After Gopher Wood received word from 'Hysilens' regarding the upcoming events, he wasted no time in taking action.
Once he had double and triple-checked that the Synesthesia Dream and those within it would remain unharmed, Gopher Wood had the Family issue a maintenance notice for the Dreampool.
Those already in the dream were advised not to leave for the time being, while those outside were told to hold off on entering. All that mattered was ensuring the passage itself was clear.
Strictly speaking, even if some poor soul wandered into the tunnel while 'Hysilens' was working, she could have fished them back out. Still, there was no sense in adding to her own workload.
After waiting about one or two system hours—long enough for Gopher Wood to confirm the notice had been delivered and the coast was clear—'Hysilens' began her operation.
The powers of Remembrance and Elation began to churn within the Memory Zone.
Using Razalina's existence as a beacon, 'Hysilens' layered her own power over it, nesting a brand-new set of rules directly atop the old ones.
The core of the rules remained unchanged: those entering the dream would be guided by their heart's desires to their respective sweet dreams.
However, this specific layer was manifested through the power of Elation.
As for the foundation, it remained Remembrance; it was only through Elation that she could perfectly mimic the rule and keep it stable.
This part was relatively simple—just a matter of copying what was already there. It was essentially effortless.
The real trouble lay in extracting Razalina's existence from the dream.
Since her consciousness was already protected and 'Hysilens' had already salvaged many of her memories, she didn't need to be overly delicate about the integrity of the extraction.
Even if a few pieces went missing, it wouldn't be the end of the world.
The catch, however, was that the dismantling process had to be done without disturbing the Synesthesia Dream itself.
The dream was currently packed with Dreamchasers; if it started to destabilize, the fallout would be a nightmare to manage.
'Hysilens' threw herself into the task, slowly peeling away the parts belonging to Razalina and piling them to the side.
Since the heavy lifting earlier had been handled by Demiurge and Evernight, she hadn't intended to use them as manual labor this time.
Yet, without being asked, the two donned their masks and joined in on the final stretch.
Beyond the three of them, two others in Penacony had sensed the shift and desperately wanted to help: Mikhail and Tiernan, who had long since become Memokeepers.
But while they were buzzing with excitement and passion, their capabilities as Memokeepers lagged far behind the three Pure Children.
They tried to pitch in, but the moment they attempted to grasp the task, they realized the sheer scale of the workload was beyond anything a mortal could handle.
In the end, Evernight picked the two old men up with a look of pure annoyance and tossed them out of the way so they wouldn't be a nuisance.
Thrown unceremoniously to the side, Mikhail and Tiernan looked at each other, both seeing the same helplessness in the other's eyes.
"Sigh... I didn't think we'd be such a burden," Tiernan said, shaking his head with a heavy sigh. "All those years ago, we were the ones charging ahead. Now that we've reached retirement age, we're being treated like excess baggage."
Unlike Tiernan, Mikhail took it in stride. He was well-acquainted with failure. The old man had known for a long time that his abilities were limited and that there were plenty of things he simply couldn't do.
"Look on the bright side. With a spectacle this big, Razalina might actually come back. Compared to seeing a comrade return, what's a little lost face? I've lost mine so many times I've lost count, hahaha!"
"..."
Seeing the man laugh so shamelessly, Tiernan's face was the picture of disgust.
"Can't you have a little pride? With that attitude, once Razalina is back, she and I are going to the Astral Express to help the juniors. You can stay here and grow mushrooms by yourself."
Mikhail remained thick-skinned. Faced with his old friend's sarcasm, he didn't even blink.
"Oh, please. The Express isn't hurting for brawn right now. I think you're the one who should stay here while Razalina and I go be the 'specialized talent'."
The two bickered for a good while until Gopher Wood approached, finally prompting the old men to settle down and hold their tongues.
"Gentlemen, how is the situation?"
"Everything is going smoothly. Madam Bai Ming is truly incredible. To me, she saved my life; I'm almost tempted to start worshiping this young deity," Mikhail replied, nodding to Gopher Wood with a smile.
In his eyes, 'Hysilens' had saved him multiple times.
Without her intervention, he and Tiernan would likely have died in some forgotten corner of the cosmos, never to see each other again—and certainly never knowing that the missing Razalina could still be saved.
