Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Utawarerumono Fan Fiction ❯ No Turning Back ❯ Prologue 5: A Sky Full of Stars ( Chapter 4 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: RangerShade 
War is Hell.
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Utawarerumono Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Hentai / Fantasy / Post-apocalyptic / Sci-fi | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 09.01.2008 | Updated On: 09.01.2008 | Pages: 10 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 2.9K | Status: Work In Progress
War is Hell.
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Utawarerumono Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Hentai / Fantasy / Post-apocalyptic / Sci-fi | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 09.01.2008 | Updated On: 09.01.2008 | Pages: 10 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 2.9K | Status: Work In Progress
No Turning Back
A Pokewomen Universe Story
by Shade
Porn with Plot Warning.
Copyrighted character use warning.
Ignoring what a lot of other people wrote warning.
Warning about warning warning warning.
"It is said that the future is always born in pain. The history of war is the history of pain.
If we are wise, what is born of that pain matures into the promise of a better world,
because we learn that we can no longer afford the mistakes of the past."
-G'Kar
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Prologue: A Sky Full of Stars
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
They materialized in a flash of silver radiance onto the cold dry ground of the desert.
Above them the sky was a dome of velvet darkness broken only by the faint twinkling
of the little lights in the heavens.
There were nine of them. Six wore a bright green leather armor that had been augmented
with additional protective metal plates for the chest and shoulders. The white cloth
of their skirts was cut high up on the thigh, exposing much of their smooth bare legs
in a manner similar to a chinese dress. Their long golden hair was tied back in a simple
braid that hung down their backs. The top of their heads were each covered by a red metal
cap embroidered in gold with two small white feathered wings sticking out from the sides.
Green eyes the color of polished precious gems took in their surroundings in an instant.
In a perfectly syncronized motion they drew the long straight swords from the scabbards
they wore at their sides and stepped out in a defensive circle around the center while with
their other arm each figure raised a small round banded metal shield of green and gold.
They were Valkyries, the elite warriors of the Heaven's Legion. Their proficiency in combat
and their haunting beauty had caused the humans they fought to dub them 'Gatherers of the Slain',
after the old Norse Tales of the legendary creatures who brought death and victory to the battlefield.
For in this war, Sukebe's War, they did both.
"My Lady, we have arrived at the Sacred Grounds."
The two females who stood at either side looked almost completely human. Only the small white horns
shaped almost like cat ears on their heads gave their true nature away. The one who had spoken was
of average height with long bright pink hair and pale ivory skin. The other was short and petite,
with short amethyst hair that had been trimmed in a pageboy cut.
"Thank you, Kaede."
The voice that answered her was melodic and sweet like nectar collected among the morning dew.
Shimmering silken hair like liquid starlight flowed over her shoulders and down the tall
straight back. Her armor was to the Valkyrie's as gold was to mud. The fine metal links
glimmered like the very essence of silver itself and chimed with the soft melody of
ethereal bells at even the slightest motion. The woman's face was a timeless beauty,
the warmth in her eyes easing tensions just by looking at them.
She was Verdandi, known as the legendary 'Reaper of Souls' and the commanding general of the Heaven's Legion.
Of the twenty seven armies that battled the human race, her legion was feared above all others.
Even the legendary cruelty of Karasuba the Black's forces came in a distant second to the ruthless
efficiency of the undefeated Reaper of Souls.
"It makes you uneasy being here, does it not?"
The Psidyke bowed her head in deference.
"Yes, My Lady. The earth...it echoes with their screams."
The smaller girl nodded in silent agreement as well, tears pooling at the corners of her large eyes.
"Even Nana can sense it. After all this time the torture and murder of our sisters
still resonates here like a raw wound that will not heal."
"I understand. But we must go to Chambers of Life."
"Yes, My Lady."
The Valkyries fell into a triangular escort formation as the party
began to advance towards the ruins of an American base.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
General Renee St Clair wished longingly for a cigarette as she looked
out from her command post towards the broken remains of the Eiffel Tower.
Old habits died hard. Tobacco hadn't been available since the third year of the War.
She also wished as she almost always did these days that she was not the ranking officer
and effectively the last commander in charge of the defenses of one of Mankind's
last remaining holding points in Western Europe. The responsibility of having to decide
who lived and who died was a horrible burden that nothing could have prepared her for.
She had been only a lieutenant at the beginning of the War, but the horrific casualties
of the last ten years of fighting had bumped her up as essentially the most senior officer
left of the makeshift amalgamation of British, European Union and Russian forces.
France and most of the EU with the exception of Germany had gotten off lightly during the opening phases
of the War. The main concentrations of the Swarms as they had been called at the time had been in
North and Central America, Germany and the former Eastern Bloc, the Pacific Islands, Korea, Okinawa,
Thailand, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. Despite the initial devastating attacks against the Americans
and their regional allies the other nations of the world had been far too slow to grasp the full
extent of the threat that they all faced. As refugees from the collapsing USA fled into Canada and Mexico,
the leaders of the Russian and Chinese militaries had been quick to announce that they would succeed where
the incompetent Americans had failed.
They had paid dearly for their arrogance.
In the end, not even resorting to the desperate tactic of limited nuclear strikes and nuclear artillery shells
had stopped the legions of 'Pokewomen' from overrunning virtually all of China. Over a billion people had perished
in that conflict and that had been only a single front of the war that stretched across the entire world.
Russia had initially enjoyed a slight advantage as their army was slowly driven back into a defensive stance.
They were used to this kind of fighting, falling back slowly to draw the enemy into the trap of their country's
natural climate and terrain. Their leaders had calculated that like the last fool who'd tried to invade them,
they needed to only wait for the cruel bite of the Russian winter to settle in before launching a counterattack
that would crush the enemy before them.
To their horror, they learned far too late that the enemy they had faced on more or less equal terms during
the unusually warm summer and fall had been looking forward to a change in seasons as well. In the end barely
a tenth of the Russian forces had managed to escape the final onslaught as the fragile looking females unaffected
by subzero temperatures closed around the last remaining strongholds like a steel vise.
Australia had been a beacon of hope for the first few years of the war. Untouched by the invading hordes it had
seemed a natural rallying point to the majority of the remaining military forces in that part of the world.
