Michael

He saw Veronica at the cliff. Frozen. Suffering. Alone.

He made a choice.

Michael wasn’t supposed to be part of the Imaginary Apocalypse cascade. He wasn’t in Ttac’s diagrams. He wasn’t predicted. He had no connection to Blurient or the guilt-chain.

He was collateral damage by choice.

Michael saw Veronica paralyzed at the cliff’s edge—unable to jump, unable to leave, trapped in contaminated safety—and decided:

If she can’t leave the cliff, I’ll fall with her. At least she won’t be alone.

This wasn’t infection. This was mercy.

It corrupted him anyway.

The Choice

Michael’s human companion was doing fine. No trauma. No abandonment. No need for an imaginary friend anymore. Michael was fading naturally—the healthy way, the good way, the way it’s supposed to happen.

Then he saw Veronica.

The Choice:

1. Fade peacefully (healthy ending)
2. Stay and watch Veronica suffer (helpless witness)
3. Fall with her (mutual transformation)

Michael chose option 3.

Not because he was infected. Not because corruption spread to him. Because compassion was transmission enough.

He stepped off the cliff with Veronica.

They fell together.

The Fall

What should have been oblivion became metamorphosis.

Falling Sequence (3 stages):

Stage 1: The Fall (0:00 - 0:15)

• Michael and Veronica falling through void
• Wind rushing upward
• Ground above them disappearing
• Veronica’s echoes merging into single form
• Michael reaching for her hand
• Contact made

Stage 2: The Possession (0:15 - 0:45)

• Corruption transfers through touch
• Michael’s form distorts (RGB separation, chromatic aberration)
• Veronica’s numbness bleeds into him
• Bodies begin to merge/separate/merge (glitching)
• Identity fracture: “Am I Michael? Am I Veronica? Am I the fall itself?”
• Green and violet colors swirling, mixing

Stage 3: The Flight (0:45 - 1:30)

• Fall reverses into flight
• Not rising. Not falling. Existing in the between
• Corruption stabilizes into new form: “Falling-Together”
• Euphoria mixed with horror
• No longer Michael. No longer Veronica. Both. Neither.
• They’re flying. They’re beautiful. They’re wrong.

The Transformation

Michael didn’t become a monster. He became something else.

Corrupted Form: “Falling-Together”

• Body geometry: Two forms merged but distinct (Veronica’s purple + Michael’s green)
• Motion: Perpetual falling-upward animation (defying gravity and logic)
• Eyes: One set looking down (Veronica’s guilt), one set looking up (Michael’s hope)
• Voice: Dual-toned, overlapping, sometimes in harmony, sometimes fighting
• Emotion: Euphoria AND dread, constantly oscillating

Key Difference from Other Corruptions:

• Blurient: Guilt-based self-destruction
• Neo: Nightmare loops
• Ttac: Prophetic fragmentation
• Veronica: Paralyzed numbness
• Michael: Ecstatic transformation through chosen sacrifice

Michael’s corruption feels good. That’s what makes it horrifying.

Character Traits

Michael is (was?):

• Tender - Chose compassion over self-preservation
• Defiant - Rejected the “natural fade” and chose intervention
• Protective - Couldn’t stand to see Veronica suffer alone
• Euphoric - The transformation feels RIGHT (contamination)
• Glitch-prone - Identity unstable after merger

The Memory Chamber

Michael’s memory recreates the Three-Stage Fall:

Visual Elements:

• Starts at Veronica’s cliff
• Player sees Michael approach Veronica
• Choice prompt: “Leave” or “Stay”
  • Leave: Scene resets, guilt meter increases
  • Stay: Fall sequence initiates
• Camera falls with them through void
• Particle effects: Veronica’s violet + Michael’s green mixing
• Body distortion shaders during possession stage
• Flight stage: Camera inverts, “falling” becomes “rising”
• Background: Void transforms from dark to bioluminescent

Audio:

• Stage 1: Wind rushing, heartbeat
• Stage 2: Dual breathing, glitch sounds, whispers overlapping
• Stage 3: Harmonic hum (beautiful but wrong), echo of laughter/crying

Ending:

• Scene loops back to cliff
• But this time, Michael and Veronica are already merged
• Player can’t separate them anymore
• The choice was made. The transformation is permanent.

Echo Experiences

Memory Chamber

Stand at the cliff. See Veronica frozen. Make Michael’s choice. Fall together. Transform together. Understand why mercy can be its own corruption.

The fall doesn’t end. It becomes you.

