THE FALL OF THE GREAT PAIZUL
The gilded banners of crimson and gold shone in the dark sunlight that shifted through the ion clouds in the ONI territory. Marble columns rose in the distance like towers of bone and ash glittering darkly under the crackles of thunder and flurry yellow clouds. Under the howls and shrieks of the crowd, Petyr felt the cold metal bite into his skin. His heart thundered against his ribcage and he could feel the adrenaline singing in his veins. He had been born for this, honing his skills over years and years of training. Running a callused hand across his face, he felt the thick scar that ran along it and down to his neck. A reminder that he had to get the job done without raising suspicion. But he was in enemy territory. Every muscle in his body was taut with tension as he meandered through the crowd of bodies slick with sweat.
“Peace is an illusion!” he heard Paizul’s defiant voice from the stone dais. Garbed in scarlet and steel, she was exactly who she wanted the people to know she was. Enigmatic, Strong, Powerful. From the first convergence war, she had seen her people being laid waste to. Piles upon piles of ashy skin and mutilated bodies, rotten skin pillaged by flies, Paizul had promised her people true peace. A peace that could be gotten by extermination of the human race. Peace that could be gotten from expanding their territory way beyond the MUD territory of the human faction and the USTUR of the sentient androids.
Paizul waited for the Favonius to kick in — A synthetic hormone that could put the crowd under her spell by releasing powerful pheromones from her body fluids. She had already gained their trust and was trying to lead them to a war they could win. But the Sogmian aliens were scared. They had been through so much already from the convergence war. But they couldn’t give up now. She couldn’t allow them to when they were on the verge of tasting victory. She looked down from the dais into the earnest faces of hungry children, with clothes riddled with holes and their faces stricken with poverty.
“I want you all to know that we have had enough! This is the time for the revolution. Ever since the Cataclysm, our numbers have been decimated by the Human and Android Factions. But we won’t stand back and do nothing while they take everything from us! Our homes, our families and our resources! It’s time we fought back with one united front and crush our enemies!”, Paizul said with a fist in the air. The Sogmian people screamed and howled on all sides, their earnest eyes filled with happiness of good things to come.
Paizul continued after a dull rumble of thunder. As she closed her eyes for a second, she could almost taste the victory on her lips. The Sogmian race now had an advantage. An advantage that she had been working on for years after the convergence war began. A way to finally liberate her people and get rid of the pile of corpses that plagued her mind. A way to reclaim everything they had lost and expand the ONI territory far more than they could ever imagine. Victory was ascertained. Shafts of sunlight glinted off her armor as Paizul continued, trusting that nothing could ever go wrong. But in fact, everything was about to terribly go wrong.
Petyr almost cringed as he felt the needle stick into his skin. The green-grey contents were dumped into his blood stream, going into circulation and he could feel the loosening of a knot in his chest. Fear had been eradicated with the administration of Beta-noradrenaline, one of the synthetic hormones that the USTUR had created for their kind, his taste for blood increased drastically. He was going to have this kill no matter what. The aliens were planning something bigger than what the Human-Android alliance could even think of. There was a soft click as his electronic AI whirred to life from somewhere within his clothes.
“Run physical and cognitive diagnostics for any impairments,” he said as he continued to weave his way through the crowd of Sogmian aliens. The Beta-noradrenaline was still in its earlier testing phases and he had agreed to become a test subject. The hormone had a way of interfering with his brain waves and cognitive function, increasing his senses and dexterity to the maximum. His heart raced as he felt his physiology change to mimic the Sogmians. He couldn’t risk them finding him out before he got the job done.
Paizul activated the kinetic hologram software with her mind, painting what she wanted to show them in her head. She pictured the Goliath in her mind, letting its structure echo in her mind. It was the best weapon her people had ever created. Years upon years of study had gone into the creation, carefully working with the molecule’s configuration until it had reached its highest reactivity. A potent neuro-depressant that could completely reduce metabolic function to almost zero. It was the perfect weapon which was odorless, clean and tasteless, it would do its work without a trace.
“This is the Goliath! The weapon we have been building for years, adjusting it to fit our needs. The era of Sogmian blood being spilled on these rocks is over!”
