While Lazarus continued its death spiral they made the long arduous journey from the comms array to the industrial sector. It took them through numerous public districts and the growing dire state of things almost made Sergei feel nauseous as bodies covered in black fluid lay everywhere and the small pockets of resistance they did encounter were easily thwarted. So far they had been lucky to avoid the growing number of Deterrent Mortans, but Sergei couldn’t help but wonder if that was intentional on his new friend’s part.

“Are you controlling them?”

The leading member of their group looked back his way. “I wish it were that simple. We can influence them but the vast majority are feral.”

“So how did you avoid the same fate?”

“A lot of it comes down to will. That and causing serious trauma can wake the symbiote without killing the host. Near-death shock they call it, I think.”

“Why do all this?”

“We follow the tenets of Truth,” interjected another member of his escort.

“What truth is that?” Sergei asked. To make it out of this alive, he would need to know as much about them as humanly possible. “How does releasing a deadly parasite save anyone?”

The three Mortans stared at each other, but the next voice came from within Sergei. It was unfamiliar, and not one of the ones he had heard earlier.

They caught sight of his wide-eyed stare and the group leader smiled. “As intended, putting the Deterrent fluid into your cores was the best way to make use of your little band of idiots.”

“You infected us all.”

“We liber-”

Their conversation was cut short as the lead signalled them into cover as shots began flying but it was not directed at them. They had reentered the Commerce on an upper floor that looked down onto a wide market street with bridges connecting both sides. From the wall he was crouched behind he recognised the Soterias security armour. They had engaged with a group of Deterrent on the bridge with the Mortes using swarming tactics. One even hovered in the air and had black psionic crystalline wings coming from its back. Its spikes rained down but most missed their intended target, as Soterias used what cover they had available to remain safe from the psionic power demonstrated by the monsters.

“Are we helping them or not?” Sergei asked before rolling his eyes at his own stupid question.

“I’ll let you figure that out,” said the man next to him. He sensed a deranged joy in that man’s tone of voice as he rose to his feet. In his Mortan form, he looked like a tower with bristling muscles and rough-looking amorphous skin. He was soon gone, travelling the other side gave them a small boost in speed that allowed Mortans to get the drop on unsuspecting victims. The man barrelling towards Soterias was no ordinary Mortan. No, he was something worse.

When he emerged from dark rent he had already formed the aetherial blaster and sent the first of Soterias flying backwards, so much so that they toppled over the railing and hit the ground below. Dazed by this turn of events, the second Soterias had frozen in place making them an easy kill. The last member opened fire but to no avail, the amorphous shell merely absorbed the bullet spray. The Mortan grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him before skewering him.

The feral Mortans had stopped their advance seeing one who looked much like themselves. The leader prodded Sergei to follow him and the others to the bridge. The winged Mortan dropped down and tilted its head. “You helped us.”

“We have a similar goal, after all, who do you think let you loose here?” said the leader.

The Mortan tilted its head as the ambusher reverted to a more human shape. “What is your goal?”

“To spread the word of Truth. And to do that we need to take down the security protecting the Industrial sector.”

“It is impenetrable, well-defended. You would not survive.”

“We only need one of us to get into the sector and disable the security systems.”

“And who might that be?” asked the Mortan.

“Our newest convert,” said the Aevetas leader gesturing to Sergei. “He knows the maintenance tunnels better than anyone. Those are designed to bypass a lot of security.”

“We could just use those to storm the facility.”

“We could but an organised resistance would only slow us down. Sergei taking down the power gives us an advantage.”

“What advantage is that?” the Mortan asked.

“Chaos. With the security systems offline, whatever resistance we might encounter will be disorientated and unable to mount a full defence. All you need to do is gather as many of you as possible. Once the great door opens, let loose the dogs of war.”

“Your terms are agreeable. We’ll be waiting,” the Mortan said as black aether wings burst from its back and it flew off. The remaining Mortans let them pass.

“The security checkpoint for Helios is where you will need to go. The controls for it should let you disable the power to the bulkhead doors. Once the maglocks are disengaged let the Deterrent do the rest.”

