Welcome to Gaia! ::

For Tanzanite, the subspace was the only home she had left. Its halls were as familiar to her as those of her family home. Even the areas below, where Metallia's power burned like a star, she had committed to her memory. There was no corner left unexplored, no hall that she had not familiarized herself with. It had become her only purpose to exist and fight for the Negaverse, and so that place and its people had become her obsession.

Tanzanite could have been another chunk of rock and crystal for all she moved as Ilmenite entered, only her silver eyes rolling towards him. She was seated upon what at first might have appeared a lumpy mass of black rock, but upon closer inspection would reveal itself to the the tightly coiled body of some monstrous creature. It gave a soft hissssss at the young mans arrival, and the scaled body tensed beneath her. The Youma Queen murmured some soft, single word, gently patting the beast's shoulder as she stood. It gave another disagreeable snarl, and with the soft scrape of claws on stone, stood to retreat into the shadows.

“Lieutenant Ilmenite,” she spoke, her voice surprisingly soft. She did not speak to their officers as Charonite once had, with judgment and anger and the threat of punishment. Tanzanite cherished those precious few who stood to fight for a planet which billions would have simply handed over to the senshi, rolling lazily over in preference for their simple lives. She had always made it her business to keep up to date on the goings on of the Negaverse, to familiarize herself with every name and face that filled their ranks. This one, however, had come at a time when there had been... distractions. Still, his presence came with a sudden awareness that she'd never had before. It was a sixth sense of sorts, like a flashing beacon that told her when an officer was 'ready'.

It was a subjective word, really. There was no way to tell when any Lieutenant, fresh-faced and still enchanted with the idea of saving the world, was mentally ready to move on. It was perhaps the most shocking stage of their progression, when the memories of a simpler life were still fresh in their minds and the true threat the senshi posed had not always revealed itself. It made it almost impossible to really know when they were ready to endure the kind of pain that burnt through to ones very core. She could tell if their bodies could handle it, but Tanzanite knew all too well to cost of taking on more power than you had the will and restraint to control.

“I apologize that it has taken until now for me to personally meet with you. I have been... distracted."

Turning into a giant youma could distract damn near anyone.

"I am curious, however, about your experiences thus far? How are you adjusting? Be honest, Lieutenant. I may not be a patient woman, but as Captain Scheelite can tell you, I am an understanding one.”

Tanzanite laughed, but the sound was hollow. She knew when she was supposed to laugh, when to frown quietly, when to smile proudly. They were cues taken from the world around her, but rarely if ever did the woman actually feel much of anything behind those bright silver eyes. They were fixed now upon the young Lieutenant, brows slightly arched in curiosity. She seemed almost genuinely amused as the boy flushed and fidgeted.

“They take some.... adjustment,” she murmured, looking down at the heels that were composed now of black spines and scales. Her time as a General had been a pleasant break from the stiletto boots of her earlier days, but apparently her youma half was infinitely more fashionable than her human one. When the blood Moon Court had burned away her legs, the youma had taken advantage and given her new ones. Unfortunately, they had come with six inch heels that added unnecessary inches to her already imposing stature. It was a good thing Tanzanite no longer had to worry about blending in, for it would have been an impossible feat.

“Just be glad you can take them off.”

She turned away as the high-pitched chirp of a tiny youma reached her ears. It was a tiny version of the creature they'd seen take to the skies the night of the battle with the Blood Moon Court, a small phoenix-like youma that alighted on her shoulder and relayed some message. Tanzanite smiled, and though she kept her voice low, Ilmenite could likely still make out the words: “Tell her to sit on her pretty, manicured hands and I will be there when I am done.”

The small youma fluttered off, seemingly pleased with the reply it was now off to relay.

“Ah, yes, senshi,” Tanzanite's clawed hand flexed and clenched with the thought, and the low grind of teeth gnashing together could be heard from the open palm. Tanzanite had proven her weaknesses when captured by the Blood Moon Court. She was not a planner, not a schemer. She was easily baited into a fight and even more easily provoked into a hateful frenzy. But if there was anything the monstrous woman was good at, it was beating the ever loving s**t out of a senshi.

