Andrew immediately lay across several crates.
Within moments—
He was asleep.
Kai wasn't convinced someone could sleep that quickly.
Then again...
This was the same man who casually defeated an entire bandit camp.
Maybe it wasn't worth questioning.
---
The wagon continued moving.
The rhythmic sound of wooden wheels filled the silence.
Kai leaned against the side of the wagon.
His thoughts drifted.
Back...
To the orb.
The Memory Hub.
"..."
Something bothered him.
If the orb truly stored memories...
Then...
"...Did every version of me reach it?"
He frowned.
That couldn't be right.
The variants he had met...
They all remembered the orb.
But...
Not all of them could have survived long enough to reach it.
Some had clearly died much earlier.
"...Unless..."
He looked toward the horizon.
"...the orb isn't storing the memories of people who reached it."
"...It's storing the memories that eventually reached it."
He immediately frowned.
"...No."
"That doesn't explain anything."
The theory fell apart almost instantly.
He sighed.
"...Too many questions."
His eyes drifted toward the sleeping Andrew.
The memory surfaced again.
The duel.
The gunshot.
The tattoo.
The hatred.
Cult Kai.
Current Kai quietly touched his own wrist.
Nothing.
No mark.
Just skin.
"...That me..."
"...didn't have magic circuits."