*
"Hmmm..., where am I? " (Lastia)
A unfamiliar ceiling, a foreign surrounding. A layer of blankets bury her body, pressing her into the soft cushion of the bed, accumulated warmth spread over her face as she lifted the blanket slightly above her neck.
Blood pressure, normal. She lifted her torso up with her arms and sat in front of her pillow. Right, this must be her own room. There was no else here, the air was slightly humid and the window had a slight gap to let the air out. She lifted her leg and slid it off to the side of the bed, before stepping onto the ground. Her gait seems to be fine, her body was not injured in any way. Why did her memories start here, but not in any point before?
She seemed to retain some common sense, such as the fact that she wasn't born then and there. She had lived a full life up until this point, and only lost her memories now. Or perhaps it was a mix of living a life spanning multiple days, and a life spanning a single day. There was no way to verify... Other than the diary laying on the table.
How far did this common sense extend? How was it retained? What made it an exception? Was this noted by previous Lastias?
Before she noticed, she was eagerly flipping through the closed diary, she pulled open the cabinets and found more books to devour too. She hungrily absorbed all of the information, marvelling at how she could remember so accurately despite only doing a brief glance. Photographic memory, it looks like the other Lastias had it too. That's how she's been building this facade to the outside world. It was about time for her to head to school.
Opening the closet door where her clothes were presumably stored, there was a map conveniently layed out on the inner side of the door, and some tack on notes identifying her uniform. Some reminders to wear underwear and hair regulations were also tacked onto the door, all of it wasn't visible from the outside...
The previous Lastias might have suffered to bring back all this information. Now, it was just her turn. She stepped out of the house, fully changed and ready to see how her school looked like. On the way there, she placed her palm on her chest, feeling her heartbeat. It was real, everything exists. She was alive, here and there. For this transient moment, she existed and she could change things.
Every Lastia inherited a small bit of common sense so as to fit in socially, their bodies might be different as the subsequent Lastias were had bodies that were more tempered. However the thing that was most distinct between them... Was likely the thoughts they have. They might think similarly, but the contents are different. Was that enough to regard herself as significant? Did she want to be significant? To be important in this world? What did she want to be...
When she blinked, she was already one foot into the classroom. Arin and Sariel waved to her in a way that's easy to catch her attention, they could be described as energetic. Normal people wouldn't go this far out of their way... Her heart felt warm. Was this what they felt? How did they regard this feeling? Did they cherish it? Treat it for granted? Or were they indifferent? She didn't know how to respond, so she acted in a neutral manner. Walking up to them, she greeted softly.
She was more reserved than she assumed, why was it so hard to get her voice out? As if her thoughts were read, they ignored her awkwardness and pointed her to her seat and began mingling. It felt like her hair was standing, even if they made to atmosphere so comforting for her. What was this feeling? Why couldn't it be quelled in her heart?
Class started and their homeroom teacher started speaking, she hinted a bit about the schedule as students were supposed to have the timetable themselves, before moving on to the atypical activities. Half of the students either got excited or started murmuring about it, a small break from studying and lessons, nonetheless they looked forward to it.
Lastia could only stare on in silence. The her on that day wouldn't be the same as the her today. At most she would react with 'I hope you enjoy it for me'. The other 2 also kept silent, not because the teacher got everyone to quiet down, they also mulled over how Lastia felt. A planned class trip to an old culture rich street, a place that receives frequent tourism even from the locals.
While the planning for residential and commercial zones suggested that they were homogeneous regions with a specific function in mind, due to human nature and requirements, these zones still became slightly diverse in the end with small pockets that didn't particularly serve as residential areas or retail areas for the respective zones. However, they wouldn't match the diversity of past era cities, which could be likened to scrambled eggs compared to present day zones.
In a way, these places could be broadly classified as culture mini zones. They sporadically appear everywhere and lend an insight into local history... Into the times before the zones were erected and the era changed. Could these places have a clue? Even though it surely has a been at least a few decades, perhaps a few millennia since the era changed, these culture mini zones boasting previous era knowledge... Would they be so convenient to hold clues to her present era curse?
"... 11508 years ago, that was the year the new era started. As for what happened back then, 99% of records were disintegrated.
We can only assume the 1% survived due to the abundance of servers in apocalypse bunkers. A cataclysmic event incinerated the world above and humanity had to start from scratch. " (Sariel)
"... I don't think such an ancient event would have anything to do with your curse. " (Arin)
Her large eyes blinked slowly at Lastia, revealing two gem like iris that radiated beauty. Her chin was leaning against her boxed lunch in a lazy manner as she listened to the other two. With Lastia bringing up culture mini zones as a point of interest and Sariel giving a minor explanation to Lastia.