The ever-expanding white consumed the boy's vision once more; the pain that deeply sank into every nerve and bone of his body had completely vanished - his eyes opened to nothing but numbness, if he even opened his eyes to begin with. Midas knew exactly where he was, or rather what was happening to him - sequences like these rarely happen, finally giving him another piece of who he might have been before his initial awakening.
It made him feel uneasy to be unable to know what actually was done to his body by the golden skeleton - seemingly forcefully melting into his body, possibly even taking control over it. Hoping he was here because he lost his consciousness like the other times instead of his life, Midas eventually opened his eyes again, the empty white replaced by a long, grey hall. The thing he sat on felt like plush, dusty fabric coating it - seats just like it spanning both sides of the long room.
The floor beneath him shook lightly ever so often - he saw himself briefly looking out of the many large windows, watching as many high-rising towers of grey and white passed by him. Judging by the speed it moved, this was no room but some kind of vehicle he found himself in - something that was just as foreign as everything he saw outside; yet, however, the feeling of having seen all these things before wouldn't disappear from his mind.
The closer he looked at the glass, Midas's eyes widened in shock as he saw the tall body of the person he found himself stuck in for the duration of this dream, touching his jaw and chin in disbelief. He instantly recognized the face he wore perfectly lined up with the framed picture he saw in the foreign house, the glass in front of it split right in the middle of the man's face whose reflection Midas stared into. Risking finally looking down onto his body, he examined his pitch-black suit, which perfectly fit with the color of his pants, both almost without any wrinkles on his body.
Feeling the almost perfectly flat surface of the white inner shell of whatever vehicle it was that transported him, Midas reluctantly sat up, staring up at the white lights that aligned themselves on both sides of the lengthy room, perfectly spaced like every one of the seats in front and behind him. Taking a few steps, he cautiously walked further, everything he saw repeating itself over and over, causing him to eventually wonder how long this vehicle really was.
Caught off guard as the high-rising towers eventually were gone from the windows, Midas put his arm in front of his eyes, blinded by a rising sun that shone in bright orange over a sea of more buildings that were much tinier. Specs of color moved on the dark grid between these foreign buildings - before he was able to examine further what happened, he widened his eyes as he saw a huge ball of fire quickly blowing up in the distance.
Planting his face against the glass to examine the explosion, Midas saw an expanding cloud of smoke come from the broad building, eventually feeling the vehicle tumble harsher than usual, rattling him as he tried to keep his footing. His eyes quickly scanned his front and back, then eventually stared at the pillar of smoke that didn't seem to disappear any time soon - only now realizing he was the only person in such a long, expanding room.
Eventually sitting down again, he stared at the distance - this was different from the last time he found himself stuck inside this dream; he was actually able to move his body now, while the dream also lasted much longer than the other two. Whatever the skeleton did to him - having actually died back then sounded more plausible now, even though he didn't want to admit so. Feeling an urge to get up, the light briefly began to flicker - making the long hallway switch from light to dark multiple times.
Sterning his brows, Midas eventually walked further - able to see more of the exact same kind of seats and joints, their walls slowly shaping around every corner the vehicle took. Hoping to find whoever steered it - or one of its exits - he pushed further before the light eventually began to fade once more. Once the light was on again, he froze - the gold-skinned skeleton was right in front of him, only the length of two steps ahead of him. Watching it turn its head briefly to the foreign land outside, he watched it turn its head to him - unimpressed by the otherworldly place.
"This is a dream... like I thought..."
Seeing Midas huff, placing the foreign body he steered down onto the many seats, he covered his eyes, trying to process what was currently happening. The skeleton was quiet for a short moment, stretching and balling up his fingers again - behaving as if it was waiting for him all the time he took to get here.
"Wake up already... I need to move."
Dropping his hand in disbelief, Midas stared at it in confusion - its uncohesive deep tones that resembled distant chanting and the clinking sounds of its metal jaws suddenly formed sentences he was able to understand - speaking the language of the northern desert almost perfectly.
"You speak...?"
"No, obviously I don't speak to you... how would I be able to speak without a tongue and throat? We share the same brain - I merely have to form sentences in your head from your memory."
Touching his forehead in disbelief, Midas got up - unsure what to do in order to come back to his original self as he forced himself to simply accept the fact that an ancient being like it is currently sharing the same body and mind as him.
"So you can see everything I have experienced...?"
Eventually risking asking anyway, as Midas had no idea how to escape from the seemingly never-ending hallway, he made the foreign body step towards the skeleton, matching its height roughly as he stared into its eye sockets with determination.
"You could say so... Alma, Ajan, and Jihid are the last people you thought about... This memory right here I found the most interesting out of the ones I found - however, I can only trigger them to repeat it, it seems... escaping them is most likely harder."
"Hold on - you are able to find these kinds of memories...? There are more inside of my brain?"
"Its not as easy - your mind is a foggy mess of melted impulses, thoughts and memories... Finding precise information is much harder than simply picking what I look for. Hajar'Kabir - the capital of the desert - has a gigantic market; finding the right memory is similar to striving through it... finding the right good, sold by the right salesman amongst the who-knows-how-many that sell there, is nearly impossible."
