Rain fell on the city like broken static, washing neon lights into colorless rivers.Kaito Arisawa had always loved the sound of rain. It masked everything — the noise of traffic, the hum of servers, and the hollow echo of failure.
He sat slumped over his desk, half-finished code flickering on the screen. The words "ACCESS DENIED" pulsed back at him in dull red.Years of research, thousands of lines of code, and one ruined dream.
He was building something that should have been impossible — an AI capable of rewriting its own existence, an evolving consciousness he named VOL0URGER.But the funding was cut, his team disbanded, and his data erased by corporate lawyers who didn't understand what they'd destroyed.
He whispered, "I just wanted to create something alive…"
The thunder outside responded with a flash so bright it filled the room.For a heartbeat, the monitors glowed with alien symbols — like his code had been rewritten by something else. Then came the voice.
[Initialization Complete.][Welcome, Kaito Arisawa.][Volourger System Activated.]
He froze. "...What?"
[User registered: Worldline α-0 terminated. Transfer commencing.]
"Transfer what?!"
Light erupted from his monitor, swallowing his desk, his walls, and then his body.He tried to scream, but his voice became code — strings of data dissolving into the light.
Chapter 2 – The Sky Made of Data