I don't own mass effect

My new story, sequel to Mine Effect, Shepard's return is now up.

Also a little teaser for a story I've been thinking about.

ideas, blaze has pointed out that without eezo exposure asari have weaker biotics. in the fanfic and the meak Shall Inherit the galaxy liara says daughters of matriachs have stronger biotics than others due to higher concentration of eezo exposure.

chapter 1

I don't own Mass Effect

story start

The cycle, the Reapers...the harvest.

Everyone knows these words and the horror that is behind them. Everyone also knows that before humanity touched the stars, before the schools and temples of Athame. Before the first turian rifle and even before the salarians started to question there were the Protheans

The Protheans ruled the galaxy as they knew it for years, until they discovered that they were just a small fish in pond that was much bigger than they realised. That the ones who had crested the Citadel and Relays they had claimed for there own had returned and they were not friendly.

The heart of the Prothean Empire fell in moments, the sudden attack was completely unexpected. Rallying the rest of the Empire was able fight back, and while the Reapers were able to advance the Empire made as hard as possible to take that ground.

It took generations for the Reapers to fully harvest the Protheans. Each proverbial mile harder to take than the last, however eventually the Empire could struggle no more and collapsed. Too much ground had been lost, too many soldiers had died and not enough of them remained nor enough weapons to arm the ones who remained. Despite that, the rements of that Empire struggled on and for nearly a century there would be pockets of resistance found in nearly every system but evntually even those pockets would be destroyed.

The Protheans made many plans to survive and many fail safes, but the majority of them would end in failure and the ones that didn't would only barely succeed.

But what if one, just one didn't fail but succeded completely?

What if one Prothean realised that not all, or maybe even any new species would be able to understand the messages they would leave behind. To either surviving Protheans so no knowledge would be lost or to new species to warn them so the Prothean Empire would be avenged.

There was one species that was developing similar mental abilities as them. They also had the ability to reproduce with any sentient species meaning that even a handful of them could create a thriving population on any species homeworld. But one homeworld was more suitable then the rest. One covered up almost with water but still had more than enough land for them and the species native there to live. Compared to the homeworlds of the other species that one was more compatible than the others.

This is the story of how a small team of Protheans smuggled and hid asari on a plnet that would one day be called Earth, each one having a warning of unsurpased death and destruction ingrained in their minds.

Chapter 2

When centuries had passed and the Reapers returned to the darkness they had come from these asari started to wake up. Not all survived, some died in their sleep after power failed, worse some woke up but were trapped in a box of metal unable to get. The cold darkness being their first and only memory. Some died due the elements, others when they stumbled across hostile native species. Others found societies that they would integrate to.

No one knew what they were or even where they had come from, not even themselves. Some thought that they were supernatural forces made flesh, others said they weren't human. Others would then point out how similar to the women they looked, that a horse could not Iay with an ox and produce offspring. Each kind of creature could only create more of itself by laying with its own kind, why would they be different?

They were called many names, but due to their magical power, their beaty and how the years never seemed to affect them most names however could be translated into... Priestess. Priestesses developed a reputation of being healers, warriors and shcolars. Often without match.

Having a Priestess in your village or town was a huge boon. No matter how long or short that stay was.

They carried with them knowledge lost to time, it is said that if a Priestess stayed at your village then your village could never truly die, that it and its memory would live on in her as long as she lived.

With their strange blue magic they could make heavy things light and even move objects move through the air on their own. Harvesting crops and building houses became easier and safer. There were also stories that if you family lived near a Priestess for long enough, one of your children might be able to summon and use the same magic as them.

Their mere presence was also a boon, to earn the wrath of a Priestess was to court death itself. Bandits would go elsewhere, armies would circle around them without harm.

However with thier presence also came tales, predictions of a future war so horrible words could not describe it.

While they didn't know it ,two very different species from two different worlds so far apart that they wouldn't meet for thousands of years, if ever if not for the Relays. Began to grow and learn as one, walkingside by side. Two species melded into one.

The short life of the humans taught the Priestesses to value the time they were given. How could they waste years when their husbands, fathers and friends had so few yet seemed to do so much? They would never develop the habit of letting years pass by lazily. Unlike the asari that remained on their home world would.

The long life of the Priestess stopped knowledge from being lost, their magic abilities made labour easier and their mental abilities made teaching and learning quicker.

However all was not always peaceful. Wars did and will happen, it is a part of each species after all. But the presence of the Priestesses did reduce them, it is hard to fight or hate an enemy when you can experience their thoughts and feelings. Emotions carry more weight than languages.

Sometimes there were Priestesses only on one side, sometimes they were on both, again raising the question of just where they had come from. Sometimes they would form a safe place where anyone who wanted to avoid the battle could go to. Whether they be young, sick or elderly or just tired of war. No matter which side one the winner knew to let that them be and those under their protection, lest their victories turn into defeats.

After each battle at least one person would ask "Is this the battle that you predict?" and they would answer "No, the battle passed down to me by my mother was much worse."

