Wednesday - October 31st, 2121:

I walked in a daze across the foreign land. Everything I believed in until now was a fabrication, and that realization tore me to pieces.

It isn't that bad. What's the use of struggling?

I could hear its voice caressing the back of my mind with its poison. All this time, I believed it to be my inner thoughts speaking, the constant reminder of my fears and cowardice, yet it was not.

You're not going to do it—you won't sacrifice yourself for them—not after everything they did to you.

I could see the pieces obscured and ashen clearing before my eyes as the world finally made sense. Why I felt so estranged from Earth, and why nothing seemed to work in my favor. Everything had to do with the creature inside me— inside the suit. The anomaly, the air I could not breathe. Everything— was because of it—

"Because of you."

Me? It's because of you! Everything was going so well, but you had to ruin it! Just give up your futile struggle and enjoy what remains of your pathetic life.

It thrashed within my core, and I could finally feel its touch. It was violent and cruel and starved for freedom. My inferiority was like a sinking stone as it tried to wrestle control over me. But as the creature struggled, the raven croaked and perched on my shoulders, its rubied eyes gleaming as it stared at me.

Your will can't break me! No matter how hard you try!

Despite its words, the thrashing calmed into what felt like a pecking at the back of my skull. It was constant and deliberate, but it was restrained. The raven stayed on my shoulders, unmoving.

"What are you?" I still didn't know if the raven was a creature of this world or something else entirely.

You're nothing but a hollow shell without his will.

The raven flapped its wings, silencing my unruly friend, and croaked as its eyes focused on the path ahead. Again, it guided me. Steering my path toward Area: Z3-R0, where the Ozone Reactor was, but is that what I wanted?

It wasn't, not really, anyways. I wanted to live.

But was there meaning to it when everything and everyone I knew was gone?

Earth had forsaken me. Or had I forsaken it?

With every step I took toward the base, I felt the burden weighing on me.

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'You're the only one that's left, kid. Humanity won't get another chance if you don't help them.'

"I know that, geezer. But why does it have to be me?"

'Do it for us. After what you did, don't you owe it to us?'

"It wasn't my fault, Cat. There's no point in telling me this."

Soil collected on my boots, dragging along with every step forward. Time came to a crawl, and the silence had me bordering on insanity. The world seemed so peaceful and empty now. I heard the chitters and howls of critters, no longer the frightening boogeyman I thought they were, but simply life that found a way. Maybe all I'd seen wasn't made the same, and I still didn't know what was truly human and what wasn't.

If the Colossi were related to humanity, then why did they attack the camp? Was it because of my presence? Is that why the Caretaker came after us?

Questions rose one after the other until I had nearly returned to the base.

A single word echoed in my mind: Anomaly.

The system errors, the rejection from the wild, the Colossi's constant presence, even the inherent alienation I felt.

I didn't know when it happened, but I had already arrived at the base, staring at the confining walls and the journey-ending thread that loomed overhead, simply waiting to be snapped.

I sat with the dome of my helmet against my hands. It was still difficult to understand why they left their fate in my hands. Of all people, why did it have to be me?

Flora's face came to mind and her shy innocence. Did she know that I was different? When the girl held my hand, was it not because she could feel or see the disturbance inside me? But if that were the case, why didn't she tell me? Nobody explained anything to me. Instead, they had me run around like a fool!

It's because you are a fool.

"I am not!" My foot stomped, thudding loudly against the metallic floor.

Lashing out, a coward that can't do anything. That's all you'll ever be.

"Coward, is that all you can say? Is that all any of you can claim?" I roared and paced my way to the central console room. "I did nothing! They ruined my life, I was toyed with and experimented on, and even the friends I made afterward, you forced me to kill."

I slammed my hands against the console as I stared at the back room that housed the Ozone Reactor. Would it be so simple to make a difference? Would my part in all this be as crucial as the message from the oceanic base made it out to be? I did not— could not know. But if they insisted on calling me a coward, I'll show them what a coward can do.

You're not fit to be humanity's horizon. You're sacrificing yourself for nothing and no one. All that you had is gone, so why? Why must you flail around incessantly?

"The more you insist on me being powerless to change anything— the more I know you're terrified of that change coming. Humanity be damned, even if it dies out, at least I'll get to spite you." I laughed as I triggered the console.

#Area: Z3-R0 - Scanning Commencing//

///Anomaly Detected - Lifeform -#

'Rejected Access - Retrying - Anomaly'

#Access Rejected//

//Overwrite Protocol 'Core' Engaged - Core-Unit Detected//

'Thank you, Zero. We're sorry— we mistreated you greatly in your time with us, but we knew you'd return willingly. You are more willful than any of us could have believed. Humanity let you down, but you have made humanity proud. Godspeed, soldier. May you forgive us. And may you succeed in awakening the horizon for humanity's sake.'