For a moment, Leon simply looked at the now child, standing before him.
The faint smile on his face gradually disappeared. His eyes moved over the boy’s small frame, taking in his youthful appearance.
He had expected this meeting someday, but not like this early. He had planned to have considerably more time before this happened.
"Well," he muttered, looking at the child again. "This is way earlier than I expected."
Leon remained where he was. Looking at the man before him, he felt a feeling he couldn’t put into words, as though some part of him already knew this stranger.
He found the stranger’s unusual greeting or the way he seemed to recognize him unsettling.
"Who are you?" he asked cautiously.
The man looked at him for a moment before answering.
"Someone you should know."
"Why don’t I know you then?"
A faint smile returned to the man’s face. "Because you don’t remember."
Leon didn’t like that answer. He studied the man again, trying to understand the strange feeling.
"I feel like I’ve met you before," he said. "But I don’t know where."
"That is one of the things we need to discuss."
The man’s response only increased Leon’s suspicion. He had already experienced something he couldn’t explain, and now he was standing before someone who spoke as though they shared some history.
He looked around. The earlier battlefield had almost disappeared, leaving no trace of the bodies or the distant slopes. The place where the two stood was difficult to describe, only an empty expanse.
"Where are we?"
"Somewhere you couldn’t reach before."
"How did I get here?"
"Your breakthrough opened the way."
Leon looked back at him. "My breakthrough?"
The man nodded. "Your soul has grown enough to reach something that was previously beyond it. This meeting would not have been possible before."
Leon lowered his gaze briefly, recalling the sensation that had accompanied his breakthrough. He had channeled his essence towards his head, then he was overwhelmed by this strange memories.
"Was everything I saw real?"
The man’s expression became more serious. "Yes. What you witnessed wasn’t something your mind made on its own."
Leon fell silent. He remembered the events clearly, from the happiness of the earlier days to the final slaughter. He had seen the betrayal, the deaths, and the man walking through the valley with blood beneath his feet.
He could understand what was happening in the memories, but did not experience it, as though they belonged to someone else.
"Those things happened to you?" he asked.
"They happened to us."
Leon frowned at the choice of words. "Us?"
The man studied him before answering. "The memories you saw belong to the life I lived. But that life belongs to you as well."
"How?" Leon looked genuinely confused.
"Because I’m not someone separate, and you’re not someone carrying another person’s memories."
The older Leon paused, giving him a moment to consider his words.
"You lived that life before this one. I’m you from that life."
Leon watched him carefully, still uncertain. "But I’m me," he said.
A faint smile touched the man’s face. "You are. So was I."
The answer didn’t make things any easier to understand. Leon looked down at his hands before raising his eyes again. "Then why can’t I remember?"
"Because those memories were sealed."
"By whom?"
"That’s something I can’t explain to you right now. What matters is that they were never erased. They’re still there, even if you can’t reach them."
The man paused before continuing. "Your breakthrough loosened one of those seals. It allowed you to see that part of our past and reach this place. Now that I can see you properly, I can tell your soul is stronger than I expected at your age."
Leon remained quiet, listening.
"As you grow and advance further, the other seals will gradually loosen. More of that life will return to you, though it won’t all happen at once."
The idea was difficult to accept, but it explained why the earlier dreams had contained fragments of the same events.
He had seen pieces of that life before. Back then, the dream had been brief, and their meaning had gradually slipped from his thoughts. This time, however, the memories were clear.
"Will it happen again?"
"Most likely. You’ll see more as the seals open."
Leon frowned, not particularly pleased with that answer.
"You don’t have to rush toward another breakthrough to find out more," the man added. "There is no benefit in forcing those memories open before you’re ready. Let yourself grow. They will return when your soul can accommodate them."
Leon nodded slightly, though his expression remained troubled.
The man noticed his hesitation. "You’ve seen too much at this age," he said, giving a faint, tired smile. "I hope we will remain sane."
Leon looked at him, unsure where was he getting at. "Why? What’s going to happen?"
The man’s smile faded slightly.
"There’s a difference between seeing something and experiencing it."
Leon waited for him to continue.
"Until now, you’ve seen what happened during that life. But you haven’t experienced the full weight of the emotions that came with it. The happiness, affection, fear, anger and grief are still sealed."
Leon’s expression changed as he began to understand. "When will they come back?"
"After we’re finished here."
"All of them?"
"Every one of them. You won’t simply remember what I felt. You’ll experience those emotions yourself, as though those moments were happening again."
Leon lowered his eyes. He had already seen how that life had ended., and knowing that the feelings behind those memories would return made him worried.
The older Leon watched him quietly. The humor that had appeared earlier on his face was gone now.
"I won’t pretend it will be easy," he said. "But you should know what’s coming rather than be caught completely unaware."
Leon remained silent for a while. He still wasn’t certain he believed everything the man had told him.
He felt all of this strange, and accepting that the stranger before him was somehow himself was not something he could do because he said so. Still, there was too much to ask him to dismiss his words outright.