Story Reader / Affection / Ishmael: Parhelion / Story
This is a story that happened between moments of the past.
It was the night before a girl set out on a <phonetic=hardship>journey</phonetic> to face her fate.
And it was the last moment of warmth she would ever know.
This is—
A story of time travelers.
Time: ■■■■
Location: ■■■■
■■: ■■■■
The pink-haired woman stands silently, watching the destruction from above.
An alert beeps, and she looks at the device on her wrist.
Time-space fluctuations? How's that possible?
After a brief pondering, she decides to investigate.
It is like coming out of the darkness of first birth to see a broken world.
Ruined buildings are everywhere. The ground shakes and the light changes constantly.
Despite the chaos, you feel oddly calm.
And then, the questions arise—
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Where am I going?
Even basic thoughts hurt. All you can picture are these red "lines".
The red lines tremble, sending out deep, cosmic tones.
The sounds from space's overture signal the end of time.
A figure seems to appear near the red lines, quietly arranging them.
Crash!
A loud noise jolts you back to reality.
Pieces of the ruins fall around you, a clear sign that this place is not safe anymore.
You need to find shelter, fast.
But... is anywhere here really safe?
Hey! Follow me, now!
You look toward where the voice comes from and see a pink-haired woman running toward you, waving frantically.
This world's collapsing!
You try to run after her, but you fall after just a couple of steps.
It is not that you are weak. More accurately, your mind has not acclimatized to this body.
Like a terminal overloaded with programs, your body is slow to react.
When she sees you fall, the pink-haired woman instantly grabs your hand.
She pulls you along, guiding your sluggish body as you run around the corner.
A golden, glowing gate stands before you.
You go through the gate, and everything changes.
You are standing on a rooftop, and in the distance—
The end of civilization.
Meteors rain down, ripping through the sky and leaving fiery trails.
The star, meant to warm the planet, flickers and dies out.
As it flutters, the whole cosmos turns crimson, the red tint creeping across the night sky and radiating pure doom.
And the earth—the ground itself—is torn apart by strange gravity, rising and crashing down.
Magnetic fields become visible, pulling tons of magnetic materials into a vortex to form a massive, writhing snake on the ground.
Just a world destroyed—again.
A gust of wind sweeps her hair aside, showing sorrowful eyes. She stares ahead as if she is burning the scene into her memory forever.
It only lasts a second, but it feels like forever before she finally looks away and turns to you.
I'm Ishmael. I'm a time traveler.
That's right.
I picked up parameter fluctuations in spacetime and found you here. No one should have been here.
The anomaly in the distance is getting closer, and it is clear you are both going to be wiped out soon.
I'm heading back. You should too.
Ishmael looks surprised.
You don't know? How did you even get here?
Ishmael lowers her head in deep thought.
Could this be a side effect of time travel? I've never heard of anything like this before.
The wind picks up as Ishmael looks up at you.
Do you still have the time travel terminal on you?
The Temporal Plane Disruption and Spatial Positioning Restoration Terminal.
Hearing that, Ishmael thinks for a second before holding out her hand.
Take my hand!
She checks the device on her wrist, confirms the parameters settings, and then looks back.
Quick!
The device shines a deep blue light, enveloping Ishmael like liquid before flowing along your hands and covering you too.
In the final moment, the stars before your eyes fade to gray, and in the next second, everything plunges into darkness.
Boom—
You hit the ground hard. Everything looks blurry, and you feel dizzy.
Still, you can about make out you are in some kind of research facility with your hazy vision.
Why have you cut the mission short, and why have you brought someone back?
A person approaches and asks.
Did you bring the medicine? I didn't have a spare terminal when we came back.
Here.
Please raise your hand.
Something has been attached to the back of your hand.
Open your mouth.
It's an adaptation agent. It'll help with your symptoms. Don't worry.
You feel a capsule go into your mouth, and it dissolves right away.
After taking the agent, your vision clears, and the dizziness goes away.
You are finally able to stand up and look around properly.
You are clearly in a research facility. Behind you is an open area with all sorts of mechanical arms.
The open space's floor is a little bit different from its surroundings—it is a hexagonal platform made of glass-like material that emits a soft white glow.
Nearby, a few staff members hunch over their workstations, jotting data down and acting indifferent. They do not seem to care what is going on.
You can see more of those hexagonal platforms in the distance, each with workstations nearby.
Every time you travel through time and space, reality changes a bit.
They're recording how reality has changed—it's incredibly important and takes a lot of focus.
