Pure

The rise of Purity and the promise of the One

It was not as simple as she thought. Though the One had returned, resolving the age-old crisis of Sword’s separation from Sheath, the galaxy was in unrest. With the Forge darkened and the ten Kajin-u dead or fallen, military powers long suppressed by the Law of Sword now marshaled their forces to make war. The purpose of this new war: dominion over the galaxy. Whoever remained would rule, but wars have a tendency of drawing out, especially if they concerned ten thousand planets and as many races. She knew this to be a foolish war from the beginning, for the One was their true god.

They were often together, she and the One, moving from planet to planet at the speed of thought, spreading the Great Joy which flowed in cataracts of divine light from the One. They did this during the galactic year following the death of Will Riser, the one Kajin-u who rose above and gave his life to assuage Sword’s wrath. Now, faced with the prospect of civil war in their galaxy, the One conferred with her.

“It seems,” the One declared with amusement, “That the time has come to test our omnipotence.”

“Master,” she spoke, “Where is your son, Will Riser, who could end this conflict before it begins?”

“I promised him rest, and he has it.”

The One lifted a hand, and within that ocean of endless light she could see Will, curled as a fetus in blessed sleep deep within the heart of the One. Eyes that had shaken the cosmos to its core were closed. The mouth that spoke damnation for Sword’s followers and salvation for all life was curled in a curious smile of peace. Hands that had wielded the mightiest weapon ever created, the Tenfold Sword, were crossed over feet that had stood firm against the onslaught of nine gods. The champion of the galaxy was sleeping.

“Purity, you are his first disciple. It is fitting you tend to my children in his stead.”

“Then I will have faith in what you and he have taught me.”

The One smiled, and joy glowed in her heart.

“That is all you need, my daughter.”

888

Gungadin was a planet with a rare social order – patriarchy. Rare, because it was illogical; the males of Gungadin were single-minded and aggressive while the females were multitasking thinkers. The males made war with each other while the females were told to stay at home. For this reason, Purity met that space fleet first on its way to conquer a neighbouring planet, Jershenk, a member of the same solar system that had only maintained peaceful relations with Gungadin through the intervention of a Kajin-u. Before, the ten Kajin-u appointed by Sword were given one galactic sector each to mete out the Law of Sword. Now, the galaxy was lawless, its armies running unchecked. However, the Law of Sword had been fulfilled, and it was time for the One to fill the hearts and minds of the galaxy.

The fleet emerged from the Psycho-Void, the wondrous dimension of space that harnesses the psychic emanations of sentient beings to move matter at the speed of thought. Jershenk’s own armada hung in orbit about its planet, but was now alert and moving to intercept.

The Gungadin fleet was ten thousand ships strong. The flagship, Korkorus, was a metallic monster whose girth rivaled Gungadin’s moon. Upon its battle bridge, a much harried first officer gave his report.

“General, there is a Darshani female blocking our way.”

“What is a representative of that pusillanimous race doing here, much less one woman? Shoot down her ship!” the General ordered without hesitation.

“That’s the problem, sir… she doesn’t have a ship, or a space suit, for that matter.”

The General ordered the image be put onscreen. There was Purity, standing on the void as though it were solid ground, white robes drifting about her slight figure as she gestured for the fleet to stop. The General ground his teeth.

“I don’t know what psychic trickery the Darshani are using again, but we shall ignore her.”

“Yes, sir.”

The fleet carried on, Korkorus naturally leading the way in a V-formation, arming its weapons as the Jershenk fleet closed the gap. Moving at a few thousand kilometers an hour, the Korkorus ran into Purity, and stopped. After the General found his feet, he hollered, “What did we hit?” as the bridge crew recovered from the massive jolt. The first officer, missing a few teeth from kissing a bulkhead, sputtered, “We didn’t hit anything. We stopped. I’m ordering all engines shut down before they break under the strain.”

“This is a Titan-Class warship! It requires five minutes to come to a complete halt! We must have run into a moon!”

“Jershenk’s moons are on the other side of the planet at this time, sir, but that Darshani woman is still there.”

“What?”

The main screen showed Purity, one hand planted on the hull of the Korkorus. The metal had rippled where her hand had touched. The rest of the fleet had also halted progress, awaiting orders.

“What are the Darshani doing?” the General roared, “They must be confusing our minds, making us think this is happening!”

“Gungadin army,” Purity said, and reports came in confirming that the entire fleet heard her voice, “Your war is meaningless. Return home and submit to the presence of the One.”

“That new religion?” the General growled, “We will not listen to any god but Sword!”

“Sword has found Sheath, and is at peace. Why else would his Divine Forge be silent? The One has claimed this galaxy, and you will not make war when the One desires peace.”

“I will not hear the words of a false god! Fire the main cannon at her!”

“S… Sir?” the first officer stuttered. The General was livid.

“OBEY ME!”

The metal surface Purity had touched was the port for the main cannon. It slid open, revealing the large red jewel core that had laid entire continents to waste in civil wars past. Energy accumulated in the jewel core, draining so much power that the Korkorus became dark. Then, its ferocious red beam fired, point blank, on the small Darshani woman.

