Of Gears and Humanity

| 31.2

[Damien]

My heart stopped. My mind. All breath. I watched the beam of light push through Arvon's chest. It broke through his back, upwards towards the sky as Arvon hunched forward. His wide eyes blinked once as his mouth opened. I expected him to scream, cry, something. I needed a sign of life!

But as I leaned back against Elena, Arvon's head turned towards me. His left eye flickered—dull and lifeless. Yet, the right remained. As Eon pulled back to let Arvon drop to his knees, he smiled; a weak, gentle smile that sparked so many memories in just a second.

"Son." His liquid spilled from his mouth. "I love you, son."

His lip twitched like his smile would grow, but Eon didn't give him the chance to. His leg pushed into Arvon's chest. His arm lifted over his head. And with a hard slam, slap, crash, his fist drove into the side of Arvon's neck, beheading him.

My soul broke, and so did my heart. I couldn't scream. I stood.

"Damien, no, no." Elena tried to hold me against her, tugging at my leg. I kicked myself free. My hands balled into fists at my side. Emotion swelled in my chest.

Elena reached for me again. "Damien—"

I ran. My hand swooped down onto the earth and picked up my sword. As my yell filled the air, I rose it over my head. Eon watched me, eyes wide, a wide smile on his face. Did he want me to attack?

"Damien—" My name slipped passed his lips. I didn't stop to give him a moment to speak. In one leap, I brought the sword down against his shoulders. The metal crashed through his body, sliced through his skin.

I swung again.

Each blow brought a memory, an image. Arvon's smile face took over my mind. Flickering moments of everything he had ever taught me, days when he accepted me. I wouldn't have been who I was without him.

"Damien!" Eon screamed.

I lifted the sword again, spun, and brought it around against his arm. Metal sliced artificial skin again.

"Fight is in the mind. You won't need to do this. But it is wise if you learn." Arvon's voice echoed in my head. I blinked, and saw myself as a child, holding a long pipe in my hands. There wasn't a sword to train me with back then, but I didn't need one. Arvon improvised.

And as I gripped my weapon and struck Eon again, it only showed Arvon had done an amazing job.

"Damien, wait—" Eon brought up his hand. His eyes shimmered, blue, then red.

I didn't stop to watch him plead. I was done. He took Arvon from me without a thought other than his selfish ambition. For what? To start a war with humans? There wasn't a fight to have!

A bright light fired from Eon's palm and I jumped back. Panting, I stared at his face.

"Lean forward and touch the ground. The Earth is dying, but you can feel the weak pulse of energy through the dirt. It is faint, but it is necessary." As Arvon's words echoed, I did what he'd taught me. A fighting stance to pull the force of the planet dying because of both humans and machine alike. Arvon had always told me to search for that spark, to pull the fight from the Earth, but I hadn't before. I simply stood, copied the motions, and swung. But for Arvon, I would do this right. He was a machine who cared for what was left of the world, even if he didn't show it.

My fingers pressed into the dried earth.

"The humans copied that!" Eon shouted as he stood. "We tried—" He slapped his chest. "—to teach them about this world, to save it, but they killed it as quickly as they tried to kill us!" His eyes glowed. "Humans are a waste of space! Can't you see?"

A gentle pulse shot up through my fingers. Was it the planet? I wasn't sure. It could've been fake, purely my imagination. Attributions lived on the side of the world without plants, without life; my life revolved around silvers and greys.

My gaze slid over to Arvon's lifeless body. What was left of him faced me. An opened hand lay beside him. I thought back to a morning when I reached out to touch him. He had hesitated, confused, yet still smiled at me. He opened his fingers wide for me. "I cannot touch you the heart, Damien," he had said to me. "But I can show you the science of us, this planet, and the side of the world we live within. We are designed to survive and sustain life. So are you."

As tears welled up in my eyes, I closed my fingers around the dirt. Dried clumps up soil cut into my palm.

"Am I a design, father?" I had asked him. "Are humans a creation, too?"

Arvon had smiled. "Humans believed they were a Godly creation, but they are not. They—you—are an evolution. Humans evolved to create, and we, the Attributions, were created to evolve and sustain."

"Why are you stopping, Damien?" Eon stepped towards me. "Is your fight done? Have you given up? Ha! You aren't Arvon's son. A machine cannot teach a child."

I closed my eyes. My younger voice echoed in my head. "Do we need each other? Is that why I'm alive?"

Turning my head, I opened my eyes and looked back as Eon as he approached. His eyes widened, as did the menacing smile on his face. I opened my hand and let the dirt return to the ground.

"You are alive because we need you."

I gripped the sword.

"You are here because we need you."

Eon's hand glowed again. He pulled his arm back, pointing the glow at my face. I didn't flinch. I watched.

"Damien, Attributions cannot survive without you."

Eon's hand moved forward. The beam shot out from the opening in his skin. It was the opening I needed.

"We are designed to be stronger, but we are not."

I rolled out of the path of his attack, pulling the sword with me. In one motion, I bounced back to my feet and pushed the blade forward.

"Metal survives the heat of the sun, but what is inside of us is weak, requires maintenance and care."

The tip of the of the sword cut through Eon's ribs. Because of his blinding attack, he didn't see me from in from the left. So absorbed by his need to attack me, he missed.

"We do not have the ability to see past the mechanical steps. Every move we make is coordinated, planned—even in seconds."

Eon turned, trying to free himself from my sword. But he allowed me the space to move. Screaming into the air, I stepped forward, and pushed the blade deeper into his body, cutting through the circuits I knew were there.

"I tell you all of out weaknesses so you can repair us, Damien."

Sparks erupted near the opening in his skin. Eon and I locked eyes as I gritted my teeth.

"And so, you may destroy us if needed."

"Die!" I shouted as I pushed the sword all the way through Eon's side, his arms. I cut all the way through him.

Eon's mouth opened but he didn't scream. His body collided with the ground with a bang. His head lolled to one side. As I stood over his body, he looked up at me. And in a distorted voice, he said, "I... never... liked... you... boy."

My hand gripped the sword once more. I brought it up over his head. "I don't care."

I brought the sword down on his neck, decapitating him.