rogue_4

A strange phenomenon is spreading across Terra.

Oripathy patients in advanced stages of Infection would become enveloped in white light before they die. Then, they would be covered by black Originium and turned into a solid, indestructible oval rock.

No disintegration, no dust. Death becomes gentle for those afflicted by Oripathy.

At first, people treat it only as some kind of Originium mutation, nothing worth paying any particular attention to. As it is not causing any more casualties, they turn their focus back to their cruel wars.

But they begin to realize that it is not a natural phenomenon, as enemies shot, allies caught in cannon fire, and Infected about to be run over by battleships all turn to stone the instant before they die.

There must be a conscious will driving this abnormal phenomenon.

After a long search, they finally discover the one behind all this.

A black-crowned Cautus, a ghost of the Sarkaz.

All Amiya wants is to save more lives, yet somehow many now see her as the greatest threat to the land. She is surprised to find that those who have been fighting to the death yesterday are now joining forces, pooling their strength and developing new technologies together—all in the name of killing the owner of the black crown.

Amiya does not mind being the common threat of Terra, if it might bring lasting piece. But she soon notices the malice beneath the veil of false peace—

Under the banner of killing the Lord of Fiends, the Infected are being dissected and studied, commoners are forced into even harder labor, and a single empty slogan decides the life and death of many. Amiya's efforts to save the dying only made some of the living even more fanatical.

She sees Terra's population increase, but also more lives being taken. Death has never left. It has simply taken on another guise, feeding on even more lives.

Amiya wants to save lives, but she has not found a cure, be it for the illness of man, or the illness of society. Yet the spreading sorrow does not permit her to be indecisive.

Passively protecting the dying and allowing malice to create a new disease would only bring more misfortune.

Amiya makes her decision.

She does not believe that individual kindness can change all this. Before she finds the answer to end all suffering—

She would seal it all away.

A gentle light covers the land. The void above the sky begins to congeal. Consciousness and even time itself freeze. Everything on the planet comes to a standstill.

This story has come to an end.

Amiya floats in the void, her story one of the moons revolving around the black crown.

Does the answer lie in the distant stars, in those sparkling stories?

There is only one way to find out. She floats towards them.

In search of the answer.

All she finds, at the end of the long search, is more sorrow.

A Kazdel broken, sunken in the void.

The glory of the Twin Kings, desolate in time.

The halos of the Teekaz, faded as the machine withers.

The sermons of the Anasa, with none left to hear them.

All the stories Amiya experiences become the moons around her.

Suffering after suffering sealed away, none of them holding the answer she sought.

All she can do is take the moons along on her endless journey.

As her exploration continues, Amiya discovers a strange phenomenon.

Certain story fragments emerge suddenly from the void, only to stop just as suddenly.

At the end of each fragment are traces of the same team of Sarkaz.

A team consisting of a Djall, a Lich, a Revenant, a Nachzehrer, a Gargoyle, and two mixed-blood Sarkaz.

They would either be utterly defeated in battle, or suddenly vanish after making a choice.

They seem to be creating, seeking.

Yet they give up so constantly, leaving behind stories that disappear into the void.

Amiya spends a long time sealing these story remnants away, deducing the path that these Sarkaz are taking.

She senses that they may be the key to everything. She exists because of their telling.

Do they understand suffering? Do they understand her perplexity? Do they have the answer?

Or do they tell these stories because they are in pain as well, just like her?

Amiya follows the trail of endings, towards the telling of Nymph and her friends.