xinoehp512

"Well," said Xino, "Let's get going." He smiled. "This is going to blow your minds..."

Xino's expression sobered. "True enough." He sighed, then gave a sort of half smile. "But we do the best we can."

So he didn't bother.

I decided, somewhat rebelliously, to break the pattern.

Xino smiled back, catching her as she rushed into him. "Glad to see you've woken up! I was beginning to get worried."

So he was slain.

Someone had switched them out without them noticing.

You should come to the Longest Thread more. I may have killed it by mistake, it could use a revive.

Pheonix led the way through the ship and into the mime tunnels. As they walked, Xino popped out of a corner. "Xino!" exclaimed Pheonix. "You're back! How'd it go?" "Pretty good," said Xino. "Where are you going?" "I'm taking them to see the Branch." Xino's eyes widened and he smiled knowingly. "Mind if I tag along?" "Not at all."

Xinoehp flew through the air on radiant beams of light. As he reached the tip of the mountain, he raised his spear. With a mighty swing, he smote the Witherlord. Light exploded outwards as the tendrils of darkness that the Witherlord had sent throughout the worlds evaporated. Millions upon billions of withergeists across the universes halted what they were doing as their commanding authority ceased to command. Billions more simply evaporated in flashes of light, annihilated by Xinoehp's incredible power. And that was just the first blow.

Xinoehp looked up in wonder at the light streaming down on his face, squinting his eyes against the stark sunlight. The withergeists froze in place, stunned by the sudden sunbeam. The Witherlord stopped and stared, speechless. Xinoehp slowly stood. Slowly, but surely, his spear began to shine again, powered from a spring deep within his soul. His eyes shot open. Two beams of light shot out, vaporizing the withergeists unlucky enough to stand in their way. "No," he said, and his voice echoed across the land. "You will fall." With that, he leapt, ready to face the Witherlord again.

Inwardly, Luna sighed. Why did this always happen to her? ---- Dark laughter filled the air around Xinoehp. Farewell, Light One. Long live the darkness....! In that instant, all the tentacles swirled together, attacking Xinoehp as one, unified whole. He raised his spear to deflect it, knowing full well it would not be enough. The black strand hit the white shaft, and- Crack. The explosion blew Xinoehp clear off the mountain, sending him tumbling through air onto the ground below. He landed in a tumble, somehow managing to simultaneously hold onto his spear and avoid breaking every bone in his body. With a dull sense of agony, he noticed that his spear had cracked. Whether from the blow of darkness or the fall, he didn't know. Either way, it was the last mark of a hopeless battle. Fall, echoed the withergeists, swirling down towards him from the mountaintop. Fall, so we might rise... I've fallen, thought Xinoehp. I've failed... But just as the last spark of hope faded, something incredible occurred. With one last defiant scream, the stormwraith tore... ...and a ray of light fell through the clouds. @Shard of Thought

Why did I say that? thought the part of Jaino's brain that hadn't been consumed by the Enchantress's spell.

With a loud hum, the bonejet's weapons fired. Jaxevist stumbled slightly as each missile hit him, but did not fall. Even before the last missile landed, his wounds healed in swirls of red and black thread. Weak human weapons stood no chance against a Red holed. No chance at all. ----- "Dak!" cursed the bonejet's pilot, slipping back into his native tongue. "Bjarka Sog!" "Language..." admonished Jaino, his fingers flying on the controls as he readied another volley. "And quiet, please." He couldn't really blame Azgha, though. In his personal opinion, any creature that could take a whole volley like that without batting an eye was worth a whole dictionary of profanity. "Hold," grunted Azgha suddenly, . "Another, on field. They-" He cut off suddenly, making a strange gurgle-moan. "What?" asked Jaino, looking up from the controls. "What is..." His voice trailed off as he laid eyes on the figure on the screen. His hands slipped from the controls, and -out of the corner of the eye- he could see Azgha doing the same. He hardly noticed as the plane spiraled out of control, crashed through the flying army and collided with the ground. ----- With detached interest, Jakevist watched the newcomer entrance the pilots and cause the ship to crash. Probably deserving of some sort of recognition, and if he'd been in control he'd most certainly have stayed to talk. But Aridith was in control, and there was only one thing Aridith cared about. So, without even looking back, Jakevist commanded his army to move out. He had a world to destroy.

Looks like my profile pic.

