Chapter 4 : Mutation

I still can't believe it.

What surprised me the most wasn't the appearance of my body, but how I was feeling.

The more I focused on this strange matter inside my body, the more I could feel it. I might be able to somehow communicate with it, and if their initial goal was to either have us fuse or have the black matter eat me alive like the other specimens, I feel kinda happy and proud of my body to have resisted it and reversed the process.

Or maybe it was what the black matter was seeking…who knows if it doesn't have consciousness on its own ?

The more I think about it, the more images from a comic I've read in the past come to my mind.

'Doesn't it looks like Venom ?'

Since I woke up, I keep having those movies and comics popping my mind. I guess that getting back all of my memories at the same time isn't possible, so my brain just sends me certain information when I think about something similar, probably to not overload my 'new self'.

I'm happy to get my memories back, but I hope I won't remember only about movies and comics or else it won't be of any use except flooding my brain with useless information.

"B213-84, you are the last of the humans to wake up. We already lost enough time in chit-chat, ready yourself and follow me."

"Wait, before moving, can you answer a last question ?"

Looking confused, the Scylla answered.

"As long as it is not another idiot question and it serves your initial purpose, I will."

"Can you tell me what you did with the corpses of those who died ?.."

"They have been obliterated. Once the Holy Children cannot keep existing in this plane anymore, they struggle to return to the Singularity. To make it easier to understand, during this process they force themselves to return to the Singularity by creating a temporary mini black hole, we call this a Void Rift. It is quite strange even for us, as their final moment in this plane doesn't affect their surroundings. Even though the gravity should increase a hundredfold during the process, from what we've seen so far their existence themselves aren't bound by regular law and they follow only the Singularity rules, so these rifts aren't affecting this universe. It just serves as a gate for the Holy Children to travel back to the Singularity.

In the end, those humans who failed the protocol or didn't want to continue living got disintegrated at an atomic level by the Void Rift when their symbiont went back to the Singularity."

"..."

"Is that all ? Now move, before I make you move like the good puppet that you are."

Not answering and with a bitter face, I started moving my legs slowly. It was the first time that I could move my whole body, without any restraint. Since I opened my eyes in this place and lost most of my memories, I felt like a baby going out of the womb of its mother.

Luckily, I didn't have to learn how to walk.

But I had to learn how to walk straight and not like a drunkard.

I don't know what will happen in the future, but I'm sure that today, I'm a new person.

What frustrated me the most since I woke up was the fact that despite having some random memories coming back from time to time, I still can't remember my name, my family, my birthplace, or any other important information related to myself. The only things that I can remember from my past life are the taste of a certain kind of food and my wife, and only when I think about the face and the smile she had just before choosing to die can I remember her name.

I don't know what awaits me.

I don't even know what these space bastards are expecting from us.

But from the previous words of Primus One, I'm convinced of one thing.

From now on, I'm no longer human.

I'm no longer who I was in my previous life.

I was reborn into something strange and kind of disgusting, a mix between a body that I don't recognize anymore and an alien black matter coming straight from another dimension.

I feel like a stranger in my own body, as if by erasing my memories my soul changed itself and created a new persona to adapt itself to this new environment.

I don't know who I was before, but I know what I won't become. I won't be a slave nor will I yield, no matter what happens.

Following the Scylla, I lost myself in thoughts, without talking, just trying to march straight without falling.

This was the day I was reborn, but also the day a part of me definitely died.

__

After having followed the Scylla for a few minutes through some kind of dark tunnels, we arrived in a huge and wide room, it was still as dark as the rest of the place we passed by but something took my interest here.

The room was huge, it looked like a Gothic-styled hall of some sort, with statues of unknown races and species surrounding the room. There seemed to be no ceiling, or it was too high for me to see it, however there were rounded windows covered with a rigid translucent material all along the walls.

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

Behind this translucent material that looked like crystallized glass, I could see stars shining upon the blackness of space.

It was then that I understood where I was : in outer space.

I didn't know that we were in a ship but I thought about it when I woke up in the Matrix-like room after the fusion, it wasn't hard to guess.

But still, to be in a spaceship... And if we are really in space, how big is that ship exactly ? It must be huge, just the place where the 6000 humans were standing was so large that it must have been at least several miles long, I couldn't even see its limit.

Is it some kind of mother-ship ?

"B213-84, join the row and wait for further orders."

After saying this, the Scylla sent a light beacon for me to follow toward a certain place and disappeared from my sight.

After following the little light orb across the hall for a few more minutes while looking at the many statues representing different kinds of races all weirder than each other, I finally arrived at the far end of this gigantic place where I finally could see some forms moving.

There were plenty of different beings swarming left and right, each with different shapes and characteristics.

The closer I got, the more surprised I was.

Some were tall with a huge body, some were covered with scales, some were flying and some others looked like the scyllas and seemed etheric, resembling more ghosts than living beings.

Some were small, had 3 kinds of insect-like legs and no eyes or any facial feature except a giant mouth, with an array of sharp triangle teeth. They clearly looked like a 3-legged horror version of Pac-Man.

