Chapter 24 – Ascent

 

Thatti sat at in her classroom, a Glitterkiss hopeful. The assignment was to write on someone she admired and respected.

My mother is the Domina. That means she represents the Flora church and has final say in matters of governing, religion and military. She is an interstellar

traveler and a galactic conqueror. She’s seen more of the universe than any person in Orchid. She’s been to more planets and gone deeper in the cosmos than the most celebrated galactic heroes or Flora saints. She achieved the rank of Domina

younger than any other in history. Yet, she’s got more experience than I do, even when she was my age. She’s fought more battles than anyone. She’s killed more challengers to her throne than anyone before her. She’s seen things beyond any

comprehension. This experience, is the reason she runs the universe, she wants to educate my generation into the best of Orchid’s girls so they’ll be ready to take the next step.

One day, I want to be just like her. Undefeatable.

 

Present

 

The Domina’s slain body stunned the entire audience, the silence only broken by what appeared to be two siblings attacking each other for what most assumed was an immediate power struggle. Nathan and Thatti’s weapon’s clashed. The blinding brilliance from the edge of his blade drove in his determination, against the sinister scorn behind her obsidian wand powered by pure desperation. “Why? WHY?” She yelled, the girl within Thatti’s body could never think of nothing else but the boy behind Nathan’s, the boy she’d loved. The two came alive as they met each other’s eyes. “Thatti.. you’ve grown.” With a downwards thrust, the strength of his swing grew and she lost her grip, Thatti being launched far off until she went sputtering far outside the colosseum.

Lyra’s body laid motionless for a moment. The spectacle froze the audience as she laid decapitated, her head a foot from her own body. The head twitched, like an animal caught in the forest and springing to life in the throes of a virulent predator. The two ends of her spine extended, nerve fibers and organic cords wriggling out, ebbing and waving until they found the visceral meat of the neck, knotting into it and slowly pulling the mass back in part. When the Domina felt electrical transmissions firing at full speed, she wrenched control of her arms and slowly reached for her scalp, pressing her had back down and reattaching slowly. Before she could regain her momentum, a blade stabbed into her neck, her eyes turning to see Nathan standing above her. “Yeah, didn’t think that would do it.” He coughed continually, spurts of blood trickling down his mouth in vermillion trails. The aches and pains all across his body, he appeared as if he were on the verge of collapse any moment.

“Am I supposed to be impressed by this farce?” Lyras glared at her son bitterly. “You’re far

closer to death’s door than I am. Whatever trick you pulled to obtain that power.. it seems it won’t hold you another second.”

"You don't have to waste your breath." He panted, his body trembling. "It's already over." “What?” The Domina laughed. “The heir is a cripple who is too weak to stand against his mother? You call that a victory?” “Shut up, mother.” He said. He grabbed the Domina's neck and slammed her head into the ground. "Let's not play games anymore. I’m not children anymore."

“You’re still a mere boy, playing at this grown-up game you can’t possibly hope to win. So what, you'll die here and surrender the right to your heritage?" She asked, the spikes on her chestplate protruding at a slight angle, her armor slowly beginning to shatter and fall apart. "You know I can kill you whenever I want."

“Not once I take thy head back off.” Nathan boasted. The boy was tired, his body beginning to feel more sluggish by the second “You’re weak. You can’t possibly think that you could beat me.” She said, looking up. “I won’t stand for you killing me. I won’t! I won’t give you my heart! A mere boy like you can’t take what belongs to a women.”

“It’s not your heart I’m after.” His hand began to turn a searing red, courting with the power of Drive. He slowly pulled his own armor’s chestplates off, revealing 5 colored stones embedded near his own heart in an iron cast, heavy black veins where the cast was sculpted into his own collarbones, neck and frame. A single empty, concave slot was left along his left shoulder. Below his mid-section, Lyras could see what looked like 3 golden shards, smaller but brighter than even the stones, they were latched into his flesh. “To perfect this weapon, we needed a stabilizing force, and a little juice. The 6th Augurium.. I learned from a certain woman in the Hex church about them, and she suspected where the last might be.” With a bloody thrust, he stabbed into her chest with his arm, pulling around until he found a hard sphere. He pulled back, yanking against flesh and sinew that stretched and clung on as if clasping a last grasp of hope, a futile gamble as he removed the stone out.

“Say goodbye to the Domina seat, Lyras Nezura.” She looked at him, blood gushing from her chest. Nathan smiled, placing the bloody stone into the last slot. When he finished, Dark Density’s riotous engines and smokes took a measure of calm, his body illuminating like a supernova. Nathan placed a hand on his chest, his body's energies roaring to life as all across him he was a living, throbbing sun. The light from him blinded all in attendance with is dazzling brilliance. He raised his blade again. “Cheeky brat.” Lyras scoffed. The red of his armored hands began to spread through the katana he held.

