The Exiled Arises

Temera didn't expect the war against the Hive to turn out like this. She had hoped that by fighting in this war that her honor would be restored, and she would be able to return as a redeemed warrior of the Narkelegen tribe that cast her out. She had lost in a battle against her twin sister, Ocura, a battle that decided the successor to the Nebulosa tribe's leader, their father Uropter. Now the war was ended not by victory from either the Empire or the Hive, but by the harbingers of the plague of the Morphians. Ghost-white mudskippers with the traits of the other races of Sokondro that didn't care what they devoured as long as it suited their survival. Temera watched in horror as these creatures devoured some of her comrades.

The Nebulosa tribe were the most superstitious lot of all the Narkelegen tribes that swore loyalty to the Chemibrion Empire. They knew of a prophecy that told of beings from the star bringing forth an unspeakable doom to all of Sokondro. The Narkelegen elders were afraid of the Oligarchy when they had appeared from the stars some time ago, but while the fears of most of them were assuaged by Morphan Chemibrion giving them the means to grow their psionic powers and their civilization, the Nebulosa elders held onto their doubts, as they were justified following the start of the Holometa-Chemibrion War. This war causing all sorts of Yunamikar-like blights to Narkelegens, Pleurodans, Dorcasoms, and even some of the Chemibrion Oligarchs themselves. The tribe leaders prior to the war thought this prophecy wouldn't come to pass, not after seeing how much the Chemibrion improved their way of life and would help their clutch hatchlings survive better in their harsh underwater environment. Some of these tribe leaders paid dearly with their lives in the fight against the Holometa Hive and then against the Morphian invaders.

Temera didn't know where they came from or if they were the creatures foretold in the prophecy, but she knew she had to stop their advance before they could reach her home and her tribe. The sacrifice of her fellow exiles wouldn’t be in vain. Armed with her Necturum spear and her powerful psionic power, she concentrated her power into her weapon before unleashing a wave of electricity that stunned the monsters into a momentary state of paralysis. She then loosed her spear onto the ravenous horde and guided it to the heads of those creatures as swift as an arrow. They stopped dead in the waters, blood flowing in the currents, before she pushed their limp bodies onto the surface above with a motion of her hands.

The amphibious warrior exited the water and looked around at the environment, and saw that all of Yunamikar had broken loose onto the world around her with the monstrous Morphians devouring everything in sight. She watched as a nearby hive of the Glaphyr Dorcasom fought valiantly against those beasts, but they outmatched them in numbers and regenerative and hyper-adaptive capabilities.

The warriors yelled out, "Protect Queen Sabatin!"

In the end, they were crushed by the abilities and tactics of their fallen brethren and that of the titanic Necydalian Dorcasom being used against them. Queen Sabatin Caustica was in sheer horror as she became nothing more than the centerpiece to the bloody banquet the Morphians had in this forest.

Temera was frantically aghast herself. She and her comrades were planning an attack on the Hive of the Caustica family for many cycles with how heavily fortified it was in the territory of the Necydalians. She and her fellow comrades knew that going in blind was practically suicide, something that fell on the deaf tuning antennas of their former comrade, Cuspidus. He thought he could carve a path past the Necydalians, but this was in vain for even he was outmatched by the numerous and thick-headed beetles. To think these unknown beings could bring them down that easily was beyond words.

Temera sensed the Morphians had spotted her and so she used her powers to perform the same tactic on the oncoming attackers, which worked for a few of them, but she heard munching and liquefying beside her. She turned and saw one of the Morphians was regenerating by absorbing the dead bodies of their own fallen comrades that were in the water before focusing on absorbing the recently culled to pull out the stingers that were in their back. The creature caught the spear that was sent its way with ease, smirking at Temera before casting it aside. They manifested many tails that sparked with electricity similar to Temera's own while cackling.

She had to evade the tails, knowing that they would be potent from the power of the swallowed Dorcasoms and Narkelegens and the Morphian bodies. It could destroy her powerful nervous system with a single sting if she was careless. Temera had seen how these creatures could be capable of such a thing when witnessing the massacre of the Caustica Hive. She tried stinging with her own tails, but even when it hurt the being, it left her wide open to be swung around and into the nearby trees by the being. Her head was hurting, as the creature towered over.

