Chapter 76: Amnesia
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 76: Amnesia
Thump, thump.
A strange sound echoed in the quiet room. It was a small, fragile beat, the kind you might not even hear if you strained your ears, like the rhythm played by a newborn bird.
The heart's most primal music.
The unique tempo of a single life, with its regular rhythm and the distinct variations that branched from it.
To that cadence, Tyrkanzyaka opened her eyes.
Like a child who had overslept, Tyrkanzyaka sat up in a hurry. She stared blankly into the darkness for a moment, then began to touch her own body and face with a bewildered expression.
"When... did I fall asleep?"
She was certain she had been awake until just a moment ago. Before her, she had seen him sitting with his eyes gently closed. He was clearly doing something, but even with all her experience, Tyrkanzyaka couldn't fathom what it was.
So, Tyrkanzyaka had simply lain still and watched him.
Tyrkanzyaka was used to waiting. If she weren't, she never would have endured such long ages. She had spent entire days watching the night sky flow by for no reason at all, and when the mood struck, she would burrow underground and sleep for a century or so.
Staring at a person's face for a few hours, or even a few days, was no problem at all.
Besides, scrutinizing his features wasn't all that boring.
At some point, he, who had been sitting as still as death, moved. While Tyrkanzyaka was momentarily puzzled by the unannounced action, his hand slowly approached the card she was holding.
His fingers touched the card, and then her body.
In that instant, Tyrkanzyaka lost consciousness.
She didn't know how long she had slept. What woke her was the regular beat of a heart inside her body.
It was a tremor like a long-lost wanderer returning home—unfamiliar at first, yet it soon settled in as if it had always belonged...
"A... heart?"
The moment she realized it, Tyrkanzyaka quickly brought both hands to her chest. Pressing her palms together, she quietly felt the beat, and soon let out a gasp of astonishment.
"No... way."
Her heart was beating. Clearly, without a shadow of a doubt.
It wasn't slow. Nor was it mechanically regular.
It was so natural that even Tyrkanzyaka hadn't noticed it at first, and at the same time, it was a nostalgic tremor that evoked memories of a distant past.
This wasn't a fleeting spark that flared up and died down, like when electricity was passed through her heart. This was, unmistakably, her own heartbeat.
It had beaten once before, and it would continue to beat from now on. Tyrkanzyaka knew this instinctively.
"It can't be. To think he actually did it... How in the world?"
Tyrkanzyaka checked her body. Having reached the pinnacle of Bloodcraft, able to control every drop of blood in her body, she carefully retraced the traces, cautious not to damage her heart.
An ordinary person would never have noticed. But Tyrkanzyaka, who had honed her Bloodcraft for 1,200 years and could even manipulate blood outside her own body, quickly figured out what had happened.
And then, she was filled with questions.
"Blood... craft? How, when he's not even a vampire? I'm certain I only taught Shei..."
Bloodcraft wasn't impossible to learn, if one was determined. Tyrkanzyaka herself had mastered it in her mortal life, and Shei had picked it up in just a few weeks.
At its root, Bloodcraft was a type of Qi Art based on understanding.
However, no matter how skilled one became in Bloodcraft, the limit was usually manipulating the blood within one's own body. Shei knew this and focused only on stopping blood loss or strengthening herself. Unless one’s talent, fortune, and experience converged and blossomed as Tyrkanzyaka’s had, extending Bloodcraft to another’s body was next to impossible.
And yet, he had used Bloodcraft to change her. And not only that.
"The things I abandoned... The things I threw away long ago to survive..."
Things she had to discard long, long ago, just to survive.
Things she had pushed to a corner of her memory and left neglected for eons.
Things so old that eventually, she had forgotten they even existed.
All of it had been contained in that single card on her chest. Like an old diary carefully stored in the corner of a drawer, like a treasure chest filled with memories and buried deep in the earth.
A distant nostalgia brushed against Tyrkanzyaka's heart.
Tears came to her eyes.
This, too, was something Tyrkanzyaka had lost.
Shedding tears of joy and longing, Tyrkanzyaka repeated in a voice thick with emotion.
"Thank you. Truly, thank you. You really... you really did it..."
