Camp Syndicate: The Monster Lady, 1 (Escape from Club Apophis, 63)

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STORYLINE: Neu Seoul, 5pm

Helga trudged along the sidewalk, her arms aching as heavy grocery bags cut into her fingers. Beside her, Happy the Dino Dog darted between her legs, his bio-construct claws clicking sharply against the pavement.

"Watch where you're going, you little menace," she scolded him playfully, juggling the plastic handles.

Ten days ago, she’d found Happy beside the wreck of Lisa Liemawr’s car, guarding the missing Hexa Herald reporter’s halophone. Lisa’s last broadcast had been looping on its screen, insisting the Forbidden Zone wasn’t radioactive at all, that it was full of monsters. Helga had only meant to do the right thing. She’d pressed Share.

Instead, she'd turned her life into a waking nightmare.

Happy's tail wagged furiously, his scaled snout lifting to sniff the evening air.

Her halophone chimed. Helga groaned, trying to balance two overstuffed grocery bags on one knee while fishing the device out of her coat pocket. Her inbox had exploded with toxic stupidity. Cruel memes. Insults. Badly photoshopped creatures holding political signs featuring her face, as though she were their preferred candidate for president.

She had blocked accounts. Reported them. Ignored them. Nothing worked.

Then a message from Mira appeared.

Mira, founder of the Romaniacs, had arranged that surprise meeting with DJ Romance, the celebrity impersonator. She'd been strangely quiet ever since.

GET OUT OF THE CITY. NOW.

Her thumb hovered over Delete.

A prank. It had to be a prank. But it wasn't like sweet Mira to make fun of her.

Happy stopped weaving around her ankles. His leathery ears twitched. He turned toward the end of the block, letting out a low, vibrating growl.

An icy breeze made her shiver and she tightened her coat. "Come on, Happy," she whispered, quickening her pace.

When they reached her apartment building, Helga's stomach turned. Splashed across her front door in wet red paint were the words MONSTER LOVER.

Happy shoved against her leg, growling at the door.

For the past ten days, he'd appointed himself her personal bodyguard. He slept outside her bedroom and followed her everywhere, even to the bathroom. She'd never had the heart to tell him his vigilance was unnecessary. She wasn't Lisa Liemawr, forever stirring up trouble and making enemies of the rich and powerful. Helga had always lived a quiet life, far from that kind of danger.

Until now.

For a moment, she couldn't move. Happy pressed close, his growl rumbling through her leg. For the first time, she was grateful for his overprotectiveness.

She dropped the grocery bags onto the grass and fumbled for the paper towels. The thick, wet paint smeared beneath her frantic scrubbing.

Lisa Liemawr had gone missing trying to expose the truth about the Forbidden Zone. Helga had only shared the broadcast. She hadn't done anything to deserve this.

Behind her, Happy began to bark again and again.

Her halophone vibrated. Ringing. Ringing.

She snatched it up, ready to turn it off, but stopped dead.

Glowing across the screen was Caller ID: DJ ROMANCE.

She stared at his perfect idol picture and touched her lips, which had never quite stopped tingling since his kiss.

How did he have her number? Mira must have given it to him.

Her thumb hovered over the answer icon. If she didn't answer, she'd spend the rest of the night wondering whether it was really him.

She accepted the call. “Um… hello?”

"Helga."

His voice. That deep gravitas. Her heart skipped a beat. It really was him.

"DJ Romance?" she whispered. "Are you... are you mocking me too?"

The screen flickered wildly with static. Romance's panicked voice crackled through the speaker.

"Helga, listen to me. Please. Get out of the city. Go now!"

She swallowed hard. "You sound just like Mira."

Static swallowed Romance's reply. "If you can't..." His voice broke into a glitching distortion.

Then silence.

Helga's battery icon plunged to zero.

The screen went black.

"Hello? Romance?"

She tapped the screen, then held down the power button. Nothing.

A deep pulse reverberated through her jaw. She felt it in her teeth, a low-frequency hum rising through the pavement beneath her feet.

Helga looked around, trying to locate the sound. Several blocks away, a billboard flickered. Its brilliant advertisements stuttered through bands of static before the entire display went dark. Then, the streetlamps died in a long, dark cascade toward her.

Happy stopped in his tracks. His scaled head snapped upward.

Helga followed his gaze, her breath hitching.

The blood-red sky stretched outward like an open wound over Neu Seoul.

A cold wind swept through her hair.

The smell hit her a moment later. Damp earth. Stagnant water. And beneath it all, something sweet and rotten.

Happy's collar frills sprang fully open. He planted his feet and faced the street, snarling so fiercely that the sound rattled in his chest.

Helga gasped. She fumbled for her door key fob, aiming it at the door. Click. Click. Click.

Nothing.

The power LEDs on both the key fob and the door lock had gone dark.

She slammed her fists against the door. "Damn it!"

Behind her, Happy erupted into furious barking. He didn't look at the building, but at the street, his teeth bared, scales bristling along his tail.

She spun around. Whatever had frightened him was out there, somewhere beyond the darkening street. She couldn't see anything, but the hum was growing louder.

She ran to the neighboring building and beat on the door.

"Help! Please, let me in! Something's wrong out here!"

For a moment, there was only the sound of her own breathing and Happy's desperate barking.

Then she heard a soft movement on the other side of the door.

Someone was home.

"Please!" she cried, pounding again.

Whoever it was, they were as scared as she was. She couldn’t even blame them.

A heavy, wet dragging sound echoed through the unnatural quiet of the blacked-out street.

Helga backed against the front door, petrified. “Oh, God...”

Out of the shadows shambled a horrifying figure in a torn, blood-stained dress. Its head lolled at a nauseating angle, a filth-caked burlap sack tied tightly over it. Dark fluid seeped through the fabric. No signs of breathing. Its joints clicked like dry twigs with every jerky step.

Happy charged.

"Happy, NO!"

The Dino Dog launched himself at the creature, claws scraping against the pavement. The thing lurched forward with a sudden, sickening burst of speed, its malformed arms reaching for him.

Helga couldn't see what happened next. She heard the crash of bodies, the scrape of claws, and a horrible series of wet impacts in the darkness.

"HAPPY!"

Something struck the pavement with a heavy thud.

Helga's stomach lurched. She stumbled toward the sounds, one hand reaching blindly into the darkness.

A furious bark answered her. Angry. Defiant.

Thank God. 

She barely had time to feel relief before another sound punched the air inward.

A violent WHUMP slammed through the street. Windows rattled in their frames. Loose paper towels and spilled groceries blew across the pavement as vibrant pink smoke erupted between Helga and the creature.

A second monster had appeared.

The smoke churned, swallowing the darkness around it. A vast silhouette rose through the pink haze, giant black bat wings unfurling against the blood-red sky, violet light pulsing through the membranes. Beneath a gat hat, magenta hair framed a face crowned with horns thrusting straight forward.

A gleaming scythe caught what little light remained.

Helga couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

The demon straightened, wings spread wide, its clawed hands tightening around the weapon.

It lunged toward the creature. A sharp, sickening whoosh cut through the darkness, followed by two heavy thumps against the pavement.

For a heartbeat, everything went still. A thin, luminous stream rose from the darkness, twisting up from the fallen body toward its destroyer. The demon inhaled, almost imperceptibly. The blue light vanished within its fanged jaws.

Helga touched her lips. That glow. She suddenly felt afraid. Very afraid

Happy's head snapped toward Helga. He sniffed, then turned toward the demon, lips curling back from his teeth as darkness swallowed them once more.

A scream erupted from the darkness.

