Sara watched as her only friend in this hellish planet was sucked underground. “Garin! No!” she rushed after the hole as Priscilla grabbed her from the ledge. She stopped herself from tossing the cat aside like a doll, but her grief still showed through. “Sara please, we need your help right now, the group has Sheila packed up but the Tunnelers destroyed the vehicles. We need you to help us defend our drop zone. Sara?” Sara cried openly, and fell to her knees.
“Garin… he’s gone, the damn lobster's going to kill him. And…he,” she lost it as she began flailing her arms like she did when she was little.
Crying came easier now.
She hated this place, hated what it did to her and Garin, everything.
“Sara please, I know this is hard, it not easy losing someone, but I need you right now.” She stood up, trembling.
Needed? This place needed to leave her the hell alone!.
Well, Garin would want her to help wouldn’t he? She would then, and after this, she would hunt that crab down, and make it pay.
Pain, it seemed like all she knew was pain anymore.
“Let’s go.” Not a hint of emotion, it was like the ground sucked it out of her. Nothing but that pain in her head. Kalra did nothing, but sat there in her mind looking down at her stoic as she was.
…
The group had everything packed and ready to go, and the Hellcat circled overhead. Melchior stared at the group with anxiety. So close to finding out about the Cheruv and their people and all of it lay within that canister. If he had the device now, in his lab, the thought screamed through his mind. All that power, all those untapped secrets, it could turn the tide of the war, save so many lives. It could evolve the planet, having the ancient power of the Cheruv at their fingers.
He thanked Garin silently for the approval to question the AI, but the thought immediately turned to sorrow. He had what she wanted, finally in all his days as a scientist, trying to save his people with the past, and the one who made that possible was sucked down a tunnel, probably never to be seen again. The Skiritix, they would try to turn him, but maybe he could get away. No, no one has escaped those wretched hives of theirs, for even with his power that hope seems lost for him. Melchior had the weapon, though it cost him a powerful friend.
Friend, strange that he knew him only for a week and he seemed so familiar now. The Hellcat touched down as Tim nudged him inside. Melchior looked out at the other Cheruv, Sara. Her face showed no emotion, not even a hint of remorse. That sent a chill up his spine, the girl was dangerous, unstable. No wonder Hawter kept her under the ground so long. That one would kill anything that got in her way. He prayed silently, sending that Garin would come back, and soothe the volatile girl before she killed them all.
…
The mission a success, despite the losses. So why did Pepper feel so bad right now?
Priscilla stared into the mirror. “Garin, why…” She had to school her features during the mission, but just as she stared back at herself, she wished she said something, screamed something, to Garrin.
Leaders didn’t have that luxury. She punched the mirror, cutting her hand as the shards dropped into the sink.
Even the pain was dulled by the sorrow she felt. He was so young, even if he was one of the Shandori.
No one deserved that kind of fate.
“I should have stopped him, those damn Behemoths, I…” Her words were lost, she knew there was nothing she could have done. A Skiritix she had never seen before and it almost killed her if it wasn’t for Garin, and she repaid him by leaving him to the darkness below. She looked at the shards of mirror on the floor, her face and the tears didn’t match. She grew angry and crushed the fragments further. She would find him, and save him from those crawlers. She stormed out of the room, grabbing a communicator on the way out.
…
Sara stared at the walls in her room, her anger smoldering. No one brought up a rescue attempt, it was like they just forgot what he did for them. She screamed at the wall, and punched through the metal with ease. Kalra looked at the child and smiled, she was young and naïve, but she was a perfect match for her. It was time to search to Tehran and his charge and with or without these other creatures she would do it.
“Sara we will go, it has been too long and we must rescue Tehran and Garin.” Sara lifted her eyebrow, listening to Kalra as she reached for the door, she was right. The more they waited the less time Garin might have. Who knows what those insects did to people.
…
Garin awoke in a vat of green liquid, surrounded by a horde of insectoid creatures. They stared at him, with something resembling hunger. What did these things eat anyway? Probably anything they couldn’t convert. Tehran buzzed to life in his head, scanning the entire room.
“The room is rather massive, two tunnels connect it to a massive network of underlying structures, biological by their signatures. It would also appear that we are two hundred feet under the surface.”
His scans reverted to the pool they were floating in.
“it’s an acidic mixture, made to burn away the outlying flesh, possibly for easier infection rates. The outer armor is holding without leaks or damage, this liquid cannot harm us.” Tehran retreated to the back of his mind.
They were trying to convert him.
He had both of his arms back, and no sign of that Behemoth in this room. Garin could break out, and these creatures couldn’t harm him in the slightest without something to slice through metal. But that didn’t tell him anything about them. Garin decided that it would be best to learn about the creatures holding him, since he knew so little as it was. So he waited, holding himself with his arms and tendrils in a ball, trying to look scared, but inside he planned. They would come once they knew about him.
what did Priscilla call these places? Hives, this was a Hive and whoever ran this place would take notice of him.
…
Hours passed, days maybe, it was hard to tell inside the monstrous building. No sign of anyone beside the horde of insects and their skittering. Tehran kept scanning for any new signs of life, but nothing appeared. Garin had learned some things about his captors, they all had the strange centipedes on their spines and necks, and the same location he had found on the Behemoth that brought him there. That was how they controlled the corpses of this world.
Tehran’s scans revealed the entire hive, and every tunnel that breached out from within. It was much worse than anything the survivors thought. The tunnels were further from the Vault, but the scanning revealed the network to expand past the Vault into other areas. What was so strange was that as he scanned Garin noticed the tunnels make a circle around the base of the mountain where the Vault lay.
