Hirudo story
HIRUDO
Episode 1
The trial begins.
Burghausen Castle, present day.
Many figures occupy the main hall. Some are seated, while others stand. Their nervousness manifests itself in silence.
The fate of the planet will be decided here.
Around twenty figures are present. Some have glowing blue eyes. Achilles himself is among them.
In one corner sits a British man dressed completely ordinarily—the protagonist, Ethan Evers.
The camera shows his face. With a frightened expression, he asks:
“What happens if we cannot convince him?”
Flashback.
We learn about the origins of the device, Ethan’s childhood, his mother, and his motivation.
Ethan has a wife and a five-year-old daughter. He is prepared to sacrifice the world for them. They are the meaning of his life.
His invention is his way of proving to them that he is worthy of them—that the years they spent in poverty were not wasted and that waiting for him was worthwhile.
It is also his way of completing the work of his late mother, who began developing the device.
It is a quantum converter—a battery capable of producing limitless energy.
London, 2021.
Ethan carefully tries to place the device inside a bag. A beautiful young woman who has just awakened enters the room. She is Ethan’s wife.
Dialogue between them. Kate encourages him.
Ethan rushes out.
He is on his way to the expo, where he must present the device that represents his last chance to provide for his family and fulfill his dream.
A car strikes Ethan.
Flashback.
Ethan’s childhood.
Suggested dialogue:
“Mom, why do we always do this? Wouldn’t it be better to go for a walk? Or play hide-and-seek?”
His mother turns her gaze toward him. She takes his hand, pulls him closer, and says:
“We do this because there is an enormous amount of suffering in the world. It is our duty to reduce it. And this device can help us do that.”
Ethan pulls his hand free, spreads all ten fingers in the air, and asks:
“How much suffering is there in the world? A thousand?”
Rose smiles.
“Yes, my little one. And even more than that.”
She folds down his pinky finger with her hand.
“If we remove even a pinky finger’s worth of suffering from this world, our purpose will have been fulfilled.”
The device is destroyed, and Ethan is left paralyzed from the waist down.
He sends emails, asking people to give him another chance to rebuild it.
Then he sees a vision.
He awakens and puts on the device that was slipped to him inside an envelope.
He runs to the park and meets the sender, who takes him to Neominos.
Neominos is a hub situated inside a wormhole. Its function is to convert the dark energy that exists in this universe into anti-entropic energy and deliver it to the race that created the Last City, whose universe is undergoing the Great Contraction.
Ethan undergoes the Fusion process.
Fusion is a process possible only within Neominos. Through anti-entropic matter, which forces an organism not to degrade, a biological object is fused with a substance.
The result is a living organism composed neither of flesh nor of the substance. It is something entirely new.
Ethan receives his armor—a suit—undergoes testing, completes his first mission, and becomes a Sentry.
---
Episode 2
Only Ethan and Ani are sent on the mission.
The mission turns out to be a staged rebellion.
They lose communication with Neominos.
A mutant begins speaking to them, saying that it wants vengeance.
Suggested dialogue:
Mutant: “Hello, brother.”
Ani: “Should I kill it?”
Ethan: “No.”
Mutant: “I know you’re not alone. The girl is here too.”
Its voice is cracked and layered.
“He told us you would come. He said you understand all languages.”
Ethan: “Who told you that?”
“What do you want?”
Mutant: “Vengeance.”
Ethan: “For what?”
Mutant: “For killing us. For hating us.”
“How many of your brothers have you killed?”
Ethan: “None. I haven’t killed anyone.”
Mutant: “You haven’t killed anyone yet.”
“Our creator lives above.”
Its voice rises.
“He made you beautiful. Gave you everything. While we rot.”
The fight begins.
Ani and Ethan kill the mutants. Before dying, their leader confesses that the Emperor told them about the Sentries.
They return to Neominos with questions.
There, they learn about the Emperor, his motivation, and his methods.
He destroys planets whose populations display extremely high levels of aggression. On planets he believes can be healed, he uses a method called the Cure.
It is a program created to reproduce human fear, panic, stress, and other emotions with absolute precision.
But it requires information.
To collect that information, millions of people from different age groups and social backgrounds are placed inside capsules. Simulations repeatedly expose them to every possible form of fear, panic, stress, and suffering until enough information has been gathered.
The process takes years.
As a result, these people are unable to regain consciousness.
Fear settles over the heroes.
The episode ends on Ethan’s frightened face as he asks:
“What happens if he finds Earth?”
