Episode VII: The Omniverse

[Sarah Kerrigan]

To the stormtroopers, scouts, and primes watching the nexus, it had been a quiet day. The fountain’s serene waters had been peaceful, water flowing from top to bottom in a gentle, repetitive pace, the ever-changing shape of the fountain had taken on a Greek-inspired aesthetic as the water dribbled from the top of what looked like an ancient stone pillar. Transparent, pure water streamed from the edges of the pillar's top and into the basin below, creating a flowing, see-through curtain.


The first signs that something had changed were within the water itself. the formerly clear, pleasant fluid began to grow viscous and muddy. The gentle flow from the top of the pillar began to sputter bursts of mud and filth as the top of the pillar warped and bent.
Into the shape of a sickly eye.


The constant, soft sound of the dribbling water was replaced by a squelching, sucking sound as purple, viscous slime replaced the water of the fountain, the statue widening and shifting as four spiked pillars of ribbed stone grew in four corners at the edge of the fountain basin. The air itself seemed to reflect the change, and the oxygen in the nexus was tainted with the smell of rot, sickness, and death as the Fountain in the middle grew to the size of a large house, stone tendrils and growths dotting it’s figure, covered in the disgusting substance that had once been the pure water of the fountain


None in the nexus knew the true significance of this image, the eldritch abomination that the Fountain had come to represent, covered in the writhing, purple carpet of living slime, but the shiver that ran through their spines showed that their bodies recognized the threat, even if their conscious minds did not.

And as a small, green, hideous form spread it’s bladed wings within the middle of the nexus, and sickly black lips spread into the form of a broad smile, those standing within the nexus knew that this hideous transformation had served one purpose.
To herald the arrival of a prime.

[Remilia Scarlet]

After the final goodbyes to her fellow survivors at Karl’s “away party”, the Scarlet Devil left through the portal provided back to the ever blank canvas of the Nexus. Unsure of what to do beyond this point, Remilia none the less felt accomplished and fame drunk. Her name will now be known, and whatever exploits were to be had would now be done with the vampire’s head held high as she worked back towards her power.

Her step into the Nexus, however, was an assault to her delicate senses. Had the Omnivere’s hub turn into a charnel house since she last been there? It was only through her undead resilience and the overwhelming desire to not lose her ladylike grace to not lose her cool, and when she turned to the source of the horrid stench her eyes were just as attacked by the grotesque thing before her that was the fountain. An edifice of stone and flesh, although no flesh the vampire had ever seen before, open like a open chest cavity of some diseased corpse, and peaked upon it was whoever had been the cause of it. A tall, chitin plated woman, her flesh sickly yet eyes that almost seemed to burn with energy. She stared down at the little child and jumped to the ground in front of her, where Remilia suddenly realised she was the only one nearby.

Wings of sharpened bone spread out in a display, the zerg seeking to bring this foolish child under heel. And yet, the Scarlet Devil was as intimidated by the swarm incarnate as she would be by one of Sakuya’s pancakes. Something she announced readily by the devilish smile across her young face and her arms crossed in defiance.

“You must be new here” Remilia stated, a slight flash of fangs showed she was not some easy prey. 

Kerrigan was not surprised nor amused, her expression stayed neutral despite the sudden turn around. She examined, she calculated. She plotted. Being a plotter herself, Remilia knew what it looked like. It would perhaps be better if the young Scarlet took this to a more diplomatic place, where she might even benefit from it.

“Perhaps it would be better if we talked.” Remilia offered. 

Kerrigan gave a small smile, which offered no joy but a predatory sadism that hid only greater ruthlessness. Another schemer that thought it would control the Queen of Blades.

“Yes. Let’s talk…”

[Sarah Kerrigan]

A second passed, moving in the blink of an eye, as Kerrigan stepped down from her perch. this is ridiculous. Kerrigan thought to herself.
She was not referring either to the mythical creature standing with a level of pride evident in her features she hadn't seen since... Well, since the last time she'd sent Arcturus running with his tail between his legs. Kerrigan's life had changed so much within its short span that "Strange" or "Abnormal" had long since ceased to hold meaning at this point.
What bothered her was that she hadn't had time to think of a thousand responses or plans in the time it took her to talk at her ordinary, slow, human pace.

Kerrigan's reflexes had changed and grew the longer she'd been part of a swarm. She'd fought battles so fast that a thousand strikes could occupy a thousandth of a second. She'd made millions of decisions on countless different worlds and situations, directing the zerg to victory, in the time it took a bullet to leave it’s chamber.
And all of that had left her, and now she was on even-footing with this red-eyed vampire.

