themrmalice

[themrmalice]

Another couple sketches, all being favorites of mine in some regard!

[themrmalice]

Cloudburst Effect

Malice

Narrated on YouTube by The Disciple: https://youtu.be/Rb7ye3ySNTM

2121, July 7th. The eastern archipelago drifts evermore apart, and the southern continent is in rapturous chaos with devastated landscapes and ruinous mountains torn asunder. Only one land mass remains still, a large island called Kinderwald. Divided in half, Kinderwald is an enormous island that still harbors prairies and many forests to make use of. That plus the wildlife would make this place a safe haven, and it has for a while. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of this island were not safe from the very foe that felled humanity. Twisting into the grass and grasping the roots of trees are many muscles and sinew, sewn like wire into the landscape. Even this land is not safe, in fact it is theorized that this is where it all began. 

   To the south is the Great Clamor, a large continental mass that was gored from underneath, causing it to collapse spectacularly and dragging half the nearby ocean over it. In a flash 70 percent of the remaining human population had died. The ocean is red and brown, blood and rust swarm the bottom, alongside metal monstrosities that are the result of all this. These creatures range in size, sometimes swarms of metal and sinew mosquitoes will attack a village, while other times entire life vessels in the deep ocean get attacked by these gargantuan ones, bigger than any building. There is said to be no ocean floor anymore. Only a mass of metal cross beams and wires, guarding the heart of earth's greatest invader. Muscle Fields are common out on the ocean, those tie directly to feed chutes that send you straight to the main processing array. Those Muscle Fields are odd as well, as no metal creatures swim through them. Long masses of nerve wires stretch to the surface, but never breach, with them are loose meshes of sinew and muscle, the moment you touch the nerves 600 lbs of force crush your body and swiftly launch you into its throat. 

   Just east of the Great Clamor is a large city district, 4,000 inhabitants in this quadrant at one point. Unfortunately, the streets are flooded and absolutely filled with metal nightmares. Those aren't the only threat, of course. If anything theres a war going on, in 2100 a man came forward seeking help in Lafayette, Colorado, An old territory claimed by the Americans. When someone investigated they quickly had to call the National Guard. An overgrowth of human muscle tissue had swarmed the abandoned industrial district, and was still growing. All efforts to contain it were met with hostility, with the muscle even forming into ligaments that were capable of picking up and throwing or outright strangling people. Nothing was enough to stop its growth, it tore through and assimilated everything. Eventually, it began to produce drones. Mindless formations of muscle given vague consciousness. We didnt think them to be hostile at the time, given their inability to move or even live past 30 minutes. That was until the drones began to grow working limbs, and could adapt to locomotion quite easily. Soon, it halted its growth, and began to mass produce these drones. When they found prey, presumably by scent, they would chase them down and rip them apart. Some cases were unbelievable, with people claiming the drones were stealing corpses and feeding them to the mass. Given a month, all of Colorado was consumed and the world was consolidating its efforts to stop this thing. It had amassed an army that was assaulting the entirety of nearby territories. Those drones were from 21 years ago, they evolved to adapt instantaneously to locomotion within a week, so the world is now dealing with hyper-evolved specimens that can communicate and guide the others. These specimens are all over the city. They are mindless pack animals that will attack en masse, on sight. 

   That's not the only danger to the city. The metal abominations lurk across the land as well. This area is particularly prone to Dahl activity, but that's a different story. Off to the west of this partially flooded city is a plateau, and resting upon said plateau is the final remnants of humanity. They deal with Wrackers, Collectors, and Dahls. Wrackers are another nuisance of The Fall of Humanity, flying drones that swarm on sight. They can mutilate, but not murder, no confirmed kills made strictly by Wrackers has been recorded. Rather, they pierce tiny hooks into your flesh and carry you over the wall of the Main Processing Array, dropping you on the other side. 

    The last of the humans have tried in vain to get rid of the swarm. This swarm does serve another purpose though, they alert Collectors. Large Iron Spiders that drip with gore and blood, they take humans and put them into their abdomen. Within said abdomen is likely a few things, the mangled and gooey human, flesh and bone that has been liquified at a Grinder, massive metal rods and edges, and possibly a half liquified member of the human race. These abdomens are equipped with a Grinder as well, and it has no problem with stuffing as many humans into its abdomen as possible before grinding them into mush. The Collectors oversee Grinders, which are monoliths that plague different sections of the land. Large pillars with a valve at the top of them, if your friend was stolen by a collector, they're likely in here. This is your last stop before, what it likes to call, immortality. Opening the valve reveals that inside these grinders is, well a house sized grinder. You can avoid many of the blades, but climbing out is impossible without a rope. 

   Yet that isnt the biggest threat, the Main Processing Array houses within itself the second largest grinder in all of the world. The largest is still under construction, in the deepest part of the sea. This Grinder, however, is enormous. One blade is the size of a housing block. It turns anything into mush, as the top blades are for large dumps of humans. There are 25 levels of blades, with the final five being less than a foot across. Its said the whole time you are processed, you never lose consciousness. Nor do you disconnect from your nerves. Everything still works, you can think perfectly fine, but you can also feel your body being mangled and twisted. How this is possible nobody knows, but it worsens. Processing denotes that this machine does something with the human flesh, and unfortunately the consciousness is said to not be far behind. Your muscle tissue, liquified bones, and anything you had on you beforehand, is dropped into a vat. The explorer who found this place called it, a living broth of humans. Its kept consistently at the temperature of the human body, a large mixer of hundreds of blades stirs the vat once an hour, and it is routinely poured out in increments for the FleshWeaver to utilize. The machine that started it all, the FleshWeaver. After the mass of human flesh began to overtake Lafayette, explorers began searching for answers. Going into the belly of the beast brought them 30 miles below the earth and into an alien structure that housed a simple machine. Made from the very arms that created it, the machine is clamped on and into the fleshy arms of its inventor, piercing elongated syringe like needles from just beneath the fingernails. These fingers move like lightning, weaving the fleshy goo into muscle tissue. It creates every drone by hand. 

   Many are curious as to what this machine has up its sleeve. It must've killed off all the life vessels in the world, the only target it has left it seemingly can't reach. Like its arms are tired and can't bare to stretch any further. We know its constructing something, and if our predictions are correct, its harkening back to an old schematic from the progenitor of the machine. The schematic is for an Annihilator Class Assault Drone. It would stretch into the sky, possibly past the clouds, and would require a lot of energy. All the Machine has been doing is collecting, its aggressive behavior towards humanity seems passive. All we know is humanity is terrified. Even if the Annihilator can be destroyed, or maybe we can demolish its ability to construct it, it wont help against the machines trump card. One last schematic, no pictures exist of it. All that is known is the name, and a basic summation from the only man to lay eyes on it. Project Cloudburst, a planet sized construct that has been in the making since the start. If completed, all of Earth is gone. It will be entirely assimilated by this machine, and God only knows where it will go next. 

   Were all still hoping that the ships that got off this rock made it to somewhere safe. 

[themrmalice]

Aha, this is a fun little idea I was messing with.

[themrmalice]

A lovely little sketch I did as practice.

[themrmalice]

Monstrous Annihilation

By Malice

Narrated on YouTube by The Disciple: https://youtu.be/AdOfj8w99Bs

    A new development in foreign signals allowed Prometheus to triangulate a specified region in space, from which the signals could be emanating from. Though the region is distant from our position, investigation is required. The emanation is from a desolate and dead planet. One which died long ago. It has been given a new name since its destruction, Mortuus Est. The signals all seem to have been routed back to this planet. Forgotten. It's an estimated 40 minutes of hyperflight to get to the solar system alone, extra 5 to make it to the planet.

    The yaw of my pod and the invisible, intangible tug of the air around me shattered perception, only to awaken my senses in a system alien to me.When my vision corrected, I could see the system in its entirety, with my target being a colourful dot slowly rotating as it grew in size. A blue planet, presumably an ocean. Normally these expeditions are carried out by singular Derelicts, but this one had 4 others alongside me. My name is Daniel, the 4 others are Tristan, Alex, Aimee, and Asia. They insisted on going along with me, refusing all my pleas to go alone. I mentioned to them the Moloch incident, where a full crew of Derelicts had perished from unknown causes. The only salvage that remained were a few metal scraps and a coat presumably belonging to the captain, the coat was fully intact when it was found. An odd patch was seen on the right shoulder. Despite these tales, they again insisted on joining me.

    Descent began, the marble grew bigger as we darted with incredible speed none of us could feel. The atmosphere was in view now, decimated, slowly rotating as a thick sluggish cloud over the entirety of the sphere. It was also in this moment that I realized this was no Ocean Planet. Rather, it had a singular continent. I joined the comms channel to find 2 of my fellows conversing, and interjected “Hey, I thought we were going to an Ocean Planet. Anyone else see the continental mass?” Tristan, one of the people conversing previously, chimed in, “Yeah I thought so too. It's clear that it’s our landing spot, my navigation terminal has projected our pattern. We will be landing on the southernmost….half-peninsula? Whatever that means.” Alex, another convsering party, also joined in, “Half-Peninsula? You’re making this shit up now.” Immediately Tristan began barking back, and their previous banter was resumed. I turned off my comms and began reviewing the briefing. A simple directive was stamped on the cover, Investigate the Lamia Signals’ Source, Of course, an assumption was made for this planet. We believe the source is on this planet, I was sent in more or less to check. Our impact time was approximately 12:00, and sundown was at 22:00, leaving a good 10 hours until sundown. Along with this, a warning, reading:

Do not under any circumstances: 

Interact with any passive lifeforms if any are present

Engage with hostile lifeforms unless you are at risk

Remain/Return outside after sundown. Shelter until sunrise.

