-Any progress…? - asked finally For after a good couple minutes of me standing there, unmoving.

I could tell she was worried, because whenever I wanted it or not, she was very conscious of what I was doing. Same with Kon.

And they both knew that nothing changed.

-Doesn’t seem like it - I said and sighed. - Eh, and here I thought it would be easy…

-Can we help somehow…? - asked Kon.

-I don’t know…

That was actually an interesting proposition.

Out of people who were connected to her, while I was the oldest one and probably spent the most time with her, Kon was in second place.

He did have her for a while in her head as well. For too, albeit pretty briefly.

And he was also the one who she communicated with last… at least that’s what I was suspecting, after the time when I “ejected” her…

Thinking about it, I could actually be wrong about that.

Kon was partially me, right? So if that was the case, wouldn't it be possible for him to also inherit some of my own memories… and by extension, also hers?

It would mean that he was the one who had the best connection with her…

Well, besides Axelrod, because if we assume that he is aware of her existence, it would mean that the two of them were always together…

-I guess… you can try… we can try… - I mumbled, thinking. - Come here…

I instructed him to place his hand on the sculpture, just like me.

-Kon, do you have any memories that you feel that belong to someone else, not to you…? - I asked. - You too, For?

I was not going to try and hide this conversation from her.

-Er… I don’t know… - he said, a bit puzzled, but immediately I felt that he started thinking.

-I don’t think so…

-I mean… I do have some… information that I have no idea where I got from - admitted Kon - but that’s about it…

-And you, For?

-I have a lot of those - she said nonchalantly - but that’s nothing new. That’s the side effect of a long life. You remember things you don’t even know you’ve forgotten.

-Sure… I don’t think Kon lived that long though…

-I guess…

-Okay. I want you to focus not on the memories, just on the concepts. Concepts that you know have a connection to me, and by extension to her.

-What do you mean, “concepts”.

-Like MIRE. Like the Origin Crystal. Like her, the information of my old world… whatever feels the most appropriate to you.

-Appropriate…

-Yes, I know that’s not helping much, but I am grasping at straws here…

-I… I think I understand. And then what?

-Try and push those towards the crystal in front… I mean, the sculpture in front of you. We want to jolt her awake somehow. Last time I succeeded by remembering my old world. It’s not working this time, so…

-Hmm… Okay, I can try.

He nodded and closed his eyes.

I still could feel his mind. While focusing, I am not sure if he just let his thoughts wander, or it was just thanks to our connection and being close overall, but I could also feel what he was thinking.

Images of me talking about MIRE. About the old world. Rob’s story. Axelrod in the capital. Kon randomly inside a tree.

A mix of everything was flowing through us, but even though I was also adding whatever I could, it didn’t seem like it was working.

It was just like a stream of water flowing and washing over a boulder, which didn’t care at all.

They say even the smallest streams have the power to crush rocks, but we didn’t have the time for that.

I think.

Meanwhile, I could tell that For was observing us. Maybe she wasn’t that much connected to our stream of memories, but I could feel her listening to it.

But, even when the two of us joined in the effort, there’s no progress at all.

For knew that.

-I don’t think it’s working…

Neither of us replied, still fully committed to trying, so she approached and put her hands directly on our shoulders.

-Hey… Snap out of…

That was what started it.

The moment she touched the two of us, memories we were trying to infuse into the statue flooded into her.

We didn’t intend on doing that of course, it was just a happenstance.

The “environment” we were creating, so to speak, was under tremendous pressure between the two of us, who were trying to force it one way. When another opening suddenly surfaced, it didn’t even take a second for that pressure to vent right towards it.

Towards For.

It was like a very destructive feedback loop.

When she touched us, she was still trying to contact us using her thoughts, and since the contact made us pour all the memories into her, forcing her to think about them, it was like we were targeting ourselves.

There was no escaping it: before we realized what was going on, the memories were already so strong that I had a hard time thinking straight.

I can’t even imagine what was happening to the two of them.

Instinctively, I wanted to break contact, but the problem was, I couldn’t. My hands were so stiff that my grip was tightly locked on the sculpture and the same was with For and Kon: I could see his knuckles getting white from gripping the side of the statue, while at the same time I could feel the iron grip on my shoulder from For.

Not good.

If we were to stay like that it only was going to get worse: the feedback loop was going to intensify and… I don’t know what.

