A child born to die. An intervention from beyond the stars. ____________________ ____________________ The sounds of the city are a cacophonous wall, an overbearing weight I can feel pressing down on me. I hide in the darkness, afraid to meet the world I never got to know. They are pursuing me, chasing after the things I carry in my blood, things that could undo this world. I cannot let them have it. In my wake, I have caught the lives of others, those who have chosen to stay with me. I am unsure if I am fit to protect to them, but it is one more reason I must continue to fight, even when I want nothing more than to give up. I've been manipulated since the day I was born, my fate designed behind twenty-seven years of a carefully constructed facade. But I am not subject to these designs. I don't believe in fate anyway.

From beyond the stars, an alien intelligence arrives on this world with the intention to aid and foster progress. A cubic vessel hosts her mind, and contains a nearly infinite source of knowledge on the history of time itself, of many civilizations. Used in order to steer a race slowly damning itself to extinction to a future of prosperity. Compass. But those few who know of her existence, conspire to use her technology for more personal gains.

A child - Elizabeth - is dying. At the age of seven, her life has been fated to end. Her father however, pleads with the alien sentience known as Compass to save her, at any cost. Compass agrees, taking the child under its wing as a sort of link between her reality and her father's, a child of the stars and a child of this world. A surgery is performed, to correct the damage her illness has wrought on her, and to prevent it from doing anymore damage. Implanting millions of tiny nanomachines to form a new nervous system. Terrified, Elizabeth doesn't understand what is happening. They can only hope she may eventually forget this day. ____________________ ____________________ THE NARRATOR It does not yield - An unceasing wall Archive of wealth, knowledge and death Tempting the eager and weaker me I don't even care to resist Can a child understand this kind of pain? That inflicting it is really the only way? “Strange men surround and bound my limbs A blur I hope that will end in my death” Denied the gates to the final frontier The temptation to supersede prevails Boundlessly contriving a way to access The beguiling knowledge deep within Restrain the child and remove her bones Enhance the mind to withstand the pain At seven years old we create the slave Implanted consensus ours to control A sharp external pain penetrates the flesh “Blood removal process” Set to begin Impoverished concepts drowned in a haze Is it so unlikely that she will remember this pain? Denied the gates to the final frontier The temptation to supersede prevails Obsessively plotting to one day possess The enticing knowledge lying within Restrain the child and remove the veins Enhance the mind to withstand her pain At seven years old we create the slave Implanted consensus ours to control Carbonized skeleton Cyberized synapse points Digital camera eyes Image now realized Artificial heart and blood Imbuing life into this one Awakening to my padded cell Told to trust the words of these strange men A terrified and pained little girl Unable to remember who I am In the aftermath of an eternity I feel something inside I attempt to suppress The incommodious in me My lungs draw air but I do not breathe My eyes but for moments, ever open Tired muscles I cannot contract I have become living death

For twenty years, Elizabeth has lived a life in isolation at the research facility where Compass is held. She has little say in the matter, the technology keeping her alive is too precious, too advance, to allow it to roam the free world. She has accepted this fate, and spent her life studying and learning from Compass. But one day, she discovers a plot - set in motion by her father - with a shadowy corporation known as "The Diaspora Initiative", to harvest the technology within her. Discovering she has been little more than a host for mere tech they wanted to keep for themselves, Elizabeth flees the facility towards the mighty Neon City. Compass, knowing the dangers of the technology within Elizabeth, leaves her vessel behind and travels with her, inside the colony of nanomachines keeping her alive in order to safeguard them. The cubic vessel it leaves behind is rendered inert, useless to the people who once sought to exploit it. ____________________ ____________________ DIASPORA Through the solarsphere and beyond the stars New frontiers of unending knowledge Out there beyond our sun Lies the throne that our race will claim A fall is a fall, is it not? When failure is death is this justified? Peace is peace? Loss is loss, Is it not? Life is life, is it not? Sacrifices are made - is that not always the way? Breaking the skies and leaving this world behind The trail of our engines will be followed The path to the heavens is ours to pave The world will look up and worship us ELIZABETH A fissure across my weakly built Idea of the world Fracturing outwards Reality cracks like glass A fall is a fall, is it not? When failure is death is this justified? Peace is peace, is it not? When achieved do means concern you at all? Loss is loss, is it not? Life is life, is it not? Sacrifices are made – Is that the only way? DIASPORA No more thoughts – No more gods Unnecessary automatons No more death – And no more war Irrelevant pasts expire They will look up at the sky Hand over eyes – in awe Worshiping the trail that we leave From the inferno of engines ELIZABETH From my prison I can see The melting lights of the Neon City Extending a hand, The glass halts my grasp I must escape, I must run, there is nothing for me here My first steps onto this world Endowing me with excitement and fear But even the dirt beneath my feet Is urging me to run DIASPORA A fall is a fall, is it not? When failure is death is this justified? Peace is peace? Loss is loss, is it not? Life is life, is it not? When achieved do means concern you at all? ELIZABETH Braving the fear of an unknown world A monstrous gaze that I must meet All a facade I could not see, blinded by complacency Into the lights of neon dreams – Abandoning all

