There was no pain, no agonizing sensation of his body being slashed apart, nor the feeling of Life Force draining away that should have come when his life points hit zero.
To Droube's surprise, he even felt somewhat comfortable.
Soft white light enveloped him, warm and reassuring. The light took the form of a warhorse, flapping its wings as it flew before him, its eyes gentle and sorrowful.
For some reason, Droube felt as though the horse looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.
After hesitating for half a second, Droube was somehow compelled to reach out. His fingers spread as his palm slowly came to rest against the horse.
The buzzing in his head reached its peak at that instant.
Countless memories, once merely thousands upon thousands of shattered fragments, suddenly seemed to gain a core. Drawn toward it from every direction, they automatically adhered and assembled themselves piece by piece, like a puzzle. Yet it was a puzzle in which every fragment knew exactly where it belonged.
As the puzzle came together, the memories began to return. It felt as though an entire missing lifetime had been crammed into his mind, violently clashing with the memories of his life as one of the glorious Barian Emperors.
It was as though two souls were battling fiercely within this body.
Face after face flashed rapidly before him. Faces that felt utterly unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar—comrades he was certain he had never met in this life, yet had clearly fought beside through life and death.
Lowly humans whom he, as one of the noble Barian Emperors, should have despised and looked down upon.
At last, the chaos in his mind reached its peak.
"Ahhh—"
Droube clutched his head and dropped to his knees.
"How could this be? How could