I lay tiredly against a tree trunk, my eyes shut, letting the cool gentle breeze alleviate some of Mindoir's oppressive summer heat. The insects are buzzing, the wildlife is making its own assortment of hoots, howls, and growls. I have no responsibilities beyond the ones necessity dictates I deal with, and there's nowhere I need to be. I dreamily open my eyes and take to watching the clouds that are calmly rolling by, occasionally blocking out the sun.

Maybe Shikamaru was on to something, this was definitely a great way to spend an afternoon. It was, in a word. Perfect.

As a feeling of unease begins to settle over, I begin to think that it's perhaps a little too perfect. Even with the weather, the sky, and the shade conspiring to make everything positively sublime. I still felt that something was off. I picked myself up, and did a quick job of dusting off my shirt and shorts. Before looking around, to thoroughly check my surroundings. Once with my unenhanced vision, and the next time with Rinnegan augmentation. Nothing out of the ordinary. Or give reason to arouse any sort of suspicion, on either counts.

I was probably just being paranoid

After a few moments I listened to the noises of the forest's wildlife, or lack thereof. I found myself listening to dead and complete silence. Nothing was making a sound, not a single thing. Even the insects dared not buzz.

And in a place like this, that meant danger. It only ever gets this quiet in a forest if something dangerous is nearby, and that oppressive heavy feeling is worse than before...

I'm pulled out of my introspection by an earth-shaking impact, one that knocks me off my feet. I fall heavily onto my back, knocking the breath clean out of me. I scramble to my feet and look wildly around for the source. And when I see it, it roots me to the spot. My eyes widen with fear, and my jaw hangs limply open.

To call the creature before me large, would be like calling Niagara Falls a bit of white water.

It towers over absolutely everything, its sheer titanic size striking me as positively ludicrous. No living being could feasibly be this large. It looks down at me with a pair of gargantuan red Rinnegan eyes. Three Tomoe spinning idly in each concentric circle. Nine Tomoe in all orbit both of its pupils. Its sheer bulk seems to give its presence a sort of gravity, and behind it...

Waves ten long tails.

Holy shit. I am as good as dead. I just hope to whatever cruel god that put me in this situation to begin with at least had the decency to compel the tailed beast to finish me expediently with a simple
Bijuu-dama.

After a good ten seconds of staring. The ten-tails tilted its head to the right in a seemingly quizzical manner.
"For what reason do you wear such a foolish expression? You resemble a J'lyn out of water."

It said, in a low deep bass baritone voice that seemed to make the air itself vibrate. After a few seconds of shocked silence, and sheer incomprehension. I finally marshaled enough courage to make a comprehensible reply.
"Foolish? Just who in the hell do you think you're calling foolish?! And what exactly is a J'lyn anyway?"

The tailed beast looked quizzically down at me. And settled down on its haunches, before it spoke to me again.
"Do you have those here? Small, glittery. Lives in water, has fins?"

I tilted my head to one side.
"You mean fish?"

The ten-tails gave me an odd look.
"What in Oblivion is a feesh?"

I shook my head and sighed.
"Whatever, I don't suppose it really matters either way. What I'd like to know is-"

I said, as I pointed a finger up at it.
"-Who you are, and what in the hell you think you're doing here."

It narrowed its eyes slightly, before it addressed me. It's tone somewhat stern.
"Because, child. I have resolved to issue some advice, and a warning. To you, you would do well to heed my words."

I sat down in the knee high grass, crossing my legs, then looking back up at the tailed behemoth, raising my eyebrow quizzically.

"Well, what is it?"

The tailed-beast set itself softly onto the ground, giving it a vaguely sphinx like stance.

"As I told you, a warning. Of the consequence of choices made long ago, and the possible repercussions of choices that have yet to be made."

I tilted my head in confusion, his language was annoyingly flowery.

"Will you stop speaking in riddles and get to the damn point?!"

It huffed haughtily, and fixed me with a baleful glower.

"You have some nerve speaking to me that way, insect!"

"Still haven't told me anything!"

The beast gave an emphatic harrumph.
"Oh very well! Are all of your kind this impatient?!"

It got itself comfortable before it addressed me, its tone solemn.

"I assume that you and the rest of your ilk are aware of the foul ones?"