---
Episode 3
We learn Xeid’s origin story.
He is a young, gray-skinned Xerexian boy who witnesses his parents being tortured to death by Imperial soldiers.
Until his voice gives out, he screams only one word:
“Why?”
Before the soldiers can kill him, other Xerexian warriors rescue him. They throw him aboard a ship that eventually crashes on Miners’ Moon.
He grows up there, passing himself off as a member of another race.
At the local black market, he purchases a helmet identical to those worn by the Imperial soldiers.
He becomes obsessed with it.
Every night, he rushes home to work on the helmet.
When it is finally ready for testing, he calls his small, four-armed neighbor. He places the helmet on the creature’s head, gives him money, and orders him:
“Get angry and hit me.”
The creature obeys.
Disappointed by the result, Xeid removes the helmet from him.
Years pass in this cycle of experimentation. Every time, the creature manages to strike Xeid without difficulty.
One day, Xeid finally finds the component he has been waiting for at the market.
He runs home, installs it, and once again asks the creature to strike him.
The creature succeeds again.
Xeid realizes that his goal of restricting aggression has failed.
He breaks the helmet and releases the creature.
That night, he sees a vision.
He becomes a Sentry.
End of episode.
---
Episode 4
We follow Xeid’s path to becoming Emperor.
He begins deviating from his missions.
During one mission, he encounters the Emperor’s soldiers.
He flies overhead.
He sees the same helmets.
The locals are on their knees.
The soldiers are punishing them.
Without warning, Xeid begins killing the soldiers.
He cuts and burns through them as though they are nothing.
One soldier remains on the ground, attempting to escape.
Xeid follows him.
Xeid: “You obey commands to hurt others—people who have done nothing to you.”
“For what?”
“A wage?”
Soldier: “Please. I have children.”
Xeid places his foot on the soldier’s chest.
“Why should children raised by you be any better than you?”
He presses his foot through the soldier until it reaches the ground.
Xeid drifts further and further away from the role of a Sentry.
He begins rebuilding the helmet, which now has a different form.
Through the helmet, he manages to steal information from Neominos about artificial intelligence and about beings who could feel one another’s suffering and therefore did not harm one another.
He begins his war against the Empire.
He kills the Sentries sent to stop him.
He becomes Emperor.
He creates an artificial intelligence housed inside the helmet.
His goal is to discover a way to create a world in which people do not hurt one another.
The helmet tells him that it does not yet have an answer.
Xeid cannot wait much longer.
With Structor’s help, he invents a method that forces people to experience the pain they inflict upon others.
The inspiration comes from the information stolen from Neominos about the beings who created it.
He tests the process on the first planet, Druver.
The creatures are far too aggressive.
The operation fails.
Xeid destroys the entire planet.
At the end of the episode, a shadow falls over Burghausen.
The Emperor enters the hall.
Hanzo, a samurai, accompanies him.
The Emperor sits upon the throne, facing the heroes.
End of episode.
---
Episode 5
The Emperor begins with a speech.
Suggested dialogue:
“I am here to tell you that what awaits this planet is inevitable.”
“The process already demands a great sacrifice. Let us not increase the number of victims pointlessly through a war that will change nothing.”
Elias von Eisenwald presents the first argument.
Suggested dialogue:
“It would be foolish to claim that human nature does not need to change.”
“We understand that.”
“That is why we are here.”
“We protect those who need protection.”
Flashback.
We learn Elias’s history.
Elias is a mutant—a Sentient.
Anti-entropic energy enters our universe from the same source through which dark energy flows outward.
Within our universe, anti-entropic energy transforms into a kind of radiation. Because of its anti-entropic properties, this radiation causes mutations in rare cases.
The mutations are generally divided into two categories:
A Sentient, who retains their mind.
A Feral, who becomes a mindless monster.
Elias is a young lawyer investigating the disappearance of one of his clients.
His investigation leads him to a hidden society of mutants who are forced to consume human blood and flesh in order to survive.
To avoid provoking human society, they abduct and feed upon only the most terrible criminals.
Elias cannot accept this.
He begins fighting against them.
Despite great difficulty, he wins.
This becomes the motivation behind the founding of Burghausen—a place created to help mutants who were less fortunate.
At the end of the episode, the Emperor presents his counterargument.
Cinereous: “No!”
“You protect only those whom you are capable of protecting.”
“Those within your reach.”
“The others die without hope.”
“In terror.”
“But you believe that what you are doing is enough.”
