Week 2 - Outside of Time

Garmin Fe breathed in the air of the alien atmosphere. Already he feels he has spent a lifetime here. The weight of his Dra'koon armor was made heavier from the exhausting temperatures. The orders were given. Now all he had to do done was the hard part. He sparred all but a few noble apprentices and himself for the task at hand. He looked down at the field of battle as the fiend was drawn away, Garmin prayed. Down below him was the scarred terrain of millions of dead warriors. Here he would make amends. He leaped in to the pod and was shot to the surface from his personal freighter. Along with him came 6 other Recognized warriors and 7 gold Nephilim war giants, specially made for this mission.

The crash of the crafts upon rock could not be heard over the sound of the battle in the distance. The fiend had already been engaged, Garmin must hurry. As the light Leyas began to ebb and flow from both his allies and foes, the glow from the golden giants began to get brighter and brighter, feeding off the Leyas being projected. Garmin hurried to a shattered five-sided crystal spike driven into the ground nearby. Clambering over the dead that lay before him. He worked rigorously as he dismantled transparent components that were unseen until moved. Only one with intimate knowledge of the device could do this with such ease.

His own men set off to do the same and established a perimeter as they went. As the technomancers did what they could to nullify the hearts, the golden giants amplified the light Leyas energies to quell the memories it released. As each memory was quelled, a mark upon the giants would appear. They would become walking reminders of the atrocities witnessed by these brave souls. Should they survive the encounter, Garmin would dub them the Remembered and choose never to unleash such horror again.

Garmin Fe’s hands moved inside the device switching and moving the invisible crystal components inside, fingers moving deftly. Above him a gathering cloud of shadows was forming before his eyes. There was a bright flash of light.

Garmin Fe breathed in the air of the alien atmosphere. Already he feels he has spent a lifetime here. The weight of his Dra'koon armor was made heavier from the exhausting temperatures. The orders were given. Now all he had to do done was the hard part. He spared all but a few noble apprentices and himself for the task at hand. He looked down at the field of battle as the fiend was drawn away, Garmin prayed. Down below him was the scarred terrain of millions of dead warriors. Here he would make amends. He leaped in to the pod and was shot to the surface from his personal freighter. Along with him came 6 other Recognized warriors and 7 gold Nephilim war giants, specially made for this mission.

The crash of the crafts upon rock could not be heard over the sound of the battle in the distance. The fiend had already been engaged, Garmin must hurry. As the light Leyas began to ebb and flow from both his allies and foes, the glow from the golden giants began to get brighter and brighter, feeding off the Leyas being projected. Garmin hurried to a shattered five-sided crystal spike driven into the ground nearby. Clambering over the dead that lay before him. He worked rigorously as he dismantled transparent components that were unseen until moved. Only one with intimate knowledge of the device could do this with such ease.

His own men set off to do the same and established a perimeter as they went. As the technomancers did what they could to nullify the hearts, the golden giants amplified the light Leyas energies to quell the memories it released. As each memory was quelled, a mark upon the giants would appear. They would become walking reminders of the atrocities witnessed by these brave souls. Should they survive the encounter, Garmin would dub them the Remembered and choose never to unleash such horror again.

A huge cloud of shadows was around him, but he was too distracted by trying to turn off the shattered Heart of the Forgotten. He swore he saw an alien face in the shadow trying to say something, then the final piece of the device was falling into place and the device should shut down. There was a flash of light.

Garmin Fe breathed in the air of the alien atmosphere. Already he feels he has spent a lifetime here. The weight of his Dra'koon armor was made heavier from the exhausting temperatures. The orders were given. Now all he had to do done was the hard part. He sparred all but a few noble apprentices and himself for the task at hand. He looked down at the field of battle as the fiend was drawn away, Garmin prayed. Down below him was the scarred terrain of millions of dead warriors. Here he would make amends. He leaped in to the pod and was shot to the surface from his personal freighter. Along with him came 6 other Recognized warriors and 7 gold Nephilim war giants, specially made for this mission.

