act25side

Then, do you want to know?

Know what?

What happened down here, when you went to stop Kristen.

Will you tell me?

I will.

I need to know everything. Likewise, Saria, I need you to be fully informed, to be better prepared. This is the only way we can ensure that we won't make any missteps on the road ahead of us.

It sounds like you already have an idea...

Hold onto my shoulder, the road is hard to walk and I have no way of lifting you up completely, so we have to go together.

*Cough*, *cough*—

Claude? Benji? Johan? Bullitt?

The escape pod makes a deep hole in the ground, and the hatch flies out, smashing a boulder into pieces.

The inner cabin has completely warped, the infrastructure and equipment looking as if they were wrung out by a pair of hands.

*cough*—I'm over here...

What a relief... you’re all alright...

I'm alive?

Wasn't the escape pod malfunctioning? We dropped from an altitude of over five thousand meters, and we're still alive! Phew...

Yowch! Easy on the hug, it hurts... it seems like those Arts Modules managed to help us decelerate a little after all...

Don't get cocky now, Bullitt. You know, you're the luckiest one outta all of us here, hitting your head on the console and passing out at our most critical moment... and then waking up just as we landed safely.

Must have been Annie's prayers working on you, huh? Aren't you guys getting married next year?

Uh, hey. Why do I feel like I drowned earlier, and all of you are soaking wet too... It's not like the pod landed in a lake, so what even happened?

Have you guys seen Director Muelsyse...?

Water is still flowing out of the bulkhead connected to the escape pod, but there is no mud in the area.

The night breeze will soon dry up the earth.

Kal...Dame Kal'tsit.

I must admit that we are alike.

My empathy with Dr. {@nickname}'s emotions merely comes from an emotional module that has yet to be erased even after these tens of thousands of years. I'm not Friston himself, merely a tool that was made.

But you are of more flesh and blood than I am, with more freedom. This makes me feel a little... envious.

Any words of comfort will sound like I'm belittling your mission, Friston.

I'm glad to have a life like this, and not just this one.

I'm glad that I'm not just a simple machine. I have already been searching for the original answer, from the very moment I began my walk in the dust of disappointment.

I have experienced more direct losses than you have, but I can also say that I have gained even more in return.

If everything here had yet to happen, you might even have been able to travel through the land currently known as Terra.

Just like Dr. {@nickname} did once.

If there is a chance, I'll be happy to take it.

...I have a request.

You're the only one who knows how to operate this system, so I would like you to erase these twisted data spanning... 4,765,403 days.

Keep only my emotions and original memories. Let me die as Trevor Friston... even if I can only die as a replica.

I understand your decision, but this process will take a lot of time, and you—

—Will gradually slide into despair in the process.;This is too cruel a fate for you.

I wish to face the skies that were once free, but not as a lofty judge in an ivory tower, nor as a ghost.

At least... let me face the remorse and guilt I have as a person, from sending my compatriots to their doom with my own hands. Let me at the very least, see from a purest perspective, how you will face the future.

To think of that sky... this is my final wish.

You don't have to blame yourself like that.;......;This is closer to redemption... than continuing to be tormented for eternity.

...Thank you.

You might call this arrogance, but I must say this nonetheless: the weight of life—the weight of civilization—you can't possibly even begin to imagine how heavy it is right now. No one has the capability to decide for others what the value of their lives are.

This belongs to the past, and so I will not go too deep into it, but please remember this, Dr. {@nickname}—this will sooner or later, become a multiple choice question about the 'present', and will be extremely important to you.

But presently... I'll say this again, thank you. This is the final thing I can say.

Go, Kal'tsit. I have already granted all privileges.

Let me meet my end as a 'person.'

...I respect your decision.

Please wait just a moment.

Kal'tsit...;......;Is there no other choice?

'Doctor.' The Doctor that knows nothing.

I don't know how much <i>you</i> know, how much Kal'tsit has told you, but now, before I lose all this data...

Let me answer your questions.

Kristen also asked me innumerable questions, and I answered them all, and if it was necessary, I even showed her the answers.

After witnessing everything with her own eyes, she did not lose herself, her ideals did not even waver the slightest, and she did not see her own existence as inferior thereafter.

I admire that character of hers, and so to be fair, I will also treat you the same, Dr. {@nickname}.

Perhaps this personality of obsession is also a present from Trevor Friston.

Who is... Priestess?

And what is... Originium?

These two questions are not as different as you might imagine.

'Originium'. Heheh... even if you've lost your memories, even if you've just learned it far exceeds the categories of the Infected, Catastrophes or Arts, you are still keenly aware how important Originium is.

That is the way to go. Kal'tsit knows some answers, but I think, she won't be able to tell you.

Priestess will not allow her to.

This restriction is carved into the depths of her original consciousness, and even death will not free her from those shackles.

So, should I really tell you the answer? Perhaps Kal'tsit is afraid that the truth might loosen your memories, and turn the tables on your hard-earned developments.

Though I believe you have already done some preparations on your end. Hmm... I can give you the answer. But not in its entirety.

I don't even know what your past was like. My birth and isolation from the outside world happened far earlier than you think.

Originium was just one out of the many innumerable answers. Originium means unification. Originium means another state of existence.

Like the Ocean of Solaris. Where everything exists within disorder.

Oh yes, you have yet to even realize the contradiction of it all.

So far, 'Rhodes Island' has been working towards curing Oripathy and solving the problems of the Infected... though you have also involved yourselves in outsider matters due to Kal'tsit and Theresa's ideals, however...

You, in the name of Rhodes Island, fight against Originium. This is the root of everything.

I do not know what decisions Priestess made in the end. But it seems that Kal'tsit, with all the lives born on this land with free will... has no way to peacefully coexist with Originium.

Originium can benefit humanity, but it can also destroy everything. Just like the frenzied creatures in the ocean and the endlessly expanding rift in the north.

Priestess is the starting point of that madness. And you... were once extremely close to her.

So can we cure Oripathy?!;What does Originium have to do with me?!;Then what can I do next?!

I'm incapable of guiding your next steps. Strictly speaking, Originium in just its current form, it has already exceeded my understanding of it.

Oripathy is not something that was carefully planned and produced. In your current situation, 'curing' it is difficult, but there may be other ways you can 'stop' or 'use' it.

Your past with Priestess seems to be Kal'tsit's greatest taboo. And I don't even have the full picture... according to my hypotheses, your appearance, participation, and... 'amnesia'...

They are not without purpose.

You have to find your own answers. Don't blame me for being so cryptic with my words, but sooner or later, when you face the truth of the past, you will understand Kal'tsit's thoughtful intentions.

Stay patient. Stay... true to yourself.

...Doctor.

Kal'tsit...

You've already taken a huge step forward.

But, turn your head and look at what we've faced.

Victoria, Columbia. The infected are still being discriminated against, and the flames of war might just spark in any place on Terra at any time.

We still have much more to do.

There will be more and more layers of crises in the future, and the current situation will become even more worrisome.

...Right.;......;We'll fight together, right?

You're the commander of Rhodes Island, the Doctor Amiya trusts.

We will find a way.

I'm delighted to have met you both in my final moments.

I can already feel... some data slipping away. I might even forget our conversation in just a few seconds.

Having lost the support of your database, your emotional module will once again re-experience the loneliness of the past dozen millennia.

No one knows what the consequences will be, to compress all those years of emotion into just a few minutes.

I will destroy this bunker before the energy is depleted. You will need to... escape in time...

Thank you both... I...