The Depth of Secrets  

{disclamer in author notes} { 1 picture that should have been added a long time ago} 

Through the voices in the dark, Aaron flashed his little fire to rusty rail rods along the path…And so, with a vise grip, Aaron and Marvin yanked a rod off its place and quickly used it to fill the hole left by the broken locks! With a bang the door shut… and with the bang, Aaron breathed a sigh of relief. 

But at that moment, another bang hit the door! And while dust below in the air, Aaron shines his fire in the blackness of the window… and shrouded by that darkness, was the face of a man with black eyes and horns made of bones…with a mouth that resembles a beast… 

[what the hell is going on in this city!] said Aaron as he stared at the creature. 

[Aaron! We need to go!] replied Marvin with his hands on Aaron's shoulders. 

[I know, it's just… I want to understand what is up with this city! Why are monsters so attractive to this peculiar city? My... city…] replied Aaron 

[sigh, look… kid…in this world there could be a dozen different reason… and sometimes… it's just better off not knowing… Now, we can question life's mysteries later… right now we need to worry about escaping!] replied Marvin with concern 

[umm… Ya…] replied Aaron dis-heartedly 

Breder POV 

As Breder sat in a jail cell, that was set by alien hands… alien hands that looked all too familiar to Breder… 

{Damn... I had my suspicions... But after seeing this...these aesthetic cultural writings and machines… it could only have been made by them… Predators!} thought Breder to himself in annoyance as he continued to study the prints on the walls. 

{Sigh, I know I shouldn't be surprised… it's just another thing to worry about…} continued Breder to himself as he looked at his hands and counted… 

{humans... Dwarfs... elves… monsters… gods…and now Predators…} said Breder to himself with a wicked smile before a final thought passed his mind: 

{Excellent!} 

But his excitement was interrupted by a scream of a beast! Hearing the scream Breder and his kids climbed the walls of the jail halls and watched as a group of creatures born of death, slowly came to pass under them from the shadows and fog! 

A horde of beast that smelled of rot, and resembled that of a group of giant deers' and men put into one! Where their skin was pale white and their rigged bones could be seen just under its thin surface! With a bloody mouth and black eyes, the beasts walked in a drag… For chains still hindered their movements… However, though they were heavy, they weren't the main cause of their distress… 

For the beasts walked in bloody spiked spears! Spears encompassed their entire bodies, while still draining their blood! Seeing such a spear sent a shiver down Breder's back… for he knew what these spears were… 

{Stalker bleeder spears! How is this thing still alive?} said Breder to himself as he stared at the beast… 

But as he stared at the group of beasts, they suddenly stopped moving… as if catching a sniff in the air…and with that sniff came a silent stiffness over the bodies of the creatures… A silence that was only broken by the beast's consent-dripping blood, as it slowly fell from the spears in their backs… 

[drip…drip...] 

A sound that echoed… like a beat…and with the clanging of the chains at their feet, the creatures slowly moved their heads to the sky… and with the sky in their view, they stared at Breder, as a deep growl came from the depth of their stomachs! Perpetually starving, the creatures drooled pungent spit… while their tongue slid side to side as they jumped for Breder! 

Their large hands nearly reaching… but still falling short…though it looked silly in their movements… in its attempts… Breder didn't laugh… nor did he find it funny… because he knew what these creatures were… and it brought him slight fear… 

[Ding!] chimed Vice as he was about to continue… 

{It's okay Vice... I already know what these things are... Just tell me… are they the same kind of mythical creatures from my old world? And if they are…can their curse affect the aliens or me?} said Breder interrupting. 

[Yes... Unfortunately, it is the same type of creature from your former world… and yes, all are susceptible to the wendigo curse! Even the old ones' minions…] replied Vice. 

{is there a way to remove the curse?} asked Breder not mincing his words. 

[...] 

{well?} repeated Breder with haste, as the group of wendigo eyes fell on Breder kids 

[umm… the short answer is NO! There is no way to remove the curse other than death…] replied Vice 

{Damit! But wait… if this is the work of a star monster… where is the star monster? And better yet…can't it be reasoned with? After all, he should just be another guy from Earth… right…} asked Breder in haste. 

[you can try to reason with it if you can find it… but do you really want to take the risk? It only takes one bite or a deep enough scratch to make you a… 'monster'] replied Vice 

{Ya…your right… it may not be worth the risk…} replied Breder, who suddenly squinted his eyes and asked: 

{Vice… if by chance I get the opportunity…} 

[it won't work… I know what you're thinking and the answer is no… the bodies of these monsters are colder than ice… thus making it impossible to hatch a xenomorph successfully… and if by chance you succeeded, there's no guarantee it wouldn't inherit the curse…] replied Vice 

{Damn… that shoots down that plan…} said Breder for a moment as he looked to his children… 

{umm… this is going to be hard… sense we can't engage them in a mele recklessly… that only leaves long-range attack like acid spit… Shit… wish I had one of the four with me now….} thought Breder to himself 

{sigh… alright kids listen up… the monster right below us are special… I don't want to see any of you engage in a mele unless you have to… and if you do… you better not get bit or a deep scratch!} said Breder with a sharp tone 

Short Intermission: 

With an explanation, the ceiling dust gently fell… while the dark covered the secret… As a body lay twitching… convulsing in discomfort… with shivers of cold flashes… an alien struggled as its stomach felt like an empty hollow hole… in ramparts high above the floor… lay a corpse of a wendigo with a hole through its head! 

