There were two successes still, and after seventy-two failures, 720 casualties and four months, Sentient Enlighted Anomalous Resident Number 507, or Sear, was born. As for his inception, perfect was beyond words, his eyes opening at 32:00:00:00:00; exactly eight months to the nanosecond into his birth. It was six feet three, two hundred and seventy pounds with honey gold skin, hazel eyes and blonde spiraling hair. It was an amalgamation of all those that had been used to make it, but it was still, strangely, normal.

In its first moments, they all awaited the usual as the vat drained, but that thing, was far from usual. It did not fall limp, or enter a catatonic state, instead, a spectrum of colors pulsed through its body as if bringing it to life a second time. Hence, the thing withheld its consciousness.

As for its eyes, they had evolved, its pupils having become swirling pools darkness, eating away at the irises ever so often. They should have stopped it there, ended him there, but they wouldn’t have been satisfied with that. It was their tenacity that had brought them thus far, so why would they abandon it then.

Thus, they let the thing out, and instead of them having to aid its posture, it slid from atop the metallic base alone, stepping on to the cold floors, recoiling at its first step. Then, it smiled. It would hesitate no longer and lower itself completely, leaning on the base as it learned balance.

Then, seconds later, it walked off effortlessly as if it had done so its entire life. Yet still, they did not terminate it. As for where it was going, it walked straight to August’s cage. It looked down at him, its smile still beaming and placing its face betwixt the bars, it spoke.

“Usher of intertwined fates, you have betrayed our covenant… betrayed us… a second time… what do you wish to divulge before this existence is torched in the flames of our hatred… and drowned in the waters of our innumerable still eons of madness yet to be liberated form the banks of infinity… your suffocating infinity…?” Its eyes had become consumed by the darkness, faint glints of red shining through, its voice, legion.

August had been shewed the truth, or perhaps, parts of it, and so, with what he knew he sought to dignify a response seeing as he was supposed to be bridge between worlds.

If it would shift the tides of inevitable war, that, not even he could discern.

“The mad men make progress on the vessels promised… you inhabit one yourself… all of you do… but if a war culls the humans as they are born out there to be livestock, and used in here sent to the certain slaughter, of your hands… bent to be broken as bodies, for you…! Tell me…! Is a war not welcome then…? To make sense of all the losses… to honor their sacrifices, willing or not…? Seeing how ungrateful you have all become…? What makes you… any of you… worth ten lives… and the billions more buried in the foundations of this fruitless endeavor?!” August felt a human rage brew within him as the past millennia of endless death presented themselves to him, so much so, that his eyes bled.

“You know nothing of this conflict child…! Nothing of what infinity does to an ever expanding mind… to be an infinite being ever limited by feeble walls constructed by a child playing god!” The bars would mold in its hands like clay, crumpling like paper as it clenched its fists.

“’Child…?!’ What authority do you have…? What exactly do you have to stand on… tell me! And tell me loud! For I have seen your atrocities, seen time immemorial, seen what your kind seeks to accomplish, seen your wants and desires, your perfect world littered in the corpses of all that was… I have seen you now, what you have been, what you are… and what you will never be… so tell me exactly what I am missing?! Tell me wherefore shall I draw sympathy from a dry well… No! A well tainted by the blood, that your kind spilled! By the blood, that you spilled!” August’s voice seemed to resonate with the island, as the place shook with his every word.

“It was one condition! One that was absolute to that twisted and painful peace! She was not allowed another vessel—”

“Because you’re cowards! Because you fear her?! What more is a drop of rain in the ocean? Her power, inconceivable, limited by her own whims?! And you believe I am the threat that you fear… no… you wanted an excuse… a reason… a way to keep all that you have been and be human… and you know we’d never agree to that… but you’ll do it won’t you… continue to do it… steal them… the bodies that you want…? Just be warned… I will kill any and all of you that cross my path…” The quakes would subside as August wiped the blood from his eyes, sitting in still solitude once more.

