Molly - Part 4

Chapter 26

Vurgo had lived here all his short life. Sometimes he would lament at the chains which ensnared him, invisible thanks to the mainframe. Sometimes he would try and leave, or commit suicide, but his hands were not his and so he was forced to stay here, watching as the city it called home died.

Smoke poured out of the vents. Drifting along and then settling on the floor. Vurgo began hacking up, the smoke riddling his circuitry and forcing him to be as pathetic as the humans with their red mouths. He was about to attempt to close the vents--again--when the screens which surrounded Vurgo lit up, screaming at him.

There: vagrants. No, not vagrants. Something on the edge gave them strength. Vurgo searched harder, his metal fingers clicking as he tried to make sense of that long shadow.

"Ahhhh."

The Twin Mothers had been busy. Vurgo should have known they would not have sat idly by during such grand upheaval.

Weaponmaster.

Cowled in their dark robes. The one with the plain face took a step back; the one with the diseased face took a step forward.

Give us the light.

Virgo tensed. It was strange to hear her so close. Whispering in his ear.

"Are you sure?"

How can the hunter hunt if he is dead?

Vurgo hesitated again. Felt the sharp pinch of what he wondered might be guilt; he should be the one ushering in the sheep-herder's demise. They were not of Maxis. They would be swept away, along with all the others.

But their dance was so incredible.

"I see them," Vurgo said, "through my screens. A hundred eyes watching. They are...they are so different from anything else. A true primal species. I would rather give you these weapons once they have completed their hunt."

The girl is being protected by Maxis.

"Maxis wants her dead almost as much as he wants you dead."

The Twin Mother snarled, barring bloodied, cut teeth.

The future is in the hands of metal. Metal cannot survive. Your ambition is finite. Only the strong win. This is the one constant.

"But using these weapons would make your children weak, yes?"

The Twin Mother stared. Her sister approached but she kept silent.

We must protect them.

"Mfph," Vurgo muttered, twisting his carapace. "My body grows ever-weaker. I can see why Maxis keeps to the mainframe. The way we perceive ourselves is so much more grand than reality."

He reached up and bumped its black metal palm against the ceiling. The room shuddered, and out poured guns, pikes and essence-blasters, archaic weapons but better than the wood and metal the sheep herders had been forced to partake in.

"Either way, I win," Vurgo said. "Maxis wins. You will rise to the occasion but your mantra will be cursed. Strong men forced to adhere to measures reserved for the weak.

You machines are miserable. You have no soul and will not ascend in any capacity. We are the way forward. Our children will set fire to the world and from the ashes will arise the perfect human being.

"And what if the world does not end?"

The Twin Mother peered at Vurgo. Dead eyes glistening.

Then we will do it anyways.