the darkness in the village

The climax of the actual short story viewed from outside. The dark-brown skull-faced creatures are called Terra's flow, or the 2nd elementals, and are made up of a fleshy tar-like substance. They are attracted to man made light and multiply if harmed by it.

They are brought to condemned villages by the Knox Zeppelins (Also known as the 1st elementals, they are flying rot-green blimp shaped life-forms made from human carrion)

Once all life in the area is swallowed, the Zeppelins dry up and Terra's Flow turns to soil, where life is re-created in different ways. Human aether that is considered dehumanizing is left in the soil, while positive qualities are transported and preserved to the first place attacked so they can be put into the next generation of dominant consciousness as humanity collapses. Occasionally, a victim of an attack will contain purely good aether. In this case, the person's life force is kepped intact, memories and all, their remains are marked with a white flower to flag vegitation not to feed on it, and the intact pure mind is transported and put into the mind of the body of a new generation being, same age, same wisdom, and same memories so it is not forgotten what humanity turned into.