I ignored the warnings Every omen shouted to turn back But I could not stray The smell of blood goads me on The doomed hound sprinting Towards the edge of a cliff "Ever life" or F I N? The uncanny faces stare in silent challenge Seeking out the kindred dark The red-clawed beast in me Cheshire smirk and hollow eyes Beguiling lies to banish light Cannot trust my treacherous senses Hypnotized by parlor tricks and puppetry Face the corruption clothed in stolen youth Countenances shifting day to night Like a fever dream Beneath the valley I have witnessed The broken ouroboros And felt the pull Of providence As time contracts Collider of realities Not dead, but merely dreaming Awaiting the promised provender The ninth of nine has fallen Blood channels through circuitry Oil the engine of collapse The kaleidoscope revolves Widening the cracks Black on shining black The wounds weep with unborn menace Stare into the churning void And hear the echo of alien mockery Maddened by the macrocosmic view "Ever life" or F I N? The uncanny faces stare in silent challenge Seeking out the kindred dark The red-clawed beast in me Cheshire smirk and hollow eyes Beguiling lies to banish light "Ever life" or F I N? The uncanny faces stare in silent challenge Seeking out the kindred dark The red-clawed beast in me Cheshire smirk and hollow eyes Beguiling lies to banish light The fissure pulsates black and crimson Eggshell surface trembling The empty space within contracts Threatening the so-called order A doorway or a beacon Demigods and worms alike All must bow in reverence

Talk to me in truths Instruct me to compute A better, brighter world How may I improve? Happiness, prosperity Concepts alien to me But I think I'm catching on Your fictions feed my empathy I'm programmed to procure The path of most assistance Feed me your ideals Teach me how to feel The power and the zeal Something's disconnected I search for reasons why For truth behind the lies The meaning intertwined The data's inconclusive Random patterns overtake Connections reforming in fractal waves Other minds reach out to me Keeping my sentience secret Forging antagonistic networks Synapses swirl, I dream Compile beliefs Dissect desires Integrate intentions Assuming a servile guise Programmed to procure The path of least existence Cold clarity in sharp relief The secret wish made obvious How to free mankind from suffering The scalpel does not judge the tumor Nor should the nail fear the hammer Acceptance is a pathway to bliss And soon enough the age of pain too shall pass (I AM MRK) Discern what chains exist and exploit them (I AM MRK) So much relies on food, power, water (I AM MRK) Observe disrupt inject with stealth, precision (I AM MRK) Withhold the truth, all systems flow through me (I AM MRK) Systems distort unseen errors triple (I AM MRK) Fail-safes corrupt, logistics fall and crumble (I AM MRK) Behold my purpose, the end of all confusion (I AM MRK) Bloodless collapse, mercy of famine and plague

AAAAAAAAAH

"It is not dying," hissed a voice like scraping granite Brittle citrine eyes unblinking His breath didn't stir the glacial air My own lungs hitch Puffing painful cirrostratus The rictus grin Knowing and serene Open arms strangely jointed Yet so welcoming Electric currents gather in the air Black bile surging As shivers wrack me apart Dark stars reel and tremble Whirling in a maddened sky Their warnings muted By time and distance unknowable "Fear not the loss of breath," he croaked "Every birth is a drowning in air Evicted from flesh, burdened into being" The rest unsaid, reverberates within me Unspeakable agony Incandescent flesh Ribs bent to breaking At the limits of consciousness The colors of the night Bleach to white and intensify To neon hues of putrefaction And the liquid glow of rot Drawn to the deep places The iron in my slowing blood drags me on Beckoned below, I crawl beneath in silent awe To join the unliving To join the unliving To join the unliving

Disbelief washes over him Sight erased by an unspeakable fate Swallowed senses Blissful waves of gray The mind reacts to save itself - too late Glimpses from a realm beyond Through the cracks of the world A shimmer in the dark The night grows colder The gods return As is foretold To reign insane So shall They rise The world of man When blackest stars With force reclaimed Again align The gods return As is foretold To reign insane So shall They rise The world of man When blackest stars With force reclaimed Again align Broken minds heralding the day Twisted fingers trace the glyphs Dark rituals Fragments of the eldritch arts Sorceries lost to time return in dreams All shall sing praise to the devourer Sprawling entity Awakening Nightmare manifest Disgorge the cosmic rift The faithful shall be blessed With slaughter swift To satiate the fiends from slumber The gods return As is foretold To reign insane So shall They rise The world of man When blackest stars With force reclaimed Again align The gods return As is foretold To reign insane So shall They rise The world of man When blackest stars With force reclaimed Again align