With the wide ocean and a sizable armada of the remaining major naval forces in the Pacific it had seemed
the safest place remaining. They had even began using the country as a springboard for launching counterattacks
against the suddenly quiescent enemy in Southern China and India.
But then the candle that had burned so brightly as the darkness swept in was extinguished in Seven Days of Fire.
Despite repeated attempts to reestablish contact, no signals had been detected from that small continent in five years.
One by one the other holdouts on the ever shrinking list had fallen until at last, ten years to the day that
this accursed war had begun, there were only nine major fortified regions where humanity still clung to
existence with broken bleeding fingers at the edge of the abyss.
And each one of them was surrounded by no less then three armies of the varied races labeled as Pokewomen.
Renee St Clair knew that this was the end. Not just of Paris, not merely of France,
but the extinction of humanity itself. Their crumbling overstretched defenses would
not hold against any kind of real assault that armies of those size could throw at it.
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Silently Clair blessed whoever it was that had sent them the information at the beginning of the War
that had allowed them to last even this long. Without that vital transmission, mankind would never
have stood a chance at all. And even as they stood in the twilight of their species, humanity was
prepared to take a good sized chunk out of their destroyers right down with them.
The T-virus had infected a third of the human race right before the start of the War. Nicknamed the 'Tits Virus',
it had caused flu-like symptoms and a swelling of the breasts in both men and women. Nobody had thought anything
more of it, until the babies. Only when thousands of women began to bear 'Pokegirls' instead of normal children
did they discover the more sinister effects of the now dubbed 'Tao-gene'. India and China had begun record numbers
of abortions and infanticides to stop the 'invasion from within'. But some had listened to the transmission
that warned of what was to come and had shown kindness and mercy to those helpless innocents instead.
The fruits of that decision now stood on the frontlines with the humans instead of against them.
They had grown many times faster then any human child and at an age where their normal siblings
and playmates would still be in school in normal times, they were already entering adulthood.
"If only we had more time..." the general lamented.
But time had run out.
Soon Dawn would come. And when the first light brightened the horizon, the Last Battle of the Line would begin.
"Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night."
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The Valkyries were uneasy as they stepped cautiously through the empty dark corridor.
Their bodies glowed with a faint inner light that provided just enough illumination
for their own superb nightvision to guide them through the dusty metal and tile.
"Widow," muttered Kaede.
The others tensed as the desiccated remains came into view. Even in death the mummified
remains looked threatening. All of the traces of the horror's presence were old,
but that only increased the escort's vigilance.
There were bones everywhere. Mainly human, the torn uniforms still identifiable on some of them.
But here and there among the debris were smaller, more elegant bones and skulls.
Nana whimpered softly.
"Papa? Papa?"
The other Psidyke shushed her softly, patting the smaller girl's head with one hand.
Past the chamber of horror there was yet another wrecked corridor. This one felt all
too familiar to Kaede. Her pulse started to race as the crimson haze of memory began
to claw at her mind like a slavering wild dog. The men had been here, the men who had
tortured, raped and butchered her sisters like toys made of meat.
The coiled serpent of hate that was always there below the surface hissed into full wakefulness.
She wanted to kill them. Kill them all. Every last one of them, the monsters, the abominations that were the human race.
A warm hand on her shoulder brought the pink haired Pokewoman out of her bloodlust.
"Peace, Kaede. Remember who you are."
Suddenly ashamed of her behavior, she looked down at the floor. It had been an unforgivable lapse of control.
However the General said no more about it. She too could feel the echoes of the dead. The unheard cries for
mercy, pleas for an end to the suffering, the very air itself seemed to smell of old death and lingering pain.
A Pokewoman could go mad in here, listening to the voices that were not quite there.
They would have to finish this quickly.
She saw the broken doors ahead.
"There, the Creche."
The small party silently stepped inside the vast room. It was quiet as a tomb
and lined with vast rows of broken and smashed machinery.
Verdandi walked past the dark metal and broken glass with increasing urgency
in her steps as she failed to find what she sought. Her dreams had led her here,
but where was it?
"My Lady?"
Kaede and Nana look worriedly at their beloved leader as her composed face began
to show signs of confusion and distress.
"But it must be here."
Her dreams had never been wrong before.
"My lady, what did you hope to find here?"
The leader of the Valkyries spoke softly, as if afraid her voice would be swallowed by the darkness.
The word left the General's lips in a sigh of defeat, "Hope."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
General Clair let the hot mug in her hands warm her cold fingers as she walked quietly out towards the front lines.
All of the preparations had long since been completed during the night. Now was the worst part, the waiting.
The guards on duty saluted her as she passed them and she returned it half-heartedly. She couldn't help noticing
how young their faces looked, they must have been still in school when the War began. Renee felt like she was
a thousand years old. This was what they'd been reduced to, throwing children into the bloody grinder of battle.
Humanity had never won a single major battle in the War. Even when they'd still had the numbers and the ammunition
to engage at something close to parity, the result had more often then not been a stalemate until massive enemy
reinforcements forced yet another withdrawal to tighten up the defense lines.
She stepped softly as she came to the holding area for the 'Special Weapons Battalion'.
All those tanks, antiaircraft guns, artillery and flame weapons outside were merely a sideshow.
In here was the real fighting force that would be shouldering the lion's share of the upcoming battle.
Three hundred people, young and old, men and women, all of whom had managed to establish a bond between
themselves and their charges.
"General! I didn't expect to see you here."
The brown haired man who'd been leaning against a locker hastily straightened to attention.
"Hello William. No need for formalities, not now."
Renee studied the young soldier's frazzled hair, it looked like someone had been tugging on it
with more enthusiasm then was healthy for it. His uniform looked slightly rumpled as well,
and the stains on it suggested that he was reusing it from a prior day. It would have gotten
him into trouble in normal times, but these were not normal times.
"Are they ready?"
"Yes, Ma'am. They all understand what's on the line here."
"Good."
It was hard to believe that he was a Battalion Commander just by looking at him.
But those who had seen his team in battle knew why he was in that position.
"It's almost dawn. You'd better get ready to deploy."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Clair turned to go, then hesitated and turned back to the departing young man.
"Good luck!"
He smiled back at her and gave a thumb's up.
She held her composure until he was gone.
Then the agony she'd been bottling up inside spilled out.
'Oh God! William, forgive me! Forgive me!!'
