Story Reader / Main Story / 26 Cradle Parade / Story
You're neither Cthylla—who tends to slowly lose her mind if she loses the egg—nor Lamia—who thrives with the egg.
The collapse sends you straight into the pool at the bottom, tumbling into a deep well along with the current.
The rumble of the earthquake continues in the distance, and it sounds as though some gigantic monsters are fighting where you can't see them.
With your eyes locked on the well's opening, you try to make your way up—only to slide back down, completely exhausted.
The fight just now was the last straw for you.
You've been relying on him since you came to.
You find yourself not knowing what to do, having never thought that you'd have to say goodbye this soon.
You don't know much about Scarab, save for the few times you've seen Commandant Valeria walking alongside the rest of her squad.
Death is commonplace on the battlefield, but many have still yet to grow used to it.
You reach into one of the pockets. In there sits a candy he left behind.
The cool peppermint with a hint of alcohol restores some of your cool.
You clutch onto the candy wrapper and put it back into your pocket.
Your body, however, seems to be failing you. You feel as if you're being skinned alive as your clothes rub against your wounds, and the cold and trembling slowly stop you from moving.
When you put your hand onto your forehead, however, you feel a slimy lump of red.
It doesn't help that your Mind Beacon hasn't gotten any better—and many negative and violent thoughts are now adding to the chaos.
Except Lillian doesn't seem to want to let the connection go.
This is what you keep telling yourself, but try as you may, you keep falling back into the well.
You're trapped here, at your wits' end—and yet you don't know what you have to gain from the world out there either.
Out there are countless Hetero-Creatures, an invincible Cthylla, and... an Ascendant who's shown her true colors.
Despair fills your heart—and yet you never stop looking for tools to use in your surroundings.
Suddenly, a smear flashes past—and you seem to know what it's trying to do.
In the corner, it moves back and forth, as though trying to show you something.
It's a dirty backpack.
Inside is half a pack of compressed biscuits, a serum, a dagger, dozens of bullets, and two fever pills.
The backpack looks like something that a Scavenger has left here for some reason—and given the timing, you can't help but wonder if this is a...
But be that as it may, you know that you don't have the luxury to just walk away from the backpack now.
They taste normal—like any compressed cookies you've had, except your throat is much too dry now for them to go down smoothly.
Just like the biscuits, there is nothing out of the ordinary about the serum.
With the biscuits, the pills begin to tear at your throat.
Hoping to make it easier for the pills to go down your throat, you turn your eyes to the stream that's brought you down here in the first place, knowing that it's probably not the safest choice of liquid.
Right then, the well starts shaking more violently, and the ground sips away what little water there was left.
As if you haven't suffered enough, the bitter taste of the pills fills your mouth.
It takes you a good 10 minutes to swallow both the biscuits and the pills—until the upper wall of the well starts shaking again. With it, the well itself slants to the right.
Some seawater streams down this way through an opening on the well's wall—bringing with it a half-filled bottle of water and a pack of bandages that nearly hits you.
The bottle is all crumpled. You pick it up, take an incredulous sniff, and take a gulp of it.
Like everything you've found in the backpack just now, there is nothing out of the ordinary about this liquid. What strikes you as weird is the well itself.
You quickly bandage yourself with the bandage from the backpack and, with the dagger you just found, try to make your way up again. The dagger proves itself very useful.
Halfway up, however, the shaking begins again—and you have a bad feeling about it...
Countless metal bars pierce through the wall, blocking the well's opening.
In a panic, your hands let go, sending you falling straight back down to the bottom of the well.
He said there was one last injection to go, which is why you need to stay alive.
You pick up the dagger again ready to give the climb another try—but the unevenness of the ground stops you cold.
In the light coming down through the well's opening, you feel the ground—and notice that the protruding parts seem to form a line of words.
Please stay in ▁▂, it's dangerous outside ▂▄▁.
The corruption of your Mind Beacon awakens the compulsive rage that's been lying dormant within you. Your rage drowns out reason and comes pouring out of your mouth.
With no one around to contain it, your rage seems poised to escalate into an erupting volcano.
Your rage has reduced you down to a pathetic, venom-spewing loser.
And you know that if this goes on... you might very well end up like Ravenge with the corruption of your Mind Beacon.
All but about to break down, you stab at the words on the wall, hurting yourself again and again in the process.
As the well's shaking grows more violent still, squirmy writings begin to surface all around you—as though the walls were alive and were part of a Hetero-Creature.