The Skiritix couldn’t miss the structure like that, not with how close they were. Tehran surmised that it was possible they already knew, but something was keeping them back. The metal they made out of their compound was made to repel their signatures, but what was stopping them from entering? Garin wanted to know, if they found out what was repelling the Skiritix they could use it.
Tehran nudged his mind, directing him towards the tunnel on the farthest end of the room. Three Tunnelers came out, maws filled to the brim with fresh corpses. Garin saw the multitude of dead beings litter the floor in droves, and even though he did not know any of them, he felt a pang of regret for what would happen to their bodies. He recognized, Maria and Selo, the two who tried to protect the vehicles from the converts before they were overtaken. He couldn’t take his eyes off of their mangled forms as they were brought to the center of the great alcove, next to his acidic prison. The walls of the Hive stretched out, revealing a figure from the massive living wall. Tehran immediately scanned the creature.
It was a huge life form, the heat signature was part of the entire room. A mouth piece came out of its hulk, and two globs fell to the ground. “I believe this to be their leader, this makes a lot more sense now Garin. This structure is the leader of this group of creatures, it is the Hive.”
The globs busted to life and two centipedes skittered around, finding the bodies of the mangled Maria and Selo. They twitched to life, their bodies contorting to the emergence of renewed vigor. They began to lurch over to Garin’s vat, their bodies twisting with internal conflict as they approached.
Tehran scanned the biological signatures of their bodies, and it all clicked together. The centipedes were the morphs, they controlled the corpses and reformed the bodies, twisting them to look like insects. Maria, with her feathery skin, looked more arachnid with her black eyes as she approached his cell. She gasped and said, “Welcome Shandori, this one gives us renewed information. It would appear that your kind is resurfacing on this seedling.” Its mouth fought with the transformation, talking and clicking in tune.
“Your kind should join us, the Mother would take you into open arms, and the universe would be yours. This one has been purified, will you not join her?” Her head cocked with an audible crack, stretching a little longer then the body was intended. Selo came around the group surrounding his vat, his body already formed into the familiar converts of the Skiritix.
“Join us Garin, it doesn’t hurt, all the pain is gone, everything is one with the Mother, and she gives us strength.” His mouth mutated and feelers and mandibles grew from the twisted form. Tehran surged through Garin’s mind, giving him the feeling of calm calculations that he felt every time he was present. Tehran scanned the vat and, with his metal tendril, Garin punched through it without trouble.
The vats acidic contents splashed over Maria, Selo and the Skiritix surrounding them. They melted without as much as a scream. He climbed out and scanned the Hive. The Hive-being emitted a high pitched screech as the Skiritix became aware of his escape. So many of them surrounded him in an instant. Garin began flailing his arms at them, smashing them against the sides of the organic walls. Vigorously tearing through the Hordes, Garin’s arms began to tire, and the sheer number of the bodies began toppling over him.
They clicked and bit at his metal skin, but none could break through. Behemoths descended on him as the group broke apart. Two grabbed his arms in unison, as the third one looked at him from the side. Slowly they lurched Garin over to the Hive wall, placing him on the floor and forcing him to sit. The Hive stood there, gazing at him with multi-faceted eyes, something Garin would have expected from a fly. She came close, her eyes burning into Garin’s skull.
“Fleshling, how is it that you are metal and flesh, this is a strangeness, even to the ones who are with us now. They whisper you are from an age that is passed. Is it not true?”
“Go to Hell.”
“Hell? Is this where you came from? You will answer in time fleshling, you cannot deny us forever. Best for you if you give us our answers.” She was strangely sure of herself, it. But horror struck him as two tentacles stretched out from her wall-body. They latched to Garin’s ears, feelers coursing through his canals as he screamed loudly. Tehran acted, sealing off Garin’s ears with a metal plate. Tehran spoke through his voice, “Your kind will not find me easy prey hive-mother, and my kind has weathered infectious beings before.”
The Hive screeched in answer, as the tentacles retracted into her body. “Your kind? You are foolish, we know about you, and your metal skin will not protect you from us forever, Sheloak troc terf larsioa tk tk tk,” its clicking seemed to send the Tunnelers into a frenzy. Garin’s arms began to stretch beyond their limit. The pain returned in bloom as his arms locked up. The creatures stopped pulling for a moment, but started up again after a few seconds. Garin’s pain clouded everything, and Tehran’s voice became inaudible over his screams.
…
Hours passed again, the Behemoths holding his limp arms in their powerful claws. He looked up at them, and laughter sounded through the terrible clicking. It was all Garin heard now, all that he could hear. Tehran’s voice was silent, and not even a hum of his scanning was present in his mind anymore. The pain, it blocked out everything else. Garin couldn’t even feel his presence.
He stared at the ground, the living floor, and the hive-queen face stared back at him, with what must have been malice. She couldn’t break through his skin, so he was safe from being converted, but for how long? She had a legion of monsters, ready to pull him back as soon as he got away, until she found something that might break through.
One crack, and he would be like Maria, convincing Sara of the wonders of the ‘Mother’. It made him envision a mangled version of himself, with metal and crawling innards trying to breach outward from a contorted corpse. A centipede strolled by, as his heart began racing. Its feelers touching his skin as it crawled over him. Garin felt it bite his body to no avail. It moved away and began taking another corpse from the pile that was brought. Three piles of bodies, most of them looking decrepit to begin with, but some uniforms he recognized, Touak scientist, Sheok hunters and another being he didn’t recognize. Garin thought of his friends, of how hopeless everything seemed. How could they fight when their own friends and comrades dragged their bodies back here, only to join them?