She had just sent her youngest brother out to die.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
For almost a decade, Verdandi had loyally followed the imperative that drove all of them,
the destruction of the enemy to protect themselves and their sisters. It was a duty she
had done efficiently and effectively, always concentrating on keeping her casualties
as low as possible for a victory. But somewhere along the way she had grown weary
of the endless battles and the senseless slaughter. Yet that had only driven her to
try and defeat her opponents even faster, in hopes that it would bring about a final
conclusion to the fighting that much sooner.
But as the years had passed some of the other Generals had also began to question their ultimate purpose.
They too had seen too much blood and endless ranks of the dead.
Did it have to end this way?
And so, even as they moved to encircle final bastions of the human race, the leaders who had once
been united in a single purpose were now divided into two factions. One that wanted to complete
the final destruction of the human race and the other that believed in at least the possibility
of coexistance.
To complicate matters even further, within the last year the humans had introduced their own 'Pokewomen'
and the shock of fighting and killing their own kind for the first time had shaken many of their sisters.
Almost as great a shock had been the discovery that these human sympathizers had been born from human wombs.
Although some of the armies had supplimented their numbers by converting captured human females,
it had been unthinkable to believe that their kind could ever come directly from pure human stock.
So now not only did they have to contemplate the genocide of an entire species, but the potential deaths
of their own kind at their own hands as wells. Some of the Generals like Karasuba had argued that they
were merely abominations who deserved the same fate as the humans. But what then, would the armies turn
on each other once their mutual enemy was destroyed? Once it became acceptable to kill another Pokewoman,
where would it end?
And so at last it would come down to a vote.
The twenty seven generals would decide if humanity would live or be destroyed.
And Verdandi didn't know what she would do.
If they let the humans live, wouldn't their enemy merely rebuild and eventually begin the War again?
But she couldn't simply slaughter them all. It wasn't right.
And then her dreams had led her here, to where it had all begun.
But it seemed her dreams....had been wrong.
Then Nana cocked her head slightly, looking up and around.
"Papa? Papa!"
Before any of the others realized what she was doing, the small Psidyke took off down an unexplored passage.
"Nana! Wait!!"
"Shit," Kaede swore as she ran after her younger sibling.
Few things could threaten an alert Psidyke, but Nana was too softhearted for her own good.
Behind her, she could hear the pounding footsteps of the others chasing after the two of them.
Then she heard Nana scream and raw fear gave her feet wings of ice.
"I'm coming, Nana!"
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Kaede burst into the room, her soft pink hair slithering like a field of upset snakes as her eyes
glowed an eerie red, searching for the threat to her little sister.
She saw Nana curled up into a little ball in the corner and then the hideous figures
looming there in the middle and her Telekinetic Hands extended out to kill....
And then she stopped.
Breathing heavily, the Psidyke gradually brought herself down from the adrenaline boost.
She'd never seen so many dead Black Widows in one place before.
There were over two dozen of the monsters, locked in a frozen moment of mortal combat.
Most of the walls, floor and ceiling had been gouged heavily, testaments to the brutality
of the battle. Widows did not die easily, even after vital organs were pierced or ripped out,
their bodies could keep on fighting for some time. Never had that simple fact been more apparent
then here and now.
Two of them were locked in a twisted parody of a lover's embrace, razor sharp legs sunk deep
into the other's abdomens while their heads gave their partner what had to be the worst case
of hickies ever recorded.
Behind her, she could hear the Valkyries retching as they entered. Kaede supposed that the smell
must be horrible for the sensitive Pokegirls who lacked a Psidyke's ability to dull the senses
to prevent sensory overload in hostile environments.
Nana was whimpering, clutching at the horns on her head.
Kaede started towards her, making soft soothing sounds with her tongue to try and calm the girl.
And then the Voices were inside of her head.
'Kill...Kill...Kill!! Sweet warm blood....Kill....the taste of live squirming meat...the nectar
of the prey's fear and suffering....Kill....Kill...devour them....KILL!!'
The Psidyke dropped to her knees, dimly aware that the Valkyries had done the same. The beautiful
warriors were writhing and screaming as the whispering darkness crept into their brains. Not quite
Phantoms of the Black Widows, but an Echo of them. Less then memory, a toxic clinging mist of
emotion that had soaked deeply into the surroundings and now pulled at their collective sanity
like a black leech.
'Get out! Get out of my mind!!'
"Away."
The Voices fled before the sudden bright blue radiance that illuminated the darkness.
It was coming from General Verdandi. The kindness normally found in her gentle features
had vanished as the steel beneath the velvet revealed itself. They were under her protection
and all that sought to harm them would have to answer to her.
Almost sobbing with relief, her subordinates struggled to their feet.
Kaede ran to Nana and grabbed her tightly.
"You shouldn't have run off like that! I was so worried about you!!"
Even as she harshly berated her young sister, the pink haired Psidyke clutched
her protectively as if to shield her from the rest of the world.
"What were you thinking, Nana?"
"But Papa-"
Kaede squeezed her eyes tight as the rage surged up inside of her at the thought
of Sukebe, their creator. Of all the Psidykes, only Nana had any good memories
of the man that had designed them. Somehow clinging to that had kept the little
girl sane as the other men had experimented on her again and again. Kaede's own
memories of him were hazy, just the impression of a face and cold empty eyes.
"He's gone, Nana. You know that."
Despite their best efforts, none of the Pokewoman armies had managed to find where
Sukebe had fled. They'd discovered places where he had been, but those were
always abandoned. But they knew he was out there somewhere, because how else could
he have still been sending messages to the humans? Despite the claims by the human
forces that they'd killed him with a cruise missile strike in the seventh year of
the War, there were still many Pokewomen who questioned the truth of that.
Nana shook her head in denial.
"Papa! Papa!"
"Kaede."
The Psidyke looked up at her leader's call.
"My Lady?"
"I think Nana may not have been entirely wrong. Look."
Kaede turned her head to where Verdandi was pointing.
Her jaw dropped in astonishment.
It was the largest Widow the Psidyke had ever seen, living or dead. The mummified body
was almost five meters high and had obviously had considerable trouble getting down
to this depth before it had expired. The trail of ruined corridor behind it went beyond
the limits of even the Valkyries' nightvision.
And there, partially hidden by its bulky mass...was a door.
