Uleir’Du’Tyr – Circlet #1 – Zul #2851
The individual had broken through what should be possible on a Phase 1 world and breached the second attribute threshold. The alien sensations that accompanied the vision told him that there was a conflict deep within them as to what was happening, which also was puzzling given the speed and aptitude they were adapting to the elevation process.
As with all vision’s derived from his [Greater Foreshadowing] skill, he could only catch currents of emotions and spikes of physical sensations. However the emotional instability within the being was almost as unstable as beings he had encountered who had been repetitively exposed to one of Zul’s Arch Truth Extractors.
Furthermore, given the world it was on had only just been elevated, this only raised even more worrying questions for its species s a whole.
He was starting to get more familiar with the being’s energy signature when something abruptly cut the link. Being that it was not passed the second attribute threshold, it certainly hadn’t detected his voyeurism.
Yet now, in place of the being was an absence as if everything it was, had been barred from sight. Which was preposterous because Uleir had an uncommon level 636 Arch Farseer primary class and viewing anything on a phase 1 world should be like looking out an open window.
Shuddering at the feeling like he had just had one of his minds poked with a lightning rod, he massaged his grey haired scalp.
Attempting to ease his discomfort by looking out the window of the Circlet as it leisurely orbited the fractured remains of his home world, Uleir only felt ache and regret. Huffing at the continued indignity of having to look upon his old home that Zul’s forces now used as a proving ground, battling the never ending tides of manabeasts to increase their levels or die in the process, he turned his head and minds alike, from the unsightly tableau.
Shaking his head wearily he closed his eyes once more, in a vain attempt to find respite elsewhere if only for a moment. Entirely as expected however, the door to his room slid open and a red ettronium plate clad Kular of Zul’s elite guards, wasted no time in informing him.
“Second Spike Gan-Rik orders your presence!”
The bio-metric monitoring runes that were in the [Containment Collar] had once again without fail, informed his captors of his vision. And as if he needed reminding of his never ending servitude, the guard continued to stand at attention to the side of the door all while fixing him with an intense and accusatory stare.
Sighing to himself, Uleir uncrossed his robe draped legs and got up from the mattress before clasping his hands behind his back and sedately walking out the infrequently opened door. He could obviously move faster, but that was exactly the point, and as the cycles of his enslavement dragged on, it was the little victories that made his dreary confines ever so slightly bearable.
The guard was obviously irritated by his lack of urgency, yet given his value to Zul The Merciful, short of yelling at him to hurry up, there was little he could actually do. Slowly they strolled through the confusingly uniform corridors on the way to the Second Spike’s Operations center.
Uleir had traveled it many times in his 87 cycles of confinement within the Circlet’s utilitarian structure and given the well honed expertise of his captors, he would no doubt travel it many more cycles still.
Coming to an all too familiar white door, the Kular Elite waved a gauntleted hand over the authentication sensor at its side and much like his own rooms door it whisked open in silent obedience.
In an irksome yet accustomed militaristic manner the Kular Guard quelled the hive of activity within the room and announced their arrival.
“Second Spike, I have brought Arch Farseer Uleir as ordered!”
A golden, chilling gaze swept over them and the owner replied casually.
“It is as you say Captain. You are dismissed.”
The captain thumped his gauntlet to his breastplate and about faced in one smooth motion before marching off, to likely be the essence of military obedience elsewhere. With his departure the low conversations of the multi-holo-displayed room picked back up as The Second Spike motioned for him to approach his command chair.
Coming closer, Uleir took in the details of the most brutal being he had ever had the displeasure of encountering.
Gan-Rik, The Second Spike of Zul The Merciful possessed an imposing figure that doubled the height of most conventional bipeds. He was known to be heavily specialized into Strength and Vitality, as were all but one of Zul’s seven spikes, yet Ulier suspected he also had a formidable score in Intelligence from his brief but numerous conversations with him.
There was an intellect behind the beings golden eyes that he had never encountered before in a melee Elevant, so when he shifted in his matching golden ettronium armor to directly face him, Uleir could not help but flinch slightly.
A small smile played across the towering figures mouth while he ran his claw ended gauntlet through his hair before eliciting.
“So Farrseer, what was your vision of this time hmm? More deserters of the Ash’Kur Dominion?”
Trying not to be put off by the intimidating presence of monster in front of him, Ulier countered.
“On the contrary Second Spike, there has been an emergence of what I suspect to be a Forerunner.”
The golden clad being brow’s furrowed in confusion as he clearly was unaccustomed to the title, thus he queried.
“One of your kinds fables I assume…What world is the being on?”
Fastidiously hiding the smirk at the monsters ignorance, Ulier supplied in his best monotone.
“On a Phase 1 world designated as Earth by it’s Elevant’s.”
Gan-Rik’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as he shot back.
“Do you take me for an Intelligence deficient, Farseer? With the tier of your classes abilities, they should only draw to your attention beings that will impact the cosmos as a whole!”
Refusing to gloat in front of the architect and warden of his imprisonment, he replied as evenly as he could manage.
