Vorazun spoke as she stared at her world of Shakuras, the descision not easy to make, but a necessary one to prevent Amon from possessing her world as Artanis approached with inquiring. "Tell me, Vorazun, how will we bring destruction to your world with the twin crystals?" She turned in answering.
"From what I read about the crystals, the Xel'Naga Temple's phase prism can be overloaded with them... forcing a spike of energy into planet's core. Enough of a charge, and the planet will shatter! Amon will not possess my world!" Artanis paused to ponder before he spoke again.
"I've been thinking about this choice."
"Are you reconsidering?"
"No." Artanis shook his head as he spoke again. "My time here has reminded me of the courage of your people. That we must fight. If we are to suffer, then so too will Amon." He approached the side to open up a screen of the oncoming horde swarming across the soon-to-be former planet's surface. "We will lure as many of Amon's hybrid and Zerg through the gateway as we can. Only once enough are through to wound him, will we overload the temple and flee."
"You mean to bleed him." Vorazun answered with pondering the same thought before she joined his side in speaking. "Bold. But we can't risk the forces it would require to do such a thing." Artanis shut off the display in replying the answer.
"Leave that to me, Matriarch. I have learned much from the dark templar, and from Zeratul." Vorazun nodded as Artanis made the necessary plans to get ready for the Zerg and Hybrid attack on the Temple...
The combined forces of Daelaam quickly secured the temple grounds and quickly setting up a base location with another being cleared out for additional resources as Vorazun spoke. "Our forces have secured the Xel'Naga temple grounds. Artanis, how go your preparations?"
"I am configuring the temple now, but even with the Uraj and the Khalis, it will take time." Vorazun agreed with a slight matter on hand.
"Time is not all it will take. The temple's energies are regulated by three Zenith Stones. Only once they are destroyed can the temple be overloaded."
"Until then, we must defend it from the Zerg and their hybrid masters." Thankfully, Vorazun had brought along some heavy firepower as she spoke to the monolith that quickly activated to destroy a approaching Guardian.
"The Nerazim have long used Khaydarin Monoliths to protect our lands. I see your Phase-smith has become familiar with them."
"Indeed, Matriarch. The monolith is quite deadly and fire at considerable distances. They should prove instrumental in our defense." Artanis nodded as those monoliths would ensure that no long-ranged attackers would strike with wounds of their own or even perish under the heavy blasts as Zeratul joined in speaking.
"Remember, young one. This battle will turn the course of the war in our favor. And when the time comes for the Crystals to activate... Do not hesitate."
"Understood, Zeratul. The moment has come... let us begin." The task on hand was a odd one, as they were required to, how the Terrans say it, 'hunker down and brace for attack', but with the mixed defenses of Photon Cannons, Khaydarin Monoliths, and Shield Batteries, they could do so and destroying the Zenith Stones would be even simple, especially with Dark Templar if the grounds were consumed in claw, talon, and carapace.
"The sooner the Zenith Stones destroyed, the better off we shall be. The Zerg will overwhelm the temple grounds shortly."
"Agreed, although should it become necessary, my dark templar can sneak through the enemy and destroy the stones." Tenorai and Val'Lorna, having come to make their own mark on the enemy forces, agreed in taking care of it easily.
"You heard our Hierarch. Destroy the stones quickly either by frontal assault or through our Dark Templar brethern."
"I can be quick about this, I assure you." Karax, however, warned on the issue of destroying the Stones.
"Exercise caution when attacking a Zenith Stone. The energies within may become volatile as it as damaged." They nodded as Tenorai marshalled a small force of Dragoons and Zealots to handle the northwest Stone while Val'Lorna took a few of her Dark Templar to handle the southwest Stone, Karax's warning sound as while Tenorai's forces cleared out the threat of defending Zerg, Val'Lorna slipped through and started attacking the Stone and it lashed out with psi bolts and psi storms before they did it, the lock on the temple weakening. Thankfully, they were also there to route out a Zerg attack before they returned to regroup and strike the southeast Stone.
This allowed the Protoss to forterify the entrances for both as the forces focused on protecting the budding Monoliths and Cannons, Shield Batteries also built in case of any attack making it to the battle lines as Vorazun updated the invasion, up to two hundred and fifty million now on the planet.
"Artanis, our observers are reporting a vast number of Zerg have poured onto Shakuras..."
