Aftermath Of A Massacre And An Ancient Race Returns.
Stratholme, once a city brewing with life, was now little more than a graveyard. Bodies were being burned by the few remaining soldiers who had refused to follow Arthas any further. Uther had returned, but much to his shame and sadness, he was to late to stop the massacre. He approaches Jaina, as they both stand among the slaughtered village of Stratholme. Most of the town is still burning, and there was little more than death everywhere they looked... Even some sith would be disturbed by it all.
"So much death... I can't believe Arthas could've done this" Jaina said silently, still processing the fact the man she loved was the one responsible for all this.
"Jaina! Jaina Proudmoore!" Uther called out.
Jaina turned to look at him "Master Uther?".
"Ah, Jaina. I thought I might find you here. Where has he gone, girl? Where has Arthas taken the soldiers?" Uther asked.
Jaina bit her lip "He came to me before he left, I pleaded with him not to go. I told him it sounded like a trap!".
"Where?" Uther demanded this time.
"Northrend. He's gone to the cold moon Northrend to hunt Mal'Ganis" Jaina answered, her voice full of pain.
"Damn that boy! I've got to inform the council and speak to King Terenas, I can only hope they all act and stops Arthas before he goes any further. Don't be too hard on yourself, girl. You had nothing to do with this... slaughter" Uther said as he walks away, the shame of failing to stop his former Padawan was clearly weighing heavily on him
The Man Arthas spoke to suddenly appears before Jaina "The dead in this world might lie still for the time being, but don't be fooled. Your young friend will find only death on the cold moon".
"You! Arthas is only doing what he believes is right!" Jaina argued, though she knew fully well the dark side had taken hold of Arthas, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew the man she loved was slowly being consumed by his hate.
The Man shook his head "Commendable as that may be, his passions will be his undoing, and the dark side of the force is growing stronger within him. It falls to you now, young consular. You must lead your people of world, to the ancient Planet of Kalimdor. Only there can you combat the shadow and save this galaxy from the flame".
Elsewhere in the destroyed city, Lena was walking across the blood stained streets. So many people were dead... and for what? Did they really need to die? Lena looked at a fire and saw... a young child... not even the children were spared... how could Arthas do this? How could Nova...
"Lena..." Came an all to familiar voice behind her.
Lena turned her head and saw Nova standing there, her face wrecked with shame. Lena walked up to Nova and slapped her hard, leaving a visibel red mark across her face. Nova said nothing, nor did she do anything to prevent the slap, she just looked back at Lena who was glaring at her with tears in her eyes.
"Well?! Was it worth it?! You slaughtered an entire city to stop the Undead from spreading. Men, women and the children too! All dead!" Lena shouted as tears began running down her face "Well!? I see no undead around now, so I guess your plan worked! So tell me: WAS IT WORTH IT?!".
Nova said nothing for a moment before she finally spoke "I didn't kill anyone...".
"What?" Lena asked, still angry but also confused.
"I didn't shoot anyone who was still alive. I only killed the ones who had already turned in to undeads" Nova explained.
Lena took a moment to process what Nova just said before grabbing her "Then what was even the point of all this?! If you couldn't bring yourself to go along with Arthas' madness, then why did you follow him!? And why didn't you stop him?!".
"Why didn't you, Jaina or Uther stop him?" Nova shot back and when Lena looked down defeated, she sighed "But to answer your question. I was going to go along with his plan, but... I couldn't bare the thought of becoming a monster you despise... And I only stayed because I hoped to find and kill the one responsible for all this".
"Nova..." Lena said silently, she was still upset but her tone was nowhere near as hostile as it was before.
"Arthas left for the frozen moon... I didn't go with him... I know you may never forgive me, but I wasn't going to leave you behind to follow that madman" Nova said.
Lena was silent for several moments before she sighed "There will be a while before I'll even consider forgiving you... But... You kept your hands clean of innocent blood and you came to your senses and stopped following Arthas' madness... So maybe you've earned one last chance".
"I don't deserve it..." Nova said.
"Maybe not, but it's my decision, because I still love you. But if you ever, and I mean EVER do something like this again, then I will leave you forever and I'll never want to see you again, understood?" Lena asked firmly.
"Yes ma'am" Nova answered with half a smile.
Lena hugged her and Nova quickly hugged her back. At least their bond hadn't be fully ruined. But Nova knew she would need to be extra careful from now one. Lena was serious about not giving her any more chances, and Nova didn't want to risk loosing her again... But both knew the healing process would be long and difficult. And there was no telling what Arthas might do next, now that the dark side had gained a solid hold of him.
Elsewhere, Genji had been sent on a mission to investigate an hidden ancient tomb on the planet Zerus a world located near the central regions of the galaxy, just between the Republic and Imperial borders. No Republic or Empire ships traveled there, mainly because few even knew it existed as it was a closely guarded secret. Reason being that the planet was full of hostile life and some even believed the whole planet was cursed. But the Republic high commands had begun detecting strange readings emanating from the planet, and not wanting to risk provoking the Empire, they sent Genji to investigate it, quietly.
