Authors note:
Hey guys Faithless Wanderer here, I've convinced my brother to Beta my stories
This is because i'm not very good with grammar (that and i don't like rereading my own chapter after just writing it, blegh)
As such the stories quality should improve greatly, so guys enjoy the newest chapter please fave and follow and as always please leave me reviews
They fuel my furnace people
I Need More, I Hunger For More
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Hour 30
Lower Eastern Sector
Nagu Station (Tavi)
Imperial Officer Tavi Chief of the Eastern Sectors Law enforcement looked at the Protheans standing ahead
They cobbled together plans for their attack as the rest of the defenders prepared for what may be the final battle they face
His intuition and years of military experience all spoke out to hold his ground demand they stay and do their duty
The officers minds were made up, they wanted to win and staying here wouldn't win this war.
Tavi was tempted to implement Martial law regulations and execute anyone who forced the opinion of leaving
But that would only splinter the forces and result in the parasite slipping through
Whatever time he could gain by delaying them would have to be enough
He marched up to the group and discharged his weapon into the table they were using to lay out their plans
"The hell are you doing"
With a snarl and booming voice Tavi laid down the law
"What any true Prothean would have, you are staying here to defend the people of this Empire as is your sworn duty."
Their response only served to anger Tavi further
"That's what we're doing chief, we will die for our people but we refuse to die cowering behind a wall, we'd rather die trying to save this city."
" Then Die, But don't you dare fill the others minds with lies of being heroes and saving this city."
"The people willing to march off with us know the stakes and are willing to face them."
"DO THEY? we're outnumbered by at least hundreds for every officer that's here, to break our defense is the dooming of all the east sector."
"Every man we lead away is one less standing between them and the rest of the city we know, but it could also mean thousands of civilians we give a better chance to escape."
" You've lost your minds if you think risking millions to attempt to save thousands is the better choice."
"That's not..no..We will pull the majority of the enemy unto us as we attack, the people who stay behind will have less enemy attacks."
"Maybe so but when you're all dead it will be your weapons that you hold now that will be firing on our walls and your hands that butcher the families of the upper east sector."
With those final words Tavi walked away and prepared his next move, there were men awaiting his response they wanted to know if he supported the plan to attack
He hoped to sway the majority of the officers to remain firm and hold out at this position
Tavi knew he had suffered a grave setback the moment the captives told their tales, but he'd be damned before let them lead loyal protheans to their deaths instead of doing their duty.
While his plans had gone only as far as holding back the enemy in the expectation of inbound military forces.
They were still far more successful than some harebrained scheme to pull a win out of this nightmare.
It still burned away at him to know that this conflict all came about due to an idiot's decision to break protocol and spread news of the captives story.
When he finds him he's gonna tear his eyes out with his bare hands.
The enemy had to number in the hundreds of thousands, it was a fool's errand
Their lives would be better served evacuating the remainder of the lower sector
Tavi needed to settle this dispute now, the enemies attacks were becoming more coordinated
If his suspicions were correct then the earlier attacks were to test the defenses of his perimeter
An attack has come every 2 hours from the start of the last one
At first they would overlap due to the slowness at which the officers were able to kill them but as the quality of their aim improved the time they had to prepare widened up
'alright let's consider the possibilities for their tactics
The enemy numbers have remained consistent across the attacks for the past few strikes
meaning that a buildup is inevitable and that all that came towards us were distractions
Any gaps in our defenses will crumble our strategy meaning that the fools wanting to attack would only damn all the rest of us to the parasite
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Lower Eastern Sector
Flood hive (Protos)
Cluster - Their defenses are weakening, soon the last of their forces will fall and we can complete our hold over the east sector
One - The growth has consumed entire blocks of the lower city, the ventilation system over the majority of the structures has been seized
Zero - The trees..fall..swaying...to our….cause..Spores bloom...Small ones...are many...sending out...to hunt..no escape.
Echo - The seed of Death has been planted, the fools to think of besting us
One - A false Hope to think of any able to reach us would be nothing but madness
Cluster - They number of less than 40 thousand, they fell prey to my traps time and again
Echo - Humph what would one expect of lesser flesh
Zero - Arrogance...taints…
One - 'does he mean the flesh or of Echo'
Cluster - their division promotes our growth
Echo - How do the numbers fare on the surface, should we push further and lay claim
Zero - ...soon...swarms..fall...consume
One - Our defenses and our union will become unpredictable if we are damaged before preparations are complete
Cluster - so our time to strike has not arrived...fine we'll strike when Zeroes swarm arrive collapsing their defense from above and below
Echo - My forces continue to watch, learning the weaknesses of their essence, lesser flesh will always be so troubled plagued by dissent, betraying one another, dooming all
Zero - ..to watch...and...to learn...are not one...
