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Chapter 14 â€" Imperfection

Location: Raven's Nest Shipyard â€" Main Core

The main core room of the shipyard had changed, the room had a sudden and dramatic green hue coming from the lighting that lit up the platform. The circular platform with the core was still there however the core had changed to a dark green glow with four lines connected to it. Around the edge of the platform were the tablets which suspended three people in the air, impaled to them.

However nobody else was here...

Diamond, Munchy and Aries carefully walked along the side-less bridge which one slip and they could fall to their deaths. The shaft was long, with a slight breeze that made Diamond gulp as they carefully moved along the increasingly narrow bridge.

"Diamond!" shouted Djynn over the radio that almost made Diamond loose his balance. Diamond unhooked the black box and brought it up to his face, he grabbed hold of Aries who helped to stabilise his balance upon a precarious bridge.

"What is it?" Diamond said, slightly annoyed that he could have fallen off but then again... why was he worried when he could fly.

Djynn sounded like he was quite far away, Diamond had to really listen intently in order to get what he was saying. "I had to launch the shuttle" he cackled.. "The shields began to fail.. but I am still linked into the station's main computer... something was still bugging me. How could they get their hands on Demon Sword Levantine as it was lost with the original Eclypse on Helfhiem."

Diamond sighed and realised that was not really the place to have a conversation. He remembered how he had told Anna when he died that he was holding Demon Sword Levantine when it was actually Gungnir... why had Galladia lied to him about it? To get the Asgard's attention and lure them out of hiding?

Munchy finally got onto the circular platform first and crouched low in a defensive position waiting for the others. It was strangely quite, only a light hum from the pulsing of the core. He kept his fingers over his rifle but to be honest he did not think that a rifle was really going to make a difference against an ancient Asgard goddess.

Diamond, who still had the radio up to his face was the next to get off the bridge and breathed a sigh of relief. He really did hate heights, no matter what his large white wings could do. "Then it dawned on me..." continued Djynn, his voice peaking at the top of the sentence. "That's why they attacked Raven's Nest at this time. This place is also a holding place for some sort of ancient Terran weapon against the Asgard, a woman named Kestra..."

"Yes, I know... I put her there" mumbled Diamond in regret. Aires had just joined them on the platform and the three of them began to scout the area for anything out of the ordinary. "Djynn, where exactly are you...?" asked Diamond, changing the subject eagerly.

"Well... I'm sorta... in the shuttle... orbiting the station... trying not to get detected by the battle going on behind me... don't worry though... I'll be fine."

Diamond smirked, that was their ride out of here gone.

"Anyway... this Kestra woman is a construct... exactly what Eclypse is right. Which makes her perfect to hold the soul of the original Eclypse who is actually a female named Levantine..."

"Perfect! What a marvellous little device you have there Pegasus!" boomed a voice, a massive field of light surrounded the three of them as Ada descended and floated to the platform from them. Her skin was beginning to look blacker as if it was necrotic from the virus that had been implanted within her. He light human figure was distinguishable with the numerous mutations that plagued her body.

Diamond stared as this woman landed, her full flowing black robes were shown, laced with gold. Munchy was really getting tired of all these costume changes.

"Ada..." mumbled Diamond.

Location: Raven's Nest Shipyard â€" Computer Core

The computer core had been completely changed by Galladia's interaction. Her vessel was nearby, waiting under an advanced masking technology ready to enter the portal to Yggdrasil. Victory was almost within her grasp.

Galladia herself was suspended in this room. Her body twisted and mutated, and connected to the main cylinder which was the computer core of the station. There was no difference...

Galladia had become the station.

Her tendrils were looked into the computer core and had changed this clean room into a mass of organic technology. She had waited for thousands of years to create her perfect, unyielding vision of the future, not just for the Altia Galaxy but for all the universes.

