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The Matriarch: Chapter. IVChapter 4 : Creation of a Monster
"Ahhhhh" screamed a marine as his life was taken from him. Another marine behind him shot through the now dead marine and hit a few Hydralisk. The science vessel known as the Cicones was now nothing more then a blood bath as marines on board the ship tried to protect the crew from the Zerg.
One of the marines shot everything he had on a Hydralisk that was coming straight at him. The Hydralisk fell but right behind it there were two Zergling that quickly jumped up and slashed at the marine. The marine took out his pistol and put it to one of the Zerglings' head and fired. The Zergling fell to the ground dead. He shot the other Zergling in the gut and looked up.
There was no hope. Zergling after Zergling came at him. The marine stuck his blood covered pistol to his own head and fired, killing himself more painlessly. A Firebat behind him cursed and shot out another blast of flame at the oncoming Zerg. The Zerglings' numbers were going down but the Hydralisks were still moving in for the kill.
The Firebat stood unmoving, firing at the Zerg with flames. A Hydralisk in front of him screamed in pain and fell to the ground. One by one the Hydralisks fell. The Firebat looked behind him for a second then looked back to see that the Hydralisk in front of him had disappeared.
He felt the ground shake and looked down. There was a hole in the ground of the ship and when he looked down he regretted it. The Ghost had seen it. The Firebat had leaned down to look into the hole and soon fell, his face full of needle spines. The ghost quickly cloaked and took out his knife. His Canister rifle was out of shells and this was all he had left.
He quickly slashed through what he could with his knife, into their throats, their stomachs, and into their faces. In and out the knife kept going. Soon the Hydralisks' numbers were now less than ten but of course there weren't many Terrans left either.
The Hydralisks ran back to where they came from. The Terrans cheered but it would not last long. One of the last remaining Terran groups; a firebat, 2 marines, a ghost and a medic, stood still, grouped together, basically back to back.
"Looks like the Zerg are leavin' us, man I thought I was a dead man there fer a sec." said one of the marines.
"Yep" replied the Firebat. They heard a piercing sound and saw the ghost and medic being ripped to shreds by spines coming out of the ground.
"Oh crap! Lurkers! Disperse! Disper-" the Firebat was cutoff when a subterranean spine went right through his spine and out of his chest. The marines began to run but immediately stopped when they saw the huge Ultralisk standing in front of them.
"Hey man, I gotta tell you somethin'." said one of the marines.
"What?" asked the other, his rifle in hand and pointed at the Ultralisk.
"I love ya man." And with that he stuck his pistol to his head, he had seen one of the other marines do it. He pulled the trigger, causing the Ultralisk to move and scream. It started slashing everywhere. The other marine was not as lucky as the one who shot himself. His arms and legs were cut right off but he was still alive. The Ultralisk walked past him, stepping on the marine in the process. The marine lay there, not dead, not unconscious, just in pure pain.
The ghost that had cloaked, had now uncloaked. Of course that was a mistake. A long kaiser blade slashed right through him. His body had been cut in half. The bottom half fell to its knees and soon fell straight down. The upper body stayed in the air for a few seconds and then soon fell on top of the lower body, the ghost still had a cigarette in his mouth as he fell.
* * *
Dr. Essex heard something knocking on the sealed doors and soon saw them fall. Dr. Essex cursed and ran in the other direction and soon found himself surrounded by Brontoliths, or what the Zerg called the Ultralisk.
"Ah, Brontoliths. Then I suppose the Queen of Blades is somewhere around here?"
"I am here." replied a voice. The Queen of Blades had cloaked herself and now looked at Nathaniel Essex. This Terran scientist was one of the most brilliant scientist in the whole Terran Dominion. He would do nicely as a test subject, the Queen of Blades thought. She ordered the Matriarch of Queens to her side. The Matriarch of Queens had the remarkable ability to infest something and still keep their mind intact. Unlike a normal Queen which made the person that was infested a mindless zombie.