The crash of the crafts upon rock could not be heard over the sound of the battle in the distance. The fiend had already been engaged, Garmin must hurry. As the light Leyas began to ebb and flow from both his allies and foes, the glow from the golden giants began to get brighter and brighter, feeding off the Leyas being projected. Garmin hurried to a shattered five-sided crystal spike driven into the ground nearby. Clambering over the dead that lay before him, Garmin Fe came to an abrupt stop, he was staring at the madness that was the Queen of the Da’uhnb. What was the Queen of the Temporal Empire doing here he wondered?

Before he could ask she said,
“Dra’khan Garmin Fe, Protector General of Beacon City, and Master of the Continent of Dead Quall, you have failed to realize the Hearts of the Forgotten were pulled into Warmonger’s Forgotten along with the gravity generators, and Nanoplague. These shards are still connected to the Forgotten. You have been pulled inside the being. It has halted its ascension with its fear.
Warmonger’s Forgotten will use the power of your Hearts of the Forgotten in a most insidious way. It still has the full power of the psychic rage of the Quall N’drone horde. And will not slow its oscillations any time soon. You are trapped in a psychic loop, every time you return to the past. Quickly call your men to a stop!”

Garmin Fe trusted his instincts and commanded his men to halt.

“Now you only have the remaining two minutes to flee this battlefield, and warn the rest of the universe of the hidden power of Warmonger’s Forgotten. It will be used for the greatest crime in the history of your timeline. You must flee, that way!” said the Da’uhnb Queen.

“One more thing Dra’khan Fe, there is a rogue Da’uhnb Grand Admiral Thei’Gann. He has decided to begin altering the timeline in a twisted attempt to warp this present. He may attempt to stop you from escaping. You are still technically trapped in the network between the shattered Hearts of the Forgotten and the Forgotten of Warmonger, you cannot call in additional support.
You must flee, return the way you came. When you reach your pod, get back inside! My personal Da’uhnb will come and save you.
Beware there are Dead Quall littering the field of battle between there and here who have been restored to undeath by the power of the Forgotten. You will have to fight your way past at least twenty of the Dead Quall who are in a unit as well as any forced that Thei’Gann sends against you. Part of my debt to you is repair, Dra’khan Garmin Fe.
Survive and bring word to the world outside. If you succed you will arrive back in your own timeline moments after the Forgotten flees to Draco Epsilon 7.”

Above them on an obsidian outcropping stood the very Grand Admiral she warned the brave K'iou about.
Grand Admiral Thei'Gan had never before had to make an order twice. He snorted he was so angry, so very full of rage and anger that smoke rolled off his shoulder from the Fire Leyas that gathered.
He glared at the impudent Da'uhnb Merc that stood before him.
"You heard me, soldier. I want those men down there taken out, one at a time. Grab his allies. Go in low with your claws and cut their legs out from under them. It is not for the purpose of causing them significant or even irrepairabe damage. It will cause neither. I want Garmin Fe to feel the pain of every man he leaves behind in that horrible place. Even if he clones them, or resurrects them, he will always know there is a version of them trapped here."
The Da'uhnb Merc was shaking, and Grand Admiral Thei'Gann got up in his face, "What are you so frightened of soldier? That K'iou? Garmin Fe?"
"No sir, its the terrain. Its a closing time loop. The moment he and his crew successfully leave the time loop will close. Any of my mercs who don't get out won't ever get out," said the Merc stinking of fear.
"I know thats why I want to trip up Garmin Fe's comrades. He'll survive. And then we will tell him.
Every man he leaves behind is stuck. Trapped in that endless loop of arriving and trying to escape and failing. Consumed inside Warmonger's Forgotten. And he will never forget them," roared Grand Admiral Thei'Gann, "That is his punishment for serving the TRILAT. Were he independent of their evil grip we might save him in honor of the honors he has done our people. But HE IS AN ENEMY, and he serves the Ancient Evil known as the Unity."
"Sir its not very ancient." said another Merc snarkily.
"Shut up you fool," barked Thei'Gann, "I've seen quite a few distant futures and pasts mucked up by those Metatrons of Fate. We will not let them win."
"Sir what does the Metatrons of Fate have to do with this!" asked the Da'uhnb Merc who was originally shaking, rather distracted by the argument.
"Absolutely Something," replied the Grand Admiral, "Now go my minions. Cut his flesh, and smash their giants with this box of rocket propelled grenades, and then we can go home and have a nice dinner. Leave Garmin Fe hurt and scarred but don't trap him here. He has much more suffering to do!"
Thei'Gann disappeared in a flash of blue light.
Leaving his soldiers standing there. The ten Da'uhnb mercs looked at each other, then down at the Recognized and their WarGiants, then over at the box of rocket propelled grenades.

