Gae, who suddenly popped out of nowhere, was puzzled not to find Ziqian upon his return.
"Gae!"
"You're back!"
Phi and Ero were also surprised and happy at the same time to see that Gae had finally returned.
"Where is Ah-Zi?" Gae asked immediately, ignoring the two guardians hovering around him.
How could they have left Ziqian alone?
"It's fine. He's with Xue," Ero answered.
"Then what are the two of you doing here?" Gae looked around, realizing he was inside a dimly lit tent.
"Gae… a lot happened while you were gone," Phi said, his voice trembling and his nonexistent eyes on the verge of tears like a child who had finally found his parent after he fell.
"There's no need to cry. Everything's fine now," Ero said, gently nudging the yellow fluffball.
"But I'm still worried about Nia. Ah-Zi was very worried too," Phi said.
"Why? What happened to Nia?" Gae asked, looking around. The longer he listened to the two of them, the more confused he became. He had only been gone for a few hours. In this realm, that was the equivalent of ten days.
What kind of major event could have happened in ten days?
Then his gaze landed on a man sleeping not far away. It was Huo.
What caught Gae's attention, however, was the dimmed gray furball resting on Huo's forehead.
"What happened?"
Gae floated toward them, causing Phi and Ero to bump into each other midair. Neither of them was at fault, yet both hesitated and were afraid to start speaking. Their fear only deepened when they noticed Gae's blue fur was getting a darker shade of blue.
The air grew tense.
Ahhh, he is angry!
"Tell me what happened, now!" Gae said. The childish lilt in his voice vanished, replaced by a deep voice that sounded ancient and heavy.
Waaah, he is really angry!
Phi and Ero immediately began recounting everything that had occurred during the ten days since Gae's departure. They spoke in perfect coordination. Whenever Ero paused, Phi continued without missing a beat, and when Phi faltered, Ero seamlessly took over.
In just a few breaths, they finished recounting everything to Gae. Starting from the emotional turbulance Ah-Zi went through after learning that Huo had left, to how Ah-Zi had tried to seduce Xue, including Nia's desperate act to save Huo and their own return after the rescue.
Not a single detail was omitted.
Even the tribe's gossip was repeated word for word, laid bare in front of Gae's silent, oppressive aura.
Ero and Phi were genuinely frightened of Gae now.
Among the many guardians under the goddess Aglaea, each embodied a different form of love. Gae represented selfless love. And whenever he became angry, it was never for himself, but for others. That's what made him far more frightening.
Gae had become their elder brother, their leader, and their parent all at once. Every guardian respected him and followed his lead. Even the goddess herself placed great trust in him.
After hearing the full stories from the two fluffballs, Gae let out a long, weary sigh. "I shouldn't have left," his childish soft voice returned. And his dark blue fur also slowly began to lighten, and the oppressive air eased with it.
He hadn't expected that his absence would align with so many troubling events around Ziqian.
Only then did Ero and Phi finally feel relieved.
"How could that be?" Ero said softly. "The goddess summoned you. No one is at fault, not even Nia. He only did that because he wanted to save Huo."
Phi bounced in agreement. "Nia rarely finds someone he has such a strong affinity with. Of course he would try to save Huo. And if he hadn't, Huo would have died, and Ziqian would have been heartbroken."
Gae sighed, at a loss for words.
"Gae, do you have any idea what kind of punishment Nia will receive?" Ero asked suddenly.
Gae shook his head. "I don't know. Every god has their own way of dealing with matters like this."
No one knew what kind of punishment the Beast God would give Nia, and that uncertainty kept the guardians on edge. If only they knew, they might have been able to prepare and help lessen the damage Nia would suffer.
Gae could report the matter to the goddess, but he no longer dared to leave. He was afraid that the moment he did, another trouble would arise.
He also knew that even if they reported it, the goddess would be powerless and would choose not to intervene. Gaia was another god's domain, and Nia was at fault for using his powers despite knowing the consequences.
