Reforging

That all-too-familiar sentence left Shirley in a brief daze. Her memories seemed to rise and fall in a faded sea, long-lost warmth and color surfacing from those illusory, hazy bubbles. Only after a long while did she sluggishly come back to herself and look at the unusually enormous Abyssal Hound not far away.

It was still waiting there, hesitant and nervous, with a hint of confusion.

As though a layer of viscous mud covered its mind, A'gou felt that many things in its head were wrong. Its past memories were blurred, and its thoughts kept breaking off. It did not know what had gone wrong. It only felt... as if something were missing inside it.

Faint light flickered in its hollow eye sockets. A'gou looked at the Abyssal Demon not far away, with her strange skeletal limbs and somewhat familiar appearance, and felt wave after wave of disorientation.

It had never seen her, but it knew her—it had known her a very, very long time ago.

Why had the little one from its memories... become like this?

After hesitating for who knew how long, A'gou finally stepped forward cautiously. It first sniffed around, then crossed over those long, barbed limbs and came before Shirley.

Shirley silently watched the towering Abyssal Hound. After several minutes, she slowly rose and placed a hand atop A'gou's head. "Why have you become so strange too?"

A'gou sluggishly tilted its head, seeming to want to say something, but before it could speak, it felt a force against the back of its neck—Shirley suddenly reached out, wrapped her arms around its neck, and pulled it tightly into her embrace.

"...I thought I'd never find you..." she muttered softly. The delayed fear made her voice tremble slightly. "You suddenly fell down, and I couldn't hold on to