Mass Effect: Transcendence

Amalgamate

Amalgamate 

by writeowl

Shepard wandered through the mist, past the trees whose delicate leaves rustled in the gloom. She had been here before. Whispers of familiar voices exhaled around her, but no one was there. She was alone. Laughter lilted above the dense air, changing the melody that the trees danced to. Intrigued, she followed the small sound of joy until she found the child with the sandy-colored hair and wide blue eyes. Instinctively, Shepard reached out for him as a man emerged from the shadows, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. The child looked up at the figure, startled. 

"Will you leave us for a moment?" the man asked. His voice was low, almost soft, but it filled the void around them. The boy's breathing quickened as he nodded, and he faded into the mist. The man adjusted his uniform, the gold bars shining on the shoulders of his dress blues. Shepard's extended hand shook as he smiled at her.  

"Dad?" she asked. 

His arms were stiff as he hugged her. He moved to touch her face. The rough calluses on his fingertips scratched against her cheek. "How are you?" he asked. 

Shepard placed her hand over his. She looked into his eyes. "You..." she whispered. 

Grabbing his wrist and twisting it away from her face, Shepard kneed him in the groin before pulling her sidearm. He fell to his knees as the cold metal of her gun rested against his temple.  

"...are not my father," she finished, narrowing her eyes as she watched him. 

The man laughed. The sound rumbled and echoed around them, shaking the ground. He disappeared, suddenly appearing beside her. "We...I...underestimated you. No matter. The bonding is a learning process. My appearance was not intended to deceive; familiar personas from memory have eased the transition in the past. But you are beyond such a necessity. It will make our process...more efficient." 

Shepard watched as the image of her father melted into a shadowy outline of a man, his face concealed except for the occasional glimpse of golden eyes reflected in the light. "Who are you?" she asked. 

"Perhaps it would be more accurate to ask what I am. We have been suspended within the universe; part of everything and nothing."  

"I don't understand," she said. 

"We are invisible within the visible. Here...but never truly seen. We have evolved into a collection of experiences from hosts over many millennia: a collective of energy." 

"But there has to be something...someone...that existed before. Some part that is actually you." 

"Yes. Our species was once individuals. We did not always need a host to survive." 

"What happened?" 

He sighed. "A choice that was not of the Xianan." 

"Xianan? You mean your people?" Shepard asked. 

"The Xianan existed independently from all creatures before the Architects chose a different path for us." He cocked his head to the side, watching Shepard. "You've found one of them. Recently, too. Intriguing. We could find no trace of them ourselves. " 

"The Leviathan," she breathed. 

He nodded. "Before their Reapers arrived, we were used by them. Changed by them for their purposes. And when our existence no longer suited them, they set out to destroy us." 

"Were you the first then? To be attacked by the Reapers?" she asked. 

He paused. "We were among those in the First Cycle. Our symbiotic existence which had been our curse suddenly became our salvation. We joined with lesser beings at the far reaches of the galaxy. Emerging once the Repears returned to their dormancy in order to search out more sophisticated hosts. To search for an answer to stop the destruction during each cycle that followed."