Chapter 495: Heart to Heart, Core to Core, Same Thing
“Huh…I am getting the strangest sense of deja Vu…how did you two knock him out?”
“Jin Fang keeps bottles of sleeping elixir in her travel bags.”
“Rianna had him in a chokehold.”
“Course…imma open the gate to the library. I don’t think we need to scramble his memories too much…probably.”
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The Soul Link.
The moment a kaijin is created by a kaijin lord, an immediate and powerful connection is formed between the two in a very literal sense.
A bond made of aether and [Chaos], woven together into ancient and incomprehensible patterns and runes, it is used to connect the soul of the kaijin lord and the core of the kaijin,
Kaijin require [Chaos] in order to exist properly in the material plane, and the kaijin lord is the main font for this energy.
In exchange for providing [Chaos], the kaijin will cultivate and fight on the lord’s behalf, strengthening him and in turn, the flow of [Chaos].
However, the thing about this bond is that not only does it enable the exchange of aether and [Chaos] between the kaijin and the kaijin lord, but it also allows the exchange of a whole lot of other things.
Almost everything from memories, to feelings, to stimuli, all of this is shared between the kaijin and the kaijin lord through this same link.
These additional inputs of information may sound excessive, but when multiple kaijin come into the picture, this excessiveness allows them to communicate with one another on a level most armies and warlords could only dream of.
Using the kaijin lord as the “hub”, the kaijin can instantaneously exchange information and coordinate all sorts of plans, and in some cases, even exchange aether with one another.
But there are two keywords here that need to be focused on: “almost” and “want”.
Despite their unusual origins and the fact that they’re “made” rather than “born”, kaijin are still sentient, living beings.
And like all sentient living beings, they can choose what they want to communicate with the rest of the world and what they want to keep secret.
The bond may share all things, but the participants of it must be willing to do so in the first place.
Most kaijin don’t come into existence with anything too damning, but in some cases, when the materials are of a particular nature, and they just so happen to have a surprisingly compatible [Core]…
Secrets that were lost to time become found.
Truths that were damned are forgiven.
Memories that have passed, become present.
…
A memoir of a Damned Drunkard, written when he recalled a skeleton kaijin who was once his…
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‘What did she mean by saying too much?,’ Nepherage wondered as she stood there, stunned about Hurricroak’s sudden fury turning to tears and then panic in just a few short sentences.
Last Nepherage checked, Hurricroak was only created a few months ago at most and hadn’t really been through anything too traumatic.
She did recall a conversation they shared on the way here about “cellular memory” or something like that, but that couldn’t have been related to this moment…right?
‘Shit…maybe I should…’
“Hey…”
“Huh?”
But as Nepherage thought about her plan to go after Hurricroak and ask her what was going on with her exactly, Frosttusk appeared behind her, looking as solemn as ever, sounding as slow as a glacier like usual.
“Frosttusk? Did our lord sent you to check on us?”
“Not…exactly…saw you…go after… Hurricroak…Logos…and Pathos…asked me… to check…”
“Ah…well, I don’t know how much you saw, but Hurricroak just bailed after screaming at me something about having already died before, somehow…I have no idea where she went.”
“I…see…,” Frosttusk nodded in understanding before walking forward once more.
“Huh? Where you going?”
“I…think…I…know…where…she…is…go…back…to…the…river…our… Lord…needs…help… with…something…”
“Ah. Of course. I’ll leave you to it then.”
“Thanks…”
Nepherage turned around and flew off back towards the river, unsure what their Lord needed help with exactly.
It must’ve not been terribly urgent though, due to him not using the soul link to relay this command.
Whatever the case maybe, Frosttusk could make sure Hurricroak was okay without her.
Besides…she had a feeling she might make things worst.
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“Sniff, sniff… stupid…rock woman…,” Hurricroak croaked between sons, “what does she know about dying?”
In a slightly more secluded area of the trees surrounding the river, Hurricroak was currently curled up in a seated position,her back against a particularly large tree, her arms holding her legs and tears coming down her face.