“I have learned that it is in their nature. They have no power over their own need to destroy human life. They are born with that urge as surely as they are born with the power to carry it out. Sad, really, but we do not have room to pity them. Like rabid dogs, no matter how helpless they are against their own urges, they must be put down.”

The words were stated as simple fact, without a trace of pity or understanding. Ares had struck a critical blow to the Negaverse by killing General-King Marthozite, but she had given them much more in return. They had conviction, now. They had a strength and a unity that had not been there before. They knew now the true nature of the senshi, and nothing could make them forget. Not after what had been seen that night.

"Come," she gestured for the Lieutenant to follow as she turned to head down one dark hallway.

“I have heard nothing but good things about your progress, Lieutenant. Your energy returns are well above expected. You and Wolframite both seem to be on the path to becoming General Drag-Queens, but I suppose that could be profitable. Bismuthite has chaps now, and Scheelite looks like somebody gave Lisa Frank a glow stick enema.” Tanzanite smiled somewhat affectionately, “Why, I'd say we're only a recruit or two away from opening up a very lucrative night club, don't you think?”

Tanzanite was more than a little thankful for the Lieutenant's height. She had never lamented her own, not even when she had been told that ballerinas simply could not be six feet tall, but it was nice not to be looking down all the time. She'd been tall enough as a human; now it was just getting absurd. Talking to Laurelite or Fluorite had become an exercise in extreme awkwardness. Her wings folded behind her, making a cape of feathers and scales that dragged the floor. Her movements came with a flurry of sound; the harsh rattling of chains against the soft swish of silk.

“You would have to fight off Scheelite for the title of Grand Blacklight Vizier, I'm afraid,” she murmured. If Ilmenite was an observant young man, it would not take long to notice that they were being followed. Together they moved down a corridor of that same black rock and purple crystal, pillars rising out of the bedrock to their side of them. A pair of youma moved through the shadows beyond like serpents through water, hissing to one another in some language all their own. Only the occasional shine off of their green-black scales gave any hint as to their eel-like bodies, but it was the pale yellow glow of their eyes that really gave their presence away. No matter how their bodies twisted or turned, their eyes never seemed to leave the two officers.

“You will learn them all in time. After they save your life a time or two,” or end it, she heard Marthozite's voice chuckle quietly in her mind, “you begin to remember their names. Some stand out more than others. Unfortunately, not all of our soldiers are equally dedicated. There was a time, Lieutenant, when the Negaverse did not have a place for anyone who did not want to kill. When there were less than a dozen of us, and Beryl was not around to bestow upon us her benevolent wisdom and devotion to the cause.”

There was no mistaking the distaste that colored Tanzanite's voice as she spoke the infamous Queen's name, the title conspicuously missing. Silver eyes rolled skyward as they stopped before a set of double doors that stretched from the black stone floor to the carved crystal ceiling two stories up. Tanzanite's hand pressed against it, and it responded to the energy signature of a General-Queen and swung obediently open. Tanzanite did not hesitate as she descended the spiraling staircase beyond, clearly expecting Ilmenite to follow.

“I think it's only fair that before I ask you to fully devote your life to this cause, Lieutenant, that I show you exactly who you are fighting for.”

Tanzanite smiled, because there had been a time when she had said almost those exact same words to General-King Charonite as he'd guided her through those halls. In those days, there had been no Beryl, not even the faintest sign of a power beyond Charonite's own. A young Aree Cadence, thankful to be pulled from a life of going-nowhere mediocrity, had strode proudly through those very same halls and declared her loyalty. Time had tested that loyalty, and Tanzanite smiled as the young man echoed the words of her much more naïve self.

“We'll see,” was all she said, spoken just loud enough to be audible over the click of her heels descending the stairs.

“Most humans will spend their lives struggling in silence. They will know that something is wrong. They will feel it. It's no longer possible to ignore what is happening in Destiny City, but most humans will never have the chance to fight. They are too weak, too uncertain.”

