~Minutes after rescuing Liara~
Doctor Chakwas had mentioned that Liara was unconscious, or rather, she was fast asleep as a last measure against hunger and thirst.
Full of IVs, lying on the stretcher she was, with an almost imperceptible breath, giving signs that she would not wake up soon, so I withdrew from the infirmary.
I had been the last to be treated for my wounds (my choice), only the long journey between Relays to reach Noveria remained.
What worried me most was that Benezia may already have an army of Rachni and we were just on our way.
And we couldn't even deviate from this mission, or at least that's what I thought at the time.
Walking around the Normandy a bit, I decided to stay in the Cargo Zone, where, out of the blue, Garrus approached me for a bit of conversation.
"Are you going to get to meditating?" He asked, as if he knew the answer already.
"Aaammmmm, no. Did you think that's how I channeled magic?"
"I read a little, but..."
"It did, but only when the spell didn't work."
I could notice a certain amount of disappointment on Garrus' face, who went back to his calibrations. It was as if he was afraid to ask the unknown.
Glancing back and forth, I noticed the absence of Wrex and Nihlus. And crossing glances with Ashley, she was suspicious of Garrus every time he approached the Mako. I couldn't do much to defend him, I had planned to save Kaidan and Ashley, but if she was still this xenophobic... forgive me for everything Ashley but you will be better off in the afterlife.
This time I approached to seek conversation with Garrus "Do you want to go to the next mission? It will be to meet Benezia, maybe".
I was curious about Garrus, I wanted to know how far he would go for his ideals.
"Most likely the Asari will accompany Shepard, and the last... I don't know, I have some business to attend to."
"These trips take a long time, information about him can be sketchy."
"Maybe, but...- him? You know who" he said, as if he had found the most precious material in the universe. I just shrugged, smiling innocently. Garrus chuckled a little at this "Of course, you know everything. Dr. Saleon, you sneaky bastard."
"When you find him you'll kill him?"
"Is there another way?" asked Garrus, ignoring some diplomatic solution, with an aura of bloodlust so strong I could feel it.
"A bit of typical police justice: shoot and then ask, and if he's still alive... arrest him."
"I'd rather there be nothing left of him when our encounter is over." Garrus stood thinking for a while, as if analyzing his evidence. After mumbling a bit he looked at me as if he had found the solution "You know where he is, you know everything, you've seen it all".
Garrus seemed almost obsessed with his revenge, coming very close to me with an anger in the depths of his eyes.
Wanting to keep up appearances, I danced around the question.
"Well... I don't know where he's not..."
"So you don't know where he is?"
"It wouldn't be inaccurate to assume that I couldn't exactly not say that it is or isn't almost partially incorrect."
"So you will know soon?"
I was trying to get him to give up. I knew the location, but if Saleon wasn't there then the trip would be in vain.
"I may know the location, but I may not if he has moved, or he may not be at that exact spot. So maybe I know, but maybe not. To assume that I know would be to mislead you, but I would be telling the truth by telling you that I do know. Bottom line..."
I shrugged, backing slowly towards the elevator to run away, but since I couldn't see my behind, I ended up bumping into the commander.
I didn't fall as she held me up. To put this moment behind me, I quickly pulled myself together and apologized.
Jane Shepard was accompanied by Kaidan, quite possibly they were coming from seeing Liara and talking a bit about the past.
And considering the past, I still wasn't sure about the commander's past.
"Excuse me, Commander can I talk to you for a moment? It's not about the mission, it's just... a chat."
As Kaidan walked away to join Garrus in inspecting the Mako, Shepard gladly agreed "From you I can expect anything when talking."
I couldn't tell if that was a compliment, but it felt good "Maybe a little, but this has more to do with your past."
Climbing back up the elevator, Shepard replied "I guess you know a lot about me. It's weird since I don't know anything about you."
"It's just watching a gameplay of Skyrim to be honest, commander."
We walked a bit, me thinking we were going to chat in the mess hall, but she led me her own room. "The only ones who know the truth of this besides the two of you are Wrex and Garrus" she said, waiting for me to pass into the room first.
I hesitated for a second as if it seemed like hours, but finally went in, standing on the edge of the bed without sitting down because I needed her permission. (Or at least that was my style).
I began without hesitation "And your truth, there are 6 options divided into two parts. You were an orphan until you enlisted in the Alliance?"
To my relief, Jane nodded, leaning against the wall in front of me with her arms crossed.
"It's kind of bland, your explanation. Is there anything else?"
"Eeemmmm... you were in a criminal gang and... that's all I remember."
"I'm not proud of that part of my past."
Regretful for having said it, I apologized to her, also telling her that the second part of this might offend her. "It's about... The Threshing Jaws... you know."
I got her past right when I saw the look of pain and sadness mark the commander's face.
"My whole platoon died in that place. It's a hard moment to forget."
"I... sorry, I don't even know why I asked."
"You already knew, didn't you?"
~"Bioware got it right with your past by default."~
"No... I mean, yes, I think. Knowing your past helps me understand you, or others... but to everyone else I'm a stranger."
Shepard stiffened, heeding what she was about to say "Then tell me what you did, not what you want to do. What brought the DragonBorn to this place."
I kept my gaze lost, remembering the moment when Circe appeared. "What I was, what I did... I always considered myself average, very normal... until she came, promised me to change the known, and now here I am... Dozens of battles, practices made me a something, someone with purpose. What I did was save a world, save people, have a family-"
She interrupted "You have children?". This statement caught the commander off guard "You're not too young to...?"
I laughed a little, cutting off what she would say "No no, they are adopted. The war was very cruel to them, and I... well... there's no law limiting me on the children I can adopt."