“Fun.” 

As we approached and broke the Atmospheric Boundaries, more of the planet was seen. We could make out details now, seeing a vast ocean with limitless wreckage underneath the wake, some of which piled high enough to poke out as towers. None too high of course. We were now circling the planet so we could slow down to an adequate speed before hitting the ground. My pod was getting warmer, to the point where I could hear the hiss of the ventilation struggle to spew out the now scorching air. As we hurled ourselves towards the other end of the planet, the sun grew dim, and the vast stretch of ocean was now obfuscated by a choking darkness. We would land on the continent, something I was unaware of, and we would have a few hours before sundown. The light now skewered through the skies, illuminating the silhouette of the planet, a half circle gleam, and the black canvas was now being painted with dots of blue, dark green, and grey. I received a warning from the computer, notifying me of the impact. I braced, holding onto handlebars conveniently placed by my sides. 

    Soon, the continent was in sight, and before I could make out details the canvas was no longer below me, and was now in front of me. I slammed into the ground, such force was not enough to halt my movement, as my pod was made to sustain such an impact. A circular cabin, with a detached rotary sphere encapsulating it. I began to roll along the ground at rapid pace. Hitting a number of rocks and flattening numerous scraps of metal. Eventually I pulled on the handlebars, which jutted up quickly, the “brakes” you could call them. Flat pillars shot out of the rotary sphere, and began impaling the ground until eventually I slowed to a halt. My cabin had remained upright according to gravity so only flashes of my surroundings could be seen inside. Before me was a massive stretch of ocean tinted greenish blue. Opaque and Pearlescent hues were dotted throughout its form, and below me was green grass that had seemingly regrown. 10 hours until sundown. The door had released, but not opened, only a puff of pressurized air began filling my cabin. I took this as a sign that my door either dented or was being held shut, so I used the emergency evac procedure. Pulling a lever that was to my upper left, it clanged down, and the hatch above me shot upwards, blasting through the rotary section of my pod. I climbed out and watched as the hatch sailed through the air, eventually plummeting into the ground with an audible slam. I looked up and joined the Comms. “I have landed, anyone else?” I only got a response from Tristan, Alex, and Aimee. Not Asia. I used the Emergency channel to attempt contact, “Asia do you read me?” no words came from my headset. Tristan had apparently landed nearby, Alex was closer to the water, and Aimee unfortunately had a miscalculation and landed in the water. Not too far, but pressurized release was proving difficult for her. “My cabin is filling with water, I need help!” she yelled, Alex was the first to respond, “Im on my way, I saw where you landed.” Tristan spoke too “I see you Daniel, to your right!” I looked and saw him standing there, a portly figure who wore his weight well. Also easily recognized by his modified helmet, which had welded parts sticking out from most ends. I ran to him, “Lets go, we gotta get Aimee out of there!” He nodded and we were off. 

    Just down the peninsula that I had landed on was the beach, and i could see Alex running along it to a small alcove with bubbles spewing in vast amounts from beneath the surface. Me and Tristan started down a hill, moving in a stilted run that ensured balance. When I again saw Alex, she was already diving into the water, eager to rescue Aimee. I hopped in as well. The pod was still there, stamped to the ground she would have rolled on. Half of her pod was shredded, likely from atmospheric interference. I swam up to Alex, with Tristan in tow. Tristan grabbed his Plasma cutter and began to saw away the upper section of the Rotary, which eventually blasted out, allowing a clean escape. Aimee was ready as soon as we got her out, she swam faster than I’ve ever seen her swim to the beach. We all followed. 

    On the beach, Aimee began to express her gratitude, Alex checked her for any wounds, and Tristan was running over a scan of her pod to see what would have happened. “Nothings out of the ordinary, maybe it was just-” Immediately Aimee shot back “I know what it was! A fucking meteorite slashed through the rotary, it disabled half of it and made the other half immediately spike!” I tuned in “Calm down Aimee, nothing we can do now.” With an angry look she remained quiet. The other two looked at me too, “Look, Asia isnt responding to Comms, we need to find her, right now.” Alex asked, “How long till sundown?” “10 hours, we have time.” I responded. Tristan jutted in, “Hey, I have an idea. Daniel, you and Alex look for Asia, me and Aimee will stay here to find a place we can shelter in. Remember what the debrief said?” Though I knew the warning, I was also aware of the dangers of splitting up. Alex and I are derelict combat personnel, trained to handle ourselves in the event of hostile alien encounters. Tristan is a technician, trained to understand the past 100 years of technology. Aimee is an informational observant, trained to have a keen eye on the slightest of details. Unfortunately, Asia is our data tracker, she’s the one who would know where the signals are coming from exactly, and how to decrypt them. If Alex and I leave, we would be perfectly safe, but Tristan and Aimee would not be. 

         I emphasized this, and stated to them that we should remain in a group, “We would be much safer if all of us tried to find her.” Alex nodded in agreement, the other two followed suit. I pulled out a scanner and began searching for the frequency that S.O.S. Signals are commonly sent on. Very quickly it latched onto the signal, pinning her location as North by NorthEast from our location, round 40 miles from here. We gazed towards a vast mountain landscape, swimming valleys and massive geometric pillars skewered through the ground. A chunk of the tectonic plates stuck upwards out of the ocean, the maw of which hung all the way down to the tormented landscape. We would have to hike through 40 miles of crackled canyons, shifted plates that slashed through the landscape like paper, and gouged out mountains that look as if a creature of incredible size had rampaged through them. Not to mention indigenes, which we have been both relieved and warned of. We quickly set off, anxious to arrive at Asia’s coordinates. 

    The initial few miles were rather tame, the most difficult objects being a slight rise or hill. We discussed plans as we trekked through here, eventually concluding that when we are approximately 2 hours from nightfall, we should hunt for a cave or alcove. We have been warned to avoid cave systems, valley trenches, and most importantly any and all possible buildings that could be radiating the Lamia Signals. Yes, we were told that this planet has the possibility of previous if not current sentient presence, though the way we were told struck me as odd. There was not a single mention in our briefs and the only time we heard was the night before we jumped, our commander approached us in our living quarters and individually told us, dodging most of our questions and remaining vague. Clearly he could not confirm nor deny the current or previous presence of alien sentience, something that still remains enigmatic and terrifying to think about.  We have still never encountered alien sentience! I believe thats what is fueling the councils interest in the Lamia Signals. 

    We, of course, were cautious with every step. Again, the Daytime indigenes arent anything frightening or even hostile from what we’ve observed. Nothing of great size either, the largest we saw was merely a spider, though its pigment was a little too familiar. No, its the Nighttime Indigenes we were heavily warned about. To the point where we were equipped with Military Class weaponry. Normally, Derelicts will carry a Plasma Pistol, sometimes a Rifle, and even rarer a High Energy Point Sniper. But we were sent in with a Pistol, a Super Heated Knife to act as a secondary sidearm, a Rifle and a Flak Shotgun. We are armed to fight pirates at this point, so why did they give us all this to defend ourselves against Indigenes? These questions constantly streamed through my mind, as this artillery is meant more for usage against Humanoid Threats, not alien creatures.

         At least we can take comfort that it would take a plated quadruped the size of a small building to take us down, but even then, the hefty warning alongside this weaponry, what could we encounter that couldnt be stopped in its tracks by this loadout? We received very minimal detail about the planet, the most detail we received is that ancient structures are beneath the ocean, visible even outside the atmosphere! But, along with that, came the order to never go beneath the waves. They stated there was only one continent, and that we need to investigate the signal. The signal was positioned somewhere in labyrinthian ruins of similar ancient origin. And that we should never remain in the ruins for longer than 4 hours! It's ridiculous, why is this the most hostile yet harmless planet we have been sent to? You cant be too careful, I guess, look at the incident at Station Lamia Prime for example. Whatever Anomaly was there it was able to survive a kinetic railgun blast, something we use to wipe planets out of existence! Some say it remains standing, acting as a relay of sorts for the Lamia Signals. But this planet is where they found the most odd form of encryption, direction, and most importantly, the way it sends the messages. Normally, with each anomalous point we find in the Lamia Line, we also find a pathway leading all the way back to a separate place. Each point acts as a relay, with the most signals sent to Station Lamia Prime. This place is the only one without a line leading away from it, but numerous leading out. We received a signal that would haunt a cryptologists nightmares, walls and walls of text all of it without any start or end. We didnt receive it from a relay, we received it from here. This planet. Dubbed PAL - 05.

         Alex’s voice rang in my ears, tearing me back to reality. She warned me of an upcoming obstruction, I only now realized she had run ahead of everyone. “There’s something you’ll want to see! Trust me, I have no idea how to cross it!” I looked at her and shouted “What exactly is it?” She was silent initially, then spoke again, saying “It’s hard to describe, but somebody really wanted to move a mountain!” My heart stopped, “You’re joking, right Alex?” No response. I jogged ahead alongside the others, and before my very eyes I saw a most peculiar sight. Enormous chains were hooked into the side of the mountain we have been climbing on, and it seemingly shifted! Causing a massive chasm to form between us and it. There was no bottom I could see. None of us breathed a word for a good while, horrified, as this couldn’t be natural phenomena! No anomalous reports came back that informed us of this! Luckily, one of us was able to break the silence, Aimee. “Perhaps we should follow the chasm, towards the chains.” The chains were off to our left, and the chasm stretched quite far, but had a clear point where we could hop across. I nodded, and so did they. We began our expedition swiftly, each step we took more was revealed. The chains themselves were absolutely massive, dwarfing vehicles with one link, and on the edge of the horizon, just below the chains, we saw large rectangular structures. The metal of the chains was rusted, brown and black chips were tearing up and down the links and appears to have frozen them in place. No end to them was found for a few minutes, until we eventually saw that they were attached to numerous circles, each decreasing in size and, in turn, decreasing the chains in size. The ends were barely visible through a scarlet veil that decorated the entirety of the ground below. Before long we were able to hop across. 

