Chapter 27: Overlapping Memories

The wind in the late night carried the raw, sandy scent of the desert, slipping through the gaps in the tent like someone whispering into one’s ear.

Lu Chen leaned against the canvas, clutching the half-piece of jade in his hand. Placed against Alicia’s half, they formed a complete silver bird. The flickering embers of the campfire made the intricate patterns on the jade appear to shift and crawl. This was the third time he had grown drowsy while on night watch; his eyelids felt heavy as lead, and even the sound of Old Dao coughing as he swapped shifts seemed distant and hollow.

"Sleep for a while if you can't hold on," Old Dao’s voice drifted from outside the tent. His bone blade tapped against the railing. "I’ll keep watch. Nothing will go wrong."

Lu Chen murmured an acknowledgment, but his consciousness was already being swept away by quicksand, plunging rapidly into darkness.

This was no ordinary sleep.

He stood upon a plain of crimson sand. The ground beneath his feet was hot as burning charcoal; every step elicited a sharp, sizzling sound, as if something were being seared. The distant horizon was stained a deep blood-red, and the cacophony of battle cries, the snapping of bones, and piercing screams intertwined, rattling his eardrums.

"It’s an ancient battlefield!" Lu Chen’s heart hammered against his ribs. He recognized the armor of the warriors—the hide cuirasses of the X Tribe and the sand-crystal patterns of the S Tribe, exactly as depicted in the murals.

On the field, a group of X Tribe warriors charged with spears held high. Their shields bore a peculiar totem: a swirling vortex of countless sand grains with a tiny, radiant point at its center, like a spark in the dark.

"The Entropy-Reversal Totem!" Lu Chen blurted out. Su Qing had analyzed this symbol, explaining that it represented the power to resist chaos—the core faith of the Sand Guardians.

The charging X Tribe warriors wore expressions of fanatical fervor, chanting an ancient war song as they aimed their spears at the enemy. Yet, the ranks of the S Tribe were not human at all. Their skin was made of greyish-blue sand crystals, their eyes lacked pupils and instead held only flowing, ghostly blue light. Their weapons were long blades forged from condensed sand, glowing with a frigid, lethal light.

"Sand-Crystal Warriors..." Lu Chen’s breath hitched. These monsters were similar to the mutated state of Jones, only larger, more grotesque, and clad in sand-crystal armor as thick as city walls.

"Kill!"

The X Tribe warriors slammed into the sand-crystal phalanx. Their spears left only faint white marks against the crystalline armor. In return, the sand-crystal blades swung down, effortlessly cleaving through hide armor and bone alike. Blood sprayed onto the red sand, only to be instantly sucked dry, leaving behind nothing but dark, jagged stains.

*Squelch—*

The warrior closest to Lu Chen was cut in half at the waist. His upper body continued to crawl across the ground, his eyes locked onto the Entropy-Reversal Totem on his shield. Blood bubbled from his lips, mixing with three gasped words: "Guard... it..."

Lu Chen felt a sudden, searing pain, as if the blade had struck him instead. He looked down and realized he was wearing the same hide armor as the X Tribe warrior, and in his own hand, he clutched a shield engraved with the Entropy-Reversal Totem.

"I’ve become them?"

No sooner had the thought surfaced than the red sand beneath his feet began to boil. Countless pale, gaunt hands erupted from the earth, grabbing the ankles of the X Tribe warriors and dragging them down. On the wrists of those hands were the same totem rings Lu Chen wore, though the patterns on them had been worn smooth, looking like common stones.

"Help... save me..."

The ensnared warriors let out desperate wails as their bodies were slowly swallowed by the sand. Finally, only a single hand remained exposed, clutching the shield tightly. The Entropy-Reversal Totem pulsed with a faint light within the sand, like a dying star.

Lu Chen tried to rush forward to help, but his feet felt as if they were cast in lead. He watched helplessly as the X Tribe’s formation was torn open by the sand-crystal warriors, watched as those swirling totems flickered and died one by one, and watched the red sand turn a deeper, darker shade.

A blood-soaked X Tribe leader rushed to his side, his face painted with red and white totems that bore a striking resemblance to the sand-mark on Lu Chen’s finger. The leader grabbed his shoulders, roaring, "Remember the Entropy-Reversal! Remember the mission of the Sand Guardians! Even if you turn to sand, you must hold the line..."

Before he could finish, a sand-crystal blade pierced through his chest from behind. The leader’s eyes widened. He cast one last look at Lu Chen, the corners of his mouth curling into a strange, eerie smile, as if he had glimpsed some distant future.

