The Reincarnation of Alysara. Chapter 3

AN: This chapter required more work than I anticipated. I'm still going to aim for sometime next week for the next chapter since I want to get my production back to what it used to be.

AN2: Got some editing suggestions? Suggest it on the Google Docs here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lX1ZaOufu5JIBq_rLeqDZNOcoRvldryhY4ldEgLn6VQ/edit?usp=sharing

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Three days later, we wake up early. Well… Mom and Dad wake up early and I am jostled awake when mom picks me up. We go to the docks where I can see hundreds, maybe even thousands of boats in the distance, all heading toward one location. A large island with a mountainous pyramid on it. We get on a boat along with several other people and start rowing to the same place everyone else is headed toward. There is a small village here and a really large port much larger than what the village needs. However, despite how big it is, it is crowded with so many boats that people needs to stack them on the beach so that others can dock.

The dancing auroras above cascade down like a great vortex upon the distant pyramid. The air is thick. I can feel a pressure rising around me as we walk along a stone path toward the temple. There’s so much mana here that it seems nearly tangible!

The mana in the air continuously becomes more oppressive the closer to the massive structure we get and I squirm in Dad’s arms. He hugs me tighter and softly purrs to calm me. There’s not much I can do other than to simply bear the discomfort, so I distract myself with the looming mountainous temple.

The pyramid is made with gold accentuated stone. Liquid fire runs down from the top, pooling in intricately etched stepped terraces. Grooves have been carved at the corners to direct the flames down into lower terraces. The bottom terrace corners overflow into four aqueducts that carry the liquid flames to the four corners of equally magnificent stone walls surrounding the perimeter. An archway leads to the grounds of the temple. What little I do see is a beautiful rock garden. The entrance into the bulding splits the stairs that lead to the top. Grand golden designs are displayed around the frame of the equally grand door where someone dressed in fancy clothes greets many visitors.

At the top of the pyramid looks to be a large floating gemstone orb with swirling lights glowing from within a dark void. Around it are three golden pillars holding up a ring made of some strange blue material, and beneath it is a pool of liquid fire. I can see a faint twirling storm of the mana aurora falling into the orb. Suddenly chimes ring in my mind. I’ve heard it before when I got Skills, so I think about it and information enters my mind.

You have gained Mana Toxicity Tolerance (Adept).

Mana Toxicity Tolerance: you’ve been exposed to high amounts of mana density leading to a build-up of mana, poisoning you. This skill will help you tolerate mana poisoning.

Mana Toxicity Tolerance has obtained levels 1-2!

It seems like this is an important Skill to have, since it seems that the sheer amount of mana here is dangerous. But now that makes me wonder about just how much the artifact is absorbing; without it, no life can survive in this place.

I put the Skill aside, since I can’t do anything with it except to safely be exposed to otherwise harmful levels of mana, and refocus back on wondering about the temple and how long it has been protecting these people for.

We reach the grounds of the temple where the grand rock garden I saw earlier is meticulously maintained. Crystalline clusters seem to grow out of the garden and glint in the daylight.

“Lá, Myrou oyái,” the greeter says.

Greetings, Myrou something. I don’t know what that last word is, but it probably has something to do with Myrou. Maybe just a religious greeting?

“Lá, uc xoly,” Mom and Dad respond.

We enter the pyramid, and I feel… something react deep in my very being. I’m not sure what it is, but the feeling gets stronger as we walk down a path toward a lifelike statue of Myrou. This one is not like the ones in the village baths. It seems almost alive. We pass rows of pillars that hold up the temple. Etchings are carved into these pillars, too ordered to be simple decorations or artistic flairs,They appear to be something more akin to writing.

…Egypt? Something about pyramids and writings on the pillars seems to resonate with my dormant memories, forming into a single foreign word and an image of a wall with simple pictures on it. A feeling of awe, wonder, and excitement bleeds over from the memory, almost as if I was there in person. This is the first time it has happened, but it felt less like I remembered something and more like a memory is reawakening.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember anything else, but the experience has my heart beating faster. What other memories like this are sleeping within me? I want to find out. Could there be a faster way of reawakening the memories? Perhaps something I can do?

My thoughts are interrupted when my parents sit down, among many others. 

“Myrou u͞c tf lymo tl Alysárá. Myrou u͞c tf Alysárá tl y.” 

They say something about me and Myrou to the almost living Myrou statue, and a moment later I feel a warmth envelop me. It is almost as if I am in front of Myrou, feeling her presence hugging me again, except this time that feeling I felt when we entered the temple seems to peak, resonating with Myrou’s presence.. The feeling quickly passes and Mom and Dad stand, leaving the temple.

We make our way out to the beach where a group of people are socializing. I don’t recognize any of them so they must be from a different village. Mom and Dad join them, greeting them like long-lost friends.

They show me off to the excited group who greets me.

“Láhoky,” the group says to me.

The Runalymo people sure love their social gatherings. First is the gathering at the end of every day, then the family get-together, and now this. They like to show off their creations, their family, their skills. 

