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[b][i]~~~~~~Hollow Bastion / Factory~~~~~~[/i][/b]

Hallways that had been rather large and spacious the further one travelled higher through the structure, quickly shifted into tight fitting corridors once the visitor traversed deeper underground within the Factory. Worked on in time with the reconstruction of Bastion Castle itself, the foundations of the Factory were clearly much older than the top half led to believe. Pipes and vents lining the walls and ceiling of the small hallways gurgled with life, the puffs of steam only rarely appearing which the metal pipes, many of which criss-crossed and coiled around themselves in some places, seemed to constantly be busy, moving its liquid contents from one place to another. 

The entire lower floors seemed to be one single machine, the pipe and vents working in time with the odd group of pistons and gears, further making the corridors even more claustrophobic. Though some of the pathways would veer and branch off, most likely to some other separate chambers throughout the numerous floors, for Nomis is seemed his focus was solely on a single, specific path, arriving on each new floor always ending with him taking another of the elevators down. With one of the more spacious, albeit oldest and most common looking, elevator reaching the bottom, the masked maids that stood waiting soon bowed their heads, before matching Nomis’ striding pace by his side. 

“I trust my nephew has already begun?” 

“Yes, Lord Nomis…the preparations are nearly complete…”

“Yes, Sir Clacverk…the preparations have been coming along well…”

It was at those words that the three figures left the main hallway, finally entering one of the lowest parts of the Factory, second only to the core room just beneath their feet. Though the machines that made up the room were clearly responsible for the processing of the Factory itself, the swirling dark colours just barely visibly through the single section of glass covered floor, revealed the pure chaotic force that was being kept in check underneath. As the core itself continued with its general operations below, the small team of cloaked figures were still ever busy, attaching large devices in various places throughout the room, all leading to a single small structure just above the ground where Nomis and a few others now stood. 

“My Lord…preparations…completed…” Spoke one of the cloaked scientists, the slow shambling walk it gave as it made its way towards Nomis, was something all the others within the room shared, as was the laboured way they spoke, as if every word they said was just as difficult to get out as the last. 

“Very well then. I will make the last changes needed. I do not want any mistakes.” The tone of Nomis’ voice was still that of an agitated rage, still slowly bubbling beneath the surface even after hours when it first appeared. 

With the normal, tight grip on his cane, the man first glanced towards one of the large machines that hung off an edge along the second level railing. Reaching out with his free hand, the dark gears that made up the casing soon began to turn, building into a high speed and causing the small pistons to begin pumping pressure within it. It was only a matter of seconds until the other two devices, each one almost identical to the other, were quietly rumbling with the first machine, the pressure being built up inside them all soon reaching some kind of required level, as the tubes that connected the devices to the small structure in the middle soon started to force the thick dark liquid through it. 

Soon the entire room was humming with the newly added machines, the structure which all seemed to lead into just as lively as the others, the central chamber spinning the see-through tubes it held, all while a new dark purple liquid was slowly being drip fed into them, the entire process taking a rather slow time to fill to completion. Though slow, the moment the first layer of tubes were filled and replaced by empty ones within the structure by the cloaked figures, it was one of the maids that immediately plucked one of the full vials from the others, offering it to Nomis who silently took and examined it. 

Once compared side to side with the dark liquid that flowed through the pipes, that which now filled the tubes could easily be considered different if one didn’t see the entire process. Cracking the seal as the other maid returned to Nomis’ side with an ordinary looking bar of steel, the well-dressed man proceeded to pour the now hissing liquid along the shiny surface of the metal, watching it almost stick upon contact and slowly run down the sides like tar. 

Clutching his hand as much as he could around the lump of steel and liquid that clung to it, it was only a matter of seconds for the metal to disappear in a small glowing display through the cracks of Nomis’ fingers. In the bar’s place, was now a long shard of metal, something that resembled the same substance of the gears that the man always created, though now with the same faint glow that the filled vials had.

Gently twisting it with his hand in order to see the jagged design it turned into, Nomis seemed to give no notice to his two maids that arrived with another of the cloaked scientists, his back soon revealed as the two masked women torn the cloak along his slumping back and showing the now paled skin and dark purple lines and growths that must have been growing beneath the skin for some time. 

It wasn’t more than a couple seconds after this that Nomis suddenly jabbed the shard into the cloaked figure’s back, and though no sound of any kind of pain was heard, the figure did stumble away from Nomis and the others, although barely. The transformation was almost immediate. Growing to a clearly inhuman size, the once small hunched figure had been replaced by some kind of Heartless creature, its body covered in the familiar dark surface that all other pure versions had in common. With its long arms and torso it best resembled those of the Darkside variety, though a lot smaller in comparison. The biggest thing that made it rather unique though, was that of the wire-like frame that ran along its body, like that of an exo-skeleton of some sorts. The shard that was the cause of this rapid change was still present even afterwards, the dark metal frame eventually coiling around the creatures back before entangling itself around the shard like overgrowing vines.

Watching as the great beast hunched down towards himself, Nomis’ grip on the cane grew tighter as did his clenching teeth, showing this not having been the desired effect he wanted.

“Another failure…why must every attempt, never work?!!” Roared Nomis, the sheer rage coming from him causing the machines and those connected to them to shake and rumble, the vibrations running throughout multiple levels easily, all with that of the pain filled cries and whimpers of the newly created Heartless as it fell to its knees. 
Glaring at the creature, Nomis’ anger seemed to lower at least for now, his gaze turning to the still running machines that continued to fill the new batches of vials. 

“This can have some further use, I suppose…”