《Necromachinarum》


 The Awakened

    The feeling of a sharp pain in my temple aids in helping me recognize consciousness. My eyes slowly creak open to a bleak, dark orange sky with gray clouds through a gaping hole in the ceiling. I tense up as I try to lift my nimble arms. I look at my hands. Pale white skin with few wrinkles. Where am I? It appears to be some kind of shell casing. I grab the sides to lift myself up but feel tethered to this carcass. I look down. Connected to my stomach is a red tendril with wires that''s attached to this pod. I grab the cord and begin to pull. It hurts. I muster what little strength I have until the frail tendril pops out from my stomach. A sanguine fluid spills out of the tip of the torn tendril as I toss it aside. Blood? The pain from the severed tendril was excruciating. Looking down at my body I only see my own torso. A strange pattern adorns my torso. It lacks any skin, comprised of artificial organ and bone structure. There seems to be symmetrical engravings and etchings within my arms and hands. The hole of skin in my stomach where the tendril was connected has sealed up. Why am I here?


    I lifted myself up once again to step out of the shell. My bare feet hit the cold steel floor. I feel... Alive? I stretched my fingers out. Followed with my arms and finally my legs. I raised a hand to touch my head. It''s surface is smooth. I have a nose but no ears or mouth. What am I? No matter. I have awakened now. I checked my surroundings. I''m in some sort of room. There are tubes on the parts of the wall connecting to the ceiling as well as the floor. Oval shaped glass windows. I turned around only to be greeted with more of those pods. I counted at least eight of them. Examining the pods, almost every single one was empty. They all had tendrils inside attached into the apparatuses on top of the shells; Cylindrical devices with a red substance housed inside connected to the ceiling. Was that pod keeping me alive? One pod was different however. Another similar to me lay inside of it but with the tendril disconnected and covering their body in blood. Seems they did not make it to the awakening stage such as I have. I felt nothing for them. Before I should leave I decided to peer outside the nearest window. A desolate wasteland was all that I saw. But visibility was limited. A dense fog lingered. Now was not the time for theorizing my situation. I had to get out of here. To my left was a door. I approached the rusted steel door, left cracked halfway and slid my thin body through it. Ahead of me was another room lined with pods while in the center just to my left was some sort of mechanism with a switch inside of a cylindrical device large enough for me to stand in. Curious I stepped into the mechanism. The switch apparatus was fleshy, with five holes and a small red light. Out of instinct, I stuck my fingers into the holes and turned the switch to the right. The red light flashed green. Suddenly a door descended to seal me inside the mechanism and began to descend.


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    Once the mechanism had come to a stop, the door ascended upwards. I was greeted with a sharp wind blowing against my sensitive exposed skin. The wasteland I had seen laid out bare in front of my eyes. I began to move ahead into this wasteland. The grounds were gray and dull. The landscape was vivid in it''s structure. Masses of rock and stone stood out amongst the flat grounds. I could even see some hills. I was so blown away by the imagery that I failed to notice what I had stepped on. Beneath my foot was an arm. A corpse laid out on the ground. It looked eerily similar to me just as the one in that pod did. No signs of the sanguine fluids about. It''s as if this one had just collapsed and never awoken. I just marched on, stepping over the corpse. Once I had gained some distance from the mechanism I was in, I turned around and looked up. A tall, metal rectangular-shaped structure with a round rooftop loomed over me. Four steel beams supported the structure. Looking both ways I could see more of these structures though they were hard to see through the fog. Clearly these structures are here for a reason. But why? Since they faced in my way, I figured I would keep heading in my current direction away from the structures.


    As I walked these dead fields I started to see more corpses. Each of them looked exactly like myself. Who are they? Just ahead of me perched atop a hill was a worn steel construct. It was oval-shaped. Cracks were forming in it''s foundation. An intricate pattern of circular lines was weaved into it and a bronze circle bearing a symbol too faded to recognize was etched on the front. What was this? This construct would not be the only one I see. More of them were laid out all over this wasteland I walked. What was their purpose here? Regardless I pressed on. Sometimes tiny pebbles could be felt underneath my feet. It was quiet aside from the howling of the winds. I was the only one of these things walking and, living? Breathing? Every other one I would come across laid lifeless on the ground or up against the rocky formations. One was even hunched over a round piece of metal. I soon came upon a corpse leaning against a battered construct, it''s hand pressed to the cold steel. What a strange pose it laid in. Now I was beginning to question how much longer must I walk these barren wastes before finding something. Anything. I was walking slowly so maybe I wasn''t covering that much ground. Before I knew it something in the distance caught my eye. Through the dense fog and brutal winds I saw the silhouette of what appeared to be tall structures. Many of them. And a seemingly endless wall stretching on for miles and miles. I braced myself for the journey ahead. Wherever I was heading... There had to be something there for me.

 The Arrival

    Despite walking for several miles by this point, I felt no pain in my feet. My mind was focused solely on reaching this place. The closer I started to get, the more I was beginning to see the sheer grand scale of this... Metropolis? Yes. It was looking like some kind of city. The tall structures were leading me to believe that this was a metropolis. Could this be civilization? Was there any living beings like myself residing within? If everyone out here in this wasteland is nothing but a corpse then surely a city protected by walls would be home to living residents. I did not care for the abandoned constructs or corpses no longer. I only wanted to reach this destination of mine.


    As I drew ever so closer I was greeted by a large gate-like structure. It resembled that of a metal spinal cord. It was ominous but strangely elegant. The mysterious metropolis was not too much further now. Following the path under the gate, ahead of me the fog was growing less dense. There I saw it. A split in the endless walls. Two black gated doors. The right gate was hanging open by a single hinge. Red sinewy vines poking out of the ground were wrapped around the right gate, as if it was pulled open by force. I reached my hand out to touch the vine. It felt like newly-made flesh. How peculiar. My blood-pumping chest organ began to pulsate faster as I stepped past the gate. My eyes did not deceive me. This was a metropolis. Towers and buildings went on for miles. The streets were made of sinew-laden concrete. Sidewalks of dull gray stone. Black streets enriched with the crimson pattern from the sinew made for quite a sight. I felt overwhelmed. Where to even go? To my right was a sign. The sinew vines had made their home on the left-hand corner of the sign but the text was visible. It read: ''MANUS DISTRICT.''


    This was... A district? One section of this huge metropolis? I continued onward. Something I noticed was that in the middle of the street was a metallic railing installed into the ground. What was this for? I soon would discover this as I came upon a rustic apparatus leaning to the left hanging off of the railing. The apparatus was shaped like a trolley. Seats on both sides with mechanical safety rails that would lower in front of you to keep you strapped down safely. I got down onto my knees to peer under it. A thin metal sheet with teeth straight down the middle of the bottom of the trolley. This must be what keeps it on the railing. When I stood up to see the other side, I noticed two of the seats had corpses in them. Their heads lay low, safety rails down keeping them strapped in. Now that I think about it... Moving along I noticed a few corpses littering the streets. Was... Everyone here a lifeless husk too? Like those out in the wasteland? I didn''t know. But now I wanted to know. And it seems that my access of this place was limited as the few doors I tried were locked. Deeper into this district I began to see larger structures compared to the ones seen upon entering this place. Some had smokestacks sticking up from their rooftops. Long narrow windows covered with metal blinders. One in particular I approached. A long tube stretched across the front from the roof all the way down into the ground. A rectangular pattern with black curved bars and pear-shaped objects with tubes extended out from underneath them decorated the front of this particular structure. Approaching the door, it looked very ornate in design. Dirty curved glass, four black bars connected to a much larger one on each door and a single circular shape in the middle bearing a strange symbol. Above the door was a dim square light. I touched the circle and the doors creaked open. Flakes of rust fell to the ground.


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    Nothing stood out in the room. A glass panel separated the isolated corner from the rest of the room. A strange device sat inside but there was no way to access it. Two doors, one to my right and left. Only the right door was open so I went through there. The walls were rustic with a web-like pattern on the left-hand side. Rusted steel flanges erected from the floor into the lower half of the walls lined these hallways. The long window was shuttered obscuring any outside view. A single corpse laid out on the floor in front of the door. I observed the scene. A panel with a fleshy key slot was next to the door. I knelt down to examine the corpse. A dark brown circlet on it''s head bearing the same symbol as that on the front door. Wrapped around it''s right wrist was some kind of device. I tried to remove it, yanking on it and tearing the corpse''s arm clean off. Red tendons and black wires dangled from the severed flesh. Huh. Sorry, stranger.


    I looked closer at the device. Rounded, bottom-heavy with a slot and button in the hand space. Very industrial in design. It was hitched into the arm itself. A little switch was seen on the bottom of the device. I moved it. The device unhinged itself from the arm, drawing blood. Hooks hung from the device. I placed my hand through the device and moved the switch. Suddenly the hooks sunk into my flesh. A dim red light beamed from the slot. I pressed down on the button and a thin needle appendage emerged from the slot just under my palm with a sickly sound. What is this? Looking to the panel next to the door, I slotted the needle into the keyhole and turned my wrist. The panel pulsated and the door opened up. I then ejected the needle and pressed the button again, sheathing the needle. So this device is like a key?


    Leaving the corpse and it''s severed arm behind, I moved on deeper into this place. The space inside this room was massive. Looking around I saw many pods housing sacks of pulsating pale flesh held in by metal bars that differed in design from the one I emerged from, hanging on the walls above in an orderly fashion. Sets of machines with bloodstained claws. A rail in the flooring that spanned around the entire room. In the center was a platform with steel beams mended into it''s muscles. A device sat atop. And hung from the ceiling was a mechanical crane arm. Across the room on the other side was a set of two tunnels and a single door.


    It took me a moment to realize that I was inside a factory. What the purpose of this factory was? I wasn''t so sure. But perhaps if I poked around I could uncover something. Anything. This entire place was a mystery to me. With no memories to recall, my mind was drawing blanks as to what this factory could be. Now that I had obtained this strange key... It was time I investigated here further.

 The Factory

    The sadistic machinery and floors stained with dried blood was not what I was expecting upon entering this place. Have I been here before? No of course not. Surely not. The curiosity was infecting me like a plague. I had to see if anything here functioned. A faint buzzing came from the pale yellow lights. Haunting creaks and sobbing drips echoed through the vast empty space. I noticed a sort of narrow moat that followed the track. I made sure to step carefully so my foot wouldn''t get caught in it. I carefully ascended the steps leading me to the top of the platform where the device stood. It was much different then what I have seen. Perched atop a pedestal of meat and metal was a square console with red buttons, a lever, lights and a knob sticking out to the right side that moved around. Below the console was another keyhole. Extending the needle, I inserted it and turned my wrist. A bright green light flashed on the very top of the console. The buttons glowed. Looks like it works. Now I need to figure it out.


    I pulled the lever first. The crane shuddered. Dust fell from it''s surface. A circular door in the floor opened up with a grating sound. Rising up from below was a steel cart with a handle attached to it''s own rail that met up with the floor''s main rail at an intersection. Huh? I then grabbed the knob as if out of muscle memory and gently moved it down. The crane arm began to lower. Was... This for the pods housing the flesh sacks? I lurched the crane arm over to one of the pods, automatically adjusting itself. Pressing the top button a small green light blinked. The crane''s beefy claw opened wide like a set of jaws about to digest a full meal. Moving it ever so slightly, it was perched right over the pod. I then pressed the lower button and the claw clasped down onto the pod. Oh? I gingerly backed the crane up, now holding onto this pod and brought it over towards where I stood. I then lowered the crane until the pod was over the rail cart. I was beginning to make sense of how this functioned. Pressing the upper button once more, the claw opened up to drop the pod into the cart perfectly intact. Suddenly a set of curved bars raised up from the side of the cart to lock the pod down in place. So was that it? I let go of the console, sticking the needle into the keyhole and turned. The crane automatically ascended to return to it''s original position. The console went dormant. Now I stood in a puzzled state. Below me on the ground floor was this strange pod inside of a rail cart.


    No other choice now but to see this through. I stepped down from the platform to walk over to the rail cart. The sack of pale flesh throbbed. Muffled groans from inside sent a shiver down my spine. My thin fingers grasped the handle as I started pushing it. The tunnel closest to me was off to the right so I swiveled the cart around and went in that direction. But, before I would proceed over I stopped in front of one of these machines with the sharp claws. A little console on the side must''ve meant that it was operated at a safe distance away from the claws. I walked over to the console. It only had a single button and lever. Pressing the button activated the machine. Flipping the lever up made the machine operate as it lurched forward and dug it''s claws into the flesh sack. Pulling the lever made the claws rise. The sack tore clean off, with bits and pieces falling to the floor. The claw then clamped down to shred the freshly-removed flesh sack. I could not believe what I was seeing strapped into that pod. A pulsating, bleeding mound of grotesque flesh with three arms and a single leg all attached in various spots. It was even more pale then the cocoon that housed it. Poking out of the flesh was a pudgy face. It''s eyes were gray. Soulless. The nose was deformed. And it''s mouth just hung open. The groans made sense now. This ''thing'' did not at all resemble me nor us. Just a miserable, ugly pile of flesh. What even is this creature? What was it''s purpose? Let''s find out...


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    I pushed the cart onward into the tunnel. The track would curve to the left slightly. Ahead of me was a new area. Another piece of machinery condensed into this pocket of the tunnel. A steel cradle inside a shell with a glass door left wide open. It almost resembled the pod I had emerged from. There was also a single door leading deeper into the factory mere feet away. I noticed a console that sat behind some iron railing on a much lower platform conjoined to this rather odd machine. The narrow moat from the previous area followed here and opened up much wider underneath the cradle machine. Leaving the cart on the designated circle where the rail had ended with the deformed flesh monstrosity, I made my way to the console. A single button accompanied by a switch. Like the claw machine, the button activated it. The motor powering it hummed. Now for the switch. The cradle popped out from it''s shell connected to a steel arm. It encapsulated the monstrosity with hooks piercing it''s flesh. Streams of blood tricked down onto the floor. With the monstrosity scooped up into the cradle, it retracted back into it''s shell. The groans grew more eerie and painful. Like it was trying to scream but was incapable of doing so. Well... I guess I''ll flip the switch again. The glass door closed down onto the shell. The motor began to growl and what sounded like whirling blades screeched from inside the shell. Guts and innards spewed all inside the shell, coating the glass in blood. It ran for a moment then ceased. The muffled groaning inside the shell had stopped. The moat began to fill with the fresh blood of the mutilated monstrosity. I watched the blood travel down the narrow path all the way into the main area. Then... The glass door opened up. Going to inspect it, I saw that inside remained a mess of meat. No guts to speak of. So the monstrosity was completely stripped of it''s organs and blood, reduced to a pile of fresh meat. But, now what? I did gaze to that door nearby. I was starting to put together some idea of how this factory worked. But questions remained. What was the purpose? Why eviscerate living creatures? Just what are the monstrosities? I don''t know. I don''t know. I needed to proceed.


    The hallway was lengthy. Ever so slightly curving upwards. Pipes were lined along the walls. Steam fizzled out of a few spots. Must be from all the rust. Lying on it''s side was a small cart. This hall must connect to that other tunnel in the main area. I came to an arch in the wall and turned the corner. I found myself on a long platform. A few carts sat near one-another with one split off from the rest. A corpse lied beneath it. It looked as if it was pushing it before collapsing. Peculiar. What really caught my eye were the two massive doors hitched with rods connected to steel boxes on the ceiling. This entire area was a docking bay. I had come to this conclusion when I noticed the jalopy in front of one of the bay doors. This factory... Sickened me. I wanted to leave and nothing stopped me from vaulting over the safety rail onto the concrete and leaving the vicinity.

 The Search

    I left the factory with more questions then answers. There didn''t seem to be much here for me. There were dozens of these big industrial complexes scattered all over this district. Would I really find anything that I didn''t see inside that place? Besides potentially uncovering other industries that this city had in store. I was at a loss. I just continued to head onward deeper into this district until something would catch my eye. I wandered the barren streets with only corpses and another abandoned jalopy to be found amidst the sinewy strands weaved through the concrete. Only the sound of wind accompanied me during my walk.