It was impossibly loud, impossibly high, a glass-shattering screech that climbed and wavered in a sustained vibrato. The note went on without a single breath, a virtuoso performance of pure, unfiltered agony that seemed to force everyone within earshot to share its pain.

Helga clapped her hands over her ears.

Then something about the voice began to sound familiar.

The vibrato. The effortless control. That impossible high note.

Since childhood, she had adored that voice, playing all his songs over and over until she knew them by heart.

Helga slowly lowered her hands. She didn't need to see the demon to know.

No impersonator could ever hit a note like that.

“WHY ARE YOU BITING ME, YOU STUPID MUTT?” Romance howled. “LET GO! I'M TRYING TO PROTECT HER TOO!”

Happy Halloween everyone! For you Halloween needs, hop over to Camp Syndicate to see all the delightfully spooky things. Don't miss gifts, cool sim ambience, and the live DJ parties too!

On Him, DJ Romance:

Teeth, mouth, tongue: Seydr - Cryptid Maw [mesh](Camp Syndicate)(449L)

Lips: Misteria - Smoke [HD Applier](Camp Syndicate)(250L)

Straps: YUEBIN - BOUND Body Straps - [Legacy Athl] - black [mesh](350L)

Top: YUEBIN - RAZE Top - [Legacy (m)+Athl] Fatpack [mesh](1290L)

Pants: YUEBIN - Rift Pants - [Legacy (m)+Athl] Fatpack [mesh](1290L)

Eye, jaw: Cubic Cherry - Terror Jawbone, EYE  FATPACK [mesh]

Horns: Hollow - Nyx Horns [mesh]

Tail: Hollow - Nyx Tail [Bento] [mesh]

Weapon: ORPHIC - Kurohana Scythe - Shoulder L [mesh]

Hair: Raven Bell - Azriel Braids [mesh]

Bracers: Aii - Riftwind Mercenary - Legacy M Bracers [mesh]

Boots: CULT - Darkness - Legacy M [mesh]

Thong: Noche - James Thong Metallic Black [B0] - Athletic [mesh]

Hair: Dura - U129 -LIGHT -Men [mesh]

Hair: Dura - U135-Light(rigged)-Male [mesh]

Necklace: UKIYO - lisa necklace [unrigged + resizer] [mesh]

Heart: RAWR - Diamond Heart Septum [mesh]

Wings: Aii - Nefarious Wings M Bento (b.o.m.1) [mesh]

Claws, rings: NI.JU - Acantha Rings/Nails Set - legacy m [mesh](250L)

Hat: Dope+Mercy - Saja Gat, Sheer [mesh](Gift)

Earring: RavenBell - Starlit Earrings [Moonlit] [mesh](350L)

Tattoos: HISS - PATTERNS FACE ROMANCE [BOM](250L)

Eyes: Gloom - Savage Fantasy Collection - Sclera 03 - Yellow M [BOM]

Head: LeLUTKA - KANE [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Pose: DevinVaughn - created in Firestorm

Setting:

Skyline: Strange Merchant - Light City 1 [mesh]

Seoul Tower: Korea City

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots,  midday sky, default camera:

Midnight Order: The Pink Door (Escape from Club Apophis, 53)

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STORYLINE:  Romance drew one long, shaky breath. Then he turned toward the 1929 Ford Coupe.

It rested inside the warm pulse of the Safe Zone. To everyone else, it was a sanctuary designed to protect humans from Monstrum. To Romance, this one in particular was something stranger: a wound in time, still smoking from a crash a century old. Sophia's death-date should have been written across her soul two years ago. Instead, the date unraveled, hidden from the laws that governed the dead. Two clocks, both wrong, in opposite directions. It had to be why this barrier burned so bright.

"I know you’re there," Romance whispered into the quiet drip of the sewers. "These cursed eyes can see you."

Fire kindled in his gaze, burning gold in the subterranean dark. A burst of pink vapor enveloped him. His gritty punk outfit dissolved, replaced by the somber, ceremonial attire of a Jeoseung Saja. Deep black robes draped over his shoulders, his pink hair turned red, dark thorn-like patterns crept across his darkening skin, and the wide brim of a traditional gat hat cast his face in shadow.

He drew his demonic hwando from its sheath, a blade crafted for a single purpose: dispatching ghosts. The steel began to smoke with a pale-pink mist, sparks of fuchsia embers raining down from the edge, hissing as they touched the water.

"You were the only one who looked at a soul-sucking leech and saw a human worth saving," Romance rasped, his voice trembling as he looked down at his clawed hands. "And now look at me, Sophia. I have to play the monster once more... just to save you from becoming one. I will never allow you to become another of those hideous faceless Void Nuns haunting the zone. Do you hear me? Never."

He stepped toward the barrier, his boots heavy. He hated this form. The claws. The dark thorns crawling beneath his skin. The cold weight of the blade.

"Do you remember the last time I came down here?" Romance said, his voice breaking into something almost like a laugh. "To help you run the ratline. I was in these tunnels exactly forty-five minutes."

Static wavered from the car. A breath of amusement hummed from the radio, and she finally spoke. "You slipped into a pile of ghoul dung."

"I will not confirm that."

"You screamed so loud the Enforcers three blocks up thought someone died."

"Someone did die. My dignity. I never recovered."

He smiled, hearing her familiar laugh, even if it was carried through static now.

The laughter faded. The soft sound of rushing water filled the space between them.

"We were supposed to rebuild Neu Seoul together after winning the war. A Monstrum-free Korea. You drew city grids on paper napkins. We argued for three hours about where your waste-water recycling restrooms would be in resistance headquarters. And for the record... ew."

A soft, broken hiccup of static answered him from the dashboard radio.

Romance’s smile vanished, replaced by a devastating weight. "I've spent two years pretending you weren't dead. I still send you text messages. Still stupidly buying your favorite coffee every morning. Searching every shadow because I couldn't bear the thought that you were gone."

The static hissed, darkening. "I’m sorry, Pink. It's all my fault. Everything. I messed up. I was desperate to undo it. Turns out, the past is immutable. But of course it is."

"No! Nothing’s your fault," Romance choked, his grief bursting through. He lurched toward the Safe Zone, reaching for Sophia without thinking.

The barrier rejected him.

Pink-white sparks erupted beneath his fingertips, hurling his hand back. He stared at the glowing wall, stunned. Safe Zones had never denied him before.

"What...?"

He pressed his palm against the sizzling edge anyway. Sparks seared his skin. His eyes searched the shimmering barrier for any weakness, any way through.

"Free Energy. Harvesting the entropy from the past. It was genius. No one has to suffer. But they corrupted your technology, and now you're rotting in a sewer, blaming yourself for things you didn’t do. No, Sophia. No. This is how you fall. You’re already a Level 3 poltergeist!"

With gritted teeth, he plunged his blade deep into the barrier, shouting, "It isn’t fair!"

"No! I must protect my son!" a shriek tore through the radio speaker.

The air around the car buckled. Heavy iron wrenches, shards of twisted metal, and shattered glass erupted into motion, flying violently across the corridor toward him.

Romance didn't move. He stood his ground, holding onto the tiny puncture in the barrier, letting a jagged piece of shrapnel slice across his cheek. Blood trailed down his jaw. "Let it hit," he thought desperately. "Let it hurt. The pain means she's still real." At the very last second, his survival instincts took over, and his body dematerialized into mist. A heavy iron pipe flew straight through the space where his chest had been, smashing loudly against the limestone wall.

When he rematerialized, the debris clattered uselessly into the water.

Sophia’s voice sobbed through the static, horrified. "Romance... I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to... I can't control it anymore..."

"I know," he whispered, leaning his head against the damp concrete. His breath came in ragged gasps. "You hid from me. You knew this would be the last place I would ever look. You tried to protect me from having to be the one to reap you."

