(click to enlarge)
She did not hurry. Hurrying was for people who could afford to be seen trying. Nurse Paine did nothing quickly. Not even betrayal.
Her halo-phone glowed in her palm. She tapped the screen with surgical precision.
Sorry to bother you, Master.
The Tailor is undecided about the ritual garment for Jihoon.
He fears displeasing you. Might you inspect it personally?Send.
A lie stitched with perfect etiquette. MasterGin loved beauty. He loved craftsmanship. He loved being admired. He would come. And while the god of vanity obsessed over silk, Nurse Paine would commit treason.
She reached the sealed maintenance hatch deep below the clinic. She unhooked her gold serpent brooch and pressed the metal to the optical reader. The heavy door hissed. It unlocked the passage to the sewer.
On the other side, the team of filthy students practically collapsed into her.
Ghost had been mid-hack on the exterior keypad. He yelped and jumped backward. His tools clattered loudly across the wet stone.
Paine offered a sweet, dead-eyed smile. "Welcome to GIN AESTHETICA™."
"You bitch!" Minjo lunged blindly at the white-coated figure. "I would know your stench anywhere! You drugged me! You kidnapped Jihoon!"
Plague caught Minjo around the waist. He hauled her back before she could tear the nurse's throat out. The struggle was silent but volcanic.
Paine did not flinch. She lifted the edge of her pristine coat just enough to reveal the serrated chrome of a bone saw and a glowing syringe of paralytic neurotoxin.
"If I intended to harm you," she said softly, "you would not have made it this far." Her eyes flicked down the dark corridor behind them, calculating the shadows. "I do not have time for this. If you want Yoon Jihoon back, follow me. Make no sound. Touch nothing. Or we are all dead."
She turned and walked away.
The Team hesitated. Suspicion moved through them like a cold river current.
Lisa darted in front of Paine. She planted herself in the corridor like a barricade. "Why are you helping us?"
Paine tried to brush past her.
Lisa raised one finger. "Answer our questions or I start screaming. Trust me. I have influencer lungs. I can hit frequencies that shatter glass and summon security."
"Go ahead and scream," Paine replied. "The soundproofing here is excellent. I had it installed myself."
"Okay then. Here goes." Lisa inhaled deeply. She prepared to let out the full force of her voice.
Paine stopped walking.
Lisa smiled sweetly. "Much better. I'm Lisa Liemawr of the Hexa Herald. Reporter. Survivor. Professional chaos correspondent. Now why exactly should we trust the nurse with a bone saw and serial killer energy?"
Paine's eyes moved to Lisa. It was the flat assessment of someone deciding whether a specimen was worth the formaldehyde jar.
"Because he replaced me." The words landed heavy and bitter. Paine’s gaze shifted to the approaching elevator doors. "I helped build this place. Lead the Children of Apophis. My devotion to Master Ginerva was absolute. Then the Lost One arrived. Suddenly he is the masterpiece. The obsession. And I am reduced to grunt work. I want him gone."
Kyle took in the tunnels with a security guard's eye. Posh. Immaculate. They were a jarring contrast to the decaying, foul-smelling sewers they had just escaped.
His deep voice cut the tension. "Where are you taking us?"
Paine moved forward. "These are the VIP corridors. They are safe. They connect to the Presidential Blue House and Yeouido’s financial towers. Only human clients are permitted to access this sector."
"No Monstrum?" Kyle raised a brow. His voice was edged with heavy suspicion.
"No," she replied. She picked up her pace and checked her silver halowatch. "The powerful invest in miracles. Not nightmares."
Minjo’s jaw tightened. "Humans only. Meaning you are still human. Able to go where the vampires can't." She began to follow Paine, firing her questions like daggers. "You planted those bugs and devices in Jihoon’s dorm. You were the one behind the Black Snakeskin Box."
Paine spun around and sneered. "You are wasting time you do not have."
She turned and walked faster than should have been possible in couture heels. She disappeared into an obsidian elevator.
The team rushed inside after her. When the elevator doors parted again, they were greeted by a pair of brushed gold cathedral doors. The metal slid open soundlessly. The air beyond was immediately cooler and heavier. It felt as if the room itself had lungs.
They stepped into The Museum of Catastrophes.
