Omega Ascension System[BL]-Chapter 294: _Memories

Elian’s POV

*****

[Fruitcake? Oh, thank the goddess!]

Those words, being the first thing Elian heard, just about tripled the anxiety he woke up with. He gasped, eyes widening like he just got the universe’s deepest secret downloaded into his mind.

He kinda did.

He was still sitting at Kyren’s dining table but his chair scraped on the marble floor, spoon falling as he stumbled back. His fingers gripped the table hard, cold sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Elian?" Lucian grabbed him first, shaking him gently. "Are you okay? You... you just spaced out in the middle of our conversation and..."

The Alpha Prince’s words faded away. Elian took in several shallow breaths, his perception of reality completely distorted. The evening sunlight spilling from the dining room’s rectangular windows seemed... wrong.

All of Solara seemed wrong.

[Your consciousness was pulled. I picked up traces of divine energy but—]

"Not now," He said out loud, getting on his feet. His seat fell flat completely, sending a sharp sound that made Sylas jolt beside Lucian.

Kyren, who’d been watching silently from the table’s end, set aside his cutlery. "Little flame?" Elian swerved his head to him, lips trembling when he stared into those crimson eyes. "Speak to me. To us. What happened to you? What did you see?"

But Elian shook his head, taking more steps away from the dining table. "Am I even real? Is any of this... my emotions. My experiences." Tears pricked his eyes like nails.

Hearing his words, the Rogue king exchanged a look with Lucian before getting on his feet as well. "You need to eat. We can—"

"No." Elian shook his head. "It all makes sense. I’m a threat. To you. To the whole fucking continent."

[Elian... I have the results of the scan. I can see your memories of what happened when your consciousness—]

"Just leave me alone!" He yelled, voice booming through the hall. The lights flickered. Kyren had turned around the table but froze. So did Lucian.

As for Sylas, he neither moved nor said a word. His stormy eyes stared with fear at Elian, as if scared he’d smite him.

Fucking great.

Silence crashed down.

Lucian’s lips parted, heartbreak flickering across his features before he masked it. Kyren stood perfectly still at the head of the table, crimson eyes unreadable.

Elian dragged in a ragged breath. "Just... I just need space," he whispered hoarsely. "Please. It’s better that way." His gaze flicked between Lucian and Kyren like a wounded animal unsure where to run. "I’m not—I’m not safe right now."

Lucian took a small step forward, palms open. "Elian," he said softly, voice trembling with worry, "we’re always here for you. Understand that. No matter what you saw."

Kyren didn’t speak. He didn’t move. He just watched Elian with that terrifying, patient calm—the kind that said he was ready to catch him if he fell or pin him down if he exploded.

Elian couldn’t handle either.

"I just... need to think," Elian choked, backing away. "I’ll come back. I just..." His voice cracked. "I can’t breathe here."

Lucian’s jaw clenched, but he nodded. He respected Elian enough not to chase.

Kyren dipped his chin once in acknowledgement. No questions. No demands. Just silent understanding.

Elian turned and left the dining room without another word, steps uneven, heart hammering like it was trying to claw out of his ribs.

.

.

He found one of the guest rooms in Kyren’s palace without thinking—just moving on instinct. The moment he slipped inside, he shut the door and locked it with shaking fingers.

His back hit the door and he slid down until he was sitting on the floor, knees pulled to his chest.

He breathed.

Or tried to.

Air dragged in and out of him in broken pulls, like each inhale scraped him open. Tears burned hot down his cheeks, but he didn’t bother wiping them away.

Everything inside him felt wrong. Too big. Too old. Too... alien.

The system—normally buzzing, snarky, loud—was silent.

For the first time since his rebirth... it wasn’t speaking to him.

That terrified him more than the visions.

After a minute... then two... then five... Elian’s breaths finally steadied. Just enough that he could speak without cracking in half.

"...System?" he whispered.

A long pause.

Then—

[Yes, Elian?]

Even its voice sounded subdued. Gentle. It was like stepping around shattered glass.

"What did you find?" Elian murmured, pressing his palms to his eyes. "I need to know."

[... Are you sure? With you like this and all...]

He let out a shaky laugh. "After what I just saw? Trust me, there’s nothing you can show me that’ll be worse."

Another long pause.

Then—

The room dissolved.

The floor vanished beneath him. His breath hitched as he was pulled into a swirl of silver and darkness, the smell of pine and cold night air ripping through his senses.

He was standing—no, existing—inside a memory.

Not his.

.

.

A small forest clearing. Fireflies drifted like dying stars.

And a little boy—barefoot, dirty from playing—wandering between the trees, calling faintly:

"Mom? Dad?"

His voice was high. Innocent.

Elian felt his stomach drop.

That wasn’t him.

That wasn’t ever him.

A distant shout echoed through the trees—two adult voices, frantic.

"Elian!"

The boy’s face lit up. He turned and bolted toward the sound—

Until something stopped him.

A hum. Low. Like the air vibrating.

Then a light—silver, shifting, fluid—slipped out from between the trees.

It wasn’t shaped like anything alive. But it pulsed, watching.

Elian’s skin crawled.

The light shimmered, then stretched, twisting... moulding... until it formed the boy’s exact shape. His eyes. His face. His body.

A mirror made of moonlight.

Elian’s breath faltered. "No. No, no, no—"

The boy in the memory froze in terror, widening his eyes.

The silver shape lunged.

It collided with the boy’s chest like liquid fire—sinking into him, swallowing him whole in a single horrific breath. The child spasmed, limbs bending wrong, bones cracking under unseen force.

Then—

His body exploded outward.

Fur sprang out first. Then teeth. Claws. A monstrous silhouette rising higher and higher, until it towered over the trees.

A Lycan!

Over ten feet tall. Eyes burning with light that did not belong to a child.

The parents burst into the clearing—

Their screams tore through the night.

"Elian?! NO—"

The beast moved faster than thought.

Blood splattered the forest floor.

A laser gun fired once—twice—before the father’s throat was torn open. The mother’s scream cut off abruptly as she was crushed under claws that could shred steel.

Elian couldn’t breathe. He wanted to look away but he couldn’t.

He’d seen these images before... but never the full truth. Only flashes he didn’t understand then.

When the slaughter ended, the Lycan knelt in the gore-soaked leaves, body cracking and snapping as it shrank back into—

A child.

A little boy covered in blood, blinking in confusion.

His hair—once black—shifted to silver. Then slowly faded into white-blonde.

The same shade Elian had.

The memory faded.

Elian staggered back into the real room, collapsing onto his hands. His body shook violently, bile burning the back of his throat.

He didn’t need the system to explain it. Didn’t need a single word of confirmation.

He knew.

The ’silver light"... was him.

His soul. His essence. Whatever the hell he truly was.

He had taken that child’s body. He had become the monster in that forest. He had killed those parents.

Elian’s breath shattered.

"Oh my gods..." he whispered, voice breaking. "What... the hell am I?"