Pylon Acceleration

Jace stood in front of a full length mirror examining her outfit. Attendants hurried to brush and polish her full set armor. A tiara was tightly fitted to her skull resplendent with the jewel of Mithras on her brow. 

Only royal blood could wear such a boondoggle and she wore it with passion and pride. It marked her. The jewel proclaimed that she had the blood of a god running through her veins. Her people the people she had fought for, cherished that blood. The people worshiped her family. It was said that those who favored the royals would be blessed by their god.

And it was true. 

Those who worshipped the royal family would awaken greater talents, they would be able to break through their bottlenecks, and they could attain higher ranks. These were facts. The more fanatical a worshiper was the greater the boon.

And Jace knew she was stunning. She was absolutely in love with her own reflection in the mirror. It wasn't in a boss bitch, I am going to rub it in your face way. No, it was a deep knowing. She knew that she was beautiful because the men would do anything for her. Men were like putty in her hands and they gave her their wealth, their power, and their love freely. 

This was a contract between her and her subjects. She gave them her everything and they received untold blessings for worshiping her. The cycle was continuous and while she knew it was her responsibility she took no joy in the doing of it. 

No, she worked her butt off training and cultivating the pylon's powers. This was her one goal, her one passion, her one everything. The people could never understand the sacrifices that she made. But this was the way. And the people loved her for doing more, no being more than just a object of worship. She could not only provide them the god's gift, but also inspired many of them also work hard. Giving them the opportunity to attain power was a two way street and many who had attained power gave back by working for or with her. 

Every few moments energy arched along her body giving proof of her pleasure.

The suit of armor was especially designed to absorb and hide these energies, but lately Jace had become so powerful that even the royal armor could no longer hide the truth.

Outside drums beat, calling the army to rally. Fighting with their lives on the line soldiers were dying. The enemy was at the gate and the city walls threatened to fall. Every few seconds a rumble would shake the floor. It could be assumed that another portion of the wall had been damaged.

She didn't know why she had to endure this mockery of a choosing. It wasn't supposed to be this way. She had wanted to disappear quietly into the night. She had wanted all of this to end, so that she could finally rest. 

Instead she was here for one final performance. Her mother and father had come. They had insisted on giving her one more chance to lay down her power and compromise. And by setting this choosing up they prevented her from joining the battle. Instead she had to dress up and play princess.

Her growing pylon emotions throbbed to be released.

'I should be out there fighting our enemy!'

Within her mind she strived for battle, her body quivered a little with the anticipation of it.

"Your grace, please pay attention. This might be your last chance!"

A woman dressed in a black tunic pleaded with Jace. She was of Jace's own order and had been sent to be her last advocate.

Taking a deep breath Jace gave a token effort to calm down. She just couldn't see the point.

Her attendants suddenly backed off. One of which went to a man who had been standing calmly to the side and whispered something. This man also wore Mithras jewels, five of them, much more prominent, held in place by a crown.

"It is time. Let us proceed."

The king said as he walked forward and held out his hand for Jace to grasp.

It was the only fatherly connection he could give in this public place. On display before the entire kingdom he would not compromise her pride, he knew how important this was to her. They had already talked all night. He was hoping that she would refuse the pylon's gift and instead choose to marry one of the men lined up outside.

When their hands touched their eyes met and perhaps for the last time they shared a moment. Or at least he thought he was having a moment with her.

"Father."

Jace could feel nothing for him. He was pathetic in her eyes. A weak man who himself had forsaken the pylon's powers. He could not save his people and instead looked to the rising generation to save him. At this moment her feeling was one of disgust.

Schooling her apathy she had to override everything else. Jace was determined to save the city today. Forsaking her pylon powers would mean she would loose her status as an accelerant and be unable to rise against the enemy. She couldn't forsake the people's lives.

Even if they wanted to be forsaken. Even if they would gladly die so that she could be saved.

'If I survive, then I promise I will think about it.'

She thought to herself, the last bit of consideration she could give this man who was her father. The crown meant nothing to her at this point.

They walked through double doors and out onto a terrace. A square opened up below the terrace where her army, her legion, stood crackling with energy. The same energy which enlivened her body swelled and baked over many times was completely visible arching over and among them.

Individually, none of them had progressed as far as her. Their acceleration was not as powerful as hers. But together their combined lightning was impressive.

