EPTFor my friends
Amidst the calm winter morning lay a forest covered completely without a shred of light able to pierce the thick overgrowth of the trees. The hue of the surrounding air had grown into a mellow light blue with rays of light slowly seeping through the thick clouds above. Upon closer observation there appeared to be an opening in the almost neverending field of tree leaves huddled closely together like penguins in the harsh arctic winter.
The opening led to a stray beam of light shining upon a hatchery. Sitting calmly beside the hatchery were two larvae with the swaggering air of fragility
“Hikari-hyung, are you awake yet?”
“Sapporo, what are you doing up so early?”
Sapporo gave a long yawn while slowly stretching out his legs. Hikari huddled on the ground and gave Sapporo a long, precocious stare.
Suddenly in the distance a soft thump had begun to stir in the far off mist. Soon enough a rude awakening was to occur, a reckoning for the two. The thump had grown into a rumble, slowly crescendoing to an ungodly racket.
"Hikari-hyung, what is happening?!HIikari" yelled a frightened Sapporo.
*Hyung- a term korean males use to refer to an older male they are close to.*
Then all at once in a sudden flash, silence. Whatever was coming had stopped suddenly and started moving more slowly.The sound of gears softly rung as if being slowly, tightly wounded like metal string or a coil. In an out of body experience, both larvae, Sapporo and Hikari were unable to fathom what they were seeing. In slow motion, first, a long barrel slowly came out of the underbrush as the brushes were softly rustled and the branches crushed underneath the moving object as it moved. Once completely out in the open it was revealed to be a siege tank. All at once all hell broke loose as reality sped up to real time.
In a barrage of artillery and cries siege tanks and marines began to puncture the carapace of the surprised Zerg. Hikari and Sapporo caught in the seemingly endless hail of bullets were wounded trying to flee the battlefield. Sapporo for the first time saw what he was born to do, his birthright-war. In his eyes he saw a Hydralisk at the warfront, fearless and unintimidated it drew back its head to thrust a spine. Its body was pulverized by the firepower, destroyed and reduced to a mere mush.
Sapporo traumatized, screamed as his former Zerg allies grew horribly disfigured and destroyed by the onslaught. There was no mercy.
In their attempt to flee they were stopped suddenly enveloped by zerg cocoons. Shortly after Sapporo had become a hydralisk and Hikari, a zergling. Armed with their newfound physical assets no longer restrained by their stubby legs, they dashed outwards in a rush of adrenaline.
End song
In the aftermath any trace of what had been left was gone. In the end the grounds of Hikari and Sapporo’s home had been reduced to an ashen rubble. No sign of life lingered. The two had tread far away from what had once been their home where in the far distance an intense fiery smoke plumed into the skies. Finally a far distance away from the site Hydralisk Sapporo had collapsed. A tear formed in his eye. Big brother Hikari watched from a distance not knowing where to go.
“Hikari….Hikari. I miss home. Hikari. What are we going to do. Hikari….hyung.”
“Sapporo, there is no place to go, but we must continue to live. We mustn't give up. As long as we have each other we can't give up, little one." said Hikari weakly.” Both had closed their eyes sleeping, unmoving from the position they collapsed in.
End song
In the morning as they awoke both Sapporo and Hikari unaware of their grievous wounds from the day before the pain had come all at once as the adrenaline had long worn off.
"Ack," both grimaced.
Both had recovered from the initial pain. Hikari moved his head towards Sapporo.
"Sapporo, we need to go to our Zerg cerebrate. He is calling for us. We can find our answers there. Everything should be...there," said Hikari
"But Hikari, why do anything now? Everything we've ever known is dead." Sapporo's eyes had grown distant, cold, and shockingly pale.
"Sapporo, get a grip on yourself! You need to stop whining. We don't have our answers yet, but there's always a reason to live. NOW COME ON!, shouted Hikari."
End song
The two had begun to trek towards the local cerebrate that commanded them for they knew not what else to do. The telepathic energies of the cerebrate alerted them of its presence. The long journey ahead of them had made them weary as dusk was slowly setting in. As they walked they traversed a mostly flat forest plateau. Their minds lingered on the olden days when they frolicked freely in the open fields, when their friends were still alive.
They stopped by the creeks and rivers as sustenance, but an inevitable problem had eventually caught up to the two.
End song
stomach rumbling
"Sapporo, are you hungry?," said Hikari
"No, big brother, it's fine."
"No, it's not. We need to eat or we're going to starve to death. We need...food."
The two had noticed a calm smoke not far from where they stood. Most likely a camp set by the Terran they set foot onto the incoming encampment.
