Chapter 1: Introduction
Londinium, 1369, as the battle rages on, Rhodes Island forces finds themselves increasingly continuously being pressed in harder corners. The current Kazdel military commission, led by Theresis and the Sarkaz royal court, had finished building their own landship faster than expected. With that new power, they began to overwhelm the advancement of Rhodes Island and Victoria forces.
Amiya had not yet become the proper Lord of Fiends yet, and Siege hasn't been coronated either. Both of them can not fully extend their powers and influence to turn the tides. To make matters worse, an originium storm is headed right towards the battlefield. Sarkaz forces can most likely narrowly escape the storm due to their landship being able to teleport away. Rhodes Island however is not so lucky, as their landship can neither fly nor teleport. Best they can do is close all windows and pray that the damages it has taken is still within the range of acceptable errors.
Even dealing with the Deathless black snake wasn't as disastrous as this. Coming back from uncovering the past of himself from the Sarcophagus, The Doctor is caught between a rock and a hard place. What Theresis is using wasn't his strategy, but The Doctor's strategy that he's told Theresis in the past, before his memories were wiped by Theresa. Considering the current situation, there is no way to obtain victory, the best they can do is minimize casualties and damages.
However, that is what the past Doctor would've thought. He'd be logical and order the elite operators to retreat to the landship before the storm blows through, accepting a certain level of sacrifice for a chance to launch a counter attack.
But the current Doctor is different. This is a gamble, it will most likely fail, but it is a chance at victory. The chances of this happening is less than .0001%, considering the worst possible scenarios. But it's a risk that the current Doctor will take.
"Everyone, spearhead at the Lord of Fiends clone! Amiya, when you get there, put the crown on it's head!" The Doctor ordered.
Amiya asks back through the intercom: "What? Why?"
"Just do it! Closure, open a path with the drones!" The Doctor ordered again.
Closure does as the Doctor instructed, opening a path for Amiya and the Rhodes Island team to make their way to the enemy's queen. The reasoning behind this plan is absolutely absurd. The Civilight Eterna, the black crown that signifies the Lord of the Fiends, that now rests on Amiya's head, once was on Theresa's head. It's function is to store and hold the information of the previous Lords and give it to the next Lord. If it deems the Lord a good fit, it will dump everything at once.
The Confessarius had dabbled in heretical magic and science to reanimate the corpse of Theresa. Using her as the legitimization for Theresis's commands to the Sarkaz. The body is merely an empty husk that is controlled by the Kazdel military commission, but it is still Theresa's body. Even if it is the empty body, Theresa was still the Lord of Fiends, which means that the crown will put everything in it.
This means that there is a near 100% chance that the body will be unable to carry the sudden information dump at all once and become frozen at best, at worst death. But the presence of her own daughter in front of her eyes will, hopefully, make the brain sideline the information and focus it's resources on an emotional respond.
If the stars aligns, then Theresa will be, in every sense of the word, revived. If that happens, Theresa, the proper Lord of Fiends, will easily be able to command all her subjects to cease and retreat. And it won't just be foot soldiers, even Theresis, her own brother, will be forced to kneel and obey her command. The words of the Lord of Fiends to the Sarkaz are absolute.
"Shit. Siege! Blow the storm wind away! Nearl! Spearhead Amiya's advance."
The storm is really closing in now, but if Amiya can make it in time, there'll be enough time to retreat everyone before the storm hits. Siege, the princess of Victoria, despite not being officially coronated as the queen yet, already has a good portion of the queen's power. She's already pulled the sword out of the stone, and the Victorian people have no objections to her being the queen. Wielding the sword of promised victory, Siege blows a whole arm of the incoming storm away along with a chunk of the enemy's army stopping Amiya's advance.
Not missing the opening, the Knight of Brilliance, Margaret Nearl lands right in front of Amiya's group and begins mowing down the enemies with her spear. With 3 powerful thrusts, the spear temporarily produces more energy and light than the sun, carving three scars into the earth the directions it cuts.
Amiya's group manages to reach the puppet Theresa just in time, with Logos buying some time for the group against Theresis.
"Out of the way, caster." Theresis demands.
"Get through the tortoise race first then." Logos retorts.
"Amiya! Put the crown on her! NOW!" The Doctor's voice rang in Amiya's ears, and she quickly obeyed, placing the crown on the empty husk of a body. The longest second for everyone passes. Will it happen? Will Theresa be revived? The empty husk of a body is certainly responding to being fed a large amount of information. It's twitching violently and flailing it's limbs. Amiya holds the body down, using all her strength. Thanks to the crown's protection, Amiya can take off more suppression rings without being turned into a solid sculpture of originium, but now that it's off, her arm is quickly beginning to be consumed by the black ore.
