Elias was looking at the snowy coast of the SQSC. His father was holding him on his shoulders. A wide grin split his face; it wasn't the beaches of the Eastern Quadrant, however it still meant a lot to Elias to go to a beach. He had seen pictures of the beaches of the old world before the Dark Times, and they looked simply majestic.
Elias looked down at his father; his face was slightly distorted, ever since the accident. His face had to be hastily stitched together from the limbs of nearby Nightmare Creature corpses. His face had two eyes stitched along the limbs. His voice was also horribly croaky as most of his vocal cords were stitched together by the nearby humans.
"Elias." His father spoke softly, "Tell me, that boy you were with, what are his weaknesses?"
Elias looked at his father with confusion
"Oh... you mean Milo? Right, his weakness was... it was..." Elias looked back out at the snowy coast, the pure white snow was tainted with the flesh of a thousand Nightmare Creatures, and blood poured from torn apart corpses. The blood seeped into the snow, turning the white coast into a deep crimson. His father distorted even further, his normal body jutting out in certain spots, tearing the clothes apart. A hint of realization appeared on Elias's face.
'Your callsign! Your callsign is Fomo!'
Elias remembered the good times at the military base. There was an "adult party" that was thrown in the command center of the base he was on. Elias, a then seventeen-year-old, wanted in. So he stormed the command center with snuck in booze. Only to be met with the officers and sergeants of the base. From then on, he was known as F.O.M.O. Most people didn't bother spelling it out and just referred to him as Fomo.
Elias watched as the flesh that made up his father parted and crawled into the sea. Moments later, the colossus of flesh that had killed him appeared. The faces of his fellows soliders only a couple of inches on their nearly seventy meter body. The colossus made sure that they were the most visible. Their torn and bloody lips moved as the colossus spoke.
"You are so resilient... but how long will that last, Elias? Give up your secrets. Let your soul rest."
Elias didn't answer, staring at the ground. He was in the form of a tiny kid. What could he possibly do? He knew exactly what. He looked up and flipped off the giant mound of living flesh.
The flesh cackled sinisterly, its giant foot raising and stomping the child out. Soon, the environment reverted to its same original snowy, peaceful, calm white. A little kid on his father's shoulders began to walk into view in the distance. Far beyond the white foggy snow, a thousand other coasts had been run through; the result was the same.
***
Milo's wings flared as he dashed through the air once again. The cliffside was a bit of a drop, but his body could handle it. The ground nearby erupted as Milo landed. The fortress was not too far.
Milo scaled the wall with his two left hands, the wings whirred with effort as he overused their air jump. At the castle wall, a fellow construct turned. Looking at Milo, then at Eva. It let out a long beep, its yellow light turning red. Milo set Eva down and drew the Prototype. Before either machine could make a move, the construct seized up. Straightening out, its red light returned to yellow.
"Go to the roof of the main building."
Milo nodded, picking up Eva. He dropped down the wall, careful not to harm the small shacks below him. The vents inside him were fanning out as much heat as possible; his body was still warm to the touch. Eva was barely hanging onto life; the ruby dust had long since stopped flowing. However, her helmet was destroyed, and the stone face underneath was horribly broken. Pieces of the inside jutting out. Milo was thankful she was not in the body of a human; she would've been dead at this point.
Milo watched landed on the roof, his right hand still holding Eva closely. He spotted a small metal hatch that jutted out of the roof. He scrambled over, an optic shot out, scanning his form. A satisfactory beep signaled the door opening. Milo hurriedly scrambled in; the interior was that of a grey basic wall. The room was covered in monitors with multiple views inside, and around the fortress on each screen. In the center sat Carmen, with only a simple blue tunic and trousers.
Carmen practically jumped out of his chair as soon as the door opened. He dashed over to a door on the right, another optic scanned his form, and a digital blue flash appeared. It seemed Carmen had more authority than one of his constructs, well, obviously.
Carmen hurriedly swiped some projects off a table, and Milo wasted no time placing Eva on that table. Milo looked over multiple blueprints; one caught his eye. The blueprint was that of a single-edged blade. It was the blueprint for the Prototype. Still in its infancy.
Milo recalled the description of the Prototype. If its name isn't obvious enough, the Prototype wasn't a complete weapon. It had an incomplete function that Milo hadn't been able to figure out. Perhaps if he lent Carmen the Prototype, he could complete it?
Milo shook the thought away. He watched as Carmen hurriedly got to work, pulling out a familiar chisel and hammer. Carmen likely had a utility aspect, so he trusted that Carmen could stabilize him.
Milo lingered, then once again recalled the Prototype's description... it was incomplete. How come? The blueprint was right here; it seemed very detailed. Why hadn't he completed it?
BOOM
The room rattled, and Milo wasted no time rushing outside. The Prototype hadn't left his hand since he entered. Looking out, swarms of constructs moved to a now destroyed section of the wall. Twenty of the flesh mounds had appeared, the same ones Milo had estimated to be of Fallen Devils.
Milo sheathed his sword; the robots could handle this one. Some arrived on grapple hooks. Swooping and slashing at the flesh with swords. Some used a built-in fist shotgun that exploded bits of flesh and bone off the arms and legs of the living flesh. However, the living flesh was crushing multiple in their arms. Smaller parts of them broke off and destroyed the constructs from inside.
Some of the smaller parts began to kill the civilians. Milo grimaced, his hand coming to the hilt of the Prototype.
'No... they're fake, its a nightmare, don't risk it.
Milo then spotted a young girl running away from one of the smaller parts of flesh. It was the same girl who had given him a high five. Milo cursed himself inwardly. Why did he hold such lofty ideals?
***
Ilane ran as fast as her legs would let her, but it wasn't fast enough. She was scared, terrified, and the squelch sound that the footsteps of those monsters made was approaching. She tripped over a tile, falling to the floor, and her hands and knees had skin scraped off.
She began to cry, she was going to die, she turned around to see the flesh mound mere feet away from her body. It lunged, jagged bone poised for her chest. Ilane covered his head and chest. A terrified scream left her body, perhaps for the last time.
SHING
The bone flew through the air, the only slightly grazing a part of her tunic. Looking past her raised arms, a construct, Carmen's construct, had saved her. The construct raised its blade, slashing the flesh into pieces. The flesh grew inanimate, and the construct turned around. Giving Ilane a happy beep, raising its hand...
Ilane touched its hand gently, giving a soft high five. The construct nodded, then rushed off into the ensuing chaos. Wings flaring as it dashed forward. Ilane didn't hesitate to run off into the center of the fortress, behind a second and more prominent gate.
'I wonder... if that thing was sentient.'