[Main Story 24-01]
Grey-blue sea waves mirrored the roiling clouds above before crashing into a surging roar.
The continuous crash of the waves formed a strong resonance with the leaping inside my chest, giving me an ominous feeling.
The minute hand on my watch ticked forward another place. Only 15 more minutes till the ship left the port!
I looked anxiously at Victor, itching to step over and mash down on the gas pedal myself.
But ever since we set off, he had been looking from time to time in the rear view mirror, till I eventually couldn’t resist taking a look back myself.
Victor: Don’t look back. Someone’s following us.
It was then I finally noticed that several black sedans were cruising through the pure white snow, for who knows how long– and closing on us.
{{MC}}: Is it Black Swan?
Victor: It doesn’t appear to be. If they wanted to apprehend us, they wouldn’t have let us go to begin with.
Victor: Any other leads?
If that was the case, could it be some of the traitor’s people?
{{MC}}: Perhaps they’re coming to keep me from boarding that ship.
{{MC}}: If that’s their goal, they’ll definitely stop at nothing to stop us.
Victor: Well what did you expect? That you’d be able to reason with the people tailing you?
{{MC}}: I’m just saying that we may be headed for danger!
Victor: Don’t forget, we just escaped from danger.
Victor: I’ll lose them. You just sit tight.
As if in answer to him, a fork in the road that wasn’t on the GPS suddenly appeared before us.
He didn’t seem to be hesitating, but the car slowed down considerably.
The closely-following sedans were now right on our tail, looking like they would overtake us any second!
Just as the fork in the road was about to disappear, Victor wrenched the wheel toward it and slammed on the gas.
The cars following us were just as fooled as I was, and the cars in the lead kept driving straight down the main road.
The sound of tires screeching to a halt on the icy road could be heard, along with several violent crashes.
For a moment, the only thing in our rear view was the falling snow. The rest of the cars following us seemed to be stuck at the fork.
Even though he’d clearly just lost our pursuers, Victor’s face didn’t look one bit relaxed.
Victor: We haven’t lost them for good, only stalled them for awhile.
And we’re already short on time.
The situation really wasn’t optimistic.
To make matters worse, the GPS started stuttering in and out, and wasn’t even able to recalculate our route after we left the main road.
Victor simply turned off the GPS and pushed down on the gas pedal.
Victor: This is the only path, so it’s not like we’re going to make a wrong turn.
I really admired his ability to stay so calm in a time like this, as my own fingers tightened around the hem of my skirt.
He let out a long sigh. The tense expression on his face eased up, and he put a hand over mine.
He pulled back my clenched fingers one at a time and held them in his warm palm.
Honestly, the nervous feeling in my heart didn’t go away, but I indeed felt a warm strength start to suffuse itself through me.
Unfortunately, fate only gave us a brief moment’s calm before the storm continued on.
Very soon, the cars had caught back up to us. After being made fools of once, they were clearly more menacing now.
Victor had been ready for this and matter-of-factly told me his plan for dealing with them.
Victor: You go on ahead before they catch us.
{{MC}}: And you? You’re going to try to handle them by yourself?
Victor: I don’t need an idiot worrying about me.
A volley of gun shots cut our conversation short, and the back of our car got hit by the lead car behind us.
We were going full speed, but we still couldn’t get any separation between us and them.
Countless bullets grazed the body of our car, and the back window had been blown out.
Victor pulled me down on the seat with one hand while he held the car under control with the other.
Victor: Listen! After I stop the car, you just make a run straight for the dock!
{{MC}}: But you…
Victor: Aren’t you the only one who can save the world?
Victor: Even I believe such an absurd idea. You really should trust in me a little too.
As he spoke, he pumped on the break and pulled on the wheel, bringing the car to a halt horizontally across the road.
The narrow road was suddenly cut into two halves–
One half was an opportunity he created for me, and the other was a danger he took upon himself.
He opened the door on my side and pushed me out of the car. But my feet felt like they were filled with lead.
The wind just now whistling in my ears had ceased. A silence fell over the world.
The snowflakes frozen in front of me melted on my face and trickled down my cheeks.
Victor: Run!
Victor: And just this once, don’t trip and fall.
Victor’s voice urged me forward, and the stagnant clock face fought to give me this last bit of time.
I raised my hand to wipe away the tears from my blurry eyes, until my face stung.
In very un-ladylike fashion, I lifted the hem of my long dress and took off running as fast as I could.
The snow had started falling again, but I didn’t have time to turn and look back.
