“I think you need some exercise. Some training. But I think you clearly have the skill in your memories or whatever,” Jacob gave his assessment, setting the staff against the wall, “That’ll be my focus for now - building your muscles. I mean, alright so… let’s talk for a bit.” He sat cross-legged, “Ode, heal him.”

She rolled her eyes and sat down as well, “Don’t order me around, asshole.” Her hands glowed with mana and a thin circle appeared in golden light, and she cast a simple healing spell. Alister sighed in relief as the feeling washed over him, appreciative that the pain left him, and that the healing was not of the holy sort.

Jacob rustled his brown hair, “Okay… so… Your past life and this full recall stuff and all that. I wanna have a chat about it. I heard of it and I know it’s very rare but, how does it actually work? How does it feel for you? How do you differentiate memories?”

Alister was pleasantly surprised. He wasn’t asking what he remembered, but the logistics of it. He was actually a scholar, and not just a knight. He smiled, “You know, I haven’t actually been asked about that yet. Most of the time people just want to know what I recall and nothing else.”

“Oh don’t get me wrong, I do, but I’m fascinated by the idea. Everyone has made it clear you’re not interested in talking much about your past itself..”

“I can appreciate the mindset,” Alister responded, nodding, “My past life had enough mana to cause some problems for unlocking my core. So I’d have to say so far it’s been mostly… painful. I’ve had to do a lot of meditation and work to get my core somewhat functional, and even now it’s sore when I cast simple spells. When I first woke up my memories were overlapping and it was very distracting and unpleasant. Very confusing to try to sort through. It’s settled over the last couple of weeks and now I can easily distinguish what was before and what is now. I assume how much I recall has something to do with how much mana I have… but beyond that, I don’t know. I never was learned on the subject. I was an Archmage… but history and reincarnation didn’t interest me much at the time. Heh. I regret that now, somewhat. Now that it settled… it just feels like nostalgia. Like I’m looking back on something from a long time ago, but despite the passage of time it’s very sharp and clear.”

Jacob made a few notes on a pad of paper he took out from a bag, “An Archmage? Right… okay. If you don’t mind me asking, how long ago was your past?”

Alister shrugged, “I’m still trying to figure that out. Since this body is so young, it’s… ah that’s something I didn’t mention. The body’s age definitely has an effect on my mentality. I am far more emotional, prone to crying or getting hyper. My physique is subpar. I find it more difficult to focus with this growing mind. It’s all quite a pain. But there are significant gaps in my knowledge of current times since I’m a child. I wasn’t exactly keen on learning about current events before my memories returned. What eight year old is? Because of that, I just know that the year system we use now is different than what I used in the past. I know there have been a couple of significant events, The Fall, which I believe has a more scholarly name but I cannot remember it, and The Opal Void. Alas, I don’t even know what they are! I just have a very childish view of the events being frightening. Like stories to frighten children.”

More notes were scribbled out using his pencil, and Jacob lightly set the eraser against his lips, “Right…”

“Stop just saying right, Jacob,” Ode chimed in, and both of them looked at her like they had forgotten she was there, “What?”

He shook his head, “Your situation sounds frustrating. Maybe I can help with a sort of timeline of events. It sounds like history lessons and fitness will be the first ones from me. What about you, Ode?”

“Magic. Duh. If all he’s got in his head are old ways of doing things then there’s a lot to catch up to speed. Not to mention both of us benefit from it.”

Jacob nodded, still deep in thought, “What is the last significant event you can recall?”

Alister looked toward the ceiling, “Mm… Well, it was long enough ago I don’t recall pencils existing in that form, for instance. A significant event, huh…? I remember a skirmish between some gods, but that happened far to the north of me. I wasn’t affected by it. Hmm… oh, well, there was the fall of the Ristan Dynasty. Their nation fell a while after the divine skirmishes, though. I think they had weakened as a result of the fallout like most other nations around that time. Nasty wars broke out between nobles in contest for the territory. A lot of blood was spilt. That was also pretty far to the north from me but there was hardly a place on the center continent that wasn’t affected in some way by it. No matter the peaks in the way. Oh, do you still call them the same thing? They used to be known as the Sky Gorge and Drake’s Tail. Or together, The Cross. Simple names.”

The knight took down some of what he said, nodding softly, “Mm… I think I have heard of the Ristan Dynasty. Or at least the nation of Ristan. We still call the one mountain range Drake’s Tail, and we call the two together The Cross, but the other, the one that leads west to east, is called Idala’s Wall now.”

Alister nodded in return, “That’s understandable. What do you know of Ristan, then, Sir Jacob?”

“Ah, right. Well, I know that it existed around 5 to 6,000 years in the past. At least a thousand years before The Fall.”

Ode spoke up again, “Before The Fall? That seems so impossibly long ago… You sure?”

He gave her a nod. Alister’s brow was fully furrowed, his small face twisted in concern and confusion, “So long… Sir Jacob… What is The Fall? I have heard it to be some terrible disaster but I know little. I suppose it’s typically not a topic for a child to learn in detail.”