As Sora was watching the shocking and terrifying scene,
what was Yuren and the Irene School up to?
They were in the midst of letters and war.
“Is it another day like this?”
“No! This is just half a day’s worth. There’s still half a day left.”
“Ha…”
Yuren felt like he would lose his mind staring at the thousands of letters piled in front of him.
After the release of ‘Eternal Fantasy’, the Irene School started receiving a flood of insane letters from all over the world.
Half of them were praise and positive feedback about ‘Eternal Fantasy.’
“[It’s fun!, Thank you., Please make a sequel soon.]” Among other mundane but nice content, these types of letters were common after a game release, so they weren’t too bothersome.
The problem was the other half of the letters.
The remaining letters were all about the death of ‘Aerith.’
Aerith’s death shocked gamers tremendously.
So, I too, pondered deeply while creating this game until the very end.
To kill her… or to save her… that is the question.
And my conclusion was to ‘kill her.’
Some narratives in the world only reach completion through death.
Because it was precious, the sorrow of loss becomes greater, and overcoming that sadness makes the protagonist’s step appear even more magnificent, or so I thought.
I definitely believed that the people in the Other World would understand my intention, but
I may have been overly naive.
People reacted in various ways.
Some gamers denied it.
“No way! That can’t be true!! Aerith couldn’t have died!!!”
Some gamers were angry.
“How could you kill Aerith?! Bring her back!!”
Some gamers negotiated.
“Aerith didn’t die, she’s just sleeping, right? She’ll be revived later!!”
Some gamers mourned and paid their respects.
“Did Aerith suffer? I hope she wasn’t in pain when she died…”
There were truly a wide range of reactions and various letters came in.
Among them, there were gamers who were so angry they sent something bizarre.
“There’s something weird again.”
“Again?”
“Did another one come, my disciple?”
While reading a letter, I sensed an ominous magical energy emanating from it.
Out of about a thousand letters, one would occasionally have something like this mixed in.
My Master, who received the letters, began analyzing the magic flowing from one letter intently.
“What kind of magic do you think is cast on this, Master?”
“Hmm… ‘A spell that mentally controls someone to resurrect a character’ seems to be at play.”
“That spell again.”
“Indeed. I’ve lost count of how many times it’s happened.”
This letter had a spell that mentally controlled the reader, compelling them to act in some way.
For a wizard of my caliber, it barely had any effect, but the dizzy feeling it left was unpleasant, so I categorized all such letters as separate trash and burned them without opening them.
As I was organizing the letters, Karen hurriedly brought over a red letter.
“Yuren! A direct letter has arrived from the Prince Lethers of the Kingdom of Ra!”
“What! From the prince?!”
I was so startled by the sudden royal letter that I hastily accepted it.
What could it be that required a sudden correspondance?
Worrying, I opened the letter to find the following content.
————————————————————
Haha! My dear friend, Yuren, how have you been?
I dislike beating around the bush, so let’s get to the point.
……Why did you kill Aerith?
That kind-hearted, pure girl, who simply wanted to protect her friends and the stars—why did you kill her!
She just wanted to protect her friends and the stars!!
How could you kill Aerith!!! Are you even human after doing this!!!!!
It’s not too late now!
Bring her back!!!
Bring back Aerith!!!!
————————————————————
“……………”
“Yuren, what’s written in there?”
“Are we really getting dragged into annoying business again?”
The others all looked at me seriously as I read the letter.
I folded the letter back up with others and said while organizing them.
“It’s nothing. It seems the Prince Lethers has finally grown up.”
“Grown up?”
“What does that mean, my disciple?”
For a gamer, or a fan of such works,
living through the pain of losing their favorite character and overcoming that hurt is part of growing up.
I thought Prince Lethers and many gamers had experienced that too.
Young folks, grow up.
*
Sora received the greatest shock in life from Aerith’s death.
She couldn’t accept that ‘Aerith’, who was bright, lively, and warm like a flower embracing everyone, was gone.
But despite that, the game continued to progress.
Sky: Aerith is dead… I’m not laughing anymore… I’m not crying… I’m not angry…
Sephiroth: Why are you sad, Sky?
Sky: Shut up!!!! It’s your fault!!! Aerith!!! Aerith!!!
Sephiroth: Hehe, there’s no need to pretend to be angry, Sky, because you are… a puppet.
After Aerith’s death, Sephiroth disappeared while saying something strange.
Sora, knowing he was just a game character, felt intense anger toward Sephiroth, and with tears flowing, she slowly laid Aerith to rest in the temple lake.
Sky: Goodbye… Aerith…
Thus, after parting with Aerith, Sky continued his journey to save the world and to take vengeance for Aerith.
