Chapter 1: Remember

What’s going on?

There had only been darkness before the man awoke, and as he did, his mind swam with so many different pictures he had a hard time getting things to focus. Questions rattled inside his skull but before he could search his brain for the answers he had to wake up.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the face of a beautiful woman. While everything else blurred around him, her features stood out sharply in the center of his vision. She was fair skin with eyes like crystal, and her long hair was a warm chestnut brown.

“Is this… paradise?” He wondered aloud, reaching out to the angel in front of him.

“Holy shit!” Were the very un-angelic words that escaped her lips. She stumbled back in shock and tripped over a chair, landing gracelessly on her ass.

“Ah!” He sprung out of the soft bed to go to her aid, only to nearly fall over himself. His body barely listened to him and his arms were as heavy as rocks.

“Holy shit…” The woman repeated. She looked too dazed to stand back up, instead staring at him from the floor. “You’re alive.”

“Y-Yes, I… I’m sorry, I’m a little confused right now…” He was in a bedroom of some sort, he could tell just by looking around. It was nice and cozy, cluttered as it was, but the bizarre décor was overpowered by the question burning in his mind.

“…Where am I?”

The woman blinked and picked herself off the floor with an unamused expression.

“You’re in my bedroom.”

He stared anxiously at her for a moment. “I-I’m sorry, but…”

“You collapsed outside my farm so I carried you inside. I thought you were going to die of heatstroke! What sort of fool goes wandering the countryside in a full suit of armor when it’s the middle of summer?!”

He wished he could give more of an answer than an awkward smile, but he was just as confused as she was. His memories were all in a blur. But she said a suit of armor…?

“Um…” He looked down at the shirt he was wearing. “These clothes…”

“Oh. Yeah. I changed you into something more comfortable because I thought you were going to roast in that sweaty thing,” she said, pinching her nose.

…How was he supposed to respond to that?

His mysterious savior sighed and scratched her head in frustration. “Aargh, whatever. Keep it if you like, it’s old anyway. And fine, if you don’t want to tell me what you were doing creeping around outside my house in a suit of armor-“

“Creeping around?!”

She ignored him. “…Then I can’t make you. But for a houseguest, you’re being awfully rude to the woman who saved your life! Telling me your name is the least you could do!”

He was being rude? Hah… there was no use arguing. A name… that’s right, my name… it’s…

It’s…

“I don’t… remember…” What was his name? He had to have one, right? But no matter how hard he thought, it just didn’t come to him.

“…Haaaaah? What kind of bullshit is that?” She scowled. “You don’t remember your own name? Wow, you really must have been out there for a long time…”

“I don’t remember… anything…” He desperately searched through his mind for something, anything, to tell him who he was. What he was doing here. But it was like he was staring into a void. “Nothing… the first thing I remember is waking up here…”

The woman’s jaw dropped and her eyes bulged out of her skull. He didn’t know what to make of her expression. Confusion? Shock? Suspicion? He couldn’t tell. But she closed her mouth and quickly recovered, and she looked like a completely different person. She almost looked gentle.

“I-I see… so you don’t have any memories of your past, then? Nothing?” She asked quietly, her blue eyes staring into his soul. A feeling of immense guilt washed over the nameless man as he met her gaze, and he wished he could tell her something else.

Lacking the strength to answer with words, he shook his head.

“…Well. That changes things, I suppose,” she sighed, walking over to his bedside and sitting down next to him. “I suppose there’s no use grilling you about what you’re doing here if can’t even remember yourself…”

“…I mean… I’d like to say that I’m not a suspicious person, but, well…”

It’s not like he could really be sure.

To his shock, she laughed. An actual laugh! He didn’t feel insulted though, he had to admit… there was a little bit of humor in it.

When they finally sobered up, he realized he still had a ton of questions that needed answering. But before he could get a chance, she said something.

“Remember.”

“Huh?”

“That’s my name. Remember. But everyone call me Mem.”

It took him a second to process what she was saying.

They burst out laughing again.

“What… what are the odds?!” She managed to get out between snorts. “Me… of all people… meeting someone who lost their memories! Ha!”

It took them another minute to settle down, but now that the laughter was out of the way, the nameless man needed to think about what to do next.

He was alone in the world, with no home, no money, no name, and no memories. In spite of Remember’s attempts to make light of the situation he found himself at a loss of what to do now.

Maybe she could see that he was starting to get anxious, because she rose from her seat and helped him lie back down.

“You shouldn’t push yourself too much after what happened,” she said with a soft smile. “We don’t want you to collapse again. I don’t know if your memories will return, but until you’re fit for travel, you can stay with me. I don’t have much, but I’m not so heartless as to kick you out. It would basically mean all the hard work I spend dragging you into my house in that clunky suit of armor basically meaningless!” She laughed, walking out of the room.

He didn’t really find the situation all that funny. But he was grateful that she wasn’t going to turn him out. He wasn’t sure what he would do.

A few seconds later Mem popped her head back inside wearing a smile filled with mischief.

