User:Saberstorm/Madness of Assimilation

Forward by 543 Humble Matrix
If you are recieving this message, than you are either a Reclaimer, or a Friend. For how long this beacon has been transmitting, I do not know. I only know that I am long gone, and this is not the last beacon you will find in the days to come.

Madness of Assimilartion is a published text baised on writings and recordings from the log of the former Spartan known as Sara, now known as the Queen of the Antis'Grafen Hive Collective, during the attempt by the Flood to infect her. While confusing and non-linear (some if it was probably writen in retrospect), it does provide insight into exactly what happens during infection by the Flood, and possibly a way to overcome such infection. Most of it seems to be the internal dialog and conflict she felt during the traumatic experience.

Due to the fact that the text itself is some sort of writing system the Hive has developed, I will attempt to translate passages in order of difficulty rather than attempting to lay out a non-cronological text cronologically. As you find and recieve further transmissions, my hope is that you will come to understand an event that changed the fate of this galaxy.

Like our Father's before Us, We too now go on a Great Journey!

- 543 Humble Matrix

251220-Sin
I can't breathe, so I tear away the now useless helmet. It took most of the damage from that thing's attack, but I'll still have a bruise on my jaw for a while, if I live that long.

They're coming towards me like walking corpses, which is what they are, I guess. I can hear their whispers in the back of my head, like a dreadful but alluring song. For a while, I was the one who sang a song to them, turning them on my enemies. Now, I have no power over them. They've become too strong.

Two of them charge, and I fake a fall, lashing out with both boots. One of them bursts into fragments from the blow, but the other's got shields and just bounces off the nearest wall. I leap up to catch the third one swinging at me, ripping its arm off and using that as a weapon.

It's too late to see the small one that was climbing over the arm I just tore free. It latches onto my neck, and I instantly know I'm doomed.

Then I see faces, my fellow Spartans. Are they still alive? Do they even know I am? In that moment, I knew what I had to do. I would not fall without a fight. I will die a Spartan!

I can feel the tendrils slipping down my back, the pain almost unbearable. Agony has rendered me imobile, but it doesn't stop me from defying the sudden pressure to die.

No!

The pressure increases, like a snake coiling around its prey. The tendrils spread, and my body starts to quiver and move without my command.

No!

My body is trembling... swelling... I'm starting to loose my sight.

''NO! My body! MINE!''

"NO!"

I don't recognize my voice for a moment, but in that moment, the pressure eases. In that moment, I take my chance. Like the Grunts I used to trick into misusing their plasma grenades, I turn all my attention on the parasite inside me. Much like the snake is squeezing me, I mentally wrap myself around that bug in my chest and crush it.

The presure eases up, but it's still there, surounding me in every single one of those corpses that are standing around me. I can still feel the mutations working, but it's slower, much slower. I snarl.

"Mine."

As if the mind trying to break me realizes that I'm still alive, one of the corpses lunges towards me, a jagged piece of metal in its hand to kill me.

Red is all I can see. I don't have a weapon anymore, but I don't care. I am my own weapon now. A scuffle starts, but I'm weak from days of fighting for my survival. Taking a chance, I bite my enemy, tearing off a hunk of flesh. Then I loose it. Whether it's the monster controling me and my enemy, or whether it was just me reacting to days of near-starvation, I don't know, but I don't care. The hunger consumes me, and I consume my opponent. Blood begins to drip from me, but I don't know or care who's blood it is. The snake tried to crush me, and I bit it hard. It is still coiled around me, but now it is warry.

The other corpses back away, and I can smell the fear of my enemy. I smile.

"I am not your slave," I say, adressing my enemy, the Flood, directly. "I am your sin."