Chapter 414: Gradually Recovering Memories

Chapter 414: Gradually Recovering Memories

As time passed, more figures came and went in the room.

A rift in the spirit world opened, and first a mature, beautiful blonde woman arrived. She sat with Sharon for a while, comforting her and gently stroking her head. 

On that day, Sharon's eyes reddened for the first time, revealing a fragile and sorrowful expression.

The blonde woman stayed for many days before leaving, and things briefly returned to a state of calm.

Then another spirit world rift opened, and a small red bird flew out. It chirped and landed on Sharon's shoulder, as if trying to console her.

To Hastur's eyes, the seemingly unremarkable little fire bird was actually a majestic phoenix with enormous wings and a golden crown atop its head. 

It was Gregory, the progenitor of phoenixes and a spirit world messenger he had once contracted with. That contract was still in effect, and he could easily command it.

But Hastur felt no need to use it. His gaze could easily reach anywhere he wished to go, without requiring other beings to relay messages for him.

Yet Hastur never unilaterally terminated this contract. He continued to silently observe as time flowed on.

Soon, December 1st arrived - time for another gathering of the stars.

During this period, more people had called out his name.

In a city called Backlund, a man named Leonard had privately muttered his name. Marici, Gehrman Sparrow, Gehrman, Xio, and Fors had also mentioned him.

A Miss Audrey spoke his name most frequently among them. Her extraordinary dog Susie was also there. They even wrote him letters, though the letters only reached the empty room guarded by Sharon.

From their private whispers and conversations, Hastur gradually pieced together memories of his past interactions with them. But those memories remained hazy, with many specific story details forgotten.

The fragmented memories were slowly coming together. As time passed, his recollections became more complete.

He recalled many past events, but still only silently observed, remaining quiet as he convened a new gathering of the stars.

At the gathering, no major issues were discussed. They only chatted about trivial matters. The only somewhat interesting development was that the Primordial Hunger also wanted to send an avatar down to the real world.

According to It, the purpose was to throw the wishing lamp imprisoning the Lamp God into a sewer, to make It suffer a bit.

The High-Dimensional Overseer expressed willingness to help with this request, and Hastur also nodded in approval, lending It a hand.

For the Outer Gods and Great Old Ones attending the star gathering, as long as their requests were not too presumptuous, he was willing to fulfill them.

This was an exchange. The more he gave now, the more he would reap in the future.

The Gathering of Stars was not just an authority.

The bimonthly star gathering concluded again. Hastur felt increasingly bored, with an emptiness in his heart that needed filling with something new.

Now his time was spent either staring blankly at everything or waiting for the next star gathering.

A repetitive, monotonous cycle.

He should go down for a walk, rather than always staying in the Hall of Stars.

His gaze swept over the real world, searching for interesting places. Prufrock Harbor and Backlund flashed through his mind, but he chose not to go there. Before his past memories were fully pieced together, he did not want too many new memories of those people.

In the end, he chose a vast expanse of ice - a landscape well-suited to his current state.

With just a thought in the Hall of Stars, he appeared on the vast ice field. Spatial distance did not exist for the Hall of Stars.

Moreover, when he was at Sequence 5, he had used the Hall of Stars to establish corresponding rules, gaining the extraordinary abilities of the Apprentice pathway.

Whatever Travelers could do, he could do as well, and go even further.

A vast ice field stretched before him, blanketed in flying snow. Immersed in it, one could not distinguish between day and night. The passage of time lost its original meaning here.

When his footsteps emerged from the ice field, he found himself before an icy lake.

The lake was not yet completely frozen. In the distance, tender green grass could be faintly seen poking through - this was the boundary zone of the ice field.

Standing at the lake's edge, gazing into the crystal-clear water, his mind instantly calmed.

Hastur sat by the lake, lost in thought as he stared at the water covered by a thin layer of ice. There were many large fish in the lake, with long, lean bodies. Having lived in clean waters for years, their meat must be quite tender, perhaps even sweet to taste.

As he gazed, Hastur began to feel somewhat hungry. He couldn't remember when he had last eaten.

