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103. Crystallization of Consequences
🕑 Added 2023-11-01 08:33:50 +0000 UTCThe Argent Sea.
A flowing silvery liquid composed of hexagonal metal flakes adorned with very thin blue and purple veins beating to the rhythm of a heartbeat. It would bend, change its property, and obey the will of the users, its only rule and limitation were the ones born out of the users themselves.
This substance used the properties of the Element, and pandorium to function; adaptation, self-replication, superconductor quality, and psionic resonance were all its capacities, just to name a few and this liquid could work up to the subatomic level, changing the very nature of atoms and molecules.
It was a prototype, one Liam had been working on like his many other projects, and it was far easier to do than for instance the Obelisks. It didn't delve into complex esoteric physics or quantum dimensions with matter-to-information-to-matter shift and the likes of other more… 'Supernatural' or others would say 'bullshit' aspects of Tek.
For him it was banal in comparison, this also meant it lacked much of the more unnatural qualities of Tek but that was a prototype for a reason. To begin with, it was something Liam couldn't use to a tenth of its potential due to certain limits of his current biology so complexifying it further will lead to error.
He lacked the raw brainpower to process all the information as simple as that, that is why there were inbuilt programs that helped immensely but that wasn't what he considered good. He didn't want to rely on such things more than necessary, he wanted full autonomy but for the moment he would do with one or two crutches, he was prideful and stubborn, not stupid.
Frankly, it was a creation that didn't even require Tek but the latter presence made it all the better in every conceivable way imaginable to a very large degree, passing limits and giving untold potential to the seemingly harmless if pretty liquid metal.
The Argent Sea was exactly that silvery liquid trickling down from Liam's specimen implant and that began to orbit around him after his words rang out far and wide.
He made the mercury-like substance float above his Tek Gauntlet, droplets of it drifted between his fingers as he played with it, and as more of the liquid came out of his inventory a watermelon-sized sphere of it came into being which he shot straight into the ground where it was absorbed.
At the same time, a pulse of blue energy exploded outward from his chest forming a hard light shield in the shape of a bubble around him, Grace, Jake, and Varang, the ones unwanted were pushed aside without any chance of resistance.
{ATTACK! KILL THEM ALL!}, Varang's mask broke and she screamed her order, her voice reaching the outside of the shield snapping all of her people and prompting them to do as ordered in the seconds for the instinctual fear and respect for her she had cultivated into them.
And so arrows were shot, stones flung, spears thrown and various melee weapons used as blunt or slashing objects against the blue hexagonal pattern of the hard light dome, but contrary to what had happened earlier this day none bounced back, it was the opposite.
All passed through by a few centimeters before stopping mid-movement, projectiles stopped mid-air, and the ones with handheld weapons were unable to take their blades out without breaking the weapons as all got stuck into the shield.
Laìo noticed this immediately, the anticipated rain of death bouncing back not coming and she reached a very wrong conclusion out of despair that brought back a tiny bit of hope.
{Look, our weapons struck true! Continue! Persevere! Our might will pass through those cowardly invaders' flimsy defenses! Let's free our Matriarch! Let's slash, eat, and taste their flesh!}, she yelled at the top of her lungs to the crowd continuing with her false conclusion the shield was getting damaged.
Arrows and all that the Na'vi could be used as makeshift projectiles continued to rain for a few more seconds until a tailless adult male of the lower caste standing on the side not doing much noticed the same silvery liquid that had been thrown at the ground by the Tyrant of Steel appear at his feet.
{Whaaa-aaAAAAHHHHH!}, his eyes widened as the liquid shot out in the form of tendrils and grasped his entire body, encapsulating him in his entirety aside from his head.
Then his feet left the ground, and his scream grew in intensity at this, his already weakened body could not fight against the bizarrely solid liquid and all he could do was feel horror and trepidation for what was to come as he was lifted higher and higher to point the fall would prove fatal to healthy Na'vi.
But the awaited pain or death did not come, and neither did it for his fellow caste members who were living through the same fate, hundreds of them lifted far from the ground by the Argent Sea all at once. Cradling everyone in a comfortable cocoon of one of the most dangerous substances in the universe.
The attack on the shield of hard light at this point had stopped. Flowing silvery pillars and a bit more than a third of the population suddenly disappeared, something hard to not notice and the reason behind the sudden stop of the assault.
Confusion spread, before fear exploded, Laìo screamed as this same silvery sprung from the ground and everywhere in abandon, it moved at speeds their eyes could barely keep up. It moved with extreme precision and intelligence, blocking all exits of the Hometree and forming a massive wall encapsulating all the Ash People present.
