The Second Death

The Book of Understandings, Recitation 6 (Excerpt)
38 The law of man is formless, fluid, flawed. Yea. 39 The Law of God, the Ar+++++, is static, solid, perfect. Yea. 40 Where the law of man fails, the law of God must be enforced. Yea. 41 Where the law of man denies the law of God, it is the duty of the faithful to enforce His Will. Yea. 42 The hands of the righteous are the weapons of the holy war of God. Yea.

//MARS LOW ORBIT
//VODRANTI SHORTSWORD-CLASS SHIP EDIFICE
//13.31.1978 AV
//PORTSIDE MEDICAL BAY

It was a pain so precise, it drowned out all rational thought. Her mind was imbibed in agony, the cries of her comrades struggling to stabilize her dying body muted by her weakened psyche.
"30% blood loss and it's not stopping, sir. The hemerythrin isn't clotting." The doctor's hands were covered in Dakai's purple blood. "We're giving them fluids through intravenous injection, but some of the bleeding is internal. They'll need surgery, and this ship is understaffed and understocked. We can stabilize them, but we'll need to head to a colony that will have the tools we need. This is a shortsword-craft, it has rudimentary medical systems at best and not the means to repair cerebral trauma."
The kenyr standing across the room cursed under his breath. "We'll see what we can do. We can go to the lagrange point between Mars and Phobos and deploy all orbit-to-surface landers we have to move the wounded down to the Martian colonies. If the damned Carovatt fail to realize we are all Vodranti, we can threaten them with force."
A soldier rushed into the room, beads of sweat dripping from her face. "Kenyr Madha!" "Yes?" The young soldier cleared her throat, swallowed. "Sir, the colonies are in open rebellion. We've been trying to establish radio contact but they refuse to respond. We've just got a message from another ship that the colonies' orbital batteries fired on them when they were in low orbit."
The kenyr slammed his fist onto the surgical table Dakai was dying upon. "Hark Mikan! It's him, damn him, damn him! He betrays us at our most vulnerable! This was planned, he knew, he knew this would happen! Damn him!" Bitter tears stung his cheeks. His teeth clashed against each other violently. I'm lucky this room is soundproofed. "What can be done? Can you contact the Gesala of the clan of Chariklo?" The messenger paused at the question. "Sir, the death toll..." "Yes? What of it?" "Sir, the Zacharites have already conjured a report. I do not know how or by what manner of mysticism they have done it, but they state...they state 5 million Vodranti died on the surface of Mars and on their ships, either from the Grailborn, the blast, or the radiation."
The kenyr froze. A shaking hand went to his mouth. He tried to speak, but could only gasp in shock. Oh, God. Oh, God. What have we done? What have I done? The image of an ancient teacher manifested in his mind. For the Law states, "The death of many men is cruel necessity. Death in numbers exceeding thousands is dark reality. Death in numbers exceeding millions is sin." Millions have died. The death of millions is sin. I have sinned. I have sinned against the Arbitra. What have I done? "Th-th...the Gesala, where is he? He must ans-" The messenger lowered her head. "He was found in his chambers with his own sword driven through his chest, sir."
The kenyr grit his teeth. His face stared blankly towards the ground, both hands set on the surgical table. The Empress planned it, every step. She wanted us to fight and die. She wanted us to tear ourselves apart.
"Messenger." The soldier turned to face the kenyr. "Yes, sir?" The kenyr lifted his head. "Bring me the warlock, the engine-speaker. There is much we must discuss." The young Vodranti left for the hallway, but stopped. "Ah, he's already coming this way, sir." The doctor nodded. "Yes, I called for them earlier. They know the Rite of Wounds, so I hoped their magicks could alleviate Dakai's pain and blood loss." The room waited for the warlock to arrive.
When the warlock turned the corner, he appeared somewhat weary. His mask looked damaged. Purple blood stained his cloak. The kenyr gestured towards them. "Warlock, I need your- wait, what happened to you?" The warlock shrugged. "I was ending the pain of my comrades." And the engine-speaker drove a knife through the throat of the messenger, the blade going through her throat and the blade embedding in the doorframe on the opposite side. His other hand drew a pistol, shooting the doctor twice in the chest, all before Madha could even draw his gun. Just before he could point it towards the engine-speaker, the warlock then pointed the weapon towards the kenyr's head. The kenyr cursed. "Damn you." The warlock shrugged again, clicked his tongue. "Really, it's on you for not keeping your helmet on." The kenyr scowled. "I will not barter with you for my li-" and his sentence was cut short by the bullet through his skull.
The warlock tossed the gun aside. "Barbaric things, really." And he walked to the table, removed the IV, and carefully lifted Dakai in his arms. "Come now, little warrior. There is much to be done."

