PROLOGUE

[There have been tales, myths, and legends of a fruit—an apple that grants knowledge, youth, and eternal life. At IDUN Corporation, we found that fruit of legend. We synthesized it to bring it to the people.]

At first, it seemed like salvation. Earth was on its knees, choking on pollution and overpopulation while its resources dwindled to dust. The seas rose, the crops withered, and humanity teetered on the edge of extinction. The world was desperate for a solution, and IDUN delivered one.

What began as a cure to end disease and world hunger quickly became something else. Something unnatural. Something evil.

[All we ask is a contribution to our global initiative. Volunteer as a Life Donor. A few years of service is a small price to secure a cure for every illness, every hunger.]

They didn’t tell us about the side effects. We should have known better. No one plays god without consequences.

[Together, we will build a new era of prosperity. Join us. Be part of the cure.]

And for a time, it worked. Humanity flourished. Diseases disappeared. Sicknesses that had ravaged generations were wiped clean. Broken bones mended overnight. Missing limbs and failing organs were restored. We became stronger, faster, healthier than we had ever been. Food and water became obsolete; hunger and thirst no longer bound us. Even fertility declined, curbing overpopulation with calculated precision. Why rush to create a legacy when your life expectancy was tripled, maybe more?

But the miracles came with a price.

The first signs were subtle: an aversion to sunlight. The rich and powerful retreated into the Under Cities, vast subterranean sanctuaries built by IDUN for “premium contributors.” The rest of us? We were left to shield ourselves from daylight however we could.

Then came the hunger.

It started as a gnawing emptiness, a craving that no food could satisfy. But soon, we discovered what could. It wasn’t just blood. It was vitality—life itself. The taste of another’s essence. It was vile. It was unspeakable. And it was irresistible.

To sustain our godlike bodies, we needed to consume the very thing that made others human.

IDUN had promised salvation. Instead, they turned us into monsters.