"MOTHER! PLEASE WAKE UP!" Amiya screams with all her might. Theresis has broken through Logos, he's just 2 steps away from Amiya and Theresa now. The demon swings his sword at the bunny's neck.
"Theresis, stop."
The gentle voice said. Suddenly, Theresis stops his blade, just inches from Amiya's neck. The room falls silent, no one could believe it. The body had stopped convulsing and Amiya, the one that was holding it in place, felt arms wrapped around her.
"What a fine lady you've grown into, Amiya." Amiya felt a warmth that she couldn't just seconds ago from the body. The gentle voice that she hasn't heard for so long. Tears began to well up, but she's too scared to look up. What if the plan actually had failed? What if the body had died, and this is just the Confessarius and Theresis playing a cruel prank? Was her mother actually back?
"Theresis, you are scaring my child, please sheathe your blade."
She continued. Theresis body seems to move against his will, pulling away from the two and sheathing his blade.
"How?" He asks. "The Confessarius made sure that this was an empty body, and that it's protected against mental attacks to gain control. How are you back, sister?"
"I'm afraid that not even I have the answer to that. I just know that my beloved daughter was calling for me. So I simply answered her call." Theresa says, her voice soft, filled with love and maternal warmth. Amiya finally works up the courage to look up. And when she did, she saw her mother. Not the Lord of Fiends, not an empty body, but her mother, a woman named Theresa. Everything from her smile, to her eyes, to her voice, screams of warmth and love that Amiya had so desperately missed.
"Mother?" Amiya sobs, still in disbelief.
"Is that your rendition of my dress? My you look lovely in it!" Theresa laughs as she wipes away her daughter's tears. Even the way she teases and comforts her is just the same as back then. There is no mistaking it. This is Theresa, revived, in the flesh. Amiya, overcome with emotions, can't help but break into tears as she buries her head in her mother's embrace.
"Amiya, we don't have time, the storm's closing in. Tell Theresa to have Sarkaz retreat, and bring back all the people that you can."
The Doctor interjects through the intercom, he sounds as calm as usual even though he's in a rush himself.
"Oh my. So my darling is alive and well too. If he sounds this panicky then I assume the situation must be rather dire." Theresa, still cradling her daughter, speaks softly. "But Amiya, why don't you tell your dear old mom exactly what's going on, hm?"
Amiya looks up at her mother, still unsure whether she's dreaming or not. "Mom, I-" She starts, but doesn't know where to begin. She glances over at The Doctor, as if looking for guidance.
The Doctor, sensing her hesitation, chimes in over the intercom again. "Amiya, the storm is really going to hit this time. Siege's reached her limit. Get back to Rhodes asap."
"I see, an originium storm huh?" Theresa comments. Patting her daughter's head as she stands up. Walking out to the balcony to see the chaos that was happening on the battlefield herself. The Doctor's voice rang through her ears once more.
"Theresa, I know you're there. I'm really glad that you're back. But we really need to deal with the storm now."
"Ah, my beloved husband! Of course I haven't forgotten about you! I can't imagine how busy you must've been without me here to help!" Theresa chuckles as she talks back.
"Theresa, please. If you don't act now, it's not just going to be Rhodes that'll die-"
"I understand. Amiya, come." Theresa cuts the Doctor's words and calls for Amiya. Amiya runs over to her mother with all Rhodes Island operators following behind her.
"She's even got her own escort now huh?" Theresa comments under her breathe. Theresa returns her focus on the outside and what she has to do. To the front and her left, above and below, a wild battle is going on between Kazdel and Rhodes. To the right, a massive originium storm is coming right at the battlefield.
Rhodes forces seems to be retreating, while Kazdel forces are still pressing in, despite the almost certain possibility that they'll be wiped out by the originium storm. She could not understand why and how her people would behave like this.
She sighs heavily, her delicate shoulders slumped slightly in disappointment. Theresa picks herself back up. A white originium diamond with black pillars then appears behind her.
"Addressing all Sarkaz." Her voice rings in the ears of every Sarkaz on the battlefield. Even the Sarkaz that works for Rhodes Island hears it. They all stop whatever they were doing and turned to the Kazdel landship. Gazing up to the balcony, they see their queen, and all drop to one knee and kneel. "I order you to retreat and seek immediate shelter from the coming storm." Her voice is calm and serene, yet it carries an authority that is impossible to disobey. The Sarkaz, both friend and foe, follow her command without hesitation, putting aside their differences in an instant.