He spat at the floor, hatred burning in his stomach. This monster was going to pay for the lives she took, and one way or another Garin was going to make them suffer. The spittle landed on her illumined face, and the Behemoths began yanking his arms once more. The pain came, but it was bearable now; Garin’s hatred burning through the warmth of pain, they would suffer for this, for everything!
…
Sara latched on a belt with an audible click, gear strapping over her back and past her tendrils. She glanced at herself, checking to make sure all of the supplies were in check. They were, and her tendrils reached out to grab a flashlight from the pack. Light illumined the dark halls of the complex but she could see well with the lights. Talrodaon was a massive black figure in the distance, glimmering with a substance that looked like mold. It pulsed in tune with a heart beats grace, sending shivers up her spine.
“Why did the ground have to be alive too? God, this is something out of a nightmare.” She glanced at the entrance to the town, the night yielding nothing but husks of buildings. Kalra scanned the area, and after a while picked up on something. “Tehran’s signal is faint child, but I sense the presence of another Shandori, below our feet.” Kalra pointed with one of the arms towards the hole, the one that Garin was taken down. “It is possible that we could follow them down there, but the creatures may spot us using their tunnel system.” Sara didn’t care how many of the bugs got in her way, but being overwhelmed by them wouldn’t help Garin either. So she looked around the debris covering the hole, noticing the outlining walls were covered in slime. “Kalra, scan that ooze on the walls.”
The Cheruv complied, analyzing the slime surrounding the tunnel. The scan filtered over Sara’s vision, as if she were staring at the screen of a computer. “Organic components to a subterranean vector. It’s used as lubrication to propel and decrease the friction necessary to traverse this tunnel network. Youngling, this was secreted recently, whoever made it is not far.” Sara dove into the tunnel, thinking about how much of a bad idea this was, but as she slid down the tunnel’s darkening corridor, she slammed into something almost immediately. It knocked the air out of her lungs, but strangely enough, she was still moving. The Bug looked at her, turning its long body along and gazing at her with four sets of blinking eyes, all of them white. She instantly froze, they were spider eyes, all of them round and slimy. Her heart seized into her throat, why did it have to be this bug?
The arachnid went closer to her, its head cocking to the side. It did the strangest thing Sara ever imagined, it licked her with an oozing tongue. Sara gasped, shrieking slightly, but caught herself quickly enough. The spider nudged her gently gazing at her with renewed focus. The eyes changed colors from white to blue, and it licked her again. Sara went from pure terror to slight annoyance in a few seconds. This was what she was afraid of? The damn thing was licking her, and she was cowering like a child. She stood, angling the light of her armor toward the beast. It had four huge forelegs, with an abdomen that felt like the rock of the tunnel around her along with a spike at the end were its rear would have been. It stared at her for a long while eyes shifting colors and head cocking to its side.
It clicked with its mouth pieces, wondering about the strange metal girl that slammed into its butt. Sara looked at the spider, and noticed the tunnel around her. The spider was making the ooze from its back end, and it was chewing a rock. This rock spider was what made the ooze. She sighed a sound of relief, no Skiritix then, but that didn’t help her find Garin. Kalra was scanning the creature, determining a threat, but Sara knew better. The thing wasn’t interested in eating metal so much as rock, and it seemed strangely attached to her.
“Scree?” it looked up at her, head slightly tilted to its side. Sara glanced at a shiny stalactite on the roof of the tunnel. She grabbed it from ceiling and with a crack, placed it down on the ground next to the rock spider. It jumped three feet in the air, and ‘Scree’d’ as it devoured the stalactite, crunching it down. It gazed up after her again, ‘Scree.. Screee stik tktk’. If Sara didn’t know any better, she could have sworn the thing was trying to talk to her.
Kalra’s scan finished, putting the overlapping vision towards her sight. The screen revealed the spiders entire structure, Sara could even see the stalactite being digested into the spider’s body. It was amazing, the rock was added along the bodies outer cavities, attaching itself to the skin. The rock spider was literally made out of the rock. But Kalra’s scans revealed the other extremities as well. Sara hated admitting it, but being afraid of spiders made her study everything about them, and she recognized venom glands along the spider’s fangs. Garin’s voice echoed in her head about the Skiritix; when she and Garin fought the Behemoth, Garin found out about a centipede inside the creature, latching onto its back controlling the entire beast. But the spider didn’t have anything like that. But it was made of rock, so the centipede wouldn’t be able to break through its tough armor to get past. But those Behemoths… they bore through rock so easily it’s a wonder this little guy wasn’t converted as well. The spider grew restless, nudging her with its fore leg. Sara jumped and the spider jumped with her.
Sara couldn’t believe it, but the thing was waiting for her to do something. “Scree tk tk Scree atk?” A question, Kalra noted the noise, and started to decipher. Sara went smug, there was no way she was going to understand this…
“Hey metal one! Rock piece, please?” her ears twitched as Kalra began decrypting every word. Sara looked incredulously at the spider, and laughed. This was insanity, this whole damn place… She caught herself and grabbed another stalactite from the roof. The rock spider devoured it in seconds, and moved closer to her. A fore leg reached over and placed it on her chest. “Your special metal one, no one show me shiny spike rock in long time, your people good.” It cocked its head, happy with itself and with its new friend. Sara shook her head, “Garin is never going to believe this…” the spider lurched up looking at her with its color shifting eyes. “Who is Garin? Is he your mate?” Sara stumbled, losing her focus and falling to the ground.
