“Not by you,” Plausious said, spitting the words out as he stared down the others. “I am Reignor Plausious, leader of House Atriark and now sovereign ruler of all Neofan by my decree. I am betrayed by the Diem, but that betrayal has opened my eyes to existing faults within our race. I have rid myself of those faults and become stronger than I once was by embracing the lightside. Star Force exposed me to it, but it wasn’t until I was marooned alone on a Hadarak world that I discovered what the lightside truly was. It is superiority incarnate. And that superiority is what defeated your attempt to dispossess Star Force of these Temples. Rather than accept this and learn from it, the Diem has labeled it a taint. This is a lie designed to hide the truth. The Diem deceives you, and I will not stand for it.”
That was all the guards could take, and two of them fired their weapons at him…beam weapons emanating from staffs…but Plausious caught and deflected both beams using an overlapping Essence technique as he reached out and simultaneous grasped the weapons and pulled them from their grasp…only to snap them in half before them and toss the broken technology to the ground at their feet.
But they didn’t stop there, and began a series of Essence attacks with the other guards joining in, but Fero didn’t move. That saved his life as the Ren’mak flew up above Plausious’s head as the Neofan defended himself from the multiple attacks, then it launched its own Essence wave down upon the group.
It was little more than a distraction, a simple blinding shroud designed to black out their senses and easily countered if you were skilled enough…but it required them to switch their attention off the Reignor momentarily, and because they did not expect the Ren’mak to have any Essence abilities, the blind hit them with full effect.
Before most of them could swipe it away with a cleansing wave, Plausious had sprinted forward and physically attacked two of them, breaking bone with blows practiced against much harder Hadarak bodies to perfection, and adding Essence attacks on top of them as he did not keep his distance in this fight, preferring to be within melee range and using the guards’ bodies as barriers against the others’ attacks.
Fero stood there, not attacking but also not helping the guards, as Plausious broke all of them in such efficient and feral fashion that the former Reignor ended up standing in front of Fero with his back to them as they crawled on the ground with what limbs they had remaining. Several had been tore off completely, with others smashed beyond recognition, and at least some had their necks broken, for they were not moving at all.
Plausious was angry, and Fero could sense it, but he was standing perfectly still demonstrating the control a proper Neofan required, as he looked at the barges beyond.
“I have seen the Endgame,” he told them all. “My preborn knowledge has shown me that we are nearly upon it, and it is not what we were promised. Only lightside power can trigger it, and Star Force is about to do so. When they do, all who are darkside will come to them and try to stop them. Just as you have already done. Star Force will be destroyed, or they will succeed and trigger a new race to be spawned by the lifesprings. That is what the Endgame does, and it has happened before in the distant past. But it also brings destruction upon the galaxy it occurs in, how I do not know. When the Endgame occurs, the Neofan will be destroyed. I have seen this in many ways, and not just in this galaxy, but everywhere…though I have told no one before now. Our race is over if we do not ascend to the lightside. Our past actions have tainted us, and I am here to remove the taint and give us a chance to survive what is coming. The universe is about to replace us, as it has replaced countless other races throughout the ages. We will only persist through the coming Endgame if we are worthy, and right now we are not. I have to make us ready. I have to make us worthy. That is my responsibility as a Reignor, and if I fail, we will all soon die.”
Plausious looked around, sensing those on the barges were of mixed feeling. Many were ready to attack him, but some were now fearful, for his vision ability was why he had been elevated to Reignor long ago and they respected it more than they did him.
“How many races have we discovered the remnants of?” he demanded. “Races more advanced than us who were destroyed by means unknown. The universe is littered with their rubble, and we will be no different. Star Force, for all it has accomplished, doesn’t have the strength to survive the Endgame on their own. They will fall too, though I hope I am wrong about that. I did not see the Diem’s betrayal coming. And I did not see our obvious flaws throughout my entire life. But I see them now, and we have a window of opportunity for redemption. It is narrow, but if we act fast we can save our race and save Star Force. Only together will have a chance to survive the Endgame. They are the key to our survival, and we to them. Not to join their empire. But to support it from the outside. To take the brunt of the attacks that are soon to come. You do not see it, but Truven’s invasion was one such attack. Completely illogical, but you all were compelled to follow his orders. And why? Why did you do that? Why did the Diem?”
“Because you are tainted with the darkside, and
