Selendis’ doubt didn’t disappear when Jean was brought to her, disabled, by a blood hunter. If anything, Jean’s second capture increased her doubt. Granted the girl put up a good fight, having killed two of the three blood hunters and half of the zealots surrounding her, but this didn’t add up. Jean convinced Selendis to free her. Jean somehow contacted the primal for a distraction. And now she was just captured again and delivered to her, just like this?

Knowing there was no way she could get an answer from the girl with words and she couldn’t torture the answer out, Selendis reached out with her psionic energy and started scanning Jean from top to bottom. She didn’t have anything hidden on her. Her psionic scent was correct, so she wasn’t a fake or a double. There wasn’t any signal given off her.

Everything seemed so normal. Jean tried to escape. She failed. But…

“Make her absorb more essence and don’t release her under any condition. Give her a dose of void energy whenever you see fit.” The executor ordered as the Daelaam that survived started cleaning the scene. “She shouldn’t be far away from having enough essence. As soon as that’s done, we will warp back to Aiur.”

The essence of the primal would disappear if there wasn’t any other primal in range to absorb them, but given the amount of dead primal in the field the amount of essence remaining was still remarkable. Jean’s absorption sped up a lot after the slaughter. Seas of purple energy entered her body.

And so, after one more days of essence gathering, Jean was shipped back to Aiur, where she would, supposedly, be sucked dry by the dark god.

But was this “failed attempt” really just a desperate, unprepared, and futile try?

This was the first time Amon and Jean saw each other in real person. Despite fighting each other for what seemed like years, the only interaction the two have had was when Amon used words to pick apart Jean’s alliance.

Jean had to admit Amon was a frightening figure, and the few words of his presence didn’t justify him. Just take a look at his temporary body. Void energy was so dense it could almost drip down. The zealot was more red than any tal’darim or corrupted Daelaam Jean had seen. Jean scanned Amon with her psionic energy and was impressed by what she got. If she herself before absorbing the essence was the light generated from a single light bulb, then the current her was the moon. Amon was the sun. He was powerful all knowing, and invincible. It was no wonder that some of the tal’darim supported him. Amon might not be completely invincible, but he was certainly the strongest personal in the sector.

And yet this figure was just a part of Amon’s power. He was still mortal. If he could finish constructing his body with overmind’s body, protoss flesh, and zerg essence, then he could truly enter this world. He would be a god among men. He would be truly invincible.

The xel’naga didn’t say anything, but all the guards left the temple to just Amon and Jean.

The two remained silent for a while.

“Something is off with you.” Amon finally spoke. His eyes were closed.

Jean rose her eyebrows. “I’m sorry?”

“Something is wrong with you.” Amon continued, focusing on scanning Jean with his superior psi energy. “I can sense it. Something is wrong with your mind. It is...” He paused, as if confirming his guess. “It’s as if a part of you has been severed...but that’s impossible. No one can do that. Not even a xel’naga.” He opened his eyes. “Who are you? Who really are you? More importantly, why did someone do what they did to you.”

“I am Jean Turner, and I don’t know what you are talking about.” Jean replied, slightly confused on what Amon said. This concern didn’t stop her from coming up with a lie. “I believe your underlings have already delivered every single piece of information about me to you.”

“Yes. Yes. Former lieutenant of a rebel group known as Raynor’s Raiders. Later assassinated commander. Have been targeting my underlings ever since.” Amon said slowly, toying with his words. “But who really are you?”

Jean played innocent. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“What was done to you wasn’t done for fun. It takes time and energy. It takes someone powerful.” Amon reasoned. When he saw the confused look on Jean he decided to ask a question. “Why are you targeting me?” It was a question he had been wondering since a long time ago. “Why are you opposing me?”

“I want to live, and your rise to power will present that.” Jean responded automatically, but her heart frowned.

Why did she fight Amon? In fact, why did she even bother completing this mission? The Supreme One threatened to kill her if she didn’t comply, but she wasn’t afraid of dying. In fact, she was completely impervious to the threat. To her dying was just like casually taking a breathe. Why did she fight at all? What was powering her? What was stopping her from just sitting back and wait until she either die of starvation or of someone else’s hand?

Jean was starting to think her already complicated history would get even more messed up.

“You look concerned.” Amon noticed the doubt on Jean’s face.

“You’re wrong.” Jean quickly hid her questions.

“Well, I guess it will not matter anymore.” Amon didn’t have the patience to continue asking and decided to skip this odd girl. It was partly because he was so close to victory and he didn’t want his success to be disrupted and partly because Amon refused to believe there was someone capable of doing something even he couldn’t do. The thought of someone even stronger than him drove him mad, so he chose to cross out the possibility. “For today is the day I rise. After this day, no one will be able to stop me. No one.”

Not giving Jean any more time to think, four blood hunters entered and took Jean outside. Amon followed.