    Initially, we viewed it as a minor set back, nothing terrible of course. We walked in absolute silence, glaring at the chains’ ends. I heard Tristan whisper to himself, “Pinpricks.” I did not think anything of it at the time until moments later, Alex whispered to herself “Pins and Needles.” I spoke “Hold up everyone, lets check up, how is everyone feeling?” In an almost desperate tone Aimee said, “Right now?!” I retaliated, “Yes, I heard you two whisper something, what was it?” I said pointing at Alex and Tristan. Tristan went first, “The entirety of my calves are tingly, like when your circulation is cut off or restricted. You know, pinpricks.” Alex went next, “Same here, but its my shoulders.” I looked at Aimee, who, evidently, was uncomfortable. Eventually, we all grew silent, and began glaring at the chains once more. “Do you want to investigate?” Aimee immediately shot back “I’m not going anywhere near that!” Tristan was willing, and Alex was with Aimee. Me and Tristan decided to look deeper. 

    The first step forward sent chills down my spine and the second repeated that. I hesitated, and so did Tristan. As we continued walking, the sounds beneath our feet changed with the hue of the foliage. Going from a light crumble of dead grass to an almost juicy tinge of mud, this only exacerbated as we stepped further into the scarlet, which only intensified the closer we got to the chains. When we were close enough to point out details, I saw Tristan stop for a moment. I asked him, “You alright?” He nodded and said “Swear to god I heard something.” as he said this his vision slowly turned towards me. I felt his fear. A few more steps, and we were ankle deep in an unrecognizable filth. Lifting our feet was difficult, so we basically had to waddle towards the ends. I looked behind at my trail, and shivered when I noticed that my trails had fine lines running through them. Not simple lines that appear on the surface, but indentations. The sounds of our steps became increasingly disgusting, becoming more guttural the further we went. The chain was in arms reach, and we lowered ourselves as far as we were willing to go. Without thinking, and seemingly without volition, my arm began to extend towards the chains. Before I could notice, I held one of the two chains. I looked over and saw Tristan, in the exact same pose, looking at me the exact same way, and holding the chain. We both blinked took our turns readjusting ourselves before we asked the question we both have been wondering, “Do we pull?”. Tristan nodded. We stood with both hands on each chain turned around, and in what felt so natural to do, pulled the chains out from the mess. That guttural sound blared from behind us as a gust of trapped air gulped to the surface, my stomach turned, but I kept pulling. The sounds grew louder as we pulled and quickly snapped into silence when we reached the grass. I dropped the chain beside me, I watched the ground and heard Tristan whinge and recoil. I looked behind me to see two arms connected to a headless torso, patches of skin remained with the edges flayed, and around the wrists was a layer of skin, sewn to the arms and the chains. No legs, no lower half, just the torso and no head. Organs were strewn in a line towards a gaping hole that closed. Once again, I saw those lined indentations, this time following the circumference of the hole. We all hacked and heaved, horrified and on the verge of vomit. Me and Tristan ran up to join the other two.

    “What the fuck is that!?” Wheezed Alex, Aimee was further ahead, curled and holding her stomach. I stifled my breath to hesitate vomiting and eventually I was able to gasp out “I have no … idea. Lets move, lets get out of here.” We each gathered ourselves long enough to walk out of the valley the body was in. I never considered this, but the ground around the chains, it was levelled. Flat. The region ahead of the mountain, was torn and cataclysmic, as if the mountain ran into it, against the chains’ pull. We stopped just a few miles away from it, and we were halfway to Asia. We rested, 5 hours till sundown. Gasping for air we found a small plateau and sat upon it, sitting opposite each other. We all took time to adjust and calm down. Aimee said “I can’t believe what we just saw, who would do something like that? Attempt to actually pull an entire mountain? That ridiculous!” I did not mention the fact that the valley was levelled and flat. Haven’t the faintest Idea why. “I made a log already about it, lets just get to Asia. The sooner we find her, the sooner we find the transmitter, and the sooner we can get off this place.” I said. Alex looked at me with a dead serious expression, “I am more scared to go further into this place. I saw a large assortment of ruined geometric shapes in the distance, towards Asia, and its very clear now what it is. Take a look if you have to.” I stood up and looked towards her location, and sure enough, I saw cracked and torn pavement in lines, and large ruins in sorted fashion alongside the pavement. “Yeah, i dont know about you Daniel but that is not something I want to walk into now. I’ve seen a lot, alright, I saw Lamia Prime get blown to shreds and reassemble behind my back, I’ve been on the Lamia case since I started being a Derelict with 4 completed missions under my belt. This is too much even for me.” she said. I knew her history, all of us have 4 missions and 4 years of the Lamia case under our belts. We’ve all seen what she has seen. But she��s right, this is more than we are ready to deal with. “I’m not leaving without Asia, we get her, and we call for Evac. Sound good?” I asked. Alex nodded, visibly tired. Tristan nodded, but Aimee was contemplating. “Do you guys think you can carry on without me? I’m not able to deal with this stuff, I’m meant to take notes on what we see, and I have seen more than enough. Think I can wait for Evac?” I looked at her, then at Alex. Tristan interjected, “You’re going to leave Asia? What if we dont succeed? You’re just going to go back to Prometheus with that weight on your shoulders?” Aimee exhaled sharply, and fell silent, hanging her head. “If you want to stay then stay, we wasted enough time. We need to book it to Asia before Nightfall.” I began walking, Alex followed behind me, and behind her Tristan followed. Aimee stayed.

    The first 5 miles were easy, but we were already approaching the outskirts of the ruins. Each of us were tense, we pulled out our weapons and held them, safety off. Another hour passed, we’re down to 3 and a half hours to find Asia and call for Evac. We saw large posts of metal impaling the ground with a hunk of broken metal and electronics dangling from the top. Ancient pavement that crunched and crackled beneath our feet lead all the way into the ruins. 3 hours left, and we were just under 10 miles from Asia’s position. It was clear where she was just by the path of recent destruction her pod made. Smoke billowed from a building further down the paved road from us. We could have ran, but our caution was far too crippling. Anticipating an event that won't come to pass. 

    It took us 2 hours to walk through the ruins. Something eerily familiar about them, and all of us reporting hearing voices over comms that did not belong to any of us. The only person who did not report was Aimee, presumably off comms and trying to contact Evac. Asia landed in a building that was now around the corner from us. Quite a large building, in the back were exploded canisters of extreme proportions, we only saw them because the right side of the building was completely decimated. As we rounded the corner, we heard a chilling sound over comms that made us stop in our tracks. An eerie moan was heard, one which crackled over a broken frequency. With eyes widened we each looked at one another, brought our weapons closer to our chests, and proceeded even slower than before. Alex peeked around the broken wall, saying she sees the pod. As we approached she held up her hand and said, “I wouldn’t go near it though.” I asked why just as I joined her side. The pod was absolutely shredded, with a viscous red liquid seeping from its cracks. Beneath it a membranous mass congealed and held it in place. The mass was pinkish, with pustules the size of a human skull filled with a mysterious yellow-green substance. From the side of the Pod we saw a lanky, feminine arm sticking out, holding on by the strands of tendon to the, now very clear, pilot of said pod. Asia was dead, and in her outstretched arm was the Data Tracker. 

    We approached slowly, and as we did I heard Tristan begin to whimper, choking back tears. I wanted to tell him to let it out, but that would make more noise than we are willing to allow. I saw the pod up close, and through the pod I saw Asia’s face. A horrific sight, truly. The membrane beneath her had crawled up to her body, encompassing it. Her face had a solid substance, with many holes drilling into her skull. None were bleeding. I could see tendrils of this wood-like material under the skin on the side of the infected area. One of the only untouched places being her right eye which gazed a million miles ahead of her without life. Tristan began to break when he saw it, I heard it convulsing and heaving. With one foot almost on the membrane, I stretched forward to grab the Data Tracker. It was no ordinary Data Tracker, it was the “Asia Special”, she modified it heavily, jerry-rigging range extenders and tons of buttons to the sides and the front. She even gave it a Touch Screen and an Analog Panel. A gifted Technician, absolutely. I handed it to Tristan, the only other one of us who knew how it functions. He pressed a few buttons to turn it on, and clasped it in both hands as he gazed at Asia. I asked him, “Is it working?” no response. Alex grabbed it from him slowly and calmly, she didn’t want to disturb him. I looked at it and immediately recognized Asia’s special symbol for Lamia Signals. It was in a peculiar place, just down the road. I told Tristan to take as long as he needs, only for him to speak immediately, “She was really the best.” I hung my head and said, “Yeah. We need to finish this, the Transmitter is right down the-” Tristan cut me off, “Do you think we will get out of this, man?” I looked at him, his face had tears streaming down and his face was red. “Yeah, why wouldn’t we?” Tristan solemnly looked up, a look of fear and desperation as he reached for his Communication Relay and handed it to me. As he did, he said “We havent had a single contact since we landed. Nobody can hear us.” My heart sunk. “Well when they notice this signal is off the map im sure they’ll send someone-” He cut me off again, “You know what happened to the others right? I didn’t think it was my time yet. Not yet.” I was confused, and before I could ask he said, “Go on without me, I’m going to need a bit. I’ll catch up.” I nodded, and just as I turned around I heard him whispering to himself “Flos Vale.” A dead tongue, I doubt he could translate it for me. Alex and I started for the Signal Transmitter, she was still silent. I could tell she was disturbed.

