//------------------------------//
// Convocation's Shackles 
// Story: The Immortal Dream 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

I awoke just before dawn to a polite, well-formed knock.

"Nnngh..." I stirred in my sheets. "What's up...?"

"Milady," said an unfamiliar voice that probably came from a guard. "I've been sent to remind you of an appointment in thirty minutes."

"An appointment?" I rolled over. "Don't have any..."

"This says it's classified," the guard read. "And was arranged at your behest by Sir Seigetsu. Does that stir your memory?"

By Seigetsu...?

"It's about our bracelet," Procyon said, sitting across from me in bed.

That shocked me awake. "Where'd you come from!?"

"I was sent by the Office of Itinerary," the guard said, understandably thinking I was talking to him. "Your reminder has been delivered. Have a nice day."

Receding footsteps heralded his departure as I scrubbed my eyes open. "Haven't seen you in what feels like forever," I whispered, blinking at Procyon.

Procyon shrugged. "Would you prefer if I changed that?"

I tilted my head. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't get along well with our other third," Procyon reminded me. "You've been spending more and more time trying to build bridges with her. And while that might not be an activity I approve of, I've decided to... let your will be done, I suppose. My role is as a spectator, remember. Nothing more. It's your life now."

I frowned. "Are you trying to make me feel like I'm pushing you out? By hanging with a crowd you don't like?"

"Not everyone can get along, Halcyon," Procyon said. "It's not an insinuation, it's an uncomfortable truth that everyone has to deal with. Anyway, I was scouting this castle while you were sleeping, and you have an arrangement with that creepy old batpony who erases memories. Seigetsu did offer to introduce you to someone who understood more about our bracelet, didn't she?"

"Oh, this is that?" I shook my coat out and started to dress, sleep fading and memories of my situation crowding in to replace it. "Well then, let's get going..."





The sky was turning purple in a pre-show to dawn when I stepped outside my room, entirely unsure where I was supposed to be going.

"So you can really fly around and scout stuff out while I'm sleeping?" I whispered. "How far away usually are you? Is that why you disappear completely at random intervals?"

Procyon nodded. "I come and go as I please. Although I'm anchored to you, it isn't a physical tether with physical limitations."

"Then don't you get lost?" I started to wander, trusting that if I was really meeting with a secret sect and hadn't been given a location in advance, they would have ways of finding me. "How do you find your way back to me?"

"I can smell you," Procyon explained. "Well, not smell, since I don't have a corporeal body and can't breathe. But it's the same sensation." She tapped her muzzle with a wing. "I couldn't explain what you smell like, either. I can simply tell."

"Weird..." I wondered why I couldn't do that when I let Faye take over. Or why she was permanently in my head, and never an external ghost. Or why I became a ghost like Procyon whenever she took over.

Why did all three of us play by different rules? I expected this to be complicated; we were a changeling queen with a magically-split personality. But even though I could comprehend it, there was no rhyme or reason to the way it had turned out.

"We're being watched," Procyon pointed out, nodding at a small servant's door hidden next to a pillar in the wall.

I turned to look. It was Seigetsu.

"What are you doing, sneaking around?" I asked.

"Taking care of unrelated business," Seigetsu explained, stepping out into the hallway. "My job involves a lot of sneaking around, in case you didn't know. I gather you are on your way to meet with Yelvey?"

"I think so," I told her. "But, I... don't exactly know where to go..."

"He has a habit of finding those he is looking for," Seigetsu said, confirming my suspicion. "But, if you like, I have a few minutes before my next engagement and would be most interested in escorting you."

I raised an eyebrow. "You wanna see what he says about me, eh?"

Seigetsu folded her claws behind her back. "Well, I cannot deny I am curious. He has been most tight-lipped ever since I reported my discovery of you. Not that the Order of Silence is known for being forthcoming."

"Okay. Sure," I said, grateful for the company. Somehow, my paranoia had yet to rear its head about this meeting, beaten down by the prospect of forbidden religious knowledge... but when it inevitably did, having someone around who had gone three days without attempting to do me dirty was much better than I could do in Ironridge.

Yikes, I was paranoid.

Chuckling nervously under my breath, I followed dutifully as Seigetsu stayed put and went absolutely nowhere. And, sure enough, a robed shadow graced the servant's entrance moments later.

Yelvey.

