by Louis IX
Check first chapter for disclaimer and global warnings.
Abaddon RisingWhile the Warrior (Zion) and the Thinker (Eden) travelled in unison, they were approached by another shard-based Entity that travelled alone. Named Abaddon, it exchanged data with Eden in many parallel universes, in the form of shards.
In some, though, it saw, and was noticed by, Zion, first. And, true to its calling, the Warrior attacked first. Abaddon "lived" just enough time to enter Earth's gravity well, and crashed there, losing powers all along its slow descent in the atmosphere.
Its last power, the one controlling the whole, ended up with a young girl named Lou, the daughter of a couple of tourists who had just gotten stabbed with rusty machetes at the edge of the Kalahari Desert.
The power latched on the death of her parents, who had been wrapped around her as if to protect her physically. It expanded and wrapped her in shadow, and lashed at those who lunged at her, killing them.
She named it Aasdier, a Dutch word for "carrion eater" because she noticed that it grew with each life it took. Especially those of other parahumans. In fact, the power shard was the one that had aggregated Abaddon in the origin, and it wanted to restore its original body as soon as possible, possibly outgrowing it as it harvested the African continent of every power it contained – it instinctually knew that Zion had sown the whole planet with its shards, and wanted to "collect them all", or at least a sufficient number to reform and perhaps even kill the Warrior.
Still, rules were rules, and as Lou preferred not to kill everyone, her shadow had to follow her when she isolated herself in the desert. Given that the shadow was visible from afar, she still attracted violent types, and the shadow grew, and grew again.
Soon, her reputation was growing as well, and since people couldn't kill her, she was deemed dangerous enough to be paid tribute and homage to, when armies walked through "her" desert. She didn't want to and moved away, trying north, south, east, and west. Everywhere she was treated the same, with awe, fear, and distrust. And Aasdier grew from those who inevitably wanted her dead and whom it killed – at some point, it even plucked a massive dinosaur skull as a coif, to be used as a tool of intimidation.
Because she walked freely across state boundaries, in the African deserts, not only warlords attacked her, but also regular armies. Aasdier made quick work of massed troops, plunging each of the countries she visited into disarray – everywhere (and not just in Africa), mercenary armies had been the tools of dictators, some of whom seeming strangely "elected" by a hefty percentage of voters to appease the international inspectors (although when it reached a hundred percent or more, said inspectors knew that something went wrong). Without these tools, the forced Western-like institution collapsed, and tribal laws returned to where they had worked for millennia.
But even if Aasdier still wanted more, especially large cities, Lou kept him at bay by preferring the isolation of the African deserts. And Aasdier realised that it was bound to his host just as much as the souls and powers of the dead were to it.
Abaddon wouldn't return until Lou could die. And since Aasdier's "prime directive" was to protect her with all its considerable might, it wasn't going to happen anytime soon – especially as it had subsumed some African parahuman's power about time, keeping Lou young and healthy.
So, instead, he extended his will and influence to attract the ones that would be able to kill her. Such as Ash Beast, the Blasphemies, Sleeper, the Fallen, and the Endbringers (and the massive crowds of parahumans involved when they surfaced).
But, each time, his prime directive prevailed.
In the end, he tried to face Zion in order to get rid of her even in defeat, with the possibility of him picking another human. He killed the non-responsive Entity.
And Moord Nag became queen of the Earth.
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To be continued… I don't knowAuthor's Notes: Another small plot bunny… or shadow snake… or exterminating Entity. Whatever.