Chapter 1

At the pulpit, there stood a man preaching to a quiet audience. The interior of the church was made of white columns and marble tiles, with soft grey chairs neatly organized into rows and columns. All of which were facing a clean, stone altar. Wearing white and red robes, the cyborg priest read through an excerpt from a holy scripture. His entire face was encased in glass, attached to a shiny head.

"...and as He cut down the enemy general, they fell in fear and awe of His might!" With a passionate expression written in the pixels of his drawn on eyes, nose and lips, he shouted.

His voice resounded the cries of a true believer. The priest had flesh only on the bottom half of their body, the rest was made of mechanical parts; with steel, wires and chips. When the soft cloth of his sleeves fell down his forearms, it exposed the metal limbs that waved around to emphasize grandiose words. However, when Jacqueline Heart had told him about a stain on his robes, she saw it. He bent over to inspect a small purple stain lining the hem and as he raised the robe high enough to see his legs. There was tan skin. Feet and ankles wrapped in colourful socks. Why wasn't he wearing pants underneath? Jacqueline decided that this was not something she would want to know the answer to.

However, this didn't stop the other questions from floating into her mind. Perhaps even the priest's brain was created with inorganic material. Though Jacqueline would have to wait until she reached the afterlife before she could even try to ask.

Her and many others in the church of Overlord Sirius continuously had the question run over their minds. Egging them into morbid curiosity. She, unlike the rest of the followers, would let the thought linger for much longer to keep off the boredom biting at her skull. Zoned out on the religious praises played through a speaker of a mouth, Jacqueline glanced around at her family.

Her zealous father was dripping with admiration like he truly was graced with the epic tales of a benevolent God. Eyes sparkling more than the younger twins who were fascinated by the priest. His beard and church shoes were clean and polished, as though they were to show a sign of respect. Though his God was not a real God.

Her mother was sitting with a straight back as though she was posing for a painting despite no one but her daughter observing her poise. Her makeup and dress showed elements of the upper-class, but was betrayed by the roughness of her skin and dull fingernails. Like a noble unable to accept being demoted on the social ladder. Clinging to remnants of old gossip.

Her older siblings had the expressions of students in a mandatory class. Silently listening to the words of a cyborg priest. Less of interest and more of habit. More of a routine. The oldest had been glancing at her phone since the beginning of mass. Her blonde hair purposefully covering the one earbud playing idol music. The second oldest was reading small flashcards that were poorly hidden underneath his sleeve. The faint blue light through it's glass screen is being partly obstructed by the blinding sunlight shining through the stained glass windows.

The giant colourful planes depicted scenes of the Overlord's supposed origin story, to his take-over, to his current reign over the globe. Each window showed each story; many of which included Sirius' 'Angels'. They were the seven lords, just under his rung on the hierarchy, who aided him on his undertaking. Each lord has a section of the world to manage under their command.

Overlord Sirius was not a God. However, many of his subjects worshipped him to the point where they believed he was. Marcus Heart was one of the first to kneel in his presence. Thus, he would bring his family to regularly show up on Sunday mornings to attend mass, make donations to suspicious charities and celebrate holidays that don't exist on the calendar.

The other church-goers were the same as any other religious people. There were many old people, a homeless person covered in burn marks and a couple of families taking up whole rows just as the Heart family was. One of Jacqueline's classmates, Lauran, attended the same church. Jacqueline tactfully chooses not to make eye contact whenever she passes the rows. While Lauran loves to harass students she deemed inferior; like people who aren't rich for example. She chooses to ignore her classmate who wears the same Sunday dress every week. At least, she does in front of her family.

"It is time to say our final prayers"

Everyone had clasped their hands and Jacqueline closed her eyes in false reverence.

"We gather here today as your loyal-"

He paused. Then the sounds of strange static and a faint buzz began to play. Jacqueline cracked open her eyes to peak at the odd noise. She knew that others had done the same, gasping at what they saw. The priest was shaking and contorting his body in unnatural ways. His glass face showed no expression, only a black screen as the sound of a computer fan echoed in the building.

Some people sitting closer to the front row stood up to go check on him. Suddenly, lines of green code appeared on the blank screen, rising upwards like credits in a movie, and then disappeared. His seizure had stopped, but the priest did not speak words of worship.

"You ignorant fools"

A metal hand lunged at the old woman who went up the platform. She was one of the concerned members of the church. Her neck was clamped down. Oxygen came at a price she could no longer afford, despite the fine clothes and jewels that decorated her dying body.

"You worship and pray to a false idol. Blind to the world you live in. You give power to a tyrant."

The cyborg's voice blasted at full volume as people ran and screamed; except for one person who was streaming the chaos online. The old woman had stopped moving.

Jacqueline was already through the double doors. She grabbed her younger brother by the wrist after the oldest sibling had picked up the sister twin.

"Down with the government!"

Boom!

Stained glass shattered and exploded out the church, along with clouds of white smoke. The building collapsed in on itself. It's unknown how many were dead or alive. The Heart family had scrambled out, running towards the parking lot. Jacqueline was only a few feet from the car, parked all the way to the back. She turned around to look for her Father who had the keys.

The sounds of cries and screams deafened ears. Adrenaline had forced bodies to move beyond their limits. He was catching up, but her mother was dangerously close to the ruins behind them. Who knows when the cyborg would reappear?

Boom!

Another explosion reverberated through the air. Panicked eyes dared to look for the hunter aiming for their lives. However, it didn't come from the fallen house of worship. From the previous pile of ash and smoke. To the right side of the parking lot, a car was on fire.

Cold realization shot through Jacqueline's spine as the blurred image of flame and smoke entered her field of vision. She tried to brake. Not to go any closer to the temporarily dormant gateway to the afterlife. She almost snapped her brother's wrist in an attempt to push him in the opposite direction.

"Run! Get out of the parking lot!"

Her father managed to catch up, picked up his son and made a beeline for the road. Trying to run towards the exit, another car blew up. Only a few cars away from Hell, Jacqueline couldn't escape from the aftermath. She could feel the shrapnel that sliced into her face, her arms and her legs making themselves at home in her flesh. The backlash made her fall, but the fear running through her veins gave her a quick recovery.

"The Cyber Heroes are coming!" Someone shouted.

Many people started to cheer and praise, all of which were layered with relief. However, the muscles in Jacqueline's body were strung with tension and fear. She didn't want to see people in black or white armored suits, making a grand show of this disaster, giving the illusion of absolute safety. She was still halfway to the exit, surrounded by potential death. Surrounded by the ever increasing number of burning vehicles. And she was never one to rely on people who were only heroes in name no matter how desperate.

Most of the Heart family had managed to reach the road, her little brother had barely gotten there in the arms of her father. While her tried legs sprinted to cut through the rows of cars, the cuts and bruises that stake claim on her skin had disappeared. It was as though she never got hurt.

The thundering sound of helicopter blades drew closer and closer from the distance. Jacqueline took one last gamble by slipping past the two cars in front of her. It was the quickest way out. Either she would reach safety or die trying.

Boom!