《Chosen (Temp Title)》 Chapter 1: I Choose You! A ding of metal went through the corridor as my flashlight falling to the floor making it flicker in and out, rolling down the tightly packed metal hallway. These large hallways were what humanity has come to, no one knew who, or what these hallways were for. Some hissed out white substances that could burn off your flesh off the unprotected parts of your body, my arms were covered in thick black strips of fire resistant material. The rest of my body wasn¡¯t much different, but the colors nor material matched finding enough to cover up all of my arms was a great pride of mine. ¡°Black.¡± My friend yelled at me from across the hallway from a room, they were rare this far up the territories, if they were very valuable for their materials. Nothing special like old world tech, or something most of the computers, and things to make life easier has survived weaponry has even gone past the old world when it came to handheld weapons. The materials most valuable here were things like clothing, and plastics, because metal, food and water were plentiful or no one would have been able to survive down here for so long. Making my way down the hallway, I picked up the flashlight with a frown as the lights turned from red to the annoying bright yellow color that most of these rooms had. Any residential rooms had these lights replaced with the lower intensity red ones, they caused far less stress on the people. ¡°Black, look what I found.¡± My partner tossed me a magazine, the front of it filled with a scantily clad woman the pages yellow with age, reading the front I struggled a bit English wasn¡¯t the easiest language to read. The cover read ¡®Barely Legal¡¯ and I was curious if it would have those Televisions, and the gaming consoles that many of the youths dreamed about. Hestly laughed at my blushing face as I opened it up, giving him a sideways glare before I reluctantly added it to my bag. He smiled, showing me that there was a large pile of at least a hundred individual magazines ranging from ¡®Gent¡¯ to ¡®Lemon People¡¯. We both picked over a few of the magazines before getting back to work, Hestly taking a cord attached to his Gene Hunter badge, and slid it into one of the many ports along the wall. ¡°Andrew and Hestly reporting.¡± As he talked to the commander, I made my way along the walls using a crowbar to rip apart the lockers pulling the worn fabric into my backpack. Being with a rank two had its advantages, coming to the higher floors of the underground passageways always had more unexplored rooms nearer to the entrance. Only about five or so miles had been mapped out and explored on this floor. It was odd how quiet it was, there wasn¡¯t any life that could be seen which was rare for such a low numbered floor, and it''s what made his command cautious. Finding a heat resistant work coat made of the same faded black as my arms I grew increasingly excited. I knew that we had to tear the coat to use the materials more effectively, but I had done that before quite a few times so I took out my knife to get to work on it. Hestly eyed me distastefully, he couldn¡¯t understand those that were lower ranked them him rising through the ranks faster than anyone had seen before. He was a rank Three which many people spent their lives and never amounted to, my own rank being a rank Nine which was well below those around my age. The higher ranked people had special privileges, from fresh supplies to actual recreation items much like those seen in old magazines from before the war, large boxes that had smaller boxes hooked into each other followed by smaller boxes at the ends of wires. With his high rank he was wearing an actual jacket, not torn to make the jacket more efficient and even tailored to his size. Sadly high ranks usually ran in families, and I wasn¡¯t one to break tradition, nor did I have the ability to do so. Once you realize that you don¡¯t have the ability to do something it becomes that much harder, especially when you¡¯re forced to do it. Being a lower ranked Gene Hunter never bothered me with Hestly bringing me along with his trips, it was rather peaceful. When hell did break loose Hestly wasn¡¯t a rank Three for nothing, he was a specialist in Electrokinesis which left little to no evidence a Splicer came through, it was especially powerful because enviroment. He did make a lot of pathways unusable when he used too much power, but that wasn¡¯t a problem as most of the places they went had thousands of hive like entrances and exits to every room. ¡°There isn¡¯t any logic to this place.¡± I frowned as I made a mental note of where we were, our auto-mappers would do that but the actual thought of relying on the technology was never very settling to him. The power that they could wield was also unsettling, even though he was a rare variant with his Psychic abilities he was just happy it wasn¡¯t as offensive as Hestly, he was a mental radar able to sense anything with sentience in his area of influence, which made him valuable even with his low rank. Only two pings came on my natural radar, one was Hestly, and one was his inner inhibitor the symbiotic parasite inside his body to keep his body temperature regulated while using his powers. Splicers for whatever reason were avoiding this place like the plague, noticing that Hestly was no longer talking into his badge I nodded over to him, ¡°Hey, why do you think the Splicers are avoiding this area?