EMI: It’s still so overwhelming…

RIO: Look at this one, Hats’hara. That’s us, that’s where we come from.

RIO: That’s where Sua, Moa, and Yui come from as well.

RIO: All of us, from Homeworld, and all the other planets... we are located in that “branch”.

EMI: Uh huh...

RIO: This “branch” stems from the core of the “tree”. Er… these are just the terms that the Terminal uses.

RIO: Halel Rik is where we are right now, in EMPTY SPACE.

RIO: It’s also where timepieces open rifts into.

RIO: Or, “Time Rifts” as the education system calls them.

RIO: EMPTY SPACE is like, one step above The Void itself, which is also a branch in the tree.

RIO: However, Bos Koh, Umi Nok? That mustached girl?

RIO: They don’t come from our universe.

RIO: Well, they do actually… but our versions of them are not the “correct” versions of them.

RIO: That one in the center, Kova Bazman… that’s what is considered… “correct”.

RIO: It’s the ideal universe, in the eyes of whoever created this tree.

RIO: It is “The Original Branch” of this tree. The “Seed” that planted it, and allowed all of these branches to bear fruit.

RIO: If you deviate too much from this “Original Branch” then you are labeled as… an offshoot. You’re FAR too different to be considered part of the “real” universe or whatever.

RIO: And this entire tree is managed by some sort of higher beings… they’re not labeled or anything.

RIO: These higher beings control the tree, and this one tree isn’t the only one that exists.

RIO: We are but one branch of one tree, in an endless forest.

EMI: This doesn’t feel very great…

RIO: No, it doesn’t! You’re so correct! Haha.

RIO: So at the very center of my plan…

RIO: I intend to make our OWN tree.

EMI: Our own tree? With our own branches?

RIO: Haha, we likely won’t need any branches.

RIO: Everything here is a mess, and I intend to give EVERYTHING a second chance. To allow it a new beginning, once more.

EMI: Ough…uagh…

RIO: You alright?

EMI: Yeah... just... head hurts.

RIO: Yeah, it’s a lot.

RIO: In the new tree you won’t have to deal with this though, it’ll be a new beginning.

RIO: We’ll rise, like a phoenix. From the ashes of this universe, a new one will be born. And our friends will thrive in it once again.

EMI: How do you know?

RIO: I don't!

EMI: You don't?!

RIO: Nah, but it’s better than rotting away here I think.

RIO: This is where you come in by the way.

RIO: You’re going to enter that new universe, and you’ll oversee it. Like the one who oversees our tree.

RIO: The Terminal refers to the one who oversees us… as…

RIO: Furuya.

RIO: This terminal appears to be linked to this “Furuya” person. I dunno anything about them, haha.

RIO: It constantly whines for Furuya, it sometimes screams at me and then I have to reset it.

RIO: I’ve never met them! That Furuya person I mean…

RIO: But, of the brief glimpses of them that I’ve had… I think they hate me.

RIO: I see visions of them in my dreams. Well, nightmares. They… they hate me for sure. Even though I’ve never met them.

RIO: When I dream of them… sometimes I see them face-to-face… and sometimes I’m looking through their eyes.

RIO: I see visions of them killing me… over and over. It’s practically all I dream about anymore. My own death, sometimes I’m watching the murder as if I was the one doing it.

RIO: And the thing is… they’re on so much higher of a level than me.

RIO: So they probably will kill me after all! They’ll probably figure out where I am, and they’ll probably kill me. They’ll shoot me in the chest, crush my core. They’ll make me suffer. They’ll kill me.

EMI: C-can you do anything about that? I don’t want you to die… I don’t want you to get killed!

RIO: Sorry that was a bit excessive.

RIO: Well, everything operates under a viewport, so the idea is… just operate somewhere that has no viewport!

RIO: These sections of EMPTY SPACE are perfect for that.

RIO: After all, if we had this conversation anywhere else… then we’d be observed by a viewport.

RIO: Luckily, nobody is viewing us. Not one person. Zero viewers.