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Not only did it have a quieting effect on his own mind; it also gave him the opportunity to search through the past for anything that might’ve been useful in the present day. Perhaps that was a fruitless endeavor, since Axiolis could theoretically just tell him anything that might be discovered here, but Zeff Elroy couldn’t help himself.

There was just a feeling he had. Somewhere in the back of his mind. A feeling of unrest. Tension. Like maybe this chaotic world would make a little more sense if he could figure out what he was missing.

Plus, there was the fact that he and Axiolis both now knew that the reaper’s memories had been tampered with in the distant past. The sudden remembrance of Kingsparrows during their first encounter with Graves had left a lasting impression on the two of them. Perhaps that was why Axiolis seemed just as keen as he to conduct these meditative dives. The reaper was thinking of it as a kind of personal audit, a search for anything else that might’ve been suppressed--or perhaps that had simply slipped through the cracks.

Zeff, however, was uncovering a further problem.

Because there were times during their meditation--not often, sure, but they were there--when he could sense an abrupt discord between his mind and Axiolis’. And it was bad enough that it even threatened to prematurely end their hyper-state merge.

He’d discussed the matter with Axiolis multiple times now, but the reaper just kept telling him that it was a matter of continued practice. That it was a sign they needed to refine their skill with pan-forma, perhaps instigated by the immense amount of emotional and psychological turmoil that they had both undergone over the last several months.

Which, frankly, Zeff did not entirely buy. It was a fair excuse, sure. They had indeed been through much. It made a degree of sense that it might begin to impact their mental performance.

But he’d also begun to think that, perhaps, Axiolis was hiding something from him. Perhaps there were memories which the reaper did not wish for him to see.

And yet, that notion was also a bit peculiar. When it came to the merging of their two consciousnesses within a hyper-state, Zeff had never been under the impression that he should be privy to each and every memory that Axiolis had ever experienced.