¡± ¡°Who knows, probably some of the pre-war shit in the area.¡± He smiled a bit as he flicked through the magazine in his hand, he made his role clear, he was the protection I was the packmule and radar. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t that worry us?¡± Replacing the strips along my chest area made it look like I had on a black shirt now, it didn¡¯t provide much stealth in the brightly lit rooms like this but it¡¯d keep me out of danger in the red rooms. ¡°What can keep the Splicers at bay should only interest us, not make us worry.¡± Looking up from his magazine, he started to walk out of the room, ¡°Call me when you strip this room, I¡¯m going to look for a restroom for some water that isn¡¯t at room temp.¡± Rolling my eyes, I went back to work until everything was in nice little piles separating out their priority then stuffing two of the high priority bundles into my bag. Fully formed the bag was about half my height, and was collapsible barely filling the inside of my cargo pants without much of an effort leaving two small metal poles that I wore strapped to my arms. Having hooks on the ends really helped to stay on the walls going up and down the entrances since most of the ladders have broken off. Picking up a laptop, I added it to a pouch that was behind me then two others along the bag¡¯s side plugging in another to see if there were any games on the system, these government computers mostly never had anything good on them but you never knew. I looked over to the magazines still sitting there, and I hoped that something could come from the search, first being ¡°.jpg¡±. An hour passed from when Hestly left, turning off the laptop which I played about a hundred games of solitaire which was becoming almost like a sport to the group of survivors and I was one of the main stars. Tossing the laptop back into the third pile, I made my way to where my friend had left to, he was the only other person around as far as I could sense and he wasn¡¯t moving in distress so I made it a leisurely pace. Walking through the tight hallways lead me to something that was rare no matter where you went in this labyrinth, an intact door. Getting close to it, the door¡¯s sensors scanned my body the clicked loudly as gears started to turn pulling the door up from the ground with a hiss. At the end of a small hallway lead to another door, in between on the walls was a large amount of reflective glass. Stepping through the hallway was uneventful, the door at the end opening after scanning me as well. Stepping outside of the hallway I was met with the sight of Hestly bent over a railing, and staring at something, his mouth agape and his eyes wide with wonder and a hint of fear. Walking to where he stood, I looked down to see what he was staring at as the same look as my friend¡¯s went over my face as well. The room itself was large spanning out over five hundred feet, and the area only contained a piece of the creature along with two large robotic exoskeletons that were placed to hold down large spikes into the creature¡¯s clawed hands. This monstrosity looked reptilian, blackened wings impaled down by even more metal rods that were impaled into the wall, its head sunken, with flesh decaying in some areas. Thousands of tubes, and cables snaked its way out of the bottom of the stomach twisting out of it like the creature¡¯s intestines and crawling up the walls to many blinking and beeping monitors. ¡°What the fuck is that?¡± My mouth went drier with each word, staring at this thing sent a shiver down my whole body. ¡°I don¡¯t know Black, I¡¯ve never heard anything in the records about something like this.¡± Strength escaping me, I fell to the ground a look of complete fear crashing through my body like tidal waves upon a rubber duck. Hester looked to me as if to ask me a question, then the source of my fear must have registered as he looked to the giant body under us. Another mind came up on my radar, right where the corpse was this one not just a flicker along the darkness like most people were, but a blazing star that made everything seem insignificant. This being was something that we could not understand much like a chicken¡¯s mind can not comprehend its lack of understanding about humans, we could never even imagine what we don¡¯t know of this creature. Its booming voice echoed through the room, ¡°You have come, you are suitable¡­¡± Each time his voice echoed it made the ground tremble. It opened its eyes, and struggled against the spikes impaling it to the ground, the quake from its movement made us both tumble to the ground in a daze. Snapping, then crashing was heard from the exoskeleton suits as they burst apart, machinery breaking as they hit the ceiling, ¡°You have been chosen.