Story Reader / Main Story / 26 Cradle Parade / Story
A young man crawls in moments after Lamia has left.
He drops a blanket next to you and throws up his arms to show that he had no luck finding anything useful.
Lithos is now Cthylla's second consciousness. I've sealed off some entrances but had no luck finding the things I stored up before.
I just gave you a bit of ketamine—it's all I brought in here. See, Lithos has banned the use of anesthetics.
This young man looks so much like Noan that you just can't bring yourself to tell him to give up his life.
But given about 20 hours left, you can't seem to think of anything better than this.
Okay.
What about you?
That Ascendant girl is feeling overwhelmed by all the choices she has, but that goes for you, so what about you?
Aren't you going to sacrifice yourself because you are at your wits' end?
Avoid sacrifice, unless it's the only way for you to fight back.
Hang in there. I know you're trying to save the world here, but that doesn't mean you should overlook all other possibilities.
Throwing your life away like it's trash isn't exactly smart.
So hang in there and give it a few more tries. You'll always have the option of giving up and telling the world that you've tried it all when you really have tried it all.
He waves his hand before turning around to head toward the exit.
Without saying anything, he waves his hand before turning around to head toward the exit.
Unfortunately, yes.
Destroying Lithos' plan has always been my goal.
"Noan" slowly turns around and comes back to you. This is the first time he's disregarded your corruption and come this close to you since the two of you met.
He bends now and runs his fingers gently across your face, leaving burning pain on your blistering wounds.
...
...Goodbye.
After that, the young man walks up to Cthylla—who's caught in a standoff with Lamia.
Let me cut you a deal, Ascendant, if you want to leave this place with that commandant of yours.
The two quickly get out of Cthylla's sight. "Noan" brings Lamia up to speed on his escape plan.
He plans to get out of the deep sea using Cthylla—which is going to make him Cthylla's second consciousness, allowing him to seize Lithos' control over her.
I'll have Cthylla open a temporary exit in the decompression chamber. Go through there and free her from her shackles, and then you'll be able to leave with the human.
How are you going to seize control from Lithos, though? Your consciousness is just going to become one with his if you go in now.
Cthylla is going to lend me a hand. She's going to "give birth" to him ahead of schedule.
But how are you going to make her help you?
She's still awake, and I've been there and done that.
What do you stand to gain from this deal, then?
The egg. I need the egg to keep Cthylla under control from the inside, so I can take advantage of her protection and keep you from turning into a pulp 5,000 meters underwater.
...
Let's go through your choices here again.
One, agree to this deal, which means that you get to get out of here with that commandant after freeing Cthylla's womb from the shackles.
Or two, we can all wait for Cthylla's womb to collapse and kill us all.
She's essentially given only one choice—and yet, she's seeing an opportunity, one with which she can make all her wishes come true.
But what's going to happen after that?
...leaving you all alone in the vast expanse of the starry sky.
Lamia isn't sure if that's what she really wants.
No.
Giving up on wishes is hard, but hating the outcome after they're realized is even worse.
...Guess I don't really want to have to deal with the hassle of making them come true.
This is what she tells herself.
...Here, take it.
Reluctant as she is, the mermaid lets go of the egg.
...Okay.
The young man takes out a hastily scribbled map.
Go to this place and wait there. I'll open an exit here.
Wait, I have one more condition to add.
...When you become Cthylla, can you find Shorthalt's name tag for me? I want to return it to the commandant.
It's supposed to be important to humans, right?
Okay.
The mermaid leaves quietly, heading swiftly toward the location marked on the map.
In the empty tunnel, "Noan" is the only one that remains as Cthylla approaches this way.
...
His mother—now a monster—stops before him.
Clearly, the two consciousnesses in there know what he's up to.
Cthylla, I have Cinderelik here with me.
You've always wanted to apologize to her, haven't you?
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Come and take her, then. I know you can fight Lithos to a certain extent.
The two consciousnesses, each harboring different thoughts, stagger forward, struggling.
...Thank you.
And thus, this life that had made the wrong choice finally found the right path for itself.
Alone, he escaped the absurdities of this world.
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With what sounded like the lamentations of a whale, Lamia left the cage that had been imprisoning her.
What enters her visual module is a vast and boundless underwater ruin.