A few huge ones stood behind those mini-pacman-insects, their body had a humanoid form, but all of the joints on both their arms and legs were inverted which gave them a horrific vibe as well.

After scanning the area, looking at each race and species, trying to keep in mind even the smallest details of each of these individuals, my gaze fell on a small group of specimens standing straight, all in a perfect line, not moving a single of their muscles.

They were totally covered by the same black matter that I had on my body, but compared to me, theirs looked more like if it was their own body rather than only their skin and it gave a more durable and solid impression than mine.

Unlike my black matter, I could understand just at sight that theirs was probably stronger and harder than mine.

I didn't need a lot of time to guess who they were.

Like me, they were those who survived.

But compared to me, they seemed even less human than I was, even tho I considered myself not being a human anymore I still looked like one. A weird one, but still one.

These guys however, had an appearance similar to fully armored otherworldly soldiers. If my black matter looked like a thin black leather layer stuck to my skin, their black matter took the form of full-body armor, not letting one spot uncovered, giving an aggressive vibe. Their head reminded me of yet another book, but this time it was a history tome about an old group of soldiers called Spartans, coming from a nation called Greece. The shape of their head was the same as the helmet those Spartans were wearing, except that a thin and totally black visor covered the space where their eyes, nose and mouth should have been.

While I was approaching them, not even one of them moved from their spot or turned their head. They just stood there, like statues. I don't know what was different between us, but from what the info the previous Scylla gave me when I woke up, I was a total failure compared to them, instead of fusing or being absorbed my body and mind both reversed the process and I ended up being the one who absorbed the black matter.

It was probably because of this 'unexpected failure' that I kept my sanity, my free will and some of my memories came back.

If I had to guess, I would say that after fusing and absorbing the black matter inside of me, it started to reconstruct my mind on its own. Maybe this matter has some regenerative properties. However for the other humans, because they got absorbed by the black matter, they probably lost their free will and a big chunk of their own soul by the same occasion.

I still have no idea what it is, but from all the effort the Scylla is putting into creating such protocols to make intelligent specimens able to fuse with it, I'm sure that fusing lifeforms from this dimension to this black matter they call the Holy Children is extremely important for them.

Now that I think about it… From what I've seen so far about the Scylla and their behavior, they seem short on time and these protocols they designed to create a perfect and completed fusion is probably a major, if not vital, goal for them.

Should I sabotage their plan ? If yes, then how should I do it ?

Never mind, how could I even sabotage anything when I just woke up in this totally new environment.

Let's try to gather information first.

"Hello ?"

"..."

"Oha Yo ? Nin Hao ? Hola ? Bonjour ? Hallo ? Salve ?"

"..."

"Can you guys hear me ?"

I was expecting it, but it looks like once those humans got absorbed by the black matter, they lost their emotions and their free will. I can't find any other explanation, they look more like brainless robots than living beings.

Was it the goal of the scyllas to make puppet-like slaves, ready to follow any orders given without a second thought ?

Then what about me ? Are they going to kill me because I failed the second protocol and kept my sanity ?

The previous Scylla didn't look like it was about to harm me though, and even if he was rude he still took the time to answer my questions.

Interrupting my thoughts, a voice that I'm starting to recognize all too well resounded in my head.

"Rifters, listen.

All of you gathered here will now be going through the third and last protocol, the 'Consciousness'"

Primus One was floating at the top of our head again, as if we were mere ants, not even deserving its attention.

After waiting for all of us to focus on him, he started explaining.

"The first protocol 'Intensification' was the first contact of your physical body with the Holy Children, it made you resilient to their Holy Aura. The Holy Children linked your soul with the Revered Mother and made you a part of the Great Singularity.

It is the protocol with the highest mortality rate but it is also the first step of your new life dedicated to our Revered Mother.

The second protocol 'Fusion' was activated by our Revered Mother, it started the merging of your physical and psychic body with Her Holy Children. Your body, your mind and your soul are all in the process of being accepted by the Great Singularity and its Holy Children, which transformed you to better suit your role.

Some of you almost got entirely absorbed by the Holy Children, and some others only merged small parts of their bodies.

Unfortunately, none of you made a completed fusion, and so, all of you are failures."

After these words, some of the other races specimens started moving and seemed agitated. On the other hand, the humans next to me didn't move an inch, they were just looking at Primus One. Why aren't the other races lethargic like the humans ?

Does it mean that no matter the absorption rate, certain races and species are more resistant to the black matter and can keep their will even while being absorbed ?

I will have to get in contact with the other specimens, keep an eye on them and try to communicate with them. They might harbor the same feelings as me about the scyllas...

"Despite being failures, our Revered Mother decided to give you a last chance to atone for your sins. You'll have to pass by the third protocol, as for those of you who will die during this process do not worry, the result of your sacrifice will make the next batch of Chosen Ones stronger and more likely to succeed where you failed."

If Primus had a visage I'm sure that at this moment he would have an evil smirk worthy of the worst bastard.

After taking a pause to observe the reaction of its toys, he added.

"Be proud to be the Void Rifters, even if for only a small amount of time"

After his final words, Primus One disappeared and a few other scyllas took his place.

'Fucking lunatic, these space retards are crazy.'