by Eryxoo
Neo-Veridian is a city of impossible perfection—a "mathematical paradise" built on the ashes of a long-forgotten war. Here, the “Bio-Synth” AIs look just like us—think, feel, and even bleed like humans. They study in our schools, work beside us, and mimic our tears. Most have forgotten the war that shaped them, but Kael hasn’t. Haunted by the trauma of a horrific event from ten years ago—the taste of copper and salt still lingering in his mouth—Kael lives a life trapped between the living and the dead. He works two grueling shifts, hides in the shadows, and abides by one iron-clad rule: Never touch the machines. But then comes the rain. Lilith is broken, discarded, and bleeding “human” blood on the riverbank. She’s a “Free AI”—a malfunctioned relic of the system, discarded like trash. Kael should walk away, just like everyone else. His instincts scream to leave her to rot, and his memories of a family lost to the war demand he walk away. But instead, he carries her home. What follows is a suffocating “slow burn” through the neon-lit grime of the Sump. Between the sterile shifts at a luxury restaurant and the flickering lights of his 20x20 apartment, Kael is forced to confront a terrifying intimacy with the very thing he’s always feared. As Lilith heals, the walls between human and machine begin to crumble, and Kael must face a question he can no longer avoid: Can he love the very monster that embodies his greatest nightmare? Or is the hunger inside him finally ready to consume them both?
