Part 113: Day 46 - Story

Day 46: Story

Music: City of Light


This time, the room wavers for a moment as it comes into focus to reveal...



A perfectly ordinary office.





I sent you a letter one day. That old, strange letter, that had the same name for sender and recipient. It told you that we would meet soon.

……..



I hope this environment satisfies you. I tried my best to recreate our office. You need at least one place in life to feel comfortable, don’t you? However, I speculate you feel that this place is a bit more… serene, than you might remember, so to say. There are many reasons for that.



I know this can't be how they meant it, but I choose to believe A is calling X an idiot.

We weren’t particularly fond of untidiness. But there she was, always making a mess out of an organized room. There were times when we were used to such messiness, giving up on cleaning the room… Sadly, our hearts couldn’t bear to recreate such a moment. I am sure that now you know…



This office is born from your heart, siphoned up from your deepest subconsciousness. Yes, many parts of this facility were extracted and created from our minds. How did you think building such enormous underground structures in such a short period of time was possible? We needed multiple extractions until we finally solidified amorphous images into something tangible.



Yes, there truly were countless repeats.



This eternity is fascinating. All humans are given only one life to live. The future comes to us like the relentless waves of the sea. We cannot go against them. We are merely pushed back.



This tech was used for trivial things, such as granting an infinite moment of death to a condemned man. Or to show to those whose days are numbered their happiest moments. However, when combined with our energy tech, this small technology could bloom into something bigger. We invested in them without hesitation, even though they required a massive amount of funding and energy. That’s how TimeTrack’s second invention came to life.



Unfortunately, breaking an absolute law of nature cost us a lot. Although we could rewind time infinitely, it always left some form of distortion. Perhaps because this technology still has not been perfected. No man could keep their sanity intact in this place.



Of course, it wouldn’t have been possible if not for Angela. But it is a herculean achievement that you went through that journey. Please, let your body and mind rest, if just for a brief moment. You must be exhausted. The path after this will be brutal. Extremely brutal.



They will not let you pass as simply as I do. If by any chance, you think you’re not ready yet, it is okay to go back to the first act. If you’ve made it here once after such a long and hard time… You will surely come here again, no matter how long it takes. We literally have all the time in the world. There is no need to hurry. Just keep in mind that the situation will be much different if you move forward from here.



And I am sure you already know this: You can reverse time…



In summary: The tenth Sephirah is A, who shows us our old office before explaining a handful of things. The letter we got before came from him, and the reason this place has been able to build out so quickly is because portions of it have been extracted from our thoughts. He also mentions that we've been at this for around 10 years in real-time, but closer to 10,000 years in facility-time. He advises us to rest before the brutality begins, and leaves us with a warning and a reassurance-we can't reverse a tale, but we still have all the time in the world so there's no reason to continue if we don't feel ready.

Well, that's given me a lot to think about. Now then, why don't you get to telling me what happened to the others?

Shouldn't you know already? During a Core Suppression, Angela and all Sephirot are cut off from communicating with the Manager.

But we're not in the middle of…

Aren't we? We stand here in Kether, the crown of pure consciousness. A place of united will, source of absolute compassion. Simply by there being two different wills in this place, the Qlipha has been made manifest. Just as before, a suppression is required in order to fulfill this place's purpose.

…huh?

I haven't said anything complicated.

Ooo… kay. That would explain why I definitely, easily, completely understood that.



Given that, maybe we should cover how there are two of us. Are you…?

A robot? No, not at all. I am not precisely a creature of flesh like yourself, but neither am I a machine like the others.

Then how are you here?

Come now… We can extract Abnormalities from persons, form facilities from thoughts, rewind time infinitely, and watch a man die before reinstating him from his hire date the next morning. Why would something like this seem odd?

Okay, fair, but… what are you?

Given the distress the sight of me is causing you, I suppose you could call me a… cogitohazard.

...huh?

That was a joke. Cogitohazard. You see?

I don't get it.

Well, it was hilarious. Normally, we would have laughed. _{I knew some degradation was inevitable, but this is beyond my expectations…}

What was that?

Oh, it's nothing. Now, come. It's time to see if you can claim a place here, at the end of this story.

...huh?

… Try to manage the Abnormalities, just like always. Can you do that?

Oh. Yeah, sure, let's get to it.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: