NationStates Jolt Archive

In the system that had once been Seneschal, a sun flickered dimly, attempting to combat the nexus of energies there. It had been a yellow dwarf two weeks ago, and was now about to simply cease to exist, the star dimming at a prodigious rate.

In a ship circling the slowly-growing nexus, a single man sat, deep in contemplation, or so it appeared.

SASHIAR

"My-my lord!", the man stammered out, prostrating himself immediately.

I HAVE RECALLED YOU FROM MY WORKS

"Yes, yes, of course. I live but to serve, my Sovereign."

YOU WORK AGAINST ME.

How did he know, Sashiar wondered? He reprimanded himself - he had sworn himself to the Sovereign, and the Sovereign knew everything about him, even to his last thought.

The voice in his skull disappeared, and a man walked into the room, standing above him. The man smiled.

"Sashiar, Sashiar, Sashiar. It's a pity, you know. The most powerful of the Sovereign's servants, and here you are, giving that all up! For what, Sashiar?"

"He.. made me."

"Oh, yes. The Guide. He was powerful, wasn't he. It took remarkably little time for him to bend you to his will - to break you."

Sashiar looked up, alarmed. The man had no aura of power about him, merely a friendly smile upon his face.

"Now, Sashiar. You understand, don't you?"

"Y-yes.."

"What can be broken, must be broken."

With that, he lashed out with one boot, smashing into Sashiar's face. The admiral screamed, and attempted to stand up, but found the other boot firmly on the back of his neck.

"I-I..I will destroy you. Power."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"I think you'll find that won't be necessary, Sashiar."

The man shrugged, and picked Sashiar up by the neck. Sashiar felt power flow through his veins, and prepared to incinerate the man.

The man merely smiled.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."

Sashiar smiled back.

"Burn, insect."

The power erupted in him, and his nerves were lit on fire. He screamed - and screamed again, yet the power consumed him, the sheer volume of energy he could channel this close to the Sovereign burning out his fragile little body.

His skin was charred, as he fell to the ground, no longer breathing.

A single word marked the man's exit.

"Broken."







With the loss of so many valuable servants - so many trained to both kill and die for the Sovereign, with the loss of such heroes of the former uprising, such as Servant-Admiral Sashiar, the man felt that the Sovereign needed new ones. He had a name, of course. He merely could no longer remember what it was.

His smile disappeared, and he bowed.

"My lord. I have heard tell of creatures much like yourself. I am not sure of their name, merely their nature. Thieves in the night, stealing away lives for their own benefit. They would make a fine class of servants, for I fear my people are too fragile, too easily turned from your ways."

The ship thrummed with power, as he felt the Sovereign's eye turn upon him.

Yet, when the Sovereign spoke, it was not to him. It was with a certain timbre, a certain clarity of voice that would attract those only of a similiar nature, calling them with the promise of power, of lordship, and, of course, of life. Precious, so-easily-spilled life.

COME.

COME

The call of Sovereign penetrated earth and sky, rock and water, flesh and bone. It even penetrated the veil of the shadowy realm the Shade Lords existed in at their homeworld of Allocen. The Shade Queen, Siriel, sat on her throne of souls, contemplating the soul she had just consumed, one of a mighty psionic whom had tried to defeat the King. He had found his pathetic power was no match for the ultimate warrior. As she raised the cup to her lips, the call burst through the void which had entrenched itself around Allocen.


COME

Power was drained from the force that burst into her throne room, the void drinking greedily from it, but it was hardly even affected. Siriel gasped as her eyes flew open and she felt a hugely oppressive force surrounding her. An intense aura of evil and bloodlust washed all around her, its power slicing through her. As the planet itself was doing, as every Shade Lord was doing, she drank greedily from the immensely large power source which had come. Yet she knew it was infinite and she could not drain it. As she struggled to recollect herself, her mind was assailed by a flurry of images.

Worlds burning, countless populations being ravaged or transformation into horrific daemons. Armies falling before large hosts of fanatics, and... a whisper. She struggled to hear it, as it was calling along the same essence as herself. As all Shade Lords. It promised power, more power than anything possible in this universe. Dominion over countless mortal races, and for the Shades, as the Sovereign with but a glance understood their driving need, a promise of endless souls, both delicious and mundane, for them to take to slake their thirst. Siriel smiled, as she felt the joy of every Shade Lord through their psionic link. Yes, they would come. As many as could be spared. And the Shade Queen, for the first time since she ascended the Throne of Souls, would go to battle. She cared not if she had to "serve" someone. Such meaningless feeling had been left behind when she became a Shade Lord, Now, she was a being whom sought to feed its hunger, and if this strange god-like entity promised a reward of great magnitude to feed her, then she would come. She stood up and descended the stairs, where already a group of Shade Lords had appeared, waiting for her command.

"Gather as many ships as you can find in the immediate area, without sparing any of our defense and have it gathered in orbit. Once it is ready, we will depart to meet with this being. We have a promise to collect on." The Shades nodded and vanished into the shadows, to do her bidding. And within a space of mere hours, a fleet of forty ships, an excellent mix of Vortex-class frigates and Void-class destroyers, with three of the almighty Wraith-class Cruisers as the major ships. On board the flagship, Dark Might, Siriel sat in the command chair and watched as the fleet was gathered. A Nijai turned to her.