“If the individual is in possession of the Forerunner title, then without doubt they fall within the guidelines of the prognostication base of my [Greater Foreshadowing] skill, Second Spike...”
Gan-Rik’s eyes narrowed further so that only a small glimmer of his golden iris’ were visible before speaking in a dangerously measured manner.
“This is the second time you have used the term ‘Forerunner’. Tell me of it and cease wasting my time.”
Nodding hastily Uleir fearfully launched into his reply.
“The term refers to a title said to be held by the architect of the system, before its rapid ascension to godhood Second Spike. There is only one known recorded case of the title being attained by another system initiated individual. The female who was born approximately five point two million cycles ago on a recently elevated Galactic Confederacy affiliated phase 1 world, and refused to elaborate on the method of acquisition. However the being I viewed most certainly displayed skills and attributes similar to those described by archaic records as being of progenitor origin.”
A bass growl, which emanated from the monster that vibrated through the room and caused the chattering of the commanders to cease immediately before the golden clad figure spoke once more.
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“Many know of the progenitor myths and legends, yet in all my centuries I have yet to encounter anything of the sort!”
Panicking now at the Second Spikes visible ire despite his [Twin Minds] both working overtime to assuage his fear, Uleir stammered out.
“I-I can assure you h-honored Gan-Rik, the texts and witness’ were verified by the System itself by way of a level 587 Arch Actuality Exhumer!”
Obviously having reigned in his flash of annoyance the Second Spike countered.
“Then where is the verified title holder now?”
Sweating in spite of his over 500 points of investment in Vitality, Uleir offered hurriedly.
“S-she’s deceased Second Spike. She fell when she was level 103 to a level 127 Lightning Elemental after she boldly claimed she planned to step further down the path of the Progenitors…”
Ulier was caught off guard when Gan-Rik let out a snort, which was followed by a short burst of raucous laughter as his golden ettronium plate rasped and clanked in unison.
When he was done and the other occupants of the room had relievedly resumed their work, he smiled a sharp toothed smile at the Arch Farseer before offering.
“Well that does sound like something that the Confederacy would let happen. Their own equality letting a being of strategic value kill itself!”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Uleir dared not speak and ruin the Second Spikes apparent good mood, only going so far as to proffer a short deferential nod of agreement.
Time seemed to drag as Gan-Rik tapped the armrest of his equally massive command chair in quiet contemplation.
His mind’s began to wander in boredom.
One of Ulier’s minds thought of the shameful way he began his internment in the Circlet that had been his home for so many cycles.
He and his people had been betrayed by his own leaders to Second Spike Gan-Rik’s false promises of safe passage off their world should they surrender. He had foreseen it of course and fruitlessly rallied a resistance in spite of all his [Greater Prophecy] castings, confirming it was a doomed cause. Just as he had been about to escape through the siphon injection device ensconced in their world’s only successfully manifested Pillar with his family, in had walked Gan-Rik with a platoon of Zul’s elite.
When the slaughter had finished and only those and their families deemed too valuable to dispose of, were rounded up and forcefully escorted to temporary internment camps, his heart wrenching separation from his little Sil’lek and his beloved Yun’tok had begun.
While one of his minds was busy in self-flagellation over the past, his other mind was scanning the holodisplays for any useful information of the galaxies at large. Settling on one such screen it seemed the captain of a team of Greater Ravagers had failed to watch them sufficiently and while his back was turned the predictable had occurred.
As the third person drone’s view of the scene caught the inattentive captains swift decapitation and subsequent mauling, Ulier smirked as the overseeing purple skinned commander frantically sent a warning to the other squads he was overseeing, at the likely far removed location. The black haired commanders white claw tipped appendages, moved in a frenzied blur over his consoles controls while he attempted to contain the situation entirely of his own making.
Ulier couldn’t help but let a snicker escape his lips as one of the potential overseers of his capture visibly started to panic when the rogue Greater Ravagers intercepted another nearby squad’s captain, relinquishing control of more of the monstrosities.
However his mirth was cut short by a simple yet threat laden inquiry from Gan-Rik.
“Would you care to share with me….What you find so amusing Ulier?”
He felt his green skin contract oppressively, owing in no small part to his species reactive response to imminent danger, as both his minds snapped to focus on the Second Spike and his eyes went wide with fear.
One of his minds contemplated for a fraction of miniscule of a moment trying to deceive Gan-Rik. Yet he inwardly recoiled when he remembered what had happened to his beloved Yun’tok’s leg when he had tried, as her screams still haunted him even all these cycles later.
He was not a brave male like the warrior classes who had been the first to resist and die at the hands of Zul’s minions. Never the less Uleir braced himself for the monster before him’s, imminent wrath as he stammered out whilst shakily pointing at the offending holo-display.
“P-please forgive this one’s l-lacking sense of humor, honored Second Spike! I-I was merely observing t-the ineptitude of some of your ex-captain’s.”
Lazily following the direction of his unsteady finger he took a few moments to inspect the drones feeds on the holodisplay’s and the managing commander had taken to slowly turning in wide eyed fear, to look first in anger at Uleir then in turn, horror at Gan-Rik.
