[grifforik]

Gennie and Sik are owned by me

[Unleashed Squiid]

Featuring Zenith ☼ and Decarus ☽




The water will run black with grime
The skies will pour red with ash
Brick will crumble to dust,
Lives will shatter to none.



There was a moment of intensity when the lightning flashed and the black backdrop of nothing suddenly all flooded into clarity. The haunting number of silhouettes draining from the hill had grown in size immensely since the last flash. Those fragments of seconds of light were all that she knew could be used for measurements, and each time the sky illuminated, she prayed that it was only a nightmare, and that her body was somewhere else, somewhere safe. Yet through her prayers to an unknown God, Zenith also was aware that the time of the finale was now. She stood, toes gripping the special rubber souls of her shoes which were made specifically so that pulses from lasers and the flashing monstrous lightning would not have their heart-stopping grip upon her. She held her gun so tightly that her knuckles buzzed with numbness and a gentle ache. The vibrations rising up from the ground, from the thunder, from the marching feet of the soldiers approaching, and from her own heart which was racing faster with every upcoming moment nearly shook the young viscet to the floor. She didn't feel fear all too often, and she didn't fear many things, but now was a time to be afraid. The entirety of her society was in the palms of her hand, and the hands of all her fellow soldiers, her friends, maybe she could go as far as to call them a family of sorts. Zenith took a deep breath and let out a small phrase that she had memorized by heart.

"Bless my troops here and now until our ashes do us part. Loyalty and bravery and strength. Bless my squadron here and now until I am doomed to fall. Skill and speed and fighting until our last breath."

Another flash, but this time she did not look to the rising army in the distance. Instead, her eyes traced for her closest friend and he was instantly caught in her copper gaze.

"Good luck" was what she tried to say but the words caught in her dust-poisoned throat. He nodded back to her then caught sight of something in the distance and seemed to fall far away. Zenith glanced back towards the sight he had been enamored with but saw nothing. When she looked back, her friend was lost to the sea of darkness and uncertainty and she knew it was hopeless to even search. By morning, there would be a definite answer to whether or not it would be worth it to even try. Final goodbyes or just whatever fate came after the great leap into viscetkind's last and final unknown.



It was like a chariot of mighty horses
Or just a waterfall pounding above one's head
The sound of gunfire began to ricochet against the rolling hills
The echoes of war were painted inside the sky.



With the wind hitting her cheeks and a rush of sickening adrenaline, the young viscet was thrown into combat. Her eyes were murky; there were only the blinding lasers flying through the atmosphere and bursts of lightning to guide her into discernment between friend and foe. Another flash, but who could tell anymore if it was the blaze of nature of the turrets of her people's own craft. Yet this time, the light was eclipsed by a large alien viscet. He looked nothing like her own people, no. A foe and a particularly threatening opponent at that. Zenith yelled loudly as she raised her gun, circling him. He turned, focusing his strength on her as well, and then struck. Too slow. She darted out of the way, and fired a shot. Miss. He threw a sharpened dagger in her direction and she dodged, but to her surprise it was not aimed at her body; it was aimed at her weapon. Zenith blinked with surprise as her gun flew out of her palms, and onto the ground beside her.

The alien took the moment of uncertainty and suddenly there was white in Zenith's vision She fought for control, pushing, pushing it down. This was war. This was survival here, not training where she could stop the simulation. Her leg burned. Not a good sign, but she would not give up. With great pain, Zenith rose again, and unsheathed her dagger. The two were poised for battle, alert and awaiting every movement of their target, searching for a weakness to appear. Rival’s eyes fell upon rival's flesh.

She scowled at him, staring deep into his soul with chilled confidence, refusing to show any sort of injury. Should she bring forth awareness of her leg, this wicked traitor would immediately make a move targeting her slowness. Instead, she stood on it, biting down the pain.

Look ten times stronger and faster. Ten times fiercer. Ten times more powerful than what you are.

"C'mere, damn you!" Her words were ragged--bloodied--but confident.