A melodious steam whistle sounded not too far away and reverberated in the air.
It was like a magnificent horn blast before the start of battle.
I turned to the direction of the sound and ran forward unflinchingly.
[Main Story 24-03]
Beside the empty dock, the only thing left was the long rippling wake of the ship that had just taken off.
The steam whistle drowned out my shouts. No one would notice this latecomer on the shore.
{{MC}}: If only I could’ve run a little faster, if only…
No! The ‘Eternal Winter’ plan hasn’t been enacted yet. Right now is no time to kick oneself!
At the very least, I can’t let Victor down after what he’s done for me.
My clenched fist extended open, and I slapped myself sternly in the face to pump myself up.
Although I’d missed boarding the ship, there was still half an hour before the performance started.
As long as I could find a way to get on that ship before then, everything could be turned around!
As I stood on the dock all alone searching for one last hope, the sound of a siren suddenly broke through the air–
[Alert! This broadcast is not a drill!]
[All non-law enforcement personnel, please take note! Withdraw to a bomb shelter or take emergency shelter!]
Along with the announcement, the sound of propeller blades drew nearer. A tight formation of helicopters appeared in the sky.
Judging by the letters painted on the bodies of the helicopters, there were not only NW choppers but also quite a few outside reinforcements.
Seeing the dock’s control room not far away, I scurried off to it.
The straps on my shoes suddenly broke, and it grew harder to walk in the snow. I just took them off and carried them in my hand as I continued on barefoot.
When my feet touched the snowy ground, I discovered that it wasn’t soft at all. The soles of my feet were quickly stinging with cold.
The only thing worth feeling happy about was that the people in the control room had already fled for emergency shelter, so I had unhindered access to the control panel.
Although Gavin had told me repeatedly not to divulge my identity, this was the last card I had to play.
I turn the PA system volume up to the max, then I picked up the microphone and gave it a test.
{{MC}}: This is the dock control room. I know the final solution to the ‘Eternal Winter’ incident.
{{MC}}: There is already less than 30 minutes until the satellite launches. I…
Before I could finish, the door to the control room was blasted open by a raging wind.
Gavin dashed over and turned off the PA system, slapping his hands down on the control panel.
His pair of arms surrounding me became a private ‘interrogation room’– and I was the one getting grilled.
Gavin: Are you trying to get yourself killed?!
{{MC}}: I just want to bring an end to this thing!
Gavin: Why must you be so stubborn?
{{MC}}: Because I don’t want to see the people important to me become strangers again!
His tone softened a bit, but the hand pulling on me was still very forceful.
Gavin: We’ll resolve this incident. And we’ll find that person you’re looking for.
Gavin: Right now, what you have to do is obey orders. Get to a safe zone or shelter.
I tried to squirm my wrist free the whole way, but I couldn’t break loose.
It was only then that I realized, if he didn’t want to let me go, I had no chance of escaping his confinement.
In my desperation, I just stopped right in my place, not letting him drag me forward another step.
{{MC}}: You clearly know that only the Queen can stop this!
Gavin: But that doesn’t mean that the Queen is the only solution.
Gavin: Are you going to let the Queen decide your life, or will you– {{mc}}– decide for yourself?
Of course I knew which was the original me.
But if I renounced my identity as Queen, then that would also mean giving up on saving this world myself.
Meanwhile, I’d have to give up this man before me, and my bonds with everyone that I ever cared about.
{{MC}}: But these lives are both mine!
{{MC}}: Just like your role is safeguarding justice and peace, I am both {{mc}} and the Queen, and this is a responsibility I must bear.
{{MC}}: I don’t want to feel that regret of loss again.
Before the door of the control room, I expressed to him my final decision.
Wind and snow whipped at my face and body, and on my feet, bare this whole time.
Some places on my feet had cracked from the cold and seemed to be bleeding, but I no longer had any sensation of pain there.
Gavin: You just need to stand by and do nothing.
He let out a low sigh, then pulled out some medical gauze from his pocket and carefully helped me bandage my wounds.
His warm fingertips brought sensation back to the soles of my feet, allowing me to feel not only warmth, but also pain.
I grit my teeth and grimaced a bit. I didn’t make any noise, but still he caught the subtle change in my expression.
Gavin: You know it’s dangerous, you know you’ll get hurt, yet you go anyway.
{{MC}}: Aren’t you the same? Never choosing to just stand by and look the other way?
Gavin: But I don’t just think idealistically.
He gently tied the ends of the bandage into a knot, then took the shoes from my hand and helped me put them on.