Just like before, looking at him put a strange tugging sensation in my heart, as if gravity weren't quite normal all of a sudden. He wore gray robes and a gray miter trimmed with silver, and when he saw me, he slowly, stiffly bowed.

"I have been awaiting you, child of Nencosay," he said in a stage whisper. "As, I am sure, you are awaiting answers as to the purpose of your curse."

Nencosay? Curse? I nodded, my throat feeling a little dry. "Hey there."

Seigetsu looked intrigued. "So, you confirmed my suspicion?"

"It was the most likely hypothesis," Yelvey rasped. "But let us not speak of these things here. Come, child. Let us return to my sanctum."

"I see." Seigetsu gave him a look. "I take it to mean I am not to be privy to your conversation?"

Yelvey nodded. "That is the way of things. Come." He wandered into the servant's door.

Hesitantly, I moved to follow... but was stopped by a light tap from Seigetsu.

"Eh?" I flicked my ears.

"Here," Seigetsu said, passing me a paper-thin, domino-sized strip of wood with some markings on the surface. "A good-luck talisman. Try not to break it. It is merely symbolic in our culture and has no actual power, but nevertheless I am certain as long as it is intact, nothing bad will happen to you."

Yelvey turned his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Err... thanks?" I pocketed the talisman. It felt flimsy, and surprisingly breakable... What was that all about?

"Take care in the shadows," Seigetsu said, turning and marching away.

Yelvey said nothing, continuing down the hall and expecting me to follow.

So I did. A prickling unease crawled across my coat as we descended, fueled primarily by the bizarre sensation I felt when looking at him. Did he feel the same for me? I hadn't felt anything like this for Coda, so it couldn't be caused by him being another changeling queen... Changeling king? Maybe he was an acolyte who knew about my powers even though he didn't have them himself. But then what did he have? Something about this stallion was deeply abnormal and wrong.

After no less than five hidden or secret entrances, it began to feel like we were in a crypt. In fact, this actually was a crypt: holes methodically lined the gray brick walls, boxes slid into each one that were a perfect size and shape to be coffins. Worn inscriptions covered the walls, magical torches sat in stone pedestals on the ground, and the floor and ceiling and even walls slanted slightly as they widened out into an altar room.

"W-why are we in a tomb?" I asked, realizing I didn't have the first idea where Icereach and Ironridge kept their dead.

"The Order of Silence are keepers of that which has been forgotten," Yelvey said, his many shadows dancing on the ceiling in the torchlight. "What better secret-keeper than the dead? What better place to know that which must not be known than the home of those who have come and gone before?"

"That which must not be known," I said, following him into a side room. "What do you mean? Why not? Do you know useful things about what I am, or don't you?"

This room contained nothing but a staggeringly large map, built into the floor and lit from above by stone chandeliers. It was just small enough that, from one edge, I could identify the point to which Yelvey walked: our own location. The sea which was shaped like a griffon's hand.

It had taken us weeks to run down the western coast, traveling day and night. A boat from Sires Hollow would have taken months to cross it - hopefully a slow boat, that would have to make landfall every night so its crew could sleep, but months nonetheless. And if anything, the ponies of Sires Hollow had been underestimating when they said Equestria was four times as big in every direction.

Underestimating badly.

The world seemed to be drawn like a capsule, with the north cut off by what could only be the Aldenfold and the south growing fainter and fainter, replaced by a depiction of an enormous tree. If you added in my knowledge of the north, it would probably be shaped like a flat, circular plane, with Equestria making up the dominant landmass in the middle and ocean to the east and west. Most of the world's borders were on water, although the western ocean was considerably smaller, and a lot of land touched the edge there, too. The western ocean also had a massive island, about the size of the griffon talon sea here.

Hadn't the Abyssinians said something about Abyssinia being an island to the west? That was the only thing that was plausible, but it was so far away...

Yelvey followed my gaze. "That is Abyssinia," he explained. "This is Cernial." He pointed at the region against the Aldenfold at the western edge of the world. "We are here." He pointed to Snowport, where he was standing. "I have heard you are looking for someone in Ponyville. It is here."

It took several seconds of walking for him to get there, and when he did, he was standing near the middle-south of the map, across the Equestrian heartlands and halfway to the giant tree. He tapped a point, then looked at me.

I stared at the distance. That... was halfway from where we were to the southern edge of the world. About twice the distance from Snowport to Catantan. And I had been told this was a day trip.

