“You all died.”

The sentence reverberated in the suddenly silent room.

The speaker watched the eighty faces in front of her going through the same amusing process. Eighty pairs of eyes staring wide. Eighty mouths half open, frozen in incredulity. Eighty people, men and women of all ages, frowning excessively, as if trying to process her statement, but to no avail.

“Well, not really dead, dead… Even though, factually, you did die... In your dreams... In Nightmare.”

The woman continued to speak, but the longer she went on, the more confused the people were. The whole assembly was… wait… no, not the whole assembly. A man sitting at the rear was calmly looking back at her. She froze for a full second, mesmerized by his incredible eyes. One was blue while the other was green. They shined with seriousness and, for an instant, she thought she looked at a sapphire and an emerald coming to life. The feeling dissipated when she realized the slight raised corner of his mouth betrayed his unsuccessful attempt at hiding his laughter at her previous words. She smiled at the unfamiliar face.

You're enjoying this as much as I am, are you?

She glanced back at her class and, noticing the growing discomfort, she sighed and stopped their torment.

“Before I speak too much and raise dozens of questions with each new sentence, let me introduce myself and why you are here.”

Her posture changed from relaxed to serious as she paced in front of her desk. She observed the public facing her, somehow succeeding to meet everyone's eyes in a glance. When she started speaking again, irony could no longer be heard in her tone.

“My name is Nimeroni and I’m here to help you start a new life. Why would you need to, you ask? The answer is quite simple. You lost your memory. All your memories.” She paused, observing their reaction before continuing a bit faster. “You don’t know who you are, what you’re doing here or who are these strangers calling you a name you can’t remember.”

Some people nodded, as if to confirm her words.

“You are afraid because you don’t understand what is happening to you. Why does everything feel so familiar yet so strange? So… distant. I was once at your place, sitting in these chairs. Listening without really understanding what the speaker said. But I assure you that you will soon understand.”

She stopped walking and leaned against her desk, as if she needed some physical support for what was coming next.

“Something happened to you all not so long ago. This… event... caused you to lose all your memories.” She was speaking with consideration towards her group of distressed men and women. “But do not worry, this situation is not as harsh as it seems.”

“First, although you lost all your memories, there are more things you remember than you might think. Second, it is not an uncommon situation and we know how to deal with it. I have been helping people like you for more than a decade. And third, I heard you are all heroes who fought alongside the legendary commander Mahon to end this horrible… thing… to happen ever again. So it may very well be my last speech and it was you that helped end it.”

She joined her hands in front of her and bowed her head to the crowd. “Thank you for your sacrifice.”

In the stunned silence that followed her declaration, Nimeroni stayed perfectly immobile. When she raised her head a few seconds later, the people were still confused, but the hollowness and anguish had somehow turned to hope and curiosity.

“As I said earlier, I am here to help you start a new life. But what does that mean?” She reached into her bag and took a knife and a whetstone out. “The first thing I told you was that you remember more than you think. Let me demonstrate what I mean as I sharpen this knife. “

She faked stabbing the knife into the stone and half the assembly jumped up and some even screamed. “No!”

She laughed and pointed to one of the men who just spoke. “Why did you say no?”

“I… I don’t know… It’s not the way to do it… You would break the blade.” The man was struggling to process why he reacted like he did.

“Oh! Is that so? Then can you come here and show me how to do it?”

The man hesitated. “I am… not sure… I don’t remember…”

Nimeroni smiled as she encouraged him. “Come, it’s just a simple try.”

The man finally joined her and Nimeroni placed the knife and the whetstone in his hands.

“Could you sharpen this blade for me, please?”

After a second of hesitation, the man raised the knife and moved it back and forth against the whetstone. Soon he increased his speed and by the sound of the polishing it was obvious that the man knew perfectly what he was doing. He stopped a few seconds later and gently touched the edge of the blade with his thumb, producing a crystalline sound. He nodded to himself, satisfied with his work.

“Done. But be careful, it’s really sharp now.”

Nimeroni was smiling at him during the entire process. She did not take back the knife, instead gesturing he kept it, and faced her captivated audience.

“Although you lost your memories, you still are who you were. You still know how to read, count, navigate a city, or talk to people. Activities you did in your previous life are not all lost. A past carpenter still knows how to carve wood and the once soldier remembers how to sharpen a knife.”

The demonstration was a success, as most people were nodding along and began asking if they also could try it. They were like children with a new toy, their past worries already forgotten. What secret power did they have? What did they know? What could they do?

“Don’t worry, I am here for a full week to help you remember as much as you can about yourself. We will go through different tests and workshops and you will be able to enjoy your new life soon enough. But hear my warning first. You will not remember your name, your loved ones or your enemies. You will not remember what belongs to you, your debts or your happy childhood. You did die after all.”

“You are like a newborn in the body of a grown man. You have his skills but not his knowledge. Some of you still have a family, or a friend that cares about you. It is best to cut off these strings, as it is impossible to stick the pieces back together. Although it is much harder for them than for you...”

Even though her words were harsh, people were talking among themselves with enthusiasm, completely carefree in their ignorance. Nimeroni muttered to herself, “Children...”.

