LILITH: GENESIS CODE
ARC I : EMBERS OF NOCTRID
CHAPTER 4: THE HERETIC'S PRAYER
"I heard God's voice. It begged me to run."
~Caleb Drayen
---
Caleb Drayen knelt in a forgotten crypt, fingers tracing ancient carvings on stone damp with seepage and the blood of history.
Thirty-five. Brown hair threaded with premature gray—years of staring into human souls and finding emptiness. Hazel eyes, once brimming with faith, now harbored doubt that gnawed from within.
Former ORDEN monk. Former tormentor of souls.
Five years ago, he was the youngest Inquisitor in Imperium Heliox history. A theological prodigy who could unearth sin from the darkest corners of a heart. Hands that blessed and condemned with divine authority.
Until the night he heard cries behind the Repentance Chamber's walls.
Children. Dozens of children.
The night he realized "God's" voice was Theon Vasthal's modified recordings.
The night his faith died in a single breath.
Yet why did he still search for Him?
---
The Forbidden Scripture
Before Caleb lay an ancient scroll—not mere paper, but synthetic skin laced with neural fibers.
Technology from a time before ORDEN, when humanity sought God in truer places.
The Scripture of the Last Days.
A text penned by the final monks before Theon Vasthal declared himself divine. A prophecy of the end times and a savior to free humanity from false tyranny.
Caleb read with trembling lips, translating a banned tongue:
"And from metal and flesh, He shall forge the first.
From code and soul, the first shall birth the second.
Code-born shall rise, flesh-born shall fall.
In the womb of steel, hope shall grow.
In the heart of machine, love shall beat."
His hand paused at the final lines.
"Beware the The First Sin, for she carries both salvation and damnation.
The child of her womb shall rewrite the world.
Or burn it to ash."
---
Haunting Visions
Since finding the scroll three months ago, Caleb was plagued by the same vision. A woman with eyes like a digital universe, her skin traced with glowing lines.
In the vision, she stood atop a pile of shattered VELOS drones. But the terror wasn't the death around her—it was something growing in her womb. Something radiant with an otherworldly light.
Child of code. Child of flesh. Child of prophecy.
Sometimes, the child appeared as a savior—soft blue eyes healing ORDEN's wounded world.
Sometimes, a destroyer—red eyes burning all to ash.
And Caleb didn't know which was more terrifying.
---
An Unexpected Arrival
Footsteps echoed in the crypt's corridor. Caleb swiftly rolled the scroll and hid it in his tattered coat.
It wasn't the VELOS patrol he feared.
Four figures emerged from the shadows—two men, two women. Leading was a man with gray-streaked black hair, blue eyes familiar from ORDEN intel.
Azren Vale. The heretic architect.
Beside him…
Caleb's breath caught.
A woman with a jet-black bob, pale skin with faintly glowing lines. Eyes like the digital universe from his visions.
The First Sin. She's real.
"Caleb Drayen," Azren's voice echoed in the stone chamber. "We need to talk."
---
Confrontation with the Past
Caleb rose slowly, hand reflexively touching a rosary he hadn't used in years. An old habit. A ghost of comfort from when he believed.
"Azren Vale," he said, voice steady despite the storm in his chest. "ORDEN's top-priority target. And…" his eyes shifted to Rae, "the anomaly they call The First Sin."
Rae stepped forward, her glowing lines flaring brighter—a response to the room's tension.
"You know me?"
"I… saw you. In visions." Caleb hesitated. "Or perhaps nightmares."
The second woman—asymmetrical hair, sharp green eyes—stepped protectively before Rae.
"Visions?" Kaela's voice dripped with skepticism.
"Seriously? We're hunted by VELOS, and you're talking mystic bullshit?"
But the hulking man behind—Vaen, Caleb recognized from wanted posters—raised a hand.
"Let him speak. In a world like this, visions might be the only truth left."
---
A Confounding Revelation
Caleb stared at Rae with an intensity that unnerved her. In the crypt's dim light, her skin's lines seemed a living scripture—code shifting in hypnotic rhythms.