The Doctor and HQ watches as the Sarkaz begins to retreat. He can't believe it, his gamble had paid off. But there is no time, the storm is still going to hit.
"Nearl!"
"On it Doc." The Knight of Brilliance charges at the balcony where Amiya's group is.
"How interesting. A Pegasus and a Confessarius, working together." Theresa commented upon seeing Nearl and her companion.
"Your Majesty," Shinning, the once Confessarius kneels in front of Theresa. "Please make haste to the landship."
"My husband has even prepared a shinning carriage for me. How could I say no." Theresa smiles at Shining, taking Amiya's hand. "Shall we, my dear?"
Nearl calls upon her Pegasus avatar and have Amiya and Theresa ride it.
"Amiya, are we missing anyone?" Nearl asks Amiya. Amiya does a quick scan.
"Sir Logos!"
"Where's he?"
"I don't know, he must still be in the hall!"
Both Amiya and Nearl realizes that this is going to be bad, since this means that they'll have to get through Theresis.
"Logos? You mean the young banshee?" Theresa asks Amiya.
"Well, he is a banshee, but I wouldn't call him young."
"So it is that Logos. Theresis, please bring Logos here." Theresa orders Theresis. Once again, Theresis can do nothing but obey.
"Is everyone here?" Theresa asks again.
"Yep, no one missing." Amiya answers.
"Wait!" Theresis calls. "You think you can just leave? And leave Kazdel in the dark again?" Theresis continues, a hint of resentment in his voice. "How is Kazdel supposed to survive without your rule, sister? You can not just show up, snatch a victory from us and leave."
"Theresis..." Theresa pauses, her voice soft with a hint of sadness. "Theresis, there is so much I want to say, but I suppose now is not the time." Theresa sighs before continuing. "I promise you, once this is all over, I will answer all of your questions."
"Off! Pegasus!" Nearl slaps the Pegasus and orders it to leave. The winged horse neighs and charges away, leaving Theresis behind.
"What have you done?" Theresis screams. "HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME? DOOOOCCCCTTTOOOORRRRR!"
"Let's go." Nearl signals to Shinning.
"Yeah."
Nearl and Shinning disappears into light beam and flies back to Rhodes Island along with the other operators. The Doctor sighed in relief once everyone has returned to the landship. Amiya, Nearl and Shinning ran to The Doctor, each reporting on what had transpired during their daring rescue mission.
"Doctor, we got her! Theresa is back in the flesh!" Amiya squeals, giving The Doctor a tight hug.
"Ah, I can see that for myself. Still, good job, Amiya. The same goes for everyone else." He ruffles her hair, leaving the smile on his face, but there was still a hint of worry in his eyes. "Alright, everyone get in, before the storm hits." The Doctor orders as he watches the rest of the operators rushing onto the landship. And then, he turns to Theresa.
It's been very long since they've last saw each other. In real time, over 300 years, but because both the Doctor and Amiya was put in cryostatis, the actual time is only 17 odd years. But 17 years is still a long time. Ironically, the Doctor has to give his thanks to the Confessarius, for if it had not for their desire to control Kazdel through a puppet queen, Theresa would not have a body now.
Despite the commotion, Theresa still looks as calm and gentle as ever. That gentle and warm smile of her's. The way her cheeks blushes slightly. The way her eyes would also smile. The softness of her hand. How she would always have to pace herself to keep up with his stride, making him pacing himself down.
"It's been a long time." Theresa says.
"Yeah. Really long." The Doctor replies.
Theresa giggles, "You look rather worse for wear. I can't even remember the last time I saw you like this."
The Doctor can only laugh back. Theresa really is the only one who could see through his facade.
"RHOOOOOODDDDEEEEEESSSSSSSS!" From the distance, Theresis screams. He stands atop of Kazdel's landship, eyes with searing hatred. Above his head is his sword which he holds firm, gripping it like a vice. The wicked demon charges his blade and sends the attack at Rhodes Island. The deep red slash, burning with an indescribable hatred hurls itself at the landship. If it hits, it won't just damage the landship, it will cut a ravine into the earth behind the ship itself.
The Doctor panics and instinctively move to protect Theresa. He had miscalculated. He thought that Theresis would bite his anger and retreat silently. He didn't think that Theresis would try to cut Rhodes open himself. But before the attack could reach Rhodes Island, an elegant golden slash meets the crude and violent one.
The two clash and cancels each other out, sending ripples through the air. Surprisingly, Siege still has enough energy to squeeze out another slash from Excalibur. However this one is really the last one for the day.
Theresis, seeing his attack got cancelled out, becomes even more enraged. But before he can fire off an even bigger slash at them, the Kazdel landship teleports away to escape the storm, bringing Theresis with it.
