Char: Path of Shadows
Tassadar and Zeratul returned to base a few hours later. Raynor, Sweetie and Lyra eagerly awaited the news of their latest actions. Tassadar seemed pleased with himself that he made a fool out of the infested human. Zeratul, however was difficult to read for the Ponys.
The five of them gathered for a meeting to discuss what happened. Tassadar went first. “I had revealed just enough of my power to lure Kerrigan to me. It would appear that she has declared herself Queen of the Zerg. You were right, she is quite arrogant and eager to test her new power. She was easily deceived by a simple hallucination of myself.”
“It’s a templar technique that lets them create psionic images of themselves or others and only those with sensory abilities can tell the fakes,” Lyra clarified. Sweetie raised an eyebrow. “Tassadar has been teaching me how to use Templar abilities.”
Sweetie hummed before turning to Zeratul to ask him of the results of his mission. “I’m afraid that I have both good and ill tidings to give,” Zeratul began. “I have slain the cerebrate that was controlling one of the Zerg Broods. As a result, the entire Brood has become feral and will likely grant us some time while the remaining Cerebrates focus their energies on eliminating the feral Brood. The unfortunate part came with the act of slaying the Cerebrate. In that moment, my mind was connected to the Overmind and I have discovered many of its secrets while the Overmind took from my mind the secret location of Aiur, the Protoss homeworld.”
Lyra gasped. While there are some Protoss on that world that she would not miss, such as Aldaris and the Conclave, there were still a few Protoss on Aiur that she still considered her friends, such as Artanis, Fenix and Karax.
“Learn anything important?” Sweetie asked.
“I have learned that the Zerg had been created by the same race that sired us: the Xel’naga. The Zerg have been given a prime directive, a compulsion, to wipe out our entire race. To what end, I do not know. I have learned enough of its history to know that someone or something desires our extinction.” Zeratul explained.
“Which means that at any time, this...Overmind will likely send most, if not all, of its forces to assault Aiur,” Sweetie thought out loud. “Still, they will likely keep at least one brood here to deal with us, and I bet Kerrigan is still eager to toy with us some more.”
The Protoss and Raiders soon noticed a large exodus of Zerg leaving Char and set course for Aiur. With no way to contact the Protoss homeworld, the group had no choice but to watch as the swarming masses commence their invasion.
Lyra suddenly spoke up while looking at Zeratul. “Umm...Zeratul? Would it be possible for you to teach me how to wield the power of the Dark Templar?” she asked with a hint of nervousness.
Zeratul looked at Lyra in surprise. “I do not know if it is even possible to teach the ways of the Nerazim to your kind. In the six hundred and thirty-four years that I have lived, I have never encountered your species. However, I can sense your psionic potential which has been partially honed.” He turns to Tassadar. “Am I to understand that you are the one who has mentored her?”
Tassadar nodded. “Indeed, she has shown great promise and has the potential to be a powerful warrior. However, I cannot condone Lyra learning the dark arts.”
Lyra smiled and looked at Tassadar. “Master, you said that you wanted me to have a fighting chance if the Conclave intended to come after me, and I’m pretty sure they will be. It would only help my chances if I learned everything I can to protect myself.”
Tassadar looked like he wanted to object, but Lyra interrupted him and continued by telling the two Protoss commanders about the Royal Pony Sisters. She tells them how one represents the day and the other the night, how Princess Luna was consumed by bitterness and jealousy toward Princess Celestia because her subjects shunned her while Princess Celestia ignored her concerns. Princess Luna ended up being locked away in the moon for a thousand years, how she had returned and was saved from herself by some artifacts called the Elements of Harmony and now the two sisters rule their nation alongside one another.
“The point of the story…” Lyra continued. “...is that it is possible for the light and the dark to work together and be stronger than either would be apart.”
Tassadar hummed as he considered Lyra’s story. “Very well, you may learn from Zeratul as you wish. But know this, the Conclave will not forgive the practice of such powers. I cannot protect you from them once they find out.”
Lyra smiled before she responded: “Perhaps you should learn from him too. The more practitioners we have that can kill the Cerebrates, the better.”
