LILITH: GENESIS CODE
CHAPTER 3: THE DIGITAL ABYSS
"They built a world of firewalls. I slip through its cracks."
---
Kaela Voss didn't sleep—she dived.
In the digital labyrinth beneath Noctrid, where rusted fiber-optic cables pulsed like artificial nerves, Kaela floated in a reality woven from raw data and rage.
Twenty-seven. Asymmetrical black hair, one side shaved to reveal a gleaming neural port at her temple. Green eyes perpetually unfocused—a side effect of too long in cyberspace.
Her soul's scars ran deeper than her skin's.
Five years ago, she was an architect of ORDEN's digital systems, a young genius crafting firewalls and protocols to guard the Imperium Heliox's secrets.
Until she uncovered what they hid.
Missing children. Experiments. NEX-BIRTH.
The night she tried to expose them, ORDEN didn't kill her. They did worse—erased her digital identity. To their systems, Kaela Voss never existed.
But they didn't know she'd backed herself up in Noctrid's dark web.
Now, she was their ghost in the machine.
---
An Anomaly in the Grid
Holographic screens flickered around Kaela in controlled chaos. Hundreds of data streams cascaded like digital waterfalls—ORDEN intel, VELOS communications, even whispered secrets of Aurelis's elites.
Tonight, something was different.
An abnormal neural spike. A code signature she didn't recognize, yet felt… familiar.
"Shit," Kaela muttered, fingers dancing across a holographic keyboard. "What the hell is this…"
The trace led to Sector 7—an old industrial zone where STIGMA-02 sent its last signal before dying.
STIGMA-02, which shouldn't die.
The drone was built for self-repair and automatic backup. The only way to destroy it was…
Kaela's hands froze.
Code rewrite. From within.
Only one technology could do that. A technology supposedly extinct after PROJECT NEX-BIRTH was shut down.
Unless…
A metal door slammed open behind her. Kaela didn't need to turn to know who'd breached her personal security system—only one person could.
Vaen Thorne.
---
Shadows of the Past
Vaen stepped in, moving too cautiously for a man his size. Nearly two meters tall, broad shoulders etched with scars telling tales of violence across his arms and neck. Dark brown hair graying at the temples.
His gray eyes carried the same weight as Kaela's—a fellow ORDEN insider, haunted by guilt.
"You found something," he said, not asking.
"A code signature that shouldn't exist," Kaela replied, eyes fixed on the data streams. "NEX-BIRTH-level tech. Active and… evolving."
Vaen approached, the scent of iron and gunpowder trailing him—remnants of his past as a Gladiator Executioner in ORDEN's underground arenas.
"How long since you last left that rig?"
Kaela finally turned. Her bloodshot green eyes met Vaen's with a mix of irritation and… something softer.
Both were refugees from the same system. Broken people who found purpose in resistance.
"Seventy-two hours," she answered. "Give or take a decade."
Vaen shook his head. "You'll die if you keep this up."
"Better than living as their puppet."
A familiar silence. Both knew the cost of being ORDEN's tools. Both knew freedom's price.
---
A Trail to the Truth
Suddenly, alerts blared across Kaela's screens. The traced code signature reappeared—now moving through Noctrid's underground metro system.
"Fuck," Kaela whispered. "Whatever this is, it's mobile. And infecting every system it passes."
Vaen studied the data, his eyes trained to analyze threats. "The infection pattern… it's not destructive. It's more like…"
"Reprogramming," Kaela finished. "As if it's fixing the target systems, not attacking them."
Their gazes locked. Only one possibility.
"A NEX-BIRTH survivor," Vaen whispered.
Kaela bit her lip, fingers flying across the interface.
"But NEX-BIRTH was terminated five years ago. All prototypes were destroyed. I helped wipe the database myself."
"The official ones," Vaen corrected. "You know how ORDEN works. Always a backup. Always a contingency."
Kaela's main screen displayed a 3D map of Noctrid's metro. The code signature pulsed like a heartbeat through the network—steady, purposeful, growing stronger.
"It's not just moving," Kaela realized. "It's… searching for something."
---
First Contact
Without warning, Kaela's screens flashed red. Emergency protocols activated.
VELOS patrols detected. Converging on the signature's location.
"Dammit," Kaela leapt from her chair, yanking cables from her neural port. "Whoever this is, ORDEN wants them bad."
Vaen grabbed his combat jacket. "We need to get there first."
"We?" Kaela shot him a skeptical look. "This could be a trap, Vaen. ORDEN might be using this signature to lure us out."
"Or," Vaen countered, his intense gaze stealing her breath, "it's a chance to find a weapon that can destroy them."
Kaela considered. Five years hiding in the shadows. Five years as a ghost.
