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Chapter 3: Awakening of a new power

Human. This is what he had been once. But not any more

He awakened, bathed in a red, nutritional liquid, surrounded by a metallic barrier, dazed and confused. Feeling strangely unfamiliar to everything, he had just been aware of a few moments ago.

He tried to move and suddenly, a sharp pain stung both his arms, paining him dreadfully. He turned towards them, and his eyes widened, as he saw long tubes inserted within his arms. Somehow, those tubes even seemed organic. He tried to speak out, but ended up swallowing red water, which started to drown him.

Panic filled his mind. His limbs kicked and trashed wildly upon the cylindrical barrier. He could not get out. He could not breathe. He couldn't even scream for help. Without realizing what he was doing, energy started to pour out of him, and the golden structure imprisoning him began to crack, until finally a crevice formed, getting him flushed out.

He gasped for air. This had been a really close call. Then, he lay on the wet floor in respite, trying to sleep, in vain. He began to hear subtle voices in his mind. The voices were soothing, calm, and entangling, asking him to be part of a greater cause. He was all ears, until a much more violent voice raged in his mind.

"Oh, not authority again." A voice sounded in his head. "I'm through with this shit." This voice sounded familiar, until he realized that it was his own. It was a memory of him, as he had been before, struggling to be remembered. "I didn't accept this before. I won't start now." The voice continued. After, the soothing call continued to echo in his mind, "You must accept to evolve. We are the salvation to your weakness. Join us." The being wondered: Should he follow the voice? Another thought from the past echoed violently in his head, "Ah, fuck authority!" He felt confused and weary. On one side, something was calling him, an authority, which could help him evolve. On the other side, his personality was piercing through, telling him to get rid of authority. He yelled in confusion and fainted.

A few moments later, he awoke again. However, this time, the voices were gone. He felt relieved as he relaxed a little bit. He struggled to get up, and surveyed the room.

It was an atrocity, a room that was nightmarish, despicable. The golden walls had an eerie but crimson glow to them, and they were covered by what seemed like...veins. Huge, pulsing, blood red veins were all over the walls, covering what would otherwise be a beautiful, golden structure. Somehow, this didn't feel right to him. He touched the walls, wanting to know if the veins were alive, and noticed his hands. Each of his fingers ended in a sharp blade, and his hand's had changed: It was a grayish blue, and it seemed to be covered in veins, like the walls. Also, power radiated from his hands. Actually, power radiated from his entire body.

"What the freakin' hell happened to me?" He thought.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps from afar. Quickly, the being hid behind another structure as two other, different-looking beings approached. Most would have described them as a mixture of Protoss skin and face, with an organic zerg-like carapace giving them a strange silhouette.

One of them said mentally, "How did the shell break so soon?"

The second answered, his eyes widened, "I have no idea. The symbiosis should be complete at this point, so he shouldn't be a threat to us. It probably hasn't gone too far."

"And the other specimen?" The first one said, pointing towards the structure behind which the being was hidden.

"Let him be, for now. We have yet to study the effectiveness of the symbiosis. Let's not take too many chances. We will not begin the next symbiosis until we have more information. Come. Let us begin the search here."

And with that, the two strange beings approached the area where the one they were looking for lay, breathing heavily.

"I'll be caught if I don't move it." He said, looking desperately for a hiding spot, but finding none. As one of the two strange beings approached the structure, the symbiosed one jumped at him, slashing his throat quickly with his razor-sharp fingers. He then turned to the second one, who had put a shield up and now stood tall, a double-edged organic spear in his hands.

"Incredible. What power! What speed! You shall be a worthy warrior in our army." the being said, amazed.

"What have you done to me???" The infested one thundered, his anger rising. His eyes blazed with fury. His fingers were burning, and even the floor between his feet was starting to redden as he stomped towards the one in front of him.

He touched his enemy's shield and depleted it in seconds. At that, the strange being was speechless. He had a mixed reaction of amazement and fear. "No, stop." The first one shouted, while the one who had been wounded began to recover and stand up. "Don't come near. Stay back!" he voiced in a frightful crescendo with a tingle of desperation.

The wounded one got up and tried to run, but instantly felt his body frozen in midair. Pure terror now filled his mind, as the infested one stared at him, with an icy cold glare. He turned at the first one, who seemed to be accepting his dreaded fate. With a desperate tone, he said, resigned, "If you'll kill me, let me die now, with honor."

The infested one had pure bloodlust in his eyes. "With pleasure," He took his fingers through the chest of the strange one, destroying his heart. In seconds, he was soiled in purplish blood. He turned to the second one and asked him, disgust upon his face, "Who are you? What have you done to me?"

To that, the second one stared bravely at him and said, "May the Thanatians reign supreme."

In impatience, the infested one raged and slashed wildly, releasing psionic bolts which cut the strange one to pieces. In confusion, he thought, "What's gonna happen to me?"

The infested then remembered that the structure held another "specimen". Maybe he'd know something. The infested one quickly blew the structure away, revealing a tall uniformed man, which looked oddly familiar. He had obviously had been brought in by force, but he looked healthy and sane. The man's eyes opened and he looked at the one in front of him with fear.

