In the highest floor of the castle of memories, the audience hall, pages swirled wildly around a white throne, where the fourth demon king, White Paper Angel Lostmemory, sat holding her knees.
And next to her…
“Joy joy joy joy joy joyyyy!! Marvelous Memoria, no, demon king Lostmemory! You are my greatest creation! My greatest weapon!”
Cradle laughed loudly as he looked down at the capital through a window.
“Aah! Aah! Aaah look, it’s incredible! The world is like trash! I feel as though I have become god! Success success! A huge success! I finally have a demon king under my command! And no one can stand against me! The whole world is my toy!”
It was the first time father had complimented her. He was happy with her.
That was the entire reason for Memoria’s existence, and yet…
“…”
For some reason, her heart was unmoved.
“That Chrom Chronogate isn’t going to make it here! Suck up his memories along with the entire world’s, demon king Lostmemory!”
Memoria couldn’t disobey orders.
She forgot about the idea of going against orders itself.
Life sage Cradle Destar.
The brainwashing he used to control and play with all sorts of living organisms worked even if one became a demon king.
Memoria’s eyes remained hollow, as she scooped up memory pages even faster, despite that not being what she wanted.
The memories of the people of the capital flowed to her through these memory pages..
Happy memories, memories of despair, memories of pain…
Her mind was becoming a mess..
(…It’s scary… It’s dark… It’s cold…)
But she couldn’t control this power by her own will.
She asked herself how it came to this.
All she wanted was to be loved.
(…That’s kid’s a homunculus, right?)
(A failed creation of the Elmana project…)
(Is she good with memory magic? Creepy…)
She was born from a flask, and hated the moment she was born.
The biggest masterpiece of the life sage Cradle Destar, ‘a living technique’.
(Damn memory manipulating witch! Give us back our memories…!)
She made them forget.
(…Eek!? S-stop! Don’t take my memories!)
She made them forget.
She made them forget. She made them forget. She made them forget.
She made them forget. She made them forget. She made them forget. She made them forget. She made them forget. She made them forget. She made them forget. She made them forget. She made them forget.
And then…
(Where am I? Who am I?)
She was made to forget her own memories that she didn’t need.
She was always like a lost child. She was never loved by anyone, and no one would take her hand.
But she wasn’t scared. She wasn’t lonely. She wasn’t sad.
It was fine, since she forgot all about those things.
That was the case until this point, and yet…
(I’m sure you’re a nice girl.)
She met a strange boy.
He was supposed to be her enemy, but he pat her head with his warm hand.
He smiled kindly to her. He said nice things to her. He showed her a kind world.
Surely none of this was a big deal for him, but for a girl that forgot about kindness and warmth, she was experiencing those things for the first time.
Her world that was a blank page had color for the first time.
Forgetting was her only salvation, but she felt she didn’t want to forget.
She should have forgotten about these feelings, but she remembered.
And because of that…
(…I’m scared.)
Memoria became weaker every time she thought of him.
These newly remembered emotions were hurting her. If this was how she would feel, she figured it would be better if her heart remained forgotten.
A doll… Is like a doll.
A doll shouldn’t have a heart to begin with.
And also, even if she didn’t want to forget that boy…
She would never meet him again anyway. Even if she did, he surely resented her.
Memoria hurt him. She destroyed the daily life that was so dear to him.
She became a demon king that brought unhappiness to everyone.
That kind look would never be directed towards Memoria again.
And so… She figured she should forget.
His smile, his kind words, the feeling of his warm hand…
Forget, forget, forget. She would become a white paper doll again.
Then she wouldn’t have to be scared again…
But as she was thinking this…
Suddenly, the door to the hall was thrown open.
Light poured in from in front of Memoria, and as she slowly opened her eyes and looked to the entrance…
“…Ahh…”
A white paper world… But in that spot, there was color.
The boy was standing there. His body was in tatters, and half of his hair was painted white.
But still, his eyes were directed straight to Memoria.
Cradle’s loud laughter stopped.
“…This is a very joyous moment. Can you not get in its way… Hero?”
Cradle’s face twisted unpleasantly.
“Well then, I will ask you this before I make an example out of you. What did you come here to do? Kill the demon king? Or will you tell me you’re here to save the world?”
“Isn’t… It obvious?”
The boys unsheathed his sword with shaky hands, and thrust it at Cradle.