Escaping the city, Elizabeth ends up in a massive sprawl of a city. She exhausts herself reaching it, and on the threshold of the city limits, she passes out only to awaken later in the company of a group of homeless men and women. For a time, she stays with them, hiding from the people who know pursue her. Mercenaries employed by the mysterious "Diaspora Initiative" Eventually she is discovered, and one of the homeless, a nineteen year old girl named Szara is caught up in the crossfire. They are both forced to flee, Szara now wanted by association and Elizabeth unwilling to let them have her, as well as any information she might have. ____________________ ____________________ ELIZABETH Biting winter winds cutting at my flesh Head first into the storm, precipice of ends Spirits start to fray, the burn of the cold Dragged into the dark, tempting fate again Running through the night, shadows on my trail Unrelenting watch – Perpetual gaze How long can I maintain and match my enemy? I begin to fear I am full of regret Slowly drifting in my empty mind Voices I've never heard beckoning to me Seconds turn to hours – hours turn to days Every moment I begin to fade Lifelessly I can feel my body dragged Throbbing pain in my head Sheathed in snow and unable to convey My confusion and pain I cannot escape The dancing of flames awakens the eyes Squinting at the unfamiliar light Foreign world with foreign eyes An uncertain sense of whats to come Confusion and fear widens my gaze The assault of light Ridden with loss, robbed of life Now I am incomplete COMPASS Walking without direction She directs her eyes at nothing Just her cold feet along The neon-light sidewalks A wall of noise envelopes us But she remains distant Perpetual indecision and fear crippling But deep within beyond the fear We know that we cannot stay Attached to us like a cancer Their presence goes, wherever we go ELIZABETH The city calls to me in alluring moans The night-time begging me to lose myself in its throes COMPASS Quietly I watch as her world quickly turns Questioning I wait as her world quickly burns To the ground, reduced to ash All that we know is we have to run Safety and sanctuary eluding me Will I be the death of this world? ELIZABETH Months have gone by Living in filth 'neath neon signs In the shrouded darkness Prolonging finality A collection of broken egos Clinging to naive optimism Meandering lifelessly Down lifeless roads Biting winter winds cutting at my flesh Head first into the storm, precipice of ends Spirits start to fray, the burn of the cold Dragged into the dark, tempting fate again Running through the night, shadows on my trail Unrelenting watch – Perpetual gaze How long can I maintain and match my enemy? I begin to fear I am full of regret Suddenly faced with enormous weight The burden of life on me To assume I know where it is I go I question their faith in me COMPASS From lifeless streets to lonely roads Merely changing our aimlessness To secure a sense of self Where do these roads leading North go?