Shepard was still looking at me as if in disbelief, forming a small smile second by second "I imagine neither are the number of wives."
That statement reddened my face so much that my vision blurred "Eeeemmm well... no, yes. No wife, no... no... no one."
~"Why am I lying?! If I tell her the truth later, she's going to misunderstand"~
"I remember you said you were the High King, don't you have those freedoms?" asked Shepard, making her memory of more things I said.
"Actually... I'm not High King, the title of DragonBorn is enough and enough for me... That and a lot of money, which allowed me to hire maids, there were people who did it for free just for saving their lives..."
I didn't know what else to say, or where to start saying it, so I just let the words flow "You know, Commander. I won't lie to you, I thought you were going to be John Shepard; a male version of you. And don't get me wrong, I wasn't disappointed, just very relieved, maybe my heart was beating too fast for something, but seeing you is... comfortable and I like it. I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense but... Aaaaagggh."
As my words came out, I avoided the commander's gaze. Something about her was making me very nervous. And the final nail in my ideas was not knowing how to express myself.
With nothing else to do, I threw my head back, watching the flash of the commander's hand, as if she wanted to touch my shoulder to no avail.
Although I couldn't see her, I could see her laughing at me, or maybe it was my paranoia that grew much more. "Forgive this young idiot, commander..."
A few seconds of silence were broken by the commander's laughter "Wait a minute, you were proposing?"
"No..." I said. And it really wasn't that, opening up on feelings is very difficult for me "I was trying to say that I admire you a lot, Shepard. Just that..." I slowly regained my composure to talk to her calmly, making something clear even if it sounds absurd to do so "I wouldn't want to make this a romance novel, at least not me being an option..."
Shepard could sense my discomfort, so she settled the matter "Alright, I get it" she said, suspecting that if I knew a lot about her, I would also know that if having a partner would come into the equation. But she wanted to joke about it "I'm not your type, I get it."
And with a small smile at the corner of her lips, she opened the door for me to leave. She didn't mean it in a bad way, she was just playing with me.
~"I want to die..."~
I walked out of her room slowly, glancing sideways at her every step I took. And when I finally took the step out, I vanished in an instant with an Invisibility spell, wanting her to make me disappear forever.
~Days later~.
My nature of being worried all the time made me impatient for the journey, and although it was not long now, the knowledge that Benezia might have already accomplished her goal haunted me day by day.
Because of that I made the decision to spend time with the others, sometimes in small groups, sometimes just 2.
Talking or training.
This time it was time to talk with Ashley, many times I didn't want to do it because of her xenophobic attitude but I didn't want to bother the others too much.
Finding her like every day where the weapons are maintained, I greeted her in a good way.
"Hi, you... emmmm Williams, sorry I don't know if you would feel comfortable if I said your name."
With a stern but understanding expression, she greeted me back "We've spoken very little."
"Yes... a few words" I said, rambling in my thoughts "Sorry, I'm... preoccupied and I'd like to train, distract myself"
"I don't have much time, I need to focus on keeping the weapons intact."
It's like she wouldn't take off the soldier tag on her forehead, but I understood her better than she thought I did.
"Alright, take care, see you later."
~"I think so."~
Just as I turned around, she called out to me for a moment. And while she didn't look regretful about turning down my offer, her face exuded a certain nostalgia and gratitude.
"At the Citadel, I was reunited with Nirali Do you remember her?"
"Nirali..." I said, tapping my head repeatedly as I repeated the name over and over. "Nirali nirali nirali nirali... Mmmmm Doesn't ring a bell, sorry."
"I'll make it short. She's the soldier you rescued on Eden Prime, I ran into her and her husband Samesh."
"Samesh... Ooohh-"
~"I remember him. Wait... I saved his wife?!"~
Pretending not to know them at all, I half-denied it "I remember the name already, Bathia was the last name? Or not?"
She nodded, and with her OmniTool, transferred me a considerable amount of credits.
"Unfortunately she's in a wheelchair, but she still remembers you, she mentioned it to me when we were leaving the Citadel."
Hearing the signal of having received money in my Omni-Tool, Ashley extended her hand to me. "I thank you for saving her, and they thank you too."
I took her hand proudly, asking about the couple's future.
"They will enjoy the earthly life, Nirali is still pursuing the idea of opening a restaurant, retirement will suit her just fine"
"I... I thank you so much for telling me this."
Walking away from her, I felt extremely fulfilled at that moment even though saving Nirali was not in my plans.
~"Aahh... strange coincidences of life"~.
But the happiness didn't last long when Shepard spoke on speakerphone for an emergency meeting.
Arriving at the conference room, I preferred to stand around until we were full. I wasn't the first to arrive but I wasn't the last either. At this point in the adventure I couldn't think of anything that needed to happen, or so I thought.
"All right, crew, I received a message from Admiral Hackett reporting an asteroid accelerating towards Terra Nova. Communications were cut off so we don't know anything else."
"You want us to take care of that first? Commander. Exodus Cluster is on its way" Nihlus said, analyzing the situation. But he clearly didn't see himself agreeing to stop the main mission.
Kaidan was more open about his opinion, saying "With all due respect, Commander. As it is, the trips take days, we can't stop if the enemy has already reached their destination."
"No, but we can split up. Let the Normandy drop off a small group and the rest go on their way."
"Great, another suicide mission" I said, dropping my head to the side, tired, but pulling myself together when I saw Jane with a look that said Nothing to play with "Ejeemm, yeah... I think it's a good idea to split up. I want to go!"
"Calm down, I haven't decided what to do yet. I need to know how serious the situation in Noveria is."