"Your trains are seriously that fast?" I asked incredulously. "They can go that far in a single day?"

"Yes," Yelvey said. "And no. The tracks are the work of a goddess, imbued with power beyond mortal comprehension. The trains can ignore the distance they travel, arriving at any destination within a day..."

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach, realizing what he was going to say the instant before he said it.

"...as long as those riding the trains are unaware of how much distance is being crossed."

Questions and realizations collided in my mind at the speed of dimensionally-transcendent trains. Who designed something like this? What kind of power could even make that possible? This was why Equestria functioned on an information lockdown about neighboring regions: to paradoxically preserve the ability of its people to go there, by keeping them in the dark about how far away they actually were. This was the dangerous knowledge Terutomo couldn't tell us: we already knew how far away Catantan was, so there could be no shortcuts. So did probably everyone in this region who used to sail the talon sea for their livelihood. But he didn't want us to be locked out of visiting anywhere else in Equestria that we decided to search.

One question - and a lot of indignation - quickly drowned out all the others. "Why did you tell me that?" I accused, glaring at Yelvey. "You know I need to go there, right?"

"That is simple," Yelvey said, walking back out to the alter room. "It is insurance. A guarantee that, at the end of this meeting, you will consent to having your memory of our encounter wiped."

I felt cold. "What?" I thought I was here so I could learn about what I was...

"All those who bear our curse must be controlled by the Holy Cernial Convocation," Yelvey said. "It is for the greater good. Our powers could give rise to great evil and suffering if left unchecked. However, we are accomplished liars. I cannot take your word for it even if you professed a willingness to join our shackles and abide by our laws. Because of that, I must study you through a series of trial-and-error meetings, starting each one with a fresh slate as I empirically learn the workings of your heart. With such a grave matter, there can be no room for error."

"Oh yeah?" I bristled. "And what would you know about that? Are you in the habit of doing this regularly? Do you use brainwashing to bend everyone in this castle to your whims?"

Yelvey gave me a dead stare. "That is precisely the sort of scenario Cernial's control of us is required to prevent. And we have erred before. There was once a cleric among our ranks, Nencosay, who slipped Cernial's control and crossed the Aldenfold, forever lost to our reach. Always have we been watchful in the event that she would reappear. And now Seigetsu has discovered you, hailing from the north with our curse and claiming you inherited it at birth from your mother."

I took a step back... and remembered the talisman in my pocket.

If it was intact, Seigetsu was certain no harm would come to me. But a memory spell couldn't repair a broken strip of wood. Was it a way to send Seigetsu a message, if I did get my memory wiped, that foul play was involved?

"Alright," I said, straightening up. "So, since I'm not gonna remember anything, you have room to tell me everything and see how I react. Before you try manipulating your way to my heart, or whatever, why not try the clean and straight approach?"

"It shall be done," Yelvey rasped. "What are your questions?"

Well, for starters, how sure was he that this Nencosay was my mother? Sure, I didn't know that much about Chrysalis, including where she was originally from, or whether that was her real, original name. But Lilith did. Back in Lilith's school when I bargained for Leif's freedom, Lilith claimed that Chrysalis was created as part of a scientific experiment, and gained her powers by accident. She spoke with firsthoof experience, and claimed she had been there herself. Not that I trusted Lilith, but how did that add up with Chrysalis being a runaway cleric from Cernial?

...Not that I was telling this guy anything he didn't already know.

"Figure it out for yourself," I told him. "You're gonna have to put on a pretty strong show of good faith to win me over now."

"I am not trying to win you over," Yelvey told me. "Merely experimenting about how to and not to do so."

I snorted. "Alright. Then tell me about my powers. I was born with them, so how do you get them normally?"

"By coming in contact with the physical manifestation of a Nightmare Module," Yelvey explained. "It is a black crystal held by the Convocation. Nightmare Modules are data. They are the name of the powers we can use, and they modify our bodies to enable their use."

"That's it?" I tilted my head. "It's got nothing to do with anything else?" Like trying to modify batponies so they could have more races of children?

"That is all that is involved," Yelvey rasped. "The transformation is fast and painful. It only functions for batponies. And our loyalty is proven to be ironclad before we are permitted to take up the mantle."

Halcyon? Faye said in my mind. I know we don't know much about us. But I think they don't know about changeling queens, and have mistaken us for something completely different.

Yeah. I was starting to feel that way too.