Apparently Kalra’s translation worked both ways, the spider eagerly awaited an answer. “He is a friend, not a… mate? He was taken from me, but I don’t know where he is.” The spider registered something, and Kalra translated it as sadness. “Friend, I know. Drenjo brother, was taken by the Tainted, he makes this,” he stretched his legs all around the cave, “For them, it hurts us, the Tainted ones take food, our friends, sister-wives, to make them Tainted.” Sara looked at the spider with compassion. She never once thought about a bug, to her they were so small and insignificant, they never mattered. But this spider, lost so much to the Skiritix, (it had to be them). She saw a child, looking for her lost brother, but finding only the caves he made for the ones who took him.
“Your friend, is he like you?” the spider put a leg on her chest again. She nodded, Kalra translating the notion to the spider. “Your friend is safe. Tainted are strong, but you are stronger, metal that glows. Strongest. I am strong, I have become like cave. We saved your friend from Tainted. I, Selok, brother of Terok, help.” In a flash, the spider grabbed her and placed her on his back. Sara grabbed hold of the spider’s back, and with a rush the spider raced down the tunnel.
…
Sleep came rarely for Garin as he drudged in the horrid Hive. Always the dream was the same. He stood in a group of Skiritix, a giant drill latched onto his back. They drilled him, feeling the serpentine body of the centipede crawling, latching onto him, as his body twisted into a new, terrible form. Garin raised the ground from his feet and melted the metal that scarred the surface of Sate, and all his friends stood in horror at what he became. He laughed but his voice wasn’t his own. A mockery of his own, an insidious laugh that told of being made one with the Mother. Then the hordes of bug-like monsters descended on his friends, and ingested their forms.
He woke after that, the same damn dream, the same damned ending. How long was it? No sun, no time at all in this dungeon. The Behemoths never releasing him from the choke hold grip on his arms and tendrils. And Tehran, lost to him, by the pain these monsters inflicted on his body. The thought of being alone scared Garin more than the thought of losing his friends. More monsters came, more bodies added to the pile. She, it, made him watch the conversions, held him up to the horrific transformations. This is your fate, she told him through this, you will be ours. Garin thrashed at the thought, his power burning through his chest, but nothing could free him from the claws. And the stretching, Garin’s arms were used to it now, but they grew from the yanking and stretching. Through the torture he was turning into something else, even without the centipede on his spine, working through his body like a puppet. Tehran, why aren’t you here? Why can’t I hear you? Dammit speak to me, save me from this… there was no point. He looked around, the bodies were all added, their faces contorted.
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Wallowing in self-pity isn’t going to save me.
He kneeled, looking at the wall of the Hive with apathy. She was the ring-leader. She wanted something from him, but she wasn’t going to get it without help, so what was she doing by bringing these bodies to him? She wanted him to see, but what was breaking someone to a creature that was primal, that ran on instincts?
She’s studying my reactions.
She was trying to find a chink in the armor. This thing, wasn’t an insect, it was an intelligence. There was a brain behind that monster’s face. Garin gazed into that face, its horrid features pretending to be monstrous, and saw it.
It was humanoid, this thing, creature, was humanoid! She peered back, making her face look more hellish, but Garin saw through it. A humanoid was controlling these abominations, and she thought she found a prize.
Garin’s anger rose again, fueling his power in a way he never tapped. His arms grew longer, slacking from the grip of the Behemoths, as the power coursed through him. He punched at the ground, his metallic fists shattering the floor that held the monster’s fake face. His lengthy arms whipping frantically from the grip of the Behemoths, lifting him as they held on. In a moment, they were floating, his power surging through the long arms they held. Fire flowed through and his arms became incased in flames. The Behemoths shrieked, the firestorm enveloping them whole.
The humanoid face on the wall gasped. Garin broke of the crumbling remains of the Tunneler husks, turning to the converts. They gazed at him with rage, their mouths clattering and cracking. Garin roared, his fury amplified by the fire in his wake.
“Come on!” He directed the flames, each arm shooting a gout of hellish fire at the mass of mangled corpses. The first wave of them became ash as the second tried to escape, the third pushing them into the conflagration. All he saw were pests, things to be crushed, unworthy of his time. She was the cause of this, they were in the way!
The waves stopped coming, and the insect horde that guarded this hall was gone, a mess of charred husks. Garin walked to the tunnel entrance, his fury pushing him forward, but he didn’t go to the exit. Tehran would say this was stupid, but Tehran wasn’t in his head anymore. He was as silent as the grave when they tortured him, and rage coupled with his fury. They were going to burn, she was going to suffer, and then he would leave. Garin walked, the map of the tunnels that Tehran had scanned marking his sight. The center of the Hive, that had to be a start. He pulled himself up and held a malicious grin to his face. What would Sara say to something like this? Burn it down, Burn it all down to the ground.
…
The Hive was huge, glittering walls brimming with organic life littering the of the center room. Converts, Tunnelers, and other creatures amassed the ground floor as Sara and Selok gazed from the higher tunnel network. It was amazing, and equally horrifying. Sara saw how the corpses turned and the monsters that came from the spiny centipedes. And the Hive, it was alive, as the walls stretched out and planted the horrid things on the still bodies. Selok merely gazed at them, his face showing nothing. “The Taint grows even now, metal one. You certain your is friend here? I see no others of metal.” His eyes were small, but Selok was keen and farsighted.
