Elena sat down next to Memor staring into the distant lands with him, none of them spoke. Memor knew her reason for doing what she was about to do, now all he can do is try to convince her.
He turned to Elena with a straight face and broke the silence."How's Natalie doing?"
Without looking at Memor she replied, her voice calm,"she's well…What does Spyro want to know?"
Ignoring her question, Memor said."He threatened you didn't he?"
Elena stayed quiet for a moment,"yes…She is a good child, undeserving of our battles."
"The chances that he will do anything is really low." Memor urged
"Not with Natalie." Elena responded, her voice carrying an indiscernible shiver.
Memor asked,"How would she feel if she lost her sister?"
"That is a risk I'm willing to take." Elena said, her voice as calm as a lake.
Elena stood up and went behind Memor, her hand glided into his hair, she rubbed his head then said."I'm sorry Memor."
"I'm sorry too."
After that the world grew quiet, even the wind slowed down. Under the veil of sunlight, Memor's heart was calm, not only from the Bayel flower, but his true emotions were still as well.
He was not sympathetic to Elena, but he understood, to him they were similar in some way, both powerless in different ways, both trying to make the best decisions for their goals, even if it would end up hurting another.
Her hand was slightly shaking as it went through Memor's hair. In the next moment, an unbearable pain struck his mind, it felt like a nail spinning at the center of his brain, trying to turn it into stew. He didn't know how long had passed since the pain began, but before he knew it Memor lost consciousness.
***
Elena glanced down at the slumped down Memor, her expression unreadable. Through the Phantom Realm she had already broken into Memor's mind with Mind Break. Her Phantom Self, a glowing figure of her body, roamed in Memor's memories which was a hazy of beige skies mixed with warm ivory. Her Phantom Self delved in, surrounded by hazy colors, Elena looked deep. She saw Memor at the camp, he ate a Bayel flower, she saw Memor at his home, he ate a Bayel flower. She looked way back, to the day Memor had tea with Uncle Ceres and Councilor Spyro, as she tried to go farther into Memor's memories, she started to feel lost, she had gone too deep, as a Grade 1 Mnemonist Elena should be able to look at least seventy days into a Learner's past, but with Memor she wasn't even able to go past thirty.
Realizing she couldn't go any further, she retracted her vision of Memor's memories, then looked down at the unconscious Memor, her eyes watery as she walked away.
Deep inside Memor's mind, in the memory of him having tea, Uncle Ceres lifted his head and stared above, he was not looking at the ceiling of the cabin, but beyond, watching as Elena left with watery eyes. Sighing Uncle Ceres sipped his tea.
***
Memor awoke, his head pulsating in pain. Looking around, it was already late in the evening, the sun shined with golden light hitting the side of Memor's face, which scrunched as he picked himself up.
Memor went back into camp, the dryness in his throat begged to be relieved, he walked to the water barrels, cleansed himself of thirst and went back to his tent. Inside Zinon and Demi talked while laying on the ground, she had a smile on her face, one that Memor never saw when she spoke with Luni.
Memor spared them none of his attention nor did they bother with him, he took off his studded armor and laid down on his mattress. His mind was calm, as the night approached the effects of the Bayel flower should have worn off, and it did, but Memor was at peace with what had happened as he fell asleep.
In the sea of white flowers, Memor opened his eyes to find himself standing in an infinite lake of Bayel flowers, the sea reaching his knees. This time though, there was a current, one pushing towards him. Memor walked forward like he always did, the sweet fragrance of flowers assaulted his mind, but this time he didn't vomit, because mixed in with the smell of flowers was that of rotten meat, it was not much better than the scent of flowers, though it saved him from the long hours of barfing.
In the distant ocean, an unfamiliar dark object floated in the shallow sea of flowers, urging Memor to move forward to satiate his curiosity. The object approached with Memor and the current efforts, once close enough Memor could make out the outlines of it, finally he was staring right down at the unknown object, which now revealed itself to be a body.
It wore metal plated leather armor and long brown hair, the face had many holes burrowed into it, leaking in pus and dark red goo, the body was tattered where skin shone in green and grey. Looking closer, Memor could tell who it was—Elena.
He stared at her, a faint smirk growing on his face. He relished at the sight of her dead corpse.
When he woke up he had no recollection of his dream, only that he had one. It was the following day, Memor was on guard duty, he was called over by Jacob who supervised the assault team.
After wearing his armor and sneaking a Bayel flower into his mouth, Memor patrolled the left side of camp with Demi, who still gave him disdainful gazes when he looked away, but Memor didn't find it annoying, his mind was at peace.
Throughout his patrolling Memor was quiet, he didn't speak with Demi who seemed to have the same idea, he didn't speak with Uncle Ceres, nor did he speculate on what Elena was going to do with the memories she had stolen, to him, everything he could have done, he did.
As Memor observed the horizon, he spotted movement faraway, unsure of what he was seeing Memor tapped at Demi's shoulders which surprised her as she didn't expect Memor to speak with her. Ignoring her surprised expression, Memor pointed to the horizon where he spotted movement, causing Demi to turn and look as well, when she spotted the movement she ran into camp, bringing back Jacob with her.
"Where is this movement you say?" Jacob asked hurriedly.
Demi pointed at where the movement was found, which had now become much larger and revealed itself to be a pack of approaching caravans."Over there."
Seeing the magnitude of the situation, Jacob ordered Demi."Go find Elena."
Demi ran into the encampment as Memor watched the approaching caravans with an even expression, when they were close enough, Memor noticed enormous scratch marks on the sides, and blood stains on the wheels, the drivers of the caravans looked distressed and some held their abdomens in pain.
Elena came just in time to meet the caravans of people, a man hopped off from one of the caravans and advanced towards the edge of camp where a group of people awaited, his armor marred with scratches and cavities, even his face bore fresh scars.
Seeing his approach, Elena spoke."Who are you and why are you here?"
He raised both his hands, as if surrendering with his face in distress."We are merchants from Cafoori Village who were attacked by a large pack of Skrucks, they are coming this way right now…"
Elena cursed under her breath, and so did the crowd start to murmur.
"...please you have to help us! We already lost many of us trying to get away."
After hearing him plead, Elena noticed more movement in the horizon, a black line thickened as time went on in the distance. She turned to Jacob and said,"get everyone from the assault team, tell them to be ready for battle."
Then Elena said to Costa,"tell the people of the labour team to get out of the forest and into camp."
With both Mind Shifters scattered back into camp yelling orders, she looked back into the horizon one last time, anxiety building up in her heart, but also an acceptance of her future.