She scanned the excited crowd and again bumped into the mysterious man in the rear. This time, she stared beyond his odd eyes and what she saw pained her. The man had short brown hair that looked freshly cut, no beard, broad shoulders, and he was sitting with his back straight. Everything in his attitude betrayed his background in the army. Contrary to every other soldier in the room, however, he seemed not to suffer from any memory loss. Instead, he looked both pained and pleased by the situation. He was eyeing the eighty enthusiastic people with fatherly love, but his face revealed the two conflicted feelings that Nimeroni also knew too well. The loss of a friend. The birth of a child.

Who are you? She observed him a bit longer before going back to her class.

“Please calm down. We will test everything we can very soon. It’s my duty to teach you what will be useful for your new start. During the course of this week, we will discuss everything you need to learn and try everything you may already know. Today’s first lesson is about history. Our history. Your history.”

She took a deep breath and started the lesson.

“Once upon a time, Humans lived in ignorance and foolishness. Until Fada, a race of mythical creatures, came to their side. They brought them Colors, knowledge and wisdom. Fada were revered as gods for the prosperity they created. Alas, one day they disappeared, chased by the Amentiae, a race of giant insects, destructive and hateful. With the disappearance of the Fada, Humans were left alone to fight against the Amentiae, their gods’ nemesis.”

Nimeroni re-captivated her audience in an instant. She was only speaking, but it felt much more than that. She was narrating, portraying, picturing, sharing... She gestured every sentence like she was performing an act and the people that were still distracted moments ago were now thoroughly immersed in her tale.

“From this point onward, Humans were constantly pushed back by the relentless attacks of their enemy. They were chased away until they ended up cornered by insurmountable mountains from three sides, with no way to escape. There they made their last stand and fought the Amentiae.”

“They fought with the madness and despair only cornered people could have. And in their hopelessness, they found the strength to fight the Amentiae to a draw. Although they gained a brief respite, they were still trapped between the deadly Amentiae and the impassable mountains. They built hasty fortifications and prepared for the next attack.”

“When it came, against impossible odds, they once more fought to a draw. They consolidated their positions and, carried by their unexpected victories, they repelled the Amentiae a third time. And a fourth time. A fifth time. A sixth time. Weeks turned into months and months turned into years and they resisted the Amentiae every single time. The fortifications turned sturdier and behind it a village appeared for those who aspired to rest.”

“Centuries passed and the village became a small city. There, citizens lived in relative peace while soldiers kept the Amentiae at bay at the fortifications. Millennia passed and the fortifications are still repelling Amentiae today. The city also still exists. It is where you stand right now.”

“Its name is Ratho.”

During the entire story, people drank her every word with eagerness, fearing to miss even a single piece of it. Now that Nimeroni paused for a long time, they were thirsty for her next words. There had to be, right? It could not stop there. They knew nothing about the event that caused their memory loss. It had to do with Amentiae, right? That had to be them! Nimeroni collected her thoughts, and just before their impatience threatened to blow up, she continued her speech.

“Now that you know more about the context, let me tell you about a more recent event that concerns you more directly. It happened 34 years ago…”

When the history lesson ended, Nimeroni passed out sheets of paper.

“We will take our first break now. As it’s impractical not to have a name, I gave you a list of common ones that you could draw inspiration from. Go out and talk to your fellow classmates for the next fifteen minutes. Share your feelings and socialize, look together at the name list and try picking one that you like. And please, don’t all choose Mahon or Margot, even if it rings deep inside of you, we already have too many of them…”

She opened the door to let them out and gave more advice as they left.

“You are united in this challenge, so take the opportunity to make friends while you are here. They will help you move forward and ease the worries of life.”

It seemed they didn’t need her encouragement, as they were already reading names aloud and asking for opinions left and right in a cheerful atmosphere. Soon the noisy crowd fled away and Nimeroni remained alone in the classroom. Almost alone.

“You did not lose your memory.” The sentence was not a question, merely an observation. “Why are you here?”

The man picked the two canes that laid against his seat and stood up. Now that Nimeroni was having a closer look, she realized with stupor how diminished the man was. He looked pale and tired. Between his slight squarish jaw lines and frowning eyebrows, his serious face showed the drawn features of someone used to difficult decisions. His weak muscles trembled as he limped to close the distance between them. She had seen Nightmare veterans before. Fighting for months, or even years, in the dreamy land caused severe muscle atrophy if one was not careful enough to balance Nightmare and Ratho. But the man advancing towards her was the worst one she had ever seen.

How many years did you fight there?

His legs were barely supporting him as he took another step forward. She could see the determination burning in his sapphire and emerald eyes, maybe the only part of his face that still looked alive. She realized he was deliberately enduring the harsh walk to build back his lost muscles. Even in his condition, he had not given up. He was still fighting. Admiring his dedication, Nimeroni stayed immobile, waiting for him to walk all the way to her.

When he finally reached her, he smiled with a faint vestige of the fatherly love he had shown before. He spoke with a strict and clear voice that, although gave away his long past among the army, showed nothing of the hardship he had just been through.

“Hello, my name’s Mahon.”