L’ynden [ruin city], Genu [planet], Saber [star system]
15 June; 05:12:44 Hours
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch, as Tavvuk walked down the street of the once city that now sat gone. His boots crushed debris, glass, and stone that survived the event horizon of Theo and Dax, and Tavvuk stopped at that very spot where the two stood almost exactly a day prior. His emerald-tattered cowl swayed slightly in the damp breeze before he kneeled and grabbed a handful of the remains. Tavvuk’s eyes narrowed as he looked to it in his palm, but then crushed it.
“<Some, um, some, something isn’t right here,>” Althya, the young girl from Vectir, shakily said as she shuffled up behind Tavvuk who poured the ash out of his hand and growled.
“<You’re not on Vectir anymore.>”
“<I, um, I know. I do… but, but something, some, something doesn’t feel right.>”
Tavvuk chuckled at her as he stood back up.
“<Wuh-what happened here?>”
“Beelezika.”
Althya’s eyes grew large and her blood ran cold as she heard Tavvuk say that name, and without fear but instead a deep contempt which reverberated in his voice. She then stammered, “<He, he, he did ah-all of, of this?>”
“<I’ve seen his aftermath before… but this, there is far more this time.>”
“<More? Wuh-what do you mean?>” she asked, but a woman called off from a distance behind the two.
“Baghul…” Helena Madds said as she looked straight at the two but her gold eyes locked on Tavvuk who still was crouched down with his back to her and Baghul, “Do you think that Theo did THIS on Titus, too?”
The monstrous Knight, with his living steel skin reflecting a vague terrified image of Althya who stared at him, chuckled, “I don’t know, Hel - Perhaps we should ask the Last One?”
Slowly, Tavvuk stood up with his cowl flapping slightly in the breeze that picked up. His nostrils flared, then his brow furrowed before he let out a deep growl. He didn’t even bother to turn around as he snapped, “<I can smell him on you,> Bodeekil!”
Helena pouted as she took a step forward. “Awww, did someone just get some post-traumatic stress flashbacks?”
Tavvuk’s fists clenched tightly and his feet pivoted in the rubble while he let out another deep growl, but his attention slightly shifted to Althya who stepped closer to him.
“<Huh-who, who are they, Tavvuk?>”
He now turned around as Helena and Baghul began walking toward them, and he softly told her, “<Union filth.>”
“<Union? They’re gonna arrest us?>”
“Arrest?” Helena laughed. “No, no we’re not going to arrest you…” but her voice shifted to a serious tone, “It’s been a while, and, well, we need some warmup before Baghul and I take out an old friend of mine—”
Though before Helena had completely finished, Baghul charged Tavvuk in a blitz. The colossal Knight closed thirty feet in seconds as his crimson cape whipped behind him, only for Tavvuk to reach out and catch Baghul’s forearms and plant his feet to stop him. The debris and ground kicked up behind Tavvuk’s heels as he managed to slow Baghul to a stop, and they looked the other in the eyes while Baghul bellowed, “The way my name will be cheered when I bring your head back to the Union!”
“<I’ve encountered your kind before,>” Tavvuk chuckled at him. “<I don’t think they’ll be cheering when you come back to them in pieces!>”
Tavvuk, in an absolute show of power, released Baghul’s arms before moving so fast that he was able to reposition himself to deliver several powerful body shots that cracked out and the shockwave of ringing through the ruin around them like bombs. Baghul let out grunts after each hit; he pushed back nearly a half foot from the first, then the second, and then he attempted to block the third when Tavvuk had spun around him and struck him with a kidney shot. The Knight refused to leave up, despite stumbling forward from the combination, and he spun around with a whipping forearm that Tavvuk proceeded to block with both of his forearms - unfazed.
“Heh-huh-pf-wuh-what?” Baghul gasped while struggling to exert his force on Tavvuk.
Alytha’s lip quivered as she watched the two, however, she quickly turned to her right as she heard Helena call, “What’s a teenage girl doing with a savage? Huh? You his little pet?”
“<P-pet?>” Alytha stammered, only for her to jump as Helena appeared next to her with bright gold electricity surging through her.
“Yes,” Helena whispered as she pushed Alytha’s hair behind her right ear. “You’re what? Fifteen? And you’re traveling the stars with the likes of that blood-thirsty Titan…” Althya slowly turned her head to look at Helena as her voice got coarse, “You’re either his pet…” and Helena reached out to grab her by the jaw, “Or you’re dead, just like he’ll be!”
Helena violently and quickly snatched Althya by the face, though her eyes narrowed as she watched Althya crack like glass before the young girl pushed away from her and there was now five yards of distance between the two. Helena’s eyes grew wide in disbelief as she looked at her hand like she was hallucinating what just occurred, though as she looked back to Althya, her attention didn’t last long as it immediately turned to her right as Baghul came flying at her.
“Wuh-what?” Helena gasped a second before the seven-foot-tall monster collided with her and sent both tumbling through the dirt, stone, and debris.
She winced as she rolled over onto her hands and knees before she slowly looked across from her to Baghul who punched the ground and let out a thunderous roar. Helena then realized the true reason for his frustration, and she shot up to her feet to find Tavvuk and Althya were gone. Her face grew red, nostrils flared and gold electricity surged through her as she spun to Baghul and yelled, “What happened? Huh? How did you let him best you?”
“Heeeeh,” he growled and stood up before looking at Helena, and said, “I underestimated his power.”
“His power? His power? Theo slaughtered his entire species! Power? They don’t have any fucking power!”
“I didn’t see you take him on!” Baghul snapped back. “Actually, that’s right, you were too busy being upped by the girl!”
“You sonofa—” Helena growled and stepped toward Baghul when she stopped and clenched her fists before screaming at the top of her lungs. “DAMMIT!”
He stepped back and tilted his head slightly to his left while his eyes narrowed at her.
“Dammit,” she went on, saying, “We missed it!”
“Missed it? I don’t understand, Hel.”
“The Titan!”
Baghul shrugged. “Yes?”
“We missed the whole point of why he was here!”
“For Theo?”
“No!” Helena denied before she explained and walked over to where Tavvuk was when they first approached him and Althya, “We all knew Theo wasn’t going to be here, the power surge that was detected from whatever he did, it was an aftershock…”
“Then why, Hel?”
She crouched down and grabbed a handful of the dirt and debris. “To get what he needed to generate a star map!”