On the other side, the extraction work progressed steadily.
With Demiurge and the others joining in, the efficiency spiked. They managed to wrap up the most troublesome part of the job just before 'Hysilens' hit her limit.
The Synesthesia Dream did suffer some minor glitches due to their interference.
Some people found themselves in the Golden Hour one moment and whisked away to the Blue Hour the next. Buildings that only existed in the Dusk Hour suddenly popped up in the Gilded Hour.
These glitches weren't dangerous, just entirely random and unpredictable.
Combined with the temporary closure of the Dreampool, some guests even feared that something catastrophic had happened to Penacony.
Fortunately, thanks to the prestige the Family had built up over the years and the fact that the pools reopened quickly, no major riots broke out.
For 'Hysilens', all the preparations were complete.
Razalina's consciousness was in her hands, and her scattered memories and presence had been recovered—not perfectly, but she had about seventy or eighty percent of the pieces.
The final step—the resurrection—which might have been impossible for anyone else, was actually the easiest for 'Hysilens'.
She only needed to call upon the power of Propagation, tempered with a touch of Abundance, and use the power of Remembrance to smooth out Razalina's existence.
After all, Razalina had been symbiotic with this Memory Zone for countless years. Her very essence had shifted from human toward that of a Memory Zone creature.
Her consciousness, along with her years of unconsciously maintaining the rules, had caused her self-perception to drift during her long slumber.
Considering the gaps in the gathered memories, 'Hysilens' decided, after much deliberation, to revive her in a form closer to a Memokeeper.
However, because the process involved the powers of Propagation and Abundance, Razalina wouldn't be a typical Memokeeper—she wouldn't exist as a mere Memetic Being.
If anything, she would be closer to a special case like the Pure Children, though certainly not quite on their level.
As the powers of Propagation and Abundance strengthened Razalina's consciousness, and Remembrance filled in the blanks of her self-identity, the three forces worked together.
As her self-awareness gradually flickered to life, her own cognition automatically reconstructed the body of a short-haired girl with glasses.
The newly resurrected Razalina remained in a deep sleep. A new body and a jumble of memories required time to settle.
This was the first time 'Hysilens' had revived someone this way; to be honest, even she couldn't guarantee that the girl wouldn't wake up with some cognitive dissonance.
After all, before this, Madam Razalina had spent an eternity serving as the literal passage for the Synesthesia Dream.
It was hard to say how she would perceive that agonizingly long stretch of time once her consciousness fully returned. But even if there were issues, she would have to overcome them herself.
'Hysilens' couldn't help with that—otherwise, she would be controlling Razalina rather than reviving her.
When the sleeping Razalina was handed over to Mikhail and Tiernan, the two old men burst into tears on the spot, sobbing uncontrollably.
Kamu ended up grabbing them both by the collars and dragging them back to Dreamflux Reef to keep them from disturbing anyone else.
As a result, the two didn't even get a chance to say thank you to the trio in person.
It wasn't until Kamu returned to apologize that she relayed their gratitude.
Having settled the Nameless' issue more smoothly than expected, 'Hysilens' turned her gaze toward Evernight, who was currently fiddling with the glazed mask.
'Hysilens' had no intention of taking back the mask—which had been split in two—and instead gave it to the two as payment for their help. A little bit of power meant nothing to her.
'Hysilens', however, spoke up.
"...Do you really intend to sever your ego and live a whole new life from scratch?"
'Hysilens' didn't quite understand the reasoning behind Evernight's choice.
To discard one's memories, one's past, and even one's self, leaving behind only the purest empty shell to start over... how was that different from suicide?
It meant that even if two personalities shared one body in the future, the old personality—Evernight—would remain in a long-term slumber.
In the original story, Evernight had only resurfaced because of the events at Amphoreus.
Now that Amphoreus was already dealt with, would the new March 7th ever truly have the chance to wake the past?
"Of course. I'm not like you. You're young; you have so much left to try. But I... I'm truly tired."
For a rare moment, a trace of exhaustion leaked into Evernight's eyes. She looked at 'Hysilens'.
"If only the 'me' of the past had met you... perhaps my life wouldn't have been so wretched. Retreating to the background and watching a brand-new version of myself walk toward a new life—to me, that is a release."
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL