Starcraft: Warriors of Purity

by Xarmar13

Legacy: A New Highlord

Lyra’s return to the Spear of Adun was met with mixed expressions. Rohana and Aldaris were glad that someone they had some degree of trust was willing to take the burden of leadership and bring the Tal’darim under Daelaam control. Fenix and Talandar were highly amused by what Lyra did. Zeratul and Vorazun were hopeful that installing Lyra as the Highlord of the Tal’darim was a good idea. Tassadar and Artanis were concerned about their student/friend’s safety with regards to the duel and the leadership should she succeed.

Alarak was obviously furious about what Lyra had done. All of his years of planning had fallen through the cracks because of his curiosity in the potential of the Unicorn.

Once Alarak and Lyra saw each other, the former drew his bane blades while Lyra drew her’s in response. The Zealots around them drew their blades in anticipation of Alarak’s aggression.

The Tal’darim stomped his way toward Lyra who prepared to defend herself. He stopped when he was a few feet from the Pony Templar. “You ungrateful wretch! You stole my glorious conquest of my people. After keeping you alive for three years, you repay it by stealing my Rak’Shir. If I wasn’t sure that I would be struck down where I stood by the Daelaam, I would eviscerate you and deliver you piece by piece to that other Pony.”

When Alarak was finished with his death threats, Lyra finally got a chance to say something, “Maybe you should have been down there helping to kill the Guardians of Ma’lash instead of making me do all your dirty work. In my opinion, I earned the right to challenge Ma’lash more than you did. And, based on what he said, he wanted to duel me more than you.

“Besides, I still intend on giving you the Highlord position once we have dealt with Amon. You spent decades, maybe even centuries, preparing to claim the ruling position. What’s a couple more years for you?”

Alarak growled, “You honestly think that I would take your charity?”

Lyra glared at the Tal’darim. “I would suggest calming down and thinking about the long term. If we duel, then you run the risk of your life’s work amounting to nothing. If you can be patient, then we both get what we want in the end. You gain nothing by unnecessarily risking it all now.”

As much as he would have loved to claim his revenge on the Pony Templar, he knew she was right. He really did not like having something so important simply handed to him, but throwing it all away in a fit of anger would have been a waste.

He had no choice but to watch and wait a little while longer.

---

Tassadar approached Lyra on the bridge. Filled with concern, he asked her, “Are you sure that challenging Ma’lash to a duel is a good idea? You know that his servants and the Hybrid are sure to interfere.”

Lyra smiled and nodded. “Yep, that’s exactly what you can expect from him during the Rak’Shir.”

“Then why?”

“Because I am given the same courtesy. As a rule of Rak’Shir, others may declare themselves as the combatant’s supplicants. Once declared, they can support me with their own psionic power. The more of our warriors supporting me, the better I can push Ma’lash into a fiery death in the planet’s core. The Daelaam will declare for me and will support me in getting rid of Ma’lash. Ma’lash will also have his servants and the Hybrid declare for him. However, no supplicants can directly interfere with the fight. Only me and Ma’lash will be fighting each other. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the supplicants can’t fight each other. I’ll be counting on you to give me all the power I need to win this duel.”

Tassadar felt better about the situation now that he knew that there was something he could do to help Lyra.

On the eve of the day before the biggest fight of her life, Lyra made all the necessary preparations to give the Daelaam the best chance against Ma’lash’s Tal’darim and Amon’s Hybrid.

With all preparations made, Lyra began to rest and mentally prepare herself for daybreak.

---

Lyra and Ma’lash met in the arena for their fated battle. Before long a translucent spiral of energy formed around the two of them and their battle began.

Ma’lash began by firing bolts at Lyra. She managed to dodge a few and blocked the rest using the focusers that she still wore even if she hardly ever used them these days.

Lyra retaliated by firing a few small blasts from her horn which Ma’lash blocked.

The two continued exchanging blasts of psionic and magical nature.