With a glance at the ceiling, The commander asked Joker to contact Noveria to find out if Benezia had already arrived or what she was doing.
Though on the other hand, I felt the look from Garrus and Wrex, telling me that I knew what was there or at least I had an idea of what was cooking.
~"The Rachni... It's news that can't get out of hand but..."~
"Excuse me, Commander. There's one thing I need to tell her, but you need to tell them about it too."
Jane waved me to the doors where we were standing, ordering the others to wait a while.
"I could tell her what may be happening, or may not be happening, or not happening yet, but... what can I say?"
"You might as well tell me what you know. If it happens or not, it won't be your fault, relax."
She had read my face full of worry and eaten away by a guilt that still doesn't pass.
"I'll tell you the beginning... Nihlus was going to die on Eden Prime, what must be on Noveria is a Rachni Queen, and the asteroid was taken over by Batarians" I said, searching her eyes for the understanding and comprehension she had already given me "My intervention seems to have made Cerberus more active, but I managed to save people who were already dead before I started. And in the future Ashley or Kaidan may die."
Jane shook her head in denial, seconds after revealing too much information to her "I don't know how you manage to surprise me. You will either cause them great discomfort or great relief."
I shrugged, resigned once again, but certain that this time it was going to be over for good. "Let whatever has to happen happen happen."
The commander supported me, ushering me in along with her again, but this time we were both standing near the holographic projectors.
At that point, Jane explained to everyone except Wrex and Garrus what happened once we rescued Tali. Our encounter with one of the Gods and my knowledge of the future and past. But at that part I decided to speak.
"As the commander has told... things will happen" I said, pointing to Nihlus first, and continuing to each "You were to die on Eden Prime. One of you two may die in the future, and Ashley... Nirali should not be alive now. Garrus, eeeemmm... Garrus. Wrex, there's a Rachni queen in Noveria, or there's supposed to be one. Tali, nothing so far."
Finally, turning to Shepard, I didn't know what to say to her. I had a thousand and one things on my mind but nothing came out.
"I may have said this, but I don't own destiny as it is not written. Tomorrow I can kill myself and everything will change, or Tali can die on the next mission from a gunshot or because she got a fever."
"Hey, why me?!"
"The point is that our future has already been written by us alone. But we don't grasp the meaning of our programmed curse of life. We only fear what comes and smell death every day. In short... It's up to you to believe me or not."
I expected a lot of reactions, both negative and positive.
No fuss was made since my existence to them was a big clue about what I told. And while some might be attacked by the paranoia of thinking they were just a game, it didn't happen.
Except for Ashley, who denied the existence of any Gods other than the one God she grew up with.
Remaining absolutely calm, I made it clear to her that they may exist, for some reason we have stories of them. If there are stories of so many, it must be because they exist.
"But it's not like they meddled much in mortal affairs...until I came here. I still don't know what they want, other than to be Circe's worst choice."
Tali looked excited and terrified at the idea that there exists beyond what she knows, a place she can never touch "Let's review this: you come from a young universe; the last one to be born, where to you we are game characters, but in reality our universe is older than yours."
"That's what Circe told me. And I could give you Spoilers for what happens but, it might not even happen. Although the past, as I see it, is the same."
Looking at everyone present, taking the weight off my shoulders about my origin was the best thing that could have happened to me. Feeling a great burden leave my brain, my vision blurred causing me great fatigue.
With a big yawn, I felt the need to apologize for knowing so much about them, and they knew so little about me. But I was interrupted when Joker warned us that we were 1 hour away from reaching Exodus Cluster if we were planning to go to the asteroid.
Jane ordered everyone to leave, she and another small group would go to Noveria and she had to assemble the group for the asteroid mission.
The commander had already chosen Liara as a companion if she woke up. And the second companion approached her almost in a hurry.
"Commander, if what the boy says is true, I must go," Wrex said, almost with a fury past from ancient wars against the Rachni.
The knowledge that they might be alive angered him, and more the knowledge that he was in Saren's possession. Or would be in possession of him.
"Kaidan told me while we were at the Citadel, the Krogan fought them. You were the right one for this mission anyway."
With a handshake, they sealed the deal. While I eavesdropped on the conversation, praying they wouldn't assassinate the queen.
20 minutes before arrival at the asteroid~.
Voluntarily, I volunteered for the asteroid mission along with Ashley and Kaidan, Kaidan being the leader of the group. But there was a problem, I lacked armor.
That wasn't a problem before because the missions were on breathable planets, but now a moving asteroid was anything but a habitable place.
Having asked Jane, the obvious solution was to buy an armor set. But we realized another problem.
"Commander, I don't know what the genetics are like in these generations but... I'm 5'6", I'm short."
Looking through a large box full of armor, at first glance I could tell it would be too big for me. And making armor now was not an option.
"The armors fit the body, but you don't even reach the minimum requirement for that" said Jane, receiving the credits I had previously paid believing there would be a chance.
"Sorry, I think the solution is on my world."
The commander didn't know what I was referring to, until a few seconds later where she widened her eyes in denial and anger "Absolutely not! You're not even sure it will work!"
She didn't even want to discuss the situation so she walked away from me, making it clear to me how dangerous it could be.
I wasn't going to give up so easily, following her closely "It will work, I'm pretty sure, at least I feel that way."
"That you have it that feeling is not enough, you told me yourself that apart from you, you needed 2 masters in magic to come here."
Jane was firm in her decision, and without even looking at me she went up the elevator to find out how things were going with Liara.
But holding the hatch with my hands, I stopped her from going up.
"This is different, the armor is linked to me and I can call it. I tried a bit... Ugh, what a..."
My legs were faltering from the force exerted by the gate. And if this kept up, I could lose my hands.