Her final mission... no... Her final vision was realised. Once the portal had been opened, the station would be dragged into it like the pull of a black hole. At that point, her ship would extend its shields around the station to protect it from the gravitational stress. Then once inside, she would interact with Yggdrasil, absorbing it into her, allowing her complete control over the universe.

She would then erase all the universes, all life and create a perfect utopian world where all is the same. Where she could reign and live eternally with her "perfect" beings born from the Orichalcum she had discovered so long ago.

That was her vision. But she would not allow herself to get distracted, there was still the matter of swatting the annoying flies that had intruded on her sacred realm. Somehow the shuttle outside had been good at eluding her sensors but finally the monitors had shown that she had a long on it with the stations advanced weapons array.

"Annoying little bug..." she mumbled. "How I will send you to eternity..."

Location: Raven's Nest Shipyard â€" Main Core

"Fuck!" Munchy as he dived to avoid the fireball that Ada threw at him from across the platform. There was cover in this room except for the core in the centre which if they hit that would kill them and destroy the station.

Aries fired his rifle at Ada from behind but she stuck out her hand, stopping the bullets and turning them into dust. Ada threw out another fireball at Aries which he narrowly avoided himself. "Do you not see how futile it is!" shouted Ada.

"Djynn... how do you beat this woman!" shouted Diamond through the radio, he was surprised that during this fight he was being pretty much ignored. Ada was really too busy distracted by Aries and Munchy who were getting their asses handed to them.

Guns versus ancient magicks... he held out little hope for guns to win.

There was a rumble heard over the radio and Djynn's panic-stricken voice coming through. "Eh... I would... love to help you guys but slight problem of my own... Galladia found me..."

The situation appeared desperate, Diamond stared up at the three bodies suspended on the tablets. Anna, Blackfire and Silver were all unconscious but somehow alive, even after being impaled to the stone behind them.

"Shit!" shouted Djynn over the radio as it crackled with explosions. Diamond was really taken back, he had never heard Djynn swear before, he seemed too nice for that. There was an explosion on the radio with Djynn shouting something before the radio went completely dead.

"I.. I'm sorry..."

Diamond dropped the radio to the floor, another casualty of war. He was trying to save lives and somehow he just ended up being manipulated again. None of this would have happened if Freyja had never given him the designs for the time-drive and told him how it could "save the universe."

He should have seen through that!

Ada shot out both of her hands with a dark laugh and picked both Munchy and Aries up as if they had been strung up by and invisible hand. Both of them seemed helpless, trying to damage Ada with the weapons that were available to them.

"No!" shouted Diamond, looking at the helpless situation. "This cannot be the end... we did not come all this way just to die!" He unfurled his wings and got ready to try and attack Ada or at least distract her enough to stop her from snapping both soldiers necks. Both Aries and Munchy struggled against the invisible force that had snared them.

Suddenly, as if the heavens had opened on her, a large beam of shadow shot down on her causing Ada to be forced back. She realised Munchy and Aries who were both gasping for the life-saving oxygen. Another person walked down the walkway towards Ada and cast her back with another beam of shadow.

Diamond could barely make them out, it was a female rat from what he could tell, however her body had become translucent from the manipulation of the shadow energy that swirled around her like a thick mist.

"Levantine!" shouted Ada, looking up from her kneeling position on the floor. She had been waiting for this. "We are so glad that you could join us."

Both Munchy and Aries recovered quickly and both made a grab for their rifles while Ada was distracted. Munchy unloaded his gun to check his ammo. "What!?" he exclaimed. All the bullets had exploded inside the rifle, making it absolutely useless. Aries gave him a nod that his rifle was the same so they chucked them aside.

Ada glared at Levantine, the second part of the plan was going perfectly. She began to conjure a portal, quickly summoning a body that she strung up in front of her like a puppet. Levantine stared in completely hatred of Ada but suddenly felt helpless.