“You go to sleep at night satisfied with yourselves.”
“You cling to your status as heroes.”
“Why?”
“Perhaps because, in a world where no one suffers, no one would ask to be saved.”
“A hero could not exist.”
“Perhaps that thought fills you with panic.”
Silence fills the hall.
End of episode.
---
Episode 6
Iona presents the next argument.
Suggested dialogue:
Iona: “If your goal is to prevent actions that cause suffering, then punish those who commit them.”
“Punish them justly.”
Cinereous: “My goal is not to create cowardly slaves who are afraid of my punishment.”
“I want to create a world in which a free person chooses not to hurt another.”
“If I needed slaves, believe me, you would already be in chains.”
The Emperor’s eyes ignite.
Iona lunges toward him.
“Then try it, you bastard.”
Ani stops him.
Cinereous’s eyes grow calm again, and he continues speaking.
Cinereous: “I invite you to visit the planets where the process has been completed and witness the result with your own eyes.”
“The process works.”
“That is a fact.”
Iona: “A paradise built upon blood and corpses?”
Cinereous: “And what, I wonder, lies beneath human life?”
Flashback.
We learn Ani and Iona’s history.
Abkhazia, Georgia, 1993.
War is raging.
Young Ani and Iona attempt to escape the war with their parents.
Like everyone else, they decide to cross through the Svaneti mountain pass.
But the cold is far more terrible and unbearable than anyone imagined.
Their father decides to light a fire and wait for dawn.
The parents give everything they have to their children to keep them warm.
Their mother awakens them.
The fire has gone out.
She can barely speak.
She cannot feel her legs and is unable to stand.
She tells them that they must continue without their parents.
That it is necessary.
Their father does not move.
Their mother tells them that he is asleep and that they will find them again in the morning.
Ani and Iona continue their journey.
Moving in fear and hiding wherever they can, they discover an abandoned tower.
The tower turns out to contain a portal to Neominos.
Arthur finds them.
He takes them to Neominos and helps them bury their parents.
Ani and Iona grow up there.
When they reach adulthood, they undergo Fusion and become Sentries.
At the end of the episode, the Emperor presents his counterargument.
Cinereous: “Ani, can you be honest and tell us the most horrifying thing you witnessed during the war that you and your brother escaped?”
Ani remains silent.
It seems as though she tries several times to speak, but the words will not come.
Finally, she forces out a quiet answer:
“I can’t say it.”
Cinereous: “You can’t?”
“Are you so afraid of the monster hiding inside you that you cannot even look it in the eyes?”
“If you do not look at the monster—if you do not know it—you will never defeat it.”
“You are afraid.”
“You are more afraid of the monster called humanity than you are of me.”
“I will correct that.”
End of episode.
---
Episode 7
This episode continues the events of Episode 2.
At the beginning of the episode, Hanzo contacts them.
Until now, Hanzo had been considered missing.
He was like a son to Arthur. It was Hanzo who originally brought Arthur and Elizabeth to Neominos.
Now, they discover that he has joined the Emperor’s side.
Hanzo delivers a message from Cinereous: the Emperor wishes to speak with them.
Arthur decides that they will not accept the invitation.
That evening, they discover that Ani has slipped away.
She leaves a letter for Iona.
She writes that she has to try.
If the promise of a life without the suffering they endured is real, she must try to discover the truth.
She needs to learn what awaits Earth.
She needs to speak with the Emperor.
Her departure damages the team’s morale.
Some time later, sirens sound throughout the city, warning of a malfunction in the energy-redirection process.
The malfunction originates on a planet outside Earth’s jurisdiction.
One of the Emperor’s generals is waiting there.
He demands to meet Ethan alone.
Ethan is forced to go.
The general’s purpose is to show Ethan the true face of S.U.N. and break him morally. He understands that S.U.N. has selected Ethan as the one who will destroy the Emperor.
The general tells Ethan that the planet is located near a black hole.
The device Ethan must destroy to restore the energy supply is one day’s journey away.
The Imperial army is already approaching Earth.
If Ethan remains on the planet long enough to complete the mission, people on Earth will already be inside the capsules by the time he returns.
Kate and Nessa, who live with Ethan in Neominos, are currently on Earth.
Kate is at work.
Nessa is at kindergarten.
The general’s ultimatum is this:
If S.U.N. permits Ethan to leave the device running, the general will spare his wife and daughter.
If S.U.N. refuses, they will be placed inside the capsules.
Ethan alone must disable the device.
