rogue_2

Save for the sound of waves...

There is nothing there at all.

Following the scattered fragments in his memories, Mizuki searches for mankind's last haven.

In these memories, humans have not gone extinct, and one last city remains standing on land.

For a human, going to the human city is a foregone conclusion hardly worth mentioning.

With such thoughts in mind, he walks onto the land, alone.

The Seaborn have completely transformed the entire continent.

There is no more Originium, no more barrens.

As far as the eye can see, the entire land has become a verdant expanse, all manner of plants teeming with life. Animals prance across the wilds and soar through the skies in packs, partaking freely of the land's inexhaustible bounty.

After crossing a stream and climbing a hill, Mizuki feels a tinge of weariness and hunger, so he plucks a few fruits from the plants and pops them straight into his mouth.

The Seaborn have no need to taste their food, but these fruits have clearly retained their original taste. The only difference is, they are even more delicious, and more filling.

Previously, having enough to eat and drink was one of the few pursuits life afforded him; but now, such an ideal can easily be fulfilled simply by extending one's hand–

Suddenly, he hears a loud rumble in the distance. A mountain range rises from the ground and begins to wander across the land.

The Seaborn's departure was like a beacon, rousing these ancient progenitors from their slumber. The land to them is both familiar and foreign. They explore the flowers, plants, and trees before them with a mix of suspicion and curiosity.

When the Feranmut vanishes, Mizuki once again sets off on his journey to find the city.

He recalls the way humans identify one another, that they have various convenient and conspicuous ways of drawing borders and forming cohorts.

But even after walking for a long time, Mizuki does not even happen across a single 'road.'

'Did I remember wrong?' He cannot help but to doubt himself, then scratches his head, trying his best to recall his impression of humans over the millennia.

However, apart from the human who brought him into the laboratory and the human he trusted the most, his memory contains only a hazy impression of that city's towering walls.

Finally, he comes up with a brute-force method.

'If I can't find them, then I will have them come to me.'

He builds and lights fires in several prominent places, carves messages of kindness in every human script he can remember, and then climbs a tall mountain where he can see all the fires to await someone to answer his call.

Finally, the moment Mizuki was waiting for has come.

A Liberi finds a way to the mountain under the cover of darkness and holds a knife to his neck, asking him questions in a Victorian tongue laced the flavors of many nations.

Most importantly, her ensemble sports a tower-shaped epaulet with a small line of characters engraved on its lowest part.

A name that lingered on the tip of his tongue thousands of times suddenly wells up in Mizuki's heart:

Rhodes Island.

Following the map given to him by the Rhodes Island operator, Mizuki arrives at the last city.

Once, during the war against the Seaborn, humanity was utterly routed, its sole survivors building high walls in the mountains, clinging to technology left over from the past in order to survive. In the process, the barriers between country, class, and race all melted away. In the last city, there were no kings or presidents– only people, and the loose alliances they formed, remained. Survival was the end-all be-all, and all other affairs seemed trivial in comparison.

However, now that the Seaborn have left Terra, all kinds of organizations have planted their roots across the city. Most of them have but a singular purpose: to leave the walls of the last city and forge outward. But 'Rhodes Island' is somewhat different. As a relatively influential entity within the city, it is chiefly responsible for maintaining the logistical and medical needs of the other organizations. In the beginning, the founders of Rhodes Island built the high walls, but now, these bricks that have protected mankind for thousands of years will become the cornerstones of humanity's new home.

Mizuki looks at the sights surrounding him with curiosity. He is now on his way to the 'Rhodes Island' headquarters, hoping to find some ancient artifacts there. He asks the people wearing Rhodes Island epaulets one after another to confirm its location, going back and forth through the strange city. Eventually, he finds a structure that looks like the ruins of a nomadic plate.

He is a bit apprehensive to step inside. Even if he enters this 'Rhodes Island,' what is there for him to do? War and the passage of time have eroded away everything he once knew. Nothing stirs anything inside him except a sign, and a somewhat familiar nomadic plate.

Nobody recognizes him, nor does he recognize anyone...

Mizuki stands in front of the gate and vacillates for a long time, finally making up his mind to take a look inside this 'Rhodes Island.' He still wants to be part of this organization, if at all possible.

That is all he can think of, all that he can do.

Mizuki walks into the lobby and sees a familiar front desk.

Just as he is about to ask something, a familiar voice rings out in his ear.

'You're back.'

Kal'tsit brings Mizuki into a meeting room and offers him a seat. Other than a change of clothes, she seems completely unaffected by the passing years.

'Your return is indeed unexpected.' Kal'tsit holds a glass of water, her ten fingers tapping rhythmically across its exterior. 'When you completed your series of metamorphoses and, as a 'Firstborn,' sent the Doctor back to land, I thought you would climb up to the stars. But instead... You're sitting in front of me, playing with your food just as before.'

'Then, can I dig in?' Several pieces of fruit have already disappeared down Mizuki's gullet as he asks the question.

'This is a reception room, everyone may freely enjoy the food that has been placed here. Moreover, this food was a change that you brought about. The desert has disappeared, the temperature has stabilized, and disaster has subsided. Terra has become a garden, and you had no small part to play in that.'

'But, I'm also the villain who left humanity with nothing else.'