For the second time in his audience this day, Ulier was caught off guard when the golden clad figure laughed raucously whilst thumping his gauntleted fist against his command chairs armrest as merriment twinkled in his golden eyes. Turning back to the Arch Farseer the Second Spike of Zul spoke with barely contained mirth.
“It is as you say Ulier! The poor Intelligence deficient fools certainly learned the error of their ways! With more insights like that, I might send for you even when you don’t have a vision!”
Smiling awkwardly at the apparent reprieve, Ulier and the commander collectively sagged in relief.
However the next words from Gan-Rik evaporated both their relief’s in short order.
“Yet…It is also a commander’s duty to correctly instruct their subordinates in proper preparedness, isn’t that right Third Commander Kin’tek?”
Clearly unsure of what the correct response would be, the now statuesque commander stammered out.
“Y-yes?”
Instantly there was an eruption of sound and motion.
Where once the third commander had stood, in his place was now a headless corpse with gouts of purple blood fountaining out of his stump of a neck.
As the depressurization alarms went off and the hiss of rushing atmosphere told of the newly made breach, Ulier numbly moved his gyrating hand to wipe the viscera from his now clouded vision.
Just as abruptly the automated repair systems of the Circlet did their work and the alarms and flashing lights ceased while silence descended on the room once more.
Unconcernedly, Gan-rik wiped his bloodied hand with a patch of Ug’olun hide, before disappearing it into one of his storage bracelets, whilst he offered in an even tone that echoed in the motionless Command Center.
“Fourth Commander Jak-Za-Tri, it looks like you have just been promoted. Do try to learn from ex Third Commander Kin’Tek’s mistakes… Oh, and it would be beneficial to find a suitable Fourth commander while we are on the subject of promotions.”
Seemingly used to such occurrences, the blue skin and gore covered fourth commander swiftly brought his red gauntleted fist to his chest whilst barking out gruffly.
“As the Second Spike has decreed! For the glory of Zul!”
And as the rest of the room echoed the last part of the recently promoted third commander’s declaration, Uleir was too petrified to even roll his eyes inwardly at the display of sycophantic zealotry.
Now visibly content with the command centers obedience, Gan-Rik turned to the Arch Farseer once more and queried.
“Before I report this individual to Third Spike Eqo’Ja’Ven for further investigation, is there anything else I should be made aware of?”
Gulping as he remembered having failed to complete his full report before being cut off, his lips quivered before he replied.
“T-there is one m-more thing, honored second spike. M-my Greater Foreshadowing skill was interrupted by a force I a-am unfamiliar with…a-and it s-seems I am no longer able to perceive the individual.”
Leaning forward as his Ettronium plate rasped against itself, the Second Spike of Zul looked excited rather than angered as he prompted.
“To be able to block a post 600 Arch Farseer’s skill!...Assuming what you say is truth…In your experience, what or who could be capable of achieving such a feat?”
Legs now seemingly now completely consisting of a gelatinous substance, under the somehow more unnerving excitement the golden haired monster was exhibiting, Ulier struggled to keep his fear and trepidation in check as he shakily responded.
“Discounting the unlikelihood of an Incarnates interference…I-it would have to be a rare o-oracle based class…”
Now displaying his sharp teeth in a predatory manner the second spike looked elated for some reason before his hand gripping his command chairs arm, crumpled it like a phase 1 leaf.
Turning his warped visage to first commander Oju-Dex he barked.
“Have one of our Tempering detachment’s inserted into the phase 1 planet called earth!”
With a chest thumping salute Oju-Dex replied exuberantly.
“As the Second Spike Commands!”
Alarmed at the horrors the things would unleash, Ulier threw caution to the wind as he queried in spite of his second minds vehement disagreement.
“H-honored Second Spike, would it n-not be more beneficial to send an E-emissary instead?”
Barking a laugh whilst the mountainous males features showed genuine surprise, he countered.
“Hahah! What good would the thing be to Zul and his mercy if it could not survive a measly 10 Party’s of Juvenile ravagers? Besides Arch Farseer… What else do you expect a being of strength to respect? Next you will suggest we enter diplomatic talks like those bags of bones from the Theocracy of Absolution or those Trade Amalgamation money grubbers!”
Shaking his head in derisive dismissal the Second Spike before an epiphany seemed to strike as he continued.
“Speaking of those money grubbing piles of Shtak, they are the only faction to have a rare oracle based class higher than yours, correct Ulier?”
Eyes going wide, Ulier’s legs collapsed and he began to whimper whilst nodding meekly.
As the command center filled with sniggers and callous laughter the second Spike brought it to an end as he proffered.
“It could be worse Ulier. If you had escaped to the Amalgamation before I caught you and your kin, what the Fourth Spike will enact on learning of their oracles interference in our affairs, would instead be about to happen to you!”
As the laughter filled the room again and the pitying gaze of the second spike left him, the guard dragged his un-resisting form back to his room and he wondered if it would not have been better for the cosmos at large, if he had not of taken his own life when he had the chance.