Story Reader / Affection / Selena: Pianissimo / Story
Selena: Pianissimo I
>I'll record five things. Five fingers, each holding a piece of the past.
She//<Selena> is in a long, deep slumber.
First, without you, there is no world. Not this one, not any other.
A solitary iris//<Selena> blooms upon the ground.
Second, whatever I search for, it always leads to you.
No matter the distance between two stars, even if they have to go from singularity to heat death, their light will travel across the galaxy, the solar corona, and the galactic cantilever to break the wall of time and space to meet each other.
Is that you...?
Third... why bother learning to count to three?
An empty song echoes through her//<Selena> universe.
Fourth, the wheat fields are burning.
A wandering whale//<Selena> drifts through the sea of stars.
Fifth, this finger... represents you.
It represents you//<Conductor>, and also me//<Selena>.
She//<Selena> startles awake from her deep slumber.
A body the size of a mountain leaps from the water under countless stars and hangs in midair like a crescent moon—
——▃——▅▁——▂
She//<Selena> hears the whale singing under the starry sky.
Cough...
Selena leans against a fallen stone pillar, awakening in the faint light of dawn.
M.I.N.D...
When she wakes up, Selena starts checking her M.I.N.D. and sees that things seem no more promising than they usually do.
...
She lets out a quiet sigh.
On the earth now scorched brown, the agent known as the Merciful One helped cleanse the Punishing anomalous matter from her broken frame, removed the Hetero-Core Shards from her body, and used the Red Tide to reconstruct her frame.
While what the Merciful One has done came to her as a "miracle," it did little to alleviate her troubles.
Due to prolonged exposure to Hetero-Core Shards, her M.I.N.D. was nearly destroyed. While the Merciful One managed to keep her M.I.N.D. relatively stable, her memories are beyond repair.
To stabilize her M.I.N.D. and recover her lost memories, Selena wanders alone across the land as she traces the poems and songs of her past.
After her brief walk down memory lane, Selena has managed to stabilize her M.I.N.D. She opens her eyes again and looks at her reconstructed frame.
Your M.I.N.D. is too damaged... There's nothing more I can do.
A frame forged by Red Tide... a "Transcendant". Not bad, isn't it?
The pink-haired woman in the hood reveals a mysterious smile.
Thank you...
It was by chance that the lonely wandering girl encountered that merciful agent again on the snowy plains.
No need to thank me. I was just testing a theory.
So... what exactly am I...
...It's not time yet.
When it's all over, I'll come to you.
...
By the way, I've linked the stability of your M.I.N.D. to your core. The dimmer your core gets, the more unstable your M.I.N.D. is.
This is all I can offer. The rest... you'll have to find it yourself.
...Phew.
Today, her core still maintains its pale blue light.
Still a long road ahead, isn't there?
Her tone hints at disappointment, though not despair.
She has long accepted her predicament after countless similar mornings. Like a lonely whale calling in the deep sea, she searches for her lost memories.
Selena "hears" the active "voice" of Punishing ahead after trudging through this desolate town.
There might be something ahead... She clings to hope, pulls her cloak tighter, and trudges through the snow.
But... again, she finds nothing.
The spot that was emitting intense signals just moments ago is completely empty, covered in pristine white snow.
This again...
Similar "situations" have played out repeatedly ever since she woke up.
It's as if something has been altered. Temporal information is jumbled and chaotic, so she frequently hears misleading signals.
Their story... maybe it happened in another timeline.
Selena murmurs to herself as she runs her hand over the snow.
At midday, sunlight spills across the snow as countless golden threads weave between the bare branches stretching toward the deep blue sky. This rare warmth gives the weary wanderer a moment of peace.
The drifting traveler decides to rest here—a brief pause in her long search.
Oh, right, the letter...
Selena suddenly remembers something and carefully gets out a yellowed letter from within her clothing.
The page's folds have become very fragile from countless readings, yet she has managed to keep it perfectly intact.
"Iris..."
"Hello. I'm so glad to get your letter. My name is..."
Selena reads the writings on the letter quietly, word by word—words she had memorized long ago.
With her M.I.N.D. shattered, she no longer remembers when she "received" this email, or when she transcribed it onto paper from her memory.
