The fall of the Palace of the Glorious Immortal happened the same night as the victory of the Long Night in Suna. Two simultaneous battles resulting in drastically different outcomes. Where Suna persevered and survived, The Palace fell. While it was true that the Daimyo and some of his forces were not present, the bulk of his personal army and the remainder of those within his Academy were present. Their power, even missing their leader and the main ten members of the Sovereign force were still very comparable to the overall forces of Suna. Not as strong but by no means weak. Had The Palace had all of its normal pieces, it would have surely been a different outcome, no? It would be hard to judge. The appearance of Dominus drastically changed the face of this front of the war that had started that long night.
Word of the fall of The Palace of the Glorious Immortal was more hearsay and whispers. No one had ever verified, or at least no one who wished to spread the news. Because of this, The Palace was left in a state of limbo for nearly a month, and by extension, the village of Sora was left stranded. While what was transpiring within the walls of The Palace were not taking place in Sora, there was very much a shadowy cell cast over the village that had known luxury for so long. Soon, Sora would understand what was sitting at their doorstep, but for now, the story focused solely on The Palace...
Surrounding the entire perimeter of The Palace would be a large contingency of The Swarm. From the sky, from a certain height, it probably looked like a pulsating dark wall of ants had engulfed the former home of the Daimyo. Upon the ground, it would be merely a grotesque wall of creatures. While they jittered, made noises, and lashed about, they did not seem to move any great distance. They were anchored. They were waiting. They were watching.
Inside The Palace, things were much quieter. The more ravenous members of The Swarm who guarded the exterior would not be found within the walls of The Palace. Their presence would not be lacking, however, but a different breed would be found here. The most common would appear visually similar to The Swarm outside the walls, but upon closer look, they would carry themselves much more like humans. They were calm, with an occasional animalistic twitch, and their posture was straighter. Their forms still lacked anything human, but they were very much humanoid. This variety of Dominus' Unbent would range to different classes--the smaller humanoids that were carrying out tasks and operating as worker drones and the larger humanoid creatures that would resemble the hulking beasts that had been let loose at the walls of Suna. No matter which class they fell into, this variant would share a lack of human communication much like the more animalist Swarm outside. They also shared eyes that were essentially deadened and blank.
The next variant to be found would be those that carried even more humanoid appearance, but could also talk, roughly, like humans and had a much different look in their eye. These were The First Children. These were the leaders, with those who had retained, or maybe regained, most of their cognitive and mental faculties, serving has the highest rank within this Unbent army. These Children would provide tasks and orders to The Swarm and the Unbent. The one calling the shots for the Children would be a figure clad in armor and giving off an ancient and terrifying chakra aura; Dominus.
Within the throne room, Dominus would be seen without his helmet on, his dark aura flooding out of his armor and off his body even more rapidly than when his helmet was applied. Entering the throne room would be a creature that was wearing a lab coat, one that was tattered and covered in blood.
"Fa--fa-father...prep-parations... are complete."
Dominus, picking up his helmet and placing it back upon his head, would turn to the Child.
"The resources have been gathered and divided as I asked?"
"Ye-ye-yesss... higher chakra... separate... fr-fr-from... lesser..."
"Very good. What of the machine? Do you have it functional?"
"Y-y-y-esss..."
Dominus would begin to chuckle, "Very good! For us not necessarily understanding this world's current technology, you have all done a fine job acclimating. That is why you are my Children, after all."
Then he would approach the Child. Placing his hand upon the shoulder of the creature, his red eyes would peer down through the grates in his helmet.
"Tell the Eldest that we will be convening the Revivescere Ceremony within a week's time. During this time they are to gather whatever sacrifice they wish. The stronger the sacrifice, the better the ceremony will take. I need them to take this very seriously, stress to them that this is not a request; this is a command. Our failure at Sunagakure no Sato with the intelligence gained by Augmentus through the use of S'stuk, has proven that I need to fortify the cracks int my craftsmanship. Those I built first, with the most care, they need to be resharpened for what must be done next."
A booming laugh would come from the frame of Dominus as he would remove his hand from the creature's shoulder. "I will be preparing for the ceremony. Do not disturb me until I return. During this time, She will be my proxy."
Suddenly, a feminine figure would appear from the shadows.
"Un-un-underssstood."
"Yes, Father."