    We pressed forward until we got to the ruins, rubble piled onto the base floor of what used to be a building. The back corner was cleared of the rubble and had a hole leading down. We were on top of the signal, so all we had to do was jump. I turned on my flashlight and started forward, only to realize Alex wasnt with me. I looked behind me, nobody, so I went back onto the streets to see her standing. Arms lowered with her gun at her side. She looked, defeated almost. I walked to her and asked her what was wrong. Without a word, she pointed up to the top of a large building, once called a Skyscraper. When I looked, I felt exactly what she did. The same membranous mass from Asia’s pod, growing in a huge spread on the side of a building. Pustules the size of a person, and within was something swimming. Only when my eyes followed it did I understand her despair. The spread was ongoing, hostile, and above all else, powerful. We walked forward to find a huge trench, stretching past the plateaus we came from and reaching to a sea of complete red. Underneath, a spongy substance was poking through the waves, and what we saw only deepened our fear. Arms, human arms! Legs, Torsos, faceless heads, all detached and all dysmorphic. I pointed directly across the trench. Frozen people posed in terror, covered in the wood-like substance. One humanoids head was blown out, with shards of that substance peeled apart, revealing a hollow center. Made my skin crawl, as the holes themselves were patternized. Seeing them peeled like that only twisted my stomach. 

    I put my hand on Alex’s shoulder, I said “It will be alright. We’ll get out of here. C’mon, lets destroy that Transmitter.” I turned and began walking, but she did not move. She didnt make a sound, and just stood there, plasterfaced. Her eyes were further up, gazing into the sky. I asked her, “Hey, you coming? C’mon, snap out of it.” She finally spoke, “I can’t do this Daniel,” She said in an exasperated and dead tone, “I just can’t. This used to be a human settlement, but i fear it was more than that. So many lives, so many people. This is one, imagine what’s under the water elsewhere.” I tried to reason with her, “Its bad, yes, absolutely, but the end of our mission is right here! We can go for it! We can do it! When Prometheus sees the Transmission has ended-” she interrupted me, “They didn’t notice the end of the Transmission for the others, Daniel. Did they save the Moloch?” She looked at me this time, and I could see utter defeat behind her eyes. I couldn’t speak, no matter how hard I tried, “Did they?” she asked again. I tried to formulate an answer “W-well no but-” she started again, “They didn’t save the Moloch, they have tried again and again to destroy Lamia Prime despite the accounts of living personnel aboard, they arent trying Daniel. They aren’t.” I looked at her, and in the most inspiring tone I could muster, I said “ That’s true, but we have 4 years, 4 fucking years of experience in dealing with Lamia Anomalies, they can’t afford to get rid of us!” Her gaze turned outwards again. I continued, “We have seen more than most Derelicts can say! We have survived through so damn much! What makes you think we can’t get out of this!” She remained silent this time. A moment passed and she spoke once more, “Continue the mission. If completing it means you can get out of here.” I snapped back, “You’ve seen everything Alex!” She quickly responded with “I’ve seen enough.” She quickly pulled the tip of her rifle to her mouth and said “Flos Vale”. Before I could react, she fired. Splatters of red cascaded my helmet as shock filled my lungs. I fell to my knees and began heaving, choking down vomit as my mind whirled in terror. Alex, I’ve known her for years, her and I have gone through so much as a Team and she just, she just gives up! Gives in to the temptation! 

    My heart pounded, and my mind raced. I had 30 minutes until sundown, and my mind fixated immediately on that. I pulled myself up, stammering, I was disoriented and nauseous but I needed to finish this! I clicked my comms and spoke, my voice was tearing and cracking, high pitched whines streamed through my throat, “Guys? Tristan? Aimee? Alex just, she just killed herself! We need to regroup, where is everyone!” A few seconds pass. Sounding like a scared child I clicked again, “Guys?” Emergency Channel, nothing, All Frequencies, nothing, I even used a dead format of radio waves to attempt to reach anyone! Nothing! Nobody was there! I still had Tristan’s comm relay, I turned it on, no contacts. I pulled out Asia’s Data Tracker and fiddled with it for a while trying to find the signals of Tristan and Aimee. Nothing. Just the damned Lamia Signal. I heaved once more, utter terror and fear filled me. I used the last of my strength to walk towards the building housing the Transmitter, I reached the hole. 20 minutes left till Sundown. Looks like I’m staying with the Transmitter tonight. 

    I hopped down, my whole body lethargic and my mind barely functioning. I looked forward and saw an empty room. “The Tracker said it was right here! It fucking said it was right here! Where is it!? Where is the Transmitter!?” I began to panic, my anger rose, thinking this was all for nothing! “No! It was all for nothing! First Asia, then Tristan, Alex, Aimee, I lost everyone for nothing!” I began to break down, moving in sporadic ways, screaming at the top of my lungs in distress. I threw the Data Tracker forward, only for it to bounce off something and slam back into me. I pointed my flashlight forward, and there was nothing, but I heard a disgusting oozing sound with an odd, wet, undulating noise. I moved forward and looked down. What I saw churned my stomach and tormented my mind. A giant egg-like membrane that wrapped around something, the same pustules as before but this time, I could nearly make out what was swimming within. Against all impulses, I lept down, my feet landing in the sticky membrane that coated the ground and walls of another floor. This one had a hole leading into what seemed to be an aqueduct. My gaze quickly fell on the egg, which stood at my height and looked to have something inside the whole thing, not just its pustules. Within the yellow-green slime of the pustules was something far beyond disgusting, it looked to be chunks of someones brain! Brain matter continually moving around, tethered to something in the center. I grabbed my Flak Shotgun, and aimed it at the center of the mass. My whole body hesitated at first, but all inhibitions were gone in a single moment. I fired, shouting angrily as I did so. It burst open as the pressurized contents spewed out. The pustules, god knows what the fluid inside is, but what came from the egg, slipping between the torn membrane was a headless body without a lower half, no hands, and where the head would be, a mass of tangled strings leading into the spinal column was there instead. I couldn’t hold back anymore, I took a deep breath, lifted my visor hoping this stuff did not secrete a gaseous toxin, and hurled. Instinctively, my body breathed in, and I noticed that there was breathable oxygen on this planet. But, how!? Hardly the first thought I had, as many more immediately shot through me, what was this thing!? How is it transmitting a signal?!

As the body flopped to the ground with a loud splat and along with it a previous snack from my stomach, a rumbling from beneath the ground began. I turned around to see the sky was black, with only a bit of light shining through. The quaking became harsher and harsher, building voracity, I knew the nighttime indigenes were going to be coming out soon, so I readied my gun and prepared myself. As I backed myself into the corner next to the opening into the aqueduct, I noticed the membrane on the ground was undulating and gurgling, spewing up tissue from what i can only assume the dead human on the ground. And as it undulated, tiny tendrils of incredible length shot out from its edges and began enveloping my feet and weaving into the walls! I darted for the aqueduct, which was musty and smelled of rusted copper. I began sprinting with my flashlight aimed with my rifle down the corridor. From behind the quaking started to cause me to stumble, and when I looked behind the membrane was growing rapidly, enveloping the walls and the ceiling! I ran, bolting down the corridor as fast as possible, until I saw a hole leading upwards! I swiftly climbed the rubble to find myself in the building we found Asia in! Tristan’s body was already consumed entirely by the mass, with pustules already forming on his person!

I sprinted for the outside to see exactly why they told us to not be outside at night! This membrane grows rapidly at night! To the extent that the entire block was already half taken over, with the way we entered being ripped by unknown forces. When i saw the tendrils coming for me again, I ran deeper into this section of the city, I saw no hills or mountains, only ruins! My chest began to burn as I gasped for air. I fell on my hands and knees trying to get a full lung. In this moment almost perfect clarity was in my grasp, i looked back to see the overgrowth slowing to a halt. Gasping, I lay down in momentary relief and gather myself. Before I could recoordinate, though, I heard someone. It was Aimee, over comms! “Daniel?” she said, “Aimee! Oh my god where have you been!?” I shouted back in joy. She spoke again, “Daniel?” I clicked again, “Yes, Aimee, Yes! I’m here, where are you!?” Again, “Daniel?” was all I heard. Same tone, same pitch, same everything. Like it was on repeat. Down the street I heard Alex’s voice shout out “Daniel!”, I didn’t shout back, I was dumbstruck! From behind me I heard Tristan repeat what the others said, and quickly Aimee spoke again, immediately followed by Alex, then again by Tristan, this repeated over and over in my head, soon, more voices joined in the choir! Hundreds, all intelligible, talking, whispering, yelling, I couldn’t understand any of it! I panicked and ran forward, trying to escape these sounds but my running only increased their volume! I was pleading, “Make it stop!” I shouted to nobody, “Please stop!” Desperate and tired I pounded forward begging for it all to go away! 

