"You know why attacking the Caloxi was the worst choice you could've made?" the deranged human chuckled, "Do you know why the Caloxi are so stubborn?"
"W-Why?" The Arus warlord asked, a big slash going across her face, swallowing loudly.
"Do you know the story?" the human asked.
"I-I am f-familiar with t-the t-tale, y-yes," the warlord stuttered out.
"Well, let me still refresh you on it, if you happened to forget," the human smiled.
A very accurate hard-light hologram enveloped them, showing the old human homeworld.
"We've fought a war, a war so bloody that you cannot fathom the sheer extent of pain and suffering that it brought. We once were the most peaceful in the galaxy, but there were people like you, but worse, the Tyraxi, but you may know them as The Cursed. See, they, wanted power, to burn, enslave and plunder, because that's what they were all about. However, the Tyraxi encountered a problem, a big problem, looming over them, us. In response, the Tyraxi started forming great armies, readying themselves while also provocating us. When they finally were ready, they unleashed their unholy armies upon us, being in the dark about it, with no help, but the Caloxi, we lost, horribly, and when we did, we refused to surrender to the last moment."
Tyraxi ships appeared on the hologram, surrounding the planet.
"When they finally came to Earth, they frankly had enough of us, and as you did, they wanted to annihilate those that they oh so hated, but unlike you, they actually had power, weapons unimaginable to the likes of you pathetic creatures. They dragged our planet with everyone on it. They dragged it into a black hole."
The scene of all the ships catching onto the planet and slowly pulling it into the darkness of the gigantic cosmic entity was shown before them.
"And so they did, banishing us into the darkness. But it didn't end there, we didn't end there! We pushed on, we didn't dare to surrender! We shouldn't have survived, but we did. Do you want to know how?"
The warlord didn't dare to respond, breathing heavily and unsteadily.
"When the Tyraxi didn't even think of letting us live, plunging us into darkness, they thought we wouldn't be able to be heard nor seen, that help wouldn't come, and how could they not? You couldn't drag us back with any technology we or they knew of. But, see, in that darkness, deep in slumber, existed an entity of great power. And when you looked into its eyes, you were swallowed by hate, hate towards what you did, most would jump to suicide, unable to handle what it showed them. We wouldn't survive if not for this being waking up, it heard something, the only thing that propagated through the darkness, not radio waves, not gravity, nor has it seen the light coming off of the planet. It heard... the screams, it felt... the pain. The crying people, innocent, but banished by the worst the galaxy had to offer, crying children, and their parents with them. That being then looked at us, and it chose to help us, lending its hand to help us escape. Do you know how many of us escaped?"
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"S-Six-Sixteen H-Hun-Hundred." the warlord, once powerful, now quivered in the presence of the human.
Thousands of ships were escaping the giant of darkness as if with magic gliding them through space and something looming behind them.
"No, no. One. Hundred. Twenty. Thousand. That's how many, but here's the keyword, escaped. Because as we left, most of the escapees children at that. The being looked at us, and we, looked at it. Over the next days, more than eighty-five percent of us perished, the ships self-destructed by their occupants unable to handle what they felt. But, we? We lived, but that didn't mean we didn't see, we saw, but unlike them, we weren't blinded by what could only be attributed to guilt or evil in their minds, and as a consequence, died. What it showed us was how to handle and bend to our will a power unimaginable to the likes of you. All this power, no strings attached, do you know why? Because of the suffering brought to the purest of the pure, the most innocent of innocent, the once-brightest in the galaxy, shining with curiosity rather than anger, by the likes of you."
"B- But-" the warlord tried.
"NO!" the Engineer yelled, "You wanted to do the exact same, no matter to whom! Neither does the method matter, the outcome does! Do you know what the difference would be? They would've DIED! Nothing would've stopped you!"
"And thanks to what we saw, we created horrors never seen before. Do you know why I was the first Engineer to actually leave Earth after the war?" they didn't wait for an answer, "Because, you see, the others, were drowning in unfulfilled vengeance, the reason for this is the same reason because of which I am feared among the Engineers. I didn't block myself in the depths of Earth, I went to the vermin and had fun."
The human started laughing maniacally, "And I loved it, I hurt so many of them, to the point of no return. Some still live, to this day, the worst ones of them, held in suspended animation, on the verge of life and death from what I unleashed upon them, but they cannot distinguish between those anymore. Or if they can, they would rather choose the latter. Let's maybe... listen in, shall we? At least to the best-looking ones, we wouldn't want to scar you mentally, now would we?"
The hologram changed to endless scenes of death and suffering, blood and gore-filled visions and in the middle of all of them, a young human, Max. The screams filled the room, ear-piercing screeches, begging and pleadings for life or if too far gone, the end of it, all of it, like a hell-sent symphony.
The human just inhaled, flaring their nostrils, eyes closed, their arms outstretched as if grasping on unseen force, palms to the sky. The pristine armour changed into what they wore in the visions, a dark-brown trench coat, with darker clothes underneath, big boots, still in mud and gloves, still scarred with blood as was the rest of the clothes.
"See, it wasn't always like this," the human exhaled, "We weren't always benevolent, loving, just beings and most of us still aren't, me included, maybe with the exception of the Caloxi in my case. Because we, the last of humanity, escaped the abyss, we didn't give in and then we claimed the world that was meant for us all along. You're here just for the ride, and you will not be anything more, not now, not ever. We are your gods! You wanted to be the monsters of the galaxy, but you didn't see anything, yet. Yet, you're quivering, distraught, even, dare I say it, terrified of a mere human?"
"Now," they looked the warlord up and down, piercing through her soul, sending constant shivers through her whole body, making her shake before slashing them again with a swift move of their hand. Another bloody slash appeared on her face, "I don't think this experience is enough to satisfy me. You know, I haven't been on the Tyraxi homeworld for so long. Shall we visit it? Get a little tour? See what will happen if you do not stop?"
The human got near, in the face of the warlord, a predatory grin on their face, "Because, oh, I will show you. I will show you horrors you cannot imagine. I will show you something about what you will have night terrors for the rest of your days. I will show you a monster."