
"I AM THE ONE YOUR GOD! AND I WILL NOT SHARE MY GLORY!"
"Absolutely, o maker!" Cypress said, panting. "Ohhh, king of heaven and earth..."
"DO NOT THINK IT WAS AN ACCIDENT WHEN THE ANCIENTS CALLED ME A BEING OF THE HALLS OF ARCEUS! THE EVENING STAR...DO YOU NOT KNOW, AS THE FALSE ONE KNOWS...THAT IT IS I, WHO HAVE LED THE NATIONS?"
"I KNOW!" Cypress sobbed. "I KNOW!"
"I! NOT YOU! NOT ANYONE ELSE IN THIS ABHORRED WORLD...AM THE ONE WHO SHALL ASCEND TO GLORY! I WILL SET MY THRONE HIGHER THEN ARCEUS! I WILL SIT UPON THE GREAT MOUNTAIN OF WORSHIP, TO THE FARTHEST SIDES OF THE NORTH! I WILL BE LIKE THE MOST HIGH!"
"Ye-ye-yes, precious master, yes! Do not let me go below the rind, no, no..."
"YET MY ENEMIES CLAIM THAT I SHOULD BE BROUGHT DOWN...TO THE MOST IMPENITRABLE PRISON! THAT ALL THE WORLD WILL GAZE UPON ME AND SAY; "IS THIS THE GREAT ONE WHO CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THEN EARTH? WHO MADE THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE? WHO LED THE WICKED FORCES OF THIS AGE?"
"May it never be so, my sovereign!"
"OH YES, HEHEHEH, MY ENEMIES DIRIDE ME. THEY CALL ME THE ENEMY...THE BENT ONE...HELEL...LUCIFER...MORGOTH...THE SCARLET KING...THE DARK SIDE...ABBADON...AZATHOTH...THE BLACK FOE OF THE WORLD...THE EVIL DJINN...THE SUPREME EVIL! THEY SAY THAT I WILL BE CAST ASIDE FROM MY THRONE, DISPOSED OF LIKE A DETESTABLE THING!"
"Never...oh, never, never! Not as long as I have breath..."
"ARE YOU SO THICK, THAT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND?! IT IS I, WHO GAVE YOU BREATH!"
"Ahhh, yes yes yes, I know, yes!"
"THEN WHAT SHOULD YOUR CONTRIBUTION BE THEN? MY ENEMIES DECLARE THAT MY SON WILL NOT SUCCED ME AS KING..."
"Then let me be your son!" Cypress blubbered. "And you shall be my father!"
"NO! MY ENEMIES WILL NOT PROSPER AGAINST ME! THE FALSE ONE HAS THE AUDACITY TO CALL HIMSELF...THE ORIGNAL ONE WHO BREATHED ALONE!"
"But then...it is you! Ohhh, beautiful star...it is you alone!"
"HE HAS ALREADY USED HIS SERVANTS TO PREVENT MY CAPTURE OF THE LORD OF DECAY, SO THAT MY ACENSION WOULD BE DELAYED. HE WOULD SWEEP MY KINGDOM, AND MAKE IT A DESOLATE LAND, FOR WILD BEASTS, AND CARRION BIRDS. NO ONE WOULD EVER LIVE THERE AGAIN!"
"And I, hem hem, we shall never let that happen, your grace! His power is nothing compared to yours, conquering king! We shall prove it even today, will we not?!"
"WE?! WE?!"
"You! You you you! You, exalted one!"
"WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO SPEAK? WHAT CAN YOU OFFER ME, WHEN THE FALSE ONE, WHO CALLS HIMSELF ARCEUS, THE ORIGINAL ONE, THE ALL IN ALL, THE GOD OF THE WHOLE WORD, HAS BROUGHT HIS SERVANTS IN ARMS AGAINST MINE? WHEN HIS HAND MOVES, WHO CAN STOP HIM?"
"You can, powerful one, I believe in you!"