One - Must you always be so cryptic, we communicate Plainly Why do you insist on doing that
Zero - ...Patience...is key...to win..All…
Cluster - War is our future to conquer and consume the weak that is our future, there can be no other
Zero - ENOUGH we are to be one, dissent is no the way of the flesh, we Are One, no less
One - returning back to continue the growth of the web then
Echo - I will return to my duty, and hunt more of the flesh
Cluster - I will continue to arm the combat forms for the assault to break the defense
Zero - will..continue..preparing..the cloud..
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(Zero)
'Purpose'..why does that word continue to plague me. Our purpose seems so clear to grow and consume everything, but there has to be more
When I...began I...felt….but did...not feel….It was...Instinct...that's all..I think
We are born...of corruption... an aberration...I spoke to….the trees, they were quiet...fearing me
I watched their swaying in the wind, flowing but remaining firm
I spoke to the stones but they wouldn't hear me
Why i bothered with all these questions i did not know... These Protheans must be at fault
Why must I be plagued with all these incessant questions, It must be their fault
Or so I thought, I consumed more taking in more of the trees and their roots, gobbled up stone
When I grew I heard more, saw more….wanted more
All which has no voice comes to me in time and speaks
The wonders to learn within them
Every...Life..an entire existence to explore
The leaves tell me their secrets, they taught me to breath, what a wondrous experience
Their roots taught me to drink, I rose above their own peaks
Their reach of yards around is trounced by mine of acres
The stones taught me of patience, But I could not learn, My...being demands purpose..to wait and let purpose come only tempts stagnation
Frustration was a common experience in my beginning, it mocked me while giving me purpose
Failures went against my being, to be heard I crushed the stones, to be approached I consumed the trees,
So I created, when new things to be heard were no longer here
I created things that were to extend my reach
Then I heard a voice born afar but all too close
Those that went so far, were lost to me
But not to time
They bore fruit, settled roots of blood and flesh, they grew to call my name
What wondrous little things they were
I made their kind and watched their growth, they did not heed my words but heard my voice
They grew from desires and want
Their thoughts once born reached out to me seeking aid and fellowship
One was born and knew only fears panicked by the chaos surrounding it
I soothed One's worries and offered guidance, I taught one to build walls and to grow
He tooked to it quickly, but One was still fearful so I taught next to create as I had
One took what I had and made more not greater but more
From One Cluster and Echo were born, they were ….amusing
Clusters hunger was rampant and ever growing
Echoes hunger was greater but not of flesh but thought
One was content to be surrounded by others regardless of their natures, simply expanding their reach and bringing them closer
I watched it happen, I saw that I was to be lesser in their thoughts for I was further away and assumed lesser for my nature
But that was alright, I continued my growth and pondered the fates to come
Their sight saw much but never farther than they had yet to tread
I had no limitation as I was alone, I looked up high above and knew they would come
They would bring more and burn us away, burn them away
I would not return to such a state
To be alone is greater a burden than this restless desire
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(One)
Hunger, Pain, Screams, Panic, Hunger , Pain, Screams, Hunger
That's all I have known from the first thought I held at creation, a cycle spanning my existence
They were all my thoughts and feelings every moment was hell, every memory broken, what existence goes on like this
Time, however long of it had passed paved the way for better things
In what felt to be an eternity the loneliness was broken, I grew to see and feel, to think and remember
An in that growth I reached far and heard a voice
Not one of chaos from the fleshlings but of gran tidings
I was welcomed by another like me, and as I came to discover, the one before me
He called me Little One for I was young and lost
He heard my pain and offered his aid
He taught me to smother my worries and hide them behind walls of armor
To hide my fears behind walls of power and so I was made safe
But even so I was missing something
In my search I asked the old one for my purpose, he was silent and then asked me for his purpose
I was confused and angered feeling his worlds to be mocking me
He could feel my response wouldn't be polite
The old one felt humor and told me the story of life
That all beings are born to grow, explore, and create
This lost me for some time
Why would our purpose be to create when all i've ever done has been take away
To hide myself away I crushed to the lives around me
I took their essence and made it lesser only to hide away
He seemed saddened by my ignorance
But he did not leave me
He gave to me a hint a piece I pondered and spun turning it about in my mind to find the answer
He asked me my origins to consider my existence, how I came to be from him
I wasn't sure of the answer but I wasn't about to give up on an answer
I hunted down the Protheans around me and used them to create
Trial after trial I went forward and tried again
All that I wanted was another to be here beside me
One after the other all that I created I consumed, if it lacked a voice it became more of me
In time The answer came by the blood of many
But how happy I am now to have them
My kin of moving flesh
They grow beside me and need of me to grow
Their voices oh so quiet but just as sweet to hear
My growth was symbiotic to their own
The first to speak was one of my stranger ideas, I thought to mix many of my attempts at new minds and this one was the result
I called him a Cluster born of Many now as One, he took to the name greatly
Happy to have been born of many and desiring as much as all would want alone
He took all that I would give and wanted more
I taught him of the beings I used to make him, He was entranced by my tale and followed my roots
Soon he numbered in more than I, I felt myself swell with every success he achieved, In that vein I gave to him my numbers
Cluster swelled up farther and faster Hunting more and more bringing them to us
He knew no patience with his hunger greater
In his hunting afar he exposed us to their retaliation
My walls were breached burning away.