The creature spoke, "Swallow the will of all things..."

However, before they can touch Temera, the spear came up to the head from behind and then sliced the monster in half. She still had some mind power within her. Temera limped towards the water and went towards the nearest Necturum rock to heal her wounds. The world was in sheer chaos with the Morphians that were loosed upon it. The words the creature spoke echoed in her throbbing mind.

"Swallow the will of all things..."

These creatures had to be the doom that the elders feared the Chemibrion Oligarchs would bring to Sokondro. They never said how the Chemibrion would bring about this ravenous doom. Only that the beings from the star would bring about a bloody war that would awaken creatures that could wipe out all life on the planet. Whether they were the doom of the Oligarchs' own creation or a race that existed in a time more primeval than the Narkelegens' own ancestors that was awoken from a deep slumber by the power struggle of the Holometa Hive and the Chemibrion Empire. They were a race that had no allegiance to the Chemibrion Oligarchs nor Pleurodans that served the Oligarchs, nor did they care about the Empire's strife against the Holometa Hive. At the same time, they didn't care about the lives of the Dorcasom they went after.

This rang true as Temera swam back to her home that was situated within a huge coral reef forest, and saw as the Morphians were devouring through the village and the warriors defending it. She also saw these creatures had the gall to make nests within the pillaged homes of the village itself that still had blood and remains strewn about.

The elite warriors, the Azirian Narkelegens, blessed by the power of the divine Elegen, came to bring down some of these barbarians and the eggs they laid within the destroyed homes. They were led by Temera's sister, Ocura, who led the charge and took down so many Morphians. They were able to destroy the remains of the Morphians before they reformed or were eaten by other Morphians with their electrical powers and weapons.

Ocura was then smacked aside by a big Morphian, but she was saved by a flying spear to the head of this beast. She looked back to see her exiled sister, Temera, had joined her in the fight against the marauders despite having been exiled in ritualistic combat.

Ocura asked, "Temera, you have returned?"

Temera nodded and said, "The doom the elders spoke of must be stopped before they make a foothold out of our ancestral home."

Ocura looked somber and said, "Father has fallen to these creatures, trying in vain to protect the elders from these unfeeling monsters."

Temera's eyes widened in shock and with a seething rage, she and her sister broke through many of the Morphian forces. It was like the hellish Yunamikar had arrived on the planet. The Morphians have taken everything from these denizens since they appeared on the planet, and they had to be stopped before they were replaced by the Morphians as the dominant world race.

Temera stopped when she saw a Morphian that looked as helpless as the clutch hatchlings of her people. Was she and her people any better than the Morphians or Dorcasoms that they had slaughtered since these wars had begun? So much was taken since the Morphians appeared and the war between the Empire and the Hive began.

The Azirian Narkelegens came to slaughter the helpless creature and others that were spawned from the Morphians, much to the horror of Temera. It didn't take long for the Morphians to rush them for retribution against their young, and they adapted to the tactics of the Azirian elite to where the Morphians were no longer outmatched by them. They were felled in one swoop despite taking one of the creatures out in a vain effort to reduce their numbers. The creatures turned to the sisters, but Ocura threw Temera several distances away from the village.

Temera yelled out, "Ocura, no!"

Ocura sent out a telepathic message to Temera, "Temera, you must bring together the few Nebulosa survivors that were exiled like you or still fighting in this wretched war. You all will be the spear that pierces these creatures and avenges the demise of our father and tribe. Avert the doom of the elders' prophecy!"

Temera watched as the monsters devoured Ocura while she was being driven away from the battlefield by her sister's dying telekinetic power. She couldn't afford to shed tears for her sister, not when she had a new mission to fulfill. Temera can't let her people's sacrifices be in vain. The planet was experiencing Yunamikar-like war, and the denizens weren't going to take this horrible malleable death without a fight.