Aetheral Space-Chapter 522 - 0.13: Pale Horse

"Elizabeth…"

Victoria's last word died on the wind as her face crumbled into dust. In the end, no Spear or Sword of Stillness had been enough to bring the Chitin Knight down. Only the venom of a fellow Gene Noble had sufficed.

Margarethe let out a shaky breath. In the final moment of the battle, Victoria's own stinger had been just inches away from Margarethe's face. If that strike had been just slightly swifter… if Victoria had hesitated just a second less to finish off her old friend… the opposite outcome would surely have taken place.

But in the end, Victoria had hesitated… and Margarethe had not. Was that her blessing, or her curse?

Zarakhel allowed himself to relax, planting his Spear into the ground and clinging to it as he caught his breath. The black wings Margarethe had given him were drooping limply from his back. Now that he had those to take care of too, his body was demanding more in terms of nutrition. It was no surprise that such a long engagement had exhausted him, especially given his frenzied style of fighting.

Still, the fight wasn't done. This wasn't over.

"The other Victoria," Margarethe stood up. "She was going after Edgar. We need to stop her too."

But then something incomprehensible happened. The berserker named Zarakhel Baras shook his head wearily.

"Nah," he said. "Let her go. She's fucked anyway."

Margarethe furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

Zarakhel tapped at his earpiece. "Word just came in. Azez took out Otrera. It's done. Planetary defense just issued their surrender. They know we're putting all the Tyrants up against the wall… but I guess the human subordinates are hoping for some leniency. Heh. Two-faced bastards."

Margarethe listened to Zarakhel's words silently, taking them in. It hardly seemed possible, but if Otrera was truly dead, if he'd truly been defeated… well then, yes. Humanity truly had proven itself mightier than the Nobility.

"So…" she whispered. "...it's over, then."

"Yep," he clicked his tongue.

Slowly, Margarethe spread her arms wide, closing her eyes. Another shaky breath trickled out of her mouth. This was what had to come next, after all. Faint guilt thumped within her chest.

Zarakhel cocked his head, his Aetheral field detecting the movement. "What're you doing?" he asked.

"A promise is a promise," she replied steadily. "Azum has fallen. The Nobility has fallen. Go ahead. Take your satisfaction from me."

Clang.

Zarakhel pulled his Spear of Stillness from the ground and began to slowly walk over to her. His mouth was a flat line, and his grip on his weapon was tight. To tell the truth, Margarethe would have preferred his usual wicked grin, like a monster from a fairy tale. That would have made everything so much easier.

She readied herself…

…but Zarakhel stopped before he could reach her.

Slowly, he turned his head down towards the thing he'd just bumped with his foot. Margarethe's severed head, sent flying off by Victoria during their fight. Its sightless stretched eyes stared up into nothing, its tongue hung limp out of its mouth.

For a long time, he just stared down at it. No, he didn't -- how could he? He couldn't see. But all the same, he just kept his head pointed down there, without saying a word.

"Zarakhel?" Margarethe said quietly.

"Go," he mumbled.

She blinked. "What?"

The quiet moment became loud very quickly.

"GO!" Zarakhel screamed -- and he furiously plunged his Spear into the head at his feet. "GO! GO! FUCK OFF! GET OUT OF HERE!"

Margarethe didn't need to be told twice. As Zarakhel continued to savage the severed head at his feet, Margarethe turned on her heel and sprouted feathered wings of her own, launching herself up into the sky. Tears stung at her eyes as she vanished above the clouds.

Zarakhel had let her go. After everything, after everything, he had decided to let her live… even if it went against everything he was. Even so, Margarethe felt like the shame of it all might kill her instead.

She relaxed her grip, and allowed the dagger of bone she'd readied to fall out of her hand.

Lord Director Eve spoke, Its voice distant as if coming from a neighbouring room.

"Oh. You killed me, huh?"

Edgar looked around at the mass of nerves as he walked through the huge chamber, trying to identify where exactly Eve took in visual stimuli. He didn't know why, but it seemed appropriate to look It in the eye. He didn't find anything, though. This creature had long since evolved past the need for petty eyes.