Meanwhile, the Daelaam gathered their forces and prepared to support Lyra. Tal’darim Zealots gathered around the combatants but it wasn’t enough to force Lyra back. Artanis made sure they wouldn’t by sending Centurions to dispatch the Zealots. The Centurions had greater numbers and managed to eliminate the first wave. At the same time, the Centurions contributed their psionic power to Lyra and the two began moving toward Ma’lash’s side of the arena.

Ma’lash noticed the movement and began summoning more of his supplicants to his side, calling in his Stalkers and Vanguard. Artanis responded in kind by sending Dragoons and Annihilators to counter his reinforcements.

As the fight continued, Ma’lash needed to focus more on his opponent as he was getting the sense that her own psionic power was still growing stronger and he could tell that it wasn’t from the supplicants. He started firing concentrated beams of void energy at the Pony Templar which she blocked but winced as she felt the burning energies upon her fur.

Thanks to the arena, Lyra’s movements were restricted because the field around them didn’t expand. She was forced to either block or used the most minimal of movements to dodge any of Ma’lash’s attacks.

Ma’lash was ruthless in his combat ability and continued to fire bolts and beams at Lyra while she found openings in his attack patterns to launch psionic blasts and horn beams at the Highlord.

Soon, Ma’lash started calling on the services of the Hybrid and his minions to attack Artanis’ Nexus Point. Lyra had no reason to worry about Artanis and continued pushing against Ma’lash.

After Ma’lash fired a volley of void energy at Lyra, she used the opening to teleport a few feet to be in pointblank range of Ma’lash before she forced him back into the energy wall with a Psionic Shockwave.

Ma’lash retaliated by creating numerous illusory copies of himself and fired a volley of bolts from all sides. However, only one set was real and she knew who the real Ma’lash was thanks to her detector vision. His attacks were easy to dodge when she knew which were real.

The Highlord continued ordering his troops to attack Artanis’ Nexus Point under the false promise of ascension to becoming Xel’naga.

Lyra had enough of his lies and shouted the truth of how Xel’naga were made; that they needed Purity of Form and Purity of Essence to become Xel’naga. Amon would never ascend anyone to become Xel’naga because that would mean he would have to give up his own life to ascend someone.

“You have no proof of this, Lyra Heartstrings.” Ma’lash said while the fight continued.

“You know that I’ve been to Ulnar and witnessed the truth myself. I saw how the Xel’naga created the universe. I have seen how the Infinite Cycle works. The Xel’naga of old said that they gave their lives to create new Xel’naga. Amon killed them to break that cycle. Why would he ascend anyone if he wanted the cycle to end? It sounds to me like Amon is lying to the Tal’darim.”

The other Tal’darim wanted to dispute Lyra’s claims but there had been rumors spreading that there were dead Xel’naga discovered at Ulnar. They had no idea whether Lyra’s claims could be trusted, but there were also rumors that the Hybrid attempted to destroy lost knowledge, as if they wanted to prevent something they didn’t want others knowing from being known. The seeds of doubt were planted in the heads of the Tal’darim.

The fight continued and Ma’lash had his most powerful Hybrid supporting him while the Daelaam continued pushing back, forcing the two into a stalemate.

In that moment, Alarak arrived on the battlefield and started slaying Hybrid while providing his own support for Lyra.

Ma’lash was being pushed closer and closer to his own end. His own concerns for his life increased when he realized that his supplicants began to hesitate when they believed there was a real possibility that they would never ascend and that Amon may have been lying to them.

If Alarak could make facial expressions at this time, it would be one of sadistic glee.

Ma’lash was soon forced back near his end of the arena. The Daelaam had broken through the defenses keeping the Highlord from the pit.

In one desperate move, he grabbed Lyra by the wrists and continuously assaulted her with void energies and making her writhe in pain.

“Our master has already won, Lyra Heartstrings. Why would you lead our people to extinction?” Ma’lash asked.

Summoning every ounce of will within her, she focused her energies through her horn and a mana blade manifested from it. Lyra slashed down with her third blade and forced Ma’lash to jump back in time to avoid her strike.