Hesitation was not in this K'iou's nature. With several swift hand motions the general signaled to his men that the mission was aborted and a full retreat was in order. From their expressions it was clear that no da’uhnb, queen or warrior, had revealed themselves to their vision, yet their loyalty disallowed any question in his judgment. Upon additional commands the six recognized grappled to the shoulder of their respective war giant allies. The golden behemoths formed a phalanx and marched forward at incredible speed. With but a subtle motion the faceless Nephilim escorting Garmin caught him in mid stride. With a mighty lift from his augmented arm, the general mounted himself firmly.

The pod had come within sight but so had the opposition. Well over twenty Quall Undead had risen since they had passed this way. Their eyes were sullen and hinted at an unending rage of malicious intent. The horde broke like a wave upon the shields of the giants. The repelled attackers, the former natives of K'yrpos, the masters of fire, were burned for the first time of their nigh-immortal existence. The aura of Light Leyas exuding form the giants seared their flesh, still this was not enough to halt their assault.

Three Dead Quall were immediately dispatched as gigantic spears impaled them and froze the remains. A forth Quall fell as a Recognized sprinted down the shaft of a spear and implanted his luminous ward deep within its chest. The counter attack was made ineffective as a sheet of solid metal slid its way past the technomancer. The flanks closed in on the attackers. Three recognized concentrated their rain of icy spears upon a single opponent, its body now a pin cushion of brutality. Another recognized, augmented from head to toe, fought with one quall directly. His two crystalline construct arms ripped limbs off the undead as each flailed in his direction. The armless victim was finally pacified when his skull, horns and all, were crushed between his mighty cold palms. One recognized concentrated his attention on controlling the chaos of battle by unleashing walls of ice were they would be most effective, all from his mass defender implant. Another more traditional recognized swooped down from his grappling hook to dismember the heads of several opponents with his shard-like short sword.

The battle was made swift. The giants, nearly 10 meters tall, aided their masters as their masters aided them in return. This style of fighting was unlike that of most war giant operators. The relationship was more symbiotic and organic. There were no control rods, joy sticks, levers, or buttons to manipulate. The riders controlled the movements like the knights of Earther's past who steered their trained mounts with subtle movements of their feet and legs. The communication was in gestures and movements of a seemingly natural style. There were no cockpits. The riders fought along side their giants, exposed yet protected by their presence. It allowed for giant and rider to both attack as one, even if they were concentrating on different targets. In the middle of this concert of warfare, Protector General Garmin Fe seemed simply to be watching. Though those with keen observation would know that his body was tense, and his attention was placed on matters of greater importance.

As the final few quall dead were being dispatched, Garmin finally leaped from his giant to the side of one of his apprentices. Raising a shield made of pure Zela metal, he used the techniques taught to him by Tarrisian allies to deflect a nearly unforeseeable attack. An attack with the intent of murder without resurrection, of an inescapable death. Garmin Fe flung his hammer at the villain, projecting upon the well-crafted weapon both his rage and his earth Leyas talent. The hammer embedded itself on the ground before his opponent and unleashed spires of obsidian intent on impaling. Then, discarding his shield he called upon the might of the Borvian Dragon Crystal implanted in this chest, becoming the image of a dragon made of transparent clockwork crystal. The dragon had two powerful arms and a body that ended in a tail with no legs. The wings shed mists of frost. Garmin, in his new form lifted from the ground a golden spear that had been disarmed from one of the Nephilim, a feat requiring inhuman strength, and vaulted at his target.