Tassadar was about to protest before he considered that he was already in deep trouble with the Conclave and will likely be executed regardless of what will happen. This went completely against the Conclave’s teachings, but now he knew that Aiur was going to be invaded soon, and the Dark Templar may be their best hope of repelling the Zerg threat from Aiur. He could not afford to let himself be restricted by old prejudices.
After careful consideration, he decided to accept Lyra’s offer of allowing himself to be trained in the arts of the Dark Templar, leaving Lyra cheering in excitement.
Looking at Sweetie, Lyra made the same offer to her. “I’ll pass, this seems to be more your thing anyway,” Sweetie responded.
Lyra gave Sweetie a curious look. “But Bonnie, what about your revenge on Blueblood?”
“I still wanna kill him Lyra, but something tells me that the whole Templar thing wouldn’t work out for me anyway. I’ll find my own way to improve my abilities, this one is all yours.”
With that, Lyra and Tassadar began learning how to harness and wield the void energies that the Nerazim use. At the same time, the Protoss and Raiders had to keep relocating whenever Kerrigan came close to finding them. Lyra actually took to the training better than Tassadar did, likely because she was not bound to the Khala like Tassadar was. Lyra learned a number of useful stealth skills that had Sweetie imagining herself and Lyra on a stealth mission together and the thought made her smile widely.
Sweetie did not simply watch the master and student duo train, however. Tassadar convinced Sweetie to let him teach her a couple of useful psionic abilities such as the Psionic Storm and the Hallucination abilities. Sweetie was surprised that she even had that much power in her to be able to mentally generate lightning.
A couple of weeks after the training began, Lyra and Tassadar underwent a special ritual that each had to take alone by sticking to the shadows and avoid detection as much as possible. Both passed the test and were accepted by Zeratul and his Dark Templar as brother and sister. Lyra, in her determination to complete the Shadow Walk, also learned a dark spell that allowed her to assimilate nearby shadows and become invisible.
As the trainees were congratulated for completing their training, a large force of Zerg attacked their position. Sweetie zapped a good number of them with her new Psionic Storm ability. Raynor hurled a few grenades that shredded a good number of them. Tassadar assaulted the Zerg with void energies while Zeratul and Lyra, with her new shadow cloak spell, created chaos in their ranks by slashing their numbers from the shadows.
With the force defeated, Tassadar and Zeratul decided to attempt to contact Aiur by projecting their energies. Lyra and Sweetie assisted them to boost the signal. Through their efforts, they were able to sense a conversation between Aldaris, Artanis and Fenix.
“En Taro Adun, Artanis. Your defense of Antioch has restored my faith in the templar caste. I admit that Tassadar’s desertion had shaken my faith,” Aldaris said.
“Indeed, Aldaris? I would hope that the Judicator would put more faith in their templar brethren,” Tassadar stated mockingly.
“Tassadar! Where have you been?” Aldaris said with venom at uttering the Executor’s name.
“Be silent Judicator!” Tassadar commanded. “There is no time to waste, and I have much to tell you. As you know, the Zerg vanished after the fall of the Terran world of Tarsonis, and though the Conclave bid me return home, I was compelled to remain. A powerful psionic call drew my attention to a remote, barren world named Char. Apparently, the call was answered by others as well. For upon Char, I encountered those who were once our brethren - the Dark Templar…”
“Consorting with the Fallen Ones is heresy!” Aldaris yelled angrily.
“Enough!” Tassadar interrupted. “Hear me, Artanis, for I have learned much from the Dark Templar Prelate, Zeratul. The Overmind controls its minions through agents called Cerebrates. Strike down the Cerebrates, and the Swarms will surely fall.”
“But, there is a problem with that,” Lyra interjected. “The Cerebrates have some sort of ability where they revive themselves endlessly no matter how many times you kill it. We learned that the Dark Templar have some sort of power that prevents them from reviving. I know you despise the Dark Templar, Aldaris, but their assistance is the only way to win the war against the Zerg.”
“You lie!” Aldaris yelled. “We will destroy the Zerg with the might and the fury that is our heritage. I knew that it was a mistake to allow you to live. You and Tassadar will return to Aiur and stand trial for your crimes of treason and heresy.”
“My concern is for the safety of Aiur, not the judgements of the Conclave. I will return when the time is right.” said Tassadar before he ended the transmission.