Genji landed on the planet and the moment he stepped out of his ship, he had to watch his steps as he could sense blood lust all around him, but he couldn't see anything. Keeping his guard up, Genji headed towards the source of the strange energy he was sensing. After a while he found what looked like an old temple. He could sense the dark side inside, so he carefully sneaks inside, his hand on his lightsaber, just in case. After some walking, he finally reached a large chamber, and sure enough, a Sith was standing in front of what looked like an ancient artifact. But ut wasn't an ordinary sith.
'Darth Malgus. What's he doing here?' Genji wondered in his mind and debated if he should contact his superiors and let them know what was happening.
But before he could, Malgus spoke up "I know you're there. Your force cloak can't hide you from me".
Genji was surprised that Malgus detected him so easily, but since his cover was blown he came out of hiding. Malgus turned around and looked him over for a few moments, sizing Genji up and he could tell Malgus was already forming a battle strategy in his mind.
"I was expecting a jedi. But you don't feel like a jedi" Malgus admitted.
"Step away from the artifact, Malgus" Genji demanded.
"You don't even know what it is, do you boy?" Malgus asked, not even reacting to Genji's tone.
"If a sith wants it, then that's all I need to know" Genji answered.
"This is an Xel'naga artifact" Malgus said.
"Xel'naga? Wait, I think I read some old books about them. It was said they were among the first beings to use the force" Genji said.
"You are correct. The Xel'naga weren't just any other force users, they were born from the force itself, near godlike beings capable of crafting worlds and fill them with life. Their powers dwarfed any jedi or sith and the concept of light and dark had no hold on them. They were true masters of the force" Malgus explained.
"Is that why you want the artifact? You hope to use it to achieve godhood?" Genji asked.
"No. No man could ever hope to hold that much power, no matter how hard they strive for it. But the knowledge contained inside, it could shape our very understanding of the force. Lift us up to an even higher purpose. Godhood is unobtainable, but this knowledge could bring us as close to it as possible" Malgus said as he looked at the artifact, imagining what he could learn.
"If what you say is true, then I will make sure that knowledge never falls in to the hands of a sith" Genji declared as he activated his lightsaber.
Malgus glared at him and activated his own red blade "I will not let you ruin this".
Genji rushed at Malgus and swung for his neck, but Malgus parried with his lightsaber, turning the attack aside. Malgus attempted a counter strike but Genji leaps over the lightsaber, then resumed his attack. Unfortunately, he was unable to penetrate the Sith Lord's defenses as Malgus fended off each of his strikes with quick a powerful movements. After a while, Genji backed away, and Vader used the Force to lift a nearby boulder and hurled it towards the cyborg force user. Genji leaps through the, slicing through the incoming boulder, but was quickly caught in Malgus' telekinetic grip. The Sith Lord hurled Genji into the side of a wall. Genji looked up just in time to see Malgus striking down at him with his lightsaber.
To Vader's surprise, Genji was able to block the attack with his own saber and forced it aside. Genji then took the chance to go back on the offence, attacking Malgus with wild and fast strikes, and Malgus again resorted to defense, tanking up and intercepting the strikes as they came. Batting the Sith's saber to the side after a relentless onslaught of attacks, Genji delivered a powerful kick to the side of Malgus face, dazing the Sith Lord and even losened his mask a little. Genji then slashed Malgus across the chest, the sith's armor barely saving him from a fatal blow, before kicking him back. Genji then struck at Malgus several more times before force pushing him in to a nearby boulder. Malgus stood up clutching his wounds, as Genji leaps towards him with a downward strike. Vader took his lightsaber and blocked the attack, as Genji flipped over his shoulders and went to cut Malgus from behind.
Malgus spun around on the spot and parried the strike with his lightsaber. The two engaged in a blade lock, which Malgus eventually broke up by shoving Genji away. He then slashed Genji's shoulder and force pushed him in to the stairs leading up to the artifact. Genji got back up and avoided an attempted stab from Malgus, then took his saber and swung at Malgus' neck, but the Sith Lord blocked the attack, and the two continued to clash sabers for a while. Malgus' relentless offence was pressuring Genji more and more as he was force to back up the stairs in order to fend up Malgus' deadly strikes. Genji noticed they were getting closer to the artifact which gave him an idea. If he couldn't recover the artifact for the jedi or the republic, least he could do was make sure Malgus didn't get it.
Waiting for the right moment, Genji jumped to side, making Malgus slash right through the artifact, destroying it.
"NO!" Malgus shouts as the energy from the artifact consumed the room.
When the energy was gone, Genji pushed himself up, holding his head in pain. Suddenly Malgus angry roar was heard as he broke free from some boulders that had landed on him. He looked at the remains of the artifact before glaring at Genji with pure hatred.
"You will die for this!" Malgus promised as he turned on his lightsaber.
Genji did the same and both looked ready to continue their duel. But before they could, both were interrupted when they heard something. Both looked around and saw large swarms of creatures emerging from the depths, all of them looking utterly horrifying.
"Zergs..." Malgus whispered as the creature eyed them with hunger.
Having no time to finish their duel, Genji and Malgus hurried to escape. Genji had to cut his way through some zergs to reach his ship which thankfully wasn't damaged. He rushed inside and flies away from the planet. He got away... but now he was very worried of what he helped unleash.
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Wanted to make a chapter with an actual Star Wars character.
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Tell me what you think.