The otherworldly thing would finally be ousted from atop its ivory tower, and falling, devastation would be exponentially increased. It crashed like a meteor, yet it fell no more than a sky scraping building, though it was just as tall.
The thing was heavy, too heavy, it was made to be a bastion of safety for those tyrants, but that safety was long stale. The walls, as hard as they were, as thick as they were, a few feet thick in fact, would easily be pierced by a determined August.
It was laced with that same otherworldly substance he had crafted a body from, it was perfect for the job. It allowed the thing to hop realities and gain immense strength, there was only one problem still.
If Fate had become August, and vice versa, then all that gave the place its strength was August’s, and if it was his, he could easily take it back, and he would. He’d wave his hand, and that faint warping glow the thing had would fade, and so would its strength. At first, naught seemed to change, but seconds later, the thing let out a bleat, or at least, that’s what the sound of bending metal resembled.
The second sound of its judgement would then echo as it began buckling, bending and breaking. A screech of metal let out as it tore away from itself, snapping and grinding against its broken parts, tumbling to the ground.
It was bound to be a spectacle, a battle of giants, seeing as the remnants of people trapped in the monolith had a similar make up to August’s perfect machines of war, but that was just the problem.
The bodies they had clung to for so long, that had allowed them to live centuries, was then apart of the man’s domain. The walls crashed from their spectacular heights and revealed the belly of the beast, all that had levied commands to the citizenship, in ruin.
They were crushed under all that was meant to protect, but not all were dead. In all of that rubble struggled a few that happened to survive. They were most machine, flesh removed, or rather, warped, until the DFT that stole their humanity ran dry. Their flesh came back in bulk and their blood, in waves, and those few that survived, would wish for a crushing death.
“You…! We own you! How dare—…” Blood would be caught in the abomination’s throat.
Their metallic skin would fade to matt, and then to the flesh they should have had, the flesh they loathed. They swole, like bloated frogs, or even dead carcasses in summer’s heat. Their eyes spun in their sockets until they popped, like faulty bulbs.
Then, soon the finale, the apotheosis of their suffering took form as they groaned and moaned beneath their bodies own expanding weight. Then they popped, like cherries between determined squeezing fingers, and so, their era was done.
The era of looming monsters, at least ones that were actually human, ones that could be seen, were done.
The immediate future was then clear; his eyes foresaw no more tragedies, for the time being at least.
He walked the streets, and though there was death all encompassing, and all seeming to be his fault, he felt naught of emotion. In those eyes, those same droopy eyes, he saw all outcomes, all realities, and that, to his judgement, was the best one.
It mattered not much still, in time, they’d all forget the tragedy, until a day of reckoning of course. In the moment, he’d manage the fallout of his most recent endeavor, he couldn’t just leave it there.
He thought of the thing, where it had been, where it had been made to put, and with the blood of his body pouring from multiple orifices, the black cube’s corpse clung back to its pedestal between dimensions. It would rise, all pieces, none left to neglect, returning to that spectacle, only shattered with the stench of rot pouring from it.
It was only a rot he could smell still, for the true nature of those tyrants were clear to piercing eyes. Ideas, butchered and stitched, tied to dying corpses to preserve lives long lived.
Thus, the stench of such rot was especially putrid, but it was one he had to live with. He’d stand still, and though time was not his plaything, his own perception was up for grabs.
His very existence would disappear for a few moments, and within that time, all the damage would be undone by tsunamis of nanobots rectifying all that he had caused.
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The spectacle would fall still as he’d return to the realm of the corporeal, and within that instant a glow rife with aberration shrouded the island like a wave. Thus with all as it was, and no one remembering, did any of it even happen.
His blood contrasted well against his beaming golden eyes, but soon they returned to that magnificent color, the same as his blood. He’d stumble, and just as he had foreseen, there she was to catch him, Caliandra Obsidian.
“Hey…! Are you okay…!?” She held him close, even though he bled, no, because he bled.
Her words would be lost to deaf ears still, because even those moments, though he had lived them countless times, he was still human then. His limits were long over boiling and that frail body would yield. In that darkness of his limp body, his conscious still persisted, and that’s when she chose to present herself.
“You think you’re better than me…? After all you’ve done, after all you’ve lied about…?” She’d find him in that darkness, and she’d take hold of his form from behind, her lips ornaments to his ears, her presence, light.
