Awakening of the Shadows [COMPLETE]

Old Outlines + A New Beginning

This is how it ended.

Hive—Arcturus, Eternity, and Eldernova would have boarded the TES Hive and shut down the Skywatches, one by one. Eldernova for once would not nearly die and would complete his mission, but Eternity would be put in grave danger and Arcturus would be unable to help. This time, Elder would have rescued Eternity, and they essentially would have both apologized for the events earlier that day and shared a moment with one another. Arcturus, meanwhile, would ascend to the final level of the Hive and engage in a mind-to-mind battle with the avatar of the AI in control. He would ultimately lose, though he would manage to disable the last Skywatch (beginning the self-destruction protocol) . He would manage to teleport to Eternity using the porta-Warpers, and together they would make a desperate escape from the Hive. They would encounter the AI (it's called the Skykeeper) once more, and Arcturus would manage to lead it away from Elder and Ni. This would prove futile ultimately, as Eldernova and Eternity would get caught by a squadron of Trianguli soldiers, forcing them to take a shuttle off of the Hive with time running out. They would make it off and be flying back toward the Supernova when suddenly a massive Trianguli starship would drop out of Aetherjump. Arcturus would finally manage to defeat the Skykeeper and Warp to the Supernova thanks to Nocta and a newly-returned Antares penetrating the shielding. The Hive would break apart and explode.

Battle of the Twin Suns—As E&E work to evade the massive Trianguli ship, Antares makes a desperate broadcast to the rest of the MFS. But as he does so Eisanami manifests again, this time however as her true form—as one of the Seven Shadows. Antares on the video broadcast must beg for help as the enemy ship, the Discordant (and the older Trianguli fleet, which drops out of jump) turns its attention to the Supernova, and as he must defend Rynn from being repossessed. With nowhere left to run, Antares and Rynn face their Daemon. The Shattermistess is ultimately defeated by a bond unbreakable by hate, and though no one on the Supernova's crew besides Eldernova have weapons capable of killing a Shadow, Eisanami is weakened enough that she must depart. Antares turns back to the broadcast and asks one more time that they trust him and jump to the Scipian system, now. And just like that, the Battle of the Twin Suns begins. Eternity and Eldernova get in contact with the Supernova as Antares commands a massive starfight against the Scipian military, but the Supernova is massively outmatched by the Discordant. As a final gambit, Arcturus takes over command and the bridge is restaffed by recovering but alive members of Antares' rebellion, while Antares, Rynn, Eternity, and Eldernova together use the Trianguli shuttle to infiltrate the Discordant. They resolve to fight their way through and bring down the Lord of the Iron Scorpion.

Iron—The four warp onboard the Discordant and make a long trek to the top deck of the ship. The presence of Eisanami, Rynn notes, grows stronger and stronger as they ascend up the decks, shutting down three separate engines and stopping the attempts of Saladin to prevent them from making it to the top as they go. Eventually, they make it to the bridge, but it's already been emptied. The ship is being piloted from somewhere else. It's a trap, and Eisanami's essence appears again backed by the Iron Three, a triplet of legendary Trianguli warriors. This time, Eldernova is there as Eisanami appears, and Alaspakta is horrified to identify her as not just a simple Daemon, but as one of the Seven Shadows, devoted and incredibly powerful servants of Revan, made of pure Darkness. There's a fight, but Eisanami is possessing all three of the Iron Three and making them incredibly powerful. They're somewhat outmatched, and only the power of Alaspakta is keeping the Iron Three back. It's during a section narrated by Eldernova that Eternity almost gets a sword plunged through her and Eldernova kind of goes batshit and, using Alaspakta's power, burns the Darkness out of the Iron Third about to kill Eternity. Eisanami witnesses this and in the confusion Eldernova threatens the Shadow with utter destruction through Alaspakta, and the Shattermistress is forced to retreat. The Iron Three, free of their compulsion, are confused thoroughly and Antares manages to talk them down, at least so that they won't kill the four. He also convinces the Iron Three to tell them where onboard the ship Saladin is. He's in his Throne Room. (Yes, the fucker built a throne room on a starship.) I kind of imagined Eternity and Eldernova were going to have a romantic moment here, but then I realized I was a terrible writer and that wouldn't fit the tone of this chapter whatsofuckingever.

Skorai—With the path outlined to Saladin's Throne, the four ascend to the final level of the ship to find Saladin alone, breathing his last on his Throne. Antares inexplicably lets out a strangled sob and rushes to the Throne. In a section narrated by Antares, the reader learns that Antares wasn't merely just a Prince of one of the six houses of Scipio. And his name was never Whitewater. From the start, he lied about who he was, both ashamed of his name and so that the title would not ruin his attempts to communicate with the MFS. From the start, he was Antares Skorai, the heir to the Throne of the Iron Scorpion. It's revealed that from the start Saladin was being manipulated by Eisanami, even possessed at times, to start a war. Saladin never wanted any of this war, and as Rynn slowly approaches from behind Antares to provide some measure of comfort, Emperor Saladin Skorai passes from this world and the crown passes to his son.

Epilogue: Free—A week after the Battle of the Twin Suns, the Trianguli Empire and the MFS are now allies, and Eldernova returns to his people, who have been granted a habitable moon empty of sentient life with a small city to start them off, which has been named by Humanity Horizon. There's a large celebration for a new home going on, which Eldernova partakes in. Eternity shows up, and the two dance together beneath the fireworks. Eternity takes Eldernova to a waterfall on the moon where they watch the three stars going down. It is here that they formally apologize and decide to start a relationship, and they finally get a kiss scene that lasts more than a nanosecond. They break away, as the suns have dipped below the mountain skyline they're overlooking, and as the chapter and book ends, Eldernova finally finds a new home.

This is how something new begins.

Unfortunately, I lost motivation. I succumbed to self-doubt and burned myself to dust trying to finish this up. In the end, this story died, and it's been dead for... a while, let's put it like that. It's never coming back. I hate this story; it's contrived, poorly-written, makes no sense 100% of the time and has terrible tone and overall it's just not a good story.

But I'm still writing. I might have abandoned this story, but I'm still going, and currently, I'm working on a book called Silence, the first in my series 'A Tale of Song and Shadow'. Pay attention, and you might notice that Silence has a few similarities to this story -- as a matter of fact, the world this story took place in is, to some extent, the same as that which Silence does, albeit massively altered on a fundamental level. But a few slivers remain.

If you liked this story, I encourage you to come on over to Royal Road, where I primarily post now, and give the next a read. You can find me on Royal Road at @auroraredpanda.

Thanks for sticking with me. Happy reading, and always remember to dare to the stars. Per aspera ad astra~