100 kilometers away from Earth, in the vast emptiness of space, Ankit's clones were constructing a massive sanctuary.
The other two clones worked steadily, focused on their tasks. The sacral clone, however, sat apart, cross-legged and motionless, careful not to disturb their progress.
He now intended to search the child's memories. He needed to understand what the boy had truly experienced.
He drew upon the memory element power and reached toward the child's mind. From his forehead, a thin strand of energy extended silently toward the child's forehead.
It pressed forward without pause, even as dark red fire flared up in defense and tried to block its path.
The strand slipped quietly into the child's brain. It copied every memory and transferred them all to the sacral clone.
After some time, the sacral clone opened his eyes. A deep coldness lingered in his gaze, impossible to hide.
Anger burned inside him this time. He looked down at the sleeping child, and his eyes softened with gentleness.
He murmured, "This child shall forget this entire matter, at least for now. It would destroy him to carry such hatred forever. I will seal these past memories away—they will remain locked until his grief and sorrow fade into something distant, not worth the pain of reliving every day. I won't erase them completely; he cannot simply forget his parents, nor should he. The one truly responsible for all this misery is already dead, gone. There is nothing more I can do for him now. Gorak's son is still just a boy, brutal as he may be—I won't take a child's life. But when he grows into a man and remains as cruel as he is now… then he shall not live longer. For now, he too has become an orphan—his father dead, his mother long killed by that same father's hand. Let him survive alone. Let him taste the misery he once inflicted on others. And this child, who has suffered beyond enduring… he should finally rest. He should begin a new life, free of these shadows."
He then proceeded to seal the child's memories. He could have sealed only the parts filled with suffering, but he chose not to. If the child later asked how his parents died or why he remembered nothing, those questions and distractions would haunt him and once he began cultivation—the distractions could easily get him killed. It would not be good. So he sealed all of the past memories, allowing the child to start a completely new life.
Next, he created a small house on the vast grounds of the sanctuary for the child to live in. He also healed every injury on the child's body. He planned to let the boy rest there for some time, keeping him away from others.
Even with the memories sealed and the injuries gone, the child's body still remembered the pain and sorrow. The boy needed to be alone now—not surrounded by people.
He had also sealed away the dark red fire, the dangerous mix of darkness and fire elements. Without that seal, the child could never live normally again.
He would need to keep updating the seal on the child's powers. The atoms in the boy's body continued to awaken from time to time. The lingering sorrow in his body kept stirring the darkness nature, awakening new atoms that could spark destruction again. He had to seal them promptly to prevent it.
For now, the child's memories were fully sealed. He remembered nothing—not language, not speech, not even basic things. The sacral clone took out a puppet to teach the child and care for him.
He placed the child gently on the bed in the small house to rest.
Then he turned to the person he had captured. He simply erased him.
He already knew this man was one of the abusers. The captive had only given information about Gorak's family. He held no further value. Better to kill him than let him become a burden or harm anyone else.
The sacral clone murmured after erasing that person, "I think this one awakened mostly shadow element atoms because he was always in servitude and also an abuser... but it's not absolute."
He let the thought settle. The one truly responsible—the main abuser—had been erased in the child's sorrow. As for the others, like the politicians and Gorak's subordinates, he had no plan to kill them. They had not directly acted as abusers. Still, they could not escape punishment. They should never reach eternal ascendancy or grow strong in this era. They would remain at the bottom.
He then connected with Sphera. He gave her some orders and allowed her access to his memories.
After that, he began planning a method to awaken those atoms' natures and gain new powers.
He now understood that extreme emotions strongly influenced the awakening of specific natures in the atoms. But unlike the child, who had endured the extreme of extreme emotions, normal humans could not reach such depths. Only this boy's sorrow and grief had made him the first person on Earth to awaken so many. Even now, his intense emotions continued to help awaken more atoms' natures.
He also knew the Essence Flow made awakening easier and turned the atoms more powerful.
Now he can see the path lay ahead of him.