Kerrigan was frustrated. This “Omni” being - one small part of her wanted to know just how he’d gained such tremendous strength, while the other part of her only wanted to know if his bleeding corpse would still be so infuriatingly pristine. After she’d taken over the whole of the Koprulu sector, left her enemies as faded remnants of their former capabilities, she now found herself in a world where the zerg seemed not to exist, and the queen of blades was talked down to by an eight-year old child in a thousand-year old outfit embodying a two thousand year old myth..

Had this been a different time, a different part of Kerrigan’s life, she would have attempted to leave this little shit a blood-splatter across the pristine white floor she found her in. A Kerrigan before she’d felt the glory of the zerg Swarm might have been overcome by the sheer lunacy of her current situation.

Instead, she smiled, and regarded the little woman. Blue hair, ridiculous outfit, calm stance… and hidden power that Kerrigan not only could sense, but feel, simply from the way she was standing. The confidence coming from her body language was not something born of delusions, or foolishness. Despite looking like a child, her eyes had examined Kerrigan with the same level of wisdom - and arrogance - that Aldaris had not so long ago.

No, this one had power, and Kerrigan would rather not engage her at a moment where she was so very vulnerable. Defeat at the hands of a pointy-toothed immature woman… the idea didn’t exactly appeal.


So instead of taking her perfectly-balanced, chitinous wing-blades, and finding out how many holes she could leave in an eight-year old vampire before their body stopped working, Kerrigan gave a small bow to this potential asset. “Sarah Kerrigan.” she said with a small smile, instinctively probing her psyche for surface emotions and ideas.
Little escaped her mind - It was a wall of carefully concealed ideas and plans - but Sarah managed to feel the smallest bit of pride escape. As she thought, the little bloodsucker was expecting her to introduce herself first, as was proper of someone of lesser station.

Kerrigan’s smile widened ever so slightly. Whoever she was, whatever her power, Sarah’s ability to play to the emotions of those around her certainly hadn’t faded in the slightest. And this one seemed just canny enough to convince herself she was utterly above such petty manipulation.
Perfect.

“Charmed. Remilia Scarlet.” Remilia said, “Are you some form of Youkai? Though I doubt there’s a youkai that shouldn’t already know my name.”

Kerrigan’s response was a slight smile. So this was indeed some sort of mythological being. Kerrigan’s thoughts first went to this being some form of hallucination, but the mind of a zerg - at least, if this was affecting her original self - wouldn’t allow such an expansive ilusion to grip her. “It would take me a while to explain. This isn’t exactly the best place to talk.” Kerrigan added.

Remilia nodded. “This is hardly the place for tea, and I’d rather not talk business without being comfortable.”

At this, Kerrigan had to focus with all her might not to roll her eyes. This woman was really reminding her of Mengsk. It seemed that arrogant, snobby aristocrats existed in every size, shape, race and gender here. How wonderful. Kerrigan managed to force herself to simply nod in agreement, as the girl began to lead her away from the stone effigy of the Overmind within the middle of the nexus.

[Remilia Scarlet]

The two primes left the the corrupted fountain, far enough away from its veil of twisted flesh that Remilia could no longer smell the pungent reek that radiated from it nor see its disgusting visage. Not that she could completely escape it, as the scourge of the Koprulu sector that walked beside her had the same smell. If faintly. A few quick glances back towards the mutated human with her power of fate showed that the connection to her and whatever the fountain was is more intrinsic than first thought. To what point was not the vampire’s concern at the moment, her mind focused on the omnilium in her control as it took shape of a table and corresponding chairs. Whatever it meant, Remilia would have to keep on her toes.

Not that she’s ever been fooled before. Nooooo. Of course not.

The Queen of Blades was slightly taken aback by the little bloodsucker’s summing of the table, she realized instantly that the vampire was one of the Primes Omni had mentioned. While she had all the reason to unleash the psychic storm of her hate on the brat and fry her as the first of many examples, but this meant the brat had been another of Omni’s summoned. Her mind wondered, split between how she would have to deal with the child if it came down to that and noticing the table was shorter than normal. So that the edge of it wouldn’t be taller than the punk’s arms.

How precious. How pathetic.

Happy to finally have a cup of tea since… well, since she entered the Omniverse. Remilia took a long sip from the summoned cup, the red tea like she had remembered. As she looked over the rim of the cup, she saw the chitinized human stand rather than take a seat. There was a flash of annoyance, but Remilia knew that some people were just like that. All business, no filter.

“As I suspect, you’re new to this universe, brought in by our mutual jailer” The Scarlet Devil tried to weave some air of authority and grace with her long experience at this game. Not that it had any effect on the zerg “While you’re not weak, you are vulnerable. What you need is information, without risk”

“And that’s where you come in?” Kerrigan asked, stringing the self-important urchin along “I don’t doubt your… abilities,“ She had to her barbs back on that, “but what do I have what you would want?”

