Ur'wrath shifted past Bahari and Jahari alike, moving in between them without ever touching them. None of them communicated or made a motion to indicate where they would go; they were linked to one another through the mind. Ur'wrath walked independently from them all, one of the few who was aware of his own existence, who possessed a consciousness and could make decisions. Normally it was only Jahari who were granted such liberation, but Ur'wrath was unique. His missions were more specialized and required his skillset and power. No ordinary Jahari would have been able to handle most tasks he was given.
Which was what made his latest failure hurt even more. With what little thought he had, he replayed his fight with the android known as Syn over and over. It had been his hubris that had lost him the fight, an overconfidence that had allowed the cyborg to escape, or else he could have crushed it easily. He had always been given but one task, and that was to kill the Enigma Soldiers, and at his first meeting with them, one had run and the other had fought with him before fleeing. There was nothing but failure in his brain and nothing but the sting of disappointed was attached to those memories.
The massive monster had travelled to the north, had ventured towards the battlefield that was meant to be their first victory, their first slaughter in years. Their initial expedition had been cut short by the Enigma Soldiers, and Ur'wrath had had his opportunity. Now the first full incursion had faltered for the same reason, and Ur'wrath had been there for a chance at redemption.
And then he had received the call, his brain triggering and heeding the wishes of his masters. They wanted him to return, they wanted him back in the confines of the Hollow, down in the deepest, most complex portions of their world. Ur'wrath could hardly feel emotions, but he understood anger and frustration. He could never be angry at the mind, because the mind knew everything, but he could be angry at himself. It seemed it had been an appropriate time to retreat as well, as the Enigma Soldier's had arrived shortly after and revealed their purpose with their strange interference weapon.
"You have come, child." Words from the mind came through Ur'wrath's brain. To an average human, their head would explode upon being touched by the psionic link and Ur'wrath felt blessed each time he was spoken to. He entered into the Grand Chamber, immediately offering up praise and bowing onto one knee to avert his gaze from that of his masters. All of the Jahari could be considered to be in this one space, the entire mental capacity housed between four beings.
Ur'wrath had never laid eyes upon his creators, upon the gods who controlled the entire Jahari race, and he could not fathom what they looked like. He always stared at the soil at his feet when they spoke to him, their voices collecting as one in his brain. It could never be known which one was ever speaking at any given moment, or if they all spoke simultaneously. Some days they argued among each other, and at other times they were strong in their convictions, united in each decision. "I heed the call of my masters," Ur'wrath answered, his voice echoing around the otherwise silent room.
"We always have grand plans, child, plans for you here in this room, and an idea that you may one day join us." Ur'wrath trembled slightly, a faint glimmer of nervousness and emotion brushing through his body. It was gone almost instantly though, his body not designed to feel extensively. "Much of our plans rest on the destruction of the metal ones. What the humans have created threatens us, and we have needed you to end that threat."
"Masters, I understand, and I will not-"
"Humans make promises and have hopes, child, but the Jahari do not. The mind exists as one being, and thinks and acts as one being. It is with this great power that we make nothing more than decisions and we carry them out."
"Let him speak, let him prove his thoughts to us."
"His thoughts are not relevant to larger choices."
"All thoughts are relevant from the one carrying out the action. Let the child speak and we shall listen; let us learn from his words and see him learn from his own as well." Ur'wrath felt a stabbing pain in his head as his masters argued, caused by the psychic disruption of their bickering. Indecision was the only weakness of the Jahari, a weakness they strived to stamp out with their continued research and evolution. Ur'wrath represented the pinnacle of their progress but even he felt affected by indecision and clouded thoughts. He was defective in his own mind, and so proving to his masters he could fulfill his role was critical.
"The metal ones can be killed by my hand, and will be killed." Ur'wrath paused for a moment, knowing that if he could feel deeper than surface emotions, he would be shaking with fear at trying to interrupt the discussion between his leaders. "You have granted me the gift of free will, and I tarnished this gift with self-confidence. It was by my folly that the metal ones escaped, and I will destroy them at our next meeting."
"The metal ones hide now, child, they run and hide and flee to far corners of the world."
"They move quickly and without purpose. Sometimes they move to kill and other times for fun. They exist in places we cannot reach and live in spaces too small for us. What will you do then?"
"We must consider the great danger of the metal ones, of the Interruption." Ur'wrath's mind was suddenly bombarded with memories and images from his brethren, of mental screams in their final moments before their link to the mind was completely severed and lost forever. It sickened Ur'wrath to know any of his comrades had felt that way and could never return to the glory of the hive mind. He thanked his master internally for granting him such a blessing of those memories. "The interruption is why the child needed to kill them."
"We do not know if the interruption can happen again, or if the metal ones can produce it themselves."
"The metal ones can produce it. The humans, the pathetic humans wanted to deceive our great mind but could not, and we foresaw this occurrence."
"But we could not prevent it."
"The child could not prevent it. We could not prevent it if the child could not prevent it. Let the child atone for mistakes and kill the metal ones."
"The strength of the metal ones grows over time. If too much time passes, the opportunity will close."