“Consider Orchid liberated, mother.” With a swing, he swiped through her neck- this time cutting through her wrists like butter, sending her head rolling high. He cut through every one of her arms after until her body was limbless, then severed her midsection from the body’s power half for good measure, as if directly cutting through the strenuous despotism of Orchid itself.

He turned his attention to the scaffold, the power of Pulse slowly levitating him upwards against gravity itself, propelling him against the forces that would weigh him down. He flew upwards and then down, 8 colored orbs rotating behind him, 8 armored arms clasped in 4 positions of prayer. The BLF members looked at him with vigor.

“Nathan, my boy! I knew you could do it!” Councilmen Seth cried out. “Come free us,

then we’ll crush the women of this world!” He wriggled and screamed with delight.

Nathan smiled. “You think I care about your freedom? Why don’t you all do me a favor and die okay?” He smirked as he slowly began to turn away.

“W-what?! You brat, let us DOWN!” Seth screamed. “You traitor!” “Enough with jokes!” Matt and Trey cried out. Jack appeared behind the 3, crowbar in hand with a wily smile.

“We are not the same. Starting my rule by slaughtering women? By deeming them less, subjugating them? I loathe to imagine what ideals you and your disgusting organization would enact. This world has no place for those that would curse women.” He began flying away as Jack struck them down, blood splashing about. He ignored their pitiful cries as he flew away.

“I have no further need to cast myself with your lot.” He turned to the crowd. “Let it not be so! The people of Orchid deserve freedom! Men, women, gems! From the tallest growing plant to the lowliest born of mud, even migrant Set. We have been trapped within this mad woman’s delusions! Our world has been in shackles of hated and division for far too long, perpetuated by that woman!” The man cried out. “The Domina, my mother. She ruled through fear, but I will rule with unity. It’s time to unite every soul in Orchid under one garden!” He declared, to the murmurs and surprise of the audience. When he had their attention, his oration continued.

“My mother was cruel. She held our people under subjugation, a reign of hatred, lust, and greed. The people have suffered under her cruelty, in her name. We have seen war. But we will change that. Together, we will change this world.” His hands moved theatrically, as if conducting the hearts of the crowd. “The people of Orchid shall unite our garden, as our ancestors did. I have long desired a world free of Domina's, but the world I wish to rule is not a world where women are oppressed. I am well aware that women must take responsibility for the pain caused by the oppression, but that must not involve subjugating or enslaving them in turn. In love and patriotism, we are all equal, our hearts are as one.” He looked out at Astrid, who was eyeing him with prideful tears in her eye. “I want to establish a world where everyone is free. A world where there is neither Domina, not flower nor bug, boy nor Gem. A world of absolute justice and equality. A world where people like me, and everyone can find salvation. A world of perfect freedom.”

From the crowd, Megumi watched with the winds of Prospit blowing her hair. She was never fond of Domina’s. She didn’t suspect she’d be real fond of this one. The idea of joining the liberation movement did occur to her once, her sympathies for the lesser folk had grown since her time back with the living. Seeing Jack rapidly butcher the remains of the 3 BLF leaders gave her a sense of unease.

But she felt something when she saw Nathan win. She felt her blood race with anticipation at the boy’s speech. She felt her heart soar in a mix of excitement and pride. How many times had she listened to the tales of a world free of Domina’s, a world where both sexes worked in peace? To see that dream manifest, so soon and so rapidly- it was a dream she couldn’t help but yearn for, even though she knew its impossibility. She felt uneasy when her eyes crossed with Astrid’s. She couldn’t tell if it was her own feelings coming through. But it felt- too familiar to be anything else. Veena came behind her and put her hand on her shoulder.

“Stunning, isn’t it? I knew I backed the right horse.” She looked as Jack held up Seth’s head like a trophy. “Shame about those, Boy’s Idiotation Front. It was a bet for sure, but as for him?” She pointed to her nephew. “My sister was naive, just like her daughter. She thought like a moron Thatti would sit on her seat someday. But when I found Nathan as a young boy, you better believe I could sense that spark in his eyes. A real jewel. The dog in that one..”

Megumi looked at her with disgust. “You’re a special kind of asshole. The kind that only care about yourself.”