Tanzanite sounded surprisingly saddened by the thought, and the brief moment of emotion was reflected in her eyes, “They cannot withstand the power that enables us to fight. So they will live and die, and within a hundred years not even a memory will remain of most of them.”

The stairs wound down to a small stone archway, and opened into a massive cavern. It was dim, just barely illuminated by the same strange, sourceless light as the rest of the place. It gave the impression that something was at rest here. Something was sleeping.

It was not enough to see clearly, but it was enough to make out the silhouettes of the dozens upon dozens of statues that stood within in. They were humanoid in their shape, though some had wings or spines or various mutations that set them apart, but far larger than an average person. Their skin was made of a dull black rock, little different from the rest of the place, but there were traces of something more. The subtle hints of emotion on their faces and the way their bodies twisted and reached shed light on the fact that these now-frozen youma had once been living.

What had happened to them, Tanzanite had never known. Until her ascension to General-Queen, she hadn't even been able to open the doors above. The field of figures stretched on, nearly the length of a football field. Down the center of the frozen field was a narrow walking space. It was cramped with the outstretched limbs, like an overgrown forest trail, stretching from where they stood to the bottom of a massive set of doors at the far end of the chamber.

Hell, to merely refer to them as a set of doors was an understatement. An injustice, even.

It was an archway of jagged black rock, the doors set within it carved with intricate patterns inlaid with precious stones. It looked like the kind of door one would expect Beryl to put on her bedroom if she had a hill-sized pile of rubies lying about. They were lit as though by a spotlight, the doors glimmering like some hidden treasure. They stretched up several stories, and it was obvious from the way the strange blend of metals wove into one another this was not a door that simply anybody could open. The doors wove into one another like a twisted, melted zipper. Nobody passed through there unless Metallia wanted them to.

“Most people,” Tanzanite resumed as she took the first step onto the path, ducking below one clawed and outstretched stone hand. It twisted slowly behind her, as though snatching for her throat in slow motion, “Will never have the strength to fight. We were saved from that life. We are no longer fated to live and die without ever so much as scratching this planet's surface. I want you to understand the power you are serving, Lieutenant. I want you to understand how easily it can overwhelm you and tear you apart. Any weakness, any frailty, any doubt. She can and will find it, and she will scour it from you. You will need to be strong enough to hold onto yourself when that happens.”

She paused, and looked back, “Stay close, but move fast. Do not stop moving forward. If they catch you, they will kill you. This is not a place for the meek, and that is why I brought you here.”

With that, she began to move, carefully but quickly weaving her way through the narrow path. If Ilmenite followed, he would notice the petrified youma begin to turn their heads. Their twisted bodies began to move slowly towards him. It was one thing for a General-Queen to approach Metallia's chamber, but a Lieutenant? Their faces were masks of anger, and if Ilmenite paused, they might even hook fingers or claws on his collar for a brief moment.

“Balance,” she said quietly, weaving her way through the narrow path without a pause. Claws tangled in her hair, and Tanzanite jerked them free with a twist of her neck. There were no exceptions here. Beryl herself would have had to walk at that same brisk pace, for these servants were loyal to none but Metallia. It was a crossing she had made only a handful of times before, but it would not take long for them to emerge into the small, open space. It was like a clearing in a forest, and before them loomed the massive, twisted entryway.

Tanzanite stepped forward, and even with her long legs it too a full ten steps before she could stand within reach of it. The closer she stepped, the more she could feel it. As a General-Queen in Metallia's service, she could always feel it. Most officers were not yet directly connected to Metallia strongly enough to feel what Tanzanite felt at all times, but at such close proximity, Ilmenite would begin to understand.

It was a power that every Negaverse agent had felt before Elysion, the only time Metallia had ever shown herself directly to her servants. Even then, the full effect had been severely diminished. Now, it felt like the air was thickening, closing in around them. Their limbs became heavier, and there was a set of high-pitched whines that began to ring in their ears after only the first step. It was tolerable at first, but the closer they drew, the louder it got. The noise grew into a feeling, a vibration that began in the chest and rattled every bone. Each had a unique pitch, an individual wavelength that acted as their connection to the Negaverse. At first it might have been pleasant, but within moments it began to feel as though ones joints might soon be rattled apart.

