Kai reached for his rifle, but his fingers weren’t there. He tried to blink, but his eyes didn’t respond. He inhaled sharply, except there was no breath, no air, no lungs to draw it in.

Confusion gripped him, but even that felt distant, muffled like a scream behind thick wall. His body? Where was his body?

A flicker of movement caught his attention, not in front of him, but within him. Thin strands of 0s and 1s unraveled in a slow, twisting display, reforming, reshaping. They pulsed, shifting too fast to follow.

The realization struck him like pouring ice cold water on his head. This wasn’t his body that he was in.

His vision adjusted, sharpening, expanding. The strands of code weren’t abstract anymore, they were forming an image, or rather a video feed.

Commander Grayson's face appeared in his vision, facing him. His harden expression came into view first, tight with pain, blood running down his arm. His grip locked onto something just beyond the frame, his knuckles pale.

Behind him, Eliana stood firm, rifle helped by one hand.

Kai tried to call out for them, he tried to move, to do something thing, but nothing happened.

Then he saw a body slumped against Eliana’s side. Head tilted, unmoving, limbs limply dangled.

He realized it was Kai's body, his body. He was looking at himself.

A rush of panic surged through him, but it felt strange, like static crawling through his thoughts. He willed his arms to move, but there were no arms. He tried to turn his head, but his vision only tilted.

The end of Eliana's barrel flashed twice, causing his whole view to turn to white before turning back.

Pain tore through him, yet he felt no pain, but something screamed at him to execute pain like response. He could feel that some data were lost the moment Eliana shot him.

His vision faltered slightly, his entire being lurching as the damage spread. He wasn’t bleeding, but he sure felt like it.

Eliana was slightly confused too—about why the machine creatures that was so relentlessly attacking them earlier had stopped, she adjusted her aim.

Kai fought to regain control of himself. He reminded himself that he was no longer human. At this moment, he was a creature with tentacle-like arms, and he needed to protect his friends from harm.

A new sensation hit him—like his consciousness was expanding, his very soul stretching to fill his new body.

One of his tentacles slid into view, blocking half his vision just as Eliana pulled the trigger again. He felt the impact on his new "arms," but no harm was done.

He could feel the rest of his tentacles too, as if he had suddenly gained extra limbs.

Gripping the corridor walls, he pushed himself backward, his movements felt strange. The end of Commander Grayson's barrel came into view, aimed directly at him.

The commander looked just as confused as Eliana, but he didn’t fire, letting Kai back up.

Kai spun around. He wasn’t alone. Other creatures lurked in the corridor with him—and their intentions were far less kind.

He slammed into the nearest machine creature, his vision flickering for a moment, but Kai didn’t care. He attacked again. The machine hesitated, its artificial intelligence struggling to process why one of its own had turned against it.

Kai drove his tentacles into its sensors, ripping them out. His limbs were like blades, slicing deep into its head, cutting through internal components. The machine went limp and collapsed to the ground.

He turned back. The elevator had arrived. Eliana had already pulled his body inside. His hanging heart settled.

More creatures rushed down the corridor.

His sensors were damaged, half his vision black, but his tentacles still worked. He surged forward, spearing the head of the first machine and throwing it backward, knocking over the second.

He didn’t waste any time. He lunged onto the fallen machine, tearing into it while it was still stunned.

No more machines came, but in the distance, Kai could hear screaming and shouting. He rushed through the corridor, emerging into the market area. Chaos erupted all around him. The creatures were attacking anything that moved.

The locals fought back—armed soldiers forming protective circles around civilian, but they were surrounded on all sides.

Kai charged the nearest group of creatures. His tentacles clacked against the metal shed he used for leverage before he launched forward, slamming into a machine creature just as it was about to break into the crowd.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The civilians screamed. A few panicked gunshots pinged off his back, harmless.

Kai didn’t stop. He tore apart the creature he had pinned, its tentacles flailing in a frantic attempt to fight back. But Kai was faster, cutting them off with his own. Within moments, it stopped moving.

Kai fought relentlessly, tearing through the machines with savage efficiency. He couldn’t stop. The civilians behind him needed protection, and these creatures, machines stood in his way.

His tentacles moved faster than he thought, slicing through metal and synthetic limbs as if they were paper. Sparks erupted as wires snapped, and the machine crumpled to the ground.

One lunged at him, its razor-like appendages swiping at his head. He twisted, avoiding the strike, then coiled his tentacles around its head and ripped it free from its body. The machine sparked violently before collapsing.

He barely had to think now. His instincts guided him perfectly. The longer he fought, the more distant his old self felt.

He saw more people, flooding in from the same corridor he had come from. Their eyes were wide with terror, their steps frantic as they ran.

Kai surged forward, his tentacles gripping the walls and floor, pulling him toward them with terrifying speed. The civilians shrieked at the sight of him.

Kai slowed, deliberately keeping his movements careful, controlled. He wasn’t here to harm them. He weaved past, letting them pass, their screams faded as he sprinted toward the source of their fear.

He reached the gun deck in seconds and there were chaos everywhere.

