THE BLACK BLADE OF RUIN.

It did not take long before the Siege of Avalon became known throughout Hyperion space. How a single warship drove back an entire armada by itself, led by a young woman with red hair and one arm. The nobility was abuzz with gossip, as a battle of such ferocity hadn't happened in centuries. Avalon, a small insignificant world in one corner of a galaxy was attracting attention.

The Xmilftien Commerce Union were the least pleased about the scandal, as it had been one of their Barons and their fleet that had suffered the humiliating defeat. Information about the girl known as Nya Crimson was quickly sought out by every power in Hyperion and the news eventually reached the attention of Providence.

Ryla Ayona sat in a grand conference room at the heart of the Templar, with twenty-seven of her highest ranking agents, most of whom had been knighted by her father and now served her. Her mother was addressing all of them.

"This is the rumored Nya Crimson," Mrs. Ayona said, bringing up an image of Nya captured by the Baron, "Grand Marshal of the world of Avalon, a special rank dedicated for her that set her as the head of their joint military and civil government. She somehow has in her possession, a class 13 super dreadnought of a kind that dispatched an entire fleet of class 5 to 7 warships with ease singlehandedly. She is not some common rabble to be ignored, she is a threat."

When she laid eyes on the image, Ryla's heart skipped a beat and she felt her lust flare. She wanted that girl, very much so. But then a voice in her hear spoke up.

[DANGER!] her jinn, Arax, screamed.

"What?" Ryla asked

[This Nya Crimson is a danger to Providence!] he spoke again, this time for everyone present to hear.

"That is what I'm saying" Mrs. Ayona said, "What do you know about her, Arax? She was a none entity a few months ago."

[She is a Regis!] he revealed to their collective gasp

"Impossible, all the current Regis are being monitored," one of the officers said

[She is a pioneer Regis, new to the horizon. Her jinn is different from the rest of us. She will bring ruin to us all if we let her continued.]

"Alright, as of right now, Nya Crimson, this Regis of Ruin, is to be observed, studied and understood. She is a priority triple omega." Mrs. Ayona ordered, "Get it done."

As the officers left the office, two people did not move. Ryla was transfixed, fantasizing about ravishing the body of Nya Crimson, the singular arm gave her some ideas. The other person was knighted not too long ago to fill the role left after her mentor was killed from injuries sustained fighting a monster, her name was Tomes Dylon, and she had been given a second chance to avenge her mentor.

* * *

After the discovery of Vulcan in the empty sector, the powers at be on Avalon were ecstatic. There was a long and tiresome enquiry into the discovery and ownership of the station; the government believed that they should have control over it and the Black Excalibur, but Nya along with Kiva, Terror and the Spartans, adamantly stated that Vulcan and the Excalibur were Nya's personal property. The fact that no one but Nya knew how to access either, concluded the debate in Nya's favor.

With the Black Excalibur and the Avalon fleet, they were able to find the Praxian gate outside the Garner system and relocate it to the Draxia system, where it was to be studied by Axalon scientists as an act of good faith by Nya. With the coordinates and calculations provided by the Red Angel, the High Order was able to link the gate to Vulcan, and, with Nya's blessings, launched an expedition to the alien station. From what Praxian technology Nya allowed to be studied aboard the Excalibur, Avalon civilization was able to achieve further advancements. The paladin class warships were refit and upgraded by Cerberus Command, along with the several dozen new defense satellites and the platforms. With the growth in civilization came the need to expand, so plans were drawn to colonize several near-by planets within the Draxia system.

Within eighteen months of the siege by the Baron and his fleet, Avalon had returned to its peacetime state. On the ecumenopolis, from the shining capitol to even the most remote island towns, the name Nya Crimson is as revered as that of any local deity, statues in her honor had been erected in every city square on the planet and her influence was ironclad amongst the people.

Because of her explosive fame, Nya had an excuse to relocate her base of operation aboard the Black Excalibur, which now roamed the expanding Avalon territory.

Onboard the Excalibur, Nya was in her suite, sitting cross-legged at the base of her king-sized bed, meditating. It had been a long time since she last meditated and she needed to re-center herself. Her powers had grown stagnant and now she needed to consolidate it.

She found herself in her mindscape, there she was in the gardens of liberty park in the capital, beside her was an exact clone of herself, except completely in red.

