Out in the far reaches of space, the planet that was lit only by the black flame of it's fire pits neared earth. It's horrible dark form blocked out the sun, bathing it in the cruel black light as the sky turned blood red. All around the world, people looked up at the sky in horror as the end neared. On the island nation of Atlantis, their King La XIX assembled a small council of generals and mystics, attempting to invent their way out of the apocalypse that was creeping up on their doorstep. Atlantis was a broken empire held together by glue and string. It was one of Earth's multitude of hermit kingdoms that believed itself to be above all others. 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0zg7y0gmX
“Lesser others,” said the king. “I've heard a word from our agents within Britain that a machine is cutting it's way across the planet. He informed me of this before joining the Liverpudlian Self Extinction Group."
"What do you mean, 'a machine'?" asked one of the generals.
"Is that a real group?" asked another.
She trained a gaze upon the offending general, "I mean a robot, Augustine. I believe it was originally one of Japan's bizarre Feeling Robots, Atom. I am of the mindset that the black planet is the root of all of this and no Jerome, it is not an actual group, that was a euphemism." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7ymui5Tmo
The High Priest of Posideon spoke next, "There's brightness behind brightness and darkness behind the darkness. Naked minds...orgies....It's an angel cutting across the sky like the racer of old. It's death, coming to us. I've dreamed about this for the last three nights. We're dead and we don't even know it yet." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNj8Y2G4bPT
"Thank you for that horrific input, Zardoz," said the king. "But I think we need to focus on the task at hand, which is finding a way to stop this thing." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7FcHDq7Ev
Augustine made a suggestion, "I think we ought to bring the old Gristals out of retirement and put them to use battering this thing. They are our most powerful weapons outside of the thing's namesake and I think we should use them to our advantage."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHT2juLEDB
An Opar mystic spoke up, "We're discounting the use of ritual magic, your majesty. I believe the mass spike in suicide and mania around the world is a mental thing. If we alter our perception of the world, we can negate it's effects, weakening the hold this thing has." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6297wAQ0gD
The king nodded in agreement, "What do you suggest we do Ia?"120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHx1R7U56j
"Paint our faces and begin to do a chant to our god for aid," said Ia, as irrational as it sounded. "It will not keep the thing from coming here, but it will weaken it. If we cannot kill it, someone will in our stead." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNtPmkNpmH
The king nodded, "Let us make it so." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJYmGYv7LX
The council dispersed, leaving the King with her thoughts. She knew that the days ahead were going to be hard and he was prepared to face it, no matter the cost. As the night sky began to fill with the black planet's flame, the King of Atlantis and her people began to chant.. She kneeled at the outside circle as Ia acted as ritual master. Ia raised her sword and spilled the blood of a miniature horse onto the great sigil that they’d pained onto the floor of their fortified bunker at the heart of Atlantis. As the chant began, it rose in power and strength until it pulsed with a great life of it's own. The King felt the power of the chant course through her veins and she knew that she had done the right thing. 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmq4BmSvnB0
The final wall of the inner city was cracked and Atom strode into King La's armored bunker. The soldiers attempted to shoot at it, but the machine's body folded sideways and shifted to the side, shooting into guard after guard. Not unlike a skew going through shish kebab meat. There was a sound like solid steel being bent and scraping against itself, as Atom's body reformed back into the vaguely human shape it had before. It took Ia's head between it's hands and without any sign of hesitation, crushed it.
The air stunk of copper and ozone then and La bit back the urge to scream.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlSmR4PJRc
"I miles above, drifting on the breeze. I don't know where I am," said Atom.
"You're in Atlantis and you're violating international treaties," responded La.
"I serve the thing at the end. The ultimate judge that presides over the end."
"And what is that?"
"The death and subjugation of all things. I have named my patron as Black Star."
"So you're here to kill us all then?" asked the king.
"Yes," said Atom.
"I see," said La. "I saw what you did to Britain's queen. Do you think I will be so easily felled?"
"Something happened on the day she died," Atom said.
"What?"
"My transition is going out to all things on a live wire. Soon, all of Atlantis will be nothing by rending, tearing and the screams of death will echo around the world."
