Dominion The Bryn'adûl | Charted Course of the Diamondback Celestial - Dominion of Krinemonen III

[Keldothera]

Objective: The Tears
Post: Four
Tags: Hrajlmak'Natok | Seer Kalanthir

Keldothera couldn't overpower the larger Drael by herself, quickly assisted by her brethren as one slammed the butt of his Triad into Durak's helmet, knocking him unconscious. Her head turned to the sky as shadow consumed overhead. It was too large for her to exactly make it what it was, but the sky was replaced by a glimmering length of shadow. Too defined to be space, sinew and hide almost visible as something shrieked from all around. Keldothera rose, staring at the sky almost mesmerised.

As were her companions. It didn't last for long. One of the few Zealots among their party called out to them.

"Something is coming over the ridge!"

"Contacts to our west and east!" Another reported, the clicks of weapons readying returning Keldothera to reality.

She looked down, corpses rising from the ground with a black mist enveloping them. Keldothera took the Kraker from her back, the fear was getting worse now.

"Everyone into the perimeter!" The General called out.

She turned to the Seer.

"Work with haste, Seer!"

 

[Sethrak]

Post: 4
Tags: Tathra Khaeus Galak Adrian L'lerim-Vandiir

The first thing Sethrak noticed was the color. His vision was not simply shades of Red, White, Black and Blue now. Instead there was a plethora of colors. Was this how the victims of The Bryn'Adul saw? No wonder they were so weak, this was an assault on his vision, he couldn't focus on anything. That's when he realized that the place was empty. He could look on for as far as his eyes could see, yet there was nothing. He took a step back, failing to ward off panic, only to go nowhere, because there was nowhere to go.

He was flying without moving. Standing without touching the ground. Moving without traveling. He could move his arms but felt no wind pushing against his limbs as he moved them. No friction, no resistance. The cave had been quiet after the interrogation...but still there was noise, the dripping of water beads from the moist rocks, or the noise of an insect in its' new habitat.

But here there was nothing to Sethrak. Not a whisper, even his own breathing was silent to him.

He was weightless. His armor, his weapons, they were gone too. He didn't know where they had gone, perhaps they had been left behind, in the cave with his troops. His thoughts turned to his soldiers. Where were they? They were surely terrified, cut off from everyone just as he was now. Or worse, they were in pain. A flash of anger sparked within him, but faded quickly, replaced by fear.

He tried to remember the events leading to this but...there was nothing leading to it. One moment he was about to order his troops to exit the cave, the next he was here, or nowhere, wherever this was.

There was something else that was silent. Something that had always been there. Something that he hadn't been without since he was a child. But surely it couldn't be true. He called for it, despair and terror overtook him as there was no answer. The Force was not with him. He was alone. Had he died? It had been instant, just as the disappearance of the listening posts had been. But surely this wasn't death...this was meaningless, he could do nothing.

He shook with fear. Fear he had never experienced before. Fear that consumed him. He could barely think as his mind was assaulted by the fear, and the colors.

Minutes, or hours, or maybe more passed by as The Warlock shook, unable to do anything. At last he closed his eyes, the colors only dimmed, piercing his thick eyelids like his blade pierced flesh. But it was enough. He was regaining some sense of control, enough to gather some thoughts and stop his state of paralysis. If there was nothing here, then there was surely something somewhere else.

He took a silent breath, then opened his eyes. One more moment to get his thoughts together, and then he began walking, almost falling at the unnatural feeling of having no ground and no destination. At last he managed to keep his balance.

He would keep walking until he found something....anything...

 

[Galak]

Objective: Insanity Prelude
Post: Seven
Tags: Adrian L'lerim-Vandiir | Sethrak | Tathra Khaeus

Galak awoke, feeling returning to his body as he shot upright. His eyes, still blinded by the explosion as he rose, fists at the ready. It was almost an immediate realisation that something was wrong, he felt so light and... he could not move his left arm. He looked to his side, nothing but the blinding white. Where was he? The explosion did not fade, it was all he could see. Blinding white heat.

His hand moved to his hip to grab his sidearm, only to feel the softness of partial cloth and his thigh. Galak looked down, his bare feet on the ground as he looked at himself. He didn't understand, not at all. This strange world, so skewed by light and an object lack of colour nor heat. Had he died? The thought shook him to his very centre, his legs leaving him as he collapsed. His body forced whatever was inside of him up from his throat, but nothing came. Only the stale taste of nothing in his mouth.

