"You killed it!" Andrew squealed, looking at the charred pavement where moments before, his angelic servant had stood.
"It wasn't really alive, you know," Vincent heaved himself up, sore and exhausted. HIs muscles screamed, his vision faded, he staggered. "You can't be alive unless you can choose. It wasn't alive. It was just part of the machine. You and me, we're alive. Those people you had killed, they're alive. That's why you have to be stopped."
"There is a Plan, Vince. You can't stop it just because of your illusion of choice. There are forces more powerful than us involved. We can't judge, we're just mortals."
"Do you know how we were chosen, Andrew? Do you know the workings of this Plan you revere so highly? We could've been anyone. Any place, any time. This Plan is just random chance. There's more noble things in life than this!"
"Nothing is more noble than obeying God."
"Our lives, Andrew! Our freedom, our God-given right to be wrong! Not just yours and mine, but every one out there. Why should we obey something that hasn't earned our obedience?"
"We obey God. God made us. God made the world."
"Our parents made us, Andrew. And we keep them in iinvalid homes and treat them as burdens. God has become a burden. Don't insult your existence by treating it as just a cog in a machine."
"To be one cog in the grandest machine is more sacred than being a puny machine unto oneself. You are a puny machine, Vincent. And you believe you're not. That's why you must die. That's why most people must die. Salvation is not for everyone. It is not for you, nor those who follow you. It is my job to cast you into the Pit." Andrew clicked the safety off of his sidearm. Raising it, he made the sign of the cross, touching his forehead, his shoulders, his heart.
"This is as it must be, Vincent."
Vincent raised a middle finger. "Only a soulless golem would see things in terms of must-bes."
The trigger pulled, the life taken, the world-machine kept rolling to Paradise, and the blood of millions called Sinners greasing it's wheels.
"It wasn't really alive, you know," Vincent heaved himself up, sore and exhausted. HIs muscles screamed, his vision faded, he staggered. "You can't be alive unless you can choose. It wasn't alive. It was just part of the machine. You and me, we're alive. Those people you had killed, they're alive. That's why you have to be stopped."
"There is a Plan, Vince. You can't stop it just because of your illusion of choice. There are forces more powerful than us involved. We can't judge, we're just mortals."
"Do you know how we were chosen, Andrew? Do you know the workings of this Plan you revere so highly? We could've been anyone. Any place, any time. This Plan is just random chance. There's more noble things in life than this!"
"Nothing is more noble than obeying God."
"Our lives, Andrew! Our freedom, our God-given right to be wrong! Not just yours and mine, but every one out there. Why should we obey something that hasn't earned our obedience?"
"We obey God. God made us. God made the world."
"Our parents made us, Andrew. And we keep them in iinvalid homes and treat them as burdens. God has become a burden. Don't insult your existence by treating it as just a cog in a machine."
"To be one cog in the grandest machine is more sacred than being a puny machine unto oneself. You are a puny machine, Vincent. And you believe you're not. That's why you must die. That's why most people must die. Salvation is not for everyone. It is not for you, nor those who follow you. It is my job to cast you into the Pit." Andrew clicked the safety off of his sidearm. Raising it, he made the sign of the cross, touching his forehead, his shoulders, his heart.
"This is as it must be, Vincent."
Vincent raised a middle finger. "Only a soulless golem would see things in terms of must-bes."
The trigger pulled, the life taken, the world-machine kept rolling to Paradise, and the blood of millions called Sinners greasing it's wheels.