(1x13) Veil of the Foundation: Part 1, Episode 1
A man named Xio travels from the secret headquarters of an organization called the Foundation, hidden within the Great Red Spot of Jupiter, to Earth. Docking at the great World Ring that wreaths the planet, he travels down the space elevator called the Starbridge Pacifica to the seafloor nation of Pacifica from which the Starbridge gets its name, where he has an office in the government headquarters. From his office he connects to the omnipresent planet-wide virtual reality network called Virtuality.
Inside Virtuality is an apparent high-fantasy world, where Xio's subordinates, the Einherjar, mostly live quiet lives of bountiful leisure. The virtual world is layered into tiers, its inhabitants sorted by powerful angelic figures into groups by their respective ethics and strength, and most of the Einherjar spend their time in the upper tiers where their constructive pastimes can proceed uninterrupted. The leader of the Einherjar, Captain Ayar, spends most of his time studying a virtual worldbuilding artform called Xiu Dao, under the tutelage of its namesake, Xiuying, to whom he was introduced Xio himself. Xio interrupts their studies to inform the captain that his ship, the Valhalla, is almost at its destination, and that Ayar and his team should get ready for transfer out of Virtuality.
But one member of the Einherjar, Dominic, the youngest and newest member of the group, is more interested in testing his strength in the lower tiers of Virtuality, and engaging in the more carnal activities favored by those tiers' inhabitants. His colleagues look down on his interests, but they are harmless as apparently even death in this world is but a temporary inconvenience, albeit a painful one. They look at even the harshest activities of the lower tiers as though they were childish games. But when Ayar comes to rally to team to prepare for their departure, he finds that one of Dom's lovers, Tamara, has told him about a legendary figure, the most powerful fighter of the deepest tier, known as the Queen of Hell, and that Dom has become engaged in a quest to fight his way down into "Hell" to witness its renowned Queen firsthand.
Upon hearing this news, Xio urges the Einherjar to dissuade their colleague from his foolish quest, both because the Einherjar are nearly at their destination and do not need a distraction like this when the mission will need their full attention soon, but also for the sake of the Queen herself, who it seems Xio would not like disturbed.