I'm sorry please ▁▆▁▂ it's very dangerous here ▄▁▂ please ▂▁▄ stay here ▃▆ it's very dangerous ▃▁▂▆ here ▅▂▄▂ dangerous please stay ▂▄▂ dangerous please
As the well's shaking grows more violent still, squirmy writings begin to surface all around you—as though the walls were alive and were part of a Hetero-Creature.
I'm sorry please ▁▆▁▂ it's very dangerous here ▄▁▂ please ▂▁▄ stay here ▃▆ it's very dangerous ▃▁▂▆ here ▅▂▄▂ dangerous please stay ▂▄▂ dangerous please
▁▄▂I won't last much longer, and Cthylla is...
The mouth of the well Is closing in.
Before I ▁▂▄▁, please stay here. It's too dangerous outside.
The words sound like the plea of a dying man.
I'm sorry please▁▆▁▂it's very▄▁▂dangerous here▁▂▅▂▄dangerous▁▄▂dangerous
The words on the uneven walls scream out, pleading for the humans here to stay.
The tremors all around gradually subside as the mouth of the well returns to its original state, as if understanding what you've said.
You're plunged into darkness with the well's mouth all but completely sealed.
As the painkillers start to take effect, you are awash in a wave of fatigue.
At your wits' end, you lean against the well's wall, before sitting down and slowly closing your eyes.
April 16th, 4:00 AM.
Gray Raven commences a blanket search in the designated area, locking onto a long-abandoned hospital as their target.
Sneaking into the underground morgue, Liv discovers a hidden door behind the freezer of the thirteenth body.
......
What lies before the three of them now is a scene of utter despair.
Comman... dant...
An unbearable stench assaults the senses.
Behind the hidden door is a room with six bodies, all bearing the same face.
Some of them are stiff, while some have started to decompose. Others are still bleeding from their wounds.
Regardless of their states, these bodies all bear tragic expressions, as if trying to show what they had been through before meeting their fates.
...
Fighting the boiling pain in her M.I.N.D., Lucia grasps Liv's trembling hand.
Liv, Lee.
The blood... on some of these bodies is still fresh. There might still be hope. Let's check on them first.
These might just be clones, or it might be the Ascendants trying to fool us, but whatever... whatever it might be...
...I know.
Seeing Lucia struggle to find her words, Liv gently shakes her head.
Regaining her composure, she quickly walks up to the blood-stained bodies to check for any signs of life.
Lee, however, remains in place, looking somewhat out of it.
Lee?
Lee says nothing, as though he hasn't heard a thing.
Lee!
It's only when Lucia jolts him by the shoulder that Lee finally seems to snap back to the present from a distant past.
Let's check the other rooms. We're not giving up any hope!
With a nod, Lee quietly leaves the pool of blood behind.
He didn't "give up," nor was he crushed by what he'd seen—he was just feeling overwhelmed by a familiar heartache.
...What he doesn't understand, though, is why he's finding it familiar.
Breaking through the partition wall covered in dust, the trio finds a clean space beyond the stench and bloodstains.
In the space are rows of empty cryogenic chambers, with only the one at the far end containing a person who looks exactly like their commandant.
This commandant... is still alive! Lucia, call for backup!
I called them the moment we entered. They're on their way now.
...But is this really okay?
The three look at the body before them—still with a heartbeat—and exchange silent glances.
Can they really turn a blind eye to that certain question they haven't been able to answer if their commandant never turns up again?
And just exactly what would they have to do with this lookalike on the off chance that they found their commandant soon?
After a long silence, the three decide to leave these questions unanswered.
Commandant has only been missing for 16 days. Is that really enough time for someone, even with growth drugs, to go from birth... to the state this clone is in now?
These clones were here before Commandant went missing. That much I can say for sure.
But when exactly did...
Wait, we can hack into this terminal here.
Lee brings up a projection keyboard and inserts his storage device into the terminal.
After quite some time, surveillance footage from a while back is recovered.
The footage shows Lithos overseeing a couple of Constructs as they move a large machine in here.
What's this?
I know what that is. It's a memory synchronizer, and Professor Hippocrates has data on it.
A memory synchronizer?
Yes, it synchronizes memories between two brains. It was used during the Golden Age to treat amnesia... and in some illegal research. It damaged the brain easily, though, so they stopped using it.
In the footage, Lithos gently caresses the machine, muttering to himself.
Now... I'll have to bring you all here from Fort Winter.
