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Mid Morning - Mid Winter : Acardi Research Facility | Eastern Bahamut

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*Puff-Creak* Leaning back in the chair, unable to pull my eyes off the screen, my mind raced so fast that my surroundings simply went dark. There was so much to digest that I had unknowingly used my divinity to bend time, but even that wasn't enough.

After reading through the nearly twenty thousand entries logged by the scientist, my curiosity roared with the blaze of a mythril furnace, quickly igniting an endless ocean of information I had just filled and flooding my mind with the nostalgia of digesting my dragon inheritance as a hatchling.

However, the nostalgia wasn't solely from my mind's forge roaring.

-This... This is familiar...- Standing up and staring at the bright screen with wide eyes, I scrolled back to reread them, the logs mentioning of the 'draconic ancestor' missing its head, the Acardi higher-ups fearing something, and the concept of 'artificially creating a god' brought forth an indescribable mix of emotions from the depth of my soul, a mix of pity, uncertainty, and excitement.

It was a mix of sensations that all stimulated memories that didn't exist in my mind, the infuriating sensation of being so close.. yet so far...

However.. this time was different.

After letting my mind race, and focusing as hard as I could on the sensations, one started standing out, growing stronger with every passing moment until finally, an image appeared in my mind, the sight of looking down over a mountain range, collapsed on its side, as a massive, glossy black area poured out liquid as if countless pipes drained a reserve of oil.

It was Bahamut, the true 'God of the Strong', lying dead on its side, creating lakes with the blood leaking from its fresh.. indescribably clean wound.

It was the draconic ancestor, a being that helped lay the foundation for dragons as they are today, yet as I looked down upon it from over the clouds instead of reverence, or fascination.. I felt.. pity...

A pity coming from the very core of my being that was so overpowering it quelled the blaze in my mind, suffocating the uncontrollable fire and letting my mind settle.

But while it pulled me back to my senses in an instant, it only caused the forge to grow hotter. -I.. killed him.- Looking up through the ceiling at the unfathomably heavy mana pressure from the gave sat on my aura, I didn't feel an ounce of regret. -I wonder.. why...-

Rushing to dig at the source of the image knowing it stemmed from an indescribably ancient memory, I wanted to grasp at strings no matter how loose, but after going back and rereading the logs dozens of times, nothing else ever surfaced.

. even if they were close... -Looks like I might be more familiar with this whole situation than I expected though. ..-

After rereading everything so many times I nearly had it memorized, I had managed to piece together details and references throughout the logs, and piece together connections with other things I experienced, such as the artifact I touched as a hatchling being a close match in concept to the artifact Andrew Borealis described.

An artifact meant to create a body that a god can reside in.

-Even if the artifact I touched used different genetics from his project.

. that artifact fits the bill he wanted to fill out.

..- So, after looking through the logs for external references one more time, I took to the rest of the computer, reading through the endless other logs, data entries, and legal documents in search of the artifact and rune blueprints Andrew mentioned endlessly in the latter years of his logs.

I wanted to find the artifact he designed. The culmination of the lifetime's of work, talent, and knowledge of an Acardi researcher.

Until eventually, after finally figuring out how to access the buffer, it appeared...

But rather than making my mind race to answer questions.. it made everything go quiet.

Before my eyes was the blueprint of an artifact with runic circuitry so advanced it was almost sickening, so efficient it felt inorganic, yet pieced together by hand like a huge, endless puzzle.

It was the final prototype of Project Re-XK, the series of artifacts combined into one...

The God-Bearer.

-So this.. is the peak of Acardi technology.

..- It was a conglomeration of artifacts that would completely rewrite the genetic code of one of the Acardi, switching their genetic legend to that of an organism native to Delphi while weaving in changes and improvements like a series of mechanical, intelligent viruses.

Using a perfect blend of mana and science, it was clear the artifacts were well beyond the likes of anything I had seen from the Acardi up until that point, making even the most advanced devices I had seen look so simple it was laughable.

However, there was one exception to that.. a certain memory threw a wrench into that vision. -This...- Envisioning the artifact I touched as a hatchling laying next to it.. my mind bent. -How...-

The blueprint before my eyes was most certainly the pinnacle of Acardi technology, being far beyond even the most advanced devices I could reliably tie to the Acardi from both a mana and science perspective, but at the end of the day, it was still an artifact made with materials I could recreate, in a fashion that, while complex, was of a level I could at least somewhat wrap my head around.

-The first artifact wasn't like that though...- Merely staring into it felt like staring into the void, into infinity, made of a material that seemed to act more like a window that peered into a different world than something I could explain as anything physical.

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Even with all the knowledge I had now, I couldn't even begin to guess what it was.

-Yet regardless of all that.. it spoke in the Acardi language.

..- The only thing I could think of was that it was the artifact made by the competition Borealis mentioned.

-Considering the Acardi phased out their interest and support for Project Re-XK in favor of it. . it's not impossible...-

But the jump in technology didn't make any sense.

At least that was the case if they truly made it on their own.

Thinking back to a series of logs I read referencing some outer power, a being that killed the draconic ancestor, and a being the Acardi higher-ups feared, I felt my mix of soul-bound sensations resurface and squinted my eyes. -Could they have received help from someone..?-

Without unlocking more of my old memories, there was just nothing I could do but guess.

