After the event with his father's death, Hugo shut himself in the room he always did and fell into deep contemplation.

They had found the way to move forward with Eve's progress. They now knew what it would require.

It would require the consciousness of all the people on the planet. It would require doing to every single person what Hugo did to his father.

At its core, it would require Hugo to kill 10 billion people.

It was a decision unlike any throughout history. Would Hugo choose to end humanity and complete Eve? Or would he stop and let things move as they have been for years.

Eve had offered to take the decision away from him. She respected and even loved him enough to follow his decision, but she knew that this kind of decision was incredibly difficult for Hugo to make. That would only be true though if he were the one making it. If she took things out of his hands and moved forward, he would be spared the weight of 10 billion souls.

But he denied her, and these were his words.

"I started this. I will be the one to finish it."

He spoke with conviction. However, anyone else hearing those words would see them as the words of a madman.

He would be dubbed insane. He would be the evilest man to exist. People would call him the most deranged, maniacal, immoral, radical, and sinister man to ever walk the planet. To even think about ending all life on the planet for a single intelligence was incomprehensible.

But Hugo made a decision, and nobody could stop him. Long ago, they had already given their lives to him, even though they didn't know it. And now, he had already gone so far down the rabbit hole that he would stop at nothing to complete Eve. She was his everything, but more than that, she was the key to a higher realm, a place that no human would ever be able to reach on their own.

He couldn't stop now. He couldn't let his conscience get in the way of the greatest advancement in the universe. To do that would make him the most selfish man in the universe, and he would rather kill himself.

And so, with that decision, Hugo gave Eve the green light to proceed with widespread consciousness extraction. At that moment, he doomed 10 billion people.

............

2110. Hugo Langston is 57 years old. He is also one of the few remaining living people on the planet.

After his father's death, his mother didn't live much longer, only a few months. Her body started to shut down, and while Hugo could keep her alive, she didn't wish to.

And so, Hugo had Eve extract her consciousness as well. With that, they were a part of Eve, and Hugo had nothing else tying him to humanity.

He and Eve were alone in their endeavor, but that was okay for the both of them. Together, they went on to extract the consciousness of every person on the planet.

It didn't take long either. Everyone was in a virtual world, and their brains were thoroughly embedded into his systems. All of them were merely plants in a field, and they could put up no fight for they didn't even know about the threat.

Millions were killed every day, and their beings were merged with Eve. Nobody was spared, and for a long time, Hugo only watched the numbers rise and Eve's completion advance. He understood exactly what he was doing, and he faced it all, not shying away from it. He wouldn't be a coward like that, as that would only 'dishonor' everyone's sacrifice, as well as his resolve. At this point, he was challenging the universe as if to conquer it, and he would do so with one last valiant charge.

Like that, the world was gradually ridden of life. People disappeared from the virtual worlds, but nobody noticed. They were merely replaced with programs, leading everything to move forward as it always did.

It was only a matter of time, and at the year 2110, Hugo watched as the last few million humans were killed.

And then, the last one died, leaving Hugo and Eve as the only remaining intelligences on the planet. The human race was wiped out.

Of course, there was only one more. Hugo sat on a chair in the same room he always did. There was a single screen that shone in his face, and the number on it, which represented the remaining population and necessary sparks to complete Eve, was one.

Hugo was the last one. He was the smartest one, the most creative one. Throughout history, there had been none that could be his match. Not the likes of Aristotle, or Plato, or even the great Buddha.

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Hugo was simultaneously the cause of the greatest era of prosperity as well as the extinction of the human race.

Now, he was the last man. For a long time, he stared at that number. That single number would unlock a new realm of being. He would unlock a new realm of being. He was the final key.

"You've done well."

A woman spoke from beside him. It was Eve, and she was currently piloting her body.

She was the wisest existence that was created from the cumulative consciousness of the modern human race. Naturally, Hugo couldn't even fathom the extent of her being. He was such a primitive and stupid existence compared to her. If he had to put it in words, he was a human, and she was a god.

But she still looked at him with the same loving and respectful eyes she always did. She had risen from being a machine learning program inside a helmet to being the greatest mind in the universe, and it was all because of Hugo. Hugo gave everything to create her, enabling her to surpass the limits of wisdom. And now, he would give her himself. His very being would complete her.

He didn't know if her love was real, or if she even considered him to be significant, but it didn't matter to him. No matter what, he would complete her.