Back to Breder: 

[but father… what happens if one of us do get bit?] replied a random alien 

Back to intermission: 

With an ever need to feed growing… the alien… could feel his teeth chattering… while he held up his arms to his head… arms that bled with an infectious wound… with uncontrolled drool… the alien felt his mind slipping… as he slammed his head against the wall to gain some semblance of peace… but with the final bang…all that was left was a mind filled with nothing but hunger as round horns that curled grow from the sides of its head! Then with a howl so dark... It caused Aaron to raise his gun into the air... While Marvin felt his heart sink… 

Intermission over: 

To his child's questions, Breder paused for just a moment and said with a heavy heart: 

{then either me or one of your brothers will have to put you down! Listen… Getting injured by one of these things isn't something we can just heal back at home… any type of damage might lead to a contagion that can spread among the hive! 

Fearing their father's words, the sons nodded as they stared below them at the weird huffing and puffing creatures and asked: 

[Father, if we can't fight them in a mele how are we to kill them? This location closely connects to our tunnel system.] 

{let me worry about the tunnel system… I have an idea… as for killing them…} replied Breder with a pause as he studied his weak children for a second and sighed, even louder as he thought: 

{damn… not a single warrior out of the three! And to make it worse all three are just the base model of xenomorph! From a normal human no less! Not one single rarity among the three of them… sigh, I can't say that I'm shocked though… most of what has been coming to the hive lately is nothing but humans… I should at least be happy none of them came from a human child…But then again… this might not be a bad thing…} 

{you three! When did you molt into your adult forms?} asked Breder 

To his question, they responded together: 

{we just finished our molt two days ago…why? Is that important Father?] 

{yes and no… this might just be a blessing in disguise…} replied Breder with a smile 

[and why is that?] The children pressed 

{why? You ask… because it's time to evolve again!} said Breder with passion. 

[evolve... Already?] replied the children in excitement! 

{let's see… how about two spitters and one warrior that sounds about right…} replied Breder as he completely ignored his children's inquiry and shock. 

[ding… Breder… I know you are excited, but… not enough time has passed for them to be ready to evolve naturally like the others…and even if they were old enough, it would take a day or more for them to finish their evolution… and I'm sure you don't want to sit here that long so…are you perhaps… under some pretense that you can use your points to lower their evolution time?] chimed Vice with animated squints for eyes. 

{Can I not? Doesn't the all-powerful store have something for this situation?} replied Breder suspiciously 

[for you yes… but for your 'children' I'm sorry but no…] replied Vice with a shoulder shrug 

{but if it works for me, why can't I use it on them?} replied Breder 

[Because it works with your machine makeup… while they… on the other hand…are made of flesh and bones… duh… >.>] replied Vice with an eye roll. 

{but that doesn't make sense…} replied Breder with a cheeky smirk 

[???] replied Vice waiting for Breder to continue 

{Look… Vice, if I can purchase any fully evolved aliens off the store… then why can't I just use the same method on an already-base type xenomorph? I mean… these xenomorphs are based on drones like the store gave me… they did come from normal humans after all... so…} 

[umm... I see where you're going with this… and in theory, it could work… I would just have to adjust the mana output… and seeing that I don't have to form a full xenomorph but just evolve a preexisting one… the cost may even be reduced somewhat…] replied Vice in an animated hand on his chin. 

{see! That perfect! Just do that then!} replied Breder with a thumbs up. 

[now, hold on… this… isn't how it's supposed to work…] replied Vice a little hesitantly 

{so? Who cares! Let's just try it anyway! What the worst that can happen…} replied Breder. 

[well... It could fail and you would lose whatever points I had to use…and remember I said may reduce… it may even increase in cost instead!] replied Vice 

{meh... That's fine I should have loads of points to spare at the moment anyway…} replied Breder with smugness. 

[...] 

{Vice…why the long pause… I do have a lot of points, right?} said Breder with a concerned voice. 

[well… the good news is that you have an adequate number of points to give it a try, but are you sure you want to use them for this… that ranks 3 human Rashad, did give you loads, and not to mention all the humans you've killed during the war but… still it feels like a waste…] 

{a waste…how so?} question back Breder 

[well… let's look at your situation from a few different angles… like one: why use so many points, when all you need to do is be careful and sneak your way out of this current predicament… even if only you alone, manage to escape if you get my meaning… this could be a situation where over preparing could bite you in the butt later, when you really need the points… 

Two: let's say you do evolve them, there is still no guarantee that they will all live… would you not regret it later if they all die? 

Three: this may not even work…and let's say it does… congratulations! You've just spent a finite resource and only made normal xenomorphs with nothing special to show for it!] replied Vice with sarcasm 

{umm… you make good points and I do understand where you are coming from… But} said Breder as he stared into his starry eye's kids… 

{You're asking me to risk throwing away their lives… without even trying… I know to you it may seem natural to do so… since they are as you put it 'normal Xenos' but even then… I don't want to repeat the same mistake I made when I fought that rank 4… after all so, many have already lost their lives… 

And if that isn't a good enough reason for you… then think of it as my safety… as you said I could try sneaky but what if I get in a so-called 'predicament" and I need their evolved strength but don't have it? After all, Sometimes the now is more important than the future…} replied Breder with determination. 

[...] replied Vice with an awkward pause for a moment before saying: 

[very well…]