Starcraft: Warriors of Purity

by Xarmar13

Interbellum: Climbing the Chain

Alarak, who knew the truth about Amon, had a plan to take the reins of leadership of his people from the foolish Ma’lash, Highlord of the Tal’darim. As a First Ascendant himself, he had the right to challenge him to Rak’Shir, the formalized dueling system in place by their society that allowed any Tal’darim to rise in the ranks.

The Tal’darim were a purely militaristic society that held no value in research and development. Any technology that they possessed was stolen from the Khalai and Nerazim. They held no concerns toward the overall health of a planet and simply exploited it completely for resources. The only thing that the Tal’darim ever truly respected was the Chain of Ascension. However, to Alarak, even that was nothing more than a game to him.

Alarak’s plan was simple, weaken the Highlord by eliminating his strongest sources of psionic power and seek out powerful sources of psionic power for himself. When he saw Lyra’s power, he knew that he had found his secret weapon.

Convincing Lyra to help him was simple. Since she was his prisoner, which in itself was highly unusual since Tal’darim do not take prisoners, if she wanted to go back to her friends, she would have to earn her way to that privilege by climbing the Chain of Ascension.

Since his prisoner had agreed to assist him with his plans, Alarak let Lyra out of her stasis cell. To make sure she didn’t do something that would cause his plans for her to be wasted, he informed her about the basics of Tal’darim culture. He told her about the Chain of Ascension, the purely aggressive nature of his people, the rules for climbing the Chain of Ascension where she was not allowed to engage a superior except in Rak’Shir. He also explained what Rak’Shir was.

Lyra took in everything that Alarak told her. She could not see the Tal’darim as any less than a barbaric tribe that valued strength above all else.

The ship soon entered the atmosphere of planet Slayn. It wasn’t long before the air from the atmosphere began entering the ship. Lyra picked up a familiar scent from the air and realized that there were small amounts of Terrazine in it.

“By now you might be inhaling the Terrazine that exists in the atmosphere of the planet. Thanks to mining the deepest depths of the planet, pockets of Terrazine are constantly rising to the surface and integrating with the very air we breathe,” Alarak said.

He wasn’t lying, she was already becoming lightheaded just from breathing.

“Don’t think I’m not aware that you need to consume sustenance to survive. As long as you continue to assist me with my plans, I will bring you the nutrition you need. Can’t have you dying on me from starvation. The rest of my supplicants already retrieved your supplies from your mission to sabotage our operations. That should at least sustain you for a few weeks if you ration it.”

Not saying a word, Lyra retrieved some rations from her supplies. As she was eating, a visage of Bon Bon appeared. Even if the image was all in her head, it still gave her some comfort in the bleak situation she found herself in. Her voice was calming for her and she could almost swear that she felt the touch of the image. Lyra soon shook her head and the image went away. She knew that it was nothing more than an illusion created by her increasing Terrazine hallucinations.

---

Lyra was soon shown to other Tal’darim, who gave Alarak strange looks given the normal customs of their people. Alarak said nothing as he continued to the Pits of Ascension where Rak’Shir duels took place.

As they moved, Lyra took in the surroundings. It was every bit as grim and bleak that she imagined Slayn would be. The main theme all around her was black and red. The sky was as depressing as everything else. She could only hope her sanity would hold out for the duration of her stay.

At the Pits of Ascension, Lyra witnessed two combatants fighting while there were others around them gave their power to the combatant that they declared. Alarak gave a more detailed explanation of Rak’Shir as the fight continued. The match carried for two hours before the challenger was pushed back and forced into a large bottomless hole.

After the match, Alarak looked around at his fellow warriors to find a target that wouldn’t be missed. He soon found some warrior that was of Votary rank. Having Lyra defeat him would put her in a good starting position on the Chain of Ascension.

“I want you to challenge that warrior to Rak’Shir. The way things are now, you are currently a mere Supplicant rank around here; my Supplicant. Eliminate him and steal his rank and you will be one step closer to leaving this planet.”

