"In an age long drowned in desire… the Demiurge dreamed a world into being."
"Seven Sins, born from thoughtless longing… became gods unto themselves into this new abandoned world."
"And with their endless hunger for power, they stole the balanced of the order, and shaped the world in their image."
The Lord of Greed, The Gilded Maw Ofrofos, wielder of the Crest of Dominion.
The domination of all life, the taker of freedom, all things have a source, and all things can be dominated into submission
The Lord of Lust, the Scarlet Bloom, wielder of the Crest of Yearning.
The bloom from which all ideas blossom from. Ruler of the mind womb, birthing the wishes of man into being.
The Lord of Sloth, the Silent Queen, the mother of the eternal dream. Strongest of the seven. Wielder of the Crest of Stillness.
The dreams of the sleepers must abide by it's will. For it is the source from which all things stem, and the continuation of the order.
The Lord of Wrath, the Crimson Hound Bavora, wielder of the Crest of Ruin.
The crest of Ultimate destruction, the flame that can ignite the order and undo the world of it's purpose.
The Lord of Gluttony, The Loss Moth Aspentri, wielder of the Crest of Hunger.
The void that consumes all. The Great nothingness from which naught can come back from.
The King of Pride, The Mirror Prince Critophulx wielder of the Crest of Perfection.
The beauty of all that is the eye. It's sees and knows. And to know of it is to be apart of it. The great madness that flood all beneath it's gaze into worthless colors that cannot match or reach it. Leaving all to wonder what lies beyond.
The Lord of Envy. The brood Mother Alxwid, wielder of the Crest of Longing.
The womb from where life emerge, children of darkness and light chain to the destiny of time. All that is of the cycle. A neverending tide of life and death, and stories they carry. Fate abides, as all that is of the world is control by the harlot womb.
"With each passing age, their depravity deepened. Their Crests bloated with unholy power. As they drown the world in darkness."
"And so the Free Throne, the last breath of balance… forged its final hope."
"A being born not of the sins... yet burdened by all of them."
"Arise now, ye Wonder. Ye weapon made flesh."
"Ye flame born of balance, ye slayer of sin."
"Travel the lands, and pass the fog of chaos. Seeketh the bearers of Law. Face the Seven."
"Claim their Crests… and restore the Sevenfold Order…
"To sit upon the Free Throne as Lord."
༒══⊹⊰✦⊱⊹════༒
RUMBLE!! BANG!!
The sound of thunder spread across the area loudly as the hard and heavy rain pour down wards upon OrbSoft main building.
As Malone Mercedes sat alone at his desk, the office both dim and quiet.
The only light came from his monitor, illuminating his tired features as he rewatched the trailer of biggest game of the year.
The trailer for Eroge Souls.
It had debuted six months ago, sparking controversy and fascination across the gaming world.
A cinematic masterpiece in its own right, it depicted a collapsing world corrupted by sin, as the player most travel beyond the chaos fog, as the playable avatar knowns as the Wonder.
The trailer shows the ornate cathedrals torn asunder, and flooded with daemons.
Monsters of impossible beauty and cruelty.
Most looked like eldritch abominations... As these daemons are the plague of the world.
The battles shows were of extreme violence, and sexuality as the Foul Wonder has his way with the evils of the world purging the lands of corruption.
The Wonder... Ren Hal Asauron.
Was A horned figure of divine power wielding the Crest of Victory.
Along with an array of different weapon's and armor set as he cut through the many enemies of the Prime Lands, and embraced lovers in equal measure during his journey.
"Ahh...
Malone groaned tiredly coding the new game and creating new landscapes for players to explore.
"I swear, I don't pay enough for this shit."
He complained, as these last two years have been nothing but a tired experience for him.
Especially these last six months the most.
The internet went into meltdown within hours of the trailer's release.
As the Forums exploded.
Reaction videos poured in, and Critics argued whether it was art or just degeneracy.
But the numbers didn't lie. Eroge Souls had gone viral for all the right and wrong reasons.
And when the game finally launched, it exceeded even the company wildest expectations.
Malone should have felt proud.
After all, he was the lead systems programmer.
But pride wasn't what he felt at all during the two years he has worked here, and tonight was no different either.
Instead, there was only exhaustion.
The studio, OrbSoft, had gone from a cult indie developer to a global entertainment juggernaut seemingly overnight.
Their launch of The Orb, a dedicated gaming console designed specifically to run the obscene demands of Soul Games.
Eroge Souls, being it first game that was created as the intro game for the new console that took the world by storm.
Had shocked the entire industry.
With its cutting-edge neural hardware and immersion features tuned for both adult and conventional games, it had gone head-to-head with the big three console makers and held its ground.
The specs on this thing put all the new gen consoles to shame.
But on the topic of Eroge Souls.
No one else would have greenlit a project like this. A dark fantasy RPG that openly mixed hardcore gameplay with explicit adult content and layered psychological storytelling.
It shouldn't have worked.
But yet it did.
It was, in every sense, a phenomenon.
And yet, Malone was still here. Still behind the same desk he had been chained to since pre-launch. Still staring down bug reports and system failures while the executives took victory laps on the red carpet.
"Why does life have to be so unfair, this game wouldn't be half as good if it were not for me and my team."
Malone argued.
He glanced at the status board pinned beside his screen.
Only three story endings had been discovered so far: Lust, Greed, and Wrath. Each one unlocked an entirely different playstyle for the Wonder.
New skill trees.
New sexual mechanics.
Different dialogue branches and relationship paths. Entire areas of the world changed depending on which sin the player embraced.
And now, Malone was working on the next major content update, for the Envy Path.
He was building it solo this time around. His team needed a break for that reason he volunteered for the overtime for the weak as the rest went on holiday in exchange he gets a month off.
Their was not much to fixed after all, but still a one man show was tiring.
For the past week he worked hand in hand with the beta-players to ensure was perfect.
And every now and again, they would send a ticket for a bug report.
And speaking of the devile one came in as he tapped open, and read it.
The AI routine for Tzafina of the Silver Spire, a yandere-style boss character was still bugged.
The beta-players on the envy route were reporting an infinite loops during post-coital dialogue. One line in particular.
"Is she prettier than me?"
Was repeating endlessly, locking up save files.
He sighed, rubbed his temples, and checked the clock.
It was already past midnight. The building was empty, as rain beats down even harder than before.
You'd think, Malone thought, that being the architect of one of the highest-grossing games of all time would come with some kind of reward.
A raise.
A promotion.
Hell, even just some recognition.
Instead, he was sleeping in the server room between fourteen-hour crunch shifts, subsisting on instant noodles and energy drinks.
The last time he saw the sun, it was through a window in a team meeting six days ago.
And this was the last day of work before he goes on his much needed holiday.
"Lead programmer."
He muttered under his breath, dryly.
"What a fucking joke I tell yah."
He stared at the looping trailer again.
"Sigh, that should fix that, thankfully it wasn't anything major."
"Ahh damn it... My head is hurting like crazy."
Malone said, as he held his temple, the world suddenly becoming a swinging haze.
As numbness slowly spread across his form.
"Ahhh... What is happening to me....
Those were the last words, Malone said before he collapsed on his desk, and the life in his eyes left him.