“Life is fleeting, but death is eternal. One cannot run from Death, for it will always come back for you.”
Elder Mor of The Undeath Empire
System Processing…System Processing…
Integrating #26: (“Milky Way Galaxy”)
Population: [234.5] Trillion…
Planets: [3.2] Trillion…
Average Technological Development: Low…
Average Potential: Low…
Grade Designation: F
Sub-Integrating Planet #32864 (“Earth”)
Processing…Processing…
Estimated time [1] Second…
Error Detected
[Target{s}] deceased during integration = [1] …
[Target{s}] Death: Outside Common Parameters
Query: Next Step…?
Action: Ignore [target{s}] and continue integration…
Overriding: Activating (Lazarus Code [00001])…
Confirm: Initiating standard procedures…
System Processing…System Processing…
Complete
Mark felt nothing. He could see nothing. The visions he saw were but fleeting memories replaced by the all-encompassing absence of reality. He felt himself slowly giving into whatever this was, sucking him in like a black hole. This was like a force of nature that the likes of Mark’s primitive mind could never fully conceive. His senses were jumbled, and his mind soon began to break apart piece by piece. Each piece of his conscience was being eaten away like a tasty snack. Each bite took everything that Mark was. The very essence of who he is was slowly digested to feed some unknown entity. However, as the last piece was finally being pulled away, a daring rescue took place. What was once an all-consuming void, was now infected with vibrant life. It invaded the dark endless depths in an attempt to retrieve Mark's very soul. However, the void is relentless. It was a force to be reckoned and even gods would eventually be consumed. It was Inevitability incarnate. As more and more of Mark came together, the more Mark could feel the innate wrongness of this rescue. To steal from death was to also steal from life, therefore upsetting the careful balance of nature itself. To fully revive one's soul, you'd need an immense amount of life energy to capture the many fragmented pieces of the soul you’re trying to save. This was unnatural, life was never meant to mingle with death.
This feeling of wrongness grew stronger and stronger to the point where Marks’s newly formed soul felt like it was being ripped in two. Two competing forces pulling at his soul, playing a sort of macabre tug of war. He suddenly felt a surge of power wrap around him more securely like a rope being tied around his waist. Mark began to realize that he was being pulled away like a fish caught on a hook. He could sense the cold nothingness he felt earlier to slowly start to recede as he was being dragged from oblivion towards God knows where. He wanted to go back. He knew that whatever was happening was an affront to the very fabric of the universe and that he would be forever a changed man. To defy such a thing had to bring about immense consequences that Mark never signed up for. All he could do was wait and see what was waiting for him on the other side.
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“Sir, we have successfully revived him”, said the masked individual. The figure clothed in shadow didn’t respond, as if he didn’t even hear him. The masked individual knew better than to repeat himself. His master could unmake him in a blink of an eye, just a mere thought away from death. Finally, he responded, “ Send the extraction team and have them be prepared to bring him in.” The masked figure bowed in acknowledgment, turned around, and promptly exited the room. The feeling of dread he felt whenever he was around his master unfortunately followed. Still, he continued walking down the long maze-like corridors of black obsidian for quite some time. All the while his mind was racing. They had done the impossible. No empire, much less an individual, has ever plumbed the depths of the void and has retrieved an intact soul. The cost of doing so was so exorbitant that it had bankrupted one of their major factions, however, the Undeath Empire had factions to spare. His job now was to retrieve this Mark Lee of planet Earth and be heralded as a hero for being an instrumental part in taking down their mortal enemy. All Mark had to do was survive his integration, however, his intuition told him that he would have no problem surviving.
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Welcome to The Conglomerate: #32864 (“Earth”)
Grow and become strong, for only the strong will rise up and serve The Conglomerate in its glorious crusade into the unknown.
Enjoy the System-provided Tutorial!
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Mark awoke with a start. Gasping for air like a fish out of water. He grabbed at his neck finding the thin hands of some creature choking him to death. Their thin course hands gave no leeway, nor did they stop choking him as he struggled to free himself. He could see bits of shadows moving around him like sharks waiting for their next meal. His legs flayed around in the air in a desperate attempt to find some ground to stand on, but he found none. Mark could see black dots starting to appear in the corner of his vision, which gave a rather grim monochrome look to his reality.
Whoosh.
Suddenly Mark dropped to the floor with a resounding thud. He landed on his back with a quiet groan escaping his lips. All the air had been evacuated from his lungs, leaving him stunned and in shock.
