Defending the universe
Chapter 4: Lightning bolt, lightning bolt, lightning bolt!
As Meton instructed, after receiving a trans-dimensional matrix manipulator, and the knowledge to use it, Twilight was escorted by a pod to a Void Ray, which would take her to Xexpol 54. Several minutes before the warp jump, at the bridge she was acquainted with her appointed companion. His body was glowing blue energy, covered with black metal parts, centering around an orange rune stone on his chest. His empty gaze, hidden behind a metal helmet was locked on the cold space from outside.
With slight hesitation, the alicorn shook the bad feelings off, put on a warm smile, walked up to the bizarre being and greeted him.
“Hello. What’s your name?”
The being barely tilted his head in her direction, giving her a slight glimpse, before replying sternly.
“Xerath – the Ascended Magus, living embodiment of arcane power, magic itself.” And returned to looking outside.
That slightly took her aback, but within a moment, she began with her introduction.
“Okay, um, well I am Twilight Sparkle-”
She was cut off by the mage.
“You asked who I was. I didn’t ask who you were.” He sternly said, not even bothering to look at her.
“Yeah, living embodiment of arcane power, who hasn’t been taught proper manners.” The mare stated.
“Sorry, I’m not used to speaking with weak flesh.” He returned.
“You do know magic users can sense other magic users’ power?” Twilight attempted to get a hold in the conversation, but his next words decimated that intend.
“Yes, I do. Shall I repeat myself?” He looked at her. “Weak.”
Comparison wise he was right. She could feel the immense amount of energy he gave out. Breaking the silent stare down they were having, by yet again turning towards space. The alicorn decided to simply ignore him, until the job was done, when an echowy feminine voice made an announcement.
[Warp jump sequence initiated.]
All of a sudden three lines of lightning came out of Xerath, and locked down with the floor like chains. Twilight was very confused about that, but she soon realized what their purpose was, as the entire ship burst forward in a FTL speed.
--
Energy sparks appeared in the black void, when all of a sudden the Void Ray pierced though an energy hole, and stationed itself. Twilight got up on her hooves and rubbed her head, before opening her eyes. Below the ship was a bizarre looking planet. A large part of it was brown, bordering a smaller purple covered area. The rest was black with traces of active fires on the surface.
“Wow…” She said in awe.
The feminine voice from earlier gave information to everyone on board.
[Planet Xexpol 54 – mining colony. Terran forces have been entirely eliminated. Zerg brood Ole’jata, nearing complete extinction. Several dozen protoss signatures detected on the planet.]
“AI Alpha Jiron – Brood mother and planetary overseer stats.” One of the protoss said out loud.
[Both the Brood mother and the planetary overseer signatures are still active.] The voice replied.
“Very well. Commence warp in on their coordinates.” The protoss commanded.
[Locking on signature coordinates. Warp in commencing.]
After these words, several protoss, including the speaker, Twilight and Xerath were engulfed in blue light, before they slowly dematerialized. The only thing the purple alicorn could see was blackness, but within moments she regained her vision. She was standing on a rather familiar purplish substance, and was surrounded by a several dozen zerglings, ten roaches and five zealots.
Against them was moving a large force of the creatures that attacked the Crystal Empire. The three eyed crabs, brawlers and serpentines, only this time they were accompanied by several tall red skinned beings with horns and wings, which wore black armor and carried swords burning in yellowish flames.
“What are those!?” She exclaimed.
“There is no time to explain. All you need to know is that they are enemies, which must be put down!” A nearby zealot replied, before he, the other protoss and the zerglings charged to battle.
Twilight got a hold of herself, and started barraging the enemies with magical blasts, providing cover fire for the melee troops along with the roaches. One of her blasts exploded in the middle of a large voidling swarm, both lighting them up and sending them in the air. A brawler leaped at her, but a shot of acid melted its head and a bit of the upper body, making it fall right beside the mare. She gave a quick frightened, but thanking glance to the roach, before resuming her shooting.
One of the sword wielding beings engaged a zealot. He raised his sword and chopped down, but the protoss jumped to the side and slashed at the demon, making an open would in its hip. The demon used his tail to trip the zealot, after which he attempted another chop. The fallen protoss however, quickly hot up on his feet, and jumped at the demon, crossing his blades. As the two met, the psionic blades cut through the flaming sword, and the zealot, covered in blood appeared behind the demon, who fell on his knees, then on his front side, with a gaping hole in its torso.
