“He sat. He wondered. His face grew wrinkled. The children grew old. Men and women. New children came. They napped. They played. They Danced. Quietly, another Ashfern tree had grown. It was a child of the old Ashfern tree. The tree was wide. The tree was huge. The tree was straight. It soon dwarfed its parent. Its crown was small and trunk large.”

==========================================================================

Edward bolted up from the bed he was lying on and immediately flinched from the pain.

“OW FOR THE MOTHER OF FUCKING GOD THAT HURTS! HOLY SHIT.” He yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping it would help a bit with the pain.

It did, a little bit.

But the pain didn’t really stop. It eased a bit when he lay down again, but it didn’t stop. His brain was constantly receiving signals from his stomach that he’d been hurt.

Someone burst through the door.

“Edward?! You’re awake!” Was all he heard before he was hugged by said person. He felt like he was being crushed and felt faint headed from the pain.

“You’ve been out for 2 days!” The person released him and looked him straight in the eyes.

It was a girl, he realised.

She had dark brown hair, and chestnut-coloured eyes. Her tanned skin fit in perfectly with the rest of her face.

“Wh- Who are you?” Edward choked out, having a hard time formulating thoughts because of the pain.

“Who-?! Ed!? I’m Malissa. Do you not know who I am?” Her tanned face was caked with worry.

“…No? Should I?” He answered, composing himself slightly.

She flinched at his answer. “I-.” She backed away from him, shuddering. “-I’ll get the shaman. Wait here!” She practically sprinted out through the door again. Leaving him alone with his thoughts.

He took several deep breaths to adjust himself to the pain. It was a constant stream of hurt.

“Okay, okay, what’s the last thing I remember…?” He talked to himself.

“I… Was fleeing. Yes, good. And then, I jumped from a cliff and landed in a lake, right? Yeah, that’s what happened. John! I was looking for John when it happened. Then, there was this really strong Rasts? I fought it… And?” And what? He couldn’t remember what happened afterwards. How, then, did he end up here?

Edward looked around the room. It was a room. It had a bed, a window, and a chair and table.

She left the door open, but he couldn’t see very far into the hallway, so that didn’t tell him anything.

‘She recognised me! And I said I didn’t know her!’ Oops. In his defence, she was the reason he couldn’t think straight. It was her fault. Cover blown.

He heard 2 pairs of footsteps coming from the hallway. The girl had returned with a man in tow.

His skin was tanned like the girl’s, his face covered with wrinkles, and… Tribal tattoos? He had weird bright blue markings on his hands and face. He had a cane too, looking exactly like a shaman.

He had a stern look on his face, intensely scrutinising Edward. Edward didn’t really know what to do, so he simply sat on his bed and leaned against the wall, looking back and forth between the two of them.

The shaman stepped forward and locked eyes with Edward.

The shaman spoke: “Do you mind telling me your name?”

“Yeah, my name is Edward Smith, why do you ask?” He answered back, not really sure where he was going with this.

“I see. Could you tell me her name?” He asked, ignoring Edward’s question.

Edward sighed, “Yeah, she told me her name is Malissa.”

“Do you know my name?” The shaman’s face was less than a hand length from Edward’s.

“No? She called you the shaman, so I assume that’s what you are, but I don’t know your name nor what a shaman is.”

Suddenly the chair fell over, both the Shaman and Edward turned their heads to face the noise. The girl was shivering. Her hand covered her face as she slowly backed away. She turned and fled through the door.

“What’s her problem?” Edward wondered out loud.

The shaman righted the chair that she’d overturned and sat down with a slump.

“The last word you said to her were, and I quote: ‘I’ll never forget you.’”

His mouth hung open at what the shaman said.

“I’m… Sorry?” Stumped on what to stay.

“She’s your wife, Edward. Those were the last words you said to her were just before you left to join the militia.”

That sounded like a mess he definitely didn’t want to solve right now.

He shook his head. “Never mind that. When can I get out of here? I need to find Thomas. The Militia doesn’t do shit, and I’ll go crazy if I’m forced to be in a bed for several weeks.” His cover was blown, but he couldn’t really care at this point. He wasn’t in the military anymore.

The shaman sighed and said: “You’ll need to stay here for at least 2 more days. But you will stay here for 2 more days. Tell me, you remember your brother, but not your wife? And how did you end up here if you’re searching for Thomas?”

Edward slumped in his bed. There was no getting out of this, was there?

“I was travelling with someone else. His sister was also taken. We deserted the militia to find our siblings by ourselves.” Edward said honestly. He had no reason to lie. He was at their mercy until he could recover.

“We went to the warlord’s fortress, but nothing was there. It’s just used for capturing Rasts. Then transporting them somewhere else. Anyways, we followed the road from the fortress and found a clearing. There were 2 buildings, a pit and a pile of rocks. They took the Rasts they’d captured and put them around the pit. All of them were in cages. All of them stepped back and stood by the building except for one person, don’t know who, but suddenly a bright green light shone from where he stood, and the world got all heavy and the Rasts disappeared.”

