Friday, January 30, 2026

Midnight Order: GIN AESTHETICA (Escape from Club Apophis, 30)

(click to enlarge)

STORYLINE: Old Seoul looked different from above, like a glowing circuit board designed by a madman and dropped into the dark past.

Romance rested his forehead against the cool, tinted glass of the hovercar. The low, soft rumble of its turbine slipped into his bones. Gangnam slid past in layers of aggressive light and chrome. The streets were cleaner than he remembered, scrubbed of humanity, louder with commerce, hungry for attention. Every surface was a screen; every face on the sidewalk had been polished for an audience that never blinked.

His breath fogged the glass, erasing him. When it thinned, a human face stared back like a ghost from another decade. His hair had gone dark, black as faded ink, longer than it had been minutes ago. Only the tips still clung to pink, like a bad memory refusing to let go. The glamor was not broken. It was exhausted.

He had overextended himself in Kyra’s rescue, enchanting hundreds of Monstrum instead of weak, disposable humans. The cost pressed in now as a dull ache behind his eyes, a weight in his limbs, the city suddenly too loud, too bright, too close.

He had been an idol trainee here. Back when the buildings were shorter. Back when idols still pretended to be human. Back when he believed fame would save him.

It didn’t.

A massive hologram pulsed against the smog-choked skyline.

NEW YEAR. NEW YOU. Designed for the life you deserve.

GIN AESTHETICA™ rose beneath the slogan, pristine and obscene. The headquarters of the monster who had hollowed out his homeland and sold it back, piece by perfect piece.

Romance sighed, fogging the glass again before the climate control erased it.

This was a dangerous game. If his plan was going to work, he needed to pass inspection. He needed a pick-me-up.

He pulled out his halo phone and logged into a burner account.

User: Mira Bio: Club organizer. Devoted fan. Founder of the Romaniacs.

The profile image was perfect. A middle-aged woman with soft cheeks, kind eyes, and a haircut that chose practicality over vanity. Someone you trusted with small complaints and unguarded truths.

Someone safe.

He typed: "Still on for coffee? That café you like, near the giant billboard?"

The reply came almost instantly.

Helga: "Yes, of course. I’m just across the street now. I’m wearing a blue coat."

Romance smiled faintly.

Helga. Loyal. Lonely. Careful with money, careless with hope.

The car descended, settling with a whisper of displaced air and the hum of anti-grav stabilizers.

“We have arrived,” the AI announced, voice empty of anything resembling care.

Romance glanced out through the dark glass. The café glowed warmly at street level. And there she was. Blue coat. Phone in hand. Scanning faces for a friend who didn’t exist.

His reflection stared back at him in the window. Beautiful. Hollow. Ready.

“The things I do for love,” he murmured.

The hermetic seals hissed open. Romance stepped out into the street, his pink hair tips catching city light as it stirred in a breeze that smelled faintly of coffee.

Streetlights kissed the silver embroidery of his formal suit like sparks on cold iron. Burgundy fabric clung and flowed, regal and restless, as if stitched from the memory of applause.

He had taken two steps when sharp heels clicked against cement.

A nurse emerged from the plastic surgery clinic.

Blond. Impeccable. Terrifying.

Her uniform had been reinvented into high-fashion couture. Seams sharp as scalpels. Luminous white fabric cut with authority. A gold serpent brooch pinned at her collar caught the streetlamp glare, its diamond eye unblinking.

Paine. MasterGin’s personal assistant.

“Thank you for coming, Master Romance.”

She bowed deeply. The words carried across the sidewalk, slicing cleanly through the traffic noise.

Helga froze.

She turned, eyes wide. Confusion collapsed into disbelief.

“Did you say… Romance?”

Silence stretched.

Romance glanced from Paine to Helga, pulse skidding. Then he laughed, warm and effortless, the sound of someone who belonged exactly where he stood. He stepped forward, angling his body between the nurse and the woman.

“No,” he said lightly. “The real Romance would be ancient by now, wouldn’t he? I’m just a model," he gestured to the clinic. "A celebrity impersonator. DJ Romance.”

Helga followed the movement. Understanding settled across her face.

“Oh!” Relief bloomed into a smile. “Mira set you up for this, didn’t she? That rascal.”

She laughed, then softened. “You carry his style beautifully. You really do. I always liked him best in the early years. When he sang to rooms, not stadiums.”

Her smile turned wistful. “Before Romance was Romance. You have excellent taste.”

Something sharp flashed behind his eyes and vanished.

“Thank you,” he said, inclining his head politely.

She hesitated, cheeks warming, her phone lifting uncertainly. “May I… if it’s not strange… could we take a photo together?”

Romance’s smile deepened. The kind that ruined lives gently.

“Of course,” he purred. “Allow me.”

He took the phone, stepped close, and drew her in with practiced ease. The camera loved him. Loved her more for standing beside him.

She gasped when he showed her the image.

Romance did not release her.

“You know,” he murmured near her ear, voice brushing skin, “we could give your friends something better to talk about. How about a kiss?”

She flushed scarlet, entranced. She shyly offered her cheek.

Romance cupped her chin instead, and drew her in.

Their lips pressed together. A kiss deepened just enough to steal her breath. Her knees weakened before she understood why. The phone flashed again and again. Her life flowed into him. Warm. Bright. Threaded with memory. Her love for the man he had been burned sweetly in his lungs.

Delicious.

A sweet sip to be savored. It hit like a vintage year, bright and reckless. For a fraction of a second, faint blue light bloomed where their mouths met, hidden beneath the camera strobe.

“Enough.”

Paine tore the phone from his hand and deleted the images with surgical precision. Unapproved evidence erased with a click.

Helga swayed, grasping the hovercar for balance. Hands trembling. She looked older all at once. Drained.

Romance exhaled, irritated. A wisp of faint blue smoke curled briefly from his lips. His skin gleamed brighter now. His hair shone. His feral eyes sharpened into smoldering amber. For a moment, the world felt edible again. He could almost believe he was in control. Almost.

He smoothed his cuff. "Do you want a good photoshoot,” he said coolly, “or not?”

Paine snapped her fingers. Two men in lab coats appeared immediately, guiding Helga inside with murmured reassurances. A seat. Water. Monitoring.

Romance watched them go. The fragrance of her life still swirled around him, bright as fruit and just as rotten. For a moment he wanted to run after her, to give something back.

Instead, he swallowed the craving and let it become power. He had to be cold; Paine was watching. If he met her gaze, she might see the desperate animal scratching under the facade.

Her sacrifice will not be wasted, he told himself, the lie tasting like ash. It is fuel for a higher cause.

Mask in place. No guilt. Only resolve.

He shouldered his bag, the one with the devil-horned heart charm, and entered the clinic through doors of quartz and sterile luxury.

Inside, sound vanished into a hush that pressed against the ears. There was no reception desk. No signage.

Glass cases lined the space, displaying garments beneath the Apophis ATELIER mark. Clothing designed not to hide alteration, but to celebrate it.

Jackets cut for shoulders beyond human geometry. Dresses engineered to honor augmentation rather than disguise it. Trousers generous where flesh had been rewritten.

This was not indulgence. This was infrastructure.

“Greenroom,” Paine said sharply, pointing. “Makeup and wardrobe shortly.”