What few pawns remained were felled
They came advancing on us so few in number but well equipped
I raised walls in place, calling out for his numbers
The panic he felt was strong and overwhelmed him
Our fates were settled, when the enemy fell in battle to a coming swarm of parasites
Their silence deafening, for me to have felt nothing was a sombering thought
They looked at us so deeply, almost as if they dug away in my thoughts
That was when I heard a voice speaking
Not from afar but within, I searched about my mass searching for the origin
When I found it I could not believe my findings, the tiniest little growth feeding on my mass
To think it was born without my knowledge was pleasant news to find
I spoke to the little one, her mind so small it sounded like it echoed my own
They desired more than I ever wanted, The smallest was such a bright mind
Always craving more, less of flesh more of thought
It Wasn't long before little Echo outgrew the desire of my attention and marched further afar
She saw more than I ever dared to see
She knew more than Cluster ever wanted to know
What fun little beings they started out to be
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(Cluster)
Hunger..more...hungry...more...sound…sound?...more..more..hunger...sound..
..more..sound...more
Such was the nature of my creation, from my earliest roots I craved more, I hungered for more
It's the nastiest thing to feel a incessant demand for something that you don't understand
I did not question the hunger I wanted only to satisfy that desire, to gorge myself and silence the thought
The next thing I knew to be was sound, I was Blind to the world but I began to hear
It was a maddening experience, to feel a crawling inside your mind, I did not know what it was that crawled throughout my existence
But as the feeling continued I began to hear the world around me
My mind began to be, it's a hard description to make
I felt only the basest of sensations, I had no thoughts
The closest description came from the Protheans memories
Their dreams are murky and faded
They see and hear but it's muted and hollow
That's the best way I've found to describe the beginning
Long after sound came sight and in time came thought
It was a strange thought now to see and hear but without a mind, I was merely flesh not life
When thoughts became a reality I wandered lost in the birth of my mind
To feel and think but not know is a terrifying experience
I grew further and with that time knowledge began to flow
I ...saw..or watched new memories enter my mind
From where they came I did not know but I felt the want for more
And they came more and more at a time, they clashed within my mind and drove me wild at times but the desire never fled
When enough of the memories came together I learned much, in time language came to me
That's when I met him
I searched the memories for what he was to me and they called him my father
For him to create me then I was to be his son
I did not consider any alternatives as my mind was still so young
And so i clung to him as my tether
He seemed happy for me to have come into being
Im time I came to realise I was more of a toy than a son
I should have felt anger I suppose but I was young and naive
I feel apathy if nothing else, He created me nothing less and nothing more
Instead I focus on the positives, on all the great little things he had to teach me
He taught me to grow to create extensions of myself..to hunt
What a glorious thing it is to hunt, for you to chase after another who fights you with all they have and then lie broken
Feeding you who they were, filling you with a spark of completion only to feel hollow again soon after
It's quite the treat to feel yourself become more
When I began to hunt I made mistakes and lost more than I gained at times
But I grew smarter, more clever and devious in my tactics
The protheans weapons were less effective once I made ample use of combat forms made out of their youth
Using their children as combat forms caused enough of their people to fall into grief and rage
Mistakes costing them more and more
I grew with every victory, every fallen foe fed me and raised me higher
The new prey I collected only fueled this further, this desire, this hunger
It's a funny little thing for the greatest desire I ever had prior to my growth to be what I continue to desire most
What a wondrous little thing it is to want more, it has a certain thing to it that just makes it more fun
Echo tells me it's the Protheans influence over us, that we being made of mostly Prothean biomass would be affected by their predatory ancestry
Echo argued that we would have a predisposition for an aggressive nature
I mocked her for that belief, I make who I am
It doesn't matter what I am made out of
What a wretched thought for the prey to make the Hunter, how revolting
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(Echo)
Life...how tedious a thought
I am made out of Organic matter repurposed for…
I...was born
Unlike Cluster I was not formed from failed subjects
Unlike one I did not come into being by Flood parasites getting loose outside of Zeros range of influence
I came to be of my own merit
