Yarin's POV:
When I woke up, there was no one around. I was lying on the high platform in the secret chamber of the New Moon Temple. The bedding was soft, and I couldn't make any significant movements for now. I had slept for too long, and my muscles were not yet ready.
The pure white curtains were just as they were in my dream. I turned my head slightly, and there lay a small harp beside my pillow.
It was different from the one in my dream. The wooden body of the harp had dried and cracked, the golden and silver strings were rusty, and some were even broken, curling toward the round silver ornament that had oxidized to a dark hue. It was no longer as shiny and pristine as before.
How could it have turned out like this?
I wanted to get closer for a better look, but my body wouldn't allow it yet. Just then, the door to the chamber opened slightly, and a few figures stumbled toward me.
"Yarin! My child, you're awake..."
Some time had passed, and it had been a week since I woke up.
Medical equipment had continuously monitored my physical condition, and during the years I was unconscious, someone had been massaging my muscles regularly to prevent them from atrophying into overcooked walnut kernels. After several days of rehabilitation, I could now slowly walk with a cane. My daily life consisted of walking back and forth in the temple.
My parents and my younger siblings often brought me fun things to eat and play with so I didn't feel lonely.
I was now sixteen years old, and four years had passed since that rampage. Aunt Dorothy said that during this time, my body had been in a precarious balance. The goddess's help and the evil forces had been in a mysterious equilibrium, and any slight misstep could have led to my irreversible demise.
But since I woke up, the balance had vanished, or rather, the evil forces seemed to have disappeared completely. It appeared that I had won this battle with the goddess's assistance. Looking at the figure in the mirror, I couldn't help but feel a bit strange. In my memory, I was still a 150-centimeter-tall shorty, but who was this person standing at 180 centimeters tall now? In my dream, my sleeping self was still lying in bed, so it wasn't very obvious. However, now that I stood up, I was taken aback by my appearance.
"Be content, buddy," Heller said with a resentful look. "Do you know how many people envy your height? You don't need those legs; you can saw them off and give me some."
Heller was the same age as me, and he had been stuck at 175 centimeters for three months. Actually, that was not short at all, and the doctors said he wasn't done growing yet. But that didn't stop him from worrying every day about his height and losing sleep over it.
Faced with our bickering, Cynthia responded as usual with sharp sarcasm and eye-rolling. If she wanted to, she could make herself taller than a giant instantly.
But in any case, the family's unreserved warmth and care and their aimless jokes made me feel comforted. My previously suspended heart gradually settled, and I finally accepted the fact that I had awakened in a world four years beyond my last memory. I no longer felt lost. The small harp I had brought back from my dream was now ineffective. Without the goddess's power, it had returned to its antique appearance, damaged and worn.
I didn't know if the goddess had anticipated that I would face this trial, or if she simply understood the ways of Azazel and his followers. In any case, I deeply appreciated all her help. She would return in a different form in a few years; by then, I might have turned to dust. She might no longer remember our connection. But my gratitude would never deteriorate with the passage of time. To her, it might be insignificant, but to me, this tiny feeling was like a flower brushed against the hem of a goddess's robe, something to be cherished.
Lady Charlies and Eden also came to visit me. After that incident, they learned about the secret of the three of us.
Knowing these things wasn't safe for them because danger still surrounded us, and knowing too much increased the risk of it spreading to them. However, when the department wanted to perform memory seals on them, they refused.
"They say forgetting one percent is the same as forgetting everything," Cynthia paraphrased their words. "You saved them and everyone present. There's no doubt about it. If they choose to forget, this act of kindness will be forever buried, and that wouldn't be fair to you."
"But I didn't do it for their gratitude," I said.
Cynthia suddenly smiled and said, "You know what? Lady Charlies predicted that you would say that, so she said, 'It's not about whether you need it or not; it's about them having to do it. Kindness is not an excuse to be casually squandered.""'
As for the others, especially the servants of the Charlies' household, they had sealed this memory. This didn't mean they were ungrateful, but their power to protect themselves was too weak compared to Lady Charlies and Eden. Thus, they had no choice but to make this decision.
In any case, during the first week after waking up, I smoothly integrated into my new life. Although many mysteries from the past remained buried, and the danger still loomed, I had prepared myself to start life anew.