By the time they reached the River Rat settlement, Elias could barely see. His enhanced vision had progressed beyond useful improvement into painful hypersensitivity. Every beam of light felt like a needle piercing his eyes. The world had become a blinding kaleidoscope of excessive detail and searing brightness.
"You don't look well," Jin observed as they secured the skiff.
"I'll be fine," Elias managed, squinting against the afternoon sun. "Just need to rest somewhere dark."
"What about the chest?" Hooks asked, gesturing to their valuable find. "Mama Reeves will want to see it immediately."
Elias thought quickly. "I need an hour. To recover. Then we'll bring it to her together."
Taresh looked skeptical. "Finds like this go straight to Mama. That's the rule."
"Please," Elias said, fighting to keep his expression neutral despite the pain. "One hour."
Jin studied him, then nodded. "He helped us bring in twice our usual haul. We owe him that much." The boy turned to the others. "I'll take responsibility with Mama Reeves. One hour, that's all."
Reluctantly, Hooks and Taresh agreed. They helped transfer the chest to Jin's family's dwelling, then left to deliver the rest of the salvage to the community's collection point.
Alone in the dim container home, Elias examined the chest more carefully. The Memory Walker sigil was unmistakable—a stylized eye within a spiral, representing the path of recurring memory. The lock mechanism had no keyhole, just a flat panel with five indentations arranged in a pattern.
As his transformation continued, the searing pain in Elias's eyes gradually subsided. His vision normalized, though with significantly enhanced clarity. He could now see details at distances impossible for normal human eyesight and perceive subtle variations in light that had been invisible before.
Visual Acuity Enhancement Complete.Night Vision Capability Unlocked.Perception Range: Extended
More importantly, he could now clearly see the energy patterns within the chest's lock—five points that pulsed with a frequency matching certain neural patterns in his own mind.
Acting on instinct, Elias placed his fingertips on the indentations and closed his eyes. He focused inward, searching for the resonance between his awakening bloodline and the ancient lock designed for those who shared it.
Ancestral Memory Access: AttemptingNeural Pattern Synchronization. RequiredSequence: Unknown
Elias frowned. The lock required a specific sequence—knowledge he didn't possess. He tried various combinations, pressing the indentations in different orders, but the chest remained sealed.
Frustration built within him. So close to answers, yet still blocked. He leaned back against the wall, thinking.
The Memory Walkers were collectors of experience, of knowledge. What would they value most? What sequence would they choose to protect their secrets?
As he pondered this, he noticed something peculiar about the memory-traces surrounding the chest. They weren't random. They formed a pattern—five points of concentration, each with varying intensity. The strongest point first, then descending in order of prominence.
Understanding dawned. He placed his fingers on the indentations again, this time pressing them in sequence from the strongest memory-trace to the weakest. The pattern was clear now: center, upper right, lower left, upper left, lower right.
A soft click rewarded his insight. The chest's lid loosened, no longer sealed by its ancient mechanism.
Secondary Objective Complete: "Secrets Beneath the Surface"Reward: Bloodline Lore Fragment. UnlockedNew Ability: Memory Imprint Perception.Bloodline Activation: 22%
As the knowledge settled into his awareness, Elias understood his growing ability to perceive the emotional and mental imprints left on objects and places. Every significant memory left an echo, and his bloodline allowed him to detect and interpret these echoes with growing precision.
With trembling hands, he opened the chest.
Inside lay three items: a small leather-bound journal with water-damaged pages, a metallic disc etched with complex patterns, and a crystal similar to the one the lore-vendor had given him, though this one was intact and clear.
Elias reached for the journal first. The pages were fragile but still readable. The text was written in an archaic form of the common language, but somehow, he could understand it perfectly—another manifestation of his awakening heritage.
Day 37 of Exile, the first legible entry began. We have established a foothold in this primitive realm. The local cultivation methods are crude but effective, drawing power from what they call "spiritual energy" rather than the psionic frequencies of our homeworld. I have begun adapting our Memory Walker techniques to this realm's laws of power.
Day 42: The locals are suspicious of outsiders. We have concealed our true nature, presenting ourselves as wandering scholars. Some of the more perceptive spiritual cultivators sense our difference but cannot identify its source.
Day 65: Breakthrough. I have successfully grafted Memory Walker neural patterns onto this world's cultivation framework. Our bloodline can now draw power from local spiritual energy while maintaining our unique abilities. The first generation of hybrid cultivators should manifest within three decades.
Day 89: Disaster. We were discovered. One of our number attempted to extract memories from a high-ranking sect elder. The backlash exposed our alien nature. They call us demons, abominations. We flee northward tomorrow.
Day 103: Only three of us remain. Veren fell yesterday, his memories extracted and body burned by the sect hunters. I carry our legacy now—the last pure Memory Walker of the Thorne lineage. If you read this, descendant, know that our line continues through you.
Day 104: They have found us. I leave this chest in the place where two rivers meet. The memory crystal contains what remains of our collective knowledge. The catalyst disc will accelerate your awakening, but use it with caution—too much, too quickly will draw attention from BOTH worlds.
Remember: We are not invaders. We are refugees. Survivors of a war that consumed stars. Whatever they call us—demons, thieves, monsters—we are simply the last echoes of a civilization that valued knowledge above all else.
The final entry ended abruptly. Elias stared at the words, mind reeling from their implications. His bloodline wasn't just rare—it was alien to this world entirely. The Memory Walkers had come from another realm, fleeing some cosmic conflict. They had adapted their abilities to function within this world's cultivation framework.