Unusually though, she wasn’t crying in her kaijin form.
Rather, she was crying in a human form. One that looked rather similar to the form she presented to the others, but a touch older and with clothes that were more native to this world than the anachronistic style that she liked to mess with people with.
If a certain group of people saw her, they would assume she was a ghost.
“Me and my stupid mouth…why did I-”
*Crunch*
“-huh?”
Alerted by the sound, Hurricroak immediately switched back to kaijin form, a part of her wondering who or what would be stupid enough to bother a crying woman in the woods.
Granted, she wasn’t your average crying woman, but still, the principal was the same.
Let sleeping dogs lie, let sad women cry.
“Who’s there?!,” Hurricroak shouted while circulating her aether in an agitated manner.
“Calm…down…it’s just…me…”
“Oh,” Hurricroak said as her temper died as quickly as it flared once she saw that it was Frosttusk who had showed up.
“What do you want, you ponderous pachyderm?”
“Not…much…just…wanted…to…check…on…you…”
“I see…:
Assuming that this was the end of their conversation, Hurricroak proceeded to walk back to her original crying spot and sat back down. As she did, Frosttusk just stood perfectly still and watched as the frog-chimera kaijin did her thing.
Whether this was due to him being too cold to move properly or just wanting to give her space, Hurricroak didn’t know, she had been purposely muting her connection to Zhen Liu and the other kaijin.
They didn’t need to hear her having a breakdown.
However, despite wanting isolation for the time being, Frosttusk didn’t move. Instead, he just stood there, like a statue, watching her.
Needless to say, this bothered her quite a bit.
“Can I help you with something?”
“Are…you…sure…you’re…fine…?”
“Well if you must know, I’m doing fine. Please just leave me alone and let me cry in peace. I’ll head back to the caravan later and reconnect with the others,” Hurricroak said in a defiant tone. Granted, there wasn’t any malice in her voice. It was simply the type of defiance you hear from someone who was just sad and hurt.
“I just…want to be alone right now.”
As Hurricroak let out a deep sigh, Frosttuk didn’t take this moment to leave.
Instead, he walked up to the tree that Hurricroak was sitting against and proceeded to sit near her, with just enough space to make her comfortable.
Unfortunately, this didn’t really work.
Hurricroak, clearly annoyed by Frosttusk’s action, was just about to get up and most likely scream some obscenities about not being able to cry in peace or alone, when Frosttusk said something that threw her for a loop.
“Look, if you’re not going to leave me alone then-”
“I…remember…dying…too…”
“…what?”
Instead of saying anything outright, Frosttusk stood to show Hurricroak a tiny blue stone that was embedded in his belt, something that had been a part of him since the day he was created.
“Death…Echo…Amber…carries…memories…now…and…again…I remember…pain…coldness…fury…so…so…many…regrets…” Frosttusk told Hurricroak as she continued to stare at the piece of amber in shock.
She was tempted in the moment to scream that it wasn’t the same as her, that whatever pain she felt was hers and hers alone to understand…but then…
“You don’t get-”
“Not…everything…is…clear…but…some days…it’s…more…vivid…than…others…”
“…you do get it…”
Hurricroak and Frosttusk sat there in silence as the heaviness of their conversation made it harder to speak, but eventually, the latter managed to move it along…sort of.
“How…much…do…you…remember? Or…how much…do…you…want…to…share?”
“More than I want,” Hurricroak answered, her tone defeated and sad.
“I…I can remember basically everything up untiI…the day I kicked the bucket.
I remember thinking that it was going to be the happiest day of my life…I remember his stupid smile and my own silly expression…then I remember being utterly confused when the marquis showed up and declared his one sided obsession with me…followed by fear boiling in my stomach…and then…pain.”
Hurricroak let out a sigh as she kept regaling the memory. It was painful, how else is one supposed to feel about sharing how they died, but it felt like something she had to share.
“I remember the burning tears on both of our faces…the coldness of the sand and blood…and then darkness…nothingness for only the heavens know how long…and then I came back…with everything feeling wrong.”
“Wrong?”
