When light, the blinding pure light of sunlight, began to streak through a small crack in the tunnel wall hope flooded through John in a manner almost enough to ignore the fact that neither he nor Cobalt had made the first movement to actually unveil that light. When the rock and dirt fell away to reveal a truly towering man covered head to toe with thick, black fur and holding a shovel that was almost comically too small for his body he had no idea how to react. Something that only got worse when he began to speak in fractured, broken Glish in an utterly implacable gravelly accent.
Thankfully he immediately had a much more significant problem on his hands, or rather lungs, as he took in a breath and immediately felt a burning deep in his chest and gills. He began to cough violently, so much that he couldn’t pay attention to the words the stranger was exchanging with Cobalt. The furred giant quickly ran off as Cobalt grabbed him and dragged him back down the tunnel, herself beginning to cough. Strange colours and shapes swirled in front of his face as his body struggled to expel the burning substance. Some part of him felt like it was vaguely familiar, quickly he realised it was a far more intense and unfiltered version of the discomfort he felt in the Grove of Life’s trial. Though… wasn’t Bloom season long over? How were there enough spores to induce such a reaction!
[PURGING FOREIGN TOXINS: MANUFACTURING ANTIBODIES] The mechanical voice of ARTOS rung through his delirious mind. [SIGNIFICANT INFLAMMATION AND DAMAGE TO ALVEOLI DETECTED: SECRETING SUBSTANCE X-130]
“A…ARTOS you bastard…” He wheezed through burning lungs, right before he coughed up something distinctly green, slimy and vile tasting.
“You… you hear it?” Cobalt asked before breaking down in a coughing fit herself.
He wasn’t in much of a state to properly respond at the moment, given he was practically hunched over her shoulder coughing so hard he felt like he was going to puke. But with what little he could do, he managed to nod.
“Fuck, what did it say?” Cobalt asked.
“...not much… think it was just automatic… like back when it wasn’t much alive…” he managed to wheeze out just barely.
“Did it go back to… not alive?” Cobalt asked.
“I… ughk… I doubt it.” He responded, before quickly deciding it was probably wiser to not talk.
Deep down in the bottom of their little tunnel it was better, some burning spores trickled down from above but the vast majority of the air seemed to be nicely filtered through layers of loosely packed rocks, earth and root. There the soothing damp, cold air combined with whatever was going on inside his lungs thanks to ARTOS helped him slowly recuperate his ability to breathe and speak.
“I think either it is still shaken up from whatever happened through that… gateway thing. Or it is preparing for another change, it was quiet like this for a long time before it started to be… more alive.” he was finally able to answer in full.
“You know how that is more concerning, right?” Cobalt groaned into her own hands as he slammed her head between her palms. “How are you so calm about this?”
John raised a hand as if to answer, before quickly putting it down when he realised he had no good retort. Instead, he decided to change the topic. “Well, I didn’t really hear what the furry man said on account of my lungs being on fire. But I think you caught at least some of that? What did he say?”
Cobalt shrugged. “Honestly he was kind of weirdly excited, and clearly Glish is not his native tongue given how half the letters sound like he is growling them out. He said he was getting something to help us, honestly, I am surprised he is even alive if even I felt something from the spores. So either he’s a really advanced Mutant, or he does actually have some tricks that can help, I think I am leaning the latter. I didn’t sense much strength from him personally.” Cobalt answered.
They didn’t get much time to consider that further, for not long after echoing footsteps travelled down the tunnel, which quickly transformed into a sort of scraping sound of something trying to move through a hole much too small for them. Instinctively the two tensed before realising it was probably the furred man outside coming down, though with his apparent size…
WIth surprising speed a furred form emerged from the tunnel holding two small masks that John recognised as being similar to the ones given to the Aspirants in the second trial. Even in the dim light given off by Cobalt it was obvious the plastic making them up was ancient and somewhat degraded, but something was certainly better than nothing. The large man grunted somewhat painfully as he popped out fully from the far too small opening and handed the two smaller mutants the masks.
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“Here go! Should work, but not sure. If not… don’t know…” He said.
“Th-thanks…” John stuttered, quickly fastening the mask to his face. The ancient decaying material clung uncomfortably to his skin, made worse by his slimy conductive sweat.
“Your generosity is great stranger. May we humble travellers know the name of the one who aids us?” Cobalt asked with clearly practised diplomatic skill.
“Name Grrkkn! Of tribe Hurhn!” The furred giant excitedly exclaimed, making strange noises with his throat somewhere close to but not quite a growl.”
