Chapter 35: Branching Out.
The funerals were a very sombre affair, the entire Clan turned out as Tik and Jack lead the procession, taking the fallen to their final rest in the sacred soil of their homeworld, all of them were under no illusions that by the time this was all over many more would undoubtedly follow them.
But rather than dishearten them it fired their resolve, as they watched their beloved brothers and sisters being lowered into the ground and they stood at attention, military and civilian alike, the fire was present in every single heart there, every eye mirrored the same steely gaze, in the grand scheme of things it was only a tiny loss, but to Clan Mason, there were no such things as tiny losses, to Clan Mason every drop of Clan blood spilt would be answered in kind, it was the sacred promise that was made when you joined the Clan, you stood for your brothers and sisters as they stood for you and if they should fall you answered that sacrifice, with blood.
Even the Serpentinus and Raptorians were present at the funeral, Liam was stood proudly in his full dress uniform with his pack at his sides all dressed in traditional Serpentinus funeral attire that Clan Mason tailors had made for them special order for them to represent their people in showing respect for the people who had fought for them and their sister species.
The attire consisted of long black hooded cloaks decorated in symbols of the Great Tree embroidered hand hemmed in bright gold and green, underneath they simply wore black attire.
All of the Surface Stalker prides that had come to Clan Mason's homeworld wore full dress uniforms if they had a pride male from the Clan they were stood with him as he stood in his own dress uniform and they joined him in his honour salute as the procession passed them by.
Smoke and his pride had been invited by Jack and Tik to be part of the procession so they marched proudly alongside Smoke as they made their way through the packed streets of the capital, this was not a show of strength this was a show of unity, of the Clan and its allies standing shoulder to shoulder in their grief.
At the same time, Clan representatives were doing the exact same thing on Raptoria, standing proudly and saluting the Raptorian fallen and in some cases helping carry them to their final rest, there were even members of the Clan that were stood holding and comforting their fellow pride males who had lost their entire beloved prides and were now lost and alone, it was a pain they shared having come to this world to fight for it and its people, they'd fallen in love with their people and had them snatched from them before they'd even had a chance to let it bloom.
It had also been the same story on the Serpentinus homeworld as well though earlier than the other two, Clan Mason members stood in silent vigil and respect for the fallen packs who had stood for their home and had paid the ultimate price for it, they had watched the royal pack lead the funeral slither and had joined it as they walked the dead to their final rest, sending them home to the Great Tree to slither free in the Golden Garden for eternity.
After it was done Jack called a great meeting of all the heads of the Guardian Core as well as all of the Hive queens and kings, he also called up the other heads of state in the form of the Serpentinus royal pack and the Raptorian command prides.
This was made possible thanks to a breakthrough that Citrus and Yoshi's Hive had made during their time on Raptoria, quantum phase web technology.
The maths behind it made Jack skull ache let alone his brain, but essentially it worked by creating particles with the same exact quantum signature, these particles no matter how far you moved them apart remained joined and acted like they were part of a much larger whole, so if you mounted these particles inside a communication array then created a computer program to interpret the movements like a code then you could communicate of insane distances instantly.
Think of it kinda like morse code, if you assign a certain letter of the alphabet to a series of dots and dashes then you can communicate with another who knows the code, in essence, that's what these satellites did, they could receive a message and translate it into the series of actions the particles would perform and this would allow anyone with another satalite to receive the message instantly, no matter how far apart they were.
Plus on top of that once they'd cracked this the insanely clever Xeno's had literally written a language system that could not only understand all the Clan Mason languages like English, Xeno and Yautja, but the Serpentinus and Raptorian languages as well, the result was all three words could now communicate in real-time with both each other all together plus each other separately, as the satellites and master controlling computer didn't contain just one series of these particles, but billions of different groups of them all with different frequencies, this allowed data to be exchanged at an insane rate without interrupting any other data.
Satellites and control computers had been delivered to both the Serpentinus and Raptorian homeworlds, plus additional computers had been sent to the Clan Mason embassies on both, while others had been built and delivered to the new Serpentinus embassy on the Clan Mason homeworld and were awaiting delivery to the to be built Raptorian embassy.