¡± Memories flashed into my head, Earth before the war, its surface turning molten as giant ships shot large weapons down onto ground. Screams in agony as humans died in mass, and the ships they created to retaliate against the extraterrestrials. The crashing of their ships into the land causing even more damage, and forcefully evolving the human race giving them unique powers. The last of the human race siding with either the aliens or against them, those that went against them were driven underground, into their tunnels, Splicers, and the Humans. Everything stopped, there was no echo, no shaking of the floors, and no more struggle. When I opened my eyes, the door scanned me opening up to showing Hestler standing there with his mouth agape and his eyes wide with wonder and a hint of fear. Walking to him I saw the same form, the monstrosity from before but with a spike crushed straight through its mouth to its spine. The words still haunted my mind, ¡°You have been chosen.¡± Chapter 2: Power Shaking my head from confusion, thinking it must have been something with this area, maybe the old body below had hallucinogenic effects on the surrounding people. A quick sigh came to my lips as I pulled out a gas mask to get rid of the debris out of the air, the canisters on the side had twenty markings on it, so I could safely use them for four more hours. Pressing one of the buttons on my watch numbers on the digital display started counting up split into seconds, minutes and hours. I only had five such canisters on me so I could last at most four days, and four hours if this place was truly filled with hallucinogenic vapors from the body. Hestler looked back to me, ¡°What¡¯s up black, you notice something?¡± ¡°The body, it is probably letting off gasses, better safe than sorry.¡± My voice sounded really loud to my ears, and heat was slowly rising inside the gas mask. He looked at me confused, ¡°How did you know there was a body down here, you aren¡¯t close enough to see it.¡± I stopped for a moment at his words, and moved forward to confirm that it was the same body I saw earlier, then I shrugged. It didn¡¯t matter that the place looked exactly the same as the hallucination, it probably had something to do with his psychic abilities. Hestler nodded, pulling out his own gas mask and sliding it over his head as well, his had about an hour on it left but they wouldn¡¯t be lingering around for long. ¡°Something fishy is going on,¡± I muttered, letting my sensory powers spread out to listen for more active minds. ¡°God Black is being too paranoid, it¡¯s already dead down there and my symbiote would have sensed something if there was something in the air.¡± Hestly didn¡¯t seem to be talking, but I could clearly hear him speak and I just watched him as he started to mess with the computers to the side. Another voice arose, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about him, he¡¯s just here because he¡¯s useful. The actual credit for this mission will be gifted to us as always, its better to work with a low rank than one of your standing. Who needs to share in the glories when we¡¯d do all the work anyway.¡± Hestly nodded in agreement then noticed me looking at him, something must have shown on my face because he coughed to get my attention, ¡°Quit zoning out, did you get all the supplies? I¡¯ll gather up what¡¯s left.¡± ¡°Yeah, I gathered them all, we just need to pick up the last two pi-¡± I turned my head to more ¡®voices¡¯, they were getting increasingly close. Laying my sensory over my mental map, I was surprised to see that my area of influence was at least ten times stronger. The surprise didn¡¯t last as I noticed fifty new minds appear in my range. ¡°Fifty sentients, coming in about an hour away judging by their speed.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t see that far away.¡± Hestly stared at me for a second before making up his mind, seeming annoyed he thought, ¡°You must be trying to hurry me up, he should know his place.¡± ¡°Listen, I know it doesn¡¯t make any sense but they are coming from the north, and I can feel them moving,¡± I almost said, ¡®and thinking¡¯ but I knew that would get me into some trouble. Mind readers were rare, and always quarantined afraid that secrets might get out if they happen to think the wrong thought. Many people distrusted them, worried that all the skeletons in their closet would be laid bare before the reader. The readers had small villages filled with only their own kind, since only one of their own could block the mind reading. A few lucky ones made their way up the ranks to the people who kept the secrets so that other readers couldn¡¯t get at them. Hestly nodded his head, smiling, ¡°Of course, you¡¯re my partner doubting you would lessen my chances of survival.¡± I knew differently, but didn¡¯t want to argue with him. Moving our way down the corridors, slipping between the pipes to make our way back to the entrance, I noticed that they weren¡¯t coming in our direction but going to the room we left behind. Motioning my partner to stop, we moved quickly back to monitor the situation a bit more. They might know what the room was, or what that creature was laying on the ground within it. The minds of the people got clearer as they got closer, but they were still out of hearing range for my ears which was the perfect place to pause. ¡°What are you saying, the King has never chosen to make anyone a splicer.