Published at 19th of July 2026 7:36 am

Chapter 917: Hyperthymesia

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Asher didn’t speak, nor did he interrupt his brother, as the man seemed to have a lot to get off his chest, so he simply listened in silence.

"I was born with a condition called Hyperthymesia, a rare condition where someone is born with a superior autobiographical memory and is able to remember and recall almost, if not all, personal experiences throughout their life," Thalric began to explain. "Through this condition, I could always hear Mother’s voice when I was still in the womb, surrounded by the darkish-red environment and fluid." He smiled as he remembered Lily, his memories reaching back to the time before he was even born. "I remember her patting her belly while I was inside, showering me with love, singing to me, talking to me about the rapier, speaking about the days when she fought enemies who were stronger than her and still came out victorious."

Thalric paused, his entire tone turning melancholic as the memories of when Lily had been pregnant with him surged to the forefront of his mind. He remembered every word Lily had ever spoken, every syllable, every laugh, every late-night story. He possessed a perfect recollection of everything, the emotions he had felt at the time, how his tiny body would react with a kick despite having no conscious control over it.

"When I was born, I remember that day... the feeling of the overwhelming light pouring into my senses, overloading me and making me cry at birth. I remember our mother holding me, kissing me on the forehead," Thalric continued as his right hand slowly rose to touch his forehead, as though he were watching that very moment unfold once again in real time from a third-person perspective.

"She even went as far as placing a wooden rapier beside me because I knew she had a burning desire for one of her children to awaken the rapier as their soul-bound weapon. After all, imagine having seven children before me, and none of them awakened the rapier," Thalric continued before pausing once more.

"Then one day she became pregnant again. She showered you with the same love, and she showered me with that same love as she had all of us... but then, upon giving birth to you, she died." Thalric spoke, a tear rolling down from his eyes and across his face as he finally turned toward Asher, as though he had finally found the courage to face him directly.

"At the time, I was still only a one-year-old baby, so I obviously didn’t know what death meant, or what many things even meant. But as I grew older, all the love I had been showered with, the hope, the will, everything our mother had ever said came flowing back into my mind through vivid images, sounds, and emotions," his tears continued to flow as he made no effort to wipe them away. "I decided to carry on her legacy, to train with the rapier day in and day out, and I loved every bit of it. I wanted to make her proud. I wanted her to know that even in death, her wish had finally come true." His tone softened before hardening once again.

"But then my awakening came... and I failed to awaken the rapier... I got a sabre instead. It felt as though my entire existence had been for nothing. It felt as though I couldn’t even accomplish the barest minimum of what Mother had wanted. I locked myself away and refused to touch my sabre. Of course, neither Father nor our siblings complained, as they understood the weight and expectations I carried at the time," his tone hardened as he spoke.

"Then, when you failed your awakening for the first time... I found a reason. I found someone to blame for everything... I found someone to pour all my anger onto. I found someone to accuse of causing my situation and Mother’s death. My emotions and thoughts twisted in that direction, and I acted upon them for hours, days, months, one year... then two years without ever stopping." He lowered his gaze to the ground as guilt consumed him entirely.

Asher remained silent. He recalled that the bullying had only begun after he had failed his awakening, as up until that point everything had been more or less normal. The memories came pouring back, his own perfect memory enhancing every single thing the original Asher had ever witnessed.

"Until I found out that you had awakened the rapier as your weapon, and I was shocked when I discovered it during your True Awakening ceremony. But even then, I wished you died. After all, it was common knowledge that awakening on the third attempt simply meant one was painfully average, and I didn’t like the fact that Mother had finally gotten her wish, only for it to end up in your hands... the hands of someone who was supposedly destined to become trash because of a third awakening," Thalric explained without hiding the fact that he had wanted those assassins to succeed.

"But then I saw you... your movements, the way you wielded the rapier... you achieved progress that had taken me years within only half a year. At that moment, I and everyone else knew immediately that you were a genius who wasn’t bound by the so-called third-awakening rule. But even then, I couldn’t fully accept you from the very beginning because of the hatred I had nurtured for two whole years." His tears flowed even more heavily as his voice cracked.

"I’m not using my Hyperthymesia as an excuse, nor am I blaming it, Ash... I acknowledge the kind of brother I was... no... the kind of demon I was in the past. And although it’s stupid to ask for forgiveness now, especially since you bear no hatred toward me and have already seemingly chosen to forgive me or leave the past behind, I will still say it," Thalric stated, his emotions unbearably heavy.

As he spoke, he slowly dropped to his knees. His head lowered, his hands clenched tightly into fists as he placed them upon his lap while his tears continued to drip onto his thighs, soaking through his trousers.

"I’m... sorry for every... every wrong word... every... hateful thing... I ever said... I’m sorry... for every condescending tone... every action... I’m... sorry," he spoke, his voice repeatedly breaking as tears streamed endlessly from his eyes, staining the floor upon which he knelt.

Asher remained silent for a long moment, unsure of how to react. He had never experienced such a situation, neither back on Earth nor here on Crymora, so he simply stood there quietly, uncertain of what words he should say.

But before Asher could even make a move, Thalric slowly rose back to his feet.

"As much as I came here to beg for forgiveness, I’m still the biggest coward, Youngest. I can’t bring myself to hear you say things like you forgive me or that you never hated me. So... once again... forgive me for this... and for everything," Thalric spoke once more.

A scroll appeared in his hand from his space ring. He immediately tore it apart, and the next moment he vanished from Asher’s room, his figure reappearing within his own room. He stood there silently for a long moment before slowly sitting on the ground against the wooden frame of his bed. His body curled inward as he drew his knees up to his chest, rested his face upon them, wrapped his arms around his legs, and cried without restraint as guilt, torment, regret, and countless suppressed emotions seized complete control over him.

Thalric crumbled beneath the crushing weight of his past decisions, beneath the unbearable burden of the man he once was.

He couldn’t even stay behind to hear anything Asher might have said because he already knew it would have been something positive, and he had chosen to run away from those words before they could ever reach him.

But although he was a man, men were allowed to cry. They were allowed to show their emotions, allowed to express their grief and regrets. After all, men were still human. At the end of the day, however, what truly mattered wasn’t the tears themselves, but the change that followed them. Would one rise after such a devastating setback, or remain on the ground forever, consumed beneath the unbearable weight of one’s own past?

One could only wonder what changes would come over Thalric as a whole after today. Would he return to the expressive self he once possessed? Or had that expressive personality merely been a byproduct of the hatred that had once consumed him? Or would he remain exactly as he had been throughout the past one and a half years?

But one truth remained absolute.

Thalric was going to be a changed man.

____

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Poor Thalric... sigh.

Also, we’ve officially been surpassed by the horny People’s Book.

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