One morning, when you awoke from uneasy dreams, you found yourself locked in a small room.
A space just large enough for one person to stretch out and lie down.
There were no doors, windows, or any other structure connecting to the outside. The only things in the room were a desk, a chair, and a single computer.
No one answered when you called.
You looked around for a way to escape, but saw no sign of a hidden door.
As you tried to recall how you got here, the first thing that came to mind was the dream you just had.
In the dream, you died. It was a gruesome end, so much so that the corpse was unrecognizable.
Dreams of one's own death are not so uncommon.
But what if it wasn't a dream? What if it had all been real, and you were already dead, wandering the afterlife?
Strangely, you felt little fear or confusion. The sense of reality was too faint.
Perhaps the idea of an afterlife was just a guess, or maybe you simply hadn't woken up from the dream yet.
You scratched your head, then decided to try the computer.
Whether it was a dream or the afterlife, you had to do what you could.
The feel of the chair against your back, the height of the desk, the shape of the mouse and keyboard—they were all incredibly familiar to you.
Unfortunately, there was only one program installed on the computer.
When you clicked the icon, a blend of black and gray, something like a full-screen game window appeared, and what seemed to be an opening sequence began to play.
「Long, long ago, there lived a knight.」
「He was a knight of great strength, valor, and loyalty.」
「But no matter how exceptional a knight he was, he was, in the end, only human.」
「Fatigue, injury, age. Many limitations held the knight back.」
「To continue fighting, to protect what he must, the knight began to slowly replace parts of his body with other things.」
「His arms could no longer feel the warmth of another person. His legs took on the gleam of metal. Even his warm heart yielded its place to something else.」
「The knight's body was no longer human, but his soul remained as proud as ever.」
「His lord, taking pity on him, told the knight he could finally rest, but the steadfast knight shook his head.」
「As time went on, fewer and fewer people remembered the knight from his human days.」
「His devotion, pride, and loyalty left their mark not in the hearts of people, but only as letters in old texts, and even those were gradually forgotten.」
「And so, a great many years passed.」
「The knight's body had deteriorated beyond comparison to its prime, and his soul, too, had reached its limit.」
「Like his story, now passed down only as an old fairy tale, the knight was left to rust away in a storehouse.」
「It was far too shabby an end for a proud hero, but the knight had no regrets.」
「For it was the knight himself who had chosen this path, knowing it would one day come to this, and ignoring his lord's attempts to dissuade him.」
「As the knight awaited his final moments, a young girl came to him.」
「The girl brushed the dust from his body and poured her mana into him, removing the rust.」
「The knight realized that the girl was a distant descendant of his lord.」
「The very things he had once protected. His medal, more precious and beautiful than any treasure.」
「A living testament that his life had not been in vain was now, as if by a twist of fate, asking for his help once more.」
「His soul, which he thought completely worn out, was filled with rapture. And yet, an equal measure of sorrow filled his heart.」
「The knight was a ruin.」
「He no longer had the strength to take the hand offered to him.」
「It was then, as the knight's soul lamented its inability to protect anyone anymore, that it sensed another soul.」
「This soul was a stranger, one with no connection to this story.」
「But unlike the knight, whose tale was already over, this being held limitless potential.」
「To the stranger, to the unfamiliar soul—yes, to none other than 'you'—the knight makes a request.」
「You can accept the knight's request and write a new story, or you can refuse and ignore it.」
「Now, what will you do?」
「1. Begin the story.」
「2. Do not begin.」
You stared blankly at the two choices on the screen.
You did not hesitate for long.
You made your choice.
「1. Begin the story.」 ←