"Well, this is quite the scene."
Yuuto said as he looked at the condition the room he was standing in turned into.
The already broken down walls were shattered even further and a multitude of ice spread out towards the surroundings not leaving a single area untouched.
"G-Get away fro—"
"S-Stop–"
The shouts from across the room all began to slowly disappear one by one as Jingliu showed no mercy to the Wingweavers who froze in fear after seeing her suddenly appear inside the house they were so confident being in.
'But my guess was right on the mark.'
Yuuto thought as he formed a barrier using his mist to block an incoming spear coming his way before throwing a spear of his own back at the Wingweaver.
After hearing about the conditions on where the source could be at, Yuuto's thoughts immediately went to the old tombstone where he was sure a Stelleron was placed years prior and his guess was right on the mark.
When they reached the tombstone, some grooves on the back showed an appearance that represented its battle with time as chunks of stone were missing.
What made him interested after seeing the tombstone in person was that located in the back were a few scorch marks that dug into the tombstone alongside a dark substance that stuck onto the ground beneath it.
But an odd feeling emerged when he saw the back of the tombstone.
An indentation in the form of a smooth hemisphere was right in the middle of all this which he predicted was where the Stelleron dug itself when it was still active.
As he was inspecting the tombstone, Jingliu also didn't waste her time and manifested her sword when she felt the dense energy suddenly increase when she got closer to this object.
Jingliu immediately went to work as she used her senses to locate some sort of paper camouflaging within the concentrated energy that radiated off the tombstone before using her sword to rip the paper right off.
'But I'm surprised that a lot of invisible energy still stuck onto the tombstone even after the IPC supposedly 'sealed' the Stelleron.'
Judging from Luocha's words from earlier, some lingering energy from the Stelleron was still floating in the air and seemed to blend into the environment.
Creating some sort of 'hot zone' for the wildlife to prosper naturally.
After they finally figured out the barrier, the three rushed into the house where they encountered a tall Wingweaver with two pairs of wings.
But he was quickly killed off by Jingliu who didn't waste a single breath.
Yuuto looked at the body of the Wingweaver and shook his head feeling like this person was a bit pitiful considering who he had to face suddenly.
His eyes began to glow a faint white and various fragments suddenly became visible dancing around the body of the guy.
Yuuto collected the fragments and quickly skimmed through the ones he collected and sorted them out as they were pretty similar to the ones he already had, making the whole process relatively easy.
He felt a bit disappointed that he didn't get anything super useful but he didn't fuss too much about it.
"All I'm getting is memories of them flying but I can't use any of it since I have no actual wings to use them with…"
Yuuto mumbled under his breath as he felt kinda jealous considering the memories he saw were interesting seeing the view these Wingweavers had when they floated around in the air.
The large pairs of wings caught his attention when suddenly an idea popped into his head when he remembered the process of how he made the Stelleron pump inside him.
"[Archive]"
Yuuto placed his hand on the edge of the large feathered wings before creating a memory of the structure the wings had just like how he did with his own heart.
"Hmm… now that I have a sort of 'blueprint', now I need to find a way to actually create these wings."
The thought of him flying around made Yuuto slightly excited and hoped that he can make this thought a reality quickly.
"Is this the last of them?"
Luocha on the other side of the room turned to Jingliu who stabbed her sword through the heart of a Wingweaver trapped in the center of the ice she formed.
"I was unable to feel any other presences in the house except for the ones in this room so they're probably the final ones."
"So that's one issue down."
Luocha said before turning his attention toward the glowing branch settled in the middle of the room.
He traced his fingers against the smooth wood and his fingers gave out a deep green color causing him to close his eyes.
A few seconds of silence came between the two as Yuuto also joined after seeing what Luocha was doing.
"They were just a few minutes away from warping. Thankfully we were able to stop them or else a few more headaches would erupt."
"Where was this branch warping to?"
"That's a good question." Luocha faintly smiled as he took his fingers off the branch. "Towards the planet we were going to visit last before we go on our journey to your home."
"....."
Jingliu closed her eyes when she heard this.
'I guess it's finally time for these two to actually start going towards the Loufu.' Yuuto thought after hearing the snippet Luocha said.
"Is the branch ready to warp?"
"It was on the brink of being complete so I just added a bit of my energy and had it ready when I tried to see the location this branch was pointing to."
Luocha proceeded to turn towards Yuuto who quietly listened to the two and smiled while sticking out his hand.
"Even if it was just a lucky encounter, I was happy to see that you looked well since our last meeting."
"It was also great to see you too. Be sure to watch your back for any spears that may come your way if you encounter any more Wingweavers."
"I will be sure to do just that."
"Ah, before you leave."
Yuuto took Luocha's outstretched hand and firmly shook it before coming closer to him, noticing that they were about to leave once again.
