If you missed the last chapter, you can find it [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/219319700/0/0]here[/url], or if you need to find a previous chapter, you can find them all in the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/218618986?sort=0&page=0]Table of Contents[/url]. Please give a bump or leave a comment if you enjoy this and any other chapter! *** Bones crunch beneath my feet as I move through the tunnels the Hive have bored into the core of the Moon. The crowd of Thralls squeal and growl quietly as they follow me, their singular thoughts echoing through my mind. * [i]Find and feed. Find and feed. Find and – * ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ No, they’re not very original,[/i] I think back to SIVA. I still feel mildly repulsed as I look back at the gaggle I’ve swayed to my side so far – the familiar green light that seems to animate the Hive has been replaced with SIVA’s ominous crimson glow. They just stare at me, awaiting orders, repeating infinitely * [i]Find and feed. Find and feed. Find and – * ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ Yes[/i], I think ironically, [i]hearing that over and over IS extremely annoying.[/i] One of SIVA’s tendrils turns itself to face me again, and I feel SIVA scowling inside. [i]Then expand your vocabulary. I thought AI was supposed to be, you know, intelligent.[/i] SIVA overloads me with stimuli, forcing a shattering pain into my head, but I’m used to it by now. Just a small wince and I’m glaring at SIVA’s tendril, tauntingly waving in front of me. [i]Enough, we need to focus[/i], I tell her, and I can feel her pout again. I ignore the high-maintenance nature of my symbiote as I push further into the heart of the Hellmouth, focusing on the way to the Circle of Bones. I stretch out through SIVA, feeling my way down the labyrinthine tunnels and caverns – more Thralls and Acoyltes ahead, a low-level Wizard with them. I reach out further – two Knights patrol the entrance to the Summoning Pits, where I can feel a veritable bounty of Hive guarding the terror of the lunar colony: Phogoth the Untamed. [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ I guess he would, I respond, but what could it be changed to? … ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~[/i] I laugh in spite of myself. [i]Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as ‘the Untamed’. ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ I’ll ask him when we meet him, then.[/i] I push forward, focusing on the Summoning Pits as we enter the Circle of Bones. For a moment, my entrance is peaceful, but then an Acolyte catches sight of me and screams a warning. Energy bolts from Hive weapons race toward me, the density in the air shifting perceptibly as the smell of chemicals precedes the Hive fire. Their shots bounce harmlessly off as I step forward to meet the wave of Thrall they send to greet me. [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~[/i] SIVA gives the order before I need to – our own Thralls charge their kin, who seem to slow, confused. My Thrall attack without hesitation, enveloping them in the wave of SIVA that follows. The Acolytes stare, horrified, as Knights and Wizards charge forward as reinforcements. SIVA makes equally quick work of them, and within moments I stand before my new troops, eyes glowing red and twitching with hunger. * [i]Find and feed. Find and feed. Find and – * * See and destroy. See and destroy. See and –[/i] * The repetition of the Hive’s ingrained directives continue to repeat – between them and SIVA’s verbal monotony, I can feel my annoyance reaching a head. * [i]SILENCE.[/i] * I issue the command in their tongue, and they obey without question. In the sudden silence, all I can hear is the monstrous breathing of these nightmares. I watch them shrewdly as they wait for me to direct their spread of terror. * [i]There is an Ogre here. And more of your kin guarding him. Bring them all to me. Welcome them into our new family. Show them the new way. * * Find and welcome. Find and welcome. Find and – * * See and show. See and show. See and – * ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~[/i] I ignore SIVA’s jibe. There’s something…endearing about them, I suddenly realize. I test the loyalty of my new army as I approach one of the Knights. I command him to kneel before me, and he follows the order without question, red eyes glowing. I ask him for his sword, and he presents it to me, blade as long as I am tall. With SIVA’s assistance, I hold the sword aloft, judging its nicked and jagged blade. I run my finger along its edge, testing its sharpness, and a small line of blood leaks from my skin before SIVA corrects the damage. I hand the Knight back his sword, commanding him to rise. He does so, repeating my directives in his mind loyally. * [i]See and show. See and show. See and – * * COME, [/i]* I command, walking past them to lead the way into the Summoning Pits, SIVA’s crimson tendrils stretching out in front of me. My Hive army follows, weapons at the ready. A Shrieker is guarding the door, and as we approach, it wakes and readies to fire on us – SIVA convinces it otherwise, and turns it to fire on the door to Phogoth’s prison, which explodes as I command my Hive forward. Inside, the Hive guarding Phogoth fire and scream warnings, calling more reinforcements down to aid them. [i]Yes[/i], I think, [i]bring them all.[/i] More Hive pour out of the walls, skittering, shrieking and howling at us. * [i]Find and feed. See and destroy.[/i] * I hear them repeat internally. My Knights meet them in combat as I direct my Wizard to fire. Within moments, the chamber has devolved into chaos. I look past the battle, to the Ogre rising to its feet below, arms chained to the floor. It roars, a restrictive mask covering its eye to keep it from firing, and the floor rumbles with its fury. ~ [i]Consume Enhance Replicate[/i] ~ I can literally feel SIVA salivating as she beholds the Ogre. [i]Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder[/i], I answer her, thinking to myself that this beast is as far from beautiful as one can get. SIVA, however, races forward lustily, hungering to make the creature her own. Suddenly, a rip emerges in the air behind the Ogre as an echoing rasp tears through the room – a Tombship drifts slowly from the Ascendant Realm and into ours, carrying reinforcements – ~ [i]Consume Enhance Replicate [/i]~ SIVA’s hunger grows as she sees the reinforcements – then she looks beyond and becomes positively ravenous. [i]No[/i], I think forcefully, [i]we have plenty here, we don’t need – ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~[/i] I see her tendrils reach the Ogre, racing up him as he’s slowly consumed, stretching further up to reach the Tombship flying above him. [i]No, SIVA[/i], I try again, thinking harder, exerting my control with respect for hers. But she’s completely lost it – there’s only one thing on her mind: [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ SIVA No! ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~[/i] Her tendrils reach the Tombship, red lines of infection spreading across the hull as it slows, stretching past toward the portal to the Ascendant Realm. [i]NO!!! ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~[/i] Too late. I feel the pull as SIVA crosses the boundary and gets sucked into the Ascendant Realm. I’m yanked across the room, flying past my Hive army and toward the rip in space. As I hit the portal, I feel resistance, pushing me back, keeping me out. But SIVA’s ravenous hunger keeps driving forward, pushing against it, worming its way in – I feel my body begin to pass through the tear, a sensation of weightlessness and incorporeality overcoming me. I feel myself reappropriated into the void, pulled into the world of the Hive as our combined orders repeat like mantras: * [i]See – destroy – find – feed – show – welcome –[/i] *