“We got separated when the magic guy saw us. We were a dozen kilometres away, and he saw us. I lost control of my body and it fled in this direction. I don’t even know where I am, though. The last thing I remember is being wounded by a particularly dangerous Rasts whose territory I stepped into.”

Edward didn’t fail to notice that as he spoke, the shaman’s knuckles were white from clenching his cane so hard.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” The shaman said, slowing down the conversation and relaxing his grip on the cane.

Edward answered it easily. The impression the memory made was extremely strong. “I stood above a cliff, looking down on a village the warlord had raided. A Direbear attacked me, which I killed and brought back to camp.”

“And what do you remember about your brother?”

Edward took a deep breath. “His name is Thomas Smith. He was captured by the warlord sometime within the last 7 months. He’s 9 years old. And… That he’s an apprentice.”

The shaman tapped his cane on the floor several times. “That’s it? That’s all you remember about him?” He mulled over it for a moment, then asked: “You said he was an apprentice. Who’s apprentice?”

Edward said confidently: “Yours. He was your apprentice.” In all honesty, he had no idea if that was true, but it didn’t seem too far-fetched. He hoped his acting skills didn’t fail him.

The shaman hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

“If you remember so little about him, why the obsession? Your travelling companion must’ve warned you several times how dangerous the warlord is.”

“He did. But I need to find him. I have little interest in anything other than finding, and rescuing, him from the warlord.”

Again, the Shaman tapped his cane on the ground several times before speaking. “And then? What will you do, after you’ve found him?”

Edward already had an answer prepared: “Come to terms with my lost memories. They’re very unlikely to ever come back.”

Tap Tap Tap Tap

The shaman closed his eyes and quietly sat in deep contemplation. Tapping his cane on the ground.

“You said you lost control of your body? And your body fled here?”

“Yeah, I did. I’m pretty sure I have a… An animal, inside of me. It takes over when I’m fighting, it has got better instinct. I’ve forgotten how to fight, so it does it for me.”

Tap Tap Tap Tap

“A particularly dangerous Rasts. Tell me, was it a Direbear?”

Edward thought for a moment before shaking his head. “No, it was extremely agile and quick. It tried to ambush me, and I barely dodged its attacks. It injured me when I traded blows. I stuck my knife into its side, and it ran away. I blacked out from the pain of the injury.”

“When we found you, you were being attacked by a large Direbear that had wandered into the village territory. You were covered in blood. We were alerted to your presence because one of the trees was felled and made quite the noise when it landed.” He said and looked through the window.

“The person who found you, Edward, said you were conscious when he found you, only passing out after he’d killed the Direbear.”

Edward frowned; he didn’t remember any of that.

“An animal inside you, you said.”

Tap Tap Tap Tap

The shaman approached Edward and requested to touch his hand.

Edward felt a jolt when the shaman touched his hand. He felt Amind stir. That hadn’t happened before. Edward didn’t have any conscious control over him. Although he had to admit, he didn’t have a lot of time to try. He fell unconscious shortly after he found out he even existed.

The shaman smiled. “Hello, little one.” Edward was certain he wasn’t speaking to him, but Amind.

“Amind? What a curious name.” Edward flinched and paled. Could the shaman read his mind?!

The shaman had stopped looking at Edward’s hand and looked at his face instead.

He was smiling gently. “No, I can’t hear your thoughts. He told me his name.” The shaman said, pointing at his chest.

‘So, now it can talk too? Is that it?’

“No, it can’t talk either. But many animals can recognise their names.”

Edward narrowed his eyes, ‘Can’t hear my thoughts, my ass.’

The shaman smirked in response. “You’re not as good at acting as you think.”

“Nevertheless, most of what you said was true. I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I do not know why or how you’ve lost your memories, but it doesn’t seem to bother you. So I assume you do. It may be because you gave them up for this animal inside you, or for some other reason. What I know is you were honest with me when you said you were searching for your brother. Few things can contain you here. You are driven.”

“I shall let you go and search for him. I’ll even help send you away.” He sat down again and tapped his cane on the ground.

Tap Tap Tap Tap

“However, you must do something for me before you go.”

‘Ugh, what is this gonna be, a fetch quest? I have to find some magical item from some dragon?’

Edward impatiently waited for him to continue, but he didn’t elaborate further. Instead asking:

“What can you tell me about the Rasts that wounded you?”

He shrugged. “I told you almost everything. It was green, whether it was light or dark green, I couldn’t tell you. It was annoyingly fast, and smart too. It didn’t pause after its first ambush failed. It disappeared the moment it landed.”

“If it could fight you, and end in a draw, then it was probably a Ba-Rasts.”

“A BaRasts? What’s a BaRasts?”

