Ep 166. Plead Your Case. (5)
“…Goodness.”
Serenis sighed out loud as everyone fell silent to the professor’s sudden shouting.
And, realizing how loudly he’d yelled, Karas shamefully cleared his throat.
“Ahem…apologies. But Light’s just told me that we’re in…the Archive?”
“…That would be correct, yes.”
As soon he heard the dragonlord’s affirmation, Karas’ eyes wandered off, inspecting every nook and cranny of the pseudo library they were in.
It was the strangest scenery: there was seemingly nothing above them, and a blue sky beneath. They were clearly on solid ground, but he couldn’t perceive it whatsoever other than the hardness of its surface.
And finally, the professor’s gaze fell upon the individual in the distance, rapidly waving his quill along the length of the scroll he held.
“If this is the Archive…that’s…?”
Zenon’s hand soon stopped along the scroll. He quietly raised his gaze to meet the academic’s eyes.
“Zenon. The Historian, as you know it.”
“Then-!”
Karas scrambled to his feet, shaking Light off without even realizing to approach the deity. It was almost as if he’d forgotten how exhausted his body was.
“Is it true that…the Archive retains the entirety of Nerion’s past?”
“More or less, yes.”
“Then…is it truly possible to bring back memories of the dead?”
Zenon placed his quill against his chin, musing at the professor’s question.
“To bring back memories of the dead…is that what Felicir’s told you? An intriguing notion.”
Although his expression didn’t seem particularly amused, Zenon nonetheless let out a derisive snort.
After carefully placing his scroll onto a nearby shelf, he quickly walked alongside the aisle’s length. But instead of searching for the correct tome, this time the deity seemed to pick one out at random, revealing a random page to hold out towards the professor.
“One could read the past, yes.”
“…”
“But memories? No such things exist here.”
“…I see.”
Karas’ shoulders instantly slumped in disappointment.
‘The dead…’
Light slowly approached her teacher from behind, peeking at his forlorn eyes.
“Is this person that important to you, professor?”
“…”
One glance at Light was all it took for Karas to shake his head.
‘However important a person may have been…how could it outweigh their importance in the present?’
He’d already attempted to chase the past at the expense of the present. And as it turned out, the result was nothing but regret.
And so, he found the question easier to answer than before.
“No. No, not at all.”
In retrospect, Karas’ answer had been decided the moment he’d awoken; the Historian’s response was but a nail in the coffin.
But once again, his student’s keenness would refuse to let the matter go.
If anyone could read the academic’s expression, it was Light – and far be it from her to simply let the matter sit at ‘it’s not important anymore.’ Not when she’d made the entire trip here, and certainly not when she now knew that the matter was concerning herself.
The half abruptly turned to face Zenon, interrupting the deity before he could resume his work.
“Excuse me!”
“…Yes?”
“Can we at least read your records then? It seemed like you knew which books to pick out earlier. You would know where my past records are…right?”
“I do. But I cannot allow that.”
“Huh? Why?? Are these books another ‘only a deity can read these’ – kind of thing?”You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“No. I simply dislike having others touch my records.”
“…”
Under different circumstances, Karas may have elected to laugh.
This time, he hurriedly turned to Light with an apologetic look.
“Light, it’s alright. I’m no longer-“
“It’s someone important to you.”
“…”
“And besides, this person’s my past life, right? I wanna know too. What kind of person I was before.”
Zenon continued to study the two. He didn’t even bother to pick his scroll back up; the matter at hand was far more entertaining.
And finally, the deity made a small, affirming nod.
“Very well.”
Snap!
As Zenon abruptly snapped his fingers, both Karas and Light cut their conversation midway to focus their attention on the deity.
However, the first thing they noticed wasn’t a change in Zenon himself, but rather how inattentive and uncaring Serenis and Aymeia seemed to be – as if they hadn’t heard the snap whatsoever.
It didn’t take long for Light to notice that neither of them were moving, either…or even blinking, for that matter.
Not that Zenon seemed to care.
“It’s best others don’t listen to this.”
“Huh? What do you mean by…what did you do?!”
“Acquiring privacy.”
Karas likewise glanced around the Archive. Nothing had actually changed – and nothing was changing, either. Serenis and Aymeia had stopped moving, as well as the clouds beneath their feet.
Everything around them had suddenly come to a standstill.
“Privacy…? But this is more like as if the world itself has come to a halt…?”
“…”
While he’d clearly heard the professor’s observation, the deity didn’t bother to address Karas’ inquiry in his response.
“Neither of you are of divinity, and yet you’ve together reached the Archive. Perhaps this, too, is fate.”
“…?”
“Should you both wish for it, I will allow a temporary reunion. A brief meeting with the girl’s past incarnation.”
Light stared at the deity, blinking in confusion. She’d understood perhaps 20% of what he’d said.
On the other hand, Karas seemed more distraught than confused, cautiously wording his next reply.
