Глава 14

Many years ago, you and Kal'tsit pushed a door open for me, to a wider world.

But I was already a sovereign to the Sarkaz. I bear their suffering, their fate.

My ideals and vision may transcend that sky of nothingness, but the weight of reality still pulled me back down to earth.

I was already convinced back then that the person who could change the Sarkaz, or even the future of Terra itself was absolutely not me—it has never been me.

A close friend whom I trust the most already predicted this end.

And that person... is me—?

Doctor, give me your hand.

Yes, I had the fortune to meet your 'truest' self.

That person was wise, gentle.

Though bearing with the heaviest of duty and wearing the strongest of shackles, that one never gave up hope, ever.

I'm gratified.

You stand alongside Kal'tsit and Amiya now, and so I believe I made the right choice back then.

The choices we made on our own have also determined the path to where we are now.

Our original meeting in haste was just like this parting between two strangers... was it not?

I can't sense any... resentment from you.

Resentment? Why?

To this day, I still feel only regret and a longing from when I touched the depths on your soul and the unimaginable truth.

Yes... it is because I touched the depths of your heart that I hold so much regret... we lost a chance to walk on the same path.

Perhaps that person was so fascinating due to an internal conflict no one else can empathize with.

...Just what kind of person was 'I'?;...Speculations, questions—I can't piece together fully what 'I' was.;All this contradictory information is making me feel confused and anxious.

Haven't you noticed? You don't doubt your decisions now.

What shapes your true self? Everything that you've experienced, or your already concealed past?

Look at where we are, Doctor.

Those silent memories and the truth of everything, are they not by your side...?

Originium...

Past, present, future. Time is no longer defined by the rules we find so familiar at the end of Originium.

You no longer remember...

But you told me once, that 'Originium'—

Brought an innumerable amount of suffering upon this land, along with countless possibilities. Created by hundreds of millions of sacrifices in the era you came from.

When you created Originium, what expectations did you harbor towards it and this land?

Look, at everything recorded inside this golden ocean... do they line up with your expectations?

You see it...

Ursus's inferno, Kjerag's wind and snow, Iberia's tides...

A torrent of information rushes past you, in units of civilizations, from time and space since time immemorial.

You suddenly realize—

All the questions I have...;All the past I forgot...

Can be answered and found in this field of Originium.

No.;...;...No.

You retract your hands.

It is all that I've gone through that shapes what I am today.

And not my concealed past.

You always have a pleasant surprise in store...

Doctor... we managed to meet once more while I lie deep in the sea of information after our parting.

It is my past, but it is your future.

Though you might still be on a path to find yourself, you still want to prove to me that you're—

'Just as I always have been.'

How I wish I could see you find the answers with my own eyes. But I'm sorry... I can't go any further.

Doctor, I have to go, and so do you all...

If you have no intention of being trapped in this infinite nothingness for all eternity, that is.

Goodbye, Dr. {@nickname}.

My dear friend whom I've never met.

—Theresa!

There is no response.

The white figure atop the tower has vanished.

Nothing remains.

Theresa... She's gone.

...Oh.

Doctor, what did you see?

Theresa... told me...

What kind of person she was.;What kind of person I am.

I found it... where 'Amnannam' is.

We'll leave this place.

The waves of information have subsided.

Do you hear the voices of the myriad souls departing, Banshee—

The tower is at peace, Your Highness...

The waves are flowing backwards into a hell we cannot comprehend.

The flames that could burn even these roots have no way to light up the infinite night.

Where will all of you go from here?

An eternal void, a true death.

We will no longer stay on the other side, Aefanyl.

'Logos'. You should get more used to being called by this name.

You've made your choice, the choice of a Rhodes Island elite operator.

Logos stands on the endless flow of information, his own figure leaving its mark on the vast ocean.

The slender figure on the other side stands in silence.

Ripples cause her silhouette to waver, no longer clear.

When I heard you sound the knell for yourself by the river, I was already waiting for an old friend to appear on this side.

*sigh* A pity Laqeramaline is still unwilling to involve herself in this war.

Mother... she did indeed rescue me from death.

With an ingenious method, but one befitting her former character.

She has also made her choice, as you have.

I saw you confronting the myriad souls, no less impressive than the time your mother and I stood side by side in battle.

I'll have no way of seeing her again. Say farewell to her for me, Logos.

Your Highness, your figure is fading—

Departure is also a form of resistance. This is what we've chosen for ourselves.

Originium shall not cage us here for eternity.

I... don't understand. Where did the cage come from, and what do you seek for?

There's no need to comprehend it, Logos.

You need only know the trapped myriad souls are now dissipating into freedom via a complicated flow of information impossible to parse.

No longer readable, recordable—

'A true death'.

All kings and heroes will no longer respond to my words, and no longer will anyone be on the other side...

Your Highness, will the myriad souls still exist after today?

No.

Will there be ferrymen with an array on torches lighting up the other side?

No more.

Then where will our kin go, when they leave us?

I don't know... I'm afraid it's too late for me to find that answer.

I've walked to the end, and the truth of civilization lies before me in fog. There is no way for me to touch it, but it does not mean the rest of you cannot cross it.

Your Highness...?

*chuckle* I've just unloaded the burden of worrying for the future. What the myriad souls care about is only the Sarkaz.