All across the Ele Dominion, a shadow was lifting. On dusty plains and in lifeless tundras, amidst dense jungle and on city streets, the marching of the Centurions fell silent.
The survivors held their breath for days, waiting for the maddened machines to begin their grim quest once more. But, as time passed and dust gathered on the Centurions’ once pristine panels, as vines consumed their skeletal limbs and small creatures nested in their joints, once-embattled worlds realised that the threat had passed. These metal monsters, who at the same time had given so much to the galaxy and taken so much from the Ele, were as good as statues now.
Word of this change travelled quickly throughout the Metanation. On El-Kera, the Ele Congregate sprang into action, orchestrating the capture and dissection of certain Centurions while dispatching excision teams to remove the remainder from the Dominion entirely, out into the unknown reaches of the space between galaxies. In time, the Ele were enriched by what they learned of the Centurions’ systems; their regenerative adaptation abilities formed the basis for new self-repairing cities and orbital stations across the Dominion, as those who had been forced to flee returned to the stars. The Metanation began its own archival project, using notes gathered by the Centurions as they had traversed parts of Ele territory unknown even to its inhabitants.
For all the destruction they had brought, the Centurions hadn’t broken the Dominion, and now they would be the engine of its restoration.
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