The survivors cried and cuddled together in the cramped room. The conditions in the room were extremely unhygienic, but such trivial things didn't matter anymore. After the insanity of the Heliaziari system many were just happy to be safe.
The brutal battle, which lasted for six grueling years, had changed all who lived through it. Especially the ones who were able to survive through the massacre on the fifth world. One could easily identify those who had suffered on that cursed place for those years.
Empty eyes, emotionless faces, always hunched figures and twitches defined the survivors of the world that had become nightmare incarnate. These terka would sit or lay alone, their families, friends, and loved ones dead either by combat or the purges. And Sera herself was no exception. She was sitting in the corner, alone and afar from other survivors, completely removed from what was happening around her.
She saw no point in anything anymore. After what she had witnessed every action every idea seemed banal and idiotic compared to the insanity that still plagued her mind. Life seemed useless now... Just a doomed attempt to fight against the unforgiving universe. A fight against a virulent plague which swept world after world, system after system, evolving and becoming stronger after every failed try to stop them.
Others had sworn oaths of vengeance, that they will fight until enemy is broken, that they will push back the invaders, that they shall retake all the worlds that have been lost, that for every lost innocent tens of these monsters will be slaughtered.
She herself haven't committed suicide only because she was the last member of her family, which meant that it was her duty to further the bloodline.
The second reason was closely intermingled with the first one, as she now lived so that she could bear and raise the child which was currently developing inside her.
After those objectives have been fulfilled she could finally let go of this pitiful existence...
A hand landed on her shoulder and broke off her nihilistic thoughts.
Sera looked up.
The scarred veteran who had put his hand on her shoulder opened his mouth and spoke with an incredibly fought tone, a sign of someone desensitized by all the bloodshed that they had seen.
„Are you the survivor from the massacre?"
„Yes" Sera muttered out, barely opening her mouth.
The veteran removed his hand from her shoulder and stood straight.
„The captain requests your purpose in headquarters at this instant. "
Sera slowly stood up, her muscles cramped from the long period without movement. The soldier walked out from the room and Sera followed him.
They walked through the ship, which was as cramped as the room they had just left. Even the corridors were full of refugees and survivors, who blocked them, slowing down the soldier and the survivors.
After some time they approached a hastily built fortified door, guarded by two warriors, wearing full suits of armor and were holding weapons which produced strange crackling sounds. Both of the guardians were massive in compared to Sera and the veteran who was accompanying her.
The soldier nodded and one of the guardians opened the door allowing them to pass.
Behind the door was an empty room, with only two chairs, one of which was occupied by another veteran wearing a highly decorated uniform, indicating his possibly high rank. She gestured Sera to sit down on the chair in front of her.
Sera complied and sat down.
"Are you Sera, of house Kreaon?"
"Yes"
"Are you truly the last survivor of the slaughter on Heliaziari five?"
"Yes"
"Could you describe, as detailed as possible, what exactly happened on that world, in the city you were located, during the last year?"
"Yes, off course" Affirmed Sera, without a sign of any emotion on her face, even as the ceiling opened and mechanical limbs equipped with recording devices lowered at her face level and started to perform their function. She barely kept herself from breaking down as memories of the insanity returned, but was able to hold herself and her voice steady as she told the grim tale
"For most of the war they would surge forwards, onto our defenses. We gunned them down, while being supported by aerial craft and artillery. They broke against us like liquid trying to move the immovable.
And then, something shifted in the minds of the eldritch abominations that led these hordes.
They retreated out of our cities and started digging in and fortifying their positions. Why they did so, nobody knew, but reclaiming of former positions started. Hopes and morale went up. Some idealists even claimed that the enemy had no more troops to continue assault. They claimed that this was the reason why their ships never fully engaged ours. We were caught by the waves of optimism…
We were fools…
This was not the end of the storm, it was just the beginning…
Massive artillery weapons were brought in, and while those were readied, winged creatures, nicknamed headhunters were let loose upon our forces.
One by one our aerial craft were brought out of the sky. Scout teams disappeared into nowhere. Entire forward battalions were wiped out. And then, when the gun placements were secured, the enemy showed how otherworldly cruel they truly were.
At dawn, as the twin suns rose over horizon, a rain of iron started falling from the sky. Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of artillery shells rained down onto city. Soldiers were vaporized in seconds, buildings were erased in minutes. Entire defensive fortifications, which held back endless tides for months were levelled into the ground in mere hours. Shells were so numerous and so intense that they leveled everything into a completely even plain, except for a massive ditch that was located in the middle of the molten flat ground and surrounded entirety of the city.
They advanced into their forward positions which were prepared by their unending rain of iron, and then, the process began anew…
Day, after day, shell after shell, shot after shot, layer after layer of the city were broken and crushed under the unending storm of artillery barrages… Tens of millions, who were unable to escape, were brutalized by this onslaught; industrial sectors were molten by the sheer heat of the intensity. Any try to break through was met by the masked monstrosities and butchered like cattle. Any way to escape by air was brought down by the winged hunters. We were trapped…
And then, when streets of the city became too wide to defend, when the defenders ran out of both ammunition and weaponry, when there was simply no way to hold back the enemy, the true nightmare began…
At first the silver giant and his masked butchers lifted themselves from their trenches and marched through our barely defended city, desecrating our military tradition, by imitating military marches from our history.
They reached the center, their military parade awakening shards of hope; that maybe the enemy will simply conquer, but we were wrong. It was simply a ruse to allow their full force to completely surround the city…
Streets ran blue as these butchers descended upon the city with only their melee weapons, maiming and ripping apart every single living creature that came in their way. Their blades slick with blood of those who still tried to defend their families and loved ones… Their hands dripping with life fluids of children and infants… Their feet marching through the remnants of innocents…
But from all of these millions of monsters, two were the most nightmarish…
The first one was the silver giant. The name is fitting for the monster. It is a massive beast, towering over its troops, it's silver body far lighter than the bodies of the butchers it led into slaughter. It was like a demigod of ancient legend, dismembering entire crowds with but a few swings, it's massive blade crushing and ripping, instead of cutting the bodies appart.
The second one was far more unnerving. It was tiny, compared to the silver giant, not even reaching its chest, but even more ferocious. While the silver giant was like a force of nature, brutishly sloughtering everything in its path, it was different. It specifically hunted down aristocrats, and then slowly killed them. Many of these elites naturally tried to fight against this creature using their own blades, but even when the beast was impeller, it would only smile and then drive it's on weapon trough the chest of its current opponent…"
"Thank you for your input, this will be enough" The officer in front of her interrupted her.
Sera stood up and walked out of the room.