Story Reader / Festival Event Story / Slumberland / Story
Dry moss rolls out over the otherwise stony ground, and the trees part to either side to reveal a straight path ahead.
As the river stops flowing, the ripples carry the pumpkin carriage ever so gently to the other side of the riverbank.
The mountains come together without leaving so much as a crack. The place now looks nothing like what it was when you just arrived.
Chipmunks coming out of nowhere flank the carriage while the bugs and birds sing together for the procession.
You see the long line of sheep at the very end of the horizon. Still hopping over the saddle, they don't seem like they want to move out of the way.
Owoooo! You're the bad kids that make it impossible for people to sleep!
Popping out from behind the pumpkin carriage, a shark plushie charges straight at the sheep.
Seeing the shark plushie, the sheep lose it and start running all over the place for dear life, clearing the path ahead.
Everything in the forest is trying to help in its own way.
You arrive at the spire before you know it.
Crimson vines stretch the length of the age-worn spire.
Standing in the shades the sun can never reach, the spire is redolent of an ominous wooden nail driven deep into the blood-red ground.
When seen from a different angle, however...
It seems like the hand of someone that's reaching out from the depths of a mud puddle yearning for salvation.
The dusty door creaks as Liv and you push it open.
In the air lit up by the faint light that comes in through the door, the dust seems to be greeting you as it tries to tell you just how long-forgotten this place is.
The spiral staircase stretches toward different ends—upward, until it seems to become one with the spire itself, and downward, until it reaches well into the depths of darkness.
I'll do everything in my power to stop the monster Cinderella spoke of from hurting you, Commandant.
Liv turns around and says as she makes her way up the staircase with red thorns all over it.
You speak in response to Liv as you take a step forward down the stone staircase that stretches into the darkness underground.
You both know exactly what you came here to do.
Liv makes her way up the stairs, succumbing to the darkness that robs her of her sense of direction and monotonous footsteps that blur her sense of time.
In a trance, she seems to hear people whispering.
It's a conversation she has with Hippocrates when she wakes up.
Professor, I have some questions for you.
Yes?
It's about Deep M.I.N.D. connection...
I just wanted to know if it'd ever affect Commandant in a negative way.
If you're trying to find out if it's going to cause your commandant migraines or death mirages...
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that it won't.
See, the Deep M.I.N.D. connection doesn't "distribute" your migraines.
What it does is it stabilizes your M.I.N.D. through Mind Beacon's deep connection.
Let's say you have a ship floating out at sea. When the ship shakes to winds or waves, you end up with a mess inside, right?
But the ship won't shake to the winds and waves if you have an anchor.
It's true that Deep M.I.N.D. connection won't cause any damage...
But I still want you to know that, in the process of improving it, we'll need your commandant to dive into your M.I.N.D. many times to collect data.
During which, all the migraines and death mirages experienced will inflict real damage.
Like what happened last time.
...
So? Are we going to call it quits?
Before it's too late to, that is...
You press forward, all the while keeping your eyes straight ahead.
The air around you grows colder still the further down you walk. The sunlight out there can never reach this part of the spire.
Even with a torchlight in hand, you can still barely see the path as you make your way down the broken stone staircase.
Right then, you see light coming through a crack in the bricks up ahead.
When you go up for a closer look, however, all you see is the faint figure of a person from behind.
With a closer look, you can now see it very clearly—the person is wearing a school uniform, the logo on which you can't be more familiar with...
With the realization, the light suddenly becomes so intense that it robs you of consciousness.
What was it that you were going to do again?
Standing in the Instructor's Office in F.O.S., you see an old man sitting in front of you with a straight face.
I'm not going to stick my nose into your business, but I need to know your reasoning behind your decision as your instructor.
Why did you turn down Command Central's invitation and apply to be a frontline commandant at the Task Force?
The shrewd eyes staring right at you now are the same eyes that have been watching every single student since you entered the school.
You sense neither encouragement nor discontent from his tone—but solemness and gravity.
There is no doubt that those eyes will see right through any petty lies and excuses you come up with.
This was your answer then.
Back then, a list of big names popped into your mind. You knew those names by heart, but it wasn't so much so that you could write their names down on the tests because they were people you deeply admired.
The words people praised these big names with had such nice rings to them back when you still didn't know how the big names got to where they were.
Now, though, the big names—alive and active as they were—are now nothing more than strings of letters inscribed on monuments.
Earth is still a mess, and most of the early accomplishments have been destroyed overnight.
Can you still confidently say what you did back then?
...After knowing the truth, that is.
Did Commandant know about this?
Of course, and the commandant still signed the paper right away.
So the Construct's M.I.N.D. is to the ship as the commandant's Mind Beacon is to the anchor, right?
...
If the anchor can help the ship make it through the storm, so, too, can the ship sail forth with the anchor.
Commandant said that risks and concerns should never bog us down. We didn't come together so we can huddle up in fear—but so we can go even further.
I'm happy to have someone by my side who's willing to help me unconditionally.
Looking up, Liv now has a much clearer view of what's in front of her—scarlet crystal clusters, crimson tidewater, and blood-red soil, all of which come together to fill the air with tension.
It hit her only just now that she'd arrived at where she set out to come, with the crimson plants lying quietly in hunger behind her.
Not so far away, a blood-red figure stands surrounded by monsters that seem to have made their way out of someone's worst nightmares.
Why...?
Saying nothing, the old man before you seems to be waiting for you to explain yourself.
I understand that none of the miracles happened as easily as they seemed to. Every step along the way was trial and error in the dark.
A single wrong step sent some of them down an abyss from which they never returned, leaving their successors with nothing but the knowledge that whatever they did didn't work.
And they even fought sometimes and went separate ways.
But even then...
Some of them even ended up having their souls and dignity burned out.
To fight for a place to persist in a place that was anything but favorable.
To build a line of defense with their very own blood and flesh.
All these flash past you like a stream. These people—people who are just like you—are the reason you can speak as unwaveringly as you do now.
If anything, reality has made your dream stronger and more lucid than ever.
Are you trying to say you're one of the brave?
I hope you're aware that this is no place for you to discuss a bedtime story.
Has it ever crossed your mind that your potential might have an easier time shining through if you work in a different position?
The instructors, I believe, are the ones that made me believe I'm one of the brave.
Graduating summa cum laude makes it easier for me to make it straight to the Field Command, but F.O.S. was established in the first place to train commandants.
We came up with this choice for you precisely because we recognized your commanding talent.
Most of you sitting here today will eventually be mere numbers on battle reports down the road.
And if you don't experience what they do, you'll never be able to understand the meaning the numbers hold.
And we didn't come together to make everyone suffer for the mistakes we make as a group.
...Do you know the average life expectancy of a commandant?
You need to understand that there is no going back.
You can show yourself the door now.
His tone is as rock-hard as ever.
Old but powerful, a pair of hands gives you a light push from behind.
You've reached the end of the road. Right behind you, debris falls off the broken staircase, finally making the sound of landing on the ground after what seems like an eternity.
Through the crack in the bricks, you seem to see her.
Because I've promised to keep Commandant safe!
And here I am making my promise count!