    The scope of this city must have been outrageous if this was only one single district. The industrial structures seemed to sprawl on for miles. The taller buildings loomed off in the distance obscured by a lingering fog that seemed to cover the skyline. Those orange skies above only added to this dreary atmosphere I found myself in. A single organism in a sea of dead cells. Was I truly the only living thing here? I guess the monstrosities from back in that factory were living. But it looked miserable. If that were me... I would be seeking death. And there were dozens of those things just left to suffer inside the sacks of flesh encapsulating them. I looked down at the device attached to my wrist still. I decided I would give it a name. The Key. Yeah. That is it''s purpose after all. But would it work elsewhere? I should find out. My eyes wandered looking for another factory to venture into. I had not wandered too far from the last one. Turning the corner on the road trying to avoid stepping on any corpses, a particular structure stood out to me. A more narrow one with five floors. Three windows on each floor except the first floor. Atop the roof was a rusted dish with a long rod about ready to break off it''s hinge and crash to the ground at any second. Not so much a tower but it was different enough that I found myself intrigued. I approached it. The door had the same design as the factory. So I would enter it the same way.


    A series of tall, thin lockers were on both sides of the room. A staircase just ahead ascended to the upper floors. Tubes lined the walls here as well. Two corpses side-by-side leaned against the left lockers, hands intertwined with one another. Peeking into the open lockers I only saw the occasional tool or small handled box. Nothing of interest here. The other lockers had a locking mechanism attached to them. Sadly my Key was too big to fit. Oh well. I decided to head upstairs. On the second floor, I was greeted with a door and there I saw it... A keyhole. I brought my needle out of the Key and stuck it into the hole. Turning it worked as the door opened up. So it does work here too huh? Inside the single room I spotted a series of terminals. Two to be precise. Single screens with a console attached underneath by wires and cords. The monitors hung from the walls. Each terminal had a window view too along with a chair. So what else to do but approach one of these terminals. Getting closer I noticed something odd. Coming out of the side of the terminal was a cord made of sinew accompanied by a thin needle. Now just what was this? Pressing a few buttons did nothing. Did this cord have some purpose? Surely it must. I was unsure of this but my curiosity must be satiated. The cord felt slimy in my hand. I tried to stick it inside the top of my chest but all it did was pierce the skin. Nothing. I pulled the cord out, a dribble of blood seeped from the tiny hole before sealing up on it''s own. Hmm. I had an idea. I left the room to go back downstairs. I knelt down near the pair of corpses to grab a hold of one of their heads and pulled on it. The neck snapped off of the body with ease. Strings of red tendons and a single thick black wire dangled from the now-decapitated head leaking dark red blood onto the crusty floors. I brought the head with me upstairs back to the terminal. Examining it, I saw a black spot on the skull. I grabbed the fleshy cord once more, jabbing it into the head where the black spot was. The terminal lit up. A muddy yellow hue on the screen as a series of jumbled words and numbers flashed before my eyes. On the screen there were three icons with words underneath:


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    A white eye: ''Surveillance.''


    A yellow square with a black border and black lines within the square: ''System.''


    A black mechanical sphere: ''Files.''


    There were but a few keys for me to press and I had no clue how this worked. I tried to open up the surveillance but was greeted with a black screen. I did manage to get run the system running and was greeted with a new yellow screen and a series of words and phrases I knew nothing about. Before I could even begin to read, the words started to scramble and morph into numbers and squares followed with a string of error messages;


    Error. System scan malfunction. Plaguebringer Software corruption detected. Contact Maintenance for system reboot and repairs immediately. Any and all abnormalities are to be fixed per the rule of [AUTHORITY].


    Well... I guess I''m stumped here. I couldn''t even do anything else. To hopefully fix this little conundrum, I ejected the cord from the severed head only to jack it back in. This seemed to restart the terminal. Back at the home screen now, the only icon left to open was the files. Doing so brought up an entire list of different lines of text;


    -Users


    -Logs


    -Reports


    -Manus Operandus


    Hmm, okay? I struggled to select these at first due to no knowledge of how these keys operated. Users just showed me another list but each line was just listed as ''Unit'' followed with a number. Logs weren''t even operating properly. Reports seemed to be locked behind a security gate. The last option however... Did bring up something;


    MANUS OPERANDUS: THE AUTHORIZED RULES OF MANUS. FOR THE MACHINE TO FUNCTION THE SYSTEM MUST REMAIN OPERATIONAL AT ALL TIMES. UNITS WILL FOLLOW GUIDELINES WITH NO ARGUMENTS TO AUTHORITY. THIS DISTRICT SERVES AS THE PURE NERVOUS SYSTEM OF CARNIS MACHINA. MANUS IS THE FUEL FOR THE MACHINE. YOU WILL READ EVERYTHING BEFORE BEGINNING YOUR SERVICE TO THE MACHINE. AUTHORITY DICTATES THIS AS MANDATORY FOR PERFECT ORDER OF MANUS AND CARNIS MACHINA. YOU ARE THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE MACHINE. WITHOUT MANUS, THE MACHINE CANNOT FUNCTION. ANY REJECTION OF AUTHORITY WILL RESULT IN PERMANENT TERMINATION.


    I backed away slowly without even reading on, letting go of the head that now just dangled above the floor still connected to the terminal. Just what was this place? Lifeblood? Authority? The machine? None of it made sense. Should it make sense to me? Clearly this district served a vital role in this forsaken place. Then the factory... Did have some purpose in it''s grotesque and brutal nature. I... Had to go. I think I have found what I needed here. Some sense of understanding. And this city was overwhelming enough as it is.


    The shadow of the building loomed over me on my way out. I wanted to push deeper. Go further into this empty city. With what I had gained here, the information was stored into my data-bank. My feet dragged along the sinew-laden concrete as I proceeded onward towards the tall towers erected high into the skies. Manus... Manus... Manus...

 The Obstacle

    At this point in my journey I had been walking for several miles by now and should have been feeling pain. Yet I did not seem to feel anything of the sorts. My feet did not ache. Fatigue was not wearing me down. Why was that? Just what am I really? If I am like these lifeless corpses that bleed... Should I not be hurting anywhere? The drive to figure out who I was and what this place is must have kept me going. Ahead of me I could see a wall with a gate that resembled that of a mechanical spinal cord. The haze dissipated as I drew closer. While the gateway led to what appeared to be a different district and was open wide, there was something in the way.


    Crimson red tendrils large in size had ruptured the grounds below and blocked the pathway forward. The tendrils ranged from small and narrow wrapping themselves around the gateway to large and thick, constricting the abandoned trolley left to rust away nearby. It''s as if the sinewy strands within the concrete had grown in gargantuan size and encapsulated this entire gateway. I got closer to touch one of the bigger tendrils. It felt slimy and wet. I then took my Key and shoved it into the tendril. Blood spurted out. Removing it, a trickle of the red fluid spilled out before sealing up the hole left by my instrument. How... Peculiar. My own flesh had functioned in a similar way. And yet, these corpses I''ve came across did not react the same way. When I had removed that head clean off of it''s shoulders earlier, the remnants did not close up. I saw these tendrils back in the wastelands outside this city. The streets and grounds are laced with red sinew and now here I stand before masses of tendrils so large that it would take serious machinery to cut through them. I tried to peek through any openings on the other side. I caught glimpses of the neighboring district but could only see more dense city blocks. Nothing of note. It seems that my journey to the area where the tallest of structures was halted. I would need to take a detour. A map of this place would be nice...


    Wander. All I could do was wander. Since I had been traveling I''ve been unsure of what directions I''ve been. Besides the area with the large towering structures, much of this place looks the same. All these warehouses and factories have distinct designs but all have muddled color palettes and very little outside their overall shapes that separate them from one another. That structure down the block has three smokestacks erected out from the very center of it''s roof. This structure to my right has no windows but instead rows of tubes of varying sizes running all sorts of directions as if forming some unknown symbol to me.


    Just when I thought I had lost any hope of figuring out my way around... The building that lie ahead of me took on a distinct look that could serve as a landmark of sorts. A fenced-in boneyard of trolleys sat behind it in the back lot. Towering over the property was a crane. A steel cage attached to it''s side with a ladder leading up into it''s floor. At its base was a metallic box with a single open panel showcasing buttons and unlit lights. The front door to the building was already left open too. Looks like the Key wouldn''t be needed here. I entered this building with caution as always. Double-sided benches with ornate patterns grated into them sat in the middle of the room. The second story staircase was blocked off by metal bars that seemed to have no nearby panel or device to operate them. Shame. But what I did find was this board. Inscribed on it was a map of some kind with lines that seemed to represent the various railways throughout the district. My eyes followed them until I saw one that led to somewhere off of the map. Labeled: ''To Cor.'' While another was labeled: ''To Pedites.''


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    These were... Other districts? ''Manus'' was inscribed on top of the board above the map. If I had to guess based on how I had entered this place... Then the area where the tallest structures lie would be Cor. But it was blocked off by the tendrils. The other district labeled would be my only option then. Pedites. With this knowledge inscribed into my memory bank, I took off.


    Before leaving I looked up at the crane. From an observational standpoint, it was safe to assume this crane would carry trolleys. And glancing back into the yard, it appeared that there was at least one functional looking trolley while the rest were rotting away or in shambles. Looking to the box at the base, the sole light was on. This had to mean power. The ladder was tall. Regardless I began to climb it. The metal was cold on the palms of my hands and feet. I didn''t look down. I didn''t look around me. I only stared up to see the top slowly encroaching. It wasn''t long before I found myself inside the steel cage. This was the highest I had been since arriving here. A series of levers and a button conjoined to a console with four holes attached to a veiny appendage awaited me. I slotted my fingers into the holes and yanked down. The crane activated with the sound of gears grinding within the crane sent a jolt of dopamine through my system. I grabbed a hold of the levers. The left one moved the crane. The right one lowered or raised the crane''s arm. I figured it out. I brought the claw down over the trolley. Pressing the button with my thumb made the claw clamp down onto the trolley. Using the levers, I brought the arm up. Then I rotated the crane around until the trolley was perched above the street. Carefully, I lowered the trolley down until its bottom touched the rail line. Release and lift up. That was it. I removed my fingers from the appendage.


    I climbed down from the cage greeting the cold steel ladder once more. My feet touched the ground. I went over to the trolley. I was unsure how these even worked.Come to think of it I never examined the front of one of these trolleys. Once I moved to the front my pace was halted. Attached to the front of the trolley... A lanky husk of steel infused with flesh in random areas. Four tubes sticking out of its torso were connected to the trolleys frame. Its head comprised of a single eye with a hollow black pupil. It had a single appendage with three fingers on its stomach. Sticking out from the husks groin was a lever. No sound came from it as it lacked a mouth. Instead there was a metal plate. I raised my hand to it. Its head tilted towards me. All it did was point to its side. Was it telling me to sit down? I pointed in the direction of Pedites then nodded and climbed onto the nearest trolley seat. The bar came down automatically to secure me. The husk grabbed its lever and pulled up. Next thing I know, the trolley was moving. But where was I headed? Did it know where I wanted to go? I couldn''t speak nor could the husk. All I did was point in the general direction of that other district I saw on the map. I''m hoping the husk understood. At least I would get to rest my feet for now.

 The Fatigue

    The teeth grind on the rail while the trolley trudged along. It squeaked and creaked. The seat was uncomfortable but it beat walking more. I looked on at the passing factories and warehouses. The occasional corpse or three. The trolley didn''t move that fast. What I was wondering about was the sentient husk operating this machine. Do they just have a routine path they travel? Can they die? Were they fused into this machine or are they simply one in the same? More questions I suppose. Most of this place remained a mystery to me still. I''ve only learned tidbits from my travels thus far. The meat processing factory. The consoles linked to that small tower. Something called the Machine? And now the trolleys. It''s all so bizarre and foreign. And yet just through sheer curiosity I''ve learned how to figure out how things work. I wonder if I was ever a denizen here?


    Lost in thought, the trolley soon came to a stop once the husk had pushed its lever down. I looked to see yet another gateway leading to a different district separated by walls. This one looked more narrow then the previous one I had seen to the center district. The bar lifted up from my spot and I was free. I got off of the trolley and went to look at the husk once again. It remained the same as when I found it. Still gently swaying. I held up my hand to gesture for my departure. The husk nodded but did nothing else. So it was just going to remain stationed there, huh? I didn''t plan on coming back so its fate remained unsure as I made my way for the gate. It was shut. Next to the gate was a console of simple design. A small lever. I grabbed it and pulled down. The giant steel gate door started lowering into the ground. A muted pink sphincter spread itself open to reveal a tunnel within. I peered down to see the district. The tunnel wasn''t very long either. So I started walking. The walls of flesh pulsated. Steel tubes poked out of the flesh on one end and would vanish in another. How strange.


    I was in a plaza of some sorts. A fairly open area. The streets split off into three directions. In the center of this plaza was a signpost: ''Pedities.''


    This place felt like a maze. The structures were much more condensed. Streets and alleys were narrower. No rails to be found either. I remained hugging the wall as to not get lost here. Many of these buildings looked similar. Thin, single doors, one window on ground level and two just a floor above, chimneys, flat roofs, and a thick tube connected from the second story to the ground. Then I stumbled upon my first set of corpses. Three of them lie in a square-shaped area split off from the street surrounding a cylindrical object lit ablaze within. How tragic. Maybe they were all acquainted with one another? I noticed spots on the walls of the homes were rusting away. Same with the tubes. The roofs. A common theme I noticed with these structures. It''s as if all of this city was built a millennia ago and has began to show its age with time. More of those cylindrical objects obscured my path, forcing me to turn down this alley. Various pipes lined the walls. Wires were strung from rooftop to rooftop above my head. Ventilation systems the size of small boxes hung from the walls like tumors. No windows to be found.


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    I emerged to find myself in a contained area surrounded by storefronts with larger windows, double doors and metal signs hanging from the walls with unknown symbols. I peered inside one of these windows to get a look inside. Shelves mostly empty with nary but a few random leftover tools. A desk with a strange device on top. I went to the doors and grabbed the left ones handle but it wouldn''t budge. I walked over to the other side of this area to peer into another window. Corpses sat in chairs. Metal trays with rotting meat lay atop the tables. Maybe I shouldn''t try to go inside of there. These structures were all three stories tall. From what I examined... These were places to conduct exchanges or seek comfort in leisure. A much different setting then that of Manus with its many large factories and endless sprawls of warehouses.


    No. Stop. Focus. This place is getting me nowhere. I found the street that lead into this area and made my way out of here back to where I was traversing earlier. I reconnected with the outer wall, pressing my hand to it, dragging the palm along as I walked. Up ahead of me I noticed something that stood out in this drab district. At the corner of the outer wall there was a walkway leading out of here. But a small gate blocked the pathway. Metal bars connected to a rod centerpiece. Off to it''s side held together by rivets nailed into the wall was a pear-shaped apparatus of skin with several smaller, darker-toned layers within underneath a curvaceous bronze statue lacking any limbs except for a head. It was hooked up to the gate by strings of pinkish-red cords. I cautiously stuck my hand inside the apparatus when it suddenly clamped down on my wrist, trapping my hand inside. It was wet and gooey inside. It started to pulsate around my hand. This feeling was quite... Arousing. I felt a strange tingling in my lower region. The eyes on the statue started to glow and it''s head tilted down to gaze into my own. The metal bars swung open and my hand was released from the apparatus. Seems my own flesh was accepted as entry. I shook the hand until it was dry. The statue''s head returned to its original position. All I could do was stare at the statue until it left my view through the gate.


    The walkway was hollow like a tunnel. Arched inwards rather then straight. Waist-high bars lined the walls. I rested my hand on the bar while I walked until reaching another gateway. This one lacked any sort of apparatus. The bars were pale white with red stains. I could see that the district with the tall structures lie ahead beyond some strange machinery. It was Cor. Once again I was forbidden from accessing this place. I grew tired of this constant hunt for a way into the district. Alas I refused to rest. I carried onward down the walkway. Maybe I should''ve rested now that I thought about it. I had been walking for what felt like forever only occasionally stopping to examine various places of interest. Maybe I will rest here soon.


    Encroaching the other side of the walkway I noticed thinning red tendrils now lingering on the walls. My body froze up once I laid my eyes on this entrance. The gate was already open but one half of it was covered in thicker red tendrils that wrapped around the wall and most likely the apparatus. The tendrils extended far beyond that, coating the walls ahead outside of this tunnel. I could feel my hands shaking as I cautiously approached further, making sure to avoid the strands of red on the floor. Stepping through the only open side of the gate I was stunned. This entire area had succumbed to the spreading crimson growth and beyond. What the hell did I just walk into?

 The Instrument

    This place felt even more like a labyrinth then the last district. Barely enough room for two people to walk past each other on these narrow streets. And the growth only got worse as I began to traverse the maze-like corridors to get deeper into this place. The pale walls were overgrown with tendrils and sinew had already made a home for itself in the concrete. I came upon a corpse wrapped up in a clump of tendrils plastered to the street. This forced me to turn to my side so I could slide past. When I came to an intersection there was a faint skittering sound to my right. What? I turned to look but saw nothing. Just a building with the door cracked open. I needed to investigate. Further away behind me... Another skitter. I ignored it. These structures were huge in width. The path beyond this entrance was blocked from the growth. Three corpses were encased in the crimson. Looks like I wasn''t going beyond this point so I headed into the building.


