The Cautus has never thought that oncoming doom, especially one pressing down on their neck, could be something to be accepted calmly.
Hierda
I-I could never be so indifferent if I had to live through everyone and everything I love being destroyed.
Hierda
I don't understand how you—
Mysterious Elf
It's not indifference, but instead a belief in the absolute equality of the universe. It's a shame you arrived just a little bit late.
Mysterious Elf
This ship had just encountered a star going supernova several thousand light-years away and made a smooth withdrawal.
Mysterious Elf
If you see that sight with your own eyes, perhaps you will understand my meaning.
The instruments in the hall begin to spin rapidly, until they are moving too fast for the Cautus to see with the naked eye.
Then, she sees a multitude of lights and shadows appear and float through the air.
Hierda
I see a giant sphere emitting a deep, dark red light, and a small indigo dot speeding across its surface.
Hierda
But... it seems like it's the big sphere rotating around the blue dot?
Mysterious Elf
The one you call the 'blue dot' is the pulsar that just went supernova I mentioned.
Mysterious Elf
The red star which is gradually being torn apart is its partner, now doomed to die as well.
Mysterious Elf
They once harbored many interesting primitive lifeforms. I have many fond memories of wandering through the planets of that star system.
Mysterious Elf
It's a pity they were snuffed out before they could see the world beyond the sky.
Hierda
...Why are you showing this to me?
Mysterious Elf
Simply sharing the knowledge we have with you, traveler.
Mysterious Elf
One-sided paranoia and ignorance are often barriers to effective information transfer. I have no knowledge of your history, either.
The Cautus has barely had the time to comprehend these words before suddenly, her newly-acquired knowledge begins to assault her mind.
Hierda
The land... may see life be born twice? These stars fallen from the sky... can harbor life of their own?
Hierda
Ruination's end... is not despair.
Hierda
We're... not special, when it comes to the land?
Mysterious Elf
A celestial body that can sustain life loves all that live upon it equally, no matter where they hail from. This is a law of nature.
Mysterious Elf
Don't be too greedy in lapping up that knowledge you can't fully understand yet.
Hierda
I saw you among all that information. You once had many of your people by your side, but suddenly—
Hierda
'The Presence'. That's what a lot of people call you, right?
The Presence
I am just a wandering presence, true. Like I said, when true destruction bore down on me and my fellows, I was powerless.
Hierda
...What exactly is this destruction you keep talking about?
Hierda
I've seen plenty of things here I can only describe as 'divine acts'. What could possibly threaten people like you?
The Presence
I'm afraid that nobody on this ship can answer your question, traveler.
The Presence
In your eyes, we possess knowledge that many lifeforms in this universe would consider 'divine acts'...
The Presence
But in this boundless cosmos, even we have limits to what we can explore and investigate.
Hierda
......
The Presence
Are you disappointed?
Hierda
So there's definitely no eternal kingdom, a paradise where everyone can experience endless joy and happiness?
The Presence
Would you like such a place to exist?
The Cautus hesitates for a moment before nodding.
The Presence
Nothing lives forever. Looking back through the history I know, I have come across legendary civilizations that have conquered countless star systems, spreading across the cosmos for millions of years.
The Presence
But as far as the universe cares, what they left behind was, in the end, utterly insignificant.
The Presence
We once blindly chased after non-existent principles and ideals... In the midst of that golden age beyond recollection, we believed our existences to have a sure purpose.
The Presence
But in the end?
Hierda
......
The Presence
Any lifeform born with intelligence insists on declaring itself the center of its world, but whether or not it is right, in the universe's eyes—
The Presence
From start to finish, we are nothing. This is the first thing you must learn before you can understand it.
The Presence
Remember that brilliant supernova you just saw?
The Presence
From that tomb, life will be born anew, and there will come a day when those beings will understand what we have carved on our grave.
The Presence
That we once had lives of our own. That we existed.
Hierda
...I don't understand anything that you're saying.
Hierda
How were we born on this land?
Hierda
Was there an even more glorious civilization here before us?
Hierda
Are we going to be wiped out in the foreseeable future?
Hierda
But what I really want to know is, all this pain and suffering that Originium brings with it... Can it be eliminated?
Hierda
I beg you, show me the way to the answers I seek...
The Presence
I can't answer any of your questions. Your first three have been asked in a myriad of languages in a myriad of ways across the universe. Only you can answer them yourself.
The Presence
As for your final question... I'm terribly sorry, but I've never heard of this 'Originium', and I can't find anything related to it in our databases.
Hierda
—?
The Presence
However, I do know someone rather interesting, who also happens to be the master of this ship. Perhaps she will be able to solve your riddle.
The meandering threads interweave and spiral, gradually spreading out from the boundary into the distance.
Beyond its walls, the path to the singularity slowly takes shape.
Amiya
It's working!
Amiya
Originium Arts don't seem to work here, but applying the logic behind casting them to the information here does!
Can you build the 'bridge' using completely unknown information?
Amiya
No, this place is full of information I can't analyze, not even with the help of Civilight Eterna. I wouldn't have been able to make this way forward alone.
Amiya
But thankfully, Dr. Kal'tsit's access left records, and with Theresa's help, I can grasp onto her research data.
Amiya
That's more than enough for me.
The pink threads continue to slowly spiral, linking together the many pieces of complex data that Kal'tsit left her mark on.