The end result was as Jack now stood at the head of a very large table with all the heads of the various sections of the Guardian Core present, there were holograms of both the Serpentinus Royal pack and Raptorian command prides seated along with them.
"My friends it is good to see you all, I wish it could be under better circumstances," Jack said.
"The Scalathor and Draconis have been driven from our respective worlds and losses were minimal, we don't see how they could better given what happened really," queen Ciri said and Jack nodded.
"Agreed to a point and that is kind of why I have called you all together today, it is clear to me now that the Darkness is spreading and it is accelerating its agenda, now this is most likely due to our intervention, it was obvious that the Dark Seed which I believe to be an agent of a much bigger Darkness was not expecting to meet such fierce resistance to its attempts to overthrow both of your worlds and to strip them of the protection of the Great Tree, if it had succeeded then both worlds would now be seeded in darkness and its armies would be swelling with soldiers," Jack said and he could see a worried look being shared among the Serpentinus Royal pack and Raptorian command prides.
"What are you saying Grand Patriarch?" the Raptorian command pride asked.
"I'm saying they did not either know about or anticipate Clan Mason and our capabilities, but now they know about us and that puts this world at risk too, our losses were minor in comparison to yours but they were losses all the same, we all bled for the same reasons, we need to make those reasons official," Jack said.
"I'm not sure I understand what you are proposing Grand Patriarch," Ciri said her little holographic tongue flickering like she was trying to smell him through the hologram.
"My beloved husband is proposing an alliance, Clan Mason, Raptorians and Serpentinus, together as one, the children of Paya the Eternal Huntress and the true children of the Great Tree stood together ready to fight this evil that threatens us and our ways of life, a great war is coming make no mistake on that, this was just the first minor skirmish and yes I meant those words as they were said, what is to come will make what we just fought look like a border dispute, so we need to act, we need to stand together and fight for not only our ways of life, but our right to exist as we are, because if we don't...well I'm pretty sure you can guess the results of what would have happened had we not intervened on your behalf yourselves," Tik eleth said standing proudly beside her husband folding her mighty arms over her large chest as she did.
Jack nodded in agreement with his wife's assessment, "Indeed, it is as my beloved one said, we need to come together to fight this evil, now I know that what happens outside of either the Raptorian or Serpentinus borders is not really your problems, but if this Darkness is allowed to spread then it will be everyone's problems and there will be no hiding from it when it comes for you again and then we won't be there to help, Clan Mason cannot fight this thing alone, we need your help" Jack said solemnly.
"What is exactly is this darkness that you speak about?' queen Ciri asked.
"It is easier to show you than try to explain it to you, is one of my Seekers there with both of you?" Jack said glancing between the Raptorian command pride and the Royal pack, both nodded in unison.
"Good, Seekers, its time, show them the depths of the Darkness," Jack said and instantly both holograms went ridged as a Seeker appeared in the middle of them and pulled them into their minds to show them the story that every Seeker had seen when they joined, a story that Jack made sure they all saw so they knew exactly what they were fighting against, they saw his defeat of Loki and of what the Eternal council of the Divine had shown him.
When they were finished both Seekers vanished from the holograms and both the Royal pack and Raptorian command pride stood in awe, "H-H-How do we fight such a thing?" queen Ciri exclaimed, a picture of horror painted on her regal features.
"That part is up to Clan Mason, that is part of why the Clan exists in the first place, only Dream Warriors can fight that, but where we need your help is manpower and technology, helping us with soldiers, ships, supplies, in short, we need an army and help in growing it, we need to find allies to stand with us, to help us remove the Darkness from any and all worlds we find it dug into, like pulling out scale ticks one by bloody one, if we find a stronghold, we destroy it, if we find an enslaved planet, we liberate it and free its people, if we find a fleet we meet them head-on, because we all need to stand together because otherwise everything everywhere will fall apart and die, it's that simple," Jack said.