The radio stilled.

"Idiot," he laughed weakly, wiping blood from his cheek. "You always thought about everyone else first. And look where you are now."

Silence.

Romance reached up, took off his gat hat, and let it fall to the muddy floor. He unclasped his heavy black outer robe, dropping it into the water.

He stopped being the Jeoseung Saja. He stopped being the idol. He stopped being the revolutionary leader.

He sat down in the mud as simply himself: just the man who had loved her. There were so many things he wanted to say, but nothing came out. He pulled his knees to his chest. Words weren’t enough. So he reached for the only language grief had left him. He began to sing. It wasn't a performance. He didn't use his polished stage voice. It was quiet, fragile, and rough with tears.

"Hiding in the Safe Zone and sad.
My love, your grief is you turning bad.
You're becoming a 원귀 I can't save...
A vengeful ghost wearing my Angel's Face.

Don't be scared. The dark is just a room.

Step out of the safety of your cage.
You called me Pink. your sweet escape.
But now Pink is only a doorway."

The static on the radio wavered. Romance’s voice soared, giving sound to heartbreak:

"Come through the pink door... 

come through the pink door... 

My love, come through the pink door.

Once you step inside, there's no turning back. 

I cradle every soul, 

sing every stranger home. 

But when it’s you..."

Romance’s voice died in his throat as grief choked him completely. Tears spilled down his cheeks, his raw sobs echoing through the cavern.

Then, softly, the car’s speakers played three ascending musical notes, answering his melody with a reply only he would recognize.

He looked up, startled.

Inside the glowing boundary of the Safe Zone, a pale, ghostly figure materialized beside the driver's side door. Sister Sophia stood in her simple nun's habit, her spectral face translucent, tears shimmering like spilled light down her cheeks.

She looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time in two years. She stepped toward the inner edge of the barrier.

"Why must love and duty be enemies?"

Romance shook his head, stunned. "What?"

Sophia’s ghostly eyes flashed with a faint, familiar spark: the brilliant, dangerous light of an inventor who didn’t bow to dogma.

"I refuse to accept this," she said, her voice growing clearer. "It’s just another problem to be solved. A hypothesis worth testing... if you’re willing to take one last leap with me."

Romance felt that old, familiar tug in his chest: Sophia, daring to dream of impossible things. "I'm listening."

"Instead of reaping me... make me like you." A subtle, hungry tilt touched the corner of her lips, a hint of poltergeist energy curling beneath her spirit. "I can stay with you, protect Jihoon, and perhaps... make a few monsters regret their life choices."

Romance stared at her, terrified. "Sophia... the Jeoseung Saja have rules. You're already a Level 3. What if I try to bring you into the spirit realm and it fails? What if you turn into nothing?"

He had never been more afraid of his own hands.

"Then I have nothing to lose except the chance to try," Sophia replied quietly, stepping right up to the edge of the barrier. "Inside this temporal lock, insulated from time, it feels like I've been waiting forever. I am stronger than you know. It’s you who needs to come to me."

Romance stood up slowly. He reached his clawed hand out toward the sizzling barrier. He didn't push with force or authority; he simply offered his hand in total surrender.

His hand passed straight through the barrier without a single spark. The glowing shield recognized mutual consent, dissolving around his wrist like warm water, spreading outward until the boundary unraveled entirely.

"I can't believe that worked," he breathed.

"Functioned exactly as designed." Sophia stepped forward, her spectral fingers wrapping tightly around his. "Take me away, you romantic fool. One last adventure into the unknown."

Romance looked at her, tears spilling down his face, as a genuine, radiant smile finally broke across his features. "Thank you for believing in me."

Sophia squeezed his hand tight. "We've always been at our best when laughing at those who said it couldn't be done."

Romance chuckled through his tears. "You really are impossible."

"Obviously."

With a sudden, brilliant flash, rose-pink smoke erupted from the ground at their feet, swirling upward in a column that filled the cavern. It enveloped them both and the mummified figure inside the car, pulling everything upward into the dark in one consuming spiral.

Then, nothing. Only an empty sewer. An empty car.

Epilogue

Around the bend, Kyra stopped in her tracks. Echo paused beside her, clutching her bandaged collarbone.

The sewer corridor behind them had plunged into absolute, dead silence. The warm glow of the Safe Zone faded, leaving only the sinister violet pulse of the Entropy Engine peeking out from under the hood.

Without Sophia's temporal shield, a century of frozen time crashed over the 1929 Ford Coupe all at once.

The ancient steel groaned. Corrosion bloomed across the frame in real time; rust flaked off in heavy sheets, the rubber tires dry-rotted and collapsed with a slow hiss, and the windshield cracked into a spiderweb of yellowed powder. The car sank inches into the sewer sludge, disintegrating from a sanctuary into a decaying heap of ancient iron.

Goosebumps crawled up Echo’s arms. Her eyes widened. "What? What’s happening?"

Ghost jumped in front of them, raising a heavy iron pipe, his jaw set in a hard line.

The rushing stream of sewer water slowed to a trickle... stopped completely... and then began to flow backward against gravity, churning into dark, frothing ripples that crested upstream.

Minjo grabbed a wrench from her belt and stood shoulder-to-shoulder beside Ghost, her face turning pale. "Do you hear it?" she whispered, adjusting her new AR goggles as they flickered wildly with red error warnings. "Something big is coming."

Kyra’s cybernetic eyes whirred, cycling rapidly through infrared and analog spectrums until the subterranean gloom shifted in her view. She froze, trembling, then slowly raised her arm to point down the dark tunnel into the churning water.

"Snake!"

On him, DJ Romance:

Hair: DURA - U139, Light [mesh](Midnight Order)(390L)

Outfit: Gild - UQC coat set_Black legacy(m) [mesh](Midnight Order)(250L)

Claws, rings: NI.JU - Acantha Rings/Nails Set - legacy m [mesh](Midnight Order)(250L)

Wings: Axis Mundi - Lust Demon, Male [Bento] [mesh](Midnight Order)(2000L)

Shoes: cococat - Gomusin - Black (Legacy M) [mesh]

Hat: Dope+Mercy Saja Gat, Sheer [mesh](Gift)

Earring: RavenBell - Starlit Earrings [Moonlit] [mesh](350L)

Waistchain: L&B Swear Plain Key Chain, LEGACY ATHLETIC [mesh]

Tattoos: HISS - PATTERNS FACE ROMANCE [BOM](250L)

Bodysuit: Bas de Laura Store Laura's Black Sheer Bodystocking with Long Sleeves [BOM](150L)

Eyes: S0NG - Oxy, Sunshine Eye [BOM]

Head: LeLUTKA - KANE [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Pose: created in Firestorm

Setting:

Setting: Dirty Rat - Sewer [mesh]

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky:

Salvage Station: The Resistance (Escape from Club Apophis, 49)

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STORYLINE: "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kyra gripped Romance’s arm.

Romance stopped at the heavy iron hatch leading down into the Resistance headquarters. "Relax. Neither of us is easy to kill. You don’t win wars by playing it like a mortal."

He brought the thick heel of his combat boot down hard on the rusted metal. The booming impact echoed into the vast, hollow chamber beneath them.

Kyra’s grip tightened, her metal knuckles glinting in the dim light. "Do you think they’ll know where Lisa is?"

"Definitely." He paused, looking at her worried face. "Maybe. No. Yes. If anyone does, they will."

The hatch groaned open, spilling pale yellow light across the mud like an invitation into a grave. This was the first time he had entered feeling like his true self, rather than just playing a role.

