The light from the burning planet below cast flickering shadows through the thick blastglass of the viewing port, the death of a world lighting an imposing figure of massive statue and casting their silhouette upon the underlings behind them. With a savage grin at the haunting sight the figure turned, with slow measured steps they traced their path back along the raised walkway to their command throne. As they walked their heavy footfalls echoed through the cavernous chamber like the sound of mountains collapsing. The soft murmur of the command staff in the sunken workstations to either side subsided as they strode along. They reached their dark command throne and slowly lowered themselves into its comforting embrace with a small sigh. As they sat a wretched creature scuttled up to the foot of the throne and bowed on shaking legs, the newcomer not daring to utter so much as a whimper out of fear of the figure before them.
“Rise and bear thy news, I am curious to know of our success.” The dark figure said to the quivering creature before them in a commanding tone.
With a small voice near paralyzed with fear the wretched messenger spoke “S-s-supreme One, I…”
The enthroned figure waved a massive hand for silence which was immediately granted as the messenger's quivering mandibles snapped closed. Leaning forwards slightly and casting their piercing gaze upon the wretch they smiled cruelly, “Your voice is laden with fear, and fear is a weakness I will not tolerate. I give you but one chance to prove your resolve, if not then pray to your pitiful gods that they may grant you peace for I shall not." With this statement the figure leaned back into the throne resting their chin on one of their heavy armored gauntlets.
With a perceivable effort the shaking creature straightened itself and with a lurch and took a step back. It took another moment to compose its shaking legs before starting again in a clearer voice. “Supreme leader, I bring the news from our spinward front. The burning of the Thousand Celestial Stars has been successful, as has the scouring of the Greanth Confederacy. Minimal losses have afforded the opportunity to push past the last Defensive line of the Great Ones and hit their supply systems almost unguarded. My supreme leader, they are retreating!'' With this last declaration of savagery the wretch stepped back a pace and waited for its master's edict.
Silent for a moment the dark figure hummed to themselves, deep in thought. After a slight pause they straightened, “It’s a trap, Disengage the 42nd Fleet and have them move to support the Coreward push, we must not let the primary objective fall into their hands. Now is not the time to push after such cowardly scum. We must make all haste for the Core if we are to cleanse the weakness from this plane.” Their booming voice echoed throughout the room.
The wretched creature bowed and quickly skittered away to do its masters bidding, all the while the dark figure sat motionless on their throne of adamant. ‘We are close," they thought to themselves, ‘Finally after all this time, my plan will be fulfilled.’ Allowing themselves the luxury of a genuine chuckle they stood once more. Walking with powerful strides they entered an adjoining room full of screens and data feeds. The figure leaned over a protruding balcony that looked over the sea of busy workers attached to their stations with heavy iron chains. The room was as titanic as the first, the walls and ceiling seeming to stretch into the distance. As the workers noticed their Dark lord looking over them a decided hush quickly swept through the massive room.
Again the figure chuckled, ‘Yes, this is true power’ they thought. Not that pointless drivel the so called Great Ones wielded, but true unmitigated control. With this kind of fear they had conquered stars and burned Empires to molten slag and ashen rubble. True fear that demanded, nay, commanded absolute loyalty. With but a gesture these pitiful whelps would fall upon themselves to appease their dark master. The strong would prevail over the weak, for that is all that truly mattered when it came to the end of all things. Having the strength to do what was necessary for the survival of the universe. To betray the Vast.
A Shudder that rocked the plates under their feet jolted them from their thoughts, looking quickly to the nearest worker the dark figure demanded “You! Report!” They began to descend the ramp that led to the lower level.
Swaying side to side in confusion the pitiful thing cried “My Supreme Leader, I know not what has befallen us.”
With a roar of rage the huge figure picked up the terrified crewman and tore them in two with a heave of their massive shoulders, tossing the broken remains to the side with not even a glance. They then stepped menacingly towards the next station.
“WAIT, MY LORD, I BELIEVE I KNOW THE CAUSE OF THE DISRUPTION!” Cried the next chained creature. Cringing upon itself in abject horror the crewman screwed their many eyes shut and waited for death, but after several moments of this they blearily opened their eyes. Seeing their lord standing over them glaring with their molten orange eyes they jerked back but were stopped by the shackles that had them bound to their station.
Standing over the cringing crewmember, the dark figure spoke in a tone that left no questions as to the price of failure “What have you discovered? I await your answer, do not disappoint me.”
Speaking quickly so as to not lose their nerve the crewman replied “It appears as though multiple Great Ones’ planetoid class assault moons have jumped in close proximity, it seems that the destruction of the planet has left them no fear of jumping this deep into the stars gravity well. There are no more inhabited worlds in this system to be affected by the resulting coronal mass ejections from the star in response to the gravity pulses.” Continuing on after a brief pause to glance at the swarming data on their screen the crewman continued in a quieter tone, “My lord, I fear that in our current state we are underpowered to deal with a threat of this magnitude. What is your command?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Silence reigned on the deck except for the pinging of messages being received on some of the other terminals. With a sour grunt the dark figure thought hard. While their flagship, the Ruinstorm, was more than capable of dealing with one or even two of the vast worldships, there sat on the auspex monitor a total of seventeen of the massive ships. It would seem that the collapse of the Great Ones’ front line was indeed a deception to shift resources towards this last ditch effort to cut the head from the voidfiend as it were. Pondering the best plan of action they swiftly turned and marched back to the main bridge, leaving the trembling crewman in its place. They walked to their adamant throne, the cool impervious substance serving to focus their mind.