Mark lay there for quite some time, gasping for breath and in a state of absolute shock. What just happened?! Wait, it’s still here! Mark saw the beast that had nearly strangled him to death swinging carefree up above him. However, it wasn’t any typical beast. This was a beast he had created. Born out of desperation and sadness, it now looked less like a beast and more like a horrifying reminder of what he had gone through, and the events that led him to create it in the first place. Strangely enough, Mark felt grateful to be alive. Or, perhaps he was just grateful for the relative peace that he was now experiencing. He had seen what no man or being had ever seen and had come back to tell the story. I died and came back to life. I just know I did! Mark lay there for a split second longer trying to grasp at the fading memories of his ordeal. Suddenly confusion turned to terror as he realized he wasn’t actually alone. Something was here with him. There was an almost imperceptible shift in the air around him. It was cold. Like really cold. Mark was no stranger to cold weather. He's lived in cold weather all his life. Yet this cold wasn’t like any cold he had experienced. It was a coldness that seeped into your pores and permeated throughout your bones. No matter what you did, you just couldn’t get warm. It was as if he was being frozen from the inside out. The temperature decreased even further, and Mark couldn’t see the source. All he knew was that he was being watched. It was that paranoid feeling in the back of his head that screamed at him to MOVE!
On instinct, Mark rolled to his left and looked over to where he was just at. He could sense no movement, and the little light that shone from the window showed nothing. Yet, Mark's mind screamed that he was in danger nonetheless. Wait how did he get loose and fall to the ground? Mark looked up and could barely make out that only half of the former beast remained. The rest was nowhere to be found. He grabbed at his neck to feel for anything grasped around it, despite already knowing that nothing was there. Terror seized his heart making it difficult for him to breathe properly. His breath came in and out in a startling fast rhythm. Why did he feel such terror? What the hell was going on?! He tried to get up, to face whatever was here, and only successfully got into a crouching position. His ability to move was that of an old man on his last legs. He could barely think now, the panic pounding at his mind like the incessant beat of a drum. He had to get out of here. Anywhere but here!
Yet, Mark couldn’t move. He could only shiver and hope to God that whatever was here couldn’t see him. His eyes darted around his kitchen looking for any signs of movement. He could barely see anything, but he wouldn’t dare move to turn on the lights. He felt his eyes draw to one particularly dark corner of his kitchen. It was just like any other corner, yet the darkness was strangely familiar. It sucked in the light around it like a black hole. His eyes locked onto the corner. It had his full attention now. He could hear the all-familiar ticking of a clock in the background as he stared.
Tick tock tick tock ticktock ticktock ticktocktichtockticktock. The cadence of the noise was becoming faster and faster. Ticktockticktockticktock. Mark's brow was dripping with sweat despite the cold. Drops of his sweat dripped down his forehead and stung his eyes. Abruptly, the noise stopped. Did it break? The lapse in Mark's concentration distracted him from realizing that the darkness was expanding. It reached out towards him like a wave. It was now arm's length from him. Mark noticed it all too late. He once again couldn’t breathe. Something was wrapped around his neck, tight like a noose. Flashbacks of him dangling up in the air came up to the forefront of his mind. He was almost about to pass out and he knew that it would be the end if he did. All of a sudden it stopped. His airway unhindered, and he started gasping for air. Sweet sweet life bringing air supplied his lungs with much-needed oxygen. As he was regaining his bearings, the ground started to shake violently.
The windows in his apartment shattered and he could hear the cracking and creaking of his home being shaken apart. He had to get out or else he would be buried alive under tons of debris. Even the darkness that had almost killed him knew that this was a problem; it retreated back towards the corner from where he saw it originally and simply vanished out the broken window. With no time to think, Mark stumbled towards the door and managed to find the doorknob. He yanked the door open and bolted outside. Cold crisp air greeted him as he escaped from his apartment. Mark didn’t even look back, as he stumbled some 20 yards away. The street lights helpful glow radiating his path to his car. The shaking thankfully stopped the moment he got to his car. With a grunt, he pulled at his door handle, but then realized he hadn’t unlocked it. Crap, I left the keys inside. He looked back contemplating whether or not he should go back. However, his decision was made for him as his apartment collapsed in on itself. Mark cursed his bad luck and scanned his surroundings for the darkness that had almost tried to kill him. The darkness that tried to kill him? What the hell was that thing? Mark was having one hell of a night.