Dreaming Memories

It was dark. However, it wasn't completely dark. A faint misty, murky feeling surrounded Amor, and he couldn't really describe it too well. If he could describe it with his experiences, then the feeling would be akin to floating within a dark body of water.

Although it didn't feel wet nor was he drowning, it doesn't change the fact that it's dark.

Amor felt a strange sense of deja vu. Was this not the third time he was embraced by the darkness again? As soon as he surrounded himself in his cocoon, he suddenly couldn't feel anything.

If it was a guess, then perhaps he was in the process of evolution? Going through a moment of darkness before he could feel or see anything?

Although he may be growing stronger, why couldn't it be when he was not sober in a dream? Was it the Lord God Almighty who planned this all out? To make Amor feel spite while slowly drifting in a murky void?

At least his curse could keep him occupied.

As he gradually accepted his fate, he felt something changed. As it turns out, it wasn't the process of evolution that has changed. Instead it is the environment.

The darkness did not feel engulfing nor embracing, but instead became lighter. More brighter, like the sun shining through the dark clouds in the sky. As it did so, Amor felt a breeze sweeping past his face, ruffling his hair.

'...my hair?'

As he thought so, the smell of the grass and dirt became more noticeable. The birds chirping loudly, the bugs scuttling across the ground. The scent of flowers and wheat, the smell brought from the southward wind...

It was a heartbreakingly nostalgic smell. A smell when all seemed to be simple in the world. When he lived a simple life in a rural village. When he was with-

'Did I finally evolve'?' Amor thought as he regained more and more of his senses.

The familiar feeling of blood rushing through his veins. The heart pounding in his chest, his lungs breathing in and out, softly inhaling and exhaling...

...arms and legs?

'Am I not a butterfly? Does a caterpillar have another stage of evolution unknown to man? To me? If so, then what am I?'

Before the scent of nature could overwhelm him along with his curse, he felt vibrations beneath him. Accompanied by those vibrations were the sounds of footsteps, and it was quickly approaching where he was at. At that exact moment, the stars aligned, and Amor heard a voice.

"Big brother, big brother, wake up!"

He immediately struggled to open his eyelids.

...

From the sky, looking down below, was a large forest. Within the forest, was a bustling village, and near the village, on a hill surrounded by a field of golden colored wheat, was a tree. It was a lonely tree. Being surrounded by fields upon fields of wheat, the tree stood out. Its branches extended outward, and from them, leaves grew, creating a shade that was very suitable for a rather lovely nap.

Resting in its shade, laid a boy, who had a dull shirt and pants. It seemed like he was taking a rather lovely nap. It was the afternoon after all, and the world seemed so dull. It brought about a feeling of tiredness.

Unfortunately for the boy, the memories of the pain of life seemed to have appeared inside his mind as the boy quickly sat up.

'Did I hear that right? No, it can't be...' the boy slowly turned his head, and his brain, even when riddled by the experience of life, was overwhelmed as he saw what he always dreamt of seeing all his life.

When the boy thought he could only see it in a dream.

A little girl of about seven to eight years old was running towards him in a plain brown robe. Her dark brown eyes and dark auburn hair, which was not that similar to the boy's appearance. Although his hair differed from hers, they both have the same brown eyes.

Running over to him, her eyes were shining like the stars, reflected by the sun shining down on the world.

The boy looked at her, feeling aghast. Before he could react, his little sister already made it by his side.

"Big brother, mother is calling for you! You can't just be lazy and not try to get out of helping others with the preparations!"

His little sister, Rin, struggled to pull him up, but Amor-no, Tacitus helped himself up.

"Okay okay. I'm coming..." he nodded with a simple smile, responding to her as he usually does.

No, like his younger self usually does.

"Alright! Let's hurry up-!"

She hurriedly pulled his hand, walking down the hill, past the wheat fields, and towards the bustling village.

The boy named Tacitus followed along after her. When Rin turned away, his small smile remained on his face, but his eyes told a different story.

'...what is going on?'

...

They made it to the village, where people in old, ragged clothing were bustling about, walking around with more nervousness than what was normal before. Walking past them, Tacitus looked around, trying to spot anything, if anything, was out of the ordinary.

Nothing was, and so Tacitus thought again.

'Did I somehow get sent back in time, or is it just an illusion...?'

Looking around once more, it reminded him of the village he lived in a long, long time ago. Only, it was the same exact village he lived in a long, long time ago.

Only, it was all burnt down a long, long time ago.

The boy thought of the next best thing and opened up his status screen.

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Name: Tacitus (Amor)

Titles: 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 (Sealed), 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘺 (Sealed)

Race: Human [(Adult Caterpillar (Variant ???) - (-Evolution Commencing-)]

Strength: ???

Endurance: ???

Agility: ???

Magic: ???

Luck: ???

-------------------------------------------------------------

𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀:

???

