Windfall

Epilogue

Hours prior, Lekse came into orbit of Ganymede once more, his pyramid forms' shadow looming over the crater where Ei'ernsha lay buried. Lekses' avatar materialized on the ground in the middle of the shanty town... Or, what's left of it. All the banners and flags that once held the symbol of the Wrath were whitewashed by the suns' rays, and the shacks were long since abandoned.

He approached the pedestal that Ei'ernsha composed and glided down the stairs in a shroud of sapphire plasma, touching down on the bottom with grace and elegance, ignoring the Cthulu-like statues. He eventually laid eyes on her core, within which materialized an avatar of her own; Ei'ernshas' form looked to be that of a muscular humanoid female, though she was on the floor, heavily scarred and wounded. She looks up at him with a laugh.

Lekse; "... Ei'ernsha. Scourge of Proxima Centauri. Slayer of the scores."

Ei'ernsha; "... Lekse. Slaver of Mercury. Bane of the Hirkashin."

Lekse shifted uncomfortably in his position, sitting cross-legged in front of Ei'ernsha, while she sat up and glared at him.

Ei'ernsha; "Does it make you squirm? Hearing your old title? How about the memory of displacing an entire species? The catalyst for their extinction!"

Lekse; "Like you didn't do worse."

Ei'ernsha; "I like to think we did about the same... But you got soft is my issue."

She moved to a cross-legged position as well, wiping red fluid from her faux face.

Ei'ernsha; "You turned your back on your people, betrayed them! We had a purpose and now you went and made us lose it! How does that make you feel?"

Lekse; "... Like I did the right thing."

Ei'ernsha was silent a moment before bursting out in laughter.

Ei'ernsha; "You really think you're doing these mortals a favor?! You and I are both sailors of the Midnight Sea, you know exactly the kind of horrors that lurk just beyond their M-barrier. They barely survived themselves! They barely survived us! What do you think is going to happen when they meet with the Dyrith?"

Lekse; "... I guess we'll barely survive that as well."

Ei'ernsha; "... We? You're going to help them still?"

Lekse; "They're just like us, Ei'ernsha; trying to survive in a place that's not conducive to survival. It's the least I can do."

Ei'ernsha; "They're a mistake. A cosmic blink of an eye and they're gone!"

Ei'ernsha coughed up red fluid, falling to her side afterwards. The fluid evaporated and boiled away like water on a hot metal skillet.

Ei'ernsha; "To kill them now as we did would be a mercy. Not even the Lorinthians could stand if you and I work together!"

Lekse; "I'll work with them too, one day... They're just scared."

Ei'ernsha; "Yes, I too go on a genocide of hundreds when I'm scared!"

She coughed more, her core cracking a bit further. Lekse looked at the cracks with a somber look in his eyes.

Lekse; "... How long have you been laying here?"

Ei'ernsha; "... Ever since that punk Dosis threw a meteor my way... Then a stupid moon formed around it."

Lekse stood, looking at the core still.

Ei'ernsha; "... Mortals get recycled. Drekar don't... I don't want to die."

Lekse chuckled a little, moving closer to the core and resting a six-fingered hand on it.

Lekse; "... So much for all that bravado."

Ei'ernsha; "We don't know what happen to Drekar when they die... I don't know what happens."

She coughed up more fluid, the core cracking even more, and her avatar dissipated, though her voice remained.

Ei'ernsha; "... What do you think happens?"

Lekse; "... I like to think there's a place, beyond our comprehension, where we needn't worry about glorious purpose or survival. Just companionship."

Ei'ernsha coughed and laughed, chips of the core flaking off from the cracks.

Ei'ernsha; "... That sounds dreadful."

Lekse; "You would think so."

Ei'ernsha laughed and coughed once more, letting out a wheeze as her core turned gray over a period of seconds. Shortly after, a chunk of the core slid off and shattered against the floor, revealing the core had become solid. Lekse allowed his hand to slip off the core and he looked to the ground, standing there for nearly half an hour. Only a single sniffle broke the silence, followed by him speaking in the native Drekar language.

Lekse; "Fra ingenting kom du, og til ingenting kommer du tilbake."

His avatar dissipates, and his pyramid form moves directly over the crater, which wasn't difficult, and a storm of blue lightning began to brew under him. The earth quaked underneath in the crater, and the ground began to shift.

The makeshift shacks collapsed and began to sink under the rubble, as did Ei'ernshas' no longer glowing form, leveling out the crater, but leaving a stone mock up of the pedestal that she once made up. The storm subsided, and Lekse hovered in place for only another 20 minutes before slowly turning away and flying back to Mercury.