Ask two humans about something you'll get two answers. Ask three, you'll get an argument. Ask four, and you'll get a war. - Pubvian saying

It was when the great doors opened in the sky and the chains shattered that I knew our people were doomed. - Lretknit diplomat, final days of the Lretknit Concordiant

The Atrekna were reeled back on over ten thousand worlds. Every system invaded during the Spoked Offensive was under heavy counter-attack. Systems that had been attacked to provide the next offensive were suddenly reinforced. Systems that the Atrekna had taken since their re-emergence into the New Universe were under heavy assault.

Everywhere the Atrekna looked, the Inheritors of Madness were screaming their war cries and hurtling themselves into the breach. Terratons of metal were shredding apart Atrekna biological ships, billions of soldiers were locking feeding tentacles with Atrekna servitor species and ripping them apart, tens of millions of war machines brought death to anything that crossed their sensors.

At one point the Atrekna Grand Convention registered three hundred thousand atomic detonations happening at the exact same second across nearly thirty thousand stellar systems.

The Atrekna were shocked. It was as if the Inheritors of Madness did not care about the planet's ability to support life after the battle.

It had always been the domain of the Atrekna to restore the ecosphere to what they wanted.

The Inheritors did not seem to care.

Atomic weaponry, biological weapons, radiation weapons, even antimatter was fine with the Inheritors of Madness.

One of the Ancient Ones of the Grand Convention of Hunger and Thought suggested that perhaps the Inheritors no longer cared if there were any worlds left capable of supporting life, just as long as the Atrekna were destroyed.

That one was ejected from the communal mind of the Council of Hunger and Thought as a fool.

Even the Inheritors would realize that they needed to have a place to live after the war was over.

No, it was something else. Something that the Atrekna did not know about. Some kind of weapon, perhaps some kind of device or ability, that the Atrekna had not had revealed to them.

Another Ancient One, that had survived the loss of a research station by hiding under a bed, suggested that perhaps it was more of the Mad Lemur 'magic' he had witnessed. Perhaps that 'magic' would allow the Inheritors to 'fix' a world blasted by atomic fire.

That one too was ejected.

It was known that one was defective, claiming that a female Mad Lemur of Terra had used 'magic' to summon up horrors unheard of by even the most learned Atrekna dimensional scholar. Claiming that the female Mad Lemur they had captured had used some kind of 'magic' to return two of the Mad Lemur vivisection and research subjects to life.

The one's opinions were excised from the Communal Mind of the Council of Hunger and Thought.

A third pointed out that the Inheritors knew that the Atrekna intended on consuming those they could and eliminating those that served no use to the Atrekna. They then pointed out that the Inheritors could have adopted a 'scorched earth' policy that meant that even if they lost the Atrekna would have nothing but dust and spilled blood.

The obvious suicidal properties of such a tactic made the rest of the Council scoff.

A fourth pointed out what the Mad Lemurs were capable of with a memory of their own, as they were one of the few Ancient Ones who had faced the Mad Lemurs.

It was of a small prepubescent female Mad Lemur. It was sitting on the floor, knees bloody, elbows bloody, a scrape on her cheek. She wore a helmet of the planetary guard that was too big for her head. The Atrekna gathered around reached down toward her and she lifted up a round spherical object with a ring on one side of the top.

The viewer suddenly drew back, pulling away, into another room, still backing up, keening in alarm.

The other Atrekna sneered as she pulled the sphere close to her chest, tears running from her eyes, making clean tracks in the dirt on her face. She put her finger in the ring as the other Atrekna started to reach for her again, intending on spiriting her away to one of the scientific examination facilities.

The viewers of the memory could see "M67A3" stenciled on the side of the OD green sphere in yellow letters, just above a yellow line with a purple line in the middle that bisected the top and bottom of the sphere.

She pulled the ring, pulling a pin from the sphere.

"For my Mommy," she said.

Whitish-blue fire erupted, a purplish snap and gold sparks showering out. The female Mad Lemur's eyes visible through a trick of light and memory even as the detonation consumed her.

The memory ended as the blast was rebuffed, barely, by the Atrekna's phasic shields, revealing nothing but the wall, floor, and ceiling missing, purple chunks of flesh falling from air, splattered on the remaining walls.

