A Sinner’s Chance

Irellia was like a child as I told about my life leading up to this point, her reactions and feelings written plainly in her expression, eyes sparkling when I described places and people she'd never had the chance to see as she had been stuck in the Forest of Darkness her entire life. I'd left out the first five years as I didn't really want to bring up Ashara and have to ruin her mood, as well as some of my abilities and a few events that had happened, however despite her childlike excitement and demeanor, she was both clever and cunning as she was able to point out certain holes, though she didn't press the matter on most, the sole exception being what I knew about Ashara.

Once she was caught up to the present she immediately caught on that, according to what I'd said I shouldn't have any familiarity with Ashara as my mother, but that I should only remember Alcrem and Marian. I hesitated at first but her intense gaze and insistent questioning wore down my resistance rather quickly, and I could only sigh as I gave in.

"There's one thing you need to know to understand why I remember Ashara as my mom. I was reincarnated with my memories, and the majority of my mental capabilities from another world. From around the time I was a few months old, I was self-aware, and able to remember things, though it took a good bit of time to learn to speak a new language." I paused for a moment, my fingers twirling around each other. For the first time since I'd been born in this world I was truly nervous, so much so that I couldn't help but wish I had a cigarette from Velen's world to calm down.

Both Renae and Steria seemed to choke on their tea as I mentioned my past life, and it was only now that I realized I hadn't mentioned it to either of them. I had completely forgotten as I was so used to the fact that those close to me already knew, and it wasn't really that big of a concern since I had long since disassociated from any of my past lives. However, the explanation for those two would have to wait a bit longer as I didn't want to go into details while in the middle of another conversation.

"The first five years are ones I still look extremely fondly on, despite the emotions associated. I don't remember much of my Awakening, only that there was flames of black and purple." I said while conjuring a small amount of Yinfire. "The next time I came to I was in the Eldur household, they said a patrol had found me in the arms of burnt Arachne corpse unconscious, and since I looked Elvish, they took me back to the city."

Irellia listened intently, her brow furrowing in slight confusion. "Someone has lied to you. I might not know much, and I might be restrained to a small area, but I know for a fact that Ashara is alive."

I had been taking a sip of the green tea she'd prepared and had nearly spat it out at her words. Ashara was alive? I wanted to believe what Irellia was saying, but all the information pointed to the opposite. I had heard from three different, and clearly unrelated people that Ashara was dead. The first being Marian when I woke up, the second being Neyla, and the final being Ein, yet Irellia said it wasn't true.

"How?" I muttered quietly, a small spark of hope flickering in my chest. The first five years of my life had changed who I was initially, and I didn't doubt that I would have turned out worse were it not for the warm and unconditional love that Ashara had shown me, something I had always wished I could thank her for. Even if she hadn't been aware of it, she was giving me something I hadn't had in a long time.

Irellia closed her eyes, a deep breath escaping her mouth. "Have you heard of the Weaver?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"I didn't think so it's not a story the-" she suddenly cut off as she must have registered my words. "You've heard of the Weaver? From who? No wait, the third prince, you did say he helped with the creation of your jewelry. He must have mentioned his special sight if you built those with his help at the least."

It was something that was easy to miss since I hadn't gone into much detail about the process of making the jewelry. But her sense of reasoning was excellent as that was the first time I had heard of the Weaver, though only from the description of the prince's Status. 

I nodded to her reasoning. "But I actually know even better than some vague mentioning. I mentioned my past life, but I actually have several, or rather I inherit the memories of my past lives, I'm not actually sure on how it works. Regardless, I actually recently inherited the memories of one of my lives who worked under the Weaver and glimpsed the Tapestry it worked on, in addition to gaining a Skill called Thread Sight."

Irellia could only blink a few times rapidly as she processed what I was telling her. "Unbelievable." she muttered after a moment. "If you can see the Threads you should know exactly what I mean. Ashara's Thread still exists, therefore she still resides here, on the mortal plane."

I practically flinched from her words, reflexively overlaying the sight of the Threads over my own as I felt the third eye open. I hadn't wanted to mess with the Thread and I really had only used it to make Communication Jewelry, so it rarely saw use outside of such context. However, it seemed that my reluctance to learn and experiment was a mistake.

As usual the Threads were a mess of colors and crossing lines, making it very difficult to make sense of anything, however, there was actually something strange about the Threads connected to Irellia. The amount of Thread connected to her was unusually small, and excluding the Threads that connected her to me, Renae, Steria, and Arya, only two other Threads connected to her, one gray and chainlike, the other, a faint pink, so thin that it was almost as if it wasn't there.

I assumed that the faint thread was the one that connected her to Ashara, as the chainlike one went into the floor. So I compared the various Threads that connected to me slowly eliminating them until only a single faint, yet deep blue thread remained. I nearly dashed from the room to chase the Thread, to see where it would lead me, but before I could move I felt two sets of fingers entwine with my own.

Steria and Arya must have sensed or perhaps noticed what I was about to do and easily anchored me back to reality. Even if the Thread did connect me to Ashara, there was no telling how far away it was, or what sort of danger I might face on the way. She hadn't died after all this time, surely a bit longer to make sure I could find her safely wouldn't change anything.