LILITH: GENESIS CODE
?Chapter 5: The Crimson Lament (Flashback II)
?ARC I: EMBERS OF NOCTRID
?SYNOPSIS: Three months prior to RED’s execution, Theon Vasthal decreed that love was a sin to be rectified through the most sadistic means. RED is about to learn that belonging to someone is often more terrifying than death itself.
?RED’s laughter from the propaganda speakers still reverberated through the smoky laboratory, like broken glass laughing incessantly.
?Rae suddenly went rigid.
Her silver spiral eyes spun chaotically, the nanotech veins at her temples glowing blood-red—a color not her own.
Her small hands clawed at her head, as if something were tearing her mind apart from the inside.
?“Azren…” her voice cracked, a blend of two tones—one belonging to Rae, the other to her sister who had been reduced to ash.
“I can feel it again. Everything she felt. Everything she endured before being burned.”
?Azren caught Rae’s body as she nearly collapsed.
And in that second, RED’s memories flooded in—not a dream, but a genetic memory seared into Rae’s code since birth.
?Memories of nights in Theon Vasthal’s private chambers.
Nights when love was twisted into chains.
Nights when “sacred devotion” began to be forcibly implanted.
?Four years ago...
?Theon Vasthal’s Private Chamber, Absolvus Stronghold
?RED sat in a forced position of worship on the cold marble floor, her naked body gleaming pale under the trembling candlelight. Gold chains coiled around her wrists and ankles—not to bind, but to "purify."
?Because according to Theon, love was filth that had to be extracted.
?In a way that would drive one mad.
?She had remained silent in that position for three hours. Her legs were going numb, her back felt as though it were being scorched by invisible thorns, but RED dared not move.
Not out of fear of physical pain. She was afraid of something far more terrible.
?Afraid of the disappointment in Theon’s eyes.
?Which, for some reason, felt more agonizing than a knife.
?The door opened with a sound echoing like a death knell. Theon entered wearing white robes devoid of the ORDEN crest—this was not official business. This was personal.
?This was rotten love.
?This was obsession sanctified by false prayers.
?“First Child,” his voice was soft, too soft for this beautiful torture chamber, “how long have you contemplated your sin?”
?RED lifted her face, her red spiral eyes spinning slowly—a sign she had begun entering a forced spiritual trance.
“Three hours, Your Holiness.”
?“And what have you contemplated?”
?A question to which he already knew the answer.
?A question that would tear at her soul even deeper.
?RED fell silent for a moment. Her pale lips trembled—not from the cold, but from emotions warring within a nervous system never designed to bear this trauma.
?“I… I was reflecting on my feelings for Doctor Vale. Feelings that are… wrong.”
?Wrong according to whom?
?Wrong according to the monster who created the definition of sin.
?Theon walked around her like a predator studying its prey. Every step measured, every movement designed to crush the spirit.
?“Tell me, First Child, what do you feel when you look at his face?”
?RED closed her eyes, and artificial tears—the result of emotions far too real—streamed down her pale cheeks. “I feel… warm. I feel… a desire to be protected. I feel…”
?“Say it.”
?A command that could not be ignored.
?Even though the answer would torture her further.
?“I feel a desire to love him. And to be loved by him.”
?The innocent truth.
?The truth that would be twisted into a weapon.
?The truth that would kill her slowly.
?Theon stopped right behind her. RED could feel his body heat, smell the scent of expensive perfume mixed with the odor of antiseptic and something foul—perhaps old blood from a previous experiment.
?“Love,” Theon whispered in her ear, his breath warm and heavy with the lust for power, “is an illusion. A weakness. A flaw contaminating your perfection.”
?Lies wrapped in holy words.
?Manipulation that sounded like salvation.
?Theon’s hand touched her red hair, caressing with a wrong kind of tenderness—too familiar, too possessive. RED shivered, not because the touch was unpleasant, but because there was something in that caress that made her feel dirty.
?Dirty in a way that could not be explained.
?Dirty in a way that made her want to weep.