"And yet, not a single hybrid..." The warrior leader growled as he mused that Amon was not taking it seriously yet. "Amon is testing our resolve."
"Agreed, be vigilant though. He may send one soon enough." Zeratul warned and Artanis nodded as the attack waves continued to try in vain, the ways blocked and now pouring resources to the rear, just in time too as Vorazun spotted Overlords on the other side of the gap with Zerg loading into the sacs.
"Curious, there are Overloads closing on the temple grounds..." Artanis felt a chil line his spine as he remembered such actions being done during both the First Great War and the Brood Wars.
"I seen this tactic before. They are transporting ground forces. Destroy the overloads, quickly!"
"Let my blade be shown!" Tenorai answered in leading his forces to the back for any that managed to get past the Monoliths while Val'Lorna exclaimed, having caught a southeast attack midway and destroying it.
"I'll rip them from the inside!" Fortune was with them as the final Zenith Stone fell and the assault was repelled as Vorazun breathed.
"It is done, the Zenith Stones have been destroyed... Once your task is complete, the temple can be overloaded."
"Understood, and the temple alignment is processing well. Now, we wait for the Zerg..." It was now a waiting game and the Zerg assault them as more flooded into Shakuras, five hundred breaching the planet now.
"Our readouts indicate there are nearly half a billion Zerg on Shakuras... all of them moving for this temple."
"Let them come. The templar will endure." Vorazun nodded as all three sides came under attack.
"Be on guard, warriors! The Zerg are attacking the temple from all three sides at once!" Even under the barrage of photon and disrupter, the Zerg made it a real challenge to hold and they made it all the harder with Hybrid charging the lines.
"The master's gaze falls on your shadowed world."
"By the gods, I've never seen such abominations... Warriors, focus all cannons on the hybrid. We must defend the temple!" They continued the attacks and the defenses were hard-pressed, but the Protoss endeavored the fight, even as flying Hybrids tried to breach the lines as well, the readings of their numbers reaching higher as Vorazun gaped at seven hundred and fifty flooding the planet.
"Hierarch, I-I never borne witness to so many zerg... Was this the threat my mother once faced?" Artanis shook his head as he spoke.
"No, Matriarch... this threat is a far greater one, and it will take all we have to resist it."
"Indeed, this is far darker than the one I saw in my vision." Zeratul answered as well and Amon intended to hold his armies in reserve, but they were being drawn in by the hundred thousands, all heading for the temple, as if to stop the Protoss in their act of crippling Amon and removing Shakuras from their grip as Artanis answered to the temple aligning, even with the Zerg attempt to deliver reinforcements through Nydus Worms.
"The moment approaches, warriors. The temple is realigning. It will be ready soon." But Karax also had ideas as he spoke to a new signal underneath the Temple.
"Hierarch, I have discovered a solarite cache beneath the Xel'Naga Temple. If we can hold longer, I should be able to retrieve it."
"Begin the retrieval process, Karax. We will hold the temple as long as we can." The more resources for the Spear was good and it would ensure that no resources so valuable would be left behind to be destroyed or used by Amon as both of the commanders on the field shouted.
"Hold the line templar, just more time!"
"More hybrid for me to kill!" Artanis looked up as he spoke to the beam from the temple, even somehow feeling that a billion had arrived to Shakuras.
"The temple thrums with energy! It is ready..."
"Solarite retrieval is still in progress. If we can hold on just awhile longer..." It was a tall task, but one they would fulfill as more and more poured in with crashing into the defenses, some cannons getting destroyed before being replaced and shoring up the defenses again, as more and more poured in before Karax spoke.
"It is done. The solarite has been successfully warped aboard the Spear of Adun." With that Artanis commanded.
"Templar, initiate dimensional recall! Get to safety, now!" The recall started to call back all of the warriors on the ground, even the probes as the Nydus Worms managed to breach the ground, some perishing under the inner defenses set up.
"Nydus Worms! The Zerg are poised to breach the temple!"
"Have faith, Matriarch. Your fallen people cry out for vengeance, and they shall have it." With that, Artanis headed further in to finish up...
He arrived to the top inside and aligned the crystal as it supercharged, just as a Nydus Worm breached the side and started to unleash the swarm, Artanis recalling the past, a teaching that Zeratul had given to him. "Alone. It is said that those of our kind suffer, separated from the glory of the Khala." He struck at the Zerglings that came, hundred on hundreds, seeking to overwhelm him before Hydralisks unleashed their spines and finally breached his shields, the Zerglings charging to tear him apart as the lesson continued.