Lyra knew that nobody was coming to save her. Last she heard from Bon Bon was that she was going to go make some money as a mercenary. The Protoss wouldn’t dare come to the homeworld of the Tal’darim as that would only end in disaster. If she was going to survive in the harsh environment, she would need to adapt to the Tal’darim culture, even if it meant maintaining a harsh and cruel facade for a while.

With that, Lyra approached the soon-to-be-victimized warrior and challenged him to Rak’Shir. The warrior merely laughed at her saying that she was not even a Protoss, let alone a Tal’darim.

If there was a time for her to start embracing her darker side, it was now. “Does this mean that you admit to cowardice?” Lyra asked.

The Tal’darim Votary took the bait easier than she expected. Since Rak’Shir duels took place at sunrise, she had time to mentally prepare herself.

After another period of shaking away hallucinations, Alarak approached Lyra with a pair of Tal’darim focusers.

“Put them on. If you’re going to fight like Tal’darim, you’re going to use the same blades we do.”

Without saying a word, Lyra removed her Khalai psi blade focuser and her Nerazim warp blade focuser and put them away for safekeeping. She took the new focusers and put them on. When she tried to activate them however, she was unable to do so.

“Hmph...I see you’re used to the Khalai and Nerazim method of deploying blades. These are Tal’darim bane blades. They deploy by channeling the power of the void.” Alarak gathers a significant concentration of Terrazine from the air around him into his hand and condensed it into a spherical shape with his psionic power. He holds the gaseous sphere in front of Lyra. “Breathe this in, with any luck you will figure out how to channel the void with enough exposure.”

Lyra did as he said and deeply inhaled the purple ball of gas. She felt the effect immediately as she began to lose herself to the same euphoria she experienced when she was first exposed to Terrazine. This time, however, the blurry figures she saw before were more focused. She began to wonder if she was developing a resistance to the gas just by being immersed in it constantly.

Instead of just a world of purple, this time there were streaks of crimson around her that her instincts were telling her to reach out for. Following her instincts, she soon discovered that she was concentrating the red streaks into some red energy that soon took the form of crimson blades. Except, the blades were coming from her palms and not the focusers.

Alarak observed Lyra’s drug-induced episode and discovered her palm blades, a very rare ability. He began to wonder if nurturing Lyra’s power would come back to bite him someday. On the other hand, he may not find another like Lyra for another century and he wasn’t getting younger. Not willing to take the risk of killing Lyra to find another candidate for his plan to create the ultimate supplicant, he continued observing her development.

At the dawn of the next day, Lyra entered the Pit of Ascension with her opponent entering to face her. Two Tal’darim entered with him and declared themselves for her opponent. Lyra had no support from the other Tal’darim. A small audience gathered around the pit area and observed with anticipation.

The match began and the two charged at each other with their bane blades deployed and their psionic powers clashing. While her opponent thought that he had the advantage in numbers, he had greatly underestimated Lyra. The Votary was being given all his allies could afford but it wasn’t enough as Lyra was pushing hard against him with overwhelming psionic power. He was quickly pushed back to his pit and was unable to gain ground. He soon panicked and desperately tried to push back, but it was all in vain as Lyra pushed him into the bottomless pit to meet a molten death.

The overwhelming show of force stunned the crowd. They knew then that Lyra’s power was no joke. Some even began to believe that she could become a First Ascendant. However, none would dare to believe yet that she could take the Highlord.

---

So it was for the next few years, Lyra would accompany Alarak on missions, sometimes to obliterate Dominion forces. Alarak avoided the recently formed Daelaam Protoss, the union of the Khalai and Nerazim, since he didn’t want to risk them finding out where she was and attempting to rescue her. Though he would have welcomed their attempt, he had enough problems helping the Pony unlock her full power, which was coming really close to rivaling his own and was making him a little nervous.