While this was taking place, six figures cloaked and masked would be perched upon the side of The Palace just outside of the throne room. The figures would begin to silently motion to one another, speaking through their movements and hand signs. While five of the six did this, the sixth one seemed to be focusing intensely, while holding their hands out towards a half-destroyed window. One member of this unit would tap this concentrating member on the shoulders, drawing his attention for a moment. They would exchange a nod to each other, and with that, the group would begin preparing something that seemed to require them all, an escape.
Within the throne room, She, a feminine figured cloaked in armor very similar to Dominus, would suddenly raise her head up, as if looking directly at the stealth group. Not wasting any motion, She would disappear from sight and appear upon a rodent, one of several scurrying about conquered Palace, and quickly step upon it while thrusting one their arms out and clamping down tightly, pulling. The first action, the stomp, would not cause a bloody mess. Instead, it would cause a more mechanical mess. The rat, a puppet, would shatter revealing its manmade innards but would also reveal a recording device. The second action, the clamping and pulling, would cause the puppeteer upon the roof to suddenly jerk forward. Completely caught off guard by this sudden action, the masked man would do more than fall, he would be completely drugged down into the throne room.
The remaining members would look on his stunned horror as several Unbent would come swarming into the room, latching upon the fallen member of their group. She would turn their head upwards once more. She would lunge upwards, using their strength to propel them towards the broken window that had been used to allow the puppeteer to work. Thinking quickly, a member of the remaining five would stretch their hands outward sending a wave of ice dashing across the building until pooling at the window, creating an icy wall. She would smack into this wall, causing it a tremendous amount of damage but would not puncture all the way through it. In this brief moment, the group of five would begin a mad dash.
For them, this was a worst-case scenario, so they would respond as their training had taught them. All five would break off and travel in different directions. Finally breaking through the ice obstacle, She would get to watch as the five figures, who had a lead on them, would be traveling different directions. She would smirk, let out a guttural howl, and take off after one of the members. The howl would cause The Swarm outside of The Palace to begin to frenzy. Unbent and Children with the ability to fly, would begin taking to the air. Those with amazing speed would take off, scouring and scouting every inch they could cover.
Half a day would pass, the buzzing of The Swarm would finally die down. At a predetermined location, one member of the six-member unit would be waiting. Much like their training had told them to scatter, their training had also told them that once nightfall hit, whoever was at the rendevous spot would depart. It seemed that only one of them had managed to escape the hellscape of The Palace.
"I have to bring this to Suna..." Placing their hand to their communication device they would call out, "Yukina, I need you to meet me in Suna so I can speak to him. Things are dire..."
And with that, after a moment of calm, the wheels of fate would once more begin to spin.
Word of the fall of The Palace of the Glorious Immortal was more hearsay and whispers. No one had ever verified, or at least no one who wished to spread the news. Because of this, The Palace was left in a state of limbo for nearly a month, and by extension, the village of Sora was left stranded. While what was transpiring within the walls of The Palace were not taking place in Sora, there was very much a shadowy cell cast over the village that had known luxury for so long. Soon, Sora would understand what was sitting at their doorstep, but for now, the story focused solely on The Palace...
Surrounding the entire perimeter of The Palace would be a large contingency of The Swarm. From the sky, from a certain height, it probably looked like a pulsating dark wall of ants had engulfed the former home of the Daimyo. Upon the ground, it would be merely a grotesque wall of creatures. While they jittered, made noises, and lashed about, they did not seem to move any great distance. They were anchored. They were waiting. They were watching.
Inside The Palace, things were much quieter. The more ravenous members of The Swarm who guarded the exterior would not be found within the walls of The Palace. Their presence would not be lacking, however, but a different breed would be found here. The most common would appear visually similar to The Swarm outside the walls, but upon closer look, they would carry themselves much more like humans. They were calm, with an occasional animalistic twitch, and their posture was straighter. Their forms still lacked anything human, but they were very much humanoid. This variety of Dominus' Unbent would range to different classes--the smaller humanoids that were carrying out tasks and operating as worker drones and the larger humanoid creatures that would resemble the hulking beasts that had been let loose at the walls of Suna. No matter which class they fell into, this variant would share a lack of human communication much like the more animalist Swarm outside. They also shared eyes that were essentially deadened and blank.
The next variant to be found would be those that carried even more humanoid appearance, but could also talk, roughly, like humans and had a much different look in their eye. These were The First Children. These were the leaders, with those who had retained, or maybe regained, most of their cognitive and mental faculties, serving has the highest rank within this Unbent army. These Children would provide tasks and orders to The Swarm and the Unbent. The one calling the shots for the Children would be a figure clad in armor and giving off an ancient and terrifying chakra aura; Dominus.