She held out her other hand and the red beam was scattered to the void, breaking as a wave upon rock, pillars of red energy sizzling into nothingness. Purity’s clear white eyes bored into the General from the main screen, as though she could see him, protected as he was by miles of armour.

“It seems you understand the language of war. Here and now, Gungadin army, I make war upon you.”

Purity lifted her hand above her head. As she did, it seemed the image of Will Riser, lifting his Tenfold Sword above his head, was standing behind her, his arm following the movement of her arm, her hand in line with his towering sword.

“Is that… is that the Cursed of Sword with her?” the first officer whispered, and then was knocked off his feet a second time as Purity’s hand chopped the jewel core of the main cannon, shattering the most terrible weapon of the Gungadin to ruby shards floating in the void.

The General scrambled across the floor, knocked the communications officer off his chair and screamed into the transceiver.

“All units… converge and DESTROY that woman!”

The V-formation became a half-circle, the smaller ships focusing all firepower on Purity. To their dismay, she moved faster than any torpedo or energy beam could, and the entire fleet succeeded in barraging the Korkorus, destroying its shielding and badly damaging its hull. With flames erupting from the floor and smoke pouring from overloaded circuits, the General had cause to scream again.

“You BLITHERING IDIOTS! Fire AWAY from this ship, not AT it!”

Bewildered, the fleet tried using homing missiles, the intelligent kind that homed in on a particular shape rather than an energy signature, which Purity did not emanate at all. Purity jumped onto the battered hull and ran along it, a white streak over its charred surface. The homing missiles could not outrun her, ran out of fuel and crashed on the Korkorus, relieving the behemoth of most of its armour plating.

“FOR THE LOVE OF SWORD! CAN’T YOU IDIOTS DO ANYTHING RIGHT?”

“Apparently not, sir,” said the first officer who was now nursing burns from electrical fire. The General slammed his fists into the console.

“What’s wrong, little man, overwhelmed by the inevitable?”

“Silence! You’re nothing but a woman!” the General retorted to the serene face onscreen. Purity arched an eyebrow.

“Indeed. The women of your planet should witness your defeat, should understand that you are not great at all.”

Purity’s palm impacted with the Korkorus, and that moon-sized warship was sent flying back where it came from. The cowed fleet followed after, their guns silent.

“All engines reverse!” the General panicked, “We’re going to crash into Gungadin!”

“Sir, we’re moving too fast for the engines to compensate! They’re going to explode!” the first officer yelped.

“I don’t care! I won’t be defeated by some woman, you hear me? I will NOT…”

At that point, the Korkorus entered Gungadin’s atmosphere, and the General’s words were lost in the roar of friction. On the ground below was the capital of the planet: a city spanning a continent. The Korkorus would surely crush all two billion people living there, but while the citizens cried out in terror under the great burning shadow, Purity appeared beneath it, and lifted her hand one last time.

The Korkorus halted, metal groaning, everything balanced on the palm of her hand.

“What a waste of resources,” Purity sighed. She laid the titan to rest on the wasteland outside of the city, forcing the planet’s atmosphere to shift as its metal was returned to the soil. The Korkorus cast a great shadow over the city, and Purity spoke.

“Women of Gungadin. Too long have you been subservient to these men who make war. Come out, and see the bitter harvest they have reaped.”

Slowly, but surely, they came. Never in Gungadin’s history had so many women gathered in one place, on the hills overlooking the wasteland where the greatest achievement of their men sat smoking in a sad heap.

“I present to you a gift. I will slay those who reside on this ship and the ships above. I will put you, the rightful leaders, in power, and none will contest you forever and ever.”

The women of Gungadin looked at each other, but their decision was the same.

Spare them.

“They have oppressed you since history began. They have mutilated your bodies and killed your daughters, yet you say this?”

Spare them.

Purity lifted her voice, and every man on the surface and in orbit heard.

“Do you hear, O Men? The women you have denied for all time spare you! Gladly would I have made an example of you to the cosmos, yet they spare you! But I will be watching you, O Men. I will see how you treat every woman born from this day onward, and should you transgress, my wrath will be terrible.”

From that moment, a man has never raised his hand against a woman on the Gungadin planet. Women became the heirs of power, and were not dazzled by it, but rather humbled by the responsibility of leadership. They did not look down on their men, but made use of their strengths and compromised with their weaknesses. In turn, the men of Gundagin repented for their errors, not out of fear, but gratitude that their women had spared them.

The General and his first officer were made the project leaders on converting the Korkorus into an extension of the capital city, with the former army as their workforce. When the General grumbled that nothing could grow in the wasteland to support residents of the new extension, the One appeared in the desert, and walked through it. Forest sprang from footsteps in the sand, rivers ran where fingers traced, and the black burnt metal of the Korkorus was swathed in green. Gungadin entered an age of equity, even making peace with the Jershenk race, accepting the Great Joy of the One.