And then the banners bearing the new insignia were draped across the marble pillars. A shocking purple with golden embroidery showing an ankh. The symbol of life. The ONI people chanted war songs and accolades to Paizul and she smiled. The thunder rumbled overhead, the clouds roiling as if in happiness. Her people were finally going to have a say in the metaverse.
Petyr felt his skin become clammy, as the drug worked its way through his blood stream. He could feel himself changing and becoming one of them. The wretched Sogmians. The USTUR was the pinnacle of technology and he was glad that the MUD Faction had made the right choice. They even had the ability to conceal him perfectly, hiding in plain sight. His skin had become the color of blossoms, the pink glistening with sweat. His body was revolting at the sight of him. He was sure that his eyes had become yellow, with pupils dark like bottomless pits. But nevertheless, he forged on and ran his hand across the cold metal of his blade bringing comfort to himself.
Five guards were stationed behind the dais, dressed in the new colors draped over the marble columns. Purple and ankh embroidery covered the platinum steel alloys that covered them from head to toe. Armed to the teeth with the latest technology, photon blades flickered by their sides, illuminating their faces with pale blue light. Paizul had started a countdown from the small tele-pod in her hand. It read: 5 meta days and 12 ion hours. The countdown before the last of the Sogmian race would take over the planet for themselves.
Petyr pushed forward after pulling off his clothes to reveal the popular clothing among the Sogmians. Skin tight leather made from the skin of one of the rarest species in the planet. Gold accentuated his cuffs and collar and he ran his hand along his face once more. The ugly scar that once ran down his face was gone and replaced by flawless pink tinged skin. His ears had lengthened, the flesh twisting and turning on itself. He had blended in perfectly, without the need for stealth. Not that he wasn’t good at being silent but it took a lot of carefulness not to make a sound.
“Launch the Titan Ship!” Paizul’s voice rippled over the crowd like a war cry. The sound shook Petyr to his bones and he raised his face to the turbulent sky. Above was the largest ship he had ever seen. He had the blueprints in his head but he couldn’t remember where or when he had seen it.
Petyr had gotten to the front of the dais now, close to the twin towering columns of marble. Paizul was within his line of sight and from what he could glean, she was unarmed except for the ceremonial knife that hung loosely from her belt. He weighed his options closely, before taking the last step he usually did when he was sent on a mission like this. Like clockwork, he anticipated her body movements, slinking between the crowd of Sogmian aliens that were all looking at the Titan ship launch into the sky.
With little less than a footstep, blood sprayed and flowed down, the almost golden liquid glittering as it spreads through his hands before small drops kissed the floor. Paizul’s mouth was open in a silent scream, with her eyes wide with surprise or more of fear, shock. Recognition flashed across her features for a moment and then she went limp against his arms.
That was when it clicked. It had all been a ploy! Screams erupted from the crowd as Paizul’s lifeless body slipped onto the cold marble. All this time he thought he had been working for the alliance, moving the USTUR and MUD faction towards a utopian galaxy. The blueprints that plagued his mind for a moment was the one he has seen at Moor, the USTUR stronghold. They had given the aliens their blueprints in exchange for a ceasefire between the two Factions. In reality, the USTUR had been putting humans and aliens against each other, and then planning to kill the remaining population after one species went into extinction.
As Petyr took a step forward, pain coursed through every fiber of his body. He yelled, a cry of pain and regret. He should have weighed the options well before he killed the very person that might have brought the war to an end. The light from the photon saber seared his skin and he sank to his knees, with the tears falling from his eyes. He had doomed the MUD Faction for good. Faces filled with fear and horror flickered in and out of his vision as he drifted away, barely tethered to his body.
The last thing he heard above the crowd was a thunderous roar that shook the entire ONI territory. It was the cry of someone who had just lost a loved one. Filled with so much tempestuous rage and blind anger, Bekalu’s echoing voice rose above the low hum of the rest of the Sogmian race praying for their departed leader.
As Petyr drifted off into oblivion across the archilla rift, his only regret was his inability to make the right decision. Mankind had reached the beginning of the end. Petyr gnashed his teeth in pain and wept for eternity.
