Liriel was left stunned.
Summon her past self and fuse it with her present self? There was actually such a strange ability in this world?
No wonder Balalaika had said it would feel like possession.
The fusion of the past self and present self—was that not possession?
But then again, was the past self truly oneself? Liriel was not pondering a philosophical question, but harboring a natural fear of the "Non-Self."
—I am clearly still here, yet someone says another "me" is about to appear.
In such circumstances, anyone would be afraid.
If even "I" could not be unique, was I truly still "me"?
After hesitating again and again, Liriel finally voiced her thoughts.
Balalaika listened, then said evenly, "The term 'past self' is merely a convenient way of describing it. It is not truly a 'life' possessing self-awareness. You may regard it as a shadow of time that has preserved the complete stream of your past information."
"Ordinary light and shadow can only reflect the present, but the shadows left in the cracks of time are different. Just as light falls upon you now and casts a reflection upon the ground; that reflection is born from you and records your outline. But this shadow preserved within the rifts of time has locked away every experience you had at that moment, even those the present you has already forgotten."
"What I must do is draw this shadow of information out from the rifts of time and return it to you."
"So while it is called fusion, in essence it is not the blending of two independent 'selves.' You need not worry that a second 'I' will be born."
Of course, only when the past self fused into Liriel's body would no self-awareness be born.
Liriel herself already possessed those past