Within the throne room, Dominus would be seen without his helmet on, his dark aura flooding out of his armor and off his body even more rapidly than when his helmet was applied. Entering the throne room would be a creature that was wearing a lab coat, one that was tattered and covered in blood.
"Fa--fa-father...prep-parations... are complete."
Dominus, picking up his helmet and placing it back upon his head, would turn to the Child.
"The resources have been gathered and divided as I asked?"
"Ye-ye-yesss... higher chakra... separate... fr-fr-from... lesser..."
"Very good. What of the machine? Do you have it functional?"
"Y-y-y-esss..."
Dominus would begin to chuckle, "Very good! For us not necessarily understanding this world's current technology, you have all done a fine job acclimating. That is why you are my Children, after all."
Then he would approach the Child. Placing his hand upon the shoulder of the creature, his red eyes would peer down through the grates in his helmet.
"Tell the Eldest that we will be convening the Revivescere Ceremony within a week's time. During this time they are to gather whatever sacrifice they wish. The stronger the sacrifice, the better the ceremony will take. I need them to take this very seriously, stress to them that this is not a request; this is a command. Our failure at Sunagakure no Sato with the intelligence gained by Augmentus through the use of S'stuk, has proven that I need to fortify the cracks int my craftsmanship. Those I built first, with the most care, they need to be resharpened for what must be done next."
A booming laugh would come from the frame of Dominus as he would remove his hand from the creature's shoulder. "I will be preparing for the ceremony. Do not disturb me until I return. During this time, She will be my proxy."
Suddenly, a feminine figure would appear from the shadows.
"Un-un-underssstood."
"Yes, Father."
While this was taking place, six figures cloaked and masked would be perched upon the side of The Palace just outside of the throne room. The figures would begin to silently motion to one another, speaking through their movements and hand signs. While five of the six did this, the sixth one seemed to be focusing intensely, while holding their hands out towards a half-destroyed window. One member of this unit would tap this concentrating member on the shoulders, drawing his attention for a moment. They would exchange a nod to each other, and with that, the group would begin preparing something that seemed to require them all, an escape.
Within the throne room, She, a feminine figured cloaked in armor very similar to Dominus, would suddenly raise her head up, as if looking directly at the stealth group. Not wasting any motion, She would disappear from sight and appear upon a rodent, one of several scurrying about conquered Palace, and quickly step upon it while thrusting one their arms out and clamping down tightly, pulling. The first action, the stomp, would not cause a bloody mess. Instead, it would cause a more mechanical mess. The rat, a puppet, would shatter revealing its manmade innards but would also reveal a recording device. The second action, the clamping and pulling, would cause the puppeteer upon the roof to suddenly jerk forward. Completely caught off guard by this sudden action, the masked man would do more than fall, he would be completely drugged down into the throne room.
The remaining members would look on his stunned horror as several Unbent would come swarming into the room, latching upon the fallen member of their group. She would turn their head upwards once more. She would lunge upwards, using their strength to propel them towards the broken window that had been used to allow the puppeteer to work. Thinking quickly, a member of the remaining five would stretch their hands outward sending a wave of ice dashing across the building until pooling at the window, creating an icy wall. She would smack into this wall, causing it a tremendous amount of damage but would not puncture all the way through it. In this brief moment, the group of five would begin a mad dash.
For them, this was a worst-case scenario, so they would respond as their training had taught them. All five would break off and travel in different directions. Finally breaking through the ice obstacle, She would get to watch as the five figures, who had a lead on them, would be traveling different directions. She would smirk, let out a guttural howl, and take off after one of the members. The howl would cause The Swarm outside of The Palace to begin to frenzy. Unbent and Children with the ability to fly, would begin taking to the air. Those with amazing speed would take off, scouring and scouting every inch they could cover.
Half a day would pass, the buzzing of The Swarm would finally die down. At a predetermined location, one member of the six-member unit would be waiting. Much like their training had told them to scatter, their training had also told them that once nightfall hit, whoever was at the rendevous spot would depart. It seemed that only one of them had managed to escape the hellscape of The Palace.
"I have to bring this to Suna..." Placing their hand to their communication device they would call out, "Yukina, I need you to meet me in Suna so I can speak to him. Things are dire..."
And with that, after a moment of calm, the wheels of fate would once more begin to spin.