“Says the girl who lost her entire church when sis came in charge. And you know a little secret?” She leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Psst. I was the one who advised her to shut your chapter down, I helped make it happen. She needed a reason, I made sure it was easy to see. What you see here is the result of her madness, her hate. And I got the most out of it. I'm here, she's dead, he's got the seat. And guess what? It’s thanks to smart woman like us who know how to get what we want.” She kissed Megumi’s cheeks and then twisted her head towards the boy below, the crowd now cheering for Nathan. “Lyras was a good stooge. He’ll be a good stooge, maybe an even better one. Family always makes the best business partners. You should buy me a drink, try me out in bed, start a family with me sometime. You’d be surprised, you might like it?” She took out a bottle of expensive wine, took a long swig and then decanted the rest on Megumi’s head until she was soaking wet with alcohol. The cold tawny liquid ran down her hair and head, leaving her shivering. Then Veena smashed the bottle on the audience handles, as if breaking in a new virgin ship at sea.

“Consider my offer. Later meggers..” And walked off. Astrid paid her and Megumi no mind, completely infatuated with Nathan at the moment.

Nathan turned around, he saw 7 figures jump out of the audience, gems in black cloaks.

They jumped, throwing out spears and lightning at him and driving him back. Thatti's projected sword came out of nowhere, a shadow of a blade that came out of nowhere, his hand barely catching it before it cut his throat in half. He grabbed the hilt and the blade, pushed it back and began to slowly back up from her, the girl’s uneasy gaze upon her. She leaned over and insect wings began flapping out of her back, crystalline energy coating them in geometrical patterns.

"We are the 7 Nightslayers. And by Black Diamond’s decree, we sentence your execution." The 7 members of Black Diamond’s court spoke in unison.

"Black Diamond..." Nathan began, slowly advancing back as the 7 approached, the 8 colored lights behind him slowly shrinking. "I have no quarrel with you, Xi or gems. Why would you want my head?” He asked. “Join me, and all gems in Orchid shall be free!” He hoped his message reached them. The black Petal stepped forward. “That’s what we cannot allow.”

He looked up at the sky. “I only want to break free from everything that binds us, be it flesh or mind. Spears, kings, gods.” And pointed his katana at them. “Freedom true to my soul. No more chains.” He began levitating against gravity. “Stop!” They yelled, shapeshifting and growing angelic wings. “Never.” He accelerated upwards, the 7 pursuing. Thatti- no, Becca looked incredulous, and with a hearty sigh began to beat her wings. “Once again, I’m following behind you and saving your ass, huh Goliath.”

High above the colosseum, the assassins made their pursuit. “GOLIATH!” Becca cried out, her back flying from sweeping black crystal wings created by her wand, she turned off her bracelet and undid her disguise. “It’s ME!” She trailed behind him. The girl looked like a dark crow flying high in the air in pursuit of a crimson and black knight.

“Becca?” Nathan asked. “Tell Thatti to leave Orchid, go back to school. The revolution won’t be safe yet.”

“W-what?! Are you crazy?” She said. “Thatti’s gone! You killed her!” “Lies!” He turned around, flying upside down, his blade pointed at her.

“You died, remember! You were never ever, this.” She yelled, his eyes still cold. “And, now you’re an enemy of everyone. You have to end your pitiful revolution.” She offered out her hand to him. “No! The voice in my head is telling me I must make things right, I’ll undo millennia of oppression.” Determination returned to his eyes. “Sovereign by Might!” He declared.

 

“God, did my spell screwup your head this bad? What the fuck are you on?” Becca yelled back. The assassins drew close, Becca darted amidst the pandemonium, her wand swirling and morphing between a crackling energy whip to a shimmering sword. Each blast the Peridot fired nearby carved burning lines in the sky through the air toward the gems surrounding Nathan.

She flew around him and cut through a shot, Nathan cutting the other. “You have to quit this Domina nonsense right now, or they’re going to kill you!” She looked at him furious. “And if they don’t, goddamn it I just might!” Holly Blue flew around him and launched her whip around his arm, yanking him towards her. He responded by flying into her chest and stabbing her shoulder. Becca tried to reach him again. She screamed, not in fear, but pure desperation, "Nathan, did you know who I was? Goliath Nezra, I was your friend Becca! Remember!

GOLIATH!" A midnight dark Lake circled like a raven, her onyx wings spread wide. She unleashed a torrent of watery spears, Becca blocked them with a crystalline prism her hand created.