...
This... is beyond insane.
When exactly did Lithos put all of these here?
Is there still time? The commandant is beyond exhausted.
...Gotta hurry up!
With a flick of her tail, Lamia swims toward where the Punishing is most concentrated—because she's sure that that's where Cthylla and the Hetero-Creature are being kept imprisoned.
For the first time in her life, she feels glad to be an Ascendant.
And this is the second time in her life that she's glad to have the tail of a fish.
The human, on the other hand, has a dream on the verge of death.
In the dream, they're back in the hall where their graduation ceremony was held.
About to leave the school, the graduates all sing the all-too-familiar school anthem together.
[As the flames spread in the distance, the pioneers' robes become stained with blood]
[I bid farewell to yesterday's campus, armed with everything I have been taught]
Their eyes sparkle, filled with hope for the future.
[A road emerges from the ruins, marked by the footsteps of all of those who went before us]
Yes, we're all here because of everyone who's fought the war of yesterday for us.
People who once laughed around us all turned into unrecognizable corpses before we even knew it...
...leaving us with only a handful of them.
No one can say on their behalf that they regret not, as they all left this world with unrealized wishes...
Yet every time this song is sung, you're taken back to the graduation ceremony.
You've told those on the ground that they haven't been forsaken—for a future without strife, for our home on Earth, for the young students to get themselves ready...
...And for those you love to be able to take a moment to breathe...
Is this your memory?... Everything is shining so brightly.
Before you know it, a woman stands right beside you.
Her presence on the brilliantly lit stage is hardly fitting—reminiscent of a burnt hole on a beautiful tapestry, utterly out of place.
Are you really willing to give up all these to merge your consciousness with mine? You're different from them. You still have time.
You can't even imagine how painful it's going to be...
Our memories will merge, and you'll feel the pain I've had to live through, understand why I can't control myself... and why I hurt people.
...It'll be like a dream where your flesh withers and soul burns.
You'll feel as if your lower body and abdomen have disappeared, leaving only your upper body hanging from the "Tree of Life" as you become one with it.
You'll find countless lives and soon-to-be-deceased connected to your consciousness, forcing you to experience the joy and pain of birth...
And even if you cry for help, you'll get nothing but infant cries in response.
If you still wish to proceed, then promise me one thing.
Please help me... kill myself.
The woman's figure vanishes, after which a massive snowfall engulfs the auditorium.
When you look behind you, you see all the undergraduates looking worriedly back this way—something you once did back when you were still an undergraduate yourself.
You know that your time is drawing to a close...
...And that you have to go now... into an uncharted tomorrow that you need to explore with your life at stake for those who stand behind you—like all those who came before you have done.
Don't go, Commandant!!
A pair of arms wrap around you, you turn around—and see the other Gray Ravens looking back at you.
Just give us some time to make you stay!
We don't want to part ways just yet even if that's meant to happen someday!
Could you... trust us a little more?
I'm sure Vonnegut or the Hetero-Creatures won't have anything on us as long as we stick together.
So please, and I'm begging you, please don't go there!
They're right. And you gotta keep in mind that you're not alone.
Shorthalt pats you on the shoulder, smiling as he steps into the swirling snowflakes.
There is a bunch of people waiting for you, no?
He, too, catches up to Shorthalt and vanishes into the seemingly endless snowfield.
...Commandant...
Can I really believe what they said?
Can I really believe that they'll make it here before Vonnegut picks up Cthylla...
...That this disaster will be nipped in the bud before it wreaks any damage, that what happened at Pulia Forest Park won't happen again...
...And that you won't be bedridden and powerless while those you hold dear sacrifice.
You find yourself swinging between the two choices.
Cold droplets fall on the face, awakening the one wandering in dreams.
When you open your eyes, the absurd paradise, having peeled away, now shows its true colors.
Before you know it, Lamia is back to being soaked from head to toe.
...Um, I found Shorthalt's name tag.
She places a rusted name tag next to you.
...The egg, I gave it to "Noan", so...
...
She hesitates, unsure whether to hold your hands.
I've placed some protective barriers beneath you... This place is back to being the Hetero-Creature it was and is dangerous to humans.
...There were more things holding Cthylla in place than I thought... so it took me quite some time to break them...