The woman cuts Ishmael off, her voice sounding urgent.
Why did you bring someone else back? You know that's against protocol.
And you arrived from the Terminus Year, of all times.
This person was at the target location and was likely a time traveler as well.
The woman's face does not change upon Ishmael's explanation.
Ishmael starts introducing everyone after her brief explanation.
This is Ta·3T-class, who helped build this place and manages missions for some time travelers.
Give me the details, then.
While on my mission, I detected time-space fluctuations and decided to check them out...
While Ishmael explains, Ta·3T-class scans you both with a strange device.
After seeing the scans are normal, Ta·3T-class looks a bit relieved.
After Ishmael finishes explaining, Ta·3T-class shakes her head with resignation.
Using a time travel terminal for two people is really dangerous.
It's not worth risking it for a stranger.
Luckily you were just "returning", not "diving".
She pauses and lets out a sigh.
Putting yourself in danger for someone you just met...
I've heard how compassionate you are, but this is way beyond what I expected.
No wonder everyone here calls you "Wish-Mael".
Hehe.
Ta·3T-class turns from Ishmael, who is trying to avoid her reprimand, and faces you.
Since you got there through time travel, you must be a time traveler as well. I'll check our database—we might have your details on file.
Even though you got here in an unexpected way, and I can't say exactly who you are, but...
Welcome to the "Shrike" Research Institute.
Obviously. We're the organization that deals with time travel.
Ishmael will show you around. You can stay here for now.
She finishes speaking and turns back to Ishmael.
I've got other things to handle. Mael, will you look after...
She pauses, realizing she hasn't asked the stranger's name.
Ta·3T-class frowns harder.
...Our unexpected guest.
She pats Ishmael's shoulder and walks away with the weariness of someone facing another overtime shift.
Once Ta·3T-class is gone, Ishmael turns to you.
What else do you remember?
Including your name?
Ishmael pauses, thinking.
How about I give you a code name? We can use that until you remember your name.
Hm...
Ishmael puts her head down, thinking hard and muttering to herself.
Sweet Potato... No, no... Kukuro... or maybe Cthu...
Got it!
She claps her hands, done with her brainstorming.
The nebula was gray when I brought you here, so how about "Gray Raven"?
It's said the Four-Winged White Raven brings good fortune.
So? What do you think?
Something stirs inside you like a ripple, but then it is gone.
What's wrong? Don't you like it?
Are you remembering something?
It's okay. Take your time. You'll remember.
Come on, let's go to the break room first.
As you head toward the exit, you ask Ishmael about the research institute.
That's a phase transmission screen, more commonly known as a portal. You don't remember those?
Teleportation's pretty standard. It's common knowledge these days.
Looks like you've forgotten quite a bit.
The Temporal Plane Disruption and Spatial Positioning Restoration Terminal.
We usually just call them time travel terminals or travel terminals. Take your pick.
They have to work with the time mainframe.
Ishmael smiles, understanding what you are getting at.
I'll skip its official name this time.
The mainframe uses a supercomputer to run everything. It holds all the terminal data.
Think of the time travel terminals as "ropes"—one end's tied to the mainframe, the other to the time traveler.
When a time traveler needs to get back to "Shrike", the "ropes" pull them in.
Your vision goes blurry for a second, then goes back to normal. You see a quick flash.
Ishmael doesn't react, like she doesn't notice anything.
Could this be a side effect of time travel?
Ta·3T-class walks down the corridor, calling to the supercomputer "Silence".
"Silence", get me the personnel files from "Shrike".
Beep beep—
Then, a message pops up.
Ta·3T-class's face goes grim.
...Stuck in the "Terminus Year"?
Following Ishmael, you walk down a corridor to a large screen. Data is swirling around it, and a giant red number sits in the middle.
Ishmael looks at where you are pointing and sees the number.
She goes quiet for a moment, her voice turning solemn.
That is the Terminus Year.
The year this world ends.
The world's going to be destroyed soon. Shrike's trying to stop that with time travel.
...Yes.
Remembering the world's destruction you saw earlier, you feel a pang of "pain".
—It feels like you have seen something like this before.
It's...
Bzzz—
A weird noise is coming from the hexagonal platform nearby.
Boom—
...Followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.
You look over and see a bloodied time traveler on the floor.
Hurry... Cough...
He makes a sound before coughing and spitting blood.
With his last bit of strength, he forces out a desperate cry.
RUN—NOW! It's coming!
Before anyone can react, alarms go off throughout the research institute.
