Ash covered the fungi that were trampled beneath my bare feet, undisturbed since the great cloud that they so resembled had covered the earth in darkness. In times before there had been other growths to forage… now only the bitter fungi remained.

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But I was not there to gather on that cold morning. I had faced the Elders at dawn, informing them of my decision. Begrudgingly, they had given their blessings. They understood my reason for going, though none believed I would return. From there I said my farewells, my heart still grieving the absence of my beloved family as I was sent off. I looked back only once while I was still close enough to see the grim faces of my neighbors in the clearing.

​

The hours passed slowly, my progress over the abysmal terrain made my lungs burn. By then any light from the sky had been trapped by the treetops, their gnarled and barren branches woven together to form a dark cloud. I had found a place to rest on a stone, it was then that the creature appeared to me.

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The monstrosity seemed to rise from the ground, a dark shadow of Death that seeped its way over me. Blood matted fur was torn away in places to expose the steel skeleton beneath, its glowing eyes bore into mine from within hollow sockets like gunshot wounds. The scent of its rancid flesh made bile rise in my throat. The perversion of nature and machine gnashed its metallic jaws together, regarding me hungrily.

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Human, do you know what you stand before?

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It spoke to me in the Old Tongue, a language that I had not heard since I was a child, the words penetrating my skull. So afraid was I that my throat would not open.

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"D-demon!!" I choked, bitter on my tongue. To that the creature gave a mirthless laugh.

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And you have come to slay me?

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My weapon lay at my feet, and I knew it would be useless. No bullets would harm this fiend.

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"You… you took them from me… my children, my wife. You hunt but you do not feed. You kill and you maim without need!"

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It leaned close then, close enough for me to see the mechanisms moving behind its orbed eyes.

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Tell me, human. What makes you so different? Was it not your greed that ravaged the earth? Was it not your creation that blotted the sun?

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"Not… not I, not my kin…"

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No, human. But in time you will see. You are just as we, as beast and as machine. Predatory and obscene. You will merge with me, and one we shall make of three…

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With this, it took me in its jaws. My flesh was torn and my bones broken, but any pain I felt was fleeting. For with every shred it consumed, the more I became.

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Only now can I see that there are none more ferocious than we; the one, the three…