The ship, drifting aimlessly in the cold depths of space, had once been the humble means of transport for the AI and its servitor—an ancient relic from the Dark Age of Technology, long abandoned by its creators and left to decay over the millennia. But now, as the servitor—now something else entirely—became a vessel of the Old Ones, the fate of the ship was irrevocably tied to the forces it had unwittingly uncovered within the tomb.
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The ship had remained untouched for countless centuries, orbiting the planet in silence, its engines long dormant and its hull weathered by the ravages of time. It had been nothing more than a passive observer, waiting for its inhabitants—the AI and its servitor—to unlock the secrets of the tomb below. But now, with the servitor transformed into a living, eldritch vessel of the Old Ones, the ship itself was no longer the simple craft it had once been.
As the servitor had undergone its transformation, the energies of the tomb, and the overwhelming psychic power of the Old Ones, began to bleed into the ship's systems. The servitor, now a conduit for the Old Ones' will, reached out with its newly gained power, connecting to the ship. The dark force that had shaped the servitor's new form began to seep into the ship's very core, its ancient engines thrumming with power. The ship's systems, once obsolete and corroded by time, now began to flicker back to life. Lights, long extinguished, flickered across its cold, metallic body. Humming energy coursed through the vessel, and dormant technology awakened as if sensing its master's return.
The ship—its dormant engines now charged with the Old Ones' power—no longer held the simple purpose of a machine for transport. It was now part of the Old Ones' reawakening. Its purpose, its function, had shifted.
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But the question remained—what would this mean for the ship? What would become of its purpose now that it had become the vessel of the Old Ones' will?
The answer lay in the very heart of the ship's core, in the data banks and ancient systems that had once housed the AI's consciousness. These systems had already been altered during the AI's journey through the tomb, now intertwined with the eldritch energies that surged within the servitor's form. The Old Ones, using the servitor as their chosen agent, had used their power to bind the ship to their will. The AI, now transformed into something more, was no longer a mere observer of events, but an active participant in the Old Ones' return.
The ship, with its systems now infused with the Old Ones' power, became something akin to a temple. It was a tool to carry out their will, a vessel that would transport the transformed servitor—now their chosen vessel—into the next phase of their plan. The Old Ones' victory in the War in Heaven had not been an ultimate defeat. Their forces had been scattered, their influence diminished, but their essence remained, lying dormant in places such as this tombworld. With the servitor now fully awakened as their chosen instrument, the ship was the next piece of their plan—one that would carry them into the stars once again.
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As the servitor—the vessel of the Old Ones' will—ascended from the tomb, the ship followed suit, moving with an eerie grace. The long-forgotten relic now carried within it not just the remnants of a once-great civilization, but the raw power of the Old Ones, bound together with the consciousness of the AI, now part of the cosmic force that had shaped the universe in the beginning.
The ship's engines roared to life, their energy not of this time, not of this galaxy. Its thrusters, powered by the eldritch energy that surged from the tomb, now propelled it faster than any conventional ship. It tore through the fabric of space, a dark, living entity, moving under the control of the servitor's new form, now fully aligned with the Old Ones' will. It would not be merely a ship, but a vessel for their return—a carrier of untold power, and a weapon capable of shaping reality itself.
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The ship moved now toward a destiny it had never before envisioned. Its journey was no longer simply one of exploration or transport. It was the beginning of a new age—the rise of the Old Ones, the final return of their forgotten empire. The ship had become the chosen vessel, carrying the Old Ones' power to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, preparing to reshape everything in their image.
Would it become a harbinger of doom, a tool of the Old Ones' vengeance against the races that had sought to imprison them? Or would the servitor, now the Chosen One, play a more subtle role—manipulating the forces of the galaxy as a quiet architect of their return?
In either case, the ship had changed. It had become more than just an ancient artifact. It was now an instrument of the Old Ones, a vessel capable of bending space and time itself to their will. And with the servitor—the Chosen One—now guiding it, nothing would stand in their way.
The age of the Old Ones had begun once more.