“I just realized. Since you don’t have any memories, then does that mean you don’t remember eating anything?”

She paused.

“Wait, you do remember what ‘food’ is, right?”

“…Yes, I remember what food is,” he sighed. “…But you’re right. I don’t really remember eating anything before.”

His stomach rumbled.

“…And I think I am getting hungry,” he admitted, his face growing hot.

“Excellent. You rest up, and I’ll cook up some stew. It’s my specialty!”

The sound of footsteps heading down stairs echoed in his ears as he lay back in bed, letting tiredness take hold. He was dozing by the time the smell of something delicious wafted up into the room.

…

“…You didn’t pass out again, did you?”

He winced, opening his eyes to see Mem standing at the foot of the bed with two bowls in her hands. She set one down on the stool beside him and kept the other for herself, sitting down at the small table across the room.

“Dig in!” She grinned.

He pushed himself up on his arm and leaned over to take the bowl, staring down at the murky liquid. Several chunks of meat and vegetables peaked out of it, and it smelled delicious. He raised the spoon up to his lips… and promptly spit it out.

“Urgh! Ugh! Gaagh!” He coughed, nearly spilling the stew all over himself. It was the most revolting thing he’d ever tasted. …Or so he assumed. He couldn’t imagine eating anything worse.

“Ah, delicious,” Mem said, setting down her spoon in the empty bowl. She turned to him. “How’d you like it?”

“It… tastes fine…” He lied, glancing down at the slop. The last thing he needed was to upset the only person he knew. He took another sip while she watched him intently and managed to choke it down with a smile.

He might spend the rest of his life with that godawful stew being the first meal he could remember, and that was a nauseating thought.

“So you can’t remember your name or where you come from, but you know what food is, huh?” Mem tapped her chin curiously. “What else do you remember?”

“Just… basic stuff, I guess,” he shrugged. “I know I’m sitting on a bed, I know this is a house I’m in, I know what money is, but when it comes to myself…”

“So you have basic knowledge, but no memory, weird,” Mem mused. “I wonder if the doctor would know more.”

He perked up. “Doctor?”

“Ah, you know that word too, eh?” She smirked. “Yeah, Mercy’s got a doctor, finest you’ll ever see. I was gonna bring ‘im over tomorrow to check up on you, if you weren’t able enough.”

“Sorry, you said Mercy?”

“Mercy’s the name of our town,” Mem clarified. “It’s a great place, with great people. If you want, when you feel better, maybe we could take a look around.”

She shrugged.

“Who knows? Maybe you’ll even want to stick around.”

She stroked her chin thoughtfully and her expression turned serious. “So what else do you remember? Anything about history? Current events, maybe?”

He shook his head, eliciting a sigh from her.

“Well that makes this a little more difficult,” she sighed, coming over and sitting next to him. She was holding something, and held it out to him. It was a hand mirror.

“What’s this?” He asked.

“Take a look,” she urged him. “What do you see?”

He took a closer look in the mirror. Was this… him?

He was surprised at how handsome he looked. He had strong, sharp features and piercing red eyes, and a full head of silky white hair that framed his cheeks.

“…Okay. That’s enough drooling over your reflection.” Mem yanked the mirror back. “But you see the problem.”

He shook his head. She sighed again.

“You have white hair and red eyes. Only Celians have white hair and red eyes.”

“I… I don’t know what that means.”

“No, you don’t, and that’s the problem. Let me explain. I’m a citizen of the Kingdom of Albion. That’s where we are right now, within the kingdom’s borders. But there’s another kingdom neighboring us, the Kingdom of Celia to the east. Albion and Celia have been at war for the last twenty years. The fighting’s gotten really bad recently, and, well… the effects have even reached small countryside towns like this one.”

It felt like the temperature of the room had dropped. All affability had left Mem’s face, and her voice was harsh.

“So you can see,” she continued coldly, “why I was a little startled to see a Celian knight collapsed on my doorstep.”

Her eyes shot to the corner of the room and he followed them to where his suit of armor lay. It was black as night with gold trim, and a sword in a dark scabbard leaned against it. It stood ominously in the corner and hurt to look at. He quickly stared at the floor.

“Why?” He whispered.

“…Why what?”

“It… I’m your enemy, right?” He muttered. “Why did you take me in? Why didn’t you just leave me there?”

“…My daddy always told me to treat those in need with kindness,” she whispered. “And right now, it looks like you need all the help you can get.”

She placed her hand over his and squeezed it, offering him a smile.

“I don’t know why you came to Mercy, but I can see from your eyes you aren’t lying about having lost your memory. So whatever happened in your past doesn’t matter to me. Do you want to hurt me right now?”

Of course he didn’t! He shook his head.

A big smile blossomed across her face.

“Then think of this as an opportunity. Whatever your past, just put it behind you and start over! Don’t you think that’s for the best?”

He stared at her eager smile.

It was like his life had just started today, and he had absolutely no idea what to do with it.