“What have we done...”
- - Majestic Agent T'mmar
The Cataclysm in the Neutral Zone is a name given to describe a conflict fought during the New Cyrandia Wars, during which the Corruptus planet-sized entity known as Brezank was accidentally awakened in the Imperial-Republic Neutral Zone by the shadowy organisation known as the Majestic. The resulting battle for survival would result in the Galactic Empire of Cyrannus entering in a coalition with the members of the Mou'Cyran Accords led by New Republic Captain Helo Roslia. The Cataclysm in the Neutral Zone would be considered by historians as one of the bloodiest and most important conflicts of recent Cyrannian history.
Dramatis personæ
Story
Prologue: The Neit Project
Deep inside of a noxious, purple nebula laid the corpse of a terrible entity who was once sent to the Cyrannus Galaxy to serve as a base for a legion of fiends who sought to devour the entire universe. The Corruptus, the demons of nightmares, attacked the galaxy during the Great War, and to this day millions of people around what is now the Galactic Empire of Cyrannus remember the terrible invasion of the giant demon Okastana. This was not, however, the entity who laid dead at the center of this nebula.
During the Great War, Cyrannus was also host to one of the many Corruptus Overworlds which served as the headquarters of the dreaded Marinoxidiz. This demon planet, Brezank, was eventually invaded by the Dracogonarious Empire and their allies and killed, causing a vile nebula of entropic energy to form around the planet and make local star systems inhospitable due to demonic poisoning. The area, now known as the Decaying Nebula, was deemed off-limits due to being potentially hazardous to spaceships and their crew, and by the year 05 NE, the area was also located in the neutral zone between the Galactic Empire of Cyrannus and the New Cyrannian Republic, an area where no one would dare venture into out of fear of sparking a war between the two factions.
However, there was one organization who had activity in the region, away from the eyes and radars of the Empire and th Republic. The secretive and enigmatic Majestic, an organization of such ambiguous goals none would be able to tell what they planned next, was not only interacting with Brezank's humongous carcass. They were experimenting with it. Weaponizing it. A massive construct was partially built around the planet-sized monster, its foundations rooted deep into its flesh as thousands of workers did what they had been ordered to by their superiors while wearing special hazard suits for maximum precaution. From space, Brezank appeared almost like a cyborg, an amalgamation of demon and machine.
Above the planet's bizarre orbit, which was a glowing, near mystic blue at all times, laid a space station which was used to oversee the so called "Neit Project", a name given by Majestic as they had no way of knowing Brezank's name to begin with. Overseeing the demon world, watching its oceans of blood coloured in sapphire blue were a pair of Libertus operatives, Commander T'mmar and the newly arrived Subcommander Kovalex who had been recently assigned to the Project. As T'mmar observed the planet, he was sure the Subcommander would have questions about it.
- Kovalex: "I have never encountered such a place in all my travels throughout Cyrannus. What are its origins? Such a place could not possibly have formed naturally."
- T'mmar: "That is because it is, in fact, not a natural "thing". What you see below you is what the Plazithians refer to as a "demon", though I much prefer to refer to it as a supernatural entity. It was discovered by the old Republic during the Great War and apparently held a race of hostile supernaturals on its surface before they were destroyed, so that they would not cause any more harm to the galaxy."
Kovalex folded his arms behind his back, and though he attempted to keep his composure, he was still visibly uncomfortable.
- Kovalex: "What use is this entity to our cause. My clearance level into the Neit Project only goes so far."
- T'mmar: "The Board of Elders was not specific about their intentions. But as far as I could gather, Neit is to be a successor to Terminus. An even grander weapon, of even grander capabilities."
- Kovalex: "I cannot imagine such power, though in the aftermath of the Empire's... acquisition of Terminus, Neit is in the correct hands."
- T'mmar: "'The installations in the surface will serve both as a way for our numbers to safely traverse Neit and as gathering spots for power reactors. The 'demon' has a curious energy source on its core which can be harvested and enhanced by our technology, but as you can see, we cannot yet freely walk through the installations without hazard suits due to the planet emitting a bizarre kind of radiation... Can you imagine such power? The Board of Elders could make the Empeor himself bow to them if they so wish."
- Kovalex: "Excellent. Our plans are cemented. With Neit under our command, our... ascendance is assured."
At this point, though, something had happened. As the reactors which dug deep into the Corruptus Overworld harvested its essence, they began malfunctioning due to what appeared to be a power overload. The crew at the planet-side installations could feel the ground trembling beneath them, and from the space station, T'mmar, Kovalex and whoever else was abord could watch as an eye slowly opened on Brezank's surface, pitch-blue in colour as he stared unblinking at space.
- T'mmar: "...Are you seeing this?"
- Kovalex: "Please, do tell me that this is our doing..."
- Brezank: "MASTER --- WHERE --- YOU --- NOT --- HUNGRY --- HUNGRY --- HUNGRY"
Roaring voices hit the minds of every operative in the station and planet-side as alarms began sounding, ordering evacuation. "Alert! Neit Project has awaken! Neit Project has awaken!" The demon's eye began travelling across its own surface, confused for what had happened to his own body, startled by all the machinery installed upon him. Dark tendrils grew out of his surface, wrapping around the bodies of operatives as they failed to evacuate the planet in time, absorbing them into their flesh and soon enough also engulfing the space station. Whether T'mmar and Kovalex managed to escape or not was irrelevant for they had dug too deep and somehow awakened Brezank.
The demon was not dead, it was merely slumbering. And from his hellish, sapphire earth, new creatures began being born, one for each operative it had devoured. And it would not take long until it set its eye at the nearest inhabited star system.
- Brezank: "CONSUME --- ALL"
Trivia
- Coordinated by OluapPlayer and Cyrannian.
Participants
Further Reading
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