There were a few tense minutes of silence but then it was broken by the Raptorian command pride, "You came to Raptoria to aid us, you never asked for anything in return till now, you stood shoulder to shoulder and bled with our Surface Stalkers driving those vile invaders from our beloved world, you aided is in protecting our beloved males and keeping them safe in their homes in the arms of their prides and not being snatched away and enslaved by vile mistresses, for this you earned the respect and love of the Raptorian people, your names are still sung in the streets of our cities, how shameful it would be if we did not answer your call now it comes, so yes Grand Patriarch Jack Mason, the people of Raptoria stand with you, no matter what" they said proudly.
Queen Ciri nodded in agreement, "Indeed, I agree with my sisters in arms, you came to our world simply because the Great Tree asked you to, you stood for us and you protected us, you save my life and the lives of my pack, not only that you kept our Ghost Slitherers out of the hands of those who would enslave them and now they have not only a place in this universe but they are becoming what they were always destined to be, Guardians of the Serpentinus, all thanks to Clan Mason, so it would be a truly awful thing to do to refuse your request Jack Mason, especially in the spirit in which it is made, you come to us humble and demand nothing, but you stand proud and ask humble, this is the mark of a truly remarkable male, so yes Jack Mason, the Serpentinus stand with you also and we do so proudly, you will have your alliance and together we three will draw a line in the sand and we will punish any foolish enough to slither over it" she said with fire in her voice.
"Thank you honoured sisters, it warms my heart to hear these words, it is then with great pride that I declare the Mason, Serpentinus, Raptorian alliance official, together we will stand and stronger we will become," he said.
After that was done the Serpentinus and Raptorians left to take care of business of their own and Jack turned his attentions to the heads of the Guardian Core and various Hives gathered, "It's time to start expanding the Clan, up until this point we have remained hidden from the universe, nothing more than a myth, a secret whispered in the quiet corners of human society or Yautja clan ships, now its time to step out of the shadows and to take our rightful place, we called this organization the Guardian Core for good reason, because we are the Guardians of this universe and all who reside in it, so it is time for us to make ourselves known but in order to do that we are going to need to expand" Jack said.
"I would recommend securing abundant resources as to not tax the fragile ecology of our homeworld too badly Grand Patriarch," Citrus said tilting her huge head down to look at him on the same level and Jack nodded.
"Agreed that's why as of this morning both your Grand Matriarch and I have agreed it's time to enact those colony plans we had you all set up so long ago, there are two other worlds in this system alone that are utterly untouched, I want them claimed and colonized immediately, its time to break out those pop up colony ships we had you guys design all those years ago guys," Jack said addressing Citrus and Yoshi who both nodded in agreement, Yoshi was already scratching his chin as his mind whirled over the details.
Jack turned to Aine and Murphy, "I want farm Hives on both of them the second those colony ships hit the dirt, feel free to drop in as many hugger eggs as you can lay in order make this happen, I will authorize a full Battle Angel battalion to be at your disposal for clean extractions of any young Xenos produced if you wish, a team of Ecologist hunters will also drop in to ensure there is no damage to the local fauna populations" Jack said and Aine nodded.
"It has been a long time since I laid eggs like that" Aine said and Murphy smiled up at her and stroked his queen's head crest.
"You sure you remember how big gir?' he asked and she gave him a large grin.
"Better than you remember how to ride a bike since three of our children had to carry you back from the fields a week ago" she shot back and Murphy laughed.
Jack looked out over the table, "We will be also launching deep space missions using data taken willingly from both the Raptorians and Serpentinus, plus not so willingly from the Scalathor and Draconis, these missions will be tasked with locating and assessing populated worlds, these will be covert operations designed to gather operational data on any and all sentient species we encounter, if their allegiance is to the Darkness then we will figure out a way to pry them from its grasp, if not we will assess how best to make the first contact and to convince them of our intentions, we will also be launching deep space patrols whose job will be to chart the nearby sectors of space for possible resources plus to keep potential hostiles away from our space, all of these teams will be small in size in order to enhance their stealth capabilities when operating in potentially hostile regions" Jack said.