Lu Chen’s vision was instantly flooded with blood.

***

"Ugh!"

He bolted upright, his combat gear soaked in cold sweat, his heart threatening to shatter his ribs. The sky outside the tent was turning a pale grey. Old Dao was crouched by the campfire, stirring something in a pot. His bone blade was stuck into the sand nearby, its red glow brighter than usual.

"Had a nightmare?" Old Dao asked without looking up, tossing a handful of herbs into the pot. "You were screaming like a stuck pig."

Lu Chen didn't answer. Subconsciously, he lifted his right arm. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the tent, illuminating his skin. The once-faint golden sand-mark was now incredibly clear—the patterns intertwined to form a rotating vortex with a pinprick of light at its center, identical to the Entropy-Reversal Totem on the X Tribe’s shield in his dream!

"This..." Lu Chen’s voice trembled. His fingertips brushed the sand-mark, and a searing sting shot through him. "How is this possible..."

Old Dao looked up at the sound, and when he saw the totem on Lu Chen’s arm, the ladle in his hand clattered into the pot. He lunged forward, grabbing Lu Chen’s arm, his eyes wide as saucers, a look of utter disbelief burning in his murky pupils.

"Entropy-Reversal... the Entropy-Reversal Totem!" Old Dao’s voice shook violently. He traced the patterns with his rough fingers as if verifying a sacred relic. "It really is it... I saw this in my grandfather’s journals!"

Lu Chen’s mind went blank. "What does this mean? Why has my sand-mark turned into..."

"It hasn't turned into anything!" Old Dao interrupted, his breathing as rapid as if he had just finished a marathon across the desert. "It’s an awakening! The mark on your arm isn't just a common sand-mark; it’s the life-totem of the Sand-Guardian Priest! Only a reincarnated priest can manifest it!"

He abruptly let go of Lu Chen’s arm and took two steps back, bowing deeply with a reverence akin to worship. "No wonder your totem blade can suppress the Sand-Bone Beasts; no wonder you can hear the voice of the sand... Lu Chen, you are the reincarnation of the Sand-Guardian Priest! You are the successor chosen by the First Priest!"

Lu Chen stood frozen, Old Dao’s words exploding in his mind like a thunderclap. A Sand-Guardian Priest? Reincarnated? Were those dreams not hallucinations, but ancestral memories passed down through his bloodline into his consciousness?

He suddenly recalled the look in the leader’s eyes in his dream, the hands reaching out from the sand, and the chaotic forces the Entropy-Reversal Totem struggled against... Was his mission to complete the unfinished work of his ancestors and resist the destruction brought by the Bone Core?

"But..." Lu Chen opened his mouth, his throat parched and aching. "If I am the reincarnation, why do I remember nothing? Why don't I know even the most basic Sand-Guardian arts?"

Old Dao’s excitement gradually subsided. He picked up his bone blade, the characters for "Bone-Listener" glowing with a red light. "Memories require a key. It could be an object, a scene, or perhaps... the full awakening of the Bone Core." He looked at the totem on Lu Chen’s arm with a complex expression. "But this also means that Williams and the Bone Core will view you as their most dangerous enemy."

No sooner had he spoken than a strange tremor rippled through the dunes in the distance. It was not the roar of a Sand-Bone Beast, nor the sound of Sand-Blood warriors, but a low, rhythmic humming—like countless voices chanting in unison. Its frequency resonated perfectly with the totem on Lu Chen’s arm.

Lu Chen’s Entropy-Reversal Totem suddenly flared with golden light, burning so hot he nearly cried out. He stared in the direction of the humming—the location of the S Tribe temple. On the horizon, a ghostly blue hue was rising, mirroring the light of the Bone Core, yet carrying an even older, more immense aura.

"It has sensed you." Old Dao gripped his bone blade, his face as grim as iron. "The Bone Core has sensed the awakening of the Sand-Guardian Priest."

Lu Chen looked at the rotating totem on his arm and finally understood the leader’s final smile in his dream. It wasn't despair; it was hope. He had known that one day, a successor would return to this desert with the power of Entropy-Reversal to finish the battle that had spanned a thousand years.

And now, the horn of battle had sounded.

He did not know what awaited him: complete memories? Powerful Sand-Guardian arts? Or a fate more terrible than death? But he could feel the totem on his arm growing hotter, as if urging him on, as if calling out to him.

The humming in the distance grew louder, and the blue light on the horizon deepened, as if some gargantuan entity were stirring, staring fixedly across the dunes at this newly awakened successor.

The decisive battle, a struggle for memory, heritage, and survival, was at hand.