“…Temporary reunion? As in…you’d send us to the past?”
“Nothing quite so grandiose, but in a way, similar. Well?”
Both Karas and Light turned towards each other again.
“…”
“…”
No words were exchanged – but neither of them felt that they needed to.
And, after a few seconds, the two turned back in unison to answer the deity.
“…No, it’s alrigh-“
“We’ll do it!”
As his refusal was cut off by his student, Karas gave an incredulous stare, shocked by his student’s reply.
“Light! This is not the time to be rash, we’ve little idea what this entails. I’d reconsider if Serenis was with us, but even she’s been cast away at the moment. Something’s odd-”
“Professor…if you’re going to lie to me, at least wipe off that excited look on your face.”
“…”
“I still don’t get why others say you’re hard to read.”
As Light almost immediately silenced the academic, Zenon quizzically looked at Karas; for the first time, the deity’s eyes betrayed a hint of confusion as he tried to figure out how Light was reading Karas’ expression.
Unfortunately, he had little time to think, what with Light rushing her teacher and all.
“You want to see her again, don’t you?”
“…I…do, but…”
“Then it’s fine!”
Nodding to her professor, Light looked to the Historian with determined eyes, holding out a finger against the deity.
“Besides, I think I can trust this one. And…you did say it’s temporary, right? What’s gonna happen exactly?”
“You will regress to your past self for a short period, but I lack the means to make such changes last. It’ll also require some time to take effect.”
“That’s fine then.”
“…Very well.”
Following suit, Zenon held out two of his fingers, placing their tip against the cat half’s forehead.
“…”
“…”
And soon enough, they were wordlessly withdrawn with an affirming nod from the Historian.
“It’s done.”
“…Eh?”
Light examined herself, looking for something that might’ve changed.
She certainly didn’t feel any. And she couldn’t see any, either.
“…Did you do something?”
“You will know in time. And…”
Snap!
The deity snapped his fingers again, turning his head to face Serenis.
Only then did the dragonlord’s body resume its movement, her eyes blinking for the first time in a long while.
“Serenis. Your business here is finished, I trust?”
“…What? Hardly. You’ve yet to answer Karas and Light in proper, and I’ve yet to address your divinity-“
“Finished, then.”
With a wave of his hand, everyone present could feel a sudden force that began moving them against their will; each person moved squarely towards the entrance in the exact same manner they’d entered in.
And in the distance, Zenon remained standing, giving a curt nod towards his leaving guests.
“Worry not, we will meet again. I’ll be expecting your arrival.”
“Wait! You-“
“Until next time, Serenis.”
Thud!
“…”
In mere moments, Serenis found herself in the obsidian chamber once more, outside of the Archive’s gates. Light, Karas and Aymeia were likely sprawled on the floor outside, facing a door and statue that had both been broken before.
Aymeia hurriedly rose to her feet, studying the towering obsidian warrior up and down.
“Wait, it’s…fixed? How…?”
“Step aside.”
Boom!!
After pushing Aymeia off to the side, Serenis once again blasted the gate and statue with her magic. She’d already broken them once, and she could do so again.
But much to her dismay, the smoke settled to reveal the gate firm and closed, the warrior before it unscathed and unharmed.
“…?”
Everyone stared in confusion save for Karas. The professor carefully walked up to the obsidian statue, tapping his knuckles against the cold surface.
“Odd. What is this material…?”
“Eh…isn’t it just rock? Like, obsidian?”
Karas shrugged at his student, tapping the statue a few more times before answering.
“Not quite…obsidian’s nowhere near as tough as this. It’s as if the statue’s made of some condensed gemstone…or something even beyond that.”
“Really? Last time, Serenis blasted through the entire thing pretty easily.”
“…Huh?”
Hearing Light’s reply, this time it was Karas’ turn to blink in confusion.
“Serenis? Is this true?”
“…I’ve been meaning to ask. What do you remember, exactly?”
“Well…to be honest, my last memory is being blasted by your magic in Chell…”
“…”
‘So right when the Reaper took over.’
Serenis awkwardly locked eyes with Karas, trying to remember how many days it’d been since.
Then again, so much had happened since; for all she knew, it might as well have been a decade since.
“…Has it been a long time since?”
Instead of answering Karas, the dragonlord only shook her head.
She approached the statue as well, placing her hand against its cold surface. But as Karas had pointed out, something was off – she couldn’t perceive anything from the material or from beyond it, almost as if this was the boundary of their world.
And to that end, the gate showed no signs of opening again.
“…”
Everyone was looking expectantly towards the dragonlord for a decision.
Frankly, if Serenis couldn’t open the gate, then no one could.
And with her not seeing a way forward, the only option was to go back.
‘Then again…’
This time, Serenis turned to face Aymeia – or more specifically, the spider that was still in the former deity’s hand. The little critter seemed much more comfortable than before, but that did little to hide their eagerness to return home.
‘…Perhaps it was for the best.’