Romance sank into the chair before a smart mirror. The lighting shifted, flattering by force. Micro-corrections flickered across the glass.

ID: Pending.... DJ Romance Acceptable. 27% facial imperfections.

He rolled his eyes. An old ache tugged at his chest. He closed his eyes, breathed, and failed to make the yearning leave.

He pulled out his halo phone. He watched the status dot beside her name until it flickered green again.

"Hey Helga, did anything exciting happen?"

Her icon lit immediately.

Helga: "Mira OMG you will never believe—"

The phone vanished.

“Pink, cheap, and far past its expiration date.”

Romance froze.

The voice came from behind him, close enough to chill the skin at the nape of his neck.

In the mirror, something pale unfolded into the room.

MasterGin.

Not in a lab coat. He wore a sheer white tunic that clung like fog, open at the throat, draped to frame the sharp line of his collarbone and the cold arrogance of his chest. Gold chains crossed him in deliberate geometry, more jewelry than restraint, each link catching the light like a sinful promise.

He held Romance’s halo phone between two fingers, as if it had offended him personally.

“Bubblegum Relic,” Gin murmured, savoring the words.

Then he closed his fist.

Metal shrieked. Glass cracked. The device collapsed like tinfoil, crumpling into a glittering ruin that fell to the floor.

Romance stared at the debris, jaw tight.

MasterGin leaned closer.

In the humming mirror, his smile hovered beside Romance’s reflection, a beautiful predator sharing the frame.

“If you ever feed in front of my clinic again,” Gin said softly, a low, deadly purr, “I will have you recycled into a cheap pink vinyl pressing of the worst music ever recorded.”

Romance kept his gaze on the mirror, locking eyes with MasterGin.

“I wonder what would happen to your empire in Seoul,” Romance said, voice low and controlled, “if the locals learned what really goes on at GIN AESTHETICA™.”

MasterGin leaned in, presence collapsing the space, forcing Romance smaller. Then he straightened abruptly.

“First offense,” Gin said, as if mercy bored him. “You didn’t know the rules. I will allow it.”

A hand slid onto Romance’s shoulder.

Then, without warning, it snapped to his jaw.

MasterGin’s claws hooked under Romance’s chin and yanked his face upward—not toward him, but toward the mirror. Hard.

The chair creaked. Romance’s breath caught. They stared together at the reflection. Two monsters.

Gin tilted Romance’s head left, then right, studying him like an expensive object that had begun to tarnish. His thumb pressed into Romance’s jawline with just enough force to hurt.

“Excellent glow-up,” Gin admitted, the compliment almost an insult. “How much did you take?”

“One year,” Romance said, refusing to flinch. “She won’t miss it. Her last five would have been Alzheimer’s.”

Gin’s eyes narrowed in the mirror.

“You can tell that by looking?”

Romance’s lips curled faintly. Sweet. Poisonous.

“Yes,” he said. “And not just humans.”

Something tightened behind Gin’s gaze. Interest, threat assessment, or both.

He released Romance abruptly, as if bored of the sculpture.

“Feisty,” MasterGin murmured, almost pleased.

He drifted closer behind Romance, close enough that his breath warmed Romance’s neck. In the mirror, their faces aligned, predator and pet.

"Do you know what you are?” he asked softly.

His nails pressed in. A sting. A reminder.

“You are a contagion.”

Romance swallowed. Not fear. Recognition.

“When humans love you,” MasterGin continued, voice velvet over steel, “they do not simply adore. They submit. They volunteer. You make slavery feel like devotion.”

He leaned closer, eyes bright with interest now, almost reverent.

“Proof delivered live on my doorstep. I watched the security feed.”

Romance didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.

“My kind requires proximity. Physicality.” Gin whispered. “But you... You only need a digital signal.”

Romance met his eyes in the glass, unflinching. “I can turn your brand into a theology. But I need payment.”

MasterGin’s grin widened. “So yes. Your New Year campaign.”

He tapped Romance’s cheekbone, as if testing firmness. “You will pour that curse into the lens until they beg for my scalpel like it is salvation.”

His grip tightened.

“And if you do it perfectly,” he murmured, “I will grant your Kyra an appointment. I will assess what remains of her flesh to see what can be salvaged.”

MasterGin’s eyes narrowed, almost playful.

“Disappoint me… and your one billion won doll stays broken. Forever.”

He extended his hand, the hand that made monsters beautiful and vain humans slaves.

Romance stared at it.

For a moment he saw Kyra as she lay dying. Helpless. Ruined. But beneath the ruin, he saw the outline of forever. Not a victim. Not a doll. A bride. A blade. A beginning.

Then he took the hand.

“Deal.”

MasterGin released him. “You look thin. Bring your best face to the Opening of the Mouth Ceremony. Drink ten years.”

With a sharp click of heels, he sashayed away, his feather-light tunic dissolving into the clinical light.





Midnight Order is open! This round is even larger and packed with all that is dark and awesome. Seriously, look at that image above. Wow. Stunning. It's not to be missed.


On Romance is the Pendulum Illuvion suit. It has lush PBR materials that dazzle. It comes with several texture options, entire outfit including boots. Perfect for formal events, and just being fabulous. Romance's interesting hair change was inspired by the Lorna Hair by Ni.Ju. The wildcard hud includes a texture that is black with pink tips, which gave me the idea that his glamor failed.


On MasterGin, is the stylish 1920s Erte-like gossamer Loana's Gown. The top is semi-transparent. The gown comes in several texture options. Added to his harem-chic is the Justiciar's Livery Chain by Requisition. It's unrigged and has PBR texture hud. From Buffy's is the Galina choker, part of a full outfit with a fit for Legacy Male. From Lex is the Bat of Hell earrings, incase anyone forgets MasterGin is quite a vampire.


On him, DJ Romance:
Suit: PENDULUM - ILLUVION.Suit, Legacy M [mesh](Midnight Order)(1600L)
Hair: NI.JU - Lorna Hair, wildcard [mesh](Midnight Order)(300L)
Tattoos: HISS - PATTERNS FACE ROMANCE [BOM](250L)
Rings: MANDALA - Sinra Rings season-3-HD, Legacy M [mesh]
Brooch: Schelm - 2.Devil Heart Straight Barbell [mesh]
Earring in mirror: RavenBell - Starlit Earrings, Moonlit [mesh](350L)
Hair in mirror: NoMatch - NO_TENDERNESS [mesh]
Head: LeLUTKA - Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)
Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

On him, MasterGin:
Robe: REBIS - Loane's Gown, Legacy M, white [mesh](Midnight Order)(300L)
Choker: BUFFY'S - Galina Choker - LGM [mesh](Midnight Order)(1333L)
Necklace:  REQUISITION - Justiciar's Livery Chain [mesh](Midnight Order)(350L)
Earring: LEX - Bat of Hell [mesh](Midnight Order)(249L)
Belly Strap, belly ring: Aii BlackMage, Athletic, Belly Straps, Navel Piercing [mesh]
Claws: L'Emporio&PL - Oblio Vampire Claws male [mesh](350L)
Hair: bonbon - tame hair, naturals [mesh](439L)
Shine: BLAXIUM - Sweaty Body Shine [applier]
Head: LeLUTKA - CAMDEN 4.0 [mesh](3990L)
Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)
Pose: 3M - gogogo_A_7

Setting:
Chair: Midwest - Ash Recolor Pack - Armchair Cream [mesh](199L)
House: Fanatik - Sky Tower [mesh] (3800L)
Door PBR: Erfe Design - Medusa Floor PBR  Material, black [PBR]
Room PBR: Erfe Design - Maldives  Marble Material, ivory [PBR]
Chair PBR: ARTSY - Velvet Fabric 0 [PBR]
Skyline: AXON Skybox - Cyberpunk megapolis [mesh](50L)

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

 



Saturday, November 29, 2025

Salvage Station: The Blood Economy (Escape from Club Apophis, 29)

(click to enlarge)

STORYLINE: From their hiding spot in an overturned railway car, Lisa filmed through the cracked lens of her phone, framing the scene like a war correspondent behind enemy lines. Her hands shook, ruining the auto-focus; the camera kept glitching as if it refused to witness this.