The alien seemed to plan ahead of time with his combat moves, so she glanced to the floor, a fake glance, knowing very well that he would strike. She knew that the alien knew that her glance was purposeful, so when he struck, he prepared for her to dodge, to deflect the attack in some way, and when she didn't move a hair he attempted to double back, but was caught in hesitation by Zenith's quick strike. Her gloves were faceted by poisonous spikes. It took only seconds.

In success, Zenith raised her dagger triumphantly, but then buckled to the floor as her leg failed her.



Hurts
Hurts
Hurts
Am I doomed? Oh God I was so young.



Ears ringing. Breathing hard. Lungs on fire. Shaking—violently shaking. She was sucked into the mud on the ground. A pair of feet stepped on her back. Her face was forced downwards into the airless chasm of murk. She was breathing in nails, or shards of glass, or absolutely nothing at all. So many vile smells. Then darkness, so much darkness. Darkness, darkness, but it was not the end. She felt a push against her back. Then a more violent shake. Sounds cluttered into her mind, at first all at once so they rang as a garbled mess but then sorted back into normality.

"Zenith, grab my hand! Can you hear me?"

A hand. Whose hand? Her eyes could not see. Was she blind? No, not blind, the world was rotating around her, she was just very ill.

"Please grab on, please hold me. We can get you out of here, can you hear me? It's hopeless, we're outnumbered, we've been told to..to, oh hell, it doesn't matter, just get up! They've won but you can live, come on."

The face, her best friend, her Decarus, her best friend was here. He was telling her to get up, but how could she if her legs didn't work. Her heart was still pounding but she could practically feel how forcefully it beat. Her fur was plastered to her filthy face, and her skin was burned. How long had it been? There was fire spreading around the world and the entire sky was filled with unholy smoke. The entire planet was dying. This was her home. Now what would happen? Where was her family? Her home had been taken over by the aliens? How dare they? She would never let them win, no, no. But what could she do? The viscet could barely hold onto
the consciousness fading in and out between ragged breaths and jagged heartbeats.

In and out of time she stood, and then she was time. She was filled with colors and light and then darkness and the light again. Zenith yelled, she screamed at the chaos to stop. The poison inside of her mind, this disease spreading to her hurting heart; this could not be the end. She refused, she refused with all of her strength and might to let it win. Hold on to fight another day. She could not, she would not, not for her own accord, and not for her friends, her family, for Decarus' give up. This was not the end.

She instead showered herself in warm and joyous thoughts. Should she die here, she refused to let it be in mental discord. Zenith imagined herself staring into her mother's eyes, and the comfort of returning to her blazed like a fire through her veins. She wanted to be with her, a young child again, dancing in her twirling dress. She wanted this homeplanet where she grew up to be beautiful once again and not torn by war and evils and death. She wanted to be innocent again, a peaceful child untouched by the horrors which had long since stolen her purity. There would be no war, no genocide, no suffering. She would be happy. She would be free. Let it come.



The storm may pass and leave wreckage
There may be pain plastered on the walls
It is not the end
Keep fighting.



"The planet can't be saved, I'm sorry. They've flooded everything, taken everyone they could hostage. They stormed through with a force we could never have imagined, but...we won't stop trying, okay?"

She had awoken to bright hospital lights and the tired faces of a small number of friends who looked rough and unrested. Bandages lined their cheeks and their wrists, and she could see bruises and burns. How many of them were left?

A storm of force. They had taken over her homeworld, what a horrifying thought. Her throat felt terrible, her limbs all felt like they had been set ablaze, but she was alive. Yet she had failed everyone who she loved. Her home, the rusty swing set where she had played as a child. The garden where she had picked the most glorious golden flower to give to her father before he too had been taken by the ruthless tug of death's arms, all gone. All of the memories she carried had been relinquished like they had been swept away by a terrible tsunami, and what once could have piped up a mood of bittersweet nostalgia lost its sweetness. Hopelessness suddenly filled the void where the lack of emotions had previously existed. Suddenly she felt so, so very small and powerless. A duckling facing a hurricane, a swan paired against a starved alligator.