An oppressive, deep hum ruled the circular, domed chamber. It sounded similar to the barrier protecting the border of the Forbidden Zone, but the frequency was much stronger here. A low vibration pulsed through the glass floor beneath their boots. It rattled their teeth. Around the chamber’s perimeter, illuminated holograms endlessly repeated historic disasters, displayed like priceless, curated jewelry.
The team slowly entered. The air smelled faintly metallic, like a lightning strike trapped in glass. Plague turned in a slow circle, staring at the vivid, looping tragedies.
"Okay," he whispered. "So we have the burning of the Library of Alexandria." He pointed at one glowing display, then another. "The Titanic snapping like a glow stick. A mushroom cloud blooming over Hiroshima."
He swallowed hard. "Guys."
No one answered.
"Guys, this is exactly like the movie Aliens. Exactly. Like when Ripley realizes she just walked into the Queen’s egg chamber."
Silence.
"For the record, I voted we stay in the sewer." Plague gulped and looked around the terrifying room.
Suddenly, a sharp chime pierced the chamber. It was Paine’s halo-phone. She went completely rigid.
MasterGin’s voice slid through the speaker. It was sharp and highly irritated. "Where is the Damascus silk? It was to arrive two days ago."
Her ruse had backfired. She angled her body away from the team. Her voice dropped to a state of professional calm.
"My apologies, Master. I will investigate at once."
"Do so. The ceremony must not be delayed." The line went dead. Paine shot the students one hard, genuinely panicked look. "Do not move," she mouthed. She vanished through a dark side corridor, leaving them alone.
Ghost snapped his fingers for their attention. He pointed his dimmed halo-wrist light toward the perimeter of the room. Six vertical stasis pods lined the curved walls. They glowed softly. The seventh pod stood dark. Above each pod pulsed a name and a date, flashing in perfect time with the heartbeat of the chamber.
Sister Hana. April 13, 2029. Jeju Island. Sister Mireille. April 13, 2029. Jeju Island.
Ghost blinked. He rapidly tapped on his halo glove, projecting the glowing blue text into the air. "Same birthdate."
Echo's hand flew up to cover her mouth. She already knew which pod would be dark. She did not make a single sound as she read the glass.
Sister Sophia. Missing.
Further inside the room, Minjo stood transfixed by the displays. Because she had lost her glasses in the sewer, she had to lean in close. Her face was lit by the ghostly glow, mere inches from a repeating hologram of a sinking ocean liner. "This is not archival footage," she whispered, her breath shallow. "They are extractions. Time files." She reached out and touched the cold edge of the glass casing. “And these displays? Chronal Resonance Viewers."
The holograms pulsed with sickening rhythm. From each looping disaster, thin filaments of anti-light throbbed beneath the glass floor. The strange shadows actively consumed the surrounding glow. They left only the faint memory of light at their edges, behaving exactly like miniature black holes.
She squinted hard, trying to follow the eerie, bisected light tracing across the floor. "This power. It's not energy born from creation. It is born from destruction. They are extracting it," Minjo said. Her voice dropped into a clinical, terrified cadence.
"Oh!” Echo blurted out. “Like Jihoon’s theory about the Black Snakeskin Box?"
"Yes,” Minjo gestured to the vast chamber. "It is horrifyingly genius. Disasters throughout time, focused into one place like a solar array from hell. This entire room is the Entropy Engine."
The anti-light raced in a mathematical spiral. It converged in a tightening whirlwind toward the beating heart of the room.
"Hey, Dragonlets." Lisa pointed upward, her voice entirely losing its usual commercial gloss. "Is that Apophis?"
A vast projection dominated the domed ceiling. It showed a massive celestial body skimming the Earth's atmosphere. Satellites fell from orbit like burning embers. Northern lights circled the globe on fire.
Plague's eyes widened. "It was almost directly over Jeju Island during its closest approach."
"Wait," Plague whispered, taking a step forward. "Jihoon’s gamer tag was Meteor Strike." He rubbed his arms as goosebumps rose on his neck. "He never did tell us when his birthday was."
Drawn by the hypnotic pulse of the anti-light, the team approached the central dais.
At the focal point of the exhibit, someone reclined across a luxurious, serpent-shaped chaise lounge.
At first, they thought it was a marble statue.