I've got an idea, Faye said. Can we switch over?

Go for it.

Moments later, I was hovering in the air as she assumed control. "That's the reason for the fancy robes, right?" Faye said, tapping her chest. "The 'changes' to our bodies."

Yelvey nodded.

Wait, was that the reason Duma tried selling me robes last night? Did he mark me as one of them, as well? Or else as someone trying to pass myself off as one of them...

The robes he wanted to sell probably looked exactly like Yelvey's official wardrobe. I'd bet anything on it.

"Can I see?" Faye asked. "Sorry if this is taboo, or anything. It's just, I've only ever known myself, who's like this. Separated from Mother at birth. And..."

Yelvey nodded. "It is taboo. But the taboos are not enforced in the shadows."

And then he began to disrobe.

The first thing he did was remove his contact lenses. With a slight gasp, I realized they were just like the ones in my disguise kit: designed to make his irises appear a different color. Without them, his eyes were completely gray, and not a hint of color touched his body.

Then came the miter, showing off a relatively normal gray mane... and then came the robes.

Yelvey was a normal, colorless batpony down to his neck and chest. But as my eyes traveled lower, he fractured, his coat disappearing in a flaky pattern like a surface that had the paint scraped off. And beneath it, instead of skin, was a purple void.

It was like a pony-shaped portal to another world, distant clouds and energy disappearing slowly into a vortex that crackled every so often with cold, white lightning. His hindquarters were gone, and his tail, and all of his hind legs. Inside that void, near his rump, floated a gray special talent. And as he removed his sabatons as well, I could see that the effect extended to his front legs as well. Although, his hooves were still intact: they were just connected by strips of void where his legs should be.

I swallowed, impressed at how straight Faye was keeping her face, even betraying a hint of false curiosity on purpose. I shouldn't have been impressed. I used to be able to do that too, before I stopped using my special talent and started trying to be my own pony. But at a time like this, it sure was handy to have around.

There was no doubt about it, though: whatever magic Yelvey's order was based around, it wasn't the magic of changeling queens.

"Wow," Faye said, a perfect crack in her voice. "I still don't trust you. But, wow."

Yelvey stood for a moment, then returned his clothes to their proper positions, once again appearing to be a normal, creepy old batpony. As he did so, I felt a tugging as Faye switched us back.

There you go, she said in my head. Now we know for sure. Better that you take the lead, though.

I swallowed again. "Thanks. But just so we're clear, I'm not returning the favor." I hugged my coat tightly around myself... and suddenly remembered Yunie sneaking a peek under my coat in Freedom Town.

This was what she was looking for. She knew about this, then?

"You have seen," Yelvey said. "All of our number look like this. But know that it is forbidden to look upon another in our state. I only permitted it because your memory of this meeting will be purged."

That... sounded like a rule designed by an impostor to help them stay hidden...

I wonder how he thinks a mare in that state can even have children in the first place, Faye mused. Wouldn't the relevant parts of her not even exist?

"Alright," I said, ignoring her and taking a step to the side. "Next question. How does Cernial control you? What kind of shackles do you want me signing up for?"

"Your fortitude is incredible," Yelvey told me. "It is the fortitude of one who has never known better. Perhaps by being born with the urges of the corona, you are inured to them. If so, that will present a problem we must solve. Do you understand what I mean when I speak of the corona?"

"You said it," I told him. "I've been like this my entire life. Don't really know what's normal and what isn't."

"The corona that appears around other ponies, measuring their value and worth," Yelvey elaborated. "Accompanied by a strong desire for them to be yours."

I nodded. "Oh, yeah, that." I lied. "It's not too bad. What of it?"

Yelvey frowned. "So you don't recognize the pressure your mind exists under. No matter. We use this as an antidote to the corona's effects." He pulled out a tiny vial of red liquid - a worryingly familiar vial. "Formula L. You aren't familiar with it, then?"

"Nope." I hid my recognition, expecting it just in time to brace myself against a reaction. "An antidote, huh? What's it do?"

"It is sourced exclusively from the Convocation," Yelvey told me. "Its supply regulated, and the secrets of its creation held as a critical state secret. It contains love in physical form, enough to sate the emptiness and cravings of our curse. Though you may be too inured to the symptoms to recognize them, that will surely change after you experience relief for the first time in your life. Prove me wrong."

I took a step back. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Yelvey looked at me. "What reason have I to lie?"