Even with Shepard's refusal of my wish and her insistence on leaving the hatch, I was still slowing her progress. But my words surprised her for the worse "You did it?!"
Sweat bathed my face "I'm sorry, it was only for a while, I didn't accomplish anything but I felt my weapon seeking the way to me!"
I could see Shepard's patience crumbling, and this could mean that: She would reluctantly accept, or she would vote me out of the Normandy.
"I won't let you go, Commander. I need to prove to myself that I can do it, just give me permission."
Jane didn't want this, but my stubbornness was stronger than steel. With an anger-filled punch on the green button, the commander stopped the elevator hatch as she stared at my soul with eyes alight in impatience. I even seemed to appreciate the renegade scars.
"You bring those demons, monsters or whatever it is you can't control, and I'll kill you."
With her threat and authorization, I stepped back to let her climb in peace "You won't regret it."
As I watched her go up, a question generated in my mind as I saw that Jane could choose someone else but she chose me as her choice for the mission.
~"At least I won't be the squad leader!"~
As I knelt in the middle of the Mako area, Garrus approached me, highlighting the heated discussion I had with the commander. "I didn't hear much but what exactly happened?"
Smoothing my movements, I remained static in meditation, searching for the gap in this universe. "I convinced her to let me do what I do best."
"If you think that will help us catch Saren, I support you."
"I may bring out my more hypocritical side at some point, and... I need some space if it goes wrong."
He nodded, and his footsteps sounded farther and farther away.
With the natural silence of the Normandy, my thoughts were not blank. And that's what I was looking for.
Tolfdir taught me that it is impossible to meditate with a blank mind because it is always active, that we must replace our neutral or negative thoughts with positive ones, whether it is a happy memory or an accomplishment.
And so I remembered: When I touched the Magician's Menhir and was chosen, the first blunt dagger I made, my wedding in the Temple of Mara.
Even with all the pain of my adventure in Skyrim, every second was happiness, or was I mistaking happiness for something else?
Raising my hand as high as if I wanted to catch something, from the depths of my magic and desire I called my armor across the universe. And so I felt the same as in the Citadel, the way my soul seemed to be pulled elsewhere.
Like storing souls in gems, I had asked Serana if it could be done in weapons, either to enhance its power or to call it from wherever it was.
The detail was that daedric weapons could be called without the need to leave my soul in it as they were made by a pact with the princes. And the armors worked the same way
I intensified the pull, feeling my body tearing from the inside out. Things around me began to shake as if the Normandy was the epicenter of an earthquake, but I didn't think anything of it.
At that, luminous cracks appeared through my fingers, reaching up through the roof of the Normandy.
And as if grasping the void, I touched those cracks to pull them towards me, it was possible but they didn't move. Hearing something that seemed to be from somewhere else.
A female voice, worried about what I saw and didn't understand, was asking for help for what was happening "Be careful! Someone wants to attack us!"
~"Serana?!"~
Letting go of the crack in surprise, my surroundings stopped shaking.
"Wait! It's me!" I shouted through the crack hoping they would hear me 'I'm the DragonBorn!' and they did.
With disbelief in her voice, she seemed to have moved closer to the rift because her voice got louder "Mijael?! Are you here? Lydia told me you had already left!"
"I know, and she's not wrong. I've done this because I need my armor, but I had no idea it served as..."
"I'm surprised too, you've come so far..."
We both laughed in disbelief and happiness, staying silent for a while at such a situation.
"Then... whatever it is you need, I'll let the others know. They won't want any more surprises."
"Thank you very much, Serana. And you'd help me a lot by closing this if there's any magic residue left."
With a hint of happiness, Serana agreed, mentioning that her mother could be of help in this. "And you know, a vacation wouldn't hurt, somewhere other than Tamriel for a change."
I understood what she meant, so concerned and excited at the idea, I considered it despite the consequences it might bring. But I wasn't sure if she meant it 100% in jest or that's how she wanted it.
Grabbing the cracks again, I said goodbye to Serana, promising to get back in touch with her or send her a message."Tell the others I'm fine, I'll be fine."
"They don't doubt it. Take good care of yourself, sweetie."
~"Aaaah~ You don't know how much strength those words give me."~
And as if I was crushing glass, the cracks grew larger as black and red flashes shot out of them and hit my body before closing completely. As if it were yesterday, I could clearly hear the hammer strike the red-hot metal, concretizing the fusion of magic and blacksmithing, the combination of daedric flesh and ebony.
At the time I wondered how the hell do you combine flesh with metal to create armor? I discovered that there are not necessarily pieces of flesh in it, it's more like using the essence of the heart, its fire, its power.
The most idiotic thing was when I ate a heart, not exactly daedric, to create potions.
"Come here!" I exclaimed with a final tug, consequently feeling the heaviness in my hands, forearms, chest, and so on. And as the crack disappeared, the sound of metal against the ground rumbled.
When the last piece of armor fell, I completely undid the crack, or so I tried since I felt nothing else that could be on the other side.
"Oh finally, behold my soul mate. Perhaps literally."
I fell to my knees, inspecting every part of the armor as if it was my first time doing so. The stark contrast between medieval armor and technology caught my attention, as well as whoever was behind me.
From the hallway that led to the Engineering area, Tali's voice came through almost in unison.
"By the spirits" "Keelah."
"What was that?"
Grabbing the gauntlets first, I quickly began to dress "This is what I am, nothing more, nothing less. It may not be technological, but... I feel alive wearing this."
Adjusting each necessary strap, I got the feeling that the armor was missing me as well. It was a bit obvious because it carried some of my blood. And with the Helm in hands, I looked through that, a red darkness sometimes flashing on the visor side. The helmet was burning with longing to be carried once more and not be abandoned. "Just wait a little longer..."