    The interior was damp from the seeping growth leaking out sanguine liquids onto the floors. Drip. Drip. Drip. It was not the desk with a single static screen and a corpse in the chair that caught my attention... Rather it was the sacks of flesh on the walls in the lobby area. Four of them hung. Three of them seemed sealed but the fourth had hatched. Thick veins connected the sacks to the growth that throbbed. I noticed that whatever was within these sacks were wriggling inside. I''d best not touch them or get any closer for that matter. Instead I approached the double doors beyond the desk. And of course there was a console besides the door. It contained a slot for a key but it was of a slightly different shape then that of mine. I looked to the corpse in the chair for anything but had no luck. I couldn''t go any further. But as I looked in that direction I noticed there was something under the desk. I slowly got closer, lowering my posture to catch a glimpse. It was dark but its shape was unlike anything I''ve seen. Then a low snarl belted from the thing and it jumped at me. I backed up as quickly as I could before it could pounce on me. What the hell is that?


    A small creature. A lump of grimy flesh on all fours with a writhing spindly appendage coming from its posterior. It had four stumpy toes with claws. An oval-shaped head with three hollow black eyes, a tiny nose and a disfigured mouth bearing yellowed teeth mixed in with fangs. I held my hand out to it and waved if off. It snarled then scurried away. Just what did I see? I''ve only seen lifeless corpses up to this point all resembling this form I possess. Never anything like that. It must have come from the open sack in the lobby. Feeling uncomfortable and hitting a dead end I proceeded to get the hell out of here and return to the intersection.


    Where would this path take me I wonder? The growth seemed to never end no matter where I was heading in this maze of walls. They were going so far as sprouting out over rooftops. I had to ignore it and focus. Where was I now? Another building and stairs leading into the ground. Curious, I proceeded over to the stairs and descended. The tunnel was dank and dark. Dim fizzing lights illuminated my pathway. The growth didn''t seem to extend down here but what I saw was nothing short of disturbing. At least half a dozen corpses all lay on the floor just before the doors having their innards being gnawed on by two of those creatures from earlier. They didn''t seem to notice me as they were occupied with their meals. And the door was closed. Wonderful. I''ll be food if I bothered them so I turned straight around and left.


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    There was still that building I passed on back at the square. A metal gate cut this area off from moving forward that also contained a locking console. This isn''t looking too good. I made my way into the building. This time it was a two-story structure. Inside there were steel beds connected to rectangular machines with cords, little round indicators and lights. A couple of the beds had corpses lying on them hooked up to the machines through their arm. Blood stained the floors and beds. The corpses were messy and had their chests gored out. A messy sight. I stepped on by into the neighboring room, sliding through the cracked doorway. I saw long tables with empty glass bottles and beakers. On the shelves there was unfamiliar machinery with containment chambers big enough to fit those beakers, small screens and jumbles of wires. Leaning up against the wall was a corpse but this one looked different. It looked more mechanical then flesh. Embedded on its head was a circlet bearing a red circle. It''s right arm had a syringe for a hand. It''s left hand did not have fingers but instead three long, rusting claws. There was also a third appendage coming out from its back that hung over its head. A light-emitting device that flickered. This certainly was a unique figure. It must be an automaton designed specifically for this place. I placed a finger on the bronze surface of its chest just for a feel. Examining it closer I could see that it''s head, shoulders and abdomen contained skin but the rest was cold steel. A humanoid made by the mending of flesh and metal? This was a lot to take in... But I couldn''t get distracted no matter how confused I was feeling. On a smaller table isolated from the rest of the room near the stairs lied a tablet of some sorts. I brushed the dust off of the screen. It was still on but the screen was frozen on a set of words. A documentation of some kind? I read the entry;


    ''Experiment 8-A progress: 93.0%''


    ''The regeneration capabilities of this new chemical concoction yield immense success. Patients injected with the serum can restore vital organic and tissue damage. Will send completed samples to medicinal facility once complete.''


    Experiment, huh? Did that automaton write this? No, it couldn''t have. I went upstairs. Pushing the door open I came into yet another disturbing sight. Three of those grotesque creatures lie dead in this office. One lay on top of the desk with an instrument thrust through it''s body. Sitting in the chair behind the desk was a bloodied corpse marked with the same circlet as the automaton. Its head hung low. Various marks of bites and slashes marred its flesh. That would explain the trail of blood here at the foot of the doorway over to that chair. I tried to turn the desk console on but to no avail. It lacked any power despite there being a cord that this individual must''ve used to access it. Oh well.


    I examined the instrument. It had a handle with a switch on the hilt. I grabbed a hold then squeezed the creature''s corpse to try and pull the instrument out of its body. Success. The blade came out, staining my arm with blood. Clicking the switch concealed the blade into the bulky hilt. Clicking it again erected the blade back out. The blade was flat on the edge. To test it''s sharpness I brought the blade down on the creatures head. It cut clean off, leaking blood onto the desk and pouring onto the floor. Just what was this individual doing with such an instrument? It seemed effective at dismembering limbs so maybe they were a surgeon? Regardless, I sheathed the blade and headed out. With a defensive tool at my disposal, I was getting into that door back down in the tunnel...

 The Rot

    Stepping down into the underground passage, I find myself faced once again with the grotesque creatures still feasting on carcasses. Now that I wield this surgical instrument, I felt a certain ease within myself. I stepped closer, aggravating the nearest creature. It began to lunge at me. As if the muscles in my receptors had flared up, I swung the instrument straight at the creature, slicing it in half. It''s entrails spilled onto the floor along with it''s now severed corpse. The other two creatures hissed at me and attacked. I backed up when another lunged, missing as it sunk it''s disfigured jaws into my leg. Blood drew from the wound. I thrust the instrument down to cut clean into the creature, bringing it up and smacking the third one with its corpse launching off of the blade. The walls were showered with blood. The third creature hit the door and landed onto the floor. The crunching of small bones echoed throughout the tunnel. It let out a shrill screech. I got closer, hilt clutched tightly to the instrument and raised it, bringing it down and decapitating the creature. Its head rolled off, blood spurting from the neck area as its corpse fell flat. The instrument was coated in a crimson tone. Not much of its dull gray blade was visible now. I had no methods of wrapping up the bite mark so I let it go for now. I wasn''t losing much blood from the wound after all.


    Finally I reached the door. I still did my best to step over the many corpses littering the ground. There were handles built into the doors. I reached for one and yanked on it. Steam billowed out from the side as the door slid open. It was so dark and there was no light source inside except for a single dim red light in the distance. I palmed the wall nearby until I could feel a switch. Flicking it sparked a series of ceiling lamps. There was but a single room ahead of me. This area had nothing inside but I kept the instrument ready to swing. A device was connected to the doors for the other room. A single cord with a sharp needle on the end hung from the panel with the red screen. I grabbed the cord, unsure of where it would go. I tried jabbing it into my arm but nothing. I then tried my chest region. Nothing either. To take a page from my time in Manus, I then jabbed the needle into the side of my head, the needle just barely touching my brain. The screen flashed green and the doors opened up for me. Phew. I plucked the needle out. The holes left inside of my skin closed up soon enough but the bite wound still remained. Guess it''s too big for my skin to conceal. I found myself in some sort of laboratory. There was a lab table with a small machine attached to the right side. A shelf lined with bits and parts. A desk with a blank terminal that had wires coming out from behind it all the way over to the machine at the table. On the wall was a tall rectangular device containing a tube wrapped up inside and a glass vial filled with blood, the device was marked with a red cross symbol inside a circle on the top portion. I wanted to see what this device was first. I grabbed the tube, examining the bronze claw at the end. I pressed it to my chest and pressed the button. The claw sunk its self into my skin and I felt my chest being opened and something entering the cavity to then start pumping blood into me. The bite mark began to seal up and the bleeding stopped. My cavity sealed shut once the claw had detached itself. Now I was feeling rejuvenated. So this device was a healing apparatus. How interesting. Nevertheless it seemed to do the trick in fixing the wound inflicted upon me by that creature. Only thing left now was to check this machine out. Judging by what I saw, someone would lie on this table and slot their arm into the machine? It was round and quite long in design. Was this designed for...?


    I lied down on the table and gently set my arm down on the platform where the machine was. My wrist and the Key were in position. I leaned up to turn the knob on the machine and pressed the two buttons next to the knob before lying back down. The machine sputtered. Those circular appendages began turning. I couldn''t move my arm even a centimeter. Tiny mechanical arms crawled out of the machine and started picking at the Key on my wrist; Tearing it apart and messing around with its inner workings. Each time the arms scraped its minuscule blade against my skin I jittered. And then before I knew it... The process was over. The mechanical arms retracted into the machine and the appendages stopped their rotation. I swiftly extracted my arm from within the machine and pressed down on my skin. Activating the Key popped out an alteration of its original design. Now it had become a corkscrew instead of a simple needle. This machine changed the Key entirely from within? It still looked the same. Functioned the same. The key itself was different now though. I just had even more questions. Why was something like this here? I stood back up to leave this place.


    Here I stood once again. Back inside of the first building I entered upon entering this district. The sacks hanging from the walls had not yet burst to my surprise. I took the Key and slotted it into the device near the locked doors and turned. A clicking sound followed with the sliding of the doors opening up before me. All this time I kept wondering why this place was covered in the crimson growth. I was about to find my answer. Inside the formerly locked room was a gaping hole in the flooring, presumably closed up as a rusted metal door was left halfway open, halted by a pulsating chunk of the growth. The tendrils poured out from inside this basement and had spread everywhere here. A few corpses were pinned to the floor and walls by the tendrils. The growth had even covered lab equipment, tables, chairs and the console connected to the basement door. The only way left to go was down. Down into the hole where the growth was sprouting. A rickety ladder descended down into the black abyss below. I lowered myself onto the ladder and climbed down. Each step down I could feel the ladder shutter and hear the creaking of the rotting steel.


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    The growth was all over the walls and even smaller, thinner strands of sinew wrapped around parts of the ladder. It didn''t impede my progress climbing down at least. My only sources of light were small lanterns in the walls near the ladder. I could hear what sounded like wet, sloshing blood pumping through an artery system. Faint moans echoed from below. I didn''t like any of this. Once I set foot onto the cold, steel floor I dreaded turning around. Just in case, I readied the instrument before turning around. I was in complete disbelief at what I was seeing.


    A wide open room about half the size of the factory was completely shrouded in the crimson growth. Tendrils of all sizes covered the walls. Pulsating tumors amongst the growth were much bigger then those above on the surface. Dozens of red tubes across the ceiling were pumping blood through them down into the machine at the center of the room. What looked to be the catalyst for the growth. The machine had various gauges and wires strewn about. A single, massive postulating mess of tender red flesh had overtaken the machine. From within the flesh was a humanoid figure encased inside, hooked up to the machine via cords. The overgrown tubes were pumping blood into a container connected to the machine. Smaller tubes were inserted into the disfigured limbs of the humanoid. Its face only consisted of a single normal eye while the other had become absorbed by the flesh growth. Much of its body had been absorbed by this point it seemed. Tendrils were splayed across the floors in nearly every direction. Only a narrow path was opened for me but still required me to step over some of the growth.


    I got closer to the figure. Its head could not move but its singular functioning eye began scanning me the closer I got. All around me I could hear the pulsating flesh and the sloshing blood. The moans had ceased however. What really horrified me were the many sacks lining the walls of this hive-like overgrowth. Many had burst as more of the creatures both small and larger were scattering all over the floors and climbing around the walls. When I finally got as close as I needed to be to the humanoid, its gaze was fixated on me. It''s one functioning arm slowly lifted to point at me.


    "One that lives?"


    It spoke with a deep tone.


    "Why... Have you come? How... Are you living?"


    This was my first encounter with a living humanoid. And it spoke to me. I could not speak, however. So I simply shrugged and pointed at my skull, shaking my head.


    "You do not know then."


    It understood me.


    "Do you not see? All around you... The rot spreads. One''s ''experiment'' and extraction of an unknown substance... Led to the birth of the rot."


    Experiment? Unknown substance? Rot?


    "Gaze upon me, nameless one. I do not know what you seek here... But the rot will consume you soon. You... Must have purpose... If you live while the rest reek of death and decay."


    It must be referring to the corpses I keep seeing. Why am I the only one living? Besides... This thing.


    "Heed my warning. Leave. Beyond me lies... A path elsewhere. The rot spreads everywhere. That device... On your wrist... Use it. The door. Leave this place. Do not... Come... Back..."


    If I could speak then I''d have so many questions. But it was clear to me that this place was dangerous with all the creatures about. I nodded and started to make my way past him. While I twisted my limbs just trying to get around the rot, it spoke once more;


    "My lifeline... Sever it. From behind... On the machine. Before you leave... Please..."


    I turned around to see the tubes pumping blood into the machine. It... Wanted me to cut them? With my instrument in hand I stepped over to the backside of the machine. If this is what it wants... And I swung the instrument, cutting right through the tubes. Blood spilled out from the severed tubes onto the floor. Before I knew it, the creatures started to make their way towards me. A gargantuan mother with flailing tits underneath jumped from the wall onto the floor just over near where I was standing. It screeched and hissed. I began to panic and run for the door.


    "Bliss... Serenity... Peace..."


    The humanoids'' last words echoed towards me. I took my Key and stuck it into the device and turned. The door creaked open leading down a long, dark tunnel with very dim lights. I turned the Key once more, extracted it and ran. The creatures scurried my way until the door shut, locking them inside. Even inside of here, the rot had made it''s home inside the tunnel. All I could do now was leave this place for good while the scratching of claws against steel rang out from behind the closed door.

 The Sickening

    No longer was I in danger. At least that''s what I had hoped. I occasionally glanced behind my shoulder to ensure nothing was chasing after me. This was fine. All of this is fine. I finally made contact with another of my kind but it was short-lived. Their words were vague and uneasy but did ultimately lead me in a new direction. A name for the crimson growth. ''The Rot.'' Something about an experiment and extracting a substance? It also called me ''nameless one'' which rings true. I have no name. But what if I did? Every waking moment that passes by I begin to wonder if I was really ''born'' inside that pod where I awoke... Or was I someone else? I dwindle on that thought. The fatigue was really starting to wear me down. I need sleep. But not here.


    This long, winding tunnel felt like it wouldn''t end. The creaking of the rusty pipes echoed all around. There was minimal light from the dim ceiling electrical lamps. I was ready to collapse when I finally saw a ladder leading up to the surface. The tunnel kept going but I was desperate to find somewhere to rest easy. I began climbing the rickety ladder. Each step had it shaking. As I extended my hand up to the steel grate, the ladder fell apart. I was sent falling, cracking my back once I had hit the floor. Pieces of the ladder all fell before me with one rail landing on my chest. That hurt. A lot. So close I was to getting there. I lay on the cold, hard flooring for a moment to catch my breath. Groaning, I shoved the ladder rail off of me and stood back up. Just my luck I suppose. Guess there was nowhere else but forward.


    My feet were dragging along the floor. Coming up to a corner in the tunnel I saw a doorway to my right. A small concrete block where all the tubes connected to. I approached the door and opened it up. Inside was an apparatus twice as tall as me. Various gauges, levers and dials decorated it''s sheen steel surface. Various tubes all lead to this one apparatus. Judging by it''s design it seemed to be operating the steam pipes in this tunnel network. A lone chair and table were the only pieces of furniture inside of this small room. The table contained a variety of tools. Wrenches. Screwdrivers and manipulators. Even a hand saw. A bunch of lone, rusted-out screws lay scattered about the table''s surface as well as a single curved pipe piece with a few holes. I suppose I could rest here. It seemed safe enough. I pulled the chair up closer to the table and sat. I laid my head down on the table and started dozing off. Soon enough I would fall asleep.


    A black void. No sound. No sight. Nothingness. Then a single light flicks on in the distance. I couldn''t move. Something slowly crawled out of the darkness and into the beam of light. I couldn''t quite make it out. The mechanical being flashed a single red eye. It began to crawl towards me. It''s body was long and serpentine. It''s red eye slithered closer and closer towards me. I could hear the sound of tiny mechanized legs skittering across the ground. I couldn''t even close my eyes. The red eye vanished for but a brief moment...