I thought for a few moments, puzzling over what he might mean.

"Erm... Big black, they come around every fifty-thousand years to murder the local sentients?"

The tailed beast gave me an expression that I swear would have been an eye-roll if it was human.

"Well I suppose if you wanted to put it in the most basic terms possible. Then yes, that is what the foul ones are."

I huffed indignantly
"I got the gist of it didn't I?!

"For the most part anyway, I assume that since you are aware of them, the rest of your kind are as well?"

"Um, well as a matter of fact..."

"What is it?"

"I'm the only one who knows..."

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, averting my gaze.

"...anything, to be perfectly honest with you."

The ten-tails did a double take, its expression totally disbelieving.

"Do you mean to tell me-"

It said, its voice wrathful.

"-that the only person aware of the coming end of civilization, is a child!?"

I shrugged, my expression wan.
"Funny how that works, huh?"

It shook its head, a look of disbelief still written clear on his face.
"What you say cannot be the truth, your predecessors left numerous warnings and signs."

"You talkin' about the beacons?"

"That among many other things, including numerous data caches."

I rubbed my eyes, this thing could not have been more out of the loop.

"Sorry, but the Reapers did a fairly thorough job of covering their tracks."

The beast's expression darkened.
"Yes, they were always quite adept at being thorough..."

It shook its massive head.

"But this is all besides the point, i have come to tell you something and tell you something i shall"

It settled onto its haunches,

"At the outset of the Prothean purge, we the tailed beasts were in a far more favorable position. The Foul ones' numbers had been diminished greatly in the last purge. We had every reason to believe that the Protheans would finally break the cycle. And yet nothing ever quite goes as one expects, or hopes."

I responded quietly, for his tone had taken on a sad wistful quality, his expression subdued and downcast.

"What do you mean?"

It almost seemed to quietly sigh, dejection heavy in its tone as it gave its response.

"The foul ones gained a crippling advantage early on, the Prothean communication array was highly centralized. A flaw that we the tailed beasts attempted to warn them of, they did not listen. They were sure of their superiority, they refused to believe that their military was the victim of any sort of flaw. The foul ones attacked a key point in their superluminal array, and crippled their entire military. They had no means of communication, and no way of knowing which systems would be targeted next. Countless planets were lost this way, millions of innocent lives extinguished. with no forewarning of their doom. No chance at all of escape."

I listened grimly as the tailed beat recounted its story. As undisguised sadness came into his voice as he continued.

"We lost far more than we could have anticipated, by the time the Protheans had rallied an even halfway effective counter. The foul ones had already all but won. "

Tilting my head confusedly to one side I once again addressed it.

"As tragic as that all is, I don't see why it has any sort of bearing on what's being talked about."

It snorted.

"What I wish to say welp, is that the foul ones acquired more raw biological material in the prothean purge than they did during almost any other harvest. With it they renewed and replaced what forces they had lost."

The tailed beast shifted uncomfortably.

"When they descend again from the howling dark, I fear they will utterly consume all. It shall be the end of all things."

I scoffed,

"I'm inclined to think that a piece of rather theatrical hyperbole?"

It glowered, its expression dark and foreboding.

"This is no laughing matter, and I assure you that what I just said is by no means exaggeration."

I looked back up at it, my hands steepled at my sides.

"You'll forgive me if I have doubts, how bad could it possibly be?"

The beast mantled forward, and gave a low guttural bellow.

"You child, you do not understand. The foul ones do not simply harvest organic life. They feast on and consume the essence of life itself. Every harvest brings them closer to sundering the balance of existence."

I searched the beast's face, praying to find some sign of a joke. I found none.

"So... All of existence huh?"

I said numbly, a few thoughts and questions jumped to the forefront of my mind. I picked one from the growing throng.

"Erm, how?"

The beast exhaled slowly.

"When I say the essence of life. I mean what I say. All life, all things that think and breathe and grow, ultimately gain their lifeforce from the same source. The spiritual lifeblood of the universe itself. It acts as a stabilizing agent. A keeper of balance. And with each harvest, the foul ones come closer to destroying that balance. And thereby, the universe itself."

I nodded, slowly. As i felt my stomach drop, and my blood run cold.

"So if they win this time-"

The beast nodded.