The light on his earpiece flashed continually, as if pressing him to leave.
He calmly and orderly responded, and at the end he added:
Gavin: Special vehicle N23, please respond.
Gavin: The key individual that can resolve the ‘Eternal Winter’ incident is in the dock control room– {{mc}}. Pick her up immediately and take her to the HMS Victoria.
Then, he finally released his hand and let me continue down the path I was supposed to follow.
Gavin: I still need to head over to the satellite launch tower. I can’t stay with you.
{{MC}}: That’ll do. Gavin, thank you.
Gavin: You should be thanking your own perseverance.
With that, without so much as a glance back, he boarded the helicopter flying back to the sea.
There, he had his own problems that only he could solve waiting for him.
[Main Story 24-05]
The helicopter closed in on the HMS Victoria, but I felt more and more in a daze.
To be honest, I only knew that I could affect the ‘Eternal Winter’ plan. As to how exactly I would do that, I had no clue.
I gripped the black cube hanging down at my chest, but that clearly didn’t make it do anything.
Ever since coming out of the Black Cabin, it seemed to be rejecting me.
I thought back again and again over what happened there, but all that came out were confusing fragments–
Spacetime, the universe, the future… none of them were something that I right now could stir or change.
Could I really wield the power of the Queen?
And even if it did work out as foretold and I had this power, how would I use it to free Loveland City– and the entire world– from being eternally encased in ice?
The answers to these questions could probably only be found inside the Black Cabin.
I was back to my original problem, but then a person’s image flashed in my mind.
It was Lucien.
As frightening as he was to be around, no one was more familiar with Black Cabin and the Queen.
But the thought of asking him for help made me feel like I’d be capitulating to him, giving in to his mad invitation.
The kiss he left on the back of my hand even now still made me break out in chills when I thought about it. Just like the promise he made, devoid of any warmth.
I opened Lucien’s contact page, then closed it, then opened it again. After three or four rounds of this, in the end I tapped the ‘call’ button.
The phone didn’t ring too long, as if he was already expecting my call.
Lucien: It seems you are on the way.
{{MC}}: Because I’ve finally decided the future I want.
Lucien: So are you calling to describe this ideal future to me?
{{MC}}: You know I’m calling to ask about the Queen!
I’ve often wanted to try to act more self-assured around him, but whether in the past or now, it was always so easy for him to get me worked up.
He knew that a global threat was looming, but was still so unhurried, as if we really did have all the time in the world to chit-chat.
Lucien: Then you should lead with that.
{{MC}}: So what does the Queen have to do to be able to go into the Black Cabin at will, without having to go through some special space?
Lucien: It’s simple. You need only to accept the identity of the Queen.
Lucien: If you’re unable to enter, then that means you’re still wavering.
{{MC}}: I…
I was unable to negate what he’d said.
In the long pause that ensued, he had obviously already guessed what I was going to ask next.
Lucien: You will only truly receive the Queen’s power when you acknowledge and accept this identity.
Lucien: But before you achieve true clarity on who you are, all of this is idle talk.
…Who am I?
After being forgotten by everyone, ‘{{mc}}’ has been buried under all sorts of false identities.
{{MC}}: And how exactly can I achieve clarity about myself?
Lucien: Trust your instincts.
With the faintest of laughs in his tone, he spoke the same words as he did the first time we met.
It gave me such a familiar feeling.
In the past, whenever there was something troubling or perplexing me, he would always squint up his gentle eyes like that and patiently give me guidance.
But at the time I didn’t know that he was guiding me on how to change the fate of the world.
The static on the connection grew louder, drowning out his voice.
Just as I was hanging up the phone, the others in the helicopter were entering a state of alert.
Pilot: All crew to your stations! 3 minutes till we land on the HMS Victoria.
I followed the crew as we descended down a rope ladder onto the deck of the ship. On board it was eerily quiet.
Before we could enter the main hall and check out the situation, a sonorous piano melody was blasted through the ship’s speakers over that whole patch of sea.
The gentle tune formed an invisible yet unbreakable net in the air. Everyone in proximity to it became the piano music’s prisoner, unable to escape.
As a strong feeling of drowsiness came over me, I stopped up my ears. But the sound of the piano seemed to have already gotten into my veins. Every cell in my body reverberated along with it.
With all my might, I stepped forward to a window and looked in. The unnatural sight before me sent a shiver down my spine–
Everyone in the hall was swaying and shaking as if possessed, with smiles of disturbing serenity on their faces.