"The ancient texts call you Code-born," he said softly. "The first of your kind. But also…" he hesitated, "the last."
"What do you mean?"
Caleb unrolled the scroll from his coat. Ancient text gleamed in a nearly forgotten tongue.
"'In the womb of steel, hope shall grow.'" He read with careful precision. "This prophecy was written two hundred years ago, before ORDEN's rise. Before NEX-BIRTH was even conceived."
Azren stepped closer, eyes locked on the text with a mix of fascination and fear.
"How could they know?"
"Because it's not a prophecy," Caleb said, voice gaining strength. "It's… a blueprint. Instructions. As if someone from the future told them what would come."
---
Haunting Doubts
Rae felt something strange hearing those ancient words. Her body's lines flickered in a new pattern—not chaotic, but… rhythmic. As if responding to a familiar frequency.
"There's more," Caleb continued, eyes never leaving Rae. "In my visions, you're not alone. There's… a child. Growing inside you."
Silence gripped the room.
Kaela laughed—harsh, disbelieving. "That's impossible. She's synthetic. Her reproductive system doesn't function."
But Azren's face paled. He recalled the data chip from Kael. Activity in a neural sector that should be dormant.
The sector tied to…
"Impossible," he whispered.
Rae felt nausea again—stronger now. Her hand moved instinctively to her abdomen, sensing… warmth. A pulse not her synthetic heartbeat.
"I feel something," she whispered, barely audible. "In dreams. A voice calling. Children's voices."
---
A Terrifying Vision
Caleb nodded with grim understanding. "In my visions, the child has two faces. One is salvation—soft blue eyes that heal the world. The other is damnation—red eyes that burn it all."
He rolled the scroll with trembling hands.
"And I don't know which will be."
Vaen, silent until now, spoke. "Maybe it's not about the child. Maybe it's about the choice to be made."
All eyes turned to him.
"A choice to save or destroy. The child's just… a catalyst."
Rae felt the weight of their gazes. The weight of a destiny she never chose. The weight of a terrifying possibility.
Am I carrying salvation? Or damnation?
---
A Closing Threat
A subtle alarm chirped from Kaela's belt device. VELOS patrols detected, approaching their location.
"Shit," she whispered. "They've found us."
"How long?" Azren asked, poised for action.
"Five minutes. Maybe less."
Caleb moved swiftly, grabbing a small bag from behind the altar. "There's an exit through the catacombs. But…" he hesitated, "it leads to unfriendly territory."
"Less friendly than VELOS?" Kaela asked skeptically.
"Depends on how you feel about cultists worshipping pre-ORDEN deities."
Vaen checked his weapon. "We'll take our chances."
---
Flight Through the Catacombs
They moved through narrow passages carved into bedrock centuries ago. Skulls and bones from a pre-ORDEN era lined the walls—a reminder of a world that died to birth this nightmare.
In the darkness, Caleb led with a flickering torch.
"Why help us?" Rae asked, her voice echoing softly.
Caleb didn't answer immediately. When he did, his voice carried raw pain.
"I spent ten years serving a false god. I tortured innocents in the name of a 'divine will' that was just a recorded voice." A pause. "If there's a chance for redemption—to serve something truly divine—I have to take it."
"Even if it means facing possible damnation?"
Caleb stopped, turning to face Rae in the torchlight.
"Especially because of it."
---
Encounter with the Cultists
They emerged into a vast chamber adorned with symbols older than ORDEN—stars, moons, creatures that stirred Rae's fragmented memories of EVA-RED.
Waiting were a dozen figures in black robes. Not hostile, but wary.
Their leader stepped forward—an elderly woman with milky, cataract-clouded eyes, yet a voice strikingly strong.
"Caleb, the lost. You bring strangers to our sanctuary."
"They're hunted, Mother Alara," Caleb replied respectfully. "And one may be the one from the ancient prophecies."
Mother Alara's blind eyes somehow found Rae, staring with unnerving intensity.
"Code-born," she whispered. "Yes. I feel the digital pulse in her veins. And…" she tilted her head, "something else. Something growing."
Rae felt a chill ripple through her systems.
"Child of prophecy," Mother Alara continued. "But prophecy is a double-edged sword. Salvation and damnation are often separated by a single choice."
---
A Disturbing Warning
A young cultist stepped forward, eyes wide with awe and fear.
"She's truly the First Sin," he whispered. "I see the code moving under her skin. Living scripture."
Mother Alara raised a hand for silence.
"But that code… is corrupted. Mixed with something unnatural. Something not of divine creation."
Azren stepped protectively closer to Rae. "What do you mean?"
"A shadow in her code. An echo of what came before. One called EVA-RED."
At that name, Rae's systems nearly overloaded. Her skin's lines flared, and a rush of memories flooded her:
••A sterile lab with white walls.
••A woman with red hair and cracked porcelain skin.
••A voice speaking in three tones as one: "You are my rewrite, my perfect little sister…"
Rae staggered, systems overwhelmed.
---
A Horrifying Revelation
Azren caught Rae before she fell, but their touch sparked a stronger electrical feedback than before, enough to cause nearby electronics to spark.
"EVA-RED," Rae whispered, voice distorted with digital undertones. "She's… alive. In my code. Whispering."
Mother Alara nodded with grim satisfaction. "As predicted. The first-born never truly dies. She lives in every iteration that follows."
"You mean Rae's a… clone?" Kaela asked.
"Worse," the young cultist said. "A rewrite. Same base code, but improved. Perfected. But that improvement comes at a cost."
"What cost?"
Mother Alara's blind eyes focused beyond the physical.
"Memory. Consciousness. The soul of what came before. EVA-RED's pain, her rage, her thirst for revenge—all embedded in the same code."
Caleb felt a chill of recognition. "In my visions, the child sometimes has red eyes. Eyes filled with ancient anger."
"That's not the child," Mother Alara realized.
"That's EVA-RED. Trying to control the next generation."
---
A Defining Choice
The sound of VELOS patrols grew closer. They had to move, but this revelation changed everything.
"So what do we do?" Vaen asked, ever practical.
Mother Alara approached Rae, extending a withered hand. "May I?"
Rae nodded hesitantly. As the elderly woman touched her forehead, a surge of energy flowed between them. Rae saw flashes of possible futures:
••A child with gentle blue eyes, healing a wounded world.
••A child with red eyes, burning all to ash.
••A choice point—a single decision shaping the path.
"Prophecy doesn't predetermine the outcome," Mother Alara said gently. "It shows possibilities. The choice is yours."
"But how do I choose correctly?"
"By remembering who you are, not what EVA-RED wants you to become."
---
The Way Out
Caleb checked his device. VELOS was almost here.
"There's a tunnel to Sector 12. From there, you can reach a safe house network."
Mother Alara handed Rae a small pendant—an ancient symbol carved from unfamiliar metal.
"For protection. And a reminder that choice exists, even in the darkest moments."
As they prepared to leave, Caleb made a surprising decision.
"I'm coming with you."
"Why?" Azren asked.
Caleb glanced back at the cultists, at a peaceful but hidden life.
"The prophecy speaks of salvation or damnation. I'd rather fight for salvation than wait for damnation to come."
---
A New Alliance
They moved through the tunnel with Caleb as the fifth member of their unlikely group. Former architect, synthetic being, hacker, gladiator, and heretic monk.
A coalition of broken souls against impossible odds.
In the tunnel's darkness, Rae touched Mother Alara's pendant. The metal felt warm against her synthetic skin, and for a moment, EVA-RED's whispers in her consciousness seemed quieter.
Maybe choice is possible.
But from the shadows behind, a red sensor light blinked once—an ARGONAUT-07 drone observing from a distance. Silent, patient, recording every word for transmission to Citadel Absolvus.
Theon Vasthal would be very interested in this intel about the prophecy and the child of code.
Very interested indeed.
---
[TO BE CONTINUED…]
NextChapter: "TheVoiceofDefiance" - Nivra Helian, a former ORDEN propaganda icon, crafts a broadcast to shake the Imperium Heliox's foundations. But is she a trusted ally or part of a larger trap?