[For those of you who have been watching our Interactive Wave Youtube program, you probably know about the side story to Azure Striker Gunvolt called ‘Kagerou no Memoria’, or in English, Fleeting Memories. This was written by Toshiaki Tai, the scenario writer for Gunvolt, and translated by yours truly. We have received a lot of fan feedback about having this story translated into English, and at long last, we are more than happy to announce that the story will be translated into English! We will be releasing the English translation of the story once a week here on the website, in the same manner in which they are released on our Interactive Wave program. Enjoy!]
Part 1
The Lifewave, it is the force of nature which connects all living things in this world. Extensive research has been conducted on the Lifewave for many generations, and it is currently known that up to six different stages of the Lifewave exist, from the Primordial (1st) stage to the Senary (6th) stage. Depending on which stage of the Lifewave living beings are attached to when they are born, they are granted varying levels of cognitive and physical capabilities.
Your average human being or animal will be born attached to the 1st to the 3rd stage of the Livewave, but there are indeed many exceptions to this.
Mystics, soothsayers, psychics; all of the people who possess these kinds of supernatural powers are almost always born attached to the Tetrad (4th) stage of the Lifewave. The most powerful people among this group of supernaturals are sometimes born attached to the Quinary (5th) wave, but these are quite rare. When someone is born attached to the Senary (6th) wave, however, it is considered nothing short of a miracle, and these people and animals are viewed by society as being sacred; no different from a holy person.
The Senary wave was long thought to be the pinnacle of the Lifewave, but unforeseen events have begun to challenge and place doubt on this long held perception about the Lifewave.
In recent years, children have been born who possessed abilities that surpassed even those who were born attached to the Senary wave. Naturally, these children have been cast into the spotlight as this new ripple in the Lifewave was being noticed for the first time. These children were able to control, manipulate, and produce flames from their bare hands, run at blinding speeds; truly bend the laws of physics, nature, and gravity. The people possessing these amazing powers had no harbinger to announce that children all over the world now possess abilities that put those who were once regarded as holy people to shame; they were just simply popping up here and there. This group of people would eventually be referred to as “adepts”.
It was determined that these people simply could not have been born on the Senary wave, and was thus determined that these adepts were part of an uncharted territory of the Lifewave; a new apex which would become known as the Septimal (7th) wave.
In the beginning, adepts represented barely a negligible part of the population, and for the most part, were able to coexist with everyone without too much strife. However, as the number of adepts began to grow, the world began to fall into complete chaos and disarray; with the exception of one small country.
Many nations began persecuting adepts once they realized their destructive potential, but when push came to shove, they really did not know how to handle the new challenges that emerged due to the presence of adepts. However, a small island nation in Asia seemed to have it all figured out, and despite the presence of adepts, consistently maintained peace and order.
A massive conglomerate known as the Sumeragi Group, which controlled everything from the power companies to the media, were the de facto rulers of the island nation. They are also responsible for conducting all of the nation’s research on adepts, and quickly found themselves at the forefront of all research on both the Septimal wave and adepts. Sumeragi’s research began to produce results faster than anyone had expected, and before long, they were receiving support from all over the world.
Consequently, people began to speculate on whether Sumeragi had some sort of prior knowledge of adepts before their arrival, or if the emergence of adepts was caused by some new type of virus created by Sumeragi. However, that was only the tip of the iceberg. Before long, those who stood against and criticized Sumeragi were silenced. Resistance became a death knell for those who attempted it, and thus the people were coming to grips with the fact that the Sumeragi Group was in control.
Despite Sumeragi’s shady and questionable practices, people feared that in order to keep them safe from the perceived threats of adepts, they had no choice but to accept Sumeragi’s way of doing things.
As time went on and Sumeragi’s iron grip on the world of adepts continued, the birth rate of adepts began to increase each year, but for now, on the surface, an era of peace in the small island nation continued…