It was a decent point. If I actually wasn't the same thing as him, it probably wouldn't have any effect on me, but he wouldn't know that. From his perspective, he was openly trying to give me a mind-altering substance. There wasn't much dastardly intent it was possible to conceal by lying...

And since I was a changeling queen, if he was serious about that containing emotional love, however that worked, I very well might be able to harness its power in ways he knew nothing about.

"...Alright." I held out a wing. "Gimmie. But if I'm not gonna remember this, what's the point of wasting something so valuable?"

"I told you," Yelvey said. "I merely wish to gauge your reaction. Should it prove as potent as I expect, I could perhaps give you some in another setting where you do keep your memories, and explain to you the origin after the fact."

He gave me the vial.

"You sure are honest about how evil you are," I told him.

"Amorality comes with our curse," Yelvey told me. "That is why we have Cernial to dictate our morality to us. Otherwise, we are only capable of living in a framework centered around ourselves and the needs of the corona, consciously or not. What you see as evil, I know to be liberation: shackles to hold us to a correct path we are incapable of seeing ourselves. It grants a sense of purpose amidst the empty void."

"Still evil." I took the vial of what might legitimately be centaur sweat. "What do I do with it?"

"Breathe in," Yelvey encouraged.

Was this a bad idea? Maybe. Probably. I sure wasn't in a cushy situation, but at least I had cards up my sleeve he didn't know about... Potent ones, too. Here was hoping this really did do something I could use as a changeling queen.

I uncorked the vial and inhaled.

It felt like... voices in my ear. Quiet, gentle, steadfast and caring. Not baseless adulation like had been given to Coda. A rush beat through my heart as I realized this might actually be real: it sounded exactly like the empty rush I remembered in my ears from the old days in Icereach, when I took off my mask and passed control over to Faye. Except instead of emptiness, it was love.

And I could steal it.

I didn't understand how. The option presented itself on instinct, and my body acted with the barest nod of approval from me. I could feel the haze around me siphoned away, until it was sitting somewhere deep in my chest, tiny and invisible unless I knew to look for it, just like Ludwig and the pink flame.

Well... success? Now that I had done this, I realized I had forgotten an important part of the plan: I knew how to absorb things, but didn't have the foggiest how to use them.

Yelvey was watching for my reaction.

"Is that it?" I met him squarely in the eye, summoned my focus, and tried to look like I was trying desperately not to falter. "Weak... Weak stuff."

Yelvey gave a small smile.

"Hate to break it to you," I said, pocketing the empty vial - I had no use for it, but I wasn't even about to give this guy free garbage. "But I'm on a mission. I've got a purpose, and it's got nothing to do with my corona, or selfishly feeding my curse's desires. And that mission is gonna take me all over the world. So, much as I'd like to stay and join your cult, that's not gonna happen. And no matter how many times you try and wipe my memory, that answer's not gonna change."

"We'll see," Yelvey said calmly.

"So?" I asked. "Got anything else, or are you gonna give up for today?"

"Actually, we have a unique opportunity," Yelvey said. "I've heard from Seigetsu you know little enough about your powers that you cannot yet use them, and may have never seen them used."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Before we adjourn, I'd like to show you what it looks like when I use them during day-to-day operations." He started walking towards the exit. "Come."

I followed uncertainly. Yelvey made as if to walk out into the coffin hall... and then all of a sudden, he pounced into the shadows, to the side.

A moment later, he rose up, lifting a visibly terrified batpony with one hoof. From the looks of things, they were paralyzed. My mind flashed back to Icereach, when Mother had somehow paralyzed me on Aldebaran's ship... Was this the same thing?

More importantly, the pony he had caught was Yunie.

"You were bold to come spy on us," Yelvey said. "That deserves a hefty price. How did you know the way down here? When did you learn it? How long ago?"

Yunie shook in mute terror.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to start with at least a month, then," Yelvey told her. My eyes caught sight of a black knife floating next to him, probably the same material as my bracelet. It was pointing straight at Yunie's forehead.

"Oh, no you don't," I threatened, walking up behind him. "You think you can just randomly-"

The knife embedded itself into her forehead, but no blood was spilled. Instead, there was a surge of blackness that crackled with gray static, spilling out into the room from the knife and flowing around all of our hooves... and Yunie dropped unconscious to the floor.