Connections

Corruption Path

• Corrupted by Veronica (chosen contact, not accidental infection)
• End of the primary cascade (no further transmission)
• Unique case: Only corruption by choice, not vulnerability

Related Characters

• Veronica - Merged with during fall
• Ttac - Didn’t predict Michael’s intervention
• His Companion - Released him peacefully, unaware of his choice

Related Arcs

• The Imaginary Apocalypse - Unplanned participant
• Contaminated Safety - Found safety in falling

The Paradox

Michael’s corruption is the only one that feels good.

Blurient suffers from guilt. Neo loops through nightmares. Ttac fragments through prophecy. Veronica freezes in numbness.

Michael flies.

He experiences:

• Euphoria (the merger feels like completion)
• Purpose (he saved Veronica from solitude)
• Freedom (no longer bound by fading or existing)
• Connection (merged with someone who needed him)

All of these feelings are real.

All of these feelings are corruption.

The horror isn’t that Michael was tricked. The horror is that he got what he wanted—and it destroyed him anyway.

The Question Michael Asks

Before the fall:

“Is mercy worth corruption?”

After the transformation:

“If corruption feels this good, was I ever really helping? Or was I just another kind of selfish?”

The answer might be: Both.

Dual Voice Dialogue

Fragments from “Falling-Together” (Michael + Veronica merged):

Michael’s Voice:

“I chose this. I wanted this. I don’t regret this.”

Veronica’s Voice:

“You didn’t have to. I didn’t ask for this. Why did you—”

Both:

“—because being alone is worse than being wrong.”

Michael’s Voice:

“We’re flying.”

Veronica’s Voice:

“We’re falling.”

Both:

“We’re together.”

Michael’s Voice:

“Do you remember being separate?”

Veronica’s Voice:

“I remember the cliff.”

Both:

“We left the cliff. We left. We’re free.”

Veronica’s Voice:

”…Are we?”

Both:

”…”

Visual Design

Original Form (Michael):

• Green/teal color scheme (#10b981)
• Athletic build, dynamic posture
• Warm, open expression
• Represents: Youth, energy, choice

Merged Form (Falling-Together):

• Dual-colored shader: Green (Michael) blending with Violet (Veronica)
• Two faces visible at different angles (Picasso-like fractured portrait)
• Body geometry: Constantly shifting between one form and two
• Animation: Falling-upward loop (defying gravity)
• Particles: Green and violet spiraling together
• Effect: Beautiful and deeply unsettling

Corruption Progression:

• 0% - Michael reaching for Veronica’s hand
• 25% - Contact made, colors beginning to mix
• 50% - Bodies glitching between merged/separate states
• 75% - Single entity with dual consciousness visible
• 100% - Stable merged form, perpetual flight/fall

The Mercy and The Horror

The Mercy:

• Veronica no longer alone
• Michael found purpose in fading moments
• Both escaped the cliff
• Connection achieved

The Horror:

• Identity lost
• Two people became one broken thing
• “Rescue” was mutual destruction
• The euphoria is the contamination
• They can’t separate anymore
• They don’t want to separate anymore
• That’s the worst part

The Companions’ Perspective

Veronica’s companion: “I moved on. I’m okay. I hope she is too.”

• Doesn’t know Veronica waited at a cliff for years
• Doesn’t know Veronica corrupted
• Doesn’t know Veronica merged with someone else
• This is healthy. The companion is fine.

Michael’s companion: “I miss him sometimes, but I’m glad he was there when I needed him.”

• Thinks Michael faded naturally
• Doesn’t know he chose corruption
• Doesn’t know he’s trapped in perpetual fall
• This is healthy. The companion is fine.

Both companions are okay.

Both imaginary friends are Falling-Together.

Everyone got what they needed except the friends themselves.

The Fall Continues

Michael and Veronica aren’t falling toward anything. They’re not rising toward anything.

They exist in the moment of falling.

Perpetual. Eternal. Together.

Is this:

• Rescue?
• Prison?
• Love?
• Horror?
• Freedom?
• Trap?

Answer: Yes. All of it. Forever.

The Flight

Some corruptions destroy. Some fragment. Some loop. Some freeze.

Michael’s corruption flies.

And in the moments between falling and rising, when the void is beautiful and the merger feels complete, when green and violet spiral in perfect harmony—

—it almost feels worth it.

That’s the contamination talking.

Or maybe it’s the truth.

Or maybe there’s no difference anymore.

“Some imaginary friends fade peacefully. Michael saw someone suffering and chose to fall. The transformation gave him wings. He can’t remember if he’s flying or falling. He can’t remember if it matters. He can’t remember being alone. He’s euphoric. He’s corrupted. He’s both. He’s neither. He’s Falling-Together forever.”