I remember when I first heard the stories of the Kaneren from the humans. When our makers, the skygods, had returned, those who would eventually become them were the first to unlock the latent potentials hidden within the homo-sapien genome. They were like the gods; religious paradigms all over the face of the planet had crumbled and were reborn anew in the face of the blue-eyed men. Those who were less educated thought of them as weather shaman, able to control rain, and storm. They had powers: magic, like creatures described in the ancient past. At first, they simply allowed more and more of the populace to undergo the shift into a new age of intelligence. And then, they sought to control. They wanted to create- just as the skygods did. They made us, the Krynians, that much I know. Though few humans know of our existence. Just as when the skygods first visited our planet and chose to experiment, so did the Kaneren, 'The Ascended.' The humans who were unworthy were put into cities where they could prosper and worship their gods. It was not unlike in the ancient times, when the olden civilizations were founded on such principles. But there is no such thing as the divine. The laws of the universe are physical and the skygods were simply more advanced than we, and the Kaneren are merely the offspring who realized the truth of origin. But we all know, now. The humans know that we come from the stars, and yet that in itself is still somehow inherently divine, in their eyes.
It sickens me.
With steady hand, Viper aimed her gun at the Kaneren woman who had tripped and fallen on the floor. Having emerged from the metal grating after climbing the elevator shaft, the woman was ready and able to vanquish anyone who may stand in her way.
"No!" The blue-eyed woman raised her hands up, dressed in white robes and cowering before the serpentine woman. "Please, spare me!" Viper's eyes widened.
"Arika, please!" Quietly sobbing, a young woman clung to her white dress and huddled behind a pillar. The steel of a razor-sharp, curved blade pressed to her collar bone, which pricked her skin enough to drain a single drop of bright, red blood. Holding dual scimitars, the golden-haired oracle, Arika, looked upon the helpless maiden with an expression of rage. "Spare me! Why are you doing this!? I don't understand! Please, stop! Please-...the king! Your father, how could you-...!? Stop..." Smoke filled the air. Pillars of gold and brilliant stone were crumbling around them as ash flared at their nostrils.
"Did you know?
"Did I know-..., did I know what!?"
"This isn't real...- none of this is real!" Suddenly, the blade lifts right beneath the woman's chin.
"Please, please, don't kill me...- I didn't know! If that is the truth, I didn't know! I still don't understand!"
"Liar! You're all liars!"
"Look at yourself! You're covered in blood- the blood of your people!" The blade withdrew suddenly as the lithe woman dropped to one knee and stared at the girl intensely with those serpentine eyes. The oracle could taste her panic in the air.
"I will save my people from those who have lied."
"You're a murderer!"
Arika jerked her arm forward suddenly, hand clenching around the younger woman's throat as lengthy nails dug into the skin. Her fingers coiled, the other woman gasping and struggling, but to no avail. "Don't, you, under-stand!?" The woman's voice began to crack. "This is a cage. And they've been killing us..., so many of us...- lying..., the gods..., there are no gods. There is no sky. Not this sky. It's fake...., it's fake, it's fake!" Her arm pushed and pulled, her captor's skull being slammed against the crumbling stone pillar behind her, over, and over, and over. Her skull began to crack, and blood poured from underneath locks of light-brown hair.
"Spare me!"
"Did you know?" Viper gives a cold, hard stare at the Kaneren woman. Right into those extra-terrestrial eyes. "About Krynia?" Her voice was cold, calculating.
"I...- I had heard rumors, about the bio-domes. But I don't know anything else! I practice medicine, not bio-engineering!" A realization hit the Krynian woman like a bullet. She stood there, as if frozen in time, the hand that was holding the gun wavering ever so slightly. Alarms were still blaring, though seemed to sound in slow motion within Viper's head.
"Bio-...domes? Domes." Viper was horrified.
"I don't know-..." Slowly, the Kaneren woman started to inch her way back towards the far side of the hallway, crawling along the metal-covered floor.
"There are..., there are more?" As she spoke those words, emotion swelled in her tones. She sounded appalled, enraged, and heartbroken all at once. The thought had never crossed her mind. Could there be more, like the Krynians? Other races of genetically modified monsters?