"SILENCE!" he hollered, voice tinged with an alien resonance, "I was the rightful heir! I beat the Domina, that makes me, Nathan, the new Domina!" He shouted. “What right does a wand have speaking to me this way? Did Thatti approve of this?” The second Ruby pounced, a fiery axe cleaving the air. Becca deflected it with her crystal sword, her own body alight with energy counterattacks. But her voice trembled now, desperate, "Nathan, listen to me. Thatti is GONE!” Black Quartz charged from above, two spectral lances drawn. Nathan pivoted, meeting her with a clash that vibrated through the very air. "You killed her, and then I erased her from your mind, did you think I'd just disappear after?" Becca shouted, struggling against Petal's onslaught. “You.. need to remember!”

Her words seemed to pierce him, however briefly. His eyes flickered with confusion as the gems closed in again. She flew to his backside, the two looking at the assassins. Lake reformed her watery spears, Holly Blue's whip sizzled back to life, and the Ruby spun her axe, flames licking at its blade. The boy clutches his head for a moment. "He's faltering! Now!" Black Petal's command echoed above the skyline.

He soared upwards into the night. Becca was a whirlwind around him, wand’s energy

flickering between lashing whip and blazing shield. "Nathan, they'll kill you! You have to quit, run away!" He slashed at a Ruby hurtling towards him. "Run away? This is my destiny! I shall be Domina!" The gems all converged at once. "No!" she screamed, the word a raw cry tearing loose from her throat.

Something snapped within her. A surge of power unlike anything she'd felt before coursed through her veins. The wand pulsed, then expanded, sharp shard-like fragments swirling into a blinding maelstrom all around her arm, dark obsidian latexy armor like a carapace growing on half of Becca’s body. When the light faded, she was changed, one of her eyes turning pure black. No longer a girl, but a being of pure, incandescent fury. "You will NOT touch him," her voice boomed, the air around her vibrating. “He doesn’t get to die before I’ve beaten some sense into his stupid ass!”

A wave of crystals blasted outward from her palm, soaring like meteors and sending the Nightslayers tumbling away. Nathan, still ensnared, looked at her with awestruck horror. "R- Becca?" he choked out, the name barely a whisper. His head had begun to pang, he wrenched, he felt as if something in his mind was breaking, a frozen damn thawing and slowly readying to break loose hell. "Tssk. I'll cut down every goddamn one of you just to get through to you, Goliath!" Becca squeezed her fist, spikes out her shoulders growing higher and higher. “And I will free you from this world of delusion.” She cried out, with a smile.

They all converged, illuminating the sky.

 

Far below on the ground, the participants couldn't make out the collisions taking place above. Jack picked up Astrid's body and began slowly carrying her out the colosseum. Jel, Caleb and Veronica stood watching smoke and debris was falling below. The crowd below screamed in terror as the nearby ships of the Holy Armada began to approach, firing missiles upon the combatants to quell the unrest, maybe of their shots exploding nearby the colosseum. "We need to get out of here, now! Scadoosh!" Jel cried. They began running through, Caleb almost tripping when he nearly tripped on a head. "W-what?" He looked down, the late Domina looking up at him, blood dripping from her mouth and forehead. Her eyes turned, almost scaring him half to death. "AAAaaHHH. YOU'RE ALIVE?" He shouted.

"As if something as insignificant as that would kill me, my son's slave." She told him. "Pick me up, I'll guide you towards the Holy shuttle." Lyras ordered. The 3 teens looked at each other.

"We're heading back to Xi, this is crazy!" He told her. “The BLF can be crushed, this war can be won, it’s already started, boy. We can’t let the new Domina take this world.” She yelled. "Why are those ships firing down at us?!?" Veronica asked.

"I ordered them to prior, in the impossible case that I don't defeat my challenger.

Consider it a last second welcome gift to the victor." "Sounds pretty petty." Jel remarked.

She then looked at the Llavalite with a sinister smile, "It is, but you cannot understand a woman like me." Lyras replied. The kids ran out the field, into the halls and soon with her onto a

ship, leaving a mess behind, her voice screeching out a final order to her guards and soldiers.

 

"ATTACK!" Lyras screamed.

 

Rava looked up above the sky. "You heard her! Call all units throughout Prospit." "And Derse?" A guard asked. "Those lily eyed greenfoots won't make it, just fire and send everyone we've got! He’s trying to usurp the Domina! Don’t let that executor escape!"

Nathan far above was pinned in a vice of crystal and iron, Becca's black obsidian crystal bladed body holding his wounded arms outstretched, the two of them a blur as they battled the Nightslayers. Becca stopped and turned her glare on the encroaching ships and armored guards, mechanical, metallic pegasi-like riders carrying them. She looked at Nathan's eyes, the growing obsidian black crystal mask melting away like clay and revealing her face.