I look around and see a lot of children running around playing games with each other, not interested in the adults’ mingling.

A group of older children play some volleyball-type game with four “nets”. The nets are long pieces of cloth held up by four wooden poles in the ground. The nets are set up in a cross to provide a gap vertically and horizontally.

It seems like passing the ball through the gaps earns you points or something. The ball is passed by bumping it to other players to try and score a point on the other team.

Other than children playing in the playgrounds, I also see some exchange of goods and coins here and there. Businessmen and women will always do their thing no matter the occasion, it seems.

I’m stuck with Mom and Dad, currently in Dad’s arms while Mom talks with a few long-distance friends. Dad has gotten a small break from his friends and is currently playing with me. He’s trying his hand at peekaboo, I’m not amused. I just look away to more interesting things. Dad looks dejected, his red eyes looking sad as his white ears droop, which perk up as Dad gets an idea and swings me around.

“Whaa!” I cry in surprise and anxiety. 

Dad sighs in resignation as I squirm around and cry, muttering something to himself. After some time, I don’t know how long, everybody trails onto one of the roads, which ends at huge inset coliseums with decorative banners displayed on tall poles. Instead of building up, it’s dug in the ground. It’s enormous with hundreds—no, thousands of people already seated, and it’s only half full! I didn’t realize there were so many people. 

Once the vast majority of the people are seated. Two people walk down a flight of stairs on each end that divides the audience into two half circles. They wear magnificent capes and very little clothing, pretty much a bikini. Once they are down in the sands of the arena, they enter a battle stance.

At the countdown of the referee, the battle starts. The contestants flourish their arms, one creating arcs of fire, and the other arcs of mist. They shoot fire and water at each other and twirl out of the way of the other’s attack in a wonderful display of trailing flames and mist. I want to keep watching! How the contestants beautifully dance out of harm's way and create sweeping arcs of flame and mist. I am in awe, finally seeing more than just simple water manipulation after a bath. 

The water mage flips acrobatically over a wave of fire that rushes across the ground. She lands gracefully, posing for half a second to the cheers of the crowd. The more I watch, the more I realize that it’s not a serious battle; it’s an artistic display, much like an elegant dance. However, it does end once the fire mage is hit. Three judges talk amongst each other before declaring the fire mage the winner.

This confuses me for a second. Ah! It’s not about winning the battle but who was most artistic!

I am sure that winning the battle counted for something; otherwise, why end it there? This is all but confirmed in the next ‘battle’ where two martial fighters clash sword against sword. They flourish, twirl, and pose in the middle of combat, obviously exposed to attack, but neither takes the opportunity; it’s all about the show.

Once the battle tournament is over, the Olympic-style contests start—races, throwing competitions, and so on. Since all competitors can compete at the same time, it goes by a lot faster. After that, dance competitions start, then music competitions, then paintings are brought and shown to everyone.

The paintings are all very similar to the design on the ceiling of our house, but these stir murmurs from the crowd; even Mom and Dad are quietly talking about them. Eventually, the judges choose one painting to receive an award.

I actually fell asleep halfway through the painting contest, only being woken up to the cheers and one was crowned the winner. Everyone then stands and walks to the beach to bathe, after which I resume my nap.

Sleeping for the better part of yesterday has me wide awake in the middle of the night and completely bored. I have nothing to do other than stare at the ceiling. It definitely means something, now that I have seen the paintings. There was also that one person that had something similar on her entire arm. What does it mean?

With no way of finding an answer, I put the conundrum aside and turn my focus to something else, the feelings I got with the resurfaced memory. It was wondrous and unlike anything I’ve experienced, yet it’s familiar. I want to remember more things and explore my past life. But how?  Whenever I meditate on my soul I am met with a wall; is that wall keeping my memories from me? There’s only one way to find out.

I meditate, focusing on my soul until I reach the wall again. Should I tear it down?

I push against the wall, trying to topple it. I ram against it but it doesn’t even budge. I pound against the wall, but nothing works.

I mentally sit cross-legged in front of the wall. Then it hit me—this is all within me, a construct of my mind or soul, so I should just be able to use my imagination to make something to help me get past this wall! It’s worth a try, anyway. I imagine a pickaxe and, to my astonishment, one appears in my hand. Grinning, I swing it at the wall only to be forcibly yanked out of my meditation as a sudden piercing pain assails my mind.

I hold my head and curl up as the ultimate brain freeze creeps over my mind; I just lie there groaning, trying not to cry out and wake Mom and Dad. I ignore the several chimes going off in my head, signaling skill notifications. It isn’t until light peeks through the windows that the pain has finally subsided.

Right—no forcing my way through the wall like that, never again. I’d rather have my eyes burned out from [Sense Mana Quantity] practice.

Alright, let’s check what I’ve gained and hopefully find out what happened.

Ting! Pain Tolerance has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling to 20.

Pain Tolerance: You have been subjected to high pain; this will help you tolerate such pain again.

