Blinking the stars in your eyes away, you watch intently as the wolf waves her hand/paw through the air, summoning a mostly-transparent map, floating in midair and glowing the same cyan the circuitry did. You don't recognize any of the landmasses on it. Another map is summoned, and another, until the maps make up a small wall. The wolf begins to speak in her deep, low voice.
"The Grand Conquest has happened in every cycle to date. It always starts the same way - a nation beaten in war. The nation becomes intensely xenophobic as its economy, military, and pride are crushed by the winners of the war. A charismatic leader emerges-"
A small, black dot emerges on each of the maps. It is in a different location on each.
"-and revitalizes the nation and its military. The nation attempts to annex others close to it, and another war begins."
The black dots begin to grow and spread like a cancer. Other dots of different colours rise up to oppose them, often simultaneously, but they are struck down one after the other. Slowly but surely, the black dot grows to envelope the world.
"The nation wins, and over time, grows to exert control over the entire world. It reaches the stars, never forgetting its xenophobia."
The circuitry once again begins to glow, but so much brighter than before.
Groaning, you rub at your eyes, which still burn after the assault from the glowing circuits. The wolf hoists you to your feet from the kneeling position you had inadvertently collapsed to, and with an unimpressed scowl, gestures in front of you. As you turn your head to look, you are conscious of Miku and Clover approaching the two of you from behind, signaled by their loud footsteps.
It takes you a second to take in what you are seeing, but you can think of a few choice words to describe it - words like ruin, devastation, and destruction. You stand in what appears to be the remains of a city block, the streets clogged with debris of all kinds. Partially collapsed skyscrapers dominate the skyline, and distant gunfire can be heard constantly. Thin red beams of light sweep slowly across windows and destroyed storefronts as snipers hunt for targets.
"This... is the end result of the Grand Conquest. Every time, you are pushed back to your homeworld."
The scenery blurs for a second, circuits pulsing gently, and you find yourself in a very dark room. Overhead lights flicker dimly into existence, illuminating a massive metal cylinder, pointed at one end, and surely three times as thick as you and ten times as long. Four slim robotic arms emerge from the walls, pincers grasping the rod as the floor beneath it begins to retract into the walls. Through the widening gap, you can see the far-distant troposphere, swirling masses of clouds hiding the land beneath them.
The arms lower the huge cylinder down into the gap, and let go. The tungsten rod plunges downwards through the atmosphere, as do dozens of others. It takes a short while, but you can hear the impacts, even at your current height. The bomb bay doors begin to close.
"And every time, we are forced to destroy you. Then the cycle resets, and another few hundred thousand years later you appear again."  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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