Chapter 278: Personal History (1/2)
After a few moments to build up his courage, Mike started ”...There is no easy way to say this, but I'm basically a Reincarnator, or I suppose a Transmigrator might be closer. I died and was sent to this world with a new body. Because of that, I pretended to have amnesia in order to explain my lack of common sense and general knowledge. I'm sorry to have deceived you for so long, but I had my reasons initially, and then it simply became too difficult to explain.”
As soon as he was done, he glanced over at Tal, who had been silent this entire time. The elf stared at him for a few moments, the faintest hint of a smile on her face, before looking away at the trees. ”I understand. No apology is needed.”
He blinked, feeling a little confused. ”Are you sure? This is a pretty big thing I've been hiding from you. I was sure you'd be angry.”
She looked back, once more smiling. ”But you are sharing it now, yes? That means that you trust me enough to tell me. Why should I be angry?”
”That's...I'm not really sure what to say, but thank you.” He muttered, feeling strangely warm.
”Besides, we've known about you being a Otherworlder for some time now.”
”...Eh?”
For a moment, she almost seemed to break out into laughter, before the emotions vanished from her face once more in an seemingly forcible manner. She continued with a slight frown of annoyance. ”You are in a party with an Oracle, who has devoted much of her free time trying everything she could to divine the swirls of destiny around you. Both to guide you along the right path, and help you delve into your supposedly forgotten past.”
[Well, now I feel guilty.]
”Wait, so Sera knows too? Who else? For how long?”
”Don't worry. It's only the two of us. We decided to keep it from Brenden, since we were unsure of how he would handle it. You know he's a bit unstable when you are concerned.” She replied quickly. ”Shortly after we arrived at the University, Sera came to me stating that she'd attempted a ritual to peer into your past.”
”What, really? That sounds incredibly useful. Why didn't she mention anything about it before?”
”It only works if the caster is very familiar with the subject, and has something of significant emotional value belonging to them. Which meant that it's largely useless outside of a specific set of circumstances. I believe she intended to bring it up if she felt it might come in handy at some point, and planned on telling you if she discovered anything regarding your forgotten past. However, I what she saw rendered that moot.”
”I see. I suppose it would.”
”Besides, she temporarily borrowed Audra for the process.” The faint smile reappeared on her lips. ”I think she felt a bit ashamed about needing an entire chicken to bribe her into cooperating.”
Mike chuckled. ”Yeah, that sounds about right. Well, what did this ritual reveal? Do you know about my past life now?”
”Not really. Even an Oracle cannot penetrate the boundaries between realms, so she was unable to see anything farther back than the moment of your arrival in this world. Apparently though, that was sufficiently informative. Also somewhat traumatic, although she wouldn't explain why. Suffice it to say, she caught a glimpse of one of your titles. Specifically the 'Otherworld Traveller' one.”
Thinking back to the manner in which he'd first appeared in Ea, he could imagine what bothered her. [I'm going to have to tease her about this in the future.]
”Well, I guess that saves time, then. This tree guy is actually another traveller from my old world.”
Tal nodded. ”I assumed that was the case. Does this mean he will be as ridiculous as you?”
”Let's hope not.” Mike replied with another chuckle.
Silence descended between the pair for a few moments, until Tal broke it quietly. ”I would love to hear about your homeland, should you feel like telling me.”
Feeling that warmth again, he nodded. ”I will, I promise, but we shouldn't leave Reber hanging for too long. From what I gathered, he's been alone for nearly a century.”
”Alright. There is still the other door in the basement left to explore, as well.” Tal said, while starting to walk back to the cabin.
”What other door?” As far as he could remember, there was only the one entrance. He'd made sure to check for that exact thing, since it seemed so odd that there was an exterior entry to the basement that seemingly didn't connect with the laboratory.
Tal paused for a few seconds. ”Ah, I think I understand the problem. There may have been an illusory wall covering it. Once we return, I shall point it out to you.”
[Yep, definitely going to have to work on some kind of illusion resistance or immunity. If I stay like I am now, it could get me in serious trouble.]
When they arrived back at the cabin, they were greeted with the sight of Reber lying spread eagle on the ground. His eyes were closed, so he basically looked like a strangely humanoid piece of driftwood. After waiting a few moments, Mike coughed loudly.
The tree man cracked one eyelid. ”Sup?”
”We've finished our conversation, and were planning on heading back down to the basement to finish our investigations.” He answered.
”Cool, cool. Do what you got to do.” Reber fired back, before closing his eye again.
”Actually, I was kind of hoping that you'd go with us, since you are the person most familiar with this place. You know, guide us through any hazards. That sort of thing.”
”Oh? Why didn't you say so?” He replied, standing up. ”I don't know too much, but I'll guide you through what I can. I mean, it's not like I have any trauma related to being in that basement. You know, the kind that might cause a PTSD style flashback or anything.”
”Ah...I suppose that might be the case. Sorry to have asked.”
Reber tapped him on the shoulder. ”Have you forgotten already? Tree. Glands. Don't have them. While I still get a bit of the old plant stress response from being down there, I think it has more to do with the lack of sunlight and soil than anything psychological.”
”Alright...thanks.”
”No problemo, I'm just excited to be using English again for the first time in a while. Which, now that I think about it, doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Excitement is an emotion, right?”
Mike nodded as he followed Reber back into the cabin.
”So, maybe my brain is only partially a tree?” He frowned, deep in thought for a few moments before shrugging, ”Eh, whatever. Not worth worrying about it, I guess. Anyway, I'll take you through best I can, although I was serious about not knowing much. Spent most of my time here as a prisoner, after all.”
”How did you end up here, anyway? Surely you didn't reincarnate as this Fatima's test subject.”