The time approaches my comrade. Soon the Queen of Blades must see the revelation for herself. The blade that is truth must wield radical surgery, but will this soul perish in its hour of reckoning? Our Lord go with you and His wisdom...
The Queen of Blades stood in her lair, defiant of the plague that racked her body and her very own kingdom. The festering sores and wounds were becoming infected and she started to realize she was feeling a numbness swelling through her. Still, she would not be broken. Yes, she cringed in pain but she would not double over, she would not be brought down by this virus. So great was her determination mingled with anger that she almost did not notice a sudden flash of light before her.
"Yes Sarah, you have always been a strong in determination. Alas, your efforts are in vain, for this virus is only killing the Zerg in you. It has no clue what to do with your human genome." Nataphos informed, reading her thoughts. Kerrigan could not believe she was doing this, but the sudden shock of his arrival seemed to be too much. She felt a surge of anger but started to double up in pain.
"Rest, you will need it." Nataphos said softly.
"You said you could be a bringer of life...all you have done...is destroy..." Kerrigan growled in agony.
"Let me ask you something, Sarah-"
"Stop calling me that!" the Queen of Blades snarled, and then groaned loudly in pained, holding her abdomen that seemed to be on fire.
"As I was saying, today I will give more answers, but do not expect everything to be spelled out. There will be more puzzles and how you answer will determine how all the pieces fall, if only but for a moment." Nataphos continued. Kerrigan just glared venomously at him. The levitating prophet sighed.
"What you see here are the effects of a diseased body and mind. Now let me show you what a diseased soul can do. I will be merciful, you will need every ounce of energy to concentrate on what I must show you." that spoken, Nataphos clasped his hands and the same white energy radiated dimly from them. Within moments, Kerrigan felt the pain subside and watched in amazement as the sores and wounds on her body faded and healed. Her fever evaporated and her breathing became normal. Kerrigan stood still, her body whole again. She wasn't quite sure what to suspect, and even if every ounce of her being still wanted to kill this man, her more calculating side told her that it probably would not have good consequences.
"Yes, restraint is a virtue." Nataphos chuckled. Kerrigan watched as the man placed his open palm in front of him as if to keep her at a distance. She understood the gesture as the lair suddenly became bathed in radiant white light. It seemed to soak in even the very pores of her body until it was as if even Nataphos was consumed in light. Instead, she only heard his voice.
"Let us go back. Let us return to a time some decades before. Twenty two years, three months, eleven days, four hours, thirty seven minutes and seven seconds from the present."
The light dimmed just a little, like on a brilliant summer day. The lair was gone. Instead, Kerrigan found herself in a familiar facility, one that had been built by the Terrans. The room was nicely furbished. However, she felt that something was not right. No, all was not well.
"Do you remember this place?" Nataphos asked.
"This...this is where they tested me...when I was younger..." Kerrigan answered in her harsh, Zerg infested voice.
"Yes. It was here, under the watchful eyes of the Confederate government that it was discovered you had unusually high psionic powers. All before this time, you lived a quiet, normal, happy life as a typical child under the Confederate government. You were eight at the time, perhaps the only happy years you ever had." Nataphos reminded her.
"Who are you, to judge that?" Kerrigan demanded. She suddenly felt her throat tighten, hampering her ability to speak. Nataphos was suddenly glaring at her with a warning look in his eye.
"For once Sarah, I must ask you to be silent. Do not make me do this, as I would rather respect you and not treat you like an animal to be beaten into submission. Please, just listen." Nataphos reprimanded, and the weight from her throat lifted. The mysterious seer continued.
"This is unfortunately where all the joy you knew ends..." Suddenly, the memories flashed forward a bit. Kerrigan watched it as it all sped by in an instant, but every moment vivid as if it was happening right there before her. She remembered, in a fit of trauma, accidentally unleashing her psionic powers. The accident killed her mother instantly while crippling her father. That was all what the Confederacy needed. She was whisked away and drafted into the government Ghost program, the mysterious and dangerous special forces of the Terran regime, trained from children to be ruthless and covert soldiers.
"You were brought under the jurisdiction of Lieutenant Rumm, a Confederate soldier. It was this tormented soul working for a diseased system that first infected you. Against your will you were subjected to mental conditioning. It was under Rumm's hands that you were shattered from concepts of right and wrong, starting the mystical infection. The Lieutenant tortured you to break you for one year, two days, three hours, forty minutes and twelve seconds." Nataphos narrated. Kerrigan could not help but flinch at the exacting clarity that Nataphos knew the story, even better than she did. She saw herself in her old barracks as a teenager.
