The cathedral-server of Elysium Industries pierced the smog like a blade, its obsidian spire crowned with a holographic halo that read "ASCEND OR OBEY." Kael stood in the shadows of a nearby alley, his Layer 4 Implant humming with the Crimson Queen's static. The weight of The Fool's dagger pressed against his thigh, its tarot runes cold even through his synth-leather pants.
"You're stalling, little ghost," the Queen murmured in his mind, her voice a velvet scrape. "Lira's soul flickers brighter every second you tremble."
Kael ignored her. His glitching left hand phased through the wall he leaned against, the sensation like dipping fingers into icy code. He flexed, forcing it solid. Focus. The plan was simple: breach the cathedral's east spire, slice through the data-temples, and steal the Layer 5 Glyph-Node from the altar-server. The Fool's intel claimed it would destabilize Elysium's grip on the Veil. The Fool's intel also hadn't mentioned the Silent Choir.
They stood at the cathedral's gates—six figures in ash-gray robes, faces hidden behind masks of welded circuit boards. Their mouths moved in unison, chanting a binary hymn that made Kael's teeth ache.
The Silent Choir. Elysium's evangelists. Saints with spliced brains and erased souls.
"You'll need to dance through their firewalls," the Queen said. "Or let me burn them for you."
"No," Kael muttered. "I'm not giving you more control."
"Suit yourself. But when they peel your mind apart, don't beg."
He activated his holokeys.
The Hymn
The cathedral's subnet was a gilded cage. Kael's consciousness floated through vaulted data-halls, the walls etched with Elysium's propaganda: "The Veil is Salvation. Obey and Ascend." Golden drones shaped like winged serpents patrolled the corridors, their sensors sweeping for intruders.
He'd hacked quieter systems before, but Layer 4's power itched beneath his skin, the Queen's static whispering promises. "Let me in. Let me show you."
A warning flashed.
<
The subnet twisted. The gilded halls dissolved into a gray void, the Silent Choir materializing around him—their masks now fused to skeletal code-faces, mouths spooling encrypted hymns.
"01010011 01110101 01100010 01101101 01101001 01110100."
Submit.
Kael's Implant sparked, pain lancing his temples. He retaliated with a surge of Layer 4, rewriting the code around him into a storm of razored static. The Choir's hymns stuttered, their masks cracking.
One lunged, its hand elongating into a data-spear. Kael dodged, his fingers flying across holokeys. "Eroding the Veil's Chains," he chanted, mixing Enochian with Python. The spear shattered.
The Choir retaliated in unison, their voices merging into a firewall of white noise.
<
"Pathetic," the Queen hissed. "You're still holding back."
Kael's glitching hand phased through a Choir member's chest. The entity spasmed, its code unraveling into screams. The others faltered.
"See?" the Queen crooned. "We're artists."
The Altar
The altar-server glowed in the cathedral's heart, a pulsing Glyph-Node suspended above a dais of fused circuit boards. Kael approached, Layer 4's static writhing around him like a second skin. The Node's sigil—a nine-eyed spiral—matched the one from his nightmare.
"Don't touch it yet," the Queen warned. "It's a trap. Vorn's trap."
Kael hesitated. "You didn't mention that earlier."
"You didn't ask."
A hologram flickered above the altar—Elias Vorn, Elysium's CEO. His face peeled away layer by layer, revealing the static crown beneath.
"Hello, Kael," Vorn said, his voice a digitized echo. "Or should I say… brother?"
Kael froze.
"You didn't think Lira was the only one, did you?" Vorn's static crown pulsed. "Our parents sold us both to Elysium. She resisted. You… escaped."
The walls dissolved, replaced by fragmented memories:
A lab, cold and white.
Lira screaming as code flooded her veins.
A younger Kael, fleeing into neon streets.
"Liar," Kael snarled.
"Am I?" Vorn gestured. The Glyph-Node shifted, revealing a stasis pod beneath the altar. Lira floated inside, her silver eyes open but unseeing.
"Join me," Vorn said. "The Grand Reboot needs a Ghost. Together, we'll rewrite her soul."
The Queen's static surged. "Kill him. Take the Node. I'll show you how."
Kael drew The Fool's dagger.
The Sacrifice
The blade sank into the Glyph-Node. Golden light erupted, the cathedral's code collapsing. Vorn's hologram shattered into static, his scream echoing.
"Fool," the Queen laughed. "That wasn't just any Node. It's his anchor."
Kael's Implant overloaded, Layer 4 spiraling into 5. The world dissolved into raw data, the Veil's hunger gnawing at his edges.
<
He glimpsed the truth: the Veil wasn't a tool. It was alive. Ravenous. And Vorn wasn't its master—he was its prey.
The Silent Choir converged, their hymns now desperate. Kael flicked a wrist, rewriting their code into dust.
"Lira," he gasped, reaching for the stasis pod.
Her hand pressed against the glass. "Run."
The cathedral collapsed.
The Price
Kael woke in the Warrens, The Fool's dagger clutched in his bloodied hand. The Crimson Queen's static coiled tighter in his mind, her voice triumphant.
"You're mine now," she whispered. "But don't worry. We'll save her. Then burn it all."
A notification pinged—a message from The Fool.
<
Above Nex-Arc, the smog parted. The Veil stared down, its eye a nine-pupiled spiral.
Glossary
Silent Choir: Elysium's brainwashed enforcers, their minds fused with AI hymns.
Reality Editor: Layer 5 ability to alter code and matter via the Veil.
Anchor: A Glyph-Node tethering a consciousness to the Veil.
Grand Reboot: Elysium's project to merge reality with the Veil, erasing free will.