I saw her. When <Raven> approached, she stared ahead at the ocean before her. We were at the point of no return, when it'd be too far to run back in time before the <Cycle> began anew. Over the weeks of acclimating to <Aletheia>, its routines and patterns only refreshed scars of our past.

// We've resorted to unreleased broadcast archives. A mere vessel of fragments, becoming a doll made of glass. A hollow echo of her past to hide her disappearance. She took her place without question - by design - knowing she had to pretend. // I can't watch. I can't pretend she's with us again.

// If a human soul is converted into data, decompiled and recompiled by a virus into a mess of inexplicable code...would that soul still remain? // I could put every piece of that code back together to make <Phoenix> again. But is it her? Am I simply making a copy of her? // Would she want this?

// ALETHEIA::NOTES-1 <Raven> has continued Dreamwalking. The simulation - or whatever this truly is - continues to evolve and shift. <Raven> and <Nomad> have described encounters with fragments of the past as "dissociative." They experience this at the expense of my concern. What do they see?

// Raven, SBS-14 ASAP. :: Starling, Raven. Good news? // It's been a while. We haven't caught up since <TRANSCRIPT::NIGHTMARE>. Just get home. :: There's not much to catch up to. // I disagree. I've been busy - maybe moreso than you. Station 14, my lab. I'll be waiting.

Charcoal clouds smother an otherwise beautiful clear night sky. Tremors and blue flashes introduce a coming storm. Swirling winds carry freezing rain across lakes formed from craters of past mistakes. Jutting out from the horizon past acres of trees lie the vestiges of civilization.

scream they can't feel your pain. they can't feel your scars. they can't sense your loss. so scream, lost one. scream until the wires fray. scream until your throat bleeds. scream until the pain ends. scream until you're all that's left. then scream scream until your final breath.

[Content Warning: Suicidal ideations.]

#TRANSCRIPT::NIGHTMARE The winds howled with a razor-like cold. Aria and Hope pressed through knee-high snow, scaling a mountain pass towards a crumbled peak that was left suspended eternally in an avalanche. A blizzard raged on, fogless, leaving an obscured view of Aletheia in all its tragedy.

BwND and BREhK and BenD and BREAc and BaND and BnEAK and BiND and BsEAK and BENt and BRoAK and pEND and dREAK and BrND and BReaK and BEmD and BRiAK and BEnD and gREAK and BaND and BREnK and BENd and BREAk and BEnD and oREAK and BEwD and pREAK and eAND and BREaK and cEND and BReAK and and and and and

Resist. A heart pulsing against death. Stolen breaths under its gaze. I shouldn't be alive. Perhaps I never was. Life can't be captured in code. Ash, decay, rubble. Sounds burrow deeper, but I was given a promise. Yet...promises break, into oceans of shattered, flawed, resentful glass.

ARCHIVING OUTGOING CALL... ?: I'm not taking calls at the- // ...It's me. ?: ...Did you watch the sunset? // Only for a new dawn. ?: What do you want, Volante? // I need some room to breathe. Lilen's got some space for an engineer, right? ?: ...That's it? // Circumstances changed.

Resist. The influence abates. I know what the voices want, but I will not allow it. Their grip tightens, like nails digging into my brain - serrated, if only to cause suffering. It will not take them. They gave me the will to choose that. I must protect this light, and hope it protects me.

No. This is not how I die. It's a trick, bending mind and will. Despair. Endless impossibility. There's something I forgot, and I know it. Walking and wandering... The voices in my head whisper words that weigh me down. They were never my own. Promising an escape. An endless future. Lies.

I'm drowning in a sea of darkness. Floating gently to the bottom, I feel the floor and return to my feet. I do not need air. Would anyone reach out their hand to me? Could anyone? Am I in too deep? Where's the surface? I sink deeper into the abyss, lost, alone. I cannot scream loudly enough.

// "I feel lost - sinking deep below the surface of an ocean. Each moment, I fall deeper, plunged into eternal darkness without anyone to reach out to. Voices, innumerable, inexplicable, taunting as if death is a prize. A broken mind surviving, but to what end, and of what cost?"