One of the Da'uhnb Mercs was impaled by the Obsidian spikes, but merely held and not killed. The blue alien's blood poured down its legs. He couldn't teleport without ripping his own legs off. But that didn't stop him from raising his RPG and aiming it at the giant crystal dragon.
Garmin Fe smiled, knowing he could easily shrug off the attack. Then to his shock the rogue Merc fired his rocket into the apprentice he had just saved. Garmin's spear pierced the chest of the Da'uhnb killing him instantly, shattering his sternum, and driving shards deep into the Merc's alien heart.

Turning and looking at the apprentice, he watched as the younger Beacon City compatriot was hurled from the plateau of obsidian onto a razorsharp outcropping and was cut in half, with both halves falling into the lava below.

Garmin Fe made a few more quick hand gestures and the remaining Recognized formed up. As they did, a trio of Da'uhnb teleported in to fire off a trio of RPGs right into the cluster of soldiers sending them sprawling.

Garmin Fe grabbed two of the Mercs heads in his crystal claws and drove them down into the lava. They screamed as the flesh was burned off their scaly bodies. Garmin Fe pulled the heads and their Time Shredding Glands safely up before the lava consumed them.
He would pass the dead over to their queen for resurrection and a proper punishment.

Garmin Fe tossed them onto the center of the isle and turned towards his remaining Recognized, as Four Da'uhnb appeared among them. The entire group disappeared to a fate unknown. Garmin Fe was left there alone as a crystal dragon, with no foes to smash. He felt better knowing samples remained at Beacon City so they could be resurrected.

He raced towards the pods, and reached it just in time, strapping directly into it as Da'uhnb appeared around it. These were dressed in a more neo-classical armor with the crest of the Da'uhnb Queen's personal guard. Garmin Fe closed his eyes as there was a flash.
He found himself standing on the same obsidian island, but it was two hours later.
Two minutes had become two hours in the the endless loop.

Though Garmin Fe supposed it wasn't quite an endless loop. At least his time in the presence of the malfunctioning Heart of the Forgotten had shown him the cause of the problem. It had been overloaded by the rage of the Quall, and the Nanites had acted as a neural network between the crystalline weapons. The weapons themselves weren't faulty. But they could not safely be used on Hiveminds. The communal will was too strong.

New safety features would have to be installed, if he decided to continue their deployment. It was a quandary to consider.
The news that there was a rogue element within the Da'uhnb was even more concerning.

Two days later, Garmin Fe returned to Beacon City, to meet with the soldiers he had lost. They met him in an office overlooking the beautiful silver spires of the city frosted in snow. It was twilight. The multiple moons of Refuge rose above the snowcapped mountains that surrounded the advanced metropolis. It was in the moonlight that he looked upon the Recognized who had been restored to him. From he each seperately, and then together he had asked them what they had experienced during the time in the time loop.
They all replied that they had no memory. They remembered stepping into the pod and nothing afterwards. Though the Nephilim they built still had strange markings on them that the Recognized who built the Giants could never remember adding the symbols.
Garmin Fe had noticed them in silence, when he had seen the Recognized arrive at the front of the building earlier.
The more questions he asked the more he noticed their discomfort. They knew a section of their life was gone.
And something was missing from them. They all expressed that they only felt alive when riding in their Nephilim, the one who always regenerated the markings, even when it was cut off, or covered by other materials. The Remembered, the Golden Nephilim with their strange markings of memorial.
It was the haunted expression all these special warriors suffered that truly made Garmin Fe suspicious.


Rewards:
Garmin Fe gains The Remembered and their changed pilots. Garmin Fe gains upgrade intel for Hearts of the Forgotten.

Temporal Empire gains Hearts of the Forgotten Sample.