Chapter cover: A young woman around her 20's standing in the middle of the lush green forest of Leafre, looking up at the deep-blue sky which reflected in her coffee brown eyes. A scar shaped like a moon across her lips and her platinum blonde hair was highlighted with red highlights. She wore a leather armour and brown slacks, and on her palms, was a single purple lily.

...

The smell of dew…the lush forest…the rare fruits of Leafre…the setting sun…this…this place…where was I? I was running away from my pursuer…wounded and-

My mind's blank. Subconsciously, my hand was placed on my face, blocking part of my vision.

There was something hard on my back…did I sleep? If so, how long?

"T***"

?

Who is it? This voice…where did I hear it?

"T***! Mom's asking you to rest! You are still injured!" said the child's voice. There was innocence in it…and awe? Then, a face popped out from above. I was startled by the sudden appearance of a young boy and bit my lip to prevent myself from screaming.

He looked around six and his skin was different…there's definitely a purple tinge. The child's left eye…it was covered with his vermilion bang – blind? Fortunately, his right is working just fine.

…I had to blink twice just in case I'm still hallucinating. There is a demon mark on his left and a cut across his right.

Yes, it is a nice view…because his bang was loose and if he comes any closer, his vermilion hair will tickle me.

Flames…is what I will describe his irises. They looked as if they were burning and instead of vengeance, it's warm…like a fire most adventurers tended to cook.

His hair was slightly long and untidy, as if he didn't come his hair at all – much less, cut them.

Odd…

I squinted at his face. There were signs of abuse…who did that?!

My blood boiled from anger. It was very clear, his left cheek was swollen. But since he's not complaining, I won't say anything about it except treat it from my precious medicine supply.

"Move it." I growled.

That's not my voice…that voice sounds higher…

The boy obliged and back away from me.

I sighed once and got up and stretched my body. But I overdid it and my stomach hurts! Feeling alarmed, I pulled up my shirt and saw bloody splotches on the white bandage.

Hmm…must be fresh wound. Wonderful…I reopened it…should be careful…

I released my dirty shirt and grabbed the boy by the hand, but careful not to crush the small little guy before walking down a path leading to somewhere.

His home? Hopefully.

It was only then I took notice of his clothes. They were second-hand, but in good condition. There was a red scarf around his neck – cold? Squeaky noise from mud, boots meant for rain. A comfortable shirt and brown pants.

I shook my head. I cannot afford to be distracted.

After a while, we came to a familiar place. I glanced around, I felt lost in this place.

"Damien, where's your home?" I said as we halted.

He laughed and winced immediately. With infinite patience, he pointed the direction and I followed them. We walked quite some time in this dense forest until I smelled smoke.

It has a certain fragrance to it. Food!

My sharp nose caught the scent and I followed it and stumbled to an opening with the little boy. The source of smoke came from the opening – a chimney of a warm home. It was a tiny thing – and my heart fell. It is so farrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

With little urging, we both ran towards it. Gradually, we covered the distance between us, but I had to slow down for the boy and it used a considerably amount of strength.

By the time we reached it, I stopped and allow the little boy to catch his breath.

The lights are on and there was a person running across it, a woman. Even if it was just a moment, there was worry in her eyes.

The house definitely have a woman's touch to it – especially underneath the windows, the golden poppies bloomed marvelously in that two rectangular pots.

It has a nice atmosphere to it. I released the child and he ran to the door without me and opened it by himself. Before he entered, he stepped aside and beckoned me in.

Cute, I thought.

I have to smile. He's a cute little gentleman. I stepped inside and felt myself relax a little. It is huge for a house, especially if it is meant for one room only. At one corner, there was a table, and on top of it – there were crayons. At the other end, there was a small kitchen and there was the woman I saw.

Sera – I remembered.

Orange…carrots. A boiling pot…stew?

"Damien, did you fetch our guest?" A kind and motherly voice called, she barely looked out from her job. The door closed behind me and there was a small click – a lock. There was a polished, wooden kitchen counter blocking her bottom half, but it is enough for me to assume she was wearing her nightgown.

Unlike her children, her skin was pale and in contrast, her brown hair was rich in colour.

"Hehe, I did!" said the little kid named Damien. He giggled and I ruffled his hair as if it was the most natural thing to me.

Caring for kids that is.

"Wait here…" I ordered before I grabbed my travelling bag. If I was a bit more alert, I would have noticed a missing obsidian sword.

My travelling bag was dirtied from my journey and I dug around my supplies and pulled out a small bottle, with it was a blue string.

It was a healing balm I bought from Ariant.