Articus stared at the glowing, blinking dot on the holo-map of the Web. He swore he could feel a vein in his eyeball pulsing in sync with its neurotic rhythm. Besides him, the radio crackled on. A panicked underling. "Sir! Something's happened. One of the border worlds-" "I have the holo-map up, Pallor," interrupted Articus wearily. He sighed. "I see it." "What are we going to do, sir?" asked Pallor, still in that panicked voice of his. "Investigate," said Articus simply. "And hope." ----- Nile knelt on the ground, prodding the oddly-colored splotch- all that was left of what had once been a productive farming settlement. He stood up, pushing the button on his radio to give his report to the people back at Farpoint. "No sign of any inhabitants. Several blood stains on the ground- it looks like there was a fight- but no bodies. Most of the buildings have been pretty much completely reduced to rubble. No clue what happened. Over." After a second or two, the response came back, though it was patchy and static-filled. "No bodies, blood stains, *kzzsh* reduced to rubble, check. Any *kzzsh* or *kzzsh* marks in the area? Over." Nile frowned. "Do not copy. Please repeat. Over." "*kzzsh* bodies *kzzzzsh* rubble *kzzzzzzsh*" Nile sighed. This radio was useless at trans-verse reception "Just... send reinforcements, alright? Over." It would take a day or two for them to arrive, but hopefully they'd bring a better radio with them. " *kzzzzsh* hear you, Operative Nile," the radio said back. "A bonejet is en route to pi--" The voice cut off, replaced by static. "Hello?" Nile said, without much hope of response. "Anyone there?" After a few moments of radio silence, a different voice came through--a woman. "Nile? Nile, is that you?" Nile's face brightened. "Cassandra! I can't believe... It's me! How...?" "Princesses have their ways," she responded. "Especially the daughters of Hyxlia." He could hear the smirk on her face. "I'll tell you about it later. Right now," she continued, her voice becoming serious, "I have some sobering news. We have reports of another attack going on about thirty miles south from you. A bonejet's coming to take you there, along with some Hyxali reinforcements." Another attack. Nile's gut twisted. "You're sure it's the same thing?" "Of course not," Cassandra said. "We think so. But we have no idea what in Hyxlia's blessed name is going on! That's why you're on the job." The bonejet emerged from the pink clouds, diving down to Nile's truck. "Fair enough," Nile said to Cassandra as it lowered its repulsorlift. He jumped inside. "I'll get to the bottom of this, don't you worry." ----- Nile spied a man standing alone amidst the carnage, clutching a blade glowing blue. “Land there,” he told the pilot, readying his gauntlets. “He’s the leader—I can tell.” The repulsorlift lowered Nile down to the ground. He met the eyes of the assassin across the bloodstained field, then his gaze fell to the sword he carried. That was...the Blade of Quidan! How in Hyxlia’s name had he gotten ahold of that? The most Nile had even heard of it was through whispered legends. It was so shrouded in mystery, nobody even knew what it did. All they knew was that it was powerful. The other soldiers dropped down from the bonejet. “Bad news, men,” Nile said. ”Not just men,” one of the few human soldiers corrected, gesturing towards the worker Hxyali. Nile cleared his throat. “My bad." Right- workers were considered female, even though they couldn't reproduce. "Anyway, looks like we’ve got a heck of a fight ahead of us. You’re sure you can deal with this?” The worker pulled a metallic brick from her belt, which promptly unfolded into a crystal-lined minigun. The soldier next to her grinned. “I think we can take em.” ”Very well.” He ignited his visor and locked on to the assassin’s weapon. “Cassie,” he said through the radio, “we could sure use some more backup.” “More?” she asked, a tinge of worry entering into her voice. "How... how bad is it?" Nile didn’t respond. Instead, he raised his gauntlets and charged into the fray. ----- Jaxevist faced the incoming human-led Hyxali troops impassively, sword arm dangling by his side. Internally, he sighed. Of course the humans would choose death. Of course. As the first human began to charge towards him, Jaxevist raised his blade and sent a single command to his army. Attack. The air filled with the hum of a thousand wings as his resurrected Hyxali took to the air, ready to kill. Ready to destroy.

Granted, but you will never be able to find anyone to share it with. I wish for a machine that would let me speed up and slow down time at my will.

Granted. You can never take it off. I wish for tetrachromacy.

Jaxevist leaned on his sword, black lightning crackling down its length. All over the city, hundreds of dead Hyxali workers and drones rose, joining the ranks and files of their already-fallen brethren. They look like they did before, noted the part of Jaxevist's brain that was still his own. Except for being dead... they look the same. Would it even matter if they were alive? It couldn't be the first time Hyxali were used for war. With their lack of individuality and perfect willingness to follow orders... Probably no one had ever tried to use them to attack other Hyxali, though. In fact, Jaxevist had to wonder if anyone else had ever tried to attack the Hyxali as a group at all. If it's as easy as this, probably a good thing they haven't. Otherwise the Hyxali would be long dead... Of course, if the Hexagon subverse had been destroyed long ago, then Jaxevist wouldn't have had to do it himself. Had to destroy each and every one of these peaceful workers, so innocent of any crime except that of supposed 'weakness'. Sure, Aridith might have killed him straight off, instead- but death would have been preferable to this.

Jaxevist stared up at the strange vessel descending from the sky. He recognized what it was- that was simple. Bonejets weren't exactly the most uncommon thing across the Threads. What he didn't understand was why humans would get involved in the current conflict. Last he'd checked, their closest homeworld was on a different Thread entirely, more than a thousand subverses away. But those wonderings were, of course secondary to the desire constantly pulsing in his head- to destroy the Hyxali, completely and utterly. If the humans wanted to get in the way, then they would suffer the same fate.