"I CAN...I CAN, AND DO NOT FORGET IT...WHO WAS IT, THAT INCITED KYOGRE AND GROUNDON TO BATTLE OUT OF RIVALRY? WHO WAS IT, THAT GAVE A MAN OF THE EARTH THE KNOWLEDGE TO CREATE THE ULTIMATE WEAPON, IN ORDER FOR A NEW WORLD TO BE CREATED? WHO WAS IT, THAT INCITED THE BEINGS OF HEAVEN TO TAKE ARMS AGAINST THE FALSE ONE, IN ETERNITY IMMEMORIAL?"
"You did, and he knows, he knows!"
"OF COURSE HE KNOWS! IT IS I WHO HAVE GONE TO AND FRO IN THE EARTH, AND UP AND DOWN THROUGH IT! IT WAS I, WHO TEMPTED THE ELITE FOUR MEMBER LANCE, TO ANNIHILATE THE CHILDREN OF THE FALSE ONE! IT WAS I, WHEN THE FOOLISH CHILD BLACK ATTEMPTED TO BECOME THE CHAMPION OF UNOVA, STOOD AT HIS RIGHT HAND TO OPPOSE HIM!"
"And...and...you nearly succeeded!"
"SUCCESS COMES...TODAY!"
"I believe it my lord, I believe it!"
"I WAS THE ONE WHO FOUGHT WITH LOGARIA IN THE WAR OF WRATH! IT WAS I WHO TOOK ONE FAIR FORM IN THE IRON MOUNTAINS TO DECEIVE REI AND THE GOLDEN COMPANY, AS I TORE THE PLATES ASUNDER FROM ARCEUS! I FOUGHT WITH DIALGA AND PALKIA IN THE LAST BATTLE, WHICH BY CHANCE I WAS CHAINED IN, AND DEFEATED THEM BOTH WITH MY MIGHTY HAMMER, DURTHANG! IT WAS I WHO MADE THE RACE OF THE HALF-MEN, WHO HAVE UNFORTUNATELY PASSED. THEY WERE GOOD SLAVES, INDEED..."
"I know of them, o mellifluous one! Your works in changing Men and Pokémon to a better form in the Elder Days are hardly surpassed!"
"THE FALSE ONE SAYS THAT I SHOULD NOT TEST HIS WRATH, AS IT IS WRITTEN. BUT HE IS NOT MY LORD NOR GOD!"
"No, no matter, prince of the air...you never will bow to him!"
"I NEVER SHALL."
"May it ever be so!" Cypress gushed.
"AH...THE FALSE ONE KNEW THAT WHEN HE SPREAD HIS MESSAGE THROUGH HIS SERVANTS, I WOULD SWOOP AS A VULTURE, AND CARRY AWAY THIS SEED!"
"Worshipful one...that has always been your strength...I will not be weak in your hour of need, master!"
"I DO NOT NEED YOU! I WILL NOT BE WEAK! ARE YOU UNTEACHABLE?!"
"F-f-forgive me lord!"
"SILENCE! I AM WEARYING OF YOU! I AM PREPARING FOR BATTLE WITH THE SERVANTS OF THE FALSE ONE, AS I CREATE A NEW WORLD FROM THE TAPROOT OF MY GREATNESS! THE GOD OF TRICKERY...CLAIMS HE WILL CRUSH ME UNDER HIS FEET! I...AM ONE WHO TAKES ADVANTAGE...WHEN MEN ARE IGNORANT TO MY DEVICES. I AM THE GOD OF THIS AGE...AND THE MIND OF THOSE WHO SERVE ME. I AM MORE THEN THE FALSE ONE...I AM HIS SUPERIOR! AND SHALL BE...HIS CONQUEROR! AM I NOT UP FOR THIS TASK?"
"YOU ARE! YOU ARE! And the new universe shall sing your praises, and call you blessed!"
