One after the other the tiny spirits scrambled and overwhelmed the great monster, akin to a myriad of glowing ants attempting to topple a giant. It too was doing its part, however little and insignificant, pulling on the rough edges of the metalic staple with as much strength as its thin, frail and muscle-lacking arms would allow, determined to bring its grim task to an end. It threw an eyeless glance around for just a fugitive moment and witnessed the masses of its translucent, furtive kin crawling all over the grotesque and repulsive fleshy mound of the horned creature's body, each trying to damage and wound it in however manner they could muster. This sight brought forth a ...new feeling inside. A feeling different from the accustomed dread, terror and worry to which it was intimately familiar with since the first perceived moments of conciousness within the dark cage. No, this feeling was far more pleasant and uplifting, a feeling of combating the most impossible, insurmountable odds, a feeling of overcoming the threats and obstacles with nothing but the limited, pathetic resources at hand, a feeling.... of hope. Yes, this feeling was making its warm and comforting presence known as it swelled within the thin, lackluster, glowing frame of its body, a feeling quite new yet oddly enough, evocative of an unsettling familiarity. Its pulling and effort grew, motivated by the hope that washed over it, mustering forces it itself would question the source of, until certainly enough, with a sudden gnashing sound of flesh tearing and blood spouting, the staple was successfully and violently plucked, the velocity of the sudden motion sending it backwards in an arc, pulling the still clinging fragile hands which in turn pulled the rest of its being after it, sending the frail being tumbling backwards until it landed on its back on the bulging, pulsating fleshy surface.
If it had a mouth it would smile, if it had the strength it would raise its fist in a glorious, defiant moment, if it had a voice it would shout and scream a roar that would call the attention of all to its small and perhaps insignificant, yet nonetheless strangely uplifting, moment of victory. Alas, fate it would seem is a fickle and tormenting mistress, as the brief moment of glory was rudely cut even shorter by the spasms and sudden bouts of movement from the assaulted monster as it began to flail its grim, black metal covered clawed hands, striking at its belly and smearing the grisly remains of the many tiny, glowing beings that were unfortunate enough to be subjected to the direct blows. Some were thrown off-balance by the shock-wave and trepidation of the leathery, bulging fleshy mass of its belly, resulting from the aftermath of the monster's struggle. It, too was fortunate enough to escape a sudden demise, tumbling and tossing until it inevitably fell on the hard, rocky surface of the ground beneath in a similar manner to when it first emerged from the cage. Was this to be the end? Was all his struggle and the struggle of its kin in vain after all? It would seem not, as sure enough the great, shambling, horned monstrosity had fallen, the fleshy flaps of its once protruding, bulging and sagging belly had been violently ripped, a stream of dark crimson fluids of oil-like consistency flew from its beastly body, pulling along with it a mass of organs, sinew and other viscera along with whatever furtive, tiny spirits were left fortunate enough to escape their earlier demise yet unfortunate enough to be caught in the ghastly torrent of the monster's demise.
Drowning in the hellish fluids of the great monster's grim insides would have been most tragic, luckily it had been spared such a cruel twist of fate as it found itself, along with a small number of others of its kin, dragging its broken, weaken form across the now heavily stained ground. It saw, how the grotesque, gargantuan husk of the creature, along with the mass of organic matter and dark fluids had turned to a sudden, pure white coloration, becoming powder-like in consistency only for the presence of an unknown breeze to blow it away in all directions, turning the very existence of the colossal monstrosity into nothing but a recent, horrid, nightmare-like memory.
And then it saw it...
Left behind the massacre were a number of glowing, white orbs scattered all around the hellish ground, some of its kin already reaching for them as if that was their purpose all along. It too felt this... animal-like, instinctive urge to crawl across the once grimy surface to the nearest sphere, holding it in its twig-like arms and gazing upon it glowing surface. A number of new feelings and sensations washed over it, feelings of curiosity, intense need, will of survival, fear and worried joy, all mixed into a twisted noise that overwhelmed the now trembling, furtive frame of the spirit. Before its crumbling mind had even the slightest chance of comprehending the events that unfolded, it found itself with a now gaping, hungering maw of a mouth forming on the featureless surface of its face, gorging greedily and insatiably on the orb until there was nothing but a few strands and wisps of dust left in its wake. Satisfaction would have been predictable, but what followed was the feeling of its frame being pulled and torn into all directions, sprawling on its back with spasms and unconformable twitching as a vast array of images began playing out in front of its mind's eye. It saw a myriad of scenes. Scenes of nebulous, dark skies dotted with an impossible amount of starts; scenes of men and women clad in metal-like frames, marching through cold, iron hallways with a vast array of weapons in hand; scenes of disturbingly familiar faces dancing and dissipating before it had a chance to identify them; scenes of horrid, abominable, cyclopean horrors with saurian-like eyes, taloned appendices, sharp-toothed maws and slimy, grotesque tendrils all flailing, reaching and grasping for unfortunate humanoids to devour in a most grisly manner. All these scenes and more played out through its head, bringing along broken pieces of a puzzling, long-forgotten memory of a past life; all while its physical body experienced a metamorphosis. Its once furtive and frail form had grown in size and muscles started to make their presence, defining an athletic form which soon found itself encased in a suit of black and grey metal, with a translucent blue glow emanating from the visor of its helm and a few other parts of its reborn body.
It... No... HE felt the familiar touch of his armor, the known sensation of his weapon tightly clutched in his hand. He felt how right and fitting it was.. "Sigma..." he muttered to himself over and over, a single word which he remembered defined him, a title that refereed to himself specifically. From this sudden metamorphosis he rose, his gaze landing on the sound of a non-distinct creature calling out for... allies? It witnessed the humanoid like-creature, partially bathed in an eerie green light which only brought attention to its horned, canine-like skull, the appearance of which made him tense up and assume a guarded stance. Next to this being it saw a more horrid creature, the makings of which appeared to be formed from a number of different animals mashed together in an abhorrent abomination of sorts, with hooves, claws, a skull-like animalistic head and a second at the end of a long, scaly tail. The appearance of the second creature caused him to feel animosity and hostility "E..engaging target.." he muttered, his muffled, reverberating, artificial-like voice speaking those words from pure instinct, as natural as breathing. He became mobile, advancing towards his perceived target, the sharp metal blade in his hand was at the ready to spill the blood and split the monstrous creature's body into pieces. Yet he stopped, suddenly as a new... far more terrifying presence made itself felt in the area, emerging, ebony leathery wings first from the glowing river of molten lava. He glanced back at the pair of creatures from before, only now realizing that... were they once kin? Were they also once furtive, wispy spirits that had undergone a transformation metamorphosis and regained vestiges of their probable past lives?
A loud, blood-curling roar interrupted his thoughts, his attention once again focusing on the great bestial monster that emerged from the lake of fire. Questions would have to come later, a decision had to be made.
Fight or flight?
MachineSoul
