“Where am I?” I mumbled.
I’d regained my consciousness, and I began scanning my surroundings. Wherever I was, it was some kind of atrium, and I was completely surrounded by a circle of bookshelves. From the outside, it probably looked like some sort of round tower.
What is this place?
Just then, I felt a presence and turned around. Behind me was a young child with silver hair and purple eyes. He looked a little bit like Mer.
The child smiled and said, “Hey there.”
“H-Hello...” I carefully chose my words as I continued to speak, watching his reaction. “I’m...Reid. What’s your name?”
“Let’s see... Why don’t you call me ‘Memoria’? It means memory. I think it’s the perfect name for me.” The child who had named himself Memoria began to giggle.
“So, who are you, Memoria?”
“I’m the embodiment of your memories,” he replied. “You came here to draw out your memories from your previous life, right?”
I didn’t know why, but I felt incredibly close to Memoria. I felt nostalgic, like I was reuniting with a friend. I didn’t yet know what to think of him, but he seemed like he was going to help me, so I decided to rely on him.
“Yeah. I want to be able to recall memories on command. It would sort of be like searching for something on the internet in my previous life. How can I do that?”
It would be useful if I could go through my memories like it was a search engine. If Memoria had access to my memories from my previous life, then he would understand.
“It would be hard to make it work like an internet search, but you can search for things if you go through me.”
“What...?”
According to Memoria, I myself wasn’t supposed to be able to come into this world. However, I had coincidentally succeeded in recognizing his presence. Thanks to that, from now on, I could connect to this world by summoning him. In order to do that, as one might expect, I needed to use mana. By using mana to connect with Memoria, I could let him pass on information from this world to me.
“This world is inside your soul, Reid. It’s incredibly delicate, so you are to never come here again. If you ever need anything, just call my name like you’re casting a spell.” Memoria looked incredibly sincere.
“I understand. Thank you. I’d like to head back now, but I’m not sure how.”
I instinctively felt that Memoria was right—that I shouldn’t visit this world. He smiled at my response and then bid me farewell.
“See you,” he said.
The very next moment, I lost consciousness.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Aaaaagh!!!”
“Gaaaaagh?!”
“Wait, where am I?” I said between gasps.
I said goodbye to Memoria, then I lost consciousness...
I was confused about what had happened and looked up to find Sandra sprawled on the ground, her eyes wide with surprise.
“What’s wrong, Sandra?”
“What do you mean, what’s wrong?!” Sandra stood back up, her face flushed as she continued. “You went so quiet for a time, Sir Reid, so I started to get worried. I decided to check on you, then you suddenly screamed loudly and surprised me!!!”
“I-I see. I’m sorry for worrying you.”
Sandra inspected my face for a bit before saying in a worried tone, “Are you feeling all right? You were quietly concentrating for a while, so I didn’t say anything, but I was very concerned.”
“I see. I’m sorry about that. I unfortunately think this was a failure.”
I’d lied. I couldn’t really explain the experience I’d just had to her. Manatheism was perhaps a dangerous school of thought. If I looked more into it, it was possible that my consciousness wouldn’t be able to return to this world. The place I’d visited felt dangerous in that way.
“I see. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be of more help.”
“No, no! You don’t have to apologize! I was already considering the possibility that this wouldn’t work.”
Sandra shrank down dejectedly, and I thanked her before suggesting we end for the day.
✦ ✦ ✦
After my meeting with Sandra, I returned to my room. Alone now, I cast my new spell.
Memoria, I called out in my mind. A few moments later, a cheery, energetic voice resonated in my mind.
“Howdy, Reid! Looks like you were able to get home safe! I’m so glad!”
“I can’t believe I actually got through to you...”
Even though I’d just gone through that experience with him, I was surprised because I hadn’t expected to actually be able to summon him. I didn’t think it would be possible to speak to Memoria, the entity inside me.
“Wow, you didn’t trust me?” he said, sounding a bit offended. “It’s fine. So, you want to look something up?”
“No, I just wanted to see if I could actually reach you, so I’m good for today.”
“Got it. Well, call me if you ever need anything!”
Our “call” ended, and I let out a heavy sigh. I had a few thoughts about what Memoria might be, but I decided to keep those thoughts to myself.
And now, I secretly had access to new specialized magic, a spell by the name of Memoria, which allowed me to reference my memories on command.