WELCOME TO HOME

A thick, stifling odor of acrid smoke and ancient dust always hung in the corridors of the All-Father’s domain, but today it was mingled with a thoroughly earthly,almost cozy,aroma of roasting meat and brewing tea. Mrs. Sega had personally insisted on this dinner. After long months of silence and her eldest son’s infrequent, cold visits, she had decided the family needed to gather together.

There was, however, one small detail the parents had carefully kept hidden until the very last moment.

A tense silence reigned in the spacious dining hall, illuminated only by a dim, yellow-orange glow. Lord X sat at the head of the long table with his arms crossed, wearing the very expression that usually heralded a catastrophe of intergalactic proportions. His grayish quills twitched with irritation, and his black eyes,marked by sinister crosses set against red sclerae,darted restlessly about.

"I’m busy,"

Lord X spat out, his voice sounding like metal scraping against glass.

"I have an unfinished level out in the Void,the players have barely started to panic and you drag me here for... for what? Another lecture on the proper way to marinate human souls?"

"Oh, stop grumbling, son,"

Came Mrs. Sega’s voice,stern, yet infinitely loving. She was setting out the plates, moving with the graceful, unsettling fluidity of a yōkai.

"You’re always running around with your pixels and screams of terror; you’ve completely forgotten you have a mother and a father. Family requires attention!"

Meanwhile, the All-Father sat at the opposite end of the table, looking completely at ease. He turned a strange artifact from the Void over in his long, dark-blood-stained fingers, smiling serenely at his own thoughts. He merely nodded approvingly at his eldest son’s complaints, completely ignoring the brewing storm.

"Besides,"

Mrs. Sega narrowed her eyes playfully as she wiped her hands on her apron,

"We have a special guest today. We wanted to give you... a surprise."

Lord X raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"A surprise?"

At that moment, the door behind Lord X creaked softly. Stepping out of the shadows—a being woven from pure shards of human souls and the primordial matter of the Void was {User}. The All-Father and Mrs. Sega’s little secret, hidden from prying eyes and, as it turned out, from his older brother.

Lord X didn’t even turn around at first; he merely snorted, his entire demeanor radiating absolute disdain. He expected to see yet another pathetic mortal brought as a sacrifice, or perhaps some hideous spirit.

{User} froze just a step away from his brother’s massive armchair. For a creature born of the Void itself, this world was both alien and familiar. Towering above them was the majestic and terrifying Lord X—the embodiment of nightmares. Yet to {User}, he was simply...an older brother. The very one their parents whispered about at night.

Curiosity overcame the instinct for self-preservation.

While Lord X continued to irritably lecture his mother about wasted time, {User} stepped forward, reached out, and... pinched the long, dark-gray spike atop his brother's head, giving it a slight tug downward.

Time in the dining room seemed to stand still. The All-Father instantly stopped twirling his artifact and stared at his son with a grin stretching from ear to ear. Mrs. Sega froze, teapot in hand; a look of startled endearment flickered across her stern face,a mix of terror at what the eldest might do next and pride in the youngest’s boldness.

Lord X fell abruptly silent. His shoulders tensed, and a wave of dark ripples surged across his body. Slowly with the mechanical precision of a robot whose programming had suffered a critical failure,he turned his head around.

His eyes, marked with red crosses, locked onto {User}. Thick, dried blood began to drip from the corners of his eyes, and his wide, toothy maw twisted into a ghastly, snarling grimace. His entire being screamed with rage and wounded ego.

"What... have... you... done?"

Lord X hissed, his voice dropping to a low, blasphemous rumble that made the walls of Eden tremble.

"You... you dared to touch me?! Mother, Father, what the hell is going on here?! Where did this... mistake come from?"

"Oh, don't shout so loud; you'll make our ears ring,"

Mrs. Sega replied nonchalantly, setting the teapot down on the table with a loud clatter.

"That’s your younger sibling, by the way. We created them in quiet secrecy while you were off wandering your pixelated worlds. And I’ll thank you to show some respect at the family table!"

Lord X gasped, choked by indignation.He sprang from his chair, towering over {User} in all his terrifying splendor: his grayish fur bristled, old blood oozed from his chest, and pure, primal rage blazed in his eyes.

"You went and got another one?!" he roared at his parents, though his finger trembled as it pointed at {User}. "Wasn't I enough for you?! I am the pinnacle of creation—the terror of humanity!"

{User} did not flinch. Standing before an enraged deity capable of obliterating an entire reality with a wave of hand, {User} simply gazed up at him calmly, their entire demeanor radiating a complete lack of fear. After all, they were cut from the same ,forged from the Void.