I tossed it carelessly and it hit the wall with a loud thump. Then, I heard a loud gasp. I turned towards the source and stared at another boy, this time, with bat wings and his hair is...long. His clothes was identical to Damien's.

That's the only similarities between those two other than blood and heritage.

Demon blood in his veins. Strong.

In his hands, he was holding a…wait, that's my sword!

I sighed. At least it won't unsheathe if it isn't its true owner. True to my words, the white knuckles told me he was trying all his might to pull them apart. With that, Damien came over and wowed at it.

At least I don't have to walk to him.

I treated his swollen cheek while he was distracted. Unfortunately that lasted for five seconds before he hissed from pain and jumped backwards. I gestured at his cheek.

Reluctantly, he came back and allowed me to rub the balm. Once it is fully treated, I closed my precious medicine and said, "Mraku won't unsheathe for you." The older looking boy looked unconvinced, his forehead was beaded with sweat and his long hair stuck to his face.

There was a long silence before I took it from his hands with little effort. I stepped back twice and unsheathed Mraku to prove my point. "See? Valfor, you're not worthy of it. But you can try." I hid a smirk when I passed him my sword.

"Dinner will be ready, get clean…and T***, please sit. We will prepare a bath for you." The boys went like a wind, Mraku spun in midair before gravity took over and clattered to the ground. I stared at it.

T*** is not my name!

"…Can I help out instead?" The prospect of cooking is better than sitting around and stare at the wall like a doll.

Instantly, Sera looked horrified. "Heavens no."

I tried.

Whose memory is this?

…

…

Location: Underground, Magatia
Time: 05:55:05

Lea woke up with a start, with the green chandelier staring back at her with the high ceiling. The dream she has…whose memory was it? It was getting more and more frequent, and most of the dreams were foggy – sometimes crystal clear like a place, or people, sometimes just…voices. Both kind and cruel voices.

She groaned softly. She wanted to check the time, but too tired to do so. She mustered as much energy as she could and sat up, the blanket which covered her fluttered to the ground. The floor is clean – Aozaki cleaned them not too long ago with the wind rune. Unless Lea's eyes were deceiving her, the cold, hard floor was sparkling.

A little detail her tired mind dismissed.

XXX

It was suppose to be a simple day. Do errands of Aozaki Yoko for the first time in a long time, watch Phantom get tortured mentally, and wandering around the city of Magatia.

However, that supposedly simple day went for a nice turn.

It took just one measly glance to spot her brother.

Lea did a double take and almost spewed out her amazing coffee (worth 500 mesos) and backtrack just in time to see her elder brother diving into a messy piles of paper. Not that she was complaining, but why? She didn't want to deal with her blood family, neither does he. There was an awkward silence before Lea drank her cup, scalding her tongue in one go and crushed the styrofoam.

Then again, with memories that definitely didn't belong to her bothered her, so it is no longer a simple day?

If she thought she could avoid talking to her brother, as if the Transcendents just want to make her life miserable, Luminous came into her sight - right the moment she was thinking she should just walk straight ahead in the crazy place.

Luminous looked grumpy as usual and Lea's eyebrows twitched with a mixture of annoyance and anger. Slowly, she turned her head to the direction where Jake was hiding.

She is very tempted to murder Jake on the spot. Subconsciously, she reached for her dagger, hidden underneath her cloak until the alchemist came out and swore creatively the moment she saw the light mage. There was a dangerous flame lit up in her eyes. Even from afar, her gray irises have changed to orange, and were wavering like a flame.

"What's this?" hissed Aozaki, the red high heels clicked the marble floor dangerously with every step. For a wild moment, Lea imagined a beast made of flames coming to life behind her, setting fire to experiments and papers within five feet.

Lea rubbed her eyes. The image was gone, but Aozaki was glaring at her with a fiery rage boiling in her eyes. The girl gulped.

She faced many life-and-death situations in the past, but the pressure Aozaki was putting is just crazy.

Then, the puzzles clicked together and Lea pointed at where Jake is hiding with a forced grin. Aozaki's eyes darted in the direction of the finger and snarled like a beast once. Jake lets out an unmanly shriek and scampered away, with the alchemist hot on his heels and yelling, "OH HEAVENS HELP ME!"

Aozaki shouted colourfully and swore punishments – momentary forgetting her invited and uninvited guests.

While the alchemist is distracted, Lea grabbed the confused Luminous by the wrist and forcefully dragged him to where she thinks Phantom is. When Luminous struggled, Lea stopped and flicked his forehead in the blink of an eye and yanked him forward.

Even with Aozaki temporarily lost sight of Lea, the latter felt her heart pounding furiously in her chest.