I saw the edge of the street, my reflexes failed me so I essentially tripped myself, slamming the front of my skull into the pavement and skidding slightly forward to see the water before me. My ears rang, and finally, I got the silence i begged for. I looked at the crashing crimson waves, and in this moment, I felt at peace. This moment was shattered, swiftly, as I heard the sound of crackling pavement and tearing rocks behind me. I turned around, the voices slowly came back to me increasing in volume with each second! The Tendrils became a wave, sticking into and slicing through buildings as it pursued me. I stood still. Watching as it moved. Everything was in slow motion for a while and, fully conscious, I grabbed my pistol, and aimed it at the side of my head. Above me was the moon, a glaring ball of ashes and dust, with a small red spot specked on its face. I felt the resistance of the trigger, and fired, just as dozens of tiny tendrils impaled my body.

[themrmalice]

Station Lamia Prime

By Malice

Narrated on YouTube by The Disciple: https://youtu.be/dju620v-WAE

We approached the floating structure, a ring with a large pillar mounted in the center. From it a cacophony of electromagnetic waves erupted through the cosmos, assaulting our ship with near unstoppable strength. Our shields were strong enough to repel most advances, but the waves consistently tore through some sections, deadening rooms for minutes at a time. Death tone plates shimmered in the blue light with a magenta pigment carefully dotting the lower half of most plates. 

I'm a Derelict, ordered by the cosmological council to investigate this station, Lamia Prime. They mentioned peculiar anomalies that had been previously undocumented were a constant force in this place. Between visionary hallucinations to memetic distortion, this place covered all of the enigmatic anomalies recorded by the council with varying levels of detail. As a Derelict, I was only sent in to investigate and record any findings. A crew of 25 men and women on a small shuttle are to monitor my neurological behaviour, as that is the most prevalent report when passing through this area. 

This lone station was a place of vast technological advancement, unrivalled in its prime! Now, it is a ghost of what it once was. There were no signs of external damage, no signs of technological malfunction, no signs of panic or struggle aboard the station. Everyone just disappeared. Leaving only their clothes lying on the ground. Chilling, absolutely, more chilling however is that the reactor is still running without an operator. Unless they developed an autonomous reactor, which is nigh impossible, then this is the work of an anomaly. 

             The station was in range for the smaller pneumo pod to be shot towards it. There was no technology within the pod itself, only lead plating to protect the contents within from radiation. I climbed into its cockpit, before me was a window, through which I could see the grotesque station listing slowly in a dead orbit. The radio clicked on “You ready?” a female voice blared, “Yep!” I responded, almost excited to enter this stations recesses. The cabin around me, laced with woven cloth to protect the contents from kinetic force, began to expand. These were the “Punch Pillows”, so to speak, and they grew rapidly, surrounding my body in their grasp. Then came the “Punch" a massive plume of pneumatically sealed air exploded from behind the shuttle, and I propelled forward towards the station. Above me, circles of lights turned to lines and the station ahead grew into a vast, rotating mass. I was pulled into it, and I was about to slam into the side when an unknown force cushioned my assault. My window had strings of baby blue constantly crawling from bottom to top. “Don't worry,” the female voice spoke, “Its merely an Electron Field, it will pull you in shortly.” and just like that, it did. I was being guided gently into a small opening near the bottom of the pillar, where I was thrown into a room filled with meteorites and asteroids. Essentially the junk drawer of this station, where it preserves any meteors that come hurling its way towards the station. 

The airlock spewed open, and the pressure kicked the door off its hinges, opening my deflating cabin to the meteor storage. I got out, searching immediately for a door to go through. Luckily, there was an illuminated door opposite the entrance. A bulkhead of sorts, clearly where the airlock was. I stammered over to it, carefully weaving through the meteors until I could embrace the handle on the door. To my surprise, it turned without hesitation. Indicating that it was recently used. As it opened I pulled out my Plasma Pistol, standard issue for all Derelict Personnel. Inside was a well lit, glossy surface with dotted dirt patterns all around. I slowly walked in and closed the door behind me, swiftly jolting back and forth as I checked the room for intruders. Nothing found. As the door slid into place, it automatically sealed and fresh oxygen was pumped into the room. I turned up my visor, allowing the oxygen to fill my lungs. I looked down and saw more dirt, once again dotted towards the door out. Cautiously I approached, the glassy texture of this place made the dots stand out to an extreme. 

The door slashed open with both sides moving in perfect unison, something now alien to me entirely. Before me was a vast hallway that ran seemingly forever then wrapped around the sides. All I knew was that I was at the bottom of the pillar, and around me stood flat dead black monoliths of incredible size, silent from lack of use. Brushing past one caused its black face to ignite into bluish tones with a blaring sound cascading down the hallways and echoing back to me. The screaming reverberation startled me as it returned and split off into the other halls, disturbingly enough, I could hear other sounds it carried as it passed. The screen spoke an ancient dialect originating in primordial English. I could only make out “Lamia Prime” and “Welcome” from the degraded radio. Beyond it, I saw a large corridor which whipped to the right, interwoven into a hive of lost knowledge. I began my investigation, only to be interrupted by the perfect porcelain white halls having one dark brown interlocutor. More particles leading off from where I came from. Dust from the Meteorites, no doubt. I followed the breadcrumb trail, which traced the halls loosely. Whoever this was, they were disoriented. 

Each step into this place was another step into madness, white walls, white floors, white fluorescent lights, with only the light baby blue interjections of screens followed by green and magenta iridescence radiating through the windows. The iridescent glow was hypnotic, perfectly even in its distribution. Wait, green? I thought the star was blue. Taking a slow and cautious step into a small room decorated with dispersed and erratic placement of lab tech, I gazed out the nearby window at the star, which was indeed blue. Looking back at its iridescence, I saw blue and magenta pigment. The magenta was the colour of the nebula, so that's consistent. Perhaps a part of the Anomaly. Down the corridor I heard gas spew as a door screamed open, I crouched and slowly walked towards the sound. All was silent in this moment, I approached, peering through the quartzite glass at a now opened door with a shimmering light exuding from it. My feet squealed on the floor as I motioned towards it, and as the first squeak from my foot echoed from beneath me, the door gently closed. 

My radio clicked on, and again I could hear that female voice, “The whole station stood still for a good 5 minutes, what the hell is happening in there?”. Stood still? I thought, how the hell does an entire station of this size stand still then go right back to regular rotation? I clicked my radio, “I believe there is another being aboard this station, dirt tracks have alluded to it, preparing to investigate.” I realized that I hadn’t asked about the station, but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I opened my mouth and no words came out. Made me shudder. I moved towards the door, which automatically opened upon noticing my movement, I readied my pistol, and stood with my back against the frame. Snapping into place with my pistol aimed into the room, I swiftly strutted in. Nary a sound but the squeaks of my boots and the charge of plasma. The room had no alternative entrances or exits, nothing was there, not even a sign of life, no dirt on the ground, nothing. Everything was as it should be. Noticing this my heart began to pound. Maybe a malfunction? But Thus far I haven't seen the stations infrastructure malfunction even minorly. 

The radio clicked again, “Warning, Incoming Magnetic Storm, prepare for Electronics and Machines to begin malfunctioning or turning off entirely.” My heart jumped again, the thought of more of these malfunctions happening was comforting but also terrifying. Almost immediately, the Magenta Hue began to offset the Turquoise, and the Iridescence faded as a massive nebula began to envelope the station. Now, all that shone through the window was Magenta, interrupted by streaks of reddish lightning. Magnetic Storms were no joke, they have blasted whole ships out of the stars. However, this one was different. It seemed almost targeted. The Lighting slashed through the hull of the outer ring, gargantuan pillars of light erupted from within the cloud and plasmatic fire skewered throughout it. It was collapsing! The Outer Ring no doubt acts as a Gyroscope for this damn station, I need to get the hell out of here before the Gravity starts to decay! I bolted down the hall, with the rooms behind me exploding into Magenta tones that roughly splattered against the wall, Panic shrouded me and I began to sprint blindly towards a staircase! I grabbed my radio, almost screaming “The storm is tearing through the station, I need evac NOW!” and almost immediately a calm response resonated from my earpiece, “What the fuck are you talking about Damien? The Storm is oncoming, it's not even here yet! We still have an ETA of 3 hours!” I stopped, no chaos encapsulated the halls behind me. Just silence. I jogged down the staircase I had ran up, and saw that the station was all intact. The radio clicked back “Are you alright? Your neuron activity is sparking right now, perhaps we should evac and get a mag helm for you.” She spoke in a very worried tone. With a shaking voice, I responded, “Yeah, get me out of here.” she responded, “Are you positive? You understand the danger of sticking around, right?” Confusion struck like a bat at the back of my head, “What the hell are you talking about Helen, get me out of here!” I shouted back. Audibly frustrated, Helen spoke, “If you insist then fine, we still have 2 and a half hours till the Magnetic Storm is on us.” Before I could speak, my throat scratched and only a whine was let out. The fuck is going on here? I thought. Guess there's no helping it now. Got 2 and a half hours in hell. Much as I would like to get out of here I would need Helen to send a shuttle here. For some reason, she couldn't hear what I was saying, sounded like she was hearing something entirely different. 

