Norbanus

He didn't know where he was when he woke up. There was only pain, and metal. The doctors kept telling him that he was fine now, there was nothing to worry about. But there was everything to worry about- what happened to him? Why was his own flesh and blood replaced with cold metal? Was there anywhere he could go, without being an outcast?


Through his misery, he heard things no one else seemed to hear. Anyone else he asked only heard his clicks and whirs as his metal parts adapted to his environment, but not anything of the others in his head. They constantly discussed many things across Sornieth, including him, but also of others like him. One day, while alone, he asked them who they were.

We are The Hive, they replied.

Are there others like me, then?

Yes. You are not alone. We are linked. Join, they told him. Join. Join.

They chanted. And he knew where he had to go. To the darkest place, where outcasts gathered, for reasons unknown. The deepest recesses of the Forum of the Obscured Crescent.