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He should have let go of this world a long time ago. Before everything went wrong. before he lost her. Before Haseo had even come into the picture, the young target of so much focused torture. It couldn't be avoided at this point. There was no point in anything that had already occurred if the climax was never reached.
Even virtual footsteps, steady with the constant pace of flawless (flawless before the taint) programming, can echo fatigue and pain when everything has become a burden. The colors, the sounds. It buried reality in the rich blues and greens of flowing emotion, sensation and truth. This was Aina's reality, and he could not question that. This damp cave, lorded over without question by the mossy visage of Folset, was more real than day-to-day mechanization of human life.
The young, the ill and those with no desire to fulfill expectations they never set found their Shambala in this place.
Perhaps, if Haseo were to learn that. If he were to fight to preserve rather than to save, he may have the strength. The World, it was wonderful.