Wait, What You Mean I Got Reincarnated As A Heroine In Another World?-Chapter 10 - Fragments

All of a sudden, the room abruptly fell into silence, sent chills down my spine.

There was no immediate response after I mentioned the one she had referred to earlier.

Professor Helena, who appeared to be confused, tilted her head slightly.

"Pardon me, but who is this Selene? Is she your friend or something?"

HUH, WHAT THE F*CK? WERE YOU THE ONE WHO CAUGHT ME RED-HANDED? 

And just a moment ago, my thoughts were hazy, slipping through my grasp.

But then, dizziness struck. It was sharp yet disorienting.

DUG-DUG! DUG-DUG! DUG-DUG! WUSSSSS!

My body froze, my vision darkened—similar to when I died.

Once again, I fell into a stupor. My heartbeat pounded in my ears.

DUG-DUG-DUG—!

Everything around me faded into a deep, suffocating black, as if someone had pulled off the plug on reality. My breath caught, the world twisting and shattering.

Darkness swallowed me whole before I could even react.

When the light struck me, I began opening my eyes, only to witness something uncanny yet familiar—Professor Helena, with her hands interlacing atop of the table, was talking to me.

This posture... I had seen this before, but how?

"But that's impossible, right?" she continued, tilting her head slightly with a small smile. "Souls can't simply be replenished by anything, after all. Unless it's Undead."

The scene was unfolding again, but some details had been changed.

My stomach filled with butterflies.

Hadn't this already happened? No... something was slightly different.

Wait, did I just return back in time?

The shift caught me off guard. I had no time to react, no plan in mind.

Perhaps, even a cunning trick wouldn't save me from this confusion.

I could feel my heartbeat quickening. However, despite some sorts of bewilderment and nervousness, I still forced myself to maintain a neutral expression, as if nothing happened. Now, what exactly was she implying this time?

Professor Helena leaned forward slightly, resting her chin on her intertwined fingers.

"As you see, Mytheia doesn't simply track a being's physical entity—it also records traces of their existence, along with their very essence. And according to the results..."

She paused, watching me carefully. "The essence recorded in you... is incomplete."

"Incomplete?" I repeated, furrowing my brows. From what I have had remembered, there weren't any of these lines said by her at all. It was as if... I returned to an alternated timeline to finish a missing puzzle. In other words, these were fragments left for me so I could solve this out.

"In other words, your essence... it's fractured," Professor Helena said calmly. "Not replaced, not rewritten—just missing pieces."

"Normally, iIf a soul were replaced, Mytheia would detect a full overwrite—as if a new person had taken over entirely. But in your case... there are gaps instilled in a void. Fragments were missing, traces left behind. It's as if your original soul was altered rather than erased. To put it simply, an incomplete essence—an anomaly—within a body that should no longer exist."

Wait, are you saying something like this has happened before?

My fingers tightened, the blood draining from my face. However, I had forced myself to appear composed, giving the best impression of a calm and collected person.

"You understand what this means, don't you?"

Her smile remained, but her eyes sharpened.

As if asking, 'Are you still bold enough to deny it?'

Was she expecting me to confess something I wasn't even aware of? Or was this a test? A game of wordplay to dig into my involvement of this case?

"I have no idea what you're trying to imply, Professor,"

I said at last, keeping my voice steady. I couldn't get faltered, not for now—not when her words multiplied the weight or burden already carried due to this repetition.

"I only remember waking up in Aethelgarten and living my normal life as Kairi Eryndell Veylith. That's all."

I made-up a response, hoping it would've changed the outcome of this supposed alternated reality. Professor Helena stared at me for a moment before letting out a small, amused chuckle.

"Well, that's one way to answer a question... I suppose. But whether it's true as the fact or not, that has yet to be witnessed, Kairi Eryndell Veylith."

She stressed out my full-name, as if stumbling into her own curiosity, questioning my existence fully for the sake of seeing my reaction. However, I didn't budge.

Soon after, she waved her hand, and Mytheia's crystal glow fading away.

"Anyway, let's pull that aside for now. There's something more important to discuss."

I swallowed hard, my body tense. Was she finally getting to her ulterior motive on why she called me here? If that's so, this was too all of a sudden.

"As you know, the forbidden chamber was sealed after that incident. It couldn't be opened by anyone else, not even me. But recently, the seal has begun to weaken."

I stiffened. "What...? Doesn't that mean something or someone did it?"

If that were to be the case, could this be Selene's doing too?

I might have known too little about her, but at least I have possessed her memory.

"Yes. And the strange part of this was, it's happened not due to an external force breaking in." She paused, watching my reaction closely. "Something forced its way out."

A heavy silence fell between us. My mind raced, attempting to process what she was trying to imply, it was as if she now accused me for this case alone.

"That's why I need to know, Kairi," she said softly, her voice almost gentle. "Do you have any memories—any instincts—about what might be inside that chamber?"

I cannot be mistaken. This must be Selene's doing...

My fingers tightened around the fabric of my skirt, my face grew cold.. The truth was, I remembered nothing concrete. The memory simply hadn't existed in my mind but fragments. And yet... something remains lingered as a trace. Faint echoes of a presence, something terrifying yet intangible. I couldn't grasp such a thing for what it was. Yet merely that it was there—and had been waiting for so long to devour.

"Uh, I..." I attempted to say something, but too stuttered to continue so I stopped it.

Professor Helena's gaze didn't waver.

She was patient, waiting for my answer as I began to encourage myself.

"I don't know," I finally admitted. "But... perhaps, I could figure this out."

She smiled. "Then you'll just have to help me, But the question is, will you?"

Her words sent a deep unease through me, but I kept my expression calm.

Because somehow, for no reason, I knew... whatever laid behind that sealed chamber...

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It wasn't just waiting in a total slumber, but to devour.

"Sure, I will."

"And how would you do that?"

"Just leave it to me." I rested my chin on my fist., conjecturing the scenario in my head.

Momentarily, as if the time stopped, I deduced the scene using available evidence, piecing each puzzle-by-puzzle throughout what I've had gone through.

According to the foreshadowing scene, there was a scream from a creature.

However, I couldn't see its appearance let alone its act. What should I do?

And there had been some questions lingered in my head.

For instance, was this creature cursed? Bestial? If it broke the chains, then how?

And if it was controlled, who had the ability to do so?

Now, let's call this culprit 'X' and leave it alone.

Time for another fragment to grasp before it slipped away from my memory.

The scream, the weakening seal... a puzzle... an alternated timeline? No... something else? Next, consider both were to true... what would that imply? If all of these were true, then it's not an alternated timeline, but rather... the accumulation of what-ifs.

Now, if that were the case... wouldn't that imply I was living in an artificial timeline?

In other words, could it be implied as a fabricated memory intead?