Pan Post 17 continues Thoth's role renewing a nexus node at the Pyramid of Giza, which be began in Pan Post 11. The node never quite works out as though it's being attacked from within. Out of curiosity to discover the problem he allows the node to fall and, unexpectedly, the pyramid implodes and from within it emerges a powerful woman that tries to attack him. Winters, a lonely robot, chastises the alien for destroying the pyramid but she, Indigo Shade, reveals that it was her prison. She tells the story that she and her fellow Shades rose up against a tyrant of a great empire but she was defeated an imprisoned on Earth. She then apologies for her actions and flies off into space while Thoth and Winters watch the humans try to fix the pyramid.
Post[]
The Indigo Shade[]
The lone figure watches silently, eyes forever cast towards the Great Pyramid of Giza. Despite the scorching heat of the day, the man wears thick-set black robes and a heavier still cloak over his shoulders with the hood drawn up. Unlike his clothes, his complexion, at least, seems to fit with the Egyptian locals.
Of the locals and tourists, none seemed to pay him any attention save for one curious young woman who, like him, was dressed very unseasonably. All she'd wanted to know was what he was doing. He answered her plainly. He was watching. Apparently satisfied with such a vague response, the woman wearing what looked like an over-sized British red coat went on her way.
What he hadn't told her was why he had to watch. He was nurturing, tending, weeding, watering with his extended being in the aether. The magical node for the nexus needs to be pruned and looked after so that it will grow up strong and correctly. If left to grow wild, it could cause adverse affects that nobody on planet Earth would appreciate. Despite his work, the node always felt... wrong. A small flaw in the aethereal make-up, a tiny numerical error that sent the entire code down the incorrect path. Every time he fixed the issue, the node began to slide back again. Like something was altering the node, whether purposefully or incidentally.
While Thoth wondered if the strange soulless woman he had met had something to do with the out-of-balance node, the disturbance in the aether begins to grow ever stronger. He decides to relinquish his control of the aethereal nexus node just enough to attempt to determine what the foreign entity is...
As he allows his grasp to loosen he feels the opposing force exponentially increase, as though sensing his diminished power and taking advantage of the lapse. He is curious about this sensation. It feels as though the aether is being taken away, evaporated - much like the anti-magic explosions caused by the Trans-Terra-Terrorists that caused this mess in the first place. Yet this power is growing, rather than maintaining at the steady rate a device would create. Then, suddenly, the pyramid begins to shudder. Unusual is the only word Thoth can come up with before the pyramid starts to crumble to rubble. Bricks are being pulled inwards to a central point inside the pyramid itself.
Then the outer wall topples. The Egyptians and tourists start screaming, running and hiding. Except one young soulless woman who comes running up to Thoth waving her arms about animatedly. He ignores her though. He has to reaffirm his control of the aether before the entire node gets sucked into the tiny black hole sitting at the centre of the pyramid's remains.
Gravity. The strongest force in the universe and yet also paradoxically the weakest. Either way, a black hole of this size is easily eating all matter and energy like a sink hole. Matter, light, heat, aether, all going down the same drain. But Thoth is a god and being a god has its perks.
He suspends the aether in place, creating a cordon around the black hole that stops the rest of the flowing magical energy from passing through this magical membrane.
Winters: "Why did you let this happen!? You're a terrible god, you know that?"
The woman pouts up at him, hands on her hips in impotent anger. Thoth mentally shrugs in answer to her. Curiosity.
He notices that the black hole then shrinks down to nothing and vanishes from the universe, all matter and energy gone with it. Evidently something created and controlled it and that someone then rises from the ruins of the ancient structure. A small humanoid figure flying in the air.
Thoth feels her presence reach out towards him and detect his power and control of the aether. He then feels her sudden resurfacing rage. He is able to respond to her aggression faster than she can act. Propelled like a cannonball her body surges at him, but he shifts the aethereal membrane to stand in her path, protecting him, and the robot woman, from a sudden crash of gravitational energy. The woman's unusual, and perfectly alien, sword has embedded itself deep into the magical barrier. Such a force surprises even Thoth, prompting a solitary eyebrow raise.
Winters, completely unperturbed by the terrifying display of power, points an accusatory finger at the stranger.
Winters: "Oi! Stop making a mess, ye sod!"
The woman looks from Winters to Thoth and then, gracefully, settles onto the sand. She's stands several heads taller than the average human and from the top of her forehead protrude two black horns that circle around to face forward. From the bottom of her spine comes the extension of a thin, black tail with a small fork at its tip. Her tail sways back and forth, revealing her subconscious discomfort despite her well-practised outer manner.
Woman: "You're not who I expected."
Thoth: "I imagined so."
She has a stark white headdress around her forehead that seems to Thoth to resemble an unusual crown, yet it has two elongated extensions that stand taller than her head like winged horns in the reverse direction of her own horns. The material of the headdress also interests him as it appears like white metal, yet seems to perspire as though it is incredibly cold. A white, wet metal. Her figure verges on being what a human might consider the "perfect fantasy figure" though perhaps too skinny. Evidently all her power stems from the outward manipulated force and not from her physical proportions.