The people below the stage were like soulless puppets, eyes closed and wild with rejoicing. On the stage, Cyril held his eyes lightly closed as he played out the final requiem for them.
My own consciousness became increasingly blurred under the spell of this infectious piano music. Even what I saw right in front of me started to distort along with the music.
In the last moment before I lost consciousness, I saw the helicopter that had just flown me here spiral and fall.
The pilot was still in the cockpit, but with his head down as if in a deep slumber.
I wanted to shout, to wake him up. With all my power, I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t make a sound.
All I could do was look on with eyes open wide as he plunged into the sea along with the helicopter.
A salty sea wind filled my mouth, and the giant wave sent up by the helicopter splashed me from head to toe, so chillingly cold it was as if I’d been plunged into the deep too.
Was I… too late after all…
My eyelids still drooped uncontrollably, and I could feel a long-awaited warmth well up from the bottom of my heart.
Regret, unwillingness, sorrow… every negative emotion gradually disappeared into nothing, one after another.
Like bathing in the last rays of a warm sun before the end of all days.
[Main Story 24-07]
This beautiful dream was soft and sweet like cotton candy, and just as irresistible.
The air was like the warmest of quilts, lightly covering my body. The deck was the softest of beds, enticing me to fall into it.
???: Can’t a lie… be a good thing too?
???: Is this not the world you wanted?
An anonymous voice seeped into my slipping consciousness, accompanied by a dim, far-away-sounding piano.
The false warmth swooped in, and exhausted as I was, I chose to accept it.
My hand was originally grasping at air, but just then I distinctly felt the touch of something solid and warm.
I could faintly feel someone grabbing onto me tight.
It was a decidedly un-gentle act, yet I still felt totally safe.
I forced open my heavy eyelids, and a familiar outline filled my blurry vision.
{{MC}}: K-…Kiro?
For a second, I couldn’t tell if I was in a dream or reality.
I could just barely make out that his hair was covered with pure white flakes of snow, refracting a silver glow.
His face was in shadow, and those usually sea-blue eyes now flashed with a golden light, as beautiful as the night stars.
I wanted to stare into them longer, but my weary eyelids drooped low once again.
My lifeless wrist was once again tugged on hard.
This time, our gaze met before my eyes closed.
He shouted at me, loud enough to hear over the inescapable piano music–
Helios: I command you to awaken!
Although without a hint of warmth, his eyes were like the first rays of dawn filtering through the curtains, melting away the fanciful dreamworld clouding my brain.
I finally came to my senses– and found that I’d slipped to the edge of the deck!
If it wasn’t for Helios… I’d have…
I hurried after him and thanked him solemnly.
{{MC}}: Helios, thank you.
Helios: Got my name right that time. Guess that means you’re awake.
Without waiting for me to catch up, he turned into the main hall, as if all he’d done was hold a door open for me or something.
Remembering the information I’d heard at the Black Swan council, I suddenly guessed the reason why he was here.
{{MC}}: You’re here for the traitor?
Helios: Look who knows so much… so it was you that Ares took to the council after all.
{{MC}}: Hey, don’t change the subject!
{{MC}}: Are you going to kill the traitor?
Helios: That’s my business. It has nothing to do with you.
{{MC}}: Of course it does! Because I’m…
Helios: Because you’re the Queen?
Helios: I’m not like Ares. I don’t care at all about any Queen.
Helios: If you want to influence the outcome of this thing, do it your own way.
With that, he gave a grunt and pushed open the heavy doors, then walked straight into the final battleground.
The soaring sounds of the piano poured through the resplendent concert hall like a river stream, flowing through the air.
After noticing our entrance, Cyril still didn’t stop playing, and instead kept moving his fingers across the keys in a self-satisfied manner.
His slender, powerful fingers flitted over the ebonies and ivories, like a puppet master expertly manipulating his unyielding wire strings.
The audience below the stage had turned into his puppets which he moved at will. They were completely under the spell of his melody, sunken into the deepest depths of a dream.
But Helios was completely immune to the melody as he coldly aimed at the man on the stage.
A black pistol pointed straight at Cyril, but the enraptured pianist did not let that stop his performance.
Helios wasn’t in a hurry either, waiting quietly for the perfect, culminating note to this piece.
Just as the final note was struck, Helios resolutely pulled back the trigger.
A stream of smoke rose clearly from the gun barrel, but Cyril was somehow unharmed.
A silver bullet rolled to a stop at Cyril’s foot, blocked by some invisible force field.
