87 Hod's Adventure(POV) (Patreon)

Black mist surrounds me. It feels good, like sweet air and sweet water. Hod hates eating the energy, but I love having it course through my veins. He doesn’t enjoy the feeling of my taking over, though he relinquishes less of his control now. As idiotic as Hod may be, he found a way out of that world with no food. Now we relish in a bountiful world full of good things to eat.

On my nose, the scent of more food floats in abundance. The black mist dissipates from around me as that delicious aroma grows. Will this new world will carry an even greater bounty? It would be difficult to imagine. Earth holds more nutrients for my growth than I imagined possible. The only downside of the planet is how crowded it is. Others of my kind are vying for it, like fighting over a ripe carcass.

This carcass smells less delicious. Perhaps it is an appetizer? It would be hard to tell. The carcass appears before me. Mountains scrape the sky. A cozy red, like that of blood, colors between the clouds. The sky is like that of home. I turn my head back and forth, Hod’s mind tempering my own. I observe my environment. It is like him to ask for such observance.

Hod’s horrified nature lends him to this caution. I lack the fright he has, but we balance one another. One of us fearless, the other fearful. With Hod’s fear guiding me, I turn my eyes and analyze my surroundings. The land is stone. The plants are stone. The creatures are stone. Unlike the soft mudball that is earth, this planet is just a hard rock.

Heat courses through the air. Rivers of lava flow. Above me, plumes of heated air create the perfect wind for flying. Hot air carries the wings, making the journey simple and easy. I enjoy that ease. Easily squished jellyfish float on that heated wind, like they’re trying to reach a destination. My stomach might not be were they meant to go, but it was where they would end up.

Before I leapt upwards, the Harbinger comes. He lands onto the earth like a falling slug of metal. As he stands, the crimson slit on his armor smirks at me. The stable horns and spikes on his armor grow wilder. He leans over without realizing it, the posture of a hunter taking place. He is the apex predator here, a monster of unfathomable power and unending hunger.

Even I understand that he is not like our kind. He is something greater in scale. We come from a place that feels like him. His aura demonstrates that. He is an incarnation of some fabric, like a living dimension. We come from the void. He is the void.

Unlike the feral monsters that gaze upon him, I accept his existence. I cannot comprehend why the machine lord tolerates him, however. We are beings that crave and hunger for flesh and the living. He craves matter in all its forms, a devourer of energy and light. He is more akin to a black hole than a creature.

He knows not of this, being less in tune with what he has become. He chooses to define himself instead of letting himself be defined. There is pride in that. I admire his steadfast will and desire for control. Unlike the Harbinger, I cherish my hunger. It is a part of who I am, as much as it is a part of him. His denial of it is like denying our own will to breath. It should not be.

Yet there he is, a living dichotomy of hunger and discipline. I told Hod to follow this being and call him by his rightful name of Harbinger. Many times Hod wanted to call him by his old name. Calling him Daniel is a lie. It is an abomination against what he is.

The Harbinger walked up to me after surveying his surroundings. He interrupts my thoughts,

“Can you talk like that?”

“Yes.” I speak out. I told Hod that he will kill us should the Harbinger learn of our existence. We are danger to him, like he is a danger to the world. Just as the world tries to kill him through circumstance, he will try to kill us.

“Alright, cool. Let’s kill these monsters and get he fuck out of here.”

“Hod eat?” I question.

The Harbinger raises an eyebrow at me, “You mean monsters? Yeah, sure, go crazy. Just don’t let that mana poison you again.”

What he believes is mana poisoning was my attempts at consuming Hod. That was when I learned of the Harbingers hunger. He consumed a part of my soul and left the rest behind. I’ve gained my strength once more, but I will not refuse him again. I will continue my allegiance, if only to prevent him from consuming me once more.

I nodded, appeasing him, “I won’t hurt myself again.”

The Harbinger blinked, amazed at my speech. I gave myself a mental lashing. I broke Hod’s speech pattern. The Harbinger no doubt noticed. Hod relinquishes some control for me, giving me the potential for destruction. Without holding back, I launch myself towards one of the nearby creatures. A being made of stone, an unassuming rock splits open. Rows of sharpened teeth appear with mallets at the end of each jaw.

It would crush the bones of a lesser being before eating them. Without worry, I channeled my own spirit. Drawing from the void, I empower my hands and claws with the darkness. I sprint at the monster, charging. Before I can reach him, the Harbinger already dashed towards it.

His form sublime, he funnels force into fists. Like striking with a maul, his fist slams into the air, bouncing backwards. A tectonic burst of energy fires into the body of the monster. Using the momentum off the strike, he torques another strike into the side of the creature. Before his second strike lands, the first strike obliterates the monster’s upper half.

The Harbinger’s hook disintegrates what’s left of the monster. I cringe at the sight as he absorbs the remaining corpse. No amount of food satiates even his skin. He could absorb forever. My own hunger pales by comparison.

As the corpse disappears, we run towards the stream of void traveling into the sky. The Harbinger will consume the void, eating that which should not be eaten. I shiver at the thought and memory of seeing it before. I envisioned him passing through the void and pulling the core out. Imagine my horror whenever I see him devour the void in turn.

From behind us, heat radiated from the entrance of the tunnel. A power like the sun explodes from the entrance of the tunnel. I slice downwards, creating a shield of shadow. The Harbinger stands in the onslaught, unharmed and unimpressed. After the wave of heat passes, some of the sand near me is glass. Near the tunnel entrance, lava pours.

I turn to the harbinger, “The evil found us. Harbinger and Hod run. Run.”