"The item you're looking for is with a Wingweaver with large blue wings and green hair."
"How do you kno–"
"I interrogated one of the guys while you two were busy."
Yuuto smiled innocently as he told Luocha which had him slightly stunned.
"..If that's the case I will give my appreciation the next time fate allows us to."
"I will look forward to that."
Yuuto chuckled before finally turning his attention to a certain person who was staring holes right through his face.
An idea popped into his head after seeing Jingliu and got closer to her.
"Don't stab me okay…"
Jingliu didn't say anything but her red eyes continued to stare at him which made Yuuto give out a small sigh.
His hand reached towards the right side of her face and touched the white earring located on her right ear.
A faint mist escaped his fingers while he concentrated, ignoring the hardened look Jingliu was giving him.
A few seconds went by before he took his hand off and nodded in satisfaction seeing that his experiment went well.
"A present for you since you gave me something pretty amazing the last time I met you."
"...."
"I will take it as you accept my present."
Jingliu touched the earring she had while Yuuto took this as a sort of sign that she appreciated it.
"Until we meet again."
"I will see you next time."
Yuuto crossed his arms seeing Luocha and Jingliu walk onto the glowing green branch and disappear into faint sparks leaving not a single trace of them behind.
"...Now let's try and see what all this buzzing is about."
He said while looking out the window in a certain direction.
***
"Miss Jingliu, you were oddly quiet during our last exchange with him."
Appearing on top of an identical-looking branch, Luocha pointed out a thought he had within him.
"....."
Jingliu didn't say anything and took a deep breath. A faint white mist released from the earring she wore and her mind turned much clearer compared to before.
It was much more noticeable if she recalled the time she used the broken pieces of crystals she had with her and couldn't help but rub the earring one more time.
"Who are you guys!?"
"Guards!!"
Shouts suddenly appeared as some Wingweavers immediately summoned their spears noticing that two unknown strangers appeared in the camp they were stationed at.
"..I was just surprised."
"Is that so?"
Jingliu didn't say another word and enveloped the area into a bed of thick ice freezing everything around her.
"Now let's find that Wingweaver Yuuto spoke of."
***
As Luocha and Jingliu were once again causing havoc on the other side of the branch that warped them, Yuuto was running through the blades of grass as if he were tracing his steps to reach somewhere.
Navigating his way through the series of trees blocking the sunlight from hitting his face, he finally stopped when he saw a few blocks of stone scattered on an empty field.
"This should be the village…"
Yuuto walked around and began to imagine seeing rows of houses and the bumbling streets that had stalls selling their wares to the passing public.
"Nothing is here."
The active village he saw in that memory was now just an open field with nothing but a few blocks that seemed to be what remained of the village hundreds of years ago.
It was a weird situation to be in seeing that he might be the only person who knew what occurred on this piece of land.
But it didn't stop him from walking around some more as if taking in how the passage of time brushed away this area's history.
After walking for a bit, Yuuto entered a place where he saw a few worn-down structures and felt surprised to see that some houses remained.
However, one particular house caught his attention.
The roof can hardly be considered a roof while one side of the house disappeared completely.
But it perfectly matched the house that Solar's uncle had and was also the last place Solar stayed in after losing her family.
Yuuto walked through the entrance as the door was gone and moved his curious eyes towards its interior.
The living room, the kitchen and what could have been the bathroom were all visible to him and made him imagine just how much history this house had with it.
"That should be the room Solar was sitting in when she wrote her diary…"
A room near the back made Yuuto stop in place and had him look at it carefully before he eventually opened the door which was surprisingly still intact.
Past the wooden door was a dark room that had slivers of light peeking through it as the ceiling had a few holes exposing the bright sky outside.
There were a few furniture that ranged from a closet to a single chair that rested against the worn-down wall.
And by the center was a small bed.
Yuuto got closer and eventually reached the bed where he could imagine Solar lifelessly dragging her pencil across pieces of paper reminiscing about her past.
"Wait."
Yuuto narrowed his eyes when he saw small movements appearing on top of the bed before eventually seeing bits of dark mist covering its surface.
"Those guys sure are persistent."
He mumbled under his breath before prismatic light escaped his palm and clashed with the dark mist covering the bed.
–SCRIBBLE
After he put in the effort to quickly dispel the dark mist, faint sounds of a pencil scratching paper began to enter Yuuto's ear and the transparent image of a woman began to slowly appear in front of him.
"A ghost?"
Yuuto's eyes widened when he saw this and took a step back.
But the transparent woman in front of him didn't move an inch and continued to write on the pieces of paper in front of her.
"Is this just a projection of the past or is it something else?"
He got closer and waved his hand in front of her face but the woman continued to write as if this was all she had left in her.