"That's right," he finally replied, deciding to look up into where the winding nerves all coalesced. "Margarethe was kind enough to implant a certain contagion within my body. It has no effect on normal humans, but to a creature like you, it's quite deadly."

"Okay, okay. That's pretty cool. I'm surprised some virus Margarethe of all people made would be able to kill me, though?"

Edgar said nothing.

"Oh, I get it! Oh, that's pretty good, actually. You used that Aether stuff, didn't you? You infused the virus so it'd be more effective. Wow, so you can go that far with it? That's really something."

Edgar still said nothing.

"Yep, I'm definitely gonna die. How long have I got? Hm, like a couple of minutes? I'm gonna say seven, seven minutes. What do you think?"

Edgar spoke.

"You don't seem very bothered by the fact you're about to die."

"Well, it's already happened, my guy. Is there a point in me getting bothered about it? Rage, rage, against the dying of the light and all that? Would you prefer it if I turned into a big monster and we had a big fight? I mean, that'd be fun to watch, but it's not really my kind of scene."

"You could have stopped us."

"What's that?"

"You could have stopped us," Edgar said, slightly more forcefully. "You could have put an end to us long before we got here. You stopped the Gene Tyrants from stomping us out early on. Why?"

"Are you curious?"

"If you don't tell me now, I'll never find out," Edgar replied. "It seems unwise to just let that information disappear."

"Huh… that makes sense, I guess. Well, even if you're not a curious sort of person, I am. That's why."

Edgar frowned. "What?"

"Well, the Gene Noble -- well, Gene Tyrant from now on -- model of civilization has been going on for a real long time now, right? And don't get me wrong, it was pretty good! It remained viable for thousands of years, but -- ah, you know -- it started spiralling in on itself recently and now… ehhh. A society based around worshipping itself isn't going to do too well in the long run, so we had to do some stress testing."

"I don't understand."

"Really? I don't think it's that hard to get. At first, I wanted you guys to rampage a little bit and remind the Nobility to keep their eyes on the prize. A booster shot for galactic civilization, you know? I didn't actually expect things to go this far… but then you discovered Aether."

For the first time, a measure of actual fascination trickled into Eve's casual tone.

"Now that was really something, even I'll admit that, I'll tell anyone. Power enough to make any rando a match for a full-fledged Gene Noble, and you just need to think the right way to use it? Oh, that's nice. Plus the fact that Gene Nobles have so much trouble using it made the delineation between sides real simple."

"Sides…?"

"Well, the danger level you guys posed went beyond a mere stress test at that point, right? It was a question of the next phase of the human race. I wanted to see which was more viable as a path for the species going forward: you guys or the Gene Nobles? Judging from the fact that everyone's dying, I think the result is pretty obvious, hehe."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Edgar blinked. "But… why?"

"Why what? I said a bunch of stuff there, so you're gonna have to be more specific."

"Why… why any of it? Why stress test? Why look at the next phase? Why?"

The air seemed to grow slightly warmer in the chamber, and the lights of the nerves shone just a bit brighter. Was that an indication of Eve's interest?

"From the very beginning, my only concern has been the continuation of human civilization. I don't much care what form that takes, so long as it's built to last. I've seen what it was like for everything to fall apart -- believe me, to the very very brink -- and it wasn't much fun. So yeah. I'm gonna test, and I'm gonna question, and I'm gonna keep the ol' train a-chugging. Even if I'm not a passenger, who cares so long as the rails are intact, right?"

"So…" Edgar muttered. "Even your own life is secondary."

"Oh, please. Tertiary. I'm like you, dude. Things like you and me… it's not that we're capable of seeing the big picture. It's that we can only see the big picture."

The nerves squirmed, just a bit.

"So tell me, little guy, because -- like I said -- I'm curious…"

Eve had no mouth, but Edgar swore he could hear Its smile in its words.

"...what does your big picture look like?"

Edgar took a deep breath. Right now, he was standing before the thing in this world that was closest to a real god. He didn't feel fear in Its presence, but all the same… there was a sense of importance to this occasion.