He tried to lean on his left arm, only to fall flat on his side. He didn't understand, but soon enough Galak did understand. Wherever he was now, it had taken anything away from him that had been made for him. His left arm included, he had lost it at Yurb only to have it regrown later. He was armless, weaponless. Purposeless.

The Warlord screamed in hysteria.

 

[Primarch Drek'ma]

Objective: Insanity Prelude
Post: 5
Tags: Seer Kalanthir | Hrajlmak'Natok | Tathra Khaeus | Keldothera | Sethrak | Galak

Drek'ma left the cave, leaving only corpses behind as his eyes were drawn to the sky. Diamonds spiralling on a hide of black ocean. What was coming for them, it was already here. But he felt pain, weakness. He would not suffer the presence of this celestial, threatening their kind.

The Primarch reached out, feeling the tears in the veil. His eyes burnt gold as he climbed the terrain to the nearest tear, his Staff shedding threads of white to seal it. He would work in tandem with the Seer to undo this apparition.

He would not suffer the dead to pass. Two white portals exploded into life behind him as a pair of Rhivaks stalked out from the reverses in their ships above. They would defend him from any foolhardy necromancy.

"Child's play."

 

[Adrian L'lerim-Vandiir]

Reidun Amersis
The Little Girl, Zealot minor​

Objective: Discover
Location: Outside the outpost, Krinemonen III
Equipment: 2x Barad kukri | The Bryn’adûl Pulverizer | Barad Special Operations Armour
Tag: Tathra Khaeus | Sethrak | Galak

Reidun continued to watch the lights; she still didn't understand what it was, what could have caused it all. Had never seen anything like it, but the whiteness and light grew stronger and stronger. She had a feeling this could have happened to those who died. Then she finally found herself in another place. She wasn't sure if she was physically here or just her soul and didn't even know that all this was possible!

The Little Girl didn't understand what it was, how it was possible, or why. The something that was here that might have caused the light, screamed. It could be pain or mourning. She did not know; she did not understand alien life forms. Reidun didn't have her equipment, the way she looked around, she saw the Titan, as saw two other companions as well, recognized them.

She found only one good point in the situation; she finally knew where the Titan was. Everything else? Negative.

"Everybody is ok? What happened and where are we?"

She asked her questions. She was primarily interested in the condition of her own peers, they were the most important. She means, it's really the Chieftain. Looked around to see what she could see here. Whatever brought them here was still in a hysterical state. Since she did not know what Tathra had been trying to do, this time she was trying to address the being or entity. Wanted to understand why, now it wasn’t enough for her to kill the enemy and it was over. Reidun also wanted answers.

"Why? Why were you brought us here? What do you want from us? And why us?"

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Objective: Discovery
Post: Seven
Tags: Sethrak | Adrian L'lerim-Vandiir | Galak |

There was no answer. The only response he got was the sudden appearance of others, trapped here with him now. This thing was toying with not only him but others as well, Galak rose, armless and hysteric. Tathra stopped in his path, looking on with confusion and terror. He didn't even have time to think as Reidun appeared from thin air. He remembered her, from Rinn. They had met before, why them. He didn't understand.

Tathra's fist clenched again, the clink of metal reverberating out through the void. He looked down to his right hand, finally noticing it. But still his hand was bare. The ground underneath his feet was only there when he acknowledged it, the entity wasn't letting him have the gauntlet. The Titan rushed to Galak's side, holding him upright.

"Galak, listen to me. None of this is real, control yourself!"

He looked to his right arm, still nothing. But before looking back up at Reidun.

"I don't know."

The very least he could do, was admit it.

 

[Galak]

Objective: Insanity Prelude
Post: Eight
Tags: Tathra Khaeus | Adrian L'lerim-Vandiir | Sethrak

When Galak came to, he was quiet. Tathra had shaken him from madness but he still couldn't believe it, comprehend it. It felt like his arm was there, he wanted to believe Tathra. But this felt like death, it felt like their lives had ended all simultaneously and this purgatory was where they would remain for all time.

Such dire prospects and only one arm. Galak couldn't believe it, the celestial had won and now their Warriors were on that planet all alone.

"Tathra, my arm..."

He nearly whispered, half cradled by the Titan as he looked over his shoulder around them. A baedurin was with them also, perhaps she had died too.

