by Aeon Solo
“Disgusting,” Sera said.
The guards assaulted them, again they held them back, deflecting attacks with their blades and slaying them all in a massacre.
Shura came out and engaged in one on one combat with Anu. She was strong, it was her reality after all. Eventually, all the guards were slain and the nine were surrounding her.
Fear gripped her mind. She screamed and blasted a strong vibration towards them, breaking her own rules. Knocking them off their feet, all except for Kraiden, who resisted the attack. He leapt toward the insectoid, slicing off one her arms and legs. Clasping her throat fiercely, she was dragged down.
“You’re ours now,” Kraiden commented menacingly.
The Demiurge manifested a wormhole to allow them to return to its realm. Kraiden launched the being through the portal and walked through.
“Well done my new servant, and Shura, welcome,” it remarked with glee. She was an essence of pure light outside her physical reality, a spherical ball of consciousness. The Demiurge blasted her with a frequency from its hand, dominating her soul. The essence squirmed, and jolted in its clutch, screeching in agony. The rest of the Archons came through the portal. “Yes, try to send out a signal, I implore you, you know she will not come,” the Demiurge said bluntly. A final screech and she burst into non-existence.
Meanwhile, the Source felt all, felt the dread of Shura, felt her essence ripped from existence at the Demiurge’s hand. She mourned, mourned the death of her child essentially, she was the mother of all.
“Adama!” a man of his kind shouted.
“What is it, Jye?” he enquired.
“It’s Errafin, it’s gone, the Demiurge has taken Shura, destroyed her,” he responded shaken.
The look of horror spread across Adama’s face.
“Ok,” it was a solemn whisper. The man left him quickly.
“Sophia!” he yelled to her nearby. He updated her on the terrible news. Sophia was adamant that she must converse with the Source, to Adama’s distress. She was in the corridor, but suddenly a bright light burst her eyes ahead. A humanoid being, with six limbs and three eyes appeared in front of her. It was the source taking a meta-physical form. Like that of a Hindu goodness.
“You cannot continue to let people die by its hands!” Sophia yelled. Her eyes told her expression, her guilt and loss.
“I know, I have meditated on this, I believe I may be able to subdue it, but I will need help,” she responded, upset.
“We must try, let us help you,” Sophia proposed.
“You will need to know how to manipulate realities, how to tap into the frequencies around you,” she said. “I will teach you.”
She walked out of the corridor and into the open land. She smiled.
“I remember when I created this space, it’s beautiful isn’t it?” she asked.
“Yes, I thought my world could not be topped,” Sophia answered.
“It does not know of this place. Everyone will be safe here,” she said. “I know where it will go next.”
She placed a hand on Sophia. “It will come for you and your realm.”
Her words were unsettling for Sophia.
“Let my people come here, to be safe,” Sophia suggested.
“Ok,” she responded, she faded away back to her realm.
“Adama, take me home,” she requested. He walked up to her and placed his hand on hers, closed his eyes, and passed his knowledge to her.
“Do you see? You have that power too,” he commented.
She opened her eyes. “Thank you,” she responded, she manifested a wormhole back to Earth for her and Mara.
They returned home and urged the population to take refuge in the safety of Ederra. Many chose to follow her request, but a bunch did not.
“We will stay and fight for you, we will not let it control us this time,” one commented valiantly. She smiled, but it soon faded, she knew the devastation that would soon come.
Meanwhile.
“Sera, I want you and Kraiden to examine the prisoners, ensure there is no rebellion, we need to be more proactive, after last time,” the Demiurge demanded.
“Of course,” she said subserviently. She and Kraiden exited the room and travelled to the operational station controlling the entire simulation.
“What happened?” Kraiden enquired.
“Sophia, and her humans managed the resist our illusion. The first time that has happened, our master was unsettled by this, and we must ensure the others do not figure out about their prison. It is essential they believe their universe to be the only one. Here you will take form as a Draco Elder, a reptilian entity in a physical, 3-Dimenional universe. Like the one we captured Shura in,” she explained.
They approached the wormhole which connected the two realities.
“What about our ability to manipulate reality?” he questioned.
“Here you will be limited to the laws of the universe,” she responded. They walked through the portal and emerged in the simulation or prison matrix, to be a better term. Sophia believed the other conscious entities were fabrications, she was wrong. They were all from other realities, entrapped in this prison. The Demiurge recreated most of the home worlds of the captured entities to ensure an easier transfusion for the mind. Some lower life forms were completely simulated, and not technically alive, in the conscious sense of the word.
They were greeted by Draco labourers.
“My Lords, we have suffered major losses in the Sirius system, Patsule has been destroyed but the Alliance are at our feet, since we completed our mission,” he said.
“Excellent work, go and begin construction of a new space station immediately,” Sera commanded. The labourers scurried away.
Kraiden was hit with visions suddenly, he clasped his head gently and analysed his new gargantuan, gloved hand simultaneously. He saw Enki, the former Lord Archon, he knelt at his feet. The vision was momentary. He was grabbed by Sera.
“What is it?” she commented. She scanned him, shaken by his momentary confusion, but she disregarded it for now.