“So, now what?” Raynor asked.
“Most likely, Aldaris will order an assault on one of the Cerebrates that accompanied the Overmind. Alas, they will find their assault in vain.”
“In the meantime, let’s see about improving our situation here,” Sweetie said. “I have a plan. Tassadar, can you locate the Cerebrate commanding our pursuers?”
Tassadar took a moment to scan the landscape before he located it. “I believe I may have located it.”
“Good, Raynor and I will take advantage of Kerrigan’s psychic link to us to lure her and her forces away from the Cerebrate. Tassadar, Zeratul and Lyra will sneak their way to the cerebrate’s location and take it out.” Sweetie looks at Raynor. “Raynor, do you have a detachable camera?”
“Yeah, I got one.” Raynor removes a camera from his suit’s compartment and hands it to Sweetie, who hands it to Lyra and shows her how to use it.
“I need you to record the killing of the Cerebrate. It’s important that we get that recording to convince the Conclave that we need the Dark Templar. Based on what you told me about them, they won’t believe us unless we show them incontrovertible evidence of it, but since we don’t have any better way to get proof, this will have to do. It won’t convince the Conclave itself, but it may give their agents pause to think about it long enough to convince them. Once we kill the Cerebrate, we launch an all out assault on Kerrigan.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Raynor said. The rest agreed to Sweetie’s plan.
The next day, Sweetie’s plan was executed. She and Raynor lured Kerrigan and nearly the entire Brood to one location after Sweetie shot down one of their Overlords. Meanwhile, Lyra, Tassadar and Zeratul infiltrated the caverns where the cerebrate was resting. Lyra pulled out the camera, took off the lens cap, pressed record and turned on the flashlight, pointing the camera at the Cerebrate. Tassadar assaulted the cerebrate with void energies which seared the worm-like mass of flesh and caused it to writhe in agony. Zeratul started slashing at the beast, which further deepened its agony. It continued to flail around in vain until the creature collapsed in a heap and stopped moving. The flesh burned away to ash.
Lyra kept pointing the camera at the place where the Cerebrate once was for a few more minutes for good measure to further prove that the creature was not coming back.
The Templars regrouped with the Raiders and began mowing down the mindless Zerg. The Zerg were completely deprived of organization and made for easy prey for gauss rifles and psi blades.
The allies saw Kerrigan a little distressed that the Zerg were running around in a frenzy. She began trying to exert control over some of the minions before she was surrounded by Protoss and Raiders. Despite their best efforts, however, Kerrigan alone proved too strong for Tassadar, Zeratul and Raynor. Before Kerrigan made a move for them, she felt a surge of pain coming from her right wing. She looked behind and saw that it had been blown off. Another surge of pain made her look to her left to find her other wing had been sliced off cleanly. She was also assaulted by psionic voltage and nearly collapsed on the ground. Kerrigan used a powerful psionic wave to push everyone away from her before she made a hasty retreat from the area while making a cliche villain’s quote about how there will be a reckoning.
The beleaguered rebels and warriors had earned some time to rest. They knew Kerrigan would likely rally what forces she could against them, but for now they could take solace that they had earned some rest.
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What is strange that Zerg got the directive to kill Protoss but Narud or Amon never give away Ajur.
Forced evolution drive. Survive and trive to beat one day the enemy marek millenias ago...
Omg light & dark together? Like a coin standing on its edge?! *dramatic gasp* Protoss be like .. ... ...
... ... 
Invisible... The game breaker of Sc1 & 2. I love and hate em so mutch
Religion joke?
Almost as good as puns
Love puns
Yep you fixed the Fenix kill the Celebrate the wrong way plotpoint (^-^)/)
And it would still not be enough... Damn false pride until extinction Protoss leadership
Pretty sure Amon replaced Queen Kerrigans brain power with false pride...
Funny how many plot points in the SC saga can be explained that way. . .
Amon is not a idiot. But he isnt a genius eather. Everything he touches... Becomes almost hilariouse overconfident
It always warms my heart to see overconfident and false pride ridden individuals humbeld.
Cliche Kerrigan isn't in her final form yet
This is the start of the end, for Protoss and Zerg!
Pride and arrogance are the fall for all three factions eventually in this conflict.
Great story ♡