My world-tree system-Chapter 60 - 59: Memories

Foster was moving quickly, worried about Kassandra’s condition despite the fact that the bond between them made him feel she was doing quite well, and Lïanna was following close behind.

He and she hadn’t exchanged a word during the journey. There was no need.

As they passed through the door of the medical room, Foster froze for a moment.

Kassandra was awake.

Lying on the silk couch, her gaze riveted to the ceiling, she seemed... lost.

It wasn’t just the fatigue of a long coma. It wasn’t just the pain still tugging at her body.

No.

Something inside her was broken.

- Kassandra...

His voice startled the young woman, who slowly turned her head towards him. Her azure gaze was veiled by a glint he didn’t know.

A glint of doubt.

Of fear.

Lïanna stepped forward, crossing her arms and watching Kassandra attentively.

- You’re awake. How do you feel?

Kassandra opened her mouth, hesitated. Her breath trembled slightly.

- Different.

A shiver ran up her spine.

- Everything seems... fuzzy. My own body doesn’t really belong to me anymore.

Her gaze shifted to her arms, her hands. Dark veins still snaked across her skin in places, remnants of the mark that had tried to consume her.

- This bond... she murmured. I feel things I shouldn’t.

She slowly looked up at Foster.

- You.

Foster nodded.

- I know. I know.

A silence fell over the room.

Lïanna frowned slightly, arms still crossed.

- I think I have a theory," she said. This bond... it must have been born of the fight against Foster’s mark and blood, and only then did you share something in common.

Kassandra flinched.

- I didn’t want this.

- Neither did we," Foster conceded. But it’s there. We need to understand what it means.

She nodded slowly, but something in her eyes showed she was still struggling with the idea.

Foster sighed, running a hand over the back of her neck.

- We’re not going to force you to talk about it now. You just rest. Lïanna and I will-

- Wait.

His voice rose abruptly.

Foster and Lïanna stopped dead in their tracks.

Kassandra clutched the sheets between her fingers, her breath catching.

- I have... memories.

Foster froze.

Lïanna exchanged a glance with him before slowly approaching.

- Memories of what?

Kassandra swallowed hard.

- They called themselves the Lords of the Apocalypse.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop sharply.

Foster felt his heart miss a beat.

- The what?" he feigned, pretending not to know who she was talking about.

Kassandra closed her eyes for a moment, as if to gather her thoughts. When she opened them again, they were haunted by a visceral fear.

- I saw them.

Her hands trembled.

Silence hung over the room, disturbed only by Kassandra’s irregular breathing. Foster, standing at the foot of the bed, hadn’t moved an inch since she’d uttered those words.

- Are you sure you know what you’re saying?" he asked, his voice deeper than he would have liked.

Kassandra nodded, but Foster didn’t miss the slight trembling of her fingers on the sheets.

- I... She hesitated, searching for words. It’s all a blur, like a dream that fades when you wake up. But there are some things I’m certain of.

Foster exchanged a glance with Lïanna, who stood a little back, arms crossed. Her expression, usually neutral, was harsher than usual.

- Tell me everything you remember," she said calmly.

Kassandra closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.

- I remember...

Her voice was almost a whisper.

- I was somewhere else. Not in my body. As if I were trapped in a place that didn’t exist.

Foster felt a chill run up his spine.

- Describe this place," he insisted.

Kassandra frowned, trying to put images to her memories.

- It was dark. But not like the night... She shook her head. It was like being immersed in something liquid, an ocean of darkness that held me. And all around me... voices.

Her breath caught for a moment.

- No... not voices. Presences.

Foster felt his jaw tighten.

Kassandra opened her eyes, gazing into Foster’s. Her expression hardened.

Her expression hardened.

- They were there, all around me. I couldn’t see them, not really... but I could feel them.

She ran a trembling hand over her arm, as if the sensation was still imprinted in her flesh.

- It was oppressive. As if every muscle in my body refused to move under their gaze.

Foster moved slightly closer, catching in her pupils a fear he’d never seen in her before.

- What were they doing?

Kassandra hesitated for a second.

- They were talking.

Lïanna arched an eyebrow.

- Between them?

- Yes... and no. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Foster squinted.

- Explain.

Kassandra looked down at her hands, observing them as if they no longer belonged to her.

- It’s hard to tell. Sometimes their voices were like whispers fading into nothingness, and other times they sounded as if they were piercing me directly.

She shivered, shaking her head slightly.

- But there’s one thing I do know.

Foster and Lïanna held their breath.

- They were talking about Vollua.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Lïanna was the first to break the stillness.

- What exactly did they say?

