“Is he...?”

Peck thought immediately. That who was in front of him...

“Dad...?”

It was his father.

It was the most sensible thought. It was in his memories, there was no one else around except for Leben accompanying him on this trip.

Although Peck had this man in front of him he saw him from behind, but the man held up a baby and Peck recognised himself. They had the same hair colour. A man of slim build, slightly taller than Peck.

He had no other reason to doubt this person's identity.

He stepped forward.

Peck's trembling arm reached out for his dad. He was at a loss for words. There was too much going through his head, too many feelings unravelling, too much he experienced in a few seconds.

A mixture of fear, happiness and anguish gripped Peck. The desire to meet his parents was close, but the feeling that he was about to fulfil it was suffocating him; it gave him the feeling that, no matter how close it was, something would happen because a scenario of such great happiness surely couldn't happen. Not to him. With every step he took, his body felt heavier, the more effort he made to breathe, and his eyes watered.

With his heart pounding, Peck soon began to feel dizzy.

Could something like that be real?

It wasn't.

Because it was a memory.

Even though it existed, Peck was no longer part of the time in which it happened.

“Stop it!”

Leben's voice came from behind Peck's back. He caught Peck's outstretched arm.

“If I say you shouldn't see it, then don't see it! It only exists to hurt you!”

In Leben's free hand, what appeared to be a sphere of air condensed and he used it to strike Peck. The sphere of air exploded, pushing him far beyond that house.

As Peck was lifted up by the impact, he saw the figure of what he thought was his father getting further and further away. He stretched out his arms trying to reach him, but it would be impossible. Not even the words came out.

Peck went through a cloud, heard glass shatter, because of that he would fall into another memory.

He crashed hard on the ground, rolling along the floor until he came to a stop by touching a wall.

He came to a noisy alley. He heard multiple people running. They heard metallic footsteps. Because of that he tried to stand up, but he was sore. He tried to lean against a wall to see his way out of the narrow place.

“Stand still and agree to die!”

“It was him! I'm sure of it! I saw him and you pushed me away!”

Peck heard Leben behind him, even though he couldn't see him, he shouted at him to claim him for what he had done. Everything Peck felt before was replaced by his anger.

“I'm trying to protect you!”

“You want to kill me!”

Peck finally turned around to see Leben approaching.

“For your sake!”

“Then why don't you kill me quickly instead of beating me so badly?!”

“That's what I'm trying to do!”

Leben's hand was enveloped in goo that in an instant transformed into sharp claws that easily cut through the brick wall next to him as they brushed against it.

“I don't want to die before I see them!”

For a moment he felt fear, but being one step away from meeting his father helped Peck gain momentum. With his right hand, he used Wind Magic to create a blizzard that pushed Leben back. Leben made it to the end of the alley, but didn't feel much pain.

“I see it wasn't a total waste of time sharing with that girl" Leben said, speaking about Sen. “I haven't wasted any time either”.

From Leben's back grew four tentacles, all eager to hunt Peck.

Peck raised his arms, raising a stone wall. Because the place was narrow, so Leben had fewer places from which to attack.

“Why don't you erase my memories with Sen too!”

The ground broke and from it two tentacles came out to catch Peck's feet. With one movement he was knocked down.

Above the wall appeared Leben's body staring at Peck.

“I considered it! But for it to work I'd have to take hold of the body for a moment and get away from her, she never let her guard down. Besides that...”

Leben looked stricken, like something he didn't want to admit.

“Your desire to preserve those memories was stronger than my influence. As you are my creator, I will not be able to go entirely before your will. This is my best chance to be the master!”

“No, it is my chance to be free from you!”

“I am not the source of fear, I am born of it! It will haunt you whether I exist or not! Fear is infinite!”

The meeting was interrupted by an earthquake. Everything shook and the wall came apart, causing Leben to fall and let go of Peck. Peck was quick to try to get away, taking advantage of the collapse, but on the way he thought to himself:

“If these are my memories... where am I now?”

