Episode 38- A few new sights.
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"Okay, turn your back to me." The protoss on one knee beside him did just that. "Okay… up!" Wit rolled onto his stomach, and used his blade as a crutch to raise up. Next, he hopped forward two times, before jumping up! Thankfully Young Artanis had armor that was more overall smooth compared to the typical zealot.
Right leg went around the protoss torso, the left hand around his neck. Left leg just kinda hung there, and the other hand clutched his not so short 'tick tock' sword. "I am not too cumbersome right? I'm not choking you or anything?"
"I almost don't feel your weight. And opposed to many other races, protoss doesn't need any orifice to breathe." That established, the two looked around the battlefield. The mass of warriors already advanced, and now they were effectively amongst the few dragons. The upper arch of their target loomed in the distance, softly glowing blue, despite the sun high on the skies.
"My comrade, I propose we catch up." With a "Mmm' of agreement Artanis started running forward, with Wit's weapon hand behind him, acting almost like a flag.
Trixie let out a quiet. "Woah…" After descending from the heavens, she steered her little spying eye towards a distinct feeling of kindred magic. She saw other cities from great distances on the way but…
Let's put it into perspective. The Terran Core Words in the Koprulu Sector are usually tall towers made from steel and concentrated, neutral or ugly in the terms of looks. The outskirts or smaller colonies were filled mostly with container houses, made from metal only. Then there was her small colony, where buildings were made from bricks, mixed with steel fundamentals, some concentrate, and a wide plethora of paint to keep it pretty. Add the occasional graffiti, or the everpresent greenery, and it would probably be one of the tourist hotspots if not for the extremely remote location.
But Earth? It was night already, but the multicolored glow could be seen from many kilometers away. The closer she got, the more Trixie was amazed. The lights were from buildings themselves! In every corner or just unoccupied space ran a lot of glowing lines. They were present at the jutting corners, curving around the windows of the not so giant towers. Every unoccupied surface was filled with some fluorescent art, and not the ugly type either. The top of the buildings had a sharp jutting point, where all the glowing lines convergent, creating beams of light, shooting into the sky. The streetlamps were softly glowing in all the colors of the rainbow. The road signs were glowing, the road lines were glowing, the cars were filled with glowing lines! And the people! The Observer got close enough for her to see. Clothing, bracelets, hats, boots, everything was filled with glowing lines! And the best part? It wasn't an eye killing intensity light either! Instead everything added a little light to the surroundings, creating almost mystically romantic ambience.
"Just… Woah…" Like there were beautiful sights of nature, this was the most beautiful display of human creations that Trixe was blessed enough to see. For the time being, she forgot all about her purpose, and she just sat there, watching and immersing herself in the ambience.
'Ping!' 'Ping!' Dangerous spines bounced off the plasma shield, making Wit glad for his chosen mod of transportation. Quickly scanning the battlefield, he quickly found the preparators on a little raised platform, a little to the left from the main offensive. All the zealots would probably charge forward, leaving the busy dragoons to take care of them too. The two high templars were too busy clearing a large swaths of zerglings to deal with the five, insignificant hydralisks.
Slashing another zergling apart, instead of recreating his sword, he pointed with his oversized clock arrow. "There, let's take them out!" Artanis finished another zergling with his slishy slashy, and just stopped in place.
The frontlines quickly advanced, filling the small gap instantly. Artanis looked towards the pointed target, made some protoss sound of affirmation, and started quickly running. With his psi blades behind him, he made a beautiful contrail, coupled with the big Tick Tock weaving behind him like a rigid flag.
After a minute of protoss at top speed, somewhat like a siege tank at full throttle, Artanis tensed up, and jumped! Wit felt like gliding, only upwards. The distance wasn't a small one either, their targets were more or less six floors up, and the two of them soared towards it! Of course another set of spikes bounced off the shield, but it was already too late.
The head of the closest hydralisk was lopped off, and the swing of scythe limbs from another was quickly batted away with a 'clang!', thanks to the long sword. Before the zerg could retaliate it was already bisected, its pieces flying in air.
Two spikes bounced off the shield, the third shattered it, thankfully bouncing off a segment of protoss armor. Using the chance, Artanis quickly picked up speed, piercing one's head and slashing some swinging limbs. In the meantime, Wit had to quickly swish his weapon to bat away the next incoming spike, which resulted in his weapon meeting his protoss friend's forehead.
Artanis merely grunted, quickly finished the second zerg, before taking another leap, stomping the last zerg's head down. A second later its head was quickly pierced by the psi blade, ending the fight.
