Orn opened his eyes to see the canopy of a bed. His mind was cloudy, and he struggled to remember what he was doing. He knew it was important, but the memory felt just out of reach. Every time he pushed through the fuzzy feeling a strange memory would swell up. Memories of places and people he did not know.

He shifted in irritation only to be struck with a wave of pain from across his body. His mind emptied as the pain washed over him. Distracted by the pain he gave up attempting to remember whatever it was that was so important.

With the loss of focus the strange memories fell away as well. The disappearance of the strange memories provided him some comfort as he waited for the pain to subside. Eventually the stabbing pain slowly retreated to a dull ache. Unlike the memories, the pain was something familiar to him.

Ready to try again, he slowly tried to move his limbs. Everything hurt to move, but his right arm was by far the worst. Realizing his head was the only thing that would move without pain; he slowly turned to the left. On a chair next to his bedside was a sandy haired young woman in a maid outfit. She pulled the yarn on her knitting tight and absentmindedly glanced up.

Olivia The name came instantly to mind as he remembered his ever-present caretaker, and playmate.

“Your ladyship! He’s awake!” Olivia jumped from her seat, letting her knitting fall to the floor.

A muffled sound came from his right, and Orn slowly turned his head to the other side. A blond woman in her mid-twenties slowly picked her head up from the bed. Her hair was a mess and she had large black circles under her eyes.

Mother, as with Olivia he felt a wash of memories rush over him. A disturbing number of them involved her falling asleep in a chair next to his bed while he healed.

“Orn” His mother’s voice was full of concern. She placed her hand gently on the blanket next to him. “You had us so worried. You were so hurt. You were rambling something about an attack and the Goddesses. Your father ran out to check with the hunters. What happened?”

Orn missed everything she said after the word ‘Goddesses.’ The word triggered a memory and his mind raced back to a white room. The goddess’ threat once more echoing in his mind, he felt the fear wash over him again. Without thinking he tried to sit upright, but pain and weakness immediately drove him back.

His mother scrambled forward and placed her hand on his chest. “STOP THAT! You’ll hurt yourself again. I…” Her voice cut off in a sob.

Orn froze, as he saw tears appearing at the corner of her eyes. They stayed frozen like that for what seemed like an eternity as Orn stared into the panicked face looking down at him.

Once she felt sure he was not going to move again she whipped at her eyes with the sleeve of her free hand. The other hand stayed firmly on his chest, “Please. You will hurt yourself more.”

Her pained expression cut through his terror. Not trying to move he took a slow breath and tried to explain. Despite himself he could feel the fear rising and he struggled to not move, as the goddess’s threats played over and over in his mind. “The empire is betraying the Kingdom. They will attack. They are coming here.”

“We have to prepare, they are coming.” He repeated staring at his unmoving mother.

She replied slowly placing her hand on his head, “Your father is with the hunters. They sent word earlier. There is no attack coming.” Her voice and expression grew softer, “I know it is scary to be so close to the war, but you are safe. It was just a bad dream”

Orn shook his head and instantly regretted it as a wave of vertigo hit him. He paused to let it pass before continuing, “But they will. They will betray the kingdom, on my birthday.”

“That proves it was dream.” She replied slowly stroking his head. “They have been the kingdom’s enemy for generations, you cannot betray an enemy. I know it is scary, but nothing bad is going to happen. There is nothing to worry about.”

“The goddess… she… she said on my twentieth birthday...” Orn trailed off as he realized he said twentieth. He was not that old, was he? He could remember being older. His head began to throb as he tried to sort out the various memories that were now running through his mind.

His mother smiled down at him. “Orn, you are not even five. If the empire comes when you are twenty you will be a knight like your father. Then you can chase them off just as he did. It was just a bad dream, get some rest.”

As she spoke, he felt a warm feeling coming from where her hand rested on his head. Orn blinked suddenly feeling his mind going fuzzy. Confusion was quickly replaced by memories of his mother patching him up, Mother always uses her healing ability to patch me up.

As the warm feeling spread over him, he felt the fear and pain growing distant. Suddenly he felt very tired. “Now rest and try to heal. Your father will keep us all safe.”

His mother might have said more, but he did not hear her. The warm feeling spread across him pushing him into a deep sleep.