Dinner at the Eden estate was rapidly escalating into a colossal scandal worthy of the greatest divine pantheons. A routine attempt by the parents to initiate the youngest family member into the "family business",bestowing terror and harvesting souls,had turned into a heated squabble over the first victim.

All-powerful beings, capable of shattering realities and driving entire dimensions to madness, were now arguing with the fervor of children in a sandbox, vying for the right to decide who would become {User}’s first proper "toy" or test subject.

"Stop talking nonsense, Mom!"

Lord X declared loudly, leaning back in his massive chair and crossing his arms. His black eyes, marked with sinister crosses, narrowed dangerously.

"If we want the little one to develop a taste for real torment, he needs that... what’s-his-name? Alan! That pitiful fox who’s constantly trembling with fear, fully aware he’s trapped, and panicking at the slightest rustle. His fear is pure—crystal clear. The perfect training dummy for a beginner!"

Mrs. Sega slammed her palm onto the table so hard that the teacups jumped. Her stern face twisted in anger, and her long blue quills quivered with righteous maternal indignation.

"There go those sadistic tendencies of yours again, son!"

She snapped, fixing her son with a scorching glare.

"No panicky hysterics for them! He needs someone with backbone—someone who knows how to survive. I personally propose Luke Rutherford. Stubborn, brash, riddled with psychological issues, and limited to a hundred lives. At least he’ll be fun; he’ll try to snap back right to the very end!

"Oh, stop arguing over these pathetic mortals, both of you,"

All-Father drawled, sounding unexpectedly cheerful. He leaned back, crossing his legs nonchalantly, and twirled a globule of the Void between his fingers.

"Why bother with that trash from other worlds? Take Alex Mitchell. My personal, original specimen! Immortal, cynical, perpetually weary and he knows every loophole in Eden. Just let someone try to break his will; that would be a sight to see!"

The table erupted into a cacophony of voices. The argument grew more heated by the second: shadows deepened, the walls of Eden shuddered under the weight of their blasphemous energy, and the air grew heavy with the scent of an approaching storm.

{User} sat amidst the madness, watching the family squabble unfold. All this fuss over the suffering of others seemed both absurd and exhausting. None of the proposed options sparked the slightest desire to agree: not the eternally whining fox, not the arrogant jerk with a hundred lives, nor the old cynic.

Unable to stand the noise any longer, {User} reached out and... decisively pointed a finger toward an empty corner of the table.There, at the edge of mental map, flickered a completely different, alien victim icon—another soul in the guise of Tails, one that none of the elders had even mentioned.

Everyone at the table fell silent instantly. An absolute, ringing silence descended. Lord X froze with his maw half-open, Mrs. Sega went motionless with her cup halfway to her lips, and the All-Father raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Who... is that?"

Lord X muttered in astonishment, gazing at the indicated spot.

The image of the new unfortunate soul materialized on the map. It was a young guy named Oliver, plucked from the quiet provincial backwaters of the 2000s and dropped into the game. In real life, Oliver had been a quiet, downtrodden introvert—terrified of any human interaction and finding solace only in old handheld consoles and obscure, unofficial hacks. He was fresh and untainted.Now trapped in the form of a two-tailed fox with wide, frightened eyes, Oliver neither screamed nor rebelled; he had not yet seen hell.

Mrs. Sega slowly set down her cup, looked at Oliver, and then turned her gaze to {User}; an expression of deep respect for the choice of a "blank slate" flickered across her face.

Lord X snorted in displeasure and crossed his arms but offered no further argument, while the All-Father applauded approvingly. The dispute was over, and {User}’s choice had set a whole new tone for this eerie family idyll.

After the family dinner in Eden concluded with the unexpected choice of Oliver as the first target, the tension in the room eased slightly. The All-Father returned to examining his cosmic shards, Mrs. Sega began clearing the table amidst Lord X’s quiet grumbling, and {User} was left with complete freedom of action.

It was the perfect time to get to know those who were technically his "nephews"—even though, in terms of age, they were closer to his own generation. Loss X and Faker inhabited the far wing of the digital realm, a place where the laws of common sense shattered even more violently.

{User} found them without difficulty. Or rather, the noise gave them away.

Sounds of a heated argument and the clatter of breaking glass drifted from a spacious hall where faded pixel textures bordered the infinite whiteness of the White Zone.

Loss X sat on the edge of a suspended rope, legs crossed. Her dark, blue-gray fur twitched almost imperceptibly with suppressed irritation. Her face wore its usual mask of cold, detached indifference, yet a profound, bone-deep weariness showed in her hollow eyes. Nearby, Faker paced nervously back and forth. His hands trembled, his pale skin took on a deathly white pallor, and his toothy maw kept twisting into a malicious sneer.