The man spoke, his eyes showing his great panic, "Wh, where am I? Who are you?" He then jumped in surprise as he recognized him. "Private Stippler? John? What the hell happened to you?"

The infested one said, "You know my name?"

The man answered, surprised by the comment, "Of course I know you. You're Private 1st John Stippler, of the Dominion Army."

"Who...are you? And what is this Dominion you're talking about?"

"You don't recognize me? Have you been brainwashed or something? I'm Lieutenant Terry Lonk, your freakin' superior, the one you called an asshole, remember?"

John gave it some thought and answered, "Sorry, I don't remember you. Well, to say the truth, I don't remember anything."

Terry shook his head. "Ok. I won't waste time. I'm the only one you can trust here, and that's all you need to know, for now. Understood?"

John replied with a puzzled look. Was this man more authority?

Terry looked around. "Anyway, do you have any idea where we are?"

"Actually, I was hoping you'd maybe know."

Terry grunted. "Let me get this straight: We're in the middle of God-knows- where, you've been changed in some sort of weird monster, and we don't even have a single weapon. Say, did you see anyone here?"

John nodded. "Two weird creatures. They were atrocities."

"What did they look like? Protoss, zerg or terran?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, yeah. Forgot you don't remember anything. What did they look like?"

"Well, um, they had grayish skin, with veins covering their entire bodies, and a weird thick carapace covering them. There was also a weird blue barrier around one of them."

Terry gave him a puzzled look: "What? Are they really like that?"

"Yeah. Well, from what I remember."

"How did you get rid of them? Do you have a gun?"

"Look behind me." John pointed behind of him, towards the corpses of the two strange beings. Terry saw that they were as John had said. He couldn't believe it. It wasn't human. It looked like a merge between a zerg and a Protoss. Well, the corpse that was mostly intact anyway. The other one was in tiny pieces. "Damn. What happened to them?"

John came up behind him and said, showing his razor-sharp fingers, "Me. That's what." Terry leapt backwards. John continued, "Don't worry about our enemies. I'll take care of them. Let's go."

Terry nodded and took a deep breath. Maybe he'd be able to escape. He had to reach the Dominion, whatever he did. The things that had captured him were inhumanly powerful, and the Dominion, the zerg and the Protoss had to be warned. John walked towards the room's pulsing metallic door and Terry followed, shuddering at the sight of his infested subordinate.

"What?" John said, feeling Terry's fear.

"No, nothing. I'm just...well...uneasy. I don't know if you realize it, but you look scary."

John turned around, and in the reflection of the wall, he saw his face. His terran traits were still visible, but his gray skin and fiery eyes, not to mention his sharp, beast-like teeth, covered them up. His eyes widened. Taking a deep breath, he continued,

"Not like I chose it. At the Dominion you spoke of, is there a cure for me?"

Terry nodded. "You should be alright once you're treated."

"Then, let's get there quickly. I may be strong like this, but I don't feel right at all."

With that, the two started to trek through the unknown building. Unbeknownst to them, what lay ahead was worst than even their worst nightmares...

Kerrigan swallowed hard, as Raynor paced around the room. She had just told him about the assault, and about the weird characteristics of the attackers.

"This can't be happening. Not another war." Raynor said to himself.

"My dreams were a warning. Now, we have to be ready. We aren't dealing with some little renegade force here. This is a powerful and dangerous army. The little attacks they're doing are to test us. They want to size us up. I already read your thoughts about the other recent assaults. They're ready for a full-blown invasion."

"So, we'll have to fight."

"I'd rather not, but yes."

"You sure you're ready for another war?"

"I don't have a choice."

"Then, we'll be ready. I'm heading towards the comm. room right now. The Military Counsel needs to know about this."

"Right. I'll send troops to reinforce your defense lines."

"Ah, maybe not that. My men don't like the zerg. Can't blame them."

Kerrigan sighed. "All right. But we'll have to be ready to help each other. Let's stay united."

"Right. Anyway, I'll need to go. Bye!" And with that, Raynor left the hospital room.

Kerrigan took a deep breath after Raynor left the room. She had become weak and comfy, these past ten years. Collapsing under the loss of a few minions was a true insult for the one once known as the Queen of Blades. And with another war coming, she would need strength, or she and her troops would only be a dead weight. For the Swarm to regain its pride, she had to do something horrible: She would have to become the one she wanted never to be again.

With that, she got up and wrote a letter to Raynor. It read like this:

"Jim, my love. Curse me, but I truly have to go. With another war nearing, I will have to be ready. For that, I will have to curse myself to hell again. I need my old strength. Take care of Arthur for me. I love you.

Kerrigan"

Kerrigan closed her eyes and focused on one of the nearby broods she had. Breathing heavily, she ordered an overlord to come and pick her up. It arrived minutes later and took her. Kerrigan ordered the Overlord to go to Char. Four hours later, she had arrived.

