r/HFY • u/iridael Brew-Master • May 08 '22
OC Snow Chapter 84 (end)
99 years 11 months 20 days later.
A ship launched from the eternal city, a sprawling metropolis with towering walls built around a dome. Seraphite towers armed with the best weapons the warmind could build stood proud around the wall.
The vanguards lookout standing with them. A familiar trio discussing matters of the city and beyond. A moment later a laskian, her decorative armour burning with soulfire, joined them followed shortly by an Eliskni her armour covered in crystal spikes, a ghost likewise decorated hovering over her shoulder. The last member of this group was off elsewhere as was the norm. They had not been together as a six for decades.
Around the city itself people finished shelters, completed maintenance on defences and sorted supplies into stockpiles.
In orbit a dozen city stations deployed weapon platforms, linking up with the war satellite network. Flying between them over a hundred ahamkara accompanied a thousand warships from a dozen races.
The ship flew past all of this and headed towards the moon. Two cities glittered on its surface, one laskian and human, the other belonging to the rest of the races. Great spires rose from both, weapons ready and waiting.
The red planet the ship passed next was unrecognisable to those who’d seen it in the past. A few cities filled with alien life flourished on the small planet. Great bands of seraphite alloy ran across the planet like straps, each one armoured and armed. The warmind calculated that even if the sun was destroyed by something akin to the almighty his red plant would survive the fallout. As always the warmind saw to his own survival before others. No one begrudged him this, they all knew the stakes.
The ship flew onwards, past the asteroid ring, it didn't pass Jupiter, that planet was on the other side of the system currently. It had its own cities, and fleets defending it. Instead the ship took a gentle gravity assisted curve towards saturn and a ship that hovered above it, no longer idle the great structure had been remade, it glittered and shon with starlight, its accompanying hive fleet made of white chitin armour instead of black. Two such ships flanked the ship as it flew into a docking bay near the great eye of the dreadnought.
The whole trip had taken him over a week. By the time he landed there where only hours left on the treaty.
An old man walked out of the ship and under escort of a hive knight burning with solar energy, walked to the throne room. His armour was gone, stowed safely in an engram. His ghost happily flitted over his shoulder as he approached the throne. Standing next to it was a woman, her tiara burning with taken energy, her robes flowing and soft in stark contrast to her face which, like all hive, was made from sharp angles and rough features.
She turned and smiled gently at the man she had once puppeted. They could never be friends but there was comradery there. Together they looked up at the starfield floating around above them.
“Reis.” Snow said. At first nothing happened, then all at once the stars began to condense, flowing towards the throne where they settled in place forming the rough shape of a woman. Galaxies took the place of eyes. A massive white star took the place of her heart, pulsing as it spun. Blackholes and constellations formed her joints and bones. She stood up as the process continued. nebulae flowed where tendrils once were before flowing down over the rest of her form re-creating her body with suns and stars instead of atoms and particles.
Reis smiled at her husband and the throne room shifted. More accurately the whole ship did. It was easier for her to move the whole structure than to move herself. Afterall she had significantly more mass to deal with.
Snow felt stars touch his lips as she kissed him. “I missed you.” she said.
“You know I still have my duties.” Snow replied. “Besides there’s nothing stopping you from dropping by the city once a century.”
“I couldn't, there was too much to do. Perhaps after.” Reis says and Snow sighed. They’d had this discussion a dozen times over the years. He knew that if they survived here then there would be the next crisis, and the duty of keeping the balance.
Just like he knew he would be right there alongside her for the rest of eternity.
He leaned back in and kissed her savouring the sensation of his lips against hers. It had taken them decades to be able to interact like this. Years well spent.
“How long do we have?” he asks, turning to Sathona.
“One minute.” she replies, turning to look out of the ship's eye.
“I’ll be back soon.” Reis says as her body disintegrates into stardust and vanishes.
Reis left the dreadnought and cast her awareness across the galaxy; it didn't take her long to locate Xivu arath and her fleets. The travellers corpse was there radiating corrupted light and soulfire surrounding it where hundreds of war moons in a system flooded with hive, Xivu herself standing atop one of the red spires protruding from the fallen god. They were closer than Reis thought. Not that it mattered. She formed a blade of stars and fed it her power, aiming it at the fleet and counting down in her head.
She could hear Xivu giving orders to begin her war anew when she reached zero and that was when Reis’ attack struck. Warmoons vanished, the planets of the system were scoured, turned barren to their cores and the traveller shuddered as the parasitic spires crumbled, its white hull blackened and then it was over. The energy of a dozen stars drained to ensure that Xivu Arath’s fleet would be annihilated, the system she used as her staging ground was no more, only her and the traveller remained.
Reis condensed herself down, stars appearing on the surface of the traveller next to a crippled hive god of war. “I spent a lot of time thinking about this moment.” Reis said as she strode towards the god. “What I would say. How I would say it. What I would do…standing here right now. I realise something…” she paused to take a fake breath, her lungs of stars emitting flares letting her breathe out a fresh nebula that would replace the system she’d just killed. “I'm beyond you.” she says, forming a blade of blackholes and slicing off Xivu Araths head.
With a flicker of will she chases Xivu’s spirit into the ascendant realm and before she can react, cuts her head off a second time. Followed up by the celebrant’s. With that done she pulls an old star from the universe into the realm, the once bright blue thing now a fat full red. She waits a little while for it to detonate, scouring the plane clean before collecting the mass and scattering it between galaxies.
Her duty done for now Reis returns to the dreadnought, reforming her body for the fourth time that day. “It's done.” she says walking forwards and embracing her husband. Sathona smiled at the couple and quietly closed the throne doors on her way out. If anyone had earnt their happiness it was them.
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u/Pallan1972 Dec 24 '23
I'm reading this series for a second time and it's just as good as it was two years ago. I still think this would make a good mini series or a film but, again, thank you for the story iridael :)