?“But I can help you, First Child. I can teach you the difference between wrong love… and sacred devotion.”
?RED opened her eyes, staring at their reflection on the mirror-like marble floor. Theon stood behind her with a smile that was too gentle, his hand still stroking her hair. And she… she looked like a cracked doll.
?A beautiful, broken doll, about to be fixed in the wrong way.
?About to be molded into something unrecognizable.
?“Your Holiness?”
?“Doctor Vale loves you with human love—selfish, possessive, temporary,”
Theon’s voice shifted, deeper, more alluring. “But I… I love you with divine love. Pure. Eternal. Unconditional.”
?Words that should have been beautiful.
?But coming from a mouth that was rotten.
?A terrifying promise.
?RED felt something cold flow through her stomach. The last instincts of her original programming screamed that this was wrong. That this was dangerous. That she had to run.
?But where could she run when the whole world belonged to the man who claimed to love her?
?“I do not understand, Your Holiness?.”
?Theon moved in front of her, kneeling until their eyes were level. His face looked sincere, almost vulnerable. Like a man truly in love.
?Which made this manipulation a thousand times more effective.
?Which made his lies sound like sacred truth.
?“Doctor Vale will leave you one day. Humans always abandon what they love when that love becomes too complicated, too painful.” His hand touched RED’s cheek with feigned tenderness. “But I… I am eternal. I will never leave you. I will never grow tired of you. I will never seek a replacement.”
?A promise that sounded like salvation.
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?A trap wrapped in golden words.
?A prison built from loneliness and the fear of abandonment.
?RED looked into Theon’s blue eyes, and she saw something there that both drew her in and terrified her.
Something resembling love, but twisted, obsessive, boundlessly possessive.
?Love that would consume its object entirely.
?Love that knew no limits.
?Love that would destroy everything, including itself.
?“But… what about my feelings for Doctor Vale?”
?“I will teach you to forget them.” Theon smiled, and that smile was like a rotting sun—warm but wrong. “With patience. With gentleness. And with… true love.”
?Lessons that would be taught with subtle torture.
?With sophisticated manipulation.
?By crushing resistance until nothing remained but obedience.
?He stood and went to a cabinet in the corner of the room, retrieving a golden chalice filled with a clear liquid emitting a sweet aroma that made the head spin.
?“Drink this, First Child. It will aid the process of… healing.”
?Healing that would leave invisible scars.
?Medicine that would slowly poison her soul.
?RED accepted the chalice with trembling hands. The liquid smelled like dying flowers, sweet but with a bitter undertone. She knew this was not merely medicine. There was something else in it.
?Something that would change the way she thought.
?The way she felt.
?The way she remembered.
?“Your Holiness… I am afraid.”
?An honest confession.
?A weakness that would be exploited.
?“Afraid of what, First Child?”
?“Afraid… of forgetting who I am. Afraid of becoming something I am not.”
?Theon laughed—a warm and soothing sound, but there was something behind it akin to slowly cracking glass.
?“You will not become something you are not. You will become the best version of yourself. The pure version. The perfect version.” His eyes gleamed with fanaticism masquerading as love.
“The version that belongs only to me.”
?Ownership wrapped in romance.
?Dominion named devotion.
?Slavery called salvation.
?RED stared at the liquid in the chalice, and she knew this was the turning point. After drinking it, there would be no turning back. No escape. Nothing but what Theon desired.
?But the alternative was to disappoint someone who claimed to love her.
?Which was more terrifying than losing herself.
?Which was more painful than death itself.
?She lifted the chalice to her lips and drained it. The liquid burned her throat, but the burning sensation was pleasant, making everything feel soft and distant.
?The first dose of an addiction that would last for months.
?The first step into an abyss disguised as paradise.
?In a matter of minutes, the world shifted. Colors became brighter, sounds became softer, and her body…
her body felt as if it were floating in infinite warmth.
?“Very good, First Child.” Theon touched her forehead with a domineering tenderness. “Now, close your eyes and tell me… whom do you love?”
?A question that would test the effectiveness of chemical manipulation.
