Song of the Void

”Battles between psions when they come face to face can vary greatly depending on the specialties of the individuals in question. Some psions excel at close range combat, while others prefer the safety of bombarding their opponents from range. Some psions specialize in defense and using more conventional weapons to attack, while others rely almost entirely on their mental abilities. There are no right answers when it comes to such tactics, but there is one constant between these battles. Nearly every battle between psions is on a timer. Some battles are over in a second, but even if the fight drags on, it rarely lasts more than a minute. It’s almost a guarantee that the two combatants will try to enter the mind of their opponent, because that will more often than not quickly end the battle. So if a psion sucks at protecting their mind from intrusions, their only goal is to end the battle before their defenses are pierced, while those that excel with their mental abilities will often try to drag the fight on until they win by default.”

- High Ambassador of the Mrrroww

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Knowing that the fight might get out of hand, Selendil sent a silent psionic message straight to Moonshadow. “Take the two humans away and seek shelter. This might get a bit messy. Besides, it seems the hostilities inside are about to begin and I’m sure the two will appreciate any help you might provide. You can do it in a way that doesn’t negatively impact the reputation of the Mrrroww.”

As if to prove her words, a side of the building they had left just moments before was blown aside as two Deities crashed through the flimsy materials while stuck in close combat. At this distance, the others were not able to recognize the people involved, but Selendil could sense them to be one of the military Tetrarch's bodyguards and one of the Deities that had been supposedly protecting the celebrations. At the same moment, the void wraith used this slight distraction and dashed towards Selendil, crossing the distance between them in a fraction of a second.

Selendil had expected this and despite the speeds involved, to her, it seemed like the wraith was moving in slow motion. This was something the enemies of the Dhar never truly understood. Any Dhar warrior worth their weapons had at least some temporal abilities, or they would spend the rest of their life as a cannon fodder frontline soldier. Why the other races didn’t place a heavier emphasis on those abilities was a constant mystery to the Dhar.

The wraith had shed the old host body almost completely and now it looked like a purple husk radiating with power as it rushed her. Obviously, the wraith wanted to get close enough to take over Selendil’s body, but there would be no luck to be found on that front. One of the main reasons Keepers were so effective against the void entities was their immunity against such parasites. The Keepers already had the memories and knowledge of countless people inside them, so it was like a single person trying to wrestle down an army of a million people. That wasn’t the only reason Keepers were so effective, but it was a really obvious one.

Selendil noticed that the mad rush provided her with an opportunity though, and as the wraith got close, she grabbed it by the throat and suddenly flew straight upwards towards the empty sky. As the two made contact, the wraith roared in victory and tried to enter her body, only to fail miserably. It also realized immediately why it had failed. “No! This can’t be!” The wraith had bet everything on this moment of victory and now found out it had lost due to false assumptions.

The wraith wasn’t stupid enough to let the shock stop it from acting though, and it launched a blast of psionic energy powerful enough to disintegrate a large space ship at close range. Selendil deflected the blast to the side with almost insulting ease, and the unleashed energy crashed into the nearby ocean, instantly vaporizing enough water that the resulting flood created tsunamis in all directions. If they had harbored any ideas about keeping their battle a secret, now that possibility was thoroughly gone. That said, as soon as Moonshadow had pulled back, even the psions in orbit had felt the clash of their powers.

“My turn.” Selendil declared. Certain types of abilities worked better against the almost incorporeal wraiths. To be more specific, the wraiths were almost immune to pure physical attacks, and the only reason Selendil was managing to hold a grip on the being was because of the old host, and because her grip was infused with enough psionic power to pulverize a small mountain.

The sound of thunder boomed in the surroundings and every living being in a hundred-kilometer range could feel the increase of static electricity in the air. At the same time, the area immediately surrounding them was suffused with extreme heat and it suddenly seemed like the world around them was filled with lightning. Not a single bolt of lightning, but thousands of lances of energy exploding outwards, each thicker and longer than anything born naturally. Anyone looking at the explosion of energy straight on would’ve been blinded immediately. The worst of it was of course right at the center of the explosion, and the air inside that small space at the very heart had superheated to the point where even the heat-treated and metallic hulls of warships would’ve melted to slag in just the aftereffects of the attack.