It seemed to have been designed to perfectly blend in with the wall, but the Widow had
managed to pry the thick metal open halfway, just large enough for a normal sized person
to get through, but not enough for the monster to break inside.
The pinkhaired girl understood immediately.
Something inside there had attracted the Widows here. All of them.
They must have been desperate to break inside there, but Widows would not tolerate any other
lifeforms in close proximity, not even other Widows. They had fought each other until
the last dying survivor had reached her goal. Then it had tried to force its way in
and almost succeeded before expiring.
"Lady Verdandi?"
She nodded silently.
They proceed cautiously into the chamber. Three of the Valkyries went through first,
sweeping for the annoying traps that the humans were always so fond of. When they
were sure the area was clean, they signaled for the others to follow.
Kaede followed her shimmering commander into the room.
There was the steady faint hum of machinery operating in the background here.
The Psidyke could instinctively sense the flow of electricity, like a loose
tooth itching in the back of her jaw. It made her hackles rise. Something in
here was drawing power and using it.
And there in the center of it all was...
"We've checked it out, it doesn't appear to be one of the humans' weapons."
Kaede gritted her teeth. That large metallic capsule reminded her far too much
of the 'containment units' that the first Pokewomen had been kept in between
experiments.
But her telepathic probes returned no response from inside.
Another Human trick?
General Verdandi found her breath suddenly quickening.
Here. The answer was here, she could feel it in the very marrow of her bones.
The dreams had brought her here, at this moment...because...
One elegant hand reached out towards the dark protective sheath.
-Contact-
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Commissioner Stonewall Vimes spat.
By the time the gooey mass hit the ground it clinked as it bounced off the hard pavement.
His men were dug in, his artillery was ranged and the 'special units' were on the front lines,
ready to fight the enemy, for whatever good it would do. They were badly outnumbered
and most of his remaining forces were only Mounties like himself, with a smattering of
conscripted civilians and military personnel to fill in the gaps.
How he had ended up in charge of the defenses of Ottawa, he didn't know. There had been
a blur of faces over the years who had called the shots as the War progressed. Generals,
Colonels, Majors, Ministers and Viceroys had all shouted orders and gotten people killed
until they'd finally died and then it was only Vimes left in charge trying to keep
the survivors alive one day at a time.
All he knew was that his city and her sister city Regina were the only known remaining sanctuaries
for humanity in North America. There might still be pockets of survivors somewhere in
the No-man's land that was the rest of the continent, but once the last strongholds
of resistance were crushed, they would only be ripe wheat under the sweep of the scythe.
And now it looked like their luck had finally crapped out.
Through his field binoculars the commissioner could just make out the orderly ranks waiting just
outside of artillery range. He had to admit grudgingly that General Teresa, 'The Faint Smile',
knew what she was doing. Recognizing that her main field army's strength lay in close quarters
combat, Teresa had covered her flanks with those godawful Gungals and Meltran giantesses.
And that was only to the East.
General Prier and her demonic forces blocked the West, augmented by swarms of Buzzbreasts that
controlled the local airspace. Vimes still had a few combat helicopters left, but it would have been
suicide to deploy them. Only the threat of his anti-aircraft guns kept the flyers at a distance.
But worst of all was the threat from the South. General Verdandi, the Legendary Reaper of Souls herself,
and her invincible legion were pointed straight at them. They were probably the most demoralizing force
for the men. After all, how do you fight angels without surrendering to despair?
So what were they waiting for?
He spat again.
This ground root stuff wasn't even close to real chewing tobacco.
"Sir, awaiting orders."
He turned to see on one of his junior officers, thin and pale, looking up at him for instructions.
"Hold positions. I don't know why they're just standing there, but I'm not going to question
anything that gives us a little more time."
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Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Kaede was running towards her leader, but it was as if the air had condensed into thick syrup.
She would remember that scream every single day for the rest of her life.
"My Lady!!"
She caught the General's crumpling form as she fell, almost buckling under the dead weight
until two of the Valkyries came to her aid.
Together they gently eased Verdandi's limp form into a more comfortable position
as one of them rushed to check her vital signs.
Kaede turned back towards the machine. That evil device that had done this.
Her transparent hands emerged from around her horns.
She would destroy it.
"No..."
The voice was weak, but the tone of command was still there.
"Do not harm it."
The Psidyke swiveled around, her eyes blazing with the color of fresh shed blood.
"Why? It hurt you! It must be destroyed!!"
"No. We must go from this place."
"Lady Verdandi!"
"You swore an oath to follow where I lead. Will you renounce that now?"
Slowly the light faded from Kaede's eyes until they were their normal brown again.
"No, My Lady."
"Tell the others that this area is forbidden to all of our kind by my authority."
The horned girl nodded silently. Tears were welling in her eyes as she saw how much
the words were costing her beloved leader.
"There isn't much time."
The two Psidykes clustered close to the general as the Valkyries around them prepared
the recall circle.
There was a sudden blue flash of light.
And then the Chamber was empty save for the quiet humming of the machines.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Flonne and Shaelle were waiting for them at the Gateway.
"Mistress Verdandi!"
Healers rushed forward.
The General's hand came up.
"No."
"But-"
"The vote, is it being still being held?"
The two Angels bowed.
"Yes, Mistress."
"What is the count?"
Flonne stepped forward, the petite blonde's face contorted with worry.
"General Tsunami and General Arcueid have changed their positions to
support General Miya and General Moana. As it stands now, the count
is thirteen for and thirteen against."
The taller Shaelle met her leader's gaze without flinching.
"Mistress Verdandi, your vote will be the deciding one."
The General closed her eyes.
"And Hild?"
"She voted against destroying the humans."
Weak as she was, this still managed to get a soft chuckle from Verdandi.
How clever of her. She must vote with the Queen of the Demonesses
or oppose her and sanction genocide. Either way, Hild would have
gotten what she wanted.
"I see."
Kaede approached her.
"My Lady, there's still time for the healers-"
Her words trailed off as Verdandi's hand seized her own.
"Kaede."
The pink haired Psidyke could feel herself falling
into the depths of those shimmering eyes.
"Yes, My Lady."
She knelt and allowed the starlight haired woman
to place her hand on her head just above the horns.
Kaede cleared her thoughts and let her telepathic
nodes open to their fullest to serve as a transmitter
for her weakened General's psychic communication.
'Sisters. This War must End. Here. Now.'