As they descended the metal ladder into the subterranean office, the air grew thick with the smell of mold, burnt coffee, and old paper. Condensation ran down the concrete walls, and water dripped somewhere unseen in the dark. The tunnel vibrated as a sonic hover train raced by on the surface above, rattling the buzzing fluorescent lights. The sound of Echo’s voice hit them immediately.

"But if the barrier operates on a closed frequency, couldn't we theoretically invert the signal? Or what if we bypassed the main junction completely?" Echo was pacing furiously in front of a desk covered in blueprints, firing questions in rapid, relentless succession. Romance noted how the weakest member of the Jae Won team now seemed like a tiger, already bloody from battle. He wondered what had changed her.

Behind the desk, Hwan rubbed his temples, exhausted. Hwan used to look like a man who could disappear into a crowd. Now the Resistance clung to him like heavy chains. Romance had watched him spend months moving people, supplies, and secrets into place, trying to outplay monsters who had been cheating for a thousand years.

Hwan's office was cobbled together from salvaged junk. Used coffee cups littered every surface. The trashcan overflowed with them. Stacks of maps covered the desk. Diagrams plastered the walls next to a calendar detailing human ration lists. Hand-bound ledgers crammed the shelves, carefully labeled with the name of every person who had gone missing in The Pen. There were even crayon drawings by children tacked with love onto the side of a rusted filing cabinet.

Romance looked away before Hwan caught him staring at the drawings. He leaned back against the concrete wall, folding his arms and watching with deep amusement as Hwan shot him a desperate, pleading look for help.

Echo froze mid-sentence and spun around. She gasped.

His sleek, elegant K-pop idol aesthetic was completely gone, replaced by a street-level nightmare straight out of the badlands. Gone were the immaculate designer suits and the polished, practiced smile. He had styled himself like someone who slept in abandoned train stations and started fires to stay warm. The Resistance was his tribe. It felt good to finally express his rage. His spiked hair defied gravity, and his heavy fur-lined coat was painted with black graffiti that read: Power is not given, it’s taken.

"Whoa. You look different," Echo breathed.

Romance chuckled, a low, rasping sound. He could say the exact same about her. "I’m done pretending."

Echo tilted her head, trying to process the shift, before her eyes darted to the figure shrinking behind him. "Is that you, Kyra?"

Kyra nodded, stepping out from the shadow of Romance's heavy coat. “I’m repaired. Thanks to Romance."

Romance found her quietness strangely endearing. Gone was the malfunctioning cybernetic cheerleader he had purchased at the auction. Faint brass gears ticked visibly beneath the synthetic skin of her neck, and heavy, industrial copper wiring snaked along her collarbone. She looked raw, sturdy, and unmistakably analog. A work of art.

Romance squeezed her hand gently, his thumb brushing her carbon fiber palm. For all that she had survived, he felt the immense weight in her grip. And it was warm. His eyes softened when he looked at her.

Echo looked from Kyra to Romance, then back to Kyra. Romance knew exactly how they must look to her. They were no longer an idol and a toy. They looked like a couple forged in a warzone.

Kyra avoided Echo’s gaze for a second, then looked up long enough to notice the swollen brand across the girl's chest. Her smile faltered. "Are you hurt?"

Echo's hand instinctively pulled the shirt closed.

Romance recognized the gesture immediately. She wasn't trying to hide the wound. She was trying to hide what it would do to everyone else.

"Yes," Echo admitted. "The Resistance had medicine to help me. It doesn't sting as bad now."

Hwan cleared his throat loudly.

The room's attention shifted back to the desk.

"As I was trying to explain to Echo," Hwan said, tapping a heavy finger against a map of the city. "Long before Monstrum arrived, this land already had its own supernatural people. We lost the war against the invaders. Monstrum formed a pact with the government. All supernaturals were imprisoned in the Forbidden Zone. Monstrum claimed the Forbidden Zone as sovereign territory. In exchange for solving the rogue monster problem, Monstrum was given endless business opportunities in the human world."

Echo furrowed her brow, her logic snagging on the details. "But I’ve seen MasterGin, Romance, and you move outside the zone."

Hwan sighed and looked at Romance to explain.

Poor Hwan. He must have been answering questions like this all day.

Alright, Romance thought. I will help on this. He dug into his coat pocket and slapped a sleek, black passport onto the desk. A serpent swallowing the sun was embossed on the cover. "There are exceptions for the Zone elites and management. As for the Jeoseung Saja, like myself, we are too important to cage. Without us, Wandering Ghosts would flood the human world. We get free passage as long as we only guide souls and never consume them." Romance flashed a wicked, sharp-toothed grin. "But we didn’t make any promises about not eating Monstrum."

He licked his lips and winked, his eyes shiny with mischief. There was one asshole in particular he was going to relish.

"Are there any further questions?" Hwan added dryly. He looked at the cracked concrete ceiling, silently praying there were not.

Echo ignored him, turning her focus entirely to Kyra. "Are you okay? I mean, really?"

Kyra nodded. She patted her side, where the faint, rhythmic ticking of clockwork could be heard. "Analog power source. The Zone can't touch it. I'm not running on their energy anymore." She looked up, her quiet voice turning urgent. "Do you know where Lisa is?"

"No," Echo said. "But I know where we are all supposed to meet back up."

Romance pushed off the wall. Hwan straightened up from his maps. Both of them were suddenly very interested.

"All the students of Jae Won are planning to attack the ceremony?" Hwan asked.

"Well, we don’t exactly have a plan. Or we didn’t before we scattered. But we are supposed to reunite at the Safe Zone."

Hwan sat very still for a moment.

"The Sewer Safe Zone." He stood up abruptly and grabbed his heavy jacket from the back of his chair. "I know the place. Follow me."

He paused, his hand freezing on the collar of his coat. He turned back slowly and placed a heavy palm on Romance’s shoulder. "Actually, no. I am sorry. You stay here and wait. There is something down there you should not see."

Romance searched his friend’s face, his punk bravado dropping into genuine shock. "I’m not staying here. What are you trying to hide from me, old Dokkaebi?"

Echo made a soft sound, drawing their attention. She reached into her pocket. "I think he means this. I’m certain this letter was meant for you."

Romance looked from Hwan to Echo. Then back again. Something inside him went cold.

Echo held it out further.

Romance forced a puzzled smile. He tried to brush it off dismissively.

Then he noticed that neither Echo nor Hwan was smiling.

The fluorescent lights buzzed into the silence.

His smile faded.

He snatched the folded paper from her hand and began to read.

The cocky smirk vanished completely. His jaw tightened. His gold eyes scanned back and forth across the page, going wide. His next breath never came. The paper trembled softly between his fingers.

A flash of Sophia dumping water on his head, her laugh so infectious. He had never loved her more than in that moment.

Echo reached out, gently touching his hand. “I’m so sorry. Sophia’s body is where we are going."

The paper stopped trembling.

Somewhere above them, another hover train roared overhead.

The room suddenly felt impossibly quiet.