Who wrote this letter to Iris? Am I... Iris?
She feels a connection with this letter. Each time she reads these warm words, her M.I.N.D., burned and shattered, finds a moment of peace.
The scenes described on the page always awaken hazy bits of memory within her—vague, yet still bringing her flashes of happiness.
The one who sent this letter... Probably looks forward to a "reply", don't they?
The girl with iris-colored eyes gazes up at the crystal-clear sky as she presses the aged paper to her chest.
Well...
Perhaps it's the gentle warmth of sunlight, or perhaps it's the perfect tranquility of this moment, but the girl's M.I.N.D. finds a peace it hasn't known in a very long time.
The wandering traveler pulls a severely worn fountain pen from her pocket and opens a journal. She begins to write a reply on one of its pages—a letter she doesn't know when, if ever, she'll be able to send out.
<i>Dear [player name]...<i>
<i>This reply may never find its way into your hands, but I'm writing it nonetheless.<i>
<i>I don't know where I am, nor do I know where I'm headed.<i>
<i>I simply continue moving forward, chasing after moments lost in poetry and song.<i>
<i>Perhaps... perhaps someday, we will meet again...<i>
<i>Please give me a little more time, I know I can...<i>
She gazes toward the nearby horizon with tender hope in her heart.
From trudging alone across snowy plains to scaling mountain peaks, she continues her journey, following the course of rivers.
<i>I've walked through winter and into spring and summer.<i>
<i>I listen to the whispers of the wind as it guides me in my search for direction.<i>
<i>I've traversed a thousand rose gardens, crossed a thousand creeks and rivers.<i>
<i>I wish to be like a hovering white dove, landing once more upon your shoulder when we meet again.<i>
<i>Today, I've arrived at yet another unfamiliar place.<i>
<i>Beneath the verdant mountains winds a shallow stream, and within the secluded deep valley, the echoes of a violin resonate beautifully.<i>
<i>The rushing waterfall creates a deep, resonant melody, inviting me to join in with my violin.<i>
<i>There is no audience, no stage, no curtain call, no applause.<i>
<i>I simply play until I grow tired, until my heart is content.<i>
<i>When I am putting away my violin, a songbird hovering in the trees brings me a piece of teal amber.<i>
<i>Encased within the resin is a flower I've never seen before.<i>
<i>After taking a look at the gem, I place it on an open patch of land.<i>
<i>A wondrous divine thought that flashes briefly in my mind. It's a secret language whose profound meaning is understood without being spoken.<i>
<i>I hope someone will find it, and then—<i>
<i>I hope that a fellow traveler, on their own journey,<i>
<i>Might see the same scenery that I see now.<i>
She lifts her pen from the last letter and puts down a full stop as an elegant circle on the slightly worn notebook.
In the past, she would always worry about whether her wording was appropriate after she finished writing, and if her words might be misleading.
But now, such concerns no longer troubles her heart.
...[player name].
The girl carefully holds her journal against her chest, softly murmuring the name of her correspondent, sealing the feelings into her heart.
Her M.I.N.D. fluctuates and the azure core remains hopelessly murky.
Time remains disordered and inverted, and the melody created by the Punishing is equally chaotic and entangled.
Yet as long as these letters exist, she can always find herself before her M.I.N.D. is scorched to ashes.
No matter how long this road is...
The dove always finds a place to rest its wings.
Taking a deep breath, she pulls herself together and sets forth on her journey once again, toward the rising sun.
City 82... is this really where it happened?
She followed the guidance of the wind on a long, arduous journey to reach this city in ruins.
She isn't surprised by the scene. Travelers had warned her that this small town was likely destroyed early in the Punishing outbreak.
It is utterly destroyed, so there appears to be nothing worth remembering.
But that's only in the eyes of an "ordinary person."
...That sound. It's the Red Tide.
The girl with long hair kneels to touch the ground, as the remnants of Red Tide gently surge and recede.
A frame "constructed" by the Red Tide naturally can "hear" the Red Tide's voice.
If no one else can see the words they left behind, then she will be the one to record it all.
Log entry: City 82.
She walks among the ruins and opens her journal once more.
A desert city, swallowed whole by the Punishing Virus. Red Tide surging on all sides.
