Chapter 790: Memories Lost
[...I’m part of the group I mentioned earlier that simply caters to their wielder’s preferences.]
As Lostvayne said this, cosmic energy began to gather around the sword, forming a dark red veil that thickened into a swirling pillar stretching from the spot where the sword floated all the way down to the ground, obscuring its form completely.
Then, Lostvayne’s voice echoed again, softer this time.
[Basically...]
As the words trailed off, the pillar of cosmic energy dissolved, and standing there in its place was a young man, roughly Arthur’s height and build, with pale skin, short black hair, and crimson slit-pupil eyes. Silver highlights shimmered in his hair, and small silver piercings adorned both ears.
He pinched a lock of the silver in his hair between his fingers and said quietly,
[...It’s your call...]
Then, Lostvayne turned on his heel, and another pillar of cosmic energy swirled into existence around him. When this new column faded a second later, the figure within changed.
The ’him’ became ’her.’
Now in the place of the young man stood a young woman, roughly "6’0 like Arthur, with waist-length dark hair glinting with silver highlights, the same pale complexion, and the same crimson eyes that glowed beneath her lashes.
[...what form my humanoid manifestation would take.]
Faced with the beauty before him, Arthur glanced over Lostvayne from head to toe, his gaze lingering for a moment before returning to her face.
"How long have you been able to do that?" he asked.
Lostvayne responded without delay, her tone casual.
[Ever since you became a Half-Deity. I’ve simply never had a reason to adopt this form. And back then, my manifestation time was limited, so I didn’t bother.]
She glanced down at her own hands for a moment, flexing her fingers slightly as she continued.
[Right now, I should be able to maintain this for about six hours a day.]
Arthur stayed silent for a moment, studying her again before asking, "Is this your default, which you can then change?"
Lostvayne answered instantly, [Yes. You could consider this my default. But like I said earlier, it’s your call what form it takes.]
As she spoke, she reached up and ran her hand through her hair, pulling a few strands forward to show him.
Focusing on it, Arthur immediately noticed that there were far more silver strands than before.
"...wait, it wasn’t this silver a few seconds ago."
[It wasn’t,] Lostvayne replied with a faint smile.
Right before Arthur’s eyes, more of the black streaks slowly faded, the colour shifting into a gleaming silver.
[But now it is,] she said.
Nodding in understanding, Arthur responded, "Yeah... I get what you meant when you said you cater to your wielder’s preferences."
For a moment, he remained silent, then lifted his hand and began.
"Oh well. If you say you cater to my preferences, then..."
He trailed off as he summoned Celestia into his hand. Though he gripped the sword, the Ego within remained silent, as she was still unconscious.
He then continued.
"...It’d be nice if you could act as the older sibling to the spirited child that is Celestia. That okay with you?" he asked, looking up at Lostvayne.
[There’s no problem with that. Chronologically, Lady Celestia was created after me, so... I suppose acting as an older brother or sister wouldn’t be an issue.]
’She’ transformed to ’he’, then reverted back to sword form, hovering in the air.
[I’d like to keep this under wraps for now. Lady Celestia might throw a fit if she finds out.]
Arthur, already picturing that scene in his mind, chuckled in agreement.
"Yeah. She’d definitely get jealous.
I wonder when Celestia will be able to take on her own humanoid form..."
And Lostvayne’s response to that completely caught Arthur off guard.
[She can.]
"!"
Arthur immediately snapped his gaze towards Lostvayne.
"Celestia can?!"
[Wait, Master. Lady Celestia is currently capable of adopting a tangible humanoid form that can interact with the material realm like mine. But she hasn’t done so simply because she doesn’t remember what her humanoid form looks like.
Unlike me, Lady Celestia is, well, a lady, and her humanoid form is preset. She can modify it a bit, yes, but the overall base remains the same. And because she doesn’t remember that base, she can’t manifest it.]
"But you know what that form looks like, don’t you?" Arthur asked.