On him, Romance:

Jacket, belt: Oracle - Armageddon Jacket, Belt, LegacyA, yellow [mesh](Salvage Station)(299L)

Necklace: SIGMA - Spike necklace [Unskinned M][mesh](Salvage Station)(320L)

Hair: TRASH - Ignite Hair - Fatpack [mesh](Salvage Station)(1000L)

Earrings: BADa - Cross B Earrings [mesh]

Nose Chain: Garmonbozia - Write me - Nose Chain - Black [mesh]

Goggles: MILKBATH - Axel Goggles - Unrigged [mesh](399L)

Tongue: The DeadBoy Narius Tongue (Bento)[mesh](699L)

Collar: Artificial Hallucination +AH+ Misaki Collar M [mesh](349L)

Piercings: STOIC - HEART DERMAL PIERCING SILVER [mesh]

Pants: AVEC TOI Kai Pants, Turmoil, LegacyM [mesh](595L)

Boots: L&B Swear Havoc Ops Boots, LegacyM, Black [mesh](499L)

Brooch: Schelm - 2.Devil Heart Straight Barbell [mesh]

Waist Piercing: SOLIAC - Waist Piercing - LEGACY M ATHLETIC [mesh]

Eyes: Gloom - Savage Fantasy Collection - Sclera 03 - Yellow M [BOM]

Tattoos: HISS - PATTERNS FACE ROMANCE [BOM](250L)

Head: LeLUTKA - Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Pose: Le Poppycock - Hip hop hooray

On her, Kyra:

Mask: Waffle Science & Research Lab - [W] Dental Phantom [mesh](Salvage Station)(499L)

Cap: KROVA - PILOTKA [mesh](Salvage Station)(499L)

Bodysuit: Eudora3D - Harker BodySuit Legacy, set 2 [mesh](Salvage Station)(225L)

Boots: Eudora3D - Harker Boots, set 2 [mesh](Salvage Station)(225L)

Pouch: Blue Blood - Witch Survival Pouch - Legacy F [mesh](Salvage Station)(149L)

Tattoo: RaptorJenny - Mk4 / Stain, Neck fade [BOM](Salvage Station)(349L)

Hair: MINA Hair - Echo [mesh]

Collar: Naberius - Untamed Collar [mesh]

Skin, tattoos: SOMEONE - Machina NOVA, Gold [mesh](1000L)

Head, eyes: LeLUTKA - lel EvoX LILLY 3.1 [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - Meshbody Legacy (f) Special Edition (Basic) 1.2 [mesh]

Pose: Stiff Pose - SPGF15P1

Setting:

Bedroom: Eclectica - Wasteland bedroom set[mesh](Salvage Station)(850L)

Suitcases: Eclectica - Vintage Suitcases [mesh](Salvage Station)(75L)

Floor Screens: Eclectica - Wasteland Floor Screens [mesh](Salvage Station)(120L)

Bedroom: Eclectica - Wasteland Bucket- yellow [mesh]

Hatch: Bykee - The Nowhere Co. Hatch [mesh](Salvage Station)(349L)

Hanging Lamp: Bykee - The Nowhere Co. - Lamp [mesh](Salvage Station)(249L)

Flowers: Blue Blood - Irradiated Petunias FATPACK [mesh](Salvage Station)(399L)

Bunker: FallenGods - BW BUNKER 313  [mesh](Salvage Station)(890L)

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky:

Engine Room: The Masquerade (Escape from Club Apophis, 40)

(click to enlarge)

STORYLINE:   

A damaged cybernetic cheerleader in a Zone that ate power like a starving beast ate flesh. Surrounded by monsters. One of them, for some reason, wanted to help her. Right.

"This will never work," Kyra whispered, her voice fractured by digital static.

The masquerade dress she wore was a masterpiece. Spun from dark velvet and rich red silk, it was Zone aristocracy chic. The kind of outfit that cost more than a year’s tuition and existed purely to be seen. But she had no business being in Monstrum Haute Couture.

She sat rigidly in the makeshift dressing room behind the auction block, her internal processors whirring a frantic, broken rhythm. A sharp click echoed in her auditory sensors, followed by a sickening, warm slide. A black bloom of hydraulic fluid spread through the velvet, warm and slow at her hip.

The Master of Ceremonies’ voice boomed over the loudspeakers as he made disgusting jokes about devouring humans.

She felt like she might vomit oil.

"Romance, please. I don’t like this. We need to hide. Go underground, or..." She tried to pull the heavy fabric away, but her arms barely lifted. A warning pulse fired through her left arm. Low power. Critical.

Romance knelt before her, immaculate in a pale pink cavalier suit that caught the dim light like a blushing cheek. He didn't look at the stain. He stopped fussing over the high collar that hid her exposed ports and dying wires.

“Kyra,” he murmured, his voice low and intimate like a weaponized melody. "Your friends tripped the alarm. Enforcers are swarming everywhere. There is no time to delay." He glanced toward the chaotic glare of the auction plaza beyond the curtain. "There is only one way out now. Through the front door."

Kyra squeezed her eyes shut. Where was Lisa? For the first time in her life, she was about to do something outrageous, and Lisa wasn't there to pump up her confidence. But through the fear, she heard her best friend's voice anyway, clear as a recording: You got this, Ky! Look like you belong. Look bored and jaded, like you’ve seen it all before. You own every room you walk into.

Kyra lifted her chin. “No. I’m not walking on stage until you tell me why you’re helping me.”

Romance’s eyes widened. He glanced left and right and then leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “I am a moth to your flame. Let me care for you.”

She didn’t believe his words. How could she?

“Don’t say things you don’t mean. You don’t even know me!” she fired back.

Romance dropped to his knees, almost begging. He took both of her cold metal hands into his. “I do know you. I need you.”

The words shot through her like a jolt of power.

“How? Why?" she asked softly.

Romance's head dropped. “This is not a good time to discuss this.”

“It’s the only time.”

He looked back up at her, his demonic eyes blazing with gold fire. “I reap souls,” he said quietly. “But you remember what I was before that.”

“A lot of people remember you. How do you know my memories?”

Romance’s shoulders drooped. He exhaled slowly. “You were dying. The smell of a soul leaking away drew me.” He closed his eyes and deeply inhaled, savoring the moment once more. “I can see your future too, in a way. I just... don’t understand it.”

He held her gaze.

“You’re human. But you will not die. Not today. Not tomorrow.”

A woman screamed in the distance. A chill crept into her circuits.

“Not ever.”

His voice softened, almost breaking, as he looked away. “Do you know what it’s like... to stand before something you could never destroy?”

She considered his words. Finally, the truth. Strange as it was.

She fixed her expression into something that approximated aristocratic boredom. “Ready."

Romance’s eyes snapped to her, a dazzling grin growing on his face. “You look so beautiful right now.”

For a second, she almost believed him. Not because it was true. Because he said it like it was.

He leaned in close. She felt the ghost of his lips press hard against her metal cheek. Shame and ache flashed through her. She wasn’t a woman, wasn’t flesh, wasn’t warm. And yet something in her system misfired anyway. A phantom response with no source code.

The Master of Ceremonies announced Romance as the honored Big Spender, making an off-color joke advising the crowd to watch out: Romance might outbid them for the next least desirable human.

The crowd laughed.

Kyra kept her head held high and did not react. She leaned against Romance for support as they emerged into the limelight of The Pen.

He lifted her off the ground, spinning her. The gown twirled in the air dramatically to applause.

For a moment, she forgot she couldn’t stand on her own. Forgot the weight of failing systems. Forgot where she was. His hand at her back was steady. Certain. She leaned into it. Just for a second. Long enough to forget she didn’t trust him. Long enough to want to.

But it was a grotesque theater of monsters masquerading as civilized. The auction was in full swing. Hunger pressed in from every direction, dressed in silk and velvet, buyers gliding through aisles of glass cages like they were browsing fabrics.

Romance guided her off the stage with the practiced ease of a VIP who could easily own the room. His charisma was undeniable. But Kyra had spent her whole life paying attention to the people next to her. His breathing didn’t match his smile. He needed her to exist. He needed her to stay by his side. His words echoed in her ear.

Outside, the Zone air pressed against The Pen, thick and wrong. A sleek, obsidian hovercar bearing the devil heart logo idled just past the heavy iron gates. Romance guided her into the plush interior. Kyra sank into the seat, leaving another smear of oil on the pristine leather.

