PC14I

You've aged a lot since the last time we met, Fabi.

... Is this a characteristic of your sub-race? You haven't aged a day.

So... what brings you to the Church of the Deep?

... Seaborns are indispensable in our preparation for the impending doom.

Nothing... I mean nothing else can ensure the survival of humanity...

Thus, it would only be right for me to join hands with those who are able and willing to become Seaborns... to search for a way to prolong our existences.

You're looking to use the knowledge of the wise and the talented as nourishment for Seaborns.

But that won't do anything more than prolong our existences.

Hm…? But is survival alone not enough?

I thought a Bishop of the Church would share a majority of that belief with me.

Fabi. You and I both have put our faith in the Seaborns. But… the word "faith" might mean something different for you than it does for me.

Seaborns shouldn't be our object of worship.

We have to stand on equal ground as them, and set our eyes on their natures.

Please, step aside.

Desperation, sadness, sympathy…

Mayors's emotions gush upward, carried by bubbles.

Terra, a land in which the hatred for the different has entrenched itself…

The City, a place in which people, crushed by the trials of life, have surrendered to its absurdities…

They both need the Seaborns, perfected beneath the light.

That is but your wish, Miss Mayors. Faust does not believe them to be necessary elements for the City.

… Even in the City, there are people who are searching for reasons to live on, dreaming of a better world.

We all know that it can't possibly be easy to change. But there has to be some kind of worth, value, in that process alone… in the lives we lead within the City.

What worth could there be to a life of the unkind?

The kind of life humanity is doomed to exist in, where all we ever do is hurt and hate one another?

Listen. Efficient order, natural altruism...

They're both virtues humanity should never lose sight of.

But...

There's no such thing as absolutes when it comes to the value of life.

Survival is the right of all civilization.

Which means that... it should never be up to others to define the worth of life, to argue for it.

But… what if there's no other way?

…….

Can you… even understand what I'm saying…?

Some time had passed since I made Faro Muerto my home.

Unlike my prediction, the Seaborns' evolution seemed to have lost its explosive progress, and Fabius seemed to be content just observing their slow development.

Maybe it's because they're directionless, without a specific wish.

Even still, Seaborns were the key to changing Terra, the land.

To stand against the incoming calamity, we needed their survivability and adaptability.

And the humanity that has turned exhaustion into ill-intent needed the Seaborns' blind, selfless altruism toward their own.

So, while I never stopped my studies…

… something small but sharp continued to stab at my frustrated heart…

… stultified and unable to be resolved.

If we were to lose even our sense of selves and creed, assimilated into this stagnated great will…

For the sake of survival, civilization had to be no more; for the sake of "us," "I" had to be no more.

The realization of that paradox made the first crack in my confidence that Seaborns were the answer to the problem Iberia, the land, and humanity faced, and through the cracks the seeds of doubt were sown.

But I'd already come too far to find a path more beautiful than the Seaborns.

… No more wasting time with these stupid ruminations.

There has to be a way. Some kind of condition Seaborns need to fulfill to retain their sense of selves, to retain their individual hopes and wishes…

I stood adrift atop the inundation of years I dedicated to this purpose, holding onto this precious hope, and steeled my shaking heart.

And that was the easy part.

There are no better solutions. Don't look away from the answer that lies right in front of me; all I need to do is to find a way for Seaborns to hope and wish, to have them each carry a sense of self.

I just had to repeat that to myself like a mantra, again and again.

But my drifting days came to an end when I found a new path, illuminated by the strange light from across the sea.

On that day, yes - the day when that faint blue light shone,

A whisper visited me.

…!?

Who's there? Whose voice… is…

What…

The answer, sought through the eons by people I didn't recognize, played over and over in my ears.

The voice that spoke it was muffled but warm and beautiful…

The light of the City...?

The hearts that were lost, the emotions that were forgotten… the sense of self that…

No, that's enough of that. But… I'd like to hear more about "the light."

The light that has sprouted… from the ten virtues…

And the image those words drew in my mind was… clearer and more beautiful than ever.

Terra, the City... they've both failed to find a way out of this bridle.

If they're going to be satisfied with living on as they are, then…

You can't change what you see by standing still.

If you want to bring about a better world, then... even if you may be lost in the ideals...

... you have to keep walking.

<…….>

Survival... worth of life... As I've never been too certain about either of those complicated ideas, I had no unflinching creed with which to convince her.

That's not to say that the City has no need of the altruistic nature Mayors wants to bring there.

That's not to say that I have a better answer than the combination of Seaborns and the light.

Even still, the emotions, the regrets, the conversations I found and collected over this journey alongside the Sinners... become my answer, and I tick on.

<Honestly, I don't really... know the City all that well, either.>

<My memory only goes back a year. And for what is practically my entire existence, I've been surrounded by the Sinners and our adventure.>

<Still, I... we want to keep trying.>

<You're right, the City is an absurd, vicious place. Something new and horrible surprises me every other day. But...>

<Mayors, that light you spoke of... I don't think that's what protects the ego, the sense of self.>

<To protect it, you have to first look unflinchingly both ways - the path that lies ahead and the one that you've walked. Then, you confront them both.>

That can't be right. The light, it has to…

You… you're just workin' based on what you heard about the City and the light, ain't that right?

How can you be so confident that the light'll be able to protect the Seaborns' sense of selves?

Ain't that just what you want to believe?

I think it's… a distinct possibility.

<Even if the light can do what you hope it does, Mayors, it won't change anything.>

<... Turning our natures kind by transforming us into Seaborns...? A convenient method like that isn't... our path.>

<Because the sense of self protected like that, the kind nature attained like that, wouldn't be our own... it'd be yours, Mayors.>

…….

Protecting your own sense of self while being compassionate and kind, it's…

It's a path of unbearable suffering.

<We might fail some days, despite our best efforts. Some days, we'll be forced to confront the sins of our past and suffer.>

Verily, not one of us as we are now may see the culmination of that path.

Yet... I can hardly find it within myself to simply leave it all in thy hands without so much as trying.

You're saying that Seaborns can't be… the answer I've always sought.

It doesn't make much sense if you think about it, Mayors.

Those sea monsters don't even know what "self" means. That's why they show no hesitation before sacrifice.

If you were to introduce the sense of self to those sea monsters… that selflessness you want… will be no more.

She's a Seaborn-shaped Distortion who is not a Seaborn. An endlessly anguished, contemplating Distortion.

If Mayors's wish is to achieve an altruistic world, then…

… then her desire has to be that she doesn't want her efforts to become meaningless.

Seaborns may be the perfect answer for some people.

A recent example: Fabius. It seems clear to me that that was precisely his wish.

But… that doesn't seem to align with yours.

Find a new answer, Miss Mayors.

You're telling me I have to go back to wandering for so, so much time again... in search of that new answer?

You won't be alone on that path. Walk it together, relying on one another… and it won't feel as long.

…….

Trying to carry such a heavy burden all by yourself, Miss Mayors, it's…

… such a prideful thing to do.