Embers of Embers

Chapter 280 The Abyss
Hercule raised the shotgun and pointed it at the door of the secret room behind the wardrobe. There was a whimpering growl from inside, as if some monster was imprisoned. It hit the cage hard, and the entire wardrobe shook, as if In the next second the monster will be free again.
Swallowing, Hercule was extremely nervous, but the chinchilla named Poirot was completely unaware of the seriousness of the problem. Instead, it ran around all over the floor, thinking that Hercule was fighting it. What game to play.
Hercule is a vigilant person. Since the shipwreck, he gained this strange power and his superhuman intelligence realized his danger, so he has been living behind the scenes for a long time. Everyone knows that The illusory Rat King, but no one saw Hercule holding the string.
He was very powerful, but not physically powerful. Hercule was also hesitating whether to take advantage of the secret passage to escape now, but he was still a little worried about leaving Lorenzo in this state here.
But suddenly the crashing sounds disappeared, and everything became silent.
The ghostly singing sounded in this silence that no one dared to touch. From behind the door, the voice was slightly hoarse. He sang lightly according to the vague melody in his memory. It seemed that he was singing again after a long time. He was a little unfamiliar. Whispering that ancient tune.
Hercule was not in the mood to listen to that at the moment. He clutched the shotgun tightly, and immediately after the ancient singing, there was another violent shaking from behind the door. The door was pushed open, and the heavy wardrobe was also Slowly moving, revealing the dark gap underneath.
As a former police officer, Hercule remained calm in this extreme tension. He stared at the dark gap, mentally prepared. If a monster came out, then he would pull the trigger. , if it was Lorenzo who came out, then he would kick him hard and ask him what he was going crazy.
But the person who came out at the end was beyond his expectation. He was a lost guy. He was humming a strange song. His upper body was covered with bloody scratches and his hands were scarlet. He looked at Hercule and then leaned on He sat down slowly by the door frame.
This strange scene lasted for a long time, until Lorenzo finally finished humming the tune that was deeply remembered.
"Sorry to scare you," Lorenzo said.
Hercule didn't care about this, and slowly let go of the shotgun in his hand, he could feel the difference in Lorenzo at this moment.
"what happened?"
Hercule was not like Lorenzo when browsing the memory palace. Even the most cruel and dark memories were only a little sad in retrospect, far less crazy.
"I...there's something wrong with my memory."
Lorenzo suddenly realized the problem, but he didn't tell Hercule about the deeper meaning.
The memories of the past gradually became clearer, and a memory that was completely unfamiliar to me appeared.
According to Lorenzo's memories, he and 047 became Medanzo Demon Hunters together and have never been separated. In the memory just now, he saw that old man, the old man named Lorenzo Medici.
They have the same name...wait...
Lorenzo's eyes suddenly widened, and the whites of his eyes were covered with bloodshot eyes. He began to tremble slowly. Different from the previous madness, Hercule could smell that the fear that filled the air came from Lorenzo. Zo's fear.
Hercule's heart suddenly became cold. What could possibly frighten Lorenzo?So profound, so depressing.
"Damn! How could I...how could I forget?"
Lorenzo held his head, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not get the answer to this question in his mind. His face was so ferocious that Hercule couldn't help but tighten his grip on the shotgun again.
"No...who am I? Hercule."
Lorenzo raised his head suddenly and asked.
"Lorenzo...Lorenzo Holmes."
Hercule replied tremblingly.
"Yes...Lorenzo Holmes, the name, the name is a wish..."
He whispered again and again, mechanically, and when Lorenzo raised his head again, all the fear in Hercule's heart suddenly disappeared.
Hercule no longer felt fear. He looked at Lorenzo's extremely sad face and could only feel the same sadness. He didn't know what happened, but he just heard Lorenzo talking continuously.
"How could I forget? I can't remember...
Hercule, that was a wish, but I can't remember what I made. "
Lorenzo Medici, the old man who appeared in his memory.
They had the same name, and Lorenzo believed there must be some connection between the two. But when Lorenzo recalled why he chose the name "Lorenzo Holmes", he couldn't remember. He was horrified. Found that he couldn't remember any of this.
Except for a few escort operations in his memory, there was no more contact between Lorenzo and the old man.
The wish that Lorenzo had held on to for a long time, the morning star that released its light in the dim starry sky, only now did Lorenzo suddenly realize that it was also illusory. Lorenzo could not remember that wish, he did not know what it was. When did he forget it? In other words, it never existed. It was all just his imagination.
"No...it's not right."
Not wanting to give in, Lorenzo quickly reviewed all the clues he could use.
The memory reconstruction collapsed again, and then it was restructured again, randomly pieced together into a deformed appearance.
Only then did Lorenzo realize that his life was full of loopholes. When he thought about the past that he thought existed, they were all blank. On the night of the Holy Advent, his wishes were all blank.
Those memories that violate logic and conflict with each other are like someone carefully pruning Lorenzo with a scalpel, removing all the suspicious and unknown parts, so the new Lorenzo lives in false memories like a fool. .
But then Lorenzo suddenly laughed again, his voice was hoarse, and he seemed to laugh too hard and couldn't help but cough.
Hercule could no longer describe his emotions. He felt that he was now locked up with a mentally ill person, and it was impossible to figure out his mind. The next second, Lorenzo, who was sad, suddenly laughed maniacally again, even if He was not crazy, Hercule felt like he was being driven crazy too.
"I found it, Hercule! I found the clue!"
Lorenzo suddenly rushed over and grabbed Hercule's collar with blood-stained hands, feeling happy and sad at the same time.
"Yes...that must be the case."