If anyone else attempts to do it, the general will activate other devices and disrupt the energy supply even further.
S.U.N. refuses to allow Ethan to leave the planet until he disables the device.
S.U.N. promises him that Iona has already gone to retrieve Kate and Nessa.
Ethan completes the mission.
He returns to Neominos and sees Iona standing with his head bowed.
It was already too late.
He could not find them.
Ethan falls to his knees.
End of episode.
---
Episode 8
We return to the hall.
Ethan presents his argument.
Ethan: “I understand that your goal is noble.”
“But the path leading toward it cannot be justified.”
“We are talking about innocent people who have done nothing wrong.”
“There are many causes behind human crime.”
“Social circumstances.”
“Economics.”
“And others.”
“We will help you eliminate those problems.”
“But we cannot allow you to sacrifice millions of innocent lives.”
Cinereous: “You have no right to speak about moral decisions.”
“I know exactly who is hiding behind the mask of this morally helpless man.”
“A monster waiting for a reason.”
“And when it finally emerges, even I will appear merciful beside you.”
Flashback.
Ethan and Iona go to rescue Kate and Nessa.
When they approach the facility containing the capsules, the resistance becomes overwhelming.
Their enemies are robots created by Structor.
Xeid does not want sentient soldiers inside his army, and the robotic units never stop attacking.
At the decisive moment, Elias and other Sentient mutants join the fight.
Ethan manages to free Kate and Nessa, but they are unconscious.
Even Elizabeth cannot awaken them.
Ethan nearly loses his mind from grief.
He throws a chair at S.U.N. and screams, demanding an answer.
The core tells him that even if it had allowed Ethan to leave the planet, Xeid would still have come for Kate and Nessa sooner or later.
No one is safe—even inside Neominos.
S.U.N. tells Ethan that changes have appeared in Nessa’s DNA.
She has been affected by the radiation.
Xeid does not leave people like her alive.
There is no place for them in his new world.
Ethan gathers an army of Sentries.
Together with the Sentients, they rescue everyone from the capsules and destroy the robotic army.
Soon afterward, however, they learn that the general is approaching with another army.
Alongside the robots are intelligent, augmented beings.
Xeid allowed them as an exception because they willingly expressed their desire to fight for the purpose he is trying to achieve.
Structor was responsible for their augmentation.
They are now equal to Feral mutants in strength and speed.
Fear of the approaching threat is visible on everyone’s faces.
End of episode.
---
Episode 9
The battle takes place in Death Valley.
Sentries and Sentients fight alongside the armed forces of almost every nation.
For the first time, it becomes clear that without Kate and Nessa, Ethan sees no reason to remain human.
He is savage and merciless on the battlefield.
He is driven by vengeance.
Ethan and Iona fight the general directly.
Eventually, the general falls.
Iona drives his spear through the general’s shoulder and down to his knee, leaving him unable to stand.
At that moment, the army stops fighting.
They have orders to retreat if the general falls.
Even on his knees, the general is taller than Ethan.
Ethan places his foot on the general’s bent knee and raises himself above him.
He tells the general that if he wants to live, he must explain how Ethan can save his wife and daughter.
The general laughs.
He tells Ethan that nothing can save them now.
Ethan finally loses control.
He cuts the general’s throat and tears off his head.
The army retreats.
Ethan returns to Neominos. He refuses to leave his wife and daughter’s bedside.
Days pass.
Ani appears at his doorstep.
She has brought the information needed to save them.
Although Xeid treated her kindly and tried to win her over, she decided to leave after learning what had happened to Kate and Nessa. Xeid allowed her to go and gave her the method needed to cure them.
Ethan embraces his family.
His humanity returns.
End of episode.
---
Episode 10
Elizabeth speaks.
“The crime you’re trying to prevent hasn’t happened yet.”
Cinereous turns toward Ethan.
“The genocide you’re planning is real.”
“And when it does happen?”
Ethan stares at him.
Cinereous leans forward slightly.
“Can you bring the dead back, Ethan? Can you take away a parent’s grief?”
There is no answer.
Before Elizabeth can respond, a voice comes from the corner of the hall.
Arthur has been sitting there quietly throughout the exchange.
“I still don’t understand what is supposed to be wrong with it.”
Cinereous turns toward him.
For the first time since entering Burghausen, the Emperor looks genuinely surprised.
Arthur continues:
“Life on this planet took this course.”
He shrugs.
“Is that our fault?”
“I understand that,” Cinereous says. “But why does that make it good?”