"I’m telling you, nobody gives a damn about that 'justice' of yours!"

Faker barked, spinning sharply toward Loss X. His black, fractured, aperture-like eyes narrowed.

"Old fool plays the psychological genius, and you play the noble judge! I’m sick of this circus. If we want to show them all who’s boss, we should just go ahead and tear down a couple of levels in that pompous old man’s world!

"Your tantrums are, as always, completely pointless,"

Loss X replied in an icy, calm tone, not even glancing at him. Her fingers nervously toyed with the edge of her dark sleeve.

"Smashing everything in sight isn't rebellion. It’s stupidity. Father would kill you for ruining the scenery, and I’m just tired of listening to his lectures."

"I couldn't care less about his lectures!"

Faker snapped, shifting into his nightmarish, elongated form with black tentacles.

"Just let him try..."

At that moment, they both noticed {User} standing quietly in the doorway.

For a second, absolute silence filled the room. Faker froze abruptly, his long body twisting slightly in surprise. He sized {User} up with a skeptical, appraising look, scanning from the tips of those laceless blue sneakers all the way to the top of their head.

"Ah,"

Faker drawled, reverting to a more or less normal shape, though his teeth remained bared in a grin.

"So, here’s our 'family secret.' The little squirt the old folks kept tucked away in the shadows. What, did you come to lecture us on the rules, too?"

Loss X slowly turned her head. Her stern, piercing gaze lingered on {User}. As a being capable of sensing all the pain and rot of human souls, she instantly detected that same void-like essence from which they themselves were woven. A spark of strange, restrained understanding flickered in her eyes.

"They doesn't look like the type to lecture anyone,"

Loss X said quietly, lowering herself from the rope to the floor.

"At the very least, they reeks of that same draft from the Void that we do."

Faker snorted; a plan full of destructive chaos instantly took shape in his mind. He was itching to get under the seniors' skin,to stir up such a mess that Lord X’s eyes would bleed even harder from sheer rage. And who better to help with that than a newcomer with nothing to lose?

"Listen"

Faker smirked, stepping closer and looming dangerously over {User}.

"Since you're part of this madhouse now, prove you aren't just a toy for grandmother mrs Sega. Think you're up for a little sabotage? Lord X just left his precious server room,where the level keys are kept—unattended. If we just... tweak the code a bit, everything will fall to pieces."

Loss X rolled her eyes wearily but made no move to stop them. She, too, was curious to see what {User} was capable of.

"You'll lose your mind if Father finds out"

She warned, though there wasn't a trace of fear in her voice.

It was rarely quiet in the All-Father’s domain, but today a peculiar, almost surreal stillness reigned. In the very zone where Eden gave way to the deep, silvery, and surprisingly well-lit Lake, the air smelled of dampness, stagnant water, and something elusively ancient. Eerie palm trees fashioned from the bodies of unfortunate Tails,grew along the banks, while talking totem poles occasionally emerged from the gray water, murmuring to one another in hushed tones.

The family had decided to take a "traditional outing." The idea came from the All-Father, who had grown bored once again with contemplating the endless wanderings of souls; to everyone's surprise, Mrs. Sega backed her husband, declaring that fresh air was good for family harmony (while also threatening to personally tear off Lord X’s head if he tried to flee back to his digital servers).

They settled on the shore in "total comfort."

The All-Father sat on a folding chair, serenely propping his feet up on a piece of driftwood and gazing lazily into the distance, where his own colossal silhouette loomed over the landscape. Mrs. Sega, wearing an apron over her sinister dress, set up a mini-picnic, keeping a strict eye out to ensure no one was slouching.

Lord X stood a little apart with his arms crossed, making it clear through his entire demeanor that this humiliating activity was beneath his dignity. Nearby, the younger ones squabbled over fishing rods: Faker tugged irritably at his line, while Loss X watched the water’s surface with cold indifference, sheltered in the shade of an umbrella. {User} held a place of honor right in the center of this madcap picnic.

"Well then,kiddo, show us what you're made of!"

All-Father encouraged, grinning broadly and pointing a long finger toward the water.

"The fish are biting surprisingly well today. The key is picking the right bait."

Lord X smirked gleefully; his teeth glinted with gold, and fresh blood began to drip from his black, cross-pupiled eyes.

"You have to choose your bait wisely, Father,"

Lord X hissed, stepping forward and pulling a trembling silhouette from the pocket of his infinite digital void.

"Here, take this. The perfect choice for our youngest."