Sara looked along the walls, surely Garin would have been brought here. Kalra’s scans showed nothing but Sara wasn’t giving up. “Selok, can you climb over to the far side?” I think we should try the other tunnel right above that cluster.” It was far enough away that the horde below wouldn’t spot them. Selok had mentioned the poor eyesight of the converts to her as they made their way to the Hive, but Sara didn’t believe it till she was arm’s length from one in the dark. It was unbelievable that these things killed so many without good eyesight. Selok attached himself to the wall, Sara latched onto him with her arm, hanging onto Selok as he climbed across the organic walls. She felt silly, but riding on him while he climbed a wall wasn’t a good way of staying on him either.
She was heavier than Selok, so much that the first time she tried it with Selok, they both nearly fell of the wall. Using her other arm to stabilize herself from spinning, hanging from his abdomen became the only way for her to follow him.
They reached the other side as Selok hoisted her up, pulling her along like a rag doll. The spider was a pretty impressive thing, pulling her with the strength she would expect a forklift to possess.
On level ground at last, Sara straightened herself out, brushing dust off that wasn’t there. Nervous habits, but being surrounded by horrid bug monsters was cause for nervous, so she allowed herself this once.
Selok cocked his head, his sign of wonder and confusion. “Uh... I’m cleaning myself, it’s nothing.”
That made him cock his head even more to the side.
“Clean later, find metal one now. Tainted still around.” She could have sworn the damn spider was being impatient, and confirming her thought, the spider picked her up and placed her on his back. She harrumphed, but didn’t complain, the spider would probably tell her to be quiet.
Kalra’s voice chirped in her head, laughter, that bitch!
Sara’s face went red in anger as Selok stopped suddenly. Kalra became alert as well. “Selok what’s wrong?”
The spider spoke slowly, “Fire, much. It is, spreading…”
He looked towards the side, at a tunnel entrance. Sara looked as well, but what happened was clouded in smoke. All of the Skiritix started to head towards the smoked tunnel, the entire room was buzzing with their clacking and hissing.
Kalra scanned the source of the fire, and showing it to Sara, gasped. It was Garin, he was the source of the flames, and they were shooting out of his arms. Sara’s heart stopped, all those Skiritix were heading right at him! “Selok, we need to go to the flames, my friend is there!”
Selok twitched, looking up at her “Metal one? Fire is there, not safe! Tainted, not safe!” Selok picked her up and placed her down as the flames breached outward from the tunnel. Garin appeared, Skiritix surrounding him, but not daring to entire the firestorm that surrounded him. Sara stared but couldn’t believe it. He roared at the bugs that surrounded him.
“You are all going to burn! And so is she!” he stretched his arms out and the fire doused the Skiritix, passing over the whole room in a wave. They screamed, clattering mouths hissing their dying breaths. And the fire stopped, just like that. Garin looked at the center of the room and started to walk over to it. Kalra buzzed in her ears, but it was Tehran that spoke as Sara began hearing.
“Sara, I cannot communicate with Garin, something is wrong. The Skiritix did something to his mind, but he can’t see it. You must stop him!” Sara didn’t think, she jumped down at the center, the ground coming at her in a flash. She stretched her forearms and braced the fall. The arms touched ground as she slammed into it. She pushed herself back up as Garin made it to the center. “Garin! Stop!”
He turned to her, his eyes full of hate. He punched through the floor with such a force that the walls shuddered.
In fact, the ground and the walls were gyrating, the force of Garin’s blow moving in waves around the entire room. Garin’s hand was still in the ground, but after a few moments, he pulled it up.
In the area around where his fist met the earth was a girl.
She wasn’t contorted like a Convert. Instead, she looked a lot like they did, like one of the Shandori.
Garin never took his eyes off her.
Sara, worrying about a possible new threat, looked at the girls back. There, on the woman’s back, latched onto her like an enlarged spine outside her flesh, was a centipede.
“Garin get away! RUN!”
Instead, Garin punched the Shandori, sending the unknown girl towards a wall. Tehran and Kalra began scanning the Skiritix Shandori immediately as they shouted at Sara in turn.
“Garin has to stay away from her Sara, they are counting on him to kill the Shandori. The Centipede on her back won’t die, it’ll find a new host.”
“Sara he is right, we can’t let the centipede go free. That thing is meant to infect Shandori!” Sara’s mind was so preoccupied with the Cheruv, that she didn’t notice Selok landing next to her. The rock spider walked toward the Skiritix Shandori, its path direct.
“Selok, wait, what are you doing?”
It turned to her and said
“Metal one, but Tainted, Selok will eat it.”
It was so strange, he was so calm about it, but Sara thought of a spider eating her all the time when she was younger, in her dreams. Then an idea came to her, but not before Garin raced into the converted Shandori and started pounding her again. It attacked this time, smacking Garin and grabbing him in the air, throwing him to the other side of the room.
Sara went into a rage after seeing her friend being hurt. She rushed the Shandori, turning to her in a split second.
Sara grabbed at her, but the Shandori convert punched her away before she could get a grip.
She got a good look at its eyes as it chased after sending her away with a punch.
Its eyes, slits like a cat, showed no emotion on her face. Her hair, if you could call it that, was a collection of spines that resembled the past hair it must have had. She was young, and despite the changes, Sara could make out a youth to her.
This feels so wrong, but she’s an enemy. I got to stop her before Garin does.
Sara punched her in that uncaring face, using her other tendrils to trip the Shandori down. The convert’s back was exposed as Sara put her foot down on it. Using her tendril, she grabbed hold of the Centipede.