Many Atrekna looked at one another. They could taste the unyielding despair of the immature Mad Lemur, taste the bitter tang of steel resolve to take the Atrekna with it, feel the fierce, almost hysterical, joy the Mad Lemur child felt when it pulled the pin.

Some Atrekna looked at the one who had provided the memory, who's coloration across the front of their body was darker, as if exposure to the memory, or perhaps the flash of radiation released by an antimatter grenade, had left a permanent mark upon the Ancient One.

The leaders of the Council of Hunger and Thought rebuffed the example as a singular exception.

Another Ancient One, brought forth during the initial re-invasion of the New Universe, floated forward.

The memory it shared showed a Mad Lemur of Terra laughing as it hacked slavespawn and Atrekna alike apart with a clattering chainsword despite mortal injuries. Not retreating in the hope of getting medical care, but instead continuing to attack. If anything, the Mad Lemur seemed spurred on to greater and greater feats of carnage by their injuries.

The High Council members pushed the memory away, scoffing. Two outliers did not matter.

More and more Old Ones and Ancient Ones, who had witnessed the Mad Lemurs first hand floated forward, injecting their memories into the Council Overmind.

They were nothing but memories of screaming carnage, often by mortally wounded lemurs, the majority of which ending in mutual death and destruction.

A few of the Young Ones and the Ancient Ones who had never actually faced a Mad Lemur noted that the female Mad Lemurs seemed to be overcome by insane blood frenzy that wiped away all thought, all fear, all hesitation, when fighting to protect lemur young.

That was strange.

It was more species survival oriented to leave the young to die and just have more.

The Atrekna had seen it with the majority of sapient species. If the threat is that serious, it was better to leave the young behind or devour them and have more later, at a safer time, than expend resources to protect young that were a net negative for several years or even decades.

That was why young that were quickly self-sufficient were the majority of the sapient life.

Again the Council of Hunger and Thought conferred.

The Mad Lemurs of Terra were all dead or only present in such insignifigant numbers that they could no longer affect the Universe.

So it did not matter that they were a species of conflicts and wild extremes.

Several Old Ones pointed out that the Inheritors of Madness had picked up a lot of the Mad Lemur's attitudes, tactics, strategies, and willingness to go further than any other species.

One Ancient One, its flesh a dull ashy purplish grey, with its third eyes glazed over by a dark cataract and the left eye full of crystal fragments. It hovered forward slowly, its power wrapped around it in intricate and complex weaves.

It stopped, slowly rotating.

**when we faced the Herd Lords and the Hive Lords there were few sentient creatures even few sapient species** it coldly stated to the Communal Overmind. **those that existed existed beneath the dominion of the Herd and Hive Lords not as equals but as servants and food**

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It waved its hands and species appeared, floating in the air, psychically generated holograms. Some were highlighted in gold, others highlighted in blue.

**very few could handle the rigors of combat** the Ancient One stated coldly. It injected memories of every species fleeing before the autonomous war machines or the bio-mechanical war machines.

The Ancient Ones and Young Ones all nodded.

That was how it should be.

**this is Mad Lemurs of TerraSol** the Ancient One stated. It injected scenes of Mad Lemurs climbing over their own dead, firing weapons, stabbing with blades, clubbing with rocks, or just rending with their own hands, screaming war crimes or just screaming in rage.

Their eyes all glowed red.

**bah** on Ancient One interjected. **that is obviously the modifications the Hive Lords did to their species when it was primitive we have overcome that with the archeoreversion attack**

The gray Ancient One rebuked the speaking Ancient One with a psychic slap hard enough that the Ancient One's shields shattered and it was thrown to the floor. Its eyes opened wide as it curled slightly, pulling its knees up, one arm covering its face where the psychic slap had rippled and bruised its flesh.

**do not speak of what you do not know** the gray Ancient One snarled. **your ignorance is only exceeded by your stupidity**

Many drew back in shock. Such language, such rebukes, were not customarily stated within the Council of Hunger and Thought.

**only a handful of our people have survived close proximity with the Mad Lemurs of Terra** the gray one broadcast. **only a single Atrekna knows more of the Mad Lemurs of Terra and the Inheritors of Madness than I do**

There was shuffling.

**then why do we not consult that one** one of the Young Ones sneered.

The answering psychic slap sent the Young One crashing to the ground, unconscious.