===============================

'Did someone really pull me in an illusion or dream based on my memories without me knowing? No, that is impossible? The mana in the world is so low, it's impossible to create such a huge magic spell to trap me in here.'

Well, there is the Lord God Almighty, but that was also impossible. The Lord God Almighty, although mysterious in his holy ways, would never do this.

Probably.

'It could be said that maybe this is just a dream I unconsciously created while being sober in it. A dream that I always wanted to come true.'

Although it wasn't really that much of a theory, that was one of the more plausible conclusions he came up with. Furthermore, as far as Tacitus could tell, with his incredibly special reservoir of knowledge about dreams, this dream seems to be only temporary. At least about a couple days of simply passing time in this dream, and he'll be free from it.

With him waking up as a butterfly after the dream ended.

He mentally came into an agreement with himself.

'This could also be one of the side effects during the process of evolution, where the creature, monster, or spirit sleeps and dreams. This is truly a fascinating experience...'

His ruminations came to an end as his sister tugged on his long sleeve again.

"We have to hurry up and do the chores, since mother said so. This time, she sounds very stressed out...we might be in very big trouble."

Tacitus nodded along with her. If his memories weren't tampered, or he had just forgotten something this day was the day before the 'holy' ceremony, and so their mother naturally wanted things to go perfectly well.

He couldn't really possibly forget this. This was one of the most momentous occasions of his life.

This 'holy' ceremony was to bless children at around a certain age to awaken their status screen. Of course, this was only part of the reason why their mother was so stressed out.

It's all because their older brother was one of the children that was going to be blessed.

In their household, and in the majority of households across the country they were in, and maybe even the whole world, the eldest is the most precious. Just like in nature, the first born is usually the strongest as it was the oldest. Not only that, their older brother was extraordinarily talented in almost everything.

Their older brother, Lucius, was the perfect image of a knight in shining armor.

A true 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰.

Although unlike a knight in shining armor, with golden hair and eyes the color of the sky, he had brown hair. That did not stop others from naturally praising him. Lucius was naturally kind, intellectual, and skilled.

He was the perfect son for their parents to brag to the villagers, and even the travelers or other villagers couldn't help but hear about this son of god.

'I on the other hand, was silent and introverted, and so people barely pay attention to me...except perhaps my little sister.'

Tacitus could not help but shake his head, the same smile still on his face.

The moment she was born, he started raising her with care, trying to teach her good manners and morals. Their parents also loved their baby girl, but they were busy. How could they not be? They have three children to take care of.

In the end, it was Tacitus who took care of her in their stead. He was one who taught her almost all that she knows today.

Of course, their parents were naturally suspicious at this sudden display of natural parenting, but seeing how he took care of her so well, they thankfully just let it be, focusing on their work and Lucius.

'How did a little kid know how to take care of a child? Well...'

He naturally reincarnated from Earth. It also helped that he had a little sister back then, although they were ten years apart. He died at the age of eighteen, and was somehow simply reborn into the world of Palimicia.

When he started taking care of Rin, Tacitus was only four years old then. Of course their parents would find this behavior incredibly abnormal in a child.

Now, at this moment, in the dream of memories, he is currently around eleven years old.

'Still, it truly is strange to be in this realistic illusion,' Tacitus couldn't help but think. 'It's similar to my magic at it's highest point. It almost feels like I traveled back in time...'

Was this really a part of the process of evolution.

They walked quietly towards their house, trying to make themselves small in order to get the least amount of attention.

Unfortunately, their stealthiness proved futile, as someone seemed to have noticed them. That someone quietly walked up to Tacitus from behind, and put her mouth near his ears, whispering-

"Is someone in trouble?"

The boy only turned around and looked blankly at the person who whispered in his ear.

A fair long haired blonde girl about his age. Wearing a clean white robe, she looked at them both with clear, purple eyes. Her face, pristine and pure, was what people think of an angel incarnated as a girl.

No, not the higher tier angels, but the humanoid ones.

Tacitus digressed from his thinking.

"...there is no one in trouble," the boysaid, putting a hint of bewilderment in his tone of voice.

"Are you sure?" responded the girl, her voice holding a modicum of amusement.

"Yes, why would you think so?" he responded.

He didn't really need to fake it. Tacitus was also curious. This never seemed to have happened in his memories.

"Yeah, why do you think we're in trouble?" Rin also put on a look of confusion, peeking out from behind her. Tacitus looked sideways at her with a veiled, exasperated look, his eyes almost twitching.

He loved her dearly, and having her right next to him. Thank the Lord God Almighty, Even if this dream, it is a godsend wish...

However...

'This girl...'

She was actually shameless, and at the age of seven? How come he had never noticed? She'll grow up to be someone even more shameless if no one teaches her good morals.

...he was the one teaching her though, so it was his fault then?

Tacitus's thoughts of reverie turned despondent from his curse of thinking, but it was interrupted when the girl replied.