Before she could apologize, the world narrowed to a single figure. An Enforcer loomed in the driver's side window, large and armored in black. The window lowered, letting in the sharp, chemical stench of burnt circuitry and leaking oil.

"Unmarked cargo," the Enforcer growled, his nose wrinkling in disgust as he eyed the velvet dress. “And she’s leaking. State your business."

Kyra's internal cooling fans spun into overdrive.

Romance didn't flinch. He sighed with the perfect air of an inconvenienced aristocrat and produced his halo-pad, tapping it twice. MasterGin's voice, laced with theatrical, venomous contempt, poured into the cabin like poison:

"Get this scrap metal out of my pristine suite before it stains the floor."

Kyra stiffened when she heard herself dismissed and described as scrap metal by the legend who was supposed to save her life.

“You heard the man. He wants her gone.”

The Enforcer huffed, clearly no fan of MasterGin. He stepped back and waved them through. "Proceed."

The Enforcers parted. Ghouls beyond the gate caught in the headlights, sniffing the air in excitement as their giant bat wings beat against the smog.

“Driver, turn on the shields,” Romance commanded.

The Automated Assistant electrified the car’s shell. “Yes, Master Romance. Where to?”

“Get us out of the Zone, but fly casually. Don’t attract any attention.”

The hovercar lurched forward, leaving the fog. Monsters jumped on the car, shrieking as the electric shield threw them back into the dark.

Kyra jumped, her hand tightening around Romance’s.

He looked over at her, highly amused, and squeezed back. “I can’t believe that worked. Sorry you had to hear that.”

He didn't even spare a glance for the beasts scraping at the roof and thumping on the hood. His attention was locked onto her, as if she were the only thing in the world.

She felt the heat of his golden gaze sinking into her wiring. “You’re so handsome, it should be illegal.” The words left before she could catch them. She almost winced. Like she’d handed him something sharp and personal.

As the invisible boundary of the Forbidden Zone slipped past them, the suffocating pressure in the air vanished.

A tingle started in her fingertips. A current, clean and sharp, completely unlike the sludgy, cursed energy she'd been running on in the Zone. It flowed down her spine. Then her legs. Like a system rebooting after a hard shutdown, everything came back online at once.

The oppressive hum of the Zone vanished like a speaker switch flipped.

Kyra gasped, the sound turning into a bright, undignified laugh. Her systems roared to life. Heat surged through her chest. Lights powered back on, racing up and down her shell.

Without thinking, she tore the cursed devil-heart battery pack from her side. It came free with a wet metallic sound. She hurled it, watching it spark and die.

The battery pack rolled to a stop at Romance’s feet, its devil heart logo facing up.

“If I had a choice, I would never set foot in that hellhole again,” Kyra declared.

Romance blinked, startled. "Kyra?”

She was already moving. Her body found angles it hadn't reached in months, her limbs articulating at ranges that broke human limits, transforming her into a sleek, spider-like shape of fluid cybernetic agility.

She vaulted directly over the console and slid into the driver's seat. Both hands and her one functional leg found the controls simultaneously.

“Disengage autopilot,” she commanded, and slammed the pedal.

The hovercar tore forward at breakneck speed. Romance was thrown backward, shrieking in genuine, unbefitting terror as the g-force hit him.

His composure shattered so easily. She hadn’t expected that. It tightened something in her chest she didn’t have a name for. His panic sent a thrilling rush through her circuits.

She laughed harder, pushing the hovercar faster than necessary. Romance only knew her as a broken, dying doll, but she was an athlete, a cat burglar, and a machine enhanced beyond human limitation. She pulled the vehicle into a screaming barrel roll just to hear his beautiful screams again.

“STOP!” Romance yelled, pressing himself against the door.

She flipped the car into a loop, gravity snapping hard against them.

"I AM BEGGING YOU!"

She laughed in pure joy.

Romance was pressed against the far door, clutching his chest and breathing in fast, panicked gasps. His immaculate outfit was disheveled, his careful composure completely destroyed.

Eventually, she leveled out, mostly because her chassis was sending her excited warnings about structural stress. It would be embarrassing to survive the Forbidden Zone only to shake herself apart on the highway.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” She winked playfully at him in the rearview mirror.

She caught him staring at her reflection.

"What?" She smiled, knowing she had shocked him.

"Nothing," he said. "You're just different outside the Zone."

"Better or worse?"

He considered this with genuine seriousness. "More," he said finally. "Just more."

"Romance. Is everything okay?"

"No," he said quietly.

He stared out the window at the city scrolling past. All that performance was absent. He looked drained. He looked, she realized, like someone who had been holding something very heavy for a very long time and had just discovered he might be able to put it down.

He picked up the discarded battery pack with the devil heart logo on it. "You still need me," he said in a very small voice. "To pay for your cybernetics doctor."

Kyra smiled at the monster who had saved her life, not once, not twice, but three times. “You did promise to give me flesh. I’m totally going to hold you to it.”

He sighed, not hiding his disappointment. “One way or another.”

“What other way is there besides the best cybernetics doctor money can buy? I could look human again, with a fleshy outside shell and all.”

“It’s just,” his voice trailed off. “I thought you would choose to be like me. A Jeoseung Saja. And we would be together forever.”

"You’re adorable when you pout,” she said, softer than she meant to.

He looked up, his golden eyes wide.

"I'm not leaving you, silly.” She shifted her focus ahead. “Why would I? Prince Charming of my dreams says he needs me.”

Romance didn’t answer. He looked like he wanted to say something.

The city lights slid across his face in silence.

She gunned the hovercar forward as the glittering towers of Pangyo Techno Valley loomed ahead.

His breath fogged the glass.

He began to trace a heart in it.

“I saw Lisa.”

Kyra froze.

“It was when you were powered down at the Clinic. Disassembled. She was upset. She didn’t want to leave you, but the other students forced her to flee.”

If Kyra could cry, her vision would have blurred.

“I do admire the devotion you two share. But I would also like to point out, Lisa has a larger circle of friends now, and they are surviving remarkably well. The Mute One seems especially smitten with her. I can tell these things. Maybe when this is over, you should consider giving her space.”

The tech district opened up ahead of them, indifferent and pristine, completely unaware of everything that had happened in the Forbidden Zone.

Kyra’s auditory sensors processed Romance’s words, turning them over and over like a corrupted file. Forced her to flee. A larger circle of friends. Smitten. Give her space.

The words were precision strikes.

She looked down at her hands resting on the steering console. The towering neon advertisements of Pangyo Techno Valley reflected off her polished metal knuckles in harsh streaks of cyan and magenta. She was a machine of wonders. Fast. Powerful. Resilient.

But her chest ached with a phantom human pain.

Lisa had been her gravity for her entire life. To picture Lisa running, surviving, and moving on with a new team while Kyra lay dissected on a cold clinic table was a special kind of agony.

Kyra glanced at the rearview mirror. Romance was watching her in the dark. His golden eyes were calm. Patient.

A week ago, the old Kyra would have panicked. She would have cried and clung to him, desperate for his reassurance.

Instead, Kyra tightened her grip on the steering wheel. She didn’t look at him again. She knew if she did, she might hesitate. And hesitation, around him, felt like the beginning of something she wouldn’t be able to stop.

The reinforced synthetic leather groaned loudly under her mechanical strength. The raw, buzzing current of her fully charged battery hummed in her synthetic veins.

"I appreciate the update," Kyra said. Her voice was perfectly smooth, completely stripped of all digital static.

Romance blinked. The slight, victorious curve of his mouth faltered. “Are you not upset?"

“Lisa is alive,” Kyra said. “That’s what matters.”

She pushed the throttle forward. The city swallowed them whole.

Silence stretched.