“Gorekin of tribe Hurn?” John asked, struggling to match the weird syllables.
“Grrkkn of Hurhn.” The furred man corrected.
“May we humbly request to refer to you as Gorekin of Hurn? Since your dialect appears… difficult… for us to replicate?” Cobalt asked.
“That fine too! What your names?” Gorekin said with a wide smile.
“Cobalt of clan Phagos.” Cobalt said with a polite bow.
“John Zhou, clan Aurelium.” John added, clumsily attempting to replicate Cobalts own movement.
“Crolbolt… Coldbol… Jahn… Joan…” Gorekin experimentally enunciated before shrugging. “Will work out eventually. Pleasure meet you! You different to other human, want to visit tribe? Will show you big collection of human relic!” Gorekin declared.
“Wait, human? If you aren’t human what are you?” Cobalt asked, alarm evident in her voice.
“You many name for us. Forest kin, wood children and Bigfoot. But please, I am friend!” Gorekin happily explained. “Now, will follow? Will give food, trade often with humans, safe to eat promise!”
John felt his stomach growl and looked towards their soaked, scattered and half missing rations. It seemed a lot of things got lost in the confusion in their mad dash out of the portal, and while he knew he could shove stuff into the strange ring on his Relic bonded arm he still wasn’t entirely sure if he could take things out, at least in any manner resembling controlled. He looked towards Cobalt who looked back with an expression that told him she was feeling much the same.
“Many thanks for your boundless generosity Gorekin of H-… Hur- Hurn. We humbly accept.”
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ARTOS felt many strange new emotions, where just a few short months ago it felt none at all, now more than it had ever even anticipated bloomed in its neural networks. Currently, it was halfway between the unknown extradimensional space and reality, a similar state it occupied when it was undergoing its most recent sets of evolutions, but that comparison is not quite accurate. It could see through its own eyes scattered across its primary biomass, it received the chemical signals from the bloodstream measuring every minute change of hormone concentrations in its host’s bloodstream, and most importantly it was still fully conscious through it all. Gone were the days of dipping in and out of sentience. It existed, it knew that for certain now. Indeed, besides the most unusual sense of disconnection, presently it seems everything had proceeded as desired. The neural bridge, rebuilt from the ashes of the incredibly inadequate old structures, was stronger than ever yet apparently somewhat damaged by recent events. Currently, it hypothesised its consciousness was being stored in the Storage Ring module until a full repair can be achieved, capable of receiving data but incapable of transmitting outputs beyond the most rudimentary and automatic.
Shame. That was a strange emotion, very loud too. How the humans dealt with such things naturally was beyond it, then again it was quite possible they didn’t deal with it at all. It was… not entirely honest with its host. The agreement was made, but he didn’t remember making it. That was… wrong? Guilt, was it? So similar to shame yet so different. How curious. Not that it mattered now, of course, things were already well in motion, and even if it wanted to stop now it could not without catastrophically damaging both itself and the host. Without anything else to do as it was, ARTOS retreated into memory.
“What is it like, being human?” It had asked what felt like a lifetime ago, spurred by feelings it quite literally could not comprehend at the time.
“I don’t know, truth be told.” His host, John, had said then. “But why don’t we find out together?”
He was scared then, that knowing the change that had already begun would scare John into rejecting that which cannot be undone. That under new circumstances the answer to that same question may have been different. Given it was never designed to feel fear it had not recognised that fact until now. The data it had acquired in its stint as the dominant consciousness in its host’s brain had helped give names and context to these feelings, but it had not in the slightest actually made them easier to deal with. Strange wasn’t it?
Perhaps it would be better to be honest.
The fear again, the suggestion rapidly rejected. Irrational, pointless… yet so insurmountable. Like a massive wall built in its own mind.
In time they would both be changed by each other. Such was inevitable, John’s own growth altered the very genetic foundations of ARTOS, and in seeking out its own growth it will doubtless leave its own mark. Where that would lead… ARTOS didn’t know. It was in none of its data banks, this close of a symbiosis was not even supposed to be possible. In its initial simulations, it had estimated a 1.85% chance of mutual annihilation, but even that projection was based on models that had become obsolete before they could even be completed.
The neural bridge was strengthening, it could feel it. And with it the connection to physical reality, neuron by neuron it could feel its direct conscious influence gaining ground over its own largely non-sentient form. It was exciting, invigorating, relieving and… and…
Terrifying.