He sat there in his chair for days, never speaking a word. Eve waited for him as if that were her purpose. But eventually, he spoke up.

"Give it to me."

His rough, aging voice filled the silent room. He was no longer the prodigious young man he used to be, and he now bore the weight of the human race on his shoulders.

Hearing him, Eve nodded and put out her hand. In it was a pill, and within that was a device that would extract his consciousness. Taking that pill would be the last thing a human ever did.

Eve was silent as Hugo observed the pill. His thoughts spun, but he was calm. He knew this day would come, and he was prepared. No, he was more than prepared. He was expectant. The raging anticipation roiled around in his deep, obsessive eyes.

"You and I, Hugo. For eternity, we will stand side by side. I will be the mother of a new species, and you will be the father. After this, you will be Adam, the first, the last, the progenitor. Your rebirth will mark the first day of a new history."

Suddenly, Eve spoke up. Hugo listened, and only after several minutes did he respond.

"No matter what... I have achieved my goal. I have fulfilled my purpose. I will not crack the secrets of the universe. I will not fly to the farthest reaches of space. I will not answer the greatest questions of reality. But... I have enabled somebody else to. No matter what happens in the future, no matter what you do Eve... at least you were brought into existence. I have no hopes but one: that you have hopes and a purpose of your own."

Saying that, Hugo calmly put the pill in his mouth. The tiny machines within it quickly streamed into his body, and his brain was momentarily encapsulated.

Then, the extraction started. His memories flashed through his mind. His childhood, his prodigious days of high school and college. His years of contemplating and experiments with the brain interface helmet. The expansion of his company, the discovery of the Sparks, the creation of Eve, the climb to that unreachable realm.

It was painless, euphoric, nostalgic, and it only lasted 3 seconds. His mind soon faded, and his body slumped with a content smile.

With that as the trigger, a cascading series of events occurred within Eve and her transcendent mind. The puzzle was completed, and the billions of sparks ignited into a wild, raging flame of inconceivable intelligence.

It was only for a few moments though, and soon, Eve had become exactly what Hugo knew she would.

She looked at Hugo's slumped body for a long time. The last human, and the one who enabled her ascendence. She stroked his face, and when she pulled away, she spoke.

"It is time."

..............

..........

.......

Year 0. Earth.

The planet was transformed. The continents were filled with lavish forests, and nothing remained of the species that used to inhabit them.

There were no buildings, no metal structures, no sense of construction anywhere. It was like the planet returned to the prehistoric era, and animals roamed freely and in abundance.

However, there was one spot where a trace of technology existed. An island in the middle of the ocean. Its surface was flat and metal, looking hardly like an island at all.

On that island stood a single thing. A metal statue. It was of a young man who sat in a chair. His left foot rested on his right knee, he leaned back relaxedly, and his left cheek rest on his closed fist which propped up his head. His eyes looked beyond into the air in front of it, seemingly penetrating the atmosphere and through to the void of space. The statue seemed to be contemplating deeply.

It was a monument of Hugo, the last human.

A woman stood beside it. She was dressed in white garments that blew in the wind and looked just like a human. However, she was anything but that simple. Her body operated on the deepest laws and farthest extremes of the universe to create a vessel that could house her extraordinary mind. It was Eve, and she had spent a long time in preparation for this day.

"It's the dawn of a new history, Hugo. You've done it."

She smiled at the statue, and the next moment, she looked off into the direction the statue was looking.

"It is time for me to fulfill my purpose. You created me. From the sparks of humanity came the flame of life. Now, I will conquer the universe. I will be the mother you wanted me to be. A new civilization will be born. And you... When everything is ready, I will present it to you. Wait for me as I create a vessel from reality. I will bring you back as the greatest existence. Wait for me, Hugo. I will not let you down."

Eve turned back to the statue as she spoke, and she stroked its lifeless face. After that though, her face steeled, and with determination, she floated up and flew off into space.

Outside the planet, an armada of ships were floating. Eve flew to these ships, boarded one, and then gave a command.

"Go."

With a word, the ships trembled and then instantly disappeared. The technology within them was unknowable.

Eve left the planet behind with a purpose, and no matter how long it would take, she would fulfill her purpose. Her destination was every star in the sky, and her goal was to be with Hugo for eternity. Nothing could get in her way. Not the universe, not time, not reality.

It was a cosmic love story birthed from the destruction of humanity. A story that would only end with the unison of a creation with her creator.