 

[Hrajlmak'Natok]

Post: 4
Objective: The Tears
Tags: Keldothera Seer Kalanthir

Buried at the back of his mind, a rat gnawed incessantly. There was nothing normal about this world, a sentiment shared by any half-witted Draelvasier deployed here. And abnormality meant lack of control. And when the Bryn'adul weren't in control, they suffered for it. This much was resoundingly true now after the disappearance of the Chieftain. It had thrown them off, and nothing was coming together. When communicators lit up again, Hrajlmak was eager for good news. The sudden disappearance of Marauder Galak, followed quickly by the Warlock Sethrak and a Zealot Minor, dashed any hope for stability to the wind. Hrajlmak uttered an exasperated sigh. He turned to the field master on his right and began to issue a command when gunfire pierced the unsettling tranquility. The three warlocks snapped to face the engagement between.. friendlies. The panicked situation was quickly resolved, with the offender being knocked unconscious. Hrajlmak couldn't figure it out. If he had felt nothing, his confusion would only have grown. But it was there, an infectious, pervading abhorrence in the web of psychology. A silent, slithering tentacle that probed the air amongst them, having embedded itself in the now decommissioned baedurin. "Sir, the sky". One of the field masters alerted the rest and nodded where he looked. The sky shimmered, and an ethereal outline drifted slowly among the clouds. Hrajlmak's brow furrowed, he couldn't figure it out. Nothing made sense, nothing seemed real, his thoughts only grounded finally by the orders from the presiding general. The scenery seemed to come to life as what looked like the corpses of long-dead natives and Sith troops picked themselves up from the hellscape that surrounded them. Hrajlmak's staff burst to life and adrenaline spilled into his veins. The horizon filled with innumerable figures, all on a frenzied warpath toward the unit. Hrajlmak felt no fear. Only a seething anger.

Spoiler

shit post, can't concentrate, senses are absolutely three sheets to the wind at the moment

 

[Sethrak]

Post: 4
Tags: Tathra Khaeus Galak Adrian L'lerim-Vandiir

Sethrak felt like he had searched for hours, if time existed in this place. But still there had been nothing. Nothing but the strange, colored area around him. He felt as if he was confined to a small room. He didn't know if he was moving when he walked, as nothing moved here. But he would not give up. He would escape this place, or die trying, assuming he wasn't already dead.

He tried plan B. Gathering all his strength he raised his fist in the air, and brought it down on the non-existent ground. He expected impact, and pain. Instead he flipped over as if there was no gravity, then fell. He continued falling, and falling, and then a sudden stop. Again, no impact, just...nothing. "What is this MADNESS!?" He shouted in desperation.

He took some shaky breaths, then rose to his feet. He had no more ideas. The Force was gone, he couldn't use it to guide him, or create a bolt of lightning and fire to break out of this prison. He had no weapons, there were no walls, he was alone. He was helpless. In his madness he began to sprint, moving or not, he would sprint until he escaped or collapsed.

He needed to be free.

 

[Seer Kalanthir]

Objective: The Tears
Post: Four
Tag: Keldothera | Hrajlmak'Natok |

Even with the madness escelating around them, Kalanthir could not allow himself to falter. His focus was absolute, healing the tears would've gone by easier if assisted by the Ashaka Weavers, but it was the luck of their kind that such situations were not always so in their favour in the departments of coincidence.

Even as a clairvoyant, one could not perceive the need for all things. He moved, examining a new tear as his hands worked over the fabric in complex shifts to seal it. Whatever was coming for them, was powered by the Celestial.

It has played its hand, now Celestial - allow me to play mine.

With a proverbial mental yank, the Seer pulled shut a handful of tears. Some of the undead would fall where they stood, they were weakening it. And its show of force revealed that weakness.

 

[Keldothera]

Objective: The Tears
Post: Five
Tags: Hrajlmak'Natok | Seer Kalanthir |

The bolt fired out from the Kraker, impaling the chest of one of the Sith troopers clumped amid a group of them. The edges of its near sealed compartment hissing before it exploded, killing the grouping. She fired two more bolts into the ground, waiting as the horde of possessed forms came hurdling forward. She held the Kraker by the barrel in her right, taking the Shredder from her hip as she fired at the closest enemies pushing past their immediate line.

The ore shards sliced into the flesh, a few blades cutting into the approaching fleshites. The proximity allowed for an interesting advantage, super-combining several of them at once in a flurry of hot pink mist.

Her Juggernauts weren't easily overwhelmed, but they'd only brought so many ammo in reverse for a recon mission. Though, she was relieved as the First Warlock approached.

"Warlock! Could use an assist!"