The Shandori screamed, a voice not matching the girl it held.
“Skeros lik tar! Nerok feor teruk!”
The Shandori pulled up with all her might, but she suddenly was fighting to keep the monster down. It struggled with her, and Sara could tell by its movements that it would soon be up.
“Selok! Come! Help!”
The spider leaped toward her, and placing both of his fore and aft limbs on the Shandori’s legs and arms.
The struggle stopped; the spider’s weight was too much for the Shandori to fight.
For a moment, it seemed that they had the creature pinned.
Until its tendrils burst forth from its back, and with a swing, Sara’s foot was pushed off.
Her face hit the organic floor, and Selok screeched, his forelimbs flying off the Shandori.
Sara pushed herself up, only to see Garin making his way to the convert.
Garin rushed at the Skiritix, red with fire as he grabbed her. It screamed at him, with clattering ticks that didn’t fit her mouth.
Garin grabbed every one of her limbs and held her down. “Do it! Get her now!”
Sara reached out with one of her arms.
She latched onto the Centipede, but just as she was about to try and rip it off, Kalra took over. Kalra took hold of something in her mind, a feeling of uncertainty washing over Sara as she and Kalra began chanting something. The language, whatever it was, came to Sara’s lips, and her arms glowed white with power. A pulse ran through her mind, shooting her mind deep into the centipede.
…
Kalra and Sara were standing in a room, white with a glowing energy in the center. Kalra’s runic face gazed down at Sara, her lips non-existent, but she could hear her voice.
“She is trapped here. The monster wearing her face lies beyond that.”
She pointed to the glowing center.
She’s trapped… wait does that mean she’s not converted after all?
Still, what the hell can I do?
“How are we supposed to help her Kalra?”
Sara couldn’t help it, she remembered the alien eyes that the possessed Shandori wore, and she didn’t want to lose her mind to this monster.
Kalra gazed in her direction, shaking her head. “Fear is not for warriors Sara, it robs us of what makes us strong, and leaves us broken. This girl let fear take her, and the beast is using it to tame her. We must show her this error and release her. Do me, proud child.”
Kalra put an arm on her, and Sara could feel her concern, her pride, and her own fear. Kalra was counting on her.
With a breath, she stepped into the glowing center.
The walls became black, crawling with shadows and writhing forms. In the room stood a child, her eyes staring into a screen.
Sara walked toward her, but the floor began to move under her. Sara stepped back as a monster revealed itself from the ground.
It stared at her, and Sara saw a shadow, a face of horror. It turned to the little girl and began tormenting her, screeching and howling.
“This is what you’re doing to them Terra, your brethren. They could have been your friends, but what would they do with a coward? Remember that I made you strong, just like you wished for.
The enigma laughed haughtily at the little girl, who was weeping from what Sara could see.
“But now you can’t bear to look at the strength you gained; you never deserved this power!”
Terra, the girl in the room, cried, shaking her head. “You don’t know, I could be…” she couldn’t finish, the shadow tormented her with laughter and began hitting her. She wailed in pain, the ephemeral fists marring her as her features healed after the blows landed.
Sara had enough.
With one hand she grasped the monstrous shadow being, and proceeded to punch the hell out of it.
Each fist flew true, mangling the form of the shadow, pushing him deeper into the floor. She let her fists fly as the shadow began to dissipate. The room lost the shadowy look, being replaced with a soft red.
The girl stood up, looking at the girl who saved her from the shadow.
“What… what are you?”
Sara stared at the girl, broken and hurt, but something glowed in the eyes.
Hope.
“My name is Sara, and I came to help you.”
Terra was staring through her, her eyes resting behind Sara on something.
She turned to see what the girl was looking at, and saw a monster.
The Centipede.
The room flashed black as the monster screeched at her.
She saw the spine and the tendrils flowing from the Centipede, attaching themselves to Terra who cried out in horror.
“No! Not again, please!”
They branched off like trees, spreading around the place like a sick-looking rope.
Sara counted twelve of the monstrous limbs
She shrugged as she said, “Guess I’ll break them off then.”
She reached out, and with a flick of her tendril, the tendril came out.
Terra screamed, “Don’t do that please, I can’t… don’t.”
Sara looked at the girl, and sighed, “you want this thing attached to you? It’s controlling you, making you do those horrible things, and you don’t want to lose it?” Terra looked at her with eyes open wide.
“You don’t understand, I need him! I’m not strong enough!”
“You’re only trapping yourself Terra. You want to hide from the world, is that it?”
Sara grabbed the girl, “Who’s the real monster here Terra, the Centipede controlling your actions, or you, too scared to even take responsibility to gain your freedom. You’re letting the fear win Terra, and it’s been killing people with your fear.”
Terra’s eyes filled with tears, “I can’t face it… it’s horrible, it made me watch them change… made me do it to them. Oh God, I can’t…”
She slapped the girl, holding her with her arms. “Stop it Terra, stop it right now! You are letting it win, you are the one with power, and it should fear you, not the other way around. Don’t. Let. It. Win!”
Terra was shocked, unable to speak. She looked at the tendrils that latched onto her spine and back. She was crying, but another emotion was flooding from her.
Anger.
Tendrils sprouted out of her back as she turned to face the Centipede. One by one, she screamed as she began ripping them off of her back. The centipede hissed as it descended into the room, glaring angrily at the two girls. It ran towards Terra in a burst, but not before Sara cleaved it in half, a sword tendril now coated in ichor.