    Then it came up and gazed straight into my eyes. My reflection was staring back at me. In the faintness of the dark I barely noticed the two fangs this machine bore. They clicked together. This thing didn''t speak but it was intimidating me. I was powerless to do anything. It vanished again into the darkness. Suddenly I felt my body being constricted. The steel being wrapped itself around me only to then once again glare me down with it''s red eye. It titled it''s head... And sank it''s fangs right into me.


    A burst of steam from one of the pipes squealed. My eyes shot open and I sat straight up. So it was but only a dream... I shook my head and stood up. My body felt well-rested at least. Ignoring the broken steam pipe, I made my way out of that room to proceed onward down the tunnel. Of all the places I''ve been here, this tunnel was the most empty and abandoned. I didn''t see any corpses. Signs of the rot still lingered along the walls but it was minimal. It felt like I had been walking for hours when I really only must have traveled a few miles.


    Well... What was this? A set of stairs? I was quite far from that initial ladder that had broken so this shouldn''t have come as a surprise to me. I seemed to have reached the end of the tunnel as well. Finally. I began ascending the staircase leading up to a door and stepping through. I found myself inside a cluttered shack with shrouded windows. Bits and bobs of scrap littered the floors. A small machine sat on an end table hooked up to the corpse laying in a cozy position on the bed. They were clutching something close to their chest. I carefully rolled the corpse over to get a better look. It was a tablet that didn''t function at all. Wouldn''t turn on. Worthless. Probably just some journal they held dear in their final moment. I should get out of here to see where I''ve ended up.


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    Opening the door I was greeted by red skies and a rather unusual structure ahead of me. It was long. Expansive. Bronze arches loomed over the open roof. Cylindrical machines were attached to the long side of the building. A single set of steel doors was the only way inside. Not a window to be seen. Dozens of corpses were strewn about the grounds near the structure. It''s as if they were all trying to get inside before they perished. Aside from that there was a wide array of strangely-shaped buildings crowding this place. Individual structures with varying shapes. From rectangular with flat roofs to round with arches. I wanted to see what was inside the structure before me though. So inside I went. The doors opened right up for me.


    I could not grasp the words to comprehend what kind of establishment this place was supposed to be. Rows of chairs in front of devices on the walls with apparatuses tethered to the devices that hung over the chairs. Opposite of the chairs was a single hub comprised of a desk with several screens hanging from the walls. Most of the chairs were occupied by corpses The apparatuses were strapped to their heads. The complexity of its design was intriguing. The apparatus sat perched on top of the head. A visor of sorts over the eyes and a set of cords was jabbed into the veins of its right arm. Over at the desk a corpse lay on the ground near the seat. Only some of the many screens were on. They showed nothing but static. Was this meant for studying those in the chairs hooked up to the apparatuses? The lack of any instruments or diagnosis machines made me refuse to believe this was a clinic or anything of the sorts like what I had seen housed in the buildings of that last district. I was so confused. I tried to do something with the console on the desk but to no avail. None of the buttons were responding to my actions.


    I walked over to one of the corpses. I yanked the cords out of its arm and detached the apparatus from its head. The body flopped over onto the floor. I thought that it was dead... Until it started to move. It sluggishly extended its arms out to crawl. Blood seeped from the marks left on its arm. It only moved for less than a minute before falling unconscious. I tried to move it with my foot. Nothing. Does that mean that all of these people are... Alive? Just to satiate my curiosity I repeated the process with one in a neighboring chair. The same thing happened. It struggled to try and get up but failed and fell flat onto the floor, no longer moving. I don''t think I should keep doing this. I decided to leave this place but noted it in my mental database.


    The density of the constructed nature of this clearly new district was quite something. The rot had spread around here too albeit at a more widespread and intense form compared to the previous districts aside from where I had left which was the source. With iron fences minimizing my options for traversal, I simply made my way inside this neighborhood through the narrow alleyway just ahead of me. A large conditioning unit blocked my right path while the rot cut off my left. There was no other way. I was about to step into the streets before I heard a chilling moan a few feet away. Remaining in the alleyway, I peered my head around the corner. I noticed a rather grotesque figure stumbling around. It more closely resembled the humanoids like myself and the many corpses I''ve seen. But it was different in its own way. The head leaned towards the right and hung lower. Its hands had forged claws. A hideous crimson growth had slightly bloated its torso region. It only had one normal eye while the other was obscured by the mutated growth.


    I was looking at a monster. What was once a normal humanoid like me had become infested with the rot, mutating it into a deformed creature. What''s worse is that there were more then one. Another stumbled out of one of the houses. I turned the opposite direction to see yet another standing by a trolley that had become overgrown by the rot, blocking off the entire street heading that direction. So my only choice was the leftmost side where two of those things roamed. Fine... I was unsure if these things would be hostile so I readied my instrument and started walking. I was cautious, avoiding any eye contact. As soon as I was in reaching distance, the thing turned around to glare me down. A closer examination showed that it''s chest cavity was torn open, condensed in the rot I could see its beating heart made of pallid red tissue and gray metal with a minuscule gauge. What? This thing was clearly one of my kind but its heart contained machinery? It groaned and lurched forward, slashing at me with its claws. I tried to move out of the way but it grazed my torso. I swung at it with the instrument, cutting through some of the rot and spilling its blood. A pained groan escaped its lungs. It got aggressive and tried to swing again. I managed to dodge it and lopped one of its arms clean off. It glared down at the severed limb, seeming confused and agonized. I used the opportunity to run. Run past the other one who also let out a haunting groan but could only lankly stumble towards me. I rounded the corner of the street and ducked into a crevice between two houses. Whatever was happening here... Was truly terrifying.

 The Suburbs

    I hid in the crevice until the thing passed me by, then turned around and returned over to where it was originally roaming. Finally its gone. These used to be my kind... I don''t relish the idea of having to slaughter them. But if any more obscure my path then I''ll have no choice. I never saw any of these things before. Why is the rot functioning differently here? Regardless I had to find a way to the district of Cor. I see its towering structures in the distance just beyond the walls of this place.


    This sickening feeling I had in my gut was telling me to be cautious. The air here felt stagnant. The further I was going in, there was a sickly red haze in the air itself. Approaching the next street my path towards the gate was zoned off by an egregious amount of rot. Several more of my mutated kind wandered the streets. Corpses still littered the streets. I carefully crept forward, approaching behind one of the mutated. I readied my instrument, stood up to wrap my arm around its next and quietly thrust the blade through its stomach. It cried in agony for but a moment as I pushed it to the ground with my blade leaving its torso. Blood stained the blade. A string of entrails lay underneath the corpse. They were spread out enough to not notice what I had done. It felt terrible. This district was more open-ended in terms of layout but the spreading rot was making it difficult to just ease my way through. Taking the street was not an option as the density of these mutated appeared to be larger the deeper into this district I could go. I kept my eyes out for an alley to duck into. There was one not too far ahead but two of the mutated stood nearby. One was scratching its neck. The other seemed to be scanning the perimeter. Now was my chance with its back turned to me. I once again crept forward at a brisk pace. Right as I stood up to attack, the scratchy one turned to face me. It was too late. I grabbed the scanner and punctured its stomach with the instrument. The other one lunged and sank it''s claws into my skin once I dropped the scanner. I kept it pushed back with the side of my blade. The claws hurt. My skin started to bleed. I struggled and pushed as hard as I could, forcing the scratchy one off of me. I looked into its cold, dead eyes. With hesitation I swung and cut its head clean off. A stream of blood spurted like a fountain from the stump as it fell. Damn it... That hurts. I quickly ducked into the alley to avoid any of the others noticing. The neighboring homes both had tubes running from the first to the second floor. Vents lined the unusually patterned walls. Wires seemed to connect the homes from their roofs. Interesting designs really. I wonder if I ever lived in one of these?


    The alley was the right call. I was led into a narrow back alley connecting all the homes on this block. Fences separated the back areas. Each house had a conditioning unit and two fat pipes connecting the units to the houses themselves. Back doors and metal bins filled with junk and scraps also were featured at each home. There was a lack of any mutated in this alley. Looking at the ground I saw a glass pipeline embedded into the ground and leading to each home. The pipeline was filled with a sickly, dark red fluid. Maybe following this would lead me somewhere promising. It rounded the corners at the ends of this alley. Obviously I didn''t want to go further into the neighborhood so I went the opposite way. On my way a lone corpse lay with a single crimson tendril from the overgrown rot over it. Poor bastard.


    Following the pipeline was taking me back to the streets. It strayed from the concrete and remained in the ground off to the side. A couple mutated roamed around but didn''t notice me. Glancing ahead I saw an industrial structure just near the districts gateway. Rot lined the nearby walls but seemed to falter beyond here. Tendrils were stretched across the street ahead so I figured maybe I''ll cut through a house to avoid the mutated. That structure in the distance was where the pipeline led. And it was near the gate. I sneaked past the groaning mutated wandering aimlessly and approached the house. I grabbed the handle and slid the light metal door open to step inside.


    A staircase led up to my right. Two rooms made up the interior. I saw a screen on the wall. A sectional seat made for two faced it. There was an appliance with four arms each containing a small electrical lamp hanging from the ceiling. I also noticed a shelf decorated with metal figurines of various shapes and sizes. Was this perhaps a past time activity for the residents? The following room contained a metal appliance with a pot and two burners, cabinets, a refrigerant appliance and a table with two stools attached to the wall. My path was stopped when I saw one of the mutated leaning its head against the back door. It didn''t move. Only groaned and continuously tapped its forehead on the door. I readied my instrument and got closer. It turned to look at me, extending an arm out and tried to form a speech pattern but was unable to, speaking solely in groans. Before I could react it lurched forward and grabbed my shoulders, the sharpness of its claws pressing against my skin but not penetrating it. It looked into my eyes and continued pleading as it shook me. This one didn''t seem hostile like the others. I couldn''t help but look at its open chest cavity. I took a finger and poked the mutated flesh concealing its heart. It backed away from me, looking down at its chest. It pointed a finger at it then directed it to my own chest. It was trying to communicate non-verbally now. I only wish I could fully understand what it was trying to say. I pointed at my chest then at its chest. It simply nodded. Huh... How curious. I then pointed to the door it was in front of and pointed over in the direction towards the industrial structure. The mutated humanoid looked over to the door. It then looked back at me and sulked, backing away to open a path up for me. I... Felt grateful towards the sentient mutant. I waved my hand to it and made my way to the door. But as I went for the handle, the humanoid grabbed my wrist. What was it now? It pointed at the instrument in my hand. It must''ve been curious as to what it was. So I unsheathed the blade. It stared in awe at it for a few seconds, then looked down to the floor, and back up to me. It cupped its hands together and motioned the tips of its claws right at itself. Huh? It was now pointing at both the blade and itself. Did it want me to use this? I made the same gesture, pointing at the blade then at the mutant. It started to nod its head, once again cupping its hand together in a pleading gesture. So it wanted me to kill it... This one of my own kind that had undergone a horrible mutation was sentient enough to see me as an equal and begged for me to end its suffering. I nodded. It nodded in response and stood still, pressing a palm to its chest and rubbing the deformed flesh. My hand was shaking. No... No this was a good thing. If it wants to die then so be it. I took the instrument and thrust it forward. The blade penetrated the flesh and internal organs. As blood spilled out, with its last dying breath the humanoid lifted a hand to touch my shoulder and give me one last nod. Its eyes faded to pure black. It lost all consciousness. I removed the blade and let its body fall to the floor. At least one of these mutated was a kind being in the end.


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    Only a couple miles separated me from the industrial structure and the gate. The gate was closed but thankfully not obscured by the growing rot. The road was open. A grand amount of space separated this place from the homes. Those wires I''ve seen strewn across the rooftops all must have stemmed from this structure judging by the bundle of thick wires coming off from the structure over across the way to the houses. My feet stepped onto the sinew-laden concrete once more. There was a slight problem though that I had not noticed until getting a clear view of what I was facing. On its knees surrounded by a group of the mutated was a motionless automaton. It looked quite tall compared to the mutated. I couldn''t manage to get a more detailed look but this gave me an opportunity to slip by and head for the structure. I decided not to go straight for the gate due to the fact that the console appeared to be dormant. Inactive. Not sure why though...


    There on the ground I saw the glass pipe head straight under the building. Inside I noticed a series of glass tubes all leading to a single large metal container with a glass window. The machine wired to the container had gauges, levers and a single wheel. Nothing was on or active. The lights on the machine were off. The sanguine fluids stored in the pipes and container were static. Ignoring the corpse on the floor, I tried flipping levers sloppily. No results. Maybe there was some sort of combination. I was just being stupid. A plaque on the wall had instructions etched into it. Flipping the proper levers in a proper order turned the machine on. Naturally, all that was left was the wheel. I mustered all my remaining strength to turn it. Electrical currents hummed from the machine. The fluids started to flow properly. I quickly ran out to peer over at the gate console. A green light shone. Finally I was going to get out of here. As I prepared to sneak past the mutated, the automaton''s gears were turning and it began to move...

 The Degradation

    With a whirring of machinery, the automaton used it''s hulking arms to smack away all of the mutated crowded around it so there was room to stand up. And my was it tall. A few inches taller then myself and those of my kind. Feeling intimidated and worried, I hunkered down to remain out of sight and observe. I was able to get a better look at the details of the automaton now. It had a rather ornate gilded pattern adorning its shoulders, neck, codpiece and knees. Its body was a dulled steel. The left hand had fingers while it''s right appendage had a rectangular device on its arm but no hand to speak of. Those menacing, glowing yellow eyes over a metal mask invoked authority. The circular glass mark on it''s forehead emanated a beam of light. On its chest was an oval-shaped glass chamber etched with a simplistic linear pattern too dark and tinted to see what was housed inside. Truly, this machine was a marvelous engineering feat.


    The mutated were sluggishly climbing back onto their feet. The automaton scanned the area, it''s yellow eyes turning red. From its right appendage, a long barrel with cords plugged into the device from emerged. Its left hand contorted and transmogrified into a large blade. One of the mutated began running towards the automaton before being swiftly executed by the blade. Cut into two halves, its innards splattered across the concrete. The others all froze in place. The automaton proceeded to aim its cannon and fired a shot. The lead traveled fast, blasting a hole into the unfortunate victim. It groaned as blood pooled out of its wound and it fell. I could hear another shell being loaded into the cannon. Simultaneously each of the mutated was mowed down by the automaton until none were left standing. I was left tremendously horrified by what I had witnessed. The automatons eyes flashed back to yellow and continued lurching forwards. It was scanning the area now it seems. I hid around the corner of the structure to avoid its gaze. Just... Give it a minute to pass. While the machine mindlessly blew away another wandering mutant, I crept ahead over to the gate device and activated it. The gate began to open up. Just as I had seen before, this gate functioned just like the one from Manus to Pedites. The massive tunnel of sickly flesh and whistling pipes opened up before me. I gazed behind my back as I went in only to see the automaton turning towards me. Oh no. I started running. Running as fast as my feet could take me. A single shot was fired in my direction as the shell blitzed past me over into the neighboring district. I managed to make it to the other side and ran to shut the gate. I gazed out to the automaton as the flesh tunnel slowly closed up. That was too close. Turning around I was in awe at what I was seeing.


    Unlike the other districts I had been to... This one was different in terms of its layout and structure. Towering buildings loomed close to the sky and cast shadows over everything else beneath them. The walkways were segregated into sections that went to lower levels. Stairs with neighboring steel rails marked the inclines in the topography. So this was Cor... The center of the city. It sprawled larger and further then the previous sections. A mixture of multi-story residential spaces, industrial facilities, regulated businesses and towering skyscrapers. It was all so grandiose in scope and scale. I didn''t even know where to begin. I was most curious about the tallest structures. They seemed to be placed around towards the central area.


    This district felt more... Empty. There were no corpses littering the sidewalks. Remnants of the rot remained speckled across various places but it hadn''t spread as virulently here. I did see an abandoned trolley or two during my venture deeper into the city. I descended some of these small stairways. Gazed around at all the abandoned structures. Signs of struggle weren''t present at all but the passing degradation of time lived on in the rusting steel foundations and iron walls of the buildings. I found myself near an incredibly deep pit... Only to find out that below where I stood were more walkways down below. Miles and miles of steel floors leading to doors and alleys built into the metal structures that made up this place. There was a whole other sector below the surface. These structures around here were all large and tall in their own way. I couldn''t believe what I was seeing. Bridges were even constructed to cross over the wide gaps. This was unlike anything I had ever seen within this entire city. Maybe I didn''t need to go down there. But maybe I did. I''m not sure. What I did know was that I had one goal...


