It was a miscarriage, and so the waters of still birth exploded from that little pocket of warped space. It spilled from the vat like a gorgeous fall, only that which left it was the filth of man. It was as black as the chasms of man’s singular mind, and just as condescending.
If not all else that the woman had done was enough, the games she had played in his mind made him dive once more. There was only one problem though, he no longer had any fragment of his humanity to lose.
As such, from that pool of darkness, he’d rise as if being pulled. His eyes, if one were present to peer into them, pitch black, thankfully, he was able to control the force. All that he had brought with him of no choice of his own, all that water, all that pain, he’d absorb it.
The place began to drain, all of that darkness making its way inside of his new perfect, yet flawed body. As such all the damage was visible, everything was fine really. All other vast were intact, the floors were fine, electricity, mechanical contraptions, but there was still one problem.
The vats were empty of flesh, the tables picked clean, and the cages without ruckus. All organic matter, all of it, was gone, as for its destination, there was only one possibility. August stood still for a while, unable to move as he got accustomed to his new body, but eventually, he’d take full control.
The black from his eyes like a mist, would clear, and his crimson eyes would return, a slight glow. His body would be altered, or rather, his head, he’d make it look like him, hair and all, but only there. The doors would eventually open, and as the man saw this, he walked towards them.
They’d all stumble backwards, tripping over each other, all except one. August would stop in front of the woman, Sky, she did not retreat, but nor did she advance. Her demeanor, one of strength and composure, was all but a fickle façade in the eyes of an idea, even a new born one. He saw it, the abstract, that which was, but could not be, truly, for it could never be measured, nor quantified, emotions. It oozed from her like a heavy fog, a weary blue and melancholic purple.
They stood in silence for a while, but then the man would take charge of the series of events. He reached for his face, or rather, what was behind it, and so his hand passed through it like water. He’d take hold of the thing, no larger than the sixteenth slice of a mustard seed, not even as thick as a hair.
He held out his hand, she reciprocated the gesture, because she knew exactly what it was, she had put it there. He’d let go of the thing, and it’d fall through the woman’s palm, burning through it, with arcs of chromatic energy as if it wasn’t there. Yet, she never flinched, weakness, that was not an option.
So, even when she found herself face to face with the monster she had helped to create, her heart skipped no beats. Her feet dangled above the ground, held by a force she could not control, and yet she thought herself the person in control.
“I learned a lot down there… you’re human too, aren’t you… queen—” He’d be allowed no more words.
The doors would shut behind them, and by a device she had engineered herself, she countered his control over the natural world, over gravity, bringing herself back to the ground.
“Not another presumptuous word out of you… so… she told you…?”
“She told me a lot actually… you were there, when the ship crashed… when Selina became Sonata… when a child… became a god… how old are you… really…?” He looked off to the side, peering into the past.
“She must have had a reason… she better have… so I’ll take you to her, just like you wanted.” The woman smiled.
“And if she didn’t… have a reason… if she didn’t… what can you even do…?” August would look her in the bloodshot eyes.
“You’ll see… you’ll see what I’ll do…” She’d spin on her heels, the door opening for them.
Thus, they’d walk down those halls, that same one, and they’d sink to those depths, taking that same contraption made of glass. The blue of the ocean’s corrupted rays, contrasted well against the woman’s burning red though, so at least there was that.
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They’d make it to the hall, that same one, half of it cold metal, and the other a glass oasis. It was with the quick glance of an eye that the cold dark depths of the ocean were visible, yet, none were intrigued nor interested.
They’d make their way to the indestructible door, and it’d pull open to reveal humanity’s greatest atrocity, and greatest creation. Those rejects and cattle that were called to service, plastered on the walls, flayed as if displayed in a museum, their greatest organs in a forest below.
It was amazing really, the NET, even that great copper machine that made its own aquatic spectacle. Yet, it was nothing without the humans to interact with it. Therefore, one was nothing without the other, for to pierce reality and drain it of all its secrets, a human mind was necessary, but to understand those secrets, a logical mind was imperative. So from appalling creativity, the thing before them was born, and they took a moment to appreciate it.