Terra looked at her, a strange mania taking over her as she stared at Sara in disbelief.
Sara looked at the pipsqueak, and nodded. “Your stronger than you know Terra, don’t let the fear stop you.” She stepped out of the room, leaving Terra laughing slightly to herself.
…
Garin gazed at the girl, wondering what the hell Sara was doing to her. She was struggling, but Garin was making sure the girl wasn’t getting out of his grip.
After a while, Sara let out a breath of air, and let go of the Centipede. What came next made him question everything he just found out about the Skiritix. The centipede on the girls back began to glow, and instead of dissipating like the other ones, it glowed in unison with the Shandori’ girls’ body.
She heard the girl breath again, as her silted eyes opened up and her breathing returned. Garin absorbed all the information, but deep down he still held the rage. The face drove him nuts; the torturing monster wore that face. He let go, horrified at himself.
The girl stopped, her eyes blinking. The heartless eyes he saw before showing something close to concern. The room, its organic life turned grey, lifeless as the girl’s features turned softer. She got to her knees, and with a sob, began crying.
“Thank you, both of you… so much.”
Garin looked at Sara, and she lipped the words ‘Terra’.
So, the girl was just that, a girl. A monster did this to her, but she was caught in its clutches. Garin felt horrible, he could have killed her, would have if not for Sara. He knelt near Terra. “Terra, I’m sorry for what you went through. It must have been terrible.”
Terra turned towards him, confusion on her face.
“I saw them too Terra, this,” Garin pointed to the Centipede, “made me watch them change. It was trying to break me, so it could take me too. It almost did, until Sara came.”
Terra smiled at Sara, and she smiled back.
Terra rushed at his friend, hugging her in a tight embrace.
Garin cocked an eyebrow at Sara, and she laughed.
“Sara, how did you even get down here to begin with?”
As if to answer, a spider, made of rock, came around the corner.
Garin just stared at it for a bit, until he broke out in laughter.
“No way… no freaking way that thing is there. I’ve lost it.”
Sara smacked him in the head with her forearm. “Don’t make fun of Selok, he’s a friend”
Garin stared at her incredulously, but she held him in her gaze.
She rode here on a spider?
The spider Selok came towards him, clicking its mandibles together in ticks.
“He says you’re a strange one Garin. He also wants to know how you made fire come out of your hands, in fact I’d like to know that as well.”
Garin had nothing else to say, so he told them, about the torture, the mangled bodies turned monsters, and a fury that fueled his fire-shooting.
“It was like my mind was sitting in a microwave, all that fire…” Terra seemed entranced, but Sara just shook her head, a smile etching over her face.
At least she was smiling.
Selok, the spider rock, pushed at him, clicking in ticks. Strange, the ticks managed to sound like rubbing limestone. “Selok wants you to… oh, right. He wants you to grab a stalactite Garin, apparently, he likes them a lot.” He looked at the ceiling, and sure enough there was a few.
About a hundred feet up in fact, “my arms would never stretch that far.”
Or would they?
Planting his feet, Garin moved his tendrils, grasping at the ceiling. They stretched, more and more, until it looked like there was no slack to give. He noticed the lines of power running up his arms.
Normally, they glowed with a blue tint. They were shining obsidian now, a surplus of energy beamed outwards from the glowing appendages. They continued to stretch, reaching even further.
Once he finally reached the ceiling, he caught one, and pulled it free. It fell like a missile, plummeting towards Selok.
With grace only befitting of a spider, it leapt from the ground and caught the massive tendril of limestone from the air. It was spinning around for a moment which Garrin took as a happy dance of sorts as he was carrying the stalactite on his back.
More clicks, was that a grin?
Hard to tell with the mouthpieces on the stone face. “He says thank you, but it’s too big. He’ll save it for later?” She had turned to confirm her question. After a bit of Crackling again, Sara nodded to Selok.
Garin had to know how she could talk like that.
Sara started another conversation with the rock spider, but it all sounded like, “Selok tck shik seec hara?”
The spider hissed, venom dripping from its mouth, but it stood still, clicking more in set patterns.
“If only I could hear Tehran, maybe I would understand that clicking…”
He still could not hear his Cheruv. Tehran’s comforting mechanical voice, after a while he had gotten so used to it. His infinite wisdom, with the strang sarcastic thoughts he would jab towards Garin.
Garin felt alone again, back in that room when he woke up, surrounded by monsters.
“Why can’t I hear you, Tehran?” he spoke to himself.
Sara and Terra gazed over at him, worry touching their young faces. It felt wrong to Garin, their faces twisting with frowns. They should be happy, they won for crying out loud!
“Garin, Tehran isn’t gone, you know? They did something to you, broke something in your mind. Tehran can’t speak to you yet, but Kalra is helping him figure out what those bugs did. Don’t worry,” she pulled up next to him, “He’ll come back to you, and it’ll just take time.”
Garin nodded to her.
“Right,” He paused “Well, first things first, we got to get out of here. I don’t suppose you got any ideas?”
Sara nodded at Selok, “Selok’s willing to carry us out of here, but… I’m not sure he can carry us all. So, let’s settle for him carrying Terra, shall we?”
Terra looked at the spider, and shrieked like any girl with half their wits would have.
“No… no, no, no, no, please don’t, spiders are so... Ew… how can you think I’d want that?”
Fear encompassed her eyes, but Sara wasn’t having any of it.
“You think after what you faced that a spider is scarier than that?”