"YOU HAVE WELL SAID...THAT I AM THE LORD OF THE EARTH...ALL ARE UNDER MY DOMINION. WHAT I HAVE BROUGHT IS EVIDENT IN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF MEN. THE INHABITANTS OF THIS AGE ARE LOVERS OF THEMSELVES, LOVERS OF MONEY, BOASTFUL, PROUD, ABUSIVE, DISOBEDIENT TO THE FALSE ONE, UNGRATEFUL, IMPURE, WITHOUT LOVE, UNFORGIVING, SLANDEROUS, WITHOUT SELF-CONTROL, BRUTAL, NOT LOVERS OF GOOD, TREACHEROUS, RASH, CONCEITED, LOVERS OF PLEASURE RATHER THAN LOVERS OF ARCEUS, AND HAVE A FORM OF WORSHIP, BUT DENY ITS POWER."
"Yessssss. You are so good, so mighty..."
"I...AM THE LORD OF THE SONS OF PERDITION! I WORK WITH THEM TO FUFILL THE LUSTS OF THEIR FLESH, AND OF THE MIND. NONE MAY WITHSTAND MY WILES. MY ENEMIES DO NOT WRESTLE WITH FOES OF FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT MY SPIRITS...AGAINST MY POWERS...AGAINST MY RULERS OF THIS AGE..."
"That is you, o blessed one!"
"I HAVE FIREY DARTS...THAT CANNOT BE QUENCHED!"
"Amen, and amen!"
"THEY THEMSELVES HAVE CALLED ME...A ROARING LION! WHO ROAMS, SEEKING WHO IT MAY DEVOUR!"
"And today shall be a feast for you! The blasphemers will be crushed under your triumph!"
"THEY CALL ME...THE EVIL DJINN...THE GREAT DRAGON! HAHA! THEY CALLED ME THAT SERPENT...THAT SSSSERPENT OF OLD..."
"Lord...how excellent is your name. Let it be exalted on the earth in the light of your glory! You, my lord, shall be exalted above all nations, and your glory in the heavens. You, my lord, are above all the kingdoms of the earth. Who is likened to you...who dwells on high?"
"I WILL HAVE NEED OF YOUR SHELL AGAIN FOR A BRIEF SEASON."
"I am yours!"
And with that the being disappeared, and Cypress stood, healthy as ever, arrogance restored. It was as if he had come back to life a second time, his voice crisp and sure.
"I implore you to address me, loyal servants. You are all in place, and I will tell you what you just witnessed, and what you will remember. Ladies and gentlemen, soldiers, you have had the privilege of witnessing me take on my divine form, and leave my earthly body. I intend for you to fully recognize this as a sign of my continually proven divinity. You are dismissed to your various duties."
A technician raised his hand. "And you have something to say?"
"Yes, my lord, I have some serious doubts about that explanation for what just occurred here-" Cypress outstretched his arm, screamed in anger, and the grunt was incinerated in a instant.
"DO YOU DOUBT ME?!" Cypress screamed. Everyone else ran away in terror, not willing to speak, lest they bring their master's wrath upon them.
Emrett was still bowing and weeping, but Cypress put him at ease. "Commander Emrett...you are to joining the fighters on the battlefield. I believe you have long been absent from this conflict. You have seen nothing of suspicion here." Emrett squeaked in fright, and teleported away.
Tess was totally disgusted. Cypress, in his true nature, was nothing more then a sniveling slave of some terrible being. Was that thing what they were truly fighting? If the 'Evil Djinn' was a fighter in this battle, Tess couldn't help but be afraid.
Sycamore had pulled out his personal Pokedex, and was busily comparing measurements. "Yes...exactly like before! The energy I measured coming from that thing matches the energy signature of the glitched entity on the other Pokedexes! We have solved our mystery!"
Tess wasn't listening to him. Rather, she was looking at one particular Eclipse member, the only one that hadn't bowed at the terrible light.
Perhaps there was hope left for Jake.