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    Above all the rest of the skyscrapers stood out one in particular. It was still quite a ways away but I will make it there. Atop the tallest tower was a spire that could pierce the skies. Neighboring that building were two slightly shorter towers adorned with dual spires that resembled horns. That was my landmark. I began the staggering journey.


    I was already tired. A relief this was though, not having to worry about anything threatening my life. The winds were howling louder now. But it was too quiet. I may hear the hissing of a pipe or the creaking of a failing foundation. No signs of life however. Where did everyone go? Everywhere else I saw the corpses of my kind laid to rest on the ground or they become victims of the infected rot consuming them. Not even any creatures were around. Just a vast, lonesome city. Ahead of me I saw a big staircase. At the base area there was a small structure and some benches to sit on. I decided to take a seat and rest for a moment. Across from where I sat was the small structure. A sign hung just above the door frame. It had a symbol. Six lines, two connecting at the top, two connecting at the bottom and two in the middle crossing through one another like a corkscrew. No windows at all. Once feeling had returned to my feet I stood up to approach the shack. There was no way I was getting in easily. A complex device I had never seen had the door locked and my Key wouldn''t fit into it. Fine. So be it. I finally began to ascend the grand staircase. The biggest staircase leading to the tallest tower I had ever seen.


    Beneath the sky-piercing tower was a majestic courtyard surrounded by walls with sharp metal bars on the top surface. Two human-like statues from the waist up with smooth heads stood apart like guardians inside the courtyard. The right statue resembled my kind but with a stocky body. Their face had lips, gleaming silver pearls for eyes, a thick nose and chiseled jawline. While the statue on the left had cheekbones, bigger lips, a thinner nose and a curvaceous figure with breasts. Two strips of gold ran down their arms and bodies. The condition of these statues were showing their age with cracks in the foundation. Gold plaques with words were installed into their stomachs. Kneeling further ahead not far from the building were two automatons. They remained still, not moving at all. Perhaps they were inactive? With the lack of residents here it could be possible that they have been in stasis for some time. How long? Who knows. I was cautious when approaching. As soon as I set foot into the courtyard the automatons eyes lit up. Their heads lifted and stared me down. I gulped. The automatons stood up and readied their cannons. And that was the sign for me to run the hell back. In this state of panic I tripped and fell. Scrambling to get up, I heard the sound of a cannon going off. Then the pain shot up through my body as one of the shells had struck my backside. Another shot popped off. It missed me. I quickly ran for the stairs and made my way down, leaving a thin trail of blood from the gaping wound.


    This wasn''t good. I was not going to be able to get close to the tower with those automaton guarding it. I looked around and headed for the nearest street. I was losing blood slowly. Had to find some way to treat myself. Stumbling around these empty streets miles from that courtyard lead me to a medical station sandwiched between two towers. Steel shudders on the window blocked any view inside. I tried the door but it was locked. No... No I was not having this. I took the bladed instrument out and shoved it into the crack of the door, mustering all my strength to pry it open. Specks and flakes of rust spurt off the hinge as it creaked open. I concealed the instrument then grabbed the door with both my hands. Exhausting myself, I managed to get the door open just enough for me to slide my thin body through and get inside.


    Past the dust-coated desk and tables there in the very back was an apparatus. A Blood Drive according to the sign on the wall directing me towards it. Finally... I could seal this wound and restore the blood I''ve lost. As I got closer and readied myself, I heard a nearby door slide open. An ominous creaking of old gears and a heavy steel wheel rolling across the floor. My heart began to race when I heard it approach and stop. I turned around and found myself facing down a medical automaton. It was just like the inanimate one I had seen back in the rotting district. The buzz-saw on its right appendage began to whir and it''s single cybernetic eye glowed a dark red. This automaton must have seen me as a rogue patient in need of assistance...

 The Affliction

    This could only end badly if I didn''t act out. The medical automaton came at me. With the hilt of the instrument in hand, I dashed out of the way when it swung. Sparks flew off the Blood Drive mechanism from the spinning blade grinding against its metal. I rolled onto the floor and stumbled my way back up. I watched in fear as the automaton turned around to readjust itself and come at me again. I ran, jumping over one of the tables before it swung once again but tripped over some miscellaneous scattered surgical tools left on the floor and fell. That hurt. I rubbed my head and was about to get back up when the automaton reached down and wrapped its cold, steel fingers around my neck. It lifted me up effortlessly and brought me over to the nearest table, slamming me down on top. It lowered the saw and began tearing up the flesh on my chest. I brought the blade of the instrument out and smacked it up against the arm of the automaton, pushing it back to stop the cutting. It was eager to operate on me. All of my remaining strength was keeping that arm at bay from continuing to chew me up. My chest was bleeding profusely. Thankfully it didn''t get too deep and close to any crucial arteries or organs. The amount of pain I was enduring was staggering. At the joint where the blade held I could see a crack forming. The aging steel on the automaton was showing signs of degradation. I kept pushing and pushing that blade into the joint until in the blink of an eye... The arm severed.


    No more was the buzzing of the saw blade. The appendage flailed over me and onto the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind spattering over my torso. My own arm was frozen in the air, metal shavings staining the blood-soaked blade of the instrument. The medical automaton released it''s grip on my throat just in time as I was beginning to lose consciousness. It''s eyes turned to yellow and it conformed to a static pose before shutting down completely. Huh? Must be some kind of fail-safe state in the event of a malfunction... Such as losing a limb. I sat up. Looking down at my bleeding chest was not a pretty sight. A good chunk of my flesh had been torn up from the saw. I hate this place. Containing my disdain for this establishment, I once again approached the Blood Drive, stuck the needled tube into my stomach and pulled the switch. The red fluid inside the glass contained slowly drained as the blood entered my system. I felt my wounds closing up but the scars left by the automaton were forever etched onto my skin. Whatever. I was just relieved that my form''s biological regenerative system was functioning properly.


    Now I was curious about the room that automaton had emerged from. So I took a peek inside. In there I saw a second medical automaton hooked up to a machine with a couple gauges and some bellows pumping air into the machines internal system. A table with a set of monitors displaying vital signs and garbles of unrecognizable text wired to the machine. Come to think of it, I had never really properly examined one of these specific automatons up close. I was either in a hurry and distracted or fighting for my own damn life. A tray containing various mechanical tools sat beside the machine. On the torso of the automaton were a set of four consecutive bolts. Grabbing the driver, I knelt down and unscrewed the bolts. Then I pulled on the steel plate, being met with a hiss of steam erupting from inside the machine. The plate came off. Two fleshy organs interconnected with a geared mechanism were pumping blood into what looked like a constructed heart of some kind that pulsated. This automaton... Was not all machine. Inside its outer robotic husk was flesh and blood mended with machinery. What the hell am I looking at? Is that why blood spurted from the mechanical arm I had severed before? To get a further grasp, I took a wrench and the driver to detach one of the arms. The stub was white like bone. Wires installed into a mass of skin were all I saw from the area where I had detached the limb. I dropped it and stood up in shock. I then backed away slowly, glaring at the dissected automaton. Shivers ran down my spine. I didn''t want to be here anymore...


    My head was spinning and my vision began to get blurry for but a few seconds. I''m fine now I think. Still halted from my current destination, I found myself wandering elsewhere in this barren city. Searching. For what though? Someplace that could hold significance. I needed some way to get past those automaton guarding the central tower. A distraction. A weapon. Protection. Anything at this point. My instrument would be useless against bulky machines with cannons. Rest is maybe what I could really use as my head was pounding and the remnants of pain left from my wounds still stung. Heading to a lower street level where a lone abandoned trolley sat nearby, I soon spotted a three-story structure. The front doors were left open. How inviting. Several stacks lined the roof. A round emblem with a rectangular emblem plastered in the center of the third story.


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    Entering the structure its walls were adorned with a white and black striped pattern. The atrium was fairly small. There were two hallways with elevators at the ends, a front desk and a half-open door to another room behind said desk. A shelf with cubes concealed keys encased behind glass doors. These were all clearly locked up. What about these rooms then? None of them were open. I got into the elevator to head up a floor. Only one room had the door left open. I went to check inside. There was a window, a single bed and a commode. Then I saw the two corpses on the bed embracing each other. I... Was petrified. These were the first two corpses I had seen since coming to this district. Nothing was found inside, but I''ll remember that pair.


    The elevator took me to the third floor. Another room where the door was open. Four corpses were huddled together in a corner. On the commode were empty glass bottles. Looks like they were a group. I left the room, finding but one other room accessible. A corpse lay on the bed clutching something in it''s hand. I pried the object from it''s hands then got a closer look at it. Embroidered onto it''s forehead was a circlet bearing that same symbol I saw on the shack near the tower with the courtyard. And what it was holding onto was this thin, rectangular card also bearing that symbol. Tiny spines decorated the sides and edges. I shoved the corpse off of the bed so that I could lay down. I was needing the rest anyway. Thanks for this.


    Some time passed by. The ominous spindly creature I had seen before did not visit me in my unconscious state. Only a black void gave me comfort while my body and mind rested. When I awoke, my head was throbbing with a sharp pain and my vision was blurry. I shook it off and got back up. With this object in my hand, I kept it clutched tightly while I made my way back downstairs and out of this place. I approached the trolley and tapped it. The humanoid figure woke up, pressing a hand to its head and shaking it. Then it looked at me with its singular eye. I pointed in the direction of the tallest tower. The figure nodded and directed me to the seats. It pulled down on its lever and the trolley took off.


    I found myself back at the courtyard not long after I had hopped off of the trolley. It was only able to take me so far since it was on the surface street level. I still felt the resonant pain from the wound but ignored it. Back at the building before the towering staircase, I took the object and slotted it into the device near the door. Two tiny mechanical arms erected from the device and pushed the object inside before retracting. The red light on it turned to green. With a loud creaking, the door opened up. When I stepped inside I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Monitors lined the walls. Various keys and buttons dotted the desk below. Two chairs were left empty. At the back was a Blood Drive and a tall metal container connected to a device on the wall. I walked to the container and flipped the latches to open it up. Inside was a foreign piece of equipment with a long barrel, trigger at the base and a stock. I disconnected it from the cord it was hooked up to and picked it up to examine it closely. This was like a miniature variant of the cannon those automaton had built into their arms. It was mostly made of a dark brown iron material with strands of sinew wrapped around the barrel connected to the receiver. I pulled the little handle back to unlock the muscular bolt from the receiver. Checking inside the hole revealed a peek into the inner workings of this equipment. A single cartridge of lead was loaded into the fleshy cavern of the barrel chamber. I then rotated the handle down for the bolt head to re-lock on the receiver, emanating a wet and squishy yet mechanical sound as it was loaded. This was no cannon though... I had acquired a firearm of my own now.


    With this newly acquired piece of engineering marvel, I took a moment to figure out how its meant to be held. I had to aim it in front of me and keep a firm grip on the base with my finger near the trigger. The device connected to this container had opened up to reveal a set of clips loaded with the lead shells. I took a few and snugly stuffed them behind my belt. Now that I was armed with equipment that seemed more suited for distance, I left the shack and began ascending the staircase once again. I hid behind the wall and glanced around the corner. The automatons were once again in stasis. I know that if I were to cross into the courtyard, they would awaken again. I took aim at one of them with the firearm. Before I could even take a shot, my head began pounding again and my vision was blurring. Clearly I needed a moment to regain my composure. The pain from the wound was aching. Just what the hell was happening to me...?

 The Dread

    No matter. I''m fine. I don''t have time to worry. I peeked around the corner again. The automaton guardians sat in silence. Once again I took aim with the firearm. I remained steady as best I could. Kept a firm grip. Didn''t let the barrel sway. Waiting. Waiting. Where to aim? Waiting. Maybe... And bang.


    The shell burst through the barrel in a puff of fire and smoke. It soared through the air at an alarming speed until punching through the tinted glass chamber on its chest. Cracks were forming from the hole and a trickle of blood spurt out upon impact. I did it. I actually hit it... Just as I felt the exhilarating rush it shifted to fear once the automatons began to stand up, their red eyes honing in on my position as they readied their cannons. Uh-oh. I pulled the bolt back on the firearm. A small, empty shell casing flew out of the top as a new shell was loaded into the chamber with that same sickly sound. I fired another shot off but missed. The automatons started to fire. I ducked back, feeling the impact of their shots hitting the wall behind me serving as my cover. So this was happening... I loaded another shell then prepped myself to peer around the corner once more. Doing so, I honed in on the automaton I had hit. The barrel was pointing directly at its chest. Another shot fired. Another hole left penetrated from the shell. The cracks spread further. With thundering footsteps, the automaton began to charge towards me, blade at the ready. I started stepping back, fumbling to pull on the bolt so the empty shell could eject. I can do this. I can do this. Or maybe I can''t do this. The charging automaton had reached my line of sight and I fired again. It reeled slightly then swung its sword, smacking the firearm out of my hand and down to the area at the foot of the stairs. I ducked, bending my knees and reaching for my instrument when the machine swung again. With a deep breath, I glanced up and plunged the blade into its glass chamber. I didn''t think it would work. But the weakening glass must have finally given out when it shattered. Is this it? Shit! With a mighty swing, the cannon arm smacked my stomach and sent me flying into the wall and on to the ground. My back was aching with a severe pain. I grunted as I tried to get up, looking over as the automaton transmogrified its blade back into a hand. Its movements were stuttering. Blood was seeping from where the blade stuck out. It reached for the hilt of the instrument to grab on. It tried yanking on it. Desperately trying to pull it out until it just ceased moving all together... And fell back.


    Now the machine was still. The gears stopped turning. I had finally managed to stand up. Walking over to retrieve my weapon I couldn''t help but gaze into the construct of organs and cogs housed inside of the chamber that glass was protecting. Even these monstrous machines of power and brutality were made with flesh too... I pulled the blade out and started bolting down the stairs in a hurry. There on the ground not at all phased from the height at which it had fallen was the firearm. What a sturdy piece of work. I felt relieved. I double checked the receiver and striker to ensure they still functioned. Good, they do. Time to... Bang. From high up at the top of the stairs the sound of a cannon fired off. I felt an excruciating pain from my chest. Looking down I saw a big hole had punctured my flesh. Blood was spilling out onto the ground. Suddenly my vision was blurring. I was starting to lose all feeling in my body. As I fell I could see the second automaton staring down at me beside its fallen comrade. Then... Blackness. Nothing.


    Is this what death feels like? An empty abyss devoid of anything. Even my inconsistent dreams are more vivid then this. I''m alone with only my own thoughts to keep me company. Something isn''t right though. I don''t think I''m dead. A faint heartbeat echoes in the vast darkness. Then a dim beam of light shines on me. It blinds me. I open my eyes. So I wasn''t dead after all...


    I could only move my head. The rest of my body was numb and frozen stiff. Above me was a lantern dangling from a rusty arm. The eerie sounds of beeping and pumping were heard nearby coming from a complex machine that seemed to be hooked up into my arms and legs. Looking down at my body I saw that my chest had been splayed open with wires attached to the bed. Huh? I always thought me and all of those corpses similar to my breed were entirely comprised of flesh. Instead what I saw was a grouping of internal organs that were not all flesh. My beating heart, my liver and my spleen were fused with metal containing gauges and sensors. The hole left from the cannon shell was nowhere to be seen, patched up with stitches. My ribs were bars of steel rather then bone. My insides were on full display but I could not comprehend what I was seeing. Even my wrists and ankles were strapped to this bed by metal cuffs. I''m... Really not all flesh and skin?


    No. That can''t be right. Surely this is just a dream. I remember being shot by the automaton then losing consciousness. Perhaps I really am dead and this is some kind of Hell I''ve found myself in. But why? I tried closing my eyes. I couldn''t enter a state of sleep. It seems I was trapped here, still unable to move. All I did was keep my eyes closed and wished for real death. End me now and take me away from this place.


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    Hearing the faint sound of a door opening shot my eyes open. I titled my head down. What the hell was that? Entering the room was an individual that shared a similar husk to mine. Another humanoid? No. This one looked... ''Modified.'' It''s mechanized legs creaked when it walked. It had two normal, fleshy arms and two mechanical arms protruding from its back. A sickly red tube connected the mask over the lower half of its face to a device infused on it''s chest. Metal covered most of its chest except for a split down the middle revealing pale skin. Its hands were cupped together. On the mechanical arms were a pincer and a small curved blade. Over its left eye was a long, scoped monocle. The red right eye was gazing at me. It got closer until it lurched over me, bending down to get a closer look at me before studying my insides. It tapped a finger on its chin. I wish I could ask what it was doing with me. All I could do was lay there and observe. The cyborg then fiddled with the machine I was hooked up to. It continued to study me for a moment. Then... It got close to my face. I could hear its breathing through the mask.