Another zealot was surrounded by two brawlers. The two massive beasts circled him, as he calmly stared them down. All of a sudden, one of the monster decided to strike, and pounced at him. The other one followed its friends example, and pounced as well. The protoss jumped in the direction of the first one, and glided underneath it, sinking his blades and cutting open its gut. The two beasts collided and dropped on the ground, when the zealots jumped on the one that was still alive, and stabbed it in the head.
The very next moment, the same zealot was showered by acid from the serpents, and disappeared in a flash of blue light. The fight wasn’t going very well, as the dark creatures began to push the defenders back. A swarm of voidlings covered another zealot, as he cut down a serpent, sending him away in a flash of light.
All of a sudden, a burning rock fell from the sky, and crashed in the middle of the battle, becoming a giant stone creature, which was covered by the same fire as the demons’ swords. As she raised her gaze to fully eye the creature, Twilight noticed strange flashes appearing around the ship that brought them here. She quickly broke out of her trance, after the stone giant gave out a loud roar. The alicorn’s horn lit up in a purple flare. She aimed and fired a magical projectile at the burning monster. For some reason, the spell ricochet from the creature, and hit its caster, knocking her out cold. She could hear the sounds of battle raging around her. Screams, explosions and strange squishy noises were caught by her ears.
--
In what felt like an eternity, she slowly started to open her eyes. A strong migraine hit her in the head, making her rub her temple. Something however didn’t feel right. She looked down, and saw that the creep was gone.
“There’s one alive.” A voice startled her.
She turned around and saw two zealots walking towards her.
“Oh thank Celestia.” Twilight quietly said, before calling out to them. “Over here!”
When they got closer she spoke.
“You have no idea how happy I am to see you. What happened?”
“The battle went as planned.” One of them replied.
“So…we won? Then why is the creep gone?” The mare enquired.
None of them replied. They continued to walk towards her, bearing cold expressions. That frightened her.
“Uh…guys?” She scarcely asked.
“Yes…we…won.” One of them replied, as he summoned his energy blade.
At that point Twilight was paralyzed by fear. Just when they were about four feet away from her, a large bug like creature erupted from the ground. It gave out a loud screech, and attacked one of the zealots with two long spiked appendages, coming from its back. It managed to stab the protoss it was focused on in the shoulder, and loudly said with a feminine voice.
“This is for my brood wretched-”
She was cut off, when the other zealot grabbed her across the throat. With lots of effort she managed to spit out her final words.
“Tal…Darim…”
Before the first zealot stabbed her in the head.
After the creature dropped dead, the protoss focused their attention on Twilight once again. One of them grabbed her by the throat and lifted her in the air. Just as he was about to end her life, a bolt of lightning hit the zealot, sending him away in a flash of light. The other one exploded on the spot.
The alicorn turned around to see two floating figures headed towards her. Her vision was still slightly blurry, so she couldn’t tell who they were, until they came very close to her. One of them was Xerath and the other was a protoss, who had a blue cape attached to his armor, and wore a golden circlet. The protoss got to her first, and helped her up on her hooves. That’s when she noticed a reddish piece of cloth with a strange symbol on his left arm. Then she looked up to his face.
“It’s been a while.” He said.
“Klastanar?” The mare asked with disbelief in her tone.
She received a confirming nod.
“You’ve changed since the last time we met.” The protoss said.
“Well I don’t exactly remember you floating.” The alicorn stated with a chuckle.
Suddenly the Magus Ascendant winced slightly, before speaking.
“That’s very touching, but we have something else on our hands.”
All of a sudden purple portals surrounded them, and different creatures started to pour out. The three huddled back to back, and started to repel the creatures as best as they could. Klastanar and Xerath summoned storms of energy, while Twilight bombarded the creatures with a barrage of magical missiles.
A brawler leaped at them, and the Ascended Magus left a burning hole though its chest with a concentrated lightning bolt. A giant blue demon, wearing armored leggings, a helmet and carrying a large glaive charged at them, to be grabbed in the High Templar’s psykick grip, and then ripped to pieces. They fired down hordes of demons and other creatures, coming at them wave after wave. Twilight could feel her magic was reaching its limits, and the monsters just kept coming.
“We’re not going to hold up much longer!” She exclaimed, as she shot down one of the serpents.
“Does anyone of you have plan?!” Xerath yelled, while unleashing an arcane barrage on a dozen of the dog like demons.