The Doctor lets out a sigh of relief, as the immediate danger has passed. He turns away from the now-empty horizon, only to find Theresa looking at him with a half-concerned, half-amused expression on her face. "Seems like you can learn to care about others but yourself." She puts her hands on his arms, which were wrapped around her. "This is also nice too."
The Doctor sighs, "Time to head back in." He leads Theresa to the Rhodes Island landship's bridge. Theresa is in awe at what the ship has become. She still remembers when she first proposed and got funding for this. Her dreams of a place where the infected are treated humanely, and a cure for originium. She never got to see Rhodes Island finished herself, due to her assassination. But it's clear to her now that at least one part of her dream has been realized.
As they reach the bridge, The Doctor introduces Theresa to the crew. "Everyone, this is Theresa, the Lord of the Fiends. Theresa, the new crew, well, some old faces that you'll remember too." The Doctor smiles as he introduces her to the crew. The crew, in turn, greets her respectfully.
Amiya flies on deck and goes straight into her mother's arms.
Theresa wraps her arms around Amiya, holding her tight and planting a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Mother, I'm so glad you're back," Amiya says, her voice shaking with emotion.
Theresa smiles warmly at her daughter. "I'm glad to be back too, my dear." She then turns to the bridge door that Amiya just ran through.
"Ah, Kal'tsit, it has been a while, nice to meet you too." Theresa greets Kal'tsit, the current director of Rhodes Island, who nods in return.
"Amiya, show your mom to her temporary room. Kal'tsit, we still got to brace for the storm." The Doctor reminds everyone. Rhodes Island is heavily damaged, they need to get ready for the incoming storm, and Theresa is in no condition to help.
"Right." Kal'tsit nods. "Amiya, take your mother to her room. She needs some rest."
Amiya nods, leading Theresa to her temporary quarters. The rooms are small, but cozy, and each comes equipped with a bed, a desk, and a small bathroom. It's not much, but it'll do for now.
"Here you go, mom.
This is your room for now." Amiya says, opening the door for Theresa.
Theresa steps inside and takes a look around. "It's a bit small, but I suppose it will do for now." She says, smiling at her daughter.
Amiya nods, "I know it's not much, but we're still recovering from the storm. Once everything is back to normal, I promise you'll have a much nicer room."
Theresa nods, "I understand, dear."
The ship then begins to shake violently. Alarms blaring , red lights flashing, the operators quickly getting to their stations. Theresa and Amiya, who were still in the hallway, clung to each other for dear life as the landship begins to tremble uncontrollably.
"What's going on?!" Theresa shouts over the noise, struggling to be heard over the cacophony of sound.
"We're going through the storm!" Amiya shouts. "Please stay still, we'll be ok shortly!" Amiya closes the door of the room and makes her way on to the bridge to assist the navigation effort.
The bridge is in absolute chaos . Every single operator, seasoned or not, are running around handling their duty trying to maintain and stabilize Rhodes Island. But at the center of it all, is The Doctor, unmoving, calmly giving out instructions left and right as if this is an everyday occurrence.
This storm is on a scale unlike anything before. It's size, power, and intensity are all record-breaking, and it's causing destruction unlike any other. This isn't Rhodes Island's first rodeo, but it's definitely the biggest one by far. The poison mist that blows outside begins to tear off parts of the landship's armor.
"Redirect the shields to populated areas, leave the bridge." The Doctor orders sternly. The operators move with swift precision, carrying out his orders without question. For all their squabbles and bickering, they know that The Doctor is the only one that can bring them through this storm.
Outside, the wind howls and screams, tearing through the island with a ferocity that is both terrifying and awe-inspiring. The waves crash against the hull, threatening to break it open and swallow the landship whole.
"Have all operators capable at protection and camo protect engines." The Doctor commands. "Rest have to brace impact."
The operators, with a determined look in their eyes, relay the Doctor's instructions to their respective teams. The landship creaks and groans as it is battered by the storm. But from the bridge, the crew can see the hull integrity holding strong, and the shields protecting the engines are functioning properly.
Truth be told, now that Theresa is back and Rhodes Island is complete. She can lead the ship in his stead. It doesn't have to be him, in this case, losing one head is no problem. That's why he ordered all operators to leave the bridge. He'll save as much as he can, and let Theresa handle the rest.
The glass of the bridge begins to crack, the lights flicker and monitors shows errors. Originium begins to leak through the cracks, causing the machines to go crazy.