“How did you resist Shura’s vibration?” she enquired.
“I’m not quite sure, I just knew,” he said, confused himself about his sudden capability earlier. Sera walked in the direction the labourers and lead scientists were.
“It was pretty good, remember, there’s still much you need to learn though,” she commented. She soon was lost in the crowds.
“I’ve seen this place,” he muttered quietly.
Over the coming days the Draco gathered their resources and intelligence to finally take out the Alliance once and for all. To complete the final phase of the simulation, complete physical control.
Chapter 4
Kraiden was gazing at the atmosphere from the main base of the Draco, in the Zeta Reticula star system. He was interrupted by a military captain.
“My Lord, there are only two Alliance fleets remaining in two systems, their resources have been spent, what do you command?” the captain said.
“Which systems?” he asked.
“Lyra and Pleiades,” the captain responded.
“I will take a fleet to Lyra, Sera will take Pleiades, we attack simultaneously in five hours,” he commanded. The captain accepted the order and the military began preparations.
A short while later Sera approached him.
“Do you think you can deal with Lyra alone?” she asked.
“Yes, I will end this war, and finish what our master started,” he responded.
She grinned. “Excellent, I will ensure our forces are prepared, do well here Lord Kraiden and our master will be pleased, have you received your updates? For the history and rules of the universe?” she said.
They used nanotechnology to interface with the brain for new Draco’s, to ensure they had the knowledge they need.
“Yes.”
“Good, prepare your fleet, we’ll speak soon,” she said. The two parted ways and began setting up their fleets. They disc
ussed the battle strategies they would adopt, priming their personal ships. Kraiden took the Mikasa, Anu’s former ship and Sera took the Phoenix, Enki’s former ship.
“I want multiple small ships to charter new hyperspace lanes around the system, so we don’t get funnelled from a single point,” Kraiden demanded.
“But my Lord, that is extremely dangerous, there are worlds, debris, asteroids we could crash into,” a captain said.
“I don’t care, we will be bombarded if we funnel through the single hyperspace exit, they will have it locked down. Once we have chartered new, small routes we can attack from all sides,” he commented strongly.
“But the calculations must be so precise, the margin for error is…” the captain was quickly cut off.
“The risk is meaningless captain, I want those routes, no excuses,” he demanded, annoyed at the constant badgering by his servant. The captain was disgruntled.
“My lord this won’t work,” the captain commented.
Kraiden lost his cool, he became enraged, unholstering his blaster, he executed the captain in front of the others.
“Is there anyone else?” he posed with rage, “Anyone else who wishes to defy me?”
Nervous eyes twittered around the room, there was no response.
“Excellent, we leave immediately,” he said eagerly.
He travelled to the Mikasa and commanded the AI system to charter a new hyperspace route to the only inhabited Lyra system.
“Yes, my Lord, but it will be risky,” it said.
“I know, try and get me as close to the planet as possible, we will do a surface attack,” he said. He piloted the ship out of the atmosphere, thousands of ships of varying sizes accumulated above the planet. “I Want 100 fighters to follow me,” he commanded. The system chartered the route.
“Calculations have been made,” it said.
“This had better work,” he muttered. He activated his hyperdrive and emerged a few hundred feet from the surface of the Lyran core world Kepler. He pulled up instantly, barely missing the surface with speed.
“I said close, not in it,” he remarked flustered.
“I said there was risk,” it answered sarcastically. 100 fighters followed the same route and burst through hyperspace. Some of them couldn’t pull up in time, so they crashed into the forested surface of the planet. 80 fighters followed Kraiden and attacked the surface installations and headquarters. The Alliance was caught completely off-guard by this sudden attack.
“What! Get all our fighters in the air, now!” Admiral Joan roared. Suddenly, the main Draco fleet emerged from hyperspace above the Lyran core world Kepler. The planetary defence systems activated, and a massive space war ensued. Multiple fighter squadrons followed Kraiden’s tactic, half of them crashed into asteroids and the planet’s surface, but five squadrons were free to wreak havoc on the planet. The surface was mainly unguarded as most of the aerial forces were deployed in space.
Within thirty minutes, the planetary defence system was overwhelmed. Most of the Alliance forces had been defeated, those remaining surrendered to the Draco.
Kraiden, with multiple Draco warriors, took control of the main headquarters. There, Admiral Joan was ceased, with multiple other officers.
“Admiral Joan,” Kraiden said mockingly, walking around the room, dwarfing the Lyran men and women. Other species too made their ranks, some humans were present.
“And you are?” Joan snarled.
“I’m new,” Kraiden replied sarcastically.
“You spare our people, please,” she pleaded.
Kraiden pondered, exaggerating a human-like pose of thought. “Hmm, spare…” he said. “I will spare them from existence,” he said bluntly.
They gasped and flustered at his words. Draco warriors aimed their blasters at them.
Admiral Joan smirked at Kraiden, who was angered by this.
“You will always lose,” she said defiantly.
“Kill them, all of them!” Kraiden demanded, throwing his arm toward them aggressively. His servants followed his command and executed the Alliance officers stationed in the facility.
“Have all of the population contained in a single city, ensure we begin Order 99 promptly,” he commanded via his wrist communication device.