Midas exhaled in disappointment, groaning into his palms as he hid his face in them - possibly having been able to finally find answers to who he was before, or if the body he currently possessed was who he was before. The possible answer to what the explosion was was most likely also hidden somewhere deep inside his brain - something this skeleton was able to find.
"What do I need to do to make you find all of them...?"
"Who do you think you are...? You took the rune that belonged to me, disturbed my slumber after my death... and now you want me to work for you...?"
"So you are what is left of the golden knight... Of course I will give you something in return - just... tell me what you need me to do so you're willing to find and trigger these memories again..."
Laughing flatly into his face, the skeleton slowly leaned down to stare at him - Midas looked it deep in the eyes it didn't have, eager to come closer to finally find out the truth of his past, no matter what he would have to do.
"Clad - or how he was really named, Cladius, the golden knight - is no longer..."
Suddenly thoughtful, Midas watched in silence as its hollow eye sockets stared into the rising sun - the orange light making its golden skull light up as it stared into the distance, turning its head to him again.
"So you are someone else...?"
"Physically, I am what was left of him... however, people with such a great amount of mana like him easily get sought out by greater powers - once my eyes finally closed on my deathbed in my previous life, I began to feel restless... you and every human that lives today barely get to see what the calamity that haunted us was capable of doing - after my death... it simply took over and forced the creation of me..."
"You seem to not enjoy being back."
"Of course I do... I am unnatural, unable to exist without hiding now - so I used the remains of mana that radiated into the surrounding grounds of my former grave to create the storm. I just had to wait for the one that was capable of wearing the rune that originally belonged to none other than me."
Nodding slowly in silence, Midas felt the floor beneath the vehicle quiver - a silent moment passed as suddenly everything around them froze. Confused, he blinked before eventually seeing complete white again - having not foreseen such an abrupt end, he squeezed his eyes shut multiple times before the stinging of his body eventually returned - ringing filled his eardrums again, making him endure before he could finally come back to whatever state his body was left behind in.
Groaning, Midas lumpily managed to move his torso up - able to balance briefly on his left hand before leaning against the wall of the temple, he lost his consciousness, hastily making sure to look down onto his previously separated right hand after he was able to think straight again. Widening his eyes as he moved each of his fingers, he saw his hand connected onto his forearm again, breathing out in disbelief.
"Did you do that...?"
"Don't get used to it; I will only do the bare minimum to keep you alive..."
"Do you at least want to tell me a name I could give to you...? Or what can I do to make you show me more of these memories...?"
Groaning as he felt dizzy, the boy eventually slid his back up the wall - his palms against it while he got to his feet again - his stomach turning as he remembered the blood he lost; the fact a skeleton that was at least a head taller than him was now residing inside of him didn't help. Stumbling a few steps forward, Midas stared out into the dark distance of the desert outside of the ruin - multiple stars shining in the sky as the gigantic walls of clouds finally disappeared.
"It's simple. Since this body is made of gold, I can consume more of it to grow - if you do so, I'll show you more of these memories you so desperately need... Oh, call me Gilt. It's the desert kingdom's word for describing the process of using gold to make things look fancier than they are."
"Gilt then... I lost my sickle because of you..."
"Go cry about it..."
Groaning in annoyance, Midas didn't want to show; he made his first steps back into the desert. Lucky to still have his bag, he stashed the pirate cloth into it before setting out to head for the eastern coast - hoping he would find a port on its shore before the sun was up again. Even though he most likely had to walk longer, doing so was most likely much easier to do than making the journey back to the other side, also trying to not climb up the mountain range again.
Reaching the Gulf that Cle'Phoria lay on was most likely much easier from the east coast since all he had to cross was a much shorter path by boat. To add to that, Montcanal - the water kingdom capital - also lay on the east, which made the path he took on water kingdom land also much shorter than if he went all the way from the central parts of it, sparing him the path from Centour to get there.
The bits of water and food the royalty had given him came in clutch on his way back; Midas had to get creative with the way he would be able to pay off his ship ride, having barely any money left or things to sell. Shivering as the cold wind of the night blasted briefly by him, the youth looked up into the dark sky - roughly following the direction of the moon, his eyes watched the stars as he strode through the desert.
"Do you know what happened after your death...?"
"I can see what happened from what is in your mind - I was able to defeat it, but in the end there must still have been an unbelievable amount of casualties; knowing that is the reason why my life feels like torment... The more I see, the clearer my actual failure becomes to me."
"At least you are able to remember your previous life - I only get bits of it, and the more of them I see, the more confused I become... as if I never really was part of this whole world."
"Whatever we saw there was otherworldly for sure - whoever you once were, you are foreign to this world."
Sighing at Gilts reply, Midas looked forward - steeling himself for a journey that was eerily similar to the first of his many days he had spent in this desert, ready to leave it behind for now as the sandstorm was finally dealt with - even though he himself was not able to dissolve it directly. Walking such a distance on his own felt somehow easier knowing something capable of talking to him was now by his side.
"Thank you for taking care of the storm, Gilt."
"Be quiet."