Records of the past

POV Silvia Indrath

After using the sacrifice technique, I expected to be completely unconscious until I woke up, but that didn't happen.

Although it is true that I lost consciousness for a few moments, after that I found myself in a space full of thick fog.

I looked in all directions trying to see the end of the thick mist, to get out of this place, but I couldn't see a single point of reference apart from the immensity of the forest.

I didn't even know how it was so clear if there was no light that bathed this place.

Is this the place where I have to rest until Julian manages to bring me back to life?

It is different from what I thought, besides my mother who taught me this art of Ether did not mention anything like this situation.

Could it be due to the state I was in?, I thought as I tilted my head to one side.

I tried to walk for several minutes, but I didn't know exactly what this place was and whether it was safe for me or not.

I stopped for a few seconds to calm my thoughts and try to find some solution or at least a plausible answer to my situation, but nothing came to my mind.

In this way, several days passed in which I walked non-stop, through all the fog that surrounds this forest and I discovered several things.

Physical fatigue does not seem to affect me, nor do things like hunger or sleep, it also seemed that something was protecting my mind keeping me sane.

It was a strange feeling, but I was grateful, I didn't want to go crazy before I could see my daughter and my two successors again.

I tried not to think about them since I got here, but in the last few days it has been impossible; because this place has nothing in sight, it is very difficult to avoid complicated thoughts.

I think about how they are doing, if they are safe, how strong they have become, if they have been able to avoid Agrona's sight, all those kinds of questions haunt my mind lately.

In this way, many more days passed; however, I could not get out of this place, although I did not feel tired, I reached a point where I wanted to disconnect completely from the world.

With that desire in mind, I lay down on the floor, closed my eyes and cut off all lines of thought, a strong feeling of relief enveloped me and the soft bed underneath warmed my heart.

Wait, bed?, alarmed I got up quickly and looked around.

Everything had changed completely, now I was in a room that I did not recognize, this place had designs that I had never seen, most of them were simple and seemed poor, besides there were some artifacts that I did not know how they worked, one had a rectangular box shape and was totally black in the front, there was another smaller and white one with a kind of lens?.

I started to check the room to see where I could be, but I could not find anything that gave me an idea, everything here seemed very advanced, but it lacked a touch of wealth, it looked very simple, also when I tried to open the door it seemed blocked by an invisible force.

I tried to hit the walls, but they also had that invisible force protecting the structure, tired I sat on the bed while I recapitulated everything that had happened so far and definitely it is very strange, nothing makes sense; first that desert of thick fog and now an unusual room.

As I thought about what could be happening, I heard the sound of the door opening, I saw a little human boy with black hair and eyes.

The boy ran towards me, so I thought about trying to talk to him, "Little one, do you know where...".

When I tried to do it, the boy seemed not to hear me and not only that, the boy passed through me, terrified by what had just happened, I touched my body and checked that everything was fine.

I sighed with relief and turned to the boy who seemed to be packing things to take notes, he was very young, about 4 or 6 years old.

He couldn't hide the baby fat that was still on his cheeks, nor the purity in his eyes.

He was a lively boy, as I watched him I heard another voice in the distance.

"Reinhart, are you ready?", it was the voice of a rather young woman.

"Yes, mommy, I'll be down in a second", the boy said as he nervously put some toys in his bag.

A few seconds after hearing that name I connected the dots, Julian had told me at some point what his name was in his previous life.

I see, this seems to be his past, but how did I end up here.

Looking again at Julian or rather Reinhart at this moment I saw him close his bag and leave the room in a hurry, I tried to touch him again, but I went through his body.

This confirmed to me that what I was seeing was a kind of moving image, like a kind of memory in which I could not interfere.

Seeing that the boy seemed to be the main focus behind this memory I followed him, I went down the stairs that the boy went down and reached what seemed to be the first floor.

I looked around trying to recognize something of what surrounded me, but I still couldn't connect anything.

"Reinhart, you're going to be late today, let's go fast", I heard the voice of the woman talking to the boy again.

She was a stoic woman, I could tell by her strong features and her tired face, the many difficulties she might have gone through.

Then I saw Reinhart nodding as he followed her, I accompanied them out of the house and what I saw took my breath away, this clearly was not my world; not even one similar to Arthur's.

There were carriages, mechanical ones?; I could only see people inside going somewhere, besides the lights didn't seem to work with magic; it was just as Julian said, the driving force of this world was science.

At some point I saw Arthur's past when I met him and the place he came from was quite advanced.

But this place seems to be far ahead of that, and it also seemed much more organized in some aspects.

Lost in my thoughts I felt an invisible force drag me to another location, now I was in what looked like an academy, since there were many children of different ages entering the building.

I started looking for Reinhart among the children who entered, but because of the number of them here it took me much longer than expected.

I followed him as I observed the facilities of the place and they paled, compared to what was in Epheotus or Xyrus, it was a very strange world.

There were things that far surpassed mine or Arthur's, but there were others that were lacking in comparison.

When we finally arrived at a classroom where Reinhart stopped, I saw him sit in a part away from his classmates.