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"What are they doing," General Clair asked rhetorically.
It was a question that many were asking themselves. The sun was up,
but the expected attack had not come. Men and women stared out
at the empty fields as if expecting an answer from them.
It was a bright new day.
-End Prologue
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"The Sleeper Sleeps but does not Dream.
when the Sleeper wakes, the true Dream will begin...."
A Pokewomen Universe Story
by Shade
Porn with Plot Warning.
Copyrighted character use warning.
Ignoring what a lot of other people wrote warning.
Warning about warning warning warning.
"It is said that the future is always born in pain. The history of war is the history of pain.
If we are wise, what is born of that pain matures into the promise of a better world,
because we learn that we can no longer afford the mistakes of the past."
-G'Kar
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Prologue: A Sky Full of Stars
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They materialized in a flash of silver radiance onto the cold dry ground of the desert.
Above them the sky was a dome of velvet darkness broken only by the faint twinkling
of the little lights in the heavens.
There were nine of them. Six wore a bright green leather armor that had been augmented
with additional protective metal plates for the chest and shoulders. The white cloth
of their skirts was cut high up on the thigh, exposing much of their smooth bare legs
in a manner similar to a chinese dress. Their long golden hair was tied back in a simple
braid that hung down their backs. The top of their heads were each covered by a red metal
cap embroidered in gold with two small white feathered wings sticking out from the sides.
Green eyes the color of polished precious gems took in their surroundings in an instant.
In a perfectly syncronized motion they drew the long straight swords from the scabbards
they wore at their sides and stepped out in a defensive circle around the center while with
their other arm each figure raised a small round banded metal shield of green and gold.
They were Valkyries, the elite warriors of the Heaven's Legion. Their proficiency in combat
and their haunting beauty had caused the humans they fought to dub them 'Gatherers of the Slain',
after the old Norse Tales of the legendary creatures who brought death and victory to the battlefield.
For in this war, Sukebe's War, they did both.
"My Lady, we have arrived at the Sacred Grounds."
The two females who stood at either side looked almost completely human. Only the small white horns
shaped almost like cat ears on their heads gave their true nature away. The one who had spoken was
of average height with long bright pink hair and pale ivory skin. The other was short and petite,
with short amethyst hair that had been trimmed in a pageboy cut.
"Thank you, Kaede."
The voice that answered her was melodic and sweet like nectar collected among the morning dew.
Shimmering silken hair like liquid starlight flowed over her shoulders and down the tall
straight back. Her armor was to the Valkyrie's as gold was to mud. The fine metal links
glimmered like the very essence of silver itself and chimed with the soft melody of
ethereal bells at even the slightest motion. The woman's face was a timeless beauty,
the warmth in her eyes easing tensions just by looking at them.
She was Verdandi, known as the legendary 'Reaper of Souls' and the commanding general of the Heaven's Legion.
Of the twenty seven armies that battled the human race, her legion was feared above all others.
Even the legendary cruelty of Karasuba the Black's forces came in a distant second to the ruthless
efficiency of the undefeated Reaper of Souls.
"It makes you uneasy being here, does it not?"
The Psidyke bowed her head in deference.
"Yes, My Lady. The earth...it echoes with their screams."
The smaller girl nodded in silent agreement as well, tears pooling at the corners of her large eyes.
"Even Nana can sense it. After all this time the torture and murder of our sisters
still resonates here like a raw wound that will not heal."
"I understand. But we must go to Chambers of Life."
"Yes, My Lady."
The Valkyries fell into a triangular escort formation as the party
began to advance towards the ruins of an American base.
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General Renee St Clair wished longingly for a cigarette as she looked
out from her command post towards the broken remains of the Eiffel Tower.
Old habits died hard. Tobacco hadn't been available since the third year of the War.
She also wished as she almost always did these days that she was not the ranking officer
and effectively the last commander in charge of the defenses of one of Mankind's
last remaining holding points in Western Europe. The responsibility of having to decide
who lived and who died was a horrible burden that nothing could have prepared her for.
She had been only a lieutenant at the beginning of the War, but the horrific casualties
of the last ten years of fighting had bumped her up as essentially the most senior officer
left of the makeshift amalgamation of British, European Union and Russian forces.
France and most of the EU with the exception of Germany had gotten off lightly during the opening phases
of the War. The main concentrations of the Swarms as they had been called at the time had been in
North and Central America, Germany and the former Eastern Bloc, the Pacific Islands, Korea, Okinawa,
Thailand, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. Despite the initial devastating attacks against the Americans
and their regional allies the other nations of the world had been far too slow to grasp the full
extent of the threat that they all faced. As refugees from the collapsing USA fled into Canada and Mexico,
the leaders of the Russian and Chinese militaries had been quick to announce that they would succeed where
the incompetent Americans had failed.
They had paid dearly for their arrogance.
In the end, not even resorting to the desperate tactic of limited nuclear strikes and nuclear artillery shells
had stopped the legions of 'Pokewomen' from overrunning virtually all of China. Over a billion people had perished
in that conflict and that had been only a single front of the war that stretched across the entire world.
Russia had initially enjoyed a slight advantage as their army was slowly driven back into a defensive stance.
They were used to this kind of fighting, falling back slowly to draw the enemy into the trap of their country's
natural climate and terrain. Their leaders had calculated that like the last fool who'd tried to invade them,
they needed to only wait for the cruel bite of the Russian winter to settle in before launching a counterattack
that would crush the enemy before them.
To their horror, they learned far too late that the enemy they had faced on more or less equal terms during
the unusually warm summer and fall had been looking forward to a change in seasons as well. In the end barely
a tenth of the Russian forces had managed to escape the final onslaught as the fragile looking females unaffected
by subzero temperatures closed around the last remaining strongholds like a steel vise.
Australia had been a beacon of hope for the first few years of the war. Untouched by the invading hordes it had
seemed a natural rallying point to the majority of the remaining military forces in that part of the world.
With the wide ocean and a sizable armada of the remaining major naval forces in the Pacific it had seemed
the safest place remaining. They had even began using the country as a springboard for launching counterattacks
against the suddenly quiescent enemy in Southern China and India.
But then the candle that had burned so brightly as the darkness swept in was extinguished in Seven Days of Fire.
Despite repeated attempts to reestablish contact, no signals had been detected from that small continent in five years.