The rigors of a life running from these mercenaries begins to take their toll. Elizabeth has always been plagued by odd symptoms from her surgery, the slight disconnect of alien technology and her biology. But they grow worse. Pain. But everyday, she must endure the pain if she wants to survive. If she wants both her and Szara to survive. ____________________ ____________________ ELIZABETH I am so numbed by the pain Constant permeation I cannot take It never relents and never forgets Scarless assault poisons my body Invading my dreams, haunting my life No aspect of me is left untouched Woundless horror, unseen suffering Some days I wonder why I endure Seasons pass by me like afterthoughts And still I wait, but nothing will change The paroxysm comes likes waves eroding at my bones Every step a struggle, every breath with pain And in spite of the agony I can still summon my rage Brief moments uncontrolled With vehemence I drone And in spite of my agony I can feel the world Uttering disbelief With vehemence they abhor And in spite of my agony I can still summon my rage Lost moments uncontrolled In vehemence I drone Whispering into my ear Wordless language spoken Each syllable, a nerve ending torn Each pause in speech my only relief Screaming into my ear Merciless language howled Each hateful cry, a violent pang Each breath between, my short relief

In the shadows, there continue to exist those who would use Elizabeth for their own ambitions. And they approach. ____________________ ____________________ THE TORMENTOR In my talons, I shape clay, crafting life forms as I please. Around me is a burgeoning empire of steel. From my throne room, lines of power careen into the skies of Earth. My whims will become lightning bolts that devastate the mounds of humanity. Out of the chaos, they will run and whimper, praying for me to end their tedious anarchy. I am drunk with this vision. God: the title suits me well. ELIZABETH Within the swirling void of existence, I was forced to abandon everything. Everything I was, everything I thought I knew. The universe itself became ashes on my skin, and the way it burned was the natural order of things. Even now, words to describe the agony, the loss I came to know elude me. I found familiarity in the emptiness, a companion in the sea of death I was determined to cross. I lost friends, I lost hope. But I persevered. The world was spread out before me, and caught in neon glares and constant surveillance I fought. No torture or despair could stand before me, no gods or heroes. I was born as nothing, and in death I will be nothing. But before that I had to do something, change everything. I would have sooner seen the universe collapse than sit idly by, huddled afraid in some alley. I didn't ask for this. I didn't seek out misfortune, but when it found me, I refused to give in. Just as I know you will, when the fires crawl ever-closer, when the stars themselves shoot holes through the reality you've grown comfortable in, you will stand. Alone if need be.

The commotion caused in the escape from the city has gotten Elizabeth the attention of a cultist group who would seek to use her to gain a foothold in advancing their anti-political and anti-war agendas. Knowing she has some sort of value to the government, they capture her and Szara, and try to forcibly learn whatever they can. Torture. Months of torture, but she does not say anything. Eventually, Szara is able to free Elizabeth - but Compass - has other plans than simply escape. Piloting Elizabeth's body, Compass slaughters everyone. When she reaches the cultists leader, Elizabeth finds herself back in reality, no longer under Compass' control. Elizabeth kills the man, without conscience, for the horrific things he has done. ________________ ________________ ELIZABETH The endless expanse of the infinite seas Profoundly unsettles something in me Feeling pursued by the rolling tides Begging and pleading to drown in their seas Cold is the darkness comforting the silence Semblance of serenity but still at unease Lying still with you whispering to me I could almost be content, almost be... But the dark is not kind, ambivalent the night When given to the dusk, the filth it comes From a somber voice I hear him call to me “You'll never escape, your mind is mine” “We know who you are”, He explained to me “I will take your ghost, you'll give me everything” “No!” I exclaim, “You fail to understand!” But my words are denied, lashed in bondage And the day is not kind, malevolent the dawn Zealotry emerges, a vitriolic boom I hear him call to me. “You never had a choice” “You are now but a pawn, my clay to be formed” Gazing into my captor's eyes I see no remorse for the hell I'm in Even with my muffled voice They know I cry out for death Gazing into my captors eyes I see no hesitance in her action Even though I can no longer cry They know I scream out for death Gazing into my captor's eyes I feel no remorse for the pain I'm in Even with my stifled voice My throat bleeds from my screams Shielding my gaze from captor's eyes I fear no remorse in their action Even though I can no longer speak I still growl against the pain Bound to my bed and coffin They force themselves inside Horrifyingly alien – Ruthlessly violated I can feel the edge of death Brimming with a life better than this My existence discontinued nonexistence forever persistent Her whispering voice has disappeared No more comfort, only fear Left alive to suffer A haze of momentum attacks me Blurred eyes see little to discern I hear the shouts and cries of dying men Feel the warmth of blood on my hands Awakening in flickering light From head to toe – Covered in gore A pile of bodies lay at my feet A dying man begging to me Without conscience I crush his throat Gurgling noise and cracking bone A whisper gone now returns Screaming to me, “Run”

