(Across the Wider Universe, Righteous Citizens POV, A few days after Leo's attack on Planet Ilyon Reach)
It took a while for the aftermath of Leo's attacks on planets Oga and Ilyon Reach to affect the wider universe, however, once the news began to spread, it shook the very fabric of the Righteous Faction to its core.
People trembled as they spoke Leo's na, as they dared not speak it louder than a whisper, as if just speaking his na would summon him out of nowhere, as billions awoke each morning wondering if this day would be the day their world would be reduced to ash.
On Planet Havrenn, an old shopkeeper stood behind his stall with trembling hands as he wiped the counter for the fifth ti that hour, while the custors around him kept glancing at the sky with haunted eyes, since every distant rumble of thunder made them flinch as if expecting an angry Cultist to tear the atmosphere open.
"It feels like we are back in the chaos era tis written in history books," the old man muttered as a few others nodded in agreent, their expressions hollow,
"I haven't heard my grandfather living in such fear, nor did he hear his grandfather living in such perilous tis.
These are dark tis I'm telling you.... These are so really really dark tis."
He said, as a woman carrying her child close to her chest shivered at his words as she whispered softly while rocking her daughter-
"The Cult were universal terrorists, yes, but they were never this brash, never this relentless, never this bold in striking planet after planet like it was nothing... I haven't heard of so many attacks in such a short span, not in my lifeti, not in my mother's either."
Her voice cracked slightly as she lowered her gaze, unable to forget
the footage she saw just two days earlier, of a fortress world crumbling in hours beneath Leo's wrath as if it were made of sand. "It definitely has to be because they have nothing to lose anymore," another man added grimly while tightening the straps of his travel bag, preparing to flee the planet as soon as his shuttle ticket was confird, "that has to be the reason, since no one fights this recklessly unless they have already lost sothing far worse. And in my understanding the Cult has already lost everything that mattered."
He said, as he shook his head in disappointnt.
"I'm rushing over to safer planets.
There is a theory on the GalaxyNet that Skyshard won't target planets with two or more Monarch's guarding it..... or at least that is the hope. So I'm off to such lands.
To hell with living costs, life cos first."
He said, as across the universe similar conversations brewed in drinking bars, in military dormitories, in cramped shuttle bays, and in crowded hospitals where dics worked overti after every planetary attack, because the fear was no longer localized to those who had suffered loss, it had seeped into the bones of every civilian living under Righteous rule, as if the very notion of safety had beco a myth overnight.
On Planet Aravex, a transport conductor refused to leave the shuttle until he checked the evacuation protocols three tis, pacing nervously while mumbling under his breath, "One attack... just one... and we are finished... if Skyshard chooses us today then nothing in the universe can stop him, not shields, not fleets, not Monarchs.... Unless the Eternal Sovereign saves us himself, nothing else can." A group of soldiers stationed nearby exchanged grim glances, each man gripping their weapons tighter as though the blades offered comfort even though they all knew it was useless against a being like Leo Skyshard, as one of them whispered shakily, "The worst part is
not knowing where he will strike next... it's like waiting for a storm you cannot see."
Their captain, a seasoned veteran decorated for surviving four wars, stood silently with his jaw clenched, acknowledging that even he had never felt such helplessness, since war at least offered direction, purpose, strategy, whereas this new terror felt like the universe had beco a roulette wheel and every planet's na sat carved on one of its spinning slots.
On Planet Vrillia, a school teacher paused mid-lesson as the building shook from a distant tremor, her heart stuttering as she pulled the children close, while the parents waiting outside stared up at the sky with wide eyes because even harmless natural quakes now felt like ons of incoming doom.
"I heard Planet Oga fell in ten hours," a father whispered to his wife, his voice cracking as he spoke, "I heard Skyshard was so furious he burned their entire command base down to its atoms... how do you even fight a creature like that? How do you even breathe knowing he can appear anywhere?"
Stories like this passed from mouth to mouth until rumor beca belief and belief beca dread, because no matter how exaggerated so tales were, the reality behind them was terrifying enough on its own, as everyone knew at least one official report confirming that entire planets had vanished under Leo's attacks.
Across the entire Righteous territory a single shared truth echoed through every heart, whispered in fear, muttered in anger, spoken in
despair.
"It could be our planet next."
"It could be our ho."
"It could be today."
As the fear of Leo Skyshard of the Cult settled over the universe like a suffocating blanket, pressing into every ho and every heart while
the stars themselves felt hostile, as though the sky could split open at any mont and doom might pour through in the shape of a lone warrior, causing the citizens of the Righteous Faction to live each day with their breaths held tight in their chests, wondering if the next distant tremor, the next flicker of light in the sky, or the next ripple of cosmic energy would mark the mont their world finally ca to an
end.
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