[ROUND 4] Lita and Jhaan - The Iron Dragon

[Tressa]

The Sundering of the Exile's House,

Is but the Herald of Betazed's dispair,

A Maiden of Ash atop her steed,

An Iron Dragon,

The Harbinger of Death,

Dragon with Dragon within illusionary womb,

Ash Maiden returned to the Cradle of her Madness.

The Iron Dragon, The Shadowbeast, The Harbinger of Death,

Robbed of its senses by the Maiden of Ash,

Shall belch her great fire upon lands of wheat,

And scour it clean of all life,

As the Exsanguinators,

Slaves of the Iron Dragon,

Stand trapped in Fevered Mind.

The Exsanguinators,

Swimming in the Stars,

Blood of the Iron Dragon,

In the aftermath of the Midnight Dawn,

Shall with false tongue spread wickedness to the people,

But theirs is a heritage of Blood,

And they will bring all to ruin.

... all to ruin.

... all to ruin.

... all to ruin.

This is but a taste of what is to come.

What we see is the beginning of End Times.

-- Words of the prophet Jalakai the Insane, 145401.22

(( Small home in the city of Ohmallera, population 1.2 million, Betazed,

moments ago ))

:: Lita stood with her husband on the modest balcony, shaking her head. ::

Lita: ... the magistrix doesn't know what she's talking about. We'll get

permission to move... it's a minor zoning issue, nothing more. We don't need

to give away our dreams just yet.

:: Demurely, Jhaan her husband nodded his head. On Betazed, especially for

traditional areas such as Ohmallera, the words of the woman of the house

were the authority on any matter. ::

Jhaan: Of course. I'm confident you can convince her to change her mind...

:: Jhaan smiled. ::

Jhaan: It's late, Imzadi. Would you like me to fetch you something to drink?

:: Lita nodded warmly. She moved back into the house proper, and her husband

followed. She reached out her hand to touch his arm but faltered. She

sensed... ::

:: A bright light, warm and yellow, flooded in through the window. Dawn?

Already? It was not yet midnight... ::

:: PANIC. SHOCK. FEAR. ::

~~ What's that light...? ~~

~~ GODDESSES, HELP US! ~~

:: PAIN! Ten thousand voices screamed directly into their minds. Jhaan and

Lita clapped their hands over their ears, trying in vain to shut out the

cataclysmic din. ::

~~ The southern district is on fire! ~~

~~ We're under attack! We're- ~~

~~ Help! Help! She won't move! ~~

:: Wailing children. Terrified telepathic cries of pain, panic, for help...

silenced in waves. ::

~~ My son! MY SO- ~~

~~ Out! The building's coming down, hurry! ~~

~~ Goddesses! Goddesses, save me! ~~

~~ They're firing again, closer this time! RUN! ~~

:: BURNING, BLINDING LIGHT. The two Betazoids instinctively moved their

hands to their faces to shield from the intense, searing heat. The building

they were in shuddered and trembled, the imported sheets of Trill

shatter-steel on the windows splintering into a million pieces from the

sudden, intense conflagration. ::

~~ SAVE US! Yhania, Goddess of Sanctuary, hear my pl- ~~

~~ MUUUUUM!? MOTHER?! WHERE ARE YO- ~~

~~ My leg! I think it's broken! ~~

:: Deafening explosions, the roaring of incessant impacts. An inferno raged

outside. The hum of emergency medical transporters. Screams of agony,

telepathic and aural, from downstairs. ::

~~ Get out while you still can! ~~

~~ Is it the Dominion?! The Jem'ha- ~~

~~ Dad, look! Another torpedo! Another one! DOWN! EVERY- ~~

~~ Activate the EMH! I can't- ~~

~~ PLEASE! ~~

Lita: JHAAAN! JHAAAAAAAAAN!

Jhaan: LITAAAAAA! What's going on?! I can't see! It burns!

Jhaan: ~~ MY EYES! ~~

Lita: IMZADI! My Imzadi, where are you!?

:: She groped around blindly, fingers scrabbling across the blood-slicked

floor... but the only answer was the roar of another fiery impact, followed

by the collapse of the partially vapourized ceiling on top of them both. ::

:: Fire poured down onto the city in beams, punctuated by the occasional

photon torpedo. Soon the entire city was nothing but evaporated particles.

::

:: Nothing remained. ::

:: The Galaxy class starship in orbit, the USS Constitution-B, moved on with

deadly purpose... but the Iron Dragon found her breath empty. Her crew

recovered control of the hijacked vessel, just in time to prevent Maaska

from sharing the fate of Ohmallera. ::

:: In Ohmallera, former population one million two hundred thousand, silence

reigned. There was not the wailing of sirens, for nobody lived to crew the

rescue vehicles. There was not the cries of the wounded, for there were none

who could survive such a cataclysm. There was no sound at all... nothing

save the crackle of flames and the rumble of collapsing buildings. ::

:: In Ohmallera, the house of Rais was nothing more than a glowing, white

hot glass crater. ::

End

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Lita and Jhaan Rais

House of Rais

Betazed

Edited February 26, 2011 by Tressa