The darkness remained motionless.
Then—
A cold blue light spread across the endless void.
Dozens of glowing symbols floated around Nova before slowly assembling into a massive circle beneath her feet.
Memory Archive #1
Status: Restored
Integrity: 21%
Missing Data: 79%
Nova stared at the strange symbols.
"...What is this?"
The voice answered immediately.
Emergency Memory Preservation System activated.
Creator identity: Classified.
Primary objective: Restore the owner's memories before total identity collapse.
Nova frowned.
"Identity... collapse?"
No answer.
Instead, thousands of fragments of light appeared around her like shattered pieces of glass.
Inside each fragment...
She saw different moments.
A smiling little girl.
A quiet village.
Her mother laughing.
Then—
Everything distorted.
Cracks spread across every memory.
Nova reached toward one of the fragments.
The moment her fingers touched it—
BOOM.
The entire world changed.
She found herself standing in the middle of a peaceful village.
Children laughed.
Merchants greeted customers.
Smoke rose gently from the chimneys.
The system spoke again.
Location confirmed.
Kingdom of Arlan.
Estimated date: Eleven years before the monster invasion
Nova slowly turned around.
"...So this..."
"...was my home?"
Silence.
Then another message appeared.
Warning.
This archive has been severely damaged.
Certain memories have been permanently erased.
Nova's heartbeat accelerated.
"Who erased them?"
...
No response.
Instead—
A distant scream echoed across the village.
Nova froze.
People suddenly stopped walking.
One by one...
They all looked toward the royal palace.
Black smoke was rising into the sky.
The system's emotionless voice whispered one final sentence.
Beginning playback of the event known as...
The First Catastrophe.