The journey add is still long, and with a questionable resolution in sight. Elizabeth and Compass will face decisions that could alter the course of history forever. ____________________ ____________________ I'm lost in a haze, my senses are blurred and fingertips numb. Movement seems impossible, I am anchored in place … anchored in time. I exhale white clouds; the words I forget as soon as I speak them. There is a darkness encroaching – gathering – upon me. And though I am afraid, still I remain. My identity shifts imperceptibly, and now I fear that I am lost. I taste the essence of an absolute, and I forget how to fear. The terror does not stop me, though somewhere inside me I know that it should. Breaking my paralysis, I take one step forward and manage only to fall with the storm's rain. I feel cold again. My identity shifts imperceptibly, and now I fear that I am lost.

The Diaspora Initiative. Elizabeth and Compass finally discover an inkling of their plans. They wish to use the colony of nanomachines for themselves and their own purposes, to give them an unparalleled level of control over both the individual and the masses. Compass cannot allow this. She has seen countless people seek to subvert technology in this manner, and none of them have succeeded. Neither will they. ____________________ ____________________ DIASPORA I am an idea, I am not flesh Born in the mind I fester and thrive I am knowledge, Admonishing faith Grown in the world I revel and writhe The throbbing wounds of old injuries Afflicting the flesh of worlds A burning sensation we like to numb All just so that we can forget The distance between the worlds The length we've to endure The time between the stars The ache we must suffer Confessor of sins I know that I partook I cannot stand to be this numb Torturous in our inaction – Torturous Agonizing is our indecision I am not a revolution I am not upheaval Power is not my desire To assure our existence To assure – I will do anything We are the distance between the worlds It is the length we must endure We are the time between the stars It is the ache we must suffer We are the stellar embodied ambition It is the fate we must capture We are the starry drive to succeed What nature says we should not be Nanoscopic infiltration DNA embedded subversion Nanoconstructive seductive coersion Do not slight the mechanism Do not question COMPASS I have traveled this world Naive and unaware, painfully ignorant Of this festering, plague-like idea You claim to understand Fated to fail, I've seen this before I grow tired of this repetitious exchange Always blinded, organics seem to be By their own devotion to their own reality ELIZABETH Inside of me – Timeless Pathogens of life The answer our world has always sought Dwelling 'neath my flesh and blood Inside of me – Deathless Machines of life The answer you have always sought Dwelling 'neath my flesh and blood COMPASS Fundamental misunderstandings Brazen and arrogant, painfully unaware Of the festering disease you dare to call Progress Against the law and truth of light What the universe imposed To expand and proliferate The insignificant genes of a race ELIZABETH Inside of me – Formless Ideas of life The answer I never sought Dwelling 'neath my flesh DIASPORA We are the distance between the worlds It is the length we must endure We are the time between the stars It is the ache we must suffer We are the stellar embodied ambition It is the fate we must capture We are the starry drive to succeed What nature says we should not be We are the distance between worlds We are the time between stars We are the stellar embodied ambition We are the starry fire to succeed