The soldiers were barely holding on. The machine creatures pushed forward relentlessly.

Hai threw himself into the fight, crashing into the nearest creature with enough force to dent its armored plating. His tentacles wrapped around its body, yanking it off the ground before slamming it into the deck.

Another one turned toward him, its clawed hands raised to strike, but Kai was faster. He whipped a tentacle forward, piercing straight through its head. The red glow of its sensor flickered, then died as its body slumped.

A third machine leaped at him from the side.

Kai ducked, spinning mid-air, his tentacles lashing out in a flurry of strikes. Metal shredded, sparks flew, and the creature’s frame was torn apart before it even hit the ground.

“Hold yuh fire!” someone shouted.

Another “Him a help wi!”

The order spread. One by one, the soldiers stopped, their rifles shifting away from him, their focus returning to the other creatures.

Kai barreling into another machine just as it raised its weapon toward the soldiers. His tentacles wrapped around its arms, twisting, snapping. The machine flailed, but Kai didn’t give it time to recover. He drove his appendages into its chest, tearing out its power core in a violent spray of sparks.

The soldiers were holding on, but barely. More of them had fallen. The machines were still pressing forward, their numbers overwhelming.

Kai surged forward again, diving into the horde. His tentacles became a whirlwind of destruction, cutting, piercing, crushing. Machines fell one after another. Their sensors dimmed, their metal bodies cut to pieces under the force of his attacks.

Kai’s vision flickered between the flashing lights of gunfire and the chaos of battle. He had barely processed the countless enemies falling before him when his attention snapped to something else— A man shouting and fighting on his own, holding his ground against a machine creatures.

The metal beast loomed over him, its bladed limbs cutting at him. Blood smeared across Ife’s clothes, fresh cuts and deep wounds littering his body.

Kai launched himself to help Ife.

His tentacles lashed out, striking the machine with enough force to send it tumbling across the deck. Sparks flew as it collided with the deck, its metal limbs twitching as it tried to recover. Kai moved on top of it, tentacles striking downward like spears. The machine barely had time to react before his bladed appendages punched through its chest, tearing through its circuits until it stopped.

Kai turned, meeting Ife’s gaze. The man was still on his feet, but barely. His chest heaved with heavy breaths, sweat and blood mixing on his dark skin. Yet, despite the near brush with death, he grinned. His eyes were unfocused, high on whatever he had been smoking earlier.

“Rhatid,” he murmured.

The creatures were regrouping, their red sensors glowing ominously as they gathered. One by one, they recalibrated, helping others, attaching lose tenticles, cutting off dangling sensors. Then, as if driven by some unseen command, they attacked.

Kai and Ife stood back to back, the creatures came for them, seeing the two as their biggest threats.

The first machine lunged, its bladed arms slicing through the air. Kai reacted instantly, his tentacles intercepting the strike midair. With a violent twist, he ripped the creature’s arm clean off and drove another tentacle into its head, sending it crashing to the ground.

Ife moved just as quickly, his rifle fired into the sensors, dropping one machine before it could even reach them. He fired until he was out of ammo.

Without missing a beat, Ife flipped the weapon in his hands and used it as a club, smashing the stock into the nearest machine’s head. The impact dented its sensors, but it didn’t stop. The creature lunged again, and Ife ducked, cursing in rapid phrases that Kai didn’t understand.

Kai didn’t let him fight alone, his tentacles wrapping around another enemy, hoisting it into the air before slamming it into the ground hard enough to shatter its frame.

The creatures kept coming, but Kai and Ife refused to fall. Ife fought with the stubborn defiance of a man who simply refused to die, his rifle cracking sensors as he cursed and laughed between breaths. Kai fought with monstrous speech, his tentacles moving like a hurricane, carving through the enemies with ease.

And then the machines froze. For a brief, eerie moment, the battlefield went silent. Then, as if responding to an unheard command, the creatures turned and fled.

One by one, they reached the edges of the ship and leaped into the void.

Kai felt it too, a command.

His body moved before he could think, as if something deep inside him was wired to follow. Without hesitation, he jumped.

The moment he left the ship, his tentacles curled inward as the thrusters on his legs activated. It was as natural as breathing. He soared through the void, weightless, moving with terrifying speed alongside the retreating creatures.

Kai’s gaze locked onto a distant point in space where they were all heading too. At first, it was nothing more than a pinprick of light, barely visible against the vast darkness. But as they flew, it grew larger.

Kai could tell it was a ship.

The command grew stronger. It dug into his mind, pressing against his thoughts like a hand gripping his skull.

"Destroy, attack, obliterate!"

And then he saw it, the Black Swan.

Recognition slammed into him. His "mind" screamed in protest, his body jerking to a halt mid-flight. His thrusters sputtered as he fought against the force compelling him forward.

But the voice in his head pushed back.

"Attack. Destroy. Obey!"

He raised his tenticles and started cutting them off, forcing himself to stop, but the will inside him fought back, clawing at his mind, demanding obedience.

And then, he felt a presence. Something that watched him from the depths of the void.

A whisper slithered into his mind, as cold and suffocating as the vacuum around him.

"Traitor."