The crowd didn't roar, instead it was eerily quiet. They were waiting for her to make a choice. Either to take one of the men lined up like sacrifices in front of her or to forsake the men and choose to annihilate the enemy.

It was true not all of the people were raving fanatics. Some of them fought the bond between them and their royals. Many of them were hoping and praying in their hearts that she would choose to accelerate.

In this moment of decision there were only two types of people below.

There were the people who just wanted her to live so that they could continue to mooch off of the blessing they received by worshiping her even if it was just one last time before they died. Indeed they could go to their god in good conscious and be even further blessed by him.

On the other hand, the second type of people she had a different feeling for. These were the people who in her heart of hearts she respected. They were the ones who wanted to live even if that meant she had to die.

She already knew her choice, but she went through with the farce of choosing. It didn't matter to her, but the people wanted it and her younger siblings should have the example. 

The people needed her to see their devotion. And her siblings needed to see that they didn't have to die like a dog like she was about to.

Slowly she walked up to stand before the chosen ones. An orator stood to the side and announced each man.

"The Earl of South Breach. A hero of the battle of Attenborough. The planet Oranth is his fief."

"The Emperor Sh*!st}#$. His empire is the wasp nest. He has pledged to become a very great ally in our war against the Falnali. He is the 2,834,355th emperor consort of the Wasp Empress."

"Prince Falco. General of the Shining Legion. He needs no introduction."

…

"Earnest of Glenhaven, savior of the people. What began as rallying his village became a continental surge. We are here today standing against the Falnali because of the sacrifices he has made to lead the people against our foe."

…

As he went on the orator described the titles and deeds of all the men. Some had higher titles some had more deeds.

When he was done the silence resumed until the king stepped forward,

"You may all begin your case, … for what it is worth."

Among the twenty odd men, most began pleading or exhorting Jace. Telling of her beauty, grace, power or shouting out their ardor for her hand. One and all were pathetic before her fury.

Raising an open hand vertically out towards her suitors she quietly said,

"I will bare no more."

Most of the men immediately shut their mouths, but a few refused to heed her wish. Three of these elites only grew more impassioned.

After a few minutes of listening to their impassioned cries, she again raised her hand.

"I will kill the next suitor to raise his voice."

Jace said loudly and clearly her voice cutting through the cacophony these boys created, like a knife threw butter.

Finally only one middle aged man still dared to continue.

She raised her hand palm out for the last time, her last unspoken warning.

Now lightning congregated over her palm and sparked out from the tips of her fingers. Still the last pursuer would not cease his pointless frothing and screaming. In the next moment a dark fingernail moon blade swept through the space between Jace and this Prince Shawn of New Haven. The moment after the prince fell his head attached only by a thread of skin. With his death the blessed silence resumed.

A sneer appeared on her face, marring her otherwise pristine beauty.

"Is there anyone else who would like to die here today?"

asked Jace simply. 

When no one spoke she began again,

"Good, then father, mother, I have made my choice! None of these suitors arouse my interest. I will forsake my blood right and position as princess of the Athras. Please do not mourn me I am content with my lot."

Tearing the tiara from her brow as she spoke Jace threw the priceless artifact at the feet of her father. Who could only crouch to receive it.

Blood pored from her head and spattered all that were in the way. Her rough handling of her own body left a gash ten centimeters long through her hair on her scalp. It was already healing visibly.

Some of that blood left a gruesome smear of blood upon her mother's face and dress. Ignoring her daughter's wish the queen mother had rushed forward after keeping herself back with hope and fell down at her daughter's feet.

"Jace! My daughter, this world is forsaken. Nothing you do here today can stop the Falnarli. Whether it is today or tomorrow our fleets can not save them! This world can not be our final stand! Please, let them die. Let this world's death be your wings. The people, knowing they gave you wings, will endure their death. They will be blessed by our god in heaven. Survive! They want you to survive! I want you to survive! Please, Jace, please, I love you. I can't bare to see you die!"

The queen mother wept on the cold stone parapet.

"No, I have made my choice. And I choose the lightning. I choose the path of purity. Do not mourn me, I have no plans to die here today. Instead I will meet my enemies individually on the field of battle and defeat them in detail. I will bath in their blood and drink their fear while listening to their cries as I do so."

The words came from Jace's mouth like hammers upon her mother, her father, her suitors, and the people. Where there was silence before screams of pure terror and loss erupted from the gathered crowd around her legion in the square.

