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A long, long time ago, there was a little girl who lived happily in a beautiful town.

One day, a storm brought with it countless black rocks and destroyed her home.

In search of a way to restore her homeland's beauty, she found the courage to set out on a journey.

The legends told of a most-amazing caster who lived in a faraway, marvelous land, and his Originium Arts could make all that is impossible possible.

During her journeys, she met a fowlbeast that couldn't fly and a tin man who was nothing but an empty shell.

The fowlbeast wanted to learn to fly, and the tin man wanted to find its body. They all had different dreams.

To find this marvelous land, they walked for a long, long time. So long, that the fowlbeast shed all its feathers and the tin man began to rust.

'I will give you my wings. With them, you can fan away the dust,' the fowlbeast said.

'I will give you my tin plates. With it, you can make it through the storm,' the tin man said.

The girl wore the fowlbeast's wings and the tin man's plates and flew past the desert and the storm.

She found the caster, only to discover an incoherent madman.

The girl cried in sadness, but her friends were there with her and started to talk to her.

'Thank you. I flew across an insurmountable desert,' the wings said.

'Thank you. I felt the warmth of a body once again,' the tin plates said.

'This has been such a wonderful journey,' they said together.

'In that case, my dream has come true too.' The girl hugged her friends. 'With you here by my side, I now have a new home.'

With the dreams of her friends, the girl set out on a journey again. This time, she did not set out to find a legendary caster.

She had an all-new goal. She would walk far, far away to where no one had ever gone before.

Dorothy, did you like the story Mommy told you?

She hesitated for a while, but it also seemed like the blink of an eye.

She saw green trees and red roses, a bright and beautiful day, as well as a quiet, endless dark night.

She saw a rainbow that stretched across the sky and reflected as smiles on the spectators' faces.

They walked close together, discussing food, weather, and the good harvest.

They saw her too and waved at her.

'Hello, Dorothy.'

'This is a nice place, isn't it, Dorothy?'

'There's an endless supply of clean water and food here... and all the wild beasts have gone away.'

'It's so great to relax here.'

'All the data from those experiments are driving me crazy, though. I'm always afraid that the director might show up out of nowhere.'

'We shouldn't stay here too long, though. A storm might be coming.'

'Don't worry. We know how to deal with those. Otherwise, why would we even have come here?'

'What is there to worry about, then?'

'Haha... That we can't be on our way tomorrow, of course.'

'And we don't know whether we'll ever find another place like this again.'

'It doesn't matter if we run away... tomorrow's still coming.'

'If all I do is hide here, when will I become the greatest scientist there ever was?'

'And that's why we'll be on our way as soon as it's light out.'

'Strange. What a long night this is...'

Nngh—!

It's moving more intensely! It's like... it's putting up a fight!

Perhaps that's because Dorothy is putting up a fight.

Do you believe her? This was Ms. Dorothy's experiment. Would she really willingly abandon a dream she's chased for years?

What Dorothy seeks isn't success.

If she can really hear the voices of her loved ones... she will make the choice that's most beneficial to them.

I wonder what she sees at this very moment?

Lacking sufficient reliable data.

I was able to feel them, but I did not receive a 'Transmitter' injection.

One hypothesis is that the Device #9's sensitivity to signals has allowed me to receive fragments of some of the messages.

But those fragments contained certain specific words.

They were emotions.

Language is a set of rules for command input and output. It cannot describe every tiny brainwave fluctuation in detail.

If I must make a conjecture, I postulate that... Director Franks is dreaming.

She's dreaming...?

Whose dream? Is it Dorothy's own dream, or... a collective dream of all the Pioneers connected to the 'Hub?'

I do not know.

Just like... when I was dreaming, I could not ascertain whose dream it was...

Joyce, your manner of speech...

Olivia...? I... I don't know what's going on...

Is your... device being jammed again?

I don't know either.

Olivia, I feel both sad and happy.

Are we all walking a path to an unknown destination, and a starting point we can no longer see?

I think so... especially for researchers like us.

There is one thing... I've wanted to tell you for a long time.

Device #9 may have given me a lot of pain, and my journey may come to an end at any moment, but...

It is thanks to your companionship—

I never once felt alone or lost hope.

Mary, I gotta ask... am I gonna die here?

If you're free enough to think about that, why don't you try to work a little harder?

Heh... Hah... We don't have too many bolts left, do we?

Before these... well-armed fellas shackle up my neck... while I can still breathe and think freely...

I got something to say.

Then say it. Look at how hard you're panting. Careful not to bite your tongue when you talk.

Haha, I love it when you say things like that.

Ever since I became their boss, they take every word I say as pure gold. It's exhausting.

Mary, I oughta be satisfied enough that... I get to die next to you.

This isn't how you saw yourself biting it, huh?

I used to think that, it'd be great if I got to go out on a soft bed with my wife and kids holding my hand... and a bunch of letters from the people I'd helped sitting there on my nightstand...

Right, a window... The room's gotta have a window. I wanna see the sunlight one last time.

When I think that, whether there's a room... or a bed...

It feels like it's not so important whether I have a wife or kids anymore.

Looks like...

I stopped caring about dying somewhere along the way, a long time ago.

Mommy, isn't a long journey hard? Why didn't everybody choose to stay somewhere safe?

Dorothy, everyone is hanging on because they want to see with their own eyes what the path far ahead holds.

Will I go on the journey with you one day?

Dorothy, you will make your own journey.

Mommy, why are you crying? Is it because you don't want me to leave? I don't have to go to the summer camp if you don't want me to go.

No, Dorothy... Your future doesn't belong to me.

Dorothy, one day, Mommy will stand here and send you off on your journey.

Dorothy, the sights you will see in the future will be like nothing I've ever seen.

Dorothy, why are you crying?

Don't you like this place?

The child stands on her tiptoes and reaches her hand out to try and wipe the tears on Dorothy's face.

Dorothy lifts her hand as well.

And just as she is about to take the girl's hand...

She puts her hand down.

No, my dear friend.

This is... the land of dreams that I've been searching for all my life.

How I hope I can find peace and happiness for all of you...