Tanzanite stood up ahead, looking back to Ilmenite as though to encourage him forward. Her fingertips rested upon the door, and the entire thing shuddered in response. Dust rose from the hinges as air rushed out like a soft exhale, but the massive thing did not budge. The moment she set her hand upon it, relief came over the General-Queen like a wave. Her wings no longer sagged as though weighted, and one of the two ringing noises had stopped. It was like disarming a security system, and she waited patiently for Ilmenite to do the same.

“That feeling?” She murmured, her claws gently tracing the complex, spiraling patterns in the stone, “Is your starseed. It resonates here, because a part of it wants to return to her. This is the source of everything we know, Ilmenite. This is where she brought me when I was in that coocoon.” Her voice was soft with a surprising hint of sadness, and she turned her gaze upwards to the door.

“You have potential, Lieutenant. It is because you have less to anchor you to the world outside that I've brought you here. Behind these doors is where my human life ended, and I want you to feel that power. Understand it. Take it as a warning, so that maybe yours won't have to.”

“No,” Tanzanite spoke softly, her eyes following his to the field of reaching, clawing youma. They were rooted in place, their feet twisted deep into the black bedrock, but their bodies swayed outwards like windblown trees; reaching. Of the many monstrous creatures who served the Negaverse, only that field was beyond her influence. They would have ripped Tanzanite limb from limb had she paused, just as easily as they might have the Lieutenant she led. They were mindless extensions of Metallia's power, once General-Kings and Queens that had failed her.

Some could be so fortunate as to die, but if she failed? If Laurelite or Apatite failed? This would be their fate. Had Marthozite's starseed not been destroyed, he would have been there too. Another screaming, petrified face floating in the darkness. Ilmenite would see a rare shudder ripple through the General-Queen's wings at the thought.

How many failures did she have left?

When her attention refocused on the lieutenant, it was with a slight tilt of her head. She looked at him as one might look at a hesitant animal. The gestures felt almost foreign to her, the mix of fear and excitement more than she could comprehend. It was, in a way.... fascinating.

“Past here,” she brushed her fingertips against the metal, and a small ripple of power shuddered across the surface, “we'd both die. Nothing survives in there but Her.” Tanzanite spoke with a kind of reverence, eyes widened with a sense of awe as she looked up at the massive door. Aree Cadence had never believed in any idea of God, but Tanzanite did wholeheartedly. Metallia; all of the fury and power of the Sun, was undeniable for her.

In a flash, her human hand held tight to his starseed. It was an almost violating sensation to have such a thing held, and it felt to Tanzanite like a butterfly's wings. Fragile. Something miraculous but foreign to her now, and for a brief moment she simply held the warm glow with a gentle smile.

“Try not to scream,” she whispered softly, before a sudden shock of energy raced through the palm pressed against the door and into Ilmenite's heart, crushing that pitiful butterfly in a hurricane of dark power.

They always screamed. It was an inevitability with which Tanzanite could sympathize. The power of the Negaverse came only at a price. For some, it was a path of revelation and growth. For others, it was a path that could only ever lead to a much darker place. Those twisted figures swayed silently, their arms open as though waiting.

Always waiting.

Ilmenite's hand clutched at her wrist, but the General-Queen's hold was vicelike. Even as he screamed, her expression did not shift. There was only that soft smile, a subtle sense of awe that always came with that familiar flow of power. It was the closest she would ever get to childlike, her often narrowed eyes round with the same wonder one might see as someone watched a butterfly emerge from its cocoon. Where Tanzanite had lost her faith in humanity, she had found something else to give her hope. In the power that now rushed through her, and in the young man into who it flowed.

Only when the screaming stopped did her fingers slowly uncurl. That same hand lifted to rest upon his changed shoulder, “You have been given a gift, Ilmenite. One that most will never know. With it, you can change this world. I hope that you will not waste it.”