Tap Tap Tap Tap

“Curious. No matter. And it’s Ba-Rasts, not BaRasts. They are the evolved form of Rasts. Just like how Rasts evolve from normal animals, Ba-Rasts evolve from Rasts. And I pray you never meet one, but Ka-Rasts evolve from Ba-Rasts.”

“Okay then, why are you sure that it was a Ba-Rasts then?”

Again, the shaman smirked. “Because very few Rasts could even put up a fight against you. I’ve trained you, so I would know.”

“What? Are you some hidden combat master too?” Edward scoffed.

“Hidden? I’m not hiding, though? I’m sitting right here.” The shaman said, looking down at himself.

Goddamnit.

“Ohh, my dear combat master, please correct this disciple’s failure. Tell him about the world, so that he may impose his just will upon it so that he may correct the evil ways.” Edward said dramatically.

The shaman snickered. “I see you haven’t lost your sense of humour.”

Edward smiled. The shaman wasn’t anything if not good company.

He thought back to what he and David had discussed. They’d made several contingencies should they get separated. Might as well get on solving that problem right away.

“Do you have a map of the entire region? I have absolutely no clue where I am right now. I wasn’t really in the right mindset while I made my way here.”

The shaman hummed. “I do have a map. Let me get it for you.” He stood up and left the room.

Edward was stuck in contemplation once again. Everything here seemed so real. He’d been here for almost 3 weeks. He still hadn’t come to terms with it. Not properly, anyway. He needed to find his brother, at all costs. And then? Then… He’d figure out what happened to people when they got what they wanted. He got a magical wish. It was even his own. He was responsible for his own situation.

He wasn’t totally without purpose when he’d finally found his brother. He wished to be a hero, well, now the opportunity was in front of him.

He’d need to defeat the warlord.

He couldn’t confirm it, of course, but he was pretty sure that the gaze belonged to the warlord. If it wasn’t him, then Edward would cry. If the warlord had several of those under his thumb, then that would just be unfair… But it was the Hero’s journey, after all.

David hadn’t been very helpful when Edward voiced his suspicions about there being another reason for the militia not attacking. Nothing he’d seen so far was immune to bullets. Otherwise, there’d be no reason to carry guns. So, it was a safe bet that the warlord wasn’t invulnerable. So why not just snipe him from a distance? Sure, he knew where we were, but he can’t outsmart a bullet, right?

Edward realised he felt a tinge of excitement at the thought. He was actually planning to take a proper villain down. An evil warlord! Few could say that they’d done that. The normal life was behind him.

A cane and a pair of footsteps brought him out of his pondering.

The shaman casually sat down with a scroll in one hand and the cane in the other.

Tap Tap Tap Tap

He sat down and began tapping his cane on the ground.

“You know, when I think about it. You’re a deserter. A sergeant at that. They’re gonna be quite cross that one of their star soldiers disappeared one night with another one in tow.”

“What am I gonna do if they suddenly show up at my front door demanding compensation or try to imprison me for something I have no control over? What do I tell them then?” Edward opened his mouth to speak, but the shaman continued:

“And I can’t lie. You see, someone in the village might squeal that you were here and then I’m in trouble. I don’t believe that they’d go so far as to deliberately rat you out, but children and teenagers like to gossip. Their innocence could be their downfall.”

Tap Tap Tap Tap

Edward became a little tense at the shaman’s words. After all, he couldn’t be the hero if he simply caused chaos whenever it didn’t fit with his goal. He realised he didn’t really understand how the militia worked. he’d never questioned it. He’d never heard of a militia in a developed country on Earth, so the thought hadn’t ever crossed his mind.

“How does the militia even work? Did everyone just decide to go: ‘Hey let’s make an organised army out of all the able-bodied men and women from all these villages to specifically fight against this warlord who’s kidnapping people and turning them into slaves?’” He decided he didn’t know enough to answer the shaman’s question. He needed more details.

“No, my dear boy. That wouldn’t ever hold up in reality. They’d start clashing about who’s in charge the moment it was formed. This was decided long ago, by a treaty formed after the fall of the empire.”

Edward’s ears quirked up at that. ‘David mentioned something about an empire, right? The emperor was the one who made the fortress.’

“Wait, what is this about an empire? The person I travelled with, David, mentioned something about the fortress of the warlord being from the empire.”

The shaman got a distant look as Edward mentioned the empire. He stared out the window at the sky.

“There aren’t many of us left that remember the time of the empire. People consider it a great insult to even mention him. His very existence, although long dead, has left wounds upon the continent that still fester.”

“The emperor never thought what he did was wrong. But after his fall, a council of the strongest shamans gathered. To make sure another person like him would never arise.”

“It was The Council Of Sortilege. Named after the mountain on which it was held.”

Tap Tap Tap Tap

“Would you stop tapping your cane on the floor? It’s really annoying to listen to it all the time.”

“No, I shan’t.”

Tap Tap Tap Tap