The glitching blue text of the System dissolved into the stagnant, vanilla-scented air, leaving Nikki standing in absolute, suffocating darkness.
She didn't move. She couldn't. The tears streaming down her face were a manifestation of a dam breaking deep within her subconscious.
For years, memories that made a human being whole were gone. Now, standing in the pitch-black space of her family's ruined sanctuary, the fragments were raining down on her all at once.
Behind her, General B-02 thudded softly against the tiled floor as he stepped over the threshold.
The southern warlord raised his massive hand. His eyes flared, casting a wide, sweeping beam of piercing green light across the room.
The Origin Tech Lab was exactly as her dream had projected, only ravaged by the merciless passage of time. Thick layers of grey dust coated the massive, L-shaped workbenches.
