Putting aside all his thoughts, Silver started looking for more clues.
He had managed to come up with some feasible speculations but none of them were of help right now.
The Watcher Beyond was out there, getting closer to him ever so slowly. One day it will be just behind the window but for now, Silver had to do what needed to be done.
On top of the table other than the silver clock, there were some books, or at least what looked like books.
They looked more like wooden slates. The paper too was made up of thin wooden slices.
He picked up one and cruised through it and then picked another one and did the same.
After he had done the same with all the nine books that were kept stacked on the table not so neatly, he put them back the way they were and bobbed his head in confusion.
It was not because he couldn't understand anything but because there was nothing written on them.
All of the nine books were empty.
There were no marks on the wooden paper as if nothing was ever written on them.
One would wonder why someone bothered keeping empty books but Silver knew better.
'It is anything but simple. If I can't see anything for now then I guess I'm not worthy yet or something like that…'
Whether his guess was true or not was something that would remain to be seen.
There were various other things with various different textures placed on the table.
Silver took his time picking them up one by one and examining them, wanting to understand something, anything out of them.
A lot of these things were not known to him, he could only take note of their shape and what they looked like, other than that, he couldn't do much.
After he was done with everything that was placed on the table, he looked at the one and only wooden compartment.
'This has got to be it, I even saved it for the last.'
The last compartment was his last potential clue and also his last hope.
'Please be something of help…'
Prayed Silver as he closed his eyes, placed one hand on the compartment handle, and pulled.
There were no sounds and nothing jumped out of the compartment as Silver had expected, which somewhat disappointed him, but it didn't take even half a second for that disappointment to vanish as Silver opened his eyes and looked at the only object kept there.
In the middle of the compartment, was kept a small disk-like object. It was brown and lustrous like copper, no. It looked like a coin but it was bigger than the average one.
'This thing is kept separately…surely.'
Silver anticipated the possible outcomes as he slowly extended his hand towards the coin.
As soon as the fog around his hand came in contact with the coin, light burst forth from the coin, swallowing the room, dyeing it in white.
Silver closed his eyes shut, the light was too bright for him to see clearly.
There was no sound as all of this was happening. The close-eyed Silver didn't feel any rumbling around him but this only contributed to the shock when he opened his eyes.
The silent storm of the white particles was prancing all around him, it was only white scape as far as his eyes reached.
Silver felt some post-movement disorientation. At one moment he was standing in the room of the dilapidated house only to be displaced into a snowstorm the very next.
He hadn't calmed down yet, no matter how accepting of these things Silver was, some would still take away his breath.
Not to mention, he was actually feeling cold!
'Am I supposed to be feeling things here!?'
"Are you here?"
He didn't have much time to think through the thought as he heard a voice, which oddly enough, calmed down the snowstorm at once.
Silver looked over at where the sound came from.
His silver irises reflected the figure of a person.
This person looked around the same height as Silver. They were donning a long white cloak, which was covering them from the top to the bottom, even coiling around a little on the ground, giving the impression of a kid wearing his father's clothes.
Only the portion of their face below the nose was visible, which only placed their mouth on the display.
The person too was currently looking at Silver.
Even if the clothes were obstructing the eyesight of the person in front of him, Silver felt like they were able to see just fine.
"..."
"..."
'Finally, I will just shoot it then...'
"What is it that keeps looking at me from beyond the black fog?"
Not even wasting any time, Silver already started bombarding the person in front of him with questions.
It was partially because this was the first time he heard a language he was familiar with. He can finally talk to someone.
He could very easily ask the person who he was as most of the time in these situations, people always started the conversation by asking that very question but Silver felt that there were things that took precedence over it.
The person stared at him for a while and then smiled as they said,
"Well, even if I tell you what it is, you wouldn't understand."
After a slight pause, they continued.
"But I can tell you that the one beyond the fog is without a doubt after you."
A chill ran down Silver's spine as he heard the person say that,
"I don't even know it. Why would it be after me?"