"You're the one who made me... like this, right?" He cried out, tears running down his face. “I’m sorry, I-” Becca was interrupted by missiles firing their way. "I panicked, I didn't know what to do. I still don't." She aimed her wand at the missiles, conjuring gigantic monoliths to block their path, smashing them. Her hand flared with energy, black spires growing around her. The two Rubys attempted to throw their axes at his head. With a wave of her arm the spires erupted into a blast that knocked the both of them far away.

"Nathan! Goliath!" She screamed, "WHOEVER YOU ARE RIGHT NOW- WE NEED TO GO!" She yelled. She looked up at the sky, the warships descending from above. The new Domina's eyes sparkled as he began to shape his hands into a crescent shape. His armor began to glow, and when he opened his hands outward, his Katana split, two huge blades of energy were revealed. "This is just what I trained for. Survive, or perish. The strong against the weak, the sinners against the light." A mark on his head shaped like an upside down star began to appear, tattoos of chains spreading throughout his face. She watched as his body started to flicker and he sped up, zooming rapidly towards the ships, running his blades through their hauls. "Stop. STOP!" Becca yelled, watching the ships explode one by one as he bounced between them. “This... this is not you!” She yelled. But then she saw his expression, she saw what she’d missed the first time. “Goliath… why are you doing this…”

 

She looked up and saw him accelerate faster and faster, with a smile. "Goliath... no..." she yelled, her own obsidian armor getting thicker and thicker as the wand consumed her body.

She flew after him, blasts of crystal exploding and shielding around her as the gems gave chase. The Lake came and began to gather water from the atmosphere, starting an entire typhoon she had to dodge. The Quartz and Maismas fired their lances and axes like meteors, and Peridot launched lasers that struck through the sky like comets. She kept firing her wand's weapons and protecting herself as they all charged up. A crystal shield she projected sparked as it was pushed back, sending her flying towards Nathan until they were cornered again. Even the usurper appeared out of breath, his forehead glistening with sweat.

"Why are you- no... why are YOU trying to protect me?!" He said, tears falling down his face. She looked at him, her chest heaving and her throat raw from screaming.

"Because you are the best..." she whispered, sniffling with a soreness to her voice. “Or worst. I’m not really sure goddamn it.”

"I'll burn this world to the ground if I have to." He said. Her brows furrowed. "Then we'll have to dance in the sky."

They locked eyes, and then turned to their opponents. The crystals forming back on her face. She leaped up and clashed blades with the Ruby gems, the energy of both weapons exploding outward. She turned around and slashed at Lake, sending her into the air, but she was swarmed by the typhoon she created.

"NATHAN!" The BLF members shouted from various starships, which locked in a firefight with the Holy armada. "That’s the Domina’s daughter, the next of kin! Kill her! Show the world it's boys time to reign!" Their speakers announced.

The gems around them were relentless, but she kept on, firing shot after shot with crystal shards forming in her hand. In a brief lull she turned to Nathan and asked "Why?" With a final burst of her wand, she created a wall of crystal, stopping the typhoon in the air for a moment.

Nathan flew away from the BLF starships. "I would never betray Thatti." He shuttered, the vanity cut through by coursing memories and recollections that were threatening to break through. His mind began to clutch, everything spinning at once. "It's what's right. A new world..."

Becca took notice, and went over to grab his hands and put her head towards his. She squeezed. "I'm with you!" She sobbed.

"I'll erase the past, remake the world, make everything right, for all." He smiled, as he felt a new strength coursing through him. "NO!" She slammed her forehead into his. "Stop it, STOP! Shutup with all this new world order shit! What about Goliath? The man that loves me?" She screamed. "Goliath. I love you." She muttered, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Let go of my hand!" He ordered, feeling the same strength he felt when the Domina had clutched him. A surge of power. She clung harder, trying to pull the man she knew out. "You have to remember, you're not Nathan. You're Goliath, GOLIATH NEZRA! COME BACK COME BACK COME BACK!”

She cried out.

"Nathan Nezura, the new Domina!"

He shouted back, a voice that wasn't his, memories confused.

 

She slapped him repeatedly, crying hysterically.

“WAKE UP ALREADY AND REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!”

"The new world." He said. “The new world...”

She looked at his eyes and her heart stopped. "GOLIATH!" She shouted. "NATHAN!" He shouted back.

"GOLIATHDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!" She screamed, struggling against the hold he had on her, Nathan Nezra's strength. The Domina's strength. The boy's own power rising up, a cold, distant look to his eyes. "D-Goliath." Becca cried in the midst of everything.

"Please. I cannot lose you again, not after last time." She remembered their final heist.