Assaulted by a mech sent out from the mercenaries hunting them, the machine seeks to harvest as much 'material' from her as it can, and incapacitate her so she may be locked up - studied. Even if she must die in the process. They've fought so far to bring Elizabeth back alive, but now this seems of less concern to them. The mech makes it so far as to remove an entire organ from Elizabeth, and stitches her backup, awaiting for extraction. When Elizabeth sees that the mech may kill Szara - someone who has been with her through every moment of this endeavor - She and Compass push the nanomachine colony to the limit, and despite her grievous injuries, managed to dismember the mech. But, Elizabeth is now on the brink of death. Death will kill not only her, but the nanomachines as well - so maybe this is how it best end? Maybe this is the end she should of sought all along. As she fades away, the voice of Szara keeps her anchored to reality. ____________________ ____________________ ELIZABETH A lapse in the pain, a lull in the chase A brief freedom from the ache in our bones Relinquished our guard in a sigh of relief A woeful breath of cold night air A tenuous thread about to break Our lingering, ephemeral joy A silence in the dark Would precede the coming of a sudden swarm An uneasy sense of being watched Contortions in the distance A vivid sense of something near Looking at me Pressed into the dirt – Restraining all my limbs Before my eyes – A mucus drenched machine Tears into my gut – Spreading out the flesh Penetrating deep – Removing what it needs The metal beast it shrieks in fetid tone “Elizabeth North, I've come for you” Pressure building on my chest Drowning in my blood SZARA Life withering fast as she crawls away Digging through the mud, a chance to escape? She cannot fight – I've left her alone No hope for this – Torture resumes The veil of rain disorients The storm is gaining strength Cursing her own weakness Condeming herself in her tears Condeming herself in tears In my fading vision I struggle to withstand If only to witness The death of my only friend The death of my only friend THE DIASPORAN MECHANISM Between the ribs the blade I wield Piercing fast and grazing lungs From the ground she's lifted Though these bones they do not break Trickling blood inside of me for DNA analysis Target assessed and blood betrays - Identity is confirmed Grasping at the bleeding wound with flailing limbs Crying out for this to end Harvesting process will soon begin – It will persist And death will not be quick You can fight and you can cry – I acknowledge nothing you do But your loss is my gain Sensors flash – Something here has changed A gentle shift inside the eyes too small to see Too small to see, but still I know The North I seek is not alone ELIZABETH Drained of all the will in me, I simply can't endure this fight Suffering in the dark, maybe this is how I die? All the blood that flows from me and back into this machine I watch it all slowly run, the tenuous thread broken Dropping my gaze off to the side Her defeated eyes lock with mine What have I done? What have I wrought? I've dimmed the light of sweet innocence Edging back from the dark I lift myself through my blood Grasping the beast's arm in me Tear from it all its limbs THE DIASPORAN MECHANISM I am but one, one of a legion A million minds – Endlessly constructed Into the shadows of your networks Your world will fall and ours will persist ELIZABETH Thrashing violently without concern For my life and only hers The beast resists, I do not relent I will not stop until its dead THE DIASPORAN MECHANISM Hitting the earth – left to rust Bleeding wires still attached From my head she tears the cord Sever the link between life and death ELIZABETH My limbs have gone numb I'm fading away, into the …. Past emerging, my world recedes Laying still in a pool of my own blood So close to death, just a heartbeat away So close to rest, just a breath away My eyes have grown weary I'm falling away, down into … Brought together by desperation Both of us trying to escape Terrified of what would happen If we stopped and looked behind Embraced for warmth, just to survive The hunger lingered, the pain remained But there was solace in our tragic bond If only for the night we had survived Clinging to life with naiveté Fed with the carcass of hope To see such a smile fade into the darkness To see such a life so violently denied Again and again I relive our past I'd do it all again without hesitance The only thing I fear, and my only regret Have I merely brought her here, just so she could die? Sinking into a place near death The comfort of the end I feel her arms wrap around me Demanding I return to her SZARA Weathered flesh exposed and torn Laying amid the cold, wet grass When sleep takes her this night Will she return? ELIZABETH In my dreams I stand on the shore Waves gently lapping at my bare feet Begging me to come drown in their seas Yearning for something real In pale moonlight she walked up to me A face I've known for years, a face I've never seen Speaking in soft harmonious tones She asks – “Is that what it is to dream?” As we slip into the realm beyond life We are dragged through space and time I see a painful emptiness Starless Lifeless Deathless Time SZARA Weathered flesh exposed and torn Laying amid the cold, dead earth When sleep takes us this night We will never return ELIZABETH Our final dream we stand on the shore Waves gently lapping at our bare feet Begging us to come drown in their seas Yearning for something real