I press onward, the clicking and whirring of the space stations electronics began to grow louder. I looked at the iridescence again, the pale blue and magenta hue were even. The Nebulon Cloud that enveloped the station began to grow in size, indicating the Magnetic Storm. I eventually wormed my way through the facilities until I reached a room with a computer that spoke my Dialect. I opened the computer, finding that this station, Station Lamia Prime, was one of a number of stations. It mentioned another, in Belial's Trench, about 10,000 meters down, called Sub Station Lamia. Belial is another Anomalous Planet. Prime is where they all sent their data. Instead of pouring through 13 petabytes of data, I instead searched for a simple map. When i found a file containing Technology Mapping, Room Layout, and eventually a full map, I was worried. There were several recalculation maps, one which stated that floor 133 was above floor 142, and one where floor 133 was in the outer ring, where only floors 200-220 are. These recalculations happened once every week, and a recalc was scheduled in just a few minutes from now! But between all the Recalcs, I found that only 133 changed position, and was rarely in the same place twice. I checked for a room layout of Floor 133, and found that the rooms were under constant recalc too! I found eventually that Floor 133 was where the Reactor was held, which means I have to hunt this floor down to shut off this station. 

The Recalc began, and would take an estimated 10 minutes to complete. I wish it would be instant like at Prometheus. This station is responsible for sending a few encrypted messages to Prometheus and a number of other Lifehold stations. But the encryption doesn't make sense whatsoever! Its a basic encryption that a preschooler could solve, but the message is still taking the galaxies best scientists to decipher. The messages are sent to each of the 5 Lifehold stations, sometimes voice codes, sometimes text, and even sometimes Morse Code, a dead format from centuries ago! Thus far they have only determined that it is a 12 word statement, split up into 2 sentences, sent in 5 separate messages. They have only determined where 2 words go, and that is “Send” and “Assimilating” and their placement in the statement. They have deciphered that Send is the first word of the first sentence, and that Assimilating is the sixth word of the second sentence. They sent 3 units of derelicts to Help, with only 2 returning in full health. This station has baffled everyone involved, due to its impossibility of investigation. 

The screen beeped, saying that the recalc was done, and that Floor 133 was 3 floors above me. I checked the Layout and the Reactor was on the left, 5 doors down. I practically leaped out of the chair, crouching down, and gliding through the corridor to the staircase. When i reached the staircase, I made careful note of the floor I was on, floor 062. I sprinted up the stairs, the next floor was 063, 064, and 06...2? I checked the floor above me and it was, 063. Wait, what? Hold on now, maybe floor 133 disguises itself as the floor you were just on. Doesn’t explain the next floors repeating though. I opened the door to floor 062, 5 doors down on the left and I was in a Lab Room. I went back to the staircase and began ascending till I was back at floor 062, where i entered again and jogged 5 doors down to the left. Again, the Lab Room! This time, I grabbed a small glass bottle on my way out. Back at the staircase, I placed the bottle on the floor before entering the staircase. I jogged up the stairs, 063, 064, 062 again! I opened the door and sure enough, there it was! The damned bottle! Okay! I thought Lets try going down. I began to descend, going down to... 063. Now I was getting frustrated. I don't have time to play games! I walked over to the edge of the staircase and peered up. An endless flight was above me, same below. I opened the door to 062, grabbed the bottle that happily waited for me, and closed the door. This time, i sat the bottle on the railing next to 062. Keeping an eye on it as I jogged up to 063, 064, and when i reached what was supposed to be 133, the bottle remained where it was. I looked at the sign on the door, and it said, 062. Turning around I saw the bottle standing there. Frustrated I took the bottle and slammed it against the wall, where it shattered, bouncing off an invisible force. I was shocked! I looked at the wall I had thrown it against and placed my hand on it, a pale blue luminance echoed from where my hand had met the wall. I grew curious and began to apply pressure, only to see the sign next to the door begin to distort. It now said 074, and when I tore my hand away it said 062. So that means I ascended 12 floors! I started counting during my descent, passing shards of broken glass 9 times, I eventually reached a point where I was 3 floors above where I began. I pressed against the wall and sure enough, it said 133. The real sign was slightly above where it should be and was ascending. I opened the door to be met with the same corridor as 062. Perhaps I have to distort the energy causing this visual fluctuation? 

I clicked my radio, “Hey, can you fire a high energy EMP at the lower half of the central pillar? There's some energetic force blocking my progress.” Immediately it clicked back, “Are you sure your okay?” Helen said, her tone was off. “Im fine, why do you ask?” Helen spoke back, “I'm serious, you need to evac, alright? You have an hour and a half until the Magnetic Storm hits, and you don't want to be on board when it does.” I realized that the Anomaly is still messing with my comms. So that's not an option. Then, another idea struck me! I pulled out my pistol and set it to stun, maybe the energy blast from it will be strong enough to distort the field! I pointed it right at the door and began charging. Just before I released I heard a shout, “Don't shoot!” It sounded like it was right next to me! I jolted and released the trigger, it struck the field, a streak of blue tore through the hexagonal field that had encapsulated the entire staircase. Floor 133, finally! But the door was halfway through the ceiling. I couldn't see the button to open it, so I was going to have to go to the next floor. I tried my comms again, “Helen, I just distorted a sort of field, in the stairwell, and I'm about to enter the floor that has the Reactor on it.” I waited a minute, no response. “Hello? Helen, you there?” Again, no response. I turned and was about to jog up the stairs when my foot touched something soft. I looked down to see colourful clothing lying on the ground. My heart sunk when I noticed a scorch mark on the right shoulder. Looking around, there were dozens of clothing sets laid out, shirt above, pants below, like ghosts. What the fuck? I thought. 

I slowly walked up the stairs, passing by the shirts of varying colour. None of the others had a mark on the shoulder. Nothing made sense to me right now. When I made it to the next floor, I saw floor 133 was still slowly gliding through the wall, but I could at least access it. I had to kneel to press the button. And when it opened a headache slammed into the back of my skull, like a train it struck again and again. A migraine. Whatever the Anomaly is, I found it. When I hopped into the floor, an icy chill ran up my spine, causing me to reflexively contort. My arms pulled to my chest, and my eyes fixated ahead of me without moving. Now, terror filled my lungs, as I stumbled towards a large observation deck. Before me were shattered fragments of a previous planet, still intact to some capacity. The Nebulon Cloud was far smaller now, and the Iridescence on the ground was a dark blue complimented by a dead Magenta. Now the blue was overpowering the Magenta. This terror was only furthered when I turned around. Hundreds of clothes were scattered to and fro, with the shirts all pointed in the same direction. Towards the 5th door on the left side of the entrance. I walked over silently, I had the innate sense I was being stared at. My pistol drawn, I pointed it towards the door. Now, the clothing seemed to disperse around my feet, clearing a path as I walked. Parting the sea of clothes, I made my way to an inactive generator. I placed my hand on a terminal, and looked at the readings. I couldn’t make out the dialect, but the layout of the readings were familiar, luckily. The Reactors Energy output was above 60% with a 10% usage. I was confused by this, as a Lifehold Station normally has an 80% usage with a 90% output. But the numbers were fading. I looked forward to see a lever, the obvious on/off switch. I moved towards it, only to feel something brush against my arm. I jumped forward and glared back to see all the clothing was now floating, shirts above, pants below, neither were filled with anything! Flat clothing that walked towards me slowly, in unison! I grabbed the lever and they all halted, as if scared to see what would happen if I were to turn the Reactor off. One motioned and I immediately pulled the lever.

As swiftly as the clunk of the energy output shutting off sounded,the entire room went dark, the clothing fell, and the room was filled with the Magenta Hue followed by Red Crackles! And only in those flashes of red did I see black smoky bodies, humanoid, standing where the clothing did! I screamed, fired at one of them, they did not respond, none of the smoky bodies were moving! Despite this, and despite me seeing the bolt of blue slash into the wall, I saw a burn mark form on the shoulder of one of the articles of clothing. I sprinted wildly past all of them, feeling nothing as I ran right through some! Panic filled me again, and the cloud of the Magnetic Storm began tearing away at the room I was in, I opened the door and slid out just as a flash of Red revealed that the smoky figures were all standing around me with arms extended. I slammed into the ground, the smooth white tiles were comforting to me. I clicked on my radio, “Helen, can you hear me!?” I yelled, no response yet again, I ran down 4 flights of stairs, ran into floor 062, which now had clothing in the corridors! Disarray filled the corridor, I heard a loud crash at one end of the hall. The Magnetic Storm was upon us, I saw the cloud ripping at the outer ring. I ran towards the Meteorite Store, only to be halted by a figure holding the same pistol that I use, with it charging and pointed at me. Another Derelict, but, how? Nobody else was sent in! I drew my pistol and pointed it back, mine was still set on stun, but theirs was shrouded in purple. Not a word between us, the figure was feminine, and tears streamed down her face, she screamed at me “Are you one of them!?” I calmly spoke back, “One of who? My name is Damien, who are you?” She shook as I spoke, and not a word was spoken from her lips, but she did peer out the window. With a dead expression, she took the pistol and pointed it to her temple. I quickly shouted “Woah! Wait!” But by the time my words left my mouth, a blast of purple clouds and scarlet streaks soared through her skull, annihilating her head. I looked out the window and saw a flash of red sheer towards my corridor, and I braced for the impact.