The boy she sought, losing his mind, his psyche crumbling right before her eyes, sanity pleading for the end. "Come back to me. I want to save you, but I can't force my way in. You'll have to escape on your own." She remembered the boy she'd loved, who'd died and returned.

"Please."

He looked down, his hand clutching his forehead. She released her grip on his arm. If Goliath's soul was truly within him, she wanted to know.

Everything for the boy seemed to slow to an empty nothingness, a retreat from all sense.

His world inverted as everything seemed to be a blur around him. In the nothing, something deep inside, a lone spark buried in the depths began to rise, a call to something. Everything became clear as he saw what it was. And then his whole world lit up. The glowing chain-tattoos on his skin began to recede and pentagram faded away until he was baresmooth once more.

He recalled it all.

"I... remember." He whispered, looking at the girl's face. Images, people, Nightcity, a single name....................... Everything came rearing back into his mind, the consciousness of Goliath

Nezra subsuming control once again. Nathan became a footnote in the back of his mind.

"I remember... everything."

She gave a faint smile, the light that came to his eyes. A flicker of hope returned. He remembered her true face.

 

"Wait for me… Lucy." He whispered.

Her smile broke completely. That hope shattered with just a single word. She looked into his eyes. "Goliath....... ?" She said.

 

He gripped his sword, the orbs in back of him growing in size and intensity, the device around his hip revving up. And then she realized she'd made a terrible mistake. “Lucy.” He said, his blade coming down to strike her. Her crystallized arm and wand moved to block, the shimmering black offering only milliseconds of resistance, too slow and too feeble, before his sword penetrated, breaking her blade and arm, cracking through her wrist as it did. She looked down, her hand holding the weapon, her face melting with horror, all the hard spiky armor from the wand dissipating. At once, cracks from her cut wrist were spreading up her shoulder in an ear-piercing shatter as it continued through her flesh. Her wand, the gift from Black Diamond crumbled like dust in the wind, taking with it the shattered crystallized form of her limb, and everything beneath it, returning them all to void.

She fell back, eyes darting terrified. Her entire arm was completely gone. Obliterated.

His sword continued its course, tearing through her torso, the wound growing larger and larger as the sword cleaved, the blade slicing through her like a hot knife through butter, her eyes slowly closing as her body fell. Becca screamed, the wound growing in size. The only thing keeping her afloat and flying were the translucent black crystalline wings on her back,

holding her away from Prospit’s lunar gravity. He retreated his blade and turned around, leaving her devastated. "I'll meet you in another life." He said, before turning around towards the assassins, the ships, the guards and rabble flying high against him. "I'll beat everything down. They'll know. Bring’em." She looked at him, horrified and in the end, in sorrow. "Goliath. If this is really you Nezra... why?"

 

Cascade

He flew towards the Lake, her massive cyclone of water turning to a million spears and flying towards him. “I’m going to make it all better. I’m going to make it all right.” He told himself, body beginning to flicker blue against the sea of crystal. Time slowed and stopped, just like it had so long ago - the feeling of his sandevistan cascade-powered implant without the drawbacks, he reached her before she even knew he was behind. His blade struck out past her gem, cutting out her gem in two, the Lake’s body shattering as she fell.

HyMn

Next he turned around, the Holly Blue stood atop one of the Holy Ships, whipcracking it as she watched it fire explosives out. He began to shriek, the soundwaves distorting the path of the rockets swerving in a full 180 degrees at the sound of his voice and hitting the very ships they fired out of. While the Holly Blue leapt back, her gem shattered when he appeared behind and cut it in half effortlessly. Becca started flying towards him, holding her stubby bleeding shoulder while desperation propelled her. “Stop, STOP THIS!”

Link

The two Ruby's came at him next, he wriggled out one of his hands- the fingers creating threads which began controlling the two. They slammed their axes into the other's gems shattering both.

Pact

 

His head turned to the sky, his body moving on its own to unleash a wave of light that erased the other gem from the air, the Quartz soldier caught in the beam and blown to fragments. Astrid's ability. Becca kept making chase, failing to catch up to him. “GOLIATH!” When several other ships arrived, he stuck his hands out and long, mile-length metallic chains began to form from his arms and extend outwards, wrapping into the ships. With a powerful heave, he yanked them off course and began to crash them into one another, the cataclysm spreading like dominos as others just arriving were caught in the chaotic traffic into a full on wreckage.

Drive

The boy turned around seeing the Peridot tapping something on their holoscreen, suddenly ship in the sky found themselves losing control. Coordinated by their hacking, their shots fired at once. Goliath's power kicked in and he rapidly swerved and dodged the onslaught, returning with his sword's tip poking one battleship in the sky after the next, each one beginning to fall apart.

