Memories

[Ceobe's POV]

'Urgh, my head. That neck chop hurts like hell' I said to myself as I open my eyes. However, I can only see an endless void of darkness with no one in sight.

'Where am I? Where are the beast men? and most importantly, where is Rudeus?' these were questions I pondered as I stared at the void.

But then suddenly, I felt something brushes behind me. I turn around and saw a beast girl that looks like me. It seems she is running towards a certain direction, so I tried to follow her and find out where she is going.

Eventually, she stops walking in front of a tree, crouching down.

I took a peek on what she is doing and saw that she is eating a bunch of glowing mushrooms.

She then notices me and looks at me in the eye. I was anxious on what she is going to do next and I made step back from her.

After that, she picks up another glowing mushroom and gives it to me.

"[Eat this]"

"Eh? Why?"

"[It doesn't matter. Eat this]"

I received the glowing mushroom and look at it worriedly. I noticed that it is pulsating, which made me anxious.

"I don't think I can eat this"

"[Eat it, Ceobe]"

Realizing that she knows that name, I look up and was terrified to see a bunch of glowing mushrooms sprouting from her head.

"What happened to you?!"

"[Eat it... Eat it.... Eat it...]"

The beast girl forcefully grabs my hand and tried to feed me the glowing mushroom.

"Wait, hold on... Stop!!"

"[EAT IT! EAT IT! EAT IT!]"

"PLEASE STOP!!"

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*gasp*

I immediately gasped for air and opened my eyes for real. This time, it is no longer the void and the creepy beast girl was nowhere to be found.

"Where am I?" I look around to know where am I and realized that I am inside a tribal house.

After that, I hurriedly check myself if there are mushrooms growing on me. I patted my head and body for any fungus growth.

"Phew, I think I'm safe..." confirming that there's no mushroom on my body, I made a huge sigh of relief.

I then noticed that I am not naked anymore and was currently wearing a tribal clothing. There also bandages wrapped on my arms and legs as well.

*Tap* *tap*

While I am observing myself, my dog ears twitch and heard someone approaching the house. I look ahead and saw the beast man from before, as well as a beast woman next to him.

He whispered something to the woman and suddenly, she begins crying. Then she runs towards me and hug me tightly.

*Sad unknown language gibberish*

Crap... Without Rudeus translating these sentences, I couldn't understand she is saying.

*sob*

Sigh, I feel bad for this woman. Judging from how intimate she hugs me while crying, suggesting that this body could possibly belong to someone close to her.

Well, I guess I have to comfort this woman by hugging her back, which I am going to do right now.

So, I did. I hug the beast woman and she was surprised by action and continues to cry even more. She tightens her hug as she sobs and repeating the same unknown word to me.

However, something was familiar with that word she is saying and I can't seem to put my finger why. So, I think harder and suddenly, I felt something strange happening within my mind.

'[Mama, can you carry me?]'

'[Of course, Ceobe. Come here]'

'[Yay~ I love you, mama]'

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For a brief second, a surge of memories suddenly flooded my mind.

However, none of these memories belongs to me.

It seems it belongs to the owner of this body I am inhabiting, which is conveniently named Ceobe.

But why....

Why did I remember her memories.

Why now?

Is it something to do with me hugging this woman who assume to be her mother?

Was hugging her brought back those memories?

While I am pondering over these questions, a single tear drop exits my eyeball and then another one came out right after.

Ultimately, a bunch of tears flowed from my eyes and I felt sad all a sudden.

"[M-mama...]"

Without warning, I involuntarily said something without me noticing, which shocks both two beast people and myself as well.

"[Ceobe?]"

"[Mama... I'm home]"

"[Oh, Ceobe. My sweetheart, welcome home]"

Both me and my mother hugged even more and cried together.

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After several minutes of reunion, me and my mother separated and told me that she will prepare me some food, so she excuses herself from the house.

Conveniently, I can now understand their language due to the sudden surges of memories, which also means I can talk with them now because of that.

"[So, do you remember who you are now?]" the beast man asked, which I also remember who he was.

"[Yes, sir Gyes. My name is Ceobe Adoldia]" I introduced myself according to the new memories I recently have.

"[Good, now tell me everything you know]" Gyes inquires.

I complied and then proceeded to tell him everything that my new memories know.

Starting from the beginning, which is when the human bandits kidnapped six beast children, including me in it.

Then they trapped all of us inside a prison cell.

Horrifyingly enough, I also remembered being beaten up and stabbed by a bandit because I was too noisy, which I skipped the part where this body died and revived.

Finally, I explained about the part where Rudeus freed us from the cell and Ruijerd killed the bandits for us in order to escape.

"[I see, then where were the other beast children]"

"[I'm not sure, but I think Rudeus knows about it]"

"[Is that so? Then, explain me why this human is defiling the Holy Beast]"

"[To be honest, I have no idea either. I just found him like that when I saw him]"

"[That bastard. He will pay for this]"

Oh boy, you are in big trouble now, Rudeus.

Anyway, I guess I have to ask sir Gyes about his location.

"[Sir Gyes, can I see where Rudeus is?]" I asked sir Gyes and he looks reluctant to reply.

"[Why do you want to visit that vile human, little one]"

"[I just want to know what happened to him]"

"[I understand, come with me]"

After convincing sir Gyes to see Rudeus, he prompted me to follow him. Both of us exit the house and was astonished by what I am seeing right now.

I can see a huge rain forest with a bunch of treehouses and wild life scattered everywhere. Even though I have a memory of this place, I am still impressed with the beautiful sceneries.

"[Come on, Ceobe. Let's go!]" Gyes shouted, snapping me back to reality.

"[Yes, I'm coming]"

I followed sir Gyes through a series of hanging bridges, passing through several treehouses and finally arriving at our destination, which is a cage hanging on the air.

Within that said cage, I saw a familiar face.

It is Rudeus....

However, something is wrong with him and it somewhat hilarious.

"Rudeus, why are you naked?"