A flash of white, I blinked, and I was on the floor, in 062. My nose and ears were bleeding extremely, I groaned and rose to my feet. The first sound I heard was over the radio, “Damien, are you there?! Damien!” I clicked my radio, “Yeah, I’m fine, glad to hear from you. Whats the ETA on the Magnetic Storm?” Helen, who was clearly confused, said “Are you kidding me? The station was torn apart when we left! We tried to wait for you but we took a Mag Blast right to our bow! We left, its been 2 days Damien!” I couldn’t comprehend what she meant, Two days? I clicked back “What are you talking about Helen? How long have I been out?” A moment of silence, then the click “Damien what the fuck is going on!? Been out, you went totally dark! It happened like 30 minutes after you left! How long have you been in there, how long do you think you’ve been in there?!” “To me its only been about 2 hours, Helen! I dont know whats happening, all I know is what I saw!” Helen quickly responded, panic in her voice, “You need to get off that station Damien, I already ordered for its kinetic destruction! They are going to be blasting it in a few days, getting rid of it altogether!” Before I could respond she spoke, “we have 30 minutes to get you out of there, there's another Storm coming in. Are you ready?” I groaned again, “Yeah, yeah I'm ready. I'll head to the Meteor Store.” I began to stumble haphazardly through the halls. When I reached the junction to the Meteor Store, I was about to turn when I noticed that the Dirt Trail lead right to where I woke up. I followed the trail back to find that it lead in different directions. I began that way, figuring I had enough time to quickly find where it went and head back. Stumbling slowly through the hallways, I looked at my watch, which indicated that I had about 15 minutes before the arrival of the storm. 15 minutes? It's only been like 5! I clicked on my radio, “Helen, how long has it been since you contacted me recently?” Helen responded, “It's been only like 10 minutes, Damien. Are you near the meteorite store?” I snapped awake in panic, “Ten minutes!? Helen, my watch says 15 and to me it's only been 5! What the fuck is happening here I feel like I'm losing my mind!” She took a moment to respond, then said “I don't know Damien. When we left the Station was torn to shreds. We would have stayed away if there wasn't another message sent to Prometheus the day after. Another encryption, from this station.” My head swam, the migraine from before returned, “Helen the shit I’ve seen here is nothing like you would imagine! I'm getting out of here.” Filled with determination, I began to careen towards the Meteor Store. I entered the Airlock to be met with a click from the radio again, “Damien you need to get out of there,we can't wait forever!” I snapped back, “Helen whats going on?!” Full realization that I was not perceiving this as she was. No response, but I understood her panic when the airlock doors opened, and I saw the Storm tearing through the ships force field. I screamed into my microphone, “Helen its not real, I’ve seen like 5 of these hit, its not real!” She screamed back “Its fucking real enough! Our goddamn reactor is dead we are using a backup generator, we are getting out of here!” I saw the ship warp out. I closed the airlock door, waiting for the hit. But once again, none came.

Exacerbated, I stood up after waiting 20 minutes, and opened the door back into the station. Where I was met with a bustling corridor filled with smoky people moving in flashes, and only in between each flash did I see clothing. Some stopped and glared at me, and I warily walked through them to the opposite side. Doors opening and closing on their own, parting clothing seas, and smoky figures in between red flashes. I saw the Iridescence, it was flashing between being primarily magenta and primarily blue. I slowly walked through the hall, my shoulders hunched at my sides. Between each flash I admired the colourful array of clothing on the ground, and during each flash I watched as the smoky figures walked right by me. I made it to an observation deck, where I sat down and tried to collect myself. Crimson dotted the ground beneath me, my nose and ears were still bleeding. I heard a voice, “Um, sir, who are you?” I turned around to see clothing on the ground. I got up and faced them, a flash occured and I spoke to the smoky figure, “My name is Damien.” No response. I sat back down when the next flash happened and the smoky figure was no longer there. Eventually, a longer flash of white occured and shrouded my vision for what seemed like an eternity. When it all came to, all I saw outside was a magenta cloud with streaks of red slashing through. Behind me though, was an endless gauntlet of sprinting clothing and smoky figures, complimented by red lights and blaring sirens. The flash happened again, and I saw the Magenta Cloud emitting from the planet, spewing from it. Then, another long flash, and Everything was white again, silent and calm. The nebulon Cloud was rested around the station again. I clicked my radio, “Anyone there?” I said in a tired tone. No response. I looked ahead, and saw a dot of brimming white growing in size. Initially I thought it was a distant supernova, then I thought about it. If this is back to where I started, then this would be the future, right? Then, if its the future, that's not a distant supernova, that's the intergalactic Railgun!

I jumped to my feet and ran down the hall, towards the meteor store. Before I could turn, I saw the same feminine figure from before standing where the hall is. She pointed her gun at me, and had tears streaming down her face, just like before. This time, however, I could make out smaller details. I recognized the face of this woman! It’s Helen! “Helen! Wait! Please!” she narrowed her eyes, and said something in a dead tongue, “Mor Flos Vale”. And before she shot, she crossed her arm over a badge on her shoulder, a red badge on her shoulder with a blue flower in the center, with the words, Flos Occidere. Then she fired, I ducked under the bolt and ran back towards the observation deck, the shot from the railgun was now in the Solar System, and would strike us in just a moment. Behind me, I saw a Magenta hue paint the corridor that Helen was in, she gazed out a window, tears streaming. She brought the gun to her head, and fired. Another storm. I looked back and watched as it swallowed the payload whole, pushing it off its course. Before the storm could hit, and without hesitation, I followed in Helen’s footsteps, I gazed out, shed a tear, and fired a plasma bolt into my temple.

[themrmalice]

Treacherous Deep

By Malice

Narrated on YouTube by The Disciple: https://youtu.be/rmoQAE5QBM8

   

Metal groans in discomfort as its frame compresses, glass shakes and snickers, full knowledge that it alone stands as a barrier between the crew and the black depth outside. Like invisible arms squeezing the cabin with all its might, wishing only to crush the sub like a tin can. Within were 5 “Derelicts” a term coined for salvagers, investigating a signal that blew through the system from 15,000m below the tense surface of water. Clean, lacking waves, like a marble. Took 4 blasts from an orbital kinetic cannon to break the surface tension, allowing the Derelicts to go beneath its murky waves. 

    Passing 4,000m, the Abyss, where no light dare tread, and where only 1 singular pulse of light may emit. A fiery red beams from a subsurface station, pulsing, again, again, again. It was still a few thousand metres down, in the pitch black beneath us. Perched on the only continental mass we could find, between two cliffs leading into a massive and unexplored crevice. Depth calculators still havent found the bottom, hidden as it is, we were sent in to find where the S.O.S. was coming from. 

    Passing 6,000m, its been quiet, with only a few low groans from the Ballast interrupting that silence. Hideous and beautiful, the ocean is nothing but a masterpiece. Our Sonar has not picked up anything thus far, and with a 4,000 mile radius, its only proof that we are truly in an abyss. No rocky formations, no lifeforms, not even bacterial life. Just our sub. The S.S. Moloch. As we sink deeper into the abyss, my job becomes far more difficult. I manage room pressurization. Normally Automated, but the station wanted us to be extra cautious. After 10,000m, its one button press from instantaneous death due to Barotrauma. I’ve seen it, at this depth the body is its own weapon. Implosion, your body guts itself brutally, the fashion by which it does this involves innumerable organs expanding and collapsing. In the blink of an eye, what used to be your friend is now a misty cloud of parting crimson. 

    Passing 9,000m, in just a few minutes, our ears will start to ring, a signal I need to up pressurization in the sub, just a tick too much however, and we will meet a watery grave. The control panel in front of me started to beep a couple hundred meters up, showcasing a warning that the pressure in my specific cabin was getting too low. If I let it beep for a second longer, my cabin would have collapsed, adding to the weight of our sub and eventually sinking the S.S. Moloch. Everything must be perfect, every tiny calculation, no room for error. Our Oxygen Supply, if the tempurature increases the entire supply could explode and puncture the bow, dragging us all down with it. The Sonar, if we lose power to it, even for a moment, wont be able to notify us of our descent speed. Moving to fast, we hit a rock and implode, moving to slow, and we are wasting valuable minutes beneath the surface. The Pilot, his hands are weary and eyes are straining, sweating profusely, one wrong move and we’ve lost time down here. This S.O.S. beacon was calculated to be below 20,000m. Under the crust and buried in the mantle. 

    10,000m, we found the station, who signalled us into a drydock for resupply and a small break lasting only 2 hours. A mistake in my opinion, the break may only slow us down. I remained on the ship, telling those on the station I cannot leave until I can guarantee the safe reentry of my companions. About 30 minutes in, I gave in and left. The station was dilapidated, held together by the bare minimum, I believe I found some gum holding a small hole in the ground of the dry dock together, frozen by nitrogen. Depth Gum too, made out of plants found down here, eases anxiety while retaining focus. The crew aboard the station, Station Lamia, one of 4 here and the only one at this depth in The Trench. The Crew were all very calm, relaxed, and overall pleasant. They gave us food, water, the occasional ration of alcohol, and eventually sat us down for a more serious topic. The Trench. The widest berth they’ve found down here was a mere 800m in diametre. Our sub could easily slip through, but that was merely the opening. Past 14,000m, the diameter never opens up to 800m, meaning we would need to take it slow and cautious. They warned us of the wild life down here as well. Incredibly territorial and incredibly large to boot. The largest creature they’ve seen can dwarf the entire station! Its so massive that it could never find its way out of the cavern system. The caves it resides in are too far beneath the trench to explore, but a probe was sent in and never found the bottom. Only the horrifying site of an unknown station. Upon exploration of it, the researchers found scriptures of unknown languages. A sign we have been looking for, a sign of sentient alien life. The unknown station was named “Incognita” and has been probed only twice. The full station has not been explored, as part of it was burrowed into the wall of the cave. Another threat they mentioned, oozing black liquid, an ichor so strong it could stick our whole sub to the side of a building on Earth with only 5 square inches of it. Its so powerful that extraction is next to impossible. They would require a requisitioned Extraction Mech AND have it modded to survive at this depth. To put it lightly, this cave system wants us dead. The Water, wants us dead. The creatures. The rocks. The currents. All of it wants us dead. The final and most foreboding threat they warned us about, the water itself. Its not water. It feels, looks, tastes like water. But its lighter. And on a microbial scale, it too moves upon its own volition. Tiny molecules that sink into the pores of skin and bones. The molecules themselves will expand and connect during expansion. When you swim in the water, you cant come out. They happily gave us a new Depth Suit, only one and not fitted. We boarded our sub and said goodbye. The Crew gave us hugs and we left with a somber farewell. They didnt expect to see us again. 

