Chapter 680
The explosive silver light roared from the gun's muzzle, the enhanced silver bullet seeming to tear the night sky in half, tracing a brilliant silver arc through the air, as conspicuous as a beacon.
The deafening sound and tremor shattered the glass windows of Shaer’s room, the shockwave lifting the heavy curtains on either side, making them flutter in the wind.
In that instant, as the silver beacon appeared, silver snowflakes danced before Shaer’s eyes, and the spiritual alarm in his mind buzzed once more.
The next moment, a familiar sense of affinity washed over him from behind.
She’s here.
Salis.
As the silver light flickered, the "Deadly Blood Roland" in Shaer’s hand returned to the system’s repository. He slowly turned around, the silver moonlight spilling onto his back, while the curtains beside him gently fell back into place, swaying softly.
Before him stood a figure resembling a vagabond, clad in tattered robes.
The figure trembled as it took two steps toward Shaer.
The hood slipped from the figure’s head, revealing her undead visage. She slowly opened her mouth, her lips quivering as if she wanted to say something, but no words came forth.
Shaer gazed at Salis, who said nothing, yet he could feel an unprecedented mix of sorrow and joy emanating from her frail body.
“(Mourning words) I... finally found you...” Salis finally spoke, her voice choked with emotion. She slowly knelt halfway before Shaer, lowering her head as her breath quickened.
Shaer looked at the figure kneeling before him and took a step closer, moving to stand in front of her.
He raised his right hand, bending slightly, and gently placed it on Salis’s shoulder, saying, “(Mourning words) Salis...”
At the moment Shaer’s hand touched Salis’s shoulder, the hour hand in his right eye’s dial began to turn backward, slowly at first, then faster and faster.
Like the first time he discovered the legacy left by Heini, countless vast images began to materialize before Shaer.
Last time, he had traced back through a manuscript to the memories of generations of “Recorders” and “Fictionists” known as witches.
This time, however, the memories he was delving into were those of a time wanderer named “Salis,” spanning from the Old Days to the Holy War Era and into the Holy Era.
Lemeidais: “If time could flow backward, what would you want to do?”
Salis: “Make up for some regrets.”
This was a conversation from Salis’s memories with Lemeidais, now resurfacing in Shaer’s mind.
To compensate for the regrets in her life, Salis had nearly burned herself out.
She wasn’t doing this purely out of faith; it was also for her own obsession. Faith and obsession intertwined, sustaining her through this incredibly difficult time.
Through Salis’s perspective, Shaer also witnessed a wondrous sight.
He saw what Salis understood as the “world lines.”
It was a massive tree, its thick trunk resembling a “cataclysm” that bound all the “world lines” together.
The complex root system at the base represented the established past, while the seemingly endless branches above split into different future paths.
As Shaer began to understand, a force continuously “flowed into” his body.
“Flowed into” might not be the right term... it was more like “unlocked.”
Just as he had unlocked the memories of the “Recorders” and “Fictionists,” a vast portion of memories sealed by the pocket watch system in his mind was gradually being unsealed.
In Shaer’s vision, an unfamiliar scene appeared: a garden with a natural academy style, where “he” looked up, reaching out to catch an apple.
But the moment “he” grasped the apple, it turned into a phantom. The next second, a real apple struck the back of his hand. Turning, “he” saw Lemeidais beside him, laughing and holding her belly, and behind her, Sadana, covering her mouth, along with several indistinct figures...
“He” saw the trajectory of the apple falling in the future.
【Level 1, “Observer”】
A beautifully written passage in a spiritual language fell onto the notebook.
The next second, the scene before Shaer changed again.
“She” fell from a great height, the wind howling in her ears, the solid ground drawing closer to her eyes until, just before hitting the ground, a silver light flashed before her.
In the next moment, “she” stood again by the window at the top of the tower, gasping heavily as she looked down at the ground. A faint scream from a blurred girl nearby reached her ears, the girl’s indistinct face cupping “her” cheeks, saying something serious.
In front of “her,” a note bore a word in the spiritual language.
【Level 2, “Counter-Current”】
The image distorted, and the next moment, another scene appeared before Shaer.
From “her” perspective, everything around was happening in reverse. Sadana was walking backward, holding something; the chewed fruit Lemeidais had eaten was being spat out, transforming back into a whole fruit that flew back to the tree.
Before “her,” a pen stained with ink was being used like an eraser, tracing over the words written on the paper, erasing them.
The words that were erased were
【Level 3, “Rewinder”】
The scene switched again, revealing the familiar tower of the natural academy.
“She” stood in the center garden of the academy, looking around at the rapidly moving figures. The sun and moon alternated swiftly above her head, while the flowers and plants around her sprouted, grew, died, and sprouted again...
Time was racing past her eyes.
In the next moment, it was as if all time had been frozen; the dew dripping from the leaves hung suspended in mid-air, and everyone’s movements slowed to a crawl, even stopping altogether.
Only “she” walked in this “frozen” space, approaching the droplet of dew, crouching down to observe it.
Under “her” gaze, the dew slowly rose back to the leaf.
In this stillness, “she” picked up a pen and wrote a new word on the notebook, representing mastery over time.
【Level 4, “Time Traveler”】
Then the next scene dimmed.
Before Shaer, only darkness remained. The next moment, dazzling lightning mixed with torrential rain struck, and “she” felt a chill in her body.
The night sky revealed to Shaer what lay before him: an endless sea of blood. “She” tightly gripped the silver pocket watch in her hand, blood from her palm dripping onto the surface of the sea.
Boom!
Thunder rumbled again, and Shaer felt an unnamed sorrow deep within. Looking down, amidst the thunder, “she” finally saw “herself” reflected in the blood sea through the flash of lightning.
In the reflection of the blood sea, a girl with blood-red hair and dark crimson eyes knelt beside the sea, crying her heart out.
The silver pocket watch in her hand radiated brilliant light, everything rapidly retreating. The blood sea surged, revealing the corpses beneath, while the dark clouds in the sky churned, exposing the remnants of the Old Days...
...
Buzz.
A sharp pain shot through Shaer’s mind, causing her to stagger back a few steps, distancing herself from Salis, gasping heavily.
“Ha... ha...”
Shaer’s chest heaved as she looked at Salis kneeling before her, a hint of confusion in her eyes.
This is...
What I just saw wasn’t Salis’s memory...
At the end of the scene, the figure reflected in the blood sea was unmistakably...
Herself...
A long-held suspicion resurfaced in Shaer’s mind.
What she had just witnessed was indeed not Salis’s figure, nor was it merely her own projection.
That was Shaer’s memory from the Old Days.
No.
To be precise.
It was the memory of the “Old Days” when the person “Shaer” first existed.
In that time, Shaer had friends: Lemeidais, Sadana, and several indistinct figures whose faces were blurred, as if erased from memory.
Those she had forgotten... and those who had vanished from the Old Days just like her... who were they?
The blood sea she had seen last... was it the cataclysm of the Old Days?
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