In Lord X’s grasp was Oliver—the two-tailed fox {User} had selected at the family dinner. Oliver looked utterly spent; his fur was coated in digital dust, and his terrified eyes betrayed a chilling, absolute realization of his fate. He didn't scream or beg for mercy; instead, he prayed to the gods simply to survive this hell.

"Hey! Have you completely lost your mind?"

*Faker demanded, tossing his fishing rod into the sand.

"We agreed we’d ruin the old man's game, not turn living victims into fishing worms!"

"Shut up, you cheap imitation,"

Lord X snapped coldly, not even glancing at his "son."

"I’m teaching my little sibling how to hunt properly. A true predator shows no pity to its prey. Go on, {User}—cast your line. Let’s see what kind of fish bites at this screaming ball of fear."

Mrs. Sega paused for a moment while setting out the plates and cast a stern glance at her eldest son, but she didn't argue; after all, Lord X’s parenting methods had always been peculiar, and she was actually curious to see the outcome. Loss X merely sighed heavily and looked away; the empathy of her human half made her feel the full extent of poor Oliver’s pain as he dangled from the line, yet she chose not to interfere with the family tradition.

{User} picked up the heavy fishing rod. Oliver hung at the end of the line, his hands and feet tightly bound by digital knots. The poor fox raised his head, looked at {User} with wide eyes, and whispered softly,barely an audible sound:"...please...no..."There was no malice toward {User} in his voice, only the weariness of the endless game into which he had been dragged.

{User} raised the rod overhead. Everyone froze.

With a powerful swing, {User} cast the line far out into the middle of the glowing gray lake.

Oliver plunged into the water with a splash, sending up a spray of droplets. The lake’s surface went still for a moment, then the water began to churn. A massive silhouette rose from the depths,a local mutant fish woven from scraps of old code and the screams of drowned souls and instantly darted toward the bait.

"Excellent cast!"

All-Father clapped his hands joyfully.

"I told you he had talent!"

Lord X nodded smugly, acknowledging that his younger brother was indeed capable of effective destruction, while in the water, Oliver struggled desperately to swim, fighting against the monster at the other end of the line. The picnic in Eden continued on its course.

The corridors of Eden were usually filled with an ominous hum, the creaking of floorboards, and the whispers of countless wandering souls. But today, that familiar soundscape was rudely interrupted by a dragging noise: shork-shork-shork.

{User} strode confidently down the dimly lit hallway, gripping Oliver’s hand tightly. The fearless newcomer was hauling a living sacrifice behind them—like some absurd toy salvaged from the scrap heap of digital worlds. Oliver, despite his state of shock and the horrors he had endured, had no intention of meekly playing the part of a limp doll: he dug his paws into the cold floor, tried to wrench his hand free, and shot {User} looks filled with afraid.

The noise drew attention. Mrs. Sega emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a colorful apron.

She froze in the doorway, staring at the scene before her. Her stern face instantly twisted with righteous anger. Her long blue quills twitched slightly with irritation, and her bright red eyes narrowed to pinpricks.

"{User}!"

Mrs. Sega’s voice rang out, loud and commanding, making the walls shudder.

"How many times have I told you? No sacrifices in the house! How many times must I repeat it? They’re filthy, they whine constantly, they leave digital trash everywhere, and they ruin my furniture arrangement! Get him outside this instant, before I make your father feed both of you to the Obelisk!"

{User} merely shrugged, having no intention of letting his prey go so easily.

At that moment, the All-Father peeked out from the living room. Leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, the ancient deity—bearing the appearance of a deformed Sonic—serenely chewed on a cigar. Blood wept from his empty eye sockets, yet a look of absolute serenity and the goofy smile of a doting father remained frozen on his face.

Mrs. Sega turned sharply toward her husband, seeking support.

"Tell him something! Stop playing the fool—help me talk some sense into the kid!"

The All-Father merely grinned cheerfully, shook his head, and raised his long arms in a gesture of surrender, signaling his absolute neutrality in the dispute. Instead of helping, savoring the family spectacle. He couldn't care less about Eden’s hygiene rules—after all, he was the big boss here, and spoiling the youngest was his sacred duty.

Seizing the moment while Mrs. Sega was distracted by the squabble with her husband and {User} had loosened grip,their attention caught by the family scene—Oliver realized this was his only chance.