[Yes, Master. I do know what Lady Celestia’s humanoid form looks like. I wouldn’t tell her, however, since I believe it would be best for her to recover that memory on her own, rather than have someone else tell her, so that she alone can define every aspect of her existence by herself.]
Arthur opened his mouth to respond, but Lostvayne continued.
[I’d also prefer it if you waited for her to recover that memory and didn’t influence her choices or steer her toward a specific preference of yours, since she would almost certainly try to change herself to match whatever you wanted.]
At Lostvayne’s request, Arthur nodded silently, and then said, "You’re already playing the older brother role, huh?"
Lostvayne went silent for a moment, then thought to himself, [I see. Maybe I already am. Maybe I already have been.]
Lostvayne’s relationship with Celestia was still, quite frankly, a mystery to Arthur. But what was clear was that Lostvayne cared deeply for her and respected her in no small capacity.
Besides, as long as the two of them weren’t constantly at odds or on bad terms with each other, Arthur didn’t mind what form their relationship took.
"Still, Celestia’s missing memories are quite the problem. Because of them, she’s unaware of most of her abilities, and she doesn’t even know what her own humanoid form looks like.
How the hell did they even end up lost in the first place?"
At this, Lostvayne was silent for a moment, and as Arthur walked toward the Seed Engine, the sword finally spoke.
[I do have a theory about what caused it...but I’m not completely sure, since I had already lost consciousness by then.]
Arthur immediately froze in place, and Lostvayne continued.
[However... I’m not sure if telling you is the best thing, Master.]
Finally, Arthur turned around, glancing at Lostvayne from the corner of his eye.
"And why is that?"
And Lostvayne answered.
[Because the incident I have in mind is something that makes all the wars fought between the Eternals and the Aggressors since the birth of the Cosmos seem...cute.]
"!!"
The conflict between the Eternals and the Aggressors had spanned literal eons. Their wars were so destructive that entire universes had been reduced to ruin. Calling those conflicts bloody was putting it mildly.
And yet, Lostvayne had just said that the event he suspected was behind Celestia’s fragmentation and memory loss made all of that look tame by comparison.
It was only natural that Arthur was shocked.
Then Lostvayne added,
[I’ve already said too much, Master. Anymore, and I’ll be treading into territory that it’s much better you really don’t know about until you’re strong enough to deal with the burden that comes with ’knowing’.
Or at least, until Lady Celestia regains her memories and tells you herself.]
While Arthur silently sank into his thoughts after Lostvayne’s words, the sword himself was also drifting deep into his own.
’Lady Celestia... while I do hope that whatever part of yourself you sense within Draco Sirus is truly a fragment of your memory...’
Lostvayne hesitated, mulling over thoughts he hadn’t allowed himself to face in a long time.
’Part of me genuinely wants you to recall those memories... but thinking about it again, I’m not so sure anymore.’
He remembered the incident he suspected was responsible, and the more he reflected on it, the more uncertain he felt.
He wasn’t sure if the bright, unburdened Celestia he now knew would remain the same after remembering that.
Lostvayne sighed inwardly.
’Well... despite how much they clashed, I’m sure that Lady Celestia will certainly miss e̵̺͑̑͐͘ṉ̵̡̯̋͆̀î̴̞̰͖͕̄̇͐å̴̹̫̗͘l̶̺͙͂̀e̴̞̊͆̽͒—!!’
As soon as that thought crossed his mind, his blade, which had been slowly rotating mid-air, abruptly froze in place.
’Wait... why do I remember that person? Why do I remember what they look like?
I shouldn’t remember anyone since they were all completely erased from existence.
Except...’
Then, realisation dawned.
’I see... So that’s what went down...’
And finally, Lostvayne self-deprecatingly chuckled to himself.
’To think it took even me this long to figure it out. Oh well... if you are truly out there, then I most certainly hope you and Lady Celestia reunite again someday.’
And it was in such a manner that Lostvayne became the first in the Current Era to break free from Balance’s spell, and remember the existence of the "Forgotten Fifth".