Rot

His powered hand held out as it flared, and one missile was launched feet from his face into another, exploding in a massive blast. He sped towards the peridot, stuck the tip of his sword against the Peridot's head leaving a scrape. The wound multiplied, like a spreading infection completely turning their silicone body into a full on spread of destruction. She struggled against this spreading disintegration to no avail, looking terrified as she shattered apart.

The last of his assassins, Petal's speared blade met Goliath's. With a pointed drag of his fingers, the BLF's armies were wiped away from his scintillating light, the Holy Armada turned, fleeing from the battlefield. An arm pressed two fingers in the shape of a 'V' at Petal, she looked up at the sky, seeing the BLF's last retreating warship. With a powerful concentration of Pulse, the mass of the atmosphere began to suction into a small core which increased its mass rapidly and shrunk its size proportionately.

The density reached critical mass until a singularity was created, a pure well of spherical gravity that began to suck everything into its doom. The Petal struggled as they felt themselves sucked towards it, the warship heading toward Goliath swerved towards her instead. He flew back. His hand turned to her head, a single motion pushing her towards the ship which ran over her, he stabbed it and it exploded as his katana ran through it. It was wiped out with a flash of light, the black Petal's body crumpled in the implosion. The entire ship then bent in half at its midsection and its metal started to tear, every part of it disassembling while it passed the singularity and falling into the dark depths of nothingness inside. Becca could only watch as the gem of the former Petal and the ship were crushed inside the gravity well Goliath created.

Writ

 

He was about to continue his assault when his attention was caught by one ship heading to the ground. The Holy Armada, survivors from the war's opening battle. Soldiers of the former Domina, survivors of his own attack. His body quivered and he turned, a series of words and tattoos appearing around him and his armor, powering his abilities until he felt unstoppable, as if fate itself had blessed him. He felt it then, the rage, the cold, distant, calculating. The one that sought to erase everyone and everything. The boy remembered the

cold voice that had returned when he’d remembered. He remembered what he’d been told. The words of the devil in his head had echoed over and over again.

He was to purge all of his own mistakes and flaws, to start anew.

Goliath began to fly rapidly speedily towards the chain of Prospit. Becca, still distraught by the aftermath of their battle flew as fast as possible towards him, barely able to catch wind with his Drive. In an instant he appeared before her, his arm grabbing at her. "Goliath, that's enough!"

"Did you forget where we are?" He said, glancing down at the chain, "Might is Orchid's founding principal. One only justifies their purpose by the advent of violence and possessing the most of it. If they cannot survive, they're weak, nothing else. The former Domina MADE them weak. I'll bring strength back to this world. I'll show them paradise. No more cowards here. The world needs to return to ash, so the flames can burn brighter and higher and spark life back into it."

She began to weep, "You can't... you'll be remembered as the... the one who wiped everyone away." He took one last look, feeling as if he was about to regret his actions.

"Goliath, wait...!" She pleaded, tears flowing from her eyes. "You have to stop this. Come back with me. Just.. forget everything you've done." She said, pleading to him with one less an arm.

The boy turned back to her. "Forget?" He said, pausing coldly. His glare at her was filled with hatred, before his eyes drifted away. "I won't forget. It's time to remind them. I am the new order."

She stood there, unable to respond, his voice echoing through her ears as the world was turned on its head. His lips were frozen into a cold smile. He raised his sword and looked at her, his body becoming a blur until he dissipated in her wake. The next thing she saw was his slash blinding the night, cutting the golden chain which held Prospit's world in its orbit. The greater moon became detached slowly. Goliath held his hand out, utilizing the last power at his disposal, creating a massive translucent sphere of gravity that grew larger and larger, until it enveloped the entire moon in a torus. "Pulse Nova." He said.

The sky above and below blazed into a massive white light. Prospit burst into flames as it descended, being dragged onto the surface of Gaia below. The planet below quaked as it was being dragged to its death by the mass of the moon, an inferno enveloping it. Becca could only watch, as the entire world was about to end in an orgy of flames. Death from above. The moon was descending, to end everything. She tried to scream out, her words emptying into the void. A silence heard by nobody in the perishing everlasting night. The planet cracked, not since it took an impact from the Vexia Seed had it shuddered so terribly as the moon crashed into it, burning within thousands of miles on one of it’s continents away. From the opposite of the planet, the fleeing ship containing Caleb, Jel, Veronica Lyras watched the night turn into day as a corner of the world became a blinding light, then a smoking plume. Jetti flew down and with a powerful spell from Spirit, destroyed the massive debris heading for Caleb’s ship. When the crash was done, the world went from an insidious inferno to a cold deathly silence.

