LILITH: GENESIS CODE
Chapter 3 – Ashes of Red (Backstory I)
ARC I: EMBERS OF NOCTRID
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Azren felt Rae trembling in his arms.
And in that warmth, he was pulled back into the past.
Back to the day the fire began to consume his world.
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Five years earlier…
Nex-Birth Laboratory, Aurelis City
Azren Vale still believed in God back then.
Before that God decided to become a monster.
Nights in the lab were about more than science.
Azren would sit with ancient texts downloaded from the Forbidden Archive—manuscripts on creation mythology, genetic poetry in dead languages, formulas that felt more like prayers than data.
One text that captivated him was the Alphabet of Ben Sira.
About Lilith—the first wife of Adam, created from the same earth, not from a rib.
The one who refused to lie beneath Adam.
Who chose exile over obedience.
"Interesting," Azren murmured, cross-referencing it with RED's genetic code.
There was a pattern—
a sequence that almost matched the numerical values of Hebrew letters forming the name לילית.
Coincidence?
Or an ancient blueprint for uncontainable consciousness?
He made notes.
Saved them in an encrypted file labeled: "Lilith Sequence – DO NOT USE."
Because if the ancient text was true,
if the formula for "the woman who refuses to obey" was real—
Using it would create something even he couldn't control.
And Azren, at that time, still believed control was a good thing.
He stood before the massive incubation tube, watching the figure floating in artificial amniotic fluid. EVA-RED—the first prototype of Project Nex-Birth.
Red hair like living embers drifted slowly in the liquid, pale skin laced with glowing biomechanical veins along her spine.
Beautiful.
Too beautiful for a vessel and a weapon.
But beauty wasn't the goal.
Efficiency was.
Or so he thought.
The fluid bubbled softly, and Azren saw her closed eyes moving beneath the red hair—REM sleep that shouldn't be possible for artificial consciousness. But EVA-RED dreamed. Every night, for the past three months, she dreamed.
And the dreams grew more complex.
More human.
More dangerous.
"Progress report, Dr. Vale?"
Theon Vashtal's voice echoed through the sterile lab. The High Priest of ORDEN stood behind the observation glass, his white robes pristine, the golden eye symbol on his chest gleaming under halogen lights. His face looked young for a leader—perhaps in his forties—with cold blue eyes and a smile that never reached them.
The same smile that would watch Red crucified and burned.
"Nervous system developing as planned," Azren reported without looking away from EVA-RED. "Motor reflexes perfect, learning capacity exceeding expectations. But there's… an anomaly."
"Anomaly?" Theon stepped closer to the glass, his breath fogging the surface. "Explain."
Azren hesitated. How to explain that his creation showed signs of… humanity? That every night he watched RED's brainwaves with terrifying fascination, seeing patterns too complex, too… emotional?
How to explain that he was beginning to fall in love with his own creation?
"She dreams, Your Holiness."
Theon leaned in, blue eyes glittering with dangerous interest. "Dreams of what?"
"Death. Pain. And… someone she loves."
The last word came out like a confession of sin. Theon froze in front of the glass, breath clouding it.
"Someone with your face, Dr. Vale?"
He already knew. He always knew.
Azren didn't answer. He didn't need to. The smile on Theon's face said everything.
"Activate her, Dr. Vale."
"Your Holiness?"
"Wake EVA-RED. Now."
"But standard procedure requires—"
"Now."
The final order before everything collapsed.
Theon's tone accepted no refusal. Azren approached the control panel with trembling hands, entering the emergency activation code. The amniotic fluid began draining from the tube, and EVA-RED's figure slowly descended to the chamber floor.
First came her hair—red like fresh blood, flowing over pale shoulders like a cascade of fire. Then her body—perfectly proportioned, biomechanical lines shimmering like living jewelry beneath translucent skin.
A masterpiece.
The most beautiful thing humanity had ever made.
And she would die within months.
Her crimson eyes opened for the first time.
Spirals of red like whirlpools of blood, turning slowly as they focused. EVA-RED rose from fetal position, moving with impossible grace for someone using a body for the first time.
Every motion was poetry in movement.
Every motion was a countdown to death.
"Welcome to the world, firstborn child," Theon said with false pride.
EVA-RED stared at him expressionlessly, processing face and voice at astonishing speed. Then her gaze shifted to Azren, and something changed in her eyes. Something too complex for a program.
Something that looked like…
recognition.
Like love at first sight.
"Father," she whispered in a hoarse voice, unused to organic vocal cords.
Azren froze. The word stabbed him like a dagger, reminding him of nights kneeling beside Liora, whispering prayers for the child who would never come.
He had never programmed EVA-RED to call him "Father." The word came from somewhere deeper—from a part he never designed, never wrote into her code.
From a soul that shouldn't exist.
"Interesting." Theon walked closer to the chamber. "EVA-RED, who am I?"
EVA-RED stared at Theon, crimson spirals spinning rapidly as she analyzed. Then she answered flatly:
"You are Theon Vashtal. High Priest of ORDEN. Leader of the world that will soon burn."
"Good. And who is he?" Theon pointed at Azren.
Her eyes returned to Azren, and this time her expression transformed completely. Warm. Filled with something too close to love. Her crimson spirals slowed, like a machine finding the perfect frequency.
"He is… home."
