Chapter 132 Volume III - Chapter 53: First Hint of the Past
First, my eyes opened, and then a soft voice entered my ear.
"Aiden."
I reflexively turned in the direction of the voice.
What I saw was a young-looking woman with brown hair and two gray eyes looking at me with compassion. Yet I felt something strange inside me as I looked into those eyes.
Is the feeling I get from those eyes really compassion? It feels like it, but...
My head suddenly began to ache, and then the delicate voice of the woman who owned those eyes entered my ears again.
"Come. We have to go."
Her voice was comforting, reassuring even. But at the same time, it felt unusually strange. It was as if she was showing me affection and at the same time trying to avoid me. This contradiction was what gave me a headache.
"Okay..."
My voice sounded like a child's, and for a moment I was confused.
It wasn't me talking, my body was moving on its own.
I don't know why, but this... feels familiar. It's like I've had an experience like this before.
Although... Who am I in the first place? Who is the person whose eyes I'm seeing the world through?
Ah... this feeling is familiar too. As if I've had this moment before... As if I've already experienced this strange feeling...
"I'm coming."
And with that, the boy slowly began to follow his mother. Then my vision suddenly darkened. I found myself in a darkness that stretched into infinity. I had a bad feeling that if I didn't do something I would be trapped here, that I would turn into the darkness itself and disappear.
It was as if the darkness was trying to get closer to me, but there was something blocking it. And after only a few seconds, fortunately, the darkness began to brighten.
When I could see things again, I was in a hospital or something like that.
I was in a big room, I was on a chair that didn't fit my small size but was quite comfortable. I had what looked like a hat on my head. And on my arm was a serum that was connected to my wrist and then to a machine.
"Aiden, does it hurt when you're standing there?"
My eyes turned in the direction of the voice, just like before, and there I saw a man. It was someone I didn't recognize, and even though I didn't know anything as 'me' here, my body didn't seem to recognize this man either. Because he was uneasy, I could feel it.
He answered him anyway.
"Yes, it hurts, but my mom said I shouldn't cry. Otherwise, my sister will be sad."
My sister? Oh... that's right, I have a sister. Her name was... Clara.
If I know that, does that mean that the body I'm watching through his eyes is really 'me'?
I've got another headache. So I decided to think about it later and focus on what was in front of me, and that's when the man responded to my answer.
"I see..."
The man kept his eyes on the floor. He was thinking about something and I took the opportunity to study him in detail.
The man was old, but he didn't look his age. He must have been in his early fifties. His hair, though graying in places, was a dark reddish brown. He had a goatee and mustache. He was tall but not skinny or built. He was wearing a white lab coat and normal clothes. He had a name badge on his apron and the name on it was... Jared Huffab.
The name... really doesn't sound familiar.
"Have you ever... seen some visions before? The ones that are like dreams but don't really feel like dreams. Visions that haven't happened yet but feel like they might happen soon."
"Hmm? No, I haven't."
"And have you seen colors floating in the air? Colors that no one else can see, that only you can see."
My body moved a little. He seemed uncomfortable, not wanting to talk to the man.
Before answering, he shifted his eyes away from the man, focused on the clock next to him, and spoke.
"No."
"You don't need to be afraid of me. Think of me as a doctor, the questions I ask are for your well-being in the future."
My body showed no sign of relaxation despite what he said.
"O- Okay..."
"Then the last question, it's important that you answer it properly."
"Okay..."
"Do you ever feel like you know something you shouldn't?"
My body again waited a moment before answering. He was uncomfortable again and this time his eyes shifted to the man's shoes.
"No..."
The man clicked his tongue, walked out of the room without saying anything else to me, with disappointment and slight anger visible on his face, and then the machine attached to my arm started working.
When my body realized this, he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and then waited. He waited patiently until the fluid from the serum entered his body, and then I felt a sharp pain throughout his body, along with him.
The world went black again after that. I thought about what I had just seen, the darkness was the same, but thanks to my thoughts it didn't feel as bad as before. Moreover, like before, there would be light again. It had to come, I felt it... and so it did.
After a while, the darkness started to lighten again. I tried to think what I was going to see this time, but when my eyes opened again, I found myself in an unexpected place.
I was in a dark, damp little cavity and I had no idea where I was.
This cavity... where am I?
I tried to straighten myself up, but as soon as I did, I felt a sudden pain in my right arm. It wasn't a pain that made me scream, though. It didn't even hurt that much. The pain was already gone.