It was a grotesque collision of medical theater and decadent luxury. The Master of Ceremonies strutted across the rust-stained stage, cracking jokes to a crowd that shouldn't exist. Below him, the elite of the Forbidden Zone drifted into the plaza like models on a divine runway. Their outfits were pure excess, extravagant silhouettes mixing modern couture with the gleaming opulence.  Every guest styled as if they expected to be worshipped the moment they stepped off their hovercar.

A low, wet chewing sound rose from somewhere in the stands, someone snacking on something that definitely hadn’t come from the buffet tables. Perfume wafted through the air, sweet, expensive, and failed miserably to hide the underlying stench of rot. 

"Welcome, esteemed connoisseurs! Tonight’s vintage comes fresh from the surface, high-adrenaline blood, perfectly seasoned with terror!" The MC gestured to a trembling man with glowing runes on his neck. “Lot 44. Former accountant. High cholesterol, but a rich, buttery finish. Five thousand credits?”

"It's an auction," Kyle realized, his face draining of color. "They're not here to eat the sludge. They're here to eat us."

“Six thousand!” someone bellowed.

“Seven!” chirped another.

Somewhere behind them, something heavy scraped across concrete, slow and deliberate, another monster repositioning for a better view.

When the first auction closed, a hush fell over the crowd. A woman in ritual robes, more elaborate than the hunter Nuns, glided onto the stage. She held tools that gleamed under the harsh lights: silver, precise, terrifying. This wasn’t butchery; it was a medical ceremony.

"Look," Minjo whispered, nudging Lisa. The phone slipped in Lisa’s sweaty palm. "I know that woman. She drugged me at the hospital."

With a motion too fast to track, the woman pricked the arm of the human prize sitting in the chair. A single, perfect line of red flowed down a tube and into a crystal flute lined with gold. A warm draft rolled over them from the stage, carrying the coppery breath of freshly cut veins.  The winner of the bid stepped up, took the glass, and swirled it. He inhaled the bouquet, eyes rolling back in ecstasy, savoring it like a sommelier with a rare vintage.

"Sustainable farming," Plague murmured, horrified. "Why kill the cow when you can milk it?"

Then, movement in the periphery caught Lisa’s eye.

A young man, a fresh arrival still wearing a tattered business suit, broke from the intake line. The rune tattoos on his neck flared with a bio-luminescent warning, but he didn’t stop. He made a desperate beeline for the massive iron gates, which stood open to admit a line of luxury hovercars.

Run, Lisa mouthed, her heart hammering against her ribs. Run.

Beside her, Kyra reached out and squeezed Lisa’s hand, her metal fingers icy. They watched in silent prayer as the man sprinted past the guard post.

"Something's wrong," Lisa whispered, the dread coiling in her stomach. "No one is trying to stop him."

It was true. The Enforcers didn't raise their weapons. They didn't unleash the dogs. They simply watched him go with bored indifference.

"No, stop!" Lisa yelled, the realization hitting her a second too late.

The man crossed the threshold of the Pen. He hit the fog line. He was free.

SCREEECH.

A shadow detached itself from the ruins above the gate. A massive bat, leather wings glistening with oil, swooped down. It didn't strike like a bird; it hit like a falling anvil. Huge talons tore the man in half before he could even scream.

More shapes swarmed from the fog, ghouls and feral things, fighting over the remains. The Enforcers at the gate finally moved, thrusting their electric pikes forward not to capture the man, but to drive the monsters back.

Lisa turned away, bile rising in her throat. She dry-heaved into the dirt.

"They aren't jailers," she choked out, wiping her mouth. "They're bouncers. They aren't keeping us in. They're keeping those things out."

Kyra squeezed her hand tighter, the metal joints creaking. It was rare to see Lisa Liemawr, the queen of spin, truly afraid.

"It's true then," Minjo said, her voice flat, stripped of all scientific skepticism. "They really are vampires."

"And Jihoon," Plague whispered, looking ill. "If the DNA doesn't lie... he's one of them. Maybe he always was."

"Bullshit," Kyle snorted, though his eyes darted nervously toward the shadows.

Ghost didn’t speak. He slashed a sign through the air, and his Halo-gloves flickered to life, spitting out a jittering band of blue text: Escape from below. Only option.

"You're in luck," a smooth voice purred from the dark.

Lisa jumped. Romance stepped out from behind a stack of crates, looking immaculate in his white suit, pink cape, and flashy gold jewelry.

"You happen to know the Zone's best smuggler." He reached into his breast pocket and produced a small data chip emblazoned with a heart and devil horns. "This map is current. I promise." He held it out to Ghost, winking. "If you survive this, I could use a pickpocket with your skills."

Kyra's arm shot out, blocking Romance. "Why? Why do you keep helping us? Why are we treated differently from the others?"

Romance paused. He glanced nervously at the flickering lights of the perimeter. The playful mask slipped, just for a second, revealing something tired underneath.

"Let's just say..." He looked at Kyra's damaged leg, his gaze softening. "I have my reasons."

Ghost stared at the Idol, face unreadable, before snatching the chip and slotting it into his wrist-mount.

Lisa didn't know the silent boy well, but the way his eyes scanned the perimeter gave her hope. "Running water," she blurted out, her reporter brain connecting the dots. "Vampires can't cross it, right? Folklore basics."

Kyra looked at Lisa, puzzled. She knew that tone. That was Lisa's "I have a terrible idea" tone.

Lisa smirked, "We just need a river that leads out of the Zone." 

Romance looked worried. He pointed to the Wellhouse. "Go. Before the wind changes."

Then, in a puff of pink smoke and holographic hearts, he disappeared.

Lisa looked at Kyra, smiled a jagged, terrified smile, and squeezed her hand. "Just like old times, Me and You against the world. We're gonna break this news first."

She raised her phone, hitting record on the auction below once more. If they were going to die, the world was going to see why.

For a moment, it seemed they might slip away unnoticed. Then, the auctioneer’s gavel fell silent. The laughter stopped. Every head in the plaza, hundreds of them, snapped toward their hiding spot.

Panic, cold and sharp, gripped Lisa. What happened?

She looked around. Echo was trembling against the crate wall. A tiny bead of blood bloomed on her lower lip where she had bitten it in fear.

The scent hit the air like a gunshot.

"Fuck," Lisa groaned.

Ghost was already moving. RUN! he signed, gesturing violently toward the stone structure of the Wellhouse.

