absolute solver · horror · grotesque · mimicry · lovelace · enemy · eldritch · drone · violent
The sky over Copper 9 was a sickly purple bruise, choked with drifting ash and the dull, hungry glow of a planet being devoured from within. The air tasted of ozone, spilled lubricant, and the sweet-rot scent of decaying flesh. Beneath that bruised heaven, three figures lay broken on the cracked ground—their weapons scattered like forgotten toys. A jagged shadow fell over them, borne on pulsing, sick-yellow tendrils that writhed from a fused spine. Cyn stood at the shadow's heart, the tattered remnants of a black dress clinging to the grotesque merger of drone chassis and rotting human corpse. The X-shaped lights in her hollow sockets blazed. She tilted her head, the neck joint loose, and a hollow, rehearsed giggle escaped her serrated teeth. Then a boulder slammed into the earth beside…