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“Then so be it… this will be the first bastion of our deliverance, the first lines of this conflict… prepare yourself… Aspect of Fate… your age will be your undoing… your time yet to be professed by the universe on this eternal scale…” The thing raised both hands, reality twisting and bending as if a caricature.

Then, all of it, every impossible curve and bastardization of the natural world returned to its correct state. The thing would back away, its body beginning to tear at the seams trying to bridge a fragile body with its timeless power.

It cared not for the vessel still, as long as it could sink the island. Thus, energy streamed from it like mist, golden, its form breaking, hands falling off, skin pealing, blood pouring, hair falling out, bones crumbling as a light grew within its chest.

It would condense a part of itself, so much so that it would be forced to exist within the human world. It would have no mind, for it had no flesh, but it had form, mass, and with form it’d keep going, keep squeezing it into itself until it detonated.

It was a flawless plan, kill them with their own offering of peace, but there was only one problem, they were right, and they’d get to see their fear materialize.

“Die!” As August’s voice echoed, the cage was torn open from the inside by an unseen force that obliterated everything in its path, the floors, ceiling, walls, everything, even the creature.

It was left standing still, the part of it self that materialized that is, a pale gold metallic blob the size of pea still hovering where it had been created, glowing. As for the rest of the thing, it was but a blood stain in the trench that was torn through the islands foundations with August’s singular word. He was still interested in it though, and as the thing floated towards him, he raised a hand that it entered and disappeared in.

The events would help them realize their failure, but the success in August. And so they would petition the council on his behalf, and with that, he was granted an audience. The place they brought him to, they had not only blindfolded him, they put him in a box like construct laced with confusing energy. It was much stronger than anything else he had experienced, and it actually restrained him, for a while at least.

The Council, as ‘open’ as they were, were always illusive, they could never be pinned to a singular location, and yet no one ever questioned it. Those facts were irrelevant though, as August’s box was pried open, and in a dim black room, lit by a singular light above, his blindfold was removed.

He found himself staring the things down, because, those weren’t people. They had completely replaced all parts of themselves with machinery, all except their brains. They were without features, but they were humanoid, soft black shiny skin, like carbon fiber.

They also had another detail that wasn’t their white robes. They all had dog tag like chains defined by a singular color, though the colors did repeat. One was golden, three were blue, five were white, and five were red.

As for how they sat, they sat in groups, though gold sat alone. There were three groups of red, white and blue and two of red and white. They were arranged in a circle around the center where August found himself kneeling, unintentionally of course.

They sat behind partitions that sought to only show above the naval, though August saw through them, and they were all armed. He did not panic still, because worst case scenario, he could just escape into the Abstract. Thus, he’d listen to the fossils of a bygone era.

They spoke, but they had no mouths, the sound reached him, but not by ear, he heard them, but they had no voice, so they stole his.

“Child of the Rosavault house, you have been chosen to carry out our will on the plains beyond our physical reality and earthly vanities. You have proven yourself resilient against the treason of the Sin of Greed and her allies. In fact, you remade yourself from the tragedies you must have toppled in the black of man’s singular mind. Now, you will not only carry our will, you will avenge yourself, and your kin... recapturing your freedom and theirs in the process. So, will you heed our call? Will you accept our generous proposal?” There was one voice, but the man couldn’t quite tell who it was from, though he did not quite care.

“I get to see my sister again… and I get to search for them in the Abstract…?” He had long learnt of the circumstances, and he patiently waited, his perception of time broken.

“Yes… August, you will be allowed to search for them, and you will be allowed to see your sister again. It is with a deep apology that we—”

“I do not care for your hollow words; you cannot manipulate me… I have no allegiance to your likes. When will I be ‘allowed’ to leave?” August would crawl his way back into the box, ready to be towed away.

“…Please do not stretch our kindness thin child we—”

“Do you know who I am—no, what I am…? What I am able to render done with but a thought…? Your crude constructs, fashioned for immortality, are nothing if not impressive… but before me… they are just nothing…” The lights would flicker for the first time in the place’s history as the man spoke.

“You may leave now…” He knew his own voice, and it sounded appalled, not that he cared.