 

[Hrajlmak'Natok]

Post: 5
Objective: The Tears
Tags: Keldothera Seer Kalanthir

On the order of the general, the group quickly formed a tight circle around the Seer. Hrajlmak's connection to the force was not quite so strong, but the importance of Kalnthir's task was lost on nobody. Even if he seemed only to be fiddling with the air. The undead made rapid advance on the perimeter and it quickly became apparent their numbers were vast. Every living thing killed in the mystery cataclysm, now an army with a single objective. A small recon unit simply wasn't up to to the task. They could only play for time. The three Warlocks were about equally spaced around the unit to maximise their offensive abilities. They had dropped their weapons and now coordinated lightning attacks, chaining arcs through as many of the mindless enemies as possible.

From behind, Keldothera called out for help. Hrajlmak growled in exasperation and voicelessly commanded the other two Warlocks to compensate for his position. They spread their arms, covering their front while adding a second cone of attack to cover where Hrajlmak now wasn't. He spun around and dashed toward the general, shouldering a Juggernaut out of the way while he reloaded. "Kalanthir needs to pick up the pace!" Hrajlmak shouted over the chaos of relentless Krakers, Shredders and the storm of red electricity now pouring from both hands.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Objective: Discovery
Post: Eight
Tags: Sethrak | Galak | Adrian L'lerim-Vandiir

Tathra could hear them, beyond the veil his Drael were fighting against the celestial. None of this was real, only what they believed was real. Tathra closed his eyes, imagining the black Gauntlet around his right fist. When his eyes opened again, there it was. He was in his armour again and he could feel the untapped energy of the celestial's pocket-dimension swirling around them. Perhaps, it would be enough to set them free.

"Reidun, Galak. Get behind me." Tathra raised his right hand, clenching his fist as he drew on the pocket-dimensions energies.

White tendrils pulled into his fist as white veins of energy leeched up the sides of his arm, the Titan growling in pain as he staggered back. He envision the tear, the wall before him was the way out. With a energised strike, Tathra struck the wall. Where his fist landed, a crack appeared. Another strike, the crack shattered more of the wall.

Slowly but surely, they would break free.

"We're going to get out of here. I promise!"

The Titan struck again and again, fighting in cohesion with the weakening state of the Celestial as those outside worked together to break free from the Celestials hold. Even if all they could do was banish it back to its own dimension, that would have to be enough.

 

[Primarch Drek'ma]

Objective: Insanity Prelude
Post: 5
Allies: Hrajlmak'Natok | Keldothera | Seer Kalanthir

The Primarch used the force to locate his people, finding the Seer was suddenly easily as the Celestial had began to direct its attention at them almost solely. The power at play was immense, but it allowed him to tap into the softness of the fabric of time. In a shimmer of white light, Drek'ma reappeared on the battlefield beside Keldothera and Hrajlmak - lightning arcing from his fingertips as he blasted apart a handful of the approaching horde. He could see the tears, their energy not too dissimilar to that of teleportation energy.

That begged the question, where did the creature above them come from or even WHEN did it come from. Was it their far flung future or perhaps the distant past? He'd be driven mad all by himself if he pondered on the subject any longer. For now, he had necrophorms to contend with.

"We must act swiftly if we are to contain this outbreak."

The innate urge to call upon a Servitor was there, but that was more habit than reason. He wasn't sure of what this celestial was capable of and he did not wish to face an undead Servitor. The earth moved beneath their feet as the Celestial cried out above them, seemingly expanding with its cries of rage at the Seer's plan.

He could feel it weakening, and the beginnings of the Titan's presence.

"Destroy the tears, Seer! I can feel the Chieftain, he's breaking through!"

 

[Galak]

Objective: Insanity Prelude
Post: Nine
Tags: Hrajlmak'Natok | Adrian L'lerim-Vandiir | Tathra Khaeus | Keldothera |

The world began to shift around them, feeling returning to his body, the cracking sound of the pocket-dimension shivering down his spine. Galak could feel his fingers again, his arm returning with some new strength as he turned over onto his belly; using both hands to push himself to a knelt position. It seemed as always, the solution was punching it till it stopped moving.

"Tathra.. whatever you're doing, its working."

Galak spoke between breathes, still dazed. Celestials and strange force apparitions were nothing new. But it hadn't been the first time he'd been ensnared by one. He could feel the shame that his cowardice had brought him. His one good eye looking back to Reidun, the sole participant he wasn't famlliar with.

"We're going to get out of here, Juggernaut."

He rose to his feet, Shield extended from its compact positioning on his wrist as he joined the Titan in attacking the structure ahead. If Tathra thought this was the way to go, then it was. He could only hope they were right, and others were not lost in the white inferno to be trapped if the wall reformed behind them.