**because we have exiled that one** the Gray One stated. **we mocked and belittled and drove from our presence that one**

Two of the Ancient Ones drew up in cold fury. **you dare speak of The Defiled One in the presence of this august body**

**I do** the Gray One stated. It reached out and slashed both of the Ancient Ones.

They felt the stab of bladearms of Hive Lord Warrior Caste rip into their psychic shielding, felt the trampling hooves of the Herd Lord Warrior Caste stomp their defenses.

Then they heard the scream of absolute rage of the Mad Lemurs.

One's eyes exploded and it dropped. The other managed to get a hand up.

**mercy master mercy** it whined before the shocked gaze of the others.

The Gray One twisted the assault slightly, a stinging rebuke, and withdrew its power.

**all of you so quickly to plunge our species our people our thought into rude war** the Gray One stated, moving slowly around the Council of Thought, moving around some, all of whom strengthened their psychic shielding as the Gray One approached.

**signify if any of you actually participated in the war against the Hive Lords, the Autonomous War Machines, or the Herd Lords** the Gray One sneered coldly. **not plotted and planned not sneaked around not grew fat on servitors and food species not gathered resources and rushed back to the Old Universe but actually interacted with either of the Triumvirate of The Mind or faced the enemy with your own power**

Not a single Ancient One signified.

**as I thought** the Gray One sneered. It slowly moved around, causing stress and anxiety in the gathered Atrekna. **I notice that none of my brethren have been brought forward from death** it hissed with sibilant cold thoughts. **I note that all I see is jumped up slave caste Atrekna prideful lower researchers and handlers of base creatures**

One Young One went to protest, tensing itself.

The Gray One swooped in front of the Young One, staring at it. The Young One was transfixed by the Gray One's eyes, as the pupils suddenly widened to fill the white of the eye. From deep within the pupil grey a spiral armed galaxy that filled the entire pupil. Then the pupil seemed to plunge into the galaxy, pulling the Young One with it, until there was only a few thousand stars. Then it suddenly pulled back, past the galactic arm, past the galaxy, to show a handful then a dozen then scores then hundreds of galaxies, all burning with a malovelent light.

**please** the Young One wailed, audibly signalling its distress.

The Gray One released the Young One, floating backwards, its hands folded into the sleeves of its robe.

**signify if you stood next to the Hive Lords and the Herd Lords, promising to continue working in unity toward a grand project to conserve this universe's resources for ourselves** the Gray One stated.

None signaled.

**I have watched and listened to all of you for folded centuries as time went by at a normal pace outside of our fortress systems** the Gray One stated. **plots and plans and machinations by those who have never faced the enemy and eject all who do**

It moved slowly through the Chamber of Hunger and Thought, weaving between Atrekna, all of whom reacted with anxiety to his proximity.

**who here has inspected the hull spaces of an autonomous resource gathering vessel while worker caste fawn and boast about the capabilities** the Gray One asked.

Again, none signified.

**who here felt the burning pain of the hyperatomic plane which we used to travel between the old universe and this universe as it was destroyed by the Herd Lords in a desperate effort to deny our attempt to move our species to this new universe** the Gray One asked.

Again, none raised an appendage or signified in any way.

**as I thought** the Gray One sneered.

**you would not be here if** one started.

**I had not been pulled from the fires of the burning hyperatomic plane where I dwelt in agony and terror for millions of years suffering at the hands of the ruler of that terrible place** the Gray One snapped, slapping the one that had spoken hard enough its psychic shields collapsed and it fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

**since that time I have examined our foes and how the millions of years that had passed in this universe had altered them** the Gray One stated.

**bah how could a mere hundred million years make significant enough changes to our foes that it requires investigation** one sneered. **with sapience comes the ability to modify surroundings and environment which stops evolution**

The Gray One shook its head, its heavy feeding tentacles swaying. **so you would have us believe us who fled from dying universe to dying universe to feed upon the dying corpses like so much carrion grubs**

**this universe is no different** another stated. **through a half dozen universes they have all been consumed in a scant few billion years or less and the rules were the same in all of those universes**

**this universe denies your claim at its very core** the Gray One sneered. **look about you oh spawn keepers and lowly researchers who claim to be those who rule our people**

The Atrekna all looked at one another.

**not one of you lead not one of you have reached deep and drank of the well of knowledge and power we each carry within ourselves** the Gray One snapped. **those that do you exile and force into the Cult of the Defiled One and Dalvanak the Maimed who has faced the Mad Lemurs and the Inheritors of Madness**

**you should be cast back into the burning hyperatomic plane for your hibernation has made you maddened** one of the Ancient Ones stated.

