A rush of ecstatic energy and at the same time, the melancholy of an entire galaxy filled him. And the pain, the endless pain... One of the XINE screeched at him, its call mechanical, the voice of a rusty golem. He felt the weight of their hive mind pressing down upon his consciousness, each life a tiny purple pulse in a vast, sprawling network like a cold black wasp's nest. He understood the memes it projected across space and their contents made him laugh, a laugh as dark and devoid of humour as space itself. He understood those concepts better than he understood himself.
"You call this a hostile takeover?" he replied in a soft, expressionless tone, "You don't know the meaning of the word!"
He lifted one arm, his fingers sweeping through space. He blinked once. An crimson aura of raw energy consumed him. Waves and waves of the energy rippled from his body, crackling as one hit a XINE. Its feathers smouldered and it flapped, squawking, as it desperately tried to keep control of its own body. Two more dodged out of the way but six were ripped apart by the shock waves.
"This... he said, release another wave, exhilirated rather than drained by the immense power he manipulated as easily as breathing, "Is a hostile takeover."
"This is a hostile takeoever!" he repeated, idly dodging a pulse of energy with his floating dance, releasing ever more waves. Feathers of steel, gouts of flame and copper ichor rained down upon him, staining space the colour of rust, a nebula of decay. He closed his eyes.
"THIS IS A HOSTILE TAKEOVERRRRRRRRR!"
A bloody flash tore through his mind. It was as if every cell, every subatomic particle of his being was burning up, releasing the fire of the galaxy's core, the pain and rage of millions of years, the passion of Tria. A grating scream filled his ears, images of the Hive burning, frenzied calls to every end of the galaxy.
"TRIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed, "WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?"
Then he was falling. A cold wave washed over him. He was drowning, drowning in the endless ocean of space. A star ocean...
-------------------------------------------
It was almost too idyllic.
The dew sparkled on the emerald grass, reflecting the golden morning sun. A soft breeze rippled through it. The little girl ran through the grass towards a wooden fence in the distance. She wore a long white dress and her flaxen hair was woven into braids. She stopped at a the fence and sat on the stile, watching the large white furry blobs as they bounced across the next field, their ears flopping up and down. Some grazed, some left, some moved around haphazardly with some animal purpose. Two were mating.
Gwesty rose early every day to watch the Bunnies. It was her favourite part of the day. They were peaceful, intelligent, curious animals. When you watched them as closely and as often as she did, you saw the differences between them. Most people just saw them as the animals they bet on at the races every weekend. They had never seen a Bunny in the wild in their life.
She reached inside her cape and retrieved a few lettuce leaves. Leaping over the stile, she slowly approached the Bunnies. A small female Bunny stopped, turned around, sniffed and came bounding towards her. She held out an arm with the lettuce leaves in the palm of her hand. Deft for its size, it grabbed them and ate them, retreating again. She sat and watched it, her movements deliberately accentuating her calm lack of hostility. Having finished its snack, the Bunny gave her another suspicious look. She took her bag and upended the contents - half a lettuce - onto the floor. As the Bunny jumped forwards to grab the lettuce, it allowed her to stroke its soft white fur.
Gwesty smiled. If the Bunny trusted her, with time and patience, it would let her ride on its back. Then she would have her own Bunny mount, to bound across rolling fields, to visit distant towns. She could enter it in races and become a famous Bunny racing champion. She could ride into battle with an armoured Bunny and slay Asmodeus...
Suddenly, the Bunny chirruped and bounced away, leaving its food mid bite. Gwesty jumped and looked around. That wasn't natural behaviour for a Bunny. They never left food unless they were injured or startled.
Then she saw it. A woman, walking slowly through the field towards her. She was tall and beautiful, with bright golden hair like Gwesty's own, that seemed to flow behind her. Gwesty hid in the grass; the woman scared her. She had some kind of weapon, like a spear. Was she a soldier from Astral? The innkeeper told her never to talk to strangers, especially ones with weapons.
The Bunnies fled. The woman kept on walking towards her. She was looking directly at her. Gwesty's heart raced.
"Its okay. I won't hurt you."
The woman's accent was odd. Gwesty had seen a traveller from Lacour before. She had met people travelling from all over the world in the inn she lived at. None of them sounded like this woman.
"You're really bad at hiding." she said, "I won't go away if you close your eyes, you know. I'm real."
"Go away." muttered Gwesty, "I don't talk to strangers."
"I'm not a stranger. I've been a friend of your mother for years. And your grandmother. And her grandmother. I've been watching over you for a long time."
Gwesty glared at her, her emerald eyes as sharp as stones.
"I haven't got a mummy. And I don't know you. Go away now."
"Don't you want to know where your real mother is, Gwesty?" the woman replied calmly, "I can show you if you come with me. There's somewhere you. need to go and something you have to do."
"You're scaring the Bunnies." she repeated, clenching her fists.
The woman pointed over Gwesty's shoulder. The little girl heard a chirrup and felt a soft face nuzzling her.
"You can take Bunny with you, if you like." she said, "There's another child for you to talk to. You're going to fly on a big ship in the stars. To a different world."
"Ships can't fly!"
The woman sighed and muttered something under her breath about 'underdeveloped planets'. Ignoring her, Gwesty shouted, grabbed the Bunny by both ears and jumped on its back. The animal gave a loud squeak of surprise and bounded off in a random direction. The grass was a blur under its oversized but powerful feet and the woman soon became a dot in the distance.