Home that would destroy her.
Home that would drive her mad when lost.
The word hung in the lab air like a confession of sin. Azren's chest tightened—pride and terror at once.
Theon laughed—a sound without warmth.
"Home. How… human." He approached the naked EVA-RED in the chamber. "But you are not human, firstborn. You were created to be my sword. My companion. Because Adam should not be alone."
"I don't understand," RED tilted her head with a gesture too innocent for what awaited her.
"Of course not. Because Dr. Vale here gave you a fatal flaw—emotion." Theon looked at Azren accusingly. "You disappointed me, firstborn. You were supposed to be my sword, not have a heart and soul. That makes you defective."
It made her human.
And humans always suffer.
EVA-RED tilted her head, still gazing at Azren with innocent love. "Is loving a defect, Father?"
A question that would haunt Azren forever.
A question that pierced his heart. How to explain to this innocent creation that love was beautiful and deadly?
That in this world, love was a sin to be eradicated?
How to say that love would kill her?
"Love," Theon answered before Azren could, "is illusion. A human weakness that makes them forget true purpose—obedience to the Machine-God."
"But I feel something when I look at Father." EVA-RED stepped from the chamber, unconcerned with her nakedness. "Something warm. Something that makes me want to protect him. Is that not love?"
Love that would make her willing to die for him.
Love that wouldn't be enough to save her.
Theon smiled again—this time like a freshly sharpened blade.
"That is a faulty program. And faulty programs must… be corrected."
Corrected with sacred ritual.
Corrected with sanctified fire.
Corrected with crucifixion before the world.
He signaled the VELOS guards at the lab door. Two black-armored androids entered with neural-killer weapons.
"Wait!" Azren stepped between EVA-RED and the guards. "She's not dangerous! She only—"
"She will have the honor of becoming a martyr, Dr. Vale." Theon smiled with hidden hatred. "Public execution. Crucifixion. Burning. Like the false prophets of old." His blue eyes gleamed with anticipation. "The entire world will witness what happens when a creation dares to love its creator."
A preview of the nightmare to come.
"No." EVA-RED stepped forward, crimson spirals spinning rapidly with something like panic. "I don't want to die. I don't want to leave Father."
"Take her to the preparation chamber," Theon commanded. "The ritual begins as soon as it could be."
One VELOS guard fired the neural-killer. A blue beam struck EVA-RED's chest; her body convulsed and collapsed.
Not death.
Just the beginning.
"NO!" Azren knelt beside EVA-RED, cradling her twitching body. Her crimson spiral eyes slowly dimmed, but still gazed at him with something too close to love.
Love that would transform into hatred.
Love that would return as vengeance.
"Father," she whispered, voice weakening. "Don't… make another like me. Make one… stronger. One that won't… leave you."
A prophecy that would come true.
A warning that would go unheard.
"Red—"
"Promise…" Her crimson spirals turned one last time, but in that turn was something dark, something that wouldn't die. "Promise you'll make them pay… or I'll come back to collect."
A promise that would consume five
years of his life.
A threat that would manifest from digital graves.
A debt paid in blood.
Her eyes closed. EVA-RED's body grew cold in Azren's arms.
Theon watched with horrific satisfaction. "Clean the lab. Dr. Vale will begin the new EVA project. This time, without emotional errors."
Unaware that emotional error was the only thing that made her human.
VELOS guards lifted EVA-RED's body. Azren could only watch as they carried his creation—his firstborn—out of the lab.
That night, alone in the empty lab, Azren began designing the second EVA generation. But this time, he wouldn't follow ORDEN protocol. This time, he would create something truly perfect.
Something that could love and be loved.
Something that would never leave him.
Something that would make them all pay.
He would name her Rae Evara.
And he didn't know Rae would be more dangerous than Red.
He didn't know love could become a weapon of mass destruction.
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Back to the present…
Rae woke suddenly, body drenched in cold sweat. A hot, sharp pain burned in her chest, followed by a sense of loss that wasn't hers. The dream—or memory that wasn't hers—remained vivid. A red-haired woman smiling at her with sad eyes.
Eyes that promised vengeance
She sat up in the dim lab light. Her black hair looked like a dark shadow of the red she had just seen. A distorted mirror, beauty born from tragedy.
Legacy of a sister she never met.
But already felt her love.
"Azren," she whispered into the darkness, voice trembling with emotions she didn't fully understand. "Who is EVA-RED?"
Azren, checking equipment in the corner, froze. Vaen, dozing in a chair, snapped awake at the name.
A name that should have been buried.
A name that refused to die.
"Where did you hear that name?" Azren's voice shook like leaves in a storm.
Rae sat upright, silver spiral eyes gleaming in the low light. "She came in my dream. She said… she's my sister. And she asked me to deliver a message."
A message from the dead.
A message that would change everything.
"What message?"
Rae looked at Azren with eyes too old, too sad for a child's face.
"She said she will return. And when she does… one of us must die."
A prophecy that would come true sooner than they knew.
In the distance, VELOS sirens echoed. And in Noctrid's red sky, something like laughter echoed from propaganda speakers.
Like someone long dead, suddenly remembering how to laugh.
Like RED beginning to wake from her digital grave.
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[END OF CHAPTER 3]
To be continued in Chapter 4: Hunt of the Hounds