Help at least 100 humans to resolve a problem that would change their lives for the better.
That was the trial Adam had assigned to Alex, and to keep track of each problem he had helped to resolve, he had purchased journals where he had written down the details of each task.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason he had purchased the journals, as the other reason was simply because he was too scared to trust his memories any longer.
If it so turned out that Nyx ended up taking everything away, he hoped that he would be able to remember by reading what had been recorded.
It was also the reason he had taken up painting.
In any case, each journal he’d purchased was kept aside for a particular purpose, and currently, the one he was reading was meant to serve as records for the tasks he carried out to complete the Trial.
The journal had a hundred pages, and ninety-nine of those pages were supposed to be filled with one left, signaling the last task that would serve as the end to his sojourn in Sklaviunt.
Yet, contrary to his expectations, that hundredth page had already been filled, and even more surprising was that it was filled with a completely unfamiliar case.
With furrowed brows, Alex read and reread the contents of the page, struggling to recall when he had written them only to pull up repeated blanks.
The fact that the date at the top of the page was yesterday made it even worse because Alex could accept that he had a poor memory if the right argument was made, but to the extent he would forget such an important event that happened just a day before?... It was hard to accept.
"Leokhares." He breathed out, almost like he was hoping that saying the name out loud would help him remember it better.
Of course, that didn’t happen, further upsetting him.
Then his attention was drawn to where he had written down the items kept aside as evidence.
Taking a moment to calm himself, he got to his feet and was about to let go of the book, only to pause.
Then, he snapped, exerting his Will on the aether in a bid to utilize Mindscape, which protected his mind from external influences.
Once this was done, he made his way to where evidence was kept within his office and opened it, quickly finding the items that were listed in the report.
A little girl’s dress, a textbook... everything was there, and as he came to accept that the words written on the hundredth page were not to be ignored, he loudly called out.
Arwen hurried over after she was done bathing, not even getting the chance to properly dry her hair due to the urgency in Alex’s voice.
With a perplexed look on her face, she inquired. "What is it?"
"Do you recall the visitor we had last night?... A middle-aged man came asking us to find his daughter."
Arwen frowned. "We had a visitor?"
"You don’t remember?"
"That..." Arwen paused, taking the time to ponder before ultimately shaking her head. "No."
"What do you recall from last night?" Alex asked.
Arwen didn’t respond immediately, instead taking the time to ponder before ultimately replying with a hint of dread. "... I don’t remember anything."
For ordinary people, they might attribute it to something like amnesia or some other mental disorder, but for Alex and Arwen, they understood the severity of the situation.
Alex immediately snapped once again, this time, applying Mindscape to Arwen’s mind to protect her.
"Alex, what’s going on?" Arwen asked, visibly shaken by the realization that something had happened last night.
Alex shook his head. "I’m not sure, but we had a visitor last night and he gave us a case which was meant to be our hundredth case."
"But we forgot all about it and went out to look for another case..."
"Where’s your journal?"
"The old one or the new one?"
Scratching her head awkwardly, Arwen explained. "I couldn’t find the old one, so I picked up a new one for use today."
A snap swiftly followed as Alex exerted his Will, causing an inky blackness to escape his shadow before swiftly engulfing the entire house.
Then, he closed his eyes and listened.
"It’s under your pillow." Alex simply said before he continued to listen while Arwen hurried to her room to pick up the journal.
By the time she returned from picking it up, Alex was done.
"You are right. We had a visitor last night."
"So someone or something made a move against us." Alex intoned.
"Did you find anything?"
"No." Alex shook his head.
"Alex, are we in danger?" Arwen asked.
Alex shook his head. "I can’t say. Whatever caused us to forget clearly didn’t plan on killing us, else it could have... or maybe it can’t. Truth be told, we won’t know by sitting down here."
"We make a move tomorrow, try to get some rest for now."
"Alright, but I’m staying with you."
"We’ll sleep in the living room."
"Understood." Arwen nodded in agreement. "I’ll go get changed."
"And Arwen," Alex called out just as she turned to leave.
"Don’t let go of that journal, no matter what. You understand?"
"Mn." Arwen nodded before taking her leave.
There was another song that night, beautiful in its rhythm, its melody like none other, but unlike previous times, she did not sink into it; she did not lose herself to it.
Instead, she realized with terror that underneath the beauty of the sound lay malicious intent, and with that understanding, she fled from it.
The song chased after her, almost like it were a living being, pushing her to keep going even when exhaustion threatened to bring her down.
Then, suddenly, she was within a strange place with black and white light, a place the song could not enter, and only then did she feel safe to once again close her eyes and rest.