"What about mother Earth? Will we be finally making contact with our origin planet?" Liam asked and Jack looked at him.
"A team will be dispatched to assess the situation on Earth, it would be a great ally to have but Earth was always a hotspot of in fighting political squabbles, the last thing we need is to get bogged down playing peacekeeper because none of the human nations can agree on whose dick is bigger, which trust me is basically their number one pass time, I'm hoping they've grown up somewhat in the last hundred years if the Humans here are anything to go by then it is certainly possible, but given the clout of things like mega-corporations whose only loyalty is to their shareholders and their bank balance I don't hold out much hope, greed was always a major driving force there," Jack said.
"We will also be reaching out to the other wandering Yautja clans, we will be seeking out and infiltrating various clan ships and planets to see what the situation with them is like, any clans that can be swayed to break their chains and join us on the path of the freed heart will be welcomed with open arms, those that scratch and claw at any change to their so-called way of life like it was a fierce predator will be either far from our space, we will show them that is not wise to pauk with Clan Mason," Tik said and all the heads around the table nodded in agreement.
"Well people we'd better get to work, we have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in, we will begin distributing plans to all of you of what we expect your sections and Hives to be doing in the coming weeks and months, by the time we are done Clan Mason will no longer be a myth whispered in quiet back rooms or in digital hiding spots, the universe will all know the name of the Guardian Core and they will all know why it is most unwise to pauk with us," Jack said with such fire in his voice that it raised cheers around the table.
"So what's first Grand Patriarch?" Liam asked and Jack gave him a look that could stop a fire dead there was so much ice in it.
"First thing my friend is me and you and some of our brother and sister Seekers are going to pay the Scalathor a visit and we are going to show them exactly what happens when you spill Clan Mason blood and when we are done you will only have to mention the name Clan Mason to send their fiercest warriors running for the nearest hole to hide in, they will never forget what we're going to do there, mark my words," he said and Liam's expression mirrored his beloved Grand Patriach's as he nodded his head.
"On your word Grand Patriarch, where you lead, the Seekers follow," he said and with that, they all stood up, it was time to work.
The energy that Jack and Tik's words injected into the Clan was astronomical, the section heads whipped everyone into a frenzy and pretty soon the entire place was utter chaos, growing the Clan's holdings was going to be a monumental challenge, but both of them had complete and utter faith in their people, it was why they had chosen them in the first place.
Jack turned to Tik and placed his hands on her broad shoulders, "I know what I have to do my love, the Scalathor will pay for what they had done, but it is something me and my Seekers must do alone, every fibre of my being want to take you with me but this is something that only a Dream Warrior can do and I don't want you or any other member of the Clan who is not used to the forces we're going to unleash anywhere near it if this works the results will be harrowing if it doesn't it will be devastating, it is not something I consider lightly but I feel it is the only way to not only stop them, but to also break the Dark Seed's hold on them" Jack said his voice both serious and mournful.
The surprise and concern on Tik's beautiful face were obvious, this was the first time that Jack had ever refused to let her fight at his side, but what he was going to do scared even him, Tik looked away from him towards the bright blue sky of their home and she sighed heavily, "Go my beloved one, do what you need to do, I have total faith in you and I believe in you, I know that you will always do what is right, I wish that I could be there at your side the moment that justice is served to these vile people, show them once and for all what happens when you mess with the true children of Paya!" she said turning at the end and embracing him before pulling him into a deep and passionate kiss.
When they broke Jack stroked his beloved wife's mandibles and she leaned into his touch, "You can count on it my love, "I will etch L'Vek's name and all the names of the fallen into their very souls, you have my word" he said.