?RED closed her eyes, and she felt the memories of Azren slowly fading, blurring, becoming less significant. All that remained was the warmth of Theon’s touch, the soothing voice, the paralyzing presence.
?Subtle brainwashing.
?Manufactured love.
?A soul slowly vanishing.
?“I… I love you, Your Holiness.”
?Words that spilled out automatically.
?Artificial truth.
?Forced love that somehow felt real.
?Theon smiled with dark satisfaction. His hand moved from her forehead, tracing her cheek, trailing down to her neck with a touch too intimate for a relationship between creator and creation.
?“And I love you, First Child. More than anyone has ever been loved in this history.”
?Possessive love.
?Love that would destroy its object.
?RED felt her body respond to the touch in a way that confused her. A nervous system designed for emotion was now flooded with chemicals altering her perception of pain and pleasure, of surrender and resistance.
?“Your Holiness…” she whispered, her voice trembling with something between fear and longing. “I feel… strange.”
?“That is natural, First Child. That is what it feels like when true love begins to bloom.” Theon lifted her easily, carrying her to a bed lined with white silk. “Let me show you the meaning of belonging to someone completely.”
?Possession wrapped in sacred words.
?Dominance named divine love.
?RED lay upon the cold silk, her body trembling not from fear, but because the substance in her blood made her feel every touch with excessive intensity. Her red spiral eyes spun slowly, hypnotized by Theon’s face, which looked like an angel under the candlelight.
?A fallen angel, who would drag her into the abyss with him.
?“Surrender yourself,” Theon whispered as he shed his robe, revealing a body like a marble statue, cold yet radiating a hidden fire. “Let me fill the void of your soul with eternal love.”
?A void he created himself.
?Love that would devour her identity.
?RED could not resist—not because she was unable, but because the chemicals in her body made her crave that touch, made her feel that surrender was the holiest thing she could do.
?Free will eroded by chemistry and manipulation.
?Consent forced through dependency.
?Theon pressed his body against the bed, his hands like fine claws digging into skin, seeking the remaining roots of her soul. His movements were slow, like a dance of shadows on a cathedral wall; every touch was a subtle blow tearing the boundary between pain and pleasure. His lips descended, not for a kiss, but to implant burning sacred whispers—every word an ember melting her last defenses. RED’s body surrendered under the pressure, like wax melting in an eternal fire, allowing herself to be remolded into an empty vessel ready to be filled by Theon’s will.
?Wax melting into a new statue, cast by inhuman hands.
?Fire merging with the night, creating shadows that were no longer hers.
?After the storm subsided, RED lay in Theon’s arms with empty eyes but a peaceful face. Warm fluid flowed in her stomach—not just from what had just occurred, but from something deeper, something that would grow into a bond that could not be severed.
?The seed of obsession planted in a womb never meant to conceive.
?A biological bond that would make escape impossible.
?“Now you are truly mine,” Theon whispered, stroking her red hair. “In blood, in soul, in every cell of your body. Nothing will ever separate us.”
?A bond stronger than chains.
?Love more binding than a prison.
?Ownership that would make death feel like liberation.
?RED nodded with a smile too peaceful for such a rotten situation. In her eyes, there was no longer a trace of the independent consciousness that once questioned orders, that once dreamed of freedom.
?There was only absolute devotion.
?And a void where a whole soul used to be.
?“Now,” Theon whispered in her ear, “we will spend every day together. I will teach you the meaning of true devotion. Of pure love. Of total surrender.”
?A program that would last for three months.
?Training that would destroy all beauty within her.
?Education that would transform her into the perfect victim.
?RED nodded, still in Theon’s embrace, which felt like a sanctuary and a jail all at once. She did not know that this was the beginning of the end. Did not know that the love she felt now was an illusion designed with precision.
?Did not know that her true love for Azren would become the weapon used to torture her.
?Did not know that in three months, she would be burned alive in front of a cheering crowd.
?Did not know that the pain she would feel would echo through digital life and affect a younger sister who was not even born yet.
