Someone calls me.

  Pleads with me.

  Begs me.

  It is Creation 2-17.

  Yes. It was mediocre. Body. Strength.

  Prone to inferiority. And precisely for this, it is a loyal servant.

  Let us listen. From the deepest height, I immerse myself in it.

  My vitreous eyes reflected in the mirror before me.

  Then I was elsewhere.

  I stood atop a mountain of darkness.

  A being prostrated at the foot of the mount, submerged in the black waters surrounding us.

  It raised its gaze and uttered, “My lord.”

  In its eyes, I saw my reflection. A golden spark. Ironically, my smile was the only light in this world.

  “Tell me, why have you summoned me?”

  I observed it more closely. It seemed troubled. Impossible for beings like us.

  “The servants of the Tricephalus attacked us after we harvested a city… We lost all materials.”

  “It matters not. Eliminate its offspring and continue digging the tunnels.”

  They were just a few lost corpses. Nothing essential to my grand design.

  “No, my lord, there is more.”

  “SPEAK!”

  Why was it so slow and imprecise? It seemed almost “human.”

  “Y-yes! A colossal flying mass of flesh, unlike anything seen before, attacked us! My servant is killing it, but I fear it won’t succeed in time. They’re descending into the depths of the galleries, and I don’t know what that being is capable of!”

  A formless pressure descended upon that motionless place.

  It was me.

  I stared at that wretched failure. It was what it was.

  I did not answer. It deserved no response.

  It had dared to jeopardize what truly matters.

  I watched it writhe as it sank into the trembling world of its own mind.

  I departed, leaving it one final command.

  It must return to my tower.

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  There, I would dismantle and reassemble it, improving it, excising all that was useless and rotten.

  Now, I had to resolve the situation.

  I followed the mental pathways and seized control of its creation.

  I shall call it Saghun. An intriguing design, but clearly primitive and lacking attention to detail.

  Each arm could be fused with two others. In this way, strength and grip would be optimized. Many areas for improvement.

  But now, back to the larva invading my domains.

  However fiercely Saghun tried to devour the creature from within, it proved futile.

  Its flesh continued to grow, filling every void.

  And in turn, what was devoured squirmed and sought to merge with the iron and bones of the creation.

  Moreover, the muscular bands were crushing it—a persistent pressure.

  I infused my essence and spirit into this crude weapon.

  Black liquid began to gush from its maw. Black bile flowed through its body, dissolving every morsel of flesh attempting to insinuate itself.

  If Saghun had once been a worm in the flesh, it was now a venomous parasite. One that left in its wake rotten, necrotic flesh, infected by a truth that knows how to become poison.

  I did not know where the heart of this squirming mass lay—assuming it had one.

  So I devoured as much as I could, leaving putrid tunnels in my wake.

  Then gravity faltered for a moment.

  We were falling into the great underground chamber.

  I had lost.

  The flesh exploded. The larva was scattered everywhere.

  On the walls, on the stone carvings, in the fissures of the earth.

  It was infiltrating my body.

  An eye with lips for eyelids rose into the air.

  It emitted a hateful silver shimmer.

  I hated it because it reminded me of what I cannot forget.

  I heard laughter. No—three laughs.

  Then it fixed upon Saghun for an instant.

  It knew I was there. It gazed at me, mocking and triumphant.

  Then it detonated.

  A silver flash like those from my nightmares.

  Then all the flesh—even the rotten—began to writhe and proliferate like ravenous plants.

  I abandoned the vessel.

  No matter how much black bile it spewed, it was powerless now.

  Slowly, it was enveloped by flesh and tissue, sheathing its cold skeleton of death and iron.

  Here I am again in the tower.

  My absurd reflection confronts me.

  It was hatred.

  Hatred and contempt for what was unfolding.

  That blinded entity had managed to defeat me.

  Those three insipid beings, once capable only of flattery, now opposed me.

  And they succeeded.

  The sky was theirs, the earth mine.

  But now they’ve breached my borders. And swiftly seized a fortress.

  I must retaliate. I must dispatch all my armies at once to reclaim that land.

  I must forge a body capable of harboring more of my power.

  I must wield greater dominion over this world.

  This tower is my home and my prison. My rebirth shall be my liberation.

  The day it happens. I will win.