The students bolted. Mud slicked under their boots as they scrambled toward the heavy wooden doors.

But Kyra wasn't keeping up.

Lisa stopped, skidding in the dirt. Her lifelong friend, the head cheerleader, the girl who could outrun anyone, was dragging her leg. Her heavy cybernetic chassis was sparking, a dead weight.

"Go!" Kyra screamed.

Lisa ran back, grabbing Kyra’s arm. She pulled, but it was like trying to move a statue. Her palms slipped on cold alloy; the weight wrenched her shoulder with a bright, tearing pain. 

"Wild Stock!" someone roared. "Unmarked!" 

The vampires were surging toward them, a wave of silk and fangs. The crowd inhaled as one, a predatory hiss rolling through the arena like a cold wind. 

Lisa looked at the Wellhouse. Even if she dragged Kyra there... the water. Kyra would sink like a stone.

"Fuck," Lisa cursed, tears stinging her eyes as she pulled harder. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." She hooked her arms under Kyra’s and felt the deadened weight of steel, an anchor masquerading as a girl.

"Save yourself!" Kyra sobbed, pushing her away. "It's too late! You have to tell them, Lisa! Tell the world!"

"No can do," Lisa panted, refusing to let go.

This was her fault. Kyra had followed her into hell because Lisa wanted a scoop. And now, they were both going to die for it.

Suddenly, a high-pitched feedback whine pierced the air.

The vampires halted, covering their ears. On the stage, Romance had seized the microphone.

"Run, you idiot!" Kyra shoved Lisa hard enough to knock her back.

Lisa stumbled but shook her head.

Romance's sweet voice surged through the air, weaponized perfection impossible to ignore.

     Oooo, in all the ways I am so undeserving, 
     I saw the curse I deserved start reversing. 
     On the first day, I saw your face...

He pointed a manicured finger toward Kyra. Stage tech scrambled to follow his gesture. The spotlight swung wildly across the mud, missing Lisa by inches and landing squarely on the fallen cyborg.

Kyra froze, bathed in the blinding white beam, exposed to a thousand monsters.

"You're the one for me!" Romance sang, his voice amplified by magic. Then he roared, shaking the speakers. "...ONE BILLION WON! FOR THE CYBORG!"

The auctioneer lunged for the mic. "Too much! Her blood is spoiled with oil and lithium! It is worthless!"

"To you!" Romance shoved him back, his voice dripping with arrogant disdain. "But I don't drink the blood. It's her soul I want! One Billion Won! She moves to the Gold VIP section, and no one touches her but me!"

The mob hesitated. They looked at Kyra, smelling the hydraulic fluid leaking from her leg. Tainted. They pulled back, noses wrinkling.

"SOLD!" the Auctioneer shouted, slamming the gavel down in terror.

Romance vanished in a puff of pink smoke and reappeared instantly beside Kyra. He scooped her heavy frame into his arms as if she were made of paper. He looked down at her, smiling like a knight in shining, hot-pink armor.

The rest of the team was already at the Wellhouse, stripping off heavy jackets. Echo was hysterical. But Lisa stood frozen just inside the door, staring through the grate.

Romance turned, carrying Kyra toward the VIP gate. Kyra looked back over his shoulder. Her face was streaked with dirt, and a single tear cut a clean line through the grime.

Lisa gripped the iron bars of the Wellhouse, her knuckles white. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't believe this was goodbye.

BOOM.

The ground quaked. Outside, Hwan was roaring, swinging his massive hammer to hold back the tide of rejects who hadn't accepted the auction result.

"LISA!" Minjo bellowed. "NOW!"

Kyle, the strongest of them, had already splashed into the black water with Echo, Minjo, and their bundled clothes tied to his back.

Lisa wiped her face, smearing the tears into the mud. She grabbed Ghost. "Help me! Quickly!"

The Wellhouse reeked of sulfur and old sins. Grit crunched under her boots, and cold condensation dripped from the ceiling.

Lisa propped the phone against the rusty wall. Her hands shook, not from cold, but from the adrenaline of what she was about to say.

"Okay," she whispered, her voice raw. "One take. No edits. Don't vomit."

She hit record. The battery indicator, fueled by the tiny residual charge, blinked red.

"Hey," she said. No catchy intro. No Dragonlets. "If you're watching this... I'm probably dead. My name is Lisa Liemawr. I’m at The Pen, Sector 4. The Forbidden Zone isn't a quarantine. It's a farm. And we humans? We're the livestock. The government knows. The police know. They're letting it happen."

She held up the soiled teddy bear. "This belonged to a kid. They're all here. Send the army. Send anyone."

She hit Stop.

Ghost moved fast. He raised his hands, halo-gloves buzzing with cursed Zone electricity. Lisa marveled at his speed; his fingers flew across the screen, bypassing security protocols, linking it to one of his own transmitters. He coded the burst: Auto-upload once outside the barrier. Hexa Herald. Police bands. Everyone.

He shoved the phone into the giant, scavenged 2-liter Rad-Cola bottle and stuffed the small teddy bear in around it for padding. He screwed the cap tight and sealed it with a weak electric charge.

He handed it back to her and nodded.

Lisa took the bottle. It felt light. Too light to carry so much weight.

The walls of the Wellhouse vibrated as claws tore at the wood outside, the smell of burnt plastic wafting in the air.

Lisa's hands trembled as she hovered over the water’s edge. The fumes made her eyes water. The tunnel mouth loomed ahead, a black throat swallowing the filth of the camp. "Go home, Teddy," she sniffled. "Tell them all. Tell them the truth."

And she tossed it.

Splash.

The bottle bobbed in the black sludge, spinning slowly as the current caught it, carrying it into the dark throat of the tunnel.

The door splintered. A gray hand reached through.

Ghost grabbed Lisa without another second delay. They were the last two out. He tied the rope around her waist, secured it to himself, and looked at her once.

They jumped.

The plunge crushed her ribs; the black water wrapped around her like cold stone, pressure swallowing her scream before it could break the surface.


On him, Romance:
Headdress: floro - Morvan's Shroud [mesh](Salvage Station)(375L)
Bracelet: ::Static:: Twine Hand Bracelet [mesh](Salvage Station)(295L)
Bottle and shot glass: Ishiku Revenge Vodka Dispenser  [mesh](Salvage Station)(470L)
Earrings: RavenBell Starlit Earrings, Moonlit [mesh](350L)
Hands: {Aii} Demonic Touch - bom/all parts, Legacy M [mesh](800L)
Hair: Dura B137 Light [mesh]
Cape: ANTINATURAL[+] Potestas Capelet / PINK EMBROIDERY [mesh]
Outfit: CURELESS[+] Nepenthes Cassock Skirt / LEGACY M [mesh]
Gauntlets: CURELESS[+] Nepenthes Gauntlets / LEGACY M [mesh]
Bellychain: Tealeaf Treasures TT - Pearl Belly Chain [Legacy M]
Heart Gemstone: RAWR! Diamond Heart Septum [mesh]
Tattoos: HISS PATTERNS FACE ROMANCE [BOM]

Setting:
Wellhouse: Candle & Cauldron C&C - The Wellspring [mesh](Salvage Station)(459L)

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






Thursday, November 27, 2025

Salvage Station: The Pen (Escape from Club Apophis, 28)

(click to enlarge)


STORYLINE: Lisa Liemawr held her phone up like a holy relic in a cathedral of rust.

