If you missed the last chapter of REEF MOB, you can find it [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/223038027/0/0]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! *** “[i]The future is Darkness, my friend. When the stars start to go out, and the cold sets in as the few remaining lifeforms huddle around the dying lights, only the strong can order the chaos.”[/i] We hear the voice as though from a distance as images force themselves before our eyes – [i]Trying to help. Trying to rebuild. Thought ~ consume enhance replicate ~ was the key – What’s happening to us? “We will not survive. Mankind, all kind, will not survive. For the Worms were born in Darkness, and at the end of time they will reign over all.”[/i] We grip our head in agony as the onslaught from SIVA continues – [i]We thought this was behind us –[/i] “Don’t pull this shit now, Djido, I want a fair fight against you, not your effing minions!!” Avi still has the confidence to taunt while running – he still doesn’t fully understand what’s going on yet – [i]I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t ~ consume enhance replicate ~ Ghost? Ghost, where are you? “And we will all die, for death is the last part of living, and life is just learning to die.” But we cannot die – can we?[/i] “DJIDO!” We lash out instinctively, red tendrils growing from our arms as we swing wildly – we feel Avi dodge, firing immediately at our tendrils, cutting them down – more grow to replace them – [i]Long have we wandered in the blind prison of flesh. Those old lives now a memory, transposed by another. The gift brings pain, yes, but godhood must come at a price. ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ What’s happening? ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ Why now? ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~[/i] We feel another blast hit us in the face – the images in our mind’s eye clear for a moment for us to see him darting around the arena, firing bullet after bullet into our face from his golden hand cannon – “Don’t do this to me, Djido!!” he sounds almost unhinged. “I’ve earned this!! I’ve proven myself for this!!!” [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ That which we were, we are no more. That which we are is undefined. We make our new selves. We need not machines, because we are machines. ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ No, I – ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ I need to know – ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ He has to tell me – ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ What didn’t Brother Vance – ~ Consume Enhance ~ ~ Consume ~[/i] ~ ~ ~ … The division occurs before I can even realize it. I instinctively try to fall back into the collective embrace of SIVA, but there’s something different this time, something….stronger about her – Behind me, I can feel the army beginning to mobilize, completely out of my control – Ari directs an order I didn’t give him, and the Wolves slowly form a circle around Avi as he starts to grow agitated, unaware of the changing tide – “NO!!!” he screams at me as he sees me continuing to fall to my knees, sees me looking at him expectantly. [i]RUN!!![/i] I bellow within, but I know he won’t hear, won’t listen, won’t obey. In an instant, I can see everything that’s about to happen, and can do nothing to stop it. I fed the monster, again and again, and now the monster is too strong for me to control. [i]But I controlled it with emotion, got it to stop from attacking Ia –[/i] I rage and fight with all my emotion against SIVA, but to no avail – she still refuses to move, leaving my body like a statue in the arena. [i]MOVE!!![/i] I scream inside, trying to force my limbs to obey me. [i]Why aren’t they obeying?[/i] Because they have a new master now. [i]If you cannot serve your power justly, it must be given a new master.[/i] Toland’s voice repeats inside my head, taunting me with its foresight. [i]He knew this would happen, knew I wouldn’t be able to contain or control it –[/i] As if from a distance, I hear Avi screaming in frustration, firing again and again into my head. “FIGHT ME!!!!” he bellows, coming unhinged. “FIGHT BACK!!!!!” I see him instinctively drawing closer, unconsciously taking step after step toward his doom – [i]GET BACK!!!![/i] I scream again inside, but no sound comes out. There’s nothing here – no sound, no light, nothing… I feel around in the darkness of my own mind, but feel only a vacuum. There’s no air. No light. No sound. Nothing. Not even SIVA’s repetitive mantra can penetrate this place – I am alone, but I can still feel everything. Almost thankful I can’t see or hear, I feel SIVA finally lift my body up like a puppet, tendrils stretching out across the arena like an infinite web – [i]How could I control it for Ia but not for Avi? Why can’t I save him like I could her? Why can’t my emotions stop it like they did before?![/i] But there’s no use questioning why – it’s happening no matter what. I feel more bullets perforate my head, but there’s no pain, no fear – I feel my arms swinging at Avi, feel the troops around me moving closer, drawing the circle tighter. I feel the tendrils in my arms extend, whipping forward and lashing around something – I feel it writhing against my grip as I draw it closer – I feel more attacks, hacking and slashing at my tendrils, more bullets hitting my face, my chest – But there’s nothing that can be done. I feel my tendrils drawing closer, and can feel what should be said if not for the icy vacuum of nothingness. [i]Consume. Enhance. Replicate.[/i] Control was only ever an illusion. Choice was only ever an illusion. I remember my first deal with SIVA, and realize that this was my destiny all along. [i]I’ll lock us away forever in the Darkness if I have to.[/i] Which is exactly what she’s done with me. Out of the darkness, I hear more voices, and it hits me that these are the voices of those who were consumed before, or maybe have yet to be consumed, for all will inevitably be consumed by the Destroyer of Worlds. [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ My thinking is clear now in ways it never was before. It is my mind that is changed, and yet it is not my mind, but another consciousness that is different from my own. ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ I feel there is a choice to be made, and yet I have made no choice. ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ The choice was made for me. ~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~[/i] Just like it’s always been. *** In the darkness, I can hear voices as I feel SIVA consuming Avi – [i]“Luckily for us, the Queen is more pragmatic than her brother.” “And it was her decision?” “So she believes.” “It’s all happening just as you told me Osiris had foreseen it.” “Yes, my son, now we must meet the future with faith as well as strength. We face a new adversary, one that the Disciples have never – “ “I don’t fear this thing. I’ve trained and prepared – ” “Don’t be a fool. From what I’ve gathered, not even Toland could defeat him.” “But Toland is long dead, how can…but he still has his weaknesses – so many, many weaknesses.” “Not as many as you remember.” “From what I’ve heard about his encounter with Taniks and his trophies, he still has enough we can exploit.” “Don’t believe everything you hear, my son. This will be your greatest challenge, and I suggest you prepare for it appropriately.” “I’ve been preparing for this fight for a long time, Brother. And I have an advantage: he won’t see me coming.”[/i] I reach out toward the voice in the darkness, feeling my way toward the only source of life I can find. “Avi? Avi, is that you?” … … “Djido?”