This explained why the System felt both familiar and foreign. It was likely a technology from his ancestors' homeworld, designed to awaken and accelerate bloodline traits that would otherwise remain dormant.
He picked up the metallic disc next. It was approximately the size of his palm, covered in spiraling patterns and glyphs similar to those he'd seen in the memory crystal vision. As his fingers traced the patterns, the disc grew warm. Knowledge blossomed in his mind:
Mnemonic CatalystPurpose: Accelerate Bloodline Awakening.Warning: Rapid Acceleration May Trigger Detection Protocols
Elias set the disc aside cautiously. The warning troubled him. Detection protocols by whom? The sects that had hunted his ancestors? Or something else, something from the world with two suns?
Finally, he reached for the memory crystal. Unlike the fragmented one the lore-vendor had given him, this crystal was pristine—a perfect hexagonal prism that caught the dim light and refracted it in impossible patterns. But before he could attempt to access its contents, he heard voices outside.
"I don't care what the boy said," came Mama Reeves's distinctive voice. "When something like this is found, I need to know immediately."
Elias quickly replaced the crystal and disc in the chest, but kept the journal, tucking it inside his shirt. He closed the chest just as the door swung open.
Mama Reeves stood framed in the entrance, Jin behind her looking apologetic. The matriarch's eyes narrowed as she took in the scene.
"You opened it," she said, not a question but an accusation.
"It was already damaged," Elias lied smoothly. "The lock gave way when I examined it."
She crossed the small space with surprising speed, kneeling beside the chest. Her fingers traced the Memory Walker sigil with unexpected reverence.
"Do you know what this is?" she asked, voice suddenly soft.
"An old artifact," Elias replied cautiously. "Pre-Cultivation Era, Hooks said."
Mama Reeves nodded slowly. "Much older than that, boy. This bears the mark of the Forgotten Ones—those who came before the first cultivators. Those who knew secrets that the founding sects erased from history."
She opened the chest, her breath catching when she saw the crystal and disc. "By all the gods above and below," she whispered. "Do you understand what you've found?"
"Valuable salvage?" Elias suggested, playing ignorant.
Mama Reeves laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "Valuable? This is worth more than everything in our settlement combined. This is the kind of find that gets people killed."
She carefully closed the chest. "There are those in Whitebrand who collect such relics—especially those connected to the Forgotten Ones. They pay handsomely, but ask no questions about how such items were acquired."
"You're going to sell it?" Jin asked, sounding disappointed.
"We're going to survive," Mama Reeves corrected. "Winter approaches. We need medicines, preservation charms for our food stores, materials to strengthen our shelters." She turned to Elias. "You found it. By our rules, you get a finder's share—twenty percent of whatever it brings."
Elias nodded, mind racing. The crystal and disc were invaluable to his awakening bloodline, but he couldn't reveal their true significance. For now, he would appear to comply.
"When will you approach the buyers?" he asked.
"Tonight," Mama Reeves replied. "Such matters are best handled quickly. Before word spreads."
Or before the Hidden Hand learns of it, Elias thought. He remembered the meeting he'd witnessed through the memory-traces—Mama Reeves accepting the essence vial from the hooded figure. She had connections to the very people who sought him.
"I'll go with you," he offered. "Since it's my find."
Mama Reeves hesitated, then nodded. "Fair enough. Be ready at midnight. We'll take the night skiff upriver to the Noble Quarter. And wear something less... distinctive." She gestured to his tattered courier clothes. "We'll be passing as merchants, not River Rats."
After she left with the chest, Jin turned to Elias. "Sorry about that. Hooks couldn't keep his mouth shut."
"It's fine," Elias replied. "I understand the rules."
Jin lingered, clearly troubled. "Mama doesn't usually handle sales herself. And she never goes to the Noble Quarter. Whatever's in that chest..." He trailed off, then shook his head. "Just be careful tonight. Mama's a good leader, but she's survived this long by always having a backup plan. Usually at someone else's expense."
The warning was clear. Mama Reeves might be planning to use Elias as a distraction—or worse, a scapegoat—if the transaction went poorly.
Once alone, Elias removed the journal from his shirt and continued reading the water-damaged pages. Most entries were illegible, but fragments provided tantalizing hints about the Memory Walkers' abilities and history:
...neural transference allows for direct skill acquisition without traditional practice...
...memory harvesting requires consent for stability, though forced extraction is possible at great risk to both parties...
...bloodline dilution occurs with each generation, but can be reversed through specific catalysts...
...System was originally designed for interstellar colonization, adapting bodies to new environmental conditions...
This last fragment caught Elias's full attention. The System had been created by the Memory Walkers—or perhaps by whoever had driven them from their homeworld. It was technology, not magic, designed to help bodies adapt to alien conditions.
Was that what it was doing to him now? Adapting him to something? Preparing him for some purpose its creators had embedded within its programming?
Next Trial: 45 minutes.Physical Recalibration: Musculature Density Phase 2.Caution: Significant Discomfort Expected
The notification appeared with perfect timing, as if the System had been monitoring his thoughts. Elias closed the journal and hid it beneath a loose floorboard he'd noticed earlier. He couldn't risk carrying it tonight, but he also couldn't leave it in the open.
He had forty-five minutes to prepare for both the coming trial and the midnight expedition to the Noble Quarter. He would need all his wits about him for both challenges.
The journal's revelations had raised more questions than answers, but one thing was becoming increasingly clear: the System was transforming him into something unprecedented in this world—a fully awakened Memory Walker, capable of abilities that even the ancient sects had feared enough to attempt genocide.
And now, those same sects ruled Whitebrand from their towers in the Noble Quarter—the very place Mama Reeves intended to take him tonight.