The wraith wasn't about to give up though and actually managed to catch Selendil slightly by surprise with the method of attack it had chosen. It had reached out with its mind before and had found an unlikely ally. A fighter craft that had been patrolling around in the low orbit of the world had plunged straight towards them before the explosion of energy had gone off and what remained of the craft now suddenly crashed straight into them. Selendil wasn’t stupid enough to ignore the possibility of outside interference; this wasn’t her first battle after all, so her psionic shields had been up. The collision didn’t even affect her shield all that much, but the impact did cause the two of them to be blown apart for a brief moment.

The wraith tried to escape immediately, but with a glance from Selendil, hundreds of narrow hooks of psionic energy appeared and penetrated into the wraith. The hooks were connected to invisible chains of energy that held the wraith in place by pulling in all directions, quite literally nailing it in place. Selendil teleported right next to the wraith and grabbed what remained of the being once again.

The already tattered remains of the previous host had been completely destroyed at this point, and just the suffering wraith was left in Selendil’s grip. It looked vaguely humanoid thanks to its previous host, but otherwise it was a formless and featureless blob of power; a strange mix of corporeal and incorporeal, almost like a mix of gas and liquid. "Well, hello there," Selendil said with a tone that was both pleased and a little peeved at her slight slip up that allowed the wraith to try to escape. Not that it had any hopes of actually getting away, but it was the principle of things. Such oversights might prove fatal later on.

“Why? Why is one of your kind here?” The wraith demanded feebly. It had no mouth or vocal cords, and the speech was actually a mix of mental communication and the air being vibrated psionically.

“I could ask you the same thing. Why would one of our subordinate races have one of your kind imprisoned in a backwater galaxy like this?” Selendil shot back.

The wraith seemed to laugh, though it could’ve just been gurgling pained noises. It was hard to tell the difference. “I see you do not know, well I will not be providing you the answers you seek.”

“Oh, but I beg to differ. I will get my answers, one way or another. I’ll just have to rip them out of your mind if you’re feeling uncooperative.” Selendil declared and forced her way into the being’s mind before it could react.

She tried to grab everything she could before she felt the inevitable, which was the void entity igniting its remaining powers in order to self-destruct. As it would cause all of the wraiths stored power being unleashed in a final act of defiance, the resulting explosion would be large enough to render a significant portion of the continent uninhabitable. The explosion was meant to force Selendil to get away and break the connection and not cause general mayhem though. The wraith knew Selendil didn’t really care about the surroundings and wouldn’t have wasted its last powers in such a feeble way even if she did.

"I don't think so," Selendil grunted and used two of her abilities that she had personally developed. The first one completely shredded the mind of her target, which caused the wraith to be unable to resist anything she was doing. The second one froze all the power inside of her target, rendering it inert as it slowly and harmlessly dissipated into the surroundings. The combination of those two abilities was created for just such a situation, though it did have the unfortunate side-effect of destroying the mind of her target, making it impossible to get more information beyond the fragments that were left behind.

She had gained all she could, and she would need some time to put the fragmented pieces of information together to form a coherent whole. For now though, she would need to return. Her form shifted back to the Mrrroww one, as she had mostly turned into pure energy while fighting the wraith. The good news, or bad news depending on the perspective, was that her dress was in one piece as she had instinctively stored it as her form shifted in the middle of the battle. Maybe she could get away with damaging the dress while she flew, and then she could pretend it was damaged in the battle?

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Moonshadow moved around the two battling Deities, mostly because she still wasn’t sure who the other party represented. There were a surprisingly large number of such Deities present in this party, though the Tetrarchy was enormous and had enough people to produce a large number of Deities, even if they tended to be of lower strength. Returning her thoughts back to the subject, she was facing a dilemma. She was somewhat confident the void entity was not behind the attack, though it was hard to be sure. Beyond that, she only had educated guesses about the possible culprit. It would be hard to interfere when she didn’t know the identity or cause of the attackers.

She noted that some of the guests had tried to escape during the commotion, and she was considering how to proceed when she suddenly felt an explosion of power behind her. Everyone turned around in shock as the mere aftereffects were significant enough to be felt everywhere around the planet and in orbit. Even Leon and his father felt the waves of power, and they suddenly saw from the distance how something landed far away in the ocean. The resulting explosion caused more waves of power radiating outwards from the impact site and they were pretty sure there would be actual waves coming in later. “I’m guessing that’s the Grand Keeper, and whatever the heck that other thing was, duking it out?” Leon’s father asked rhetorically.

