After reliving my past once again, I was now facing the man who summoned me.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"This is a link between you and me. I placed it in you when I summoned you and it would activate once you recover your memories", Shiroe answered.
"So you predicted that I would lose my memories?"
"More like I was the reason why you lost it. When you lose control of your powers for the first time, I made it so that you would lose it."
"Why though?"
"So that you would go to the Primordial Memory. This link required the power of a Primordial Being to work. Sorry if I gave you trouble but I needed to somehow talk to you."
He was silent for a while as he stared at me.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Nothing... Anyway, I'm here to talk to you about the Unkindness", he said.
He pointed at me.
"There's only one reason why I summoned you and that is to destroy them."
"Destroy them?"
"As you might have noticed, you're closely related to the Primordial Dark. The Unkindness will want to find you and use you in their goals. In other words, you are a vital part in their plans."
"What is their plan?"
"I don't know. I was just forced into summoning you to this world. But from what I know, they are planning to use your powers... There's one way to stop them."
"And that is?"
"You know the executives of the Unkindness? You must have met one of them. They all wear bandages."
I remembered the bandaged men I fought, "I've seen a few of them."
"Yep... Underneath those bandages are immortal beings. They traded their bodies to become living darkness. They are immortal. The only way to kill them is by absorbing their darkness. Only you can do it", he said.
"I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"Why did you summon me? Why can't it be anyone else? Was it because I just died and my soul would be easily transferred from my old world to this?"
"I know you can do it. After all, I know you better than anyone else. I even know that you wet your bed until 7th grade."
My face became red from embarrassment. That was a secret that I wanted to bring to my grave.
Everything was starting to fade.
"I don't have much time left. Listen, learn how to control your powers. Train like hell! A time will come where you will face them... And learn the truth of what you really are", he said.
The truth?
"Wait! What do you mean by that?!" I shouted but everything faded already.
###
I opened my eyes and got up. My body felt stiff as if I was lying on an uncomfortable bed for a long time. Turns out, I was lying on the cold hard floor.
"Oh. You're already awake, peko", Pekora said.
"Mikage... Do you remember everything? Do you feel weird?" Amelia asked.
"No worries. I remember everything. Feels weird reliving my life all over again", I answered.
"We were getting worried actually. You've been out for almost 8 hours. That's 8 times longer than Pekora's sleep", Moona said.
"Pekora slept?"
"That's right. I wanted to relive a certain memory of mine so I asked the Primordial Memory, peko", Pekora told me.
"How was the experience of living your life again?" the Primordial Memory asked me.
"It's like one huge dream but I could remember every detail."
"Why are you asking? Were you expecting something else?" Amelia asked.
"This is the first time this happened. I am asking to see if nothing went wrong."
"Mikage's not just a normal human. Maybe the Primordial Memory might have done something that affected him unexpectedly since he is a vessel of the Primordial Dark", Moona said.
"I see. Is that why you didn't want to relive a memory?" Anya asked.
"Yes. I'm worried that the Primordial Memory would somehow affect the Primordial Moon inside me."
I looked at the Primordial Memory and I could tell that it was hiding something.
"Thank you for everything", I bowed my head.
"You are most welcome", it replied.
Now that our mission was done and my memories were restored, we left the Hall of Memories. It was already dawn when we got out.
"Oh yeah... Mikage, your memories returned, right? Can you now translate the message?" Amelia asked.
I remembered about the coded message. Arthur Karalis had documents about the Unkindness that we recovered after he was murdered. One of the documents was the encrypted message that was found in Shiroe's lab.
Amelia handed me the message and I read it. Yep... They were definitely Japanese characters.
Katachinaki mono jiga mo motazu
Jiganaki mono ishi mo motazu
Ishi naki mono wo seifukushikanezu
Mu wo tashika na mono ni katadoru to genkei ga hitsuyou to nari
Hitotsu no jikuunai de wa onaji sonzai ga hitotsu shika orazu no wa yo no kotowari
Yue ni betsu no jikuu kara no genkei ga hissu to naru
Ijou no jouken soroeba, yami ga shuchuu ni osameru
The words entered my mind and I easily translated it.
"The translation for it is this:
Shapeless things have no sense of self.
Those without self have no will.
Those without will cannot be subjugated.
To mold nothing into a concrete something, an original mold is needed.
In one dimension, the same existence is limited to one as the world's law dictates.
Therefore the original mold must be from another dimension.
If the above-mentioned conditions are fulfilled, then the darkness is within our hands", I recited.
"I see", Amelia wrote down what I said.
Now that I thought about it, Shiroe spoke to me in Japanese when I met him in that dream world. He made a code in Japanese and he spoke to me in that language... Was he Japanese too? And for some odd reason, I felt that I have heard his voice before.
"Now then, Pekora... We managed to find the Hall of Memories. Will you return to the castle now?" Moona asked.
"I guess you're right, peko. I can't worry Mama all the time", Pekora answered.
She looked at us, "It was a fun journey, Mikage and Amelia. Let's hope we meet each other again, peko!"
"Same here. Don't cause trouble to Moona, okay?" I grinned.
"No promises!"
Moona sighed and Amelia let out a small laugh. We separated ways since Moona and Pekora were headed to Pekorias, the capital city of Pekoland, while we were headed back to Westa.
"Oh yeah. Now that my memories are back, I could tell Temma about the good news", I said.
"Go ahead and do it. He must be worried sick", Amelia told me.
I turned on my Excellular. My Excellular had a password in it so I couldn't use it when I lost my memories. That was why I just turned it off as we traveled.
When I unlocked it, a barrage of messages appeared.
They were all from Suisei.
###
A/N: Whew... Hall of Memories arc is finally over! What are your thoughts about it?
Also, I'm at the 40th chapter of this fic (41 technically if you count the prologue). I never thought I'd reach this far so thanks for all of your support! Look forward to the next arc!
Announcement: I'm changing my update schedule. Because I am working on two stories at the same time (the other one is a fanfic of a fanfic, check it out if you have the time!), I will be updating twice a week. My updates will be on Fridays and Mondays! Please continue on supporting this story!