"I will not fail you!" Ur'wrath suddenly shouted, cutting through the squabble and ending the fight inside his own mind. His head shot up and he nearly glimpsed one of his masters through the darkness, his vision built to see through the shadows of living underground. Ur'wrath ducked down again immediately, scolding himself and trying to erase what little he had seen from his memory.
"Do not fear what you saw child, for this is your destiny. As the Jahari grow, more of us are required to contain them, to maintain the mass consciousness. Soon, you too will be one of us and will hold sway over a million lives."
"He is not ready. He had not completed his only task."
"The task may never need to be completed. The metal ones are conflicted, torn apart by human emotion. One seeks not but anarchy and chaos, and will not interfere with our plans."
"The other is the threat."
"The other is torn apart by emotion. One seeks nothing but chaos and the other seeks nothing but peace. Neither can have their dream, and each is stopped by their goal. Let them roam, we have larger schemes to put into motion."
"The third?"
There was a long pause in the room, and Ur'wrath was tempted to peer at his leaders once more. While they often fought, they never stopped, and they were never unsure of what to do. One of them would always provide the next course of action, or at least the next potential move. It was unheard of for them to do nothing at all.
"The third is open."
"Is the third a threat?"
"Can the third react?"
"The third waits for commands. The third is not tainted by human emotion. The third is the only candidate for removal."
"Only the third must die."
"The third is the weakest."
"The third is open. If the third is open, the third's mind belongs to nobody. Not even the other metal ones hold sway over the third. We can hold sway over the third." There was another pause as the various minds at work thought through the proposition of trying to override the third Enigma Soldier. "The child and a metal one would be more than enough to eradicate all other threats to the Jahari."
"The child and the metal one."
"The child and the metal one," the other minds echoed. Ur'wrath stood up, keeping his eyes shut to prevent another incident, and turned around to leave the room. He had his new mission and understood what needed to be done. The Jahari would begin larger invasions soon, but he would be in charge of tracking down the third Enigma Soldier and capturing them for the Jahari's use. Ur'wrath gave a final thank you to his masters before beginning to walk through the tunnels once more.
* * * * *
"You have returned then?" Syn stumbled through the door of the room before straightening up, his smile still plastered across his twisted face. The android made it to the chair in the room, the only chair, and sat down in it before he began to admire his exposed circuitry.
"Of course," came the cyborg's reply. "I couldn't stay away from this place, you know that."
"Then the Emperor is dead?"
"A lot of people are dead, and a lot of other things too. You should have been there to see it all, to see the blood and feel the skin in your fingers. It was incredible, Zorah, incredible."
"You always find time to enjoy don't you?"
"I always did, Zorah, long before this body was given to me." Syn leaned forward, placing his elbows on the desk in front of him. The room was largely too dark for a normal human to see in, most of its lights only at the entrance. Zorah always kept it that way because Zorah enjoyed the shadows. When Syn had gained his new body became the first time he had fully seen Zorah, thanks to his enhanced sight. "You always miss out in here you know. You should come out once in a while."
Zorah smiled, polished, white teeth gleaming from what little light was in the room. It appeared to be a floating smile, with nothing more than a shadowy outline surrounding the mouth where the rest of Zorah's body was. "I cannot go out like I used to Lance, you know that. But this is always how it will be from now on. Eventually I will show myself, just like before."
"You find fun in your darkness and your shadows, but all the real party is out in the sun." Syn pouted a little in mocking before giggling.
"Is Sigma fun?" Zorah smiled again, this time with more of a smug satisfaction because he knew he would be triggering emotions in Syn. "Do you find him to be the most amusing? Is that why you can't kill him."
"I can kill anyone!" Syn leaped out of the chair, slamming his fist down onto the table, splitting it down the middle from the force he carried with every motion. His sudden burst of anger seemed to satisfy Zorah, who had been seeking to draw out exactly this kind of reaction. "I choose who to play with, and who to kill, and I only choose not to kill Sigma."
Zorah suddenly spun around and grabbed Syn by the hand, pulling the android in as though he were a ragdoll, and not robotic human. "The Jade Jester is always smiling Lance." Zorah placed two fingers on Syn's lips, slowly sliding them apart to pull Syn's face into a forced grimace. "Never forget your place to the Jade Jester, and never forget what you have been given. Laughter is the only solution, the only answer in life, but laughter is trapped in the misery of control the governments have created. Only the God of Entertainment can make them see, and we are his vessels. You understand, don't you?" Syn only nodded, pulling away from Zorah and falling back into the chair, his usual demeanour returning as he smiled on his own.
"Then let me be a vessel once more, let me spread the chaos that breeds joy and laughter."
"Soon, Lance, soon. You must know that all great shows first require preparation. The Jade Jester frowns upon improvisation when you have a chance to create a masterpiece."
Syn giggled a bit, leaning forward once more on what remained of the desk. It continued to sink under his weight, the legs cracking and giving way before the whole thing collapsed, leaving Syn leaning on nothing but air, yet holding the same pose. "What did you have in mind for this grand show?"
A/N: Dark plans are in motion, from familiar enemies and new ones. A new dawn is breaking in the world of Sigma/Star, but who can foresee the results of these shifts?
1000 bonus points (don't know what they are worth) to whomever can name the first chapter in which the Jade Jester is introduced, and the first character to mention such a belief (and maybe who gets killed by them too)!