Chapter 5 : Gladia

After Primus One finished his speech, the other scyllas started floating above us and they sounded as if they were chanting an incantation in their weird language.

A few seconds later, everything went black, and I felt my body being forcefully transported.

I felt dizzy for a few moments, and when I opened my eyes even if there was no light I could still somehow see my surroundings. Is it a new skill from the mutation ?

Surprisingly, we weren't in the hall anymore, and I couldn't see any of the other races that were with us previously. There were only the humans next to me, still standing straight and seemingly not affected by what just happened.

If the scyllas can teleport us from one part to another of their massive ship, it's no wonder they do not guard us tightly and they aren't afraid of us rebelling or escaping. I don't know the range of their powers yet, but it's better to not antagonize them before knowing more about them, especially while being on their ship.

We are now in a rectangular room, with pillars on both sides. Between each pillar is a kind of small table floating above the ground, on which is an orange gem emitting a weak purple light.

The walls were painted with strange patterns which remind me of the symbols we had on our chest during the first protocol.

There are 8 gems on each side of the room, and one more in a corner that could almost go unnoticed. Strangely, I felt attracted by this last gem as soon as my gaze landed on it, unlike the others it seems to emit a weaker, but deeper aura.

I guess these gems are the key for the last protocol...

After a few minutes of waiting in the room, a Scylla popped out from nowhere and started to explain to us how to proceed with the last protocol. Unexpectedly, this looked like the less dangerous phase by far.

"I am Optio Carceris, and I'll be responsible for your race during the last protocol. Listen well to my explanation, I won't repeat myself nor will I waste time with any of you."

After this brief introduction, the Scylla started speaking again.

"Inside those gems is a consciousness, but compared to you who come from this dimension and the Holy Children that originate from the Great Singularity, these gems came from the Void.

They are the only intelligent life form we could extract from the Void during the last excursions, and even if they aren't hostile by nature we had to seal them in these gems made of Netherite. This is the only material known from us which is able to contain these etheric lifeforms, and by the will of the Revered Mother, her Holy Children are able to absorb both the gem and its Consciousness."

After a brief pause, it continued its explanation.

"You might ask yourself what is the point of absorbing a foreign Consciousness, especially one coming from the Void. And the reason is simple, it is for balance. Even if none of you perfectly fused with the Holy Children and reached the perfect Equilibrium during the second phase, you'll still need to reach it during the third phase or else you won't be able to survive in this dimension.

The Holy Children are permanently being attracted by the Singularity, and the only force able to counter this effect and allow your symbiont to be in balance with yourself is an opposite Consciousness, from the Void."

It seems that what I thought would be the easiest phase is in fact the most dangerous, I can't imagine what will be happening if the merging of the black matter and the consciousness goes wrong.

The scyllas are, step by step, transforming us into a melting pot of foreign forces from different dimensions, hoping that everything will work perfectly. They probably don't have the right parameters to stabilize the whole process yet, or else we would have been perfectly merged with the black matter during the fusion phase.

"Each of you will choose one gem, as for you the Deficient One, a special gem has been prepared. Because you are the biggest failure of your fellow human beings, we had to prepare you a special consciousness which is also a failure of its kind."

The Scylla took its time to stare at me while saying these words, as if expecting a reaction.

I couldn't care less about him, but this gem on the other hand piqued my interest.

"The steps are simple, just stay close to the tables and put one of your hands on the gem. Each consciousness is different, and so the process will not be the same for all of you. As long as you can make the consciousness submit to your will and survive, the merging process will begin and you'll finally end the third protocol and be completed Void Rifters."

The humans started moving towards their gems and stood still next to their gems, waiting for the order to begin. I went to the corner of the room and got closer to this special gem they call a failure as well.

Since I learned that my fusion process went wrong, I always felt a certain connection with my symbiont, I already tried to talk to the black matter hoping that if it has its own mind it would be able to answer me, but it didn't.

I'm clearly feeling the same right now, just by standing close to this Netherite stone

Just by staying close to this stone, I can feel a certain bond that binds it to both me and the black matter.

After everyone had placed themselves in front of their gems, the Scylla gave the order to begin.

"Start."

Each of the humans put their right hand on their gem at the same time, as for me I unknowingly put my left hand. I don't know if it will change much, in any case I hope it doesn't.

When the palm of my hand touched the Netherite, a violent reaction occurred. The black matter that was now part of my body stirred violently, it seemed to oppose the power inside this Netherite gem that was trying to invade my mind.

Not knowing what to do except to keep my hand on the gem, I decided to close my eyes and focus on that reaction.

Although it was violent, it did not cause me any physical pain. On the other hand, I felt my life force getting absorbed again, it was almost the same feeling as when the scyllas activated the first protocol and the dark matter absorbed my energy to sustain itself during the first phase.