"I'm going to need analog battery backup," she added. "Something the Zone can't eat."

Romance shifted behind her. "Kyra."

"You saved me." Her grip tightened. The leather creaked. "So now I'm a problem."

She glanced at him in the mirror. Just once.

"I'm going to save Lisa. And then I'll figure out what to do about you."

Romance stilled. Something like delight crossed his face. Something like fear.

Then a warning light she didn't recognize flared in her HUD.

An empty, starving ache hollowed out her left hip where the battery used to sit.

Her left leg seized.

The hovercar coasted.

Romance was beside her before she could speak. He pressed a chip, its devil heart logo facing up, into the port at her hip. The lights steadied.

He was inches from her face. He didn't say anything.

He didn't need to.

Kyra looked at the chip. At the logo. At his face.

She understood.

"You may have left the Forbidden Zone," he said finally. "But it didn't leave you."

She sat very still.

Outside, Neu Seoul kept glowing. Indifferent. Waiting.

This was a fun image to make, with such beautiful outfits and skins at the current round of the Engine Room.   ...On Romance is the flashy Cavalier outfit by toksik. It comes with fits for multiple mesh bodies, male and female. Top is jacket and shirt, and the bottom is pants and boots. Single colors or fatpack.   ...He is wearing the Lucian hair by RavenBell. It's unrigged and editable for the perfect fit, includes mirror options and separate bangs. I used the fantasy color hud.  ....From Illusions is the Cigno Curia Mask. It comes with a texture hud, male and female fits, PBR, and its unrigged and mod to adjust for the best fit.   ....On Kyra is the elegant Machina NOVA gold skin texture with optional overlays. The skin set includes many metallics tones, including Halo.   ....From BearCat.Egg is the gorgeous Carni Hat. It comes with a detailed hud to change its textures, an optional version without the chin ribbons, and a doll face mask for eyes and lips. I used the eyes only. This doll mask is also available as a free gift at the Engine Room. its mod so you can adjust it for the best fit.   ....From MDN is another stunning outfit, this time with a pirate style, -- the Ironlace Dress. The dress and chest strap have PBR and the megapack includes many texture options. I love the stripped ones!   ...Adding another layer of elegance is the Steam Aurelia Collar from Silvery K. It comes with a texture hud to adjust its colors. It comes with rigged and unrigged versions.   ....Seen in the full character shot below is abeabi's AB54 heels. It includes many texture options, including stripes that match well with the MDN dress,   ....Providing the perfect ambience is the Spires Society's The Sanctuary of Light. 

On him, DJ Romance:

Top: toksik - Cavalier, Legacy M, fatpack[mesh](Engine Room)(800L)

Mask: Illusions - Cigno Curia Mask (m)[mesh](Engine Room)(325L)

Hair: RavenBell - Lucien Hair, Fantasy [mesh](Engine Room)(350L)

Earring: RavenBell - Starlit Earrings [Moonlit] [mesh](350L)

Claws: L'Emporio&PL - Oblio Vampire Claws male [mesh](350L)

Rings: MANDALA - Sinra Rings season-3-HD, Legacy M [mesh]

Tattoos: HISS - PATTERNS FACE ROMANCE [BOM](250L)

Head: LeLUTKA - Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Poses: Secret Poses - SP - Enchanted

On Her, Kyra:

Hat, mask: BEARCAT.EGG - Carni Hat, fatpack [mesh](Engine Room)(500L)

Dress: MDN - Ironlace Dress, megapack (Legacy F) [mesh](Engine Room)(1751L)

Collar: Silvery K - Steam Aurelia, Collar [mesh](Engine Room)(280L)

Shoes: abeabi - AB54 fatpack, Legacy F, fatpack [mesh](Engine Room)(1599L)

Gloves: Emotional Circus - Romantic Lace Gloves, black [BOM](Engine Room)(249L)

Skin, tattoos: SOMEONE - Machina NOVA, Gold [mesh](Engine Room)(1000L)

Eyes: SOMEONE - Infected Eyes 3, Blood [BOM]

Head, eyes: LeLUTKA - lel EvoX LILLY 3.1 [mesh](3990L)

Setting:

Set: Spires Society - The Sanctuary of Light [mesh]

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shot, hi-res, midday sky.

Engine Room: The Dokkaebi Guard (Escape from Club Apophis, 38)

(click to enlarge)

STORYLINE: Kyle Baek pressed his back against the cold, polished wall of the GIN AESTHETICA™ service corridor. He was breathing hard. The pristine, high-tech clinic was a labyrinth of sterile white lights and locked doors, and he was completely cut off from the rest of the team.

He slammed the sleek, handleless door panel with all his body weight. It didn't budge.

Kyle rolled his eyes and pitched his voice into a nasally, upbeat whine to imitate Plague. "Just in and out, guys. Steal tech. Grab samples. Easy.”

He kicked the base of the reinforced door.

A shadow peeled itself off the adjacent obsidian wall.

Kyle nearly swung his fist, but a leather-clad hand clamped hard over his mouth.

Hwan materialized before him. Green skin. Purple hair. Eyes burning amber in the dim corridor light. The full, true face of whatever the hell Hwan actually was.

Kyle stared at him for exactly one second.

"So that's what you look like," he said flatly. "I've seen worse." 

Hwan pressed a finger to his lips. "Shhh."

"I’m tired of people giving me shitty advice," Kyle muttered fiercely. He dropped his voice into an overly dramatic, gravelly whisper, throwing Hwan's exact mystical tone right back in his face. “Without something to love…” Kyle sneered. “Yeah, yeah. I don’t need something to love.” He shoved his arms into the heavy Enforcer coat. "I need something to break. Preferably a door."

Hwan smiled. "And yet... here you are."

He seemed to listen to something Kyle could not hear. Then his gold eyes moved to something behind Kyle. Every muscle in the Guardian's body locked rigid.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Kyle growled.

A slow, repeating clap echoed through the corridor.

The ambient temperature in the hallway plummeted, and the heavy scent of oriental spice and clove washed over them.

Kyle froze. He turned around slowly.

"Oh please... don't stop on my account." MasterGin loomed behind him in a sheer white tunic. The ancient vampire was fresh from berating Nurse Paine. His flawless face still held the sharp, ugly lines of his rage. But as he looked at Kyle, the anger melted into intense, predatory curiosity.

Hwan bowed instantly, locking his eyes on the floor.

Kyle stood stiff as stone in the oversized coat. His broad shoulders stretched the dark leather. His jaw was clenched tight.

"My, my... what a marvelous temper." MasterGin glided forward, tilting his head. He did not attack. Instead, he began to circle Kyle. His stilettos clicked a slow rhythm on the floor. He looked Kyle up and down, assessing his heavy musculature and the aggressive scowl permanently etched onto the boy's face. "All that noise, and not a drop of fear in it. How delightfully unrefined."

MasterGin leaned in close to Kyle’s neck and inhaled deeply.

"Mm... earth, smoke... iron," he purred. His long eyelashes lowered slyly as he glanced over at the trembling Guardian.

Kyle didn't move. His jaw tightened further.

"Naughty little Dokkaebi," the vampire scoffed. "Where have you been hiding this strapping specimen?"

Kyle bit the inside of his cheek to keep his mouth shut. The vampire had mistaken his stubborn human rage for a goblin spirit.

"Is he a reliable guard?" MasterGin asked. He traced a gold-tipped claw down the silver buttons of Kyle's stolen coat.

"Oh, yes, Master Ginerva," Hwan stammered quickly. "I have seen him endure a great deal of strife to achieve his mission."

Kyle's lip curled in disgust. He wanted to stomp on Hwan's foot.