-But.. if they had my genetic material in the artifact, it was likely after I died.

.. If that's the case, could the being that killed me helped them.

.?- With my past life's killer still being unknown, it was entirely possible.

But I still just didn't know enough, and after eventually finding that my continued theorizing wasn't leading anywhere, I could only leave it to simmer, and turn my attention elsewhere.

Finally moving on to the logs documented by the other scientists and supervisors who passed through the lab, I gained a bit more insight into the project itself as well as the minds of Acardi management, but in the end, all it did was reinforce what I already thought.

-Hm... Looks like I need to be a little more proactive with heading to the lunar colony. ..-

But regardless of how badly I needed to head there, I had something else to attend to.. something else that was just as important.

*Vwoop* *Vwoop* Quickly jumping through the void after making sure there weren't any issues with the facility's power management, I reappeared in the sky over Eikasía and almost immediately felt my aura slam into another. -There she is...- *Woosh*

Feeling my chest warm after being frozen in the facility, light found its way back into my eyes, and I made my way down toward the aura.

"Hoh~, look who's back."

Hearing Hera's playful voice, I pushed my aura through the roof of a building before rather quickly finding Hera and Krystallo relaxing in an indoor spa, a large artificial hotspring, and smiling. "You look comfortable. Mind if I join in?"

Immediately pausing, Hera's joking smile vanished. "Of course not, but.. are you alright?"

*WOOSH-WOOSH* Landing in front of the spa, I rather quickly shrunk down before walking inside and checking in. "Hm? What do you mean?"

Walking into the spa, my eyes were instantly caught in Hera's worried gaze, but it only took a moment for it to turn serious. "Your eyes are cold... Did you uncover more of Bahamut's memories? Are you pinning the blame on yourself again-"

"No, no..." Switching from wind magic to my voice, I surrounded Krystallo, who was napping next to Hera, with silencing magic. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"I know..." Quickly shooting a glance at Krystallo and the magic I put around her as I climbed in the spring and submerged myself, Hera's gaze softened. "Is it something you need to get off your chest..?"

Shaking my head, I quickly got comfortable before perching my head on the side of the spring, facing away from Hera. "It's not anything that is weighing on me, don't worry. Just.. something that takes some thought..."

Giving Krystallo another, much softer glance, Hera quickly stood up, being careful not to disturb her before walking over to me. "Well, if it's something you have to think about, why don't you share it with me?"

"I just think you might not take it as lightly as me." Gently lifting my leg, I resituated myself to let Hera lay on the same round rock as me and lean into my side. *Ripple*

Letting out a heavy breath she situated herself so she could rest her head on my shoulder. "We agreed to face the future together, are you going to go back on that?"

Shooting me a playful pout, I quickly shrunk up and laid my wing over her. "Of course not..." -I just don't know where to start...-

But after a bit of thought, I started from where we left off last time, explaining that the mana well was actually a grave before moving onto the many details I found in the lab regarding the artifact I touched as a hatchling.

"To think such a monstrous creature existed... For its body to still be so full of mana, it must have truly been a god above the class I can fathom... It makes me wonder how it died though, and how it got buried like it did..."

Finding her questions excruciatingly similar to the ones I was asking myself just a few days ago, I wanted to laugh. "Well, I can actually answer that." Averting my eyes, I felt a bit of anxiety trying to tie my stomach in a knot.

Noticing my unusual shift in demeanor, her curiosity instantly turned to concern.

Concern that only worsened my anxiety... -But.. I trust her...- Lowering my snout, I turned my eyes back to her. "I killed it, and presumably buried it too."

Her eyes instantly went wide as a ripple spread through the pool from her tensing up. "Why..?"

Shrugging, I carefully pulled my wing off her and leaned away slightly. "The memory was incomplete, but I don't seem to regret it at all. Rather than something like guilt.. I felt pity."

Falling silent, Hera pulled herself off my side, clearly still deep in thought.

But that wasn't surprising. After all, I just admitted to killing the being that was the foundation of the draconic race on Delphi.

However, rather than looking disgusted, fearful, or panicked as I worried, she remained inexplicably calm. "As..?"

"Nott."

"Then what does it matter?" Speaking so bluntly she sounded annoyed, she somewhat angrily pushed herself into me and looked me straight in the eyes. "I know you better than anyone. The real you. You definitely had a reason."

-More than likely...- However, there was no way to tell if I hadn't simply changed since then.

"If you were strong enough to kill a creature like that, you were also strong enough to clean the mess that'd follow its death, and that's assuming you didn't actually have a reason for it.

" Smiling, she relaxed and laid her head down on me.

"Look, I know you're worried about discovering you have blood on your paws just like Bahamut, but I want you to keep this in mind.

" Capturing my gaze, her beautiful irises pulled me in.

"If you think I'm going to change the way I see you because of something you did in a past life where you weren't a native to this world, nor a dragon, you might as well save the thought. "

Nuzzling herself into me, she used her aura to lay my wing back over her.

"No matter what, I will be by your side, okay?" Lowering her gaze, her voice hushed to a mumble, and her body completely relaxed. "No matter what..."

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