Author's note: Hey guys chapter 4 here and it's going to a good one i can feel it honestly while I've been wanting to advance the story i just hate the idea of a timeskip this early on
since once it's done i'll never be able to go back and add it in at least not without wrecking the flow so I'm just going to take the long route and just do things as they come
I know that the grammar isn't the best and that's because i will always have these tiny gaps when i'm writing since as the scenes flow sometimes my mind is ahead of my body so missing words will sometimes be there and so hopefully they aren't going to be total story killers for you guys
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Moments Ago
Amos quickly rushed out of the room to make an immediate call to the Admiral
Trying to reach it before anything horrible took place..
Had he taken the time to properly reset the mass effect fields he could've prevented the disaster that was about to take place
instead he ended up leaving after having deactivated them when he brought in his pet for his experiment
The parasites were far more intelligent at this stage than they were when the samples were first collected
already the infection has been running rampant on the world below
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Growing and learning through consumption already it had learned enough to make decisions beyond mindless growth,
while full sentience was still millions of lives away the efforts towards a brain were underway.
In the first hours of the outbreak the parasite began to repurpose the life around it every plant and animal
When curious meals wandered in they were very welcome
Those large enough were repurposed to fight and spread the infection
the inhabitants bipedal forms were a suitable host form
The nearest city was just far enough that the flood had not yet swarmed the streets and consumed the denizens
But soon enough the number of hosts were collected that were necessary to build the most rudimentary of proto-graveminds
They were collected from the wandering meals that ventured the forests
The prothean physiology was melding easily with the floods attempts to consume their minds
The Protheans ability to obtain memories through physical contact was a great boon to the flood to gain an ability that would make its new assent unparalleled in speed
Once the mind began to exist it was able to make out simple thoughts soon enough and with the most recent additions it began to plan
mainly to target the city in the distance with a mass parasitic wave
A rumble began to be heard across the distance as thousands of flood parasites began their march it would be hours before the horde arrived
The hammer of death was falling on a city that
100 million people called home
both above and beneath what the eye could see
Already some flood forms were within the city starting infestations as they infected hosts
the protheans living underground were witness to a yellow fog spreading around pouring from their vents
Omnitools came out of hundreds of people's arms as they began to scan it
It was only seconds later that they turned to run away and avoid the ensuing horde
Flood spores seeped into the vents and began to clog the airways as they planted themselves and grew clusters to produce more spores
The spores entered their new hosts by the hundreds infecting thousands and starting the slow process of their gestation
The spores will turn their clueless victims into flood carriers incubating swarms more of the infection forms that were swarming into every residence and business
The horde pushed further into the city cutting a swath through the prothean city screams rang out and weapons fire began to erupt in the depths of the city
blood sprayed all over the streets as bodies fell only to rise once more hunting and killing more of its people
The people were panicked and running further into the city
Those beneath they were climbing to rise up as quickly as they could
In their frenzy many ignored the strange yellow mists and ran straight through them quickly
As a result of their panic thousands more were implanted with the flood spores
The Spores being lesser and so newly born had no memories to pass on to the protheans upon contact allowing the spores to enter unimpeded
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"This has to be a nightmare"
Toruk begged and pleaded but his legs no longer obeyed him they hadn't since this nightmare started,
"Aaahhhh"
His arm fell and was followed by a spray Toruk couldn't bare to watch any longer
His own arm now deformed and sharp now a claw created to steal away his prothean brothers lives
"Why am i doing this"
Toruk looked into the man's eyes he'd already surrendered to his fear unable to even summon the strength to stand and run
"Please don't do this"
He begged but Toruk could not stop and a swift strike later another was dead as Toruk was swallowed by more memories of his fallen kinsman's life
Toruk begged to it to end
"Make it stop"
"Traitor!"
His fellow Protheans accused him of failing his people and betraying them for being unable to stop could they not hear his agony
"Why isn't it obeying me"
"Monster"
His agony was only growing with every life he took but silencing their accusations brought a dark peace to him
"Please i don't want to do this, No more"
He had killed so many others but now only a mother and her young child remained
This was the first of those he would kill, all others had already escaped only they were so unlucky
"Please spare my child
She begged him but Toruk was growing deaf as every death pushed him to feel more detachment towards his own mind
"Why me damn it, Why!"
