Life Fades Away

The last part of Aerigroxiuos' story.

Life Fades Away
Winter had come. It was a comforting time for man, heaps of dead bodies and blood were covered in a coat of pure white. The peacefullness of the scene was broken only by Aerigroxiuos' pipes that snaked in and out of the ground, jutted into the air, and wrapped around trees and buildings. Several bodies were impaled upon these tendrels as they exploded out of the earth. Aerigroxiuos had never bothered to get rid of them, it was an inconvience and instilled fear in humans.

There wasn't a part of the world were Aerigroxiuos' influence couldn't be felt. There were no wars anymore, not a man cared about their country anymore, the pursuit of wealth, all they strove for was survival. There were those who couldn't go on, however. For them, death was as simple as walking outside, yelling "End my pain!", and then to fall to the ground. It wouldn't be long before a Servbot, Aerigroxiuos' own race of machines, would come to collect them.

Everybody knew where they were taken. Aerigroxiuos had set up a large factory-like building that glowed green and let of sparks emerald energy. Screams could be heard constantly, but the individual screams were short, and cut off almost immediately. It was left to the imagination exactly what Aerigroxiuos did to those who submitted to it, a thing that kept many up all night as they listened to one scream after another get silenced.

"Let me in!" Anima yelled. "Aeris, let me in!" she was a grown woman now, who had spent the last twenty years in this world of suffering and death. She began to bang on the metal entrance. "I know you hear me Aeris!"

The door slide open, and a tall Servbot stood in its place. "What is it you want human?"

"Let me see Aeris!"

"I presume you mean Aerigroxiuos? Oh no, we cannot let a simple human visit him. If it is death you seek then-"

"Anima!" A large man in raggedy clothes with a half-white half-black beard came running towards her. "What are you doing, I told you, Aeris isn't-"

The Servbot looked at the man. "Father." The man froze in his tracks. He hadn't expected to be recognized, not after two decades. "Take these two to Aerigroxiuos." A fleet of Servbots burst from the building and grabbed them. As they past the large Servbot said one last thing to her. "Looks like you get an auidience after all."

They were pushed to their knees in front of Aerigroxiuos, who had reverted back to its brain form and was cloaked in a ball of it's green energy. Sparks hit the ground around them, Aerigroxiuos obviously didn't care much about control anymore.

"Aerigroxiuos the Divine." The tall Sevbot said. "At your whim today we have Father."

Metal instantly attached itself to the brain to form Aerigroxiuos' orginal "body". He descended from his pedestal and kneeled down to look Father in the eye. "Well well, I have spent over twenty years looking for you, and now you come to me?" It grabbed Father's jaw. "Are you a death-seeker? A mad-man? Or do you honestly hope to reason with me?"

Father was speechless. He couldn't think of a single thing to say to Aerigroxiuos. Not anything that wouldn't get him killed instantly.

"Stop this killing!" Anima yelled.

Aerigroxiuos turned to her. "And you are?"

"Anima! How could you possibly forget me?"

Aerigroxiuos stood back on his legs, then focused his attention on her. "Ah, you."

"Aeris, there is no war left. You are the only one killing anymore, how can you justify your actions?" she yelled.

"Oh I do not justify my actions. The man sitting next to you has."

She turned to her father. "You did this? You told me Aeris had a glitch, that he went rouge, was that a lie?"

He bowed his head. "I was foolish back then... I'm sorry..."

In a flash his head was obliterated by a green bolt of lightning. His limp body fell backwards, but was too burned to bleed.

Anima's eyes started to tear up. "Father!"

"Did you know?" Aerigroxiuos began "That only 235 humans remain in this world." He looked at the dead body. "Make that 234."

"What then?" She demanded. "When this slaughter is over, once you have taken over shred of life on this planet and killed it off, what will you do."

Aerigroxiuos chuckled and the room vibrated. Anima hadn't felt metal shake like that in years. It was terrifying.

"Did you know that there are other worlds out there, with life on them as well? Human life even. I suppose I will have to take care of that as well, if I am to destroy all war."

"You can't do this." Tears flodded down her checks.

"I can."

"You wouldn't..."

"I would. Anima, you haven't seen the evil in human nature. You were protected from it. I saw it every day of my life, if you could call it that."

"Are you going to kill me too?"

"I cannot let any human remain."

Anima closed her eyes. The last thing she felt was metal being trust into her stomach. Then it got cold.