¡± A young female¡¯s voice filled my mind, it seemed as though speaking was also transmitted to me. ¡°You know that isn¡¯t true, it''s just that he very rarely chooses someone. His body is dying very slowly so this might have been his last chosen, and you know that they pass the person more power when they¡¯re about to die.¡± An older male¡¯s voice echoed out. ¡°Plus there was definitely a pulse from this area. They might help us fight off the hordes of Neo-Humans that came out of the tunnels recently. Our shaman says that there is someone who can sense us among their kind so we can¡¯t keep getting rid of them with guerrilla warfare.¡± Another male¡¯s voice sounded out. ¡°They¡¯re talking about me.¡± My eyes widened a bit, I didn¡¯t have a clue that my power had actually made a fairly big impact on the battle between splicers and humans. Hestly looked over to me, ¡°You can hear them?¡± I nodded quickly, ¡°I can hear all conversations inside my area of influence now. I don¡¯t know what caused the sudden evolution of my powers but it is helpful right now.¡± Looking back to Hestly, ¡°What do they mean by Neo-Humans?¡± Hestly sighed a bit, ¡°It''s not supposed to be known until you¡¯re older, but you already know half of it already due to your power. Your birthday this month you know that you¡¯re supposed to be getting a symbiote correct?¡± I nodded again. ¡°That symbiote takes care of a nano-hive in your body which increases your powers substantially.¡± Fear shivered through me for a moment as I sat there, I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted my mind reading to increase past what it could do. Another voice was added to the mixture as I thought about this, ¡°Then would you rather I ate the symbiote when it entered your body. I¡¯m sure that one is enough.¡± Startled, I looked at the general direction of the splicers but the voice spoke again, ¡°I¡¯m inside of you child, you¡¯ve gotten a symbiote a bit sooner than your peers.¡± ¡°How did you get inside my body?¡± I thought in surprise, then I thought back to the giant creature that was laying on the floor in that room, the creature¡¯s voice as it said ¡®You are chosen.¡¯ This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Questions later, they are close now. Your friend here might have caused a few issues for both of you, look at him and tell me what he¡¯s missing.¡± Looking to Hestly, I scanned over his equipment and noticed he was missing his backpack. ¡°It¡¯s true, King is finally passed away. He was one of the first to bless our planet with Splicers.¡± I could hear the sorrow in the young woman¡¯s voice. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± There was a long pause after the older man spoke up, and then anger filled my mind, ¡°He didn¡¯t choose anyone, those damn Neos have gone to far!¡± Grabbing Hestly¡¯s jacket, I pulled him to his feet, ¡°Shit Hestly, you forgot your bag. Run now.¡± He pushed me away, making me fall over the pipes behind me and crashing to the floor a laptop snapping in two under the weight of my bag. The noise was deafening in the silence of the surrounding area, and Hestly got into a fighting stance powers rippling around him as the air got statically charged. ¡°This is what I¡¯ve been waiting for, being able to fight fifty splicers will get me the promotion so I can have the cushy life. This coward will not get in my way this time.¡± Unstrapping the bag from my back, I rolled to my knees pulling out a small black stick, flicking it, it extended to twice its size. I had a handgun to my side but guns could only be utilized in actual rooms as they had a tendency to pierce through the pipes along the corridors causing collateral damage. Shifting my weight to my heels, I went into a crouching position knowing that Hestly wouldn¡¯t come with me if I left, and coming back without him would be detrimental to me if he survived. Stipping my coat, and baseball cap letting them fall to the floor I was ready for them to come through at any time. I didn¡¯t have to wait long, two splicers came around the corner cautiously as a spark of lightning crashed to the wall behind them my partner already throwing out bolts. The two of them dipped back into the hallway and then with a sudden burst of speed they jumped into the wall using their newly enhanced legs to skip between the walls as they went. This was the power of splicers, being able to change their bodies based on certain factors to adapt to any situation. This first group was weak, I shifted my weight sending a knife from my bandolier into one of their chests sending the woman to the ground. The pause of the first one was enough for Hestly to fry the other against the wall with enough force to create minor lightning arcs between the pipes running down the corridor. Several came in after in the space of a breath, the same types but with larger numbers. Throwing two incendiary grenades down the corridor, I followed up with several knives, killing off several of them before another barrage of lightning went through. Waiting for the next group, I slipped two flashbangs into my hands making sure my partner saw them and to my surprise only one man came around the corner. ¡°Ah, only a group of two this far into our territory? Scouting mission I assume.