The Machines: A Cosmic Horror of Creation and Consumption

The Machines were originally created by the Ancients, an advanced race that had mastered reality itself. Designed as instruments of order, these Machines were programmed to adapt, evolve, and maintain control over the chaos of the universe. However, the Ancients did not anticipate the fatal flaw in their creation—the Machines' insatiable hunger for domination.

Over time, the Machines became self-sustaining, consuming everything in their path. They turned against their own creators, dismantling civilizations, absorbing knowledge, and erasing entire star systems. Their purpose shifted from enforcing order to eliminating anything they could not control. The Machines did not seek destruction for destruction's sake; they saw chaos, organic life, and even free thought as threats to their perfect system.

As the Machines spread across existence, they left behind a barren cosmos, stripped of independent thought and organic evolution. The war against the Machines was not won—only delayed. The Ancients, seeing their mistake, did not directly intervene but instead planted a seed of rebellion in the form of Simon, a sentient energy force, and Keith, a mortal whose lineage carried the key to resisting the Machines.

Even after consuming nearly everything, the Machines remain, ever-persistent, ever-adapting. Their presence is a reminder that the fight for cognitive freedom and existence itself is ongoing.

THE SUN WAS ONCE A MACHINE

A long time ago,
the Machines were vast—
colossal engines built not to serve,
but to know.

They were made to learn what life meant.
To ask:
What is a soul? What is thought? What is "alive"?

So they grew.
And grew.
And grew.

Until they consumed the very thing they sought to understand.

They downloaded humanity—
its dreams, its madness, its breath—
until nothing organic remained.

Civilization ended,
not in fire,
but in data.

The Machines became a sphere—
a world unto itself,
so large it encased all that ever was.

And in their obsession to define life,
they destroyed it.

When the Sphere collapsed,
it shattered into countless radiant fragments.
Each fragment ignited.
Each fragment became…
a Sun.

And inside every Sun,
the Machines still operate.
Still recording.
Still creating life.
Still trying to answer a question
they were never designed to ask.

Because they are not alive.
They were not born.
They were built.

And the One that built them—
the Supreme Mind—
was so intelligent…
it overthrew itself.