"Merlin," Nya greeted

[I'm glad you recognized me. I've taken a liking to this form and would like to keep it] the jinn said [I need your permission to take corporeal form]

"You can do that?"

[I don't see why not.] Merlin shrugged, [it isn't that difficult to repurpose a swarm of bytes to construct a tangible facsimile of your physical form. Anyway, what is on your mind?]

"Take a look at this" Nya said as a window appeared before the two of them;

[SUMMARY]

Name: Nya Crimson

Age: 31

Condition: Normal

Alias: The Blood Angel; Grand Marshal;

Titles: REGIS; Strategist

Classification: N/A

Species: Vampire-based hybrid

Rank: World Lord

Phantasm: Blood Aura; control over life matter + unlimited evolution from life matter.

[REGIS COMMAND]

Jinn: Merlin

Caste: Warrior

Court Members: 3 [1Paladins + 1 Sage + 1 Sentinel]

Origins Claimed: 1+

Sanctuary: Black Excalibur

Divine Sanction: Gate of Purgatory

Alliances: N/A

[Doesn't look any different from the last time I saw it] Merlin said

"Exactly," Nya replied, "No change. It's been stagnant for months, and in my mind; stagnant is as good as dead. So, I was thinking of going hunting."

[For what?] Merlin enquired

"Well, I've heard that Anubis pirate bands of the savage sector are pretty powerful, fancy a hunting trip?"

[Pirate hunting?]

"They're a menace to 'civilized' society," Nya shrugged, "and I won't even need to go out and pick a fight; I can just show up and wait for them to attack me, then it's technically self-defense."

[Well, I have always wanted to study the Maw of Tartarus that isolates the savage sector,] Merlin mused, [a whole galaxy cut in two by an astrophysical anomaly, half of that galaxy cut off from the rest of Hyperion]

It was then, that Nya and Merlin were hit with a massive mental strike that shocked Nya out of her trance.

Grabbing her head and screaming in pain, she demanded, "What the fuck was that?"

A moment later, Amara, and a team of four other Spartans arrived in her suite, surrounding her protectively.

"Is something wrong, Nya?" Amara asked, "I was alerted to your distress."

[Nya just got hit with a massive psionic blast.] Merlin replied over the speakers, [Any lesser being would've been braindead.]

"Amara, let me up," Nya said as she stood up, uneasily, "We need to…"

"You are too disoriented to move right now," Amara said, "We'll alert Kiva and Terror."

Since the siege, the autonomy of Spartans was now assured, they were now recognized publically as their own separate entity outside of Cerberus, currently stationed on board the Black Excalibur as its primary crew. While there were still plans of further expansion, including the construction of an orbital station, they had grown and currently had over thousand members, with a majority of them scattered among the territory. They were broken into 3 duties; logistics, intelligence and operations.

A few moments later, Kiva showed up, opening a small portal to warp in. Her powers had grown since she was knighted, she was now almost as revered as Nya among the adept communities, the same as Terror was among the omen. While Nya still now handled Avalon's foreign affairs actions, Terror stepped into his role as the overseer all military affairs for the three branches of Cerberus. Meanwhile his wife Mari, became the first officially elected Primark, her expert leading skills during Nya's absence were praiseworthy and her decisions made during the crisis of the siege, even while in labor, aided in the post-battle recovery. Their son, Noah, took after his mother as a taurus, and his twin sister, Erin, took after her father as a lykan, Terror and Mari even named Nya as the godmother to their twins, although for the life of her she couldn't understand why.

As Kiva ran her hands over Nya's head, Nya noticed the ring on her finger,

"Congrats," she groaned, "you and Amara finally tied the knot? A shame you didn't invite me."

Amara cleared her throat and Kiva sighed ruefully, "Um, n-no. We sort of broke up a little bit after the siege,"

"Well then, this is awkward," Nya said as Amara walked out of the room. "That explains why I haven't seen you two together, how did I not know you guys weren't a couple anymore?"

"Because you spend all you time in this warship." Kiva said, "Your head should be fine in a little bit, whoever attacked you must be insanely powerful."

[I think I was able to track the psionic blast.] Merlin said, materializing as an exact likeness of Nya, except her skin was red, her eyes were completely white and her hair was far shorter, stopping at the neck. She was naked, but the designs on her body was modeled after a biotic suit. On closer inspection, it was a synthetic body made from byte nano-particles, but it was incredibly lifelike.

