The cars, the tall buildings, even the people passing by. Those sounds. The night sky. The stars. Everything seemed so real. There were so many people there. And they were all alive. They were all clueless. They had no way of knowing that their normal lives were about to come to an abrupt end. None of them were afraid. None of them were running for their lives. Mankind would soon be driven to the brink of extinction. But they had no way of knowing that. Karabell's breath caught in his throat, and his head started spinning. They were all going to die. He had to do something, anything. He had to warn them. He had to save them. Karabell hung his head. That wasn't possible. For a moment, he'd completely forgotten that more than two thousand years had passed since then. Those people had all died a long time before. Even if they'd managed to run away from the Aberrations, they'd passed away at some point. That world was an illusion, a mere phantasm of the past. Perhaps those were the Ringleader's memories.
"That's got to be it," Karabell said as a sad smile appeared on his face. "Everything is so surreal. Was this world that vibrant before? I honestly can't remember. But this is definitely the world I used to live in. Not having to stain my hands with blood every single day must've be nice... Did things really have to turn out like this?"
"Kar," Alice suddenly called out to him. She hugged him from behind, pressing herself against his back. Her eyes swam in tears. "Nothing matters. It's all devoid of meaning. Because this place isn't real. This isn't our world. Not anymore, at least. We're the AAD's best soldiers, remember? Do you regret meeting us? Een's bad jokes, Shono's delicious cooking, witnessing Kei's training and my astounding swordsmanship, meeting Marno and Lyra... You were lucky enough to experience all those things. No. Maybe we were the lucky ones. We got the chance to meet you, after all. Captain or not, you're our friend. So don't say stuff like that, please."
Alice hugged Karabell even tighter. She was just as overwhelmed as he was. She couldn't comprehend half of what she was seeing. But one thing remained certain. That world was even more beautiful than she'd imagined. Alice couldn't help but think that the creature could've easily won. Bringing them to that place, showing them those memories... It would've been more than enough to completely break their spirit. But, knowing they couldn't win, knowing that everything was meaningless, they'd continued to fight. They'd continued to slay those creatures called Aberrations. Even if they got hurt. Even if their friends died. They had refused to lose. However, forcing them to look at a world they'd lost forever... They couldn't possibly stand their ground against something like that.
"You're right, Alice," Karabell said, speaking slowly as he thought his words through. "Regretting it? I'd never regret or agonize over what I've done. The things we're seeing right now, they're just memories. I know that. But they're remnants of my old world. I just didn't know how to react. I didn't know what to think. The Aberrations destroyed that world, so we have to destroy the Aberrtions. But is that really all there is to it? The only one here is that griffin-like creature." Karabell paused and glanced at the Ringleader. "Where are the other Aberrations? Sorry for ignoring you. I couldn't really help it. The scenery was a bit... Which reminds me, do you have a name?"
"If that bothered me, I wouldn't have shown you all this. As for my name, people have called me many things. At some point, they started calling us Aberrations, and the name stuck. But I never had a name. Never needed one. You can call me whatever you want. Not that it makes much of a difference now," the Aberration replied. "You two killed me. You put an end to my reign. Meaning that the world is slowly changing. And, in order for it to continue changing, you must know the truth. You deserve it more than anyone else, Captain Karabell Ress. The year 2019. We're in Japan. Tokyo, to be precise. That is when and where that strange light brought me. As for what happened immediately after that... You can see for yourselves," the creature replied, bitterness clear in its voice.
The Aberration closed its eyes for a second, and it felt as if the time had stopped. No, that was exactly what had happened. The people had stopped moving. Another griffin-like creature appeared next to them, and time began to move again, as if nothing had happened.
"The memories might be somewhat warped, since we aren't experiencing them firsthand. We're watching these events unfold from a third-person perspective, so I'll have to use my imagination to reproduce the rest of the environment. In a way, that Aberration's nothing more than a fake. However, this is the only method that enables all of you to experience these memories at the same time. But enough about that. We've wasted more than enough time."
All of a sudden, a woman screamed. She stumbled backwards, her whole body shaking with terror. She'd noticed the abnormal creature. The Fake looked at her and blinked a few times. It seemed like its eyes had already grown accustomed to the light. The creature searched the woman's face. It couldn't understand her reaction. The people around them froze, staring at the odd scene. They looked just as confused. One of the men studied the monster's features. The creature was huge. It had to be at least three meters tall. Was it some kind of cosplay? No, that thing looked way too real. There weren't any policemen nearby, either. The man got his phone out and dialed a number. He'd probably called the police. The Fake locked eyes with the woman for a few moments before looking at the crowd of people that had gathered around them. Suddenly, the creature began walking away slowly. It was surprising that the creature's brain hadn't gone into overload. It wasn't scared. It wasn't confused. If anything, the Aberration looked curious.
"I see... This will take a while," the Fake muttered in perfect Japanese.
Een was quick on the uptake. He rubbed his chin, and his forehead furrowed. He'd understood the creature's words. Had the Ringleader made it so they could understand other languages? No, that wasn't another language. It didn't feel like one. Was that the purpose of it showing them that specific memory? But so much time had passed. How was that even possible?
"So you're saying we've been speaking Japanese all this time? This language hasn't changed at all over the last two thousand years? Is that it?" Een asked, almost shouting.
Instead of giving him an answer, the Ringleader gestured with its thumb towards the Fake. The surroundings started to change once again. Een glared at the creature. So it wasn't going to make them sit through two thousand years of history, after all. It was only going to show them the parts it considered important.
"At first, I wanted to learn. That was my sole objective. I found searching through people's memories more efficient than any other method. Of course, books were also a valuable source of information, but I should be really thankful to that woman. She taught me so many things... without her even knowing," the Ringleader explained. "You'll understand everything, little by little. Forgive me, but I think it's better if I show you directly, Een. Now, the next memory..."