"Armageddon."

I shook my head, my breath coming in short shuddering breaths.

"So-"

I said shakily.

"-you got any other world shattering revelations to share?"

The ten-tails seemed to think for a moment, considering my question.

"None that I can share here. You must seek me out."

I raised my eyebrows.

"And that's because-?"

The ten-tails gave me an interesting look, one that I swear would be a smirk on a human face.

"You are dreaming."

My eyes opened suddenly, I rubbed them tiredly. It sure as hell didn't feel like a dream, though in retrospect it seemed fairly obvious.

I looked around my bedroom. The light seemed relatively low, it seemed as though it was still early in the morning. I shifted slightly under the covers, curling tightly into their warmth. I really didn't want to get up. But I had promised to meet Jane, and she didn't take kindly to tardiness.

Resigning myself to drowsiness, I rose to meet the day.

Kavira D'velas, 198 years ago.

Indeterminate coordinates.

Terminus systems.

She had been called to this place. By whom, or by what. She could not be sure. It had at first manifested as a subtle voice that teased at the back of her mind, dark whispers of suggestion that had eventually taken form as visions of monolithic eldritch beings. And dreams and nightmares of screeching horns and forms of inky whirling shadow.

And then from the grating trumpets had come voices. They began to speak to her, they had filled her ears with promises, promises of power. Of control. And of revenge. The prospect of power beyond her wildest imaginings, if she would come to them.

The solution to her problems now lay on the surface of this barren desolate deathworld. The scanners of her stolen freighter had told her a little bit about this world. The desert-like surface tinged red with ancient iron deposits was choked with a carbon monoxide nitrogen atmosphere. Surface temperatures could reach up to 200 degrees At the height of the 44 hour day, awash in the light of a binary star system as it was, and 150 below in the dead of night. An environmental suit would be necessary for any on surface activity.

Kavira huffed an annoyed breath as she strapped on the suit. She hated having to wear it. The plating was cumbersome and restricted movement to a ridiculous degree. And the visor eventually fogged up no matter what filters she used. Though the atmospheric cycler was a goddess damned windfall for her, precluding the need to carry oxygen tanks. And cutting down on at least 20 pounds of added weight, as she finished slipping on the least of her armor. She stepped over to her meager weapons locker and slid open the door.

She had precious little in the way of reliable weaponry, two years spent as a fugitive from both the justice of the Citadel and the far reaching influence of the pirate queen of the terminus systems. Had drained her personal funds and left her all but bankrupt.

The only things she had to hand were a few low caliber rifles, a weak antiquated shotgun. And an old but powerful hand cannon. She lifted it off its mount and slid a fresh thermal clip into the receiver. Racking back the slide with a satisfying click. Scans had indicated the planet was lifeless, but Kavira knew how easy technology was to fool. It paid to be on one's guard.

She slipped on her helmet and pounded the release switch, the blast door opened with the mechanical thump of hydraulics as the scorching red desert rose to meet her feet. The blast door close shut behind her. And she wasted no time in throwing her pack onto her shoulders and jogging forward into the oppressive heat of the two suns.

She had a lot of ground to cover.

Even within the confines of the environmental suit, the heat was still oppressive. Whatever lay at the end of this path, it had better be worth it. The terrain was sun scorched and characterized by long stretches of dry desert, Broken occasionally by random outcroppings of rock, and crumbling plateaus. Jutting out of the sand like the bones of some long dead beast, she was beginning to feel slightly foolish however. There seemed to truly be nothing here, this sunscorched sandblasted death planet was truly devoid of any life. And the hand cannon strapped to her thigh began to feel more superfluous all the time.

She didn't suppose it really mattered. And in any case she could hardly go back, night was fast approaching and if the day's heat hadn't roasted her. Then the night's frigid cold would freeze dry her inside her armor. She had to find shelter, and soon. There were no visible caves, and this far out in terminus space she doubted-

Her helmet's radar pinged suddenly, it had picked up a new signature. Far too symmetrical to be part of the natural terrain, Kavira gave a smirk. One that would have been seen as quite unpleasant, had anyone been watching. Problem solved, She had a destination. It didn't add up though. What the hell was anyone doing out here? What was to be gained? She took a knee just above the signature. Dusting away sand until her hand hit something solid, a standard pressure door. Worn by the elements but still perfectly functional.