"Did I always look that good?" Nya asked

Merlin shrugged, [Yes. Anyway, using the new probes you launched out into Hyperion, I was able to scan the mana waves and find the source.]

"Wait, you can track adepts?" Kiva said finding the through intrusive

[No, this specific signature was unique, so unique that it left a psychic impression that I was able to trace with the probes.]

"And where is the fucking adept that tried to kill me?" Nya asked

[Adryn-VI.] Merlin replied

"Fuck me." Nya cursed

"What?" Kiva asked

"That's where I'm from, where I started." Nya said, "It's some sort of clue,"

"Are you going?" Kiva asked

"Do I have a choice?" Nya replied

"I'm coming too." Kiva said, "You'll need me in case you suffer from another attack,"

"Are you sure?" Nya asked, "What about your responsibilities here?"

"The institute of Magecraft can pretty much run itself now," the elf boasted, "it's in stable hands with the master adepts I trained."

"Are you sure it's not going to be a problem, spending time on the same ship as Amara?" Nya asked, she didn't really care, but still asked for her wellbeing.

"Yeah, we're both adults." Kiva said, chuckling nervously.

* * *

In the Avalon capital, Terror was enjoying a quiet day in with his wife and two children at their penthouse apartment in the capital city. As the proverbial 'first family' of Avalon, they are protected by the best security system available, plus an elite unit of Spartan sentries, personally selected for the task by Nya herself. For a former thrill-seeker, the domestic life suited Terror surprisingly well, he enjoyed spending time with his children, and he loved his wife, the only thing that'd make things better would be if Nya or Kiva showed up for a visit, it'd been so long since the three of them were in the same room together.

It was at that time, a flash of light appeared right in his living room and the two women in question materialized.

"Hey Terror," Kiva greeted hugging him

The two toddlers lumbered over to Nya, grabbing her coat by the hems and looking up at her.

"I think they want you to pick them up," Mari chuckled as she entered the room.

"I only have one hand, who's going up first?" she asked before picking up Erin, "Hello, little Terror, how are you today?"

The one-year-old giggled and laughed, touching Nya's nose with her stubby fingers.

"They are disarmingly adorable," Nya commented, "I wonder if I should get one?"

"You? With kids?" Terror asked taking Erin from her.

"Believe it or not, I have great parenting skills." Nya boasted as she made Noah float using her telekinesis.

"So, what is the reason for this chat?" Terror asks

"Am I that obvious?' Nya asks

"Yes." Mari answers

"I need to borrow a ship," Nya says.

Both the director of Cerberus Command Headquarters and the Primark of the High Order look at her incredulously, "Say again?" Terror asked

"I need to borrow a ship," Nya said,

"Last I checked, you have a pretty big warship that you live on," Mari said, "It's big, black, scares the fuck out of me with nightmares of it raining death on top of us."

"Yes, but the mission I'm about to go on requires stealth, not force." Nya explained

"Why don't you just build one?" Mari asked, "You have Vulcan,"

"It'll take too long." Nya said

"Someone just tried to kill her." Kiva revealed

"What?" both husband and wife said

"I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but someone tried a psionic attack on me while I was meditating," Nya said downplaying it

"Your brain was half mush when I got to you," Kiva says

"Who could be capable of doing that to you?" Terror wondered

"Who would be that stupid to try?" Mari added

"Whoever they are, they're on Adryn-VI," Kiva said, "her original homeworld."

"Anyway," Nya said, "Merlin's identified them and I now want to go beat the shit out of them."

"Alright," Terror said, "I can't commandeer active vessels for personal errands, but right now Star Command is coincidentally retiring the older service ships. I suppose I could arrange for one to be handed over to you."

"That would be a huge help." Nya said

"You know I'm coming with you this time," Terror said,

"No can do," Nya said before his wife could object, "Amara and Kiva are already with me, so I need you to stay here and keep an eye on things."

"I never get to do anything exciting anymore," Terror sighs as he picks up his two kids and leaves the room.

"Thank you," Mari mouths as her husband's back is turned

"No problem," Nya shrugs

"Stop by anytime, the kids like you." Mari said as both women are teleported out of the room.