With that Jack turned and headed to the Seeker temple where he summoned the Soul Knights to him, "Alright people, this is it, you joined the Seekers of Truth to learn who you are and what you are capable of but also how to use it properly in defence of those we love, now is that time, the Scalathor have taken our beloved flesh and blood from us, they have sent our brothers and sister into their Eternal Hunt ahead of their time, so in keeping with the sacred code of Clan Mason that we all live and die by I am going to the Scalathor homeworld and I am going to exact a vengeance on them so great that no matter how many generations follow this one they will always remember what happens if you hurt one who belongs to Clan Mason, today I will seek to exact the vengeance I swore to seek for any fallen brother or sister when I founded this Clan, so I need nine volunteers to assist me as this is far greater than I can handle alone" Jack said.
Every single Soul Knight gathered stepped forwards to volunteer and Jack smiled ruefully, he picked nine including Liam, "Make sure you say goodbye to your beloved ones, there is a chance this could be a one way trip and if that happens I want you all to step into the Hunt with no regrets, meet me at the landing pad in an hour" he said dismissing his Soul Knights and all of them headed off to their homes to be with their beloved ones for possibly the last time.
Now while Jack could have easily taken the Grand Matriarch's Fury and blown a hole into the Scalathor homeworld so deep that it wiped out all life on the planet, that was not what he had in mind, Jack's plan was simple as it was tricky, he was going to punish the guilty and the wicked but spare the innocent, this plan didn't require brute force, it required a Seeker's touch.
Jack's team took a small Yautja ship, not much bigger than a heavy shuttle but with room enough for ten people to live in it easily, it technically only needed a crew of one or two to run it as it was a tiny thing, but it wasn't power Jack was looking for, it was speed and stealth.
They had the coordinates of the Scalathor homeworld taken directly from both the Raptorians and the Serpentinus who were now happily sharing data with Clan Mason so they knew where to go, the Draconis on the other hand were apparently a mystery even to them, they'd apparently once lived on the Scalathor home world but then had left en masse and gone into hiding, so even though they had a somewhat uneasy alliance with the Scalathor through the Dark Seed, no-one but they knew where their homeworld was and it was a secret they guarded.
When they entered Scalathor space Jack's mouth fell open, he was utterly amazed by what he saw, the space surrounding the planet was utterly jam-packed full of ships, they had cruisers and frigates like the one's they fought and destroyed, orbital platforms and space stations not to mention shipyards which appeared to be hard at work constructing more.
Scalathor ships kinda reminded Jack of the top part of an old Glock 17 pistol, they were black and rectangular with four huge booster cones sticking out of the rear in a square that exhausted their conventional engines, at the very front was a series of long pointed masts which worked as a deflector system to prevent any strikes from space debris, this is also where their communication array was housed having both a laser system and conventional radio, the hull was smooth and angular which gave it a kind of sleek appearance, they were no-where near as aesthetically pleasing ad Clan Mason ships, but they definitely got the job done when needed.
There were hundreds of them floating around the planet, plus by the looks of what they were seeing in the shipyards they were constructing far larger versions, battleships if he had to guess by their far far larger gun turrets that seemed to be sat on swivel turrets that reminded Jack of old world war two battleships from Earth's history.
The Scalathor were preparing for all-out war, that much was obvious, Jack looked at Liam who was staring at the sight in disbelief, "Imagine if they had sent this to either Raptoria or the Serpentinus homeworld, we wouldn't have stood a chance" he breathed as he looked at the mighty fleet and Jack's expression hardened, "They were arrogant and underestimated their opponents, by the looks of things they are gearing up to take another crack at them" he said.
"We need to stop this now," Liam said and Jack nodded in agreement.
"Find a high spot close to the capital city but not too close, for this to work we need sufficient soul energy, but it's going to take time and we cannot afford to be detected before we are ready," he said and Liam nodded in agreement.
The planet was a dark green colour, it seemed to be one giant swamp, dark green and brown swirls were the colours of the day here, with a few large patches of blue that indicated giant lakes, but nothing big enough to be considered an ocean or even a sea.
Liam was using comms traffic and various scanners to pinpoint the population hubs and he located what seemed to be the capital as he entered orbit dodging satellites that swirled around the planet, "Can you feel it boss?" Liam said seeming to visibly shiver in his armour and Jack nodded.