Helios: You constructed this dreamscape long before.
Cyril: I just don’t want this performance to have any interruptions.
A lively melody took the place of any thank-yous or parting words, coming straight from Cyril’s fingers.
When the melody ended, the vast hall had been emptied of people, leaving only me and him.
He rose elegantly from his piano bench and took a deep bow toward the hall absent of applause.
Then, he sauntered off the stage and walked up to me, a faint smile on his face.
Cyril: You finally came.
[Main Story 24-09]
Occasional small waves lapped on the surface of the water, and everything looked like another ordinary day.
Or actually, even more peaceful.
I followed Cyril to the bow of the ship, not getting a single answer to any of my questions the whole way–
About this performance, about everyone’s dream, about the ‘Eternal Winter’… he avoided comment on all of it.
He just slightly tilted his head, his eyes half-closed as the breeze hit his face, looking like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
Falling snow dotted his hair and shoulders, making him look like a young deity.
How ironic.
It wasn’t that I was under his spell so much as my mind had fallen into an unprecedented chaos.
After all the ordeals I’d been through, I was finally face to face with the person behind this whole thing, yet I didn’t fully have the capability to contend with him.
At this time, all I could do was stall for as much time as possible.
But at the same time, the more I stalled, the wider the scope of the radiation expanded.
I suddenly understood why he had been so unperturbed and contented from the start.
Because he had already secured his victory long ago.
Cyril: Thank you for teaching me how to use that automatic vending machine.
I didn’t expect him to speak up first, much less did I expect him to bring up that.
As if we weren’t staring into the coming apocalypse, but just another utterly normal day.
Cyril: It was you who showed me a different side of life.
Cyril: Although I still think, milk tea tastes better iced.
{{MC}}: But that doesn’t mean you have to wipe out the people who prefer drinking it hot.
Cyril: I think you’ve misunderstood me.
Cyril: Just like you, I love this world.
Cyril: I love the complexity and uncertainty humanity has brought to it.
{{MC}}: If you do love this world, then why…
Cyril: I just think, it doesn’t have to move so fast.
His eyes creased in a smile. It was a smile as pure and unadulterated as a child’s, but that made it all the more terrifying–
It showed that he believed from the bottom of his heart that everything he did was only to make the world better, and that he shouldn’t receive any blame or interference from anyone.
Cyril: Before one fully understands oneself, power beyond control can only be dangerous.
Cyril: Just like if I were to ask you now, do you truly understand yourself? How would you answer?
{{MC}}: I…
I was unable to give a completely definite answer.
Just like how the Black Cabin refused to let me enter again because I was uncertain of myself.
Cyril let out a chuckle as he saw I was unable to answer.
The thoughts in his heart were hidden beneath a glacier, and all that showed on the surface was the very tip of it, preventing me from ever getting a clear idea of what he was thinking.
Cyril: I’ve prepared a little gift for this kind of world.
In the distance, something pointy seemed to cut through the calm sea surface.
A giant steel tower shot upwards and soon stood tall between the water and the sky.
The satellite launch tower!
I said a silent prayer for Gavin, hoping that he was able to complete his mission.
As for me… and what I had to do…
I once again stared helplessly at the key to the Black Cabin in my hand. But the more anxious I was to receive its admittance, the more at a loss I felt.
I was caught in a vicious cycle and getting no response. The world behind that door still hadn’t opened itself to me.
Cyril took hold of my hand and casually moved the key into his own hand.
Before I had time to stop him, I saw crystal-clear ice form at his fingertips.
The black cube was encircled with delicate lines, and after not much time it was completely frozen over.
A subtle smile spread on his face the whole time, more chilling than the icy winds whipping around us.
The cube, now glittering like a diamond, was placed back into my hand. Pure and unblemished, but also dead.
Like this world before us.
Cyril: Isn’t this a nice way to end things?
It was clearly a question, but he said it like he’d already made up his mind on his own.
In the blink of an eye, the icy, snow-filled wind blurred the boundary between sea and sky.
The surging and swelling sea surface was now frozen into a bottomless mirror.
The ship was frozen in isolation on the sea surface, facing the launch tower far in the distance.
The silence all around was so profound. It was as if the air and wind became static. A deathly stillness fell over all.
Cyril: *This* is the world that you want.
[Main Story 24-10]
In my two hands, I now held the ‘keys’ to two different worlds.
Just now, Cyril had placed the remote launch button to the satellite launch tower in my previously empty hand.
{{MC}}: Why?