“Seems like a safe bet.” Moonshadow replied off-hand, and hastily threw up a screen of energy in front of the trio. They didn’t see anything except a flash of bright light, but the other guests stumbling around blinded was rather telling, and the following sound of thunder that reached them only a moment later was enough to cause most of them to scream in pain as the ground shook from the force of the blast.

“They’re not holding back are they?” Leon asked in shock while trying to regain his hearing. Everyone that had been outside was on the ground as if suffering from the effects of a stun grenade.

“Our family!” Leon’s father suddenly hissed. Neither of the others could actually hear what was being said, but they could figure it out as the man insistently pulled them towards the building that now had a large hole and several wide cracks in its side.

Moonshadow was the first to regain her hearing as her powers and the nanites in her body repaired any damage, and she could hear shots being fired inside the building. Apparently, the fight had moved from a standoff into a full-on battle. As they rushed in through the doors, they saw a very confusing situation. On one side of the room, the military Tetrarch was locked in a struggle of power with one of the attacking Deities, though it seemed like the attacker held the advantage. The Tetrarch was only a recent two halo Deity, while her opponent had a much firmer grasp on his powers. The Tetrarch’s other protector had erected a large shield of energy around a large portion of the guests while the supposed defenders of this party were firing their weapons into that shield. Many of the Tetrarch’s aides were returning fire and their shots had no trouble getting through and taking out several of the opponents.

On the other side of the room the situation was much more chaotic as some of the guards had taken some of the guests hostage, while some of the more proficient guests were locked in a close range clusterfuck of a melee with some of the attackers that had not been quick enough to bring their guns to bear. It seemed something had caused the hostiles to launch their attack early, which meant that the poison had not had time to take full effect. Still, most of the defenders were down and most of the guests were running around or cowering behind personal shields that protected them and their families for a short time. Some, of course, lay dead on the floor, though that held true for both sides.

"I see mother dearest is having fun," Leon commented as his mother tore through the armor of her opponent in a rather brutal show of savagery. His mother had never really explained what her time in the Psicom had been like, but it seemed that time had been less than gentle.

“I saw Heinrich fainted in the garden earlier. He was hidden behind some bushes so he should be fine for now. Your eldest brother is with the Tetrarch. Can you see your sister anywhere?” Leon’s father asked.

“Unfortunately. She’s one of the hostages those guards seem to be holding.” Leon pointed towards the messy melee, where his sister was being held at gunpoint by a screaming guard. That was also the direction his mother was moving towards.

Leon’s father looked towards Moonshadow. “Can you help us? They announced you as a Deity and judging by your companion, you could put an end to this very quickly.” He pleaded.

“I wouldn’t presume to claim to have the power of the Grand Keeper, but that’s more than this situation requires anyway. I would need to know who is attacking. This is the internal affairs of humans, and the Mrrroww can’t really be seen interfering without a good reason.” Moonshadow replied. She also silently thought that Selendil might actually be too powerful for such a delicate situation, so it might be better that she was not here.

She didn’t have to wait for a reply for long, as the military Tetrarch had noticed their entrance. The Tetrarch was worried about the explosion of power they had felt earlier, and while the walls had protected them from the worst effects, it had also provided them the opportunity to fight back. Most of her forces and the genuine protectors of this place had been poisoned somehow, but the loud sound and bright light had evened the odds a bit. One of the main enemy Deities leading the attack had been looking in the wrong direction when the bright explosion came and had been completely blinded. Showing a surprising amount of bravery, the civilian Tetrarch had used the opportunity to pull out a hidden weapon and had unloaded that weapon straight into the head of the almost paralyzed Deity standing right next to him, though it had cost the Tetrarch his life. That had been a sufficient distraction for her well-trained forces to relieve several attackers of their weapons, which were then turned on the remaining attackers.

The military Tetrarch sent a telepathic message to Moonshadow. “As the sole surviving Tetrarch of the upper Tetrarchy, I hereby formally request the aid and protection of the Mrrroww Deities present on the scene until help arrives. We will reward you handsomely and will shield you from any potential diplomatic fallout by calling it a request to help against acts of terrorism you were caught in. As you were no doubt wondering, these are the forces belonging to the lower Tetrarchy.”