Bang.
The Kaneren in white collapsed onto the floor. Viper ran swiftly down the corridor as a voice sounded in her head, vibrating from an earpiece. "Night Serpent, do you copy?"
"Copy, Commander."
"I know what you intend to do. I get it now. Are you sure, about her? About the time traveler?"
"She is like me. I see it, in her eyes. But she will have a choice."
"What if she chooses not to do it? This whole thing seems a little..."
"She will do it."
"You sound so confident."
Viper kept running, until approaching large, metal double-doors. "Is this it?"
"You'll have to use the charges to get in." Using the same pulse devices she had used to break into the elevator shaft, those circular rings affixed themselves around the doors and melted the locking mechanisms with molten heat. With a firm kick, the woman in leather made her way inside. The room was dark, and it was hard to see anything. Though her vision locked on to a large computer console with a blue, holographic screen. She stood in front of it, staring, until speaking firmly.
"Bio-Domes." What was currently on the screen grew pixelated as a digital map suddenly came into focus. It was of the earth in it's current state, displaying the four cardinal cities and the world capitol, A'raphel, in the center of the mainland. However, there were several distinct markings on the floating holo-screen, glowing a bright red. "Krynia..." She reached a shaking hand up, dragging a finger through the air and onto another marked location. "Pyxis..." And to another, "Fornax..." And one more. "Corvus." Footsteps were heard. The blonde woman did not turn to look, but a voice sounded from directly behind her.
"You've taken an interest in the bio-domes, I see. They are, truly, the glory of our genetic engineering and the pinnacle of the god's technology. I'm sure you know much about it, my child." He set a hand on her shoulder, which made her stiffen. "We created you. Why do you resist us, as your gods? Why is there so much anger inside of you? We do not wish to instill anger. We only wish to do as our gods once did, and bring new life into the universe." She knew it had to be him. It had to be Erek-zi. But he did not sound as she had expected. His voice was smooth, like a man in his prime. He did not sound violent, or malevolent. Yet still, she knew what he was. He was an evil that had to be purged. "The wayward serpent. Lost, confused. I could bring you home, you know. To Krynia. Back to Cain. There doesn't need to be any more conflict; you are above all that."
"Cain?" Her eyes widened.
"Cain!" A golden-eyed woman, marked with blood, marched through an opulent temple with two drawn blades. She was panting, sweating; tears were streaking down the sides of her fast and smoke filled the nearby airspace.
"What have you done, Arika?" A man emerged from behind a pillar. He was tall, lean, and muscular, with short blonde hair and a golden, ornamental plate wrapped around his neck. He too had blades drawn, and several, reptilian scales made themselves visible along the side of his face. "The gods will bring wrath upon your soul for all eternity."
"You know the truth, and yet you stand in my way, brother? You would continue to kill- to slaughter?"
"How is that different from what you are doing!?" He snarled and hissed at her, arms extended as he held out one blade on each side of him. His chest, bare, was dripping with sweat from the heat of fire. Arika tipped a vase over with a foot, knocking it over as it shattered into dozens of tiny shards. It spilled a dark, murky fluid, which she leaned to press her blades down into. Cain began to circle her, as the woman then brought her swords to a nearby brazier, igniting the fluid and setting the metal ablaze.
"If you will continue to live in a world of lies, you do not know what it means to be a true Krynian."
"It does not matter what they are. The gods will always be the gods, and we must carry on. We must do as they tell us if we wish to thrive, for they are greater than we. You and I..., you and I are the same. We are their children."
"No! If you will continue to submit to them then you and I are not the same! I am a true Krynian; intelligent, a strong warrior. Just as I was brought up to be. You have lost sight of what it means to seek truth, and justice!"
"You are not a Krynian, Arika. Not anymore. Look at yourself. Look at all those who lay dead on the floor by your blade. You are a monster."
"Get out of my way, or you will join them."
"There is a rage burning inside of your heart, Arika. It's time I put the fire out."
"So it must be, then. Only one of us leaving this temple."
"I'm sorry, sister. But this is how it must be."
