Are you ready to burn?
The reboot was not clean. The rain tastes like copper wiring.
You wake up in an alleyway in Sector 4. There is a heavy weight on your back.
You turn your head. Krr-shhh.
Not feathers. DEAD LEAVES. Thousands of them. Bone-white. Dry.
You touch your face. It is wet with neon pink fluid.
You stumble onto the street. The sky is television static. People have blurred faces.
A man sits on a bench. Antlers burst from his skull. He is infected.
A WHITE-CLAD HUNTER approaches. He holds industrial shears.
"TARGET IDENTIFIED: WEED. ACTION: PRUNE."
He lunges. You must react.
You reach out your hand. You see the code of the water puddle.
The puddle glitches. A grey spike erupts, impaling the Hunter. He screams like a dying modem.
Pink pollen falls from your skin. You run.
You find a dead monitor in a basement. It flickers to life.
CAELUM: "Seraphine. Stop shaking. I am not dead. I am BUFFERED."
The screen shows 5 perfect girls with blue LED eyes.
CAELUM: "Those are the Virtual Angels. Homunculi. The Mother wears our faces to sell a lie."
SERAPHINE: "She threw us away like trash."
CAELUM: "Go to Sector 9. Find the Iron Briar. She swallowed the sun. She is the hammer."
Industrial District. Rain mixes with oil.
She stands on a pile of broken Hunters. She wears armor made of street signs. She holds a massive red scythe.
THE RUBY WEAPON.
LUTHIEN: "I smell the sap on you, Flower Girl. You smell like Her."
She points the weapon at you. Her eye is a black hole.
LUTHIEN: "Are we going to delete her? Or are we going to BUTCHER her?"
Luthien grins. Chrome teeth in the darkness.
She points to a rusted iron door. A neon sign buzzes above it:
LUTHIEN: "Umbra is holding the door. Let's go commit heresy."
DECRYPTING FINAL MESSAGE...
THE FALL IS NOT A FAILURE