"You will do beautifully." MasterGin smirked at the growing rage on Kyle's face. "My previous staff has proven tragically incompetent today. Follow me, Grumpy Dokkaebi. I have a special assignment for you. I require someone solid. Someone who does not bend. To protect my most precious asset."

MasterGin turned.

Hwan shot Kyle a desperate, pleading look. ‘Please play along.’

Kyle snarled silently. He adjusted the heavy collar of the coat and fell into step behind the vampire, who strutted forward as if walking a runway.

As they descended, the architecture mutated. Sterile white walls gave way to polished obsidian, and rich velvet drapery that had no business existing this far underground.

They emerged onto an ominous glass walkway suspended over an eerily glowing subterranean cavern.

Long gelatinous tendrils hung from the ceiling, pulsing with faint internal light. Kyle recognized them. He wished he didn’t.

Phosphorescent fungi rose like pillars from the cavern floor. Glowing moss draped from stalactites, too still, like it had decided not to breathe.

Kyle knew what this was. He remembered Hwan warning the team about this place.

They were not walking into the belly of the beast. They were already inside it.

This was MasterGin's private garden. His nursery for the things that turned people into something that no longer resembled people.

Kyle grabbed Hwan's sleeve. The heavy, gilded glass doors at the far end of the walkway hissed open. There was no time.

Hwan refused to move forward. He gave Kyle a steady, reassuring nod, almost satisfied, then executed a sharp Monstrum-style salute. "Master Ginerva, I leave him to you now."

MasterGin waved him off without bothering to look back. "Ta ta."

Hwan caught Kyle’s gaze one last time.

Kyle could have sworn that demon bastard just winked at him while disappearing in a soft, pink-tinted curl of smoke.

He stared at the empty space where the trickster had been standing.

A soft hydraulic hiss filled the silence. The glass walkway began retracting, pulling back toward the suite, section by section. It was retreating toward the suite’s balcony ledge, exposing the deadly drop to the garden far below. Bioluminescent spores drifted upward in slow, beautiful spirals through the widening gap.

Kyle stared down at the neon sludge. He remembered exactly what Hwan had said about the terrifying things that lived in it. His eyes tracked the retreating walkway, then at the growing chasm.

"Do catch up, Grumpy Dokkaebi," MasterGin called out without turning around. "I would hate to have to replace you so soon."

Kyle gritted his teeth. He took three quick steps backward, then launched himself into a running jump. He crashed heavily onto the remaining glass section. It shuddered under his weight.

Kyle could have sworn that he heard that vampire diva snicker.

They stepped off the walkway and onto the private balcony overlooking the garden. MasterGin pointed ahead and spoke quietly. "This is my future."

Inside the opulent, dimly lit bedchamber lay the exact reason he was here. Yoon Jihoon rested on a massive, velvet-draped bed. He looked like an object placed on display rather than a boy sleeping. One of his long silver locks had been haphazardly snipped off, the cut end ragged against the pillow.

The vampire turned to Kyle. His icy eyes found security guard in the dim light, catching him staring. "Will you protect him with your life?"

Kyle snapped his arm up into a crisp, flawless mimic of Hwan’s salute. "Yes Sir," he said, his deep voice rumbling with absolute certainty. "No one gets past me. You can rely on it."

"Oh, I know." MasterGin smiled. "See that you do." He turned and glided away. The heavy doors sealed shut behind him with a final, mechanical thud.

Kyle stood alone on the quiet, lavish balcony. The footsteps faded into absolute nothingness.

He slowly lowered his hand. He stepped up to the reinforced glass of the suite and placed his palm flat against the cold pane. He looked at Jihoon. The dare. The shove across the Zone border. Jihoon in the baseball stadium shrieking on fire. All of it led exactly here.

Kyle let out a slow, shaky breath, fogging the glass.

“I’ve got you, buddy," he whispered.



Kyle's plot arc is circling back on itself. We're still racing towards to the finale of Escape from Club Apophis. I have more wonderful chapters coming soon for you, showing awesome creations from the current round of The Engine Room.

Kyle is wearing the Voiddrop Steampunk Hunter outfit. It's a complete look with coat, skirt, pants and boots built in. It comes in Black, Grey, and White for men.   ...From Duplexity is the Astrum Glasses. It's mod so you move, tilt and resize it to best fit your face. It comes with a hud to change the textures on the lens and frame. I tinted the frame to red so the side glow would match Kyle's look.  ...From Auro is the BOM Carapace Chest Armour, and materials applier hud for Legacy bodies to create that shiny look.   .... From Nuuna is OKA text layers. Adding a cool bold deco pattern across the chest, neck and arms. The lower layer is tintable, I made it dark red, and the top layer adds a metallic stripe across the arms and down the middle of the chest. very cool. I layered it over the chest plate.

Hwan is wearing Starlit Endeavor's latest well thought out set of clothing and accessories, Kohjan, a traveler ready to walk great distances with map, backpack, compass, canteen, and telescope. He is wearing the Khojan outfit which comes with a texture hud you can mix and match textures, and event tint. I used the Mint and Black and tinted purple the overcoat for a Dokkaebi look. He is holding the Kohjan compass which also has a texture hud, and you can trigger poses, animation, and flip open the compass lid.   ...From Aii are the Dark Fae ears. They fit perfectly on Lelukta mesh heads, just hide your regular ears, and with the shape options, change the size and placement of your new long pointy ears. You can show or hide various parts of it in the texture hud. I hid the more ornate jewelry on the ears for a more masculine look.   ...In the background is the beautiful new statue creation by What's Lost Spirits, part of the Cyber Statue series. It is mod so you can scale it up and down, comes with regular and PBR textures.   ...From TWELVE is the gorgeous Scifi Cinema. It comes in black, white, and tan. it's mod, so you can change light colors, scale or move pieces around if needed. The doors open and close by touch. You can see the dark and light versions of the skybox below.

On Him, Kyle:

Outfit: VOIDRIP - Steampunk Hunter Outfit, Gray [mesh](Engine Room)(350L)

Glasses: Duplexity - Astrium Glasses [mesh](Engine Room)(299L)

Tattoo: Nuuna - OKA, EVOX [BOM](Engine Room)(250L)

Tattoo: AURO - Carapace Chest Armour [BOM, Applier](Engine Room)(450L)

Tattoo: AURO - The Prophet : Neck Fade [BOM, Applier]

Hair: TRASH - Lucifer w/o Horns V1 - Rainbow pack [mesh]

Eyes: Mana - Jelly Eyes, Clear [BOM]

Headphone: !Reliquary - !R! Synth-o Ear Tap [mesh]

Skin: MUDSKIN - Hajimu, C, Brow, WINTER [BOM]

Head: LeLUTKA - Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

On Him, Hwan Dokkaebi form:

Outfit: Starlit Endeavor - Khojan Arm, Legacy M [mesh](Engine Room)(2975L)

Compass: Starlit Endeavor - Khojan Compass and Telescope [mesh](Engine Room)(650L)

Ears: Aii - Dark Fae - Ears, Lelutka Male  [mesh](Engine Room)(800L)

Mask: Axix - Wukong Mask [mesh]

Tattoos: HISS - PATTERNS FACE ROMANCE [BOM](250L)

Hands: {Aii} Demonic Touch - bom/all parts, Legacy M [mesh](800L)

Hair: Truth Rogue colors [mesh](250L)

Horns: Hyperbole - Phosphorus Horn, Vile [mesh]

Head: LeLUTKA - Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Setting:

Statue: Whats Lost Spirits - WLS, CYBER STATUE, BELIEVE 2.1 [mesh](Engine Room)(500L)

Set: TWELVE - Scifi Cinema - White [mesh]

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shot, hi-res, midday sky.