Pain and misery left a powerful psychic imprint where ever it experienced, this entire planet seemed to be like a giant light bulb made of it floating in space and streaming it off in every direction, like a sun sending its heat and light radiating off into space.
Slipping between the ships like a silent invisible phantom was all too easy in the Yautja heavy shuttle, its cloaking and silent running stealth systems let it glide silently and easily between them as Liam expertly piloted them into the atmosphere where the heat revealed them but also disguised them as Liam made sure to make them look like a simple meteor, but once they were through he made sure to re-engage their stealth systems and guided them down towards the large capital city.
It was an oddly beautiful place, the whole place was raised on stilts to keep it above the waterline, you could instantly tell which parts of the city were new and which were old simply by looking at the stilts on which it stood, the old parts stood on broad stilts made of carved and milled wood, while the new parts were stood on huge metal post like stilts that were sunk deep into the soil.
High ground was not exactly in high quantities in the incredibly flat marsh-like grounds but Liam managed to find them a small hill to land on that overlooked the large city about two miles outside the main boundaries on the city's east gate, the whole city was locked inside huge stone walls with four mighty gates set at the points of the compass.
Once the shuttle was on the ground Jack led his Seekers out among the large trees which stood on long leg like roots that were splayed out like the legs of a spider that all converged into a large thin trunk that sat atop of them, the trunks twisted and curved through odd angles and some of them even twisted through a spiral before rising upwards and spreading out deep green and yellow leaves.
As the Seekers stood on the hill overlooking the bustling city, busy now in the middle of the day as the unsuspecting people going about their daily business, Jack and all of the gathered Seekers could feel a tide of pain and misery washing off the city like a black wave, "Do you feel that my brothers and sisters?' Jack said solemnly.
There were a series of nods from the gathered Seekers as they all stared at the distant city, "It's like feeling pure evil, its like darkness crawling over my skin" M'Set a huge Yautja woman who was covered in scars received from her many battles and hunts, she was older than any of the other gathered Seekers and had come one of the other roaming Yautja clans after having read his beloved wife's words, but she had never truly understood who or what she was until she set foot on the homeworld of Clan Mason.
She had been taken in and shown the truth of who and what she was and now she stood shoulder to shoulder with her fellow Dream Warriors ready to unleash a kind of hell that the Scalathor had never even dared to dream of in their wildest nightmares, in truth their every sin and misdeed was about to come back to haunt them in the worst possible way.
Jack looked around the gathered Soul Knights and he knew that every one of them not only understood what they were about to do but we're also prepared for it, "Let's do this, its time to show these people what happens to those who fuck with Clan Mason" he said and all of the Soul Knights fanned out into a circle around him where they stood ready for Jack to begin.
Jack drew his sword which was still covered in roots and flowers from its blessing from the Great Tree, the seed he had been given was currently in the soil of the Seeker Temple being tended by the Tamers to give the children of the Great Tree as a connection to their beloved deity, the blade caught the light and the flowers on the hilt swelled and bloomed brightly.
"My name is Jack Mason, I stand here before you as nought but a man, but I am a man with ability and the will to aid you, to aid you to get vengeance fr all the pain that you have suffered, all the ill that has been inflicted upon you, I offer you now the chance to help us to help you, seek the vengeance that is yours to claim, show those who hurt you, defiled you, murdered you in cold blood what the true meaning of righteous fury truly is!" Jack said aloud in a voice so loud that it seemed to resonate through the very wood and soil around them.
Around him his Soul Knights were repeating his words but now where Jack stabbed his blade into the soil of the ground beneath his feet they all pointed their blades at him, each of them was beginning to glow purple and gold as their power surged through them, "I call to you all now children of the Great Tree, come forth from your Golden Garden and help us, wipe this place of your birth and death clean of the darkness and the evil that plagues it, use us, use our powers to enter this place once again and seek your vengeance!" Jack bellowed.