Peck was heading for the exit of the alley, and just then two hooded people carrying a baby ran past. He decided to go with them, but Leben's tentacle caught him and smashed him against the nearest wall. Thanks to that they were moved to another memory.

***

There was nothing but a dead land surrounding them. Grass that looked burnt.

Peck didn't understand where it could be.

When he managed to get up he wandered. He couldn't see Leben anywhere near there either. In such a condition he did nothing but walk.

He kept an eye out for any disturbance, Leben might even come out from under the ground. Not knowing where he might be, it was easy for him to panic, but he tried to control his breathing to calm himself.

“I promised him I'd win...”

Peck repeated to himself what he had said to Sen before he entered the strange place. Even if it was his mind, it was a place full of riddles. With every second he spent in such a place, more memories came to him. It gave him a headache, but he could bear it.

“This place...”

Peck was going uphill. At the top he could see Batoru in the distance. It was one of the many hills that surrounded the nation. He didn't recognise it at first glance, because according to him, those hills have always had an abundance of greenery.

He turned again to look back. He surveyed his surroundings. Everything was abnormal. The sight of such a landscape gave him a chill, and nausea suddenly hit him.

Still, Peck had a feeling he should stay there longer.

Like so many details of his life, he couldn't explain it.

It was simply his instinct that if he tried to leave, something valuable would be lost.

Peck didn't move from his spot, but his legs were shaking. He still couldn't locate Leben.

It was he who would eventually be discovered: that is how Peck saw it.

Suddenly a pillar of purple light ascended into the heavens: it split the clouds and tinged the firmament with this sombre colour. A mournful aura enveloped this landscape next to Batoru.

When the pillar vanished, Peck had another feeling.

He ran to that spot.

At the source of that light he would find his answer. The truth was hidden there.

Step by step, the anxiety grew.

He doesn't know how long it took him to get there. Maybe a minute, maybe an hour, time ceased to matter for Peck who only focused on his destination. But this was a scenario of his mind, such a thing as time could be indifferent.

The moment he found the source of that pillar, he finally found Leben.

In that instant, Peck understood that this pillar was made of mana. A familiar one: his own, but at first it seemed to be Leben's. Either way, both are technically the same.

Leben wasn't moving. Instead, Leben was looking at 'something'.

Peck was afraid, but he approached anyway, slowly and cautiously. At a sufficient distance he discovered that the 'something' Leben was looking at was two bodies.

Two.

Peck spotted it at once.

The source of that mana.

What he knew so far about a Hell:

'Even a baby with a tantrum could destroy a country,' he remembered that.

“I...? I was the one who...?”

He killed his parents.

That was Peck's conclusion.

When his voice made itself heard, Leben turned around.

Peck was puzzled by Leben's expression: he was... crying. Even though Leben's face showed anger, the tears were falling.

Letting out a sigh, Leben turned to Peck.

“Why would you go to such lengths to see this? I can't understand it...”

Leben's words only confused Peck more, but at the same time, they reinforced the belief that his parents' death was something he caused.

A son who killed his parents.

If he thought so, Peck believed he deserved to die then.

“Is that... is that all?”

Leben seemed to hesitate when he heard Peck.

“Yes, now you understand. Let me kill you”.

“No, there's something else... something else...”

“No, there's nothing else left, Peck.  What you think is the reality”.

“There's something I don't understand...”

“Peck, that's enough. Your destiny is only to bring destruction. Let me rid you of that”.

For an instant, Peck thought about accepting death. He had no reaction to the reality that he might be responsible for his being an orphan.

But Leben's last words echoed... another memory came.

That memory manifested itself in words that came from the heavens.

Such an event distorted reality to send them to another time in their lives.

"His destiny is to only bring destruction. Let me rid you of that."

A voice that came from the past.

---

Next chapter arrives on Monday!