Chapter 4: The Tree
Year 2193

Rai and Kira had been together since childhood. Orphans who grew up in the shadows of abandoned zones, they survived by scavenging what others left behind. Unlike most, they weren’t touched by Luminus’s influence. They didn’t know why, but they believed it was because of their bond — a connection real enough to resist control.

With them was Bit, a small winged monkey machine they had found years ago and managed to keep alive through patchwork repairs. Bit wasn’t just a tool — it was family. The three of them had crossed ruins and wastelands together, always searching for something that felt like hope.

One day, their search brought them deep into a forbidden area. There, rising out of the wreckage, was a massive tree unlike anything they had ever seen. Its trunk pulsed with golden streams, shifting like living code. Rai and Kira froze, and Bit fluttered its wings, emitting a curious hum as if it recognized the place.

Hovering close to the glowing bark, Bit’s sensors activated on their own. Symbols and numbers lit up across its body, responding to the patterns etched into the tree. Rai and Kira watched as Bit began decrypting, the golden code brightening with each pulse. Slowly, data unraveled — coordinates, blueprints, instructions.

They didn’t know who had left it or why, but one thing was clear: the tree held the key to finding Luminus’s main server — and a way to bring change to the world.