The automated door sealed shut behind the four as they entered the Qliphos Space Station. Upon entrance, the four noticed how the elongated hallway of metal and steel walls were unaffected by the Rot's infectious influence. As their slow and steady footsteps treaded through the thin hallway, diffused light shone against their faces, revealing the heavy grit and dirt they accumulated during their arduous journey. As soon as they reached the midway point of the hallway, they found several color holographic banners on the sides of the walls that played advertisements for Qliphos Station on loop.
As soon as they entered the wide main entrance of the station, they noticed a large holographic billboard in the center of the room that greeted the four with an automated message: "WELCOME TO QLIPHOS STATION. WE HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR STAY. FROM YOUR COUNCIL SEVEN."
Before they pushed forward, Lyn noticed an oddity; there were four metal crates spread apart on the opposite section of the entrance positioned perfectly for unknown reasons. The black metal crates were infused with the walls themselves, indicating someone had shoved it through by force. Other than the oddity, the entrance hall was rather clean, unlike the apocalyptic crossfire outside of the station.
Lyn turned around to face Ardine and Claire, noticing that their faces were astute and fully aware to tackle the silent danger. Knowing that Aldion's presence was inevitable, Lyn made a statement to increase the morale of her allies.
"We can defeat him together." Lyn said.
"Yeah." Claire acknowledged.
"Defeat who?" An unknown voice echoed in the far section of the entrance hall. The voice was almost unrecognizable, but it reminded Lyn of a youthful individual. The voice did not match Aldion's, whatsoever.
The four turned and witnessed Cain, one of the four Krin clones, leaning against the edge of the holographic billboard supported by its metal beams. He gently pushed himself off and took several steps forward with a gentle grin on his face.
He was adorned with a tightened white dress shirt that revealed his muscular and toned pectoral muscles, along with the same tightened jet black pants and leather black boots. Cain, in particular, sported a straightened and elongated hairstyle which fell equally between his two slender shoulders. He approached the four as casually as possible, greeting them as if they were equal standing allies of their own.
"Lovely to see you again, Gemma." Cain began. He had a dark, yet soothing sophisticated accent to his endearing voice that made him appear charming. Just before he was about to speak, he noticed Alfaic shielding himself from sight behind Lyn, hovering immediately behind her to shroud himself. But Cain caught on, snapping his finger toward him the moment he moved away. "Ah, ah, don't run away, you coward. You're just in time for the show."
"What do you want, Krin?" Lyn asked.
"I think you know the answer to that, Gemma," Cain calmly said, lifting his arm with his palm angled upward at Claire, who hid behind Ardine with a dark scowl on her face. "I require Erpha. Please, give her to me."
"So I can do what?" Claire stepped forward, unsheathing her folded blade in defiance. "Open the door to your stupid Rot Mother?"
"How DARE YOU!" Cain bellowed. His pupils shrunk immediately, and his face shriveled in absolute vexation. "You dare insult our great Mother!? She is the one who will bring us all to salvation, and you, Erpha, are the key to it all! Only she can bring you true peace and prosperity!"
"There wasn't much peace and prosperity from your Seth." Lyn interjected.
"Ah, Seth..." Cain calmed himself down upon hearing the faithful name of his deceased brother. "I haven't forgotten what you did to him, Gemma. Loyal and worthy to his cause to the end, yes, but he sought to vex a troubled heart into submission. He was obsessed with control to the point where he forgot about dear Mother."
Ardine grunted in annoyance, realizing he was speaking of Kaiden.
"Ah, but I digress," Cain continued, raising both of his burly arms into the air to salute an invisible figure in the skies. "Let me indulge you with a bit of history to cleanse your souls of your strong distaste for Mother. Her influence has created a memorial for the fallen throughout the years atop this space station we stand upon. She has bred a nest of those carriers to faithfully replicate those memories above us. And the ones who continue to hold and nurture this flourishing tower are none other than the very citizens that stood below."
"Qliphosians..." Ardine muttered.
"Yes," Cain continued. "The ones you call Qliphosians are an ancient breed of the human race. Despite their deaths signaling the end of their life cycle, their spirits live on, and congeal together with Mother's influence. They live to this very day, bringing life to our ancient civilizations!"
"No..." Claire whispered before increasing her volume. "Is that why the Council massacred everyone?! To find life in death?!"
"Correct, Erpha," Cain confessed. "The very same men and women who commanded such a cruel fate were all given the same chance; to offer their souls for our great Mother so that they may be taken to the new world. And so, they did. They crushed their frail bodies so that they may become one with us."
Lyn couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stepped a single inch forward to defy against his statements. "All you did was promise them a world of empty lies..." She spat. "A world where they were transformed into your weapons. Tell me; is that living?"
"You are not one to talk, Gemma," Cain retorted. "Forgive me, but I was informed by an insider that you discovered the truth about your true heritage. The construct you are."
"Nia?" Lyn asked.
"Constructs like you and I do not know what living is," Cain continued, hastening his voice. "Constructs like you and I pretend to know. We cannot live without guidance, for we hide without it. Everything we experience is nothing but a lie. That is why our purpose is simple, Gemma. We must... serve."
"No," Lyn denied. "I would rather die."
Cain lowered his arms to his side and stared directly into Lyn's eyes with hidden contempt. The two exchanged glances with each other in silence as both Alfaic, Ardine, and Claire were clueless as to who would make the first move. As nanoseconds felt like complete seconds in the moment, even the slightest breath could be mistaken for a move.
"Then die." Cain uttered.
