New Short Story: One People, One Purpose

Investigating a strange death among the protoss, High Executor Selendis must face a difficult truth about her people in order to stop an unexpected enemy. Check out this excerpt, then download One People, One Purpose, first in a new series of StarCraft II short stories to celebrate the game's 10th anniversary.

“High Executor, there has been a death.”

Selendis considered the protoss who had spoken, sunk to one knee on the newly replaced stones of the temple square. He wore light armor that looked new in manufacture but old in design, the sort of Golden Age style that had recently come into fashion among some of the Templar—or rather, former Templar. She did not approve of such backward-looking styles; her own armor was just as new, with graceful modern lines that suited her slim build. “Has there been a battle?”

“No, Executor.” Everything about his tone and posture felt wrong; he was uncertain, Selendis could read that much, even without the emotional connection the Khala had once provided. It had been some time after its severing, and still she felt the absence of the telepathic gestalt that had connected the Khalai for millennia—the instantaneous empathy and unified purpose. In its place were new things to navigate: easy deceit, profound loneliness, misinterpretation. It meant, too, teasing out understanding the long way, with questions and body language, a slow and annoying process.

The questions now: Why be uncertain about death, the most certain thing in the universe? If there had been no battle, why disturb her with matters of old age or sickness? The protoss were not immortal and death did not care if their numbers had already been laid low. “Why have you come to me?”

“Because it is a strange death. A wrong one.”

Download One People, One Purpose now. And if you're itching for more StarCraft II shorts, download a collection of past stories here.