Memories (1)

The six visitors gave their most respectful bows to the Pseudo-Sage hero, who then waved for them to take a seat at the table which her chair was placed at. The extraordinary craftsmanship of the furniture in Norani's residence was such that even Rhonin, who had no sense for artistry, was enamoured by it. Once everyone was seated, and she no longer had time to let them be distracted by furniture, Norani cleared her throat, waiting to receive everyone's full attention before continuing. "I am already aware of all of your identities, so there is no need for introductions now that mine is out of the way. Let us get straight to the heart of the matter." Her silvery eyes met Luca's blues as she spoke, "During the short time in which you travelled to my abode, I took the liberty to use one of the more difficult spells in my repertoire, Retrocognition, and view your existence up until now. It was comparatively easy to do, surprisingly, and it took very little time, but the spell ended unexpectedly." Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, "The farthest back in your history I can go is August 3rd of this year. Before then, no matter how or where I looked, you did not exist. Aside from divine interference, I can think of no reason why I can't find your existence."

Norani had a large collection of near-godly spells after more than a thousand years of experience with her unique magic. Unsurprisingly, though she could not manipulate Time magic like some others, her memory magic makes it possible to do some incredible things. While she cannot see into the future, she can view the past of almost anything she senses with her aura, mana or soul. Only divine memory seals, or those akin to the one from the vows previously, could keep memories beyond her ability to view. Retrocognition is the spell she devised to simplify the process. By determining her target, whether by mana, aura or soul, the spell would automatically handle the small details needed to begin playing the memories for her to view.

Luca swallowed some saliva to wet his throat after learning that his entire being, at least in this version of Andor, had been examined by the woman before him, "Due to the Twin Lords' magic, I was essentially reborn and thrown back in time. The time I arrived in was that day, August 3rd. Technically speaking, if August 3rd were to be my birthday, I would be between two and three months old. As such, your magic is correct in determining that I did not exist before that day." He initially ended his words here, but he continued after a brief pause, "I should add that my body's biological age is ten while my mind is that of twenty, though I have experienced enough to make me seem far older."

The other five guests were silently surprised at hearing this from the boy, who still maintained the expression of honesty. However, they did not speak, as that would be rude to the host, who then sighed, "That explains a lot. If you did not exist before then, then I can't see you past that time." She tapped her fingers on her armrest, "I also witnessed the long speech you gave to the young human sovereign earlier today." This caused Arthur slightly purse his lips, as he was unused to such bluntness previously, and Luca to redden mildly in embarrassment. "It was quite... brief, but detailed enough in its summary of events. I'll save time by not repeating it, as I'm sure everyone here has already heard some version of it. What matters now is how to proceed. I will cast Mnemonic Projection on you. Focus on the first memory you wish to display. From there, I can handle the rest."

Luca nodded bravely as the Dreamwalker mumbled a few words in the Ancient Elven tongue, a language that resonated with the world, and waved her hand. A hazy silver glow encompassed the boy, who then did as he was told, bringing his memory of the conversation with the God of Light just before his rebirth. By choosing this particular memory, he could prove that he had indeed spoken with the Light Lord, giving his audience reason to believe him further.

Aside from a quirk of her eyebrow, Norani spoke nothing, simply waving her hand again to form a hazy ball of silver mana above the table where all could see it. After a second, the centre of the orb shimmered before gradually becoming the experience that Luca had undergone, though just as odd as it was from the view of ten-year-old boy's spiritual body 10,000 metres above the ground conversing with a ball of light. True to his word, Luca did not hide any part of it, allowing for them to view all of the conversation, including the parts about the game itself. Hearing that Luca had experienced their future through a realistic game that took a user into a virtual world just like theirs certainly shocked them, though Norani was less surprised, as she'd had a hunch for a while about how the boy had learned about her son.

The part that gave the Dreamwalker the most surprise, however, was that Luca was a unique neutral demigod, despite almost all of his power not having awakened yet. While demigods weren't rare by any means due to the rather frivolous nature of some deities, purely neutral demigods were unheard of. The only demigods currently in existence had Light or Dark Faction blood parentage, aside from one that was adopted as a mortal by a deity's avatar, eventually changing with prolonged exposure into becoming an irregular demigod. That particular demigod became a wandering hermit and storyteller as he experienced the world, taking his own stance as neutral by choice. Luca, however, had both Light and Dark Faction divine parentage, making him neutral by birth.