The previous war was not specifically terrifying, in my eyes. Unlike the second one, which was a true horror. Normally I am assigned to the Reconnaissance and Sabotage Unit, with the task of infiltrating enemy lines to destroy worksites. This time disasters followed one another, to the extent that I ended up as a mere escort! My last job was simply to follow and protect an officer going back to Reiner. Unfortunately, my ship broke down an hour prior to our departure. So I was forced to stay behind, alone, on a deserted refueling station.

This was my fault, to a certain extent. I had been pushing my equipment beyond its capabilities for several months. Whatever it takes to get rid of things faster. I was disgusted by the whole conflict. Oh, please do not imagine anything: I am neither gentle nor pacifist. I was trained in the Planetary Destroyer Corps, not the kind of assignment that makes you peaceful... but here... As soon as the repairs were done, someone shot down my vessel before I could evacuate your damn star system. She'll crash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The hardware is burning. My crew is dead. All I have left is to swim in hope of reaching a shore.

If the emperor of fates has been defeated, this does not prevent half of his subordinates to continue their fight. Mû has signed an unconditional surrender, but Murreans have a tradition of struggling to the very end. The din of battle is audible, including in my isolated location. I even had the opportunity to see some vehicles from the colonial militia. Finally, at this very moment, the Ahura Mazda reached orbit and immediately cast his infamous curse, the Vremy'a'lun.

Three seconds. That's how long it takes for the sky to glow red and the moon to be covered in flames. Your sun became green. I can hear a dull hiss, while the ocean turns to gelatin for a short while... and then we are all banished to another dimension! To be frank, I cannot explain what pushed Mazda, embodiment of goodness, to exterminate the Atlanteans and force Mû into this exile. He had his reasons, probably, but I doubt that his allies will forgive him such a crime. We are talking about the total obliteration of the two mainlands!

You see, the Vremy'a'lun does not function as one of our usual abilities. No need to visualize anything with it, just ask and the deed is done! However, this... 'thing' has a consciousness of its own. You wish to resurrect a deceased loved one? It will bring said individual back, along with everyone else who has a same hair color! Its effects defy logic. Perhaps more worrisome, imagine the ridiculous danger of a spell that could fulfill a request such as « let all life be tortured to death! » Luckily, the Ahura Mazda is the only person who knows how to use it.

So objectively, what did all that mean? First, it signifies that enlightenment is now inconceivable, because we are not within the universe anymore. No new Eloah will arise, for all eternity. It is also impossible, of course, to produce Ar'eloah as it is based on the same fundamental principle. We are now dependent on stocks. Finally, those who were in the solar system, with the notable exception of the Ahura Mazda himself, are imprisoned here. I have tried to get out, many times. From the heliopause, we start to move backwards. Since the galaxy appears as empty and sterile, like if we were its last survivors, communications are definitely forbidden.

The World-Bird alone could tell me the damage caused outside. On the other hand, I witnessed first hand what happened inside. For an hour, we all felt a strange, indescribable, dread. All battles stopped, at least until the source could be identified. I imagine that Freyja quickly understood what Mazda had just done. The Vremy'a'lun had only been used once before: against Seh'El'Ennis, the White Lich. More precisely, this spell was designed to banish him. The Queen of Sied was present the day it occurred. How did she react when she realized what was going on?

People today paint a romanticized picture of the Flood. They assume it must have been some kind of devastating rain. Waters rose and the ancient civilization, obviously guilty of something, ended up washed away. That's lovely but far from the truth. Of course you can't expel an entire star system into an alternate reality without incidents. The Flood will be in our case equivalent to an 'aftershock', if we were to compare this cataclysm with an earthquake. Suddenly, all planets slow down their rotation. Gravity gets temporarily altered. Why did this happen? Because the Vremy'a'lun wanted to have fun, certainly.

The result was violent. Oceans flew eastward. Tsunamis miles high crashed into coastlines, annihilating infrastructures and cities. The gravitational and geomechanical disruption prematurely triggered Mount Toba's eruption, a super-volcano that will eject ash and debris in droves. Combined with the slowdown of the sun's activity, this will be enough to send the whole world into a brutal ice age. Daylight becomes almost invisible for fifteen years. To add an insult to the injury, a dust hurricane will ravage even the smallest agricultural area, globally.

Murreans' biological technology was made to survive in hell. The ancients were accustomed to chaos. They had long expected some geological disaster. Nevertheless, without orbital platforms to produce nutrients and every single one of their engineers dying or hidden in shelters, everything will fall apart. Now I'm going to ask you to remember something: I was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when this nightmare happened. Therefore, I spent twenty hours being crushed in the natural equivalent of an asteroid grinder. I would eventually wake up, a good week later, atop a peak. A continent lay beneath the sea at my feet.

Artistic, literary and musical achievements? The greatness of architecture? These living metropolis in symbiosis with the wilderness that stretch for hundreds of kilometers? No more! I am not only talking about Mû. Atlantis too. I spent my wedding there. Everything has... let's stop here. I don't want to think about it again. I never want to.