I've managed to pull myself out of numerous sticky situations before throughout my travels here. But this is a situation in which the odds were really stacked against me. One of the creatures clearly had a vendetta against me while the other was ready to strike. I saw the flesh tearing apart to reveal its mouth, howling at me. Before I could react, I was pounced on from behind. I hit the floor, my head pinned down by the horrific long claws of the creature I had attacked previously. It began to slam my head repeatedly against the metal, staining it with my blood. No... No it could not end like this. I had to do something. I arched my foot up then kicked it back to strike the creature in its groin. A sharp scream erupted from it. I crawled away only to be greeted by the other, jumping over towards me and sinking its claws into my stomach, tossing me a few feet away. My back scraped against the flooring and my instrument had been dropped. It was fast approaching so I turned over to whip out the firearm slung over my back, took aim and fired a shot. The round pierced straight through its eye and out from behind. The long-limber monstrosity fell to the floor. Brain matter had spilled out from the gaping hole put through its skull. I loaded a new round and peered around. The other creature jumped on top of the generator. I fired at it but it narrowly missed. Shit. With claws out, the creature jumped down and thrust its claws straight into my stomach. Did the new implants I was given even prepare me for this? With this immense pain I was beginning to feel a surge of energy flowing through the blood in my veins. I reached up and grabbed the creatures head, then taking the barrel of my firearm and quickly jabbing it into the eye socket of the creature, pulling the trigger. It's brains blew out of the back of it's head. Its claws retracted from my flesh and it fell. Looking down I could see my bloody wounds slowly but surely healing.

I got back up on my feet. My body ached with pains all over and it would be some time for these wounds to fully patch up. There didn't seem to be any more of those creatures. I went to retrieve my instrument and take my leave by descending the many stairs. To think... I almost ended up like those torn corpses. I only just now noticed that the air inside of this place had a musty green tint to it. It must've been contaminated from the Rot growing throughout. I left the industrial facility to be greeted by the gleaming lights of the other two structures. Now I should be able to go into the large structure with the mechanism on top. Upon reaching the building I noticed that the device for the doors was on now. I brought out the Key and slotted into the fleshy mold, giving it a nice turn to the right. The ornate doors opened up for me. Good.

The interior of this structure was as massive as it's scale would seem. A wide open-ended first floor with marble pillars climbing high up to the ceiling. Benches were on both sides of the split walkways leading to a back area shrouded in the shadows of the second floor balcony connected by dual stairways. In the center of the room was a grandiose statue of a godlike being. They had a curvaceous figure with breasts and a striking, chiseled face. On their back were what seemed like folded wings entirely made of corpses. Adorning the statue was a beautiful golden circlet with a red gem in the center and a single golden stripe all the way down the center of their body. Holding in their left hand was a mechanical skull. In the right hand was a goblet sculpted from flesh. Embedded on their chest just below the neck was a series of symbols forming a circle with two lines through it. This figure was... Angelic. Godlike. Just who were they? All around this place the Rot had overgrown much of the furnishings and architecture. Red strands and tendrils were wrapped around the pillars, covering parts of the flooring and staircases, and even just dangling from the ceiling. This was the most intense overgrowth I had seen yet. Even more so then inside the industrial facility. What was once a grandeur hall had become a hellish den. I wanted to see what was beyond the statue before climbing the stairs. A large oval door several feet wide was built into the floor. Just like the rest of the floor, the Rot strands had covered it. But, there were dozens of torn up strands left rotting away and many more growing out from underneath. This door has opened at some point. But when? And whatever was down there... Like inside the industrial facility, was causing the growth to overflow above the surface.