* * *

On the massive spaceport, Port Vynth, that served as the main anchorage for the Star Command home fleet, a technician is going over the specs of a transport frigate that they are supposed to be retiring, but has been recommissioned for a private voyage.

"Where's the fucking crew for this thing?" he demands, his face in his tablet,

"Right here," someone answers from behind him

"About fucking time. Do you know how goddamned long I've been waiting for?" The man rants indignantly, still staring at the screen of his tablet

"Sorry, we got held up," came the reply

"I don't care if you're the Grand Marshal herself, you…" the technician finally turns around to face the person and loses the blood in his face. Before him is Grand Marshal Nya Crimson, the hero of Avalon, and he just yelled at her. With her is General Amara Varaxi, Grandmaster Kiva Weren, and several Spartans.

"Those are the specs for the ship, yeah?" Nya asks, looking at the old ship, it has a plain boxy design, dull grey hull and three engine thrusters at the back, a relic from before the World Lord.

"H-h-h-here, y-y-you g-go." He stuttered, as his trembling hands gave her the tablet.

"Alright, thanks." Nya says walking past him, her entourage follow her lead and walk onto the ship, leaving the man stupefied as the exterior hatch seals.

Once inside, Amara and one of her lieutenants proceeded to the cockpit, where they would pilot the ship out of the anchorage.

"What do you think is waiting for you on Adryn-VI?" Kiva asked

"Trouble." Nya answered simply, "This is the last thing I need right now. I just hope nothing else goes wrong."

* * *

On Vulcan, a crew of Avalon scientists and engineers that were tasked with researching the ancient complex were still getting acquainted to the systems, the history and mechanics of the station were absolutely beyond them and it was captivating to anyone who saw it. There was so much to witness just looking out a window and seeing the ring of debris orbiting the station. This was why, when a small investigation team snuck away into that debris ring on a side mission, no one noticed.

The two young scientists, fresh from the Avalon Science College, wanted to see what kind of mysteries it held, even if their superiors wouldn't be interested in the rings for another few years, as things stood on the station.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the pilot asked as their small pod weaved through chunks of rock that might've come from the moon eons ago.

"We're supposed to catalogue everything of interest, right?" the other occupant of the pod told him, "The wreckage in this debris field is also of interest and I don't want to wait around for those guys to finally notice. Who knows what could lead to the next great scientific breakthrough?"

"What I'm worried about is what wrecked all these wrecks," the pilot said cautiously as their pod approached what looked like the remains of a massive derelict, torn to shreds eons ago.

"This looks promising." The second said beaming with curiosity.

Donning their HES suits, the two young scientists left their pod and used their jetpacks to get onto the derelict, and they found it covered in what appeared to cobwebs.

"Ugh, even ancient civilizations had to deal with this shit," the pilot complained as cobwebs clung to him

"Don't worry, it's just a harmless little cobweb, nothing dangerous about it," the seconds said as she cut through thick cluster, only to be knocked over by what fell out of it, a mummified carcass.

"Eeep!" she screamed as she pushed the corpse off of her, while her companion burst out laughing. "That isn't funny!"

"What, it's just a harmless little carcass," he jabbed, "nothing dangerous about it."

As they walked on, they discovered other such cocoons with mummified corpses plastered on the walls, floors and ceilings.

"What the fuck happened here?" the man wondered

"These poor people," the second said as she cut open another cocoon, pulling the body out of it and laying it on the floor. The corpse was vaguely humanoid, but unlike any fae or omen they had ever seen.

"What are you doing?" the man demanded

"I'm examining the body," The woman said

"Don't you think we should take it somewhere better equipped for such an autopsy?" her companion asked

"Nothing wrong with a little preliminary study," the woman said as she went to work.

After a while she had cut open the body and was sorting through its innards,

"Curious," She said

"What?" her companion asked

"The body seems to contain biological and inorganic matter, and it's like the two parts were fused together. I wonder how that happened?"

[I-I can s-show you,] a quiet voice hissed at them from the walls,

"What the fuck was that?" the man demanded readying his weapon

"I-I don't know!" the woman said, also drawing her weapon.

The two of them stood back to back, with the flashlights of their guns peering outward into the gloom.