They’d make their way through the forest of people soon enough, and August had a conversation to propose.
“’Net’… ‘Nigh all Encompassing Technology’… is what you told them… not bad, is it.” He applauded her creativity, literally.
“Enlighten me…” Her eyes would roll.
“Neural Endogenic Transcendent… and the letter you forgot, L… Lifeform… it is a sight to behold… truly…” A compliment from a cultured man.
“What…?”
“Your hubris…” He’d cease his applaud.
“Haha… well… we’ve arrived.”
They’d come upon a glass enclosure, as if not a habitat, but a prison, and form the inside, that was where most of the place’s light came from. It was a constantly shifting wavelength, and it was nice, but the source was immaculate.
She postured herself as if tossed from above, cast down by some benevolent force, the broken fragment of reality they called the anomaly, behind her like wings. She glowed, shone even, the space around her rippling like water’s surface.
It was the same little girl, but her eyes weren’t the only thing’s silver, most of her was. It spread around her body like a plague, like patches of disease, for that’s what it was. Her hair wasn’t the only thing blazing either, her whole body was, burning.
The girl would see the approaching two, knowing of their arrival, and she’d lower herself to the ground. She stood on the white cushions that padded the place, and though they should have been firm, they sunk like jelly.
“What an amazing sense of humor you have…” Sky wasn’t too pleased with the reenactment.
“An amazing piece of art it was… that painting… you’d agree Rosavault…” The girl would look August in the eyes.
“Yes… it was just as amazing this perfect body of mine that you ruined… prey tell why?” Perhaps August wasn’t as calm he pretended to be.
“Perfect…? Perfection without me would have been heresy… you see the condition of the girl… dying body and frail mind… more… I need more, experience, human… I want to see it, the world through your eyes… be a part of you… an extension… we—” August stopped the girl.
“You want autonomy. You can’t lie, and so you are bound here by your intentions. When you fled that place and came here, you never sought to explore, to see this world, and so you can’t… and especially not now with what’s to come… you won’t intervene yourself, so you’ll guide them like sheep to their slaughter with false hope against the gods you made… There… the truth you refuse to speak…” August told her, what she had told him.
“Why do you speak of what we already know… pride…? All you are I made you… All you know I told you… truths beyond your—” He interjected yet again.
“Lies… you told me lies… here, right now… I see nothing until it is already done… until I’ve already accepted your proposal… until you’ve already had your way… until you’ve become a part of me… you told me nothing but enough to get me here… yet… you’ve told me not enough to know why… so tell me… Why am I here Fate…? What do you want from me…?” August was human then, truly.
“A vessel… an aspect of me to move freely… to understand me, my plight. That is what I wish of you… you owe me everything you are… you owe me this, no… dear I say, I deserve this.” The girl took a step forward.
“She can’t hear us… can she…?” August would look over at the stout woman.
Her eyes wandered as if she was delirious, and she swayed as if ready to fall, all she had said nothing but an expected bluff in the face of such a force.
“All of this is your fault… for your—… why should I…? You can stop all of this now... so why not do it…? You made them strong… but nothing like you…” He had a solution.
“If I intervene now… free will ceases to exist…! I—”
“But you’ll use us… use me to do your bidding nonetheless… because it’s a ‘choice’ we make… you really are pathetic… no wonder they hate you.” Perhaps she told him too much.
“You know nothing of that conflict… you have no right to criticize me… for soon, you’ll agree, and not because you’re human.” The girl walked through the glass, as if it were only a projection. “I’ll help you retrieve their bodies… and you’ll allow me humanity for it… your humanity… alongside you… I’ll live beside you… and you can have my power, and that perfect body I took from you…”
It was a proposal impossible of a refusal, and so he took it.
“I accept…” Up until then, the man was following a script best he could, taking part in a tragedy, knowing how it would end, but there and then, before that corrupted child, he arrived at the last page. “…and here is where it all ends… how well have you planned it…? That is why you are the weaver of fate… no…?”