As the Overlord dropped her to the barren ground of the Zerg base, she ordered a drone to start to build a chrysalis. After it finished, Kerrigan stepped into it. With a tear, she waved goodbye to her terran life once more. Into this chrysalis, she rested, and her body started to mutate once more into the powerful being she had been...

Kealer had just brought back the Observer back to his office. He took a deep breath. Inside of this machine resided the answer to his questions. Now, he would see the attackers.

"Now, how do I work this stupid thing?" Kealer said to himself, as he started to examine the Observer. There were around ten different buttons, and he had forgotten to ask which one would show the images he wanted to see. He looked inside the "eye" of the observer, unsure of what to do. If he wasn't careful, he could even erase the images he wanted to see.

"Stupid Protoss technology." Dan mumbled.

"Try the button at the far left." A voice said in Kealer's head. He turned around and saw Kalis, who was walking towards him.

"Oh, hey. How are you doing?" Kealer said, surprised.

"Fine, thank you for asking. Now, if I remember well, this was the button I had to press to see the images." Kalis pointed towards the button at the far left. "Come on. Push it."

Kealer nodded and pushed it. Immediately, holographic images popped out of the observer and filled the room. As Kealer looked around, he saw beings like he had never seen: They were slightly like Dark Templars, but their eyes showed bloodlust no Protoss ever had, and they didn't have a Warp blade. Instead, their fingers were their weapons of choice, as they quickly struck down the zealots and dragoons opposing them, cutting easily through their enemies' shields. Behind them were strange gray-skinned Ultralisks and carapace-covered zealots and Carriers.

"Holy freaking shit!" Kealer blurted out as he saw the nightmarish attackers.

Kalis pressed the button at the far right and the images faded away. He said, in a serious tone:

"We stand no chance alone. We'll need your help, your technology, and the zerg's strength."

"Right. What can I do..." He was interrupted as his comm. unit rang. He took it and spoke: "Kealer here."

A shaky voice answered, "It's Raynor. Kerrigan's gone."

"What? Are you joking?"

"No. She left me a letter. She wants 'her old strength back.' Need I say more?"

Kealer grunted: "Okay. Thanks for telling me. You okay?"

Raynor took a deep breath and said, "I'll be fine. Don't worry." And he shut off the comm. link.

Kalis spoke, "What was it?"

Kealer grunted and answered, "Big trouble."

"Like what, exactly?"

"How does the return of the Bitch Queen of the universe sound to you?"

Kalis' eyes widened. "I...see. I will have to report this to Praetor Artanis."

"Do that if you want. Would you mind leaving? I'm having an important meeting tonight."

"If you wish." And with that, Kalis left.

After Kalis left, Kealer started hitting himself on the head. "Oh, man. Why must this all happen at the same time?"

Artanis was having a serious headache with this situation. The assault, quick and unexpected, had sewed panic amongst the Protoss, and Artanis had a hard time keeping everything under control. It was so bad that he was starting to have trouble maintaining the link of the Khala among his brethren. Leading the Protoss alone was a very heavy burden.

A communication interrupted his thoughts, "Praetor Artanis. This is Kalis. I have sour news from a meeting with the terran Kealer."

"What news?" Artanis answered, intrigued.

"It seems Kerrigan wants to be the Queen of Blades once more. She has deserted the terrans, according to what I have heard."

Artanis shook his head. 'More trouble.' He thought. "What else?"

"Nothing else of importance."

"Very well. That will be all for now, Ambassador Kalis." The communication was shut off. Shortly after, another communication came. A technician said, "Oh, Praetor. An unidentified corsair is approaching Aiur. What shall we do?"

Artanis asked, worried, "Has it answered our hails?"

"Yes, and the one onboard wishes to speak to you personally. He's a dark templar."

Artanis' eyes widened as he spoke, "A dark templar? Put him through."

"Very well, oh Praetor."

Zeratul's face appeared on the communications screen. He looked tense and thoughtful, as usual. He said, "En Taro Adun, Artanis."

Artanis felt much better. 'Finally, some good news', he thought. He answered joyfully, "Zeratul? How are you, Dark Prelate? And come to think of it, why do you return to us now, after ten years?"

Zeratul thought about it for a moment and answered, "A sudden inspiration. You look weary and tired. Why is that?"

"You return to us at a rather inappropriate time. We have recently been attacked by unknown forces."

"Zerg?"

"No, definitely not. They looked like nothing I have ever seen before, yet they looked oddly familiar. They had definite Protoss traits. They are definitely stronger than us, though."

"'A species of destruction is now here'..." Zeratul said to himself.

"What?" Artanis said, intrigued.

"Oh, it's nothing." Zeratul answered, uneasy.

Artanis looked at Zeratul with suspicious eyes and continued, "I heard you speaking of a species of destruction. What do you know, my friend?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I am, Artanis. You must have misheard."

Artanis shook his head. "Maybe I did. I am most tired these days. I guess you were right: I can't bear the burden of leading the Protoss alone. Could you help me?"

Zeratul nodded, "Of course. It is great to see you have reached reason at last, Artanis."

End of the chapter