Grinning like a Rev’nias they turned toward their most trusted generals and command staff who awaited as always to their right hand. “Call forward the breakerships, command them to ram the three leftmost planetoids at maximum drive coefficient. Inform them that the Devourer of light will see their souls in the great beyond and that their sacrifice will bring about the great cleansing prophesied by their shamans. Next command the neutron bombardiers to focus their full firepower on the lead assault moon, once its shields are down they are to continue to the next closest one and repeat. I want the macro cannons of the Screaming Doom to open fire as soon as the first ship’s shields collapse, tell the escort frigates to fire their devastation cannons at the rearmost ships, that should slow them down enough for the bombard flotilla to collapse their shields.” Seeing the command staff begin to relay the orders the figure settled back into their throne confident that this puny reprisal would be dealt with at a minimal cost to their own strength.
“Supreme Leader, eight more ships just jumped in behind us! Range is only six thousand spans!” One of the pit crew yelled in alarm.
Jerking forwards in their throne the figure opened their eyes wide in the first genuine surprise they had felt in a long time, shaking off the feeling quickly they demanded the composition to which a different staff member replied “Unknown ship designations my lord. Unable to find a match in any known records!” With a gasp of fear they continued “My Lord, they… the new contacts, they are impossible. That isn't possible!” They shrieked, falling back out of their station to the floor.
“Nothing is impossible! I command you to be still!” The dark figure stood and roared. To the credit of the commanders they quieted, though not as quickly as would have been normal. Once they had stilled the figure stood from their throne and walked to the frightened generals. When they got but two paces from them they asked with a sense of deadly calm “What is impossible about these ships?”
One of the oldest spoke out feebly with a calm resignation that befits one who knows that death is inevitable, with a sigh they stated simply “My lord, it was my honor to serve thee in life. On my oath and the souls of my kin I declare that they are Cosmic Destroyer Annihilators.”
A look of genuine shock crossed the face of the imposing figure “No, it can't be. They were destroyed, I destroyed them!” Throwing one of the staff aside they stepped forwards and pulled up the reading themselves on the virtutable. There could be no doubt, the Ruinstorm’s sensors did not lie. Truth can be a harsh thing, it cares not for the feelings of mortals and laughs at the dark desires of gods. This truth caused the dark figure to lower their head in resignation. The destruction of a single Cosmic Destroyer Annihilator would cost the vast majority of his fleet, but eight? Eight was impossible.
With heavy steps they slumped back down onto their throne. “Open communications, offer unconditional surrender.” The dark figure stated in a pained tone, their once imposing stature now slumped in defeat.
“My lord?” one of the younger and more hot headed generals began. “We cannot surrender to these filth, we shall wipe them from this plane like all others…”
A waved hand from the dark figure stopped them “Observe their actions if you would. Tell me, are they moving to attack?”
“My lord, they are simply sitting there, they are doing nothing.” The impetuous young general said discerningly.
“Exactly.” the dark figure said “Nothing, they know that we cannot win, and they are laughing. Daring us to even try. But to fire would be our doom, we must remain calm. There may yet be a way to take advantage of this problem. There will be no further considerations, transmit our surrender.”
As the single message was relayed across the void of space, the universe itself seemed to heave a sigh of relief. The massive ships of the Great Ones and the devilish shapes of the Cosmic Destroyer’s ships moved to converge on the Ruinstorm.
Drawing closer, the ships surrounded the Ruinstorm on all sides as countless smaller parasite vessels sprang from cavernous openings in the bellies and flanks of the enemy ships. The crew of the Ruinstorm were quickly subdued and any who resisted were erased.
As the warped shadows of the Cosmic Destroyers glided onto the bridge the dark figure stood, shoulders straight and back stiff. If it was their time to die, they would not die cowering in their chair like a coddled youth, they would die with fire in their eyes and curses on their lips. But before they could utter a single word the lead shadow spoke, as much as a seemingly non corporeal entity could be said to speak.
“Mathias of Fighstrom, Eldest of Brenton, You have committed the gravest of atrocities that one can commit. The Uncountable dead clamor for your essence but they shall not have it. Not for you the martyr's death.” Drifting slowly closer with each word the swirling form stopped just short of the dark figure.
Swallowing in genuine fear Mathias croaked “How do you know that name? No one knows that name anymore…”
In a menacing growl the lead shadow spoke “We know many things. Remember where you came from, the Vastness of it. There is nowhere in reality you could have been safe from us.” Drawing into itself slightly the dark mass seemed to gain a semblance of form, the echoes of spindly limbs and tendrils of darkness seeping from the core of its horrible visage. “Your sins have garnered great sorrow, but none shall suffer greater sorrow than you. We curse you with life eternal, death shall not touch you, and as all that you know slowly fades to dust and dead light, you shall remain. Unceasing, undying, forever to know all that could have been but shall never be and powerless to change it.” With this last statement the Cosmic Destroyer lashed forwards towards Mathias and their consciousness ceased.
**********
Darkness greeted their senses, cold and unyielding. Mathias tried to move but found they could not, all directions and motions blocked by some impossible force. Slowly, pinpricks of truth seemed to manifest, trickling into their tattered mind. Scattered light resolved itself as awareness rushed back. Stars in their trillions shone in Mathias’ vision, they were in deep space, outside the reach of anything tangible. Struggling to gain some semblance of control, Mathias roared in fury as their efforts were in vain. Glaring acidly at the lights they had sworn to destroy they drifted, endlessly floating in that deep abyss between stars.