"Uwa! That was a tough one. How about your shield buddy?"
"It will take a minute to fully regenerate and… buddy?" The understanding of just said word clearly eluded the protoss.
"Erm… basically a friend. But more importantly, can you go on? You aren't too tired or anything?"
"No, we would sooner succumb to injuries than exhaustion. Let's join the front" This time, they really glided down, probably thanks to the young protoss psi powers.
Upon ascending to the rising, Kerrigan stopped in place for a moment and raised a brow. A very, very long cordon was formed from one of the hatcheries to the giant command center. At both ends were drones, taking out or in the minerals. The materials were then quickly passed from clawed hands of infested to the clawed appendages of zerglings. Or to be more precise, the mineral pieces were too big for holding up, so they were just rolled on the ground like angular barrels.
Shrugging her shoulders ever so slightly, Kerrigan went inside. Passing by, she glanced at the storage space, usually designated for ERK to leave their payload. Base of this size had a total of ten storage bays, one of which was almost filled to the brim with minerals. And others… Kerrigan didn't care enough to check.
As all command centers were roughly built the same, Queen of the Zerg quickly made her way towards the control room. Two figures were hunched over some consols, slowly typing away at the hovering keyboard kays.
One of the Infested turned his head her way, only to immediately jump up, bring his smaller hand in salute, and shout "Commander, Royalty on the Deck!"
"I know I know. Call the rest of our band in, we're leaving"
Mr. Bit let out "Right away!" and with a little lopsided step, quickly passed Kerrigan and vanished in the shadowy corridors.
Dobromir, still sitting in the relatively untouched chair, among the untouched or smashed to pieces terminals, still was slowly typing, and didn't even turn her way. "Sit whenever you want. We will be soaring up in the skies soon enough. All the vespane gas is already packed, and excess minerals can just be left for the future."
Kerrigan looked around the rather spacious room and… the choice was obvious. Taking decisive steps, she sat on a chair on a raised podium, opposite of her… eccentric companion. "What are you doing, exactly?" She nestled herself in. Due to the two giant blade wings growing from her lower back, just above hips, taking any sort of comfortable sitting or laying position was very irritating. However, this seat was soft enough to cushion her perfectly, avoiding any discomfort.
He looked at her briefly, before returning his gaze to the screen a little laugh escaping his lips. "I'm checking all the systems of this beast. One of the thrusters is destroyed, and the other taken over by the infestation. Luckily, our friend here has eight of them, so we will be only a little slower."
"What about other systems? Is this pile of scrap useful for something other than transport?" She was looking at her nails now. You never know if some new filth magically appeared under them.
"Currently? No. It's all destroyed, or overgrown by the infestation. The radar system worked for a moment, before breaking down. The nuke silo was completely destroyed. Or rather, the assembly lane. The storage and catapult themself are fine. Some things I can repair, with a little holonet. Other things, I rather doubt it."
Kerrigan leaned back, and just looked at the rather high ceiling, overgrown by some creep and a few small tentacles. Something was telling her that finding any sort of work would keep her from terrible clutches of boredom.
"Executor, I have located the warp gate. We must hurry and evacuate the Khalai survivors before the zerg swarm returns."
Now that the dwindling number of local defenders were supported by the new group, and not surrounded by the enemy from all sides, a line was formed up.
Zerg were still attacking, of course, but for now there was some room to breathe for the warriors. The Khalai, on the other hand, quickly emerged from their safe hidy holes and quickly started passing through the gate.
"Hey, buddy. I think there is not such a small chance that some Zerg are already on the other side."
"Are you sure?" Artanis was looking around, but he, specifically, wasn't really needed. The rest of the warriors were good enough on their own.
"A moment before the zerg surrounded this place, it's guaranteed that some did pass."
"Your words do have merit."
Just before entering the giant portal, Wit could see some Protoss dropships flying towards their position. And then, they were swallowed by the nothingness.
"I just got a free day, you know? Why must the Great and Powerful torment me so much?"
"Stop your whining already! Something big is gonna happen, and Trixie NEEDS YOU!"
was dragged by hand, and trying to keep up with the pace. If he hadn't known better, resisting would be his normal reaction. But, being carried like a sack of potatoes wasn't his idea of fun, or dignity, so he almost had to run after the Seer.
After a few minutes, he was gasping for breath, bent over with hands on knees. "Now come here and do your magic, Trixe will not be kept waiting any longer."
The haggard gave her a look, which was completely ignored. With a sigh, he shuffled over and beside Trixie by the table. Arms extended, he hummed a little, waved his hands a few times and…
On the watchers ocular showed two arrows pointing towards right, blinking slowly all the while. The image on the provisory screen quickly accelerated, changing the moving lights into a blur.
