Elizabeth's Dreams

"Uh, with all due respect, Elizabeth, don't we have more important things to worry about than dreams?" Vol asks her.

"I know," she says, "But I think these are important, too."

"It's fine. Go ahead," I say, sitting down next to the a few cylinders. Within these is the mana that Vol managed to separate from me, just the other night.

She nods.

"It's about the sword," she says, holding up the melted blade.

"In my dreams, I see many people, all working on the sword. Sometimes, only the handle is complete. Other times, they're filing thin strips off mana stones. Under Gaia's guidance, they reshape the stones into a blade.

It takes them hundreds of years. Or maybe thousands? I can't tell."

As she pauses for breath, I realize that Vol has stopped moving tables around. He sits down next to me and leans against the wall, listening. Elizabeth continues.

"I see an old man. Very old. Maybe a sage. One of the men ask him for help. The man describes a spell to the sage. The sage engraves it into the handle of the sword. He finishes it, but something goes wrong. After a while, the sage dies."

Something about this is starting to concern me.

"Is there anything else?" I ask her, as she has stopped.

"There is one more thing, but I don't know if it's important."

"Go ahead."

"It's just the face of a woman."

"A woman?" Vol asks, leaning forward, "Can you describe her?"

Elizabeth nods.

"She has long, brown hair and she's wearing a white dress with purple frills. I think she's royalty."

Is that--

"I think her name is-"

"Sofia."

They both look at me. I must have said that out loud.

"Elizabeth, when did you start having these dreams?"

"The first one came on the night after I killed the greater monster."

"The eyeball with legs?" Vol asks.

Elizabeth nods.

These are my memories? We've been so busy, it didn't occur to me, but the other times we killed the greater monsters, I've regained some of my past memories. I don't know why Elizabeth has them. Maybe it was because I was knocked out or maybe she just got in the way of the spell.

Regardless, it's starting to look like Number 12 did a lot more than I thought. Just how many spells did I cast? How much of my muddled mana had I transferred to this world before I even arrived?

I suspect that the only reason why we haven't had any monsters appear within Tayde is due to the AM-store helping to contain my mana and slow its release.

"You were right, Elizabeth. Your dreams are important."

I wonder just how many years I've lost. How many memories with Sofia.

But I can't let that distract me. There was something much more important to be gleaned from her dreams.

"It was me. I made the sword."

"What???" Vol exclaims.

"I can't think of anything else that makes sense. Those people must all be me; my reincarnations. I remember the sage's death, too, but not asking him for help."

"If that's true, that's... honestly incredible..." Vol responded. "That sword is a masterpiece."

"You said it was on the orders of Gaia, right?" I ask Elizabeth.

She nods in response.

"That probably means Civis, then. Or someone from the Cyrene, at least."

Is that why they've been erasing my memories? All this time, was I ever really supposed to defeat greater monsters? Am I even here to kill the Demon Lord?

Or am I here... to forge them a weapon.

Risus' voice reverberates in my head.

"You are in possession of ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴏᴅᴋɪʟʟᴇʀ."

A weapon able to kill gods, from the name. If Risus' information is correct and they want to overthrow the greater gods, it would make sense if that's what the Cyrene had me forge.

I'm unsure why they didn't do it themselves, though; I'll have to ask Risus during our next meeting.

I also can't help but wonder how the sword was sent from world to world. Maybe the gods moved it or maybe I had to use a spell of some sort. No, the former isn't really an option. If they could move the sword on their own, they wouldn't have needed Colette and the nuns.

For some reason, the gods seem to have very limited direct interaction with the worlds. Another question for Risus.

The conversation has continued on without me, as I've been deliberating the situation. It isn't until Vol asks a particularly intriguing question that I'm drawn out.

"Say, Elizabeth, where did you get the sword from in the first place?"

Now that's a good question. I got so caught up in my theories, I had forgotten to ask. I look to Elizabeth.

"Jonas and I came across it when we were children."

"You've had it since you were a kid?!" Vol asked, a shocked expression on his face.

She nods again.