Curious I approached him to find out why he behaved that way; however, I didn't discover anything; if there was something I had to mention, it would be that he was shy and preferred to observe his classmates rather than interact with them.

As I thought that way I felt time speed up and little by little I began to see Julian's life.

The boy lost his initial shyness, now he had several friends with whom he shared his time and experiences.

I also noticed that Reinhart seemed strangely smarter than the others and also the way he learned or adapted to the circumstances was unusual for a child his age.

Little by little I learned more about him, I found out that his father abandoned them when he was a newborn and his mother tirelessly worked to secure Reinhart's future.

Unfortunately, that weighed on his future, because the place where he worked dealt with dangerous chemicals he contracted cancer in his lungs and by the time they realized his condition it was too late.

He died at the age of thirty-three, leaving a young Julian of twelve years old orphaned, his family of two never lacked anything, but with the death of his mother things became very complicated.

The little money that Reinhart's mother had saved was used in her funeral ceremony.

I didn't know how to feel about it because I had seen during this time, the bond they shared, but it had not been something significant enough due to the speed at which it passed before my eyes.

I could only see Julian cry inconsolably for his mother, I thought of some way to comfort him or help him face the future, but I knew very well that I had no way of interfering in these events of the past.

I thought the boy would seek help from his relatives, but I never saw one in all this time, not a single person like that.

And after seeing the following images I understood why, Julian's mother was an orphan.

A life full of difficulties was the only thing that awaited him or so I thought, Reinhart after his stage of mourning began to do part-time jobs while studying.

Somehow, as I watched him persevere against the hard life in front of him, I remembered the look I saw the first time we met in the cave where I hid.

He declared firmly that he wanted to change the fate of this world, his determination shone greatly at that moment as well as now.

The goals were different, their lives were different, their identities different, but they both wanted to live their life to the fullest.

I think I am one of the few people who has been able to appreciate the true value of life, one without regrets walking the path you chose.

Clearly, he did not do it alone, at least not in this life, he received support from people around him, his first love, a grandmother who took him in when his mother died, teachers who guided him on the right path, even bad influences that hurt him, but helped him grow.

All that forged the person in front of me, he was not perfect, he made mistakes, but he tried to learn from them, he got angry when someone despised him and hit whoever hurt him.

However, he never crossed the line of no return, this world, unlike the previous one, had weak beliefs in their systems to judge innocence.

You could not defend yourself and kill the other person without being judged as a murderer, nor could you solve injustices with brute force.

It was a relatively peaceful world on the surface, but it also had some rotten sides inside.

Still, all in all it was not a bad world, only that without knowing it they were self-destructing their research, they were also leading them to their destruction, it was sad, but it was also the natural process of life and it was something that would eventually happen maybe not in that way, but at some point they would disappear.

For that reason I did not get too attached to this world, after all my stay was ephemeral in this place, during the time I observed Julian I understood better than anyone that at some point I had to return to my true world.

That's why I only dedicated myself to learn more about this place through Julian's life, it was the only thing I could do, that way I saw him grow up until he turned twenty.

During this time I had seen many things about him, the strangest thing were his tastes after reaching his seventeen years, he began to have a strange fantasy with maids and bunny costumes for women, it was something perverted, is this the norm in this world?

It was very uncomfortable to watch, but fortunately for both of us I never saw a scene like that again.

But still I will keep it in the back of my mind to ask Julian later.

Letting my mind wander to forget about the subject, I continued to observe Julian's growth, at twenty he had a stable job, while studying at night he was a person with a huge commitment and dedication.

Unfortunately, the time to leave this world was approaching, I knew it was time to say goodbye to this place.

One of the few things I tried to do, but couldn't and regretted, was to read the novel he mentioned, it was on his phone and I couldn't look for it myself.

I wanted to acquire some of the knowledge that Julian had, but I couldn't see anything, not even when he read the novel himself, it was like seeing a blank screen.

Clearly, what brought me here doesn't want me to know some things related to the future, but I still hope to have a chat with Julian with more details of what he knows about the future.

I saw how little by little the work and his studies were accumulating pressure on his body at a level not dangerous, but alarming, however, I did not get upset after all, I can not change it and even if I really could, do I have the right to take away a second chance like the one he received?

No, clearly I don't have it and even though I call myself a deity, I have my own beliefs, so I won't do anything.

I felt how little by little the world began to fade away, I watched Julian closely to try to determine who brought him to our world and be able to form countermeasures.

Finally, the moment came and I saw hundreds of purple hands grabbing his soul, but that was not what terrified me.

What filled me with anguish and dread was that Julian did not die in his old world, his soul was torn from his body by force, but strangely it was in such a fine and delicate way that it did not damage a single part of his spiritual body.

Surprised, I tried to see where those hands came from, but all I saw was a path of murky emotions: anger, sadness, regret, pain.

It was a cluster of aggressive emotions, of which I could not correctly distinguish its shape, seeing it gave me goosebumps.

I saw how that grotesque form of black and purple tone pulled Julian's soul and took it to the body of a white-haired baby, which matched perfectly with the appearance of the Julian I met.

I also saw a dimensional gap open where they put the newborn baby and at the same time an invisible force dragged me with him.