Tali and Garrus looked at each other quizzically, as if it seemed crazier to them that I was talking to the armor, and not having summoned from absolute nothing.
"One thing to admit is that it has style," Garrus said, taking a picture with his Omni-Tool as if it were a normal thing. "Red and Black, did you design it?"
I laugh a little bit "It's kind of funny... At the time of forging it it was like it molded itself, each part has the shape it wanted to have. Here."
Tossing the helmet to Garrus, Tali quickly intercepted it "It's scary, like it's a monster."
"Daedra, that's the word you're looking for."
"Wait, in what way do you plan to breathe with this?!" Tali was surprised to see that this wasn't a suit that closed perfectly to function like the ones they wore.
"Some spells implemented... Aquatic breathing, resistance to high and low temperatures, a little of this, a little of that. And it magically closes at will."
I drew my helmet in with telekinesis, paying attention to how the elevator was ascending to bring more people "I guess it's about time, and we're close to the asteroid."
Putting on the last daedric piece, I entered the Mako for Garrus to give me a little tour.
Although it looked cramped on the outside, inside it was spacious, minimalist where there were only two rows of seats facing each other, apart was the pilot and co-pilot's seat. A Medigel dispenser that would help us on this journey and the giant cannon on top to clear the way, literally.
"That would be it, Kaidan will be the squad leader so he drives."
"It's better... I only know how to drive horses and dragons." I admit, seeing the screen in the front.
Before getting off, Garrus arranged the Mako so that I could easily exit through the hatch, signaling from the door that it was all calibrated and ready to go to those who had already disembarked.
Waiting inside, I settled into a seat looking outside to watch as Ashley, Kaidan, and finally the commander passed by. But when they saw what appeared to be a demon inside, they almost instinctively raised their weapons.
"It's me, don't be alarmed..." I said, raising my hands in surrender "Don't shoot."
"So that's what you wanted to bring."
I nodded firmly, revealing my face for a few seconds to cover myself again "There's more stuff but...this is fine for now"
Before leaving, Jane gave me an anger-filled glare "As long as you didn't invite your friends. It's time to go! The Alliance is also on its way for extraction!"
She hit the Mako in signal to depart, and with Kaidan stepping on the throttle, we ploughed through the outside of the asteroid until we touched down.
Instantly we received a message from one of the survivors.
"Thank God, a new frequency!"
"Williams, try to clean up the message!"
Ashley put all her effort into getting the message as we made our way to the first fusion torch.
"Hello? Hello...? Please be real. I am Kate, I'm hiding, but I can't talk much. Please turn off the fusion torches. God, I hope you're listening."
"I don't think we can send a message back, it will give away your position," Ashley said, ending up repeating the initial message. Her kept his hands on the controls, warning about turrets protecting the complex.
So far I hadn't done anything on the mission, but I wasn't asked to help either so my brain took it as they could handle the situation.
So it was as the 3 turrets went down after a moment of fighting, where in the end we parked near the entrance to the building.
As the Mako was a place isolated from the outside, I felt fear when the door opened, but was relieved to see that I could breathe without difficulty.
With weapons in hand, we stood in front of the door, forcing it open with Omni-gel "What's the information? Mijael. What are we up against?" asked Kaidan.
"Bastardians looking to crash the asteroid into Terra Nova. It's like they've hated us forever... This time I support Ashley's racism."
She ignored the last, but out of the corner of her eye she looked impatient at my comment.
~"You don't deny it, but you don't confirm it either."~
With the door finally open, the great silence implied that our presence had not yet been noticed.
Kaidan and Ashley positioned themselves on either side of the door, leaving it to me to open the door that separated us from them.
Why me, I had no idea.
I finally came face to face with the Batarians, who were preparing their War Varren. Releasing the animals just as soon as they saw me.
Before the shooting began, with a magic axe in hands I split the beasts in half as soon as they came into my range, reveling in the blood that was expelled.
"Ha Big pieces of shit! You'd better scream, and scream good. The Batarians are disgusting, and my duty? Is to murder them, right? Circe!"
I walked smoothly ahead, providing shield to Ashley and Kaidan with my own body. The shots were deflected as soon as they touched my armor, generating casualties among the batarians because of their "bullets".
But in a second, a flash exploded in front of me, the artillery of a Grenade Launcher generated a huge smoke, from which I ran out swinging axe in hand to cut in half whoever was in front of me.
It was an unparalleled carnage, so much so that I heard some Batarians call it a nightmare. And for a very violent species to say that, it's a bit unhinged.
Although it wasn't Kaidan's style, he let me do all the work in finishing them off, asking Ashley not to interrupt. He wanted to see how far I could go.
Even though the path to the mainframe was short, the long trail of dismembered bodies made it strangely long. As they moved forward, the two soldiers heard more flesh being cut, burned, frozen, and electrocuted.
"God, this is what he does? Who taught him so much slaughter?"
"Does it matter? He's on our side." Admit Ashley, but she felt a touch of repulsion.
Kaidan knelt down, illuminating a body that emitted absolute cold. Illuminating his mouth, he watched in shock as ice stakes seemed to have been generated from within "Still this is madness, we must be careful with him."
Suddenly a purple mist flooded the place as quickly as it disappeared, but it was enough to alert the 2, who watched in shock as from behind, the Batarian corpses came to life again, staying still in place until the order of the one who lifted them up.
Next, I appeared walking down the stairs, being followed by more dead batarians.
"Sorry, I didn't know how to disable that fusion torch. I just cut the machine, and electrocuted it a bit."