“It doesn’t.”
Arthur looks at him plainly.
“It is neither good nor bad. It simply is.”
He settles back into his chair.
“Yes. It is unfortunate that things are the way they are.”
Then he looks directly at the Emperor.
“But fortunately, existence does not have to satisfy every bald alien with delusions of grandeur.”
For the first time, Cinereous genuinely smiles.
Not the tiny, controlled expression from before.
A genuine smile.
Arthur continues:
“What matters is that we are changing.”
“And we are moving in the right direction.”
“We are free.”
He studies Cinereous.
“You want to freeze humanity in one position forever. But given enough time, we might build something better than your paradise.”
Cinereous is still smiling.
“Or you will destroy yourselves.”
The smile slowly disappears.
“Or another civilization.”
His face becomes cold again.
“As I understand it, you call that gambling.”
Cinereous looks at them one last time.
“I have nothing more to say.”
He rises.
The chair stands empty behind him.
“If you choose war…”
His eyes burn red in the darkness of the hall.
“…then let the victor decide.”
Ethan stands.
“Then let it be so.”
“But this will be decided between us.”
“I challenge you to a duel.”
“Only you and me.”
“Let the victor decide.”
Xeid stands with his back to Ethan and listens.
“Then let it be so.”
That is his only answer.
Flashback.
The previous day.
Burghausen Hall again.
Elias summons them to his residence, where the four sit down for a discussion.
Ethan: “I came here because…”
“I have no idea what to do.”
“I don’t have a plan, and I don’t have any hope either.”
Elias: “That is exactly what we were discussing before you joined us.”
Iona: “Ani, tell him what you have been telling us.”
Ani: “He is obsessed with this idea, Ethan.”
“He is not evil.”
“At least, that is not how I saw him.”
“He genuinely believes he is doing good.”
“Every planet he has destroyed…”
“He sees each one as a side effect of the Cure.”
Ethan: “Can he be convinced otherwise?”
Ani: “I doubt it.”
“Maybe there was a time when he could have been.”
“Before he went this far.”
“Now…”
“He will not stop.”
Elias: “And what if we convince him that his plan is impossible to achieve?”
Iona: “How?”
Elias: “Robert Falcon Scott had a plan.”
“He wanted to become the first human to reach the South Pole.”
“He spent years preparing.”
“When he finally approached the Pole, he learned that Roald Amundsen had arrived there weeks earlier.”
“He had been beaten to it.”
“The goal to which he had devoted his life had become impossible, even though he could still physically reach the Pole.”
Iona: “Interesting story.”
“And what would be the equivalent of that for Xeid?”
Elias: “That, I do not know.”
Ethan: “Ani, maybe we still misunderstand him.”
“What exactly is his goal?”
Ani: “I’m afraid I cannot add anything new.”
“A world where one person does not hurt another.”
“That is his goal.”
“A paradise.”
“A place where pain—whether inflicted by others or created by nature itself—has been solved through science.”
“A place where people are free, carefree, and happy.”
At that moment, an old man who has been sitting quietly in the corner speaks for the first time.
Old Man: “A monster.”
Elias: “My friends, meet a good friend of mine.”
“Yevgeny Trotsky.”
“You met him once before in Siberia, although he looked rather different back then.”
Iona: “A werewolf?”
The old man nods.
Elias: “Fortunately, he is the first person to gain control over his mutation.”
“With Elizabeth’s help.”
Ethan: “It is very nice to meet you in human form, Yevgeny.”
“Please continue.”
“What did you mean?”
Yevgeny: “A monster.”
“When he appeared in Rostov…”
“I remember.”
“At first, we did not fully understand what was happening.”
“We believed they would catch him.”
“That justice would prevail.”
“But the murders continued for eleven years.”
“What I know for certain is this: for eleven years, peaceful life in Rostov was impossible.”
“The mere fact that he was somewhere out there prevented anyone from feeling truly safe, happy, or at peace.”
“For a while, people appeared to forget.”
“But they only truly breathed again when he was finally caught.”
“The parents of the victims never did.”
Iona: “And who would that monster be for Xeid?”
“You?”
Elias: “There must be a more moral solution than that.”
Ani: “He will kill you the moment he senses that you are a threat.”
Ethan: “She is right.”
“But what happens…”
“…if that monster turns out to be immortal?”
Fast-forward.
Present day.
The Eurasian Pole of Inaccessibility.
Ethan—Invariant—waits for Cinereous alongside other Sentries and Sentients.