In time people would stop asking. There had been many horrible wars over the centuries yet the answer was always the same. Maybe it was less a warning about a war and more of a warning that all wars are horrible?

When science and technology had reached a certain level people started looking more closely what a Priestess was. When DNA was discovered they found the DNA of a Priestess was completely different. Long before that it was known that the second parent of a Priestess didn't need to be male but it was theorised that the Priestess was able to get the DNA another way or form the child in a way that didn't require sperm. As while the child of a Priestess was always a Priestess they were never identical to their mother, just similar. Just like any other parent and child that share the same gender would be.

This all changed however the day the Prothean archive on Mars was discovered and the day that once and for all it was known that the Priestesses were not native to the planet they had called home for thousands of years. By this point however the civilisation and cities of Earth belonged to them as much as it to their humans brothers and sisters and the term being human had long since included the Priestesses.

There were many things uncovered inside the ruins discovered on Mars, ships, old weapons, crates of easo. An element that was produced naturally by the Priestesses and was the reason behind their abilities and exposure to it before birth was needed to give birth to those who had similar abilities to a Priestess. Aside from the ability to share emotions and mentally connect to each other that was, the greater the esposure the greater the chance of the child getting the gift.

This discovery caused pregnant and expectant mothers the world over to visit graveyards of Priestesses or ask one of them to bless her or her child. It was theorised that exposure to a higher concentration of easo would result in more powerful abilities, not only for humans but also Priestesses. However, before Mars there wasn't enough easo on Earth to prove it beyond doubt.

At first the biggest discovery was a large data storage device, that was however until a Priestess stumbled across a small artifact. An artifact that made her lose consciousness, when she awoke she told how the artifact gave her visions, visions that were the same as the ones that had been passed down from Priestess to Priestess. Immediately the artifact was sent to Earth where it was passed from Priestess to Priestess ho all confirmed, while the artifact didn't show the same visions that had been passed down it was of the same battle.

At first it was believed that the ones that owned those belonged to were the ancestors of the Priestesess, that the ones on Earth were the descendants of those who had managed to survive, a second team was sent to Mars. While there wasn't much evidence, there was enough to prove that whoever owed those ruins they weren't related whatsoever to the Priestesses.

After a lot of work, espeically from the Priestesses that had come along they Iearnt identity of those who owned that station...Prothean. After a lot more work they found the name of the enemy in the visions as well a better idea on what these... Reapers looked like.

While the origins of the Priestesses were never discovered it was obvious that the same race that put them on Earth were the some ones who built the ruins on Mars. The question was why?

For as long as they could remember, Priestesses passed information from one generation to another. One of the things they passed on when they were old enough was the first memory. The memory that had been passed on for far longer than any other. No matter where on Earth a Priestess lived, or where her mother had come from they all had that memory though each was slightly different. It had changed over the countless years that had passed but it was still there.

So why was that memory given to them, why was it on the artifact? Was it to tell them how they died? So that they would always be remembered... or was it supposed to be a a warning . That no matter who you where on how strong you were war was always dangerous. Or even worse... that these Reapers were still out there.

The Mars Archive was the first Prothean ever found, however it wasn't the last. Each time there wasn't enough evidence to prove or disprove the existance Reapers or if they were still around but they remained a constantboogy man hiding in the shadows.

Chapter 3

Shanxi in the year 2517, lead military base.

"General we might have a problem." said a operator

"What is it?" asked General Williams.

"We've lost contact with some ships near the Relay." answered the operator making the General frown

"Send in a patrol, it's probably nothing. A problem with communications but you can't be two careful." ordered the General

Before operator could do anything however alarms start blaring

"What is it now?" demanded the General

"Multiple ships of unknown make. Size varies between a few hundred metres to over a thousand, there's also what seems to be a large number of fighters incoming." said another operator

"Send a message to Earth immediately any and all channels they need to know about this. Then start the evacuation notice."

"S-sir is it the Reapers?" asked someone nervously

"I hope not son, but if it is let's give them hell."

Elsewhere on Shanxi

"What's going on mummy?" asked a young Priestess. Less than a decade and a half old she looked almost identical to a human child aged between six and ten as a man in his thirties picked her up

"Nothing honey, daddy just needs to take you somewhere." lied an older Priestess

"Eleta please." begged the man quitley

"Take her, get somewhere safe. Whoever they are they're landing all over the colony." reaching out with one hand the Priestess touches his cheek "I can't lose you, I cant lose her...please."

"...Fine." said the man relenting "But you better find me after this is all over."

"For now and forever we will always be together." promised the Priestess as she began to arm herself "No go."

Giving her one last look of worry the man ran out the door, reaching for a katana a gunshot goes off in the distance.

"DADDY!" shouted a familiar voice

Heart hammering Eleta ran out the front door, there in front of the door, the love of her life. The only one she had loved in her 400 years of life was laying on the on the ground with her young daughter trying to shake him awake.

"Daddy?" asked her daughter fearfully

Automatically Elata trudged towards her love, the nearby invaders stopping upon seeing her

"That's an asari...Spirits there's an asari kid here too!"