"I loved you." For a moment, the young woman wavers, seeming choked up. In her eyes, there was an innocence that did not wish to continue the madness that was unfolding around her. But her blades, molten and burning, were ready to finish the slaughter. "One day, I will come back for them. I will lead them to truth. No matter the cost."
"You've already lost your soul. There is nothing left to lose."
"Do you grieve them?" Viper turned sharply and looked at the figure before her in the dimly lit room. He did look younger than she had been led to believe; he was clean cut, and not wearing a robe, as the other Kaneren were. He wore something akin to a suit: a black vest over a dark colored shit and black slacks. Those alien, blue eyes stared at her own, the two pairs both seeming to glow in the dark.
"Excuse me?"
"Even though you have found yourself with the rabble of The Eclipse, you still prefer to be alone. We have been watching you; our eyes are everywhere." He reaches out to touch her again, but this time she recoils and gives a loud hiss of agitation. "You must feel as if it is your penance for your sins."
"There is no such thing as sins. Only truth and the lies that you have manufactured with your technology, and your machines!" Blue lightening spread from his fingertips and suddenly lashed out at her, causing her to shriek and fold over in pain. The blonde woman shakes, clutching her abdomen where the leather was now singed and the skin beneath had been burned.
"Acting alone has put you at a disadvantage, I'm afraid." Viper retracted and slumped back against a wall, slipping down with bent legs. The Kaneren man approached her, setting a hand beneath her chin and tipping her head up to look at him. "Your mother also acted alone. And she felt the sting of our power. Again, and again." Enraged, the woman lashed out with her arms and hands as if she were ready to claw his eyes out, but he stood back and applied a strong, telekinetic force to hold her against the wall.
"You act like you are so kind-...but you are a monster! You find no value in the lives of those you create and those you control! I swear, I will-....!"
"You massacred your people. How are we different?" She tried to move, but she couldn't. Every muscle in her body was locked away, as if frozen in time. He approached her then, smirking with overconfidence.
"Not everyone is ready to evolve, and there are those who are simply not worthy. Someone has to take on the responsibility of setting rules, and regulations. Without order, there is only discord." She found her limbs moving, but not of her own doing. She was held up, arms spread apart on each side and legs parted. Erek'zi set his hand on her chest, palm flat as he stroked along her body, down to her abdomen, which had been burned. She chokes out a sob, a mixture of pain and disgust.
"New Babylon burns tonight! It will set the sky ablaze and the people below will know that their gods are not invincible!"
"And you, the lone girl, are going to stop me? There are consequences for choosing to be alone." He continued to touch her, his hands running along her sides. Those golden eyes were seething with hatred, and her words were dripping with defiance.
"When I first got to West City, I felt I had to be alone. Just as I was when I was a child- I was different, a mistake. I had to be alone, and fight my own battles." She looked away, at the sole window looking out at an expanse of sky. "But while I was busy being alone, I learned something. I learned something so important, that it will be your undoing."
Erek-zi laughed, mocking her. "And what's that?" Glass shattered. With a loud rumble, a large, mechanical arm grabbed the Kaneren in the middle of the room and crushed him ruthlessly, causing him to scream.
"I am not alone!" Free of his telekinetic hold, the woman clung to a nearby piece of furniture, attempting to keep herself from blowing out into the winds. Once she found herself steady, she detached herself and ran along the massive arm. Erek-zi was no more: his organs had been crushed to a pulp. While highly intelligent, physically, the Kaneren were no more impressive than any average human. "Open up, Shroud!" The cockpit opened up upon Viper's command, to reveal and empty seat, waiting for her. She climbed inside and closed it back up again as the machine shifted back into the shadows.
"You knew, didn't you? How did you know?" While there was no one else aboard, Vanessa's voice was heard running through the craft.
"Because you and I are the same. And we cannot sit idle when such injustices are being made." Viper closed her eyes, taking a deep, long breath.
"You're right, you know. You will never be alone."
The golden-eyed woman took a moment of silence before responding again. "We're not finished, just yet..., and it looks like you've been hit pretty hard, by the looks of it. Take me to The Umbra."
"How does it feel? Knowing that he's dead?"
She considered the question for a moment. "It doesn't feel like anything."
"Viper, I feel so..."
"You're not."
"...Yeah. I guess I'm not."
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