---

//THE MORTAL PLANE
//I HAVE SINNED
//WE ARE BUT MORTAL MEN WHO FALL AND DIE BEFORE AN INFINITE GOD
//I CANNOT SEE, CANNOT BREATHE, CANNOT THINK, CANNOT DIE. MY MOUTH FILLS WITH BLOOD. MY THROAT CHOKES ON MY OWN FLUID. MY MIND SWIMS IN THAT UMBRAL WOMB. I AM DYING.

Dakai could barely think. Everything was foggy, her eyes watery and damaged from the blast. She felt someone pick her up, and carry her out of the bright room. She went into a hall, many men lined along the walls, blind and dying like she was. Their hands reached out to the warlock. The warlock merely pushed them aside. "Ignore them, little warrior. They are weak, flawed. They are a lesser people than you or I. They lack purpose." Dakai could muster no response. The thaumaturgist continued walking, completely apathetic to the confused crew who ran around them like a river around a rock. Dakai had no idea what was happening. The painkillers were beginning to fade. The pain was returning. They walked into a room near the center spine of the ship.
Dakai's words came out divided, meaningless, mere gibberish. "Wh...wha...why-y-y..." The warlock shook his head. "Shhh, little warrior. It'll all be over soon. We're here in the cryo room, now. Here you will be interred, here you will go on a great journey, that Long Sleep our ancestors endured so long ago."
He went to an ancient machine resembling an ornate sarcophagus. It bore inscriptions of some ancient time, before the Empress, before the Clans. "This ship is unique from most others. It is ancient, truly, bearing technology from before the Epoch flared up from the Sun and destroyed us. It is a cryo-chamber like few others, little warrior, and it can preserve you for many, many years. Even our most advanced chambers can preserve us for maybe a decade at most, but this can preserve you for millennia."
Dakai shook her head, tried to push the warlock away. He gave no response. He made some strange symbol with his figure on the surface of the machine, and it opened like some ancient vault. A flat table came out from it. He set Dakai down upon it. Her bleeding had stopped. The pain had not. He feed several tubes into her arms and one into her nose. "Little warrior, can you hear me?" Dakai lifted her head slightly, mumbled something.
"Ah-h-h, good. Listen well. Are you familiar with the Ivory Throne your brother sits upon?"
Dakai weakly nodded.
"Yes, excellent." The warlock removed a small white chip of sorts, not much larger than the palm of his hand.
"This is a Spall of the Ivory Throne of the 3rd Clan. In it lies every speck of data stored on the machine, every shade of your ancestors and family. In a few hours, that throne will cease to exist once the ship it lies upon is destroyed by your Empress. This will be all that remains."
Dakai tried to protest, but could barely speak. Blood sputtered from her mouth.
"I am going to insert this along your spinal marrow, the back of your neck. Its tendrils will dig through your flesh and eventually reach your brain. It will be agony. But it will be necessary. Once you wake, you will be all that remains of your family. Your children will be long dead. Do not ask to see them. My distant successor will be able to guide you. Find them. You will recognize the name- Soh. Remember it."
Her vision began to fade. A red miasma seeped into the corners of her vision. 
"Once I have inserted this chip, I am going to overclock the thaumafuges and thaumaturgic insulator units. I am going to create a gate that will encompass the entire ship, and send it unto the delphic plane, that place where the substance of magic lies. Everyone on board will die, painfully. But you will be protected by this chamber, little warrior."
The warlock reached a hand towards Dakai's head. She tried to resist, but her arms could barely be moved to push them away.
The chip was pressed against her nape. Initially, there was nothing.
Then there was the pain.
And the Pain was unending.
"Goodbye, little warrior. You will sleep for many, many years. You will suffer. You will fall. You will rise nonetheless. Such is the nature of things." The cryochamber began to close. "You are stronger than you know, braver than you believe. You will fight. And in time, you will die. But you will not stop until it is done. You must not stop until it is done, Dakai Mah-Lynn. You are greater."
Dakai prayed. It was a weak prayer, the words barely able to form in her mind. But she desperately prayed. Tears flowed freely. "Goodbye, little warrior."
And the chamber closed.
And Dakai Mah-Lynn died for the second time.