"But none of us are ever truly alone." Artanis proved it in stabbing free and unleashing his great psionic power in a violent storm as the crystal shot down into the core, his wounds not so fatal as they were scratches and the like as the lesson finished in his mind.
"For our warrior hearts are bound by honor... tradition... Battle is waged in the name of the many... the brave, who generation after generation, choose the mantle ...of Dark Templar." The light faded out as the crystal started to overload and the Xel-Naga Temple reacted in erupting into fire and power, Artanis walking with the explosion behind him before he was recalled back to the Spear, Shakuras breathing its last as it shattered and the world dead, no longer able to breath life on itself as there was no core to stabilize and keep it flourishing, the home of the Nerazim now gone into the eternal night...
Artanis returned, his thoughts flooding on the fact that, once more, the Protoss were vagabonds again before he turned his attention elsewhere as Karax was astonished by Artanis's stand that he may have some unknown weapon enhancement that saw him through, but Artanis got a better answer from Vorazun as she spoke. "Shakuras is gone... It has become one with the eternal night. But the traditions we forged there will remain with us forever."
"Is that still possible, Matriarch?"
"More so than you may realize. What do you know of the Shadow Walk, Artanis?" He shook his head in answering that question.
"Little. Your people closely guard their customs."
"It is our most sacred rite of passage. The initiate stands alone. Members of her tribe strike against her from the shadows. If she endures, she becomes a Shadow Hunter-true dark templar."
"Why do you speak of this?" His mind went to his stand against the Zerg, but surely Zerg do not count as walking the Shadow Walk like the Dark Templar do.
"You stood alone, as a dark templar, against countless enemies, risking your life for the many. You have walked as we have. You have walked the shadow path already, Artanis. You no longer have the Khala. You are a dark templar." He nodded before going to the Arena to meet with Tenorai and Val'Lorna, the lessen in the Dark Templar, but it was still there as Tenorai spoke in honor of both the Nerazim and their glory on that shadowed world.
"You fought well alone against the Zerg, like if you were a Dark templar. En aru'din Sharkuras." Artanis turned his attention to Val'Lorna as she spoke, back turned to keep training.
"You made him bleed."
"The way you make it sound, you have a hatred towards him."
"I do. First he took my love, then my home. He deserves pain."
"So you seek revenge..."
"Not revenge, justice..."
"Revenge and justice are two separate words that mean two different things, but sometimes those two are the same. The question is can you wield them both at once?" Val'Lorna was not certain of that as Artanis headed down to the Starforge, to speak to Rohana, grateful that she was still untouched by Amon's dark will as she spoke.
"The Nerazim fought valiantly beside us, even unto the destruction of their world. Why?"
"Their homeworld has always been Aiur. They have never forgotten it, or the sacrifice that delivered them to safety."
"You speak of Adun." She pulled form the vast knowledge something that related to that. "So sayeth Judicator Zentheon: 'Adun failed to eradicate the rogue tribe, those who call themselves the Dark Templar.' 'We witnessed the burst of the twilight star.' 'In that treasonous instant, Adun ushered the heretics and himself to fate. Purifying Aiur of their taint, but allowing them life'."
"Treason? Adun chose mercy rather than committing genocide. This was a noble act, preserver."
"Was it? I see history through the eyes of those who lived it, Artanis." Artanis points out the flaw to this, Rohana focuses it all on the past, using the knowledge of those days in the present where they have little place to be during this wartime.
"Perhaps this is why you are blind to all that is before you. History's truths are only ever understood looking through the backwards lens, seeing its consequences take root."
"As a preserver, I have always experienced history as a living breathing now. As those who experienced it in the moment did. Perhaps I should consider the way you view it."
Artanis returned to the helm and opened the map as he breathed. "Shakuras has fallen and Amon's grip tightens. If we are to stand against him, we will need more than warriors." He soon recalled something of great aid to them, a system of the past reborn to aid in the present. "As Hierarch, I was made aware of a location where our Khalai scientists experimented on new weaponry in secret. Within the Glacius facility, the Purifier program has been reborn. We must recover this immensely powerful technology." Artanis hoped that Amon had not yet attack the facility and that they could save it from harm, though Rohana might have objections, she lived with the past and the Purifiers would not be welcomed in her eyes...