Amnesiac's Quest

Spiraling down a gaping pit which was blazing white and sudden, the girl plummeted down, barely conscious and bled profusely. She couldn't remember what happened to her well; all that she could remember was a man yelling in desperation and the horrifying cackles of a monster. Her consciousness soon completely faded, memories of the past consumed by the pain of her wounds. Plunging into the white light, falling to somewhere unknown, descending towards a place, unaffected by the strife from above, the injured being was unaware of all that had happened.

On some grass below a cloudy sky in an empty meadow, she lay. Blood trickled down her waist, staining the soft, lavender long-sleeve shirt she wore. Torpid, her arms slightly twitched, and she let out a loud cough while arising from her rest. She spat out blood repeatedly, making her neck burn in pain. Eventually, she slowed down and soon stopped coughing, her eyes rolling open and her consciousness soon coming back. Shifting from lying on the ground to sitting up, she gazed around the unfamiliar place, her oddly colored eyes glittering with curiosity.

Gray, puffy clouds dotted the pale, blue sky, becoming much more abundant to the north. She soon turned her attention to the area around her, only seeing grass and couple of flowers in the distance. Confused, she tried to think of a reason she got to this unknown land. Pain filled her head as the wound on her waist began to fade away suddenly. She looked down and let out a quiet gasp. Had death engulfed her in its grasp? Shaking her head in disbelief, the injured girl stumbled up onto the ground, her gaze expanding towards the horizon.

That’s when it hit her. A small memory arose from the depths of her mind, something that she would not expect to be so relevant! Her name was Vega of all names, and she, ignoring her injured state, began to jump around in glee! “My name is Vega!” Shouted the girl, a few specks of blood spilling out of her mouth. Quickly, she stopped screaming when she noticed the blood. Injured she was, and she remembered to stay mindful. The wound on her waist appeared to have been regenerating on its own. She thought that it was a weird phenomenon. What was she? Who was she? Vega only knew her name at this point, but she was determined to remember more.

Soon hit with the realization of needing a home of some sorts, she looked around bewilderedly for a cave or a pit carved into the ground. There was nothing. All she saw was more grass and a few wildflowers. Then, she looked up, towards the north, where the clouds became much more widespread. Vega could see a faint silhouette of a town and also a castle! Determined, she began to walk towards the north, albeit at a fast pace. The town was her chance of survival, and she was unwilling to let it go.

Along the way, she began to run, for the once painful, bleeding gashes left on her were only just scars at this point. How peculiar! Vega could only wonder why she was able to do such celestial things. A headache she felt before had soon disappeared entirely. All Vega could think of now was the chance to live. To die in an empty meadow was a newfound fear of hers; no one would find her body, her family could be in disarray, and she could be some kind chosen one for all she knew! She couldn’t let herself fall here!

The poignant thought of family soon became another thing that bothered her. Who were her parents? Did she have any siblings? Was her family possibly searching for her? She tried to push the thought away, but it soon came back, making her feel wistful for the possible family she had. Did they even care enough for her to leave her in this empty field? She decided she must have been wondering out where she shouldn't have been. Maybe her family lived in the town far off from the meadow and ran off looking for her. She shuddered. She hoped that they wouldn’t risk their lives to find her. Soon pushing off the thought, she accelerated in speed and sprinted towards the town. The roaring in her ears would soon be the only thing she heard.

Slowing down, she neared the once remote town and castle, breathing deeply for air. She ran for a few hours, with little to no stops in between. Her decision proved to be bad, for an unbelievable downpour came down from the clouds. Rain poured down her face profusely, instantly soaking all of her clothing, her skin, and washing away the blood that stained her shirt. Vega groaned. Lethargically, she stomped into the down, hanging her arms at her side, having an annoyed expression on her face, and yawning aloud.

Vega stepped into an alley. Her hair hung down on her shoulders; her face dripped with rain, her clothes felt cold and uncomfortable, she trudged into an empty, dark corner, where she could stay the night. Only now Vega cared enough to realize her clothing was weird! She wore a lavender long-sleeved shirt, with pale-gray, tattered trousers, black boots, and an odd, torn cape with a buttoned strap at the front, there if you wanted to take it off. Vega felt her back and realized there had been a hood! Coughing, she quickly slipped the hood onto her face. It barely covered her eyes, making it slightly harder to see. She didn’t mind it all that much, though, for it protected her from the rainfall from above. She, of course, couldn’t see what her eyes looked like, but they were an oddity! She had white pupils, a ring of red that surrounded them, gray irises, and the average white most expected to see was black. At this point, she wouldn’t question it. She crept under a small box to sleep the night.

A name rung out through her dreams. It felt hard to understand, and Vega soon realized that she was reliving a memory. In someone’s arms, her dream-self appeared to be a small, dragon-and-bird like being. Silver-scales with a lilac undertone, wings for arms, feathers on her cheeks and stomach, and a long feathered tail was her dream appearance. She looked relatively young and curious, gazing at the man who cradled her. The man was all a blur, being a haze of mostly white and gray. Unable to recognize him, she gazed at the man in front of him; the other man was another indistinct figure of violet and red with tinges of gold. Suddenly, the person who held her spoke.

