On the 16th day

Of the 9th month.

On the 350th year Post Advent –

– A wish-granting star fell into the world.

Its woes reverberated through the continents of world, reaching distant continents as the mega city – the Nex Megalopolis – was set alight. Millions watched as the heavens hurled flaming brimstone upon them. The Eyes that monitored the Cities collapsed into crowds as a million more hands reached for the star, believing that they could capture it.

But it was no more than a pipe dream.

After all, stars were never meant to be reached.

It was an illusion that distracted the world away from a train that left the hundred-meter walls of the great city as the world was plunged into a starless night. The darkness masked the behemoth of iron, a 200-meter-long train that was better described as an iron coffin.

The unmanned train’s destination was a Facility that did not exist.

It followed a railway in the form of a singular strip of iron. The train itself floated as it barreled through mountains and thickets, villages, and towns, rattling and groaning as much as the monsters within.

A gravitational singularity controlled the train, altering its gravity as it ‘fell’, rather than ‘drove’. Kept within were monsters born from the psyche of the disturbed mind. Machines that sung. Trees that ate. Apples that poisoned. Fairytales twisted to the deranged emotions that gave birth to it.

Trauma manifested into reality. Reality perverted by supernatural objects…

… These entities were the Corrupted.

They were affronts to existence itself, breeding devastation so long as they were alive. Lacking sapience, they were slaves to a purpose they could not even understand. All cognitive functions were absent in them. All biological reasoning was violated by bodies of amalgamative flesh, and physics discarded by transmutational machines that yearned to sing.

But there was one peculiar Corrupted amongst them that sat in the darkness of their compartment, shackled by chains, and collared by magical items. The darkness consumed them as they made a single wish on the eve of the world’s starless night.

It simply wished that it would one day awaken from its nightmare…

* * *

“… Coming in. This is ARU K-Type, Unit-23 Operator.” A transmission was relayed through an earpiece – a Cognition Receiver, made from one of the largest powers of the world, an Atelier of the Nexus.

The earpiece was smothered in mud as fires fanned in the background. And in the distance, one could see the great, white pillar that floated in the skies of their world, reaching a height that none has yet found.

That floating superstructure was the Nexus.

“An outdated shipping train was struck by several pale, unidentified objects and crashed through a rural town. The wreckage remains within the depths of a 2,000-hectare woodland.” The transmission continued as a golden apple rolled along as though possessing a mind of its own.

It soon found itself in the hands of a sleeping girl, who cradled the apple as the world burned all around them.

“... there are no signs of survivors. But a warning is being issued out that a potential Corrupted breakout has occurred. If you’re hearing this message, then please stay away from here until we can assess the situation! Stay away –!”

The transmission broke as pale stones rained from the skies.

It was as though the stars themselves were falling.

And on this cursed night, as the eyes of the world were drawn to the Nexus –

– A Corrupted awakened.

And the girl’s eyes gently peeled open, revealing a crimson glow.