...But it all worked! We're leaving the seabed now and will soon reach the sea surface!
Tears trickling down Lamia's cheeks land on your tattered jacket.
Is she crying when she's got nothing but good news to share?
Hang in there... We're almost there...
She nods sadly.
It's been about... over ten hours.
...
My terminal still worked when we first fell in here...
I guess it's probably March 30th or 31st, taking into account how long we've been spending in here.
Eh? I mean... it could be either March 30th or 31st now...
It's April Fool's Day. Any idea what we're getting Commandant this year?
This is the last thing you heard Lucia say before you went missing.
Y-yeah.
The mermaid, taken aback, utters a number.
A whole year has passed since you went missing.
I am, because I checked the time before we fell in here...
She falls silent, your seemingly weird questions apparently starting to make sense to her.
Are you the very commandant that Gray Raven is leaving no stone unturned trying to find? Or are you one of the five they don't care about at all?
Or maybe... you are the true one, but Gray Raven has located one of the five and halted their pursuit of you?
Neither Lamia nor Lithos lied.
You remember the name "Noan", but not this incident?
The current you isn't the "you" who knows what's happened to his eyes.
You've been in a state of memory loss—or rather, there are a bunch of your clones here with no memories.
So, you're the real deal?
Your complete memories, the terminal that Lee left you with, and all the messages from everyone...
Uhm... don't think you're gonna be happy seeing five copies of yourself, are you? Well, guess this is where accidents and memory loss come in handy.
But what about the other Gray Ravens?
What would they make of you when they finally find you—and see that you've lost all your memories?
But you were dreaming of them just now...
In any case, this, you know, is a dream that will never come true.
...What did you say?
From the get-go, the abandoned are the only ones partaking in this parade that takes place at this slaughterhouse.
Shorthalt, who's deemed dead.
Noan, who made the wrong choice.
Cinderelik, who finished all preparations only to find her target gone.
The desperate who have gone missing.
And you yourself... who has been sleeping here for a whole year.
Reaching for Lamia, your hand falls powerlessly—like an apple ripe to the point of rotting—and lands on the ground making a slimy sound.
You might have lived with more honor throughout your life than you could have hoped for, but none of that hardly matters when you've been reduced down to a bloody pulp looking death straight in the eye.
...But this makes no sense at all...
You're supposed to be indispensable to Babylonia...
Being the cautious Ascendant that she is, Lamia has never let her guard down, thinking that the world would forsake her the moment she screws up or proves anything less than useful.
Which is why she respects people who garner others' respect and possess a wealth of knowledge without having to work overly hard to prove their worth.
She is seeing one such person right before her, and yet...
I can't believe they abandoned you just like that...
...
But that makes no sense...
931206?
...
But you're speaking too soon. There's still time to act...
Hopelessly broken, however, your heart is telling you to forfeit even when there is still time.
But you're not alone when it comes to "I don't even have what it takes to make it out of this place."
I was always like that before I came to this place...
But I've come a long way since, and it's all because I embraced this egg... and I revert back to my old self the moment I let go of it.
Which is why... I never really wanted to let it go.
A little greedier?
...
...
You can barely hear your own voice now.
They...
Yes, I... see why they had to send me away now.
But why are we still talking about these... when I've already handed the egg over?
...
...No, it's okay, I understand what you're saying, and I promise I'll be greedier.
But I still think... I still think you're speaking too soon...
Entrusting the Ascendant with your hope, you close your eyes in exhaustion and start humming a tune you know by heart.
...The stars gaze upon the sea. In its embrace lie the sails...
But... but why does it have to end this way?
But I thought you were super lucky and invincible... like the heroes from those stories?
So why... why does it have to be here of all places...
...
...I'm listening.
...You...
Lamia's warm tears land on your blistering skin, causing pangs of pain.
Got it... I'll give it my best try...
...
With the last ounce of your being, you jerk your name tag off and place it next to Lamia's tail alongside Shorthalt's.
...Okay.
Seemingly understanding the words, the soft red structure you're lying on wraps around you.
...Right.
...Farewell, then...
All your pent-up regrets, the blood you haven't shed, and the remaining 12.5 hours—all sink into the red mud with these words.
And gone are those hands that she'd never have a chance to hold again.