So he spoke plainly.

"Peace and joy for all mankind, forever and ever. That's the one thing I've ever strove for. The only thing I've ever truly wanted. The final obstacle was you, Eve, you and your Nobility -- and now that you're defeated… the way is open."

He smiled.

"The time has come."

For a long moment, Lord Director Eve was silent. Lights like strobes ran across Edgar's face as the creator of the Gene Tyrants considered his words, considered his mission. And then… It offered Its reply.

"Are you stupid?"

What remained of Victoria the Chitin Knight galloped through the ruins of Azum.

Edgar, Edgar, Edgar.

She needed to find Edgar, she needed to kill Edgar, but already she knew it was fruitless. This planet was an apocalypse, and she was just a pale beast running through it. The day was done. The cowards had thrown down their weapons, surrendering their masters to the enemy's blades. There was more smoke than air at this point.

All was lost. All was lost.

Victoria witnessed.

Six Gene Nobles, resplendent beings that had enjoyed worship and reverence, impaled on black spears and carried through the streets by a grand procession. The ghost-man Idra floated at the head of the crowd, leading the weakly twitching divinities to their final resting places. They would not feel the blade, but instead a grand bonfire -- flames with which to devour them whole.

Victoria witnessed.

A hijacked ship slamming into the distant Nerve Senate, a mushroom cloud consuming it, all directed by the man called Roland Nebula. They said that Roland's partner was one of the immortal wretches that had writhed within that place. With this, Roland surely hoped they had been granted mercy.

Victoria witnessed.

The streets were littered with bodies. Bodies of the attackers, those covetous traitors. Bodies of the defenders, those cowardly traitors. Bodies of their creations, those weak traitors. Traitors, traitors, one and all, treachery for the entire stinking human --

-- a bullet slammed into her back leg.

Victoria went down hard, her face skidding against the floor -- leaving half of it behind -- as she slid down the long road. She went to pick herself up, but that was easier said than done. It was no ordinary bullet that had struck her -- it had deposited a powerful superacid into her body, melting at her form even as she regenerated it. Given time, she could certainly adapt to the substance -- but all of them had now run out of time.

A second bullet slammed into her, and a third, and a fourth.

It wasn't just humans that were attacking Azum. The Arcana Automatica had come.

Black rain fell from the sky like dark liquid metal, slithering across the ground where it fell and seeking out machinery. Even if their preference was the biological, the Nobility had no shortage of service and combat automatics on Azum. Mindless fluid Temperance would seek them out, upgrade them, and network them to the cause of the Arcana.

The Fool smashed and beat its mace against any enemy that crossed its path. All around it, the corpses. Human and monster alike, reduced to splinters of bone and puddles of blood by relentless assault. The Aether its comrades had provided it still fuzzed faintly around the Fool's body, even after days of battle.

Neither it nor Temperance were the ones that had attacked Victoria, though. That honour belonged to the Hermit, stationed many miles away, viewing her position through sensors far beyond the limits of mortal sight. Its aim was absolute. In order to hit her, it had ricocheted its shots off of bullets flying through the air from other battles, each shot meeting its mark not a centimeter out of place.

Even so, the Hermit would not deal the final blow.

The distant Devil poured poison over the land. The soaring High Priestess let out screams to scramble the senses of those below. Judgement strode across the city, its foot alone dwarfing skyscrapers.

And a shadow fell over Victoria as the spider-like Hierophant looked down at her with a single red eye.

There was only one moment -- but not of silence, for no silence could exist among such chaos -- before they leapt at each other.

Victoria stood no chance of winning in her present state, but she understood that this was not a hopeless battle. This was not a battle at all. Between a soulless machine and a monarch reduced to an animal, there could be no such dignity.

This was an extermination.

Lord Director Eve was laughing.

Edgar stood there silently, looking up at the shining light as It laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

As It laughed at him.

"What's so funny?" Edgar asked mildly.

Eve replied, amusement still tickling Its voice.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't want to be mean, I just mean… come on, dude."

