Rem stood in front of her coffin, its glassy surface glowing faintly even in the nothingness that stretched around her. White. Nothing but white. It rolled endlessly in every direction, without horizon, without shadow, without sound. Rem's breath echoed in her ears as she turned in place, searching for something anything that would break the uniform emptiness of this place. There was nothing but her, the coffin, and the white expanse around her. Rem's shoulders stiffened, and after a long moment she forced her feet to move forward.
As her heels struck the ground, the void around her shifted. As a column of light, sharper and more brilliant than the rest of the whiteness, flared up around her. It swallowed up the coffin from her view and blurred out everything else. Rem froze, her eyes watering as she looked down. The floor beneath her burned a white, blinding circular white. The glow grew, pressing against her skin like a strange heat, and before she could shield her eyes, the world around her shifted.
Darkness.
Rem gasped, holding at her own arms. The endless white was now gone. Now Rem stood in a pool of pale white light, a perfect circle etched into the darkness around her. Beyond it Rem saw nothing. An endless stretch of shadows that seemed to swallow sound and sight itself. Rem tested a step forward, but the circle moved with her, refusing to let her leave it.
Rem's voice broke the silence. "Where am I now?" She turned slowly, searching the darkness. "None of this was here when I fell asleep… in that endless field of red roses." Her lips pressed together, trembling as she continued. "Somehow I woke up in that coffin. With these memories… that I am the last of my kind. The last human in existence. The inheritor of the mantle of humanity." Rem's throat tightened as these words left mouth. "But what does that even mean?"
The air around her shifted. Her voice, deep and measured, spread through the darkness.
When suddenly two round white lights appeared ahead of Rem, glowing faintly. Rem staggered back in surprise, her heart pounding as the shape grew larger and closer to her. They weren't lights they were eyes, burning faint against the darkness. From the shadows, a figure emerged, stepping into the circle of light.
It was a woman, encased in a suit of blood-red armor. The plates glowed red faintly, as though polished with something darker than oil. The woman advanced twoards Rem without a sound, and as she came to a halt in front of her, the helmet on her head folded back with a hiss. Metal retracted like liquid, vanishing behind her head.
A face emerged. Witb long orange hair, tightly braided in a long ponytail, that swung behind her shoulders. As steel-grey eyes looked at Rem, unblinking.
The woman knelt down on one knee. She placed her hand to her heart and bowed her head. Her voice carried a solemn tone. "Welcome, inheritor of the mantle of humanity. Rem of the Remembrance. Last of the noble line of the House of Remembrance. I am Amaia, meaning 'the End.' I was created to serve by your side by your father the last leader of humanity. In its final days, he sacrificed everything to seal you into slumber, hoping you would survive as the last vestige of humanity and its once-great achievements."
Rem's jaw tightened. She lowered her gaze briefly, then lifted it, her voice cold. "Rise Amaia. Look me in the eyes. I neither require nor wish for a groveling servant."
Amaia obeyed without hesitation. She stood up, her armored frame catching the white glow of the circle they stood in, and met Rem's gaze directly.
Rem stepped closer, her chest rising with anger. "So. My father is the one responsible for my survival. For the continuation of the House of Remembrance. But did he ever ask if I wanted to survive the destruction of humanity?" Rem's hand balled up into a fist at her sides. "I am the only one immune to the plague that wiped out my people. Instead of letting me die with everyone I love, he sealed me away here. He filled my head with these strange, cryptic memories." Ren shook her head, lips twisting in anger. "That is so like my old man. I can't even blame him. Knowing him, I should have expected something like this to happen."
Rem's voice dropped, her voice sharp with bearly restrained fury. "But the fault isn't yours Amaia. And it not mine either. It was his choice. His decision, as the leader of humanity and of our house. It isn't my place to question his choice… even if it makes me furious."
Rem's eyes burned with anger, as they fixated on Amaia's. "Now I am the last of humanity. The last member of the House of Remembrance. That makes me the leader of humanity." Rem's shoulders sagged, as bitter laughter caught in her throat. "A leader without her people. A hollow title indeed."
Amaia's steel-grey eyes softened. She spoke calmly, her tone edged with conviction. "My lady, you are only partially correct. Your father, Ishtar, left you more than survival. He entrusted you with all the accumulated power and wisdom of humanity inside the Arc the vessel that carried you into this strange new world."
Rem's brows furrowed. "Arc?"
Amaia stepped closer, her voice steady. "For thousands of years we have traveled the stars until I found this planet. It is the only one we have found that has life. Here dwell races resembling those of ancient human mythology elves, dwarves, even dragons." Amaia lifted her chin slightly. "Somehow, they have acquired fragments of humanity's foundation. They hold only the lowest levels of it, yet even that has allowed them to build trains. To construct androids that are self-aware." Amaia's eyes narrowed faintly. "They wield magic. Something only your father, and members of the House of Remembrance, should be able to command. I can wield it as well, because I was made by your father. But how these foreign races obtained such an ability remains a mystery to me."
The words hung heavy in the air.
Rem's expression hardened. She turned her head towards Amaia, her voice cutting through the silence. "That sounds like a mystery tied to humanity. But before we get to that—" Rem pointed her finger toward the armored woman on frint of her. "What the hell do you mean by 'planet'? Are we in space?" Rem's words came fast, as her teeth clenched in anger. "Did my scumbag of a father throw me onto a spaceship and toss me across the stars?" Rem stepped forward, close enough to see the reflection of her eyes in Amaia's armor. "Do you mind explaining this in a bit more detail, Amaia?"
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