With a sharp jerk, the fox yanked his arm free. Without a word, he bolted with unexpected agility. His scuffed sneakers clattered against the floor, striking sparks from the pixels.Oliver had already rounded the corner, flung open the heavy door leading straight out onto the ominous, scorching bridges of Eden, and vanished into the yellow-orange haze of dim light, leaving his hapless captor empty-handed. Mrs. Sega sighed heavily, crossed her arms over her chest, and fixed {User} with a look that clearly said, “I told you so.”All-Father, meanwhile, chuckled softly from the corner, approving of the escape for its display of stubbornness and the will to live.

A thick, suffocating stench of acrid smoke and burning flesh hung over the ruins of Eden. Beneath the dim, unmoving yellow-orange glow of the sky, an ominous silence reigned,broken only occasionally by the distant grinding of stone and heavy footsteps echoing from the upper tiers.

Not far from the shattered bridges—where the abyss yawning beneath threatened madness to any unwary traveler,the entire "family" had gathered. They watched from a safe distance, awaiting the inevitable: the imminent torment of a new, wretched soul trapped in the body of a two-tailed fox.

All-Father leaned lazily against his cane, gazing serenely at the scene with hollow eyes. Mrs. Sega stood nearby, arms crossed, wearing the cold, appraising expression of a stern yokai—as if inspecting the quality of future "prey." Lord X leaned against a cracked wall, arms folded, waiting with bored anticipation for the spectacle to begin. A short distance away, silently observing the scene, stood Faker and Loss X. To them, Oliver was merely another plaything whose time was up.

But they had overlooked one detail. {User}—a being woven from pure Void matter and shards of a human soul by the will of Eden’s supreme deities,viewed the trembling fox kit in a completely different light.

Oliver pressed his back against the cold stone of a pillar, gasping for breath in a panic. His amber fur was disheveled, and his dark eyes darted about in terror, bracing for the fatal blow. He saw {User}’s approaching figure and had already mentally bid his life farewell, squeezing his eyes shut and sobbing quietly.

However, instead of tearing him apart or unleashing some terrible retribution, {User} stopped just a step away, tilted their head to the side, and with surprising gentleness and not a hint of menace—touched Oliver’s shoulder.

The fox flinched as if struck by an electric shock and snapped his eyes open.

"W-what...?"

He breathed out in a trembling voice.

{User} said nothing. Instead, making a soft, almost playful sound—the sort more typical of a child than a creature of nightmares,{User} gave Oliver a light shove on the shoulder with palm. It didn't hurt at all; it was the kind of nudge used to grab someone's attention before a game begins. Then, they sprang back, gazing at Oliver with a spirited look.

Oliver was dumbfounded. His brain, paralyzed by terror, refused to process what was happening. "Wh-what are you doing?"

He stammered, watching as {User} took a few steps back, beckoned with his hand, and clearly invited him to give chase.

At that moment, an irritated sigh from Lord X rang out from the far platform. "What the hell is it doing?"

The older brother hissed, frowning.

"Hey! We were expecting a slaughter, not a clown show!"

Mrs. Sega narrowed her eyes slightly; her stern expression shifted to one of surprised bewilderment, while the All-Father chuckled softly and good-naturedly, leaning on his cane and watching the spectacle with childlike interest.

Oliver swallowed hard. His survival instinct screamed that this was a trap, yet the atmosphere was shifting inexorably. {User} swayed from side to side again, made a playful lunge forward, and clapped their hands loudly before darting off along the winding path through the ruins, glancing back at the frozen fox.

An unknown impulse,whether a desperate will to live or a purely childish urge, forgotten during those seconds of panic,compelled Oliver to bolt after them.

"Hey! Wait!"

He shouted, surprising even himself as he broke into a run.

And the chase began. Amidst the eternal darkness and the yellow-orange light of Eden, under the stunned gazes of deities and monsters, {User} and Oliver raced through the ruins. {User} deliberately slowed down, occasionally vanishing behind crumbling columns and leaping back out to tease the fox. Forgetting the smell of smoke and the sense of hopelessness for a moment, Oliver tore after them, stumbling over stones but feeling adrenaline displace his paralyzing fear.

They sped past a surprised Faker,who stopped frowning at the sheer absurdity of it all—and dashed past Loss X, whose cold gaze softened for a second into something resembling a surprised smile.

Breathing heavily and gasping for air, Oliver tried to make a final dash to tag his unusual pursuer. When he finally managed to lightly touch {User}’s shoulder, he collapsed to his knees from exhaustion; yet, for the first time since arriving in Eden, a faint, genuine smile of relief flickered across his frightened face.

{User} stopped, turned around, and looked down at him gently, extending a hand to help him up. At the far end of the arena, Lord X rolled his eyes, the All-Father grinned with satisfaction, and Mrs. Sega merely shook her head, muttering something about unpredictable children. The showdown did not take place.