The Record of Unusual Creature

The manuscript was not a record of any ancient magic, or lost treasure. In fact, it was only a simple and highly compressed log. Vivian began recording intermittently thousands of years ago. The main content was what she saw and did before she went into hibernation each time and also after she awakened. There were also stories of her activities in the world. Since the manuscript contained some memory recollection in the beginning, its record could actually be traced back more than 10,000 years ago, or even more. Due to the appearance of the Quaternary Ice Age at the beginning of the manuscript, 10,000 years was a conservative estimate.

However, Vivian had completely forgotten everything. If it had not been for her fortunate reunion with Pavel, the precious non-duplicable information would have been lost forever. Cold sweat trickled down Hao Ren’s spine as he though how close Vivian had come to that. The maiden’s lack of memory made him uneasy.

Time after time of hibernation and revival, with various key events as nodes, the manuscript recorded the experience of an immortal over the past 10,000 years along a blurry timeline. The primitive appearance of the earth’s Prehistoric Period could be seen in the text. Ancient demons that vanished following the end of the Mythical Era were frequently mentioned in the manuscript.

Hao Ren’s thoughts seemed to drift back to the age of human ignorance age with Vivian’s voice—to the earth, it was a recent memory, but to the humans, it was an unsearchable era. At that time, humans were just wild creatures who dwelled in the caves while ancient beasts and the invincible nature ruled the earth. The ancient otherworldlings with godlike powers ruled the entire world. Most of them did not even think of establishing theocracy in human society, but their activities had deeply affected the primitive humans at that time. Hence, the humans produced the most primitive and ignorant belief systems in the primitive gods. They were confused between the various natural phenomena and the otherworldings, who could summon nature. Humans deemed them as primordial gods. While Vivian roamed the world aimlessly, she was also deemed as one of the primordial gods on specific occasions and time.

But every single time, she did not roam the world long enough: the inexplicable drowsiness always haunted her.

The records on the manuscript continued, and human civilization began to emerge. This was an interesting phenomenon for Vivian.

“…Awakening in a subterranean crevice, the stone chamber in which I slept in had completely sunken deep into the earth as if there had been an earthquake during my hibernation. Fortunately, I did not fall into the underground magma. It’s spring on the surface, and once again everything has become unfamiliar. The place where a big lake was supposed to be has now become a grassland. The soil around it has also become very fertile. Humans have been found to raise herds in the pastureland. They no longer wear animal skins, and their villages have undergone great changes—houses built of stone and wood seem to be sprouting fast. The clothes on my body are worn out. It is getting increasingly unnecessary to use magic to maintain them. Perhaps, something can be sourced from the humans…

“Additionally, I found the lithograph I left near the place where I hibernated. It recorded the bad feelings I had before going dormant. It is weird. I have no impression of it, but I have still decided to copy it down like I used to. Perhaps, it might be useful in the future.

“Advancing along a river, more fertile lands and larger human settlements appeared before my eyes. They have increased in large number in the wilderness. It was amazing. There must be something helping them resist the threats around them. Humans can deal with beasts, but not my fellow beings… Upstream, I found a human asylum run by my old friends, Amon and Osiris. They were protecting a human kingdom. This was a very strange, but pleasing encounter. Their attitude towards humans was better than that of my other peers… I think of Zeus, whom I met in the past and… um, was it Hella or Hera? The couple seemed to have similar thoughts, but I have no idea where they are living in now. Perhaps I should go to them. My physical strength is recovering, it is a good time to embark on a journey.

“…I could not find the Zeus couple, because I was lost in a strange place under the red moonlight, feeling irritated. There were hostile villains who hated me. No matter how much I kill, it could only make you even angrier… Maybe there is some kind of illusion here. Anyway, the drowsiness hits again, I must go to sleep.”

Hao Ren’s brows were pulled together as he seemed to have found something suspicious in between the lines while Vivian continued to translate.

