By Zephyria 
Those born in Bermuda always appear as either young children or elderly people on the verge of death. They were primarily discovered in desolate lands far from human habitation—rugged mountains, vast seas, or remote wildernesses closely tied to disasters like earthquakes and volcanoes, or where demon beasts frequently appeared.
Beings standing at the two extreme ends of life would spring forth from lands where the probability of survival was slim.
Since the weak would not have walked into such places of their own volition, some inferred that they were descendants of sinners or slaves abandoned in isolated regions, or perhaps time travelers who had fallen into the wrong era. It was an absurd notion, but since no theory existed in the world that could explain those born in Bermuda, it established itself as one of many hypotheses.
And the moment Leonardo locked eyes with the lizard that approached him and set down a basket, he found himself reconsidering those hypotheses once more.
“You’re saying it returned to its infant form…?”
He murmured as if possessed, lifting the lizard with both hands. The creature let out a disgruntled grunt but did not resist much. Instead, it let its four legs hang limp, only occasionally fluttering its tail and wings.
Bringing the creature to eye level, Leonardo asked the child across from him with a blank expression.
“Then is this little guy also born in Bermuda? No, is it possible for animals, not just humans, to be born in Bermuda? What made it like this?”
“Ask slowly, one by one. To start with the reason for the change in appearance, it is because my home is located at the boundary of the rift.”
The child gazed at a giant tree beyond the pillars supporting the house.
“I told you that Rimaxis is the tree that supports the rift. My home straddles the domain governed by Rimaxis and the domain outside of it. This porch is under Rimaxis’s jurisdiction; the backyard that child visited is under the jurisdiction of another dimension. The reason the creature returned to its infant state is that it was influenced by the time flowing in that other dimension.”
Perhaps knowing it was hard to believe, she explained in an exceptionally clear and distinct voice.
Her theory was that time flows within dimensions, and most creatures that cross the boundary of space-time are swept away by the time of that dimension. However, since the creature Leonardo brought was a cousin of the dragon kin, she said its appearance had only changed temporarily and it would soon return to its original form. She added that for beings who transcend time, physical and mental age are meaningless.
Furthermore, she added that unlike humans, they were not at risk of having their memories erased as a price for crossing dimensions.
Leonardo’s brow furrowed.
“Memories are erased as a price for crossing dimensions? Humans pay that price?”
“Yes.”
At the child’s answer, the eyelids of the four people reacted. Thinking they were following the story well, she waved her hand in the air.
Whoosh—
The purple smoke they had seen earlier in the cave bloomed once again from her fingertips.
The first thing created was a blazing sun. Then, planets and satellites orbiting around it appeared one by one.
The planets and satellites slid along curves as if woven by threads called orbits, and the ends of the threads connected to form a single circular structure. The satellites circled the planets while following their orbits. Occasionally, they would deviate from the orbit, newly emerge midway, or be absorbed by a planet.
While staring at the phenomenon, the child spoke again.
“Do you know what a human must possess to be specified as a single human, as an existence called ‘I’?”
Leonardo was quite flustered by the sudden philosophical question. However, he could glimpse a hint from the conversation they had just had.
“Memories?”
“Memories,” Taylor, who had been watching, blurted out with conviction. The child shifted her gaze toward her and nodded.
“Yes, memories. Who I am, what personality and values I possess, and what my relationships with those around me are. All those memories play a very important role in specifying an individual. But a more primal concept than that is the ‘ego.’ Because the strands of memory are ultimately directly connected to the ego.”
Following this, a human figure floated in the air and was sucked into one of the spinning planets. Leonardo guessed that this signified a human stepping into a single dimension.
“Even I do not know exactly which dimension those called ‘born in Bermuda’ in the mortal realm flowed in from. However, they must be those who lost the ego formed in their previous life as a price for passing through the rift. While guarding this place, I have often seen such people. Occasionally, I have guided lost sentient beings back to the world where you all live. Grimbleton is one of those people.”
Leonardo’s lips parted at the familiar name appearing at an unexpected moment. If those words were true, there was a high possibility that Grimbleton was also born in Bermuda. And the child who guided him was, as expected, even older than him…
No, beyond that, he began to wonder if she herself was a being who transcended time. She was pouring out knowledge that an ordinary human could never know, like an inexhaustible spring.
While Leonardo was processing the situation, Finder set down the firearm he had been cleaning and asked the child.
“Is there a reason why humans must necessarily pay the price of their ego?”
“Of course. What would happen if a human crossed over to another dimension while retaining their original ego?”
As she spoke, the child pointed to three planets rotating around the sun. The appearances of the planets were so similar that they were difficult to distinguish, with only very subtle differences in patterns. Thus, although they rotated along their orbits, they almost looked as if they weren’t moving.
They all moved in the same direction, maintaining a constant interval without ever overlapping. It looked as if they were retracing the paths the others had taken.
Just then, a human shadow moved to another planet. Then, a new pattern appeared on the planet’s surface. Like a footprint left by that person. Seeing this, Finder murmured.
“In short, you’re saying it could cause chaos, much like seers do.”
“Yes. If one with an ego crosses dimensions, a change will occur in the providence and rules of the world. The dimensional worlds all flow in the same direction, but the point they are passing through differs for each. Therefore, the amount of information that must be revealed also differs. However, the world and time of each dimension are not severed fragments. It is a giant flow of time connected as one from the past to the present and future. That is why they exert a close influence on one another.”
In an instant, Leonardo’s eyes twitched. It was a story he had heard somewhere before.
A flow connected around the present. It was likely when he had been wandering the vast grasslands with Signe, searching for the entrance to the Castle of Romance. Signe vaguely remembered the contents of a stone tablet her older sister had decoded. That tablet had contained something similar to what the child had just said.
“To blend in without shaking the foundation of the existing dimension, those who passed through the rift would have needed to erase their egos. Or perhaps they were able to pass through the rift because they lost their egos. If your memories were not intact when you first set foot on this land, it was likely for that reason. Because you would have come from the past or the future, relative to the present.”
It was an unbelievable story. However, perhaps because he had already entered too deep into the rift of time, he couldn’t help but trust those words. Leonardo stopped breathing, unable to even blink.
Among the countless hypotheses he had heard about those born in Bermuda, could there be one that felt this distant? Yet, with the concept of the rift of time and the appearance of this lizard that had become an infant, indirect evidence had been presented that forced him to believe the hypothesis.
“I came from another dimension?”
Leonardo, who had placed the creature—the cousin of the dragon kin—on his lap, looked down at his own palm.
“I wasn’t born in this land?”
He was utterly confused.
“Why?”
The leading edge of his memory began in a wasteland where there was nothing. He had been wandering aimlessly there, as if searching for someone. Then, he met humans who appeared on a giant structural ship. He didn’t know why it started that way, but they resembled him, and thus, he had never once doubted that they were humans living in the same era. So, he naturally assumed that this was where he belonged…
Unable to hide his bewilderment, Leonardo pressed his hand against his chest. Then, stroking the area around his heart, he asked himself.
“Then who on earth am I? Why did I come here?”
The child, observing his pale face, answered.
“You are you. As long as you stand upon this land, you are the self that you remember. The current you and the you before passing through the rift possess the same physical body. Some parts are different, but you are clearly the same existence. If your question is about who you were before losing your ego…”
The child’s pupils stared directly into the void surrounding him.
“That residual thought you carry would know best. For it is the very culprit that dragged you into the rift of time.”