Camera bots flying in choreographed patterns sent every word and action to the people who watched on huge jumbotrons.

The king slowly walked over and bent down. Sweeping up his wife in his strong powerful arms he bowed to his daughter.

"As you wish my daughter. My heart will be with you, always! I will give you nothing, because I know that you need nothing. You are my people's strength. You are our power. Go!"

Then he bowed to her suitors calling to them.

"The choosing is done. Come, board your ships, as you wish. I will send you off."

Jace ignored her father and strode to the edge of the wall.

"Open the gates! Legion advance!"

She called and immediately two things happened. The castle gates far in the distance groaned as they began to open and her legion at the instruction of their captains performed a perfect about face.

Her army turned to the castle gates down one of the main boulevards of the capital city and began their approach. The way had already been clear. Perhaps her captains had already known which way the choosing would go. Legionaries stood holding the people back from the square to the city gates.

Her elites, her legion, began a quick march seamlessly merging into a long file of three soldiers wide. Some of them screamed in anticipation of what was to come. Some of them screamed for themselves and for those who would never return. Veterans, they knew what was before them and they were keen for the battle. Female, every single one of them was a woman through and through.

The scene beyond the opening gates was dark. As if they were marching down into a monstrous maw the women surged forward.

It was not dark because of cloud cover or any sort of shade. Instead it was black from the shade of their enemies, with the bodies of the Falnali. Beetle like insects commonly about half the height of a human blotted out the view. Occasionally light shown off their iridescent shells as they huddled in place waiting for Jace. They were intelligent and had prepared a welcome for her should she choose to accept it. The total number of Falnali could not be seen from this distance, but the strategists had told the king that an entire brood colony had descended from a hive ship orbiting out beyond the local solar system.

More than a million Falnali awaited her, some of them half again as large as this city itself. The weeping and screams of her mother sounded in her ears until abruptly this noise was cut off by a door sealing shut. Both her father and her mother would evacuate this world, this solar system within the next six to ten hours. Their ship would be the last ship to leave as their purpose in coming had originally been to protect their fleeing citizens. The queen's royal barge was the strongest ship in the Athras navy.

Her mother would be fine. Jace knew, because two of her older siblings had already taken the final step on the path of the accelerants towards purity. Her oldest sister and second brother. It had taken the queen mother some time and she had never been the same, but the queen mother would come through stronger and harder than before. This was the way.

Now as Jace faced the calm before the storm with one leg braced on a crenellation. She willingly and knowingly gave up her humanity. Allowing the blood lust, the need for domination, and the pure excitement overwhelm her heart, her mind. Pleasure rolled through her body in waves and she disguised the happy shake it gave her by warming up. Stretching her arms, legs, back, and core Jace worked out the kinks in her joints in preparation.

She knew she was powerful, she knew she was going to destroy her foe, she knew that every one of her noble actions would be displayed throughout not only the Athras kingdom, but throughout their slice of the galaxy and beyond. She did it for all the other young women out there, she did it for this world, and most of all she did it for herself.

Let the people glut themselves with one last opportunity to worship her. Let her final acts give them wings so that they too could break the bonds that bound them down. She did not care if they despised her even while worshipping her beauty and power. Jace vowed to give them a good show. One that they could remember for the rest of their lives. It was the way.

By the time she was done the lightning had coalesced into an energy body around her. The final step was to welcome the power. And easily, too easily after years of training and study as a pylon, her work paid off. The last taboo step was taken. The step they taught, but said never to take. Well, she had taken it, and it was glorious. As the last wisp of lightning disappeared within Jace she screamed.

There had been many screams in the last five minutes. Screams had come from the populace, from her own legion, and from her mother. For different reasons they had screamed, but her scream was different. Her scream was primal. It was the scream of her dying humanity. Her scream was pure terror. It was the terror of death incarnate. Her scream was joy. It was the joy of carnage.

And then she jumped from the parapet, pushing off to soar through the air, over the city gate far in the distance and high above her foes. At the top of her jump she released a black fingernail moon blade upon her enemies. This black blade was not a palm's with, this scythe was wider than the entire width of the castle she just left. And after she had time to review and take pleasure in her creation she followed the path of destruction down into the crater that was the aftermath of her power. This pit of death had just formed or was even still forming as the Falnali were pushed back by the wave of earth her black blade had engendered.