“So… that four-armed boy in the vision… you’re saying that was me?” Micky asked once everything had calmed down.
Percy nodded. Evidently, his familiar hadn’t truly regained his memories just yet. Not in any complete sense, at least. He’d merely experienced those scenes as an outside observer – much like Percy had. Still, the crow’s time with his old family had inevitably sparked several questions.
Percy proceeded to recount his experience on Huehue, to help Micky understand his origin. Elaine and Nesha also listened in, sitting quietly at the side. The former’s expression remained unperturbed – it wasn’t her first time hearing the story. Nesha, on the other hand, was a lot more curious. Percy had briefly explained how his familiar had been created, but not in detail.
“Now that we know it’s possible for you to regain your memories, we can work on it together.” Percy said upon concluding the explanation. “But only if you want to.”
The earlier development was undeniable proof that the old Micky was still buried in there somewhere, waiting to be dug out. After all, the flashback couldn’t have popped out of thin air.
But Percy’s feelings on the matter were rather mixed. Had this been years ago, he’d have been ecstatic. This had all started with a – rash and, possibly misguided – attempt to save his friend’s life. At the time, he hadn’t expected Micky would lose all his memories, starting over from a blank slate. The guilt over that still gnawed at him to this day. Suffice to say, helping his friend regain his identity was something he’d wanted the whole time.
Yet, there was so much more to consider. The new Micky wasn’t just a young, oblivious bird anymore. He was essentially his own person by now. Smart, energetic and fully capable of communication. Percy’s closest family. Somebody he’d spent the better part of the last decade with.
As much as he owed the old Micky, he’d only spent a couple days with him by comparison. And he had no idea how the lost memories might affect his familiar. Percy had no intention of doing anything drastic without hearing the crow’s opinion first.
“I’ll do it. I want to remember.” the bird replied after deliberating for a few minutes.
The bird remained silent, its eyes glinting with determination. Percy sighed. He didn’t know if this was the correct choice, but he understood where Micky was coming from.
His soul was made of three components – the stillborn bird’s, Percy’s and the original Micky’s. The last one was arguably the most important part of his identity. After all, the bird had no memories or intelligence of its own, and Percy’s soul would have only produced another clone if left by itself. Instead, it was the gladiator he owed his individuality to. Or even the very reason for his existence. Naturally, Micky wanted to know more about that person.
“Ok then. In addition to our other projects, we’ll make some time for the ocarina. If we’re lucky, it might jog another memory or two…”
And just like that, Percy’s schedule got filled to the brim again. He hadn’t even had a full day to digest his gains from the Vault when all of this happened. Now, he had a newly evolved Secret Art to explore, and to help his friend recover his memories. Not to mention that they were still travelling to the Thirsty Valley.
“Anyway, it’s getting late. Why don’t you guys head back to town? I’ll stay with Micky.” he said.
“Is that wise?” Elaine asked. “Shouldn’t one of us stay with each of you, in case your connection acts up again?”
Percy shook his head.
“The cord is currently under control, and we won’t be doing any more dumb experiments tonight. We’ll just sleep and take turns on guard duty.”
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Elaine was about to protest, but Nesha grabbed her hand, dragging her along.
“Come on. He’s right. When was the last time you slept on a proper bed? Take advantage until we hit the road again…”
Percy felt a lot better come morning. His head still hurt a little, though not as much as yesterday. He could have used a few more hours of sleep, but he’d survive. At least, nothing else had happened. The cord had reverted to its original state at some point while he was asleep. Still, he felt they could expand it again if they wanted, without much effort…
Looking at the empty space stretching between him and Micky – who was currently perched on a nearby tree – he noticed something peculiar. A faint thin line was there, linking his chest to the crow’s.
“Since when is the ethereal cord visible to the naked eye?” he asked, though it didn’t take a genius to guess the answer.
On second thought, it shouldn’t be visible to the naked eye, per se. It was probably his mutation doing the heavy lifting, drawing from his Status to make this possible. As for why he hadn’t noticed it the night before? Well, the darkness likely hadn’t helped. His mind had also been occupied by other things too.
At any rate, Percy was tempted to send some soul mana to Micky, to observe how the connection worked with his eyes. Sadly, he’d already promised Elaine not to do any experiments in her absence.
Sighing, he resisted the urge. Calling Micky over, he handed him some Aurora Dew, the two of them drinking their morning dose together.
‘These are the last ones… We’ll have to drink a regular elixir in the afternoon.’
It wasn’t ideal, but Nesha hadn’t found any suitable deattunement ingredients.
‘Man, I really hope the Holy Child leaves today. We need to get a move on…’
The good news was that Nesha had bought several crystal tulips for him. He had more than enough to experiment to his heart’s content, brewing multiple doses of trollsfury potion. He’d feel a lot safer with it too, the potion having already proven its worth against Jason.
Over the next few minutes, Percy used the Moirais’ technique to cleanse both of his cores, while setting his alchemy tools up.
‘Micky. Make sure to warn me if you spot anybody coming this way.’
The sun was already at its apex when Elaine and Nesha came back, carrying some freshly baked bread with them. By now, Percy had finished brewing, a newly bought leather flask strapped to his waist. He’d filled it up with even more potion than he’d used the last time. And there was some leftover too, which he’d stored in his amulet for a rainy day.
“You seem to be in a good mood.” Nesha noted, handing him his lunch.
“I’ll be in an even better one if you tell me the brat is gone.” Percy replied, biting a steaming chunk off the bread.
“Afraid not.” Elaine pitched in. “Though we did hear a few rumours about him. We still have no idea how long they’re staying here, but we do know where they’re going. Same place as us.”
Percy nearly spat his food out, his face twisting into a grimace. This was exactly what he’d been afraid of. Not that it was strange for a Holy Child to travel to the Thirsty Valley – that was precisely why that place even existed.
But it was quite inconvenient for them. In theory, they could try rushing out today and hope the Green-born’s entourage never caught up. Though he’d rather not risk it. Those people all had higher grades, so they probably travelled much faster than they did.
“Do you want to take a detour? It’ll add a few weeks to our journey, but it might still be worth it if we leave now.” Nesha suggested.
Percy considered it. It wasn’t a bad idea. Now that they knew where the kid was headed, leaving via a different route should be fine.
“Alright. But we’ll leave at night. Micky should spend the rest of the afternoon using Regulation to preserve his stamina for the trip.”
The crow didn’t need to be told twice. Or even once for that matter. He’d already activated his Wild Art the moment he saw Elaine and Nesha walking over.
“What should we do until then?” Nesha asked.
Percy handed her a piece of paper. He’d drawn her an example of the shape rune to practice on. Of course, the symbol itself wouldn’t be enough to activate the enchantment – he’d have to share some additional insight with her over the coming days. Still, learning to draw the rune was a necessary step. It should keep her busy for a few hours.
“If you finish early, continue working on Circulation. Meanwhile, I’ll be sending out another clone. Now that I’m done with Rambert and the Vault, I need to go back to spamming them every couple of days. As for Elaine…”
He flashed his cousin an apologetic expression. He didn’t really have anything for her. She didn’t seem to mind, however, waving his concern off with a chuckle.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ve been working on a couple new spells of my own over the last couple of years. I guess it’s as good a time as any to get back to that.”
And with that, everyone got started on their tasks. The Holy Child’s presence had really messed their plans up, but hopefully they wouldn’t have to worry about him after tonight…