Festering Evil: Shattered Past Book 4

A Psychopath's Promise

Under the Cosmodrome lurking in the shadows is more than just spiders and Hive. A being forged from madness and potentially the spawn of the Devil himself hides here. His name is Upgrade. An AI created by Rasputin to torture those who dared enter his realm. He was all powerful, until thirteen years ago, when he was bested in battle not once, but twice. Upgrade grimaced at the memory of him being bested by the very thing he was built to corrupt and eventually destroy. He grunted, however, he came across something that made him intrigued wandering around the caves. 

It was a body. 

Not just anybody, but one that was torn in half, perfectly sliced down the middle of its abdomen. What startled Upgrade, however, was what was going on with the half corpse. Somehow, it was still moving, breathing. Living. 

"Hello," Upgrade said to it. 

"W-who are you?" It asked him. 

A sly thought crept through his mind, and an idea flourished. A means of getting his revenge. "Let us just say that I am a friend." He said pinching his claws together. The body was that of a former Eliksni Kell. One that had fallen down here some thirteen years ago after his duel with Sidriks, the now leader of all Eliksni. Vosik was his name. "I can see that you are in need of help. I can return you to your former glory you see.." Upgrade said to him. 

"Y-you can?" 

"Oh, I can do more than that my friend." He said with a malevolent smile with his back facing the Kell. "I can make you better." 

"Make me better?" Vosik asked looking at the figure. He was robotic in nature, but his limbs had the texture of flesh. He had luminescent red streaks going all over his body and the symbol of a strange faction on his shoulders. Upgrade turned to face Vosik. 

"I have access to a power beyond your comprehension," Upgrade remarked looking at the former Kell. Vosik took in the full appearance of the being. His body appeared to be more plated and rigid as he walked up to him. "An old technology capable of creating anything that I desire," Upgrade said eerily as a stream of the nanomachines crept up from around the depths of the cavern. Vosik watched as the machines flowed upwards around Upgrade. How shall I demonstrate? Upgrade thought to himself as the machines flowed around him. That's it! He exclaimed in his head. 

The mites then formed several black and red Eliksni soldiers with the same symbol on their cloaks as Upgrade had on his shoulders. Vosik's for eyes widened looking at the soldiers. "What sorcery is this?" He muttered. 

"This is SIVA, my friend," Upgrade replied having another stream heading up to Vosik. "Now, I will give you a new body, better and stronger than one made of flesh. Only if you agree to serve me." Upgrade said devilishly smiling at the Kell beneath his feet. 

"You dare?! I am a Kell; I take orders from no one." Vosik spat at Upgrade. 

"Correction, you were a Kell. Need I remind you how you got into this predicament in the first place?" Upgrade said callously. Vosik glared at him oddly. 

"How did you know?" Vosik inquired lifting up his torso on his hands. 

"I have eyes and ears everywhere Vosik," Upgrade said to him ominously. "Look at you, quite literally half the man you used to be." He stated sounding pitiful about the predicament of the former Kell. Vosik looked angry at Upgrade for a moment. Upgrade knew that fire in his eyes. That was the fire of someone who yearned for revenge. Upgrade smirked, letting some of his sharp teeth show. "You're angry aren't you?" He asked him. 

"I am. That bastard Velkor took my power and my people away from me." He said cholerically. Had he not been standing in front of Vosik, he would have laughed maniacally on the spot. He loved it when emotions got involved, especially anger. 

"I can give you what you want Vosik..." Upgrade said to him. "Let's be honest, it's either serving me and my every whim, or wasting your existence as half a man down here in these caves. The choice is yours." Upgrade said to him walking away. Vosik grimaced at having to take orders again. He despised that from when he was but a Captain. However, he had no other choice, serve this new master or rot in this cavern for the rest of his existence. 

"Fine. You have a deal." Vosik replied grudgingly. 

Upgrade smiled with his eyes wide. "Okay then," He said walking over to Vosik's half body. "Now, this isn't going to hurt at all," Upgrade said as a wave of SIVA mites came it to the room with him. "It's going to hurt a lot." He said quickly as the nanomachines encompassed Vosik's lower half. Vosik howled in pain and his body started to convulse violently. 

"DEAR GODDESS THIS HURTS!" He exclaimed as the Siva began to form his legs. 

"That's your nerve endings finally reconnecting with your body from it being severed. The electrical signals had nowhere to circulate, they've been building up and up and up. Until..." He said with his voice trailing off. Upgrade had a devilish smile on his face again. He loved causing misery to sentient things. "There you go," He said with Vosik standing up to face him. He had an entirely new set of armor on infused with the SIVA mites, his shoulders were black pyramids with the red glowing edges. 

"What is this?" Vosik asked standing up off the ground. He took in the appearence of his body, glancing slightly at his new armor. 

"I already told you, it's SIVA." Upgrade replied. "And you will have your revenge, as soon as I have mine." 

"What, but we had a deal!" Vosik exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know," Upgrade replied malevolently. "Also, I said that you would get your revenge, however, I never told you anything about mine," Upgrade said to him. 

"Where do we begin?" Vosik asked his new master. 

"We begin by building a new House for you to command." Upgrade replied. "We shall call it...." Upgrade said to himself placing his clawed hand on his chin. "The Cult of Ascension. What do you think Vosik?" Upgrade asked him. Vosik's eyes then changed color, from white to red. 

"Yes......Master." 

"OHOHOHOHOOHO! I LOVE THE SOUND OF THAT!" He exclaimed echoing throughout the cavern.