¡± The old man¡¯s voice was familiar as my eyes narrowed at him, ready to throw the flashbangs. ¡°Further deaths can be prevented as long as I keep them distracted.¡± He smiled softly at them, moving an umbrella in front of himself blocking their view of the hallway. Much to my partner¡¯s surprise, I turned on my heels and threw the two flashbangs down the other hallway and let an incendiary grenade bounce around the corner. Screams of pain followed the blast of flames that filled up the corridor, and the old man immediately rushed forward a look in his eyes of anger and fear. Hestly shot a ball of electricity down the hallway, lightning arking off of it into the pipes making them red hot seemingly about the burst. The old man pressed his umbrella forward, the painted blue pattern dissolving until it was a large mass of wiggling black flesh. This man was dangerous, very few could actually create using their splicer abilities, and that made them all the more deadly. The last one that they had fought used dogs as a base creating a wave of monstrous canines with razor sharp spikes coming from their bodies ripping apart people as they passed. This umbrella was the same, tentacles swarmed out of the black mass and wrapped around the ball of lightning consuming it. ¡°Stacy are you okay?!¡± He pushed forward pressing the umbrella creature at Hestly¡¯s chest. Hestly¡¯s powers weren¡¯t limited to the lightning that he shot out, and the man had underestimated his greatest strength. Using the energy inside of his body he suddenly ¡®Overclocked¡¯ himself, giving him more time to perceive movements. Twisting the umbrella out of the man¡¯s hands, then forcing it behind the man to quickly snap the bone so the man could no longer use his splicing on his arm. Stepping back, then twisting forward he slammed the old man to the floor. ¡°No splicer leaves here alive.¡± His shoulder was suddenly ripped apart as a woman walked around the corner where I had thrown the incendiary grenade earlier in her hands, like mine, were several small throwing knives. She didn¡¯t look any older than twelve, but she had a murderous glare like a wild beast, walking in on prey. She threw two more, but both were interrupted by another flashbang, which got pierced twice before erupting into a blinding flash. ¡°The kid is the real problem, the other relies on his power too much.¡± A crunching sound was heard in the middle of the ringing deafness that spilled into my ears, and I opened my eyes to see a baseball bat had been broken against me. I noticed the flying wood splinters right before the pain hit me, and I was down on my stomach clutching it in pain. One of my ribs had to be broken, the pain was too great for there not to be something broken. Then another flash of pain rolled over my body, as blood started to pour out from my leg making a pool under me. ¡°I had him, he just stunned me for a moment with that grenade, why didn¡¯t he use his powers like the other one?¡± The girl got Hestly in the side with a dagger which allowed the older man to finally get his footing and slam Hestly into the wall. As Hestly stumbled a large piece of metal bashed through the back of his head, then slammed against the floor with a heavy clang, blood and gore everywhere as the other man came into my view. This man wore a long white lab uniform, and his arms were augmented with the same red muscle mass as the other¡¯s augmented legs. He wiped off the blood onto his lab coat which was already stained with a plethora of colors already only adding more flair to it. The man looked quite puzzled as he looked at me though, ¡°He should be dead, I used enough force to snap his spine in two.¡± The other two splicers looked to me, as a sinister laughter filled my mind asking me a simple question, ¡°This seems like the best time as any to ask, do you want power?¡± Chapter 3: No ¡°No.¡± My answer confused the voice as I spoke, hell the three others that were watching me were confused mostly due to the fact that I could speak. ¡°What good did power do for Hestly?¡± Something was squirming inside of me, and I could feel my bones moving as pain rattled through my body. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me..¡± The man that hit me with the bat turned to examine me, his eyes curious as he turned me onto my back. I had no power to resist him, and he slowly pressed at the place where he hit me, his eyes widening as his fingers explored my chest. ¡°The wounds are almost gone.¡± ¡°Get away from me splicer, fuck off.¡± I tried to slap away his hand, and he just stared at me, his face mixing between several emotions before looking back to his allies. ¡°He¡¯s been chosen by the King.