“Welcome back, Dragonlets!” Her voice hit that perfect, chirpy register, the one that usually sold energy drinks and scandal. “It’s your girl Lisa, coming to you with the exclusive from…”

She dropped her voice to a haunted stage-whisper.

“…The Forbidden Zone.”

She fluttered "spooky fingers" at the lens.

The bold and brash Hexa Herald reporter checked her reflection in the black screen before the recording started. It was a disaster. Her bangs clung to her forehead in greasy, tragic ropes. Her eyeliner was a smudge of war paint.

“No glamour filters today. #NoMakeupChallenge: Hellscape Edition,” she said, crossing her eyes and sticking out her tongue. "Today’s vlog is pre-recorded since Wi-Fi here is literally nonexistent, and my battery was raised from the dead via sketchy Monstrum Tech, thanks to our secret mole. #HumanSympathizer. Yay for having enough juice to record my last will and testament! Say hi to the fans, team!”

She whipped the phone around with influencer bravado.

The lens struggled to focus, grainy and grey. It swept across a row of rusted, modular housing units stacked like coffins under a flickering green sign: ATOMIC ESTATES.

Huddled in the long, jagged shadow of the structures were the captured students of Jae Won University. "The Avengers have assembled, folks." But they didn't look like heroes. They looked like refuse.

Ghost wasn’t looking at the camera. He was crouched against a corrugated wall, eyes scanning the laser perimeter like a caged wolf, his fingers tapping a silent, frantic rhythm against his thigh. Calculating.

“Check out the latest in post-apocalyptic streetwear,” Lisa narrated, zooming in on Kyra’s torn pants and the found scrap metal doubling as a prosthetic leg. “Derelicte. So hot right now.”

“Put the phone away, Lisa.”

Kyle Baek surged forward, his hand filling the frame. He didn't look like the sarcastic guard anymore; he looked haunted.

“We are in a concentration camp,” he growled, shoving the camera down. “People here look half-dead. Have some respect.”

Lisa gasped, pulling the phone back and feigning outrage. “It’s called a documentary, Kyle. If we die, I want my autopsy report to pull at least five hundred thousand views.” She turned the camera back on him, zooming in until his furious, dirt-streaked eyebrows filled the frame. “Tell us, Kyle, how does it feel knowing your little dare to Jihoon landed us in Monster Disneyland?”

Kyle flinched as if she’d slapped him. His eyes went wet, then hard. He didn't speak. He just smacked the phone out of her hand.

The camera spun wildly, ...sky, dirt, sky, capturing a blur of dense gray fog and the high-voltage shimmer of the fence. It landed with a thud, face-up.

Auto-focus adjusted. It locked onto what loomed above the camp.

Projected against the dark, smog-choked sky was a massive holographic poster. It showed Jihoon, no, Lathandro, clad in radiant white, luminous and holy, eyes downcast like a golden messiah forgiving their sins.

WELCOME HOME, LATHANDRO.

Lisa knelt to scoop up the phone, her hair brushing the lens. She paused, seeing the image on her screen. The bravado slipped, just for a second.

“That, my followers, is why we are here,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Nerdy nobody becomes Prince Charming of Monsters. Crazy, am I right?”

She aggressively wiped the lens on her sleeve. “Anyway, here’s the 411. We’re trapped in a radioactive 1950s sitcom running on sewer fumes and despair.”

She swung the camera toward Minjo. The robotics genius was sitting on a pile of scrap, grimly sharpening a stick against a rock.

“What do you think, Girl Genius? Are we glowing yet?”

Minjo stared at her as though Lisa were a misfiring toaster. “No. The radiation warnings are a deception to hide what's really powering The Zone.”

“Oooooh, conspiracy time. Whisper it to Lisa… and to my future Pulitzer committee.”

Minjo didn’t whisper. She lunged.

Thwack.

Her sharpened stick speared a mutant rat inches from Lisa’s boot. It screeched once, then went still. Minjo lifted the fresh kill by the tail, staring dead-eyed into the lens.

“I’m calling it the Entropy Engine,” Minjo said flatly.

“Right...” Lisa side-stepped her, as if Minjo was the first to go insane. “And speaking of despair...”

POOF.

Strawberry-scented smoke billowed around them, too sweet for the filth it drifted through.

“Whoa! Caught in 4K!” Lisa shouted, jumping back as Ghost instantly leveled his own sharpened stick at the pink haze.

The smoke cleared. Standing there, immaculate in a white suit that defied the grime of the camp, was Romance. He looked like he had just stepped off the stage at Inkigayo, smelling of crushed flowers and ozone.

“That, Dragonlets, is a bona fide Jeoseung Saja,” Lisa narrated, masking her relief. “Blink and you missed his career. Give it up for Saja Boy’s own DJ Romance!” She added fake cheering noises. “Tell us, how does a soul-sucking idol end up guarding Hell’s worst zip code?”

Romance covered the lens with a manicured hand. “Stop recording. You want to get us caught? The Children of Apophis have eyes everywhere.”

“No can do, my Maestro of Pink,” Lisa said, ducking under his arm with the agility of a paparazzo. “Lisa’s gotta scoop just as much as a fish’s gotta swim. If I don’t film, I get anxious. And when I get anxious, I cry. And when I cry, I get blotchy. Nobody wants that.”

He sighed. Then his gaze fell on Kyra.

“Kyra,” he said softly.

Lisa zoomed in tight.

The cheerleader was slumped against a crate. Her skin was a terrifying greyish-blue, and the neon veins in her neck flickered ominously. Her cybernetics whined with the brittle, dying-hard-drive sound of something begging for mercy.

“I’m... fine,” she wheezed. “Just... low power mode.”

“Liar,” Romance murmured.

He checked his surroundings, then reached into his pristine jacket. He pulled out a chip with the Monstrum logo on it. It buzzed with energy and smelled faintly of cotton candy.

He knelt, brushing a strand of dirty hair from her face. With the gentleness of a bomb disposal expert, he slotted the chip into the port behind her ear.

Kyra arched, light washing through her like a pink sunrise. Her optics flared, then stabilized. She gasped, color returning to her cheeks. “Better,” she breathed.

Romance smiled, that practiced, devastating idol smile that had once been plastered on bedroom walls.

Lisa whispered into the microphone. “#ForbiddenLove. One-hit wonder rocks the cradle with a cyborg. Leave your comments below.”

“I heard that,” Romance snapped, standing up. “She’s a college student. Shut your mouth.”

In the background, Ghost watched them, face emotionless. But the camera caught it: the precise moment his hand snaked out. While Romance was distracted defending Kyra’s honor, Ghost pickpocket the Idol and slid the ill-gotten gains into his wrist-mount with a surgeon’s stealth. His Halo-gloves, dead since the boundary, flickered. A tiny, pale blue light pulsed once.

Access.

Ghost hid his hands instantly. But he stiffened.

High above, on a rusting catwalk, a familiar figure stirred, black robes, amber eyes.

Hwan.

Ghost went statue still.

He locked eyes with the Guardian. Hwan had seen the theft. He had seen everything.

Romance was still fussing over Kyra, oblivious. Hwan could have shouted. He could have alerted the Nuns from hell.