One by one the other holdouts on the ever shrinking list had fallen until at last, ten years to the day that
this accursed war had begun, there were only nine major fortified regions where humanity still clung to
existence with broken bleeding fingers at the edge of the abyss.
And each one of them was surrounded by no less then three armies of the varied races labeled as Pokewomen.
Renee St Clair knew that this was the end. Not just of Paris, not merely of France,
but the extinction of humanity itself. Their crumbling overstretched defenses would
not hold against any kind of real assault that armies of those size could throw at it.
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Silently Clair blessed whoever it was that had sent them the information at the beginning of the War
that had allowed them to last even this long. Without that vital transmission, mankind would never
have stood a chance at all. And even as they stood in the twilight of their species, humanity was
prepared to take a good sized chunk out of their destroyers right down with them.
The T-virus had infected a third of the human race right before the start of the War. Nicknamed the 'Tits Virus',
it had caused flu-like symptoms and a swelling of the breasts in both men and women. Nobody had thought anything
more of it, until the babies. Only when thousands of women began to bear 'Pokegirls' instead of normal children
did they discover the more sinister effects of the now dubbed 'Tao-gene'. India and China had begun record numbers
of abortions and infanticides to stop the 'invasion from within'. But some had listened to the transmission
that warned of what was to come and had shown kindness and mercy to those helpless innocents instead.
The fruits of that decision now stood on the frontlines with the humans instead of against them.
They had grown many times faster then any human child and at an age where their normal siblings
and playmates would still be in school in normal times, they were already entering adulthood.
"If only we had more time..." the general lamented.
But time had run out.
Soon Dawn would come. And when the first light brightened the horizon, the Last Battle of the Line would begin.
"Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night."
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The Valkyries were uneasy as they stepped cautiously through the empty dark corridor.
Their bodies glowed with a faint inner light that provided just enough illumination
for their own superb nightvision to guide them through the dusty metal and tile.
"Widow," muttered Kaede.
The others tensed as the desiccated remains came into view. Even in death the mummified
remains looked threatening. All of the traces of the horror's presence were old,
but that only increased the escort's vigilance.
There were bones everywhere. Mainly human, the torn uniforms still identifiable on some of them.
But here and there among the debris were smaller, more elegant bones and skulls.
Nana whimpered softly.
"Papa? Papa?"
The other Psidyke shushed her softly, patting the smaller girl's head with one hand.
Past the chamber of horror there was yet another wrecked corridor. This one felt all
too familiar to Kaede. Her pulse started to race as the crimson haze of memory began
to claw at her mind like a slavering wild dog. The men had been here, the men who had
tortured, raped and butchered her sisters like toys made of meat.
The coiled serpent of hate that was always there below the surface hissed into full wakefulness.
She wanted to kill them. Kill them all. Every last one of them, the monsters, the abominations that were the human race.
A warm hand on her shoulder brought the pink haired Pokewoman out of her bloodlust.
"Peace, Kaede. Remember who you are."
Suddenly ashamed of her behavior, she looked down at the floor. It had been an unforgivable lapse of control.
However the General said no more about it. She too could feel the echoes of the dead. The unheard cries for
mercy, pleas for an end to the suffering, the very air itself seemed to smell of old death and lingering pain.
A Pokewoman could go mad in here, listening to the voices that were not quite there.
They would have to finish this quickly.
She saw the broken doors ahead.
"There, the Creche."
The small party silently stepped inside the vast room. It was quiet as a tomb
and lined with vast rows of broken and smashed machinery.
Verdandi walked past the dark metal and broken glass with increasing urgency
in her steps as she failed to find what she sought. Her dreams had led her here,
but where was it?
"My Lady?"
Kaede and Nana look worriedly at their beloved leader as her composed face began
to show signs of confusion and distress.
"But it must be here."
Her dreams had never been wrong before.
"My lady, what did you hope to find here?"
The leader of the Valkyries spoke softly, as if afraid her voice would be swallowed by the darkness.
The word left the General's lips in a sigh of defeat, "Hope."
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General Clair let the hot mug in her hands warm her cold fingers as she walked quietly out towards the front lines.
All of the preparations had long since been completed during the night. Now was the worst part, the waiting.
The guards on duty saluted her as she passed them and she returned it half-heartedly. She couldn't help noticing
how young their faces looked, they must have been still in school when the War began. Renee felt like she was
a thousand years old. This was what they'd been reduced to, throwing children into the bloody grinder of battle.
Humanity had never won a single major battle in the War. Even when they'd still had the numbers and the ammunition
to engage at something close to parity, the result had more often then not been a stalemate until massive enemy
reinforcements forced yet another withdrawal to tighten up the defense lines.
She stepped softly as she came to the holding area for the 'Special Weapons Battalion'.
All those tanks, antiaircraft guns, artillery and flame weapons outside were merely a sideshow.
In here was the real fighting force that would be shouldering the lion's share of the upcoming battle.
Three hundred people, young and old, men and women, all of whom had managed to establish a bond between
themselves and their charges.
"General! I didn't expect to see you here."
The brown haired man who'd been leaning against a locker hastily straightened to attention.
"Hello William. No need for formalities, not now."
Renee studied the young soldier's frazzled hair, it looked like someone had been tugging on it
with more enthusiasm then was healthy for it. His uniform looked slightly rumpled as well,
and the stains on it suggested that he was reusing it from a prior day. It would have gotten
him into trouble in normal times, but these were not normal times.
"Are they ready?"
"Yes, Ma'am. They all understand what's on the line here."
"Good."
It was hard to believe that he was a Battalion Commander just by looking at him.
But those who had seen his team in battle knew why he was in that position.
"It's almost dawn. You'd better get ready to deploy."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Clair turned to go, then hesitated and turned back to the departing young man.
"Good luck!"
He smiled back at her and gave a thumb's up.
She held her composure until he was gone.
Then the agony she'd been bottling up inside spilled out.
'Oh God! William, forgive me! Forgive me!!'
She had just sent her youngest brother out to die.
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For almost a decade, Verdandi had loyally followed the imperative that drove all of them,
the destruction of the enemy to protect themselves and their sisters. It was a duty she
had done efficiently and effectively, always concentrating on keeping her casualties
as low as possible for a victory. But somewhere along the way she had grown weary
of the endless battles and the senseless slaughter. Yet that had only driven her to
try and defeat her opponents even faster, in hopes that it would bring about a final
conclusion to the fighting that much sooner.
