I rise from the snow, the tower in the distance as smooth and dark as ever; with a sigh of resignation, I march towards its flawless surfaces.
The army I have faced each night rises to meet me, Eliksni, Exos, and ExoEliksni all turn to me with a bloodlust like none I've seen before.
I run towards the closest, grabbing their head within my grasp and snapping their neck with a swift crack.
The body falls to the snow and begins to writhe, a new wrinkle in this cured dream; red vines twist though the where blood or Alkest would normally flow. The vines twist twist curl into a man, reminiscent of another soul I kill each night; he is human unlike the normal adversary.
"SIVA contains defensive uses unlike anything seen before." He speaks as his body contorts to attack me, I roll back and throw a grenade at this mass. It drinks the light and grows even faster. "We can ensure the user is fit to wield its power but to ignore its potential as a weapon is wasteful."
The mass turns its attention upon the army that is beginning to surround it, the face of the male human barely recognizable in the lashing, swarming abomination.
A helm with two horns and a front point exits from the mass and forms its own body. A coat defines their form and they wear a bond; a warlock? The warlock runs towards me and charges through me as much as at me. I spiral backward in the snow and struggle back to my feet.
"I must reclaim my son, at any cost; Felwinter shall not escape this trap. ACTIVATE SIVA PROTOCOLS: COMMAND SET ~REPLICATE, IMMUNIZE, PROTECT~."
The warrior charges again, but the mass behind it grabs its waist and devours it into the swarm before shifting yet again. The form solidifies into real limbs, 8 of them. 2 for grasping, and 6 like those of a spider walker. The head solidifies and confusion melts to revelation and solidifies to terror.
The corpse I had desecrated now stood full and angry against the white wasteland, the tower hidden behind his form.
"ASCENSION THROUGH CONSUMPTION, APOTHEOSIS IS ACHIEVED, ~CONSUME, ENHANCE, REPLICATE~ I AM THE NEXT STEP IN ELIKSNI EVOLUTION."
The mech charges me down and pins me with a foot, preparing to crush my chest.
"JOIN THE DEVILS SPLICERS IN GODHOOD OR DIE AS A HERETIC, SIVA IS THE PATH TO APOTHEOSIS, SIVA IS BEYOND THE GREAT MACHINE'S WARRIORS."
I attempt to push it off of me, activating my extra arms in desperate attempts to push this weight off of my chest.
The world goes dark as it pushes down with all of its weight and my chassis gives.
-scene change-
I jolt awake in my nest within the tower; realizing I am safe I rip the helmet off of my head as quickly as I can. Its dead vistage stares into me as I attempt to calm myself.
The night is calm as I collect my thoughts; two stick out first and foremost.
The helmet twisted my dreams of the deep stone crypt.
Those red, twisted memories were not my own.
I dig into the walls of the tower to attempt to work myself to exhaustion again, but sleep will not meet me anytime soon.