Without meaning to, Kyra kept digging. Her fingers are sore and numb. Her heart is beating faster. Surely this wasn't one of the fairy nomads….
No. No. No.
She kept repeating one word in her head. Trying to shake off the bad feeling that her people are all dead on her feet. First, a skull head peeked out in the open, then the skull grew a neck, but the skeleton just stopped there. Kyra attached her fingers to the skull bone and pulled it out.
The skull was ripped out of the buried sand. Kyra check the skull structure. It was strange.
Why does it look….. so human like?
A sharp pain entered her mind. She dropped the skull and clutched her aching head. A series of images entered her mind. She saw herself being beaten and trampled into the dirt by the Ice Demon.
She remembered getting angry at his violence. She remembered trying to stand up for herself. Yet her efforts are wasted. She can't fight back no matter what she does. She was weak.
Then that long haired demon came and asked her about the Crystal Seal, attempting to torture her, then keep her as hostage in exchange for the Crystal Seal.
And then…
And then…
That strong malicious feeling kick in. It entered her mind so suddenly she was beaten scared. She was terribly shaken because she couldn't fight back.
And then she black out.
She raised her head and looked around. The scenery in the distance does not change. There's the familiar distant mountain and the setting sun at its center. The scenery she was used to watch whenever she stopped by the Elven Croft Tower.
She picked up her sword and dusted off her hands. What exactly happened after that? Why can't she remember anything? What happened to the two demons?
She looked down at her abdomen. There was an irregular spot of blood. She quickly grasped the wound but found it was already healed. Not even a scar was left. She looked over her shoulder. The ugly slice across it is gone too.
She tried to calm herself first. Ignorance is the most disadvantageous situation to be in. If there's anything that has knowledge of what happened after her memories are cut off, it's her lotus power that develops consciousness.
She close her eyes and call upon it. At first, it slithered silently. Not letting its owner to detect its unusual presence on her body.
"Lotus," Kyra called out. It did not heed. "Silver," Kyra waited. Still nothing.
"Silver bloom devouring lotus." She completed its name. Just like what the Ice Demon said on the first day they met in the High Court.
At once, her power responded and slithered into her wrist. It came out in the open, twirling and growing vines at a fast rate before a lotus flower peeked at Kyra. She can feel the flower's gaze through the blood red rimmed center of its petals.
"Silver bloom devouring lotus?" Kyra inquired. The lotus swayed a little, making it look a little shy, then bowed so low half of its height was bent.
Kyra can't figure out if it's feeling remosrseful or just plain shy.
"Show me what happened when I was out."
The lotus flower stopped swaying. It steadily gazed upwards into Kyra's eyes. At first glance, the lotus flower actually seems normal. After staring at it for a few minutes, Kyra found out it was actually trembling slightly. And because it was doing its best to not let its owner find out, it rigidly stood still.
"Show me." Kyra hardened her voice. It wasn't a request. It was a command. The lotus flower lowered its petals. As if it was super depressed the petals lose all its energy.
Kyra does not know how to react. Rather than treating it as a dangerous, mysterious entity, silver bloom devouring lotus seems like a flower brought alive to become her exclusive, loyal pet.
The stems seem to bulge at the roots and the vines shoot up straight. The fast towering height only stop when the lotus flower is right at Kyra's height. The lotus seems to double in size, letting its blood red rim center get closer to her. When Kyra was only a few inches away from the lotus flower, it started to show her images.
Kyra saw herself, with eyes hazy with white mist. The long haired man was flung back because of an unknown power. Kyra watch with shivering hands as the other her in the image get up.
There was something strange at the other her. A sudden blue mist encased her in a peculiar manner. This wasn't from Silver bloom devouring lotus. She can't sense familiarity with it.
But the essence of the mist does not make her feel in danger. As Kyra watch, the more apalled she becomes.
This wasn't her!
It's totally not her!
How can she be that strong?! There wasn't such a thing as mas level mana booster! This is a cheat! A lie! She can't stand watching her other self in the moment. Goosebumps made her shiver with cringe.
She badly wanted to turn away but the lotus flower gestured to the desolated town covered in thick sand. As if saying, 'Continue watching, you will soon find out why this happened.'
Kyra swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to look at the other her. The thousands of puppets under the long haired man's command were reduced to dust.
If there's one thing Kyra found delightful in the images, it was the Ice Demon's fear stricken face. At least, the other her give him the fright he deserved.
When the earth trembled and the ground cracked, Kyra frowned. Thick vines erupted from the ground and shot the Ice Demon into his chest – directly passing right through his back.
Kyra nodded in satisfaction. The other her in the image is really strong. That Ice Demon deserved it. Because of Kyra's biased hatred towards the Ice Demon, she disregard the hurricane that destroyed everything in its path, the storng wind that uproots anything – even small stones from the ground and carried it with it in the wind.
When the image concluded, Kyra finally realized what she'd done.