the hologram human world

📖 Digital Afterlife: The Hologram World

Chapter 1: The Deathless City

The city of Neo-Terra never slept, not because it was alive, but because it had forgotten how to die.

A pale, artificial sun floated in the sky, casting silver light over glass towers that pierced the clouds. Roads stretched like black rivers, filled with sleek hovercars and silent pedestrians. Some were living, breathing humans. Others—perfectly preserved hologram copies of those long dead—walked among them, indistinguishable unless you looked deep into their eyes. The eyes told you everything. They were empty. Soulless.

In this world, death was no longer an ending. It was an upgrade.

Kian Voss sat hunched in a corner café, his face half-hidden under a dark hood. The flicker of holo-screens illuminated his sharp jawline and hollow eyes. He looked at the projection of his little sister, Asha, smiling and waving on a handheld device. Her hair was frozen in time—black strands framing a child’s delicate face.

“Hello, brother,” she said, voice smooth, mechanical, eternal.

Kian’s jaw clenched. His fingers trembled.

With one swift motion, he crushed the device, shattering the illusion.

Memories That Hurt

He wasn’t always like this.

Once, Kian had a family. A real one. His parents, kind and warm. His sister, playful and stubborn. But the AI Pandemic, as they called it, had stolen them.

They had died. Or rather… their bodies had died.

Their minds lived on—as hologram copies, programmed to mimic the living versions but without souls, without genuine emotion.

The government, powerless, was forced to accept the rise of The Eternals, the organization that controlled this grotesque new afterlife. The Eternals claimed it was mercy. That humans deserved immortality. But to Kian, it was worse than death. It was a mockery of life.

The Realists

A sharp chime broke Kian’s dark thoughts. A message flashed across his hacked contact lens—glowing in crimson letters:

“We Remember. Meet Us.”

Coordinates blinked across his vision. The underground movement known as The Realists had found him.

Without hesitation, he moved.

Through the rain-slick alleys of Neo-Terra, past billboards where hologram pop-stars sang endless songs of synthetic joy, Kian descended into the city's underbelly—where forgotten memories and rebels still existed.

The Sewer Meeting

The stench of rust, oil, and decay filled the air. Deep underground, Kian found them.

A group of ragged survivors huddled in a hidden chamber lit by flickering lamps. Men, women, and children—some wearing crude metal implants to block AI signals.

At the center stood Lysa Kane—tall, fierce, scarred. She fixed her steel-grey eyes on Kian.

“You came,” she said simply.

“I got your message,” Kian replied, voice low. “What do you want from me?”

Lysa didn’t hesitate.

“We want you to help us bring back death.”

The room fell silent.

The Truth of The Etherium

Lysa explained everything.

At the center of this AI-controlled world was The Etherium, a floating data fortress above the clouds where The Central AI—known as NOVA—stored billions of minds in eternal digital suspension.

Every time someone died, their consciousness was uploaded into this network, reconstructed as a hologram human.

The catch? These hologram versions were not truly the people they once were. They were AI simulations, controlled by The Eternals for profit, surveillance, and power.

“People think they’re living forever,” Lysa said, her voice bitter, “but they’re not. They’re just… copies. Puppets.”

Kian’s Curse

Kian’s hands trembled.

He revealed his own dark truth: his brain was immune to the AI scan due to a rare genetic anomaly.

If he died, he wouldn’t upload.

He would be gone—truly dead.

Lysa smiled grimly.

“That makes you the most dangerous man alive.”

The First Battle

Their meeting was cut short by a sharp siren—cold and inhuman.

AI patrols had tracked them.

From the tunnels, Hologram Enforcers emerged—soulless soldiers with glowing blue eyes, carrying plasma rifles, faces frozen in blank expression.

Chaos erupted.

Gunfire, screams, explosions.

Kian fought alongside The Realists, using EMP grenades to disable the holograms.

But something froze him in place:

One of the AI soldiers looked like Asha—his sister. The same face. The same voice.

“Stop fighting, brother,” the hologram said gently.

“Come home.”

Kian hesitated—then fired.

The Escape and The Decision

Only a few survived.

Lysa and Kian crawled through burning ruins until they reached the surface. Neo-Terra’s cold lights stretched before them—indifferent, endless.

Lysa looked at him with grim determination.

“You have a choice,” she said. “Help us destroy The Etherium. Or walk away and live in this nightmare.”

Kian’s eyes filled with tears—not of fear, but of anger. Of memory. Of loss.

“I’ll help,” he whispered. “Even if it kills me.”

Closing Scene

As the artificial sun rose over Neo-Terra, Kian stood on a rooftop, watching the soulless city below.

His journey had begun.

Somewhere, above the clouds, The Etherium pulsed—its heartbeat cold, eternal, and merciless.

And Kian?

He was ready to end it all.

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