It's been her habit to record what she sees before reading the Red Tide's voice. The fragmented notes piece together memories, allowing her to access a more authentic past.
She closes her journal and bends down after completing her record.
Let me... hear your voices
Selena puts her palm on the ground. Her core gently emits a pale blue light as threads emerge from the ruins to form a grid.
A vision of the past shows the town as vibrant and thriving.
It seems that early in the Punishing outbreak, at least before the Red Tide arrived, this place was still intact.
A group of people gathered at a town plaza.
Listen up, everyone. If we want to make it out of this alive, we've gotta look out for each other.
The World Government says the Acadia Evacuation is starting. They'll take us all to Babylonia... but who the hell knows how many they'll really take?!
Every one of us could die at any moment. That's why we need to take care of each other's family.
For our own good, I suggest we share all we find every day and make sure the elders and kids all get fed.
We won't run away. We'll make sure everyone survives this "war"!
Damn right! We're with you—
The Red Tide memory ends here. The illusion dissipates, and the clamor of voices suddenly vanishes.
She feels relieved. It looks like this town wasn't destroyed by disaster. The residents probably encountered an unexpected situation that forced them to abandon their town.
Holding onto this assumption, Selena takes a few steps forward. The scenery around her shifts rapidly, and time within the illusion changes.
The town looks more desolate now. Time seems to have advanced by several months.
I... I want out of the pact.
Yeah, I know we all agreed... and I know it's selfish to break that.
But... if there's a chance, if I could get on that evac list...
The man's voice trails off. Another resident, who has been silent, finally explodes in a fit of anger.
That evacuation? It's a lie!
But I've got a ticket to Babylonia!
The town falls into complete silence, with only the broken murmurs of the distressed residents.
My brother... he gave his life for this ticket. I...
I just want to survive. I'm done pretending I care about everyone else. I'm not wrong... I'm not!
Please... just let me go...
The sobs and screams fade away with the shattered illusion, leaving only the biting cold wind that continues to beat against these ruins.
...The Acadia Evacuation.
Strange yet familiar words hang on the tip of her tongue, as memory begins to awaken.
Those who were forcibly abandoned and had no choice but to accept their deaths wishing a group of cowards fleeing their homeland well? What the hell is this joke? Is there anything more insulting than this?
Only those like you who were born in Babylonia and have lived such pampered lives would be able to come up with such a ridiculous "comedy."
Listen up! What you're putting on is nothing but a comedy that shouldn't even have been performed at all. Your entire story is nothing but a fantasy.
My brother... he gave his life for this ticket. I...
A flood of shards burns through her M.I.N.D., but as a "Recorder", it is her duty to witness everything to the very end.
The girl runs forward. There on an abandoned plaza is a faded flag, its emblem unrecognizable.
Time rushes by as the vision once again moves forward.
Evacuation, huh? Just another scam!
Some people did leave...
Yeah, sure, lotteries, random draws, special consideration! And in the end? Out of the whole damn town, not even ten people made it out!
Silence falls over the square as if everyone knows where this is going.
Let's be real, this town can't carry any more dead weight.
Taking care of everyone? Nice slogan. But the truth is, this so-called fair distribution only means no one gets enough.
We stay here, and who's to say this damn war wouldn't drag on for years?!
It's already been so long... way too long!
The man's eyes burn red, his cheeks deeply sunken from hunger.
What happens when the Corrupted swarm us, and the only fighters we've got are half-starved and useless?
In this vision, the crowd roars as the man on the stage extends his arms toward the people in the plaza below, provoking the crowd.
This hysterical act is unusual. Selena realizes this is the dangerous frenzy that happens when a town is on the verge of annihilation.
In times like this, it's time we ask, what's actually best for this town?
The man continues his speech and the crowd grows increasingly fanatical as they wait for him to push the speech to its climax.
If only the strong can build something of worth, then maybe only the strong deserve to live!
No... no, that's not right...
Though she already knows the outcome of this speech, her emotions still drive her to speak up in protest.
Sadly, a voice from the future can't change the past. The man in the vision gestures with his hand and yells out the declaration that would set the town's fate.
Starting today, I'm kicking all kids and elders out of town. Let them fend for themselves!
Only those who can fight for this town get to stay!