Of course, she had many questions.
How did he know of such memories, the body's recollections that she herself had been forced to forget?
How was he able to contain them in a single card and imprint them upon her?
How could he use Bloodcraft when she had never taught him?
She was curious about it all... but those were secondary matters.
"Thank you. This debt... how can I ever repay it? Just say the word."
With tears welling—a sensation she had once forgotten—Tyrkanzyaka gave him a radiant smile and spoke.
"If it is something I can give, I will give you anything. Tell me."
He was slumped over, head bowed as if exhausted, dozing off.
She wanted to let him sleep, but he wouldn't rest well here, where there wasn't even a proper bed. Tyrkanzyaka reached out a hand to wake him.
Her hand touched his shoulder. In response, he lifted his head. His unfocused eyes met hers.
"...ou."
Tyrkanzyaka waited for his words, ready to gladly accept any request he might make.
What he had given her was just that precious.
"Who... are you?"
However.
The tender moment was fleeting.
The words that came from his mouth were enough to leave even Tyrkanzyaka utterly dumbfounded.
*
Shei had been guarding the underground armory for days, barely sleeping.
It had already been three days since the instructor had said he would perform some kind of ritual with Tyrkanzyaka. Since that day, the solid steel door had not opened once.
Not the slightest sound came from within, and the interior was solid steel, making it impossible to see through. All he could do was wait outside for the door to open.
'What in the world is he doing? Surely he isn't doing anything... improper, is he?'
Shei shook her head vigorously.
It was a pointless thought. In the first place, vampires felt no desires other than their thirst for blood and reverence for their Progenitor. Besides, he had never shown any suspicious behavior until now. That was a leap in logic.
But honestly, the instructor was partly to blame for Shei's growing suspicion. Just what kind of ritual was he performing to be so secretive?
'Tch...! If you were going to be gone for three days, you could have at least explained it in more detail! I've been so curious I haven't even been able to sleep properly!'
Just as he was blaming him to vent his frustration.
"Woof woof!"
Azzy approached, a ball in her mouth. While the Regressor had taken up a post in the yard to watch the door, the bored Azzy had taken it as a prelude to playtime and would often demand a game of catch from Shei.
Shei, wanting to maintain a good relationship with Azzy, had obliged her requests each time.
However, the process and result of their play were a little different from what he was used to. Holding the ball, Shei raised Chun-aeng with her other hand.
"Skyblade Art, Gentle Breeze."
"Woof?"
Before Azzy could react, Shei swung Chun-aeng and sent the ball flying. Wreathed in wind, the ball soared and dipped on its own, crisscrossing the yard.
Just as Shei, having bought herself a moment of peace, turned to glare at the closed door again.
Azzy, with no intention of chasing the ball, sat down and tapped Shei's feet. Shei's gaze returned to her.
"Azzy? What is it?"
Azzy then shouted, her face full of dissatisfaction.
"Woof! You're not playing! I'm the only one playing!"
"Huh?"
"Woof woof! Woof woof woof! You're no fun!"
"No, no, wait a second."
Her frustration must have been piling up. Azzy, who usually played by herself for a bit before wandering off, was now barking relentlessly at Shei as if she had been waiting for this moment.
The Dog King, endlessly benevolent to humans.
Faced with the King's displeasure, Shei couldn't easily respond.
"No, I was just, uh, trying to make it a little easier."
"Woof woof wo-woof!"
Had he taken the human-friendly Dog King too lightly?
Apparently, this method wasn't working. Shei sighed and called the ball back. Riding the wind, the ball flew through the air and into her hand.
"Alright. From now on, I'll throw it with my hand, no tricks. Are you satisfied now?"
"Woof! No! Woof woof!"
Azzy let out a loud bark and spun away from Shei. Rejected by the famously kind Dog King, Shei could only stare dumbly at her retreating back.
Shei ruffled her own hair and muttered.
"...Ugh. I don't get it. How did that guy get along with Azzy so well?"
It was a bit embarrassing to admit, but Shei was secretly hoping for his return. He was the only one who could solve the various lingering questions and the immediate problems at hand.
And though she would never admit it, she might have grown a little fond of him.
It was then. The door opened.