If I still had a squishy brain, I’d say that it’d get fried. Hell, it would probably be the case with the other two, but would I be able to survive that?

If one of them would pass out the loop would definitely be broken, but that would also mean that whoever was the weakest would get overwhelmed, and judging by what was going on, take a pretty bad hit.

I am not some brain surgeon, but I doubt that it would’ve been good for whoever that would be, having their brain fried.

I had to think of something else, to break the loop.

Rob maybe…?

No. Of course not. He was not even our ally.

And even if he was magically somehow able to intervene, I doubt he even realized what was going on. Considering that type of magic, he was more than inept it seemed.

I had to do something.

No one else was with us.

Or was there?

The more memories were pounding at my own head, the more pain I felt, and more I felt like my head was going to split.

And I am not just talking from the pain. Sure, it was pretty bad, but there was something else I was feeling. Like my head was getting… more spacious?

It’s hard to say what that even was, but it definitely was happening.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

And then…

It broke.

If I was to compare it to something, it was like you were playing with a plastic ruler, trying to stretch it to the limit before releasing it, but this time you took it overboard and it finally snapped in two.

Was that it?

Was my mind the first to break?

Well, yes and no.

While it was true, I was the one that broke first, but it wasn’t exactly what I was picturing.

I expected for me to just black out and pass out from the sudden snap, but it was quite the opposite.

I felt… relieved.

The pounding memories stopped, everything calming down in the process, and the three of us had fallen down onto the floor backwards, away from the statue.

-Aahh…

-Urgh…

-Haaa…

-...

The three of us were lying on the floor moaning from the sudden pain and even more sudden release.

-What… What happened…?

I slowly raised my head and tried to look about, to check on everybody else.

I had a bit of a hard time doing it though, I barely was able to see, still a bit woozy and my sight wasn’t exactly clear, because I was seeing double, or well, something like that.

I could swear that next to me there were more than just two people lying on the floor, grabbing their heads.

Wait. No. I WAS seeing more than two people. Three, to be exact.

Was that Rob?

Did he somehow get involved in this?

Also no. I felt him too, he was right behind me, still up and now felt like he was absolutely terrified and about to run away.

So who was the third one lying there…?

I tried focusing my sight.

At first I just was able to see mana, as per usual, but that only confused me more, because I only felt my own.

Sure, yeah, For and Kon had some of it inside them, so that would explain it, but what about the third…

Wait a fucking second.

In front of me, between For and Kon, there was… a statue. Hell, no longer a statue: a full wooden person, who also had a hard time understanding what the hell had happened, because as I raised from the ground, so did it and stared at me with disbelief.

I mean, I say stared, but it was just it turning its head towards me: it was still faceless.

It was definitely the same one that just a moment ago was sitting on a throne in the middle of the room, which now was empty.

I could clearly feel its emotions, wildly buzzing inside its wooden body, from anger to confusion to surprise and finally to disbelief. Quite a rollercoaster.

The other two, who also had regained most of their motor functions, noticed the new creature and jumped back, readying spells to blast it as soon as possible but I stopped them immediately.

-Don’! - I yelled, raising my hand - Don’t even try!

Both of them already had something in hand. For a fireball and Kon something akin to a ball lightning.

Hell, the boy was getting better and better at this…

But, they listened to me, not tossing anything. Still didn’t release their spells, though.

-What’s going on?! Who are you?!

For was not wasting time, went instantly to questioning.

Reasonable decision.

But, our new arrival did not answer. Or, rather it couldn’t. Just turned to her, awkwardly moving its head. Then, it startled. I think only then it realized that it couldn’t speak, because it moved its wooden hands and started feeling its own face.

For was looking at the weird spectacle, not convinced.

-You cannot talk…? - she picked up. - That’s…

-...that’s alright… - I finished for her. - We can talk… just don’t be alarmed…

-What are you…

-I want to try and talk like this - I thought towards For. - Just let’s hope I don’t spook anyone inside too much…

-What is this thing?! - asked Kon. - It feels… strangely familiar.

-To you too, then…? I do have an idea, but…

I took a breath and tried to be as calm as possible.

If I was to try and use this method to communicate, it would be for the best if I was not sending some stray emotions along with my thoughts. Especially negative ones.

Locking onto the creature was easy. The mana in the “puppet” was strong and easy to spot.

So I did my best and started the “experiment”.

-Can you hear me…?

The creature flinched.

It clearly was not expecting to hear me like this.

