Years passed in a flash even though both Synexus and Mylidara received every second of information. He didn’t see those years, but understood that after Mylan died, their lives had taken a sobering turn. She shut herself off from the world and openly defied her mother in fits of rage. A confused child lashing out at the reality that brought her pain and suffering. Myniko on the other hand took that grief and transformed it into energy to train. He no longer was going the route of the silk traders like his parents and his parents’ parents. Instead, he was working on turning his intellect and ability to read others into a weapon. A weapon that would avenge their friend. Mylidara often found herself watching him from a distance as he sat in the cold rain or blistering heat unmoving for days at a time.
Synexus could feel her burning jealousy for Myniko. She was struggling to move forward, and he was somehow turning the tragedy into an opportunity. At one point they had all been close friends, but if she was honest with herself at one point all her interest rested on Mylan’s side of the scale. Of course, they were still friendly with each other and even talked quite often. However, it was never deeper than surface topics. They almost never spent time alone. She had fallen in love with Mylan and that seemed to include pushing her friendship with Myniko to the side. After Mylan’s death, she desperately wanted that friendship back. Her parents didn’t understand and never would. She was always so angry with them even when she didn’t know why. Grief had swallowed her into a whirlpool, and her hands were grasping at any feeling or interaction to pull herself out. Still, it took her years to build up enough courage to finally approach her once best friend.
More information flooded through the connection and Synexus felt that they had become close once again. He explained to her that he was attempting to forge his own path. A path that would make him stronger than anyone in the village. A path that would allow him to get vengeance but also build a future worth living. Dedication to his lost friend and the life that he didn’t get to live. Mylidara instantly wanted in.
Over the next few years, they sat and meditated together. Her whirlpool subsided and she was once again rooted in reality except those roots were made of acceptance and anger at her acceptance. Their birthdays were only a few days apart with Myniko being the month older. His class shocked even him. All his goals and hard work were realized when he was offered a legendary class named Mind Dismantler. Mylidara got hers a month later and her excitement wasn’t wasted. Silk Lake gained another legendary class chosen when she was offered Mind Warper.
More years flashed into information as they both read the story of Mylidara. For her it was an old favorite. For Synexus it was a new obsession. He wanted to skip ahead and find out what happened except the memories wouldn’t allow it. As the mind shield fell the dying skill seemed to filter out the information into a linear timeline and they both had to simply wait.
They got hints in the information about the rigorous training that the two mind class chosen had put themselves through. The thoughts ran through Mylidara’s head as they both agreed that rules needed to be set that people with their abilities needed to follow. Her heart raced as the information from their hunt of the beast who stole Mylan’s body down in the pit was an outstanding success. The giant trap spider had no hope against the mental assault they viciously unleashed. There was sadness as more people in the village passed away. Happiness as they watched their other friends get married and have babies. An overwhelming nervousness and guilt drew their attention to one bit of information and Synexus was surprised when the processing of the information hit him. It was the feelings of their wedding.
It wasn’t hard for him to put the pieces together earlier that Myniko was the man from Mhlanir’s memory, but it was still shocking to feel the storm of emotions from Mylidara on their wedding day. She felt so much guilt that she was marrying her beloved’s best friend even though he was long dead. Myniko comforted her and told her that Mylan would want them to be happy. That he would be smiling upon them and blessing their marriage. She never had any second guesses about her choice even if the guilt was there. To her Mylan was perfect. It wasn’t fair to compare her feelings for Myniko against a corpse. When she loved Mylan, they were both kids without an understanding of the world. It was exciting and new. For all she knew, Mylan would have completely changed when life eventually forced him to grow up. Memories always had a way of altering perception and she knew that. Her love for Myniko on the other hand was full of substance. It was a love between friends that was forged in shared tragedy and then tempered by time. They had built it together piece by piece over the years of training and hardship. Both loves were real in her mind. One was made of dreams and a childlike view of the world. The other from adult choices and realistic goals.
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Silk Lake danced the entire night to music with timeless emotions put into every note. Everyone who called it home went to the beautiful ceremony under the stars where they had vowed themselves to one another. In Mylidara’s mind she could feel Mylan’s presence there that night and it helped her to leave the suffering and guilt behind. Myniko had even surprised her with his own goodbyes to their long-departed friend in front of the whole town right in the middle of the ceremony. To them it was truly a night of letting go and moving forward. Their lives started in earnest that night.
More years flashed forward of Mylidara setting up her school that ended up being the birth of the Mind Maidens. She was proud of her students and lived her life to get them where they wanted to be. Her and Myniko tried to get pregnant countless times and never seemed to be able to. She turned that into being able to love her students even more. The two even took in lost children or orphans every now and then that had found their village while wandering along the mountain. Both did everything they could to help the lost and broken.
Myniko started to help people forget anything that was weighing them down until they reached a point where they were strong enough to face it. Deaths were forgotten. People erased. Tragedies altered. Silk Lake became a place for happiness even if Mylidara and Myniko knew it was a false bliss. That all changed when she got pregnant.
Mhlanir changed the course of the town and for the better. It was a realization that shook the core of both of her parents. That’s how altering memories was added to the list of checks for people with classes like theirs. Instead of making people forget, they used their gifts to help people back to the world when they were faced with something unspeakable. Mylidara remembered the whirlpool that she had been trapped in for years and became the helping hand to pull others from it. Myniko realized that even the bad was worth remembering when Mylidara had told him the news. He had been terribly worried and guilty that he was failing his wife when they couldn’t conceive a child together. Inside he wished he had tried his hardest to push the memory of his failures away and that led to the practice of sealing memories. But when he heard the news, he poured his heart out to his wife. She had been feeling guilty and broken too, as if it was her fault they couldn’t succeed. He realized that remembering those years of failure made the success and eventual birth of his child even more joyous.
Mhlanir was born in late winter and her parents provided all they could for her. She was loved. Mylidara felt an intense pride that trumped what she had felt for her students collectively. It was as if a star was burning inside her of love, warmth, happiness, and pride. Every single time she looked into Mhlanir’s eyes the feeling nearly overwhelmed the mental connection of Synexus’ skill. A parent’s desire to protect their child at all costs.
They began her training and schooling as early as possible, parting every bit of their wisdom to their daughter. She would be the cumulation of their lives. Every bit of grief they experienced and lived through. Each success that had driven them farther forward. Every second training that had forged them into class chosen of unspeakable heights. It was all hers. There was never any doubt that she would be extraordinary.
Memories only started to slow down when Mhlnair was four or five years old. Mylidara was the wife of the village Elder, and she was always going around helping where she could. A pupil of hers was training the new Mind Maiden’s at the school while she focused on helping her community and taking care of her daughter. She pretended like it didn’t bother her, but secretly she missed the experience of training the young women. Several times she thought about going back to take her mind off a worrying suspicion. For months she had the feeling that Myniko was hiding something from her. For months she felt that she was forgetting something important.
