Without a word, the grey woman snapped her fingers and suddenly, Taisen stood alone in her presence. He wondered what was going on as the darkroom got even darker. A few torches sputtered to life around him but their light was too weak to completely banish the shadows.
Taisen let his eyes adjust as the grey woman beckoned to him.
"Come forward."
"And if I refuse?"
"My physical body may have perished but I still have enough strength to end you where you stand," the grey woman replied calmly.
He felt a chill even though the room wasn't cold. The air itself was electric and filled with an imperceptible power. Even though he recognized the pressure as powerful magick.
As Taisen moved deeper into the room, the features of the grey woman became clearer, revealing herself to be ethereal. He knew that she wasn't human but something about her appearance still felt eerily off. Her skin was unnatural and chalky made even more pronounced by the glittering gems encrusting the rings on her long fingers which were curved like talons. Her eyes were white, clear and sunken. She was clad in a flowing green dress.
She was taller than Colonel Lyn and as he got closer, he realized that she was taller than him as well. The sarcophagus was roughly as long as she was tall. Taisen surmised that this must be her final resting place.
"I am Yavanna the last Queen of the Falmeri," she said. "I will be your inquisitor. I alone will determine your fate and rest assured, my judgement will be final."
Taisen could do nothing but nod. He stood about a metre in front of her. He was clad in a loose-fitting black robe over his flight suit. Many thoughts swirled in through the undercurrents of his mind.
She fixed her gaze on him and her third eye seemed to bore into his soul. When she spoke again, he noticed her sharp and pointed teeth. "Your mother is Akkadian and your father is an Earthling yet you are no friend to the Akkadians or their empire."
"The Akkadians care only for the never-ending conquest of new worlds so, in the interest of peace, I sided with the humans of Earth."
"A hard yet laudable choice," Yavanna said with a faint smile. "You won many battles against the Akkadian forces, killed many of them and those who fought under you sing your praises as a once in a generation tactical genius. The Falmeri have need of you if we are to be free of Malkor the deceiver," she paused. "You were a model soldier and leader... until you murdered innocents at Boettia.
"I did what I had to do to," Taisen said. His throat had grown so tight and dry that he had trouble speaking. It was perhaps a manifestation of the guilt that clung to him.
"You could have defeated the Akkadian forces at Boettia if you blockaded their star system and laid siege to their inhabited planets. Why did you have to turn your weapons on civilians? Are you a coward?"
"A coward could never have taken Boettia," Taisen said sharply, stung by the accusation.
Yavanna tilted her head slightly and waited.
"The Akkadians left Boettia undefended because they expected us to lay siege and be tied up for up to six months while they focused their attack on our critical supply base at Exedor," Taisen continued to press the point. "The Boettians refused my calls to surrender and I was running out of time to reinforce Admiral Usyk's forces. I would rather be the Butcher of Boettia than the man who let the Akkadians take Exedor. Cowards don't make hard decisions."
Yavanna nodded again. "Do you know why I brought you here?"
Taisen was beginning to realize that this wasn't really a trial after all. It was some kind of test, though for what he still wasn't sure.
"I was the leader of the Falmeri that stood in opposition to the conquests of the Raz-gul who attacked your planet. They captured and enslaved my people because our third sight allows us to easily navigate the chaos region. I alone saw through the deception of Malkor the Deceiver but was unable to stop him or the ruin he wrought on my people."
"How do I stop Malkor and the Raz-gul?"
"You must first be humble enough to realize that he has a greater number of starships with more advanced weaponry than you, so trickery and cunning must be your primary weapons," Yavanna said. "Then you must be prepared to make hard choices."
With that, the image of Yavanna faded and Taisen found himself standing in an empty room with the exception of the sleeping figures of Alita and Lyn. Even though Yavanna was gone, Taisen still felt power in the room. Perhaps there was something there for him to find. He was hopeful.
The surface of the sarcophagus was glowing. He hadn't noticed it at first. It was a faint violet hue tracing the seam between the two halves. He reached out with his hand but nothing happened. The sarcophagus would not budge so he reached out again but this time he channelled the power inside him.
The sarcophagus gave way, toppling down from the lower half and shattering at his feet. Sitting on an embalmed body was a small box. Inside he found a shimmering glass sphere, about the size of his fist. After touching it, he began to see visions of strange places from the eyes of a woman. It was then that he recognized his prize for what it was; a soul stone also called a memory stone. It was a magical repository of knowledge that he had read stories about in his youth. Taisen was determined to study it diligently once he got back to the ship but first, he had to wake up Alita and Lyn.
***
Alita woke up with a start, kicking the covers of her cot onto the floor of her quarters aboard the UNS Arctic. She could only vaguely remember being carried in the arms of... Taisen.
She was sweating and flushed but it wasn't from heat.