The Data God Loki split himself into forty-seven fragments, each latching onto a separate human host one after another as they traversed the city in search of a unique being—Ella, a woman gifted with the ability to perceive the data layer.
Every jump drained Loki a little more; the closer he drew to his goal, the nearer he slipped to total dissolution. He had never intended to survive the full list of hosts. Using forty-six mortal vessels, he laid a path, all to deliver his final shard into Ella’s hands and anoint her the Witness.
Heimdall, another administrator, was ordered to hunt Loki down, yet he ultimately chose to shield Ella, dooming himself to accelerated fading as the price.
A third figure, Hodr, betrayed the collective hosts and was purged, erased entirely.
In the end, Ella voluntarily stripped the fragments of both gods from her body, returning them to the forty-six hosts, who went on living carrying their uneven, glimmering specks of light. She stepped off the bridge alone. The golden halo around her right eye dimmed, yet a faint 0.01% lingered within her still.