Barely surviving the endeavor with the mech, Compass and Elizabeth emerge from near-death ... changed. Compass has embedded herself so deep within the core of the Colony in order to keep her alive, there persona's are nearly completely merged. Separated, but hosted in the same body. ____________________ ____________________ Distant and cold my past and future Here in this moment, transcend The cusp of tomorrow, an approaching horizon My burdens heavy, my body weak I am me but not “I” – Pluralized personality Segmented and torn – Annexed and joined No destiny The paths belong to us No destiny There is only choice No destiny No recognition of fate This burden is ours This choice is ours

Elizabeth and Compass return to the place where they once ran from, seeking to put and end to this once and for all. They fight their way through a warzone in the Neon City, mercenaries falling left and right, dead. When she eventually reaches the research facility, she meets the man heading the Diaspora Initiative, a man she has been influence by for far too long. And kills him. ____________________ ____________________ ELIZABETH Facing the pale countenance Of my neglected past My nightmares are becoming Neon lights call out to me Wandering aimlessly no more No longer willing to be a victim COMPASS Searching endlessly no more No longer willing to be a witness ELIZABETH Penetrating into the heart of my thralldom Facing the faceless Naming the nameless COMPASS One by one they fall to her Soldiers of dystopia Echoing through the empty streets Gunfire erupting, a thousand points of light ELIZABETH Eye to eye with the icon of my thralldom Killing the faceless Murdering the nameless COMPASS The neon city erupts in violence, a storm of gore An orgy of lights, aconflagration of color and blood Silent night shattered by the violent assault of gunfire Bullets rain on the city streets – Utopian wasteland ELIZABETH Emerging from the smoke and haze a glimpse of me the world receives A blurry image on their screens with unknown visage and intent And pushing through the fear and pain against the light of death combat The sudden urge that overwhelms and beckons me into my dreams And unrelenting, unforgiving is the hatred that I feel And struggling against the thought of who through this I might become But there is rage in me that I feel no concern to quell If I'm to die in doing this then I'll make sure that you have known my hell Not because that it is right and not because that it is just And not because that you've deceived and not because the world believed And not for all the death its wrought and not for all the trauma caused And not for what you made of me and not for what you've made me do I am going to end your life for nothing more than but I can I am going to feel your blood warm and red course down my hands Everything you've ever built will all come crashing down on you If I'm to die in doing this then I'll make sure that you have known my hell COMPASS The neon city erupts in violence, a storm of gore An orgy of lights, aconflagration of color and blood Silent night shattered by the violent assault of gunfire Bullets rain on the city streets – Utopian wasteland

The facility explodes. A massive blast unlike any before it. It leaves an entire mountain range in the sea, and sends shockwaves out for thousands of kilometers. Many questions remained unanswered. Is Elizabeth dead? What has happened to Szara? Where is Elizabeth's father? Was The Diaspora Initiative part of something bigger? Time will tell. . . ____________________ ____________________ THE NARRATOR The sky burned white, we shielded our eyes The shockwave racing, flattening the land Glass shatters throughout the city streets Vision obscured in the seething fury of light Mountains explode Cascading into the waters below A corpse of nature The sea swallows without a belch Blooming into the sky The mushroom cloud looming tall Ash rains down The roads leading North end here Death, is it really a disease? I'd tremble to know what we'd do Without that boundary The horrors that we'd dream One hundred million take to the streets Walking through ash, hand over eyes One hundred kilometers into the sky The plume rises They sift through the rubble of their monuments Walking in the cracks of their monoliths She has torn them all down, at all cost In her death she has deprived them The dust settles over the city The sky fading white to gray What really happened that day? What did we loose to the waves? Amidst the fallout they search for the body Desperate for something to call an answer Digging through the remains of their monuments They search for North