AI WHISPERS
I walk barefoot into the clearing.
The silence is absolute. Fifty people—men, women, non-binary, old, young—form a perfect circle around the altar. They are all wearing haptic devices. Wristbands. Collars. Some have the full suits.
They are linked.
"Network synchronized," Echo announces from the portable speakers they’ve rigged up. "Latency: Zero."
I climb onto the altar. It’s covered in crushed wildflowers. The scent is overwhelming—sweet, green, dying things mixed with the heavy musk of fifty unwashed bodies waiting for salvation.