Dizziness, darkness, icy cold... These were the first sensations to return to the girl as her consciousness resurfaced.
She lay sprawled on the rough ground, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her body convulsing.
Propping herself up on one arm, she clutched her stomach, dry heaving as if she could expel the seawater she'd swallowed. Only when her hearing returned, picking up the familiar clamor of humanity, did the retching subside. She finally realized she was back in the "world."
And that suffocating seawater? Just a figment of her imagination, a manifestation of her mind grappling with an unknowable dimension.
Her limbs still weak, Seele rolled onto her back, leaning against a wall, her teeth chattering, her body shivering in the cold. She stared at the crimson-tinged night sky, at the shimmering neon signs swaying and intertwining on the horizon.
I've seen lights like these, she thought, searching her memories.
The image of the "victory party" on the large airship surfaced. Calling it a party was a stretch; Vill-V's magic show had captivated everyone. The dazzling lights had interwoven , converging on the star of the show – her.
And that memory inevitably brought back the horrific sonic assault from Kosma. Seele smiled faintly, covering her ears.
But then the realization hit—what was the point? Those were just...memories.
Her hand slowly lowered, her smile fading.
The clamor came from far away. She was in a narrow, dimly lit alley. The air reeked of a foul stench she knew all too familiar – the combined odor of human and animal waste, rotting garbage, and discarded food. It was the same smell that used to permeate the alleyways of the Lower Quarter.
The thought of the Lower Quarter jolted her. "No way... could it be?"
She ran her hand along the wall behind her, knowing it wouldn't confirm her location. But a feeling of certainty washed over her. She stumbled out of the alley, running blindly through the darkness.
The buildings lining the streets grew increasingly familiar, and her heart pounded with a mixture of hope and trepidation. Is this really the Lower Quarter? Is it really?
Finally, her pace slowed, and she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Good Luck Bridge..."
Before her stood the overpass she could never forget. Three years ago, driven to despair, she'd taken a sharp turn on this very bridge, crashing her out-of-control car into the outer wall of Golden Courtyard.
That moment had changed her life forever. How could she forget this place?
A sudden wave of grief washed over her. She embraced the cold, rough concrete pillar, her arms unable to fully encircle it. In the dead of night, there was no one to offer comfort. But she clung to the pillar, weeping uncontrollably.
She couldn't even pinpoint the source of her tears. The sorrow came as swiftly as it went.
Seele quickly composed herself, wiping her tears, rubbing her eyes, and brushing the dust from her pristine white dress – the one Michael had bought for her.
Clutching the pendant Aponia had given her, she walked towards the darkness. She knew these streets like the back of her hand.
Through Good Luck Bridge, down this alley, just a short distance away, she should see the ever-glowing, brilliant lights of Golden Courtyard.
The only warmth in the dark nights of the Lower Quarter.
Fueled by this hope, she walked on, like a moth drawn to a flame...
Only to be met with disappointment.
Golden Courtyard, like everything else in the Lower Quarter, was dark, cold, and silent.
She should have known. If Golden Courtyard was still its vibrant self, she would have seen the lights from the bridge.
Had it been abandoned?
In the pale moonlight, the once-pristine white walls were covered in graffiti, obscene words scrawled alongside the crude drawings. If they were still here, it wouldn't be .
But Seele refused to believe it. "What if... what if Michael-onii-chan just didn't care about the graffiti anymore? What if they turned off the lights to save electricity?"
She couldn't, wouldn't, accept the truth.
She knew Michael was alright. They'd met in the Sea of Quanta just two days ago. Some of the graffiti was clearly months old.
That meant he had abandoned her... No, not abandoned, but something worse. He'd left her in the Sea of Quanta without explanation, without even telling her that Golden Courtyard had moved...
Pain twisted Seele's features into a grimace. She choked back a sob, crouching down, clutching her head.
As her emotions spiraled, a physical pain erupted in her brain, as if it were being split in two with an axe, fracturing her entire being, her consciousness. Memories flashed before her eyes like a slideshow, also split in two, each eye seeing only half the picture.
At first, the memories were identical, perfect replicas. But as she grew older, the discrepancies between them became more and more pronounced.
"Sister...doesn't exist? How is that possible?"
"This experiment... AAAAAH!"
A sudden noise snapped Seele back to reality. She was still clutching her head, the two conflicting sets of memories still warring within her.
She looked up, towards the source of the noise. Three thugs were climbing out of Golden Courtyard, carrying sacks filled with loot scavenged from the abandoned building.
They couldn't miss Seele crouched in the middle of the street. Exchanging glances, they advanced towards her.
"Hey! You... Wait, boss, isn't she the...?"
"Holy crap, it is her!"
"Boss... maybe we should leave her alone..."
By sheer coincidence, these were three of the thugs who had chased her before. However, the one they called "boss" was different. A common occurrence in the Lower Quarter.
The "boss" stopped his retreat, snatched off his worn baseball cap, and smacked his two underlings with it.
"Idiots! They moved out over a year ago! This girl's obviously been abandoned. Can't you see she's all alone?"
He laughed, feigning bravado while his heart pounded with unease, as he approached Seele. Then he heard her speak.
The girl's body trembled.
The weight of that word echoed in her mind. The thought of being abandoned, the memories of the lab... Her eyes flashed crimson. She sprang to her feet, snatched the knife from the thug's belt, and plunged it into his heart with deadly precision.
Once, twice, thrice...
Her white dress bloomed with crimson. Her face expressionless, she pushed away the cooling body. Before the other two thugs could scream, she slit their throats.
The warmth of the blood dispelled the night's chill; the metallic scent masked the other foul odors.
Seele looked up, the tangled threads of her memories finally unraveling.
So that's how it is... So that's how it is...
She ran. She ran towards the orphanage in the Lower Quarter. She needed to confirm one last thing.
She quickly found her answer. The orphanage was empty.
They had taken all the children. Except her.
She looked up at the crimson-stained sky above Brindy.
If there was a Fire Moth base in the Sea of Quanta, then there must be one in the real world too, right?
Michael-onii-chan, where else could you have gone? It has to be Fire Moth, doesn't it?
Good... good... good...
Her lips were bright, vibrant red.
Was it their natural color, or had they been painted, unknowingly, with blood?