Chapter – 116 - The Memories Return

Beibei flinched. Her head was already throbbing with a dull and continuous pain, and the very shallow movement immediately sent sparks of searing pain shooting through her mind.

Images flashed in her mind. First slowly, then picking up speed, rushing through her brain till she felt dizzy. Her headache was growing worse, and she completely could not focus on what these visuals were trying to tell her. Unfocussed and painful, her mind hung in a state of blank numbness as more and more visuals jammed inside her brains.

After a while Beibei realized that she could no more ignore the images. The more she stayed in blankness, the more visuals poured inside her brains, as if trying to shake her awake. Gritting her teeth against the vibrating flashes of pain still shooting in her head, she tried to focus on the passing images. As if understanding her desires, the images too decreased their speed, till she could finally focus on each visual as they slowly passed by.

What was this place?! It was so alien.....like nothing she could remember having seen before! Buildings so tall that they almost kissed the skies. Shining wide windows reflected the surroundings in clear light. The sky was filled with a gray fog and lots of dust floated about.

She was seeing everything from a great height. The roads were crammed with strange looking vehicles. The lines of people and vehicles going and coming looked like tiny ants to her eyes. Lines merging and diverging, continuously flowing with life and movement, everyone going about their business looking very busy.

She turned her head to look around. The image passed and another took over. Then another, followed by another. Large buildings, with strange looking tools and machines. People working on them. Somehow these people looked different from the people she had seen. They came in all colors and shapes, working together diligently. Men and women and children. Playing strange games in large gardens, working with weird machines, travelling on unending long black lines, living in box shaped rooms shelved one above another.

The images kept rotating. She watched these people following varied rituals, celebrating innumerable festivals and celebrations, talking in a cacophony of languages and dialects, wearing a variety of clothes in a large range of colors. Different hair, different skin, different eyes, different features.....yet all of them also looked the same....

Where in the world was this place?!

The pain started growing sharper and stronger, and her mind throbbed, as if wanting to break free from her skull and jump out. She was groaning and whimpering inwardly, but she didn't know if those sounds made their way to the outside. The piercing pain had long killed off all her senses.

She didn't even know when she had lost consciousness again. Or was she conscious in the first place? Could she call her mind feeling pain and her brain filtering through a large number of images as being conscious?

'Rihanna....are you awake?'

'.....Yes....'

Beibei answered almost unconsciously, not even comprehending what was being asked....or who was the one asking.

Instantly all the images which had been running haphazardly through her mind paused. Then in a miraculous turn, all of them seemed to line up, and a whole story started flowing through her brain again. But this time the pain did not hinder, this time the images reflected in the depths of her being.

Beibei opened her eyes. Astonishment and shock reflected in the depth of her eyes.

Yes....she was Beibei...who was actually Rihanna. Rihanna who had long lost her memories. Who had lost all contact with all her contracted beasts and people. Who had been living a different sort of life....in a completely man-made world!

She had spent the last five and a half years in a Duplicating Dimension. What was happening in the world outside? Moreover what was the connection between this dimension and the outside world? How was the black miasma related to the world outside. It was already so hard to control within this dimension. Then....what about outside?

As the images disappeared, questions and doubts started pouring into the same space. What was this strange secret about the outside world which she yet did not know? Was the world on verge of some kind of a war? But the black miasma seemed to have existed even before! What was this story?!

Rihanna groaned again inside her mind, trying to move her fingers. Pain radiated back. Not the sharp, throbbing kind of pain. Rather it felt like her limbs had rusted over from disuse. She could even sense the creaking of joints and ligaments as they protested vehemently against this sudden force.

After a long fight of her will against her body, finally she managed to crack open her eyes. Even the diffused light of the outside seemed too bright. How long had she been unconscious? Struggling to get used to the light, she tried to recall what had happened before she lost all senses.

Strange. Even though she had just recalled all the lost memories of so many years, yet the recent events seemed rather hazy and dim. She stresses on her mind, trying to regain some coherence in those fuzzy images fleeting across randomly.

Black miasma.....black miasma.....Ah! Yes! She had followed the Visionless Path....gone to meet the Totram Tribe. Monmona...wasn't that the name of the woman? Yes....after that....she had gone down the portal....the silver sphere....heritage of the Guardian Family of Stryae.....and then?....Then they had somehow run all the way to the Ancient Sand Runes and got caught in a sacrificial array!!

Rihanna jerked awake completely, her mind going into instant alert. With much difficulty, she turned her head around. Where was Nanate and Kunwa?....Oh.....they were actually Ye Luo and Artreya!.....and Fluffy and Phantasm!.....

She looked around and blinked, feeling rather stupid. All around her was obscured. She was inside some sort of a liquid sphere. Translucent whitish liquid rippled all around, circling around her body in slow motion.

As she watched the shimmering ripples, she noticed fine strands of nature, earth, fire, lightning, wind, water and light floating through the translucent liquid. She looked downwards, trying to see herself. Her body was floating in air in the middle of the sphere. The different energies entered her body through the skin, nose, eyes, ears, nose and mouth. A warm current was slowly circling within her body as well.

Wait! Wasn't this the famous Life Enhancing Apparatus of the Main Sect? She had only read about it, as this tool was extremely well protected, and rarely was anyone allowed the usage of this ancient heritage tool of the Sect!

In fact the most precious part of this tool was the liquid. It was the sap of the mythological Mansara Tree from Mansara-Gompei Country in the outside world. The Mansara Tree was supposedly the Tree of Life, also born from the energy of Heaven and Earth. There was only one such tree in the entire lands. And as such the sap of this tree was way beyond precious.

It was said that as long as a person had even a breath of life left, this tool had the capacity of completely bringing back the person to his normal self. In fact the sap could not only replenish life and blood, but even strengthened bones and tendons, rejoining all broken and injured parts of the body. In a way the person would be several times more physically stronger than before.

Unlike the resurrection pill which could only bring a person back from death and prolong the life of a heavily injured or poisoned person, this sap could completely cure all ailments within the body. It was almost like taking rebirth inside the sap of life!

How long had this sap remained inside this duplicating dimension. Rihanna frowned, wondering if the sap had still managed to retain its properties after such a long time.

"You are finally awake?"

Her frown deepened, as she tried to discern the hazy shadow outside the translucent sphere. The voice was very deep, and a silent pressure washed over her. Though she couldn't detect any threat or animosity, she could feel the person behind the voice was not someone to mess with.

The translucent sap slowly started dissipating from the top of the sphere. Rihanna then noticed a few layers of ultra-thin membranous coverings beyond the liquid sap. As the liquid quietly retreated, the layers too slowly started opening up one by one.

Finally all the layering between her and the mysterious person disappeared. Rihanna felt her body lightly floating down, and her feet touched the ground. As soon as the energy of the sphere dissipated, the heaviness of her body and rigidity in every part of her limbs hit her. Unable to control her uncontrollable body, Rihanna fell down with a heavy thud.

"Hmmm. Your body had been in the sphere for too long. You were unconscious for more than three months. It's only natural that your body is stiff. Try to move it around. Only movement can help you regain your lost motor control. Take your time. Do not worry for your friends. they too are fine. We can talk later."

The man's voice slowly faded into the distance as his physical form disappeared into the air around her. Rihanna gaped. This was the first time she had seen a living breathing human dissipating into air. She thought only creatures made of black miasma had this ability.

How powerful was this man?! As Rihanna struggled with her body outwardly, inwardly her mind was working furiously, trying to figure out the identity of the man. It couldn't possibly be.....!