    Passing 12,000m, the pressure is off the charts and hard to control. Outside is no longer black, but now gray rocks painted by my light. These rocks moved swiftly. “I thought they said this cave had a wide berth?” I said to the captain. The radio clicked on, “Yeah, I thought so too. I cant remain mad at them though, I wouldn’t want to do constant calculations down here.” He has a point. But, this is a lot smaller than they led us to believe! We barely fit through some caves! The stalactites nearly scraped my window, but they were pointed at a peculiar angle. Odd. Why would they be pointed off to the side? Maybe the ship nudged them. 

    Passing 15,000m, we were nearing the point of the S.O.S., with enough Oxygen to get us back to the station with an hour to spare and enough fuel to get us to the surface and back, we were all feeling warily confident! The Crew had snuck a pack of Depth Gum for us onto the ship, so we were all feeling more relaxed than normal. Even with our ship barely fitting through some sections. The ship groaned a few metres down, made us all jump out of our seats! It was so loud we thought we scraped against the wall! Turns out the Ballast just kicked some sand from the bed! Our on board engineer screamed “Watch it! We dont want to poke a hole in the ballast, you know that right?” The captain quickly responded “I-I didnt hit it! The sonar didn’t state that the bed was anywhere close to us! We had about a 10 metre difference between the ballast and the sand bed!” “Uh-huh,” the engineer groaned, “just make sure you watch it next time. Please.” “Of course.” The captain wearily said. He looked more confused as he examined the Sonar, I peaked over and saw what was confusing him. The sand bed behind us was now much lower! How can that be? Its solid rock with a pile of sand on it! Thank god we only nicked the sand pile itself!

    Passing 17,000m, this cave is by far an anomaly! Nothing we have ever seen before! The cave walls shift! I swear on my life! I told the captain and he said nothing, just a blank stare. Of course, thats a staple of him. He wears drab attire, only his captain coat and hat set him apart from the rest of us. The generic blue captains coat was nothing to scoff at however, for he had a number of badges, all decorated his upper left shoulder. One patch was a commendation of performing 12 missions below 10,000m. This would be his 13th. Another patch showed his military service during The Fall. One for 40 years of service. Finally there was one I hadn’t recognized. A red patch, decorated with a blue rose in the middle with the words “Flos Occidere” encircling it. I know that Patch I just cant put a name to it!

    Passing 19,000m, we were approximately 1 hour from the S.O.S. The Captain turned to me, with his dead glare he said “I want you to go in the Suit and investigate the signal.” I was surprised, “Why me?” I asked. He spoke again, this time without tone “I want you to go in the suit and investigate the signal, thats an order.” I quickly responded “Yes sir!”. But something felt off about him. As we descended, the pressure began to stabilize and I asked him “May I go get a drink, sir?” He nodded quietly, eyes fixated on the sonar, which shifted every few minutes. I got up and began my descent into the musty storage, where I picked up a flashlight, a Seal, and a bottle of water. As I turned around the Engineering Chief was behind me, glaring at me with similarly dead eyes. “You got what you need for your dive?” I nodded, shaken by his posture and gaze, “Wait, how did you know I was diving? The captain never sent out a mess-” He turned around and grabbed a handheld sonar and the Dive Suit I was going to wear, “Better get prepared, we are only 500m from the bottom.” then he shoved them all into my arms and slowly walked away. I was trembling, both from that encounter, and the thought that we were already only 500m away from “The Bottom”. Which means either we are descending fast, or the caves shifted again, bringing the Beacon closer to us for some unexplained reason. 

    20,000m. We stopped just a few meters away from a Derelict, crushed into itself with triangular holes roughly grinded into the body. The scene was horrendous. I was alone in the jettison chamber, in my suit with an hour of oxygen available to me. I booted up my Seal, and it began to whir rapidly. I turned it off to preserve power, and gave a thumbs up to the camera. Voice Comms werent available in this suit, unfortunately, so I was on my own. The chamber opened and a cold wash of liquid cleaned the scuffs off my suit and I was immediately enveloped by the deep black. The ships bow lights were on, illuminated the whole of the wreck. I booted my Seal up again and it tugged me towards the wreck, where its perched flashlight poked into recesses and revealed exploded Oxygen Tanks and cracked glass. After surveying the outside, I wormed my way within through an incredibly large hold, the same triangular holds decorated the rim of it. The steel door ahead of me was covered in that ichor the crew on the station mentioned, so I wasnt getting in through that. Luckily the way the ship was bent showed a smaller hole that gave way to the inside. I barely squeezed through, and before I knew it I was inside the Medical Bay. Only a distorted arm floated towards the ceiling, other than that, the place was empty. I noticed that the door had claw marks on it, something with incredible strength tried to break in. I found the S.O.S. Beacon and turned it off. 

    As soon as the switch clicked into place, though, the lights from the sub were gone. Replaced by a deafening squeal of metal against stone, similar to that a rumble began beneath my feet! I had to get out of the sub! I clawed my way to a hole and began to tear through the rusted metal with only my hands. Unfortunately, the metal had cut a hole into my glove! I swam out, searching for my Sub, but nothing was there except the dead black! Limitless, I used my seal to chase upwards for a minute and found nothing, not even the cave walls! I felt a current, a pull, the water shifted from behind me! An unknown presence was here! I quickly descended back to the sub, and sheltered myself inside the Medical Bay. I saw something move, something massive! Enormous teeth and a gaping maw! Eventually, it all went black again, my light flickered off so all I could see was black! It came back on again, illuminated a pale figure in the distance, outside the hole in the sub, a massive mouth with hundreds of teeth, all swirling in an oval! It drew closer and closer, until I could see the shine of its teeth! It slammed into the sub, my light flashed off again, and all I could hear were the hideous moans emitted from the sub itself as it conformed to the mouth biting into it. The rumbling began again, god I cant take another cave shift! It continued for minutes on end until grinding to a halt! It was all quiet! My light still didnt work, the battery finally ran out! I felt the rush of the water, the water shifted again! But this time, it was next to me! I reached for my belt and grabbed an emergency flare, I struggled with the tip for a while and fumbled lighting it, until eventually, it snapped to life! And before me, illuminated by the red of my flare, a horrific figure appeared and disappeared again. It looked to have tentacles! I have no idea! I slowly rose to my feet, the whole medical bay was illuminated now, I could see the hole! Instantly I got up and swam out, where I was met with a distant sound that rang through my body. I felt something slowly envelope my leg, and tug me downwards. I let go of the flare and flailed back and forth as the thing grabbing me did! I was hurled into the sand, where I snagged a small pointed rock, which I used to jab into the gripping mass! With one hand I held it, and with the other I punched into the squishy thing with the rock! It let go, and I began to fall deeper. The flare was below me, showcasing a massive cave, something from my deepest nightmares! The walls were flexing and slowly writhing into itself, weaving a horrid shape around me. I continued to fall, feeling the water rush around me, watching the flare as it too fell. The walls began to slowly narrow, until only a small hole, big enough for one person to fit was found. It looked like it was excavated. When I gently landed beside the hole, I picked up the now dying flare. I raised it, nothing was around me! But i felt the water rushing to and fro. I reluctantly hopped into the hole, and slowly descended into it. I fell for what felt like hours, before reaching a small cave with no way out. When I hit the ground, a horrific sound bellowed through the cave. Another groan. The flare died out. I was alone in a crunchy pit. It felt like the floors were made of wood that had been burnt to cinders.

    An hour passed, I began crying, watching my Oxygen Supply deplete slowly. Just let me die already. Before me, I saw a small yellow light, it was growing in size! Its the end! I’m free! I jumped to my feet and stammered closer! On my approached I realized, it was something physical. The size of a Walnut, growing, becoming more bright. It began to illuminate something it was hanging on. I moved in for a closer look, my hand outstretched to grab the pulsing seed. Until the seed flashed brightly, and showcased the horror that held it. Long, gangly hands. All its bones were grotesquely lengthened, and a swirling mass of tentacles weaving into a ball laid at its feet. A human skeleton. Its ribcage still loosely intact, and its arms slowly enveloping me. The skull was fully dysmorphic, the upper half of the skull was lengthened with sharp, elongated teeth pointing from the front. Below its jaw hung, barely held to to the skull. From the roof of the mouth, the seed hung. How was it moving? The last thought that crossed my mind. Only to be answered, by the realization of that very black ichor covering the joints and crossing from one bone to another. As its arms closed in, its head moved towards me, and the light began to fade.

[themrmalice]

Well aware the text on one of these is flipped, I'm a lil clumsy with my corrections sometimes! That said we have about 3 random sketches I made, all yours to glare at.

[themrmalice]

Ooo, this was a commission! Titled 'Anxiety' love this piece

[themrmalice]

A strange creature