“The people… realm… do not… outrealmers. Cannot allow… to hurt our…”

“It will be fine, eh… she… meet… be happy.”

“I… risk… gets hurt…”

The words the men exchanged were ineligible, amazingly scattered it was hard to decipher meaning from it. The so-called adolescent Vega looked around in confusion and instinctively, twisted her face in worry. Sobs began to fill the empty area as both of the people looked down. The young girl cried, letting out ear-piercing wails as the men both hurried to calm her down.

“You should… not bring… here… she… distressed…! Our dau-”

The sound of stomping immediately woke Vega from her slumber. Looking up from under the box, she tiredly gazed at what was making the noise. Dragons. The familiar form she took in her dream. Slowly, Vega slipped back under the box to contemplate. Deep thoughts filled her mind as she tried to figure out what her dream was. Clearly, it was a memory from the past, since it all seemed too familiar yet unknown at the same time. A sudden thought hit her: could these strange people be her parents? She felt a sense of family in her dream, and the way it abruptly ended with ‘dau' made her wonder. The strange being could have meant ‘daughter' for all she knew! The other words that had perplexed her were realms, outrealmers, hurt, and risk; what did this have to do with anything? Confused, she decided that she wouldn’t worry about it for much longer. Crawling out from the shade, she stood up and ran out of the alley, pulling up her hood, and preparing herself for what was to come.

To die of starvation or get deathly ill was a fate Vega strayed far from. Knowing that she couldn’t survive without thievery, Vega snuck around the town of dragons, taking food without being noticed. She eventually learned that the city she stayed in was the town of Nohseyrnas. Stealing a couple of books from libraries, Vega educated herself with the world of Mamtir, the universe’s name. Fascinated, she continued to take books, forming into a bookish thief who committed theft for knowledge. While sleeping, odder, indecipherable dreams kept floating around in her mind. Vega saw more puzzling people, all distorted, and she heard garbled-up conversations, none of which were with her. As a matter of fact, she was mostly a spectator in her dreams. Woken up by more loud sounds, she continued with her life of thievery, swiping novels about the deities and robbing food from all types people.

One fateful day, Vega thought about combat. If someone fought against her, she needed to defend herself. The life of a thief is not an easy one, and the risk of a battle-to-the-death was always a slip-up away. Curiosity once again filled her mind once Vega took attention to her hands; they were an odd dark-gray, felt hard, and her fingers looked more like a bird’s talons! She had thorn-like teeth as well if she needed to bite someone. Perhaps Vega could kill those who attempted to take her life with these! And she did need to have some armor on as well, so Vega set off to purloin someone’s set of armor, ready to defend herself if needed. Feeling confident, she slipped through the shadows stealthily, optimistic that nothing would go wrong.

Swiftly, Vega crept into a knight’s home. She sidled carefully along the rooms, making no noise as she stayed alerted for danger. Vega looked excited when spotting the knight’s armor, left in an obscure corner of the knight’s room. Quickly, she snatched it all with no second thought. Vega grinned when she saw it fit perfectly on her; how convenient! About to leave, the noise of someone yelling caught her off-guard.

“Die, thief scum!”

Slashed in between the eyes, Vega gazed up bewilderingly at the woman, looking about her age glared down at her. Groaning, she managed to leap onto the ceiling, point her talons at the woman. The woman hissed at Vega, attempting to strike the swift thief as Vega kept evading all her slashes. Trying to slice through the knight’s armor, she discovered her talons weren’t sharp enough. Vega quickly redrew, knowing that a win was entirely necessary at this point. If she didn’t, people would hunt for her, for the knight would call upon the assistance of others. Others would outnumber her, and it would be the end. She leaped backward as the knight sliced at the air again. She looked around for a weapon in the short seconds she had before the knight struck again. Her luck soon became apparent as she spotted a sharp blade along with others in the corner of the room. Sprinting towards it, she pointed it up as the woman let out a loud roar! The knight leaped at her as Vega quickly parried; having no skill as a swordsman was proving to be a significant disadvantage! She read about it in books, though, and she needed to fight back. Sliding under the knight, Vega struck her back. The knight let out a roar of pain, for Vega stole her armor and she was at a defensive disadvantage. Vega stabbed her again, the blade she took dripping with the knight’s blood. Vega saw a flash and heard an ear-splitting roar; the knight had transformed into a dragon! She read about how Nohseyrnas was the land of dreitol, a species of dragon able to assume humanoid form. Vega knew she was probably one, but for some reason, she felt uncomfortable undergoing a transformation. Therefore, she pointed her blade up at the knight’s draconic form.

The knight brought down her claws at Vega, who evaded them just barely! