Zeno couldn’t sleep.
Even with the blanket tucked around him, making him feel warm.
He loved being warm. He loved sticking to his routine, too.
He should have been in bed a few hours ago.
However, his mind refused to let go.
The memory that Master As subjected him to was too vivid.
It gripped him like something he had buried deep in his soul, finally clawing its way out.
He had lived so many lives. From his very first mission—when he was thrown into a kingdom and promptly castrated—to his last, where he needed to die.
He remembered all of them.
However, the stage he saw in his dream wasn’t familiar at all. It wasn’t a task given to him as a Rennis.
It was his past life.
He wasn’t sure what to do with that information.
The moon hung low and full as he stepped out onto the balcony, hands deep in the pockets of his hoodie. The lake reflected the sky perfectly. He leaned on the railing, drifting across the waters.
That’s when he saw Master As sitting on the grass again.
Zeno’s brows furrowed.
He descended the stairs quietly, making no sound against the wooden floor, and padded toward the lawn. The old man didn’t move, but after a few seconds, he spoke.
“I assume you didn’t come to talk about the moon.”
Zeno sighed. “Can you stop doing that?”
Master As opened one eye lazily. “I’m old, not deaf. And your footsteps aren’t as light as you think.”
Zeno narrowed his eyes. “Are you not going to sleep?”
“I sleep for an entire month, then stay awake for another.”
“…Like a bear?”
“Exactly like a bear. Except wiser, handsomer, and not endangered.”
This man—whatever he was—was definitely not from this world.
There was a moment of silence between them. Then, quietly, Zeno spoke.
“I want to do it again.”
Master As blinked.
“That hypnosis thing,” Zeno clarified. “Or whatever you did. I want to see more.”
The old man’s smile faded. His expression turned grave.
“No can do.”
Zeno’s jaw tensed. “Why not?”
“I told you,” Master As said slowly. “That glimpse you had, what we pulled you from, you nearly didn’t come back. You were too deep. We almost lost you.”
“But you pulled me out.”
“Barely,” he said. “And more importantly, I can’t do it again.”
“What do you mean?”
Master As turned his face to the moon.
“I lost it.”
“Lost what?”
“The ability,” he replied. “To reach into the past and draw it forward. I knew this would happen eventually.”
“That’s bullshit?” Zeno muttered with a scoff. “How can you just lose it when you said it was passed down by your ancestors?”
Master As remained sitting on the cool, dew-kissed grass, as calm as ever. He plucked a blade of grass from beside him and twirled it between his fingers.
“I just lost it,” he said simply. “I tried to retrieve it, but it’s gone.”
“Just like that?” Zeno asked, his tone incredulous.
The old man nodded, the corners of his mouth turning upward, not in bitterness or regret but a soft smile that held no resentment. “I’m not sad,” he said. “People don’t come to me for that anyway. Most don’t even believe in it. They think it’s a silly party trick. They think I’m a joke.”
Zeno stared at him, brow furrowed. “So, is it not true?”
Master As looked up. “It’s true. It’s your memory. I cannot insert something inside your soul or mind. That is far beyond my talents.” He chuckled a little. “I think you already know that.”
Zeno looked away.
“Humans aren’t capable of such,” the old man added. “We are observers. Maybe guides. But never the weavers.”
A silence settled between them. Crickets chirped softly from the woods, and the gentle waves of the lake lapped against the shore in rhythm with the wind.
Zeno pursed his lips. He had a feeling this old man knew much more than he let on. His words just confirmed it. Nobody talked about humans like that unless they weren’t purely human.
“Since when have you known?” Zeno asked.
Master As smirked. “Since I felt your aura.”
“When I said you weren’t from this earth,” he continued, brushing a bit of grass from his lap, “I meant it literally.”
“You are not from here,” Master As said again, looking him dead in the eye. “You are from a planet distant, yet oddly close to Earth and the human species. I do not know the name of that planet, but I know of its existence.”
This was the first time Zeno had met such a person.
“And you know this because?” he couldn’t help but ask.
Master As stood slowly, brushing off his robe. His back was still straight despite his age, his eyes bright despite the wrinkles.
“Because once,” he said, looking directly at Zeno, “I knew my body was taken over by someone like you, too.”
A gust of wind rushed past, stirring the trees above them.
“That’s not supposed to happen,” Zeno deadpanned. “It cannot happen.”
“But it did,” Master As answered. “Someone like you—sent from wherever it is you come from—slipped into my body, into my life, just for a moment. It was brief. I was a teenager, but I remember how the stars aligned, how I looked up at the night sky and knew. Someone else was in control.”
Zeno studied the man carefully.
“I was given a vision. A flash of a thousand lives. I didn’t understand it then, but it stayed with me. That’s why I’ve spent the rest of my life training my intuition. Honing the connection. Waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“For someone like you,” Master As said. “To confirm that I wasn’t insane. That I hadn’t imagined everything I went through. Although even if I haven’t met you, I would have continued believing.”
He looked up at the night sky and closed his eyes. “Someone is out there willing to help us.”
Zeno scoffed. “Now what?” he asked. “Now that you’ve met me, what are you going to do?”
He grinned. “Now? I’m satisfied. I can finally die in peace.”
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