Eternal Peace

Jaaday, unphazed by the impact flung herself at Katrina, clawing at her with intent.

"Jaadikins please. It's not what you think" Twalex protested, moving to try to prise his wife off Katrina. Katrina meanwhile, did not need any assistance and thumped Jaaday square in the jaw. None of this cat fight smeg. Jaaday reeled backwards and started to cry.

"Psycho..." Kat mumbled getting up and dusting herself off. Then noticing that all eyes were on her. She backed up so that she was stood with Jacky, strength in arms and all that.

"Nice moves." Jacky said, eyeing Katrina with a worried glance.

"Yeah, now worry about them." she said, pointing to the group of guards advancing and not for the first time, wishing that Jay was beside her.

"There, there kitten. It's ok." Twalex crouched next to his weeping wife and hugged her, placing slobbery kisses on her. The room was ripe with gossip, the room split between looking at Twalex and Jaaday, Alex and Jade. The hubub was deafening, Jade was beginning to panic, imagining her soul being drained from her body drop by bloody drop. The torturous way that she would slowly lose her life, painfully and inescapeably.

"He's going to kill us all." She breathed. Her hand snaked down and intercepted Alex's.

"S'ok. They have to work out which one of us is the real one." Alex stated obviously.

"Or he could just kill all of us!" Jade hissed.

"Yeah or... Wait... That's not good..." Alex's drug, alcohol and lust fueled mind was acting a step beghind everyone else.

"SILENCE!" Ra boomed across the hall. Revelers and arrivers all fell silent as the man stood up to his full height, towering over those nearby. "Guards! Bring all the interloapers to the temple. It seems we have to do this early." His voice was cold and deadly. He swooped down the stairs, a rentinue of elite guards following in his wake.

Hasina shot a look to Anubis, this wasn't part of the plan. Jaxx made to move out of the shadows but Anubis made a subtle gesture. Evelinna halted Jaxx.

"Not now Jaxx. We need to get everyone's things and leave. The rebellion need to know." She gathered up the bags behind the statues. The kit from their own Dwarfers that had been rescued by the rebellion and headed out the secret passage.

***

The Dwarfers, their alternates, and anyone else who Ra had planned to sacrifice were all marched in a scared line to the pyramid. In the press of confused crowds, Jade lost sight of Alex, having been pulled away by the horde.

"Alex!? Jamie!?" She yelled into the mass of movement. A tight ball of people pressed together by the lines of guards.

"Jade?! That you?" Came a voice from within the sacrificial sardines.

"Yeah! Jac..?" Her question was silenced as she was hit around the back of the head with a staff.

"Silence cattle." The guard said "Or I will let the priest cut out your tounge without touching you." Jade gulped and folded her arms across her chest defensivly, hunching down and focusing on her feet.

They were escorted into a holding pen of sorts on the floor of the pyramid. Clumps of people began to form as the march was over and friends found each other. The nobles sniveled and wimpered, wondering why Ra had chosen them for such a cruel fate. The Alternate dwarfers were spread across the groups, some like Twalex and Jaaday with the snivelling crowd. The Dwarfers slowly grouped together.

"We need to get out of here." Katrina said, taking control in Cass's absense.

"No smeg." Jacky sullenly spat. "No one ever seems to listen to me. No one ever...."

"Shut up Jacky that's not helping." Alex interrupted.

"What was that?" Jacky grumbled threateningly.

"Guys..." Jade said, tugging on a sleeve or two and pointing.

"Not now." Alex said, shaking her off and squaring up to Jacky.

"Guys!" She tried again, attempting to get the attention of a few of them. Katrina looked over to where she was pointing.

"Smeg...."

Ra was stood on a massive, huge, wide dais big enough to fit the combined moderator ego on (but only just). It was carved out of sandstone and seated in the centre, carved out of the dais, was a wide brass-copper ring about 50 foot wide. It was hollowed out and several of his priests stood inside, hooked up to machines that were bleeding them dry. The blood pooling in the bottom. It was obvious that the slaves who had been working on the building had already... Donated... To the effort. Ra's golden, cold voice boomed in the acousticly perfect chamber, echoing across the smooth walls with menace.

"We call you, envoy of the Spirit of Vengance! Shadows of emptiness bring peace to this land!" Ra then proceded to remove a ceremonial dagger from his belt and stabbed himself. The twisted wavy blade sank into his chest without a sound. "Accept the offer before you. Acccept these mortals as my gift to you. Come. Bring eternal peace to this land." His arms swept upwards and he laughed a maniacal laugh.

Then it happened.

There was a sucking, swirling gurgling sound. Everyone could sense, rather than see the blood draining somewhere. In it's place pools of shadow began to creep over the side of the brass rim, five long narrowish meter long pools swirling with a depth of shadow equalled by nothing existing.

"IT's A HAND!" One of the terrified nobles screamed. By this point the guards were beginning to break ranks as well. The fortified electric pen keeping the panicing sacrifices locked away from the escaping guards.

Ra looked on as the inky darkness coalesced and drew its self out of the pit. A massive hulking humanoid figure. It cast its 'eyes' over the room. Jade caught sight of them and fell to her knees. They were nothing. Pure and simple nothing.

Have you ever seen nothing?

Do you know what nothing looks like?

Honestly?

The fact you can see nothing means it cannot be, but this Monster's eyes were deep vacent pits of absolute nothing. It was like looking into your own death, that deep rooted fear of not existing. It played upon your very base fear of not being. The threat implied was horrific.

"Bring them peace." Ra said to the monster. Ripping the dagger out of his chest, the blood dripping at his own feet.

"You do not order us little man." The shadowy figure spoke through a maw that led to the void of all things.

"I brought you here! You obey me!" Ra screamed at the monsterous humanoid.

"We obey no one! We are legion! We are the Retributer! You will have your peace! Come my Darklings, take the others." It bellowed, shaking the stones around them, clumps of dust flittering to the ground. Several smaller creatures, skittering things that were made of shadows crawled, jumped and oozed out of the hole into darkness in the dais. Their 'skin' swirling and rippling as they flowed across the ground, an odd sort of silent shuffle sound like the breeze through a dusty deserted town followed as they moved. Their eyes glittered with the same empty black void.

The Retributer reached down, fast for a creature of such size, and grabbed Ra. Rather than ripping him appart, or squashing him like a bug. Ra simply vanished screaming as he was wiped out.

That was it.

No afterwards. No before. No again.

The Retributer simply snuffed out his being from existance, never to breath again. Never to see the afterlife. His very soul and being marked nul and void.

"Return to the Void, Ra. Have your peace. You will all have peace." The beast cast its eyes over the group and moved towards the penned people. Several of the scuttling creatures flowed over the electric fencing and attacked the groups. People began to vanish out of existance...

<Tag!>

OOC - I had this idea from the start! Ha! you guys played right into my hands! Mwa ha ha ha! >:)