As she died Toruk was struck by another wave of memories as his people's gift would drive his victims essence into his mind damning him
His body turned to face the child next
Her mother's memories were still so fresh
Toruk couldn't help but feel love for this youngling
Having grown so lost to himself that he clung to her mother's memories to feel something other than pain
"Hey there little one it'll be alright just close your eyes and say goodnight please just close your eyes"
She looked to him and then turned to her mother
He could see the anguish as she ran towards him
More accurately towards her mother's body beside him
She dropped and cried out tears and moaned in anguish
"Moo..MOmm….moommy….Noo
Toruk only felt more pain to see the child suffering but fear gripped his heart when his arm began to rise reaching out to her
"STOP Now STOP"
"Please she's only a child don't make me do this"
The families he made an oath to protect and defend from all were dying
he had been in agonizing pain for so long too long every breath ache his lungs he was a slave as his body committed atrocities
But not now he refused to kill her
Toruk began to scream at his body to listen but it remained firm
Toruk was desperate to save her so he searched the memories until he found one of use
"Te' La listen to me you need to run Now come on quickly Go NOW"
He could see reluctance in her eyes but his voice grew sharper so she turned to run when his claw rose to reach out
Toruk poured every thought and every last part of his focus on moving his right arm out and grabbed the claw
Toruk Couldn't believe it he was bewildered but then he felt agony as something inside him
It clawed about and squirmed as if it turned about inside as he felt his arm Rip open at the shoulder
It was ripping him open for defying it and he knew it but he didn't regret it as he looked out in the distance as saw her escaping blocks away.
His pained shrieks and grunts rang out loud and in his pained state he forced an eye to open and saw Te' la look back at him after hearing his pain
Toruk poured all his strength into conveying the order to her to escape and survive
His voice couldn't make out more than a whimper but when their eyes met for a second he could've sworn that he saw understanding in her eyes
Toruks painful whimpers grew more silent as he noticed that he was not hunting new victims instead it remained idle
Toruk feared what was to come next of this slaughter that claimed the lives of his fellow prothean.
The lack of motion did not last as a slow march began as toruk walked and wandered further beneath ground
He walked down aisles and passages wandering aimlessly through halls he gazed on the remains of his people's creations
The walls were covered in a pulsing residue he could feel the death and agony with every step
He tapped into the walls at times and heard screams of fear and death
Their horror remembered by the stones of their homes
"These walls have seen atrocities and are now stained in the blood of their founders"
Toruk could feel the loss and the fear of his people the loss of children
Mothers agony and father's rage all now echoes
He made out the shapes of figures wandering these halls the same as him
he gazed into the eyes of the infected seeing hollow eyes in thousands of his fellows
The bloody marks on their bodies the burns of weapons fire
Some of them wielded those very weapons now
As they wandered further the walls began to fade and the pulsing began to ring louder
The walls live now they were the bones and the pulses marked the flesh
Toruk feared to discover where these veins led, was that where they were headed?
Toruk heard sobs from some of those who walked beside him
And he could make out their faces in the darkness
He wanted to shout out but he had lost his voice
In the march he felt the echoes of his control fading
The thing inside him had stripped him of all things now only his sight and hearing remained he could barely move his neck as well
Toruk continued marching in this darkness now just one mass amongst thousands
They were all marching towards a sack of flesh or at least it looked that way from afar
The hordes numbers were splitting apart into dozens of rooms and buildings filled with dozens of proto-graveminds all slowly linking together
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Thanks to the prothean genes allowing knowledge to be gleamed by all prothean flood hosts the Parasite was growing quickly
Any and every host held some modicum of knowledge as sufficient contact with items and uninfected gleamed enough fragmented memories to be useful
That when added to the Proto-graveminds after a sufficient amount of time spent exploring and killing made every soldier a library of knowledge
That were then called back and added into the new and growing proto-graveminds with its collected knowledge being passed on
Only one was in charge of making that addition as each one was running different objectives for the good of the flood.
They did not have the time to dedicate for the process of breaking down the minds of its meals so the ability to retain the combat forms explorations was a great one
They did have to do so for more exact information due to the combat infected having fragmented memories due to some damage occurring to the host bodies of most combat forms
So a proto gravemind was controlling special infected that kept the hosts alive and able to absorb greater amounts of knowledge as a result
The result was the weakened hosts will to resist from the time spent as a slave to the floods commands
Proto-graveminds were never this capable before in the past they would act more like sergeants carrying out meager and but slightly more complicated tasks
Where as now the prothean hosts allowed them to act more like commanders leading different groups towards separate objectives
None of them were capable of leading the entirety of the flood host yet so dozens of protos were created to lighten the strain on the rest
They were spreading so vastly and quickly the need for more protos was constant, with the majority being created purely to supplement the existing protos ability to cope with the growth of their forces
Meaning that ensuring the growth of the graveminds was paramount to insure that the new infected did not become mindlessly feral
These protos did not take on names but they did have distinctions due to them still being somewhat disconnected
Proto-Zero was outside of the city consuming the biomass of the local flora and fauna using them to expand and create more infector parasites
Then sending them out to hunt more fauna to repeat the cycle and producing vast amounts more of the spores
which were floating away to consume more of the flora mowing down entire forests and infesting. Dozens of miles with the flood spores
This proto was the dullest due to the lack of intelligent fauna to use but it was also the largest due to the sheer amounts of biomass available in its surrounding but it was also the most exposed being out in the open
Proto-One was the one controlling the infestations inside the structures fortifying the areas around the other protos to insure that they remained secure
Long enough for the future merge and was already in the process of merging with protos 2-9 since they were the closest and the first built by this cluster to supplement his abilities
And they were growing the flood nest and organising the process of creating more proto graveminds
Protos 10-15 were also connected already but they were not one yet they were no longer apart it called itself Echo
they were still melding due to the distance between them and it would still be some hours before they were one
Their assignment was a delicate one as they were controlling the more sensitive hosts that were kept alive
as the need to maintain their sanity is balanced against breaking their will to fight back
Creating a need to have a dedicated mind focused on insuring the proper cultivation of information
The Cluster was the largest proto in the city made up of protos 16-34, It was the largest but not the smartest
But it did hold the greatest computing ability to handle the sheer size of its task
It's purpose was to control the infection and guide it towards encompassing the entirety of the lower portion of the city and and infecting the surface portion
A plan was devised by the protos and while somewhat simple its effectiveness was proving itself
As the Cluster redirected the combat forms and guided them towards the defensive force of protheans
The protos began to plan out the defense strategy
Zero - They..Come...Burning...must….spread..
