1 Prologue

In an open field, a girl lay alone, unconscious. There was no movement around her, only the grass gently brushing against her back, the wind blowing in the air. Slowly, the girl opened her eyes, but she didn't move, just waited in the moment.

"I should get up, shouldn't I?" She said, talking to the air. After letting out a sigh, she continued, muttering to herself, "Or, you know. I could just. Not," As she flipped herself over entirely, she completely flopped onto the ground.

"Nope. Not getting up. I'm just going to...Lay here and die…" The girl groaned and tried to look at her arms, "So, is anyone going to explain to me why I feel like my entire body is on fire, or am I just supposed to go with it?" She asked out loud.

She waited for a couple of moments, before sighing, "I guess that's a yes. And I'm talking to myself. This is a lovely start to being conscious, isn't it?" She said, pushing herself up on her palms, finally managing to sit up. The girl looked around her but all she could see for ages was grass and more grass.

"Alright, not to be alarmed, but I don't remember a damn thing that happened. Where the hell am I?" She scratched her head. Finally, after she felt that she had wasted an adequate amount of time, she got up and looked around her. "Okay, I think it's about time for me to get worried. What's going on?" The last thing she could remember was a feeling of being burned alive.

She shivered.

As she started thinking back on it, why did she have no idea where she was? Where the hell was she? How did she get here?

"Wait, what the hell is my name?" She asked no one in particular. Within seconds, she saw a line of floating text in the corner of her vision and almost had a heart attack, "Jesus fucking Christ, some warning would have been nice! What the…" Before she could finish her sentence, she squinted her eyes to read the text. She would have laughed about her sense of prioritization if not for the fact that she had no idea what she was doing.

"Ri...sále…" She read slowly, "Risále Celine Manon. Alright. Sounds like a name. I guess...That's my name?" She scratched her head, looking around. She touched her hair, pulling the strands in front of her hair. Blue. Her hair was...dark blue?

"Huh? Talk about an unnatural hair color…" She murmured, "I wonder, what color are my eyes?" She said. And then hit her, "Huh. I just realized I don't know what I look like. I think I should start freaking out right about now," And as she said it, she could feel the panic welling up inside her, and she started whirling around, "Just where the hell am I? Again, who the hell am I talking to?!"

Within a few seconds, she saw something flashing in her vision, eight letters creating a word in bright red.

"...Overload?" The girl said, completely confused at this point. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she cursed under her breath, "Oh no—" She didn't even get to finish her sentence before she crumpled to the ground, all alone.

Somewhere else, a young man gasped as his eyes shot open.

"No! No, I was so close this time, I…I almost…" His eyes burned from unshed tears of both anger and sorrow, "Every single time, I get so close and then—What am I missing?! What am I doing wrong?!"

Suddenly, the large screen behind him flashed red, and he spun around to look at it. A message was displayed across it, "If you know what's good for you, you won't try to do that again."

The young man growled, "Like hell I will. I made a damn promise, I am not going to break it."

He looked around into the area to see if there was anyone still out there, even just one other living breathing human being would be fine—But of course, after what he did, they'd never give him the opportunity to see another person again. After the way he'd betrayed the organization, or so they said.

He was the one who had been betrayed, every other person who had been dragged into this was betrayed, not the organization.

Finally, the glaring red of the screen disappeared and he saw fourteen different jagged lines, all moving and he let out a sob of relief, "They're still alright…I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this but at least…At least it doesn't seem to be hurting them," He whispered, as the tears finally fell. Then, he paused for a moment, "...Fourteen? I thought there were only thirteen…"

He looked at another bar on the screen, a bigger one, one that he was familiar with. However, when he had first seen that bar, it was fully blue. Now, the colored part of the bar didn't even read the halfway point, and it was red, with the words "State of deterioration, eighty-four percent. The device is past the point of repair. Further use from now on may endanger those involved."

"I'm glad I made her show me how to build this thing, or there would be no hope," He muttered, "As long as they didn't make any changes, I've still got one more use out of this thing," He looked around and grabbed what he needed, gritting his teeth as he opened the door to the cell and looked at the one thing that had ruined his life. And so many other people's lives as well.

"I'm going to save you all. I'm so, so, so sorry for what they've done to us. Even if it kills me, I'll save you all and I'm going to stop them," He looked back at the screen, then to the object in his hands, "I'm running out of time. I can't mess it up. I've used up all the chances I had. Something has to be different this time. I've done everything I can, I need—It has to be her. That's the only thing I can think of," He looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath, "I need Risá. She's the only one that can make a difference."

Stepping back into his nightmare, he closed his eyes, "No more chances. If I mess this up, we'll all end up dead. This isn't like before. I've got to do this right."

Then, he turned on the object in his hands.

If only he knew what he truly had to sacrifice in the process.

If only he knew how much pain it would take to set them free.

If only he knew how much being saved would feel like dying inside.

Would he have done it again if he knew?