Doug: Queen of Blades

I linger in the darkness.

The sun is dying, casting long shadows in the city I have created. The horizon is stained with the color of blood and rust, fading to fiery orange and then the midnight black of space; speckled with the tiny lights of stars. A memory comes back to me, of looking up at the night sky with my father. He was pointing out constellations.

I don’t know why this memory comes to me. I am on a different world; the stars have changed… and so have I.

My wings rustle as the light finally dies. Inside my head I can hear the buzzing drone of my children, but I’ve pushed them into the corners of my mind. They can mind themselves for the time being, and I would like a quiet moment.

My feet step down into the soft purple creep that fills the landscape around me. It is a spongy substance, much like moss, but far more prevalent on this world.

My doing.

In my old life, I would be repulsed. Now I am comforted by the familiar feeling on my bare feet.

Momentarily.

Memories of my old life come flashing back. Metal, starships, guns, armor, men. I am suddenly uncomfortable with the creep below me. I look down at my hands and fight the urge to scream. They are longer, and covered with scales. My skin is a deep shade of green. I know, even though I cannot see, that my long red hair has been replaced with terrible snake like spines. The bat like wings on my back repulse me. I can see the burning red reflection of my eyes in glossy sheen formed by the sweat of the building next to me. I fall to my knees and vomit. The creep absorbs it silently.

Suddenly, the moment is over.

I rise from my knees to my feet.

Wipe the bile from my lips.

Run my tongue over the fangs in my mouth, reassuring myself that I am still the monster.

Well, at least on the physical side. I’ve been a monster for almost as long as I can remember.

Memories like that have been happening more and more.

My wings flash and flap and I rise. The voices I had pushed to the corners of my mind start rising inside and I pay them heed again. Whispering, cooing, possessing them again. They were such good little children while mother was away inside her mind.

The emotion I sense the most as I rise between the buildings of my city is anticipation. For five years we have waited in the darkness. Five years before this day my children and I cut a swathe of fear and death and destruction across the galaxy the like of which had never been seen before. My children and I planted the seeds of fear and terror and mind numbing horror in this galaxy.

Five years ago we were poised to end resistance in this sector of the galaxy. My children and I trounced Arcturus Mengsk, my old master, in a battle of fleets. Mengsk, in his own way, really contributed in this transformation of mine. I’d say he’s to blame for my delinquency during the last five years.

Fresh off of that battle we slaughtered the ill prepared Protoss forces as they attempted to take advantage of our disposition with Mengsk. My old lover, Jim Raynor, was with them. Poor Jim, I don’t think he’ll ever get over the fact that he couldn’t save me.

Finally the Terran Dominion played their cards, and was sent packing as well. I had my Guardians hunt the last of them down in deep space. You may not be able to scream in a vacuum, but you can certainly die.

Then:

I vanished, taking my children with me.

I’m quite sure they have no idea why.

My enemies have not yet fully recovered. I, on the other hand, never needed the time. My children have been aching to continue the chase for almost five whole years. They are so ready to play, it’s hard to control them sometimes.

As I take flight over my city of bone and flesh, what look like tooth filled maws with bat wings join me. Floating crab shapes as well as massive, dirigible-with-tentacles shaped beasts fill the sky.

My enemies have names for these beasts.

Mutalisks, Guardians, Overlords.

Beneath me I see roiling waves of monsters beginning to awaken from their hibernation holes. These are my children, creatures with tusks and teeth and spines. They slither and they crawl and they burrow. They act with one will, my own. Their voices sing in my head in a glorious symphony, and I sing back to them, telling them my desires, my hopes, my dreams.

They listen, and then they act to fulfill.

My name is Sarah Kerrigan, Queen of Blades. It is time for my children and I to return from the darkness of deep space.

And step into the light.

It is good to be the Queen.