The sleeping figure lay perfectly still. He was draped in flowing ceremonial white. His limbs were arranged with deliberate, artistic grace. Silver hair spilled across the velvet cushions like molten metal.
He was beautiful. Far too beautiful.
A brass placard glowed gently beneath the dais.
Echo leaned closer to read it. Her voice faltered immediately.
"Lathandro Ginerva. April 13, 2029. East China Sea, off Jeju Island."
Absolute silence fell across the chamber.
Kyle stopped breathing.
Minjo stumbled backward, her hands flying to her head. "No," she whispered. "No. No. No."
High above the dais, coiled in the slow silence of the ceiling projection, something vast moved in the dark. It was not a shadow. It was not smoke. It was the outline of something ancient. It was ringed in stolen anti-light. Its attention was fixed on the sleeping figure below, possessing the terrifying, absolute stillness of a predator that had already won.
Hop on your hover bike, it's CyberFair time!
His deep voice cut the tension. "Where are you taking us?"
Paine moved forward. "These are the VIP corridors. They are safe. They connect to the Presidential Blue House and Yeouido’s financial towers. Only human clients are permitted to access this sector."
"No Monstrum?" Kyle raised a brow. His voice was edged with heavy suspicion.
"No," she replied. She picked up her pace and checked her silver halowatch. "The powerful invest in miracles. Not nightmares."
Minjo’s jaw tightened. "Humans only. Meaning you are still human. Able to go where the vampires can't." She began to follow Paine, firing her questions like daggers. "You planted those bugs and devices in Jihoon’s dorm. You were the one behind the Black Snakeskin Box."
Paine spun around and sneered. "You are wasting time you do not have."
She turned and walked faster than should have been possible in couture heels. She disappeared into an obsidian elevator.
The team rushed inside after her. When the elevator doors parted again, they were greeted by a pair of brushed gold cathedral doors. The metal slid open soundlessly. The air beyond was immediately cooler and heavier. It felt as if the room itself had lungs.
They stepped into The Museum of Catastrophes.
An oppressive, deep hum ruled the circular, domed chamber. It sounded similar to the barrier protecting the border of the Forbidden Zone, but the frequency was much stronger here. A low vibration pulsed through the glass floor beneath their boots. It rattled their teeth. Around the chamber’s perimeter, illuminated holograms endlessly repeated historic disasters, displayed like priceless, curated jewelry.
The team slowly entered. The air smelled faintly metallic, like a lightning strike trapped in glass. Plague turned in a slow circle, staring at the vivid, looping tragedies.
"Okay," he whispered. "So we have the burning of the Library of Alexandria." He pointed at one glowing display, then another. "The Titanic snapping like a glow stick. A mushroom cloud blooming over Hiroshima."
He swallowed hard. "Guys."
No one answered.
"Guys, this is exactly like the movie Aliens. Exactly. Like when Ripley realizes she just walked into the Queen’s egg chamber."
Silence.
"For the record, I voted we stay in the sewer." Plague gulped and looked around the terrifying room.
Suddenly, a sharp chime pierced the chamber. It was Paine’s halo-phone. She went completely rigid.
MasterGin’s voice slid through the speaker. It was sharp and highly irritated. "Where is the Damascus silk? It was to arrive two days ago."
Her ruse had backfired. She angled her body away from the team. Her voice dropped to a state of professional calm.
"My apologies, Master. I will investigate at once."
"Do so. The ceremony must not be delayed." The line went dead. Paine shot the students one hard, genuinely panicked look. "Do not move," she mouthed. She vanished through a dark side corridor, leaving them alone.
Ghost snapped his fingers for their attention. He pointed his dimmed halo-wrist light toward the perimeter of the room. Six vertical stasis pods lined the curved walls. They glowed softly. The seventh pod stood dark. Above each pod pulsed a name and a date, flashing in perfect time with the heartbeat of the chamber.
Sister Hana. April 13, 2029. Jeju Island. Sister Mireille. April 13, 2029. Jeju Island.
Ghost blinked. He rapidly tapped on his halo glove, projecting the glowing blue text into the air. "Same birthdate."
Echo's hand flew up to cover her mouth. She already knew which pod would be dark. She did not make a single sound as she read the glass.
Sister Sophia. Missing.
