Enduring (Part One)

What would you do if a god appeared before you one day?

If the land you live on is only a prison, how would you pick the lock?

If those who came before you had already arranged your fate for the greater good, would you choose to sacrifice yourself?

Mask has witnessed countless examples of the evil of this age.

A dark, skinny girl stands in an abandoned district forsaken by the Federation. Beyond a long wall, she gazes at the Upper District, bright with lights and lined with skyscrapers.

"Heaven is always built above hell, because people create class exploitation by standing on one another. They can easily enjoy the spoils by stepping on others, and they would never willingly toil on the ground."

A saint turned traitor rails at their blood kin until their voice gives out, then falls into a pool of blood for the sake of their ideals.

"How will history judge our era? I don't want to be called a sinner!"

A frail child of fate, condemned by a prophecy for four hundred years, struggles with all their might to live on, covered in wounds.

"I don't want to die. If I'd been able to escape during those four hundred years, I wouldn't have had to endure all this. But I couldn't. I know I'm useless, but I don't want to die. I just don't want to die!"

Wealth and poverty, life and death, war...

The age, choices, fate...

Mask thinks these concepts are all too familiar.

Everyone has their own suffering to bear. Choices that leave no way forward are not freedom.

So when disappointment becomes the world's prevailing theme, who asks her: Why do people live? Why do they die?

"Life and death are rights. Being alive needs no reason." That is Mask's answer.

[Reader's Guide]

1. This is a true history. The author learned their story through inspiration and recorded it. The author is not the creator, but the one who wields the pen.

2. An ensemble historical drama. It adopts some elements of stage plays and historical chronicles, but it is still a novel. The writing aims to be light and funny, with a focus on deadpan humor. Read on for warnings about the angst.

3. The worldbuilding is vast, truly vast. This is an epic of an era. People are bound to face tragedy when confronted with the concept of time and space, so feel free to brace yourself for heartbreak. The ending is somewhere between a neutral ending and a happy ending.

4. A mix of violent and dark aesthetics, with just a tiny hint of cosmic horror. The bloody grandeur may be disturbing, so read with caution. Everyone is highly intelligent, each with their own strengths, and some have superpowers. No characters become stupid just to be killed off, and the logic is strong, in the literal, physical sense. The characters' values do not represent the author's.

5. The protagonist is extremely rational. There is theoretically a pairing, but the author writes the romance line like a plotline... so feel free to ship any characters, as couples or as friends. [As mentioned in point 1, this is historical RPF.]

Theme: Life and death are rights. Being alive needs no reason.