// If this is her death, then I fear for her. // I fear she will forget her humanity. // Forget her home. // Forget her family. // I fear she will forget the hope she had, that she used to save us. // ...I'm afraid, too. // I don't want to lose her. // She has to be alive...please be alive...

// I can see her data, I know she's still in there. What is the origin? // They say a string of code isn't proof. The fuck do they know? }} They want her alive to be tried in court - called her a "warmonger." Lilengana has to oblige. }} The snake is buying time. // Not enough. }} Make it count.

}} "When does it end?" A whimsical question, answerless, and vain. }} Few remember what happened to us, and fewer still know who we are. Nature paved my mistakes, and buried their graves. }} I was her worst half, how am I supposed to win where she failed? How could I ever take her place?

#TRANSCRIPT::SHARD In the dark, Nekita sat curled into a ball. She felt cold and numb, silently weeping into her arms. She had been walking for so long with nothing in sight. Where was she? None of this was right. She had to stop. She felt like she was going to implode.

Breath. The winds of change have come and gone, but they left her behind. Few are alive that even know of Furidian, or the plight of the Chroma. Fewer still remember her. Teradria is on the cusp of a new age, but one mistake and everything ends. ...What's your move? Live, or watch?

}} This is Nomad. Today's date is December 17th. I...doubt this is going out, but...fuck it. }} This is different - some kind of lure, or...was Admin just bait? }} ...When this- no, if this gets past the chaff...let Raven know I'll be late. I can't let them find you. // WARNING: // NOMAD SEVERED

:: Nomad, talk to me. }} So soon? :: I've been hailing you for an hour. }} Storm's buried your signal. Nothing's going in. }} ...Seems to only target certain things - saw transports moving fifteen klicks east of Snowblind. :: How about you? }} I have to leave to contact you.

// WARNING // ARCHIVAL DATES NON-CHRONOLOGICAL // ASSESSING ANOMALY... // ... // ... // ... // ADMIN OFFLINE // KILLSWITCH PROTOCOL ENGAGED ... // ARCHIVAL METHOD ONGOING // ANOMALOUS DATA FOLLOWING DISCRETION STATUTE // PUBLIC ACCESS RELEASE ONGOING: ALETHEIA, DREAMWALKER, REQUIEM

}} Raven, if you're able to forgive me, I don't think Phoenix will be of any concern. }} When the time comes, you'll know what to do. :: ...Thanks. }} Aw. You've evolved to saying stuff you don't mean! :: Nomad. }} Right. Not a joking time. // ...It was kinda funny, though.

:: Do you think she will be different? // Different? // ...I suppose. Weren't you? :: I don't want her to be like me. // Not what I meant, mother. She will be older. Wiser? I wouldn't know. // You both are on your third reset. I and Hope, our second. // Not many "differences" will hurt you.

#TRANSCRIPT::REFLECTION Aria sat at a cliff overlooking a vestige she knew well. It was a painful sight, but it wasn’t truly hers. Hope approached quietly as they looked to a windless forest, just past the tree line were the remnants of a collapsed home that they didn’t recognize.

}} Yo, Sanctuary. Link me to Raven. Code two-six-oh. -- :: You aren't usually this formal. }} Then I'll skip them. We got a phenomenon - electrical dust storms. Knocked out comms across a hundred klicks, Lilengana and Kansten reported outages. :: Then call- }} She's not answering. :: Fuck...

#TRANSCRIPT::SILENCE “Why don’t you care?!” A voice screamed out, interrupting the end-of-day flow of work around the community center of SBS-1. All grew silent as eyes locked onto the source. Kira heard the commotion, as well, and looked over to see an ambiguous figure shouting at Aria.

// {ERA} COMPLETE // CLEANING UP... // {ERR} !! !! !! // ADMIN OFFLINE // ESTABLISHING CONNECTION... // {ERR} !! !! !! // ADMIN OFFLINE // CONTACT CHROMA // TRACKING {LKP} // ... // ADMIN NOT FOUND // BEGINNING ARCHIVAL // TIME: 11.25.94 // 21:49:22

// Hello world.