"You were left quiet and introverted. You accepted your lot in life and tried not to remember how this came about. You were a soldier now to a ruthless system. Your soul was hurt, but you did your best not to be broken. By this time, you had already taken two lives, enemies of the government you worked for. However, that would soon change..." again, the memories fast forward in the glow of the light.
"Again, more experimentation. The Confederacy learned that you could exercise some control over Zerg creatures. The government put this to good use, but during your stay at the station, the rebel group known as the Sons of Korhal rescued you and removed some of the nano-technology that was used to control you. The leader, Arcturus Mengsk, saw your potential, and made you a top lieutenant in the faction. Later on, in a mission Mengsk sent you on, you ran into your old superior, now Major Rumm. The silence of death could not come fast enough for him by your hands." Nataphos murmured. Kerrigan only stood in silence, remembering how it happened. Again, Nataphos was working forward in her history.
"Alas, your gruesome surgery could not contain the massive cancer that was spreading beyond all of you. Soon, after you met James Raynor, a noble soul if a bit rough on the edges, you were ordered by Mengsk to conduct a foolhardy mission. The snake that is Mengsk most cold heartedly employed the Zerg as a terror weapon against the Confederates. Protoss, though some corrupted by blinded politics, were perhaps the only smart ones in the whole ordeal. They tried to destroy the swarm, but you were sent to make sure they did not. Your nearly suicidal mission accomplished, Mengsk left you for dead on the planet with no way to escape. Raised by the Confederates, used by the Sons of Korhal, you were left to die with the Confederates who had scarred you, forsaken by the men who used you." Kerrigan watched that dreadful time in her life. Surrounded by the encroaching Zerg, she fired her canister rifle for all it was worth, panicked beyond belief. That's when she saw the needle spines enter her and she collapsed to the ground. The light blinded her vision again. The memories flashed forward quicker this time.
"Used by the Confederates who once tried to teach you there was no right or wrong, now you were assimilated into the swarm by the Overmind. You were created with only one purpose: to destroy. It was built into your genetics, but you still have your humanity. Alas, you ignored it." Nataphos stated, a hint of judgment in his voice. Suddenly, the memories shifted. She saw myriads upon myriads of figures before her, Terran and Protoss as well as a few Zerg, noticeably a few Cerebrates.
"These are the souls whose blood is on your hands. The number of beings whose death is your responsibility is now over trillions. Many were more noble than yourself." Kerrigan noticed the spidery form of a Protoss dragoon walk up to her, which suddenly shifted into a proper Protoss, confident and upright in a proper Protoss body. She recognized him as Fenix.
"Yes, the noble Fenix was one of them. Come, think of this Sarah. You were betrayed by Mengsk, tortured by Rumm. Now you are the source of torture for countless souls. Tell me, is it possible you are still being used by the Overmind, even though you claim total leadership as the Queen of Blades? Are you truly free, or are you somehow still fulfilling his twisted purpose?" Nataphos was not finished.
"You betrayed Zeratul and Raszagal, Dark Templar and Protoss whose wisdom you will never attain. The Cerebrates died because of your lust for power. Innocent Protoss fell before your swarm, their number too numerous to mention. You betrayed James Raynor, the only one who cared for you and saw you as a person. Edmund Duke died alongside Fenix at your hands while you went to betray Mengsk." Suddenly, Nataphos was right along side her, a judging whisper coming from him.
"The ancient Terrans once used to believe that the lowest level of hell was for those who were betrayers. Even now, are you simply being used by something larger? I shall moderate this, for the full extent would be too much for a single mortal to feel...only a human who was also divine could stand to feel the full brunt of this." Nataphos judged. Suddenly, Sarah felt it. Every emotion, amplified seemingly to infinity, ran through her. Despair, panic, anger, hatred, fear, helplessness, loss, betrayal, flowed through her. It seemed like her soul would be eaten away and she cried out as she fell to her knees.
"This is what they lost, Sarah..." Nataphos stated. In the most bitter contrast, happiness, duty, wisdom, honor, loyalty, forgiveness, trust, friendship and compassion flowed like the blood she had spilled on so many soils.
"And know, somewhere in that flood, one soul called James Raynor cared for you."
"...Make this...stop!" Sarah screamed.
"Not yet, Sarah. We're only halfway there."