"Good then I'd like to make an o-"
Dr. Essex was cut off by a screeching noise. He looked up to see an Arachnis Brood-Keeper (Zerg Queen).
"That is the Matriarch of Queens and soon you will be ours." said a voice.
"NOOOOO!!!" screamed Dr. Essex.
The Science Vessel Cicones was now silent except the screaming of a Dr. Nathaniel Essex.
* * *
Back on Dalomir, in the Xel'naga temple...
Edwarg looked around to see if he could find the exit. Still nothing he thought. There must be something I could... his thoughts were cut off by some kind of noise. He looked back and stretched out with his mind, trying to feel a presence.
He soon touched the mind of something.
"Who are you? Show yourself." he commanded.
A figure appeared from the shadows, a vaguely humanoid figure, with arrows in a bag on his back, a bow in one hand, and wearing leather-like armor. He looked just like the statue in the palm of the Xel'Naga's hand.
"I am Nak'Talagos, of the Venatir tribe, and you are?" asked the figure. Edwarg noted that the creature talked through the mind even though it had a mouth, then suddenly something hit him... Venatir Tribe?
"I am Edwarg, of the Sargas Tribe... What are you?" he asked.
"I am a Protoss warrior, sent here by the Xel'naga, aeons ago, to protect this temple. My friend Khas'Moddan died and now I am alone." he said, matter-of-factly.
"You? You do not seem like a warrior, I am a Protoss Zealot, but you... your too... different." Edwarg replied.
"Zel-it? (Yes that's how you pronounce Zealot, I looked it up) what matter of rank is that? And yes I do seem different do I not? It seems the 'Aeon of Strife' has helped evolve my brethren into a more better race." he said.
"I sat here and watched that crystal statue change over time, the mouth dissapeared, then the nose and soon, the soft skin-like surface changed into a rough, wrinkled surface." he continued. "That is when Khas'Moddan set out back to Auir and never returned. I do not even know where I am." he finally concluded.
"So you are an ancestor of my race... wait, how do you know of the 'Aeon of Strife'"? asked Edwarg suspiciously.
"The Xel'Naga told me that the Protoss were in a huge civil dispute, it seems my tribe broke up and a fraction became your tribe, the rest died off. Many old tribes dissapeared during that time, and then new ones arose. The Xel'Naga watched carefully, trying to see if you would somehow change, become enlightened but of course, our race stayed as the 'fallen ones' to them."
Nak'Talagos replied sadly.
"So, they never left us?" Edwarg asked.
"They did, after taking so much, they finally left you to settle your own differences. Their last words to me were; 'Nak'Talagos, we, the Xel'Naga, advise that you stay here and protect this temple, with your partner, but it is unwise to return to your home, we will return someday to gather our resources here and to bring you and Khas'Moddan with us, until then, young warrior.' Those were the last words and they left me here." He replied. His head was starting to hurt, he hadn't talked this much in centuries.
"How old are you then?" asked Edwarg. The more answers he got, the more he wanted.
"Do you not tire of questions?" the old Protoss sighed. "I do not know, I am too old to remember, the Xel'naga made sure that my partner and I would not age because our lifespan was around... 30 years, you however have evolved to live up to thousands of years. Now please no more questions." He took a deep breath. "My head hurts too much, please if you may, just leave." This time he said it through his mouth rather than his mind, causing Edwarg to be startled. There was a long silence in the temple, each warrior eyeing each other.
"I cannot leave, I do not know the way out." Edwarg said finally.
Nak'Talagos just shrugged and went back into the shadows.
Edwarg stood there, not knowing what to do. He had just seen his ancestor, alive and well. What was he to do? He wanted more answers but decided to wait until later.
He concentrated, hard, sweat starting to form on his head. He saw his hands turn invisible, just slightly then turned visible again. He had learned this trick from the Dark Templar but still had a lot to learn. He sighed (in his head) and tried again...[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