String by interwoven string, the path forward gradually forms.
'I can tell how you're feeling, Kal'tsit.'
'By analyzing the emotional matrix I constructed of you without your permission, I see your tenseness is not only because of my sharing an appearance with Theresa. You have something even heavier on your mind.'
'I will try to adjust. I don't want my personal emotional changes to interfere with the objectivity of those who come after me when they query these records.'
'Yet they are still changing, Kal'tsit. Are you afraid?'
Amiya
It's not the most efficient way to build a bridge, but it should hold.
Amiya
I'm going to try to get closer to the singularity.
I'll go with you.
'Yes, I'm afraid.'
'I'm afraid Amiya and the Doctor won't be able to find the information I leave behind, and I'm afraid...'
'That if the situation worsens to the point that they are forced to take such extreme measures, the trail I cleared for them would no longer be of use...'
'Or that I might mistakenly lead these seekers of knowledge towards a threat I dare not speak of.'
Amiya
No, Doctor. I won't let you, not before I check its condition myself.
Amiya...
Amiya
Sorry, I know I'm being stubborn about it, but this is my decision.
The bridge, formed from countless strands of entwined information, stretches out into the distance to touch upon the singularity.
Without the slightest hesitation, Amiya steps onto it, her first step outside the walls of the boundary—
Looking at the shattered sphere makes her feel dizzy, but it is the bizarrely-shaped ship floating in the air that causes an even greater bout of lightheadedness.
Amiya
What... is going on?
Amiya
Why am I seeing—
As she is trapped in her spell of dizziness, a rotating boulder slowly but inexorably hurtles towards her.
Amiya
—!
Its black shadow quickly fills Amiya's vision. She subconsciously tries to defend herself, but it is immediately followed by the feeling of freefall.
Did she fail...? Was it a surge of information?
'Amiya!'
Amiya
...Doctor...?
I'm here.
Amiya senses a hand supporting her, keeping her thoughts steady by bracing her.
Try to block out the interfering information.I've got you.
You do your best to support her shaking body as the information wave surging from the singularity continues its assault.
The information, so dense it has nearly taken true shape, washes over your thoughts, leaving behind jumbled afterimages in the void—
It is the past long gone, the present being recorded en masse, and what seems to be the future, foreseeing your next steps.
It's a shame that right now, you do not have energy to spare to pay it any heed.
The two of you have already made the long, long, long trek from the boundary to this point without even noticing, and now, the singularity...
The singularity is right in front of you.
Amiya
Did you see that terrifying scene earlier, Doctor?
I did.I don't know what it means, though.
Amiya
I'm certain it's not something that took place on Terra...
But at least it means we're getting close to the singularity.Even more information will show itself to us.
Can you still keep going, Amiya?
Amiya
Y-Yes, yes I can.
......
You are well aware of the situation you are in right now. Despite knowing it will have minimal effect, you still subconsciously stretch out your arm to try and shield Amiya.
The attacks here are focused on our thoughts. I can handle it.I'll be the vanguard.
I've got a lead on what we're here for.
I've run the calcs on Kal'tsit's access records.
You can read the key points from my mind.
Amiya
Found them.
Amiya
Using 'Slumber Bridge' as a filter, Dr. Kal'tsit conducted a total of 79,346 searches...
Amiya
Although all the searches are related to 'Originium', according to your speculation, this data is not strongly related to its actual essential nature.
Amiya
If the results are restricted and give us nothing, doesn't the trail run cold here?
No.
Kal'tsit retrieved the same entry over and over again.
This is, in itself, some information for us.
Amiya
A repeated retrieval? Wait, can the infinitely-looping code made from the repeat query count be deciphered too?
Amiya
...You already know the answer, Doctor.
Yes, it's a familiar name.
Perhaps it's a sign...Perhaps it's a warning...
Amiya
......
Amiya
I've never heard of this name. Neither you nor Dr. Kal'tsit has ever said it before—
You have never seen this scene before, much less seen—
Priestess
(Unknown language) You're here, {@nickname}.
Is that...?'Me'...?
Oracle
(Unknown language) It took some time to refine your design for PRTS.
Oracle
(Unknown language) I thought you had gone to take a rest.
Priestess
(Unknown language) No, I've been thinking about your words this whole time.
Priestess
(Unknown language) 'There is no language that can describe God, as the existence of God itself cannot be understood.'
Oracle
(Unknown language) You know that was just mindless chatter.
Priestess
(Unknown language) Suppose I take it as an axiom.
Priestess
(Unknown language) With it as my starting point, would creating a language that can describe God mean we have the means to understand It?
Priestess
(Unknown language) Does the prospect not excite you?
Priestess
(Unknown language) Perhaps, in the pursuit of the answer to this question, we have been going down the wrong path—trying to understand the nature of the universe with its own laws.
Oracle
(Unknown language) You want to use a language wholly created by us to interpret the universe. A far too audacious idea, Priestess.
Priestess
(Unknown language) Haha, is it?
Without any further hesitation, she traces out a perfect rhombus in the air.
Priestess
(Unknown language) Let's begin, shall we?
......
Amiya
What are they discussing, Doctor?
You have seen this woman before in the Assimilated Universe. She once accompanied you—
But I have faith... {@nickname}...
That when you are truly confused by everything, you will remember: the answers you seek were here all along.