Maybe it's time.
"Fine," she said, grabbing her gear. "But if this is a trap and we die—"
"I'll take the blame," Vaen cut in, his smile not reaching his eyes.
---
Descent into Darkness
Noctrid's metro tunnels were a technological graveyard. Rusted trains sat dead on cracked rails. Electrical cables hung like vines in a metal jungle.
Kaela and Vaen moved silently, guided by a portable tracker showing the code signature growing stronger.
"The signal's intensifying," Kaela whispered, eyes on the small screen. "Whatever it is, it's close."
Vaen raised a hand, signaling a halt. Footsteps echoed ahead—multiple contacts, moving in formation.
VELOS patrols.
They hid behind a wrecked train, holding their breath as metallic units passed. Red eyes scanned, hunting the same target.
Once the patrol vanished, they pressed deeper into the labyrinth.
---
TheSource
At a sprawling tunnel junction, they found it.
No, found them.
Two figures moved cautiously through debris—a man with gray-streaked black hair and a woman with a bob that flowed like liquid shadow.
Even from a distance, Kaela felt the code signature radiating from the woman. Faint glowing lines pulsed on her skin, a living circuit board.
"Synthetic," Vaen whispered.
"No," Kaela corrected, eyes glued to her tracker's readings. "Something more. Her code structure… God, it's beautiful. And terrifying."
The signature was unlike anything she'd seen.
Organic and digital, evolving in real-time.
This isn't just artificial intelligence. It's… a new form of life.
---
PointofDecision
VELOS patrols would return in minutes. The two strangers were clearly in danger.
Kaela could stay hidden, observe, gather intel. The safe choice.
Or she could…
"Vaen," she whispered. "We need to make contact."
"Too risky."
"Look at the readings," Kaela urged, showing the tracker. "This isn't some runaway experiment. It's an evolutionary leap. If ORDEN catches them…"
Vaen glanced at the distant figures, then at Kaela.
In his gray eyes, she saw the same choice they'd faced years ago.
Fight or Flight. Resist or surrender.
"Your call," he said finally.
Kaela took a deep breath. Five years as a shadow.
Five years as a ghost.
Time to be human again.
She stepped from hiding.
---
First Contact
"Hey!"
Kaela's voice echoed through the tunnel. The two figures turned, and Kaela felt the full weight of the woman's presence.
Blue eyes holding a digital universe. Glowing lines on her skin flared brighter, reacting to a potential threat.
She's scared. And powerful. A dangerous combination.
The man beside her—clearly protective, clearly desperate—raised an improvised weapon.
"We're not ORDEN," Kaela said quickly, hands raised. "We're… refugees. Like you."
"How do we know you're not lying?" the man's voice rasped with exhaustion.
Vaen stepped beside Kaela. "Because we hate them as much as you do."
The synthetic woman—Kaela knew she was more than synthetic—stared with an intensity that made the tunnel's air hum.
"You feel it, don't you?" the woman said, her soft voice carrying a digital undertone. "The code. It's… calling something."
Kaela nodded. "I've tracked your signature. It's unlike anything I've seen. Beautiful. Incredibly complex."
And always growing.
"I'm Kaela Voss. Ex-ORDEN system architect. Now I'm the digital pain in their fucking ass."
A faint smile crossed the woman's face. "Rae Evara. Ex… I'm not sure what I am."
"You're hope," Kaela said without thinking. "You're evolution."
---
Revelation
Before Rae could respond, Kaela's tracker screamed a warning. VELOS patrols were returning, moving faster.
"They've triangulated your position," Kaela urged.
"We need to move. Now."
"Where?" asked the man—Azren, Rae introduced.
Kaela grinned, her first genuine smile in years.
"To my domain. A digital abyss ORDEN can't follow."
As they plunged deeper into the labyrinth, Kaela couldn't help glancing at Rae. Something about her sparked… connection. Not romantic—though Rae's otherworldly beauty was undeniable.
Something deeper. As if they were two pieces of the same puzzle. Technology and humanity. Code and flesh.
Revolution and hope.
---
Above, VELOS patrols found an empty tunnel. But their trackers still detected the anomalous signature.
"Target vanished," the squad leader reported. "Possible external aid."
The message reached Citadel Absolvus, where Theon Vasthal received it with a smile that never touched his eyes.
"Intriguing," he whispered. "So, The First Sin has found new friends."
He studied a hologram of the signature's last position.
"Let them feel safe. Let them gather. It'll make the harvest… more efficient."
---
[TO BE CONTINUED…]
NextChapter: "TheHeretic'sPrayer" - Caleb Drayen, a former ORDEN monk, brings an ancient text revealing a prophecy of a "code-born savior"—but is Rae the savior, or something darker?