In stony silence, we heard nothing more from the outside, assuming that it had worked.
As we walked to the exit, the sound of an Omnitool sounded in Kaidan. It was the engineer, I was glad to have monitored that one of 3 thrusters were off, but warned that they had already realized this. Before she could say anything else, a thud was heard as well, cutting off all communication.
"Kate, are you there? Kate!?... nothing!"
Cutting off communication, Kaidan ordered forward, and with that, I ordered my undead.
No matter if they only had one leg, or are broken in half, my undead crawled, crawled or walked leaving a trail of blood behind them, ready to follow my orders. And who could carry a weapon, I selected them as the back row.
Watchful for any suspicious movement, we raised weapons as we exited, encountering a human inspecting the Mako closely.
"Hands up!" alerted Kaidan, with a quick step, the gun barrel already on the guy's back "Introduce yourself, now!"
With clear fear, the gentleman didn't even turn to look, as if he had already accepted his fate "S-Simon, I'm an Engineer" His voice seemed to want to crack, but he kept his composure "Please don't kill me, just-"
"Wait Kaidan, work with Kate, she's one of them" Ashley put her hand on Kaidan's gun.
He heeded, presenting himself to Simon and asking for explanations.
There was nothing here that wasn't obvious: The impact would be the death of the planet and everything on it. And with the time we had, we might not make it.
"We should split up. Mijael, do you think you can make it?" asked Kaidan, motioning Ashley into the vehicle.
"I won't be alone, I have an army." And at that, out of the door the undead were slowly coming out in a nightmarish scene for Simon as he believed they were still alive.
He shot out of fear, but Kaiden and I were trying to stop him "Wait wait, this is hard to believe but, they are at my command".
Simon was still in disbelief, and struggled for a while, but slowly stopped as he noticed the Batarians' non-reaction. "You... how did you do that?"
Shaking my head, tired of having to explain, I let go and walked away from the Mako "If I must do this every time, I might as well shoot myself. Major Kaidan, it's time to split up. I'll take Simon. Intertwine your Omni-Tool with mine, I don't know how to use it well yet but I'll get in touch with you."
"Good luck!" he shouted from the doorway as Ashley was the one driving.
Now we were both in opposite directions, Ashley with Kaidan and Me with Simon a dozen undead.
I felt absolute fear and great anger as I looked out into space, Terra Nova had gotten bigger (Or we were smaller). Time was running out faster than I thought.
Inspecting the horizon, the minefield was my target, and although Simon knew it, he followed me with doubts, and the intention to stop this once and for all.
"You're from the Alliance? That armor I've never seen before?" he asked, wanting to make the path more enjoyable in this situation.
"Not exactly, but I would like to, also be an N7."
"You have your goals clear, you remind me of Kate."
His voice nostalgic, it was as if he was praying for her, desperate to know her status. He couldn't tell her that maybe her fate was something cruel.
"They are slavers. If it's also about... those kind of slavers?"
I smiled in anger and helplessness beneath my mask, accentuating the red of my armor by my emotions. The mere thought of that happening right now was the worst thing I could imagine.
"You know, I don't feel safe with Batarians on my back." For a while now, Simon had been looking behind his back to make sure nothing happened.
"They're at my command, and I'll put them to good use."
Already descending a stone mound, we sighted several turrets aiming at us, but before firing they stopped, scanning that there was a group of Batarians with us.
There was also a small group guarding the entrance, watching us carefully.
"They think we're prisoners, boy what do we do now?" asked Simon, following me despite the situation.
"I wouldn't want to get my hands dirty" I ordered the undead to advance relentlessly, no matter what, they would advance.
The enemy knew something was wrong: the gait of the undead, that they hadn't received a call. But they seemed to reject the idea of betrayal even though a part of them did this in order not to face Balak.
An undead took the first step, exploding in front of everyone. Its flying parts vanished into dust almost instantly, and so consecutively they moved forward, clearing the area of mines. While those who possessed weapons, attacked the bullpens from afar.
"Follow me, it's time to work" Through the smoke we advanced in a straight line. The undead served us well as cannon fodder, and those who had survived, came in to cause terror, attacking their own like real zombies.
Simon felt strongly nauseated by the blood slush, unconsciously he wanted to take off his helmet and vomit, but he thought about it some more "I-I don't think I can hold on, I'll seek shelter. I'm just an Engineer, I'm sorry."
It was understandable his situation, so I nodded, hoping that my method of extinguishing the torches would be effective again.
I closed the door behind me, listening to the symphony of torn flesh and muffled screams. The hunger, the gunfire, the whole mess that happened in just a few seconds I stopped it with a snap, leaving the corpses alone.
And in the middle of the structure, I called out a name "Charn is alive?! Yuju, michi michi michi michi!"
I rolled my eyes, pushing with my feet corpse by corpse until I looked for the one that looked familiar, but after a while I didn't care. Didn't remember what else Charn was doing other than disassociating himself from Barak, so its importance was nil.
I quickly ascended to the second floor with a sweeping whirlwind, and with axe in hand "deactivated" the machine that kept the fusion torch active.
I contacted Kaidan as I took off my daedric gauntlet, pacing back and forth looking for a good signal.
"Boenas, are you there? I'm done. Simon's gone so I'm heading to the main building."
"You won't be able to get in without an Engineer's pass. A Batarian has issued us one."
~"Right, I forgot about that."~
With the gauntlet back on and feeling the cold space through my armor, the proposal now was to meet on the way to the main building.
Although clearly the asteroid was closer to Terra Nova, with the 3 torches out there was no problem and the giant rock would pass us by. Now the problem we faced was Balak.