She’d open his eyes to the world, though his body had failed, and they’d be made aware of where they had been taken, though they already knew. . He was in a foreign place, a room decorated with tools and gadgets he recognized, weapons. They weren’t mere recreations either, as there were newer models tossed into the mix, he knew based on that fact where he was still, The Obsidian House.
It wouldn’t take long for his focus to land on the girl, having fallen asleep on the floor next to her own bed, waiting. He'd caress every bit of her with his eyes, from her smooth dark skin, to her enchanting yellow eyes, to her long curly hair, which was brown, but almost orange at times, especially when light danced across it. ‘She’ was still there though, or alternatively, she never left, clung to his figure.
“We have long foreseen her love for you… as long as you do what we have seen, she will love you… so why lie to her… why diverge…? I’m trying to get it… I am… but is this a pillar of our humanity, or a fault…? How can you think this is okay…? You’re no better than—”
“Could you shut up?” He’d feel her grip ease in disbelief. “I won’t follow some mold for a future that ‘you’ want to see… nor will I force her to love me, that is a choice she will have to make on her own… because if it isn’t real… then what’s the point…?”
“I don’t—”
“Of course you don’t… all you’ve ever known is manipulation… actually giving somebody a choice is the farthest thing from what you are… so forgive me…! If I don’t want to be like you…!” He’d no longer feel her presence holding him back.
Thus, he awoke like a flower, a black rose in full bloom, her words the motivation he needed to take back control of his body. It changed not much still, as his body was still a frail amalgamation attempting to not only contain a god, but use her power.
Thus, he tasted blood as he fell back down, all of it pooling in his mouth. The ruckus he caused did wake the girl still, and she sprung from her docile state, jumping quite high. Her eyes would scour the whole room, her fists raised in anticipation, until she remembered the clumsy guy she had taken in.
“Oh” She took a deep breath, calming herself. “I uh… I know this is weird… definitely… but when I took you to the hospital… Uhh, you might not believe me, but though you were bleeding, and profusely so… they said you were fine… So I brought you here… yeah…” She’d scratch the back of her neck, though it did not itch.
“That is rather strange… but I suppose it’s time for me to take my leave…”
“I’ll let you go… but before that…” She sat on the bed, testing his temperature with a device she conjured from nanobots.
Their eyes would meet as she attended to his condition, and for one reason or another, her mind went foggy, her heart a rock skipping across the lake of curiosity and confusion. She’d pull away, though for some reason, she didn’t want to.
“I don’t… I don’t know you… I don’t…?” Her thoughts scattered for a moment, two minds at odds. “Who are you…? And why do I feel… nostalgia…?” She’d stand, backing away.
“I wonder… who am I….?” He’d attempt to get up again, but that time more blood presented itself from his eyes, nose and mouth.
She’d rush to his aid, almost instinctively, but soon she realized and stumbling, she fell on her behind, scurrying away.
“W-what is this?! I know you… my heart…!?” She clasped her mouth shut, eyes as wide as the sun.
He’d echo a few words within in his mind.
“Because I didn’t actually erase their memories… their feelings remain…? That’s… interesting… and tedious…”
“What will she think of you when she remembers…? She will hate you… how unfortunate…? Ha…” The one of light returned, though she was only an echoing voice.
“I’ll just make use of the time we have now… before then…” He could feel his heart quicken.
“How twisted you are… just… like… me…” Fate was amused.
“There is only a chance… a chance that she will love me…” His heart would sink into murky waters.
“A chance!? Ahahaha! You are soul mates!” Her voice drew close, her presence, like a dark looming cloud, casting such a deep darkness that light was but a machination of the imagination. “You will not argue semantics in my presence… how dare you…? Yes, nothing is set in stone, yes, she still has a choice… yes, she does not have to love you… but you know she will… and not because she is compelled or forced to… but because throughout all of those futures that we saw… she loved you for the person that you were… you were willing to trade the world for her, for them…! You were willing to cast it all aside, your power, your own life, for their sake… so tell me… who are you now… and will she love the person that you have become this time…?”
“I don’t kno—”
“Yes… she will, because though you have changed countless times, your kindness and compassion, has stayed the same… even without your humanity…” A compliment from Fate?
August would be forced to look at Cali in distress, knowing that the woman in his head was right. He had choices to make, a future to decide upon.