“…waking up in the water, I might have been soaked for a long time. Looks like there was changes during the sleep as water from underground river had poured in. This world is always changing, no matter where you sleep, there is no absolute safety. Even if you bury yourself in the ground to escape the harassment of others and beasts, it is difficult to deal with geological changes. I found the notes I had left before I slept, and it was written about the fighting with people and emotional problems. But as always, I have no impression on the strange emotions of that time, and I can only believe that they really happened. I now have a new way of taking notes and I can have those records on the slate and rags be transferred to the soft yarn that Horus had given me.

“Remembering the previous plan and setting out to find Zeus and Hera, I remember that they have settled on a high mountain and I should be able to find them referring to the position of the stars. I hope the change of the stars will not be too great.

“…I found Zeus couples and we were happy to meet each other. The humans they sheltered were also very prosperous. The humans have even built huge cities and wonders of stones. Although the buildings have no magic power, they are almost as large as the temple. As if Poseidon was dissatisfied with this, he does not like to see that mankind has the ability to build the same wonders as God.

“…I compiled some previous records in my spare time. I was puzzled by my sleepiness and awakening. Others— including werewolves and wraiths—do not experience the sleepiness like I do. Then I found some patterns…”

“Some patterns…” Vivian put down the manuscript, her face gloomy. “Mr. Landlord, I feel weird.”

Reading between the lines, Hao Ren had long felt a bizarreness, but those things were vague and difficult to grasp. He looked at Vivian, scratching his chin. “You can’t remember about the manuscript at all?”

“Not at all,” Vivian frowned. “But according to the sporadic memories of the manuscript, I had forgotten some of the things recorded in the past, but would always leave behind a fragments of memory so I was only later be able to recollect the bit and pieces and add them in the manuscript. However after the last hibernation… I simply forgot everything, even the manuscript itself.”

“The last time you slept… it was after fighting with the vengeful spirit three hundred years ago,” Hao Ren looked at Vivian. “That was the most serious because you had lost the most important part of the memory: You forgot the fact that you had been writing dairy for the last ten thousand years.”

Vivian looked at the manuscript. The simple drawings recorded what she saw on earth during a certain period, but more of all sorts of bizarre monster-like creatures. Every time before Vivian hibernated she would be irritated and angry and exterminate the monsters in battle. Then she would fall into a deep sleep. Before that, she would draw an image of her own enemy as if she wanted to remind herself during the next wake-up to stay vigilant when she met these monsters again.

Looking at those weird drawings, Vivian whispered while thinking. “In summary, there were two kinds of sleep: one was when I was doing nothing, or when I was about to starve to death because of poverty I would actively choose to sleep through my hard days. This kind of dormancy is controllable, and it looks like there are no sequelae. After waking up, I would only lose a fraction of my memory or did not lose anything at all and without significantly weakening my physical strength. But the manuscript had recorded exactly the second scenario: I would have to sleep when drowsiness hit.”

Hao Ren looked into Vivian’s eyes. “After this uncontrollable drowsiness was over, you would lose a lot of memory and your body will be abnormally weak after waking up?”

“I’m not really sure,” Vivian said, waving and forcing a smile. “The most difficult thing for a person with amnesia is to recall what one have forgotten in the first place. I don’t really have any impression of the many details in this manuscript. And after a few times of waking up from deep sleep, I did feel unusually weak…”

“Including the last time,” Hao Ren tapped the table with his knuckles. “Your last sleep happened after you destroyed the vengeful spirit. And it was an uncontrollable sleep caused by the sense of drowsiness, so you are now in a state of weakness?”

Vivian looked at herself and said, “But I still feel energetic.”

“Don’t be kidding. People always feel energetic before they die.”

“…Mr. Landlord, you’re being caustic.”

Hao Ren hemmed and said, “Well, I mean figuratively. In short, I don’t know if you’ve noticed a minute detail: you would experience the same thing every time before you fell asleep!”

Vivian was wide-eyed. “Now I got it; arrogance, anger, getting into conflict with people for no reason, and… the unknown fights I’d gotten into. I’ve no clue of who are the enemies the manuscript mentions. And the drawings look unfamiliar to me.”

“But you were the one who authored the manuscript,” Hao Ren stared into Vivian’s eyes. “Are you sure you can’t remember the contents of this part? The last time you had slept was three hundred years ago. Can’t you even remember the phenomenon?”