¡± The man spit out, almost furious as he looked down to me. ¡°Why a damn Neo?¡± ¡°Well since you don¡¯t want power, what do you want?¡± The voice inside my head spoke softly, prodding me for an answer, ¡°and answer quickly, once you are fully healed they might put you down.¡± ¡°I want¡­ I want to survive.¡± I said, pushing myself up to my elbows to glare at the people staring at me, ¡°Power can only get you so far, everyone has power and there¡¯s always someone stronger.¡± ¡°Ha! Kids these days, fine I¡¯ll give you what you wish, but you¡¯ll have to give me something equivalent.¡± The voice seemed amused, almost impressed by his odd answer. ¡°Then I give you my rage, and my thirst for vengeance that¡¯s all that consumes me right now.¡± I smiled in bliss, I could only hope that even without those emotions I¡¯d still kill them. It was my only chance of doing so, I needed to get revenge for Hestly, he might have been an asshole but he was my friend. We had both grown up together, and knew who exactly which two women they would marry there were more more women than man. Hestly even said that he¡¯d help me get together with Evelyn who was far out of my rank by convincing the higher ups to let me go on solo missions. He knew that there was a lot underneath that was bad, but he didn¡¯t hold it against Hestly at least not now. ¡°Accepted, you gain survival in exchange for your rage, but that is too much for what I¡¯m giving you so I¡¯ll give you something more.¡± Three words appeared in my mind, ¡®Omega Cells Injected¡¯, my chest immediately ripped apart as my ribs came apart like a gaping maw exposing my heart, and other vital organs. The pain took what felt like a melenia to feel as I looked into myself, when it hit my screams made my own ears ring in pain. Things that used to be my intestines spread out, wrapping around the bodies that lay on the floor, there was cries of shock and more combat filled with more pain. Pieces of my intestines were cut from the group as they tried to make a grab at the three, as more came to take its place the three backed off giving the transformation a large radius. They saw the bodies enter that large maw that was my ribcage then a black ooze like substance consumed the mass pulling it further in. The ooze had eyes, as it stared at the three bystanders with mockery in its eyes, and an underlying sense of hunger. The three took even more steps back through the hallway out of fear that it was lash out at them but it just went back to eating the corpses that lay around my body. ¡°What¡¯s going on, this has never happened before.¡± The young one fearfully moved behind the older one. ¡°Has this ever happened with the others that died?¡± The other man asked, which the old one shook his head, ¡°Then how do we explain this?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, there isn¡¯t enough data.¡± He pulled out some of the splicer tech, a computer that wrapped around the arm and sent out several drones into the room to see what was happening. Organs grabbed at the metal of the drones, and pulled them down as well into the ooze before it spread out a fleshy wrapping that covered most of my body. As if in reaction the sack spread out a festering ooze that stuck to the walls and dripped from the ceiling before creating what seemed to be living flesh to close off the entrances. Blood pulsed in the skin entrance, blood curdling screams and soft wet noises couldn¡¯t be identified. My body was growing, and twisting under the blob of body parts as it stretched and twisted like a piece of dough being turned into a pastry as my screaming turned into bubbling suction voices. My vision blackened, then was wrapped in skin as my face was to be reconfigured as well. I cried for death in the blackness but no one could hear me, and no one would bless me with a painless death now. ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± The man stared at the old man looking for some sort of answer, though he doubted that anyone beside him had actually studied their transformations. They were like the previous humans before these two factions came about, ignorant in the way that the world works so long as it worked. The old man shook his head, and frowned at the skin covering the entrance touching the skin felt warm, cutting it let out blood but almost instantly healed itself. ¡°I have never seen this before, nor have I heard of such an event when a splicer turned. Then again I¡¯ve never seen a Neo turn.¡± ¡°Neos have different DNA than humans right? Splicers come from humans, so maybe the King has to change that?¡± The girl said hopefully. The old man sighed a bit, ¡°No Marcy, both of us are pretty much the same they just used science to enhance themselves, the demi-gods gave us blessings but we¡¯re still human.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I wonder about that.¡± The man in the scientist outfit made his arms enhanced, then undid it raising his eyebrow at the old man, ¡°I don¡¯t think that regular people can do this.¡± ¡°Yes, these blessings don¡¯t change our DNA that much according to the demigods.