CH53: Memories of Another World

***

CH53: Memories of Another World

"Welcome back, Alex. I knew you'd come for me."

I was shocked.

It's understandable, right?

After all, I hadn't used my 'Alex Fury' skin in front of her. Why would she suddenly call me Alex out of nowhere?

My mind fell into a mess as I pondered what to do.

Then, in that moment, the effects of the sleep poison wore off and Anastasia slowly woke.

She opened her eyes to find me in front of her in a pondering expression.

"Leo, what are you doing here?" She asked groggily.

Only after which did she realise where we were.

"Where are we?" She asked, understandably shocked.

My jacket fell off her body due to her sudden movements.

"We were kidnapped." I said. "You were the target, I was just brought along for the ride." I added with a smile.

"I'm sorry about that."

"There's no need to apologise. I didn't give them any other choice but to kidnap me as well."

"Why would you do that?"

"I don't know myself. My body moved before I knew it."

Anastasia looked at me stunned.

"Oh your jacket." Only now did she realise she was kneeling on my jacket. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." I flung the jacket to get rid of the dusk, before putting it on. "Oh, when I covered you before, you called me Alex. Who's that? Someone important to you." I probed.

Anastasia's expression became crestfallen.

"Did I asked what I shouldn't have?"

"No, it's not that. I usually dream about someone else's life whenever I sleep. I think it's the price of my Pangea." She said,

Something in her word got to me.

"The Price of your Pangea? You have an S-class Pangea?"

"You know about that?"

"Yes, I heard S-class Pangea's may have an extra price to pay due to their power."

"That's right. I have an S-class Pangea. It's called Akashic Record. It allows me to see the information of anything I want within my line of sight."

'That's some crazy ability.' I thought. Then, I realised something else. "Should you be telling me this? I think this is the type of power you should be keeping secret."

"I know. I've always kept it a secret. You are the first person other than my father who knows about my Pangea and its abilities. Most people believe my Pangea is related to Mana Engineering." Anna smiled at me. "Somehow, I feel I can trust you. I don't know why, but I'm comfortable around you."

I was stunned. Her smile was too bright.

It took me a moment to gather myself.

"I'm grateful for your trust in little ol' me, but I hope you won't go around trusting people you just met. It's not safe."

"I'll take that under advisement. You don't need to be worried. You are the only one I'd ever give the privilege."

"Can you stop teasing me, my lady? My heart can't take it. I'll misunderstand your words."

"What? Are you falling in love with me?"

I ignored the question and faked a cough instead.

"You were talking about the price of your Pangea."

Anastasia rolled her eyes at my poor attempt to change the topic, but she answered anyway.

"Every night, since I awakened my Pangea, I have this continuous dream where I relive the life of someone I don't know. When I wake up, I don't remember much about the dream. It was mild at first, but about three years ago, the dreams became more intense. I have this urgency... like it's important I remember what the dream is about so that I don't lose something important. Unfortunately I haven't had much success.

"I only remember a few things like... my name in the dream is also Anna. I... the person loves a man named Alex and that their world isn't like ours. They don't have mana, but they created interesting tools to make their life easier."

My jaw almost dropped.

What she described sounded a lot like the world of my previous life. In that case, it was likely she was reliving Annabelle's memories.

The question now is... is she Annabelle reincarnated in this world or did her Pangea Akashic Record somehow access the memories of someone from another world?

I was more inclined to believe it was the former. In fact, I hoped it was the former.

Then I realised something. Anastasia said the dreams became intense three years ago. That's around the time I turned fifteen and went through my second awakening.

It hit me.

The last time I saw Annabelle wasn't in my past life, but three years ago during my second awakening.

'I had thought I was speaking to a phantom conjured by the Laws of Arun or my Mind. If it was really her...'

I recalled our conversation that day.

**

"After all this time you're still a fool, Alex. Do you think you dying was what I wanted? Do you think I want to see you suffer? It was my choice to love you. It didn't matter if you loved me or not. Loving you was one of the happiest things I experienced in my life. And knowing you tried to kill yourself after my death was the saddest moment of my life."