She points to the weapon lodged in the invisible wall.
Woman: "Can I have that back?"
Thoth: "That depends on what you plan to do with it. Earth has a great many enemies right now, I don't think she could take another..."
The woman scoffs.
Woman: "Earth!?"
She spits the word.
Woman: "Of course he stranded me on this backwater planet."
While Winters pouts and starts a tirade of Earth's accomplishments at the alien woman, Thoth just smiles to himself. Earth. Forever underestimated. He looks at the weapon. Shaped like a claymore, a long blade with a forward-facing guard, elongated hilt and a big spherical pommel. Yet the weapon is not made of any metal Thoth is familiar with. Rather it seems to be made of unpolished crystal, its blade very jagged and angry-looking. Even the hilt, guard and pommel are made of the very same material, all coloured indigo with messy light-and-dark patches throughout it. He pushes the sword from the wall, the aether wriggling it out. It falls. She doesn't seem to have extra-special reflexes to catch the blade. She doesn't need them. The sword stops in mid-air and floats towards her hand. Thoth detects the manipulation of gravity around the object.
Possibly made of the same material as the sword, indigo crystals adorn her hair, hanging from white metal strands. One set drapes across her forehead, beneath the headdress, colouring her otherwise very tanned skin. Her hair itself is pitch black and naturally curly. She wears it tied up into a top-knot that then cascades down in a wall of curly, dark hair that only teeters when it reaches the small of her back. Thoth guess it would reach the floor if it were unbound.
Woman: "I don't suppose Earth has a spaceport yet?"
Winters: "You're going to just leave!? What about paying for the damage you did!"
Winters thrusts her hand towards the collapsed pyramid of Giza, the sleeve of her red coat throwing out beyond her hand and hiding it. The woman glances back.
Woman: "You mean my prison?"
Winters, completely oblivious, makes a rebuttal;
Winters: "I mean our pyramid!"
Thoth: "Speaking on behalf of the human species now, mechanoid?"
Winters looks embarrassed.
Winters: "Well I-- I--"
Woman: "Mechanoid? A robot? Perhaps Earth has overcome its limitations at last?"
Thoth: "Perhaps not to your standards. There is no spaceport, though I imagine for one as resourceful as yourself it would be a small matter to get yourself transportation back to whatever oppressor trapped you here."
Winters: "You want to let her go? She's a criminal! Put in jail for something evil, I bet!"
Thoth looks at the woman expectantly. She seems to consider how much information to divulge before relenting.
Woman: "They call me the Indigo Shade. I was imprisoned here by a tyrant of an empire spanning space-and-time. Far away from this world. I tried to overthrow him with my fellow Shades. I was defeated. And trapped here."
Thoth: "A very merciful tyrant to let you live..."
Indigo Shade: "I would have preferred death."
Thoth: "Trapped in a pyramid for over a thousand years... yes, I imagine you would. It's strange that I never knew of your existence despite being a god of this land. Perhaps your burial here pre-dates even the pyramid..."
Both Winters and Indigo Shade watch Thoth as he seems to drift off into contemplation. Indigo Shade frowns and looks to Winters.
Indigo Shade: "He do that often?"
Winters nods.
Winters: "He's been standing here for days just staring at the pyramid. I thought he was a ninja-spy but he says he just likes to watch... which sounds really creepy now that I say it!"
She turns and smacks Thoth's arm, jolting him back to the physical world.
Winters: "Stop being a creeper!"
He has no idea what she means but he's beginning to wonder where her owner is and why she's allowed to run around annoying people. Indigo Shade takes a step back.
Indigo Shade: "Sorry I destroyed your pyramid. And tried to slay you."
Thoth: "I'm sorry I never released you from your prison sooner."
She lifts off of the ground, her sword floats in the air beside her. Her long, white cape flutters gently in the wind as she rises. Then, in the blink of an eye and a sonic boom that made Winters throw herself to the ground like she is in an air raid, Indigo Shade blasts off of the Earth towards space.
Thoth looks down at the robo-woman.
Thoth: "Your owner must be missing you."
She looks up at him from the sand.
Winters: "I'm missing him actually! He ran off and didn't come back. I'm just waiting... and waiting for him to return..."
She rolls up into a heated lotus position.
Thoth: "Well... watching humans deal with this mess should be an interesting way to pass the time..."
She turns and, still sat down, watches the authorities of Egypt start investigating the wreckage.
Notes[]
Britt's Commentary[]
"This post is meant to mark the beginning for a character that would eventually be included in CatH but needed a backstory that wouldn't fit with the way in which CatH is written. The post not only ties this element to CatH but also the minor cameo role of Winters ties the post to Britt: The Legend." - Britt the Writer