More portals appeared, and brought the creatures reinforcements.
“I think I know a way to purge these creatures and close the portals.” Klastanar stated, making a burning sword carrying demon explode with his feedback ability.
Then he created an energy barrier around them.
“And what might that be?!” The Ascended Magus enquired.
“If we can get a conduit and overcharge it with the mixture different energy signatures, and then make it release the energy at the portals, that should disrupt their energetic resonance, and close them.” The protoss explained.
“And the released energy wave will also destroy the creatures.” Twilight perked up.
“Yeah, brilliant idea. Just two questions.” The energy being began. “First of, where are supposed to find powerful enough energy signatures? And second, if we manage to get ourselves to that sort of power, where will we be able to find a conduit which can hold it?”
He received the concentrated glances of his two companions.
“What?” The arcane being asked.
“What better energy mix than two types of magic and psionic energy?” Klastanar started.
“And what better conduit than the living embodiment of arcane power?” Twilight finished with a smirk.
Xerath’s gaze suddenly dropped as he sighted.
“Oh brother.”
The purple mare charged up her horn, and the protoss’s eyes began to reap energy, as sparks appeared in his hands.
“You know what to do?” The alicorn asked.
“Yeah, yeah, just zap me already.” The Magus deadpanned.
“Alright. Here it goes.” She returned, and the two of her and Klastanar began infusing the arcane being with energy.
His usually blue body changed color to red. The barrier that was protecting them broke, and Xerath began to ascend, until he reached about 200 feet in the air, and then began to speak loud enough for the entire area to hear him.
“Lightning bolt!”
He stretched his right arm. Two chains of lightning shot down back to the ground.
“Lightning Bolt!”
He stretched his left arm. Two more chains hit the ground. An energy wall passed between all four of the chains, forming a pyramid around Twilight and Klastanar.
“LIGHTNING BOLT!”
He yelled, unleashing a wave of red energy. Thousands of lightning bolts were released from the wave, frying everything outside of the pyramid. As predicted, the wave sealed all of the portals, and formed a giant black cloud above the entire area. Twilight and Klastanar were staring at the sky.
“Do you think he is okay?” The mare asked.
Right before the protoss could answer, multiple pieces of metal rained down on them. Xerath’s helmet fell right in front of Twilight’s face.
“Oh sweet Celestia! We killed him!” She gasped.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” An ecowy voice said, sounding from everywhere.
All of a sudden, blue energy engulfed the metal pieces, and levitated them together. In a couple of moments the Ascended Magus was once again whole, and gave out a chuckle.
“What is so amusing?” The protoss asked.
“Well, I emptied my reserves and I need to recharge.” The mage began. “That means, you will have to carry me.”
Then the energy being stretched and subtracted, the metal pieces forming a sarcophagus, which dropped on the ground with a loud hollow thud. The two looked at each other.
“Don’t worry, I’ll carry him.” Twilight said, as the sarcophagus was engulfed in a purple aura, and slowly levitated. “Wow, he’s heavy.” She stated.
“The cloud is blocking the psionic matrix’s warp in signal.” Klastanar began. “Can you operate your trans-dimensional matrix?”
“Well they did insert the knowledge, but I haven’t tried it yet.” The alicorn returned.
“We are pretty much stuck on this rock, so what better time to try it out?” The Templar said.
“You’ve got a point.” Twilight replied, before bringing the device on her hoof to her mouth, and said.
“Trans-dimensional matrix activate. Transport requested from coordinates…”
She paused, trying to find the right numbers in her head.
“…9930 Leiser, planet Xexpol 54, to 1240 Zeta, command void ray Rao’Pha, Kopruneterrian alliance space. A blue portal opened in front of her. Exchanging approving nods, she, Klastanar and Xerath walked through. On the ship, several other protoss took the metal sarcophagus, leaving the alicorn and the Templar to catch up on old times.
“So…what happened to you, for the past century?” She asked.
That question sounded less weird in her mind.
“I finished my training in the way of the Khala, and got promoted from rank zealot to high templar. Later I was appointed as the planetary overseer of Xexpol 54.” He began. “And you? Wings? You don’t happen to have left over zerg DNA in you?”
“No.” She chuckled. “I also completed training, and in a way got “promoted” to be an alicorn like the Princesses.”
“Strange is the universe.” Klastanar sighted.
“Indeed it is.” Twilight sighted as well.