| PROLOGUE |
As it turned out, the Ink Machine was not only needed by the Ink Isles. Soon, a war broke out in the cartoon world between the Ink Isles and the Soviet Toon Republic.
The conflict was driven by a shared goal — control over the Ink Machine, which could both cure the Blot Curse and provide the material resources needed to fulfill ambitions of power.
The war lasted for many long and painful years. During this time, engineers made an important discovery — they learned how to benefit not only from inchor, but also from a newly discovered resource: uranium metal. Because of this discovery, the war was temporarily halted so the new potential “means of salvation” could be studied.
Experimenting with it was extremely dangerous, as it could expose everyone to radiation and “bleach” them. However, citizens still managed to find ways to use it. For example, it became an alternative energy source for electricity and was even used for “coloring” ink. Yet there was also a darker application against enemies. When uranium interacts with ink, it can absorb it and turn it into “sediment.” This fate is even more cruel than dying from the Blot Curse — and unfortunately, it began to be used by citizens in warfare.
This led to the rapid depletion of vital resources, which caused fighting to break out again. Thus, the threat of a new war appeared — a nuclear war.
The Celestials decided that in order to stop the conflict, they had to destroy the key cause of it — the Ink Machine. Without the object of desire, the war should have lost its meaning. But the war continued, no longer for the right to possess the machine, but simply to prove who had been right.
Seeing no purpose in further intervention, the Celestials stopped interfering and simply watched as their creations, consumed by greed and madness, destroyed themselves.
Soon, this led to an ecological catastrophe and the dropping of large numbers of bombs upon the earth. The only salvation came in the form of shelters developed by the Dandy-Tech company.
Not everyone managed to find shelter. No one knows what happened to those who remained on the surface. Hope has long since died. The Ink Machine is gone, leaving only scattered remnants that can no longer be reassembled.
Hope has long since died. The Ink Machine is gone, leaving only scattered remnants that cannot be reassembled…
—or perhaps they can?
Only one thing is certain:
War never changes.