The Doctor takes a deep breathe behinds his mask and close his eyes. He welcomes his fate. He does not have the right to escape. As the captain of Rhodes Island, he will sink with it. Not to mention the countless atrocities he's done in the past before he met Theresa and even during that.
Then, silence. The room plunges into darkness, and the sound of the storm fades away. The Doctor's heart beats loud in his chest, and he can feel his body tensing up, waiting for the inevitable. But it doesn't come. The landship holds. The hull integrity holds, shields hold, engines hold, and most importantly, The Doctor holds. He opens his eyes slowly, to an alien scene. The whole room is in darkness, but in the middle, standing in front of a glowing white rhombus, was a woman that he had not seen for even longer than he can remember. She outdates just about everything, even the whole planet. That brunette lady with the same calmness as the Doctor.
"Priestess." The Doctor whispers, unable to hide his disbelief. A silence stretches through the bridge as the two stare at each other, their past and present collide in a single moment.
"Oh? Looks like she hasn't completely wiped me from your memories left. Well that makes sense. She's only deleted the information in the brain, but the muscle memories are still there." The Priestess smiles warmly at The Doctor, her voice as smooth as velvet. "It's good to see you again, Doctor. I've missed you."
The Doctor can't believe what he's seeing. The Priestess, his first love, his partner in crime, the one who started it all. They had met on a starship, floating in the void of space, and fell in love. They had started Project Originite together in order to protect civilizations from the Watchers.
She's different from Theresa. Her velvety sensuality is usually misconstrued as gentleness. A brazen woman. That's the only way to describe the Priestess. She had always been bold, unafraid to take risks, and unapologetic in her pursuit of knowledge. This had been both her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. But now, she was standing in front of him, her eyes sparkling with excitement and wonder, just like the first time they met.
"I can't believe it," The Doctor murmured, taking a step forward.
"Neither can I, Prophet. This truly goes against the absolute fundamental of science." Priestess chuckles, stepping closer to The Doctor. Her eyes never leaving his, as if his presence alone is enough to captivate her.
The Doctor is left standing still again. Theresa had deleted all memories of Priestess from his head, so the person standing in front of him might as well be a stranger. But he felt a weird closeness, a pull towards her as she walks to him. Not to mention, how the hell did she suddenly just appeared and what happened to the storm?
Priestess puts her hand on the Doctor's chest. "Well we can figure how I came back later. For now, let's see how much your body remembers me." She says, a devious smile spreading on her lips. Doctor's arm instinctively wrapped around her, his hand squeezing her ass. "Haha, so you do still remember well." The smell of her hair reignites an old flame inside of him. But due to the memory erasure, the dissociating informations being sent leaves even more confused.
"Priestess, I can't," the Doctor breathes out, trying to disengage from her in order to regain his wits.
Priestess presses herself further on to the Doctor. She grabs his hand which was still on her ass. "Not there, lower." She pushes his hand down further. The Doctor's mind is in chaos. A tempest of confusion and desire. He knows he should push her away, but his body refuses to obey.
"Priestess," he says again, his voice softer this time. "We can't do this now."
She leans into him, and moans softly into his ear, sending whatever bit of rationality left flying out.
Thankfully for Doctor, before he could do anything, the door to the bridge swings open.
"Doctor! We don't know how or why, but the storm's past!" Amiya exclaims as she rushes into the bridge, eyes wide with wonder. "It's gone! Just like that!"
The Doctor and Priestess break apart, both panting heavily. The Doctor's face flames with embarrassment, while Priestess just giggles. "Well, it seems like we have more pressing matters to attend to," she says, winking at The Doctor before walking off the bridge.
"Wait, is that..."
"Professor Priestess?" Kal'tsit asks from the door to the bridge.
"Oh, AMA-10, seems like you're still fully functional. As expected from a creation between me and Prophet." Priestess says, her voice echoing in the empty room.
"How?" Kal'tsit asks. Keeping her sentence uncharacteristically short.
"Well isn't that a wonderful question. I'm trying to figure out the answer myself too." Priestess says, her voice bouncing off the walls of the empty bridge. "But there are other more important matters at hand. Come now Prophet, we simply must get you your memories back." Priestess pulls the Doctor's necktie.
"Wait what?"
"What do you what? We're going to that bitch Theresa of course. I was ok with you having another woman besides me, and then she went ahead and make herself the only one. I know she's on this ship. I've watched everything through the rhombuses." The Priestess says, referring to the glowing white rhombus on the bridge.
"Wait, but what about the bridge? And restoration process?"
"Oh, you make a good point. AMA-10, you can handle that." Priestess refers to Kal'tsit. With that said, Priestess and Doctor left the bridge and made their way to the room where Theresa is staying.