It dawned on Sergei then. I’m going to doom those who sought sanctuary from this nightmare…

He couldn’t help but shiver as the Morte voice within him squeezed his mind. The group pressed forward. In the time since the Deterrent had been unleashed the public sections of Lazarus had begun to warp beyond recognition. If the body couldn’t be reanimated it was instead claimed for the dark biomass that now coated the walls alongside the blood splatter. They soon reached the maintenance tunnel that would allow Sergei to bypass the lockdown keeping Helios and its occupants safe from the rest of the hell plaguing everywhere else.

“We’ll see you on the other side, comrade.’

Sergei was really beginning to hate how they used that word. It almost felt like mockery, an insult. To think we had been led to believe this was all for the Sov Imperium. That from the Moon our power could be projected across the planet. Bring unity back and end the chaos reigning down below. All we’ve done is bring the monster here with us.

‘You seem troubled.’

‘You can still hear me?’ Sergei asked.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

‘You are part of us, whether you like it or not.’

‘I don’t even know your name.’

‘Archon.’

‘Really.’

‘Yes, how far are you from the access point.’

‘It shouldn’t be much further.’

While Lazarus’ maintenance tunnels had always been a maze to navigate the addition of biomass had made it only harder for him to find his way. He relied on his torchlight and came across various nauseating scenes of bodies in a decomposed state. He even came across one bound to the wall, still breathing.

“Kill. Me.”

Sergei looked down at the sludge at his feet and aimed his gun at the man’s chest. To his shock, while the shot had eviscerated the man’s innards the resilience of the Deterrent revealed itself as the amorphous fluid quickly plugged the hole that had been made. The man’s head lolled. Sergei risked prodding it with the pistol and when he got no response he almost continued onward when the head lurched up and at him.

“You can not resist us forever.”

“I can certainly try.”

“That’s what they all say before they join the chorus,” the man’s voice came out distorted as if many were speaking through him. “Convergence calls us all to a higher purpose!”

“Yeah, well as long I’m still in control. You can’t control me.”

The reverberating laugh cut through him and he pressed onward until he reached the connecting point that would take him past the Helios Sector’s lockdown. He had hoped that Lazarus had only sealed the main ways into the sector but he had accounted for everything as the way ahead was sealed.

‘Small problem, Archon.’

‘What is it?’

‘Helios’ Maintenance tunnels are also sealed, looks like Lazarus is covering all his bases.’

‘Is there no other way?’

Sergei looked to his right and attempted to remove the pieces of biomass that had clustered over the panel. ‘Yeah, but I would have to be quick about it. There’s a manual override crank for these types of scenarios. Should only take a couple of minutes to open the way. Just have to hope it doesn’t crush me as it closes again.’

He forced open the panel and more strange biomatter landed at its feet. He reached inside found the manual door release and began cranking. The door struggled against what had now claimed it and for a second Sergei thought he would have to spend an even longer time removing the biomatter that had claimed the door itself. In the end, it wasn’t necessary and the door began to edge open open until it locked in place. He would have around four to five seconds from releasing to crank to cross into Helios. Three, Two -

He released his grip and stepped over the threshold. He jolted when the door slammed shut behind him. ‘Archon, I’m in. Heading to gate security now. Once I’ve dealt with them. The way ahead is yours.’

‘Excellent. See you on the other side, comrade.’

Sergei gritted his teeth and wondered how he could hope to take on a security gate full of armed Helios guards.

That did little to alleviate his fears. There was a noticeable difference here compared to the state of the lunar city he had just left behind. For one he could see the metal of the walls and the way ahead itself was lit. Most likely due to Lazarus’ consolidation of power. Even if everywhere else fell he would survive as long as Helios remained his. Sergei hated that he was forced into this situation. Every time he thought was alone in his thoughts there was always that lingering presence like if he just looked at the corner of his eye, Archon or the monster forming within would be visible. Instead, they came and went freely. Every idea he might have they would be privy to.

‘You get used to being part of something greater.’

‘Are you ever not listening.’

‘It’s not just you, you know. I hear them all. Crying out for direction.’

‘What’s stopping you?’ asked Sergei as he began a meandering journey toward one of the Helios gates.

‘I lack the mind to. This entity we serve, it’s quite selective.’

‘You act like it’s god or something.’

‘No, I am of no delusion that this Truth is god. It has only just become aware of us. It’s waiting out there though far beyond our solar system’

‘For what?’