She didn't know what to say or where to begin, so she decided to just live with the facts."My family. Are they alive?"

Decarus jumped to his feet in shock, then darted over to her bedside. He pulled out a chair a few feet away, and scrambled into his seat quickly and awkwardly. His worried gaze burned into her. "Oh thank goodness you're awake. You don't even know how close...but yes, they were in the evacuation. I believe their ship made it through and was sent to the Xen colony a few parcels away from here." He wasn't looking at Zenith directly anymore, but he edged his seat slightly closer so he was within an arms length away.

"What about our squadron. How many..." Her voice drifted away. The sentence was too terrible to finish.

At this, her friend didn't speak. He only stared at the floor. His head shake was enough to convey the thousands of unspoken words between the two. And then his gentle hand was there again. It brushed a soft, disheartened tear from her cheek. Zenith didn't even realize it had fallen, but as soon as his gentle finger touched her fur, it was over and she was encapsulated in a sob.

"We'll get Eoia back, shh it's okay. They can fight us with fire, but we can fight back with a thousand times more. We have will. They may have more men, and they can use technology and lasers and all sorts of strange machinery but they don't have our love for the planet. They don't know how far we will go or how long we will fight to get it back. And that is why we will win." Decarus paused. Zenith admired him. He was from the other side of the galaxy, but here he was now, by her side. "One day, you and me. Your old house. Peacefully looking at the stars and the two green moons shining down on us. One day, you and me. Peace for all."

Zenith felt numb. She was faced with the same unsure nature over what to say, so she said the only phrase that tugged at her heart. "Bless our troops here and now until our ashes do us part. Loyalty and bravery and strength. Bless our squadron here and now until I too am doomed to fall. Skill and speed and fighting until our last breath." This time, she knew. It would take the very last breath from her lungs to ever let these vile alien scum to ever keep her home world. Until the end of this chaotic storm, she would fight, and never, never again would give up and fall to the summer storm of war.



You and me, together
We will fight until our last breaths
Until we are doomed to fall.
Loyalty and bravery and strength. Skill and speed and never ending fighting.



2230/2500

[Lioashu]

Finally it's time to announce the winners for Prompt 9!

Thank you guys so much for entering, Trompy and I enjoyed reading through and looking at all of the forms. There were so many amazing forms and I personally really loved the different takes on our prompt!
(I would like to gently remind everyone that you should remember to link all of the viscets used in your tryout!)

Forms that: Met Minimum - x1 Stub & 1 raffle ticket for weekly raffle

Animal345, Gadgetrocks, James., Yuroshi, Tenlittlesoldierboys, Xostef202



Forms that: Exceeded Minimum or hit Maximum - x2 Stubs, x1 Items & 1 raffle ticket for weekly raffle

SurroundingCrystals, LEEaboo, ~Teya~, .Kaede, Barnes&Rogers, Winchester's Wolf, Outro:tear, ~Prophecy~



Our Honorable mentions - x3 Stubs, x2 Items & 1 raffle ticket for weekly raffle

Yugi, Unleashed Squiid, Mareep, Milo., Grifforik



Winners - 1 of the Weekly Event Adopts, x2 Items & 1 raffle ticket for weekly raffle


#2571 - Razors
#2572 - Howlingtothestars

Thank you all for entering, and good luck in your future competitions! Please remember to be kind to one another.

[dzo]

Congrats!

[~Teya~]

Congrats everyone!

[Razors]

Congratulations to everyone! I missed a few, but these prompts were super fun!

Thank you so very much! I adored this girl, but I didn't actually go into the prompt expecting to win, so this is such a fantastic surprise! I'm super excited! She's so lovely! Thank you again!

As for info.

Name: Saoirse (pronounced Seer Sha)
Gender: female
Dgab: female.

Thank you again!

[grifforik]

Super congrats guys! And thank you so much for the HM ^U^

[Winchester's Wolf]

Comgrats!

[Barnes&Rogers]

congratulations to the winners! especially howling and razors <3

[outro:tear]

Congrats to everyone ! ^-^ ♥