30 30 301 You wake up in a cold sweat as if the nightmare still has a hold on you.
31 31 301 Clutching your pounding heart, you open your eyes to observe your surroundings.
32 32 402 2624
33 33 301 You are in a room that you can only describe as "dilapidated."
34 34 301 An old wooden bed, cracked and moldy walls, and a ceiling covered in cobwebs form the room. The smell of decay fills the air, offering a hint of how old this abandoned structure is.
35 35 301 Strange.
36 36 301 It is not just the environment—you are a stranger to yourself as well.
37 37 301 Why you are here, why you woke up here...
38 38 301 Where you came from, and where you are going...
39 39 301 Your mind goes blank. You cannot recall anything.
40 40 301 Regardless... get moving first.
41 41 301 You hear a voice in your heart. Following its calling, you get off the bed.
42 42 301 You can see a courtyard surrounded by broken fences through the window. Beyond that is a dense forest.
43 43 301 You seem to be in the countryside near a town.
44 44 301 You can also hear the faint clashes of the waves hitting the shore. You might be in a coastal area.
45 45 301 You step out of the room and walk downstairs.
46 46 301 Your movement breaks the long-held silence of this decrepit estate. The sunlight illuminates the dust in the air through the gaps of the thick musky curtains.
51 51 301 With an extended creak, the battered front door is opened once again.
52 52 301 Weeds fill the unmaintained garden between you and the rusty iron gate to the forest path outside.
53 53 301 The world immediately becomes larger, but that only makes you feel smaller.
54 54 302 Is there anyone... 55
55 55 301 Before you finish speaking in your raspy voice, you seem to have caught something in the corners of your eyes.
56 56 301 There appears to be a small cemetery by the courtyard.
57 57 201 1 500540 8 -80
58 58 301 1 ??? ... 1
59 59 301 A hooded girl kneels before a gravestone.
60 60 301 Her head lowered and her palms clasped together, she seems to be mourning the dead buried here.
61 61 301 Even when you approach her, she does not move for a few minutes.
62 62 302 What... are you doing here? 63
63 63 301 Overwhelmed by your confusion, you cannot help but ask her. Hearing you, the girl slowly stands up.
64 64 203 1 0.25
65 65 204 1
66 66 301 She turns around to face you as she opens her eyes.
67 67 301 ??? It was nothing... 1
68 68 301 ??? I was simply saying goodbye. 1
69 69 301 ??? And, even though you took longer than expected, I've been waiting for you to wake up. 1
70 70 302 Who are you...? 71 ...Why are you waiting for me? 76
71 71 301 ??? My name is Cradle. Who I am... is a more difficult question to answer. 1
72 72 301 Cradle That said, I have a duty. You can even say that I was born for it. 1
73 73 301 Cradle "Stop the sound of the tide, and end the eternal cycle..." Only some can accomplish this task, and my duty is to guide these people to the heart of the world. 1
74 74 204 1 2
75 75 80 301 Cradle You can understand now why I've been waiting for you, then? 1
76 76 301 ??? "Because only you can stop the sound of the tide, and end the eternal cycle." 1
77 77 204 1 2
78 78 301 ??? I should introduce myself. My name... is Cradle. 1
79 79 301 Cradle You can consider me your servant, your companion... anything you like. My duty is to guide you. 1
80 80 204 1
81 81 301 Cradle You are now on the "Path of the Curse Queller", which is why you woke up in a blank state. 1
82 82 301 Cradle Your erased self will only be returned once the sound of the tide stops. 1
83 83 302 ... 84
84 84 301 The girl named Cradle explains to you after you have forgotten everything.
85 85 301 Regrettably, you do not understand anything she just said.
86 86 301 The amount of information threatens to suffocate you.
87 87 301 Luckily, now you have something to ponder over.
88 88 301 Your body functions automatically out of forgotten habits before you realize it, processing Cradle's words over and over again, trying to deduce their meaning.
89 89 302 What is the "sound of the tide"? 90
90 90 204 1 8
91 91 301 Cradle It is the calamity that threatens to purge the world... It is the tragedy that never ends. 1
92 92 301 Cradle You can hear it, can't you? The surging waves that are echoing in your ears, thumping and wailing. 1
93 93 301 Indeed, you have been hearing the sound of the tide from afar since you woke up.
94 94 301 But what does that have to do with the "calamity"?
95 95 204 1
96 96 301 Cradle You don't seem to comprehend fully. 1
97 97 301 Cradle But that's okay. It's easier to show you than tell you. 1
98 98 204 1 8
99 99 301 Cradle It's almost time, anyway. 1
100 100 302 It's almost time...? 101
101 101 301 You start to feel uneasy.
102 102 204 1
103 103 301 Cradle ...Hush. 1
104 104 301 She raises her index finger and holds it by your lips.
156 156 301 Realizing something, you rush out of the crumbled house. Unsurprisingly, you run into the hooded girl in the cemetery again.
157 157 201 1 500540
158 158 301 1 Cradle We meet again. 1
159 159 204 1 2
160 160 301 Cradle Our time was brief, but you must have remembered my name, right? 1
161 161 302 Is this... the cycle you were talking about? 162
162 162 204 1
163 163 301 Cradle That's right. The great tide surges from the depths of the ocean after a set period of time, devouring all. 1
164 164 301 Cradle Afterward, everything is reset to how it was in the "beginning." 1
165 165 301 Cradle People forget what they have experienced, and they forget the calamity that is coming. 1
166 166 204 1 8
167 167 301 Cradle Time has therefore stopped. Tomorrow doesn't arrive for anyone. 1
168 168 302 But neither of us has forgotten the tide. 169
169 169 204 1
170 170 301 Cradle Hence why we need people like you to stop it. 1
171 171 302 What is happening to this world? 172
172 172 204 1 8
173 173 301 Cradle ... 1
174 174 301 Cradle ...This world was destroyed once. 1
175 175 301 Cradle After the age of myths, the surviving humans began to rebuild their civilizations on top of the ruins of the war. 1
176 176 204 1
177 177 301 Cradle But the wisdom of the ancients became undecipherable mysteries. People had to start from nothing, slowly repeating what had happened. 1
178 178 301 Cradle Somewhere along the way, the sound of the tide began to appear. 1
179 179 301 Cradle It destroyed the world over and over again as if trying to keep humanity's future locked away. 1
180 180 204 1 8
181 181 301 Cradle ...That is the state of the world now. But don't think that I have all the answers. 1
182 182 204 1 14
183 183 301 Cradle I have no knowledge of your past or where the sound of the tide came from. 1
184 184 204 1
185 185 301 Cradle I was assigned a duty, and I'm simply doing what I've been tasked to do. 1
186 186 302 So... stopping the sound of the tide is my duty? 187 Why should I trust you? 194
187 187 204 1 2
188 188 301 Cradle A quick learner! 1
189 189 204 1
190 190 301 Cradle No one knows why the world is the way it is. 1
191 191 301 Cradle In my opinion, however, let's figure out the "how" before the "why." 1
192 192 301 Cradle The calamity is right before us. If we don't want the same tragedy to repeat... 1
193 193 206 301 Cradle We must take action right now. 1