After watching silently for a while longer, Hastur gently swept his right hand over the lake's surface. A fish about his size leapt out of the water, flopping motionless beside him.

Soon, the aroma of grilled fish wafted from the lakeshore.

For the whole large fish, he ate a small slice of the choicest belly raw. The head and tail were set aside, while the rest was grilled.

Hastur ate slowly. When he had finished the entire fish except for the head and tail, the feeling of fullness in his stomach dispelled much of his confusion. His mood improved considerably.

As he continued walking south from the lake, he came to a seashore where ice floes still drifted.

There were many people here, engaged in fishing for the seals that lived nearby.

Seal fishing was a traditional festival preserved to this day.

Hastur's arrival did not cause much commotion. Many people came here each year to participate in the seal fishing festival.

However, his thin, uninsulated clothing did draw some envious looks.

The temperature here was very low, especially at night when even urine would freeze.

Most people wore the warmest clothing possible, such as various animal furs.

The bustling scene did not make Hastur linger, but as he prepared to leave, someone called out to stop him.

It was a middle-aged man with bronze skin, average build, black hair and brown eyes, soft features, and a small black mole below his right ear.

"You're from Loen, aren't you?" The middle-aged man came over to chat. "Your clothes have an obvious Loen style. I used to live there for many years too. Aside from the somewhat poor air quality, it's quite nice in all respects."

"Are you Mr. Azik?" 

The name of the man before him naturally surfaced in Hastur's mind.

"You know me?" Azik curiously examined Hastur, finding him increasingly strange.

He had come alone to fish for seals, not expecting to meet someone who recognized him.

Hastur's gaze passed over Azik to the people busily preparing to fish for seals. "Is life good here?"

"If you don't mind the extremely cold weather. It's very quiet here, good for solitary reflection. Did you come because you have something on your mind?"

After their brief exchange, Azik could see that the young man before him was confused. He seemed to have lost something, and was now aimlessly searching.

At night, light snow drifted through the air. Countless stars hung in the sky, twinkling brightly. Even the wind and snow could not obscure their radiance.

Hastur and Azik sat together in the open air, gazing up at the stars as they conversed.

"The home of the soul - that's an excellent question. I too once lost my past memories and actively searched for them. In the end, I recovered my memories, only to find they were not as wonderful as I had imagined."

"Do you regret it?"

"No. Whether painful or beautiful, memories only truly belong to you when you recover them. Memories, all of one's past, are proof of a person's existence throughout life."

Hastur did not respond further, only gazing up at the starry sky.

"You should also go recover your past memories. The soul should not have blank spaces."

Azik patiently counseled the young man before him, sharing many stories of his own experiences.

Late at night, when the starlight faded, Hastur also vanished.

"A Traveler?" 

Azik was momentarily dazed as he watched Hastur disappear without a trace. The young man who had been listening to him speak vanished suddenly, in the blink of an eye.

Azik sat alone for a long while. When dawn broke and voices began to clamor, he smiled and joined the seal fishing group.

...

In the Hall of Stars, Hastur still sat silently, his gaze sweeping over those who had once spoken his name. Fragments of memory continued to appear and reassemble.

December 15th - only half a month remained until the new year.

In Prufrock Harbor, in the room where Hastur had secluded himself for advancement, Sharon stood by the window, quietly gazing toward the harbor streets.

With the new year approaching, the people living here had started preparing early for the celebrations, making things much more lively and festive than usual.

Especially this year - with pirates driven away and commerce booming, anyone living here who worked hard enough could earn a good amount of money.

"Meow..." 

Listless Aisala lay by the window. It only glanced briefly at the bustling streets before looking away, no longer interested even in the fragrant little dried fish being sold at many stalls.

Knock knock knock.

Someone knocked at the door, but Aisala couldn't even be bothered to raise its head.

After a while, the knocking stopped. Several letters from Backlund were neatly placed at the doorway.

The pile of unopened letters now numbered over fifty.

Caius, who had delivered the mail, glanced at the still-closed door and left with a disappointed sigh.

Three months had passed since the Count's departure.