Lyn's spite for Krin enraged her senses, tripling her speed in the blink of an eye. Reminiscent of when she charged at the goliath that was Kaiden and Seth's fused form in the manifestation of a bronze colossus, a flash of lightning followed by the booming strike of thunder bolted Lyn forward to Cain's position. The blur of her speed distorted Lyn's entire body to resemble a black hole's vortex.
Yet Cain was precise and expecting her to make the first move. He gently lifted his right hand upward, projecting an invisible forcefield that propelled Lyn through the holographic welcoming banner instead, scattering glass shards behind him. She was unable to control her speed, and instead, struck the metal information booth and fell flat in the massive engineering hallway where the space center's main rocket lay idle.
"LYN!" Alfaic cried, speeding toward Lyn's rescue by dashing toward her location. Cain smirked, allowing him to do so.
Yet while Ardine and Claire rushed off to support the other two, Cain snapped his fingers and conjured a red ethereal barrier that sealed off the entrance to the engineering hall. He stood in front of them with the same smirk he had.
"Allow me to regale you with a soft and touching tale." Cain began, snapping his fingers with his other hand.
The four black metal crates embedded in the walls on both sides of the main entrance snapped open, ejecting its doors to the white metal ground with a loud slam at the same time. Steamy mist filled with the pungent odor of sour rotten corpses expunged the air with its foulness. Claire and Ardine watched in terror as the first opened metal shipment crate extended a bionic claw on the edge of the opening, presence looming from behind the shadows.
"There once was a quaint village nestled in the heart of the world where their denizens believed divinity could not touch," Cain continued the story. "Among these denizens was a foolish little girl who believed she could control the fate of the ones who rejected this divinity... making a monster out of all of her fellow companions with a curse that the gods deemed as holy."
A curse...?
"It's nothing but a curse... There's absolutely no good from this."
The four sealed creatures popped out of their respective crates, twitching uncontrollably upon exit. At first glance, the creatures were simple battle droids that towered over any normal human being easily. But upon second glance, Claire was horrified to see that the droids were infused with human flesh for their outward appearance. The grotesque amalgamation of rotten human skin was actually kept healthy and pale from the power of the droids. Their nearly-shaven heads were attached to the droid's optical nerve and dangled downward, all peeled back to reveal the flesh within their bleeding skulls. Their skinned forearms were fused with the metal plating on their bodies, and their legs stumbled crookedly to move properly.
"And in the night, she scurried in the shadows to save these lovely denizens, only for them to ascend to godhood the moment our hands touched their faces. Little did she know that they still searched for her all these years, so that they may return her toward ascension with them."
"GET OUTTA HERE!"
"We're knocking on death's door, and this is the only way to live."
The blood vessels in Claire's eyes convulsed rapidly after realizing who the four droid anomalies were.
"And she watched them in terror... knowing that they were once her family. The cycle never ends." Cain finished, snapping his fingers one last time to activate the mechanisms inside the droid anomalies. He then turned around and moved toward the engineering hallway to face Lyn and Alfaic alone.
Ardine snatched the rifle on his holster and reloaded the magazine on it, priming the weapon ready for usage. He pressed his hand on Claire's right shoulder, hoping to gather her gift to empower his weapon. "Claire, come on! I need your help!" He shouted, but to no avail, Claire did not budge. "Claire?!"
"My... dear sister... I... love you..."
Claire's breath shuddered at the sight of the four anomalies. It couldn't be, she thought. The tale made perfect sense.
In her mind, she opened her arms to join them.
Right before the left most droid anomaly was about to slam down upon Claire to squash her to death, Ardine tossed a sonic grenade directly in the center of the four droids, stunning them momentarily as they attempted to break free from the shrill sounds. Ardine snatched Claire's forearm and dragged her to the edge of the entrance hall, pinning her to the wall to regain control of her spirits.
"Hey! HEY!" Ardine shouted directly at Claire, whose eyes were wide, yet lifeless. Her entire body had shut down from Cain's torturous tale, realizing the true identities of the four droids who stood before her. "Claire, I need you with me! CLAIRE!" He hounded, shaking her slim shoulders back and forth.
But it was no use. Claire did not move. She continued to stare off into the distance, blinded by the trauma of her past.
The sonic grenade wore off, leaving the droids ready to charge.
Ardine seized his final sonic grenade, but due to the unwinding pressure of the droids' presence, he accidentally fumbled the grenade in his hand without removing its pin. One of the monstrous droids lashed toward Ardine, directly aiming to crush his face like a balloon of flesh.
Just a millisecond before it did so, Ardine fired an imprecise shot at the sonic grenade, detonating and stunning the four once again. He took the opportunity to grab Claire's forearm again, rushing to the opposite side to further the distance between the machines.
After pinning Claire to the wall again, her eyes managed to slowly trace itself towards Ardine to show a single sign of life. A pulse was all he wanted. Ardine kneeled down and dropped his rifle to the ground. Instead of continuing to convince her to snap back to their reality, he did something he had always wanted to do.
In his eyes, Claire's face transformed into a completely different girl. Her blonde locks gleamed in the heavenly bask of light from the station's ceiling, replacing her dreaded stare with a hopeful and gentle grin of joy. Ardine's eyelids began to quiver until he accepted his ultimate fate. He embraced the girl with the last of his strength, closing his eyes and whispered to himself.
When the final grenade wore off its paralyzing effect, the four droids charged directly at him with their fused claws extended to murder.
"I love you so much..." He said.
"In so many ways you don't understand."