Goddess Agalea could use her authority as a higher god, but doing so would only make matters worse. She had an agreement with the Beast God, Cernunnos, and breaking that would not be a good idea.
"If only—"
"Gae, don't worry too much," Ero interrupted. "At worst, Nia will be expelled from this world. It will hurt his soul, but after a few years, he'll be completely fine. Nia understood this. That is why he did what he did."
"Yeah!" Phi chimed in quickly, bouncing in place. Both of them were clearly trying to cheer Gae up. "What are a few years to guardians like us?"
"I know," Gae sighed. "I'll go see Ah-Zi first."
"No, wait!" Phi blurted out. "He's with Xue, and you know…"
Before Gae arrived, Ero and Phi had just returned from checking on Ziqian. Ziqian also just regained his consciousness and was now nestled intimately in Xue's arms.
As the day passed, Ziqian and Xue grew closer. They were so close that everyone in the tribe believed that they were already together.
Gae tilted his round body, recalling what they had said earlier—that Xue's affinity might have changed after Ah-Zi seduced him.
It was not uncommon for a person's temperament to change over time, but for it to happen in just ten days was almost unheard of.
If Xue's affinity really changed this time, Gae truly wanted to cry. It was also rare for him to form an affinity with another being.
"Anyway, Gae, why did the goddess call you?" Ero asked after a while.
Gae paused. His thoughts were still weighed down by everything Phi and Ero had told him. Only now did he remember the reason for his departure. His fur brightened slightly, then a translucent stone suddenly appeared before the three of them.
"A memory stone," Ero murmured.
Despite its name, it was not a stone at all, but a crystal. It came from a crystalline flower that bloomed only once every hundred years in Eden. That was why Gae had taken so long to return—he had stayed behind, waiting for the crystal to bloom.
Whenever light touched the memory stone, rainbow hues shimmered across its surface.
It was beautiful and radiant, but Ero and Phi stared at it with unease. They knew too well what the crystal signified.
"The goddess wanted to ask Ah-Zi whether he wished to have his memories from his previous life sealed and stored here. At first, I was against it," Gae said quietly. "But after learning that Ah-Zi has experienced emotional turbulence, I believe it would be safer for him to store those memories. Otherwise, the same incident could happen again in the future."
"…But Ah-Zi truly treasures his memories with his grandmother," Phi said softly, his voice full of sadness.
"I agree that Ah-Zi should use the memory stone," Ero firmly commented. "Still, the final decision rests with Ziqian himself. The memory stone cannot be activated without the memory's owner's consent."
The greatest advantage of the memory stone is that it functions like a container, allowing a person to temporarily store their memories and retrieve them whenever they wish.
It cannot be used without the owner's consent, as the stone must be activated by the person themselves. The user can also choose which period of memories to store. For these reasons, the memory stone cannot be exploited for malicious schemes.
However, the memory stone has its drawbacks.
A memory stone can only be used twice by the same person. It is also made of fragile crystal, and it can shatter easily if not taken care of properly. If damaged, the memories sealed within it will be lost forever.
Storing memories also can leave gaps in a person's recollection that may cause confusion, disorientation, and long-lasting psychological effects.
In Ziqian's case, the memories to be sealed were not merely fragments but the entirety of his previous life on Earth, a lifetime etched with suffering and hardship. Because of that, the side effects might be far more severe.
"Let him rest for now. We'll speak to him tomorrow," Gae said after a moment of contemplation.
No matter what choice they made, in the end, all that truly mattered was Ziqian's decision.
Gae drifted towards Nia while Phi and Ero followed behind. The four of them nestled together until their colored fur covered Huo's face. But it didn't matter, since they were in their soul forms.
As guardians, they did not need sleep, but that did not mean they did not need rest. While doing so, they gently channeled their divinity toward Nia, helping him regain consciousness as soon as possible.