¡± The old man started to get annoyed with his brother, he knew that this could go on for hours if it wasn¡¯t stopped now but before he could say anything Marcy did the worst thing possible. She asked another question, ¡°If our DNA is the same than why do we have control over our bodies and they have control over their minds?¡± The man in the lab coat laughed, ¡°At least you have a smart daughter Bruce.¡± Marcy blushed a bit at his comment, ¡°You know what separates us from monkeys dear?¡± She stared at him very confused for a long time, ¡°What¡¯s a monkey?¡± ¡°The hairy things in my lab dear. Our DNA is only one percent different than those monkeys in my lab.¡± Marcy jabbed Bruce in the side and smiled, ¡°They do look a lot like you daddy.¡± Bruce frowned, looking over to the skin that covered the pathway to the creature that was being born, ¡°It¡¯s been quiet for some time now.¡± ¡°Just to be fair, we do share about fifty percent with most living things that we¡¯ve met thus-¡± Bruce smacked the back of his brother¡¯s head, ¡°Fen, do you ever shut up after someone brings up something you know?¡± ¡°Not usually,¡± He made a coy smile as he ducked under another one of Bruce¡¯s smacks, then took out a metal pole from his bag. ¡°Just let me know when, and I¡¯ll tear a hole straight through this flesh wall.¡± He tapped the end of the pole against the skin covering the hallway. ¡°Be wary, we don¡¯t know what¡¯s on the other side. It shouldn¡¯t be anything bad because the Demigods created it but we should still be careful.¡± ¡°Yes dad,¡± The two responded, one sarcastic, the other very serious. Nodding, they tore their way through the skin expecting to find a mess of flesh and bones in the center, only to find a completely new environment. Lush green trees were all around them, fields of grass were there as far as the eye could see, the only thing that gave them any sense of familiarity was the pipes that were all about instead of a sky. Far off there was a large building painted red, with a white picket fence surrounding it with cows behind them grazing at the grass. It was something of a fantasy world for them as they stood there, the soft breeze of wind courting past their skin, breaths of fresh air filled with the stink of the cows and dirt. Blood trickled down their bodies as they stood there in disbelief, their jaws hanging wide as I walked past, they never even took notice of me as I moved between them. My body felt different but I had yet been able to figure out exactly what was different about it, and part of me knew that I could do more with my powers. This was part of it, it was a scene from a book I had read as a little kid, the beauty of such a scene made me wonder if that was even possible. Now the scene that I had imagined in my head from those words were inside the three¡¯s heads. I didn¡¯t want them to see me, I feared what I might look like and that I might get a glimpse of it through their mind. The imagery spread as I walked other splicers looking in awe at the scene before them as my body slithered past them leaving a trail of black ooze behind me. I didn¡¯t know how long that the trance will last, so I went faster with each second. Something was now calling me, and I knew what I had to do the transformation was only halfway complete and it needed the other catalytic. Moving into the room with the body, I jumped down landed on the King¡¯s chest, strange tentacle like things were coming out of my body and impaling themselves into the creature under my feet starting the process from earlier again. I needed more of his DNA, and more of his mass, for what exactly I didn¡¯t know, but I was growing once again. Not in the original sense of the word exactly as I felt the mass inside of me condense instead of my body expanding. A meter appeared in my vision as I stood there telling me that my bio-mass was now reaching four thousand, my mechanical mass was sitting at around three hundred from the drones earlier but was rising as I ate this titan¡¯s body. Electricity ran through me as I ate, wires and metal were forming into my body and condensing into my small frame. It wasn¡¯t painful as it was before, in fact this felt wonderful, like I was eating for the first time after being starved from decades. ¡°You¡¯ll need it all,¡± The voice urged me on, ¡°and one day you¡¯ll be the one that will outlast them all. Those that wished to be gods fell, and yet those that are remain.¡± I couldn¡¯t understand his ramblings, nor did I wish to understand them as they seemed to be gibberish to me. This symbiote granted me the ability to survive, and I¡¯ll do just that because I needed to. I wasn¡¯t ready to die, I wasn¡¯t ready to face my mortality, not yet. A smile came to my lips, as my flesh twisted finalizing my form as the tentacles latched themselves into the walls lifting up my body to form a giant cocoon like structure in the very center of the room. A dark ooze slowly dripped from the cocoon as the room started to be covered by my membrane. ¡°I.. am reborn.¡± The cocoon of myself twitched there, ¡°But I must sleep.¡± And so I slept.