Chapter 418: Hunter remembers.

It rained heavily that night, with lightning and thunder acting like they were being evicted from the sky and trying to take the roof down with them.

The sudden rain did not ease the tension around New earth, which hummed like static in the air. In Concordia especially, citizens queued to stock up on relevant supplies despite the downpour. Many had wary eyes, listening to whispers of a possible war against the Somnivores drifting through crowded alleys.

Soldiers patrolled the streets, boots striking pavements in rhythm, their guns and swords gleaming beneath bright streetlamps. Soul maidens in the boots Achilles had sold to their organization, monitored the skies. Some hovered. Some flew. Some just perched on rooftops, in thick raincoats or under umbrellas.

In bars, hushed voices debated the sudden death of Sabrina and mental issues Trinity suddenly faced. Some thought it was a cover up, others claimed they had been targeted by enemies. Discussions around the raid on the main compound of the Johnson clan also made the rumors, followed by the question of which clan would take its place.

The Kaelion clan was the number one pick, but would other strong clans simply watch?

The city breathed uneasily, caught between ordinary life and the looming shadow of conflict, waiting for the first spark to ignite everything.

Zyra was also unsettled, because she hated thunder. Every single time a loud boom rattled the windowpanes, she felt like her heart was trying to perform an emergency escape right out of her ribcage.

Sensing another big rumble building in the clouds, Zyra instinctively slid across the mattress toward Hunter’s side of the bed. She was fully prepared to dive headfirst into his arms, burrow into his chest, and use him as a human shield against the weather.

Except... her hands hit cold sheet. Cold, empty sheet.

Her eyes snapped open. Hunter wasn’t there.

Zyra froze. Her gaze darted frantically around the pitch-black bedroom until it locked onto a tall, shadowed figure standing completely motionless by the window.

"Gah!" Zyra gasped loudly, scrambling backward like a startled cat and frantically slapping the night lamp switch.

Warm light flooded the room. Hunter slowly turned his head away from the glass, his messy hair falling into his face.

"Did the thunder wake you up?" he asked, his voice low and raspy.

Zyra let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, her shoulders slumping. "No, babe, the sudden dark phantom standing in the corner of my room did that." She patted her chest, inwardly shaking her head. Poor guy was probably staring at the rain thinking about his dead father again.

Hunter sighed, walking back over to the bed and sliding under the covers. He immediately pulled her into a tight, warm hug, resting his chin on top of her head.

"Zyra," he muttered into her hair. "I remembered."

Zyra hummed softly, pressing herself closer to his chest to soak up the warmth. "Remembered what, babe? Were you left your energy stones?"

"Everything," Hunter said softly. "My memories... they came back."

Zyra pushed off his chest so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash. It was as if his skin had suddenly turned into bubbling lava. She stared at him with wide, blinking eyes.

"Wait, really?" she stuttered, her brain doing backflips.

How had this happened? Did his dad’s death traumatize his brain so hard that it forced a factory reset on his memory bank?

As if reading the giant question marks flashing across her forehead, Hunter shook his head. "I thought it was just a crazy dream at first. But it wasn’t. Everything that happened beyond the veil... it’s all back. It feels like whatever invisible lock was jammed inside my head just... dissolved."

Zyra didn’t waste a second. She immediately called out in her mind, ’Beauty! Hey, Beauty! Explain this! What is going on here?’

[Host, you are panicking more than the affected individual ,] the System’s calm, slightly robotic voice echoed inside her head. [The alien medical unit within the prison-ship completely overhauled and healed Hunter’s physical body. To fully integrate the upgrade, Hunter simply needed a solid few hours of sleep to return to his default Orakun settings. It was to be expected that his memories would return.]

’Oh,’ Zyra thought. ’So he basically just needed to activate his Somnivore side!

She turned her attention back to Hunter, eyeing him cautiously. "Okay... so what exactly do you remember from your time beyond the veil?"

Hunter rubbed the back of his neck, leaning against the headboard. "Well, to start off, we got ambushed by a big horde of walking vines as soon as we arrived on the other side of the world. It was a complete disaster. The entire group of sixty eight got wiped out. Elliot was literally on the verge of death. His body was sliced almost completely in half from the chest down."

Zyra winced, her eyebrows knitting together. "Wow! Okay, go on."

"We were saved by a Somnivore," Hunter said, closing his eyes to pull up the mental footage. "He cut through the vines like they were play things. I remember him looking at me, sighing, and grumbling about how Sabrina was ’far too soft’ on me and wasn’t raising me strict enough."

Zyra blinked. "Wait, a Somnivore was judging your mom’s parenting skills? And he knew her name?"

"Yep," Hunter chuckled faintly. "He took us to this hidden lair and actually treated Elliot’s wounds. He laid his hand over him the way Soul maidens do when they are healing and completely fixed him. I was terrified out of my mind, obviously, but then the Somnivore sat me down and dropped a bomb on me."

Hunter paused, looking right into Zyra’s eyes. "He confessed that he was my father. He said he had intentionally suppressed my alien nature after my birth so that I could fit in with humans and live a normal life."

Zyra’s jaw dropped slightly, but she stayed quiet, letting him spill it all out.

"Elliot was passed out cold, so we ended up staying in that cave for a whole week," Hunter continued. "When Elliot finally woke up, I was so relieved and scared at the same time that I immediately confessed everything to him. I told him the Somnivore saved us, that he was my real father, all of it. At first, Elliot laughed in my face and thought I was pulling a sick joke. Then the Somnivore returned to the cave."

Hunter sighed, a look of disappointment washing over his face. "Elliot instantly lost his mind. He pointed at him, called him a dirty alien enemy, and swore on his life that the moment we got back, he was going to report to the Planetary Assembly that hybrids were secretly living among humans. He was going to tell everyone what I am."

"Classic Elliot," Zyra muttered, rolling her eyes. "Always acting without thinking."

"Yeah," Hunter said quietly. "My father just looked at me, apologized, and said, ’I cannot let that information leave this place.’ The next thing I knew, there was a blinding flash of white light. When I opened my eyes again, we were back on the human side with zero memories of our short but disastrous trip to the other side. Zyra... we didn’t just ’forget.’ Our memories were forcibly stolen from us."