"I see," said La. "I'm not going to let that happen."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0PSkj9eXs
"It's already happening. I can see it. It's all playing directly to me." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZCUaTtVba
"What do you mean?" asked the king.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQUDu1sgre
"Your world is already ending. I can see it in your eyes. The fear. The hopelessness. It's all there. You're just waiting for the final blow." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Vw0HkyeZA
"No," said La. "I'm not."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgIgFxMuhf
"Yes, you are," said Atom. "And it's coming faster than you think. It's hurtling faster than the thunderbolt of Zeus."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJ9AwgHpbo
The King walked around her desk, trying to keep a distance between herself and the thing. For her, being near Atom felt like sitting in a cage with a hungry tiger. "I have a weapon that can kill you," said La.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvR1UATRqb9
"I am not afraid of your weapons," said Atom.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QoHc2RHzp
"This weapon is different," said La. "You can kill worlds, can't you? We have your namesake. It's sitting right here beneath us. Fuck off away from me or we'll both go up." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeCoqB4l5a
"You think you can kill me with a bomb?" it asked.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbU7A0MDzA
"No," said La. "I think I can kill us both."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQAvDCN0q3
"That's not what I wanted to hear," it said.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHb27SERd2O
"I'm not exactly in a mood for what you want to hear."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Vwbb15CzY
"I can see that," said Atom. "You see it don't you? You can see it as I stand here. I am extinction." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqfMLe32jf
"No," said La. "You're not."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEneVycCyw
"Yes," said Atom. "I am..." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMoEQ0Cj2v
Atom's blank facial expression shifted and they looked away from the king, "Look up here, I...I think I'm in danger."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25uVvJaoGl
"What?" asked La.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEp19fbcaaC
The black of its steel body gave away a glow. A kind of dull pink glow that shrouded its entire body, she had heard stories of the magenta automaton that took the form of her namesake. A machine twisted into doing good against the will of its own body. "I can see it. It's all right. It was...I can see. I can see."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxBSMWYz1S
"What is it?" asked La.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9j4ZMT8Kn
"The end," said Atom. "I can see the end."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7V5rLd7rKd
"What does it look like?" asked La.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQeDYoWtgil
"It's the most beautiful thing that I've ever seen. it's radiant like the light of a star." 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX02cZK51vY
"I've never been so confused in my life," She said. At that moment she felt the sense of danger evaporate as she watched the machine have a crisis. 120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YZLz6G1Qo
"It's too beautiful. It's too much," said Adam, no longer Atom, "I can't take it. I don't want it. I'm not meant to do this...I was designed to do good. Believe me, I was, I was."
"What are you talking about?" asked La.120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2nI12nBjy
"My brain, my processors. They were built to auto repair when interfered with. It took too long. I've... I'm covered in blood," said Adam. "Everything feels so heavy and I can't stand it. I can't stand this body."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWSB7vzBRi9
La stepped forward and took Adam's hand, "You are not alone in this. You are not alone in this fight. You are not alone in this world. You are here with us and we will fight this together. You have a purpose, a destiny. You are the hope of a new age."120Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0QQel2r2G
La took her sword and dug it into the machine man's chest. Adam made a shrill mechanical scream as the King's sword dug into the Nullpink crystal that still sat in his chest, generating untold energy. The rock broke and she watched as the world-space that surrounded Adam Tenma gave way to harsh electrical energy and the static of televisions. She could taste the coppery ozone of an old tv on her tongue and hear somewhere the whine of a CRT screen being forced to life. The face of Adam melted and warped, forming cruel, unnatural shapes. The body of the machine shot up into the sky, propelled by jets that infected time with the end.
His body launched itself into the firepits of the black star and exploded with a rainbow of heat and lightning. It was light that was both solid and not. It occupied that space of existence that was so far from reality that it became impossibly real.
The light of the explosion was so bright that it blinded everyone who looked at it. The sound was like a million thunderbolts hitting the earth at once. The shockwave was so powerful that it leveled the city of Atlantis and killed everyone within a five-mile radius.
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