Utopian System

"I need to tell you something," Memory-Nala said, her voice unusually serious. They were in the central garden thanks to Lucien's rule, the same place where they'd spent so many afternoons.

"I'm not... I'm not who you think I am." She struggled with words that had never been meant to be spoken. "I'm the goddess you've heard about. The one who..." She faltered at his incredulous expression.

"That's not funny," young Elio said, but there was uncertainty creeping into his voice.

"It's not meant to be." She demonstrated a small manipulation of elements that should have been impossible at their current level. "I was sent to live among humans for a hundred years. That time is almost up."

"No," Elio shook his head. "You're just... you're just different, special maybe, but…"

"I'm your enem… I'm leaving," she cut him off. "Tomorrow. I have to return to what I am."

The argument that followed was intense, Elio refusing to accept it at first, then demanding explanations, reasons, alternatives. Memory-Nala answered each question with increasingly painful honesty until there was no room left for doubt.

Then, in a moment that made both current consciousnesses hold their breath, young Elio did something completely unexpected.

"I don't care," he declared, stepping forward to embrace her. "Monster, enemy, Goddess or not, I…"

The kiss that followed was brief, desperate, and immediately broken by Memory-Nala stepping back.

"I have to go," she whispered, and fled, leaving young Elio alone in the garden.

'You ran,' Zara's consciousness observed quietly.

'Yes,' Nala replied, watching her past self flee. 'It seems like I ran…'

♢♢♢♢

The final day dawned with an air of inevitability.

Memory-Nala stood before the statue where Dionz waited, her form already beginning to shimmer with returning power as he activated the curse and restored her divine abilities.

"It's done," Dionz said, but his usual theatrical nature was subdued. "Your hundred years are complete… You are free to leave."

Nala walked the city even though she could just fly.

All the way until the wall, where she took flight.

That's when they heard him.

Elio's voice carried across the wall, desperate and determined.

"Wait!" He was running along the top of the barrier, his voice barely carrying over the endless roar of the monster sea below. "Please, just wait!"

Memory-Nala's posture stiffened. She turned away, decided to leave, to return to her role, her duty, her divine purpose. To forget these small years that had changed everything.

She didn't see Elio's leap. Didn't see him reach for her with everything he had. Only heard Dionz's sudden intake of breath.

When she finally turned, it was to an empty wall. Her enhanced divine senses caught the moment Elio hit the surface of the monster sea, saw his form disappear into the endless waves of creatures.

"No..." The word escaped her newly divine lips as she went to searched frantically for any sign of him in the chaos below. But the sea of monsters was absolute, an endless writhing mass that left no trace of those it claimed.

'You didn't even check well,' Zara's consciousness accused as they watched the memory. 'You could have searched more.'

'Looks like I did,' Nala responded, and they felt the truth of it.

Time went by…

'For days already. But the monster sea...'

They watched as Memory-Nala finally turned away, her divine form fully manifested but somehow diminished. Behind her, Dionz's expression was unreadable.

"The game begins now," he said quietly, but Memory-Nala barely seemed to hear him. Her first act as a restored goddess had been to witness what appeared to be the death of the only human who had ever truly reached her.

The memory began to fade, but not before they saw something in Memory-Nala's eyes, a hardening, a withdrawal, the beginning of the cold calculation that would define her for millennia to come.

'You didn't just lose him,' Zara realized. 'You lost yourself.'
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Current Nala didn't respond, but they both felt the weight of that truth. The moment she turned away from that wall was the moment she truly became the being that would spend millions of years testing humanity's worth, perhaps trying to prove that their capacity for such sacrifice made them too foolish to continue existing.

♢♢♢♢

Memory-Nala maintained her divine composure as she arrived at her city.

Head held high, expression neutral, every bit the goddess she was meant to be. She entered her chamber with measured steps, ready to begin her role in the game.

But alone in that dark space, surrounded by nothing but the weight of eternity ahead, something began to crack.

Before, solitude had been comfortable. Preferable, even. But now each silent moment was filled with echoes of his laugh, his voice, his presence.

The emptiness of the chamber seemed to mock her with memories of afternoons in the garden, of conversations that had made her feel more alive than millennia of existence.

Hours stretched into days.

She tried to focus on her duties, on the game, on anything but the image of him disappearing into that endless sea of monsters. But in the quiet moments, which were all moments now, his absence was deafening.

Only 1 year after...

Finally, she broke.

Approaching the statue in her chamber, she pressed her hand against it. "Dionz," her voice wavered. "Please. I know you can hear me."

The god appeared, his usual dramatic entrance subdued.

He said nothing, waiting.

"I need..." She struggled with the words. "I need to make a deal."

"A deal?" His eyebrows rose slightly.

"A favor for a favor." Her voice strengthened with desperation. "I'll owe you one divine favor, anything you ask, if you'll do something for me now."

Dionz's expression was uncharacteristically serious. "What do you want?"

"Take these memories." The words rushed out before she could reconsider. "The hundred years, the time with him... I can't... I can't bear them."

"You want to forget?" There was something in his tone, concern, perhaps, or calculation.

"I need to forget." Her composure cracked completely. "I can't fulfill my role, can't think clearly, can't... function with this pain. Please."

'You gave up your memories of him willingly?' Zara's consciousness was incredulous as they watched.

Current Nala remained silent as Dionz in the memory considered the request.

"A divine favor is no small thing," he said carefully. "Are you certain this is worth it?"

"Yes." Memory-Nala's response was immediate. "Whenever you choose to claim it. Just... please. Make it stop hurting."

Dionz studied her for a long moment. "Very well. A favor for a favor. But remember, you agreed to this."