Notes

You thought one chapter every two days was much? Well I strike again! Two chapters in one day!

No but seriously I promised you three chapters this week and you will get them. The third one is coming out on Thursday.

Star walked after her master and three prime obsidians in a corridor leading to a chamber in which meeting will be held. She looked amused at all of the guard quartzes and high class aristocrats whose eyes were filled with fear. Now she wasn't the one who feared, but they were.

She put her hand down onto the small caliber ballistic weapon at her belt and smiled when one of the guard's eyes widened in fear. When she felt amused enough she put the hand away and continued to follow her master.

She had already served Omega for over a year now and was a veteran of several battles, as much as a logistics officer could be a veteran. And while they were border skirmishes and nothing more, the fact that obisidian armies were able to push back the terka was something impressive, considering that the conflict was boiling for several centuries with many casualties but no results for both sides.

But these victories were brought not the way that the gem authority had wanted. Diamonds, especially Yellow openly showed that she despised these soldiers created by her own wish. She hated that obsidians used technology and tactics used by the enemy. She despised that under their rule the gem hierarchy was quite flexible. She couldn't bear the fact that defects were not shattered but allowed to survive as long as they fulfilled their function. If she ruled only by emotions she would have ordered to shatter them all. But Diamonds were quite pragmatic and they needed the endless armies of obsidians. So obsidians were granted some autonomy. But only as long as they keep their way of ruling only in the worlds conquered and colonized by them.

But it didn't meant that the prime obsidians, who were growing more and more tired of the Great Diamond Authority, didn't find a way to show their disrespect for what diamonds have built.

Star was one of them, and she loved every moment of it. They got her physical clothes, a huge amount of jewelry and made weapons just for her.

It was barely possible to not laugh when she saw the faces of guards and gem aristocracy, when a pearl walked around wearing terka aristocrat clothes and jewelry and carrying unique weapons.

And while this was a grave disrespect to the authority, it was nothing compared to what the obsidians had suffered. They were forced to throw themselves at fortified walls en masse because agates and painites got bored. They had to slaughter out entire cities by charging into them and battling for every inch covering streets in black shards and purple blood. Nobody had to be sparred, obsidians were ordered to execute all. But many of them were forced to emerge early and much more weren't even trained mentally.

Entire battalions broke mentally and were harvested; several shattered themselves with their ballistic weapons. Others tried to rebel against this, like Epsilon who couldn't bring herself to exterminate a cornered family unit. She was too empathic of the organic species, and couldn't bear herself to murder noncombatants.

Omega was there, and was forced to shatter her by Yellow Painite who oversaw the operation. Her soldiers tried to defend her, so Omegas "Sharded" were forced to engage their own, after that followed the purges of Epsilons personnel and hunts for deserters. Both Star and Omega were forced to shatter many by themselves,

Both of them changed after that. Shattering your friends and comrades was not the most emotionally stable thing to do. And after that both of them wanted to hunt down and torment every single one of their superiors, but this wasn't an option. They may have hated their leaders, but they were dependant on them and still somewhat respected them. And so they had to take it out on something else. The Pact seemed as the only natural solution. Not the best solution, but the one that let them hide their current instability from others. It also helped Star not to want to shatter everyone in the room if they weren't an obsidian or served one. The only thing that she didn't like about it was the fact that she enjoyed it, especially when it was her time…

Star blinked several times, moving herself away from such thoughts and continued following her master.

End notes

I realized that I didn't put many reasons why would obsidians hate the Great Diamond authority, so here is a chapter that does explain it, and also puts a darker shade on Stars and Omegas relationship, which was able to survive without dark undertones for about a chapter and then went to dark dark places.

Have a nice day!