And this is where I'll be giving your memories back to you. Let's hope this machine still works...
I'm sorry... it took me that long to finally notice who you are...
The footage ends here.
...
Fort Winter, huh... If what he said is true, that means these people were "created" before Commandant went missing.
Wait...
A human skeleton... They had lost all patience...
I saw a human skeleton near the access device when Alpha and I were at Fort Winter. Is that when...?
A human skeleton? As in all bones and no flesh?
No, I couldn't date it because it didn't seem like it had decayed naturally.
But here is my guess—if there was a "window of opportunity" for anyone to do anything before Commandant went missing...
...It would have been after the mission with Wanshi to set up the domain nodes and Longinus Arsenal vaporized the Red Tide.
...!
Remember how we were told to stand by in the prep room when they clearly could have used help?
I do. Commandant was trying to find out what was happening but was immediately taken away.
They said they "need to monitor memory replays caused by the corrupted Mind Beacon."
Nobody knew what those medical checks were for or what they took.
Says Lucia, the hilt of the knife in her hand on the verge of being crushed by her grip.
Is this all for Project Winter? But Fort Winter has been turned upside down! Why can't they just let it go already?!
They must've run out of choice. People probably shun them at all costs even if they manage to survive the punishment from the Purifying Force.
Which is why they've chosen the thorny path.
Says Liv as she tries to suppress her own anger.
Lithos needed memory sync because M.I.N.D. and self-consciousness go hand in hand, and that couldn't have happened without memory.
And that's why they took Commandant? So they could memory sync Commandant?
...
I'm sorry, Mister... I've lost track of[player name], and Cthylla has gone berserk from being awakened prematurely.
While you, severely injured, are fast asleep at the bottom of the well, Lithos is reporting the situation here to his agent amidst the chaos.
...
Vonnegut says nothing, waiting for Lithos to finish delivering all the bad news at once.
He knows well that Lithos wouldn't have come to bother him if there were a workaround.
The three of them orchestrated an explosion, destroying all of the M.I.N.D. backups stored nearby Cthylla.
I can't keep her stabilized anymore with my replicated M.I.N.D.
Your replicated M.I.N.D. was never stable, to begin with, and it was only meant to serve as a sedative while Cthylla was asleep. It's supposed to crash and burn as soon as she awakes.
Which is why I told you to seek reliable backup plans, even if it means taking more time.
But I just hoping to speed things up with your plan...
He clenches his arms in self-reproach, nearly crushing them.
It's my fault... I left Loki in my room, and she broke through the partition, and that's how they found out about that room.
...Shrek's replicated M.I.N.D. has been destroyed, too. If we don't do something about Cthylla, the consciousness he's implanted into the cradle will be contaminated and collapse, too.
And we'll lose control of this place... and of her cradle, too, if that happens.
That's exactly why you failed to notice it when they approached your room.
I've told you to exercise your caution if you want to control the cradle with him.
...
I've also advised against keeping Loki around. Your experiment is finished, and what you need to do now is to free her from her suffering.
She's one of us. She deserves to live, and if she dies...
You allow those humans to seek death, yet you deny Loki the same.
Is it Loki who needs to live? Or is it you who needs her to live?
...
I'm sorry.
What do you make of this commandant?
I... I don't know...
We had no idea who the connector was behind that wall when we were running M.I.N.D. connection experiments back at Fort Winter...
I am not who I was then, and [player name] is no longer the same [player name] I connected with.
So what do you think now?
...Mister.
I promise you that no matter what happens, I will see this plan through.
He answers Vonnegut's doubts with a promise.
And I ask that you believe me.
Your mission isn't finished, so don't dissolve yourself into Cthylla just yet.
Yeah, I know...
It's because Lithos can only die after this that he asks his agent for help.
It still pains Lithos to know that his death is being treated as an insignificant matter.
Lamia infiltrated this place and took Cinderelik.
Luna's pawn didn't get here too late at all.
The figure cloaked in darkness ponders for a moment.
I needn't bother, then, since it isn't Alpha. As long as Cthylla lives on, the cradle can be rebuilt.
This commandant is just one injection and a little time away from the full effect of the medication. We need to find them at once.
The egg has accumulated quite a few stable shards and is only one step away from hatching. I just need to see it hatch and make sure Cthylla survives now.
...That's all you need? What are we going to do with Cinderelik... if she doesn't hatch?
She's well prepared for that. She went back to Cthylla knowing this might happen.
...
I'm not going to stop you if you can salvage her, too.