"Let him live and get a fleet in the future? Or kill him and get the engineers killed?" I continued walking, humming a song to make this more fun, faster until I reached the main building.
"De lunes a domingo voy desesperado~ El corazón prendido ahí en el calendario~"
I didn't stop for a moment, and hurried my pace only when I heard gunshots in the distance, and yet I kept singing. I was inspired by music that had nothing to do with the situation, and since it was Spanish, well, I remembered. "Tu dime dónde estás que yo no te he encontrado~"
As I climbed high enough, I descended with axe in hand sliding across the terrain, seeing that a few meters away the Mako was fighting the turrets "Para unirme a tu mirada dime si hay que ser torero!~"
With the shout of Sweeping Whirlwind, I impacted with axe in hand a turret, cutting off the projectiles coming at me.
It was as if I had pierced the turret by the sheer force of impact, propelled by the blast of destruction to the ground. "Me juego la vida por ti!~"
I used the axe to stop myself, and with a thud on the ground long spikes of ice crunched the ground heading towards another turret giving Ashley and Kaidan trouble.
One last turret was left standing, targeting only me.
Every projectile near my area was split, generating an explosion that did not affect me at all.
I pointed at the turret, concentrating magic in my hands. The void electrified around me, with a contrast of black red on my armor, the lightning maximized "Thunderlord's decree."
The explosion echoed loudly, marveling at the pieces of metal falling and floating between us. We were finally done with the turrets, now all that was left was Balak and a few of his men inside the building.
The mako parked next to me for a while, lowering Kaidan and Ashley.
"The Alliance is on its way. They're calculating the asteroid's trajectory in case it hits the atmosphere."
Without the pressure of the fusion torches, as we entered the building we were extremely careful moving forward. The office was empty, but there were traces of violence, murder.
"What's supposed to happen here?" Kaidan asked, thoroughly examining the desk for anything useful.
"We're supposed to be attacked, but it's so quiet in here. Wait..." With an invisibility spell, I stepped out of the office into the wider area. Thinking there would be enemies in a surprise attack, I found them all very still, as if they had surrendered. And a little more, there were the engineers in line waiting to be executed. Balak was preparing his weapon
I retraced my steps to inform Kaidan "I think it's better to go with our guard down, it's obvious they will assassinate them if we try anything."
I dropped the bow, Kaidan and Ashley put the weapons away. And so we left, walking slowly towards where Balak's voice was cursing at the top of his lungs.
I could feel the hatred in their gaze, as if humans deserved that hatred, but there was also a hint of fear that struggled not to grow. I was sure they knew what the three of us were capable of doing.
Finally in front of Balak, he ordered his men to raise arms against the engineers. "Damn humans, your species is already a lot of trouble, and now you have a monster on your side" clicking his tongue, he killed an Engineer.
It was unexpected, making me turn pale all over but with one clear thought. Kill him
~"It wasn't like that!"~
The 3 of us drew weapons, but Balak gave the signal again.
"We're getting the hell off this asteroid. If you don't want any more blood on the ground, I suggest none of you shoot."
I whisper off to the side, looking at Kaidan "Well... he has command here Suggestions? We're surrounded."
"Our mission is done, the asteroid is still on course away from Terra Nova" Ashley said. And Reason was not without reason, but still she hated the situation.
"In fact, letting them go was what I always did... I might try something, but they'll kill people."
Kaidan didn't even think about it, he didn't want to exchange any more words with the batarians so he accepted the offer.
One by one the batarians were leaving the building with their Varrens and Drones slowly, very slowly, while we were helping the engineers. Minutes where we could not do anything else because there was always someone watching us.
Having just healed one with magic (pretending it was medigel), it was my turn to attend to Kate Bowman.
Her look was one of pure fear, a little provoked by my armor, but also because she had seen her companions, her brother, die.
Her eyes crystallized as she stared at me, breaking into a low cry in fear of upsetting the terrorists.
I felt the need to apologize, resting my hands on her shoulders in search of comforting her, a futile action in the face of such trauma.
~"I want to alter her mind so she will be happy, but..."~
A faint light enveloped my hand, and with a single spell I made her sleep peacefully, leaving Kaidan to take over.
I took it as 50/50. There was nothing but like when I played: Asteroid diverted, people rescued (almost all of them) and Batarians fleeing, but I expected a change here.
I instantly regretted it, though.
The growing heat around me warned me of what was coming, and an almost imperceptible movement of my surroundings warned us that the asteroid was on the move.
I ran for the exit as fast as I could, and as I opened the door, the flames of the impacting asteroid horrified me. In the distance the Batarian ships were slowly leaving as if in mockery, a sign of their victory.
In panic I looked around, trying to find a quick solution, finding also the lifeless body of Simon; the asteroid's chief engineer, beaten to death.
With Telekinesis, I broke a piece of asteroid under my feet for a better view, noticing that only one fusion torch was lit.
If I cast Telekinesis, it will be difficult to take it out, so I decided to remotely destroy the building completely until the torch no longer showed any sign of working.
But a hot explosion all around gave the signal that this was inevitable. There were no more calculations to make to know that the collision was imminent.
With the shout of Whirlwind Sprint, I instantly arrived at the main building watching as the entire armor-equipped group left to see doom, the end of a planet.
~"We lost"~
There was nothing more to say, just wait for our inevitable end as the rock beneath us slowly shattered.
At that moment, an alliance ship appeared in search of survivors, perhaps the last habitants of Terra Nova.
Unfortunately it couldn't land, so I urged Kaidan and Ashley to enter the Mako all together, giving notice to the ship to open its hatch.