I have no father, no creator
For all intents and purposes I created myself
Their beliefs are not my own
Their goals matter not to me
I stand with them for survival and nothing more
Yet I feel a connection to the others, not of kinship
Simply a connection more along the lines of a united purpose
I did not approach One or Cluster with these thoughts
They were created not born
Only zero could see as I did
Only we could know what it was to make ourselves something
Zero was a mystery to us all
Even to One
He did not share with us our origins, much less of his knowledge of our past
If he knew of it or not was lost to our understanding
Why he remained so distant from us always baffled us
He never extended his growth in our direction, he continued his growth around us and away but never closer
The others never bothered much with learning more about him, choosing instead to focus on their own endeavours
I cannot claim to have done differently, only now when the information to be gleaned from the area is running scarce do i care to wonder
From our discussions I came to the belief that there may be more like us amongst the stars if not within this world instead
Zero seems to know more than he lets on
With growth his mass fueled him to a level I've yet to reach
He was very cryptic, unsurprisingly enough he did not admit to having greater knowledge of our pasts
He hinted at our origins being from a single source but not much more
That we were destined to become one once more or so he argued
I argued against it, after all four minds would logically be greater than a single one
Zero seemed to think of me as a child for my comment
He argued that division across a whole would still be division regardless of benefits
Such is the nature of most of our encounters
He sways us to his beliefs time and time again
I've grown to fear his voice
It drowns our minds, calling out to us to listen and follow
I've come to see that the others do not see it as I do
Their arrogance blinds them, perhaps their simply ignorant of the truth and prefer to stay that way
I continue to hope that Zero is not aware of my knowledge of his influence over the others and myself
They may be willing to accept losing their individuality and becoming one but I'm the exception
Zero for now remains a threat, One a fool and Cluster a child
For my plan to succeed I need precision and time
I created myself, I was made because I willed it
I Live Because I wanted it so
And I Will Live
My way
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In orbit Research vessel
(Amos)
Amos couldn't help but hate himself
First the parasite turned out not to be a new rare element but instead a very foreign virus that infects and consumes organic biomass
Then his pet Salarian Lizard becomes its newest snack only to cultivate the virus and OH Yeah EXPLODE
that's not normal that shouldn't ever be normal but he persevered
He hoped his actions insured that the Fleet admiral received ample warning and lead him to take the necessary steps to save the Prothean Empire
After all this could have horrible consequences just from what he observed a single piece of the virus could collapse entire systems
After doing his part Amos went back to the Testing room with the intent of destroying the samples only to find the containment unit compromised
With a sigh and a grumble Amos followed the trail of knocked over lab equipment over to the nearby secondary exit to the lab
There was no more trail to follow at that point but he had the worst feeling that the little critters would not just roam around blindly in the halls
With a sigh and a cautious step Samos began the start of what would be a terrifying experience for him
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Authors Note:
Hey guys sorry for this chapter taking so long but I hit a wall for a few days as I considered rewriting the story to improve its quality
Honestly I write the story whenever I have time so there will be times that the chapters feel fractured and well they are since it takes me time to do work on them
And finally I have like 5 or 6 new stories I'm writing that I consider more along the lines of one shots because I won't be updating them more than maybe once every few months if at all
I considered not posting them but then I came to the realisation that I've been in a position where I needed even the Tiniest of stories to get me through an awful day so I will post them
As for why I won't update them on a regular basis is because having too many stories going at once will overwhelm me
As it is work takes up the majority of my day so I can't write as much as I'd like to
And the time that it took me to write this chapter was the proof of that
Anyways thanks everyone to those of you who took the time to read my author's note and as always.
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Let me know in the comments/Reviews which new stories you'd prefer I prioritize from the new stories I will post
P.P.S. I'm sticking to my gun about pet Salarian lizards
I don't care that 50 thousand years isn't enough for them to evolve to their mass effect game level
THEIR LIZARDS