Slowly creeping up on the small hill that overlay the encampment on the lower ground the both of them had surveyed the area. It appeared as if the humans were away. The quietness of the crickets could be heard as the two approached silently descending from their uphill view. The wind brushed up against their fur as they slithered forth. Hikari the zergling hopped and quickly raided the tent without hesitation while Sapporo hesitantly started peeking through. Hurriedly they tore through the fabrics grabbing what they could carry in their claws urgently vying for time before the Terran had to return.
All at once they froze.
"Hey....what the hell?"
A flashlight had shone on the two zerg's faces in immediate shock. For a moment they both stood their petrified with fear. It was an unarmed civilian and Hikari seeing his opportunity killed him with a quick blow to the neck.
"Hikari, what the hell? HE WAS INNOCENT" groveled Sapporo.
"Shut up, we're getting out of here while we can."
"Hikari, you didn't need to....do...that" wailed Sapporo
They both hurriedly escaped into the darkness like the night itself blending in as they scuffled the grass beneath their feet.
End Song
Slowing down as they were panting they had arrived far from where the campsite. Sapporo's arms were tensed, breath low, and still looking into the distance from where the encampment was. Hikari had already begun to eagerly dig into the food they had gotten already. Realizing Sapporo felt troubled about the events earlier Hikari asked Sapporo what was wrong.
"Nothing," Sapporo said distantly.
"Tell me."
"You didn't have to kill him. He was innocent."
Sapporo began to cry and then silence.
"Look at what they did to us, look," said Hikari pointing to his scars embedded from the bullets he had sustained that very day.
End Song
The next day as they arose they continued on their journey seeking new purpose, pawns of the swarm. Not knowing where to go they lead their lives as miserable drones towards the cerebrate. This was war, this was their livelihood for which they were birthed for.
Taken aback they had already arrived near the cerebrate surprised they had come this far. He lay on top of a hill, creep surrounding and rotting the nearby vegetation. As they approached a shock wave had hit them both. They lost their hearing and Sapporo gazed towards Hikari and the bullets that lined his face.
"Hikari, why, why why why why why.....," said Sapporo frantically crying.
Soon after Sapporo took the brunt of a tank shot, the impact totaling him. What was left of him were mere remnants, yet still alive somehow, and at the same time indescribable. It had appeared as soon as Sapporo and Hikari had approached the cerebrate the Terran had already come making waste of what little defenses the Zerg had. Life seemed to have ended for the two companions, their short journey made all the more bitter, their long lives sweet, only to end in misery. Holding each other in their arms they reminisced of the days they longed for, the days of peace.
"Nuclear launch detected."
Sapporo in his weakened state could not bear to see his close brother Hikari reduced to the crumpled figure he was now. In quick thinking Sapporo spun around him a Lurker egg, encasing Hikari within to protect him from the nuclear blast.
"Sapporo, don't do this. Don't be a fool. YOU THINK YOU'RE BEING BRAVE? You're just being a fool. Get out while you can, there isn't much longer. You can still make it out alive if you leave me."
End Song
"Hikari, no, I'm going to stay here with you. You know what, I've found the meaning in my life, it's because of you, you give me meaning. Without you my days in the swarm wouldn't have been bearable. You just find your own answers when you get out of here alive. You've already done so much for me and all I've ever been doing is dragging you back whining. Now is the time I repay back your kindness."
The nuke had appeared from the skies, a shining beacon of light descending forth, a messenger of evil and good for what side truly was good or bad? Sent from the skies it had reigned forth hell, a weapon of destruction to bring peace. An untold amount of carnage and destruction would be wreaked as soon as it made contact with the ground. Time was running out.
Time was slowing down once again and centimeters above the ground before the nuclear hit Hikari uttered the words "Thank you....and good bye." Hikari shed a single tear that streaked his face.
Sapporo lay literally as a mere shell of what he once was. Only the Lurker egg survived the explosion, an empty husk containing Hikari, another emotional shell of what he once was. Remembering what Sapporo would have wanted, Hikari walked towards the cerebrate as it bled rapidly out of its gaping wounds. Bullets streaked past and missiles colored the air a violent red as the Zerg bowed down to the power of the Terran.
"Hello, young one. You've made it far. I'm afraid however, this is the end. The entire planet has been attacked by the Terran. All of our forces have been eradicated. This is the last stronghold we stand on. I will be recreated by the overmind but for you..."
These words were uttered shortly after the cerebrate collapsed pouring out a final upheaval of blood surging forth as its skin deflated. Hikari lay alone covered in blood as Terran marines advanced surrounding him. He could find no answers. Hikari realized this was the end of his story.