"It is done," Yelvey told me. "Using our power is as simple as that. She will soon awaken, and-"

"My, how considerate!" came Duma's voice from the shadows.

Yelvey instantly tensed up. "Who goes there?"

"Me!" Duma said, stepping out from behind a pillar with the same upturned smile on his face as ever. "I promised good money for a guide down here, and now I'm not even going to have to pay it! What an upstanding member of society!"

"This place is forbidden to all but the Order of Silence," Yelvey growled, raising his knife again.

"Wait! No need for violence!" Duma waved his hands at the knife. "All I am is a humble merchant. See?"

He turned his hands around. Clutched in between each and every finger was a vial of Formula L.

Yelvey's jaw dropped.

Duma strolled in a circle until he was standing at my side, still facing down Yelvey. "My associate and I have come to Snowport to scout out the market," he explained in a voice that was high-pitched and carefree, reaching down and patting me on the head. "The Convocation's tyranny really can be unbearable at times, we believe. Haven't you ever wished you could slip their fetters and fly free? The reason she doesn't need your Formula L is because she's already topped off on mine!"

I reached into my pocket and snapped the good-luck talisman. Whatever was going down was too big for me to understand immediately, but Seigetsu needed to know.

"T-that's blasphemy," Yelvey stammered, staring greedily at the vials. "Peddler of fakes!"

"Oh?" Duma casually tossed him a vial. "See for yourself!"

Yelvey greedily opened it and breathed in, and his pupils dilated. "Impossible... But the Convocation..."

"Has never cared one whit about what you want, have they?" Duma smiled. "You talk a lot about what they want, and what the corona makes you want, but what about what you want? What if you were freed from both? What would you do then?"

"This is heresy..." Yelvey sagged, his resistance visibly waning.

"Heresy is fun!" Duma cheerfully proclaimed. "Why is it that only batponies can use this power? Why were you chosen to use it if you weren't meant to use it at will? Why listen to the Convocation when they need you to use it for them?"

"You're seeking a contract," Yelvey accused. "My service in exchange for an infinite supply..."

Duma looked aghast without dropping his smile or opening his eyes. "Oh, no no no! I don't want your service. Only your freedom! It's quite a tempting offer, isn't it?"

He turned his hands around, showing of a fresh new supply of vials.

Yelvey snapped. "Give me those!" he demanded, lurching forward.

Duma scattered them across the ground, sending the stallion scrambling to pick them up.

My blood was cold. Sure, Yelvey was evil, but he at least served the established order. And now he was getting bought out right before my eyes... What was I supposed to do? Should I pick a side? Could I pick a side?

I glanced over to Yunie, and decided it was time to run.

"You know," Duma cheerfully told me, "with the cold reception you gave me last night, I thought you didn't even recognize the sign! How glad I am to be wrong."

I bolted.

Grab Yunie and leave with my memories intact. While Yelvey was distracted, grab Yunie and leave-

"Oops!" Duma's meaty hand closed around my barrel and hoisted me in the air, showing a strength that belied his hunched figure. "I guess I was right after all. Such a pity."

"Nnngh...!" I struggled, unable to shadow sneak, unable to call on the power of my bracelet as it was nowhere in sight-

"A moment of your time, friend?" Duma gestured to Yelvey, who had just finished scooping up all the vials. "It seems this isn't my assistant after all! Silly me, how could I be so mistaken. Or perhaps she is, and I've just yet to win her over. Would you mind resetting her memory back to this morning, please? Then take her back upstairs and tell everyone there was an accident while she was practicing her powers, and she hit herself instead!"

"O-of course," Yelvey said, lining up his knife to point at my forehead.

I snarled. "No! Get off me! You can't-!"

The knife struck home, and a flood of static caused my vision to briefly dissolve. When it passed, I was still in Duma's hand, unable to move my body.

"Perfect!" Duma set me down. "Now get on with your treacherous self. I'll be here, with plenty more Formula L whenever you run out while enjoying your freedom!"

Yelvey lifted me onto his back, apparently deciding to get Yunie later, and stashed me somewhere in the passages.

Time started to speed up, like it always did when my dream hit the unimportant parts.

Wait, my dream...?

My memory had been wiped. I could remember, now. There was nothing but static since I woke up this morning! And yet, I had seen it all, just now, in a dream, as if I was living it the moment it happened.

This had happened before, the first time I met Egdelwonk. My power...

It could bring back erased memories.