Then the box where Liam's first set of Tek Armor and all of his and companions' stuff was moved by this liquid, on it's way it slammed into more than a few Na'vi not quickly enough as it was brought by the silvery liquid in the bubble
{You never wanted any agreement! It was all a trap! I should have killed you the moment you took out this armor!}, Varang exclaimed defiantly while her body betraying had stepped backward enough for her back to slam against the shield.
Her regality and pretense might have disappeared but she was the Matriarch of the Ash People, a title gained only through blood and death.
She didn't beg for mercy, or grovel, she glared at his inhuman silver eyes, there was fear, no, terror in her almond-shaped brown eyes but she kept her gaze straight. Never once diverting her eyes from his and that even with who she was, what she had done and tried to do was worthy of a modicum of praise.
If the circumstances were different they could have become trusted allies or even friends. But it wasn't the case and so it wasn't to be.
{Amusing words coming from the disgusting mouth of a lowly whore like you but it's true, your agreement mattered none, you are weak and I'm strong as simple as that. I was being polite and civil but you weren't, it is how the world works, and actions have consequences. As for the trap, no… It's more to filter the poisonous and rotten fruits from the damaged ones. Hypocritical as it is, your culture and way of life displease me to the highest degree and so with my current need, I will act upon what my own biases judge as adequate.}, the cold mechanical voice of the post-human rang true, and powerful, chilling Varang to her core, at the same time his two tetrapterons landed on his shoulder glaring at her with malice and sadistic glee.
{Goodbye, may you become a better individual in your next life for your body and people I deem unworthy of life shall become crystal.}, he added cooly, no satisfaction or joy in his voice as he simply closed his left hand.
There was no reason to feel pleasure at what he was doing but neither sadness nor her people for none were deserving of it. The only ones aside from the 'slaves' spared were very young children and the ones that by his criteria Eywa had judged as free to live.
{Abomina-}, the Matriarch of the Ash People couldn't finish because the ground at her feet cracked and shook. The silvery liquid burst out in the shape of four segmented jaws and like a carnivorous plant swallowed her whole.
Then thousands of nanometer-thick needles shot out from the inside perforating her body from everywhere all at once was only a fractal of the true agony that was to come.
Cell per cell, the molecules composing them broke apart and were remodeled into pure if not already carbon that were then reorganized into trillions of tetrahedral structures leading to a shift from organic to inorganic.
And this she could feel every part of it, and the pain was only a byproduct, Liam could do so much worse but he didn't do so as he saw no point in making suffer more than someone who would learn from pain.
Varang's desperate dying struggle twisting her body and muffled scream of true agony echoed, strangely projecting in particular to Na'vi like Laìo whose scream amplified, Grace having hastily put back a bit more clothing and the Tek Belt on cringing hard at this as she could hear her, Jake however was more focused on what was happening outside.
'It's chaos… What a terrific weapon. The horror would be if Liam wasn't on our side.', the ex-marine thought as he observed with morbidity the pandemonium outside of the hard light bubble.
It was a massacre, one of surgical precision targeting only a portion of the population that much was obvious, the ones that were brought in the sky were not the targets of this bizarre liquid but the ones left on the ground.
It wasn't bloody, or at least the Argent Sea didn't cause the apparition of blood or regular injury, this was the fault of the Na'vi in their crazed state. However, what caused the metallic liquid was far more terrifying… It shot thin tendrils that transformed the living tissue into a solid crystalline substance of varying color effectively killing the tissues of the area hit.
The Na'vi were being transformed by force into inorganic objects, forever immortal using their face filled with primal terror at their inevitable end.
Jake found it oddly ironic with the earlier bones sculptures he saw, this didn't change that he acknowledged that it was a horrifying fate deserving of the most disturbing horror movie but the fact he had absolute faith sure his friend's judgment on who needed mercy and who wasn't made it bearable.
"This is unnecessary… Can't we knock them all down and put them into Cryopods? Or exec-execute them all in an instant…", Grace said with a frown barely able to keep her gaze on the scene unfolding of people currently experiencing their bodies slowly dying and shifting into beautiful crystals that will keep their expression and body for millions of years to come, and it wasn't only them, the grounds and their weapons were sharing the same fate.
At least their cries of desperation and pain were muffled and more of background noise.