Reflexively, I looked at the place where it had just hurt, and when I saw a burn mark on my arm. I just stared at it and questions popped up in my head.
What is this? Where am I... I-
As I was trying to figure out the strange situation I was facing, I suddenly felt a slight pain in my head and my memories slowly entered my head. My eyes widened and I looked again at the burn mark on my arm in more detail.
The burn was not very large, about the size of three fingers lying side by side, but it looked quite serious. That is, if it didn't look like it had happened years ago.
If I drink one of the expensive potions, it will probably get better, so I hope it will...
Once I was sure there was nothing wrong with the wound, I let out a deep sigh and leaned back against the wall of the cavity. And then I realized something else quite shocking.
I can remember my dream, one of those dreams I'd forgotten so much about before. I remember Aiden, a little boy, maybe five years old at most, and the man he was talking to. I remember the questions he asked, even his features.
Jared Huffab...
I quickly opened my watch and saved the name in the note app, just in case.
I must not forget this name. I must definitely look it up when I get out of the dungeon...
Once I had the name down like that, I started thinking about other things. Like the questions the guy asked Aiden and the place where Aiden was. The serum that was connected to him... I think they did some kind of study or experiment or whatever on Aiden and the Tenebra family was particularly supportive of it.
I closed my eyes and focused on the dream.
The first thing that came to my mind was the flying colors the man asked about.
What could these 'colors' be? Mana is a colorless energy and there is no such thing as 'flame mana' in the world. So the only option is that the man asked Aiden if he had seen the 'sleeping' caora and ordea that are spread throughout the universe. Maybe there's something else I don't know, but that's the only possible explanation within the scope of what I know... Moreover, Aiden's reaction was quite strange from my point of view when the man asked this question. So it's very possible that he lied to him.
As for the images that are dreamlike but don't feel dreamlike... Actually, they are quite consistent with what Clara described to me and what I've been seeing lately. It's only the last part, the "visions that haven't happened yet but feel like they might happen soon" part that's troubling.
I feel like there is a lot I need to know, a lot I need to learn.
And then there's the last question, "things you shouldn't know but you feel like you do"... I have no idea what that means, but like with flying colors, it seemed like Aiden lied to the guy.
I really have no idea about that... So I have to skip it.
Another thing I'm wondering... If Aiden lied to the guy about the floating colors and things that he shouldn't have known but he did, why didn't I experience any of that? I'm in the body that's being experimented on, after all...
There are things that don't fit and they bother me.
Among the things that bother me is also what my wiera side told me before I saw these things.
This 'expectation' for example...
"Haaa..."
There are a lot of questions that I really want answers to, but if I want answers to most of them, I have to get out of this dungeon and find this guy Jared.
Yeah... I have to put everything aside, just like I did when I first came here. After the dungeon I'll be free for quite a long time, I can do most of the things I want to do in the meantime.
I poured some mana into the Absolute Mind, cleared my mind. After a while, I was feeling better. Most of the confusing thoughts were gone, and so I turned to Alex, who was still unconscious.
With the potions I gave him, most of his wounds seemed to be in better shape than before. Maybe there would be some pain, but... After another potion or two and a little more rest, it shouldn't give us too much trouble moving forward. The same is true for my wounds.
"Hey, Alex."
I kept poking him, calling his name, and I didn't get a response on the second or the third. On the fourth, he finally moved a little. And on the fifth, his eyes widened, and then he suddenly turned to me.
Or rather he tried to turn. Because as soon as he opened his eyes and turned his head, his face twitched, soured and he moaned slightly.
"That's what happens when you move so suddenly. You haven't fully recovered yet, slow down."
"What... W- where are we?"
"In a small cavity that I found in a mountain. We've probably survived the spiders, I didn't hear any screams from outside, but let's stay here until our wounds are healed enough that they won't give us any trouble. We can rest for a few more hours and then set off again."
Alex was startled when he heard this, he had reacted when he heard the word 'spiders'.
I hope the last thing he went through won't leave him mentally scarred...
Startled, Alex relaxed his body again and stared at the wall of the cavity for a while. I didn't say anything for a while to help him regain his composure. There was a silence in the cavity. But as time passed, I saw Alex relax a little.
He recovered faster than I thought he would. His normal expression returned after a while, but he continued to stare at the wall. At first, I attributed this to fatigue and let my body relax as he did, but then the silence was broken by him.
"You said you needed my skill, and you know some things about it. It keeps bugging me... How did you find out about it?"
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