PASSAGE 9: NEXUS

Curiosity burned brighter than his lingering pain as Alaric shuffled towards Lumina. He lowered himself clumsily onto the floor, his body a symphony of aches reminding him of his ordeal. His gaze lingered on Lumina, a child seemingly plucked from a storybook. He studied her features – the golden hair, the eyes that held the glimmer of a thousand stars – with a fascination that bordered on rudeness.

Lumina, however, wasn't one for excessive scrutiny. A twitch of her golden eyebrow sent a playful annoyance rippling through her small form. "Hey! What are you doing?" she demanded, her voice a delightful mix of childish petulance and otherworldly power.

Alaric, still fixated on her, ignored the question. Instead, he reached out with a surprising burst of speed and pinched Lumina's cheek – a reflex more fitting for a playful child than a battered hunter.

A yelp of startled pain erupted from Lumina. The adorable facade momentarily faltered, replaced by a grimace that mirrored a kicked puppy's. "Hey! That hurts!" she shrieked, immediately launching a retaliation.

Her foot, surprisingly powerful for such a small frame, connected with Alaric's gut with a sickening thud. The air whooshed out of his lungs in a surprised cough, sending him sprawling backwards. Pain radiated from his stomach, momentarily eclipsing the throbbing in his eye and the general ache in his bones.

"What do you think you're doing, you insolent bastard?!" Lumina raged, puffing out her cheeks and rubbing her wounded cheek with an adorable ferocity. "Don't you know who I am?!"

Alaric, gasping for breath, managed a weak apology from his position on the floor. "I'm sorry, I just… I wanted to make sure you were real. That I wasn't hallucinating after spending who-knows-how-long lost in a rift."

Lumina's anger simmered down a notch, replaced by a pout. "Then shouldn't you be pinching yourself and not me?!" she huffed, her voice regaining its playful lilt. Even her annoyance was strangely endearing.

Alaric's sheepish laugh and a self-conscious scratch on his head earned him another glare from Lumina. It was a powerful glare, even for someone so small, and it sent a shiver down his spine. Laughter quickly died in his throat.

"Alright, alright," he conceded, raising his hands in mock surrender. "So, Lumina," he began, his voice taking on a more serious tone. "Care to explain why I'm here? What is this place, and what's the deal with that… other place?"

Lumina sighed dramatically, puffing out her cheeks for a moment before composing herself. "This," she announced, gesturing around her at the vast, cavernous space, "is the Nexus. It's the heart of what you experienced outside – The Labyrinth of Lost Memories."

Alaric furrowed his brow. "Labyrinth? But it was just a straight path…"

A knowing smile played on Lumina's lips. "Ah, but appearances can be deceiving, Alaric. The Labyrinth doesn't reveal its true nature at first glance. It shifts and twists in ways invisible to the naked eye. Those who enter get trapped in its ever-changing maze, doomed to wander its halls for eternity."

He winced, the memory of that endless path sending a fresh wave of unease washing over him. "And those… fast-forwarding cities? What were those?"

"Those, my friend, are echoes of the past. Memories of countless civilizations that have risen and fallen across all worlds, timelines, and parallel universes." Lumina explained, her voice adopting a faintly reverent tone. "They serve as a sort of vast archive, a memory card on a grand scale, where the Gods can watch the rise and fall of these civilizations whenever they desire."

Intrigue flickered in Alaric's eyes. "But why? Why would they want to keep revisiting these memories?"

"To learn," Lumina declared, her golden eyes gleaming with ancient wisdom. "They study the successes and failures of the past, hoping to avoid repeating the same mistakes with the next civilization they create. You see, Alaric, your world, and all the others… they're all part of a grand experiment. The Gods are searching for the perfect society, one that will stand the test of time."

Alaric's jaw slackened. "Guinea pigs?!" he sputtered, his voice a strangled mix of disbelief and outrage. "We're just… experiments for a bunch of bored gods?!"

Lumina grimaced, a flicker of something akin to sympathy crossing her features. "Well, not exactly 'bored,'" she hedged. "But the basic idea is correct. You mortals are part of a grand experiment, a quest to create the perfect civilization."

Alaric felt his head spin. Everything he thought he knew about the world, about existence itself, had been shattered in a matter of minutes. He forced himself to focus, a million questions swirling in his mind. "But what about Ms. Selena and the others? Why did they suddenly go berserk after the rift… vanished?"

"Ah, the rift," Lumina mused, tapping her chin with a thoughtful frown. "That rift was a tether, a fragile thread connecting you and your team to your own timeline. But when it disappeared, that connection was severed. The overwhelming influx of lost memories from the Labyrinth flooded their minds, overwhelming their ability to distinguish their own reality from the echoes of the past."

Alaric stared at her, his mind struggling to grasp the sheer scale of it all. He'd been there, exposed to the same barrage of memories, yet his mind remained intact. "But why me? Why wasn't I affected?"

A sly smile spread across Lumina's face. "Ah, that's where things get interesting," she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "It all boils down to the Blessings of the Gods, the Anima energy gifted to humanity by Eros himself. Your teammates, see, they all possess Anima. It's a conduit, you see, a gateway for those lost memories to enter their minds."

Her golden eyes gleamed with an otherworldly light. "But you, Alaric, you're different. You're an Untouched, devoid of Anima. The lost memories simply couldn't perceive you, even though you were standing right next to your team. You were a ghost in their corrupted world."

A wave of realization washed over Alaric. The missing pieces clicked into place, forming a picture far grander and more terrifying than he could have ever imagined. He was just a single pawn in a cosmic game, his fate controlled by forces beyond his comprehension.