There was silence, filled with the sounds of rustling leaves. The vines of this corridor were lucious, reflecting the sunlight. The floor was covered in the ever growing plant life, and it begged the question, what was this country like, before the Cataclysm of the 10th disaster arrived? Due to the inevitability of disasters occuring, it always sparked the greatest question in the world, among scientists, government officials, Regulator elite ranks, and even requiem ranks alike.
"Will we survive the next one?"
Edward was contemplating that, ever since he was a child, watching a documentary of the worst disaster in history, the 6th disaster, a disaster also known as "The Deicide Incident." The substantial amount of documents, letters, even black and white recordings. Ever since he watched that documentary, roughly at the age of 10, he was mentally scarred.
Edward walked in the front, in the distance, it would seem like a child leading their parents in a corridor filled with gleaming sunlight. He turned, still feeling betrayed, his mind was even more betrayed, he always looked up to Truth Seekers, people who would grasp into that unknown just to find out the truth of their "meaningless " existence, even obtaining a Verity as a result of visiting one's Elusive Solace.
"If Satoya was a Truth Seeker, then he would have a Verity, not just some random idiot with a Regulator licensed katana, who claimed he had a dream weeks ago." Edward talked in a manner to that of a child, post tantrum.
Rayna took a shortstop, peeking through a gap in the corridor, "Surprised why Shizune isn't with us."
They were trying to have a conversation, trying to ignore the fact that they are, lost, lost in this overgrown city. According to a presentation made by their former history teacher, whose name they now have forgotten, the 2nd Capital Archipelago was originally an extremely gorgeous country, but unfortunately, the past disaster wrecked this place beyond fixing.
They were continuing their journey, through the hallway of flora, until they heard this, faint sobbing from what they assumed to be a female. They began rushing to the source, seeing a girl with shorter hair, simply curled up against the green wall.
"Are you alright?" Rayna asked, kneeling down to get to the curled up girl. She didn't show her face, simply sobbing endlessly.
Rayna gently caressed her back, before calmly touching her shoulder. Upon touching her shoulder, the girl started fading into a faint light that trailed into a man across them. He was holding a notebook in one hand, a ballpoint pen in the other hand. There was one more thing interesting about the man, being he wore a trench coat that was only colored white, an unnatural white that seemed to never be stained nor dirtied.
He muttered intriguingly, "I see, kind hearted people." He wore glasses, and was around average height. His long black hair swayed in the gentle breeze. The man glanced back at the trio, proceeding to write more into his notebook. "Unfortunately, you all do not seem to possess the ability to catch the eyes of The Flawed Believer." He started to calmly walk away, his long hair swaying even more in the breeze, he also opened his trench coat, placing the notebook and pen in a pocket.
"Wait just a minute!" Rayna yelled out, holding her hand out, attempting to ask more. "Who is The flawed Believer? Ain't ever heard of that!" She added on.
The man slightly faced Rayna, his expression was difficult to perceive due to his hair being in the way, but he spoke again, his tone peaceful but also tinged in mystery.
"The Condescending Memoir, of course, we simply call it The Flawed Believer." After he stated the name, several pieces of torn paper flew into the trio's face, causing them to stumble and quickly remove them, however the man was gone.
"The Condescending Memoir?" Edward repeated to himself. There was something oddly familiar with that name, and so he closed his eyes. Edward even now believed if you close your eyes while thinking, you'd start remembering more, although he had no proof of it working, he still believed with his heart that he was correct.
"Is he part of The Memoir Conglomerate?" The Memoir Conglomerate is an organization that is considerably smaller than any organization in the world. The one known fact is that there are only 100 members, with 40 of them being "high ranking." With no found founder. The 40 high ranking members are called Receurdos. The other members, or the other 60 are called Memoria, and although the information is extremely vague, they are open about their worship of an Ancient Crucible called The Condescending Memoir.
"Memoir Conglomerate? Those guys? Weren't they Regulators who left the Regulator's Committee unofficially? But that also means they are "vigilantes." Right?" Rayna asked, looking down at Edward. Not really looking down due to her feeling of superiority, but Edward being nearly "half" her height.
"I mean yeah, the Regulators Committee Cadres are kind of stupid." Edward shrugged, looking at his phone, his phone was opened up with a map, Edward was intending to leave the 2nd Capital Archipelago, but without any stroke of luck, he was unable to find any airports, even docks.
The Regulators Committee's Cadres are the 3 highest ranked political officials. However no one really liked any of the 3, except one of them, the main reason is the cadres are genuinely corrupted people with the only good person being an 62 years old man named Zephyr.
"Wait, Edward, was the guy who was holding the notebook a Receurdos? Or Memoria?" Rayna questioned, scratching her head. The Receurdos of the Memoir Conglomerate are theorized to be nearly S rank to elite rank in terms of average, with one of the Receurdos being nearly as power as a Requiem rank, but no one can confirm it due to encountering a Receurdos being quite rare.
"I think that was a Memoria, I don't want to encounter anyone who can turn us into a condiment on the side of a building," Edward said before fake coughing, "like Satoya nearly getting us killed."