Silver asked with a tinge of fear in his voice,
"It dearly desires something that you possess."
"Then, Can't I ju—"
"You cannot."
"..."
"What you possess, unaware of, is not something that can be given to others"
The pleasant voice no longer sounded pleasant to Silver. He was in a different reality one day and now there was something out for his blood.
And this is something he couldn't even fight.
"Then, What should I do?"
He had obtained freedom and he didn't want to let go of it, his only other choice was to persevere through odds.
"..."
"..."
"You can kill it."
"?"
"You can certainly kill it, after all, time can erode any and every…and you have it on your side."
"What does that mean?"
The person gave Silver a knowing smile,
"You will understand when the waters thin."
Silver was understanding less and less every passing moment. It was as the person said, even if they told him, he wouldn't understand.
"Then…how do I kill it?"
"The current you cannot."
Said the person without much weight in his voice but Silver knew that too.
How was he supposed to kill something that would make him freeze just by looking in his direction.
'It was a stupid question alright.'
Then he asked the question he really wanted an answer to,
"Who am I?"
The person smiled and answered without any delay.
"You are Silver Dellsworth."
Phew.
Silver released a sigh of relief. Finally, someone had confirmed who he was. He was not any sup persona of a schizophrenic or a figure created out of dream.
He was Silver Dellsworth. His memories weren't a lie.
"Then—"
Crack–
Interrupting his question, A crack rang out around him.
It sounded like it came from nowhere and originated from everywhere at the same time,
"It's dispersing…"
"What does that mean?"
The person who raised their right hand to stare at it said without looking at him.
"This place is just a memory, what you see, what you hear, what you feel. They are all just little memories."
Crack–
The person glances at Silver and smiles,
"Naturally, I am but a memory too."
Crack–
Crack–
"Wait–by memories do y–"
"Break the fragment and then you'll know."
Crack–
Crack–
Crack–
"I hope you can, this time for sure…"
That was the last thing Silver heard the person say as the snow around him cracked, he started feeling weightless but this time, he wasn't able to fly.
He closed his eyes so that no snowflakes entered them, unknowingly repeating the very same motion with which he entered and now was leaving.
After slight disorientation, when the bone-chilling coldness disappeared and the familiar silence returned.
He slowly opened his eyes, watching the white fog revolving around him as if a cat asking for love and affection.
He looked towards the window once, glancing at the black fog outside, and sighed.
'The Watcher Beyond is after me…At least now I know that it is not after the black glass fragment…'
Although some major questions were answered, Silver was left with even more questions.
It was enough for his non-existent brain to start hurting, but now was not the time to worry about it.
'What is a memory fragment?'
The person had called themself a memory, which Silver was not able to comprehend.
'Memory..like literal memory? Can memory exist physically outside of one's brain?'
Of course. It may be possible here, that is why Silver left it at that.
'They said to break it.'
If the person was a memory then a memory fragment–
'It looks like the only right answer.'
Thought Silver as he looked at the coin-like object on the ground, having lost all its luster, it was just lying there.
Silver bent down to pick it up and observed it a little.
The surface felt a little cold. It was only a little bigger than normal coins. Other than that, it was a normal-looking coin.
'Then…'
Silver placed both of his hands on the opposite ends of the coin, like holding both ends of a thread.
'Let's do this…'
Crack–
Crash—
***
The Moon blazoned up already and the Sun was now shining over the encampment.
People were moving here and there and getting ready and making preparations for their last day of journey.
The tents were being undone and the carriages were being loaded with beast materials.
It was peaceful all around as the long, arduous journey was finally coming to an end.
People were helping each other around, already quite familiar with each other, which was only natural as they had spent moments of life and death together while traveling.
This harmonious and otherwise quiet environment, however, was broken by the valiant curses and shouting that originated from near the tent areas.
"Motherfuckerrrr!!"
"YOU USED YOUR FATHER'S LIFE MONEY TO CHASE A CHICK!!!"
"FUCKING BASTARD YIFAAN!!"
The last day of the troupe's journey was off to a boisterous start.