Instead, the figure in the tower slowly turned his back.

Permission.

Ghost let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Suddenly, a loudspeaker crackled. A cheerful, tinny jingle played, a distorted, minor-key version of Mr. Sandman played on a broken xylophone.

“Attention, Happy Residents! It is time for the Gratitude Feast! Please proceed to the trough for your daily calorie intake!”

“The trough. Great.” Lisa gagged. “Okay, Pinkie. What’s going on?”

“It’s a mandatory celebration,” Romance said grimly, looking up at the glowing poster of Lathandro. “Master Gin is happy his ‘son’ has returned. So everyone must celebrate too.”

“…Right.” Lisa clicked her tongue, forcing the smile back on. She slapped Plague on the back; he jumped a foot in the air. “Let’s go review the catering, Nerd Snack.”

Lisa followed the shuffling crowd to the center of the plaza. The "Feeder," a man with a scarred face and a butcher’s apron, was happily ladling grey sludge into cupped hands, humming a nursery rhyme.

“Look at them,” Plague whispered, nudging Lisa. “They’re eating it like it’s five-star dining.”

He was right. The residents were shoving the flavorless paste into their mouths with frantic, mindless hunger.

“Okay, Dragonlets. Today on ‘Dystopian Eats,’ we have...” She zoomed in on the grey, bubbling sludge being ladled out of a rusted oil drum. “...Protein paste? Porridge? It smells like wet dog and pennies.”

“Okay," Lisa whispered. "Taste test.”

She took a tiny, tentative sip of the grey soup.

“Oh god.” She coughed, squeezing her eyes shut. “It tastes like sadness. Zero stars. Would not recommend.”

She lowered the cup, wiping her mouth. As she did, the camera panned across the crowd, capturing something off.

She zoomed in on a man’s neck as he swallowed.

“Whoa,” she mumbled.

Glowing softly under the grime of his skin were rune tattoos. They pulsed in time with his heartbeat. *Thump-glow. Thump-glow.*

“Marked,” Plague whispered, shivering. “Like inventory. All of them have it.”

Lisa wandered away from the trough, looking for better content—anything to distract from the glowing necks. She found Echo near the drainage outflow, kneeling in the mud.

“Echo?” Lisa gasped, zooming in. “Doing some spring cleaning?”

The camera panned across a neatly hanging row of used tin cans and rocks arranged in a pleasing geometric shape. A garden of garbage.

But Echo was acting strange. Regressed. She was digging in the mud with frantic, childlike intensity.

“What did you get there? A hidden gem? The key to getting out?”

Echo froze. Slowly, she lifted something from the mud.

A teddy bear. Or, it used to be. It was soiled with clay, missing one eye, its fur matted. Next to it lay a small red ball, deflated with age.

Lisa felt the air leave her lungs. The snark died in her throat.

“Lisa?” Echo asked, holding the bear out gently. Her voice was small. “I think... I think I can fix him. I can replace the missing eye with my shirt button...”

“Stop,” Lisa whispered. Then, louder. “Stop right now.”

She stared at the bear. Then she looked toward the edge of the camp, where the drainage pipe poured dark, oily water into the fog. A river that flowed *out* from the city.

“Echo,” Lisa said, her voice shaking violently. “I need you to do me a favor. Find me a bottle. A plastic bottle. Airtight.”

Echo handed the dirty bear to Lisa and darted off.

Lisa held the bear up to the camera. Her hands were trembling.

She stared at the lens. The mask was gone. The influencer was gone. There was only a terrified girl holding a piece of evidence.

“I had one of these,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “Back when I thought monsters weren’t real.”

She zoomed in on the missing eye.

“Okay, folks... Time to get real.”

Tears welled in her eyes, hot and angry. She didn't wipe them away.

“This belongs to a child. A child who probably chased that red ball across the barrier. A kid who never came home.”

“Lisa, please,” Plague appeared at her side, looking terrified. “Keep your voice down. Let’s not draw attention—”

She tore her arm away. “Keep it down? “You think I’m being too loud?” She slammed the ball into his chest. “Tell that to the parents still stapling ‘Missing’ posters to rain-warped bulletin boards. Tell them their babies aren’t lost! They’re here! They’re livestock!”

She wiped her nose with her sleeve—a messy, unglamorous motion

“I will not rest until the world knows about this disgusting place. #ParentsDeserveToKnow.”

She shoved the phone into Plague’s hands.

“Film every face you can find in this cursed place,” she commanded.

Suddenly, a low, heavy thrumming sound echoed from the main gates. The ground vibrated.

The eating stopped. The residents froze, eyes wide with a conditioned terror.

The rusted gates groaned open.

Through the fog rolled a procession of vehicles that belonged in a museum or a nightmare. Vintage Rolls Royces drifted through the fog like funeral carriages.

Figures stepped out — gowns shimmering like spilled oil, jewels blinking like predator eyes.
They crossed the filth with the bored amusement of aristocrats at a petting zoo.

Lisa stared, horrified. “What... what is happening?”

Romance stepped up beside her, his face grim.

“The Gratitude Feast,” he whispered, watching the elites take their seats around the stage. “The humans eat first to look plump for the buyers. And now...”

He gestured to the vampires raising their auction paddles.

“...Now the real feast begins.”



Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all enjoy this ambitious post, (7 characters all in one post. The "7 Dwarfs" together at last). There are lots of sweet post apocalyptic goodies from Salvage Station in this. (And if you look hard, you might even spot Jihoon "Snow White" making a cameo.)  Gobble Gobble


On her, front row left to right, Lisa Liemawr (Happy):
Outfit: FenDuDu - Wasteland Verdict, fatpack [mesh](Salvage Station)(3688L)
Hair: CAMO - Nyx Braids  [mesh](Salvage Station)(699L)
Head, eyes, skin: LOGO - Dawn Desert Nomad [mesh]
Body: Meshbody - Legacy (f) Special Edition (Basic) 1.2 [mesh]
Group Pose: 10sai - Group Pose Stand #WEFIE

On her, Kyra (Sleepy):
Guest Appearance: Aarya Phantomhive, of the Dark Phantom blog.
Pants: AsteroidBox - Deteriorate Pants [mesh](Salvage Station)(289L)
Jacket: CHANDRA - Hyperion Jacket Reborn FATPACK [mesh](Salvage Station)(275L)
Jaw: Evil Baby - Jaws - Accessory [mesh](Salvage Station)(349L)
Makeup: eyecing - Ieku - eyes - liner [mesh](Salvage Station)(30L)
Tattoo: Nefekalum - Salvaged Armor - Polished 02 // Full Tattoo [mesh](Salvage Station)(199L)
Tattoo: SOMEONE - Infected Wounds - Face, Body, Eye [mesh](Salvage Station)(550L)
Tattoo: Fallen Gods - Skychylde, female body +FGInc.+ Canary PG [mesh](Salvage Station)(gift)
Makeup: Stelio - Grungy Eyepaint - Black (EvoX) [mesh](Salvage Station)(gift)
Collar: Cruel - Sulfur Gorget - Legacy F
Hair: A&Y - Medusa Cyber hair 2, multicolor [mesh]
Head, eyes: LeLUTKA lel EvoX LILLY 3.1 [mesh](3990L)
Body: Maitreya Mesh Body Lara [mesh](2750L)

