Story Reader / Main Story / 17 The Surviving Lucem / Story
By the time the mourning crowd has departed, Babylonia has hung up the artificial night sky.
Liv's name is marked alongside many others within the code on the war memorial, allowing the visitors to learn about their stories.
The lives behind those names, both humans and Constructs, have used their bodies to mend the rifts caused by the war, paving a road for humanity's future.
The brightest day will eventually dusk, the river of time flowing toward a new night.
History of the world, then, goes back and forth between light and darkness. It had been this way, and it will be this way.
Underneath the bright, artificial moonlight, all but three remain before the monument.
They stare at the familiar name in silence, sharing neither tears nor words.
If the human among them had not passed out before dawn due to having just recovered, they would have stayed there until noon and beyond.
Heartbroken as they are, they will still visit tomorrow, even when their battles leave them no time to grieve.
The girl will lie in the eternal winter with countless others, dreaming about what could be as what once was.
There ends her journey. From then, it will be someone else's story.
...
Becoming a name on the memorial. Building a future with her past.
History never changes dramatically because of one person, but everyone can use their power to help lay the foundation of a future.
If the future is filled with difficulties, perhaps it is easiest for her to depart at her most glorious moment, no longer having to suffer any pain.
But...
Her heart still worries for her companions.
The algorithm responds to her question and extends the scene onward.
A few days later, she sees a familiar figure.
It is Lucia.
...
Lucia places a sheep plush in front of the memorial before sitting down, as the place is empty at this late hour.
You look more like a wanderer than a soldier now. Is that how you are sometimes?
Lucia...
Lucia cannot hear the "past" calling for her. She just sits there, talking to herself.
Liv, this is the second time I lost a teammate unprepared.
I'm sorry, but the day you left... I was so angry. Not at you. I was angry at myself and those who withheld the truth...
I could tell that it was part of Project Winter. But I only heard the truth about it when I brought you back here.
But what happened to you... I don't know a better way.
Commandant woke up a few days after you're gone... If you waited a little bit longer before coming for us, would you have lived?
Lucia shakes her head, answering herself.
If you had done that, we would lose Lee, Chrome, Changyu, and Sophia.
...And me.
They were more injured than I was. I was the last one who could still move because they were guarding the way to me.
And... in the end, you helped us destroy the twins.
I've been thinking these past few days. If I could go back in time, what could I have done to protect you?
...But I can't think of anything that would save you.
Not unless I trade your life with others.
But you wouldn't have wanted to see that.
...
Liv, do you know that Lee...
Lucia does not continue.
A while after Lucia has left, another Construct stands before the war memorial.
Liv.
He greets her before falling into a long silence as if all he has to say is being said wordlessly.
He only moves when the timer on his terminal rings, and he looks down, frowning.
I'm here to say goodbye.
He goes quiet again after that, considering for a moment. In the end, he chooses to leave those words unsaid.
Farewell.
All he thinks and feels are distilled into a simple goodbye, drifting away into the light casting in the square.
He never returns after that.
Has he disappeared, or is his path too far removed from what Liv can anticipate?
Time passes day after day. Every time the commandant and Lucia come to visit together, Liv can see the marks time leaves on the commandant's body.
Later, people begin to mention a snowstorm on the surface. It seems that a very difficult winter is coming.
After that, the commandant's name is put next to Liv's at a memorial service.
Then, their names are joined by Lucia's.
Many winters later, a young female Construct stands before the monument, someone Liv does not recognize.
Hello, Liv.
Do you remember me? I'm Cosette. You saved me when I was a baby.
...
They told me that my parents thought I'd be a genius. That was why they risked their lives delivering me to you.
...No. That wasn't...
All they wanted was for you to be happy...
They wanted to give you the choice to choose your future...
But the young Construct cannot hear Liv. She continues.
But what have I achieved? I'm just a Support-type Construct that can't do anything well...
All of you must be so disappointed if you were here.
Of course not... This is not what they wanted...
What were my parents like? Why did they bring me into the world?
Tell me, please...
...
Cosette has lost everyone she held dear this long winter. She no longer has anyone to talk to.
The young Construct, all alone, talks before the monument, until her words turn into tears.
As the Construct cries, the scenery around her slowly fades into a thick, white fog.
This is as far as Liv's prediction can reach.
Is this the future I have been looking forward to?
It is easier to rest eternally in death than to bear all those sufferings and pains.
But I find it colorless and cold...
A more painful way, then?
If you have your answer...
I hope you would not regret this decision.