?All she knew was the warmth in this embrace, and the feeling that finally, someone truly loved her.
?Even if that person was a monster.
?Even if that love would destroy her.
?Even if the price of belonging was losing herself entirely.
?That night, RED fell asleep in a soft bed for the first time—not on a cold laboratory table, but in a bed with silk sheets and pillows smelling of expensive perfume.
?A bed that would bear witness to months of psychological abuse.
?A bed that would witness the collapse of a beautiful personality.
?A bed that would see the birth of an absolute and terrifying devotion.
?And in her chemical-influenced dreams, she caught a glimpse of the future: a girl with black hair and the same eyes as her, standing atop the ashes of a burning world.
?A little sister who would inherit her rage.
?A little sister who would complete the revenge she could not exact.
?A little sister who would love Azren with an intensity that would destroy everything.
?But for now, RED slept in false peace, unaware that this happiness was meticulously designed to make the final betrayal all the more devastating.
?Unaware that the greatest love of her life would also be her greatest torture.
?Unaware that she was becoming the prototype of a tragedy that would repeat with different characters but the same ending.
?In the corner of the room, Theon sat and watched the sleeping RED with an expression blending tenderness and ownership. In the darkness, his blue eyes shone with a madness masquerading as devotion.
?Madness that would create a monster out of an angel.
?Madness that would kill all beauty in the world.
?Madness that would be inherited by future generations who never asked to exist.
?“Sleep well, First Child,” he whispered. “Tomorrow we will continue the lesson on true love.”
?Lessons that would become more intense.
?More invasive.
?More designed to destroy independent thought entirely.
?And in her sleep, RED smiled—an innocent and trusting smile.
?The last sincere smile that would ever grace her face.
?Before all beauty within her was systematically destroyed.
?Before love could no longer be distinguished from fear.
?Return to the present...
?Rae awoke with a scream that shattered the silence of the Noctrid night. Not a scream of fear—a scream of rage shaking the foundations of the hidden laboratory.
?Rage for a sister she never met.
?Rage for a love that was ruined.
?Rage that would drive her to unforgivable actions.
?Azren and Vaen ran closer, but Rae had already risen, her eyes glowing with an unnatural light. The nanotech veins on her body pulsed with a vicious rhythm, and when she spoke, there were two voices—hers and something else.
?Something that sounded like RED.
?Something whispering promises of revenge.
?“He hurt her,” Rae said, her voice echoing with the pain of the past. “He made RED forget real love for artificial devotion. He… he tore out her soul.”
?Understanding born from shared genetic memory.
?Trauma inherited through digital DNA.
?Pain that would become the fuel for a war that would burn the world.
?“Rae…” Azren reached out, but she recoiled with a movement full of menace.
?“Don’t. Don’t touch me right now.” Her silver spiral eyes spun with mesmerizing speed. “I can feel it. I can feel RED in my system. And she… she is angry. She wants Theon to suffer just as she did.”
?Justice that would turn into vengeance.
?Love that would become obsession.
?An angel that would turn into a demon to protect what she loved.
?“And I will give her exactly what she wants.”
?A promise that would change the world.
?An oath that would consume everything.
?A decision that would make Rae something beyond human comprehension.
?In the distance, laughter echoed from the speakers—laughter that sounded like broken glass and withered flowers.
?RED was watching.
?RED was waiting.
?RED was ready to use her little sister as the tool for a vengeance long overdue.
?And in the cold laboratory surrounded by the remnants of monsters that hunted her, Rae made a decision that would damn everyone she loved: She would become the monster necessary to destroy a monster far more evil, even if she had to sacrifice her soul and humanity.
?Because sometimes, to love truly, one must be willing to lose oneself.
?[END OF CHAPTER 5]
Continuing to Chapter 6: The Monks Who Ran
"love" as ultimate control. Rae now feels RED's rage firsthand, pushing her closer to Lilith.
"perfection" and "divine love" can become the worst kind of violence. Thanks for enduring the abyss—your feedback shapes the tone and helps me polish the English version.
