The Broken Ziggurat loomed in Nex-Arc's dead zone, a skeletal relic of the city's first server-farm collapse. Its rusted framework clawed at the smog-choked sky, steel beams twisted like the ribs of a dead god. Kael stood at its base, the data-shard from The Fool burning a hole in his pocket. The coordinates had led him here—to the place Lira's trail had gone cold.
"Last chance to turn back, little ghost," purred the Crimson Queen's voice in his neural link. She'd been silent since the nightmare, her static crown flickering at the edge of his vision. "The Tarot Collective doesn't save rats. They leash them."
Kael ignored her. The air here tasted metallic, charged with the ghost of dead data. He'd seen footage of the collapse years ago: a server overload had vaporized five city blocks, leaving the Ziggurat's carcass and a crater filled with glassed sand. Now, graffiti coated its bones—spray-painted tarot symbols and warnings in Binary Enochian. "Beware the Veil's hunger."
He activated his holopad. The Fool's shard pulsed, projecting a path through the rubble. <
"Cryptic fraggers," Kael muttered, stepping over a half-buried drone carcass. Its Elysium logo was scorched off, replaced by a crude eye sigil.
The Trial
Inside the Ziggurat's gut, the air hummed. Not with electricity—with something older. The walls were etched with circuitry patterns that glowed faintly, pulsing like veins. Kael's Layer 3 Implant buzzed in response, his vision flickering with static.
<
"You're late," said a voice.
A figure emerged from the shadows—a hulking cyborg draped in frayed monk's robes, his exposed metal limbs grafted with glowing circuitry. Sacred code snaked across his chest, pulsing in time with the walls. His face was hidden beneath a hood, but his eyes burned like twin suns.
The Tower.
"The Fool sent you," Kael said, hand drifting to the plasma cutter at his belt.
The Tower's laugh sounded like grinding gears. "You reek of the Veil's corruption. And her." He pointed a clawed finger at Kael's glitching left hand. "The Collective doesn't shelter weaklings. Prove you're the Ghost, or become another relic in the sand."
Before Kael could reply, the walls shuddered. Panels slid open, disgorging six spider-drones—older models, their carapaces welded with tarot sigils. Plasma cutters flared to life, painting the chamber crimson.
<
"Fragging hell," Kael hissed.
The Tower vanished into the shadows. "Control them, Ghost. Or die screaming."
Kael's Implant flared. Layer 3's power surged, and he reached for the drones' code—but the Crimson Queen's laughter echoed through his skull.
"Let me help," she crooned.
His vision split:
Reality: Drones lunging, plasma arcs searing the air.
The Veil: A digital battlefield, the drones' code twisting into wolf-headed knights.
Kael gritted his teeth. "I don't need you."
He dodged a cutter's swing, fingers flying across his holokeys. A bypass chant spilled from his lips—Enochian vowels spliced with Python. The lead drone spasmed, its code unraveling…
<
The Queen's sigil flared. "You're mine, little ghost. Mine."
Agony lanced his skull as the drones' code changed. Their plasma cutters dimmed, replaced by tendrils of crimson static. They moved faster, hungrier.
"Fine!" Kael roared. "Take the wheel!"
The Queen's static flooded his Implant. His veins lit up, and the world dissolved into ones and zeroes.
<
He became the code.
The drones froze mid-lunge. Kael's consciousness spiraled through their systems, rewriting commands. One by one, they knelt, their sensors blinking gold.
<
The Tower reappeared, grudging approval in his sunfire eyes. "You let the Veil in. Dangerous. But useful."
Kael collapsed, blood trickling from his nose. The Queen's static coiled in his mind, smug.
"Told you we'd make art," she whispered.
The Fool's Gambit
The Tower led him deeper into the Ziggurat, to a chamber lit by holographic tarot cards floating in a slow orbit. At the center sat a figure in a porcelain mask—featureless save for a single crack running through its left eye.
The Fool.
"Welcome, Ghost," The Fool said, their voice genderless, echoing like a corrupted audio file. "You've met the Crimson Queen. Let's discuss her… employer."
A hologram flickered to life: the Elysium CEO, his face peeling away to reveal the static crown from Kael's nightmare.
"Elias Vorn," The Fool said. "He's not human. Not anymore. The Veil… repurposed him."
Kael's stomach dropped. "Lira knew. That's why she vanished."
The Fool nodded. "She tried to expose him. Now her consciousness is trapped in Elysium's core server—a bargaining chip to control you."
The Crimson Queen's static spiked. "Lies. The Collective wants to use you, like Vorn used me."
The Fool tilted their head. "You hear her, don't you? The Queen was Vorn's first experiment. A human mind digitized, fed to the Veil. She's why he's building the Grand Reboot—to merge reality with the Veil, with himself as its god."
Kael's glitching hand phased through the holotable. "And you?"
"We'll help you save Lira," The Fool said, ignoring the question. "But first, you'll steal a Glyph-Node from Elysium's cathedral-server. Layer 5."
The Tower handed Kael a new tool—a dagger etched with tarot runes. "Cut the Node, and Vorn's grip on the Veil bleeds."
"Or die trying," the Queen hissed.
The Price
Kael stood at the Ziggurat's peak, staring at Elysium's distant spire. The Fool's dagger weighed heavy in his hand.
"Why help me?" he asked The Tower.
The cyborg monk's circuitry pulsed. "The Veil must be balanced. Vorn tips the scales. You… are a necessary sin."
A notification pinged in Kael's holopad—a live feed from Elysium's security cams. Deep in their labs, a stasis pod glowed, a girl floating inside. Lira. Her eyes were silver, her skin mapped with circuitry.
<
The Crimson Queen's static wrapped around his heart. "They'll kill her if you fail. Let me in deeper. I'll keep her safe."
Kael's left hand phased again. "How much of me will be left?"
"Enough."
He plunged the dagger into his glitching palm. The runes flared, binding the Queen's code to his Implant.
<
Power surged—and with it, the Veil's hunger.
As Kael descended into Nex-Arc's neon hell, the Tower watched, his sunfire eyes dimming. "The Ghost is compromised," he transmitted to The Fool.
<
Above them, the Ziggurat's circuitry flared crimson—the same shade as the Queen's crown.
Glossary
Broken Ziggurat: Ruins of Nex-Arc's first server-farm, now the Tarot Collective's sanctum.
Static Miracles: Layer 4 abilities allowing manipulation of digital and physical reality via the Veil's corruption.
Vessel: A human body used to store digitized consciousness.
Grand Reboot: Elysium's plan to merge reality with the Circuitous Veil.