Lithos knows that isn't something he is capable of, not to mention that Vonnegut starts entertaining the thought of forsaking the cradle the second he learns of Lamia's invasion.
Using Lamia would maximize what he can get out of Cthylla and the commandant—because he needs the cradle and the egg to connect with each other to "bewitch" the holder.
Now, with the "joystick" gone, he's lost control of both Cthylla and the cradle.
Use the key I left to unlock the device in the control room. You'll find your last M.I.N.D. replica there.
You mean...
Right, that's the replicated frame you left behind before becoming an Ascendant. Stabilize Cthylla with it.
Both Cthylla and the cradle are out of control. The frame alone won't last long.
That's why you need to inject the commandant with the final dose as soon as possible.
Leave the retrieval of the egg and Cthylla to Lilith.
...
Lithos wants to say more, then realizes his own mistakes don't give him the right to object.
He once hoped to use his past self to escape back to a time when things were untarnished—looking back now, however, he knows he can't be further from achieving it.
Thinking that he had this coming to him, Lithos almost wants to laugh at himself.
And while we're still at this, Lithos...
But this person, now a completely different man from when they first met, quietly stops him—and utters the very same words he did the day they first met.
Don't rely too much on pain.
Gently touching the spikes in his chest that won't spare him the pain, Lithos passes through the corridor filled with Hetero-Creatures to retrieve the key Vonnegut mentioned and heads toward the control room.
As he walks, he removes the hair accessory from his head, shedding the long hair and dress that belonged to Rose, and, with a sigh, changes into the clothes he used to wear at the orphanage.
I'm sorry, Rose. I might look like you, but I still have a hard time bringing myself to like myself, and pain is still the only way I know to seek forgiveness.
Let me be the person I was and face the person I was, then.
Until now, Lithos has been relying on pain and self-punishment to stay lucid.
This is the "Mind Beacon" Lithos has always been attentive to, and he has come thus far walking down this path.
And while Lithos has been replicated more times than he can ever recount, this individual known as Lithos will always remember...
...That very moment when "Paper Crane"—a medical chair a kind-hearted donor had given him—was turned into a punishment chair...
...All those painful times he has had to live through after becoming an Ascendant, one of which is that time he fell for Ravenge's trick and accepted his help...
...All the fathers from the orphanage, and everything Ravenge had done...
...And how all the unbloomed flowers were nailed to Paper Crane—before they had their buds forced open and pistils plucked again and again until they became specimens or toys.
They said they were doing it for his good, claiming that they loved those little buds too much to ever want to hurt them.
Now a grown-up himself, Lithos equates intense, painful tug at heart with love, having never truly experienced "love" in that distorted, sequestered paradise.
The more intense the pain carved into his soul, the more genuine his twisted confession...
... all of these have turned Lithos into the person he is today—one who would feed a rabbit a piece of flesh he cut off himself.
...I did it for the rabbit. I can't just sit around and watch it starve, can I...
But what becomes of the rabbit that's tasted flesh and blood?
Lithos' love has led him nowhere—much like this path that's taken him this far as an Ascendant.
He sets out hoping to see a brand new future, only to find himself wandering further into the thorns and fog.
He knows only too well that a villain won't stop being a villain simply because he's been victimized, which tears his soul in half.
He is "Lithos," and he is also "Fathers"—he has become an offender since he was made a victim.
He wishes they could all live peacefully looking forward to tomorrow, instead of having to trek the long, twisted river that's the Ascension-Network and hurting so many people along the way.
Having been raised by his "fathers," Lithos doesn't know how to go about life in ways his "fathers" have never shown him.
Which is why he sees what he's doing now as the best way out—if the disaster<//TRAIN> leaves no time for anyone, then he needs to act now.
And to that end, he doesn't care how many people he is going to hurt, so long as he can keep a handful of them safe—and this is the kind of "filtering" that Lithos stands by.
He's been tormented by what he has done, and he resorts to lying to help himself feel better.
He's been telling people that he's doing these things for their good, that they have to do as he says to survive—to the point he falls prey to his own lies.
Dying on a periodic basis helps get these heavy emotions off Lithos' chest, as much as he knows that this is but a temporary getaway.
His idea of an ideal death would be to get torn and crushed completely alongside Paper Crane, all the while consciously enduring torment a thousandfold worse than what he had to in the past.
It's only through pain so excruciating that he thinks he can find temporary forgiveness in himself for himself.
It's only then that he can bid a graceful farewell.