“For those like us, there’s little material we would find wanting” Remilia leaned back as she spoke, trying to stare down her guest despite her height “But there are still two things we have that are valuable: Information, and reputation. You want info…”

“And in exchange you want me to sing your praises” Kerrigan didn’t need to read the prat’s mind to figure that out. What a fool, did the pint-sized terror really think the Queen of Blades would do that once she gotten what she wanted?

But Remilia knew that the abomination wouldn’t. She didn’t need to. The word “vampire“ seemed to hold quite some weight beyond the gates, even if given a negative light it could still draw eye to her, where her true actions would shine through whatever slander came out from the oversize bug’s mouth. Even plotting out in the open of the Nexus would attract the kind of attention she wanted from those who patrolled it. For all intents, she got what she wanted without a word said, it was just a case of how much she could squeeze out.

“This would be no less that what I would expect from someone like you” Kerrigan added. The double meaning flew over the vampire head and she took the compliment at face value. A big smile grew on her small face as her ego grew as big, a small moment of eyes held shut to imagine herself better gave the zerg a brief window to frown before the scarlet sister looked back at her “But I would expect you would want something grander than that”

“That depends on the business, doesn’t it?” The Mistress of the SDM answered, her hands rested daintily on her collarbones “Now, what do you want to know…”

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Sarah Kerrigan allowed herself a small smile as she stared evenly at the woman in front of her. Her Rage had slowly given way as she spoke to the small prime - at Omni, at the loss of the swarm, at the fact she’d been snatched away in her moment of triumph.
For a human, it might have been difficult to conceal such emotions - but Sarah wasn't human. Unlike a Terran - or even this corpse-like imitation of one she found herself speaking with - Emotion was not so directly connected with action. Every movement of a Zerg's body was deliberate and focused, and emotions were only shown when they were allowed to.


Which made it truly impressive how difficult Sarah found it not to laugh in Remilia Scarlet's adorable face.


Initially, she found herself comparing the woman to Arcturus - a certain resemblance definitely still existed, for certain - but the difference was that Arcturus wasn't so self-deluded as to fall prey to a few words of carefully selected praise. Mengsk was well aware of his faults, and knew how to avoid them. This woman was old, canny, and aware of her surroundings - but she was a prideful sort, and existed to feed her own ego.

Kerrigan hadn’t even begun planning how to handle this omniverse yet, and she’d already found herself a perfect pawn.
“Well, actually, I’m quite interested in you.” Kerrigan replied simply. “You’re quite obviously no ordinary being.” Kerrigan stated with an expression that perfectly faked interest.

“That should be clear to anyone.” was Remilia’s immediate reply, brimming with a sudden vigor. “I was the strongest youkai in my own world, the leader of the scarlet Devil Mansion. All of Gensokyo bowed to my power and grace, and the humans of my world were forced to make a contract with me just to keep their miserable lives.” Remilia bragged, taking Kerrigan’s reply as an excuse to brag. Kerrigan wasn’t exactly impressed - The swarm outdid every achievement she’d claimed in the span of a minute, and once upon a time, no mere planet would even have been a distraction for Kerrigan, with or without aid.

But instead of showing that on her face, Kerrigan nodded, showing interest in her eyes, but offering no comment just yet. Enough for the brat to go on.
“Of course, that has hardly changed since entering the omniverse. I don’t mind saying I’m one of the most powerful and respected primes in the whole of the Omniverse.  Of course - you’ve figured that out already, haven’t you?” Remilia stated, looking at Kerrigan with piercing eyes.

Kerrigan smiled, knowing the girl was examining her closely. The woman wasn’t new to the game, not by any means, and Kerrigan realized she might have drifted close to a misstep. It wasn’t merely by misjudging her canniness: Miss Scarlet, she’d already realized, was far more intelligent and old than her appearance let on.

At the same time, Kerrigan realized, some part of her still acted her age. She was somehow looking at an ancient being and a ten year old girl at the same time. And for all the unceasing pride and arrogance, underneath it all was the same blank slate most children have. One that made them difficult to lie to, and made them able to easily change their opinion of someone. One step in the wrong direction, and Kerrigan knew it would be difficult to regain the pint-sized prime’s trust.

Kerrigan merely nodded in response, realizing this woman might resemble Mengsk more than she first thought. Regardless, she managed to learn a lot from the vampire’s speech - more than she might have realized.

“Why don’t you tell me more about this omniverse?” Kerrigan asked without skipping a beat. Best to move on to other things. “Where people live, what’s left of civilization… current politics?” Kerrigan asked with a more shameless interest. So this was the Omniverse - a place with a new set of rules, from basic physics to the pieces on the board.
The perfect place for the Swarm’s evolution.