Lorenzo thought a lot at that moment, but like a hint, he suddenly thought of Horner, the guy he killed in the [Gap], after Lorenzo killed him After gaining some memories about him, he then thought of another person...Medanzo, or 047.
That lonely ghost living in his own [gap].
Lorenzo has been unable to tell whether the 047 in [The Gap] is real or another split personality of his own, but he has a strange guess at the moment.
He wanted to confirm that conjecture.
"What clues?"
asked Hercule.
"Do you think another person's memory will appear in one person's memory?"
Lorenzo asked suddenly.
Hercule tensed, while Lorenzo continued to think.
According to what Lorenzo believed in the past, his secret blood implantation was carried out together with other demon hunters. At that time, the so-called Cardinal Medici had gone into seclusion and had not appeared in the eyes of the world for a long time. Then How could he appear in the ritual of implanting the secret blood?
Or is it that the old man secretly implanted the secret blood himself, and the memory of the implanter was sewn into his own memory? So, who is the implanted person?
042 or 047, or neither.
His memory was misplaced, and Lorenzo could no longer tell whether it was his own memory or 047's memory, but he finally had some direction for his investigation at this moment.
He laughed strangely again. Hercule was used to this, so he didn't react much this time.
"Hercule, the memory palace is not completely abstract and disorderly. It is still based on our certain reality, right?"
Hercule didn't know why Lorenzo brought the topic up again.
"Like?" he asked.
"It's like the palace is a place we know well. It's like opening a memory and I still have to twist the fucking handle to open the door!"
Lorenzo was a little out of control.
"These are all based on our common sense in reality, right! Obviously it is a spiritual world, but we still have to make the action of 'opening the door' based on our subconscious common sense."
Lorenzo recalled the endless spiral staircases that descended into the abyss.
"If you say so...it is true."
Hercule never noticed this, but it can be seen from this that Lorenzo is not crazy yet, this guy still has the ability to think.
"Yes... I found you."
Lorenzo muttered to himself and sat back down again.
A strange smile appeared on his blood-stained face, and then he touched his arms again.
He had torn his shirt into a ball of rags, so he simply took it off, and then found an iron box in the ball.
That was the cigarette case that Lorenzo kept with him. The last one was pierced by Lawrence's sword during the battle with Lawrence, but thanks to that cigarette case, otherwise Lorenzo himself would have been pierced and exploded at that time.
He kissed the surface of the iron box hard, and then opened it. Several cigarettes were lying inside.
"Want one?"
Lorenzo said, holding a cigarette in his mouth and throwing another one to Hercule.
"This... mandrake."
Hercule was about to ask Lorenzo why he was in the mood to smoke, but then he smelled that special smell. Although it was very faint, it could not escape Hercule's perception.
"You want to enter the Memory Palace?"
Hercule asked worriedly, understanding what Lorenzo was going to do.
"Of course, we have to take advantage of the victory and pursue it."
Lorenzo said, but there is no enemy here... No, that enemy is himself, that memory hidden in the darkness.
"You're not going crazy again."
"I can't tell..." Lorenzo lit the cigarette and took a long drag, his eyes blurred.
"Hercule, don't use mandrake anymore," he said.
"This thing... can communicate with darkness."
Hercule was startled, and then asked.
"Knowledge from the Order?"
"Yes, this thing can cause hallucinations, but unlike hallucinogens, its so-called hallucinations are more like a distorted reality, a reality that humans cannot glimpse. Because humans cannot understand those things, when humans When you see it, you think it’s an illusion,” Lorenzo said.
"It's like you saw a big monster across the sky and the earth after taking it. You thought it was an illusion, but... maybe it is real. It's just that mandrake allows you to communicate with the darkness and get a glimpse of those...
Yes, clairvoyance, that's how they describe it, the deeper your connection to the darkness, the more hellish things you can see. "
Lorenzo took another strong breath and puffed out the smoke.
"Perhaps darkness was at work in our encounter."
Hercule was obviously confused, but Lorenzo continued.
"These things, these things related to darkness, are all magical. They are like a huge vortex. The more you understand, the deeper you go, until everyone is sucked into the center of the vortex and drowned."
The cigarette was half-burned, and Lorenzo felt his eyelids were heavy, as if he would fall asleep in the next second. Hercule looked at him and couldn't help but ask.
"Is it worth it?"
He didn't understand that Lorenzo was really a strange guy. Hercule had never seen such a human being. He didn't pray for wealth and power. What he was chasing so crazily was just the destruction of everything. Is this worth it?
But Lorenzo didn't answer him. He closed his eyes, and his consciousness fell between sleep and wakefulness. When he opened his eyes again, the magnificent palace appeared in front of him again.
"Yes, it's based on my subconscious common sense, like I can only walk on the ground instead of flying forward."
He muttered in a low voice, and soon came to the spiral staircase again.
Lorenzo stood on the edge of the first rock staircase, leaning forward slightly, and then saw the countless rock stairs extending into the darkness below.
It was like an abyss that could not be peered into, and it was not clear whether it had a bottom. But after a while, Lorenzo suddenly laughed, his face always cold as if he had discovered some surprise.
If Lorenzo had any unbearable memory, he would definitely hide it in the deepest unknown place, the deeper the better, until even the light can't shine through.
Lorenzo was a little skeptical at first, but now he didn't care.
"The stairs are so long..."
He said easily, looked at the abyss again, and talked to himself.
"I won't fall to death...will my consciousness be thrown to death?"
Lorenzo asked back, and then he opened his hands, without hesitation, letting his body tilt out of balance, and then fell into the abyss.
(End of this chapter)