machine of death

The Atlanteans created these machines to convert slaves into a viscous fuel source. Each device was built around a towering blue crystal, standing as tall as a human adult, encased within a cage of ornate metal. Slaves were herded into the chamber surrounding it, packed tightly as if cattle awaiting slaughter. When the machine activated, it tore the souls from their bodies. The extracted souls were drawn screaming into a massive, square-cut crystal—roughly the size of a small truck by human measure—mounted at the end of a mechanical arm. On either side of the arm stood two power nodes. The arm moved back and forth between them, and with each pass the crystal was energized, its glow intensifying as the process continued. The machine itself was the size of a small house, its metalwork elaborately detailed, beautiful in a way that made its purpose even more horrific. As the souls were broken down, their psychic screams echoed through the structure, reverberating through both mind and matter. On the far side of the apparatus, the remnants of this process emerged as a bluish, viscous fluid, pouring into large vats below. Inside the vats, heavy paddles rotated in alternating clockwise and counterclockwise motions. An alternating current flowed between the paddles, bathing the fluid in positive and negative charges to keep it stable—ensuring the fuel remained potent, contained, and obedient.