    "You are the one."


    It murmured. I was the one? Before I knew it, the cyborgs'' blade came down and started cutting into me. Strangely enough, I felt no pain. All feeling was numb. Once the bloodied blade came up, the pincers lowered and grabbed a hold of my liver, tearing it out of my body. Thin wires and a skin tube dripping blood hung from the severed organ. It was torn up, matted and damaged. Was that where I was shot? The cyborg tossed the tattered organ down. From the sound I heard, it landed in a metal tray on the floor. It got up and left my line of sight. I heard something open up followed with a puff of steam. It returned to my side, holding a metal case. It set the case on the table and opened it up, pulling out a fresh organ from inside the frosted box. I only watched in awe as this cyborg reinstalled this organ into my system with nimble finger-work and careful precision. When the liver was reattached, the cyborg wiped its brow and began removing the wires holding my flesh open. It was resealing my chest...


    Stitching the flapping skin together, I was finally finished from the looks of it. My internal organs were no longer exposed and my flesh was mended together fully. Afterwards, I was disconnected from the machine. No more tubes, wires or cuffs. The cyborg went behind me and lifted my back up. My limbs were moving now. All feeling had returned to my body. I examined my hands, clenching and expanding my fingers. But these hands. These legs. This body... It''s truly made of machine and flesh. I couldn''t believe it. From all I can remember the moment I awakened from that pod I was led to believe that my husk was entirely of tissue and bone... The cyborg walked over to the front of the table to face me.


    "Come."


    I just nodded. This one clearly was not hostile. So I followed its order. I swung my legs off the table and stood up. My mind was still wracking with these thoughts troubling me but I still obeyed this mysterious figure leading me out of the dark room.


    There were other rooms similar to the one I was in. Each one contained the same operating tables, machines, lanterns and cabinets. Corpses lay on every table completely lifeless. Tubes filtering crimson fluids to storage tanks lined the industrial walls. We came to a three-way division in the hallway. The cyborg led me down the middle as the other two hallways were sealed off with locked doors. It took me to an elevator, motioning for me to step in first. So I did. Once inside, it pulled the lever and we began ascending.


    We arrived on the desired floor. This elevator felt like a cage. The iron bars slid open so we could exit and carry on. A single long corridor lay ahead with stairs at the end going up. The windows were long and extended far enough to cover most of the hallway. Glancing outside, I could see the dead city below us. We were very high up in the skies. The cyborg led me up the stairs. It stopped once we reached a door. A complex device with a keypad was next to the door. It held a finger up as it typed a series of numbers on the device until the door slid open.


    This was a chamber. A large room at what felt like the very top of this tower we were inside of. Strings of sinew intertwined with various wires covered the walls in here. Screens were plastered all around us. Already grappling with these existential thoughts plaguing me, a sense of dread loomed when I laid my eyes upon what was at the center of this chamber. A huge, circular machine laden with gauges, steam pipes, gears and canisters filled with blood. The base of it was connected to all of the cords and sinew strung about the walls. What''s worse is that this machine was housing a terrifying creature I was desperately trying to comprehend even existing...

 The Spire

    Sat within the machine was a horrendous blob of tissue and biomass. Pasty pale ventricles slotted into steel tubes made up the majority of the exterior of the creatures form. It''s head was merely a big lump of flesh with two pearly orange eyes and a metal mask with a tube connected to a container built within the machine constantly pumping blood into its body. Eight spindly arms were sprouting from it''s body typing away at keys on terminals. This thing looked like a mutated, mechanized humanoid brain. The surgeon approached the monstrosity, gesturing it towards me to get its attention set on the clear stranger in the room. The creature gazed at me, gesturing for me to come forward with one of it''s hands. I obliged of course. I wasn''t sure what this thing was capable of and I owe the surgeon for saving me?


    "You... Nameless one."


    I pointed to myself and nodded.


    "Somehow... You live. While the rest... Are dead. You must have been birthed from outside Carnis. The only pure living specimen of your kind here..."


    Birthed? Outside Carnis? Only living specimen it says...


    "Outsider that you are... You remain free from the Rot that infested our home. You... Must be kept alive. Saved from death, you were. Many questions, you must have... But time there is not. For now."


    I had so many questions to ask yet I had no mouth in which to speak. Unless it could read my thoughts?


    "Indeed. To answer but one I shall. Before you atop this throne sits I... The Mastermind."


    The... Mastermind?


    "All function of the Machine stems from a single organism. The organism... Hatched from the flesh of God in which order is ordained. The beating heart of Carnis Machina. Once we thrived. Until the Rot sprouted from the deepest pits of the planet and spread it''s filth into every crevice of this city. Hopeless... They all were. Husks of living flesh now reduced to empty vessels or mindless puppets. A most grim fate befell us..."


    It must be explaining what has happened here. So the Rot I had run into really is the source of the tragedy that had seemingly wiped all life here... But how? Living techno-organisms like the trolleys, the factory flesh monstrosities and the automatons all functioned properly. The only humanoids of my kind were but corpses or infected and sought only to kill. But I thought I had cut the spread of the Rot when I met that thing holed underground connected to the Rot.


    "So it was you who severed the vessel of petrified flesh below Salus. Then halted the spreading, you have. Not over yet however, this is. Doctor... Bring this one''s possessions."


    I watched the surgeon proceed over to the far end of the chamber behind the Mastermind. I peered over to see them open up a chest and pulling out familiar devices and equipment. It then walked over to me. In its hands were the firearm I had procured and the surgical instrument. I took them. But the surgeon was not done yet. On top of an unfamiliar machine housed within a glass case was my Key. Steam puffed out of the sides as the case was released. The surgeon grabbed the device to bring it over to me. It gestured for me to hold out my arm. So I did. It carefully attached the Key back onto my wrist, sinking its hooks into my skin and becoming one with my flesh once more. I erected the key to see that it had been modified. It looked much different then before. The needle was thicker, had more girth and was now shaped like a spire. A newly forged key.


    "The Machine has yet to cease function. Nameless One... A purpose you have yet to serve has been ordained. Cerebras... The capital of Carnis... You must go. The Rot still remains. You dispatched the seed planted within Oris that spread its growth throughout the other districts. Cerebras remains separated. And yet... The Rot first started there. I know all. I see all. I feel all. I command you to go. Purge the source of the Rot from this city. Thus decrees the Mastermind..."


    It looks like my goal was clear now. The Mastermind was entrusting me to cleanse the Rot that infected this place. And yet... I still had questions. Why was I birthed outside the city? Why was I the only one who made it? What would happen once I did this? In fact... How would I know I''d even manage this momentous task in my current state? Not to mention all I don''t understand about how this city functions. I looked to the Mastermind for some form of guidance. Its wet eyes squinted, glaring deep into mine.


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    "You came from beyond our walls. I cannot answer everything. Execute the Rot and answers you shall receive from what I know. The Doctor, you will follow. Suicide it would be, sending you to the heart of the Rot in your unprotected husk of flesh. The Doctor will... Make proper adjustments. Now leave."


    The Doctor brought me some floors down. We arrived in a work station of sorts? Beakers and glass tubes lined the shelves. There was a cross-shaped rack perched up opposite of a machine with two glass tanks, many mechanical arms baring surgical tools and metal bins attached to the base of the machine. A workbench with various tools scattered about. A black container shoved into a corner. A rectangular device on wheels with monitors and wires dangling down. Blood stained the grimy floors and a single dim yellow light hung over the work station. We walked deeper into the room when suddenly the Doctor grabbed me, turned me around and pushed me into the rack, spreading my arms out until my wrists were clamped shut. They pulled the lever on the floor and the rack started lifting up slowly. My legs were dangling now. They stopped the rack to pin my ankles together and they too were clamped shut. They then pulled the lever again. I was lifted slightly higher and tilted forward slightly. It stopped. I was hung on this rack now, unable to move my limbs.


    My body was hooked up to the surgical machine with wires. A single tube was injected into my neck. The Doctor was messing with the various buttons and switches on the machine. The mechanical arms began to move. The Doctor stood behind the machine to operate it. First my chest was cut open, splitting the once-sealed flesh to expose my insides. What was happening? Next I knew, an organ was cut with perfect precision and removed from my body, being placed into the left metal bin. From inside the right bin, a new organ of the same kind but modified with steel was then slotted into where the old organ was removed. My lungs were torn out next and disposed before being replaced with modified mechanized lungs. Every organ that was replaced had to be carefully reconstructed back to the tendons and other crucial pieces to ensure safe function and proper blood flow. I was beginning to lose consciousness. Blood was being transferred between the glass tanks. The tanks must have been preserving the blood I was losing and putting it back inside of me so I wouldn''t... Die?


    One last surgical incision was made. Each of the arms were hovering around where my heart was. Some of the tendons were cut open so a tiny device could be slotted into the mechanical part of my heart. The cut tendons were then fused together with metal tubes and drilled into where the device was on my heart. All this time... I thought I was entirely of flesh and blood. My mind was still struggling to grasp the truth that I was of flesh and machine. Slowly and carefully, my flesh was sealed up once again after the surgery had been completed. Now most of my internal organs were replaced with mechanized variants. The arms on the machine retracted and the machine was shut down. Blood had finished pumping into my veins. The Doctor nodded and started lowering the rack I was on. They disconnected me from the machine and the clamps on my limbs released me. I fell to the cold, steel bloodstained floor. The Doctor gave me a moment to recover. After I took a minute, they offered me a hand. I took it and stood back up. But they weren''t finished just yet. They pulled out a syringe filled with a black liquid, flicking the tip of the needle and jabbed it into the veins on my right arm. I felt a surge of energy pulsate through me, waking me up. Disposing of the needle and patting their hands together, the Doctor began transferring my old, pure flesh organs and storing them inside of what appeared to be a refrigeration chamber off in the corner of the room. I guess if they were still good, they would want them to be preserved for whatever usage may come from them. With that all taken care of, the Doctor put a hand on my shoulder, nodding and giving me a thumbs up.


    We descended down the Spire inside the elevator. The speaker installed within crackled with static and a loud buzzing sound. From within, a familiar voice began to speak to us;


    "Nameless One... Harvested were your old internal organs. Replaced with new ones constructed by The Doctor. Able to withstand the infectious Rot, you now can. Worry only about the dangers. The parasites... Children of the diseased womb that hunger for flesh. Survived this long, you have. The Machine can still continue on, so long as you purge the Rot. The Doctor will lead you to the monorail. From there... You make way for Cerebras. Failure is not an option... Nameless One."


    Those were the last words the Mastermind spoke before cutting to static. Failure is not an option, huh? I had no idea I would be playing such an important role here. We reached the bottom floor. A magnificent lobby greeted us once we left the elevator. Even with the grungy, muted colors of this entire city the lobby looked quite glistening. Clean. Almost untouched. It only adds to my curiosity on how this civilization functioned prior to this catastrophe of the Rot... If that is even what truly led to all this death and decay of life. The Doctor led me outside to the courtyard. A single automaton stood guard... The same one that shot me. It remained passively still and let us stroll on by. We reached the staircase leading down. The Doctor pointed a finger off in a specific direction. I saw off in the distance, shrouded by faint dust and fog was the silhouette of a far off district. That must''ve been this ''Cerebras'' the Mastermind spoke of. It was time to go...

 The Ascension

    The empty streets served merely as a pathway towards our destined location. Apparently there was a transportation system here that led to Cerebras: The capital of Carnis Machina. And here I was thinking the Spire was the epitaph of all encompassing significance. Well... I wouldn''t be wrong though entirely. The Mastermind is a being that claims it''s this city''s god. Why it would reside here rather then the capital? It''s purpose is the all-seeing eye of the machine. Everything is so vague. There is so much I have yet to understand. But no matter. I had a mission to accomplish.


    I noticed as we got closer to this monorail, the elevation of the city here was gradually climbing higher. Nothing stood out too much on our walk. Abandoned buildings and lots that once were teeming with life I''m sure. The lack of corpses was still a surprise. Aside from that residential building I had slept in, there were no bodies littering the streets here. Soon enough we arrived at the monorail station. A large structure with benches lining the walls, screens showing nothing but static, and of course the rail system. Two railways stretched out beyond the vast sandy valley below and over to a sanctioned off district separate from the rest of the city. From what I could see through the dust and fog, Cerebras had but a few grand structures. And the foundation was... floating in the sky? The Doctor tapped my shoulder and motioned for me to move forward. The mechanical tram was simple in design; Basically a giant gray steel box with faded windows and a doorway. I nodded and complied. I stepped through the doorway and entered the tram. No seats. Only handles hung from steel bars dangled. The doors shut behind me. I turned to see the Doctor waving at me before turning heel and leaving. So I was alone once again.


    Walking down the aisle, I made my way to the front cabin of the tram. A control panel lay before me but it was simplistic. A small screen next to a couple buttons, a slot with a key inside and a handle. I turned the key and could hear the tram begin to hum with power. The screen flashed on displaying the word: Cerebras. I grabbed the handle and pushed it. The tram began to move forward slowly. I watched on to see the district become closer and more clearer through my muddied vision. I must be ready for the unexpected. For what is to come.


    Just what kind of place is this really? Unlike the condensed streets, isolated factories and buildings as far as the eye can see; Cerebras was much more easier to comprehend as a location. I was able to get a better understanding of these massive structures. Overtaking the east side was this rectangular building with wide oval windows across all of its five stories, a flat roof, two sets of doors and seemed the most plain in design. On the west side was the more industrial structure complete with smokestacks on both ends, large windows covered by shutters on the inside, a single entrance and several complex pipelines running anywhere from the front to the side, the roof to the ground and even one side over to the opposite. At the center, north to be precise, was the most grand and ornate structure I had ever seen...


    Stretching far enough to cover several city blocks, the east and west sides were but a couple stories high. The edges of the rooftops were round and the opposite inner ends connected to make up curves leading to the towering centerpiece of the structure. Where the top few floors were, front and center on display was an aging, bronze mechanical contraption. A mass of gears within the center with two arms adorned with pointed tips, one smaller than the other, were pointed at different places on the contraption. A series of twelve cryptic symbols surrounded the contraption. The small arm was pointing at the very bottom, while the other was pointing to the right-hand corner. A three-lined pattern traveled along the edge of the curving roof. The exterior walls contained meticulously crafted patterns etched into the very foundation. The entire structure was designed like a work of art.


    Now that I had arrived here I could now see that behind the grand structure, obscured by the dense haze was a massive, long and cylindrical airship just floating in place. The tram stopped at the station. A droning horn blared to signal my arrival. I left the cabin and stepped off the train. The exterior of this place seemed... Fine. Just as the district where the Spire resided was. No signs of conflict, death or the Rot could be seen. I was so confused. As curious as I was to explore these other structures; My destination clearly must be the grand structure. It''s sheer size exerted significance and dominance.


    As I approached and came to the ornate doors embedded with gilded stroke patterns, they wouldn''t open. The device off to the side was not illuminated nor were there any lights on inside any of these buildings. Was there no power? Slotting my Key into the device warranted no result. Well shit. I looked over to the industrial structure and made way for there. My mind assumed that if there was a power source, it was going to be inside of there. I also got a glance over to the rather dull building and it too, did not seem to have power.


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    Steel walls free of the usual grime from the city. Stacks almost reaching the same heights as the tallest of towers. Complex pipelines resembling a twisted assortment of tendrils. The device on this door was still lit up but it was orange rather then red. Regardless, I stuck the Key into the slot and turned. The orange light glowed bright and the door opened up. I stepped inside. The interior consisted of several steel platforms and bridges. Pipes and tubes running all around. Staircases ascending to the upper floors. It was a giant maze inside of here. The worst part of it... Was that from the iron grates on the floors, the Rot had overgrown inside of this facility. The familiar red tendrils and vines spread throughout like a disease inside the body. A couple of dismembered corpses lied with their insides strewn across the floor. I proceeded onward with caution. From above where I stood, footsteps. Just a floor above, the steel platform creaked. I stopped to look around.


    A long, thin arm protracting extensive sharp claws from the fingertips grabbed the railing. Then another arm followed suit, grabbing the underside of the ledge. Two long, thin legs arched over the railing and leaning there looking down at me was one of my own kind. A... cyborg. But it''s limbs were abhorrently long, as was it''s neck and torso. It titled its head ever so slightly to the left as it gazed right at me with those soulless white eyes. I remained still. It didn''t seem hostile. Then it held onto the railing by its feet, twisting its torso and hanging there to get a closer look at me. I was unsure what to do. It continued to gaze at me... Then the skin on the lower half of its face began to stretch and split apart, revealing a gnarled mouth lined with fangs and let out a horrendous growl. It grabbed my by the throat and started squeezing. My oxygen flow was starting to dwindle as the creature clenched onto me. I struggled to move my arms but managed to grab my instrument. Protracting the blade out, I swiped at its wrist to sever the hand. I watched it fall to the floor. The creature howled in agony and climbed back up onto the platform and crawled away from me. What the hell was that thing? I need to hurry up and find out how to get the power on.