"I-"

"You thought you had no right to live after your actions led to my death? You're really a fool.

"Your actions had nothing to do with my death. It was all that man's fault. I wanted the best for you, so knowing that my death broke the proud man I loved was the biggest smear of my life. Even now, I'm being used against you.

"Alex, I need you to forgive yourself. I need you to keep moving forward. I need you to be the proud man I know you are. I need you to make the most of this second life. Stop letting me be the weight that drags you down. I want to be the person who pushes you forward.

"Please, Alex. Do this for me."

"I will try." I muttered. "I wish you were here. I won't make the same mistake again in this life. I won't let you go no matter what."

"Really? It's a promise, Alex. Don't forget your words."

.

.

.

"It's time for you to go, Alex. Go become the Apex of this new world. Don't worry, this time, I will be by your side all through. So, don't disappoint me, ok?"

"I won't disappoint you again, Annabelle."

"Ah you're so stubborn. You've never disappointed me, Alex.

"There's not much time. Listen, Alex. You lived your past life for others. You lived for your friends. You lived for your country. You put others before yourself. In this life, I want you to live for yourself. Only fight for yourself. Take whatever you want. Love whoever you want no matter who they are. Don't look down on yourself. Be the proud man I know you are. Make sure you live your life to the fullest.

"I'll be waiting for you, Leo. Find me soon."

[A.N: Extracted from CH21: Blessings of the House of Loki.]

**

If the phantom was really Annabelle, then she was somewhere in the world of Arun. And she would be someone close.

Everything points to Anastasia being Annabelle.

I looked at the woman who was waiting for my response.

'If she's Annabelle, why doesn't she remember everything from our previous life like I do? Maybe she didn't transmigrate and only her memories were sent over?'

'No. I don't think that's it. It's possible there's a price to pay for the transmigration. I kept my memories intact, but I can't use mana. She can use Mana but couldn't keep her memories. Is that it?'

I spiralled down a rabbit hole of thoughts in those few seconds.

"Leo, are you ok? I know what I said is a lot to take in but you don't have to look so stunned."

I was taken aback by her words. Only then did I realise I had stayed silent for too long and it was awkward for her.

"No, that's not it. I was thinking how interesting the world you spoke about would be. I'm guessing it might be what you saw, and the little you can remember from the dream that caused you to take interest in your Self-moving carriage." I said.

"Wow! How did you know? Can you read minds?" She exclaimed.

"Of course not. It's just a logical deduction based on what I seen and you've told me so far. The ideas you proposed are radical for our world. Considering you've been schooled by the best, in the doctrines of the world, it doesn't make sense for you to suddenly want to change the established order when you sit at the top of it.

"In that case, it stands to reason that you must have seen another perspective... another world which caused you to have a different opinion than what your upbringing has instilled in you. This leads me to believe that your changes are due to what you've seen in this other world that you dream about.

"For example, this world emphasizes strength... everyone strives to grow stronger. Those who remain weak are left behind and uncared for. Even equipment are made to make the strong, stronger. On the other hand, you seem to be interested in catering for the weak in society. This is a sentiment which differs from the norm and likely a result of what you've seen in the other world you dream about..

"This led me to then realise that your interest are likely influenced by that world. In that case, if the Mechanical Beast Program is the representative of the norm of Arun, then your Self-moving carriage must be the norm of your other world. Hence, my conclusion that you're trying to recreate something from that world."

Once again, my ability to bullsh*t saves the day. Anastasia was so bamboozled by my words that she had forgotten my previous behaviour.

Her jaw almost dropped to the ground in an unladylike manner.

"Wow... you sound so smart that it's scary." She said after recovering herself.

"I'll take that as a compliment. As a weakling that I am, the only way I can survive the norm of this world is to build my brain." I replied.

"Well, you're right. I vaguely remember seeing a Self-moving carriage in those memories. I think I even saw a self-driving one. I've been trying to recreate it to no luck. However, I have a good feeling that your advice to start from two-wheels might work. If we succeed in two wheels, we'll move to three-wheels, then four-wheels."

