“I remember it all now! That fool. He promised me he wouldn’t use his abilities on me. He promised!” Mylidara was on her knees sobbing into her daughter’s shoulder.

  Synexus silently watched while still processing the strange feeling of living in another’s memories. He had seen centuries worth of moments that she had with her husband and with the other warriors that had left to answer the call.

  Another strand of thought was working out whether this “Swarm” could be a threat to their planet as well. If the warriors and the strange beings had failed, then an attack could be imminent. Of course, that’s if the O’s could be believed at all. According to Mylidara’s memories, they had gotten no hard proof. He would have to converse with Gene and the Codex to see if this planet was real and if so, how close it truly was.

  “I’ll leave you two alone to talk. I’m sure there is a lot to unpack.”

  Mylidara turned and nearly tackled him with a hug.

  “Thank you! I feel whole again and my mind is clear. Thank you!”

  “You’re most welcome although I feel I’ve dropped a burden upon you by releasing the sealed memories.”

  “Even though the truth hurts, being ignorant to my life was much worse. You’ve done me a great kindness. Will you grant the other Mind Maiden’s their memories as well, or do you have to be on your way?”

  “I’ll do what I can. Can you have them all gather?”

  With a nod, Mhlanir left the tent to make an announcement.

  “Child, your class is miraculous. What are you?”

  “I’m a Progress Architect and honestly, I’m still learning what that means.”

  “It means you will certainly do great things and help a lot of people along the way. Silk Lake is forever in your debt.”

  Synexus felt a weight fall upon him as she said her words. An entire town in his debt was something he never wanted. The pressure was immense. What if he couldn’t help everyone or what if the other Mind Maidens didn’t appreciate their memories being unlocked like the matriarch? And there was still the mystery of this other planet and the strange race of aliens that had taken a host of people away. What if they were a threat?

  All he could do was nod before running out of her home and towards the house where he and his friends were staying.

  “All ready to go?” Vorin asked while packing up his things into a bag.

  “Not quite. I was able to help Mylidara and Mhlanir, but they’ve asked me to help the other Mind Maidens as well. I’ve also discovered some weird happenings through the use of my new skill. It appears the warriors of this town were conscripted into a war on another planet, but something about it doesn’t add up.”

  “We need to get moving again. As soon as you restore the memories of the others, we will hit the road to get back on track.”

  “Vorin is right, my sisters are waiting. Perhaps we can figure out the pieces of this other puzzle on the road or ask my sisters.” Yu was getting antsy for days and she could barely sit still anymore.

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  “That is a marvelous idea, Yu. If anyone knows of these possible invaders, it will be the sphinx. I have no knowledge of the species or the planet you spoke of. I’d advise checking the codex when we get back on the mountain pass.”

  Synexus nodded towards Gene. He didn’t want to leave them with unanswered questions, but this puzzle was simply too big. There were too many moving parts and not enough information. Still, there was something about the memories that didn’t make any sense even with the information he had. What was it?

  Before his mind unraveled to chase the stray thought, the sound of murmurs drifted through the open window. Shortly after Mhlanir knocked on the door and informed him that the affected Mind Maidens were outside and ready.

  Over the next eighteen hours, memories flooded through the minds of the Mind Maidens and Synexus as he broke down the mental barriers and healed their minds. Most were crude barriers compared to the masterwork that Mylidara’s was, and he was surprised they hadn’t broken on their own. Others were just as complex as the matriarchs and took the most time and effort.

  More pieces of the story became known. The O’s actually turned down some of the current Mind Maidens and told them they weren’t strong enough, yet they took the boys of the town stating they needed all the help they could get. Most of the women thought it was a strange situation, and the memories became foggy when they started to question it. Clearly some mental manipulation was at play. The question became where was it coming from? Mylidara could have used her abilities to prevent any mishaps on the day of the loss except she had been knocked out when Myniko put the mental shield inside her head. That should have broken any skills she currently had active. That meant that one of the other Mind Maidens could use mental manipulation or the O’s were playing them for fools.

  Synexus moved finding more information on this planet and its people up on his priority list. Seeing these memories and feeling the emotions of these women urged him to act. He would not leave a town in emotional turmoil if he could help it. Even if he had to go off world to solve the mystery. Who knows, maybe all their loved ones were alive. Maybe they went and defeated the Swarm but the O’s died in battle and couldn’t bring them home. Anything and everything was possible.

  Mind Modeling had gotten a workout and was now sitting at level 15. Progress Garden had taken a long time to level up and Synexus figured it would be the same with his other self-made skill, however that didn’t seem to be the case. That or breaking the mind barriers was getting him way more experience than he thought. When they got back on the road to Yu’s home, he would need to catch Branching Intelligence up by interacting with anything and everything he could get his hands on.

  Vorin relented to sleeping in the town for one more night to let Synexus rest. Mylidara invited the entire party to the lake for a special funeral of sorts to say proper goodbyes to their loved ones and to promise them remembrance amongst their thoughts.

  Standing by the lake, the party watched as hundreds of paper lanterns filled the sky with flickering flames within. Yu used her skills to create streams of fire that wove through them all creating a dancing fire high in the sky. The beautiful lights floated higher and higher into the night sky. All of Silk Lake watched as they passed the height of the mountain and continued their ascent towards the stars where their loved ones had gone. Where they had abandoned them to save another world.

  When the lanterns finally became stars themselves, people disbanded to drink and sing songs. Shell joined them. Prith grabbed a mug of some potent alcohol. Zuls went around and chatted with the people of Silk Lake. Vorin frog marched Synexus to the bed so that he could get a few hours of rest before they finally left the town that kept slowing them down. Kumo went along to make sure he actually went to sleep and wasn’t up the next few hours working on some project within his garden.

  Outside people cheered as Gene flew through fiery hoops created by Yu. The two of them flew together in the air doing aerial tricks and mesmerizing any who stayed to watch. Even with all the commotion, Synexus instantly fell asleep.

  A few hours later Kumo blasted Synexus out of bed with a gust of wind, he got ready without a word and shortly after dawn, they were heading up the winding path to resume their trek along the mountain pass. Even though they were leaving, the story of Silk Lake was far from over.