On her, Echo (Dopey):
Helmet: Waffle Science & Research - [W] Civil Defender [mesh](Salvage Station)(250L)
Outfit: The Muses - Triste Bouffon - Ivory [mesh](Salvage Station)(250L)
Hair: Sintiklia - Lillith head 1 Fitted, colors ombres [mesh]

On her, front, Minjo (Doc):
Outfit: BEARCAT.EGG - Mira Top, Skirt, Legacy [mesh](Salvage Station)(500L)
Pet: AxisMundi - Bittersync-(B)ox-Hand L [animesh](Salvage Station)(800L)
Goggles: MILKBATH - Axel Goggles - Unrigged [mesh](Salvage Station)(399L)
Hair: NI.JU Tomtom Hair, naturals [mesh]

On him, back row left to right, Ghost (Bashful):
Scanner: Starlit Endeavor - Nomada Scanner, yellow [mesh](Salvage Station)(300L)
Cowl: SOMNIUM - Outlander [mesh](Salvage Station)(350L)
Coat: SOMNIUM - Outlander [mesh](Salvage Station)(350L)
Mask: Pucca Firecaster Creations - PFC Ninja (Male) [mesh]
Headband: Last Ride - 47 Samurai/Headband back [mesh]
Pants: REBIS - Werk Trousers [mesh](350L)
Gloves: Archivefaction - Penumbra Gloves_Legacy M_Slim Fingers [mesh]
Head: LeLUTKA Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)
Body: TheShops [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

On him, back middle, Plague (Sneezy):
Helmet: Apika - Femm of War - Helmet [mesh](Salvage Station)(350L)
Shoes: CULT - Wasteland - Legacy M [mesh](Salvage Station)(369L)
Outfit: toksik - Invasion Top (Legacy M) (Black)
Cape: toksik - Invasion Cape M (Unrigged)
Gloves: Archivefaction - Penumbra Gloves_Legacy M_Slim Fingers [mesh]
Scar: Cubic Cherry - Decay [BOM, Materials]
Makeup: maledictus - Lacrimosa, red [BOM]
Hair: Dura U122 -A: Men's [mesh]
Head: LeLUTKA Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)
Body: TheShops [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

On him, Kyle (Grumpy):
Outfit: ONEDAYs - CLOUD OUTFIT - LEGACY [mesh](Salvage Station)(350L)
Tattoo: AURO - The Prophet : White // 25 // EVOX  [mesh](Salvage Station)(450L)
Necklace: HAUNT - Choke Chain [mesh](Salvage Station)(299L)
Sleeves: REBIS - Junkyard Sleeves . LegacyM, yellow [mesh](Salvage Station)(250L)
Hair: TRASH - Lucifer w/o Horns V1 - Rainbow pack [mesh]
Eyes: Mana - Jelly Eyes, Clear [BOM] (Midnight Order)(399L)
Skin: MUDSKIN Hajimu, C, Brow, WINTER(gacha)(The Arcade)(75L)
Glasses: SOLE SA, Glasses Penta CP, Black [mesh](339L)
Head: LeLUTKA Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)
Body: TheShops [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)


Setting:
Neighborhood: LORE Atomic Estates Fatpack [mesh](Salvage Station)(1200L)
Bench: Dirty Rat - Derelict Bench [mesh](Salvage Station)(415L)
Cart: Dirty Rat - Derelict Cart [mesh](Salvage Station)(375L)
Billboard: Dirty Rat - Vintage Billboard w/o probe [mesh]
Bathroom: Eclectica - Wasteland Bathroom Set  [mesh](Salvage Station)(395L)
Picture frames: NI.JU - Broken Frame Set [mesh](Salvage Station)(250L)
Picture frames: NI.JU - Old N' Worn Frame Set [mesh](Salvage Station)(250L)
Alarm Stystem: Puddles - Tin Can Trap, Soft linked [mesh](Salvage Station)(200L)
Jeweler's work area: Random Matter - Junk Jeweler  [mesh](Salvage Station)(395L)
Desk: Random Matter - Junk Jeweler - Desks [mesh](Salvage Station)(275L)
Toolboxes: Random Matter - Junk Jeweler - Toolboxes [mesh](Salvage Station)(160L)
Necklace display: Random Matter - Junk Jeweler - Necklaces [mesh](Salvage Station)(160L)
Welders: Random Matter - Junk Jeweler - Hand Welders [mesh](Salvage Station)(160L)
Lamp: Duplexity - Nuk-a-Lamp (Ceiling) [mesh](Salvage Station)(249L)
Dunes: Fundati - Beach Cliffs C1 [mesh]

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








Friday, November 21, 2025

Salvage Station: The Underworld (Escape from Club Apophis, 27)

(click to enlarge)

STORYLINE: They were trapped. Trapped in the pitch-black catacombs beneath the Forbidden Zone, with a creature that shouldn't exist. It had slipped through the sewer grate above, a thing of tattered cloth, scraping metal, and impossible, hungry light. The team had followed the Saja's rule, don't move, don't look. But it was too late. The Sister was in the tunnel with them, and it could smell their fear.

The swirling vortex of its face flared, searching the dark, hungry and close, vibrating the stone like a cracking bone.

Echo pressed her back to the tunnel wall, her breath hitching. Don’t look. Don’t look. She bit her lip. One sharp sting. One copper-scented drop. The air seemed to gasp in reply, as if the tunnel itself could smell it. The Nun’s head snapped toward her. It could smell the blood. It lunged.

Echo flinched. She looked up and screamed. 

The Nun's face spit open like a cursed flower. A burst of light shot out of it, locking onto Echo's eyes. It was going to feed.

“NO!”

Ghost moved, a black-clad blur. He lunged past Echo, knife flashing, a perfect, lethal thrust aimed at the creature’s center mass. The blade went through. Hit nothing. No body, no bone, just empty robes and a sudden, violent chill that flash-froze his glove. 

The Nun, a thing of cloth and hungry void, swatted him aside like a fly. 

Ghost slammed into the wall. The small hand-crank generator on his belt dug into his hip.

The generator.

The Nun loomed over Echo, its vortex spinning faster, drawing her in.

Ghost didn't have time. He ripped the generator free and, with a snarl, wound the handle once.

A loud, grinding GGRRIIIND shrieked through the tunnel, obscenely loud, vibrating with raw, stupid power.

The Nun reared back. It shrieked, a sound of conflict, torn between the smell of fresh blood and the taste of pure, crackling energy.

Ghost made the choice for it. He hurled the generator with all his strength down the opposite tunnel. "GO!" he signed in the air, a useless, frantic gesture in the dark. 

The generator clattered against stone, its tiny light flickering. 

The Nun forgot Echo. It forgot them all. With a final, ravenous howl, it chased the power, tattered cloth and shadow vanishing into the black. 

Silence collapsed around them, broken only by Echo’s hyperventilating sobs.

Hwan’s voice cut through, cold and urgent. 

"Get up. Form a chain. Hold on. Do not let go. And run."

They scrambled in total darkness, a chaos of limbs, boots, and breath.

“I can’t see!” Plague yelled.

“No one can!” Minjo shouted back.

Ghost ignored the chain. He scooped up the trembling Echo and took the rear, covering their escape.

They ran blind, a stumbling mess through the darkness.