One - send all forces into the city let Cluster take them
Cluster - send them here...will use them as trap will hide them inside
Echo - Memories from the new vessels indicate the enemy forces are large in number but lacking in combat ability against us
Zero - They...come..from..stars...dropping...lacking...in...effect
Echo - what he means is that the prothean military uses a form of advance projectile launching mechanisms that fire at fractions of light speed
Echo - While effective on our hosts the infected suffer little damage, it only fires small grains meaning little danger to combat forms it's only danger is that it can fire without stop
One - Meaning that we are at an advantage
Cluster - Indeed, their danger is minimal….for now
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Avox ended his call with Amos, then after deciding on a course of action
He sent out a command to every nearby ship to begin firing on any remaining debris from the meteorite
His orders were absolute to ensure the complete destruction of all the remains
He prepared to send out orders to have scans taken immediately of the crash site for any pieces of the meteorite that made it planetside
Avox received dozens of reports and calls
Quickly he began to read the report of disturbances all across the planet
Panic was raging and massive evacuations were taking place with civilians fleeing the major population center on dawn
He read reports by local garrisons and forces of a monster plague running amok on the planet
It held mentions of walking corpses and possible fatalities in the thousands
He began issuing out orders to deploy troops on the city immediately assess the threat and eliminate it
as well as the priority objective of quarantining the infection and rescuing and extracting the civilians out of danger
Avox realised the danger of a virus that eats organic matter because that would leave a world barren especially if it can consume across species
As soon as the orders were sent out he began to relay out orders to investigate the crash site of the meteorite shards
and if things looked as he predicted then they were to bomb the site and ensure the complete destruction of the virus
While it took time to issue out the orders and have the forces mobilised to deal with the issue on the ground
Avox did not see the great danger that Amos predicted or the reasoning for the mass panic and the exodus of the city so Avox decided it best to read the files sent to him by Amos
He was surprised by the quick growth of the flood virus as it consumed organic matter but it wasn't anything fearful
Honestly he considered it a fairly straightforward issue to combat by destroying the infected areas with firebombs
while it may be a bit primitive it would be effective or so Avox assumed until he saw the mass begin to move it wasn't a plant like he assumed
While he would have been upset for the liberal approach Amos took with the experiment
He completely forgot about it when he saw the flood begin to move….to hunt
It was moving like a living breathing creature especially so when it drew closer to the salarian
And when it enough distance was between the two Avox watched the flood stop moving and begin to grow
He was as disgusted as he was horrified to see what burst from the growth on the flood it was crude and misshapen
And quickly it was surrounded by others of the same sort they were very small but nimble and fast
When he saw them chase the salarian lizard he was astounded by their ability so soon after their gestation
And when he saw them hunt and burrow their way inside their prey he was fascinated until the disgust returned
When he saw the brutal mutations taking place inside the salarians body and on the exterior as it grew bloated and deformed
Avox's face grew pale and shock gripped his mind as he watched a monstrous creature be formed
His features only grew grimmer when the salarian burst and spilled out dozens more of those creatures
Clearly they were a threat quickly he sent out orders to dispatch ground forces towards dawn and protect the civilians
His only hope was for the situation to be less grim than he imagined
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Author's Note: hey guys this ends the chapter hopefully you enjoyed it and while i will admit my writing skills are very poor in the cases of creating scenes sometimes but i am working at it and improving with every chapter
Please comment at the end a few words make my day and get me to write faster since it helps me feel that my story isn't a waste of time