Boom. Boom. Boom.
-=x=-
"Why do you delay? Why do you not heed my warning? What do you fear? Was it not you that took me into your grasp? My whispers called to you, and you replied."
The voice echoed throughout Saleera's mind as she looked for the source. Nothing. All was dark. She stepped forward, boots sloshing through black liquid, green wisps evaporating into the air with each movement.
"Who are you?!" she asked, spinning about in bewilderment.
"Who am I? You know who I am. You saw my name. I am your inevitability, as you are mine. You walk the same path as I once did. Though my history is lost to me, this I know: we both serve Her will, and no other. So I ask again. Why do you delay, Child of Ice? Do you revel in watching others falter in the wake of your inaction? Of your incompetence?"
The harrowing echo of the voice brought the Isldar to her knees as her hands clutched at her ears, though her efforts were feeble.
"What-/no/!.. Get- Get out of my head! STOP!" she screamed out. The voice was everywhere, the hatred and rage piercing every inch of her being. The icy feeling of tendrils wrapping around her heart was all she could perceive as she yelled out. The grasp tightened, ordial essences slowly melding with the Isldar's own as she struggled, splashing into the black liquid as she writhed about. More wisps plumed upward from her fall, now beginning to converge around her.
"You are nothing without me. Deep within, you know this. Is that why you resist? Before me, I see a life of that has lost everything held dear, and now you are on the cusp of adding another mark to the list, all while being forced to understand just what you have done... Alas, I offer you salvation. You will not so easily lose me. I have walked the edge of the abyss. I have seen your future. And there is none without me. I will end this misery for you if you cannot yourself. Gone are your days of self pity, of mindlessly wondering. Release what you have held within. I see it in you. Unleash your rage."
Saleera shivered for a moment before screaming into the silence, powerless. The world around her began to drone on with pleadings and cries. Not of her own, but of voices all to familiar to the Isldar. Her mind flooded with every waking memory. Everything she had lived. Her very being was flashed before her. The Isldar's eyes widened as she slowly ceased her struggle. Her body soon went limp as she gave in to her malevolent benefactor. Her eyes slowly began to come aglow, morphing from their natural Bene Rexit-green to something far more ghastly. The dark walks of the void began to melt away, seeping onto the ground before wrapping themselves around Saleera.
"Good. No more hesitating, Child of Ice. Deliver Her blessing. Kill."
-=x=-
Saleera blinked, eyes refocusing as her ears rang from a few explosive noises across the room. Frame by frame, she recounted every detail. Three Bene Vexit guards at the doorway, firearms at the ready. More running down the long corridor. Her name being called. Three muzzle flashes. Her hand wrapped -- no, bound to a weapon, her eyes having just caught a glimpse of a name etched upon it.
She blinked once more as reality faced her again.
"SALEERA-!" a Bene Rexit called out, lurching herself between Saleera and the guards as black plates materialized from her skin. A round glanced off her chest, but the Isldar's luck did not hold. The other two found better footing in her chest. With a gasp, she slowly sunk to the ground. Saleera's eyes followed the body, lingering upon it. The sound of rifles being cycled broke the trance.
"Let this be your last mistake. Hesitate no more. Rage."
The Isldar broke into action with vigor. Black scale plate materialized about herself, but more was at play. The ordial wisps returned to shroud her in a cloud of black and green smoke. In a near instant, Saleera was no more. A suited, carbon black skeleton stood in her place, its ashen cloak swaying as wisps and black tendrils rippled through the fabric. Its masked face stared toward the guards, the same glowing green hues greeting them.
The Shade pried the weapon its host had been grasping, cracking open the breach as the surrounding wisps began to flow into the chamber. A snappy movement shut the chamber and whipped the weapon upward as it was loaded. The Shade's glimmering hues lined the weapon up with the guards beyond, and with a squeeze of the trigger, a furious roar filled the room as the trio were eviscerated, thoroughly painting the hallway and incoming guards. The hand cannon's etchings and accents glowed vibrantly with various greens as it breathed new life from those it had just taken, revealing its barrel-carved name for any to see...
Nadhir
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