    Unfortunately none of the terminals down here were working. With the dim lighting too this place must''ve been running on emergency power. I cut through some red strands in front of the staircase and began climbing up. The growth here was insane. I had to cut through other strands and tendrils making my trek difficult here. Besides the creaking of my footsteps, some floors higher I was hearing faint echoes of other footsteps. There was definitely more then one of those ''things'' here... I could hear them. The second floor had nothing of note. As I went for the second stairs, a loud creaking followed with the sudden appearance of another malformed cyborg that had jumped down from above landed right in front of me. This one had both of its hands. A different one. The skin on its face stretched to growl at me. I stepped aside as it swiped at me. I attempted to slash the blade at it but it arched its back and contorted its body backwards to miss. The long limbs definitely made it difficult to calculate for an attack. It lunged at me, pinning me to the cold hard floor. It dug its claws into my shoulders and howled right in my face. Blood was seeping from my wounds now. I managed to bring my arm up and dismember one of its arms. It backed up and howled, grabbing the bleeding stump. I got back up and shoved the blade straight into its gut and brought it down, splitting its lower torso apart. It groveled as its guts spilled out and it fell down into a pool of its own blood.


    I ascended higher. Passing by spreading growth coating terminals, desks, tables, pipes and steel support beams. While climbing to the fifth floor I was grabbed from behind and thrown down back to the foot of the stairs. Ouch. Another creature jumped over the ledge and landed on the stairs. It growled at me and jumped right onto my blade, piercing straight through its chest. It grabbed my head, trying to squeeze. Hesitating, I twisted and stirred the blade as to scramble its insides. The grip on my head loosened and soon the thing fell unconscious as blood streamed down its body. Its limbs went limp. I used my free hand and my foot to push the creature off of me, the bloodstained blade sliding out taking with it a bit of intestinal tubing with it. I stepped over the corpse and continued up. This was it. The top floor.


    In the middle of this floor''s area was a giant machine. Red lights on the console flickered. Wires connected to the top of the machine spread out like a web across the entirety of the ceiling and down to the lower floors. This must be the generator. The source of power here. Several gored corpses were scattered about this particular floor. I walked up to the machine to examine the console. Brute forcing it, I managed to press the right set of buttons after several attempts. The tiny screen initially displaying a red error message flashed to green. Suddenly the whirring of gears and pumping of steam erupted all throughout the facility. The lights grew brighter. Power was restored. Time to get the hell out. Footsteps clambering against the metal were fast encroaching. I started running for the stairs when another creature crawling up them greeted me. An instant loud clang from behind. I turned around to see another dangling from the tubes of the generator, a stump where its right hand used to be. There were now two of these creatures here and no way out...

 The Council

    I''ve managed to pull myself out of numerous sticky situations before throughout my travels here. But this is a situation in which the odds were really stacked against me. One of the creatures clearly had a vendetta against me while the other was ready to strike. I saw the flesh tearing apart to reveal its mouth, howling at me. Before I could react, I was pounced on from behind. I hit the floor, my head pinned down by the horrific long claws of the creature I had attacked previously. It began to slam my head repeatedly against the metal, staining it with my blood. No... No it could not end like this. I had to do something. I arched my foot up then kicked it back to strike the creature in its groin. A sharp scream erupted from it. I crawled away only to be greeted by the other, jumping over towards me and sinking its claws into my stomach, tossing me a few feet away. My back scraped against the flooring and my instrument had been dropped. It was fast approaching so I turned over to whip out the firearm slung over my back, took aim and fired a shot. The round pierced straight through its eye and out from behind. The long-limber monstrosity fell to the floor. Brain matter had spilled out from the gaping hole put through its skull. I loaded a new round and peered around. The other creature jumped on top of the generator. I fired at it but it narrowly missed. Shit. With claws out, the creature jumped down and thrust its claws straight into my stomach. Did the new implants I was given even prepare me for this? With this immense pain I was beginning to feel a surge of energy flowing through the blood in my veins. I reached up and grabbed the creatures head, then taking the barrel of my firearm and quickly jabbing it into the eye socket of the creature, pulling the trigger. It''s brains blew out of the back of it''s head. Its claws retracted from my flesh and it fell. Looking down I could see my bloody wounds slowly but surely healing.


    I got back up on my feet. My body ached with pains all over and it would be some time for these wounds to fully patch up. There didn''t seem to be any more of those creatures. I went to retrieve my instrument and take my leave by descending the many stairs. To think... I almost ended up like those torn corpses. I only just now noticed that the air inside of this place had a musty green tint to it. It must''ve been contaminated from the Rot growing throughout. I left the industrial facility to be greeted by the gleaming lights of the other two structures. Now I should be able to go into the large structure with the mechanism on top. Upon reaching the building I noticed that the device for the doors was on now. I brought out the Key and slotted into the fleshy mold, giving it a nice turn to the right. The ornate doors opened up for me. Good.


    The interior of this structure was as massive as it''s scale would seem. A wide open-ended first floor with marble pillars climbing high up to the ceiling. Benches were on both sides of the split walkways leading to a back area shrouded in the shadows of the second floor balcony connected by dual stairways. In the center of the room was a grandiose statue of a godlike being. They had a curvaceous figure with breasts and a striking, chiseled face. On their back were what seemed like folded wings entirely made of corpses. Adorning the statue was a beautiful golden circlet with a red gem in the center and a single golden stripe all the way down the center of their body. Holding in their left hand was a mechanical skull. In the right hand was a goblet sculpted from flesh. Embedded on their chest just below the neck was a series of symbols forming a circle with two lines through it. This figure was... Angelic. Godlike. Just who were they? All around this place the Rot had overgrown much of the furnishings and architecture. Red strands and tendrils were wrapped around the pillars, covering parts of the flooring and staircases, and even just dangling from the ceiling. This was the most intense overgrowth I had seen yet. Even more so then inside the industrial facility. What was once a grandeur hall had become a hellish den. I wanted to see what was beyond the statue before climbing the stairs. A large oval door several feet wide was built into the floor. Just like the rest of the floor, the Rot strands had covered it. But, there were dozens of torn up strands left rotting away and many more growing out from underneath. This door has opened at some point. But when? And whatever was down there... Like inside the industrial facility, was causing the growth to overflow above the surface.


    After uncovering that, I headed up the left staircase as there was only slightly less of the Rot to hinder my way. The two smaller pillars up here both had humanoid figures embedded into their designs. One resembled my own form while the other bore breasts and curves. They were in fetal positions facing each other. On the wall was a large art piece displaying a story? At the center was the angelic figure but with a bulging belly. Its arms were spread open wide. On its right were various machine contraptions emerging from the mouth of the mechanical skull. On its right were humanoids crawling out of the goblet of flesh. Below the angels pointed feet was a horizon with various structures erecting out from within. Perhaps... This was a display of our creation? Machines and humanoids birthed from the same womb? That was what I was interpreting as I held no knowledge of this world aside from all I''ve gathered during my travels through Carnis Machina. I turned to my right and saw another staircase leading the opposite direction from which I climbed heading upwards. Crimson vines were wrapped around the corners of the wall. Seems it has even spread up beyond here.


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    As I approached the stairs I could hear wet, wriggling noises coming from above. The entire hallway leading up to the third floor was coated with the Rot. Small red worms with tiny round mouths bearing teeth and tendrils splaying out from their behinds were slithering around on the walls. I just avoided accidentally touching them on my way up. Reaching the third floor was an open area and a single room with two entrances. More tendril-covered benches and a disturbing amount of the red skin tissue from the Rot coating the floors and walls. Not once inch of this mausoleum was untouched from the infectious growth. Not to mention all of the worms writhing around every corner. One of the sets of doors was closed while the other remained half-open, a hideous fat tendril blocking the way inside. So I went for the other doors. Pressing the button on the device opened it up. Inside I went.


    What in the hell... was I looking at? Along the walls, encased into messy sacks of tissue were others like me. Ten to be precise. Five on one end. Five on the other. A large circular table with consoles sat in the middle, a projection device of some kind was perched upon an elevated platform facing a huge screen that took up most of the northernmost wall. A meeting room perhaps? I examined the nearest individual. Its eyes were looking at me. Its lower half had entirely become one with the flesh. Its arms were stuck in crooked positions. Only slight movements came from the fingers and its tilted neck. It could only groan in a muted agony. Looking at its neighbors, all of them were like this. All victims. Prisoners trapped in flesh prisons. In the middle of the room only a few feet from the table were even larger pods, seemingly been spawned like eggs from the mass of writhing flesh on the ceiling. As I got closer, the skin of the pods began to crack and tear. Flakes of the pale flesh fell onto the floor. Suddenly an arm popped out of the left one. Then another. And another and another. Four arms... tearing apart the flesh as if escaping the womb its encased inside. The top half of the pod came apart. A mutated husk of what was once humanoid crawled out, dripping blood and pus from its soaked body. Instead of legs, its lower half was that of the little worms. Tendrils splayed out and wiggling to get a feel of its new environment. The lower of the two arms on each side were much smaller in size compared to the average length of the upper arms. Now having penetrated the pod it was birthed from, the flesh slug gazed at me, hollow white eyes within its bulbous head. Inside of its chest was a mechanical plate and a single wire connected to the side of its head. As it eyeballed me, the other pods were starting to crack as well. I drew my instrument out, wary if these things would be hostile. It didn''t seem to see me as a threat. I simply kept my distance. Pretty soon I watched as two more of the flesh slugs tore through their shells. The center one was a bit different then the twins. Not only was it taller, it had multiple wires attached to its head and a feeding tube from the chest-plate into its mouth. The three slugs slithered over to some consoles on the table. I watched as they tried to type away. Then they began to touch their bodies and their faces, shaking their heads, and trying to scream but could not. They... Seemed horrified at what they had become. I could see it in their body language. I was truly... Without words. I then watched them scramble towards every console, typing buttons away. A thunderous boom from below rattled the entire building, forcing me to back up against the wall. From a couple floors down I was faintly hearing something like a door opening up.


    The flesh slugs slowly began to approach me. Their arms were extended out, fingers arched as if about to grab me. I swung my instrument in defense to keep them away. They waved their hands and shook their heads. Were they trying to tell me they were harmless? The tall one got closer, shoving the other two aside, nodding to me and offering me its hands. Huh... I shrugged and sheathed the instrument. The tall one then grabbed me and pulled me close into its grimy chest. It''s okay. This is okay... They weren''t harming me. Let me just see what they wanted me for. I kept calm, watching as the tall one aided by the twins took me out of the room. They descended the first staircase to the second floor. Past the mural. Down more stairs onto the first floor. They moved sluggishly of course. When I realized that they were taking me to the massive door inside of the floor, I began to panic. The door was wide open now and a platform sat. The slugs all got onto the platform. With a series of clicks, the gears started turning as the platform began to descend into a black void. Where... Was I being taken to?

 The Foundation

    During this descent, 0nce the blackness of the void had passed we found ourselves in a massive cavernous chamber. It was clear we were underground now. Glancing up, we were just plummeting through a large mechanical tube connecting the floating district to this underground chamber. It was hard to wrap my head around. We arrived at the bottom. Whatever was inside this chamber ahead was completely shrouded in darkness with the only lights being two lanterns greeting us at our drop off point. The tall slug holding me proceeded forward, joined by the twins. A metal plate joined by two thinner, smaller plates were in the ground near a lever. The tall slug pushed me past the large plate and released me. The twins stood side-by-side in front of me facing the darkness, cupping their hands together and bowing their heads. Huh? The tall slug pulled on the lever. The big metal plate raised up with a rusted steel rack coming out of the ground coated in dirt and dust. The thinner metal plates rose up, revealing rustic mechanical arms that grabbed a hold of me and put me on the rack, clamping my wrists, ankles and neck down. The arms then retracted, being replaced with two different arms. One had a spotlight that flashed on to light me up. The other was a multi-tool with various attachments.


    Before I knew it, one-by-one other lanterns flashed on ahead of us to illuminate the rest of the chamber. My heart sunk into my gut as I looked up. With the darkness gone, towering high above us was a monstrous creature comprised almost entirely of flesh. It''s body was bulbous with a paunchy see-through belly housing what seemed to be several tiny embryos, large breasts and mounds of pulsating, veiny, rotting flesh beneath it rather then any lower region like I had. It had two long arms resting at its side. With a ungodly long neck, its head tilted up showing two gleaming white eyes and small tendrils danging from flaps of flesh where it''s mouth was. All around us, the growth of the Rot was connected to this single creature. Every vine, sinew and tendril was spreading from its base. What... Was I looking at?


    The creature then lurched its neck forwards towards me to get a closer look. I met the white pearls with my own eyes. It brought up one of its hands to press its bony finger against me. A single finger was as big as I was but it was gentle when it stroked my flesh. The twin slugs continued to remain still while the tall slug moved forward to get the creatures attention. After it was done communing silently, it turned to face me, pointing out all of the Rot around us. Then it gestured towards my instrument, pointing over at the base of the creature then to it''s stomach. I struggled with the restraints. I just wanted off of this rack. With no way out I was forced to remain restrained as the rack lifted up higher when the tall slug flicked a switch on the handle. The creature reached out a hand to grab a hold of me, the clamps coming undone. Now I was in the grip of this giant creature. It took a moment to glare at me. Observing me. I could feel the tall slug''s gaze piercing the back of my head. The creature then brought me close underneath it''s mouth. Those dripping, moist tendrils started suckling against my skin as they wrapped around my limbs and torso. I... Was being consumed? In an instant, I was fed up into this things mouth and carefully driven through the masses of tendrils until being thrown down its gullet.


    I plummeted through this long throat, smacking against a giant organ, then another, and squeezed through a gaping flesh hole. Further down I went, my body being coated in saliva and phlegm as I arrived inside a large chamber. My body bounced off of a giant beating heart. I landed below it on a soft coating of throbbing red muscles. Ouch. I scratched my head, opening my eyes after my landing to look around this inner chamber. The walls were made of a horrendous scarlet tissue with pulsating red veins. But what was most noticeable were hundreds of thousands of egg sacks housing embryos of various sizes. Some were minuscule in size while others were about ready to hatch. Right as I was getting up, a couple of these sacks tore open. The small creatures resembled fleshy red worms with four legs, a gaping wide mouth with circular rows of tiny teeth and tendrils wriggling out from within their throats. They belched out eerie squeals and immediately darted for the walls, leaving trails of bloody excrement behind. I watched in horror as the babies penetrated the tissue to squeeze themselves right out of the chamber. This creature... Was a gigantic factory for the Rot.


    Finally finding my footing, I wandered to get a better view of that organ I hit on the way down. The heart. I saw it. Nothing but a mass of searing red flesh. Each and every egg was connected to that organ via a red vein constantly feeding the embryos blood to survive and slowly grow over time from the looks of it. All this time... I thought the humanoid encased in the Rot I had met beneath the district of Oris was the source all this time... But I was wrong. Why did the slugs lead me here though? Should I even be alive? A hideous red hue was in the air but I felt fine. Perhaps this is what the modifications done to my body by the Doctor were for. I was not entirely of flesh. I never was. But with these modified organs inside of me, maybe I was immune to any amount of horrific effects to my body or damage to my internal components. Clearly this creature needed to be put down.


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    I started climbing up on the egg sacks. They were surprisingly sturdy. My feet left minor indentations in the tissue. I could hear another few hatching around me. I watched one of the babies fall several feet down onto the soft tissue below. It was fine. So this is the birthing process? How unusual. I continued climbing until I found a reasonable place to perch; on top of a set of eggs right next to each other. I was still far from getting close to the heart but I had it in my sights. I reached for my firearm. I checked the cartridge. It was nearly spent. So I ejected it, grabbing another from my belt and slotted it in, closing the barrel chamber. I took aim at the beating heart and fired a shot. The surface of the heart was pierced as a trickle of blood spilled out. I felt the entire chamber shutter and a haunting groan echo throughout. I fired another shot. Same result. However... The flesh wounds suddenly sealed themselves up. It worked like how my flesh could regenerate from small wounds. Hm. So simply firing into the heart isn''t working. I need to climb higher. I''m missing something here.