But as the years had passed some of the other Generals had also began to question their ultimate purpose.
They too had seen too much blood and endless ranks of the dead.
Did it have to end this way?
And so, even as they moved to encircle final bastions of the human race, the leaders who had once
been united in a single purpose were now divided into two factions. One that wanted to complete
the final destruction of the human race and the other that believed in at least the possibility
of coexistance.
To complicate matters even further, within the last year the humans had introduced their own 'Pokewomen'
and the shock of fighting and killing their own kind for the first time had shaken many of their sisters.
Almost as great a shock had been the discovery that these human sympathizers had been born from human wombs.
Although some of the armies had supplimented their numbers by converting captured human females,
it had been unthinkable to believe that their kind could ever come directly from pure human stock.
So now not only did they have to contemplate the genocide of an entire species, but the potential deaths
of their own kind at their own hands as wells. Some of the Generals like Karasuba had argued that they
were merely abominations who deserved the same fate as the humans. But what then, would the armies turn
on each other once their mutual enemy was destroyed? Once it became acceptable to kill another Pokewoman,
where would it end?
And so at last it would come down to a vote.
The twenty seven generals would decide if humanity would live or be destroyed.
And Verdandi didn't know what she would do.
If they let the humans live, wouldn't their enemy merely rebuild and eventually begin the War again?
But she couldn't simply slaughter them all. It wasn't right.
And then her dreams had led her here, to where it had all begun.
But it seemed her dreams....had been wrong.
Then Nana cocked her head slightly, looking up and around.
"Papa? Papa!"
Before any of the others realized what she was doing, the small Psidyke took off down an unexplored passage.
"Nana! Wait!!"
"Shit," Kaede swore as she ran after her younger sibling.
Few things could threaten an alert Psidyke, but Nana was too softhearted for her own good.
Behind her, she could hear the pounding footsteps of the others chasing after the two of them.
Then she heard Nana scream and raw fear gave her feet wings of ice.
"I'm coming, Nana!"
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Kaede burst into the room, her soft pink hair slithering like a field of upset snakes as her eyes
glowed an eerie red, searching for the threat to her little sister.
She saw Nana curled up into a little ball in the corner and then the hideous figures
looming there in the middle and her Telekinetic Hands extended out to kill....
And then she stopped.
Breathing heavily, the Psidyke gradually brought herself down from the adrenaline boost.
She'd never seen so many dead Black Widows in one place before.
There were over two dozen of the monsters, locked in a frozen moment of mortal combat.
Most of the walls, floor and ceiling had been gouged heavily, testaments to the brutality
of the battle. Widows did not die easily, even after vital organs were pierced or ripped out,
their bodies could keep on fighting for some time. Never had that simple fact been more apparent
then here and now.
Two of them were locked in a twisted parody of a lover's embrace, razor sharp legs sunk deep
into the other's abdomens while their heads gave their partner what had to be the worst case
of hickies ever recorded.
Behind her, she could hear the Valkyries retching as they entered. Kaede supposed that the smell
must be horrible for the sensitive Pokegirls who lacked a Psidyke's ability to dull the senses
to prevent sensory overload in hostile environments.
Nana was whimpering, clutching at the horns on her head.
Kaede started towards her, making soft soothing sounds with her tongue to try and calm the girl.
And then the Voices were inside of her head.
'Kill...Kill...Kill!! Sweet warm blood....Kill....the taste of live squirming meat...the nectar
of the prey's fear and suffering....Kill....Kill...devour them....KILL!!'
The Psidyke dropped to her knees, dimly aware that the Valkyries had done the same. The beautiful
warriors were writhing and screaming as the whispering darkness crept into their brains. Not quite
Phantoms of the Black Widows, but an Echo of them. Less then memory, a toxic clinging mist of
emotion that had soaked deeply into the surroundings and now pulled at their collective sanity
like a black leech.
'Get out! Get out of my mind!!'
"Away."
The Voices fled before the sudden bright blue radiance that illuminated the darkness.
It was coming from General Verdandi. The kindness normally found in her gentle features
had vanished as the steel beneath the velvet revealed itself. They were under her protection
and all that sought to harm them would have to answer to her.
Almost sobbing with relief, her subordinates struggled to their feet.
Kaede ran to Nana and grabbed her tightly.
"You shouldn't have run off like that! I was so worried about you!!"
Even as she harshly berated her young sister, the pink haired Psidyke clutched
her protectively as if to shield her from the rest of the world.
"What were you thinking, Nana?"
"But Papa-"
Kaede squeezed her eyes tight as the rage surged up inside of her at the thought
of Sukebe, their creator. Of all the Psidykes, only Nana had any good memories
of the man that had designed them. Somehow clinging to that had kept the little
girl sane as the other men had experimented on her again and again. Kaede's own
memories of him were hazy, just the impression of a face and cold empty eyes.
"He's gone, Nana. You know that."
Despite their best efforts, none of the Pokewoman armies had managed to find where
Sukebe had fled. They'd discovered places where he had been, but those were
always abandoned. But they knew he was out there somewhere, because how else could
he have still been sending messages to the humans? Despite the claims by the human
forces that they'd killed him with a cruise missile strike in the seventh year of
the War, there were still many Pokewomen who questioned the truth of that.
Nana shook her head in denial.
"Papa! Papa!"
"Kaede."
The Psidyke looked up at her leader's call.
"My Lady?"
"I think Nana may not have been entirely wrong. Look."
Kaede turned her head to where Verdandi was pointing.
Her jaw dropped in astonishment.
It was the largest Widow the Psidyke had ever seen, living or dead. The mummified body
was almost five meters high and had obviously had considerable trouble getting down
to this depth before it had expired. The trail of ruined corridor behind it went beyond
the limits of even the Valkyries' nightvision.
And there, partially hidden by its bulky mass...was a door.
It seemed to have been designed to perfectly blend in with the wall, but the Widow had
managed to pry the thick metal open halfway, just large enough for a normal sized person
to get through, but not enough for the monster to break inside.
The pinkhaired girl understood immediately.
Something inside there had attracted the Widows here. All of them.
They must have been desperate to break inside there, but Widows would not tolerate any other
lifeforms in close proximity, not even other Widows. They had fought each other until
the last dying survivor had reached her goal. Then it had tried to force its way in
and almost succeeded before expiring.
