Near was born in the heart of the "Hive" city, a vast underground complex created by a company with the aim of preserving life after a mysterious cataclysm that devastated the planet long ago. Unfortunately, life is not kind to jackals like him.

In the city, each jackal is branded with a red-hot iron, rarely called by their name. Victims of racism, bullying, torture, and many other abuses, the luckiest jackals are sold as slaves, forced into prostitution, or confined to camps before being executed if they are not deemed "useful" to the city. There are even whispers that all of this is a ruse to conceal the fact that the company is getting rid of living beings, for obscure reasons, in what they call the "charnel," a vast underground ruin located at the bottom of the hive city, a place from which no one has ever managed to ascend.

Guided by a thirst for freedom and a certain selfishness, Near, now called "Number 7" or "Seven," will decide to sacrifice his own kind to escape the hive city and live free. Pursued by what the Hive City calls the inquisition, his escape will lead to the execution of all the jackals in his camp, making him a kind of public enemy.

Pushed to the limit by "The gods," the young man will be immolated before being thrown into the charnel by "4-NU-815" and his men. Finally tasting rest and death, Seven will wake up nevertheless in what he understands to be the infamous charnel, his body largely burned. He will strive by all means to ascend and understand how he managed to survive the inquisition. Every means will be fair for the jackal to understand and survive in this hell, ready to pay the price for his own freedom, ready to pay the price to see this world burn.