Zeke watched silently as the Chimeroi girl finished her meal. He tried to put on a carefree expression, but it became increasingly difficult to do so. Now that she had a name and a face, his guilt had increased exponentially.

Why did he even ask her name?

Zeke didn’t know. Yet he wasn’t able to help himself at that moment. No, that wasn’t entirely true. He had a pretty good guess as to why he had asked, but he deeply regretted it now.

Moments later, the girl finished the chunk of raw meat. Her gaze found him, but she didn’t seem in a hurry to speak. It was as if she expected him to take charge in this situation. Was that it? Was she waiting for him to give orders? Too bad he wasn’t about to do anything of the sort.

Soria slowly grew impatient as she noticed that he wasn’t about to speak. “What will happen to me now?”

Zeke raised a single brow. “Nothing.”

“Then… what do you want me to do?” she asked. “I promised to follow your orders.”

Zeke shook his head. “You can do whatever you want. But I suggest you continue practicing the breathing technique. It will come in handy later on.”

“…later on?”

“When you are back in the hole,” Zeke clarified.

“You are letting me go?!” she exclaimed. To Zeke’s surprise, her voice contained a mix of both excitement and regret. How strange. No, this wasn’t the time to ponder this peculiarity.

Zeke nodded at her. “Yes, I’ll let you go.”

“When?”

“When you wake up the next time, you are most likely going to be back in the hole.”

“Why don’t you let me go now?” Soria asked, a teasing note entering her voice. “Are you planning to attack me in my sleep?”

Zeke rolled his eyes. “I am going to erase your memories before I send you out.”

The girl looked horrified. “There is no way you can do that.”

Zeke smiled slightly. “Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?”

Soria's expression darkened further. His words clearly hadn't managed to ease her concerns; if anything, she appeared more convinced now. She was a strange girl. Whenever he pushed, she resisted, but when he withdrew, she pushed on her own. What kind of a life had this girl lived to become so twisted?

“Can you really do that?” she asked eventually.

Zeke scratched his head. “I am not quite sure myself. But it seems possible.”

“Then… how much am I going to forget?” For some reason, there was a hint of longing in her gaze as she asked that question.

“Why do you ask?”

“Is… is there a way to make me forget other things?” the girl asked, clearly hesitant to broach the subject. Zeke looked at her, silently assessing her request. He had a good idea of what kind of memories she wanted to erase.

“It depends on the memory,” he said after a while. “The more meaningful it is to you, the more damaging if I were to get rid of it.”

Soria lowered her gaze, remaining silent.

It seemed he had been right. The girl wanted him to get rid of a traumatic experience. However, it was most likely something that had been instrumental in forming her character. If he were to absorb it, she might die from the backlash.

Zeke cleared his throat. For some reason, he felt the silence to be very uncomfortable. “You might want to get rid of it now, but there is an upside even to the worst of memories.”

“Such as?” The girl clearly didn’t trust his words.

“It will make you stronger in the long run,” Zeke explained. “The reason I can not simply get rid of that memory is because it has already become essential to your development.”

Intrigued, Soria asked, “How so?”

Zeke smiled at her. “Our experiences form the person we will become. The more intense the experiences, the more they will help us grow. For obvious reasons, bad memories are often a bigger driving force than good ones.”

“Then I am going to become very strong,” Soria said, a genuine smile blooming on her face. It was a beautiful sight, wholly different from her usual expression. However, her frown returned a moment later. “What’s the point of telling me all of this? I am going to forget this conversation anyway.”

Zeke’s smile also vanished, replaced with an expression of profound sadness. The two remained in this tense atmosphere until Soria retreated to a corner of the hideout to start her breathing exercise.

A long while later, Zeke was still hung up on her last words. He had been so caught up in the moment that he had forgotten who he was talking to. Becoming very strong? No, she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t get the chance to. Why had he been trying to cheer her up anyway? That was not something her murderer had any right to do.

With a sigh, Zeke returned to his own practice. Even though he didn’t dare infiltrate the Soul of the Archmage at the moment, he could still improve the handling of his own tether. After all, the problem he faced right now was one of fine control, not comprehension.

Time passed quickly, with neither Zeke nor Soria disturbing the other’s practice. However, as the day turned to night, he noticed the first indicators of tiredness in the girl. As more time passed, she began to experience more and more lapses in concentration. Her eyelids were getting noticeably heavier as well. Yet, for some reason, she seemed to be actively fighting against falling asleep.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

It was a battle she had no chance of winning, and by the time each blink lasted a couple of seconds, she decided to give up her resistance and slumped to the floor. Yet, before she closed her eyes for good, she looked at Zeke one last time. “Good night, Ezekiel,” she whispered so quietly that he couldn’t be sure if she even meant for him to hear. “It would have been great… if this dream could have lasted for a bit longer.” After saying those words, she fell asleep with a peaceful expression on her face.

[Notice]

The test subject has fallen asleep.