Zenith: Last Revenant

"I'm back, little one… Just as I promised…" Spencer mumbled as he tried to fight the spiral of rage, anguish, and confusion that swelled within him. Gently ċȧrėssing the top of her head as he enjoyed the smooth, silkiness of her black hair, a warm sensation building within him.

The warmth of a loved one, a warmth he had nearly forgotten.

"Come on... Wake up, don't leave me hanging..." muttering his subtle concern, he looked down and frowned as she noticed that whilst her steady breathing had returned and she was stable, she did not, or perhaps could not wake up.

She could not escape the confines of her own inner demons.

"Sigh... Show me what happened. Tell me, what is haunting you so deeply, little one."

Heaving a heavy sigh, Spencer supported the young black-haired maiden's head, his eyes glimmered before he reached into her mind. Quickly finding himself in a vast vast mental plain, he began to slowly traverse deeper into the consciousness of the young black-haired girl...

Castor.

Mere moments passing, Spencer's once glowing eyes instantly flickered with an alarming coldness, a coldness that gradually seeped into the world around him. Though the ominous atmosphere he released was swiftly brought under control. Instead, he tapped into an iota of his nigh immeasurable power, scanning every corner of the planet's surface.

Sensing a fluctuation in Castor's condition, his attention immediately snapped unto her without waste. Observing as her eyes subtly twitched before slowly opening.

"Arghh...W-what happened..."

Collecting herself, Castor slowly came to be, her eyes gradually showing a hint of clarity in her muddled state. Feeling herself in someone's arms, her eyes snapped open as she pushed away and jumped to her feet in an instant,

Her vision remaining somewhat blurry from her recent awakening, she held her head as a slight pain pricked her mind. Looking down at the individual who had embraced her moments ago, her vision gradually cleared as the figure rose to their feet, forcing her to look up as he easily surpassed her height.

Before Castor stood a massive figure that towered over her considerably, the figure looking down at her with a somber expression that she couldn't quite understand.

"Who are you!?" She swiftly took an offensive stance to prepare herself for any attempts to harm her.

Holding the same somber expression, Spencer was lost in the moment and paid no mind to her question, instead, reaching out his hand to ċȧrėss her cheek. Though before his hand could touch her face, she attempted to slap it away from her. Contrary to her actions, her hand was ȧssaulted by a stinging sensation as he remained unmoving.

Spencer raised a momentary brow before quickly coming to realize how frantic she was at the moment.

"It's me, Castor…I'm back as I promised"

Drowned in confusion, she took a closer look at the man that stood over her. Taking a moment, her eyes flashed with surprise.

"Sp-Spencer" Seeing the man she had longed for in the last decade, her mind was suddenly unable to process the information. All the sorrow, the anguish, the anger.. all that she had kept tucked away deep within her heart, all the emotions she felt that she had finally gained control over had suddenly rebelled against her. Tears began to swell in the corner of her eyes, swiftly taking over and blurring her vision once again as she failed to hold herself together and subsequently burst out crying.

"Am I dead?" Reaching out and gently ċȧrėssing the beloved man's face. As her fingers finally made contact and could feel that this was definitely not a dream or a twisted illusion, she sighed, as if a giant boulder had finally been lifted off from her.

"You really came... After so long... you are finally back..." .

She cried, weakly muttering, only now daring to utter the words echoing in her mind. Yet in the next moment, her expression soured as she was reminded by the cruel image of her brothers fighting each other and her father being taken from her.

The image of the carnage she endured haunted her mind, the light in her eyes dimmed as sorrow once again ȧssaulted her.

"Where... were you... when we needed you..."

She asked, fainting once again at the end of her sentence. Still, after a quick check, Spencer could finally breathe a sigh of relief, as she was now stable.

She was only utterly exhausted and spent both in mind and soul. After all, she was just brought back from the brink of death.

---

As her eyelids fell once again, the scenery changed as well. With a single thought, the piles of corpses around them vanished at the wave of his hand, along with all the blood and gore they had brought with them.

Bringing Castor in his arms once again, he warped the space around him and teleported the two of them to his ship that resided vastly beyond the planet's atmosphere. Appearing within his personal quarters on the Mortifer, he placed Castor on his luxurious-looking spacious bed frame. Beautiful material, unknown to the time, baldachin curtains protected the insides against outside disturbances, be it vocal, light, or even sight

Only then did he, albeit quite reluctantly, step away, his gaze making a grandiose shift.

His gentle, loving look on his face soured, as the cold glimmer returned to his gaze. He warped back to his previous position, his attention now towards the source of the sounds that came from some of the libraries of his mansion.

His anger and rage rapidly rose, as he recalled cruelty portrayed in Castor's memories. The bloody battle before the capital, how the two brothers, once loving each other, now due to some unknown machinations from an outside force, those scheming Atlanteans forever tainted, having battled to the death.

He remembered how Hopi begged for his brother, Yurok to come back to his senses even to his very last moment. He recalled how Yurok, donning his high-tech battle armor in response, vanished from sight only to reappear in front of his poisoned brother and stabbed him to death with his two bony spikes.

Spencer could still feel all that trembling, that deep sadness that saturated, preserved the memory in such vivid details. How it defined Castor's action from going forward.

How she closed off her emotions from hence, how she didn't even react when the news of her father, Quintus' passing was brought before her. Spencer knew how it deeply hurt him, but she refused to show weakness in front of her last remaining, loyal men.

A cold, murderous glint flashed across his eyes, Spencer vanished from sight in the next moment.

---

Watching from afar, Yurok was looking at the scene before him with strangely empty eyes. Even though he had finally won, and could now say that he had claimed the victory that he seemed so obsessed about... he still didn't seem to show a tinge of emotion.