Terra gulped, but mustered some courage and walked toward the spider, climbing on the rocky beast. She still looked terrified, but she held on the spider, trying her best not to appear frightened.
Sara smiled, reached out with a tendril and patted her on the back. “It’s going to be all right Terra, Selok is a good spider… my that sounds strange. He’ll protect you.”
Sara bent down to Selok, “cressh stik laroc?” Selok ‘screed’ in answer. Sara stood up and turned to Garin, “Guess we’re walking Garin.” Garin looked at the three, and sighed. God, I swear this can’t get any weirder.
…
Terra stared at the morning light, twin suns glaring over the wreckage of Talrodaon. It took her a bit, but she was starting to feel hopeful after what had happened to her. She turned to stare at the three friends she made, who helped her escape from the wretched place of gooey walls and centipedes.
They’ll never know how much that means to me, all that time, and darkness everywhere…
She let silent tears flow down her face, as Selok spoke in his strange clicks. It was a strange creature, but then everything was strange here. The metal that grew from the landscape, the looming ruins, the blotches of jade trees; all of it was strange, and wonderful.
She turned to Sara, and the one named Garin. They both scouted ahead while she and Selok stayed behind. They were making sure the wretched creatures, Sara called them Skiritix, were not around. Selok placed a limb on his back, tapping at her. His clicks became urgent, as if it was worried for her.
She patted Selok, stroking the tiny fibers on its back. As she touched the spider, she felt something.
Her back, where once the monster in her nightmares lurked, began to burn. She felt a rush up her tendrils, a tingle of power igniting within them.
They grasped onto Selok, and the spider tingled. Her mind raced, and new thoughts entered within.
You’re known as Terra, yes? The voice in her mind spoke.
Who are you? What is this? Are you Selok?
The voice snickered, laughing in a voice that felt like it was soft, like it was laced with flower petals.
“I am not Selok, though it too can hear our voices. Terra it is good to finally know you.”
The voice still didn’t tell her what it was, but Terra felt safer, its comforting voice making her relax.
“Sweet child, I am your Cheruv, the creature that exists within your mind. The horrid monster that lurked within your spine, it separated us from each other. Thanks to my sister, you and I are free.”
Sara spoke of her Cheruv, Her Kalra, as a sister would. Terra realized must be what she was talking to.
What is your name, Cheruv?” The voice was unseen, but she felt a rush of warmth, a smile in feeling.
“I am Feor, sister.”
Terra felt alive with the feeling, the Cheruv beating within her mind echoing her every emotion.
“We are one at last,” the Cheruv retreated in to her mind, leaving her breathless.
Selok shook itself, snapping out of a daze. It looked up at Terra, no longer clicking. “Your sister is happy for you, young Terra, I am happy. This is good.” The spider shook itself, stretching its powerful forelegs. Terra could hear it now, just like Sara could. She smiled, her voice hinting no fear, “We are one.”
…
Garin felt a twinge up his spine. It was a tick, something that could have been a reaction to anything. But he felt it was something more, and as he stared at Terra and Selok near the entrance to the acid maw hole, he knew it was something about the girl. Her tendrils were alight with color, pressing down upon the massive rock creature. Her head was arched back, as if the gesture was causing her pain. Confused, Garin started to walk closer, until Sara put an arm in his path.
“It’s her Cheruv, Garin. Terra’s reunited with her Cheruv.” She smiled at him, but Garin wasn’t as happy as she was.
Sure, her Cheruv is back, so where’s mine? His thoughts were brooding, even after the reassurance from Sara. It felt like he did something wrong to earn Tehran’s silence, not that the Skiritix did anything to his mind.
Tehran sealed his ears off from the Hive’s probing, so how was it that he couldn’t hear him anymore? The more he thought, the angrier he became. Terra was smiling then, her eyes vibrant after the bonding with her Cheruv. She looked at Garin and Sara, with that bright smile.
Garin cringed at the smile, it was the same smile he saw in the Hive, except the face held a crooked malicious smile that was separate to Terra’s bright one. But this one belonged to the girl, not the horrid influence controlling her.
Still, it bothered him. “We are one,” the girl said, getting off the spider to walk with him and Sara. Sara was smiling with her, and Garin couldn’t help but smile back.
Let them enjoy the moment, it can’t hurt.
It was hard to forget what he lost, but he felt it was the right choice. Was he still upset about not being able to hear Tehran? Yes, but the thought that he was fufiling what he and his head roommate set out to do made Garin hope.
“Congratulations Terra, guess you’re one of us now… whatever this little group is.” Terra turned to Garin, her face still smiling.
“Is this how it feels for you Garin? It’s so wonderful, like knowing a long-lost sister, sharing everything with her.” Her face split even wider, if that was possible. Garin laughed half-heartedly, remembering Tehran’s ironclad demeanor.
It was like sharing my mind with a professor, a professor who always contradicted my actions. But he didn’t say that.
Instead, he said, “Sure, something like that.” he smiled as best he could, picking up the small girl and hugging her. She held onto him, and it felt strangely comforting. The girl seemed to be making him feel better just by touching him. He set her down, turning away. The feeling of comfort had a voice, filled with melody.
He will return young one. He felt tears coming, but he shook them off.
Well, guess I’ll have to make due until he does then.
He turned to face the other two, Sara’s head shaking in disapproval, with Terra’s radiant face. He couldn’t read Sara’s thoughts anymore, but the face she made said ‘what was that?’ He smiled, and started walking towards the tunnel exit. Terra came up to his left, Sara his right, and they all walked into the light.