1ˢᵗ Breakthrough: You felt soul retaliation; this will help you tolerate the retaliation pain

Ting! Pain Tolerance has obtained levels 3-5!

Soul retaliation… I suspected something like that considering the circumstances of the pain but to see it confirmed? No. This happened with [Sense Mana Quantity] too, I was already somewhat aware that I was in a place of high mana concentration, although at the time I reasoned it to be a ‘place of power’. This information only explains things I already kinda know or suspected to be the case. It might be that it can’t give me any external information.

I really want to regain my memories, but I don’t want to feel pain. Considering the retaliation only happened after I really tried to damage the wall it might be safe to consider non destructive means of trying to get past the wall; but is it worth the risk?

I can just wait for my memories to slowly return if what Myrou says is true. But that’s twenty years—that’s...uh... How many days are in a year? I don’t know but it must be a lot, I’ve lived for like fifteen days and it feels so long.

Alright, just one more try, no pain, and if there still is, then I’ll just fucking wait. I convince myself to give the soul thing one more go; waiting just seems too long.

I begin meditating again, slowly going back into my soul, back at the wall. No breaking it—I haven’t even left a scratch, and that was super painful. Actually, damaging the thing might just kill me.

How about I just use my imagination to make a door? If making a pickaxe can work, then simply transforming the wall should, too; I should have just started with that.

I focus on making a small door within the barrier. Slowly the barrier shifts, forming a door in it. No pain whatsoever, its going great so far! I sit down, calming my excited nerves, and once I’m calm again, I open the door and walk through to an empty void. where is everything? Where are my memories? Shouldn’t this be the inside of my soul?

Two chimes bring my attention back, and I try to open my eyes, but I can’t. In a panic, I look around. My soul barrier door is still open. I manifested my inner body there—maybe I have to return? I fly through the door and focus back on opening my eyes again.

For a brief moment, the world looks... strange like multiple layers are overlapped, and I see strange… things, like a wispy fog everywhere and bubbles floating around, but before I can comprehend it, pain assaults my mind like a million hot needles drilling into my head, and my eyes burn with every pain imaginable and unimaginable.

“Aaahh!” I cry out. The stabbing and burning sensation fight to dominate other pains, growing ever more intense only to be eclipsed by shocking, electric pain. It feels like my eyes are getting ripped apart, chewed from the inside out by tiny creatures, and melted by acid. Then the pain of being burned alive and drowned takes the lead as the pain of my bones snapping and breaking into thousands of tiny pieces tries to catch up. I shut my eyes as hard as I can, all the pain dying down, but the ordeal is too much for me to pay any heed to the several chimes echoing through my mind.

I hear Mom rush into the room and feel her pick me up. I can sense her distress as she looks around to see what could have hurt me. Not seeing anything, she starts soothing me with her purring and stroking my head. Tears streak down my cheeks as my body trembles violently. 

I vow never to mess with my soul again, I should have paid attention to the warning signs, but my idiocy put this pain on me.

As I calm down, an hour later, I focused on my notifications hoping for an answer.

You have gained the Astral Projection (Heroic) cursed skill!

Astral Projection: You have sent your consciousness outside of your soul; this skill will help you grow into a master of Astral Projection.

You have gained the Soul Realm Sight (Exalted) cursed skill!

Soul Realm Sight: You have peered into the soul layers of reality; giving you vision into souls, the soul layer, and soul sea.

Soul Realm Sight has obtained levels 1-2!

Pain Tolerance has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling to 30.

2ⁿᵈ Breakthrough: You have felt magical pain. This will help you ignore magical pain.

Pain Tolerance has obtained levels 6-12!

With these notifications, I realize now that the soul wall was keeping me in, not out. I guess the consciousness is held within the outer regions of the soul or something while the inner soul is probably where my memories lie dormant. Do I risk delving deeper into my soul for the memories?

No! I will never mess with my soul again. Not after that pain.

[Soul Realm Sight] says it’s cursed, right? Does that mean it’s the cause of the pain, or was that because I was fucking around in my soul? If it is, then can I not use it?

I shakily focus on not activating or deactivating the skill, trying my best to calm my nerves. I feel nothing, yet I can’t open an eye when I try.

Be brave. It’s going to work. It has to!

I slowly crack open an eyelid, and Immediately pain drives into my head once again. A lot less this time since my vision is limited, but I still cry out and hold onto Mom tighter.

Fuck, I still have the soul barrier door. I really hope that’s the cause. Mom, noticing me tense up, hugs me tighter and redoubles her soothing purr.

Once the pain subsides again, I start meditating; Mom’s soothing purr somehow makes it easier. Again I stand in front of the barrier’s door. I focus on returning the door back to just being a wall.

Alright, let’s try this again.

With nerves making my stomach twist in knots, I once again focus on deactivating and not using the sight Skill. I slowly crack an eyelid. Pain stabs my mind again.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

How do I not use this damned Skill?!