-Don’t worry. I don’t mean any harm, as long you don’t harm us. Do you understand me…?

Creature again started moving its head, trying to talk, but quickly realized that it was not going to work like that, so just nodded, confirming.

-Good. Please, calm down, and talk with me. We aren’t going to hurt you.

It turned towards For and Kon.

Right, they were still holding their spells.

-Drop that shit! - I said to them out loud. - Don’t need to be hostile.

Kon instantly listened, but For needed another moment to think about it before her spell fizzled into a puff of mana.

-But what is it, though…? What happened?

-That’s what I am trying to understand. It looks like it’s confused as well. Or, well, I don’t think “it” is a very polite way…

The creature… shrugged?

Well, it was good to know that they weren’t angry about it, that is if it understood what we were talking about.

-So, you can hear us normally then? - I asked.

A nod.

-Ah. Makes things a bit easier. But you cannot speak, right.

A shrug.

-Right… What I am going to say is probably going to be strange, but can you try and repeat what I did with you… talk like this? - I asked, changing at the end of the sentence the way I was trying to communicate. - I think you should be able to…

I could feel some strain from the creature, but no words came to me.

But, I felt something else. An emotion. Confusion.

-Ah. Well, too bad.

It was not going to be that easy.

-I assume we don’t have any writing utensils…? - I asked my companions.

-Not really…

-I do have that spell to conjure ink… - said For.

-That’s not really helpful…

-We can make it write using a finger or something - said Kon.

-Can it even write?

The creature nodded, but almost instantly raised its hand and shook its hand.

I tilted my head in confusion.

I noticed that it started gathering a small amount of mana in front of it.

It also didn’t escape For’s attention.

-It’s casting something!

She was about to cast a spell herself to preemptively attack, but this time I just swiped at the mana For gathered and destroyed the spell before she managed to do anything.

-Hey! Attack it, not me!

-I would, if that was an offensive spell! Look before you act!

I could tell from the mana gathered that it was just some illusion magic.

A minor illusion, just a streak of light that formed into letters.

“Sorry.”

-No, not your fault. She’s just a bit trigger happy. I didn’t expect you to know illusion magic though.

The creature nodded.

-See, we can communicate like that.

-Useful trick.

-Right?

-For, you do try to be a bit calmer next time.

-My bad… but when I felt mana…

-So what? You can recognize it instantly, do you think there’s a way for someone to hurt you using illusions? Come on…

-I… I mean…

-Doesn’t matter.

-Let’s get back to it. So, hello, I know you probably have a lot of questions - I started the discussion, sitting in front of the creature - but so do we.

The creature nodded.

-So… what happened here?

Creature looked at me, a bit perplexed.

“I just woke up.”

-Ah. So you don’t have any memories of what happened before? What happened to this city?

“This city? Where am I?”

-Oof. Hmm… Well, we are, I think at least, in the capital. Arbo.

The creature looked around in confusion.

-Yeah, we were a bit shocked too when we found this place… especially in this state.

“What happened?”

-This city is for some reason deserted. We have no idea what happened, hoping that you’d know something, being the last remaining resident.

“I don’t remember being here.”

-Right… So what's the last thing you remember?

The creature tilted its head, pondering.

“Not sure.”

-A bit of an evasive answer for someone like you…

Again with confusion.

“Someone like me?”

-Ah… right. I haven’t given you my name yet. Right… I did change a bit recently, so…

-You think it’s a good idea? - interrupted me For. - Last time you did that it ended up with your head exploding.

-We’re fine. Don’t worry.

Both of them were clearly not keen on giving their names, so I decided to just introduce us all.

-This is For and Kon. My recent companions. And I am Mor. I hope you remember those names…?

For a second, the creature froze. Then it took a step closer, almost like it was trying to squint and see my face better. Not like it had eyes, mind you.

Then, it suddenly grabbed its head.

From inside of its mind I could tell that there was a lot going on.

I quickly assumed a defensive position to not get stunned by the flood of emotions, but those didn’t come. The creature was pretty proficient in keeping them bottled in.

Yet, I felt some spilling out.

Relief, surprise, happiness.

Suddenly, I felt its hands on my neck.

-Mor! I told you…

-Stop. It’s fine.

The hands weren’t there to harm me. And not like the creature could do that anyway with my crystal body.

It was hugging me.

Or, well, saying it would be a bit rude.

-Welcome back, Il.