Even as he heard her sister's last cry, and then the looming silence, he did not show any visible reaction. As if he was completely detached from this all, and that nothing that was happening had any real meaning to him anymore.

Yet, when suddenly an object came from above the skies hurled with immense speeds and crashed into her sister's supposed corpse, did his body finally twitch. His hands were slowly clenched into fists, his body trembled ever-so-slightly for a brief moment before he returned to his stoic posture once more.

In the next moment, however, every one of his leading captains yelped in shock when suddenly a strange figure, although somewhat familiar appeared out of thin air, floating in front of them.

His long, platinum hair floated as an invisible current of energy revolved around this man's firm body.

They each felt that they had seen this man before.. as if he was someone important to them... yet they just couldn't recall. Still, his presence, his aura felt incredibly dangerous, they were all frozen in place, unable to react.

However, not everyone was puzzled by this man's identity. There was one man that could instantly recognize him, and recall the painful memories of the very same cold, hostile stare he had once received just before he received the humiliation of his lifetime.

"H-how... H-how c-could t-this be?!" Yurok's stammering modulated voice could be heard from behind the futuristic-looking helmet. The crimson glimmer in his visor suddenly ceased, as a yellowish light seeped in for a brief moment.

His previous stoic posture shattered, he faltered as he took several steps back. Whilst the transformed Yurok had supposedly known no fear, even the nightly Atlantean gods could not completely erase the emotion from his heart.

The deeply entrenched fear he felt against this one man, was something that even those mighty, sub-dimensional entities could not completely overcome. At least not in just a few short years of tampering.

He was frozen on the spot, his body shivering, trembling with fright. Yurok didn't look like the heartless, emotionless cold-blooded warrior general he was before, but something completely different.

He suddenly looked like a misbehaving child that had a guilty conscience who had finally been found out. Looking at his pathetic display, Spencer didn't utter a single word.

He merely looked at him with nothing but coldness in his eyes. Still, he didn't kill him immediately, or more so that he couldn't. He needed to find the answers he was looking for. He needed to hear everything that had happened directly from him.

He needed to hear his confession of guilt, admitting to everything he did. Maybe because he needed to justify his next actions or the judgment he was planning to enact.

He could just simply take the answers, directly from his mind, extracting it forcefully and causing great pain. Yes, he could certainly achieve such a feat by now.

Yet, he chose to not do so. He wanted to hear it. He wanted Yurok to admit it, to finally feel the weight of his actions, regardless of whether he was influenced by some meddling schemers or not.

He would get to them after settling the problems plaguing his Kingdom and would settle all debts. Though he wanted to avoid causing problems to the people that would have a great effect later on in the timeline, there were limits to his patience. Limits that were now crossed far over.

"Speak" Spencer uttered a single word, his voice rumbling like a thunderstorm all around.

"H-hey... How dare you talk to the general like th-"

One of the captains standing beside their general finally broke his shock-induced stun and managed to speak up. Yet before he could even finish his words, he exploded following a simple snap of the floating figure's fingers.

"Vanish." With a simple utterance. A loud, booming echo encompassed the entire kingdom, sending shockwaves in all directions.

As the echoes rang out, suddenly to the shock and utter terror of Yurok, all the other captain's around him suddenly began to swell up. Their bodies became bloated in a few seconds before each of them exploded amidst heartwrenching, soul-shattering cries of anguish.

Yet, they weren't alone. Following their sonata, a cacophony of similar bellows and cries came from down below, each followed by the grotesque sound of popping a meaty balloon.

The hundreds, no... thousands of warriors Yurok had brought with him, suddenly died the most horrible, gruesome death imaginable.

With the disturbance now resolved, Spencer looked at the trembling Yurok once more. His lips parted, he spoke the command once again. This time with even more force in his tone.

"SPEAK!"

...

The trembling Yurok, after witnessing the death of all those that stood beside him, all those powerful warriors dying without even being given a chance to defend themselves... he did not resist any further and revealed everything he knew.

He explained how he met with the Atlantean patrol, just as he had expected. He told how he wanted to fight them at first but after hearing them out, he slowly, but gradually realized how wrong he was.

He explained with a growing passion how he felt mistreated, and shunned. How his talent, his skills were not given the proper attention how he felt his family started to hate him.

After that, he suddenly grew confused, and could not continue. He could remember all that happened, yet for some reason, his previous passion and emotion vanished in an instant as he simply told the events from a neutral point of view.

He conveyed absolutely no emotion when he spoke about his duel with his brother and how he eventually won over him. It was strange, his voice turned monotone...

Hearing enough, Spencer now knew that the answer he sought wouldn't be found here. Though Yurok was merely a tool and was simply used, Spencer could still not forgive him.

Utilizing his knowledge in the various affinities governing the multiverses, he flicked his hand, causing the proud, and shiny armor to rapidly corrode and age visibly to the nȧkėd eye.

Along with it, the man inside it also yelled, cried with immense pain. Like his suit, he too was aging albeit at a slightly different pace. Regardless, as the armor finally turned to dust and fell to the floor, only a wizen, withered old husk of man was left behind.

"I have given you what you are today. Thus, I can take it back. You are not worthy. Merely a disappointment." Spencer gave the judgment.

With a wave of his hand, Yurok's body crumbled to dust, only his soul was forced to remain as Spencer had already tethered it to this realm, unable to cross over to the afterlife.

Looking at the floating ball of light Spencer's face finally shifted from the cold, emotionless outlook, only to twist into a sadistic-looking vicious grin.

"Oh no, don't think you'll get off that easily... You hurt my little girl....."