Arc 7 - ‘It’s Not Real’ - Part 3

Who is this old man?

“Who are you?” I ask the old man in front of me. He was as tall as me and for someone of his age, he seemed stronger. With the robes and the hood and a something that resembled a wand he was carrying, he looked like a wizard. He did not have any facial hair either, but his hair was white. He was a muscular man, which seem a little rare for someone of his age.

“I shall return your memories to you.” While he was saying that, he waved his hand in my direction and all of a sudden, I started to remember stuff. The memories returned to me like images and I knew who this pathetic immortal piece of crap was now.

“So, this was your idea of ‘neutralising’?” I ask the old pathetic immortal piece of crap. I shall call him donkey from now on. I hate this man.

“Yes, and I have other methods, too.” Said the donkey. He continued, “I wanted to just demonstrate how I can neutralise you. One method is me removing your memories and imprisoning you inside your own mind. Another method involves me implanting false memories. Another method involves me teleporting you to the sun and I am sure you cannot survive there. Another method involves me teleporting you into another dimension. Another method...”

Before he could finish I interrupted him by saying, “Okay, that’s enough. But do you really think I will work with you?”

“No,” replied the old potato.

“Then why do all of this?” I ask him.

“I just wanted to use this opportunity to return something to you.” He replied. “Do you know why you have gaps in your memories?”

“I don’t have any gaps,” I replied to his question while smiling. “I had gaps but then when I retrieved my memories, I remember everything now.”

“No, I meant after that.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“When Alice removed your memories, she used a program to do so. That program also would regularly remove your memories for some time. We still don’t know what the purpose of it was but she did not know that either.”

“Now, that I actually think about it, I don’t remember things like my first class or things like that.”

“I will return those to you too, but why don’t we go through them together first?” He said that while smiling.

“Hey, you old piece of immortal crap, there is something called privacy.”

He did not listen to me and instead looked the opposite way. A school appeared in front of us and then he said, “that you boy there with black hair and black eyes is you. When you first entered the school, you were different. You were enjoying yourself and you had friends. One day, you saw a little girl sitting alone in break time. You ignored her. You saw her again tomorrow and many days more to come. You saw how lonely and sad she was. You went out of your way and helped her. You asked her to be friends with you and she did not know what to say. But after a while, you two started to become friends. You helped her get rid of her anxiety and taught her how to become friends with other people. You saw how the little-scared girl turned from a lonely person to a person with friends. Many friends. Your first year at primary school was over and when you started again in September, you were different. When your friends approached you, you did not recognise them. You tried to act as natural as possible but you no longer wanted them so, you became more and more distant from them, but you also became distant from others too, including your sister and your family. The second year of your primary school was over and you forgot everything again. You started anew but your attitude towards people did not change. You started to hate them for no reason. You were different all of sudden. But after that, you remember the rest don’t you?”

“Ah, yes… I remember the rest.” I replied. “So, who was that little girl?”

“I will return your memories of this to you now and then you can find out by yourself.”

A flash of images entered my brain and I remember everything. After that, I said, “So, that was Emily, huh?”

“You always wondered why she was helping you and became friends with you, so now you know the answer.”

“Why help me?”

“This happened because of a mistake made by one of our own. Also because I wanted us to be on good terms.”

With a little hesitation, I said, “Thanks.”

“There is one memory that you forgot on purpose.”

“And that is?”

He looked to his right and I followed. Images started to appear. These images were of me and Emma when were young, maybe I was about 12 and she was about 10. While the images were appearing he said, “one day in winter, your foster mother got very ill. She was taken to a hospital where she stayed overnight. You sister was crying because she was hungry. You did not know how to cook but there was a manual somewhere and you repeated every step. You cooked for her and yourself. After you ate, you helped her with her homework. When it was bedtime, you read her a story from a book she was reading. Then when she fell asleep, you slept on the floor of the room for the rest of the night without a blanket. You stayed beside her the whole time in a cold winter night with no blanket. When morning came, you asked her to forget you ever cared for her and she did just that. Of course, you could not remove her memories forcefully because you did not have your powers but once you got your powers, you removed that memory by purpose and you also erased their memories of it too. You removed every trace of you ever being on good terms with them.”

“You should not go through people’s minds. There is something called PRIVACY, YOU IDIOT.” I shouted the last few words to him.

“No matter how you acted on the outside, deep down, you always cared for them, especially Emma because she was an orphan like you and you saw her grow up in front of you. Even if you never said it, you always considered her your real sister, even though she was not. You were happy on the inside when they were but you never showed it to them.”

“When you put it this way, it’s really corny to think about and I now I know why I wiped their memories,” I said him. “So, they remember everything I did, right? Like Emily remembers me and her being friends in year 1, right?” I asked him while scratching my head.

“No, you unconsciously wiped their memories. If you forgot something about yourself, everyone else did too”. He replied.

“I am so OP (overpowered)!” I replied with excitement. “But how? And why did they not pick up my signal?”

“That I do not know,” replied the old man.

“Okay, so why help me?”

“I told you because I want us to be on good terms. Also, the information William has given you about the war are all wrong.”

“Really? How?” I did not believe him, but let’s see what’s the difference between this old potato’s version and the evil potato’s version.

“We will take again in the real world,” as he said that he looked back at me. “But before we go to the real world, I want to you to fight other versions of you. The one who wins will become the dominant personality and the other will be erased. I will tell you this, I don’t like this personality of you. So, if you don’t choose the right one, you will be stuck in here forever.”

“WHAT?” I tried to reach him but before I could, I was surrounded by many other versions of me. “I HATE YOU!” I shouted. Personality war, huh?