Madrid opened his eyes to see two of the creatures staring straight at him, standing close enough that he could feel their hot breath as they sniffed him. Their black, menacing eyes were hooded by the flat carapace plates that adorned their bestial heads. Their muscular, catlike bodies were covered by tough, leathery skin, and long segmented tails stretched out behind them.
Madrid closed his eyes and waited for the creatures to strike. But just as suddenly as they had appeared, they skittered out of the room, leaving him alone among the dead. Minutes stretched into hours as he sat in the dank corner, contemplating his fate and trying to shut out the luring whispers of the alien voice in his head.
FINALLY THE ROOM’S SILENCE was broken by shrill screams echoing down the hallway. Madrid cowered, frozen in place and unable to pry his gaze from the entryway. He could hear scuffling and scratching noises in the hallway. Have they come back to kill me? he wondered. As his vision faded to red, he focused his thoughts towards the creatures scurrying in the hallway and briefly touched their bestial minds.
Four creatures. All of them alien. All of them born of the same terrible species.
Three small creatures, like those who had killed everyone else in the room, skittered through the hallway. However, a far more frightening creature accompanied them. This was a dark, clever beast, and Madrid reeled from its soulless presence.
One small creature snaked its head around the door frame. The catlike alien stood there for a moment just staring into Madrid’s eyes. It scurried forward and cleared a path of entrance for its brethren. The two others entered the room slowly and took positions beside it. The creatures, seeming relaxed and almost playful, simply sat watching Madrid. What the hell do they want? It’s like they’re just waiting for me to die, he thought.
Madrid’s breath came in short gasps as the fourth creature slowly approached the room’s entrance. He could hear the sound of its passing now—a resonant, serpentine hiss that could only come from a creature of enormous size. A scraping sound split the air as if sharp barbs were being dragged across the room and walls. The smaller aliens seemed to straighten and alertly shifted their attention towards the doorway.
Madrid imagined he felt the stale air being sucked from the room as the huge, graceful creature entered. Filling the entire doorway, the monster opened its hideous, dagger-lined jaws and shattered the tense stillness with a ferocious scream, causing Madrid to shiver with quiet panic.
The creature’s head and muzzle looked similar to those of the smaller aliens, except that its eyes held a glimmer of intelligence. Its long, craning neck was covered by a massive carapace plate that had a distinctive pattern, not unlike snake-skin. The armor plates covering its enormous upper body bore a variety of spikes and jagged growths. Madrid noticed a number of barely distinguishable fractures along the length of the creature’s flexing shoulder plates. As he ran his eyes over the creature’s grotesque body, he made out the long , spindly arms it held tightly at its sides. The arms, which ended in razor-sharp, bony scythes, looked as if they could tear apart a solid paristeel bulkhead with ease. The most bizarre aspect of the creature was that it supported the weight of its huge upper body with a thick, snakelike tail. Just as with its plating, the tail was encrusted with spines and strange deformations. The creature’s horrid appearance reminded Madrid of the terrible dragons that had filled the myths of ancient Earth.
He watched helplessly as the creature slithered slowly across the broken floor with an eerie grace. Thick, milky liquid dripped from the beast’s open jaws as it lowered its great crowned head until its eyes were even with Madrid’s. Its burning eyes bored into Madrid and locked him in their hypnotic stare. He could feel the creature’s hot, rancid breath upon his skin.
Groaning through gritted teeth, Madrid was suddenly overwhelmed by the creature’s base musings. Harsh and unintelligible at first, unmistakable impressions raced like quicksilver through his mind.
Unity…soon.
Just then, an explosion rocked the room from outside. Dust rained down from the ceiling as the ground shifted under Madrid’s body. New, metallic sounds rang through the hallway.
Someone’s coming, Madrid thought excitedly.
He could hear heavy clomping, like the sound of two marines, nearing the room’s entrance. A ware of courage washed over Madrid, and he barely stifled a cry of joy as the two warriors appeared in the doorway. Then his blood suddenly ran cold as he saw the two silhouettes before him, and his hope of rescue disappeared as he realized these were two Protoss warriors.
They stepped further into the room and glared at the four misshapen aliens. The dragon-creature squinted its hellish eyes and crouched in a defensive stance, while the three smaller aliens began circling the warriors slowly, preparing to strike.
As the two Protoss squared off against the other aliens, Madrid gazed for the first time upon the beings whose ships had destroyed his homeworld, and whose forms he had seen only on holos before now. Their fierce eyes, which glowed like molten sapphires, were the only distinguishable features on their scaled faces. They had no mouths, ears, or noses, only a series of tribal-like, tattooed markings that ran along the harsh ridges of their cheekbones. Their heads were covered with a bonelike plating that bore a striking resemblance to the dragon-creature’s armored carapace. Long, sinewy appendages flowed out from underneath the warriors’ head plates and were fastened together like bands of thick hair that ran down their slightly hunched backs. Their long, armored legs were buckled backward at the knee, reminiscent of the cloven-hoofed devils of myth. Their strong, muscled bodies were covered by thin, wet, reptilian skin that was marked with the same strange tattoos as their faces.
Madrid looked upon the Protoss with unabashed awe and terror. These were the destroyers of worlds. These were the executioners of man. These were the dark gods, who had come at last to claim his soul.
The small, catlike aliens suddenly sprang at the two Protoss with their multiple talons and glistening fans bared. Within a fraction of a heartbeat, burning blades of azure energy sprang forth from the warriors’ gauntlets. With a blinding flash of blue fire, the first of the attacking aliens was cut down in midair by the Protoss’ swift attack. The other two aliens, surprised by the savagery of the strike, attempted to slow their advance and skittered around the warriors. Yet one of the Protoss gracefully leaped ahead of the second creature and tore through its skull with his fiery blades. The other Protoss warrior, stepping in to protect his comrade’s flank, outmaneuvered the third creature and split it in two with a powerful blow.
The dragon-creature’s massive tail swept out and crashed into one of the warriors. Madrid watched in awe as the Protoss flew across the room and smashed into the far wall. Its limp body punched a hole through the paristeel plating, weakening the wall and causing more rubble to topple into the room from above.
Without a second glance, the remaining warrior turned to confront the dragon-creature. Madrid’s eyes focused on the monster’s shoulder plates, which began to heave and swell. The tiny, hairline fractures expanded and split to reveal row upon row of sharp, finger-sized needles. With a massive surge of stale air and a flurry of sickly squirting noises, the dragon-creature flexed its torso muscles and let loose a volley of poisoned spines from its shoulders. The spines toward the warrior, yet the Protoss stood his ground without even a flinch as the speeding needles shattered against an invisible barrier before they reached him.