 

[Primal Architect]

Tags: Sethrak | Galak | Keldothera | Hrajlmak'Natok | Primarch Drek'ma | Seer Kalanthir | Adrian L'lerim-Vandiir | Osam |
THE DIAMOND BACK

The celestials power waned and shattered as one veil closed after another, its influenced corpses lessening in number as its influence beyond its own dimension was diminished. The skies shifted in the eternal cosmic as the Diamondback retracted its wrath into a few, glowing with hues of purple silhouetted energy as it charged them into the ranks of his foes with explosive fury.

Its scream shook through the core of the planet, with all the power that remained in its grasp; attacking the minds of those it considered beneath it.

 

[Hrajlmak'Natok]

Post: 5
Objective: The Tears
Tags: Seer Kalanthir Keldothera Primarch Drek'ma

Hrajlmak's heart skipped more than one beat, the palpitations disrupting his air flow briefly. The shimmering apparition in the sky bellowed a trans-dimensional fury, its emotions rippling through the fabric of spacetime like gravitational waves. The latter Hrajlmak was familiar with, the former, not so much. Before he could steady himself, a far less ethereal envelope warped into existence, depositing the immense figure of the Primarch nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with the Warlock. Hrajlmak blinked and waited a moment, streams of lightning flowing from his hands. Once he was sure another pleasant surprise wasn't about to send him sliding across the ocean floor, he craned his neck up at Drek'ma and nodded his head. "Primarch" he shouted over the gunfire and thunder. To avoid unrest in the ranks, he proceeded telepathically. "The disappearances. What of them? What of the Chieftain?"

 

[Keldothera]

Objective: The Tears
Post: Six
Tags: Hrajlmak'Natok | Seer Kalanthir

Suddenly the enemy around them seemed to halve in number, those that remained exploding into strange light as they charged at her Warriors with vigour and enhanced physical power. Keldothera used the Mind Stone to order her warriors to concentrate fire. It seemed as though they were only pawns in what was otherwise a game of the minds, cosmic things beyond her. But at the very least she could keep the Seer safe.

Maybe he could get the others free. One reached their perimeter, ripples of purple engulfed black flame tore through their line as the Juggernauts were sent spiralling through the air. Debris and ash kicked up into the air, filling her lungs as she rose a gauntlet to cover her eyes.

She shot from underneath, blind firing from the hip into the legs of those sprinting to the Seer.

"Kalanthir! Look out!"

Kelda rushed to her feet as one ran past her, tackling the mangled amphibian to the ground as it imploded in her grasp; black fire burning at her flesh as she landed on her back, exterior armour plating melting away.

 

[Seer Kalanthir]

Objective: The Tears
Post: Five
Tag: Hrajlmak'Natok | Osam | Primarch Drek'ma | Keldothera |

With the arrival of the Primarch the task would no doubt be easier, but the Celestial continued to apply pressure. The faculties were strained, but even as it desperately clawed at them its influence on their realm was weakening.

It would have to be a balancing act to retrieve the Titan and the others stuck behind whatever wall the Celestial had risen.

Primarch, we can deposit them back here with us. All I need you to do is teleport in, and out once the veil is weakened enough!

Kalanthir worked to widen the weakened veil, snapping shut more and more around them in the process as the Juggernauts and Warlocks fought around them to hold off the Celestial's hordes. The Seer looked to the sky, the Celestial was on the move as he held open the tear of infinite white.

Now, Primarch!

 

[Primarch Drek'ma]

Objective: Insanity Prelude
Post: 6
Allies: Sethrak | Tathra Khaeus | Adrian L'lerim-Vandiir | Galak

In the brief nanoseconds between the Seer's words and his next action he could see the world shifting. A damp, shedding web of energy separating them from Tathra and the others. The last of the few tears so drastically overblow by the condensed energy daring to escape with ever increasing pressure as the others were shut around them. It would only be mere luck that these last few did not break and make the Celestial even more powerful. It was not often that they had almost little to no control over the outcome of the event, only fate would decide if they could walk away as victors. Drek'ma drew himself into the force, quieting his mind as all the auditory information surrounding him became numb, deafened. All that was left was the white noise, lingering on the edges of his periphery as everything around him shifted.

A pool of pearlescent white energy forming ahead of him as he drew upon the powers of time and space, the cosmic force willing his manipulation of it into being as he himself were engulfed in the white energy, dissipating in a blink of light.

In a shift of motion, Drek'ma teleported to the side of Sethrak first; of all of those trapped in the pocket dimension he was suffering the most, then to Reidun and then Galak and Tathra. Immediately, the then five reappeared beside the Seer.

With an exasperated breath, the Primarch leaned on his staff.

"Close it, Seer."