“I will lead them, Ma’lash. I will lead them to glorious conquest where we vanquish your master. Your lies end here!” Lyra responded. She charged up a powerful mix of psionic, magical and void energies into her horn. When Ma’lash saw what was coming, he tried to block. When she released the blast, there was nothing he could do to stop himself from flying back into the pit where he met a fiery, molten death.

The other Tal’darim bore witness to history in the making, Lyra turned to the witnesses and put up her darkest facade and declared, “Hear me, Tal’darim! By the rite of Rak’shir, I am your Highlord! A new Tal’darim dawns this day! Ma’lash promised you lies. There is no ascension. The Tal’darim will never be uplifted. Amon will have no allies aside from the Hybrid. Everyone else will be annihilated.

“There is only one fate for those who deceive the Tal’darim and incur our wrath...Amon must die!”

The Tal’darim cheered for their new Highlord and chanted her name.

Lyra shuddered on the inside as she heard such terrible words come out of her mouth. She knew she was normally not like that but given the Tal’darim culture, she needed her darker persona to avoid showing weakness to the savage culture.

She wished Bon Bon was around because she really needed a hug right then.

Author's Note:

There you have it, the dawn of Highlord Lyra Heartstrings of the Tal'darim. May her enemies tremble before her glorious might.

There are 4 chapters left in the LotV campaign. One interlude chapter stands between LotV and the epilogue missions. The climax will soon be upon us.

Comments

[Dark Feather]

ALL HAIL, LYRA!!

poster.keepcalmandposters.com/default/5977603_keep_calm_and_all_hail_the_queen.jpg

[Icy Creation]

Lyra shuddered on the inside as she heard such terrible words come out of her mouth. She knew she was normally not like that but given the Tal’darim culture, she needed her darker persona to avoid showing weakness to the savage culture.

I was going to say, “that sounds like...” but I realized that that doesn’t sound like any of us Guardians. Ian would be completely fine with saying it, since he lets his darker side out quite often. I would never be in that position in the first place. Icy wouldn’t let her darker side show because she doesn’t really have a darker side. And Polaris, well, Polaris would run with it. He would probably enjoy the chance to let his darker side shine. Typically, when his darker side shows it is when he is Feral, and typically many people die during those times. Friend or foe. He would enjoy the chance to be in control of his darkness for once.

[Xarmar13]

9846525
Despite the experiences Lyra and Sweetie have had in the Koprulu Sector changing them, I wanted to be clear that some parts of them have not changed. Equestria and the Tal'darim are culturally each other's polar opposites. So, Lyra had to pretend to be someone she wasn't in order to get them to follow her lead. Else, the Daelaam would be wasting their precious time with back to back duels.

[Black--Soul]

The other Tal’darim wanted to dispute Lyra’s claims but there had been rumors spreading that there were dead Xel’naga discovered at Ulnar. They had no idea whether Lyra’s claims could be trusted, but there were also rumors that the Hybrid attempted to destroy lost knowledge, as if they wanted to prevent something they didn’t want others knowing from being known. The seeds of doubt were planted in the heads of the Tal’darim.

Totaly forget that. Now it makes sense destroying Ulnars tempels...

She wished Bon Bon was around because she really needed a hug right then.

Dawww... Can't we ask Fenix or Talandar for one?
Isn't Sweetie in a hard exoskeleton after her Zeras evolution?
Btw... How will they make love to eatch other... Hm... Sweetie Drops can spawn tentacles... ... ...

Anyway great chapter

[Black--Soul]

I just facepalm at my own comment prior...
Absolutely PRICELESS

[Black--Soul]

Is Lyra now the bitch queen of the Universe?
9825851
A good sentance, rather sad this day with the death of one...

[Black--Soul]

I wonder if encoding Taldarim into Purifier might give their arsenal some nice additions

[Black--Soul]

The Taldarim will to rebuild their culture after the war, the followed lies for centuries after all.