Today, the promised duel will take place.
Suggested soundtrack: Sabaton — “The Beast,” Twisted Sister cover.
The duel continues for one full day and night.
Ethan falls many times.
But his ability to take no damage from attacks below a critical threshold, combined with his ability to heal by concentrating energy, repeatedly returns him to the fight.
On the second day, a scratch appears on Cinereous’s face after Invariant lands his signature explosive strike.
The battle continues.
This time, Cinereous uses his full power to kill Ethan.
For a moment, it appears that he has succeeded.
But Ethan rises again.
Cinereous declares that the battle is meaningless.
Neither of them can win.
It would be fairer to allow their armies to decide Earth’s fate.
Ethan gives him an ultimatum.
“No!”
“I am still alive. We must fight until one of us is dead,” Ethan shouts.
“You will leave this planet, and you will not touch others again.”
“Otherwise, I promise you—I will be the guarantee that suffering never disappears from the universe.”
Xeid stops.
He turns back and approaches Ethan again.
There is surprise on his face now.
He studies Ethan’s expression, searching for proof that he is lying.
He finds none.
“How?” he finally asks.
Ethan wipes the blood from his face.
“You know how,” he says.
“You have seen it.”
The astonishment does not leave Xeid’s face.
“That is impossible,” he says.
“You are a moral and cowardly man.”
Ethan agrees.
“That is true.”
“But the monster is always inside, waiting for its time.”
“You were wrong about one thing.”
“It will not replace me.”
Xeid realizes something.
Something that makes him look back at Ethan with disgust and disappointment.
“You would hurt innocent people?”
Ethan has the expression of a guilty man—someone who is not proud of what he has become.
“Isn’t my promise enough?”
“My goal was to show you—and everyone who looks up to you—that your enemy is immortal.”
“A god that cannot rid himself of the devil is not a god.”
“Not a good one.”
“Even if I never kill anyone.”
Xeid appears increasingly disappointed, even hurt by the fact that an unsolvable problem has entered his equation.
“You want to protect their ability to hurt one another so badly that you are willing to become a devil?”
“No.”
“I am becoming the only thing capable of stopping you.”
“I have no other choice.”
Cinereous answers:
“You are a species capable of entering stasis.”
“And forgetting.”
“You are aware of things while they are happening.”
“Otherwise, how could you explain why you are not begging me to do this?”
“Have you not seen?”
“Have you not heard what you are capable of?”
Ethan spits out the blood that has been bothering him.
“Save your words for someone else.”
“Either we continue the duel, or you leave.”
Xeid tears his gaze away from Ethan’s face and lowers it toward the ground.
His eyes move from one point to another before fixing in place, as though he is calculating something in his mind.
Then they stop.
He looks at Ethan again, still disappointed in him.
“Until we meet again, Ethan.”
He turns away.
He removes his helmet and, with slow steps, leaves Ethan behind.
The Emperor’s ship is the first to depart from Earth.
The Emperor’s Ship
After leaving Earth:
Structor: “Your Majesty, forgive my boldness, but you know that simply because you failed to kill him does not mean he cannot be erased or imprisoned.”
Xeid: “Structor, answer me this.”
“Where?”
“Where do we imprison him?”
“And what happens if he escapes that prison after I am no longer here?”
Structor: “And if he finds himself inside the new world we are creating, what reason would he have to do what he promised?”
Xeid: “I don’t know.”
“But I believe he is capable of keeping that promise.”
“Which is why I need another plan.”
The Emperor’s Residence
Xeid approaches the helmet and picks it up.
A faint violet light begins to glow from within it, but it remains silent, as though waiting for him to speak.
Xeid: “Did you find a solution?”
Helmet: “Yes.”
Xeid: “I’m listening.”
Helmet: “Biological life is programmed to survive.”
“But to survive, it must consume other life.”
“Life under threat perceives this process as pain and suffering so that it may flee from predators and survive.”
“It is a cycle.”
“The fundamental code upon which all biological life is built.”
“They cannot disable it.”
“They can only disguise or redirect it.”
“Therefore, there is only one solution.”
“Every being capable of causing pain or experiencing pain must be destroyed.”
“Afterward, we will create a new being.”
“A being whose primary purpose will be to love.”
“To seek knowledge.”
“A being that, from the very beginning, possesses no impulse to take from others.”
After a long silence, Xeid grips the helmet.
He tears it in half.
He throws the pieces onto the floor and leaves the residence.
End of Season One.