Calmly resting with a book in his hand, Hildebrant stared at the pages of the Bible of Almighty and pondered about their meaning.
Each word taught him something new and each text that before looked normal now looked different from the perspective of ascender.
There was also that weird feeling that made him desire more.
More knowledge.
More power.
More life.
He desired to understand and comprehend secrets in the book but before he could dive deeper sound of doors opening woke him up from his trance and lifted his head to the door from where David with a frowning expression stepped inside with an elegant woman.
The girl wore silver ceremonial robes, but her curvy body was impossible to hide behind the fabric.
But it was not just her body. Her face was also perfectly balanced, her shin sharp and her eyebrows soft and mature with black hair trailing down her shoulders.
She looked like a rich girl who was abdomen by her parents but watching her pushing her hair aside and smiling gently while moving without David's permission to sit on a chair that was next to his bed made him recognize the maturity and indifference she had in living beings.
"I am Tristana and today I am here to make sure that your memory loss is not a serious problem."
Confused Hildebrant turned his gaze to David who smiled wryly.
"She is a decent mentalist and will be able to help you remember. There are some procedures she needs to do first to help you, but it is worth it."
Staring a little longer he waited but when he noticed he would not get more from David he turned back to the girl who was already smacking her lips.
"Why don't we begin now, you look like a sweet delicacy."
She teased while giggling but David had already warned Hildebrant about the so-called truth seeker, so his face did not change.
"Then let's begin."
A smiling girl waved at David who with a sigh brought the bag full of things and put them on the floor next to the girl who without change in expression began to rummage through until she took out a pair of giant needles.
"Extend your hand."
She said and Hildebrant followed her instruction.
Grasping his hand, she stabbed thin needles precisely into his acupuncture point and now just even minute later he began to feel his eyelids falling.
"Don't sleep yet. Give me your other hands first."
She said in a low tone and Hildebrant without question handled her other hand which was also stabbed by thin needles.
Fighting against tiredness he pushed himself to stay up with all his mind but the longer he fought stronger his desire would become until his eyelids fell and he found himself in a foggy place surrounded by endless white fog that came from all directions.
"Nod if you hear me."
His head moved by instinct, up and down.
Why was he even doing this in the first place?
"I will now ask a question, and you will answer truthfully. If you understand nod, your head once."
He nodded.
"From where did you come from?"
Hildebrant wanted to stop his lips from moving but found out he was unable to move them.
Not even little.
"I was born in a small rural village where my parents took care of me."
"Tell me more about yourself."
"I liked to play next to the river that was not far away, and we had…a…cat? I think it was a cat but…I am not sure. There was also something in my house a game I loved but…. I can't remember what it was called."
Stumbling in the fog, Hildebrant tried to piece some of his memories together and fill blank spaces in his memory but with each word, he became more uncertain and indecisive until his voice gradually disappeared.
"....."
There are no more memories in his head and most of them were fractured beyond recognition.
"Is this all you remember?"
"No."
It wasn't, but his mind refused to stumble upon this memory even when it was extremely close.
"Will you tell me why you stopped?"
"No."
He refused her again and for some reason, the fog began to tremble, and the sound of cracking wood entered his ear.
"In that case…"
She said with grinding teeth.
"….do you know who is Gabriel?"
Hildebrant froze and then one memory appeared in his head.
"I heard his name from the boy I met."
The sound of jumping, the boots touching the ground in excitement entered his ears, and then Tristana's voice followed.
"Where is this boy?"
His face twisted as he remembered the golden head of a demon hanging from doors.
"Death."
The fog became still until the girl's disappointed voice again echoed all around him.
"How did you become an ascender then?"
Her question made him smile.
"By being burned alive on the ship, surrounded by a beautiful song that made one lose his mind, and hundreds of fanatics who liked it so much their eyes turned black."