Chapter 110 - 109: A Symbiote’s Kiss, a Cosmic Gambit, and the Price of Ascension
The decision to attempt a controlled bonding with the Klyntar symbiote was the most audacious, most potentially self-destructive gamble Elias Thorne had undertaken since his own Prime Essence infusions. The System's warnings were dire: [KLYNTAR SYMBIOTIC BONDING – RISK ASSESSMENT: CATASTROPHIC FAILURE (HOST PSYCHIC OVERWRITE/PHYSIOLOGICAL DEGENERATION) – 60%. UNSTABLE PARTIAL BOND (CREATION OF HYBRID PREDATORY ENTITY): 25%. STABLE, CONTROLLED BOND (CREATION OF SYMBIOTIC SUPER-SOLDIER): 15% (HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON HOST PSYCHIC FORTITUDE, PRIME ESSENCE STABILIZATION, AND CONTINUOUS SYSTEM OVERSIGHT).]
Fifteen percent odds of success. Even for Elias, whose entire existence was a testament to defying probability, it was a chilling prospect. But the alternative – facing a Kree invasion with only terrestrial-bound super-soldiers, however powerful – was equally unacceptable. He needed an asset capable of operating in space, capable of matching Kree Accusers or even flagships, an asset that could project Earth's (his) power onto a galactic stage.
His chosen host was Legionnaire Primus Marcus Thorne. Marcus possessed Tier 3 Prime superhuman physiology, unwavering Praetorian loyalty (which Finch theorized might provide a crucial anchor against the Klyntar's psychic influence), advanced psionic defenses, and a calm, disciplined intellect. If anyone could withstand the symbiote's insidious embrace, it was Marcus.
The remaining [3.2 Prime Essence Shards] Elias possessed would be consumed in the bonding ritual: [1.5 Shards] to create and sustain Finch's "Psionic Leash" (a complex necrotic/System energy matrix designed to temper the Klyntar's baser instincts and reinforce Marcus's will), and [1.7 Shards] to be directly infused into Marcus during the bonding, acting as a catalyst, a stabilizer, and a booster to help his physiology adapt to the alien organism. It would leave Elias with [0.0 Shards] again, a vulnerable position, but the potential reward was a Tier Omega asset.
The ritual took place in Elias's deepest, most heavily warded Montreal vault, the Klyntar's pulsating, amorphous black form contained within an electro-psionic field O'Malley had jury-rigged. Dr. Finch, looking like a medieval sorcerer amidst O'Malley's advanced technology, began the intricate incantations, his Arch-Necromancer powers weaving the Psionic Leash, its dark energies coiling around the Klyntar containment unit like spectral chains. Marcus Thorne stood stoically at the center, stripped to the waist, his golden eyes fixed on the writhing alien mass, his expression unreadable. Elias Thorne stood behind a reinforced observation plasteel, his mind linked to both Finch and Marcus through the System, ready to intervene, to pour his own will into the fray if necessary. Thomas MacIntyre and the rest of the True Legionnaire cohort stood guard outside the vault, a grim, silent honor guard.
When Finch gave the signal, the Klyntar's containment field was dropped. The symbiote, a living puddle of sentient, viscous darkness, sensed Marcus instantly. It surged towards him with terrifying speed, engulfing him, flowing over his skin like liquid night. Marcus cried out, his powerful body arching in agony as the alien organism invaded his tissues, his nervous system, his very mind.
Elias felt the psychic backlash through his link – a torrent of primal hunger, alien desires, ancient racial memories from the Klyntar's eons-long existence. He saw glimpses of star-spanning empires rising and falling, of cosmic battles beyond human comprehension, of the Klyntar's noble origins as a species of symbiotic protectors, and their subsequent corruption by unworthy hosts across countless galaxies. It was a universe of wonders and horrors, and it threatened to overwhelm Marcus's human consciousness.
"Hold, Marcus!" Elias projected with all his psionic force, reinforcing Finch's Psionic Leash. "You are Legion! You are Thorne! You are Master here!"
Marcus roared, a sound that was no longer entirely human, as his Legionnaire will battled the Klyntar's ancient, powerful instincts. His skin rippled, black tendrils lashing out, then retracting. His golden eyes blazed with an inner fire. The Prime Essence Elias had infused into him during the ritual now surged, fighting to integrate the alien biomass, to assert human dominance.