The Empire Edealyon

A road snakes down crossing a small forest and high walls that mark the beginning of the outskirts of Zuheinholm. I see fields and farms all around, followed by a group of houses and others scattered. There are rivers, lakes, more buildings, and houses in the distance.

The main road goes through all these places, there is a second wall on higher ground, and beyond that, an even larger giant building. I am not sure what it is, but it is so high and big it seems to touch the sky.

“That is…”

“The Haden Castle. You can think of it as a small country inside Zuheinholm.” Daichi explains as he starts pulling the cart again, and he keeps moving forward.

“That's where we're going?”

“Of course,“ Yuki says, trying to hide a smile. “We are elite soldiers, we protect the King and the Four Princes.”

“Really?” I stop my way, happy to have some cool responsibility and to know something more about my life.

But everything falls apart when I hear Daichi's laughter. Yuki laughs too. I understand that he is joking, and it was a good joke. But this doesn’t mean it doesn’t disappoint me a bit, I was expecting to know something about my life.

“Sorry, Kai,“ he starts apologizing, and I look at him without any smile, “That place is completely out of our reach. We are just small hunters and collectors.“

“Yup, protecting the Four Princes and the King is for very strong elite Guardians, which we aren’t.” Now Yuki pats my back and continues her path, we all do. “They are very strong, and probably can destroy a Kang Krangen on their own.”

“You guys keep saying weird names, places, stuff, I have no idea what you are saying. And what about the queen? You didn’t mention her.”

“The Kang is a big, big monster, like ten times your height, or more,“ Daichi says with an obvious tone. “And the Queen… her story is for another day.”

“Some of them have wings,” Yuki adds to the explanation and ignores the Queen. I wonder what happened to her. “Others can create earthquakes, or breathe fire or burning water,“ Yuki continues, trying to sound scary, which she isn't. They are probably joking, or making fun of me again.

At least now I know that I’m a hunter of monsters like the wolves we encountered. And we are collectors, or whatever this means… I look at the fruits and grab one, I’m a collector of fruits? It’s way better to be a top guardian than a collector of these damn fruits, I think as I throw it back to the cart.

We walk towards the forest, and Yuki splits to see if she can hunt something for dinner, or at least get different fruits. She doesn’t like that Daichi continues eating the fruits that are destined for our client. Right now, he is eating one of them. “What?” he says when I look at him, squinting my eyes.

The forest is not so dense or large, and after a short while, we manage to cross it. Yuki is waiting for us at the exit with a bag of different fruits and mushrooms and two small animals. They seem so tiny that only Daichi could eat them and still be hungry.

We are about to reach the wall, and it keeps getting taller, as if blocking out the sun. It could be twenty or thirty times my height, I couldn't tell exactly. There aren't many people around, just a few, dressed like us, worn-out and dirty. Several soldiers were checking the content of bags and examining some papers.

“These are the permits,” Daichi starts explaining to me, “They prove that we are natives of the empire Edealyon, and that we have permission to undertake missions outside the city.”

“Basic missions like collecting fruits?” I comment mockingly. “How tough and challenging it must be.”

We manage to pass through security without any problems, and Yuki walks ahead, looking back at me. “You could barely move with the wolf-wargs; imagine dealing with something worse, you'd pee yourself,” Yuki adds with a slight laugh. “There are missions with eleven levels; ours was level two, one of the easiest outside the city. Maybe you should stick to level one missions.”

“It was a surprise the memory loss, surely, if I go now I'll destroy them!”

“Oh, please, you don't even know how to activate your Minnex,” says Yuki, and upon seeing my expression, “I'm sure you don't even know what it is…”

“Back to level one?” Daichi asks with a sigh, seeming more tired of me than of the journey, I suppose.

“I must be a high level, like twenty! Or higher!” I say confidently, though I have no idea what that means.

“Yeah, right… Focus on your body, your abilities, powers, and you'll activate your Minnex,” Yuki turns back around, and we keep walking.

We manage to leave the cold shadow of the wall and the sun warms us again. I think it'll be dark soon. “Once you manage to visualize your Minnex, you'll be able to see your level, attributes, abilities, information about your armor or weapons.” I'm not sure if I believe her, but seeing her seriousness, I take her word for it and decide to trust her.

“Although right now you don't have any,” Daichi says sadly. “You had two small daggers that broke against the wolves. That's when you hit yourself hard against the rocks.”

“Alright, I'll try it, and you'll see that I'm level thirty!” I see them smiling, not believing me. I'll prove that I'm right.

Giving a long breath, I concentrate, and slowly my figure starts forming in my mind. Can I see it as if it's an avatar? I'm not sure what it is. This figure flickers and disappears, but I focus again, and I feel like I can see it more clearly with each moment. Finally, I visualize different windows in my mind.

“I did it!” I shout with joy. The windows flicker again, but I focus, unable to believe that it's really happening as Yuki said. She seems very surprised because of this, giving an honest smile continuing her walk.

In one of the windows, there's a figure similar to my body, where I can see my equipment and weapons; I have nothing, just a strange glow on my right hand's finger. In another window, I see my abilities, but it's all blurry, and despite trying to focus, I can't make it clear. I move to the next window, where I see my attributes; Strength, Agility, Life, Defense. Then I see my level… I become silent as I look at it.

“You can keep walking while looking at your Minnex!” Yuki shouts from several metters ahead. I hurry in silence to catch up with them. “So, did it work? What level are you?”

“It worked fine, I guess…” I said softly, even more quietly: “I'm level three.”

“What? We couldn't hear,” Daichi says, holding back a smile.

“I SAID I'M LEVEL THREE!”

The laughter they burst into must have been heard from the top of the wall… So, I'm level three, but I'll just focus on my own thing and show them that I'm capable and that I can survive in that world that I don't remember anything about.

In a few days the wolf-wargs will be child's play.