Desiring revenge on Sephiroth, Sora joined him on the journey.
But there was a lingering feeling.
What did Sephiroth mean by “puppet”?
Hiding her anxious heart away, Sora continued to chase Sephiroth along with Sky.
Upon arriving at the ‘North Shrine’ where the Dark Rune was hidden, Sky’s group attempted to conquer the shrine before Sephiroth.
Countless traps and illusions separated the other comrades, leaving only Sky and Tina to ultimately reach the Dark Rune.
Just as Sky arrived at the Dark Rune, Sephiroth appeared before them, revealing a shocking truth.
Sephiroth: I am the experiment created to assist me by receiving Geno’s cells. Your true identity is Genesis Copy numberless, Sky… or rather, you have no name, because you’re not Sky.
Sky’s true identity was one of the copies created by the mad scientist Horo, using Sephiroth’s cells mixed with Geno cells to resurrect him.
The Geno cells change to match the memories and actions of others, so Sky had been molded to fit Tina’s memories of him.
As proof, Sephiroth showed a photo taken five years ago in Nibel that Tina had but had never shown.
And in that photo…
[There was no sign of Sky.]
“What the… how could this be…”
The photo showed a SOLDIER resembling Sky with black hair, but Sky was nowhere to be found.
Sora felt goosebumps and chills as she continued the game.
Seeing the photo, Sky completely lost his mind,
and he became Sephiroth’s puppet, offering the Dark Rune to him.
Afterward, Sephiroth deemed Sky unnecessary, destroyed the shrine, and resurrected completely with the power of the Dark Rune, flying away.
The comrades all escaped, but Tina, who tried to save Sky, was caught in the collapsing ground and got wrapped up in the light of Life Flow along with Sky.
Tina: Where is this…
Then, in the light of Life Flow, Tina started to rummage through Sky’s memories.
The promise made with young Sky,
the incident before Sky decided to become a SOLDIER,
the denial of her mother’s death, believing in the legend that one could meet the dead on Nibel Mountain, and the injury Tina sustained while climbing the mountain with Sky became vivid memories.
Sky had been next to her but felt guilty for hurting Tina, which led him to pursue the path of becoming a SOLDIER towards Midgar.
As she continued seeing memories she had forgotten herself, Tina was convinced that Sky was indeed the Sky she knew.
Continuing to view Sky’s memories, Tina felt something strange while viewing the Nibel tragedy.
Sky was recalling the events of that day, even though he had no idea.
After collapsing from the impact, he remembered the scene of Sephiroth detaching Experiment Geno from the radiating light,
and the ‘Jack’ who had bravely confronted Sephiroth to stop him.
However, when Jack was helpless against Sephiroth’s overwhelming power, thinking there was no one left to stop him,
a Shinra soldier rushed at Sephiroth wielding Jack’s Buster Sword, stabbing him in the stomach.
Sephiroth: What the hell are you!?
????: For my mom!!! For everyone!!! For Tina!!!! I respected you!!!
In the midst of being stabbed, as Sephiroth swung his sword, the helmet of the Shinra soldier fell off, revealing his identity.
“No way… could it be!!!”
The identity of that soldier was none other than Sky.
Sky had not become a SOLDIER but had come to Nibel as a soldier of Shinra.
Sora was shocked to learn that the soldier who had been suffering from nausea was Sky.
If things had ended with Sephiroth’s death, it might have been a happy ending, but unfortunately, the story continued down a dark path.
The mad scientist Horo arrived on the scene, injecting his son Sephiroth’s and Geno’s cells into Sky, Jack, and other test subjects in an attempt to resurrect Sephiroth.
During the experiment, Jack regained consciousness and managed to save Sky, escaping.
The revealed past of the two during the escape was even more tragic.
Jack and Sky became the best of friends while carrying out missions together, and Jack revealed that he planned to retire after this mission to be with his girlfriend.
That girlfriend’s name was none other than ‘Aerith.’
Jack was Aerith’s boyfriend.
But as Horo’s pursuit grew near, Jack hid Sky and fought off the pursuers, ultimately sacrificing himself.
Before dying, Jack handed Sky the Buster Sword and said,
Jack: My pride and dreams… I’ll give you everything… Do it for me.
Sky finally snapped back to reality at the death of his friend, howling in despair.
But the mentally exhausted Sky neither completely resisted Geno nor was he fully consumed by it, landing in an ambiguous state.
Blending Jack’s dream with his own memories, he transformed into ‘Sky,’ the former SOLDIER we all know.
As Sora heard the sound of all the puzzle pieces falling into place, once again, she felt goosebumps all over her body.
