[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=455-CIgc7co[/youtube][/center]
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The transport rumbled towards its destination with intent. Those in it eemed to be focused on the mission, some perhaps preparing themselves for what they might find at the cavern which contained the artifact. Ice cracked and split underneath them as the vehicle kicked up snow with each movement. Callum was no ace pilot, but he knew how to drive fast and that was what they needed. The snowfall only picked up, as did the winds. The powerful gusts of wind could be heard outside of the vehicle.

Back at the base, the strange monstrosities continued to stalk the metallic interior. Several of them crawled all over the Gladius as they looked for any way into it. One moved towards the windshield but was angered to see it had been covered in a thick metal shielding once the vessel had deactivated. A great design addition for this type of situation. In the halls and various rooms of the facility the beasts moved restlessly. Some scaled the walls as they dug their claws and climbed like ants. Two stared at the vents in the hangar, neither of them could squeeze inside, but there was prey moving around in there. 

Through the front windshield of the transport something could be seen as it stood out amongst the long stretches of snow covered land and glaciers. A downward slope, littered with snow like everything else on the world. A small compass near the front of the transport marked it as the site of cavern, where the mysterious artifact sat. Callum slowed down his stride with the vehicle and approached the descent with caution. The last thing he needed was to crash and practically trap them in all of them there while a blizzard stormed on. As they all went downwards the transport went through the entrance of the cave. The cavern was wide and clear of any snow. It seemed the artifact was the centerpiece of it, there was nothing else of other than some crates, chairs and artificial lights the researchers had placed around it.

Those lights illuminated the corpses of all the scientists, dozens of them dead, no signs of movement or life from any of them. The most peculiar part of the scene was the lack of blood from any of the bodies. It was the total opposite of the visceral scene they had all been greeted by at the research base. Callum quietly exited his seat after parking the vehicle away from the carnage, pulling his eyes away from the sight of so many corpses. He slid his helmet on, not making the same mistake as before. Then they all exited the transport, as Callum spoke out.

[color=a36209]"What the hell happened here?"[/color] He said to no one in particular as he approached the nearest carcass, Callum knelt down next to it and gave it a long look. There were no signs of trauma, no wounds of any kind. All of the bodies in the cave had that same trait. They notably lacked the gruesome holes that covered the guard's corpses from before. This mission just kept getting more strange. As he rose to his feet his gaze turned towards the [url=http://orig05.deviantart.net/5db1/f/2010/228/8/9/artifact_by_yairmor.jpg]artifact[/url] in the center of the cavern. It was perched on some kind of rock pillar, even as he looked at it from a distance it gave him a strange feeling. He unsheathed his assault rifle slowly then walked towards the center of the cave, carefully stepping over the many corpses. It was against his better judgement but he needed a closer look.

Then he fell to his knees as a loud ringing emitted from the artifact, it lit a bright red and Callum moved his hands to his ears. His rifle clanked against the ground in the motion. The cavern seemed to shake as the ancient object screamed out towards the crew in its proximity. Even with his hands to his head the ringing did not subsist, it only intensified as it raged into his and everyone else's ears. Then Callum's life flashed before his own eyes, visions taken from points in his life flew by in an instant. His alcoholic of a father punching him in the jaw all those years ago, the first real fight he got into, his mother shooting up on heroin, these were just some of the sights. It only intensified as his space pirate life became the focus. Him selling people into slavery, beating a disrespectful gang member to death with his bare hands, an assassination attempt on his life, all of these moments and more seemed to be on the negative side of life. The last sight he saw was his capture, imprisonment then jailbreak. 

Callum started to breath heavily as the vision ended, around him his crew experienced the same sensation. They too relived the past in an incredibly intense way. The ringing finally subsided as the artifact continued to glow, then began to pulsate heavily. A voice could be heard in all of their minds, deep, coarse and very dark. Every word seemed to send shivers down each of their spines as the artifact spoke directly into their heads.

[color=92278f]"Primitive creatures of flesh, bone and blood. Have you come here for death? I brought these you see before you here, ended their fragile existences. I toyed with their thoughts, twisted their speech and deified myself before them. They discovered this artifact, aspired, begged to learn more. I gave them what they seeked, it was too much for simple minds. I absorbed their memories, accumulated their  rumination to then cleansed this world of further filth. Now you have come, all of you of ill repute and sin. All of you failed mutations and creations. You stand, now kneel before me."[/color]