Her hand glowed a pulsating sapphire blue. And the reinforced metal of the door screeched, warping and twisting as she forced it open. Once the hole was large enough to walk through she cut her biotics off. And walked tentatively through the now destroyed doorway, her hand rested carefully on the worn smooth handle of her hand cannon.

The emergency blast door slammed shut behind her. Preventing any more of the small outposts oxygen from escaping. And she grimaced in anticipation as she heard the sound of heavy boots thudding heavily on the metal grating of the floor. She stepped into the room, her figure silhouetted in the solitary light of a single ceiling lamp. Shadowy figures surrounded her, outfitted in old armor and hefting stripped utilitarian assault rifles. Their apparent leader, a grizzled batarian. A scar visible on his top left eye, broke the silence.

"So, you wanna' give a good reason why i shouldn't have my boys pump you full of lead?"

She smirked, and crossed her arms. Her stance jaunty, and seemingly without worry for her precarious position.

"Well-"

She said,

"-i suppose you could try, if you really think you can."

A turian member of the pirate squad ground out a low guttural growl.

"Don't act so high and mighty bitch, you look about as threatening as a pyjak!"

Another voice, Krogan this time added his own addition.

"I don't even see a piece on your sorry ass!"

"Tell you what-"

Kavira said, taking slow meandering steps toward the pirate leader.

"All you have to do is kneel, kneel and beg for your pathetic miserable lives. And I might just decide to spare you. I'm not completely heartless."

Several members of the pirates mantled forward, their teeth bared. The leader hefted his shotgun, and racked the slide.

"Here's my answer, asari whore."

He never got a chance to carry out his intentions. A wall of biotic force slammed into him. Throwing him across the room before slamming him back-first into the railing, his spine snapped like a twig. And Kavira relinquished his body. Letting his corpse fall to the floor like a ragdoll.

The rest of the pirates promptly opened fire.

She rushed deftly toward them, charging into the leading group of pirates. Sending a warp careening into the small crowd, it detonated with the force of a grenade. Tearing a few of the pirates to literal bloody chunks, she

un-holstered her hand cannon and emptied the clip into the group closest to her. The polonium rounds did their work. Tearing apart the pirates' shoddy armor, and reducing their bodies to irradiated ash.

She heard a foot step behind her, and ducked just in time to avoid the rifle-butt of an attacking turian. She unsheathed her knife, a razor sharp commando issue blade that she had stripped from the corpse of a commando squad leader. She deftly caught the arm meant to place her in a chokehold, and flipped the unlucky turian over her back. Slamming him to the floor, the blade flashed forward in a glint of silver. The 12 inch-long blade piercing the pirates neck and severing several major arteries. The grievous wound gushed a torrent of cobalt, the turian thrashed on the floor. Gurgling and hissing as his throat and windpipe filled with blood.

She fell upon the rest, losing herself totally to a mindless psychotic lust for carnage.

She almost completely abstained the use of her hand cannon and simply attacked with her biotics and her knife. She ducked, dodged and weaved, slashing and stabbing. Reducing most of their number to bloody ribbons. And tossing them about like ragdolls with the power of her biotics, breaking their limbs and their spines.

Until only one remained.

As Kavira slowly paced toward him, her armor splattered with the blood of his comrades, he scrambled frantically away. Uselessly pulling the trigger of his empty assault rifle. Before finally throwing down his weapon, turning and running toward the nearest apparent exit. Kavira raised an arm, and caught the batarian in a biotic field, her fingers twisting as the pirate felt his head begin to slowly turn. He whimpered like a child as she slowly twisted his head, letting him feel every agonizing moment as the tendons and muscles of his neck were pulled further than they were ever meant to be. Finally with a cruel twisting movement, his suffering ended. His head twisted entirely the wrong way with a sickening snap.

Kavira dissipated the field and let the corpse fall to the floor. She looked around idly, the entire room was dripping from floor to ceiling with blood. And she wasn't much better, her body armor's old colors were now totally hidden beneath the copious amount of gore.

"Tch."

She said as she sheathed her knife and holstered her hand cannon.

"This is going to take forever to wash out."