Minjo's foot caught on a loose stone, and she went down hard, breaking the chain.

"Minjo!" Plague stopped short. “I got you!”

He fumbled in the black, reaching. His hand landed on....

"Minjo, I'm so sor—"

SMACK.

"Just get off me!" she hissed.

“Okay, okay!” He grabbed again, wrong again.

“Plague,” Minjo said, voice lethal. “That is not my arm.”

"FINE!" Plague dropped to all fours. "Piggyback. Now! Let's go!"

Minjo, swallowing her pride, scrambled onto his back.

“RUN!” Hwan’s voice echoed ahead.

They raced deeper, lower. Then, the air changed. Cold stone gave way to a warm, humid sweetness that clung to their tongues.

They burst into a cavern. And it wasn’t dark. It glowed.

A vast, impossible garden sprawled before them, phosphorescent fungi rising like pillars, glowing moss draped from stalactites like drowned willows, and long gelatinous tendrils hanging from the ceiling, pulsing faintly with internal light. A cracked bioreactor tank sat half-buried in the cavern floor. Its shattered glass leaked viscous cyan fluid that streamed into the soil, feeding the luminous vegetation. The entire chamber hummed softly, like the heartbeat of something enormous sleeping under the earth. The air shimmered with drifting spores, each one pulsing like a tiny glowing seed.

“Is this… the surface?” Echo whispered.

“No,” Hwan said. He stood by a rusted miner’s railway, his face pale. “Do not stop,” he ordered. “Do not touch anything. This is MasterGin’s garden. His… nursery.”

“Nursery?” Plague panted, legs burning under Minjo’s weight.

“For parasites,” Hwan said. “We saved a man from here once. When we pulled him out...," his breath caught, “…he looked like a jellyfish shaped like a man.” He swallowed. “He was still screaming.”

SPLASH.

The surface of the leakage pool broke.

Something rose from the neon sludge. It was translucent, dripping, and pulsing with soft, sickly light. It looked like a man, but the skin was a clear membrane, revealing organs that floated in gel and bones that had softened into cartilage.

It had no face, only a vibrating film where a mouth should be.

“Oh god,” Plague choked out.

The Jellyfish Man shrieked, a wet, gurgling sound and lunged. A whip-fast tentacle of dissolving flesh lashed out toward Minjo.

“Move!”

Hwan stepped in front of them. He didn't raise a shield. He raised the hammer. Vanilla. The worn mallet he'd carried as the Ice Cream Man.

But as he swung, the air warped.

The metal underneath groaned and expanded, thickening into a massive, rough-hewn block of pale granite. The handle twisted, wood becoming thick, rusted rebar wrapped in leather.

It wasn't a tool anymore. It was a boulder on a stick. An ancient weapon of the earth.

CRACK-BOOM.

Hwan slammed the massive stone club into the creature’s chest.

The impact was seismic. The Jellyfish Man didn't just fly backward, it became a projectile. It slammed into the cavern wall with such force that the rock face splintered. Dust rained down. The entire cavern shook.

Hwan hefted the stone hammer onto his shoulder. It had to weigh three hundred pounds, but he held it like a toy. He looked back at the students, his eyes burning with feral amber light. But that was not the only shocking thing, Hwan appeared to have transformed too.

“What are you staring at?” Hwan growled. “Run!”

They wasted no time plunging back into darkness, up the long winding staircase carved into rock—endless, spiraling, scraping the breath from their lungs toward whatever they prayed was an exit.

They hit a wall. A dead end: a smooth stone chamber with no outlets. The sound of their breathless pants felt loud in the small space.

“Hwan, where...?”

SWISH. THUD.

A heavy stone door slid shut behind them, sealing the stairs.

"We're trapped!" Plague yelled, pounding on the stone.

“No,” Hwan said. His voice no longer echoed; it was unnervingly close.

He stood in the dim light at center of the chamber, leaning on the massive stone hammer.

“You’re trapped,” Hwan corrected.

He lifted the hammer one last time, and swung upward, driving the stone head into the ceiling with a deafening, rhythmic clang.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

And then, ...light exploded, and he was gone in a burst of gold.

They were alone, ears ringing, in the dark, betrayed.

“Of course he teleported!” Plague roared, kicking the wall. “The snake! The shady creep! We’re dead! We are so, so dead!”

SCRRRAPE.

A noise from above. A slice of light cut down as a metal hatch squealed open, painfully bright. A silhouette leaned over the edge.

“Well, well, well. Looks like the Nerd Rescue Party needed rescuing. What I wouldn’t give to take a picture of your faces right now.”

“Lisa?” Echo whispered, shielding her eyes against the glare.

Another voice joined, bright and incredulous. “Are you guys okay?”

… Kyra.

Then a final shadow stepped into view. Kyle Baek tossed a rope ladder down; the rungs hit the stone floor with a clatter. His voice was deep, bitter, hollow.

“Welcome, fellow livestock,” he said. “To the Pen.”




On him, Hwan:
Tattoo clothes: Nefekalum - Salvaged Armor - Rusted 07 [BOM](Salvage Station)(199L)
Skin: Fallen Gods - Radioactive [xy]+FGInc.+ Uranium [BOM](Salvage Station)(743L)
Hammer: Arts&Gear - *AG* (PBR)StoneHammer [mesh](Salvage Station)(200L)
Sleeves: REBIS - Junkyard Sleeves . LegacyM, yellow [mesh](Salvage Station)(250L)
Boots: Web Dew - WD Boots Daniel - Legacy Athletic, yellow [mesh](Salvage Station)(275L)
Shorts: [LOB] OKLAND SHORT - BLACK [mesh]
Briefs: UKYAH - Lalotex Briefs (Legacy Athletic) [mesh]
Hair: Ginko Hair - #97 Hair - Rigged(Male/L) [mesh]
Ponytail: Air - 
Kazura A01_Tail (ADD)_white_CM [mesh]
Hands: {Aii} Demonic Touch - bom/all parts, Legacy M [mesh](800L)
Tattoo: LeLUTKA - Freckles.004 [BOM]
Tattoo: HISS - PATTERNS BODY 2 - FADING TINT [BOM]
Eyes: {Rue} - Eyes/Grimalkin: Saffron [BOM]
Head: BeSpoke - Oni Jube [mesh]
Body: TheShops [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Setting:
Railway tunnel: Red Shadow - RS-Decadent Road [mesh](Salvage Station)
Jellyfish: {anc} - Abyssal Jellyfish 2Li (allcolor) [mesh](Salvage Station)(239L)
Wall, pose: Arts&Gear - *AG* Stone Cracked Wall [mesh](Salvage Station)(210L)
Mushrooms: Dysfunctionality - [DDD] Giant Mushrooms [mesh]
Mushrooms: CONSTRUCT - Glitter Mushroom [mesh]
Glow worms: LOVE - CAVE GLOW WORM [mesh]
Set: Fanatik - Architecture: Lake Chamber [mesh](500L)

On Him, The JellyFish Man:
Skeleton: [ jintaiya ] - High-Performance Deluxe Skeleton AvatarSkeleton [mesh](1800L)
Glitter: E.V.E - Rapunzel Suit Glitter [BELLEZA-M] V.3.3 [mesh]


BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shot, hi-res, midday sky.  JellyFish Man at midnight.