"Because I just came from your house," she said, humor injected into her voice.

""...""

An awkward silence formed, with Rin's mouth gaping open, and the girl slightly smiling.

The bot only wore a blank expression once more.

'I don't ever recall that she came over to our house at this time in my memories. Did I actually forget this happened?'

Even if he carefully kept his memories from fading away over the many years, it was inevitable that at least some mundane memories would fade. This could possibly be one of those missing memories.

Blinking, he asked her a question.

"What purpose did you have in coming over to our house?"

The girl brushed away a strand of hair that fell in front of her face.

"What do you mean, 'what purpose?' Aren't we close enough friends that we don't have to talk formally?"

It took a few seconds for Tacitus to remember, but he realized that he was in a dream in his past memories. That means no conflict has ever happened between them currently.

Were they actually friends?

Showing a look of slight embarrassment on his face, Tacitus instantly made up an excuse.

"Sorry, I'm just worried that my parents would punish me for not doing the chores..."

He scratched the back of his head, nervous. The girl, unfortunately, seemed to be unaware of his reason behind his excuse.

"You should be, but your parents aren't going to lecture you, since I just spoke with them. I've already convinced them that you were helping me with some chores," she said.

Her small smile grew even wider at the slowly contorting face of the boy.

She then held both of her hands behind her, bending her body down slightly, her head slightly facing upward.

"So, now you owe me a favor, right?"

A favor from a person can be really easy and simple to complete, or it could be extremely difficult.

If this actually did happen in real life, he would truly owe her a favor, and he would be tormented over it.

Still, the boy just nodded his head in agreement.

"...of course I owe you a favor. Still, we must get going. The waiting won't wait. Let's go, Rin."

"....yes! Okay!" Rin was still gawking, but after noticing that her older brother was walking away, she nodded like a henpecked chicken and quickly followed after him. Before fully turning around, she waved her hand at the girl.

"Bye Charmeine!"

She stood up straight in response, smiling while waving her hand at the siblings leaving.

...

Tacitus looked back at the conversation as he walked away, thinking back to even the littlest detail. In all his lives, to him, the notion of a favor or a promise is a very important concept. Although the majority of people who make these promises cast it off or forgets, he always remembers.

Still, he would normally refuse from this type of situation, but fortunately right now this was a dream of his past memories. None of this is actually really happening anyways, and so...

"Big brother, are we running away from her?" Rin asked in confusion.

'I can't even read through her, even when we were kids. Even now I can't even think of what she's doing...' Tacitus continued pondering, even as Rin began nagging him.

Why did Charmeine go to his parents at this time?

'How peculiar. Why did she even come visit my parents? Was it for Lucius? No, he wasn't at home at the time...'

Were his memories so bad? Why can't he remember? If he remembered correctly, Charmeine had not at all come into contact with him on that day.

Memories are truly easy enough to be distorted, especially with magic.

'How strange, how strange...if my memories were distorted, who could it be but the Lord God Almighty?'

No, that was also impossible. The Lord Almighty would not do it. If he did, his servants would come to give him his message.

At that, Tacitus would 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 remember.

In the end, his curse of thinking did not help him in any way. So Tacitus could only move on from the thought as he followed Rin into the house from one thousand years ago.

...

Seeing his parents wasn't a big deal. He didn't really miss them anyways, same with most of the village. Almost everyone there didn't stand out besides a few people, and even then he didn't interact with them.

Charmeine was obviously included.

No, Tacitus's parents didn't abuse him or anything. They loved him in their own way, but they focused most of their attention on Lucius.

When both Rin and Tacitus arrived at the house, their parents did lecture him, but they toned it down a lot. It must've actually been thanks to Charmeine's previous assistance.

He couldn't help but think that it was a good thing this was a dream. Otherwise, he would really owe her when he said he owed her a favor.

...

Now, the both of them, brother and sister, were currently carrying bags inside the house and outside. They were tasked with a couple of chores, and since he was older, bigger, and more experienced, he finished first.

Even then, after he was done with his task, he helped his little sister move her portion of the bags. While they were doing so, Rin suddenly began talking.

"Big brother, you're being weird today. You were normal when you left to take a nap under that tree so why are you...uh...what's the word again...?" Rin had a thinking face on, her eyes looking up, her finger touching her cheek.

Seconds later, Rin seemed to have found the word.

"Ah yes, that's right!"

She made a fist and pounded it into her other hand, which was open.

"Why are you so mature?"

Tacitus turned to look at her for a moment, then he smiled.

"Perhaps because I wanted a different change of pace today?" the boy said with a cheeky smile.

The little sister only stared at him for a few seconds, before muttering a small "okay." They then resumed doing the chores she was tasked with. An atmosphere filled with a silent, yet peaceful mood surrounded the both of them as they finished the task.

With that, the day ended without much of a hassle.