'When the Doctor explained the plan to me, I did worry about its feasibility. Sacrificing the vast majority in exchange for the human race's survival. It was insane... but ultimately, also the most rational and correct choice.'

'Nobody wants to be sacrificed. Nobody wants to be part of that doomed majority.'

'So, all Rhodes Island could do was put some stopgap measures in place. When Skadi became Ishar'mla, humanity's fate was sealed. Collectively, all we could do was hole ourselves up in this prison and peek outside at a barely visible dawn.'

'So, how's the Doctor doing?' As soon as the words leave his mouth, Mizuki instantly regrets asking such a stupid question. Even the Doctor has no hope of defying time. He begins to silently pray, hoping that Kal'tsit will not give him an answer.

However, when Kal'tsit opens her mouth again, the expression on her face remains unchanged.

'The Doctor is still alive.'

'Wh-What?!'

'We managed to move the Sarcophagus here before we built the city. It preserves both the city's power supply and the life of the one who gave us hope.'

Mizuki suddenly feels the weight of the world slip from his shoulders. He slumps into the chair, his face full of joy.

The Doctor is indeed alive, but even if the 'Sarcophagus' can close all wounds, it cannot turn back the clock. As the Doctor sleeps within it more and more frequently, the wick of life will eventually burn down to nothingness.

But, considering the Doctor's condition is far from this dire state, Kal'tsit continues to conceal the fact from Mizuki.

It is also at this time that she feels the absurdity of reality.

All of humanity's efforts to break its shackles and return to the sea of stars have been obliterated by history.

On the contrary, it was an out-of-control planetary transformation plan that birthed new life after the extinction of humanity.

She finds herself with nothing more to express beyond a sad sigh.

'So, Mizuki, what do you plan to do before the Doctor wakes up?'

'Nothing in particular. Maybe find some good eats, run a few errands here and there. I'm still a Rhodes Island operator, right?'

'I'll try to get your ID verification and dorm room prepped ASAP.'

'Thanks. Appreciate it.'

Suddenly, as if she just thought of something, Kal'tsit hurriedly calls Mizuki before he can leave the reception room, and asks him to go sightseeing in the city.

'One last question. Did 'they' really all leave?'

'Hmm... My disaggregation was completed before the ascension, so I'm not exactly sure how 'I' went about it in the end.'

'I see...' Kal'tsit's expression becomes serious.

Years later, mankind's domain once again expanded to the edge of the sea.

The sea was once a source of calamity for humans, so the pioneers were told to fortify the coastal waters.

However, curiosity will always trump fear.

On a sunny afternoon, while the adults' attention wanders, a girl slips off to play on the beach.

She carefully picks up jewel-like stones, wanting to sneak them back as a present for her little brother.

But as she walks, she spies on the beach–

A flower deep in slumber.

The Seaborn are nothing more than a distant, bygone nightmare, so the girl has no impression of the creature in front of her.

She steps forward and strokes the petals gently.

Seemingly sensing something, the petals slowly open, revealing the blue, jewel-like sensory organ beneath.

It is a Deep Sea Slider hatchling.

Seeing the girl, the newborn instinctively raises its appendages to attack.

However, after the girl offers it a piece of food, it confirms this gesture of friendliness. Its coiled appendages roll over the food and ferry it into its feeding organ.

It is at this moment, from the bottom of the sea to the stars high above, that the many receive a completely new perspective:

Humanity today is no longer a threat.

We can coexist with humans.

Within minutes of the coastline's collapse, silence floods the ears, the ocean's rumbling and the land's clamor all disappearing, as if the brain actively refuses to process the vibrations entering the auricle. In this moment, the terrible calamity leaves behind only a pure, white void.

The ground beneath one's feet may be crushed, sunken, or consumed by the spreading nethersea brand at any time. Even the high ground upon which Thorns is perched offers no guarantee of safety.

The Ægir who refused to evacuate watches as the ocean, for a brief moment, returns to serenity.

He does not know if it was from the shockwave or some other reason, but a strange heterogeneous fluid begins to flow from his ears, moistening his gloves and scrambling to be first to overflow from the gaps between his fingers.

It is blood.

Thorns does not mind bleeding.

Nothing else matters in comparison to the scene unfolding before his eyes.

He had to admit, he'd never found Iberia pleasant. He'd spent much more time around the coast than in the inland cities. He once left both Iberia and Ægir behind, and even now, does not consider either place his homeland. But afterward, he still returned to this place, to the scarred land of Iberia.

He once thought he might have the opportunity to rebuild the Golden Age sung about in the stories, a desire he'd held onto.

Until today.

The blood flowing from his ear trickles down to his neck, causing an indescribable itching. He cannot help but to perceive his own blood as some kind of foreign substance, and this act of bleeding as a process to purge it from his body.

The foreign substance drawn out by the sea keeps Thorns rooted in place.

What exactly is it that exerts its influence on him from the depths of the ocean?

This strange magnetism had grown more and more apparent with each passing day, and it became increasingly difficult to convince himself to ignore it.

A singer once said to him:

'Whether or not you fear it, it will come for you.'

But whatever it is that the singer said would come for him – was it his so-called homeland, or the sea creatures before him?

He must find out.