The Anomaly Beyond The System

Chapter 182: The memory of $&@^#&

The moment Lucian lost consciousness...

He was instantly swallowed by an endless sea of darkness, completely surrounding him.

There wasn’t even the faintest flicker of light.

No sound. No movement.

Nothing but an all-consuming darkness stretching endlessly in every direction.

’Isn’t this... the same place...

The place I was in after dying?’

Lucian remained confused for a long while.

But then—

That confusion was immediately replaced by bewilderment as he instinctively tried to turn around.

’I... I can’t move!’

Panic instantly surged through him as he tried with all his strength to move his body...

But nothing happened.

He couldn’t feel his limbs.

He couldn’t even feel his legs.

He couldn’t feel anything at all—only the growing panic swallowing his thoughts.

He tried to curse aloud.

But—

"...!"

He couldn’t.

Not even a sound came out.

Even though he desperately tried to calm himself, he simply couldn’t.

Not after finding himself trapped once again in that same hateful state he had endured for years.

Paralysis had long since become his greatest fear.

Despite being able to easily endure the pain of having his organs or limbs torn apart, the mere feeling of losing control over his own body was enough to let uneasiness consume him from within.

But then—

A soft, eerie, yet strangely beautiful sigh echoed through his consciousness.

[Stop panicking.]

Akasha’s voice quietly resonated around him.

Hearing her voice, Lucian finally let out an inward sigh of relief.

At least he had his ever-present companion and wasn’t trapped here all alone.

’Akasha... what—’

Before he could finish asking—

The darkness surrounding him suddenly began to distort.

[...It seems it has started.]

There was a trace of melancholy in her voice, a subtle emotion that Lucian failed to notice amidst the tension consuming him.

His attention remained fixed on the darkness before him.

Slowly...

The endless darkness dissolved into countless blurred colors, as though something was beginning to take shape before him... around him.

The vision remained hazy, and he couldn’t make out anything clearly enough to distinguish his surroundings.

Then...

Voices.

"Th... sub..j.ct.... ..s.....be.. s... ..d."

A voice echoed from somewhere nearby.

Distorted. Broken. Like fragmented whispers carried from an unimaginable distance—even though he could tell the voice was nearby.

"Wh... .... ...o.. si..."

"W....ste"

’A man’s voice...?’

Lucian slowly arrived at that conclusion after hearing the somewhat rough voice.

He strained to understand what was being said, but every word sounded incomplete and incomprehensible—as though he were listening to an ancient, malfunctioning radio.

No matter how hard he tried to make sense of it, all he heard were fragmented, unintelligible voices.

Several seconds passed.

Then—

Sensation gradually returned to his body.

"...!"

Lucian’s mind trembled.

He was still too stunned by whatever was happening around him.

But the instant he felt his body again, he immediately tried to move.

Yet again...

Nothing happened.

Once again, he couldn’t control anything... despite being able to feel his own body.

The same disgusting, hateful sensation of being unable to move consumed him once more.

’What is going on?!’ he screamed inwardly, but no voice came out.

All he could see was an overwhelmingly bright world, with almost everything around him swallowed by blurred shades of white.

The distant voices continued, and after what felt like an endless conversation...

Nothing made sense.

Then—

He suddenly felt two massive hands wrap around his body before effortlessly lifting him into the air.

’W-What...?’

First of all, how could someone’s hands be that large?

Was that man some kind of giant or something?

Countless questions flooded his mind, but there was no answer to any of them.

Even Akasha remained silent, quietly watching everything through his eyes without saying a single word.

Before he could understand anything further...

His consciousness slowly faded once more, and darkness swallowed him again.

...

After an unknown amount of time had passed—

’His’ eyes slowly fluttered open.

His blurry vision gradually became clearer.

To Lucian’s surprise...

Even though he instinctively tried to move, the body refused to obey him.

His mind cleared slightly, making him realize something.

It wasn’t paralysis like he had feared.

It felt...

As though he simply wasn’t the one controlling his own body.

’Right...’

The realization quietly surfaced in his mind.

’This is just a memory.’

The thought immediately calmed him, at least for a brief moment.

The strange situation and the surreal sense of reality surrounding him had almost made him forget.

None of this was happening to him.

He was merely witnessing someone else’s past.

As for whose memory it was...

He had absolutely no idea.

