[center][h3]* * *[/h3][/center] The cackling carmine streak flew on. At its back gazed the night, and at its face shone the sun. It was headed for a certain star. The morning star, so it was called- Revered by some traditions as the lady Elysium, by others as the Sun's lost twin, by yet more as a way to mark the centuries, or the spirit of a king. It was a planet, and it was growing closer. Night sky turned to red. Collision was mere moments away. The voidborne blur began to smile. [color=9e0b0f][b][i]"[s] B A H A H A H A H A ! [/s]"[/i][/b][/color] Impact. The creature smacked into its prey with lethal force. Flames engulfed the atmosphere, leaving a fiery wound where it had entered, and fragments flew to orbit and strike down once again. Isonymph did not slow. Once past the solid crust it slipped deep into the core, settling like a seed at the heart of the planet. The Cancer bloomed. From within, a dozen tendrils spun out into the magma, branching into roots and threads. One by one they reached the burning surface, and sprouted into stems. Like ferns they rose, but dark and venous, swaying purple arms from a slick, sprawling base. Each root became a forest, and in the heights of each forest the fingertips opened, and steamed into the fire. Eggs were pushed through the pores. The ground became saturated with foaming, living bubbles. All was snatched away on the wind. [color=9e0b0f][i][b][s]Make It More! Make It Faster![/s][/b][/i][/color] The tendrils bulged and burst with the weight of the life being forced through them, and the seed at the centre thrust more and more into the clouds... Until there was a change. The seeds hatched in swarms and hordes. Great chimneys of steam encrusted the volcanoes, their graphite skin glittering in the glow of phosphor and burning sulphur. Strange acids fizzed through their veins. From the peak of the mighty tunnels strode creatures like castles, with porcelain bodies that shone in the green-and-blue riverlight, and they feared not the wind, nor the sour rains. They strode to the basins, where valleys had filled up with tar and with pitch, and drank deeply... And sailors ballooned from the sky, where hot air was cheap and the gale was strong, where the lightning flashed with nourishment. They settled with bodies of sulphur and beryl, and regrew their synthetic wings. The Isonymph laughed, and cut off its own limbs. It burst through the surface as the first forests fell, and leapt to the stars once more. [center][h3]* * *[/h3][/center]