Further inside the room, Minjo stood transfixed by the displays. Because she had lost her glasses in the sewer, she had to lean in close. Her face was lit by the ghostly glow, mere inches from a repeating hologram of a sinking ocean liner. "This is not archival footage," she whispered, her breath shallow. "They are extractions. Time files." She reached out and touched the cold edge of the glass casing. “And these displays? Chronal Resonance Viewers."
The holograms pulsed with sickening rhythm. From each looping disaster, thin filaments of anti-light throbbed beneath the glass floor. The strange shadows actively consumed the surrounding glow. They left only the faint memory of light at their edges, behaving exactly like miniature black holes.
She squinted hard, trying to follow the eerie, bisected light tracing across the floor. "This power. It's not energy born from creation. It is born from destruction. They are extracting it," Minjo said. Her voice dropped into a clinical, terrified cadence.
"Oh!” Echo blurted out. “Like Jihoon’s theory about the Black Snakeskin Box?"
"Yes,” Minjo gestured to the vast chamber. "It is horrifyingly genius. Disasters throughout time, focused into one place like a solar array from hell. This entire room is the Entropy Engine."
The anti-light raced in a mathematical spiral. It converged in a tightening whirlwind toward the beating heart of the room.
"Hey, Dragonlets." Lisa pointed upward, her voice entirely losing its usual commercial gloss. "Is that Apophis?"
A vast projection dominated the domed ceiling. It showed a massive celestial body skimming the Earth's atmosphere. Satellites fell from orbit like burning embers. Northern lights circled the globe on fire.
Plague's eyes widened. "It was almost directly over Jeju Island during its closest approach."
"Wait," Plague whispered, taking a step forward. "Jihoon’s gamer tag was Meteor Strike." He rubbed his arms as goosebumps rose on his neck. "He never did tell us when his birthday was."
Drawn by the hypnotic pulse of the anti-light, the team approached the central dais.
At the focal point of the exhibit, someone reclined across a luxurious, serpent-shaped chaise lounge.
At first, they thought it was a marble statue.
The sleeping figure lay perfectly still. He was draped in flowing ceremonial white. His limbs were arranged with deliberate, artistic grace. Silver hair spilled across the velvet cushions like molten metal.
He was beautiful. Far too beautiful.
A brass placard glowed gently beneath the dais.
Echo leaned closer to read it. Her voice faltered immediately.
"Lathandro Ginerva. April 13, 2029. East China Sea, off Jeju Island."
Absolute silence fell across the chamber.
Kyle stopped breathing.
Minjo stumbled backward, her hands flying to her head. "No," she whispered. "No. No. No."
High above the dais, coiled in the slow silence of the ceiling projection, something vast moved in the dark. It was not a shadow. It was not smoke. It was the outline of something ancient. It was ringed in stolen anti-light. Its attention was fixed on the sleeping figure below, possessing the terrifying, absolute stillness of a predator that had already won.
Hop on your hover bike, it's CyberFair time!
On her, Nurse Paine:
Hair: Limerence - Tamesis hair [mesh](Cyber Fair)(990L)
Outfit: Error - xena set - legacy [mesh](Cyber Fair)(199L)
Mask object: VERBOTEN - Tusk Metal Mask [mesh](Cyber Fair)(300L)
Mask tattoo: Guapa - Tactical Cyber Mask For Lelutka Evox, fatpack [BOM](Cyber Fair)(499L)
Eyes: S H I M M - CYBER XIII BONUS [BOM](Cyber Fair)(288L)
Shoes: Ruchell - Lux Heels [mesh](Cyber Fair)(349L)
Gloves: Effervescence - EF Miranda Gloves - MEGAPACK - Legacy [mesh]
Brooch: HEXCLAVE - Snake Tie Pin [mesh](gift)
Syringe, bone saw: CABALPIER - Mad Doctor's Equipment - Bundle [mesh]
Halophone: BluPrintz - BP - Data Pad [mesh]
Skin: VOGLIA - ELEKTRA Skin, EvoX, Icy With Brows [BOM]
Head, eyes: LeLUTKA - RAVEN 4.0 [mesh](3990L)
Body: TheShops - Legacy (f) Special Edition (Basic) 1.2 [mesh]
Pose: yzk - mens pose2 - 5
Setting:
Skybox: ambice - "007" Sky Tower Building 1 [mesh](Cyber Fair)(899L)
BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky:
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