    As I was climbing I heard a skittering nearby. Reaching another egg to stand on I glanced to the nearest wall. There was a few of the babies climbing up and rearing their heads at me. Small, soulless white eyes popped open. One of them jumped at me. Shit. It stuck its tiny claws into the egg sack I was standing on. I took the butt of my firearm and smacked it, sending it tumbling down to the bottom. I put that away and pulled out my instrument, unsheathing the blade. The other two jumped one-by-one. I swung at them, cutting them apart with ease. Okay... So they''re aware I''m a threat. I needed to climb higher and faster. Utilizing these new bio-mechanical lungs, I mustered my strength to ascend further without losing my breath. Now these little cretins were climbing on the eggs of their own kind to get to me. I cut down another one. But one caught me off guard, jumping on my back. I could feel its claws in my skin and its tendrils beginning to wrap around my neck. I shook myself but it wouldn''t budge. I flipped the handle of my instrument so the blade was facing behind me. I jabbed it into the creature. It cried out and fell off after dissecting it with a clean swing. This is miserable... I had to press on regardless of how I felt internally.


    After culling more of the hell-spawn children, I had reached a much higher point then when I first fired those shots. As high as these eggs were perched. Now I had a much clearer view of the heart. There were five thick arteries connecting the heart to the organs and upper chamber. I could even see the hole where I had fallen from. Taking a moment to make sure the area was clear, I put the instrument away and pulled out the firearm to take aim at the tendrils. They were quite thick but clearly crucial as blood was pumping through them. I fired at the nearest artery. Some blood spilled out. Firing again, the artery popped off with blood gushing out and dousing several eggs below. The chamber shuttered violently that I almost lost my footing. Down below I could hear more and more eggs hatching. Time was running thin. I fired off a couple more shots and severed another artery. Turns out there were only five shots in a single cartridge. I emptied the cartridge and swiftly inserted another. This was my last one I had realized. Not good. I took out that third artery and slung the firearm behind my back. I wanted to keep my remaining rounds. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed a hold of a couple of the veins connecting the eggs to the heart and started motioning myself upwards.


    Right when I was getting close, a creature pounced onto my leg and started suckling on it. I felt a sharp jolt of pain from the biting. Hesitating, I pulled out my instrument and stabbed the creature. That worked. I sheathed it and continued onward until another stuck to my back. Damn it all. Took out the instrument and thrust the blade through the filthy little beast. Moved on. I heard another behind me and swung forward. The creature plummeted down. Good riddance. I took my instrument and jabbed it into the heart so I could begin climbing. I squeezed my hand onto the heart tissue to hold on for dear life as I brought the blade up to take another stab. The chamber shook again with every injury I was making. The pulsing of the heart almost made me loose my grip. But I persisted.


    I climbed up onto the top of the heart. Each heartbeat making me lose some of my balance. I had to make this quick. I looked behind my back to see the little creatures crawling across the veins. Not good. Not good at all. I carefully approached the first of the remaining two arteries. With my instrument ready, I cleanly cut through the artery. The chamber shook even more violently that I fell onto my posterior. No time for this. I got back up and went for the last artery. The pulsating of the heart had gotten much slower now. This ends now. Hand gripping the hilt as tightly as ever... I hacked off the last remaining artery connecting the heart to the rest of the body.

 The Machination

    The entire chamber began to shake and rattle violently. A horrendous, shrill ear-piercing scream rung out from way up high. The little creatures began to panic. I chopped off one of the veins and held on as it fell down, taking me with it. I hopped off and landed on a pair of eggs below me. Looking up, I could see blood spilling from the severed arteries like fountains. The heart was beating slower and slower with every passing second. Despite the constant shuttering, I made my way down via the eggs serving as platforms. I could see that more have been hatching but the creatures were too busy panicking to care about me.


    I found myself back on the soft, wet pulsating flooring. I approached one of the walls of flesh and began hacking away at it. The shaking had soon come to an end. One last breath was drawn from the monstrous creature I was inside. Its final shriek of agony rung out. I looked up at the heart again. It was no longer pounding. No movement. That meant the eggs were no longer getting fresh blood flowing into them. The shells off the eggs were beginning to dry up and crack. Before I knew it, I was watching the withering eggs break apart, spitting out the unborn fetuses. One-by-one their corpses were falling to the flooring. I needed to focus. With enough hacking the blades incisions were making progress cutting through this thick wall of flesh.


    The tissue finally broke. I could see outside the walls. I made the push, squeezing out of the exit I carved out. My body was soaked in the blood that spilled from the exit I had made. I stepped outside. The slugs were all standing in the distance looking up at the towering behemoth I was inside of. Dozens of the little babies were scurrying away and vanishing into the darkness surrounding this massive chamber. So, I made my way over to where they were and could get a better view of the creature. It''s lifeless husk sat still. Head lowered over its bulbous belly. The slugs faced me, pressing their hands together and bowing. I think they were showing me gratitude? And here I stood on edge ready to strike if they had turned hostile. That wasn''t the case though. I watched as the expansive spread of the Rot began to wither. The dark crimson sinew strands and thick tendrils fading to a deathly black hue. Was I finished here?


    Still soaked in blood, I stood idly by while the platform rose back up to the main chamber of the building. All around us the Rot was dying. I started heading for the entrance. I guess the slugs were going to stay here as they simply waved to me and gestured with their hands that they were remaining in place. I nodded and left. My work here in Cerebras was done. I stepped aboard the tram and rode it back over to the district of Cor. Of course, nobody was there to greet me. Not that expected the Doctor to wait for me or anything. I was exhausted. My feet were aching. But perhaps I could rest once I returned to the Spire. I hopped aboard the nearest trolley after directing it to my destination. With a push of its lever, I was well on my way to the Spire.


    The automaton remained on guard as I walked past them and entered through the front. Back inside of the Spire I was. Now I knew where to go so I made my way to the elevator. I ascended to the top floor where the Mastermind was. I walked through the barren, steam-filled hallway and stepped into the main chamber. There I saw the Mastermind. It''s gazed shifted immediately towards me upon my entrance.


    "Nameless One... You returned. Come."


    It gestured with two of its eight spindly arms to get closer. I nodded and approached the sentient, appalling biomass surrounded by monitors.


    "I felt it. The splintering of the infection. The wail of creeping death. The extinguishing of the Rot. You... Have executed the corrupted womb mother. No longer does the false matriarch breathe life from within her chambers. You have done well... Nameless One."


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    I could feel a sense of gratitude from the Mastermind. Like I accomplished something significant.


    "Know that this... This is not the end. You want answers. I sense it."


    The Mastermind was correct. I now wanted an understanding. With a flick of a certain switch on one of the consoles, a door within the floor opened up. A chair rose up connected to a mechanical arm. It perched itself directly in front of the Mastermind''s hub. I sat down in the cold metal chair.


    "The Rot did not originate within our walls. No. The infection had started to spread ages ago. Within time... The population eroded. Most had perished once the Rot had entered their systems through the air. A plague. Hellbent on wiping out the residents of Carnis Machina. Basic systems began to fail. As the people fell... Only a select few within this district were rushed to containment to wait out the crisis. Only the machines remained. Automatons. Trolleys. Those with immune systems that warded off the Rot. Alas... It will take much time before re-population can begin. The loss of the corrupted womb mother has set us back greatly. But with the Rot finally withering... We can rebuild. Those within containment were tasked to... Engage amongst themselves. The fertile ones would take the seeds spread within them to produce offspring. The Doctor should return soon with a report..."


    It was all making sense now. So the Rot was initially a foreign invasion?


    "As for you Nameless One... Your role here is not yet complete. Rest up. Upon my overseeing, I had come to the conclusion... That the Rot was carried by the airship. Outside our walls... Only one way leads out of this region we call home. Exitus... You must go. Seek out the origin of the Rot. It must be purged. A blight on this wretched world of ours. Cleanse it Nameless One. This I place upon you. Your awakening was destined to bring you here. So decrees that born of the flesh of God."


    I had to take in everything the Mastermind just said. So... Maybe me waking up from that pod had purpose after all? But there is still so much I do not know about this world as I lack memories. Like that of a newborn. I just nodded and stood up. Behind me I could hear footsteps. I turned around to see the Doctor approaching us holding a tablet. He greeted me with a nod. I nodded back. The Mastermind throbbed and an arm extended, grabbing the tablet. He set it down.


    "I... Understand that you have questions Nameless One. In due time. As for your origin... Even I do not know what called you to awaken. Why the pods exist outside our walls. Everything outside Carnis Machina is foreign and outside of my expansive realm of knowledge. Now... Rest up. The Doctor will assign you a living quarter. You must take the airship to leave this place less you take the exhaustive journey by walking. Days it will take. The airship... Will greatly shorten that time. Remember... Purge the Rot from this world."


    I understood now. What I must do.


    I followed the Doctor who led me down a floor to a series of residential rooms. He handed me a card and pointed to the device next to the door of this particular room. I slid the card through the device. It flashed green and a clicking sound came from the door handle. The Doctor put a hand on my shoulder, nodded, and walked away back to the elevator. I stepped inside the room.


    The room was... Cozy. A single bed with a cabinet, sink and mirror. I took this moment to look into the mirror. For the first time, I was staring at a reflection of myself. I knew what I looked like just from feeling my face and examining my body when I had first awakened. But to see my visage with my own eyes... It felt surreal. A mostly humanoid creature with mechanical organs beating and operating beneath my flesh. Just... What am I really?


    Laying down on the rather soft bed was comforting. My joints were aching. I felt no ill effects from being within the false womb mother. My understanding of the Rot was deepened during my confrontation with the Mastermind once again. ''Born from the flesh of God'' huh? Here I was, thinking that it knew everything but in reality even it only had a limited understanding. Maybe... Just maybe I could find more answers once I leave this place. ''Exitus'' was the name. My next destination. My body needed rest. My mind needed rest. I felt a solitary moment of peace as my eyes closed shut...

 The Departure

    The slug organisms guided me through a doorway hiding in the shadows underneath the second story balcony inside of the grand building in Cerebras. Never thought I''d find myself here again. To see it free of the Rot that had infected nearly every square inch of it''s floors and walls was mesmerizing. Beautiful even. The statue of the winged god stood ever so tall and glorious. We headed up two flights of stairs and outside onto a balcony. There in front of us was the airship in all of it''s glory. Here I was able to get a clear view of the gargantuan mechanical marvel. A long, cylindrical hull made of metal covering up tattered, pulsating crimson flesh seen underneath glass windows. Three cruciform tail fins made of tissue were tapered at the rear end. The gondola underneath stretched far, about halfway in length as the ship itself. It''s rectangular windows must''ve made for grand views while in the sky. Towards the front end there were thin metal tanks with dirty tubes pumping red fluid through them on the side. Upon closer inspection from where we stood, at the tip of the front end of the airship I could see what appeared to be a giant eye just barely open. A massive dark gray tube coming from the center of the nosecone went underneath the hull and into the front of the gondola. This airship... Was an organism?


    The tall slug stuck it''s fingers into the device nearby and turned it''s wrist. A bridge with guardrails began to erect from underneath the platform we stood on and extended out towards the metal door at the center of the gondola sector. We slowly made our way over to the airship. I glanced over the railing. We were very high up. The sands of the natural ground were stretching on for miles. The barren pale sands of the wasteland I traveled upon my awakening stretched on for miles. After opening the door, we stepped inside and turned around. The two other slugs waved at us before retracting the bridge now that we were within the gondola. I and the tall slug, whom I''ve decided to call ''Captain'' as it was going to be piloting the airship by my guess, waved back to the slugs as they returned into the building. Here we now stood inside of the gondola.


    The interior was spacious. Captain led me through the narrow hallways past rooms with tables and chairs. These looked like rooms for comfort. Socializing. Empty glasses, steel trays and devices containing red liquids for dispensing were inside each of these rooms. We came up to a room that had a giant red light up above. I looked at it for a moment until the slug grabbed my shoulder. It shook it''s head and directed me to follow it. Huh... Wonder why this room was sealed off. Now we arrived in what I think was the control room. In the center of the helm was a big machine with wires and cords splayed about the sides, gauges and dials dotted all over and a glass chamber containing an all-too-familiar sanguine fluid. On either side of the machine were windows for viewing the outside in front of us that stretched out to the sides. A row of buttons and switches lined the consoles. The slug approached the left side and started messing with the console. I looked at the machine next to us while it fiddled with the controls. I could hear the liquid inside bubbling. The slug came up to me and directed me to complete a specific sequence on the machine. A few lever pulls, dial turns and button presses later, the dull yellow lights on the machine glowed and the gears kicked on. The inside of the tank glowed, illuminating the red liquid within as it started to flow out through the front. A low grumble belted out from above us. The consoles were lit up as well.


    The slug then approached that same console once more. Seems like it was starting to pilot the vessel. Creaks and groans echoed all around the gondola. Peering outside I could see that we had started moving. While the slug was at the helm I decided to walk around some now that I did not need to assist further. Those rooms we passed were identical in layout right down to where the empty glasses were set. I was trying to figure out just what the purpose of this airship was for. Did it need a crew to maintain? After all we''re the only ones aboard. Skipping past the rooms I arrived at the back end of the gondola. There was a room back here. Stepping through the steel doors I spotted a ladder leading upwards along with two mechanical panels connected to the walls. I probably shouldn''t mess with those. What was up this ladder though? It led to a hatch. Of course I was curious so I climbed up the ladder and opened the hatch.


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    I was inside a large chamber reminiscent of the womb mother housing the Rot. The walls were made of flesh. Steel beams and girders made up the skeletal framework of sorts. Platforms were placed to easily access various mechanisms and traverse throughout the airship. I found another ladder and climbed a bit further high up. Now I could see a bit clearer now. Up ahead there were deep red organs attached to the walls and foundation with veins being pumped with blood. A constant breathing echoed throughout the hull. This entire airship... Was one whole living organism.


    I had seen enough. I retreated back to the room I came from and made my way back to the helm. Glancing out the windows I could see Carnis Machina growing ever-so-distant from us. To see the entire city from up in the sky was quite a sight to behold. Everything from the Spire to the mass of factories to the Rot-infested districts of Salus and Oris. Everything was in plain sight. I traversed so much of the city yet I felt I had only experienced but a small portion of the city.


    Entering the helm, the slug was still there controlling our trajectory. I stood behind it to look outside. We were encroaching upon a massive structure built into the walls of the valley. I even noticed off to my left one of the buildings from which I was housed in when I emerged from that pod. It seems not even the airship could reach high enough to fly over the walls with how tall they stood. This entire valley where Carnis Machina resided was it''s own place within what I assumed was a sprawling wasteland.


    The structure had a gap big enough for the airship to fly through. It was unclear what purpose it served other than an open gate. A single staircase led up to a small building on the left side of the structure. Just a gigantic security system someone or something had built into the walls, keeping this valley sanctioned off. The slug maneuvered the airship carefully so it aligned with the gateway. We slowly passed through and were now traversing a canyon surrounded by walls on our sides. Two bright yellow lights flashed on to illuminate the way forward.


    This was really happening. We were really doing this. So much time passed since I woke up. Who knows how many days I had spent in that damned city. I experienced so much. Discovered many new things. Throughout my journey, it''s felt like I''ve been growing. Uncovering knowledge and talents I didn''t even know I possessed. I was growing accustomed to any situation I found myself in, whether it was utilizing a weapon or figuring out how this device on my wrist worked. Am I... Really a newborn in this world? If so then why did I naturally evolve to understand the various mechanisms and instruments I came across? It''s as if this is all prior knowledge that was stored away within my mind. What if... I was someone? Do I really not have memories prior to my awakening? Perhaps I was previously a resident and was stored away in those pods for reasons unknown to me. The Mastermind spoke about me as if I was some messiah fated to cleanse the Rot and restore the heart of Carnis Machina. So many questions still left unanswered. Even questions the Mastermind couldn''t answer. It said it would talk to me more once I returned from this expedition so... Maybe I would learn even more then I was already given.


    One goal. Find the true source of the Rot. Uncover it''s origin and purge it from this world if possible. On my own though? I have made it this far mostly on my own so perhaps. The Doctor even exchanged my old fleshy organs for new mechanical organs capable of resisting the plague of the Rot. I... Don''t think I have anything to fear. I explored. Killed. Discovered. Killed. Progressed. Killed. Killed. Killed. With my instrument at my side and the firearm slung around my back the Doctor was so kind enough to adjust and tweak so I wouldn''t need worry about it malfunctioning on me. I was stocked with extra ammunition and a set of instant stimulation injections provided by the Doctor for treating any wounds too severe for my flesh''s natural regeneration factor to suture. Let''s see where this ominous path ahead takes us...