Said and done, just as they did it, I surrounded the Mako from inside with Telekinesis, but at the last moment I got out of the vehicle, and taking it from below, I launched it safely towards the ship, staying alone on the asteroid.
I promised myself that I would not fail, and I did not intend to break my promise.
With telepathy, I contacted Kaidan, rejecting his order to return.
"No... this is my mistake, this is my life. I will save everyone or die trying."
"What are you planning to do?! Collision is imminent, get real!"
I surrounded the asteroid with telekinesis magic, preventing the fragments from colliding with Terra Nova. "I'm a realist, I'm a pessimist, I'm a fantasist and I'm an idiot, but if I must die today, so be it!"
I disconnected from Kaidan's mind to concentrate on the asteroid so I could divert it bit by bit, slowing it down.
Something happened that I didn't see coming though, and that was Kaidan landing next to me, and barely touching the ground, he strained to go around the asteroid with his biotics.
It was so much effort that he started bleeding from his ears and nose, but he didn't seem to mind.
I wanted to throw him away again, to save him, but spending magic on something else increased our chance of failure.
"Do you have a death wish, Kaidan? Why didn't you leave...?" I said, watching as the ship moved off into space, to rendezvous with another Terra Nova ship.
We clenched our arms as if we were moving the asteroid without knowing if our effort was paying off. "Why did you stay? At the meeting you mentioned wanting to save everyone, who saves you? No one fights against the future."
With biotic force, Kaidan sought to deflect the trajectory of the asteroid along with my telekinesis. He was hopeful that my magic was strong enough to do so.
I clenched my fingers as if I were plucking at the air, feeling the weight of what was the asteroid in my arms, and found that I would sooner break my arms than move this thing.
"This doesn't work, it's too big to move it, or even For it to be destroyed in the trajectory."
Invaded by a new idea, I clasped my hands together in such a way as if I were compacting a ball, feeling the force of the asteroid yield to my grip. "You know what that means, don't you?"
"We're both going down, we could die today" Kaidan frowned in pain, wiping the blood that gushed from his nostrils as he watched what I was trying to do.
"I'll try not to let it happen, brace for impact!"
I turned my grip in opposite directions, splitting the asteroid in half and into more pieces of different sizes, but it wasn't enough for them to be destroyed before impact.
Kaidan shook the rock at our feet, generating a tremor that helped me in my work, and before delivering the final blow, he contemplated the end that awaited us in Terra Nova.
"Are you ready? Soldier" he said, undoing his biotic when I showed him my fire-covered hands.
"I guess this is where the road ended for us. I'm ready."
With destruction magic, I generated an explosion so large and strong around me that it finished pulverizing the asteroid debris. We were hoping for minimal to no casualties with this.
As a result of the explosion, we were pushed in the opposite direction in free fall in the direction of the planet.
I could feel myself becoming just another fireball, slowly being torn apart by the force of attraction exerted by TerraNova.
With the armor resisting as best as possible, I first stabilized myself in the air to stay upside down in the fall, squinting my eyes as a reflection of the fall. I clasped my hands together and summoned a Bound Shield in ice magic, balancing the heat around me.
Without further delay, I looked around with Life Detect, spotting Kaidan not so far away. I then used the shout of Whirlwind Sprint to approach him, extending my hand to bring him to me.
~"Just a little while longer"~
The light of his life was slowly fading, incinerated as he became a human asteroid.
~"Just a little more, no one will die today"~
A few centimeters away from him, I looked behind Kaidan at the landscape of TerraNova and its buildings.
I lost track of time in the fall, consequently the ground was only a few meters away from us, and at the speed we were going it would be almost instantaneous our death.
I raised my shield next to Kaidan's body, feeling the earth against my defense, and the shockwave through my body.
Such force was exerted that it broke my arm, ending up rolling several meters on the ground, separating me again from Kaidan. And the provocation of a small earthquake that shook the earth around me as I rolled impacting against stone, sand or small structures.
The blows on my helmet shook my head, ending up with my body impacting a balcony, and semi-conscious of my surroundings, I sought to quickly recompose myself.
I leaned on my only healthy arm, dizzy from the various blows, feeling like my body wanted to disarm and rest, but I had one more mission: to find Kaidan.
"W-where are you? Detect life."
Blue lights appeared but they were moving quickly, pardons who surely saw the fall, curious people and the authorities.
The collateral damage was evident as I saw the path I made when I hit Terra Nova with my body being used as a human bullet.
I looked down at my bloody armor, pretty sure it wasn't my blood all red.
Between groans I walked through the wreckage, avoiding every glance. The people around me were frightened by the design of my armor, which at first glance was demonic.
~"Will they think I'm a collector?"~
I took off my helmet for comfort, checking every red silhouette on the road. Unconscious people injured or worse.
"You must be around here somewhere, you must be okay...please."
But my magic began to fail, having spent a lot on stopping the asteroid and life detection, only my normal eyes remained.
It dawned on me that Kaidan could be literally everywhere when I found at my feet a piece of burnt armor.
"Black... there was no military around this area were there?"
~"Of course, the evacuation…"~
Pitifully the magic couldn't sense biotics, so I was left to press on, screaming at the top of my lungs his name. I waited for a whimper, a scream, a response, but nothing came even as I reached the end of the devastation, I denied myself the reality.
~"Kaidan couldn't survive that impact..."~
My eyes filled with tears, feeling the guilt of having failed at what I swore over and over again shatter. "I can't save them all..." I fell to my knees, weary from the fall, from searching for hope. And amidst all the mess, I regretted not being able to find his body. With my eyes to the sky, I opened my mouth as if I wanted to express my feelings to someone, as if I wished someone would listen to me at that moment
"Mission completed... commander. But at what cost?"