Trixie didn't waste a moment. As the acceleration stopped, she immediately ordered the little scout to fly over to a specific window, and delicately bash its head against it. After the third tap, the window was thrown open, showing a figure… with a wooden blocky mask on face, extending from eyebrows to chest, and let's not forget the violet glowing lines all over it.
"Wreszcie." Trixie rubbed her ear, that… sounded a little familiar… "Come in already, I was waiting for you for an hour already." She turned her back to them and, looking at the absolutely white hair, done in an afro, Trixie could summarize that yes, the skin on around her throat indeed was sagging a little.
You thought white hair showed age? Then you clearly didn't pay attention. "Yes, yes you didn't… The rest should show up rather soon. At least if they don't fall apart on the way, ahahahha!" The voice of the old woman echoed throughout the building, with an eternal echo ringing in the observing duo.
Trixie would probably be more worried, but she was on the other side of the galaxy. Nothing will happen to her… right?
The feeling of floating in the vast nothingness quickly vanished, as two exited the portal. Before the eyes of the duo, a lot of… violet showed itself, the world shrouded in eternal twilight. At last, this part of it.
Looking around, they saw the still growing group of Khalaits moving to the side of the giant warp gate, but still keeping close. A few zealots were keeping watch of the group, eying warily their surroundings. Some zerg corpses were laying to the side, showing that, yes, zerg indeed get through.
After Artanis took a few steps forward, slowly also other warriors started appearing through the gate. But still, their whole group was rather… pitiful. Wit has seen more people gathered on Mengsk's triumphal speech, organized on Korhal.
Casting his eyes over the horizon revealed only more purple, be it swirling mist, some sparse glowing flora, the very ground he was standing upon, and… yep, zerg in the distance.
"Hey buddy, what about making a base? I think I saw some probes among that group." Artanis considers it for a moment, titling his head a little, before nodding. Considering the circumstances, he wasn't in a very talkative mood.
Trixie steered her Little Spying Eye inside, and stopped close to the wall of a circular meeting room. In the middle, a green fire was dancing merrily, the cauldron above it softly bubbling. All around it, was a donut shaped wooden table, with a small section of it empty, to allow a small passage. It was big enough to fit maybe twenty people, even if only six chairs were situated.
"Hmmm, huhm…" The lady with an afro was humming happily, mixing the substance in a cauldron with a big ladle. The campfire didn't emit any smoke, and didn't seem to have any source. It was just, sort of existing.
The ceiling didn't have any defining features, just some flat lights, shining down. The walls were bare, same as the floor. All were off white color, which didn't hurt the eyes.
'Ding dong'
"Oho! They are here." The woman quickly went away, vanishing behind a corner. Trixie looked at her temporary companion, who looked back. The flame, and the weird getup was pretty much the only guarantee that magic was involved.
A moment later, three pairs of footsteps echoed, proceeding the new arrivals. First walked in a bearded Man, his many wrinkles and white hair showed his advanced age. The second one was a… well, a guy, a little younger than Trixie herself. His only characteristic feature was dark green hair.
Together with the hostess, they walked to their respective chairs, and sat down. The bearded man whipped out a hair brush, and started to take care of his pride. "So, where are those guests you told us about, Gertrude?
The second male in the room was already watching the gold and blue, glowing robot floating in the air. The hostess just laid back in her seat, lazily waving a hand in their direction.
Taking a hint, Trixie steered her Little Spy towards the center, and started "Ekhem, I The-" And was immediately stopped.
"No, no, no. My eyesight is poor, and my hearing even poorer. Just stand before me, like a real person." His unoccupied hand hit the table with a 'Thud', causing the whole room to instantly go dark.
Rather quickly the whole room lit up again, but very differently than the last time. Some esoteric symbols were glowing on the walls, on the floor, on the ceiling! The last one was roughly a circle, which quickly started shining with even greater intensity.
With a gasp, Trixie looked up to see the exact same circle slowly appearing above their heads, in her tent! Her companion, mirroring her actions, did the same. They both stood up and… "Aiiiee!" were sucked into the hole!
Authors: scribbles
Sorry that this chapter is later than usual.
BUT, my creative flow is usually somewhere around 20.00 and when I need to wake up at 5.30 in the morning the next day, I rather can't waste my sleeping time.
In summary, I have only two days that are entirely free, with another two where I could write, If I am not too tired (Which I usually am.)
Life, you know how it is.