The lighting in Elysia's livestream room was warm and bright, as always.
The pink-haired girl blinked at the camera, her smile like the first ray of sunlight in spring.
"Oh! Everyone, look! The game just updated!"
She waved her arms excitedly as the progress bar for Honkai Impact 3rd crept slowly across the screen.
"New story! New characters! New, um, new everything!"
The chat exploded instantly: "Elysia, calm down."
"A free game that updates this often, I'm starting to feel a little guilty."
Elysia read the comments and smiled until her eyes curved into little crescents.
Once the progress bar finished, she navigated into the game with practiced ease. The login screen music began to play, the version Eden had lovingly remastered.
"Alright, here we go~"
She clapped her hands toward the camera.
"Before we start our new adventure, I have a question for everyone."
"Did you all miss me~?"
The chat erupted.
"Yes! Yes, I did!" "I only missed you, like, a billion times, no big deal."
Elysia read the comments with a grin like a cat who'd stolen a fish.
"Hehe, I knew it~"
She gave a satisfied little nod, and was just about to say something more when a comment drifted by: "Elysia, can you change your opening line already?"
"You say 'did you miss me' every single time. It's getting a bit old."
"Honestly, yeah, switch it up."
More comments piled on: "Agreed, agreed."
Elysia puffed out her cheeks, looking like an indignant little hamster.
"Hmph, are you all saying you're sick of me?"
Chat: "No no no!" "It's just a suggestion! A suggestion!" "A new line would be even better!"
Elysia looked at those desperately backpedaling comments and burst out laughing.
"Okay, okay, I know you don't mean it like that~"
She thought seriously for a moment. "A new opening line. What should it be?"
She looked into the camera with an expression that practically begged for help.
"Does anyone have any good ideas? Give me some inspiration~"
The chat immediately entered full brainstorming mode.
"The wondrous adventures of Elysia, begin!" "Welcome to Elysia's dreamland!" "Time to snuggle with everyone again!"
Elysia read through the wildly varied suggestions and doubled over laughing.
"Snuggle?! What on earth!"
She covered her mouth, still laughing. "And 'dreamland,' that sounds like a children's TV show!"
Chat: "What's wrong with children's TV!" "Elysia has always been a children's channel host!" "HAHAHAHAHA I'm dead."
Elysia barely managed to compose herself, dabbing at the tears laughing had brought to her eyes.
"Okay, okay, I think I have an idea. Starting tomorrow, my new opening line will be..."
She paused, letting the suspense build, then broke into a radiant smile. "A secret~"
Chat: "???" "Elysia has gone rogue!" "She learned bad habits from somewhere!"
Elysia looked at all the outraged comments and seemed absolutely delighted.
"Alright, alright, I'm just kidding."
She cleared her throat and spoke in a more sincere tone. "A new story begins with a wonderful encounter. I really have been using that one for a long time. Today everyone gave me so much inspiration, and I'll come up with something new, I promise!"
She paused, her expression softening a little.
"But there's one thing that will never change."
"And that is, getting to meet all of you here... it really, truly, makes me so happy~"
The chat went quiet for a second.
"Elysia, you're going to make me cry!" "I'm so happy too!"
"Alright, touching moment over~" Elysia clapped her hands and picked up her controller again. "Now, let's dive into the new chapter of Honkai Impact 3rd."
The story began to unfold. Theresa and her companions returned to St. Freya Academy.
But the mood was nothing like the cheerful scenes from earlier in the game.
Heavy. Oppressive.
Bronya lay in a hospital bed, eyes closed, her face as pale as paper.
Theresa stood beside the bed, her small fists clenched tight.
The chat began to quiet down.
"Wait, when did this story get so heavy?" "Hold on, what happened to the fun parts?"
Elysia said nothing. She just watched the screen in silence.
She had already played through this part on her own, in private. But seeing it again, her heart still clenched. Then Theresa made her decision.
She was going to the Central Cathedral, deep within St. Freya Academy.
That place held Schicksal's highest-tier biotechnology, and perhaps the means to save Bronya.
It also held a truth that Otto had buried for a very long time.
Theresa slipped away from the ward without telling anyone.
What she didn't notice was the figure quietly following her, not far behind.
Kiana.
The chat exploded again: "Kiana followed her!" "Don't go in, kid!" "Theresa, turn around and look!"
Elysia said softly, "She won't turn around. That's just how the story goes."
Deep within the Central Cathedral, Theresa issued a search command. A cold, mechanical voice echoed through the empty space.
"Initiating search: biological chip neural interface records."
"Search complete. 713 related entries found in the Schicksal core database."
Theresa's eyes lit up.
"Of those, 712 are linked to Sirin and are classified at the highest level. Access denied."
"So Grandfather hid them," Theresa murmured, her voice heavy with frustration.
She knew what Sirin meant.
The year 2000. The Second Eruption. The most classified secret at its heart.
A forbidden subject, never to be touched.
"Fine. Access the last one, then."
"This record is dated February 7th, 2000. Location: the Babylon Labs in Siberia. Access?"
Theresa's brow furrowed deeply.
The year 2000. February 7th. Siberia. That was the most devastating moment of the Second Eruption.
And a moment she had no desire to remember.
But for Bronya...
"Access."
The mechanical voice responded, "Acknowledged, Principal Theresa."
The space began to shift, and Theresa's figure slowly faded into the cathedral's depths.
And the very next second after she vanished.
"Sis!"
Kiana came rushing in.
But all she found was an empty cathedral, and the last traces of light dissolving into nothing.
"Sis?!"
The chat flooded with messages: "Kiana, don't go in there!" "Is this a trap? Something feels like Otto is up to something again."
Elysia said nothing. She simply watched the screen in silence.
She watched the girl standing in the center of the cathedral, looking around in bewilderment.
Then, "Virtual environment: construction complete."
The cold mechanical voice sounded in Kiana's ear.
Time: February 7th, 2000, 3:00 p.m.
Location: Babylon Labs, Siberia.
The world before Kiana's eyes began to distort.
When everything came to a standstill, she was standing on a vast snowfield.
Snow fell in thick, sweeping curtains. The world between heaven and earth was a pure, unbroken white.
In the distance, a solitary tower stood tall and silent.
"Where am I? Why am I here? Where did Sis go? Why did she disappear?"
Kiana started walking, alone, through the wind and snow, one slow step at a time.
In a daze, fragments of memory began to surface.
Four years ago. The same heavy snow. The same lonely girl she had been.
Back then, she still had her father.
Siegfried, the man who always smiled and ruffled her hair.
The man who had taught her to fight, taught her to protect the people who mattered to her.
Then Siegfried disappeared.
And she began wandering on her own.
From Europe to Asia, crossing an entire continent. In less than a year, she had traveled the distance on her own two small feet, one step at a time.
All to find her father. Then, in Nagazora City, she found Mei.
Later, Theresa recognized her and brought her back to St. Freya Academy.
And after that, there was Mei. There was Bronya. There was Himeko. There was Fu Hua.
There was home.
The chat messages began to thin out.
Elysia's eyes, somewhere along the way, had grown a little wet.
On the screen, Kiana was still walking through the snow.
"Wait, why do I feel lonely?"
She stopped and looked out at the vast, empty snowfield ahead, her face full of confusion.
She had thought she was strong enough by now.
Four years of wandering, a year of traveling alone, countless mornings waking up in unfamiliar cities by herself. She had thought her heart had hardened enough.
But standing here now, in the middle of this endless white expanse, she realized it hadn't.