A cruise ship awash in lights and revelry sailed through a world of exquisite indulgence. Beneath the neon glow and cheerful music, well-dressed nobles raised their glasses, while elegant piano music flowed from pale fingertips.
An island where it was spring all year round brimmed with flowers and lush greenery. Beneath the rustling trees, bulging-eyed fish danced with wild beasts, and piercing cries burst from human throats.
The mercenaries aboard the ship drank heavily, as though they meant to drown all their troubles in alcohol. Through the hull, one of them gazed at the distant island and the utter madness spread across it.
The moment the ship docked, the gentlemen in suits and the ladies in swirling skirts cried out in shock, forgetting the polite manners they had always maintained.
What kind of scene was it?
It was
Nobles crawling on all fours without a shred of decorum, willingly reduced to livestock, heads bowed as they put on collars labeled "inferior."
Young men shedding their finery, castrating themselves and carrying girls who sang songs on their backs, while countless bloody trails trickled across the ground.
The mercenary thought it was all utterly absurd, and yet utterly laughable. He seemed truly drunk, so drunk that he could no longer tell whether those before him were human or beast.
But the nightmares that kept repeating, his companions' cryptic attempts to stop him, and his superior's stubbornly strange attitude all told him the same thing: No, you aren't drunk. This is the reality you must face.
"Reality..." His fingers tapped out a rhythm on the table as he faced a wall of surveillance screens. "Hmph. Who cares?"
This "virus" was destined to make humanity bury civilization in a fit of sickening madness. They would abandon their human skins, cast off morality, and live alongside beasts.
No one could escape the final revelry. After an unknown length of time, the mercenary raised his head in a daze.
He saw the newcomers to the island exclaiming in wonder.
A new cycle had begun.
Theme: It is important to stay true to yourself.