"Violence calls for more violence, Grace, but it's only if you didn't use enough, to begin with, and here, this is the amount necessary. For Cryopods…. This is just unrealistic, Liam doesn't have this many, and if he did, then what? Does he keep the whole lot of them in those Pokeballs in a dusty box forever? Those are all pieces of work worse than Quaritch in more ways than ones, look at what they did and were going to do! The most logical option is to cull them and be done with it. I don't like it but someone who tries multiple times to kill you should be expected to receive equal treatment in return.", Jake said unflinchingly with a face only one who had seen and done horror would have.
"That's just monstrous and inhuman… You are saying the only solution is ge-murder, murders but keeping them all forgotten in a box would not be much better… That's a rabbit hole of death.", the xenobotanist said with horror, partially at Jake but also at herself for the logic was sound and also how she in truth saw no wrong for Liam was correct in his judgment.
At the end of the day, unlike the post-human or the Olo'eyktan of the Omatikay, she was just a civilian, admittedly a remarkable one no stranger to blood and the parting of mortals from their shackles. Herself partly the reason for hundreds of deaths but at her heart she was no soldier or mercenary.
But… It was a universal truth.
Threats shall be eliminated or diminished as much as possible, no matter who or what they are, emotions hold little sway against this unpleasant aspect of reality. And so she could but helplessly gaze at what by the strict definition of the terms were two of the worst sins of mankind, ethnic cleansing and genocide.
The guilty by their young, and old, male and female, without discrimination were each turned to gemstones, diamonds to be precise, forever freezing their last moment. A monument that will serve as a reminder and example of what the wrath of the All-Father would bring down on the unworthy.
"I'm sorry to have shown you this and brought you to this place, Jake and Grace. But what must be done must be done.", Liam said discontentedly hovering before the two of them, the Argent Sea still orbiting around him black blood still trickling down his mouth.
As for where he once was the crystalline statue of Varang could be seen, her visage in agony, pupils donated, mouth wide opened and ears lowered down. From her clothes to every minute detail, even her tears, all were of pure black diamond making her stand out from the rest whose color was between translucent white and light blue.
As there were no vocal responses aside from nods Liam deactivated the shield, all weapons stuck in falling to the ground in an instant before being consumed by the silvery liquid to avoid potential problems in advance.
Then he picked his Tek Phase Pistol from the box and turned it on healing mode, with a flick of a finger the first Na'vi slave he had caught in the Argent Sea was brought right in front of him.
Resignation was in the male Na'vi's eyes, what he considered Liam as was clear, a new master, one that had killed the last and so someone to obey for it was rooted in his mind since he was a babe. It was sad, heartbreaking even, and made Liam's disdain for the ones he tortured to death only grow.
'At least… I can heal physical trauma. That's the best I can do right now, lighten their suffering and hope for the best. Mentally, however…', the post-human thought and shot his gun at the Na'vi who flinched at the green plasma, all his injuries healing at extreme speed, shocking and confusing him to great length.
{Alyo, no one will hurt you anymore. They are all dead.}, Liam said softly before he shifted the healed young adult on a blanket of tissue, the birthname of the Na'vi provided to him by his mate.
"I will take them under the Omatikaya, I took part in the destruction of this place… It's the least I can do. Slaves or not they don't have anything remotely close to home anymore, letting them here will only lead to their death.", Jake declared without an ounce of hesitation observing Liam healing the survivors one by one, once one was healed they were placed on a blanket.
"It won't be easy, it's a heavy burden but If you so desire then I will provide all the assistance needed.", Liam said, switching his focus to a child from the pregnant teen that had brought them the loincloths barely ten minutes ago he had just healed.
"And this is dangerous too… They are victims of their environmental circumstances… Their lives and the ways they were treated need to be spoken. We don't need bullying from biases of others to be tuned up to a hundred.", Grace added as she observed the groups of healed Na'vi that for the most part stood still, waiting for something she didn't want to know.
"That's true, and there would be the problem of racism from some Na'vi that would amplify this exact situation. It happened between clans and all of humanity's history and will not magically change here, tribalism is a pattern found in all communal sapient life. They might, no, some of them hate us already. It's a clusterfuck if we go the gentle way.", Liam brought up another unpleasant point to hear, it was a very complicated matter altogether.
That's not because they were freed that their lives will become full of fluffy pink cotton candy, rainbows, and unicorns. It was not even the beginning.
"At the end for me, it all depends on what length you are prepared to go. I'm not the only one leading.", he added and focused back on the task at hand leaving his two companions to think over this very complicated matter.
