*present

The cold tundra wind began to blow with a slight howl as the sun sat a quarter past the midday sky, the murder of ravenish lizard-like creatures slowly growing as they continued flying above the heads of those who they soon hoped would either provide or become their next meal. Jazai had his head tilted back as if he stared upward at the crying winged scavengers who hung in the air like an omen of death. He was not pleased with this, but as he had surrendered he would trust that Lluks would not kill who he did not need to. This is why he had only brought Jazai and his highest ranking officers currently apprehended to be executed, albeit in front of those who also served them both as a final declaration of dominant intolerance and a traumatic warning to take with them into the rest of days. 

‘Your time has come, commander. Whatever the reasoning for your cause and reasoning…’ 

‘Nooo! Please, don’t do this! You don’t have too!’ 

A medic captain of the rebels cried out from behind her commander. Lluks did not recognize her species, but she had fought valiantly to protect the lives of her comrades. That was commendable, but it was extremely rare that off -worlders were allowed to come to the Ephangis surface. Only the super mega rich or the particularly well connected could ever hope to do so and even then their access was restricted and monitored with careful eye. The medic attempted to rise to her feet and the guards were a hair trigger away from striking her down when Lluks gave a slight gesture telling them to allow her speech. They obeyed without question, but remained ready. She would die if she played games, but she knew better and had no intention of doing anything so foolish.

Nervously she continued,

‘I know what we’ve done may be unforgivable, but we only did it to protect our families. Everyone here Ephangian or not, they all fought and did what they did because they thought it was the only way they could survive and if you understand you won’t do this. Iv heard the rumors too and they are lies! If you are truly Nampu you should help us. If you really aren’t a deam-

‘Daemon or not, you are not Nampu and you will not speak to me as if we are equals. Furthermore I do not believe you are guilty of certain claims made against you and of those I do believe.. I know’

Lluks voice was low and quiet but filled with pressure, the coldness of his demeanor for a moment replaced by the sympathy of a cold truth. Even the cries of the carrion birds had seemed to stop so that he was heard. The woman stared at him, large gentle ocular eyes wide with fear and hope. Her face was tired and dirty. She probably wasn’t even a warrior where she came from, but all the same. 

‘I know that what you’re doing you think is the right thing to do.’ His words seemed to hit like blows that came in slow motion, but could not be dodged or denied. He took the mask from his face to look at all those before him clean in the eyes, each of them stared back, their various faces loose echos of the medics. 

‘I am Nampu. I too fight for what I believe is right. To protect the way of life I seek to live and because of this I will allow those lower subordinates who followed your path to live. Those who are seen to’ve been “manipulated” into your schemes and who can be rehabilitated will be tried justly and face the appropriate penance to regain their social honors.’ 

The face of the medic cracked a little as she gave a slight sigh of relief, but before she could say anything Lluks gaze hardened as his breath became visible in the frigid air and his voice became ice with it,

‘However, everyone has a choice in everything they do and for those choices there are consequences. For you all here now, this will be the last time we look into eachothers eyes, because I fear I’m not only Nampu, but…’ 

Lluks put his Daemonarchai mempo back on his face as his prisoners looked on in horror and spite. 

‘I too am a daemon. Now I will allow you to give voice once more if you feel the need, but know your words can no more change my mind than ray of sunlight heat the tundra’

The medic dropped back to her knees distraught, tears rolling from her eyes and dripping from her round chin as Lluks walked up towards the commander, opening the palm of his left hand towards the man’s face and those who were captive behind him. True to his word, those who witnessed the heads of the snake perish would be allowed to live, though they would be returned to face the courts of the respective worlds they were from and to be processed in accordance with Eripme law in joint jurisdiction. In most cases if they were lucky, they would serve sentences and earn the possibility to atone for their sins in the EXPG doom corps. In any regard, they too would answer for what they had done.

‘Fuck you! Curse you and fuck your empire! You follow a daemon!!!’ 

The medic screamed, her emotions rushing forth no longer to be restrained as she felt what was coming and what was coming to an end. 

‘You’ll never rinse your hands of the blood! And the child of blood will come for you! You’ll never be forgiven! He will come for you. Even now he works and you won’t be able to catch him and before you know it, it’ll be too late. Killing us will solve nothing! He will come and everything you love will drown in both your blood and all that you’ve spilt in the name of! In the end Jah will judge you for this and you’ll answer for what you’ve done in this life and the next!’

Her eyes were full of rageful tears, but still there was a gentleness in the sadness that Lluks couldn’t help but notice as a person of Ephangian socialization and emotional make-up. For what it was worth, he had hoped the wars would end. That an empire strong enough to defend itself, but stronger still to control its dark desires and become a beacon of peace would be the end result. He had hoped the killing would end one day… But he was from Ephangi. 

‘Maybe so…’ 

His gaze narrowed, the temperature almost feeling as if it had dropped with his dark demeanor as he spoke his final words before he carried out his duties.

‘but not before you answer to me’

‘TO HELL WITH WAR AND Y-

The frantic cry of the medic bled out into the ethers with a screeching wail as her anatomy was stripped bare and unmade. The enemy commander had wanted to spit on Lluks at the very least with his dying breath, but instead he left his head to the sky as he along with the rest of his retinue were vaporized in a blast beam of dark energy that twilighted the tundra plane’s horizon. In a flash their flesh and bones were gone, but it had felt like an eternity, the very atoms of their beings being pulled and ripped apart. 

Many present could hear the fading screams long after the bodies had become nothing as if their very spirits remained in the realm a few moments longer to give way to the last shrieks of anguish and dissent. The icy terra had split as if a blade wielded by Jah himself had carved a scar into it where the strange power of Lluks had wiped the slate clean. What was left was a trail of destruction that spread as it went further, the wound which remained could be seen from skies high above. Those of whom were the lesser criminals Lluks allowed to live watched in horror as their comrades were not only executed, but totally extinguished. Those of his own legion watched in equal parts fear and awe, the difference between the two in the moment irrelevant. In the end, justice was served and though it left no meat to be claimed by the vulture raptors, so too it left no mercy to be remembered by its spectators. 

“To hell with war and to hell with you!” Lluks thought as the xeno woman’s last words echoed in his mind. He wasted no time considering who or what it was she was referring to. If they ever did cross paths the same thing would await “him” as it did her, Jazai and the rest…

Oblivion.