PROLOGUE

From the initial record in the Great Grimoire of Exactness.

Hundreds of years ago, the world was warm. The peoples of the Earth, driven by human greed, constantly warred among themselves, yet lived in a certain harmony with nature.

But on a day like any other, everything suddenly changed.

The ice age arrived and, with each passing year, grew increasingly aggressive. Faced with it, humanity came to the brink of extinction.

And as winter became endless, the world came to be called Niflheim.

With no alternatives left, the survivors united to build around the great tree Yggdrasil, the one that reached the heavens, a fortress-city with gigantic walls to protect everyone from the cold. Great subterranean boilers, called Muspelheim, would heat the city, isolating its inhabitants from the hostile outside world.

And so, it was done. And the fortress-city was christened Mu.

While everyone lived warmly inside the city, the outside world froze. As expected in such a small space with scarce resources, people began to clash, driven once again by greed and the selfish pursuit of power.

Chaos took hold once more. Once again, men courted their own end.

And when all seemed lost, someone took on the role of savior.

This person would guide the remnants toward a new peaceful coexistence. Still, for this scenario to become viable, everyone, without exception, would have to renounce what was most precious to them.

Their free will.

Based on the position of the stars and the complex calculations of his intricate new science, called programming, this savior promised that everything would be perfect from then on and that the city would survive, provided that the people, in communion, obeyed his rules and commandments without question.

He called himself the Mathematician. And everyone has followed him ever since.