The woman was blonde haired female in a white toga who Diamond recognised instantly as one of the last Asgard... Freyja. Ada glared with anticipation, she would see her sisters dream realised, she would live to the day when it all ended. "Now you don't want me to kill your wife do you..."

Diamond, Aries and Munchy all felt like players in some immortal game of chess. Each of them felt helpless to resolve the situation. "Eclypse?" asked Munchy which made Diamond give a nod.

"That's Eclypse's true form... Levantine" informed Diamond making Munchy nod not completely understanding. "The Eclypses that we all knew are clones that the Asgard created... this is the original... but she's dead so I don't really understand myself."

"Oh come now Diamond" interrupted Ada who smiled as she had fun manipulating the body of Freyja that just hung there in the air. "You of all people should realise that death is not the end of existence... the soul is immortal."

Levantine snarled at Ada, feeling powerless to stop her at the fear of damaging that woman that she loved. Diamond wanted to help in some fashion but was there really anything he could do?

He was not sure what he could do? Except destroy the core of the station but he could not take the risk that Galladia could survive that. This had to end.

Somebody approached Levantine from behind. "WATCH OUT!" shouted all three in unison as Kestra stabbed her hand into Levantine's translucent back. Levantine let out a shriek of pane as a small vortex appeared behind her sucking her into Kestra's palm, after a few seconds she was gone.

"Perfect" commented Ada as she casually psychically threw Freyja casually down into the shaft and approached Kestra. "That went better then expected."

Things just went bad to worse for Diamond and his crew. They now had nothing that could defeat them, powerless and defenceless against the coming storm.

"Why!?" shouted Diamond, causing Ada to stop and turn around, her green eyes cutting through Diamond like a knife. Diamond collapsed onto the floor in tears.

"Well actually we really should thank you Diamond... after all... Levantine is bound to you..."

"What!?" shouted Diamond in confusion.

"Oh come now... don't be so dense. You realise that all those mysterious powers, all the magic, the healing was never really you... its all been the product of Levantine. Remember when you died on Helfhiem... don't you remember?"

Both Munchy and Aries were completely lost in the confusion as Diamond sunk to his knees. "That woman..." he sighed. "That wasn't Freyja who resurrected me..."

"Oh course not... we had Freyja long before that... I captured her when the invasion of Terra was still being formed. You see after the battle between Terra and the Asgard, Freyja was reborn inside a human woman at Gia on the planet below. Eclypse was sent to protect her... but I got to her and took back Silmeria, freeing myself from the orbital prison."

"But Djynn..." protested Diamond. "He got into Galladia's mind..."

"Did you really believe that our great goddess is not capable of showing you want you NEEDED to see?" boomed Ada. "You really have been a useful little puppet all along. Levantine has been living in your body since, giving you unnatural abilities and only in the presence of the other three legendary treasures could she be released. THAT is why we needed you to come back in time and come here... to bring all the pieces of the puzzle to us."

"But why me!?" screamed Diamond. Munchy put his hand on Diamond's back to cover him.

"Can't you tell?" smiled Ada. "You, Kestra... Eclypse... you are all bound to the same thing. You are all constructs. Kestra created by mortals to become a God, you and Eclypse created by gods to become mortal..."

Diamond realised that true horror of what she had declared. "No.. No... THAT'S NOT TRUE!" he shouted. He remembered that he could never remember his parents, he had just manufactured stories about them, almost to convince him that he had any value. That he meant people.

"You are a flawed creation but that is why Galladia let you die on Helfhiem... so that Levantine could inhabit you... share you consciousness... and you would undoubtedly bring her to us..."

Diamond collapsed to the floor. He was ready to give up.

"But now you have lived out your usefulness... all of you are ready to die. Kestra, here... is the new host for the dormant Levantine and now... all four pieces have come to us. THERE IS NOTHING LEFT FOR YOU!"

Diamond shivered on the floor, embracing his own grief.

"PERFECTION WILL NOW BE BORN!" shouted Ada.