Chapter Twenty Eight: Shattered

The act of retrieval is to recover these memories. As spoken in previous pages; anomalies can happen where in which during the act of destroying the memory it can dissipate into a fragmented form and invisible form, instead of vanishing from the realm, that will slowly fade. If these fragments find their way back together then those shattered memories can end up finding their way back to its original host.

This can happen if the host travels back to the place those memories were lost, the spell was cast incorrectly to begin with or the caster brings those memories back. Note that no being other than the caster can find these memories and that even if the host returns it is not guaranteed they will recover those memories nor will they ever recover those memories in full.

If the illusion memory is placed inside of the host's head and what you are seeking is for the elimination of these falsehoods, then only the caster has that power. Look to previous pages in memory removal as this works exactly the same.

If an onlooker is seeking to retrieve, destroy or help the host revert back to their original mind then they will need a part of their soul from before the event therefore needing knowledge of the event before hand, this would mean the ability to send one back in time and this book does not cover that as it is beyond the understanding of even gods.'

Nie Asreal read this over and over. When he slowly closed the book he still couldn't believe it. After searching and searching for the slightest information he was finally served it all and it was not what he wanted to hear.

He walked over to the training field in a mindless state. As he walked he heard people call his name but it was like background noise to him. He hardly remembered walking over in the first place, it wasn't until he felt a sudden pain in his body that he came to his senses. His organs lurch out in pain. His whole body was pulled down in broad daylight. Nie Vian had been banished by this point thanks to both Yi Jian and Nie Ezran so when he fell the disciples around him simply looked on as his vision went red.

"What's happening?" He heard someone call out.

"Out the way! Out of the way-"

It was Nie Zhen. He was rushing through the field, shoving others away and catching Nie Asreal as he fell to the ground. One check of his pulse and he was scooping him into his arms and breaking out into a sprint.

This reminded him of when they were young. He wasn't dying at the time but one night he had been reading quietly over some material and a group of noisy disciples came in disturbing him. The biggest punched him for telling them to shut up. Nie Zhen had come in and dealt with it politically before picking him up into his arms and carrying him to his room. He felt grateful for that and now, as he was dying, he really wished to tell him. Yet his mind was such a haze that he couldn't transfer the action from his brain to his mouth.

Nie Asreal clutched at Nie Zhen and dug his nails into his shoulder to relieve any kind of pain. He felt his organs screaming out in pain as something felt deeply, deeply wrong with his body.

He felt himself being practically thrown onto the Master Healer's bed after a while of sprinting. It was a warm and nice room that he really couldn't enjoy at the time. Nie Zhen almost shook the Master Healer with how quickly he pulled her over.

Nie Zhen, "He's fallen into Qi Diviation! Help him!"

The Master Healer quickly grabbed Nie Asreal's wrist in alarm then immediately stuffed something down his throat in a panic.

Master Healer, "He hadn't reached the killing intent phase so I've stopped that. It'll take me awhile to see if I can even help. We need a powerful cultivator. Get Sect Master Nie."

Nie Zhen sprinted out of the building.

The Master Healer looked over him with soft eyes. She asked, "Poor thing. Tell me; How did you come to be like this?"

Nie Asreal Clenched his teeth and tried to speak but only a few words filled his mind, "I… Couldn't….. Save him." He gasped out.

The Master Healer was shocked at first but she still took his hand as they waited.

Nie Yang came stumbling in and ran over to his son's bedside."What happened? How do we fix it, how do we fix it?" He yelled at the healer. She patted Nie Yang's shoulder to try and calm him but Nie Yang turned more agitated.

Nie Yang, "Whatever must be done do it! Just- he cannot die!"

Master Healer, "To stabilise him I need you to try and reverse the flow yourself by sacrificing some of your strength."

Nie Yang immediately pushed her out of the way and placed both of his hands onto Nie Asreal's chest.

He worked day and night for 3 nights and a day. As the sun set on the fourth Nie Yang opened his eyes and retracted shaky hands. Nie Asreal would still need time to recover before he became conscious again but at least he'd actually wake up even if it was in a month or so.

Nie Yang reached over and woke Nie Zhen. "It's done. He'll live."

The Master Healer got to work helping Nie Yang replenish his energy whilst explaining the bad news, "Unfortunately though he has survived there will be side effects. Whatever caused this has already scared his mind deeply. So deep it should have killed him. This scar will still be there and it could send him into Qi Deviation again if he's not careful. He won't be the same person you once knew."

Nie Yang stayed silent.

Nie Zhen spoke for him, "What can we do to keep him stable?"

Master Healer, "Monitor him when he wakes. If his personality has changed that means his mind has found a way to cope. If he is the same and upset then you must watch him closely and give him much thought."

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Nie Asreal woke two months later. He had changed a lot. He was more of a jokester, ran around more and clung to people to laugh at them.

It was strange but Nie Yang made it a hidden law to not judge him for this. All he cared about was the fact he still had his son.