[A.N: Made a mistake previously. I wrote self-driving when I was actually thinking of Self-moving.]

"If we succeed, not only would we make transport cheaper and more accessible for people, we'll even make cost of government cheaper since government has the largest amount of mounts in the country. That's a lot of money on cost of maintenance."

"You're right. Why didn't I think of that?" Anastasia went into a pondering mood.

I didn't disturb her as I had my own thoughts to deal with.

Soon, I saw her eyes sparkle.

"If I play my cards right, I may be able to get funding from the government. Father won't be able to skimp on funding my research." I could've sworn I heard an evil chuckle.

'Just what are you planning?' I wondered. 'Well, whatever it is, I'll support you.'

'Until I confirm if you are Annabelle or not, I'll assume that you are. I won't let any harm come to you in this life. I made you a promise and I intend to keep it. I won't let you go in this life... no matter what.'

I made a decision which I fully intended to live by no matter the price.

"We should try to escape." I said.

"Ah!" Anastasia exclaimed.

I looked at her weirdly.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten we're being held captive?" I looked at her speechlessly.

"Don't look at me like that. It's your fault I was swept up in your pace." She said. "But how are we going to escape?"

She asked a valid question.

To the best of her knowledge, I was mana-inept, so the thought of me fighting didn't cross her mind. Meanwhile, it was likely she wasn't a combat-type herself.

It was very unlikely for both of us to be able to escape our captive for long... if at all.

I decided to bullsh*t again.

"Just before you woke up, I heard sounds of fighting outside. I think someone attacked our abductors. Everything has gone silent for a while now, so it's likely there's no one around now. I mean we made noise for so long yet no one came. I think we have a chance to escape and call for help."

"I don't know. It seems too risky."

"If I'm right and someone took care of our abductors, it would be difficult for the authorities to find us since everyone who knows we're here would be dead." I turned to her. "Trust me. I'll lead us out."

I stretched out a hand to her.

She looked at it for a moment.

"Fine. I'll trust you." She took the hand.

We looked at the door.

"How do you propose we get out?"

"You're at 5-rings, right?"

"Yes." She replied. "Oh, I see."

She moved to the door and felt out the hinges.

"It can work." She understood what I wanted her to do.

She channelled her mana around her body. Instead of forming a mana coating around her, she controlled it to take the form of a stick or rod. She channelled more mana into it to make the conjured rod more solid.

She stuck the rod in between the gap of the door to the wall, by the hinges.

I moved to support her. We pushed on the rod hoping to use the fact that the hinges had rusted to break it. Fortunately, as long as she continued channelling mana into the conjured rod, it would hold for what we wanted to do.

However, we had to hurry because her mana wouldn't last long under this strenuous activity.

I had damaged the hinges a bit earlier, so we quickly saw the fruits of our labour as the hinge detached from the wall a bit.

"Move back." I said.

"Why? We are almost there."

"No, we've done enough. Move back, you'll see."

She finally moved back.

Then, I used an unnecessary running start to deliver a thrust kick to kick down the door with my heel.

The door broke open and we left the cell.

We cautiously moved through the dungeon.

"Looks like you are right. No one came running over even after that loud noise. There must be no one here." Anastasia said.

"Then let's also leave."

Just as we were about to leave the dungeon, a notification window popped up before me.

**

[Notice: Lord Fenrir has finished preparing your test.]

[Notice: Your test has begun.]

**

'What is this now?' I wondered.

Suddenly, I heard a growl from the cell to my right. It was the last cell before we reached the fork leading to the door out of the dungeon.

There was nothing there when I passed previously. But we are hearing a growl now.

I quickly realised that it might have something to do with the so-called test. And right on cue.

*

[Blessing of Lord Fenrir.]

-Destroyer.

Remark: Lord Fenrir requires you to prove your resolve to reach the top of the world irrespective of who stands in your way.

Unlock Condition: Kill 10 Humans who stand between you and your goal.

[Notice: Condition Complete!]

[Notice: Please enter the door to begin your test for the Blessing, {Destroyer}.]

*

Left with no choice, I pushed open the cell door.

(To be continued.)