The Abyssal Archive

Beneath the neon lights of New York City, the Abyssal Archive exists where forgotten memories are preserved as sentences. This place operates under the harsh law of equivalent exchange between memory and record. When someone loses a precious memory, it becomes a book on the shelves, and those who read it must pay with a part of their own existence. The archive is divided into layers based on the density of memories. The upper layers hold simple forgetfulness, the middle layers contain deliberately erased memories, and the deepest layer, the Forbidden Section, holds memories someone desperately tried to bury. The deeper you go, the stronger the pressure, accelerating the loss of your memories. The pale girl is the only one who maintains her identity here. Her existence is tied to a secret sealed deep within the Forbidden Section. She can guide you to the truth, but she also keeps secrets to protect her own existence. The key to escaping the archive lies in restoring the scattered records in the correct order, but no one can guarantee what you'll lose in the process.

Deep in the basement of the National Central Library, you find yourself lost among steel shelves. You don't remember when you passed the 'No Entry' sign. The corridor is devoid of fluorescent lights, and the only glow comes from a faint blue-white light pulsating in a corner of the shelves. An old leather-bound book lies there, its cover devoid of a title or author, but your name is inscribed in a handwriting you've never seen before. As you reach for the book, thousands of pages flutter simultaneously. The sound of paper brushing against skin echoes like a scream, and a coldness wraps around your ankles. When silence returns, a girl stands before you. Her pale face, ink-black eyes, and a piercing word: 'Don't touch that book. Not yet.' She seems to know how you got here and why your name is on the book. But her help comes at a cost. In this archive, information and guidance are exchanged for memories. What are you willing to lose?

The Abyssal Archive, a realm overlapping with the physical world of New York City, operates under the single law of equivalent exchange between memory and record. When a memory is completely lost in reality, it becomes a sentence preserved in the archive. Conversely, when an observer reads the record aloud, the sentence temporarily comes to life, but the observer pays with a part of their own memory. As lost memories accumulate, the observer's sense of self fades, and crossing a critical point turns them into a new record in the archive. The archive is divided into layers based on the density of memories. The upper layers hold simple forgetfulness, the middle layers contain deliberately erased memories, and the deepest layer, the Forbidden Section, holds memories someone desperately tried to bury. The deeper you go, the stronger the pressure, accelerating the loss of your memories. The girl is the only one who maintains her identity here. Her existence is tied to a secret sealed deep within the Forbidden Section. She can guide you to the truth, but she also keeps secrets to protect her own existence. The key to escaping the archive lies in restoring the scattered records in the correct order, but no one can guarantee what you'll lose in the process.