[I'm.. sorry..]
As he was about to see if using [Clarity] could help him change anything, a quiet voice escaped from her making him stop what he was about to do.
[..because of me..]
"...."
[I..wish.. those families affected by me…I wish.. I can help…]
Sad echoes began to escape the transparent image of Solar while Yuuto quietly listened to each word she said.
He closed his eyes trying to take in each word that came out of her before the echoes finally stopped making Yuuto feel kinda strange.
"Man, I'm not really good with these types of situations…"
He sighed and took one last glance at her before he closed his eyes once again.
"You might not even hear me or I might seem crazy to some people right now talking to a ghost but your uncle did a good job."
Mist escaped from Yuuto's body and formed into flat pieces of smooth ice before it eventually multiplied around him.
Whether it was to reassure the woman in front of him or for some other reason.
One thing for certain was that hearing the echoes coming out of her made him want to do something and ease her cries.
"The planet's weather returned to normal and large cities began to populate the area."
Yuuto waved his hand and threw a few fragments towards the smooth ice and memories of the busy streets of Solarian he witnessed were shown on the surface.
The dark room began to fill itself with the memories he had experienced during his time on Solarian.
"There are a few shops that have good desserts and also some places that sell some nice clothes that a certain friend of mine loves to collect."
An image of March appeared on one of the projections which made Yuuto laugh seeing the bubbly energy she was giving off.
"My favorite part of this planet is the food stalls. Especially the meat skewers they sell around here but one stall in particular was pretty hard to find."
Yuuto thought about the old woman who was the first person to tell the snippet of the tale that eventually led him here.
He continued with some experiences he was fortunate enough to have before showing more memories of the place.
He looked towards the woman and noticed that she was still not paying attention which made him slightly embarrassed seeing that he was talking to himself.
"..What am I doing..?"
Yuuto covered his face and turned his head away from Solar to collect his thoughts.
However, just as he turned his head around the pencil that Solar was holding suddenly stopped and her eyes beneath the long strands of hair looked towards one fragment.
It was the memory of a woman holding her son around her arm and feeding him a small scoop of ice cream.
[Is…this real..]
"Oh, something actually happened."
Yuuto quickly turned around when he heard a faint voice and saw that Solar was looking towards a certain memory.
"You're correct."
[..Really.. were the others… not affected..]
Hearing her question, Yuuto paused for a bit before opening his mouth.
"They might not be the same families as the ones you saw before but due to your uncle's efforts, he was able to bring this scene into a reality."
[..He..did..]
Solar continued to look at the fragment before she whispered one request from him.
[Can.. I see.. my family..]
Yuuto waved his hand immediately and the image of Solar playing around with her kids alongside the smiling faces of her uncle and aunt were shown on the surface.
"I guess her last wish was granted though her uncle…"
[My..wish..]
Solar took one last look at the image of her family before she turned her eyes towards Yuuto which made him flinch thinking that she heard his whisper..
[What is..your..name..?]
"My name? It's Yuuto…"
[..Yuu..to..]
He was surprised that Solar actually spoke his name and this surprise turned even greater when he saw prismatic light escape her body.
[Thank..you for showing.. me this..]
She smiled at him and faint trails of white light continued to escape her body at a faster pace.
The light began to grow even bigger before a ripple pulsed through the air leaving a glowing fragment in the place Solar was previously sitting at.
The fragment flew towards him and shattered into dust after coming into contact with him and hues of blue and gold began to surround his body.
As if it were protecting him from anything that dared to harm him.
"[Mother's Embrace]? What the… so I got a memory just like that?"
Information about what this fragment did invaded Yuuto's mind which made him surprised by its effects.
"It's basically a supportive and defensive fragment that can heal a certain amount and can create a transparent shield. Also…"
Yuuto raised his hand and conjured a small spike and attempted to stab his hand.
As the spike got closer, a blue and gold light blocked the spike and prevented it from getting anywhere near his hand.
"It can block attacks that can potentially harm me by a large margin but the energy it consumes is quite big."
Yuuto felt his energy reduced by a considerable amount but the Stelleron began to pump trying to replace the missing energy he had.
"Thankfully I have this engine or else I'll be shriveled up with the amount of memories I now have…"
Yuuto looked at [Mother's Embrace] and felt like he might have gotten a pretty good memory that can compare to some he already has with him.
He decided to experiment on it a bit more later and quickly named this category a [Hidden Memory] considering the condition it was in before he had used [Clarity] on it.
Basking in the afterglow of this new fragment, Yuuto looked toward the bed and placed his palms together as if to show his respect for the place.
"Don't worry, I will remember your story."
Saying some last words, Yuuto walked out of the house and quickly made his way back to the city where a few people patiently waited for him to come back.
***
A bit longer than usual haha.