Revelations

A strange shadow seems to be following their footsteps...

The group arrived safely at Nexus city, the trip was smooth since the storm was no more. 

"As I expected, let's head to the HQ so we can discuss this long and clear."

On their way out of the hub, they encounter a familiar face who stood on their way.
It was the guy with the red armor who previously confronted Eden.

"Leaving so soon?"

Eden stepped forward

"What, do, you, want now, Frag?"

"Curious, I could ask you the same question, what do you want? all this secrecy, surely you are not hiding something important, right?"

His voice was quite loud so everyone around couldn't help but direct their attention to it.
Frag started to walk on circles around them while saying out loud.

"I just can't seem to wrap my head around the fact of how can you keep getting away with everything"

"And you seem to keep throwing tantrums left and right"

He stopped abruptly, a small crowd was gathered around them by now.
Someone from the crow asked the pretentious guy about his scandal.

"It's simple, these persons right here, just arrived from a "top secret" mission, with vital info that I am sure they will keep for them self, which is what they a-always do"

Eden asked him resentfully

"How do you know about it?"

"Well, might be because I followed them closely all this time, perhaps?.
And, considering what WE saw, I don't believe it's fair that you keep all this for yourself, don't you guys think?" said the guy to the crowd.

Due to Eden's reputation, the crowd started to align with Frag. The situation started to become a hot pot.
The crowd started to claim Eden's to share publicly the findings. The small group was forced to form a circle around the crow, the place was starting to be filled up a lot.

They were surrounded, there was no way of talking it out or getting out without provoking a negative outcome.

Eden realized that he was left with no more choice than to appeal to the claims. He now directed to his team.

"Everyone, dismiss"

"What?!"

"Dismiss!, I need to handle this alone."

With hesitation, the group slowly disbanded and placed theirself among the crowd, leaving Eden alone in the spotlight.

"It's true that I received freshly info on important findings, but the info has not been diggested yet, if I say it as it is, it might lead to unnecessary concerns or wrong assumptions, I just need a little of time to-"

Eden was interrupted by the crowd, Frag took the lead again.

Everyone, calm down, it's fine, let's give him his time so he can do what he knows best, but in exchange, you could give us another hidden info you have been keeping to yourself, one that does not need, "diggesting" what do you guys say?

"Yeaaah!"

Eden's showed concern for brief second, Frag had a smug smile knowing he achieved what he wanted.

"That face tells me there is something after all, splendid!"

Eden was anxious, he was looking all the faces around and thought to himself

"I can't say that, but there seems to be no way out of this one".

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and gathered his courage to speak up.

"Fine, you win. There is something else"

Frag signaled him to proceed with it

"But, before I say a single word about it, be everyone aware, that the single moment that I'll mention this in the open, there will be no turn back, as it will bring serious consequences to all of us."

"What are you even saying, you just want to scare us away so you can get away with it."

"Quiet."
"If everyone that is present here give me your word, that all of you will be responsible for the outcome of this, then you all have my word ,that I'll share everything I know, no secrets, no half assed true."

The majority noded in agreement 

"Very well then.
Alright everyone hear me out.
As everyone knows, nobody remembers about their past, right?
To be precise, about  99% of you does not remember...
 but I do..."

"Lies, why would you be the only one to know?.

"Because I remeber when I was asked if I wanted to retain or discard my memories from my previous life."

Everyone was visibly confused by Eden's words, so a bunch of them started to directly address to Eden

"Elaborate on that."

"Well, everyone remembers their first day on Encore right?.
 When you initially woke up here, with no a clue of how, went or how, so, naturally, that moment would be the first memory that everybody has when they arrived here.
But in reality, that is just the first memory that you were allowed to conserve, as there was a previous one prior to it."

"Ok dude, assuming that is true, why do you remember it and all of us don't?"

"Because I choosed to retain all my memories, all of you...simply did not"

Those words caused a lot of discontent among the crowd.

"Hold on, are you saying, that every single one of us, who are desperately trying to get a glimpse of our past, willingly let it go, when we arrived here?"

"Yes."

"Ok, now you are just messing with us."
"Yeah why would we give up our precious memories at all".

Eden raised his hand as a sign to let him speak.

"Why would somebody, give away their precious life memories, let's think about it for a second, shall we?"

Everyone stood in silence figuring out a reason for the question that Eden suddenly dropped at them

"Because, they don't want it?"

"Exactly, and why would you not want your own memories?"

"Mmm..."

Someone deep in the crown replied. It was Architech

"Because they are painful."

There was a complete silence as they heard his word.

"Now you all are starting to have doubts about it. don't you?"

"Let's say that is true, it is hard to believe every single one of us would go as far as letting go of our memories."

"Well, I'll tell you something, everyone, with no exception, has something to hide, something that drags them down for their whole life. The reasons varies per person, but ultimately, they all carry the same amount weight."
"So, knowing that, is clear as day  that everyone opted to start a new life, with no chains to their previous life, whatsoever".

People started to be less aggressive on Eden as time marches on, they were considering more and more on his statements to be an actual possibility.

"And what if we wanna recover those?".

"If you want to do that then it means you took the wrong decision back then, don't you think?".

"You only say that beacause you kept your memories."

"I decided to remember, because even with all the grief that it provokes deep inside of me, it remembers me of who I am."

"Even so, I believe everyone should have the right to know about their past at any time."

"You are right, everyone should have the right to remember their own story...
But also condemned to live with it."

People reflected on what those words meant.

"What if...
 We still want to recover them? How would we do that?"

Eden took a few seconds before unfolding another big secret.

"I have all of your memories stored up."

The crowd went noisy as soon as they heard that.

"What!?"

"Not only do you remember about your past but also have our personal information at your disposal?"

"Easy, easy there, I have only glazed at some of them, for the people that are working under my watch, the only reason I did, is because the situation required it.
For the rest of you, rest assured as I have respected your privacy."

"Ultimately, who decided that you had the right to retain and contain all of our memories locked up and kept it a secret?".

"The same ones that made us decide what to do with our memories."

"And who those would be?".

Eden went into total silence, raised is head to glaze at the ceiling, then lowered down at the crowd.

"I call them the Creators...
It's... very likely they are the ones that brought all of us here, to Encore".

A lot of noise raised within the crowd.

"Are you implying that ,these so called "creators" have come to greet us during our first day, took away our memories and were never ever seen again?"

"Correct, but due to today's events, I have a feeling that is about to change."

"Do you have any proof of everything that you have said?"

"I will, in just a matter of minutes."

Several thunders were heard outside the hub. 

"They are here...
Everyone, remember our deal, you will now have to take responsibility for what happens next."

There was a lot of mumbling in the crowd

"Was that a... thunder?"
"I thought such things were not meant to happen on this world."
"Could it be a coincidence?, It has to be a coincidence, isn't it?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, we can continue this discussion in another occasion, right now we are under attack."