Everything within Prospit was gone, a halo trail of light extending for thousands of miles above Gaia from its ashes into the night above.

Becca could only look on, her face an endless silent cry of agony. The world burned. Like a pyre festivity to tyranny.

 

A long time ago

Goliath and Becca stood out a tall building, its neon lights blinking nearby a billboard of a sultry woman sipping some beverage in the backdrop. The Data Operand center was one of the highest points in their sector- and it paled by hundreds of floors to the Arasaka headquarters that could be seen over the skyline ahead. The smell of blood and gunsmoke had left them behind with their entry into the open air, looking over the platform, held by shaky out-of-code cables, the type cleaners used to scrape grime out of the crystalline windowsills. Goliath, having finished their recent job swung the cables back and forth like a swing. As the platform rocked further and further, he looked up at Arasaka with awe, as if wondering if he could swing it high enough to reach the pinnacle of NeoCity. “Quit it!” Becca stomped on his foot teasingly. “You’re gonna get us thrown off, geez.” She said with a huff. Goliath laughed.

“So you’re scared now.” He said, looking at her playfully. “W-what? No I’m not, shutup.” “You’re the only one who can see Arasaka these days, anyway.” Becca rolled her eyes. “Kiwi and Maine are still missing from that last mission, it’s been weeks. What are we going to do?” She asked, pulling Goliath up off the platform to make her point. “Whatever it takes, that’s what. We’re gonna find them.” Goliath replied, pulling her in for a long kiss that seemed to last forever to Becca. “Besides, is it really so surprising? They pull stunts like that all the time, and we always hook back up.”

“Yeah.. I guess you’re right.” Becca sighed, sitting on the platform edge and taking out a pair of cold beers. She cracked one open and tossed the other to Goliath, soon the duo were drinking stale alcohol over the sunset. Goliath looked at the corporate tower far in the distance one last time with applaud. “What do you think it’s like up there? Up there… at the top?” He asked.

Becca scratched her head. “Wuh, on Arasaka? Who cares about that? The real power is over on the streets, not in the sky.” Goliath laughed and poked her ribs. “Come on, what would you do if you could go up there? What do you think happens behind those doors?” “Not interested, I’m not rich and I don’t wanna be stuck behind a desk all day.”

Goliath stood up, eyeing the highest part of the building he could as daylight’s ambient orange and purple glow became a nightly cobalt cloak upon the world. The day faded to evening and the advent of the stars twinkled upon them, shining just for two. He embraced the night and threw his hands out. “I wanna know what the view is like up there..”

When Becca looked up at his eyes, she didn’t see vision that saw her. She saw what looked like a brimming, deep lust for the stars. To her, it almost seemed like madness.

“All the way to the top.” He told her.

Present

 

Goliath gave one last look at Becca, noticing the tears in her eyes. He put away his sword and offered out his hand to her.

“We made it.. we’re finally here Becca!” He threw his arms out in midair, she could see Gaia burning behind him. The smoke plume so high, it seemed to eclipse the mountains and clouds and blot out the stars for the inhabitants below, she could practically feel the screams of the damned in his immortal smile.

"Come with me, join me. We can be happy, together, we'll make those dreams of yours a reality." He said. “I want to take you with me. You, me, Lucy, we can all back and live how we should’ve. We can have everything! I can GIVE you everything.”

 

All the way to the top

 

She looked down, a miserable shaking of face as she turned her head back and forth,

“N-no.” Was her only word. She voiced it when turning away from him and trying to head back. "Becca?" His form to her right now looked like the absolute devil.

A round transport vessel flew by, a hand grabbed Becca, speeding far away into the stars, the catastrophe of Gaia blazing behind them as a giant crater visible from space. Goliath watched the pod fly away and out of sight from him, then turned to the havoc he’d wrought. Becca was soon within a med bay, Petal, Maisma and Pyra holding her bleeding form. "Nathan destroyed the moon. It's a miracle you're still alive." She whispered. Becca laid on a bed, missing-arm still flooding blood out of her body from the side, the wound on her chest severe. Everything was becoming hazy and black. She felt herself fading, her wet crying eyes sore in ways she never thought possible.

"Sshs.." Petal hugged her tightly, Pyra and Maisma joining her embrace.

"It's going to be okay." Their warm, lasting embrace left her as weak as a soft shadow in the break of dusk, a mourning cry of the last lark as the night settled over in a blanket of darkness. Becca leaned into it, letting every injury sap her into a painful rest while they carried her off in their arms.

 

Everything went dark.