Nightscream Beast Machines Novels & Stories

“Multiple signatures incoming. Same class.” Of course. The decision smiled again, relief blooming. “You see. One asset does not change the equation.” The roof screamed. Another shape punched through, then another, then another, landing in a staggered ring that shook the bay with each impact. Three more machines. Identical. Unmarked. Unapologetic. Seraphine’s people braced, weapons up, breath held. The first machine shifted its stance. Then something unexpected happened. It lowered itself. Not fully. Just enough.

The panels on the walls split open, revealing rows of dormant machines humanoid shapes twitching, awakening. Alaric curses and fires a shot, hitting Drayke in the shoulder but Drayke doesn’t fall. He laughs, metallic and wrong. “Welcome home, Saphira,” he says. I scream and the world obeys. The lights explode. The machines lurch forward like beasts unleashed. Caelum grabs me just as one crashes through the glass wall. Alaric fires again and again, but there are too many. “Go!” Caelum shouts. I stumble toward the emergency exit, but something catches my reflection in the cracked glass — a flash of silver under my skin, spreading like veins of light.

My knees hit the ground, and I gasped. The last embers of fire left my limbs, and the light in my veins fizzled out. The machines closed in like wolves. Dozens. Hundreds. Then they stopped. Their bodies twitched. Glowed. Then began to move again, but not toward me. They turned away—toward each other. Toward the center. Their forms shifted, folded, and twisted. Metal clanged, plates screeched, gears roared to life. It was like watching a swarm of insects become a monster. War machines fused and expanded, crawling up one another, snapping and locking into place, climbing themselves to form something colossal.

The campsite suddenly filled with a repugnant smell, like rotting flesh. Nathan leaped forward just as the creatures burst from the shadows. They were tall and bulky, twice the height of Nathan, with dangling arms, wide hands, thin bony fingers, vicious claws, and protruded fangs shining with poison. It was like seeing a vampire experience death over and over again, unwilling to die. I stared in horror, a blood lust and anger evident in their faces. I lost my balance, collapsing in panic. Everything became a bur. Junto was flung aside by one of the beast's pale hands. Then it dove after the Shape Shifter with jaws the size of a bear trap.

Liam’s boots crunched against the frost-bitten metal grating as he descended into the bowels of the abandoned facility. The air smelled of ozone and decay, a mix that made his stomach churn and his claws twitch with barely contained fury. Somewhere deep inside, a machine hummed, pulsing like the heartbeat of a predator, and Liam could feel it vibrating through his bones. He moved carefully, shadows stretching like claws along the walls, every corner threatening an ambush. He knew this facility—he’d heard the whispers of what Stain and his Purist scientists were capable of—but nothing in his worst imaginings had prepared him for the horrors awaiting below.

I want this token to be remembered for all eternity. 'Are you sure about this, Greko? I heard that he pampered his luna to the moon.' 'Do not tell me that you are getting scared of that whore? The behemoth lost because she summoned the Phoniex from the elven continent. But summoning a supernatural beast like that one needs offering and great strength. I am damn sure that the whore is recuperating right now behind that bastard.'

He landed on the back of the lead automaton, crushing it to the floor with sheer weight. It was a beastkin warrior. He had the head of a bear and the body of a man. He roared, ripping the brass head off the machine with his bare hands. "For the Alpha!" the bear kin bellowed. More shadows dropped from the ceiling. The feral tribes of the deep tundra had arrived. They had climbed the outer walls, bypassed the courtyard, and entered through the high windows. There were wolf kin, bear kin, and massive eagle kin wielding jagged obsidian spears.

and I am bitten again, these dogs just can't run slower apparently. I push myself for another mile, but the night's events are catching up to me, the dark starts blurring my vision and the world begins to fade. I shake my head, not wanting to pass out in the middle of nowhere, but my body finally gives up. Just before I black out, I feel myself shifting back to a human form and then everything goes dark. *****

The machine pulled out a shrill, ear-punching binary dish. “Unautorized biological modification detected. Protocol Aura cleansing initiated.’ The tinkering, inhumane voice drone from loudspeakers, who Hulls were hidden. “She attacks the goat!” I called. The machine lifted one of its massive Sensenarme, ready to put our feathered roommates and the beds in pieces chop. I had not sweated in the ashes for weeks and this wild Jungle tamed, just around everything from a rusted lawn mower of the consortium to be destroyed.

she tried to smile, but her lips wouldn’t quite cooperate. Dante grinned—a little, tough, Romano grin. “Messy’s our specialty. Impossible just means we’re not done yet.” They reached a massive, round door—like a vault, glowing orange-hot. It hurt to look at. Hiss! Steam blasted out from the edges. Three machines dropped from the ceiling—not the shiny soldiers from before, but giant spiders, all copper and glass. In each spider’s belly, a burning coal glowed like a tiny, furious sun.