Even after seeing the memories of the few beings—only two—he had devoured, none of them had ever felt this real.

Those memories had always been hazy to him, slightly blurred like fading nightmares that disappeared the moment he tried to recall them.

But this...

It wasn’t the case this time.

He could clearly feel every sensation through this body, and despite the distorted sounds, everything felt far more real...

Or perhaps it was just his imagination...?

He didn’t know.

A minute quietly passed.

His vision still hadn’t completely cleared, but it had improved enough for him to recognize the white ceiling above him.

Beside him were what appeared to be metal bars.

’Am I... locked up somewhere?’

For some reason, his thoughts felt sluggish, as though his mind itself hadn’t fully awakened yet, making it difficult for him to think clearly.

As he continued staring blankly at the ceiling through half-lidded eyes...

A figure slowly appeared from his right side, moving sluggishly, almost hesitantly, as though it were carefully peeking over the edge of the bed.

’W-w-whaa...’

For a brief moment, Lucian felt as though his heart had stopped—though it was merely an analogy for what he was feeling.

"H..w...?"

A distorted... yet unbearably familiar voice reached his ears.

And the instant those glassy, icy-blue eyes met his—

Eyes widened in utter disbelief—

Lucian felt his consciousness violently tremble.

She looked younger.

Her face still carried that same icy, breathtaking beauty, yet beneath it lingered a newfound tenderness... along with overwhelming disbelief, as though she were looking at something that wasn’t supposed to exist.

’M... Mo.. m.’

The moment those words echoed through his mind—

His body moved for the very first time, as though guided by an unknown force.

Then—

"Waaahhh...!"

A baby’s high-pitched, loud cry burst from his tiny mouth.

His small limbs flailed helplessly as unfamiliar emotions crashed violently through his mind all at once.

’H...how...?’

The thought echoed inside his mind, and almost at the same time—

"H-how...?"

The icy-blue-eyed woman repeated in an exhausted, trembling voice.

Slowly...

She reached her hand toward him.

Lucian watched with his wide, black eyes as the woman—

As Seraphina gently lowered her hand toward him.

Before he could even process what was happening...

His tiny body moved on its own.

His little fingers wrapped tightly around hers.

He hadn’t moved by himself.

Those were simply the movements of the owner of this body.

A body...

That was his own.

’A baby...’ Lucian silently thought to himself.

’I’ve come back to the past... no.

This is...

My... my own memory.’

The realization settled within him almost immediately, because he couldn’t control his body no matter how desperately he tried.

And everything had begun the moment he devoured that memory fragment.

Initially, he had simply assumed it would show him the memories of someone important.

Some mysterious existence he didn’t know about that was somehow connected to him.

But now, from what he could see...

He wasn’t witnessing someone else’s past.

He was reliving his own.

Then—

Lucian noticed Seraphina’s expression change once more.

As she felt his tiny fingers wrap around hers, the faint emptiness, the hollow look lingering within her icy-blue gaze, slowly disappeared.

Her exhausted eyes gradually turned misty before tears silently rolled down her cheeks, falling onto the bed beside him.

Even through this strange state...

He could clearly feel the faint warmth of her fingers resting within his tiny hand.

Gradually...

The cries escaping his mouth began to soften as the infant Lucian slowly quieted down for reasons he couldn’t understand—or perhaps simply because he was looking at the woman before him.

"Mi...?"

Another woman’s voice—this time belonging to someone unfamiliar—suddenly echoed through the room, still too distorted and muffled for him to properly make out.

A woman dressed in a nurse’s uniform hurried into the room before her expression immediately became worried as she looked toward Seraphina.

Hearing her voice, Seraphina’s gaze lingered on Lucian for a moment longer before she finally looked up.

Her trembling lips slowly parted as she said something...

Something that reached his ears as nothing more than incomprehensible murmurs.

The nurse, wearing a confused expression, looked down at him before turning back to Seraphina, replying with another series of distorted words, her clipped tone making it sound as though she was trying to reassure her.

’What are they talking about...?’

Lucian desperately tried to understand, trying to make sense of their words.

Yet the more he listened...

The more distant their voices became.

Even the emotions stirring within him gradually became harder to grasp.

After several more minutes, the nurse finally stepped closer.

She gently lifted him out of the crib—

The very "bars" he had mistaken for a prison.