Reaching the body her eyes turn black as she tries beyond hope to find any sign of life no matter how small...there was none. It was a clean kill, the man who made her feel things that no one else ever had nor would again died almost instantly. Judging from the exit wound and how he was carrying there daughter when they left the same bullet that took his life was less than an inch away from taking their daughters as well.

Reaching out a hand she grabs the sleave a nearby woman in the midst of fleeing herself, carrying her own child only a few years old with flaming red hair.

"Take my daughter with you." ordered Eleta

"...yes Priestess." said the woman with some hesitation as she drags her struggling daughter away with her. 'It is lucky that she had not let learned to use her gifts, other wise it might not have been as easy for to pull her away.' thought Eleta as she continued to stare at the body of the man she loved

Behind her one of the invadors raises his rifle only for it to be pushed down by an invador next to him.

"Stand down, that's a kid and an asari kid to boot."

"But sarge."

"But nothing, we find out what's going on and then after we deal with what's happening we go find the kid."

Walking over to the asari who had yet to move, each turian took aim. There was no reason an asari should be here, no legal reason at least. Not only was this a new species but they were opening Relays, a clear violation against Citadel law.

"Ma'am I'm going to need you to come with us." asked one of the turians only to receive no response "Ma'am I promise if you cooperate you won't be harmed."

Finally the asari looked up, but something was wrong, her eyes were completely black. That was only supposed to happen wh-

Letting out an unnatural shriek a biotic wave flew out from the asari, it was like she was the centre of a biotic detonation. Every turian within five metres stumbled. Before he could recover the asari was in front of him, one hand glowing in a biotic blade before it was shoved through his chest, tearing through barriers, armour, plates and flesh. His last sight was staring into the cold dark eyes of an asari. It was weird everyone said that when an asari's eye's turned black you...

Letting out a shriek to stunn them Eleta charged at the invader who kept speaking in those horrible clicks, a blade of blue energy forming around her arm allowing her to easily tear through whatever protections it had. In the few moments the invader had left after she punchered its chest she ravaged it's mind. It was not the one who killed her dear John, but it was one of the ones here. She also got a bit one why they had attack, the reason didn't make sense but it didn't matter. They had taken one of the things most valuable to her and almost took the other as well...she would butcher all of them.

Pulling out her sword she instantly cut through another invader that started to raise his weapon before he had even hit the ground she was on to a third.

For any turian she incountered there no hope, she had given herself over to the battle stance completely. While the asari on Thessia could use their melds to learn, to teach and the fuck, the Priestesses on Earth had learned these and more. They could use them to heal, to find what was wrong with someone. It wasn't as accurate as it was with modern technology but the ability to find what was truly wrong with a patient, not relying on the patient correctly identifying the symptoms or expressing how they felt was a boon. But a Priestess most dangerous not to mention useful ability was battle stance. Instead of joining with a single mind the Priestess openes her own to the world arround them, they became intimately aware of their surroundings down to the smallest insect. The more proficient the Priestess was the longer they could hold it, the greater the range and the more honed the stance became. No matter how stealthy you were, if a Priestess activated battle stance for even a second and you were in her field of perseption she knew you were there.

If a blade was bearing down on her neck she would know, if they're opponent had a wound, new or old she would know. If an attack was a feint she would know as their muscles would betray them. People likened it to the ecolocstion of a bat. When a Priestess killed someone in battle stance they could also use that persons dieng embers to become stronger...to heal quicker to feel energised. it had its limits though a death blow would still be a death blow and eshaustion was still a factor. But it allowed them to push far outside their natural limits.

As with all things there however there were draw backs, it was hard to maintain for long periods. if a Priestess pushed to much she could easily suffer permanent brain damage, the more she pushed the worse the damage became. there also came a point where it became hard to tell their wounds apart from the ones they were inflicting and she and long since gone over the limits. She was a dead woman walking, if not for the battle stance she would have been dead already. But eventually she would either suffer a wound that the stance could not protect her from, she would be broken from the stance and succumb to the wounds and brain damage or the stance itself would kill her.

But it didnt matter, the turians had made a mistake, she had nothing to loose and everything to gain Her only goal was to kill so many of them that none would be left alive to harm her daughter. She had become an avatar of death, destruction and vengeance empty of anything, the overwhelming leaving her barely able to distinguish friend from foe. The Turians would learn why Priestess were feared, especially those that had been pushed into a corner as like a mother grizzly they do not seek out danger but should danger seek out those under their protection they fill fight with a fury and strenth that far surpasses what they would have been able to do otherwise and leave a trail of unserpassed destruction behind them.

That day the turians saw what an asari could do if she had the bloodlust of a krogan and it terrified them, they were far too used to seeing the asari as a race of peace.

One off them had asari girlfriend, and knew the legends of ardat yarsi. With her black eye, covered in wounds and blood not her own. One arm hanging limply from a snipers shot almost taking it of the other dragging a blade behind her what else could she be...but a demon made flesh?