“Yes, my lord,” Dion answered. Dion had received a promotion, given the demise of Charia. He essentially was the leader subservient to the Draco elders, the Archons of the Demiurge. Order 99 is the implementation of a plan by the Demiurge to completely dominate the mind of his prisoners. By using nanotechnology to manipulate the brains of the prisoners. It will take a long time to enforce this completely in all inhabited worlds.
Kraiden received an audio transmission from Sera.
“Kraiden, it’s Sera, we are taking substantial damage in the Pleiades system, we will need assistance, well done for your success,” she said.
“I will take all my remaining forces there now, we will end this conflict once and for all, see you shortly, my Lord,” he answered. He strolled out of the Alliance headquarters and gazed at the destruction outside. “Dion, I want you to stay here with two capitol ships and fighter squadrons, the rest will go with me to Pleiades now, tell them to follow my hyperspace route,” he commanded. Dion followed the command and over the next fifteen minutes the forces prepared to leave. Kraiden entered the Mikasa nearby. “Let’s finish this,” he said quietly.
The Demiurge was watching from its chambers in its home reality, they call this place Stornheim.
“System, we are going to Pleiades, plot a new course again, get us close to one of the two home worlds, and not so close this time,” he said. “All ships follow my course again,” he said via his communication link to the ship leaders.
The fleet arrived in the Pleiades system, close to the planet of Pleiades 1, but strategically behind the main space forces which were still combating Sera’s forces. She was in the Phoenix in space.
“Nice of you to arrive, we have destroyed the planetary defence system. I believe they have all forces in space now,” she said via the communication link when she noticed their arrival. Pleiades 2 had been taken, all the remaining forces were commanded to protect Pleiades 1, the core world, where the remaining populations in the system remained.
Some fled to other systems to escape the chaos, but it was futile, the last bulk of Alliance fighters were here. If they perished, the galaxy will have no alternative but to completely surrender to the Draco rule.
The Alliance forces were bombarded from behind by the Kraiden’s wave of Draco fighters. After a few hours, most of battle was complete, debris littered the entire system. Some Alliance forces retreated to the surface, taking refuge in a well-protected military installation.
Kraiden ordered a clean-up crew to clear the debris, the battle in space was over. Draco warriors took control of Pleiades 2 in the meantime.
“Sera, you and I will take ground forces to that installation, it’s all that remains, there will be nothing to stop us this time,” he said.
She considered his plan briefly and concurred. “Yes, we will crush them once and for all,” she responded gleefully.
Two hundred ground troops within transport cruisers followed Sera and Kraiden to the surface. The area was abandoned outside and had taken substantial damage from above. The structure was still sound, it was gargantuan in size. Miles across, it was a critical military headquarter. The luscious landscape around the base burned from the fires of war. Inside, one hundred and fifty Alliance soldiers remained.
The Draco forces landed around the structure. Kraiden was analysing the structure.
“Draconite,” Sera commented, banging his armour. “It’s the sturdiest element in this universe, none of their weapons can penetrate it,” she said.
“Maybe,” he remarked. He strolled forward towards the entrance. Sera watched his move. “Unless they have Nanopentium,” he said to her. She barged toward him, grabbing him by the shoulder turning him toward her.
&nbs
p; “How do you know about that?” she demanded.
“Our weapons are laced with it are they not?” he answered strongly, with a hint of sarcasm. She was somewhat flustered by his comment.
“Well yes, but you shouldn’t know that,” she said.
“Blast the door!” he commanded to a nearby weapons specialist. “Well I do,” he said to Sera. They blasted through the large door, immediately met with fire from Alliance troops.
“Take cover!” he commanded. They hid away from the door. “What happens if we are killed?” he asked her whilst they sheltered from the relentless attacks.
“We return to Stornheim, to our true form,” she answered.
“Sturdiest element, huh?” he commented. She passed a confused gaze at him. “Let’s test that shall we,” he continued with a cocky tone. He entered the building, to the distress of his troops.
“Open fire!” an Alliance leader enforced. The fifty Alliance fighters blasted him with their weapons, he was pushed back with the impacts, but absorbed all the damage.
“Fair enough,” he commented quietly. The shots halted, he keeled over slightly. Their fearful eyes fixed upon his monstrous Draco form. “My turn.” He unleashed an attack of his own, blasting troops away with his blaster, their continued attacks recoiling from his armour. Within moments, multiple troops perished, one of them prepared to fire a large hand-held anti-matter missile. Kraiden spotted it in the chaos.
“Fire!” a voice exclaimed.
“Stop!” Kraiden yelled ferociously. With a raised hand, the remaining Alliance troops began to float in the air. With a clamped fist, he ended their lives in an instant. Their eyes burst from their sockets, as if their bodies were saturated with pure energy that could not be released in any other way. It erupted through them.
Simultaneously in Stornheim.
“Master!” an Archon yelled to the Demiurge nearby, “Something has happened in the simulation,” he said urgently.
The Demiurge manifested a projection of the code, analysing the system performance. A large artificial quantum computer controlled the simulated reality. In its analysis, it was shocked to witness the result.
