Forget Where We Were (reupload!)

Chapter 18

Alhaitham no longer knows how long it has been since he got trapped in the dream, much less knew how much time had already passed in the waking world.

Kaveh must have been worried. Nahida and Tighnari must be doing a lot to keep his physical body healthy and stable. That meant he needed to get out of this realm soon.

It was not hard to figure out the mechanics of the realm. It was like a big showroom of Kaveh's key memories in his life and so there should be a backroom somewhere that could lead him deeper, and perhaps, find a way to locate the last fragment he has yet to lead home.

If he were to remain trapped here for eternity, it would not be ideal at all and Alhaitham would have to exhaust all possibilities of getting out of this dream realm. Yet if this was designed to be his fate, his punishment, and his way of atoning for his failures to save Kaveh, then Alhaitham would accept this wholeheartedly.

Now, Alhaitham was able to unlock a path from the Palace of Alcazarzaray all the way past Khaj-Nisut as he headed to the already abandoned Tanit Tribe camps. Opening the pathway was not easy at all. There were puzzles and monsters, exhausting Alhaitham's capabilities to no end. He must push further, though, until he could reach the dream realm version of the chamber.

That was the best place he could think of that could break this curse for good.

As he walked closer and closer to the camps, two primal constructs appeared before him. They glowed more red than their usual blue tint. The corruption has spread this far, and Alhaitham has no other choice at the moment but to manifest his sword and fight his way through.

Once they were defeated, they began to dissipate into nothing. Alhatham let out a sigh and continued his traversal of the desert.

He arrived at the area where the sinkhole was located in record m jumped right in, taking advantage of the fact that this was nothing but a dream realm and his being trapped here was already the worst thing that could happen. Jumping down and fighting would not cause him more harm.

The scribe walked past the runic puzzles, heading straight to the chamber. Purple flowers that made most of the foliage around the area almost blocked the entrance completely as Alhaitham stepped inside. There were footprints and fresh blood by the door.

Kaveh's memory fragment should be here.

As if on cue, a distinct voice rang around the chamber walls. Alhaitham sought out the origin of the voice and found Kaveh scolding the eremite he was with that day he was presumed lost.

"I told you I can do it myself," Kiran was telling Zamir. "You didn't have to jump in like that. They're just normal Primal Constructs. Now, you got wounded. We have to rest here first before we can continue."

"Architect," spoke the Eremite. "You can leave me here. Go and save your own life. Don't you have a project to finish?"

"I can't do that! Maybe there's something here that can help us. Don't give up too easily. It's not the end of the world yet," Kaveh shook his head as he started rummaging around the chamber, putting Mehrak and his claymore aside.

Alhaitham watched the events unfold before him.

Kaveh looked for something, anything, but all he found were artifacts and some mora. He already gave Zamir the last of Tighnari's herbs he had on him, and their water was almost used up as well, with Kaveh using a lot of it to wash the Eremite's wound.

It took the architect a while to find the stone slate. Kaveh, despite the urgency of his companion's health, gasped as the slate revealed the words to him. The ground started to shake. It lasted for a few seconds.