Purple, white and golden flames sprung up around each and every one of the Seekers, the flames spread out in lines from each one to the others creating a connecting circle and then a web before finally a stream of this energy shot forth from the tips of each blade pointed at jack striking him where it pointed, Jack himself was engulfed in the flames.
Jack's sword instantly took root into the soil and before their eyes, it became a huge golden tree that towered above all those around it, with huge golden leaves tipping every branch, Jack was lifted into the air where floated above it still connected to the web by the beams of power streaming from the other Seekers, golden wisps of power began to drift up to Jack from the leaves and began to swirl around him, "Join us innocent ones, avenge the sins against you, in the name of the Great Tree and the Eternal Huntress I call to you, help us" Jack whispered to the sky and the reaction was instantaneous.
it was the most powerful Soul Summoning that had ever been attempted, the combined power of nine Dream Warriors and the most powerful Dream Warrior to ever live created a bridge between the living world and the spirit realm, the energy streams from the other Soul Knights became raging lances of powerful energy that further engulfed Jack as he struggled to quell the raging torrents of shifting energies within him, it was like trying to hold the power of lightning within your own body.
That's when Jack hit critical mass and with a tremendous roar he channelled all of that power spewing from both his fellow Dream Warriors and from the Great Tree itself and he tore open the fabric of reality itself, right above the city a huge golden circle split the sky in two like a giant upside-down whirlpool made of golden smoke, out of it poured souls, by their billions.
It was like watching a waterfall made of pure energy and righteous fury and it rained down on the city below, Jack and his Seekers could hear the screams of fear and pain bubbling up out of the city like a symphony as the angry souls of the fallen sought out those who had wronged them and exacted their vengeance, but it wasn't just this city that was hit, like a giant wave of golden fury the souls spilt outwards washing over the surface of the planet, it was like watching a mushroom cloud but in reverse, as the wave washed over the ring of Seekers Jack could see them, billions upon billions of angry souls, made up of vastly male Scalathor all dressed in that golden green armour of the Great Tree, many of them looking at him as they passed over them like they were giving him a silent nod of salute for being the one to free them to do what needed to be done.
The only solace that Jack and his Seekers took from this was that they knew only one thing, the truly innocent would not be harmed, because an innocent soul carries no stains, these fallen souls came only for vengeance for themselves and for those that they loved, they did not come to kill those who had done no wrong, both the Seekers and the army of souls both instinctively knew that if a single innocent was harmed that the one who did it would find the gates of the Golden Garden closed to them forever, this was not about destroying a species, this is about correcting a tremendous sin, one that had been a great many years in the perpetrating and finally now under the weight of the righteous fury of the dead, it was cleansed.
Just as quickly as it had begun it was over, the wave went full circle over the entire planet and wiped it clean, but not only that great lances made of golden fire shot forth from the wave striking out into space and crippling the Scalathor fleet and stations, in a matter of seconds over 65% of the adult female population of the Scalathor was simply wiped out, to some, it might have been considered a genocide, but to 100% of the male Scalathor population it was justice.
Every one of the souls of the dead poured back through the tear in the sky and once the last one had passed through Jack released his grip, "It is done, you have kept your promise to me Jack Mason, I feel the darkness lifting from this place, I feel the light cutting through the shadows and now like the seedlings that survive a great forest fire-new growth can begin to bloom, thank you" a whispering voice that seemed to emanate from the tree that had grown up from his sword said.
"You are welcome, I hope that your people learn from this because it is a message that I will not soon forget," Jack said softly.
"I will make sure of it, now go, go home and ready your people for what comes, this is not the end, merely the beginning," the Great Tree said and with that, the tree shrank until it became a sword again and Jack landed on his feet in amongst his brothers and sisters who were all looking at him, he felt that justice was done, but he could also feel a great sadness from them all, they were all sad that it had come to this, but what was done could not be undone.
"Let's pack it up, we're done here," Jack said and with that, the Seekers marched single file back into their ship and flew back up into the sky flying over a planet that in thirty seconds had become a mass graveyard filled with ghosts, ghosts who would never forget what happened here.