"What?" Edgar insisted. "If you have an opinion, say it clearly."

"Hm… well, it's just… I mean, once we've killed all the Gene Tyrants, everyone will get along and it will be world peace forever? Yeah, okay."

"You think it's impossible."

When Eve spoke next, it was in the manner of someone trying not to shatter a child's whimsy.

"It's… well, it's an interesting point of view you've got there, Edgar. But once we're gone, you guys are gonna find something new to fight about. A difference in opinion will become a gap in perspective will become a chasm of philosophy. I give you, like, a week. I'm being serious, that's probably actually pretty generous."

Edgar had come this far in search of his dream. In search of happiness and harmony, in search of peace and joy for all mankind. He had done many unsavoury things in pursuit of that goal. He didn't feel guilt for those actions, but there was an investment there.

An investment that Lord Director Eve was now decrying as meaningless.

"You think it's impossible," Edgar repeated. When you got down to it, that was all it was. Only… "Why?"

"Being candid? It's the nature of existence and intelligence. We humans love factions, man. We love to be in a club, and you can only be in a club if there are people who aren't in the club, you get me? And then before long everyone's in some club or another -- and then those groups collide. They've gotta establish supremacy over each other, you see. They've gotta establish a hierarchy. You can ask Otrera about that, he'll chew your ear off -- well, he died like a minute ago, so maybe not."

For the enigmatic puppetmaster of the galaxy, Eve certainly was chatty. Maybe It didn't get to have proper conversations with people that often -- or maybe It was just trying to make the most of Its remaining lifespan.

There wasn't much left, after all… so if Edgar was going to ask, he might as well ask now.

"What would you recommend?"

The light flickered -- and each time it did so, it returned slightly more dim. Despite that, though, Eve's voice held no trace of urgency as It answered Edgar's final question.

"Me? Haha, honestly, I have no idea. If I had some time, I could probably cook something up, but I've got like a minute to live, so yeah."

"If I had to say, though… I'd say you'd definitely need more than a couple of years, and you'd definitely need more than one little war. All this? I guess it's a big deal for us right now in the moment, but in the course of the species it's a drop in the ocean. Nah, nah, you need something more fundamental than that. A political or military force isn't capable of what you're looking for. Human beings cannot change humanity."

"You'd need some kind of intelligence -- not a person, cause they'd give up -- that's able to watch the galaxy, identify all the relevant factors and how they move… and from there, calculate the right way to move them all to get the outcome you want."

"Peace and joy for all mankind, right? I mean, it sounds nice, but to be honest… even if you did all this, I'm not seeing it. Best of luck to you, though."

Edgar said nothing, and the lights continued to dim.

"I guess you don't like what I have to say, huh? Don't ask if you don't wanna hear it, dude. Did you really think you were almost done? C'mon."

Edgar said nothing, and the lights continued to fade.

"Okay, well, last chance if you've got any more questions, dude. I --"

"I don't believe you," Edgar said quickly.

"Oh yeah?"

"To be honest, I think you're what they call a 'sore loser'," Edgar continued, clenching his fists. "You lost to a power that was beyond you. Because you let us run wild, we were able to unlock Aether -- and once that happened, your defeat was already set in --"

"So I just go like this, right?"

White Aether crashed.

A single massive bolt of Aether ran through the nerves that covered the ceiling. Edgar's victory speech faded in his throat, becoming something like a death-rattle. His eyes widened until they were nearly bulging from their sockets. He raised his hand, just a tiny bit, as if to seize hold of the Aether that had already disappeared.

He was so absorbed, he almost didn't catch Eve's last words.

"Well, that's all she wrote. I'm gonna head out."

Edgar raised his voice. "Wait --"

Too late. The chamber was plunged into darkness.

In the end, Lord Director Eve departed from this world like It was only moving over to another room, and Edgar was left in the dead chamber alone… the mission he'd thought he was on the verge of completing echoing inside his brain.

Peace and joy for all mankind.

Peace and joy for all mankind.

Peace and joy for all mankind.