Those Long Gone

Artificial Human No. 36.

The room fell silent. Amber quietly stared at the line of letters depicted in the diary, saying nothing for a full two minutes.

But just as Gawain could not help wanting to say something, Amber's fingers moved again. With her lips pressed together, she slowly, very slowly turned the diary to the next page—

Salilendorf's story continued:

"...My pocket watch broke. After relying on my pulse and intuition to record the date twice, I had to give up on keeping track of 'time.' I no longer know what day this is, but I suppose I have been in this ancient fortress for at least half a month.

"Only Amber has kept me company during this time.

"This little one sleeps quietly in her 'bed,' without making a sound. Over the past few days, I have started trying to talk to her. Naturally, she gives no response, but I still do it every day—talking helps preserve one's will and sanity, and a sleeping little girl is at least more suitable as a listener than the stones in the corner.

"...Over such a long period, those Shadow Dwellers have appeared twice in total. To be honest, the appearance of those 'wraiths' actually brought me a hint of surprise—they are indeed strange and somewhat frightening in appearance, but at least they are some kind of 'living thing.' Sometimes, I even have mad thoughts of trying to communicate with them, but that is simply too dangerous...

"I finally put my mad idea into practice once, but those Shadow Dwellers paid me no attention at all. They merely wandered around the room for a while before gradually fading away.

"In the end, only Amber remains with me.

"...My health is deteriorating. That is inevitable. All the provisions I can find here