abandoned Attack of the Clones { M. Valtore x Hope }

[M. Valtore Banned]

 For Marick Valtore, it was the simple things in life that made him happy. Like being able to dominate or eliminate entire civilizations all by himself. Before the Templars he didnt need to bother with minions or champions, Marick and he alone sufficed. But this enemy is adaptable as every measure taken to ensure their ignorance only slows them down, nothing more. With every encounter they gather intelligence, consolidate and then produce a counter. And then the one particular, Taliah Silla.

The obnoxious little brat had been an entertaining problem at best. At her worst she was an unforeseen threat, hidden deep within the magical forests of Tal Shanath. Marick left Tal Shanath with a publically incinerated king and the heads of all of their leaders vanished in an instant. Their world was left in rule of personally selected rulers and vassals with paid for armies to enforce the Law of Valtore. Taliah, she was the one to give it leadership once he was gone. In his absence she fostered free thought and rebellion. She developed underground syndicates with intelligence and structure. Her organizations lead propaganda campaigns as well as public revolts around the world. Before Marick had time to respond Taliah had already lead her people in a world wide coup. Their losses were severe but they gained the eternal protection and service of the Templars with Taliah now an Elite Captain of their ranks. She brought with her Valtore Industry technomagus and taught them lessons thought no one would be able to teach. Their war against Marick began with her.

Marick also learned a few lessons after that, first; make your own soldiers before hiring interdimensional space pirates to do your dirty work. Two; To beat an elf one must be swifter than the elf. And three; the multiverse still holds a great deal of surprises. From the day she joined their ranks Taliah lead the charge against Marick and his assimilated worlds. Entire civilizations dedicated to the cultivation of exotic materials, exotic species or manas would go on to be liberated because of her. 

Destroying a group of Templars entirely and outright is a difficult task without even considering taking them all out, let alone Taliah's group. At the core the Templars are based from an interdimensional fortress locked inside the bubbles of nothing that exist between dimensions. In that space a plethora of reality altering magics give the Templars almost absolute awareness and control. From previous  encounters Marick knows that they must have a means of instantaneously transmitting and receiving real time data from combat. If Marick wanted to end that elf upstart and her band of shit stains then he would need to sever their support. 

Despite all of this, what the Templars could never account for was more than one Marick. Anti-scrying magic or deeply hidden psychic routes that could take years to find or decipher can be cut down to a mere half a second when just two more Maricks appear. For every body Marick has on a single world the wizard is granted his own power folded upon itself for every extra body. The combination of different magics into new forms is limited by one body. It is impossible to combine a full fire spell with a full water spell with your own body, it would take reducing both spells and putting the two together at weaker levels to produce a strong whole, but that is changed with another body. The Templars were advancing upon his world with bravado, a new found confidence delivered to them over the last two decades because of this Elf. But their confidence is misplaced. Ignorant. 

In their hubris the Templars over stepped their limits, even if it was the smallest of inches, it was enough for Marick to exploit. Sure, the Templars were almost as Infinite as Marick is but, they are no Hive mind like the immortal wizard, nor is their awareness or knowledge as expansive as his. They have limitations. Marick would exploit this. 

On the Anniversary of Tal Shanath's invasion the mind wiped ancient Eldar Craftworld of Khal Adden-Kiam, The Heralding White-Flame, launched a surprise attack from the furthest corners of their world. Web-way gates hidden within mountains or deep under their seas opened wide for columns of flying hover tanks and sleek armored specialists from every Shrine of War the craftworld could offer. Slender Titans with distorting holofields that misplaced their positions to onlookers appeared without warning in the middle of Tal Shanaths population centers. 

Marick descended upon Tal Shanath through a pillar of fire that tore open the sky, its blazing maw bellowing the horns of war across. What should have been decades of preparation Marick completed in a second. 12 Marick's had converged upon Tal Shanath under the cover of layered magic. Layer upon layer of magic distorted their presence, creating the illusion of Random Mana Phenomons on Templar sensors and radar.

In this created cover Marick gave himself the seconds of freedom needed to discover and destroy every Templar anti-scrying and scrying ward, every spacial-rift that locked Tal Shanath in place, every entrenched psychic pathway of communication. Any and all necessary defensive for an Invading Marick was overridden. The wizard could have plucked each part of their system out simultaneously but that could give the Templars the chance to study the method in the future. However, if a system is overloaded the only thing left behind is the origin of the short circuit and nothing more. 

As the hidden web way gates opened up for the invading fleets so too did their defenses fall. Tal Shanath was blind and alone now as each Marick set feet upon every landmass, their voices echoing in unison for all the hear. 

"Bring me Taliah Silla so those of you who still cling to life may keep it," Marick sneered, his brow furrowed deep by his fury. 

The wizard reached down, touched the grounds beneath his feets, and blinked Tal Shanath to the void. Not just any void though, no, it was Marick Valtores void. In it other troubelsome worlds like Tal Shanath were being dealt the same fate, their populations reduced to dust as their crust cracked and burned. The sky was now a twisting myriad of fuschia, violet and magenta and what was once stars in their skies were now other burning planets, their war torn homes for each to see.

Now everyone would be taught a lesson.

 

[Hope]

Nobody was prepared for such a show of force that would encompass the entire world. 

Children cried as they huddled together with their families as the hellish sky signaled the end of their world. 

But there was still hope... 

"Don't be afraid! This will all be over soon!" Taliah glided across the air, her voice a gentle and calm breeze amidst the horror. The way she glided resembled that of a deer hopping through the forests of Tal Shanath. 

There was hope yes... but a false hope. One that Taliah knew. 

She had tried communicating with the Templars back in the Nexus, but the psionic crystal's signal is being blocked inside the channel. She had no way to report what is happening, let alone request backup from her trusted squad members. 

That's when she heard Marick's booming voice. 

Marick? How did that bastard do this? He never had such power before... does he have new allies now? Why are there multiple sources for the sound?  she pondered as she glided towards the nearest source.

She knew what she had to do. She knew that she alone cannot save the entire world without having her people and the land decimated by Marick and his creations. The military stood no chance - that's why they had accepted the alliance with Templars in the first place. 

She finally arrived at one of the sources of the voice - Marrick was standing high and tall over the ground beneath him, as if to claim this world as his.

She landed onto the ground gently as a feather, assuming a low stance and conjuring a bow and arrows out of thin air. 

"I'm here. What do you want?" her voice was tough and direct, but... there was a slight shake to it. Tiny little beads of sweat are starting to form on her head. 

Whenever she had encountered Marick in the past, it was always together with her squad or other allies. Never alone - that was was the rule. 

But now, she had no choice. 

 

Edited July 29, 2018 by Hope