He sensed Archon chuckle, ‘You will know in due time. First, we need to breach Helios. Then the rest will fall into place.’

Sergei followed the route using the signs on the walls to guide him to where he needed to be. The door in front of him opened easily enough and he was back in Lazarus itself. From how fancy everything looked, he was close to Helios’ welcome centre. A large paned glass window looked out into a wide-open corridor. A white arrow on the floor pointed right to Helios and Sergei found he could hear chatter some ways down the corridor. If the red laser sights hadn’t already been giveaway. He noticed that the computers ahead of him were also wired to scanners outside. He was about to check the door on his right when he heard something interesting.

“Why are we posted here, those are maglocked doors. Nothing is getting through. Especially no Mortan.”

“Lazarus doesn’t want to take any chances with the entire city under lockdown and much of the other sectors are lost. Our best hope now is holding this place until help arrives.”

“And when will that be?”

“No idea, Private. Now stop asking stupid questions and instead focus on what’s in front of you.”

Sergei moved carefully to not draw their attention. He checked the door to his immediate right and found it opened automatically. The way led to a spiral set of metal stairs that would take him up to the Helios West Gate monitoring station. It’s there he would find his means to unlock the doors into Helios and release the horde already knocking at the door. Those below were trained to handle rioters. Mortans were an entirely different thing altogether. He climbed the stairs until he reached a locked door.

‘How?’

Sergei saw the black sludge cover his hand.

Sergei obliged and pressed his hand on the panel. He waited what seemed like forever until that oppressive presence rejoined his current thoughts.

<765>

‘You sure?’

There was no immediate response so he keyed into the code and waited. The light above the panel flicked green and he entered the room. This caught the attention of those in the room and he had to act fast. With the pistol at the ready, Sergei made sure to direct his aim at the gaps in the shoulder padding and without any active thought from himself some amount of aether energy wrapped around his right wrist and hand forming an aether blaster. He pulled the trigger in sync with a burst of energy exploding against one of the guards launching him back. The other personnel he had been aiming spun from being shot while the third had him in their sights. Once again it overrode his active thoughts and actions. He found himself a passenger in his own body as time slowed and he travelled the decayed other side, stumbling out of the portal he made and fired again at the stunned guard sending them sprawling. He approached the wounded guard shifted his blaster into a blade and stabbed them in the back. They landed on the floor with a heavy thud.

“Did any of you hear that? Sounds like trouble above us!”

Sergei saw one of the riot guards below come into view and before another word was exchanged he began firing. The glass held for now.

‘Can you do what you did before?’

Sergei watched as the creature within him extended various tendrils, some merely touched the console while others interacted with it in various ways. Meanwhile, below, the guards continued in their efforts to pepper the glass with bullets. A collection of cracks had begun to take shape and Sergei knew it was only a matter of time. He also caught sight of one of the riot guards coming the way he had and without even looking fired a shot at the panel sealing him in.

‘That should buy some time.’

“He’s deadlocked the door, get me some plasma -’

The man’s voice fell away as everything shut down and plunged everything into darkness.

“Hey! What did you do?” shouted one of those down below.

Sergei felt it before he saw it. A tidal wave of minds washes over his psyche and would have driven him mad had his symbiote not blotted it out. The gunfire stopped as the noise beyond them reached a crescendo and the Mortalis horde descended upon the riot guards ripping them to shreds like they were paper. Sergei stepped back in abject horror. I doomed us all.

“No, please- don’t”

The guard never got to finish his sentence as his words became pleas for help. Whatever now had him in its grip slammed him repeatedly against the door and made indentations. The final thrust bent the door fully and creature, carcass and all fell into the room. It was slathered in the blood of its victim and rose to be of far greater height than any Sergei had seen before. Normally he would be afraid but instead, he just stood there as it squared up to him.

The creature managed a curt nod and burst forth through the damaged screen, spraying glass shards everywhere. Sergei made sure to shield his eyes. Once done he took one last look at the carnage he had caused. The once sterile clean walls had been painted in blood and soon a familiar voice reached him.

‘I knew I could rely on you.’

He watched Archon and the other Morte deterrents survey the scene, satisfied.

‘The work is not yet done, comrade! After all, we still have the old Master to deal with.’

Lazarus, all roads lead to him. Nowhere left to run. Nowhere left to hide.