"Milady, the fleet is ready." Never before had a fleet of such a size been gathered of the Shade Lords. The Shades were mighty but they had dispersed their power across the universe, seeking souls. Now, with many of them called back to go on this mission, the Shade Lords would prove their strength. Siriel nodded.

"Proceed" The Nijai began to activate their drives and all of the ships began to shimmer, as if something was obscuring them and then they vanished from sight. They had gone into the Shadow Realm, where they traveled faster than light to their journey to Seneschal. A mere hour later, the entire forty ship fleet shuddered back into reality and a single message was sent out psionically.

YOU CALLED. WE CAME.

The man wondered why the Shades were coming, for a moment. Service to the Sovereign brought only pain. He chuckled, then. The holes in his memory had left holes in his reason too, it seemed. That was what they wanted. He felt for power, fumbling in his mind for what had once been so easy. The Sovereign had spoken enough for one day.

My Queen. It is an honour.

He bowed, and, his body flickered, and moved across to her ship. Yet, while in the proximity of the Queen, he still chose not to speak. His lips were ravaged, almost shredded, dripping blood onto his immaculate doublet. The rest of his body fared no better, shifting constantly, skin constantly searing and scarring as it held on to his emaciated bones, new wounds opening up and closing in an instant. The pain was hideous, yet he scarcely noticed it any more.

The Sovereign has called you here. I speak for him, for you would be destroyed at such proximity by his words. I know this. You consume, as does he. You require souls - he requires servants. It is seen that as you consume, correctly linked to the Sovereign, you will weaken reality, as is his wont. Your service will buy you lives unending to feed upon, and he will place you above all others in his service.

He bowed his head, eyes as white as alabaster seen for the first time. His eyes flickered, and images danced along them. Worlds burned, and the Shade Lords danced among the weeping of those laid low, teasing souls from unwilling bodies, each life tinged with delicious sorrow and horror. Worlds served them, then, and a thousand thousand of the choicest were offered up to appease every one of their new masters.

He lifted his head up, and faced the Shade Queen, seemingly unaffected by her.

Serve. All this and more is yours if you will.

Siriel heard his reply to her call and gave a mental nod of invitation. Which appeared to be in his mind, as the being teleported straight onto her ship, where she was sitting. It would have seemed odd that her aura did not seem to hurt him in the least but the call from before had shown her that as mighty as she was, even they were nothing compared to this new god, this.....Sovereign. As she gazed at him, she saw how his body struggled under the torment of the Sovereigns power and wondered why he was still in one piece. Any one being, even a Shade, could not withstand the power of Sovereign. She shoved it aside as he began to speak.


"The Sovereign has called you here. I speak for him, for you would be destroyed at such proximity by his words. I know this. You consume, as does he. You require souls - he requires servants. It is seen that as you consume, correctly linked to the Sovereign, you will weaken reality, as is his wont. Your service will buy you lives unending to feed upon, and he will place you above all others in his service."

Siriel was about to reply when she stiffened as a vision hit her. Entire worlds burned as the Nijai stomped all resistance; the Shade Lords romped all over the world, consuming and torturing at world. At their homeworld of Allocen, the choicest of morsels, Jedi, Sith, Psionics, mages, all were given to each of their new masters. As the vision ended, and Siriel recovered from the blast of power, she heard the call of the servant and she smiled.

"Many Mortal races would deny such an offer and call it enslavement, evil, and surrendering their immortal souls. Since we do not have souls, and evil is a mere concept we discarded long ago. That leaves enslavement.....and we are already in the throes of the greatest slaver of all....Hunger. We are yours to command, oh Mighty One. When shall we begin?"

A map glimmered near the Queen, of the worlds the Sovereign ruled already, and those yet to come.

You will take those who desire governance, and rule over the worlds of the former Starfederation. The remainder shall return to your worlds, and gather your fleets. Once the first have fallen before us, we shall undertake a campaign the likes of which has not yet been seen.

The man paused, and his bones broken all at once, his life spilling out on the ship of the Shades.


A voice resounded in the minds of the Shades, tolling like a bell.

DRINK. DRINK OF HIS LIFE, AND YOU WILL BE LINKED TO ME.

Siriel nodded at the instructions given. "Understood; we will await the call to battle with great anticipation, milord." She was going to wait to see if there was more when the man collapsed to the ground, body broken and his life force leaking like a cracked cup. The Sovereign's voice slammed full force into her, with its call.

"DRINK. DRINK OF HIS LIFE, AND YOU WILL BE LINKED TO ME."

Siriel smirked and then gently floated over to the dying man and then laid her palm on his body. Within an instant, her intense hunger consumed his life force and then she felt an incredibly burning sensation, striking deep inside her. She would say it struck deep into her soul, but that didn't make sense since she had nothing but a void. She doubled over as the pain reached a crescendo....and then exquisite power, bordering on the borders of pleasure coursed through her. So this was what is was like to be connected to this new god. She was not surprised so many converted, it was raw power. Power corrupted absolutely, and those who it corrupted always craved more, like an addiction. To a being already slaved to its hunger, this was nothing new. Merely trading one form of slavery for another.