"Lady Verdandi?"
She nodded silently.
They proceed cautiously into the chamber. Three of the Valkyries went through first,
sweeping for the annoying traps that the humans were always so fond of. When they
were sure the area was clean, they signaled for the others to follow.
Kaede followed her shimmering commander into the room.
There was the steady faint hum of machinery operating in the background here.
The Psidyke could instinctively sense the flow of electricity, like a loose
tooth itching in the back of her jaw. It made her hackles rise. Something in
here was drawing power and using it.
And there in the center of it all was...
"We've checked it out, it doesn't appear to be one of the humans' weapons."
Kaede gritted her teeth. That large metallic capsule reminded her far too much
of the 'containment units' that the first Pokewomen had been kept in between
experiments.
But her telepathic probes returned no response from inside.
Another Human trick?
General Verdandi found her breath suddenly quickening.
Here. The answer was here, she could feel it in the very marrow of her bones.
The dreams had brought her here, at this moment...because...
One elegant hand reached out towards the dark protective sheath.
-Contact-
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Commissioner Stonewall Vimes spat.
By the time the gooey mass hit the ground it clinked as it bounced off the hard pavement.
His men were dug in, his artillery was ranged and the 'special units' were on the front lines,
ready to fight the enemy, for whatever good it would do. They were badly outnumbered
and most of his remaining forces were only Mounties like himself, with a smattering of
conscripted civilians and military personnel to fill in the gaps.
How he had ended up in charge of the defenses of Ottawa, he didn't know. There had been
a blur of faces over the years who had called the shots as the War progressed. Generals,
Colonels, Majors, Ministers and Viceroys had all shouted orders and gotten people killed
until they'd finally died and then it was only Vimes left in charge trying to keep
the survivors alive one day at a time.
All he knew was that his city and her sister city Regina were the only known remaining sanctuaries
for humanity in North America. There might still be pockets of survivors somewhere in
the No-man's land that was the rest of the continent, but once the last strongholds
of resistance were crushed, they would only be ripe wheat under the sweep of the scythe.
And now it looked like their luck had finally crapped out.
Through his field binoculars the commissioner could just make out the orderly ranks waiting just
outside of artillery range. He had to admit grudgingly that General Teresa, 'The Faint Smile',
knew what she was doing. Recognizing that her main field army's strength lay in close quarters
combat, Teresa had covered her flanks with those godawful Gungals and Meltran giantesses.
And that was only to the East.
General Prier and her demonic forces blocked the West, augmented by swarms of Buzzbreasts that
controlled the local airspace. Vimes still had a few combat helicopters left, but it would have been
suicide to deploy them. Only the threat of his anti-aircraft guns kept the flyers at a distance.
But worst of all was the threat from the South. General Verdandi, the Legendary Reaper of Souls herself,
and her invincible legion were pointed straight at them. They were probably the most demoralizing force
for the men. After all, how do you fight angels without surrendering to despair?
So what were they waiting for?
He spat again.
This ground root stuff wasn't even close to real chewing tobacco.
"Sir, awaiting orders."
He turned to see on one of his junior officers, thin and pale, looking up at him for instructions.
"Hold positions. I don't know why they're just standing there, but I'm not going to question
anything that gives us a little more time."
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Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Kaede was running towards her leader, but it was as if the air had condensed into thick syrup.
She would remember that scream every single day for the rest of her life.
"My Lady!!"
She caught the General's crumpling form as she fell, almost buckling under the dead weight
until two of the Valkyries came to her aid.
Together they gently eased Verdandi's limp form into a more comfortable position
as one of them rushed to check her vital signs.
Kaede turned back towards the machine. That evil device that had done this.
Her transparent hands emerged from around her horns.
She would destroy it.
"No..."
The voice was weak, but the tone of command was still there.
"Do not harm it."
The Psidyke swiveled around, her eyes blazing with the color of fresh shed blood.
"Why? It hurt you! It must be destroyed!!"
"No. We must go from this place."
"Lady Verdandi!"
"You swore an oath to follow where I lead. Will you renounce that now?"
Slowly the light faded from Kaede's eyes until they were their normal brown again.
"No, My Lady."
"Tell the others that this area is forbidden to all of our kind by my authority."
The horned girl nodded silently. Tears were welling in her eyes as she saw how much
the words were costing her beloved leader.
"There isn't much time."
The two Psidykes clustered close to the general as the Valkyries around them prepared
the recall circle.
There was a sudden blue flash of light.
And then the Chamber was empty save for the quiet humming of the machines.
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Flonne and Shaelle were waiting for them at the Gateway.
"Mistress Verdandi!"
Healers rushed forward.
The General's hand came up.
"No."
"But-"
"The vote, is it being still being held?"
The two Angels bowed.
"Yes, Mistress."
"What is the count?"
Flonne stepped forward, the petite blonde's face contorted with worry.
"General Tsunami and General Arcueid have changed their positions to
support General Miya and General Moana. As it stands now, the count
is thirteen for and thirteen against."
The taller Shaelle met her leader's gaze without flinching.
"Mistress Verdandi, your vote will be the deciding one."
The General closed her eyes.
"And Hild?"
"She voted against destroying the humans."
Weak as she was, this still managed to get a soft chuckle from Verdandi.
How clever of her. She must vote with the Queen of the Demonesses
or oppose her and sanction genocide. Either way, Hild would have
gotten what she wanted.
"I see."
Kaede approached her.
"My Lady, there's still time for the healers-"
Her words trailed off as Verdandi's hand seized her own.
"Kaede."
The pink haired Psidyke could feel herself falling
into the depths of those shimmering eyes.
"Yes, My Lady."
She knelt and allowed the starlight haired woman
to place her hand on her head just above the horns.
Kaede cleared her thoughts and let her telepathic
nodes open to their fullest to serve as a transmitter
for her weakened General's psychic communication.
'Sisters. This War must End. Here. Now.'
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"What are they doing," General Clair asked rhetorically.
It was a question that many were asking themselves. The sun was up,
but the expected attack had not come. Men and women stared out
at the empty fields as if expecting an answer from them.
It was a bright new day.
-End Prologue
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"The Sleeper Sleeps but does not Dream.
when the Sleeper wakes, the true Dream will begin...."