- This is where it gets complicated.

Kassandra closed her eyes, massaging her temples.

- I’ve only got snatches. Bits and pieces of sentences floating around in my mind with no apparent logic.

Foster crouched at the edge of the bed, staring at her friend with burning intensity.

- Try it. Even if it doesn’t make sense.

Kassandra inhaled deeply.

- I’ve heard of the "broken shackle". Of an "approaching time". Of "blood reborn".

She opened her eyes, giving them a worried look.

- And... a "heart to be extinguished".

Silence returned, even more oppressive.

Foster felt his mind racing.

- A heart to extinguish?

Lïanna crossed her arms thoughtfully.

- It could be a metaphor...

Foster shook his head.

- Or a target.

Kassandra nodded slowly.

- That’s what I’m afraid of too.

She ran a nervous hand through her hair, before murmuring:

- I think they’re up to something. Something big.

Lïanna stared at Foster with gravity.

- If these memories are real... then Vollua is in danger.

Foster straightened up, clenching his fists.

- We can’t take this lightly.

Kassandra raised a troubled eyebrow at him.

- Foster...

he paused.

- I don’t know what the mark did to my body... but I do know what it did to my mind.

His voice trembled slightly.

- It let me see a horror I can’t forget.

She shuddered.

- And these Lords... they’re not just powerful. They’re...

She searched for words, her throat knotting.

- They’re beyond anything we can conceive.

There was silence.

Foster slowly laid a hand on her shoulder.

- Trust me, Kassandra, as long as I’m alive, they won’t set foot here.

Kassandra remained silent for a moment, her eyes lost in the void. Her breath was still ragged, her mind muddled by everything she’d just confided.

- Well, I think that’s enough for tonight!

Foster was about to stand up, thinking the discussion was over, but she suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist.

- Hold on.

Her voice was slightly shaky, but imbued with an urgency Foster couldn’t ignore. He turned to her, his eyes piercing hers.

- Anything else you’d like to tell me?" he asked earnestly.

Kassandra took a deep breath, searching for the right words.

- That’s not the only thing I wanted to talk to you about...

Lïanna, who had stood slightly back until then, raised an eyebrow and approached, attentive.

- Go ahead, Kassandra," she encouraged her in a calm voice.

The young woman clutched the sheets between her fingers.

- When... when our bond was created, when you put your blood inside me to free me from the mark...

She looked up at him, troubled.

- I felt something inside you.

Foster frowned.

- Something?

Kassandra nodded slowly.

- Presences.

There was silence.

Foster exchanged a glance with Lïanna, then turned his full attention back to Kassandra.

- Presences... he repeated slowly.

She swallowed hard.

- She swallowed hard. Not just one, many. They were there, inside you. Not as memories... no, it was deeper than that.

Foster felt a strange tension build in his muscles.

- And what were they saying?

Kassandra’s gaze became more piercing.

- They called you the Chosen One.

A crushing silence fell over the room.

Foster opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Kassandra continued, her hands clutching the sheets.

- They’ve whispered your name. They expect so much of you, as if you were the last chance they had, as if after you there would be no hope.

Foster felt a chill run down his spine.

- What were those voices like?" asked Lïanna, her tone even more serious.

Kassandra hesitated.

- They were... ancient. Powerful. Wise. But also... sad.

She shook her head slowly, struggling to make sense of what she had felt.

- They didn’t speak like the Lords of the Apocalypse. They weren’t there to break me, to manipulate me. They... they seemed to want to guide you.

Foster ran a hand through his hair, his gaze fixed on the floor.

- Who are they?" he asked.

Foster sighed, hesitating to answer.

- Foster, we’ve got to know! Especially her! Why didn’t you tell us?

Foster sighed again.

- The old avatars of the Seed, that’s all I know," he finally murmured.

Kassandra looked at him, bewildered.

- You’ve heard them before, haven’t you?

Foster raised his head.

- Yes, I have.

His expression was indecipherable.

- But you weren’t supposed to be able to hear them.

Kassandra clenched her fists.

- And yet, I heard them.

She placed a hand on her own chest, just above her heart.

- And this bond we have now... it’s not normal, is it?

Foster shook his head, his gaze hardening.

- No. It’s not just a blood tie. If you can even hear the old avatars, you’re now linked to my destiny in one way or another. Maybe you’re even more involved than we think.

Foster turned back to Kassandra.

- Did the voices tell you anything else?

She nodded, slowly.

- Just before I woke up... one of them whispered something else.

She stared at Foster, trying to catch his reaction.

- "Kaïus"

Foster stiffened imperceptibly.