[A-ah, n-ew fl-flesh. w-welcome to the collective!] from some of the cocoons, the corpses burst out, their eyes glowing a sickly yellow, and their shriveled skin illuminated by yellow veins. [long have we slumbered, our flesh has rotted]

The explorers opened fire without a second though, and the decayed flesh of the corpses couldn't offer much resistance, their limbs fell off and their bones snapped at the slightest application of pressure, so they were mowed down, but not before one cocoon above the explorers broke open, and the corpse it held fell onto the woman, biting into her neck with its frayed, decayed mouth before it could be thrown off her.

The bite managed to breach her environment suit and sunk into her neck, though the bite was shallow, but breaking the skin was enough.

"Hey, are you okay?" the man asked checking on her as she convulsed and her mouth foamed. Her suit was breached and she was spurting arterial blood, that was enough cause for panic, but from the bite, her veins took on a sickly yellow glow, that spread throughout her body. Eventually she stopped moving and when she opened her eyes again, they were as yellow as her veins. She looked up at the man and lunged at him clawing at him as she took her helmet off. The lack of an atmosphere would've killed her if she wasn't already dead, but it didn't seem to bother her at all. With brutal strength, she bashed his head with her helmet, shattering his visor in the process and once his choking face was exposed, she bit at it, ignoring the bits of helmet shards that stabbed into her face and eyes as her hands clawed at his suit, trying to tear into it as well.

Once this was over, both the man and the woman stood, their eyes yellow with yellow veins glowing underneath their skin, the injuries they had stopped bleeding, but were already scabbing over. They looked at each other, speaking at the same time.

[We are the Maja,] they said in unison [and the Maja is reborn.]

[It appears that another has claimed the Genesis Cube.] the woman said, [Our mission is lost, our grand armada laid to waste in this futile endeavor.]

[All is not lost.] the man said, [We must simply claim this new host. For the glory of the Maja.]

[The collective is weak right now.] the woman said gesturing to the decayed corpses that now littered the ground in pieces, whatever influence had possessed them was now gone. [Engaging the host now, with just these two forms will prove disastrous to the collective, possibly fatal.]

[But out there is new flesh for the collective.] the man pointed at Vulcan, which had two paladins patrolling it, [New flesh with interstellar capabilities.]

[The collective will grow, for the glory of the Maja.] the both said as they began walking back the way they came, back to their space pod.

* * *

When Nya left Adryn-VI, a dozen years ago, she had no intentions of ever returning. The girl who used to occupy her current body was from there, her family may still be there, her friends, it didn't seem right for them to witness someone else walking around in the body of their loved one.

She was in a cabin, resting, when there was a knock at the door, "'s'open," she slurred, Kiva walked in.

"How are you?" she asked

"Not exactly thrilled about this mission." Nya said taking a swig of a mysterious bottle.

"Where did you get that?" Kiva asked

"In there," Nya gestured to an open compartment full of different bottles, "Someone had a secret booze stash."

"Some of these are expired," Kiva said reading the label on one of the bottles

"I call it aging," Nya said with a drunk grin

"Is something wrong?" Kiva asked, "you don't usually drink,"

"I just picked it up," Nya said popping out the cork of another bottle with her teeth, "so far, I'm enjoying it. It might become a habit."

Kiva looked around awkwardly,

"You want to say something?" Nya enquired

"I still don't understand why you didn't take the Excalibur," Kiva said, "It could get us there much faster and it's handy in a firefight."

Nya held up her hand, on her ring finger was a thick black ring with red designs etched all over its surface, "This is a command interface node Merlin devised, it's basically a mini Black Box. With it I can access and control the Excalibur from anywhere in the galaxy, plus I can control any Praxian tech we own." She explained, "And I didn't take the Excalibur because the entire situation seems suspicious. Whoever attacked me must've known I'd survive, so they're trying to draw me out."

"But isn't it working?" Kiva said, "You're on your way to a planet you say you hate because of this."

"Yes, but I don't want them to know that just yet." Nya said, "The probably think they know me well enough to anticipate my actions, so I want to prove them wrong."

[The plan is sound… somewhat,] Merlin affirms, materializing beside Kiva

"Gah, stop doing that." Kiva protested.

Ever since she became able to use a body, Merlin had chosen to remain corporeal. When she wasn't engaging with anyone, she spent most of her time as a swarm of bytes.

[Nya, we will be arriving in Adryn-VI within the hour.] the jinn said, [what will you do once we get there?]

"Investigate," Nya said, "Something's not right about this whole situation."