IskatuMesk
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New music - "Baletongue, and the Spirestorm" | Quote: | "We're detecting a large mass gating out of an unknown source." one of the officers was repeating to a fleet official across his com. It had been only a few hours since the Zelconian refugees jumped back into psionic space.
The majority of their weapons still functioned in the Void, as it was called. That's not what worried Khan. It was the worry that they had been found so quickly, and so easily. It was probably a DyiithJhinn fleet that had chased them from material space. He began plotting a zig-zag pattern, intending to jump momentarily back into material space, to throw them off.
He realized he was taking a dangerous gamble. His calculations could be off, and his fleet would manifest inside a fragment of dormant Abysmal energy, that the Gya referred to as "Spectral Matter". They could also end up inside a de-stabilized system, inside a tear of enormous magnitude.
"No." Sarenubus' voice suddenly said to the captain. "Our jump systems are not functioning."
"How can you tell?" Khan asked across the mental link.
"The contact is emitting some form of suppression aura."
"Contact? There's only one?" Khan's hands stopped in the middle of his calculations. If it was only one object, its size would have smashed their records of objects to manifest in psionic space. This manifestation was larger than what was physically possible.
"Is it the Ghosts?" Khan asked.
"No." Sarenubus replied after a pause, although he seemed unsure.
"I think it's the Undead."
"The Undead possess vessels that large!?" Khan's mind began racing wildly. He immediately switched his console's directive to tactical. He ordered an immediate Grade 1 alert.
"We're getting feedback." another officer yelled out. The central display began forming a wireframe of their unknown visitor.
The object appeared as a giant, bloated squid. It had six major spires that reached outwards from an almost gothic-looking central structure, surrounded by countless other, smaller constructs that twisted and turned. The spires were in two formations, each on either side of a central formation. Khan could only assume the central formation, which appeared like the foresection of some wicked insect, was a weapon.
The object was protected by a skin of energy that constantly shifted its resonation levels. As the wavelengths widened and narrowed across the spectrum of their scanning devices, the object's wireframe became more solid. It wasn't completely manifested in their reality, yet.
"It's gating from the Abyss." Khan whispered to himself. He tried to believe, tried to accept what he was seeing before him. It was a machine unlike anything he had ever seen before. Nay, it was not a machine. It was a monster.
"I think these emissions... they are its brain." Sarenubus suddenly said. "Its thoughts. Its emotions. It is not simply a ship, but a malevolent soul. Its energy... it possesses a terrible, terrible mind."
"What should we do?" Khan asked desperately. The object began moving towards them. It was a great distance away, but it would close the gap rapidly as it accelerated.
"This is Anur, Mentor of War." the Galorian suddenly said across a global mental link. His voice was rushed, he clearly had no time to deal with com systems for this announcement.
"Our sole mission now, is survival. The survival of our species." he put emphasis on the words, speaking them in a matter that held a different meaning then what the sentence first appeared.
"Not attempt to engage the approaching contact. We are working on attuning our drives to the machine's eminitions, so that we may escape. Don't kid yourselves... we will be destroyed if we make a mistake, here. I have faith in you, the finest of our kind, to bring us through this. May Galor guide you all."
The link closed. It was obvious Anur did not have any time to bring about a real speech, or further his details. A new battleplan document appeared on Khan's display. He studied the formations and orders momentarily, then approved them, and distributed them to the other ships.
"This is insane." Khan muttered in his mind as he closed the document.
"We're not dealing with something a sane mind can comprehend." Sarenubus agreed.
Thoughts. They weren't his thoughts, but they came from within him. This wasn't what he had thought it would be like. To commune with a haggard soul so old it made him crazy when he thought about it. It would respond to these thoughts with anger. It didn't like him thinking about it, he figured.
Indeed, the Spirestorm had a mind of its own. Its thoughts were suppressed, as if there simply to enable it to exist. When Baletongue was told he would command the ship, he was expecting a bridge – and a crew. Instead he was completely alone, within some device aboard the vessel that linked him to it.
The new body he had been given was strong, but it, just like the Spirestorm, didn't seem to take kindly to his presence. He would have to consult the priests at a later time to correct these issues. Until then, he had a battleship to play with.
It was by sheer luck the Myrookk captain had found an enemy fleet when he manifested in Creation. The Great Undying gave to him the knowledge of the race he faced. The fleet possessed no threat to him. They seemed to realize this, instead fleeing from his mighty warhorse. As the Spirestorm awoke more and more, its mind generated a kind of suppression field, an aura of mindless, gibbered thoughts that interfered with the devices of other machines. The enemy fleet couldn't jump to safety. They were helpless.
There was something that bothered Baletongue, however. The Spirestorm was not as responsive to him as it should have been. It moved slowly, advancing on the forces with an almost frustratingly placid pace. The Zelconian sought refuge in a deep jungle of Netherstorms some distance away. In a straight out race, Baletongue couldn't catch them. He smiled inside. They were running to their own doom.
The Spirestorm began reaching out on its own, lashing at the escaping mortals with resentful thoughts. Immense psionic fluctuations tore through the Void, bringing the thoughts of all those that felt them to a complete standstill as pain tore through their bodies and minds. The cries of the tortured souls of the Zelconian that felt these shockwaves rippled through Baletongue's head. He laughed outloud, laughter that echoed across the spanse of the damned. To this, the Spirestorm responded well.
"You must control yourselves!" a Galorian voice commanded across the mental link. The tortured cries of those who were too close to the demon ship's influence echoed to the entire fleet. It was madness. Ships began to drift out of course. As the fleet forced itself onwards, stragglers were left behind. They couldn't turn back.
The incoming contact simply disintegrated those who got too close. The aura of psionic energy that it generated was rapidly ascending the psionic wavelength, into areas beyond the spectrum. When it made contact with the thoughts of others, it simply obliterated them. The thoughts of those being torn apart by the object's influence created a reaction of mental energy strong enough to simply tear apart anything close to them. It turned people into living psionic bombs.
"It can't catch us." Khan was saying across the link.
"Nay, but we don't know how great its influence is. It might be able to chase us into material space. Even so, we can't risk jumping back into the DyiithJhinn's primary region of control. They will stop at nothing to retrieve what we have." Sarenubus replied.
"What do you intend to do, then?" Khan pressed. There was a minute of silence.
"I don't know." Sarenubus admitted. "I can only hope we can escape in the Void. If not..." |
This is the first piece of music I've been able to compose in a year's time that I can say I am actually proud of. It signifies the first of the Fury Reborn OST, music created to provide cinematic ambience to what I see in my head when I write and read scenes from my novel, Throne of Armageddon.
Like other pieces, this music may be used by Ashura in her PW and single player module.
This is the C version. It may see updates in the future.
http://files.filefront.com/SPIRESTORMCmp3/;6529277;;/fileinfo.html
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Nathraiben
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Nice 
The beginning sounds a bit too artificial for my ears (I guess mainly because of the organ), but when it gets rhythmical (about 55sec into the song), it becomes perfect!
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