After uncovering that, I headed up the left staircase as there was only slightly less of the Rot to hinder my way. The two smaller pillars up here both had humanoid figures embedded into their designs. One resembled my own form while the other bore breasts and curves. They were in fetal positions facing each other. On the wall was a large art piece displaying a story? At the center was the angelic figure but with a bulging belly. Its arms were spread open wide. On its right were various machine contraptions emerging from the mouth of the mechanical skull. On its right were humanoids crawling out of the goblet of flesh. Below the angels pointed feet was a horizon with various structures erecting out from within. Perhaps... This was a display of our creation? Machines and humanoids birthed from the same womb? That was what I was interpreting as I held no knowledge of this world aside from all I've gathered during my travels through Carnis Machina. I turned to my right and saw another staircase leading the opposite direction from which I climbed heading upwards. Crimson vines were wrapped around the corners of the wall. Seems it has even spread up beyond here.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

As I approached the stairs I could hear wet, wriggling noises coming from above. The entire hallway leading up to the third floor was coated with the Rot. Small red worms with tiny round mouths bearing teeth and tendrils splaying out from their behinds were slithering around on the walls. I just avoided accidentally touching them on my way up. Reaching the third floor was an open area and a single room with two entrances. More tendril-covered benches and a disturbing amount of the red skin tissue from the Rot coating the floors and walls. Not once inch of this mausoleum was untouched from the infectious growth. Not to mention all of the worms writhing around every corner. One of the sets of doors was closed while the other remained half-open, a hideous fat tendril blocking the way inside. So I went for the other doors. Pressing the button on the device opened it up. Inside I went.

What in the hell... was I looking at? Along the walls, encased into messy sacks of tissue were others like me. Ten to be precise. Five on one end. Five on the other. A large circular table with consoles sat in the middle, a projection device of some kind was perched upon an elevated platform facing a huge screen that took up most of the northernmost wall. A meeting room perhaps? I examined the nearest individual. Its eyes were looking at me. Its lower half had entirely become one with the flesh. Its arms were stuck in crooked positions. Only slight movements came from the fingers and its tilted neck. It could only groan in a muted agony. Looking at its neighbors, all of them were like this. All victims. Prisoners trapped in flesh prisons. In the middle of the room only a few feet from the table were even larger pods, seemingly been spawned like eggs from the mass of writhing flesh on the ceiling. As I got closer, the skin of the pods began to crack and tear. Flakes of the pale flesh fell onto the floor. Suddenly an arm popped out of the left one. Then another. And another and another. Four arms... tearing apart the flesh as if escaping the womb its encased inside. The top half of the pod came apart. A mutated husk of what was once humanoid crawled out, dripping blood and pus from its soaked body. Instead of legs, its lower half was that of the little worms. Tendrils splayed out and wiggling to get a feel of its new environment. The lower of the two arms on each side were much smaller in size compared to the average length of the upper arms. Now having penetrated the pod it was birthed from, the flesh slug gazed at me, hollow white eyes within its bulbous head. Inside of its chest was a mechanical plate and a single wire connected to the side of its head. As it eyeballed me, the other pods were starting to crack as well. I drew my instrument out, wary if these things would be hostile. It didn't seem to see me as a threat. I simply kept my distance. Pretty soon I watched as two more of the flesh slugs tore through their shells. The center one was a bit different then the twins. Not only was it taller, it had multiple wires attached to its head and a feeding tube from the chest-plate into its mouth. The three slugs slithered over to some consoles on the table. I watched as they tried to type away. Then they began to touch their bodies and their faces, shaking their heads, and trying to scream but could not. They... Seemed horrified at what they had become. I could see it in their body language. I was truly... Without words. I then watched them scramble towards every console, typing buttons away. A thunderous boom from below rattled the entire building, forcing me to back up against the wall. From a couple floors down I was faintly hearing something like a door opening up.

The flesh slugs slowly began to approach me. Their arms were extended out, fingers arched as if about to grab me. I swung my instrument in defense to keep them away. They waved their hands and shook their heads. Were they trying to tell me they were harmless? The tall one got closer, shoving the other two aside, nodding to me and offering me its hands. Huh... I shrugged and sheathed the instrument. The tall one then grabbed me and pulled me close into its grimy chest. It's okay. This is okay... They weren't harming me. Let me just see what they wanted me for. I kept calm, watching as the tall one aided by the twins took me out of the room. They descended the first staircase to the second floor. Past the mural. Down more stairs onto the first floor. They moved sluggishly of course. When I realized that they were taking me to the massive door inside of the floor, I began to panic. The door was wide open now and a platform sat. The slugs all got onto the platform. With a series of clicks, the gears started turning as the platform began to descend into a black void. Where... Was I being taken to?