I came right out and asked the question that was on my mind.
He could just waltz to victory if he wanted, so why at this moment did he decide to put the key to the fate of the world in my hand?
Cyril: Not going to give that button a push?
{{MC}}: Of course not! If I push this…
Cyril: Perhaps you’ve forgotten, this is only my dream.
Cyril: Any decision you make in here won’t affect the outside world.
Cyril: Aren’t you at least curious? The perfect world I wanted.
He gestured with his eyes again at the remote in my hand.
I held tight to this button that could change the whole world at any moment, at the same time feeling like it was just a child’s plaything.
What is the meaning of existence in a world of unrealistic perfection?!
{{MC}}: If I do that, wouldn’t I be like an ostrich, sticking my head in the sand?
Hearing me say that didn’t make him angry, more like I was just making a harmless joke with him.
Cyril: A very interesting analogy.
Cyril: Although, if people found the perfect pile of ‘sand’, who knows if they’d still stick with reality–
Cyril: –and not choose to escape?
Cyril: After all, in reality, no one can predict what’s going to happen from second to second.
Cyril: But in a perfect dream, everything always unfolds exactly as people desire.
{{MC}}: I can’t answer that for other people.
{{MC}}: But, that just goes to show that the decision for how to answer the question should be left to each and every person.
Cyril: But the way I see it, those who have no ability to judge never had the right to choose in the first place.
His tone shifted, from one that tried to be both modest and gentle, to a completely undisguised iciness.
Naturally, traitor though he was, he was still like others in Black Swan, holding a disdain for ‘normal people’ deep in his bones.
What he rebelled against wasn’t the thinking of the organization, but their methods.
But no matter which method of theirs it was, they all wanted to force their ideology on the whole world.
Did the world really need their brand of ‘reason’? Did humanity really need their idea of ‘progress’?
Everything in existence follows its own, original path, with absolutely no need for human intervention.
And what I had to do was to maintain this balance.
I abruptly placed the remote back in his hand and told him my final decision–
{{MC}}: We are choosing different futures.
Cyril: When you return to the outside world, you’ll realize–
Cyril: Awake or in dreams, it makes no difference.
{{MC}}: That’s just your own wishful thinking.
{{MC}}: The world’s appearance was never supposed to be planned out perfectly!
The key in my hand at some point lost its ice, but the black shell hadn’t returned to normal.
A flowing white light emitted a morphing rainbow of colors, like the clearest and hardest of crystals.
I could distinctly feel a resonance forming between myself and the key, as if a little fire was kindled in my chest giving off an incandescent heat.
My consciousness gradually separated from my body, but I could still vaguely see a subtle shift in Cyril’s expression.
Even at this point, he still had a smile on his face.
Was he laughing at me for being in over my head? No matter what I did, would it be impossible to reverse this dream and the ‘fate’ designed by him?
Then when I come into possession of the Queen’s power, the first thing I’m going to tell him will definitely be–
Even though we’re told from the time we’re little that ‘fate’ is the hardest thing in the world to overcome…
…that doesn’t mean that we should choose to give up right from the start.
My hazy consciousness ultimately was closed up inside of a pure black space, then gradually restored itself into a complete whole.
A dizzying array of doors flashed before my eyes.
I had finally reentered the Black Cabin!
It seemed nothing had changed here since the last time I’d entered, but there really was something different. Every door still showed me living out all different kinds of lives: some happy and beautiful, some full of misfortune and calamity.
The only similarity was–
–in these worlds, death did not mean the end of things.
Uncountable ‘me’s met their ends in their separate worlds, but before each ‘original me’ faded into nothingness, a new offshoot was born out of her.
Countless cycles of this gave rise to countless ‘me’s, ebbing and flowing in a chaotic swirl that boggled my senses.
??: Just what kind of future do you want?
This time, I was no longer unsure.
This time, without hesitation I stepped into their hearts, which was also my own heart, and found my most primal answer.
[Choose Route]
[Main Story 24-15]
With courage of the two
I kept moving forward in the pitch-dark space
At the end of the darkness
I saw a door, the last door
Opening slowly towards me
No longer hesitant, I stepped towards the one and only reality
Endless agony had become my resolution to end everything, once and for all
Something surged inside me
Trying to break out
In the void
I saw the only future that this world was destined to have
This world
The last prophecy of fate
Except no one ever thought that the end of the prophecy
Would point to…
.
.
.
.
All of us gave our best
We have nothing left
At the end of the world
At the end of time
I will wait together with you
For the arrival of doomsday