Although I wanted to resist it, the more I tried, the more I exhausted myself and lost my strength.

After a few seconds of intensely trying to stay conscious, I felt an alien force travel up from my arm, up to the back of my neck. I had a feeling that if I lost consciousness now, it would be the end once and for all.

The feeling of this force that invaded my whole being was similar to thin ice needles being pushed into my bones, before melting inside my body. Although it wasn't painful, it was extremely uncomfortable to the point where I would have rather ripped my arm off than continued suffering this mental pain if I could.

However, at this moment the dark matter present in my body that previously felt repelled by this new energy began to activate itself again, these two totally opposite energies intertwining within my being.

After several minutes of mental agony, a voice suddenly echoed in my head.

[So you too are a prisoner, child of Terra...]

'who are you ?!'

[My name is Gladia, nice to meet you... Jun]

'Jun?'

[Isn't that the name your progenitors gave you?]

'How do you know my first name?! How can you get access to my memory when I myself am unable to remember anything? '

[hm... it is true that a part of your mind was violently shattered not long ago, I don't actually have access to your memory, but only to its remaining fragments]

'So my name is Jun... I don't understand, who are you exactly? Are you the so-called consciousness they imprisoned in this stone?'

[Unfortunately yes, I am. And from now on I'm afraid we will have to share the same path. Just as you became a part of the Singularity after fusing with its Child, you became linked to the Void as well from the moment you touched this vicious stone that was imprisoning me. I am now a part of your consciousness, like the leaves are a small part of the tree.

I didn't know what the scyllas wanted to do by imprisoning us in these horrible stones, but now I can understand their thought process. They want us to become one, so you don't suffer from the dimension drawback of having fused with a Singularity Child]

'So after getting an alien crawling under my skin, I'm now bound to live with a foreign voice in my head ?'

[You do not seem as much surprised as I expected you to be]

'Well, after getting abducted by an unknown alien race once they massacred my whole species, waking up with a black matter trying to eat me alive, being kept in check in a space ship probably the size of a continent and now having my mind invaded by a kind of etheric intelligence…I'm just too tired to be surprised anymore'

[Do not worry, I can feel your hatred for the Scyllas and I share this feeling. During the last century, they invaded our dimension, destroyed our worlds one by one, and forced our people to fight them in a bloodbath war. They used my kind as mere experimentation and when they aren't trying to invade new worlds themselves they are too busy conceiving what they call the 'Void Rifters' to exterminate whole races and species more efficiently]

'Aren't the scyllas supposed to fight for a greater good ? I mean, I know most of what they do is horrible but from what they are thinking, they are doing what needs to be done. They told us that your kind comes from the Void ? How is it there ? '

[…let's talk about this later we don't have time anymore, for now you need to focus on your inner self. I can not restrain the black matter any longer and you'll have to find a way to make us coexist or else only death awaits you]

'What do you mean my inner self ? Do I look like a Buddhist monk to you ? I'm stuck with a piece of black chewing gum and a ghost freed from a stone trying to destroy each other inside my own body and I should be the one making you guys coexist ?! '

[You do not have time anymore, once you'll open your eyes and see what happened to the other humans that came with you, you might take my words more seriously unless you want to end up like them]

Feeling the voice slowly lowering down inside my head, I decided to open my eyes and check how the other specimens are doing.

I'm not specially linked to them but I would still prefer if they survive, I don't want to end up alone in the middle of all these aliens freaks, and from what Gladia said before dissipating inside my mind I have to find a way to make her and the black matter both exist inside my body and my mind.

She told me to focus on my inner self, what did she mean ? Can meditation help me feel more serene ?

After waiting for a moment to calm myself, I decided to give it a go. I focused on my own consciousness and during these few seconds, a lot of thoughts crossed my mind. Some fragments of memories started to pop up as well, and I finally could remember my name by myself without having someone to tell me.

'Jun-Yeob'

I tried to make a link with the black matter, I don't know how I am supposed to communicate with it but I know that it has a mind on its own, so I just tried to spread my thought in my sea of consciousness.

'if you can understand me, stop your rampage. I don't know what exactly you are, but from what I've understood you are in the same situation as me and the ghost. You are being used by those scyllas so that they achieve their goals.

I've no idea how the Singularity and the Void interact with each other, but you guys are both in my body and mind now so if you want to destroy each other you should first get out and solve your problems without me stuck in the middle.

My body isn't an arena for fuck sake.'

Once the mental strain started to drop and the black matter seemed to calm itself, I was feeling a little better. At least now I know it, it understands me.

After taking a few more moments to calm my breath and stabilize my mental condition, I slowly opened my eyes to check out how the other humans were doing.

I had to admit that the scene in front of me surprised me tenfold more than having a ghost talking to me inside my head.