Lyra had participated in more Rak’Shir duels and taken the ranks of her superiors. Most of her duels, however, were challenges from those ranked below her. They never stood a chance.

As Lyra continued to win duels, she gained her own fan club who had begun to support her in her duels as her Supplicants.

In time, Lyra’s powers had grown immensely from the time she came to Slayn, to the point that those below her rank stopped throwing their lives away to try for her rank. By the year 2504, she had obtained the rank of Second Ascendant, just below Alarak’s rank.

The time had come to earn her freedom. Alarak had Lyra seek out and challenge the First Ascendant that Alarak would prefer to be out of the picture. This one was a favored servant of Ma’lash and would probably be Lyra’s biggest challenge so far.

The dawn after she issued the challenge to the First Ascendant, the two met in the pit. What was different about this match was that he had an unusual supporter. She remembered seeing something like it four years ago, a Protoss-Zerg Hybrid.

Of course, the Hybrid declared itself for her enemy. Thankfully, her supporters did not falter and chose to support her.

When the duel began, the two combatants stood in place for a few minutes. When the Hybrid alone was not pushing Lyra back, more of the Ascendant’s forces came to his support. Lyra tapped into the depths of her power and, to the Ascendant’s surprise, he was pushed back. Slowly, she began making progress. Her pace accelerated when her allies started killing the Ascendant’s allies while taking care to avoid the Hybrid.

Lyra ordered her allies to rush the Hybrid together. Though they suffered significant losses, her allies managed to slay the Hybrid. With the creature dead, Lyra quickly forced the Ascendant back to the pit and he fell in, officially sealing her position as a First Ascendant.

Ma’lash was not happy at all that he not only lost his favorite Ascendant but also his Hybrid warrior. He would have had Lyra executed if she hadn’t vanished in a puff of black smoke. Ma’lash ordered Observers to find her but she had already gotten aboard a ship to escape the planet. Lyra was already long gone by the time they realized.

---

Earlier…

Alarak and Lyra were preparing their strategy the night before. They knew their Highlord was going to be furious when she won her match in the morning.

“You know the plan now,” Alarak began. “In order to secure my place as Highlord of the Tal’darim, I will need more than you to defeat him in Rak’Shir. Find some way to lure the Daelaam to me so that I can convince them to help me take over.”

“So once my duel is over, I have to get to the ship you prepared for me as quickly as possible and take off before they lock on to my position and return to my friends,” Lyra said.

Alarak ignored what Lyra just said and continued, “Now, begone your last Rak’Shir begins soon. Oh, and one last bit of warning. Beware of Executor Nyon. He is extremely fanatical to the point where he cares not for rank as he believes that Amon himself charged him with guarding Xel’naga artifacts. He was too weak to withstand Terrazine exposure and now he has completely lost his mind...a fate worse than death.” With that, Alarak left Lyra to her own devices.

---

Lyra was glad to finally be freed from that dismal planet. Sadly, she had a feeling that she would be returning to that world again in the future.

Once outside of Tal’darim space, Lyra was struck by a sense of longing and decided to make a detour to find the Hyperion and her beloved Bon Bon.

Comments

[Black--Soul]

Very tough time ahead... I don't envy her...

Basicly a battle slave...

So just for the Protocol: i guess the first time she become Alaraks right hand and or lead a splinter group of the Talderim...

Great chapter

[Black--Soul]

Bon Bon and Lyra should have one huge and juicy reunion after all this time apart...

[Black--Soul]

To bad Lyra had no Jorium at her disposal. I guess a natural resistance is fine to...

[Black--Soul]

One can only hope her body don't grow dependent on Terazin, just like a body can grow dependent on medication and sugar etc etc.

[Black--Soul]

Wonder if a culture can really have only warriors.
I can understand that all are trained as warrior, but weapons and armor need maintnance.
So do building and maschine based technology.
Doctors probably are the most valuable personal, after all the sparring and fighting in general, injuries are impossible to avoid.