Moonshadow realized the implications immediately. If both of the Tetrarchs of this half of the Tetrarchy were to suddenly perish in a terrorist attack, which could likely be pinned on any number of likely scapegoats with a bit of propaganda, it would be natural for the Tetrarchs of the other half to take over the rulership for a short time. Or so they would claim. Of course, they wouldn’t be very likely to relinquish that power later on, and if they also happened to supposedly win a victory against the Cybran at the same time…well nobody would really complain about the change in how things worked since they were not really affected.

In this case, the plan to pin the attack on some patsies would work in Moonshadow's favor. As the real culprits would never claim responsibility, no one would challenge her claim of simply defending herself from terrorists. And fighting a group of terrorists was not as much of a problem diplomatically as fighting against the official troops of the lower Tetrarchy. Thus she was free to act. She seemed to turn into nothing but shadow as she appeared right next to the Human Deity locked into combat with the military Tetrarch. Her claws seem to lengthen as they punched straight through the man’s ribcage, leaving him alive but only barely. The surprise attack had been perfectly executed.

Moonshadow’s gifts mostly tended towards hunting and assassination. She could hide herself and her powers extremely well, her senses were excellent, and she could execute powerful and fast attacks that went straight through most defenses. Then there was her ability to reflect the enemy’s attacks back, which was also a powerful technique when used in a correct circumstance. Say for instance when all the guns around her seemed to turn on her and the shots were reflected back towards the shooters, suddenly clearing out a large number of attackers.

Then she seemed to disappear again, and she appeared among the guards holding the hostages. Small but powerful bursts of power in the form of shadowy blades materialized around her and slashed at every guard in range. She had paid special attention to the one holding the relative of the two Humans she had accompanied earlier. These guards had been too busy to see what happened to their compatriots on the other side of the room, so they repeated the same mistake of all trying to shoot at the threat that suddenly appeared right next to them. The end result was also the same.

With two quick moves, the majority of the enemies inside had been disabled or killed. The battle outside also came to a sudden halt for some reason, and both combatants were unceremoniously tossed inside unconscious. Behind them, Selendil flew inside from the same hole the two Deities had been thrown through. “Everything under control Moonshadow?” Selendil asked while still levitating above the guests. Some of the remaining attackers made the mistake of trying to shoot at her, and suddenly found themselves bisected at the waist.

“Yeah, I think we’re done here. How about outside?” Moonshadow asked back in the common language that Selendil had also used. She realized this conversation was as much for the benefit of the Humans as to really relay what had happened.

“The enemy is no more, though I’m afraid there was some damage to the surroundings. I had to stop a rather large tsunami from making landfall as well, which took me a bit of time.” Selendil explained.

“Excuse me, but what was that outside? And what happened to my aide? I’ve never felt anything like what just happened.” The military Tetrarch asked. If she wasn’t so pissed at the attackers, she would be even more in awe of what had occurred outside.

“I’m afraid I have bad news about your aide. She fell in the first attack of the enemy. As for what happened, there were enemies, we battled, and I won. Who they were is a good question, but not really my problem. They attacked me first, so I repaid the favor. It might have been connected with what happened in here, though I wouldn’t know. If I were you though, I would worry about that later. You have dead and wounded all over, and I’m guessing these are not the sort of people you want to leave waiting. Besides, there might still be enemies around.” Selendil deflected, avoiding further questions for now.

The Tetrarch was extremely curious about the battle outside but knew the Mrrroww psion was right. This was an unmitigated disaster, though one that could be turned into an opportunity if handled properly. "I would like to request the esteemed Mrrroww to stay on the planet for a few more days so we can talk.” She made her request before leaving to deal with the mess.

“Forget all that.” Moonshadow said in a grim voice. “What happened to your dress?”

The garment in question had a few rather large gashes in it. Nothing that really made it fall apart, but enough to make it unsuitable to be used again. “What do you mean? I was just in a battle. I’ll have you know the bastard actually dropped a ship from orbit on me.” Selendil argued innocently.

“Bull. We both know the wraith could’ve dropped a star on you and you would be fine.” Moonshadow’s eyes narrowed. “Those gashes also seem rather conveniently placed and I can’t see any dirt on the dress. It’s almost as if the damage was self-inflicted.”

“Oh hey look, it’s those two Humans we were talking to earlier! We should check up on them!” Selendil quickly changed the subject and dashed away.

“Hey! This isn’t over yet!” Moonshadow threatened, but decided to let it slide. She knew an obvious dodge when she saw one, and realized this joke had been played as far as it would go.