**and who shall do it** the Gray One asked. **you you who are little more than a slavespawn dung eater supervisor during the War of Lords and now claim to be ancient in power and wisdom**

The Ancient One backed away, strengthening its shields.

**perhaps our race is better off for having lost my peers and brethren** the Gray One stated coldly. **that way they did not see how low our species has fallen to be led by slavespawn herders lowly researchers of unimportant data and breeder slaves**

There was a simmering of outraged silence in the chamber.

**you wasted our people's strength on the archeoreversion attack and the new universe replied by making it impossible to reach past that point to draw forward great works only cheap copies of slavespawn** the Gray One stated. **you wounded the new universe and it responded not with resignation or dissolution of its power strength wealth and energy but instead it responded much differently with scar tissue and caustic blood**

The Gray One moved around the Chamber of Hunger and Thought again, drifting idly.

**you lost control of a full half of our autonomous war machines despite my counsel that they would reach the prime miscalculation if forced into battle against their more ancient brethren** the Gray One stated.

**you mistook the Mad Lemurs of TerraSol for a Hive Lord slave instead of the howling savage victors of their war against the Hive Lords** the Gray One scoffed.

**the Mad Lemurs of TerraSol destroyed the Old Universe as if it was nothing more than an insect in their path denying us the gathered power wisdom knowledge and resources we had carefully hoarded** the Gray One lamented in a scornful tone of thought.

**you mistook the Inheritors of Madness actions for fear and resignation while they armed themselves built their forces brought reinforcements into play** the Gray One said, washing the others with a sudden snapping aura of disdain. **you thought in your pride and arrogance that the Inheritors surely would not counter attack into the face of our attack**

**The Mad Lemurs were gone who would attack in such a way when it throws away their strength and invites defeat in detail who could predict that ancient and logical races would throw their lives away without regard instead of the logical replacement of their lives with slavespawn and thinking machines** an Ancient One protested, still stinging at the fact it had been revealed to be a slavespawn herder during the ancient and nearly forgotten war.

The Gray One laughed out loud, the first sound in the chamber that had not been one of distress.

It was a harsh, braying laugh.

Some of the Ancient Ones realized it was a mimicry of the Herd Lord's expression of mocking amusement.

**slavespawn and thinking machines rebel you drooling incompetent mental defective your spawn should be cleansed from the larval pools and your thought and genetic lines cleansed from our species** the Gray One scolded. **you fools you utter utter fools**

The Gray One suddenly looked up at the ceiling of the Chamber of Hunger and Thought.

**I had thought to bring warning but even my mastery of temporal energy crippled by your ill advised and reckless actions cannot bring the warning in time** the Gray One suddenly stated.

It slowly rotated, looking at the rest of the Atrekna with pale white eyes.

**you did not rescue me from my torment I was not released from the hyperatomic plane by any of your actions** the Gray One stated. **we have been fooled** it began bringing up strange runes and psychic constructs that none of the Council understood.

**I was not freed through inattention or lapse of power after all** the Gray One stated.

The Gray One pointed a finger at the floor and the rest of the Atrekna looked.

The tile suddenly ruptured as the Gray One ripped the tile apart, ripped through the phasic layers, peeled back the Substance-W, and then lifted up a chunk of rock. The rock shredded, dust and chips falling to the floor.

A female Mad Lemur of Terra was sculpted. Nude, laughing, with cold eyes.

**I was freed** the Gray One stated solemnly. **and all of you are doomed as that creature whose visage tormented in my final days in that burning hyperatomic place has set loose her hounds upon us**

Before any of the others could protest, the Gray One suddenly vanished in a flash.

There was silence for a moment even as the statue of the Mad Lemur slowly rotated in the middle of the Chamber of Hunger and Thought.

**age lays low all** one Ancient One stated.

There was ripples of amusement from the gathered Atrekna, many of whom were wondering just what real rank the others had held during the ancient war.

**let us return to divining a way to defeat the...

The statue suddenly shattered.

The red sun went out.

The stars vanished from the sky.

There was the sound of ancient great doors of rusted iron bursting open.

LET THIS WORLD SHAKE IN THE RAGE OF LOST TERRASOL!