Lea released the mage's wrist and stopped at a crossroad. "Wonderful." She can't trace Phantom down as they haven't used an ounce of mana in this lab. Even if she did, it would take too much time just to look for a single person – like finding a needle in a haystack.

Lea massaged her head. They didn't have much choice. Convincing Aozaki Yoko is like convincing a mountain to move. Invoking Aozaki's wrath (good job Jake, Lea added sarcastically) cause a major headache to both the strategist and the coordinator.

"Find Phantom. We will talk. And once you do – try not to make too much…ruckus." Lea glanced at Luminous who was rubbing his sore wrist and repeated herself, "Ruckus."

"You said it twice." Luminous barely hide his irritation in his voice and he took the left while the girl went north. She was tempted to take a shortcut.

For a shortcut – cutting through the towers of papers and climbing over tables and knocking down experiments is a great start. That action is suicidal.

Lea forced the shortcut out of her mind and ran as fast as she could and when she needed to turn, she made a sharp turn and not just once, she knocked a pile of paper, regardless of size. Some went down like dominos, others just flew into the air like a flock of birds, partially blocking her vision when one swatted down her face.

She ran until her legs scream. Hmm…she hasn't even run 10 kilometers and her legs are screaming? Great, she's out of shape.

Even from a good distance, she could hear the roar of the mountain, coming closer…

COMING CLOSER?!

…

…

Phantom was distracted by a journal – to be more precise, Aozaki Yoko's old journal. It was an amazing find – years of research compiled into one book instead of towering stacks of papers in the lab. No wonder Lea wanted to come here, Aozaki's lab is like a library. There were countless topics inside the book, but the journal was titled 'ORIGIN' – why? When Phantom flipped through the pages, it was obviously not just the theories of Origin. There was also her past detailed inside, dated back to sixty years.

How old is Aozaki Yoko? But Phantom stopped wondering about it the moment he searched what he wanted to look for. The brown leather was softened over the years as his fingers traced it. His amethyst eyes sparkled with amazement. His nose caught the smell of real leather – it can't be brand new! The pages were yellowed, but fortunately, the cursive writing is clear to read.

'Origin exists in every living being, trees, people, the elves are included. Most do not know their Origin in their lifetimes. Origin also influences a degree of personality. However, knowing the Origin can change a person's personality much more than it is needed – and even controls their actions. That is a rare case, but when it happens, nothing can stop them other than death.'

Phantom flipped another page of the yellow book; surprisingly the bindings are still strong and continued reading. He blocked out the shouts from wherever it is from. He can't afford to be distracted.

'In my research – I research about the Origin of body instead of soul. Although I know the basics of the soul, with my doll making skills, I find it easier to research on physical than something we can't see, much less grasp it. The results are not encouraging and I learn that it is impossible to craft a perfect body for other people than yourself. I don't know their conscious mind, their sub-conscious mind, and their super-conscious mind. But I can replace their limbs with a creation of my own – with a payment. It is easy to attach limbs, but their mind? It's difficult.'

Phantom flipped through the pages – most of it was just minor researches and findings – until one caught his interest. At the top left, was a date, the day and month were faded, but the year was still intact. It read X636, there was a folded triangle on the page too. And Phantom carefully unfolded it and read the entry.

'I was visited by an alchemist who knew my existence. He sought for me – for one thing.

Love. Love for his family. He told me his intentions to become immortal. As a human – he has no hope of surviving for years to come. It is common knowledge an elf will outlive a human. Unless you are a magician, there are no chances of immortality, but I dare not burst his bubble. I could see the conflict in his eyes. He is a bright person, and I saw the determination in his eyes – therefore, I told him my experience.

Day after day, he visited my lab, looking more tired than the day before. After one year, he finally told me his project. He also confessed he was relying on another person's research which was a very dark secret of Magatia – what were the odds of finding the legendary lab?

I didn't help him with the body as he made himself a body of steel – based on the revised theory, he will live, but without his memories…forever empty of it.

There is only word to describe his creation.

Incomplete…

That is the price for relying on the Black Mage's researches.'

Phantom froze for thirty seconds flat before he reread the last sentence at least three times for the information to sink it and placed a hand on his face.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Disbelief tinged in his voice.

...

A/N: I did the storyline many times and yet, I don't really remember the timeline. Haha, I will be grateful the help. LOL just realized this is the twentieth chapter of TGOS. Funny, it is only the 18th chapter if you don't include the side stories.

Thank you for reading! Have a great 2016!

P.S I edited a few grammar mistakes in the previous chapter (forgot to proofread it).