The Archon

“Yusai, Yusai?” A female voice faded in as my eyes tried to refocus.

As my vision cleared up a strange, yet familiar, room came into view. Several columns and many rows of personal sized desks, each with their own chair, filled a square, wooden, room. Large, shiny, windows adorned the area to the left of me.

“Yu-sa-i.” The female voice said again, this time next to my right ear.

I looked to my right, still confused as to what was happening. A girl wearing a cream colored sweater over a formal school uniform was staring back at me, smiling right next to my ear. Her medium-length black hair swept gracefully over a quarter of her face. A stabbing pain stuck into my head all over, memories were flowing into my mind. I held my head with my hands as the pain pulsed all over.

“Are you okay Yusai?” The girl asked. Some more images flashed into my mind. The girl's name was Inami, she was a classmate of mine with whom I had attended  school with for several years.

“Inami?” I said, questioning the validity of the images and ideas which were flowing into my head.

“Hmm?” Inami questioned, tilting her head to the side. “Are you okay Yusai, does your head hurt?”

“Sorry, just a sudden headache. Where are we?” I asked, trying to play it cool.

“English just ended, you must have fallen asleep so I came over to make sure you got to the next class.” Inami said before giggling.

“Right, of course, sorry. Do you mind walking there with me?” I asked, trying to hide the fact that I hadn’t yet remembered the complete layout of the school.

“Are you hitting on me? Sorry I’m not interested.” Inami responded with sarcasm and another giggle.

I stood up, grabbing my bag.

“Alright, guess I will get lost and wander around for a while, I sure wish I had someone to show me the way.” I started to walk past Inami.

Inami’s face became worried and she stuck her hand out in front of me.

“Wait, I was kidding, we can walk together if that’s what you really want.” Inami touched her lips with her fingers. I don’t know if she was trying to copy some idol she saw or if she was trying to be seductive.

“Thanks.” I replied simply.

Inami led me out of the room and walked with a happy jaunt down the hallway. She turned around to smile at me a few times as we walked. I’m not quite sure what that meant, I still hadn’t fully regained my memories. Several people stopped to say hi to me as they ran to their classes. Inami and I reached our next class just as the bell rang. We entered, Inami walked towards the back and I followed. She sat down and I awkwardly stood next to her, not knowing where my seat was.

Inami looked at me with a curious laugh before letting out a snort. “Yusai, are you falling in love with me?” Inami gave a few more laughs and some of the other kids in the class turned and looked at us.

The teacher had just walked into the class and immediately eyed me, as I was the only one standing.

“Yusai, take your seat please.” The teacher bluntly said.

I scratched my head. “Where would that be?” I asked.

I heard a giggle from Inami and a few other students near me.

“Over there please.” The teacher said with some annoyance, pointing to an empty desk. I took a seat, one chess knight’s movement away from Inami.

The class seemed to be a history class focusing on Asian-pacific history. As I sat, ignoring the lesson, my head still occasionally felt as if it were getting stabbed. Every Time this happened new memories came back to me. I finally had remembered more details about my relationship with Inami. Without context of feelings the memories seemed like a badly written novel. Inami and I were friends for years, that I had already remembered, but we had a strange relationship. From my memories alone, without the feelings attached to them, I couldn’t tell if I loved her or hated her. I thought about my relationship with Tiaria. I clearly loved her, but the relationship the me in this here-and-now had with Inami was clearly different.

On that note just what was going on? These were obviously memories, however, I was able to interact with them. Whatever the Scion had done to me, he was clearly forcing me to remember my past. What exactly did this have to do with the Archons though? If this was my past then I was simply a high-schooler from another world, not a piece of some evil deity.

Class continued until the bell, once again, rang. The class stood up and began to depart. I stood up and looked around. If my memories were correct, next was the final class of the day. Inami walked up behind me and poked me in the side with the edge of her textbook.

“You’re being weird today, everything okay?” She had a concerned look on her face.

“Yeah, just a little discombobulated.” I answered with a forced laugh. “We don’t have the next class together, do we?” I asked.

“No, we have different electives. Are you sure you are okay?” Inami went from jokingly asking to seeming to be genuinely concerned.

“I’m good. Let’s walk a bit.” Inami gave me a slight smile. The truth was something disturbing was taking place in my mind. Not only had my memories of the past returned, but memories seemingly of the future were now slowly entering my mind. What I saw couldn't be true. What I saw was my death. It made me want to try something. According to my memories my death would come soon. If what I was seeing was a memory then I shouldn’t be able to bring Inami with me since she wasn’t in my memories. Wait, wouldn’t that put her in danger then? What was wrong with me, why was I thinking this way?

“I don’t mind accompanying you for a bit, but I have to split off in just a minute.” Inami replied. Her voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Should I tell her not to walk with me? No.

“Thanks.” I said with a smile.

Inami and I exited the classroom. She pointed out for me where to go to get to my elective and we started walking in that direction. I passed a window with a familiar view. We were right within the bounds of the memory of my death. I felt no fear, instead I was filled with an excruciating excitement. What was wrong with me? I felt nothing for Inami who could very well die in front of me in just a moment. I turned to look towards Inami but she was no longer with me. Matter of fact, I was no longer in the exact position that I had walked to. Instead, I was right where the memory of my death started.

“I see.” I said to myself. “So it was just a memory.” Suddenly a dull shaking started which in only a moment turned into a violet up and down thrust from the earth. A loud rumbling filled my ears along with the screams of school kids. I looked up. As I remembered, the roof began to crack and crumble. As I looked at it the roof gave way and fell. One moment there, the next black.

A white light along the floor, running like a carpet animated by a spirit. Everything black but the floor. A feeling of weightlessness. A red glow in front of me.

“You will do just fine.” a voice of pure bass reverberated around the nothingness, vibrating my entire body.