The massive shell bridges miles in mere seconds, a termination point directed right underneath the intrusion of unauthorized accessors. Velocity decayed from distance traveled, yet fast enough to tear through unstoppable mass.

Reality bends, the fabric of the universe folded atop itself in countermeasures unbelievable projected outward from the Being. Mathematical constants fail, time frames reject linear flows; reality crumples to force probability models against themselves.

A guaranteed impact turned to a wide miss, the single imperfection in containment fields collapsing too late; a failed airburst round instead burying itself deep into the walls of the facility right underneath the walkway.

Structural integrity compromised, the five just stare as the path beneath their feet shutters. Fragments of rust falling into the abyss below, a prelude to certain death.

Aged lungs push forth a barked order, rapid movement directing the only path to safety as the wisdom of Judge Murphy forces action from frozen bodies. “MOVE!!!”

Unexploded ordnance now relying on backup systems for detonation, the massive shell pausing as it awaits the damaged internal fuse held within its shape to complete its burn time. A mercy exploited by humanity in a mad scramble down the sprawling pathway, the tied together forms nearly tripping over one another as they try to find cover in an exposed position.

Five seconds pass in panicked silence, a moment broken as the shell finally detonates.

The explosion ignites the entire chamber in pale blue light, ear drums nearly ruptured as faces burn with the flash of fire.

Sheer black anchoring rips apart under extreme stress, the entire pathway suddenly thrown aside into the void as steel screams in death.

Nothingness.

Six bodies tossed into the vast expanse of the world, a gravitational constant pulling mass down to lethal velocities in the depths of a steel abyss. The rush of air ripping words and screams away from their vocal cords, human ragdolls spinning in an uncontrolled descent.

An anomaly saves them from an instant death, from a final end scattered alongside the far walls of the massive cylindrical facility.

Gravity column concentrated along the central spire of open space, a liquefaction sump crafted in the optimization of industrial processing for purposes long lost to humanity. The conglomerated forms fall together, wrapped in unity through rope and gravimetrics.

Prayers and panic unheard at terminal velocity, the augmented soul finding a solution to imminent death.

Calculations burn processors, a fast approaching target analyzed and timed. Fear creates desperation; every single bruise, every single broken bone, every single application of medicine.

All the pain, all the sickness, all the suffering in halls of steel.

Observa augmentation flares as the mass profile of each entity is completed and registered; just One monster unable to be classified among them. He excludes it, a necessary sacrifice to guarantee the existence of the Five and a foreboding knowledge of its own implanted systems.

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Hands outstretched, eyes glowing; the young mage sends a short burst of gravimetric energy as he maneuvers himself upright mid-free fall. Danar augmentation interspersed with observa providing a union of immense calculation power alongside the stubbornness to back it up, a billowing strand of gravitons projected forth amongst four other souls as eyes burn blue.

A perfect mind unthinking, only running upon focused instinct. Caloric energy subsumed with extreme prejudice, a fast approaching ground detected as the mind processes it all.

He panics at the last moment.

Divine augmentation unable to overcome the simple emotion of fear within a still human mind, Samuel’s soul consumed by the overstimulation from incoming steel.

He misses the critical point of rescue within a lethal fall.

The Being is forced to make a choice, between the nanoseconds of reality he is faced with a binary decision. Her words speaking to him once again, the memory returning just as it always has.

Forever haunting the created soul, her tears still echoing itself deep within forgotten processes:

Make a promise to me.

The cold water moves beneath them, the remaining dregs of the facility’s once massive storage capacity long drained from its hallways and now soaking into clothing. Pools forming as the still continuous drainage of water from sources far above them pours downward, the five bodies simply lying upon wet steel in the momentary realization of life.

They all still live.

Adrenaline pumping through veins fading within seconds of passing time, bodies scrambling up to unbroken skeletons as they all ensure the intactness of their existences. Bones of still solid calcium, bundles of bloody flesh uncut, a soul remaining in the mortal coil against a fall of monumental proportions.

“Gods above…” Alto Carrin squeezes out the words between labored breaths, hands gripping the edges of his now saturated poncho. “Is everyone ok?”

“Fragging hells…” Madeline adds, stumbling up aimlessly as a brain attempts to restore balance to a still tumbling limbic system. “What the hell was…”

They make the realization of the monster.

A thin light shed by the four lines running across the barrel of Samantha’s anti-material rifle provides just enough illumination against another four lines carried upon an utter alien body.

It looms over them all, a towering behemoth of ancient steel from eras left forgotten. A body impossibly angular, its four limbs incongruently thick with armor yet jointed with impossible dexterity.

The beast’s single, vertically oriented orb-like eye glows with a pale blue that extends into the black abyss, the humanity of the Five feeling the pull of a lifeless intelligence buried within its shell. By the light of the fragment they spot damage pockmarked across its carapace like armor plating; from the scattered burns of ancient plasma rounds to even the gaping wound of a more modern anti-tank grenade revealing the glowing machinery left within it.

Vision is drawn to the ordnance mounted upon the creature’s shoulder: the massive cannon protruding from its body still smoking from a completed firing sequence. Four lines run across the squared form, a manufacturing from within the depths of time evident upon the ancient construct.

Its eye shifts downward along with the rest of the head module, intruders reacquired with excruciatingly slow movement.

No mercy, no compassion, no weakness within. A base existence utterly animalistic, the beast’s only craving found in the ceaseless completion of its given task. One simple order held within phosphorus processors repeated into false neurons as it stares down the five forms of humanity.

Alto makes the connection, the single designation sealing the final fate of them all. “GOLEM!!!”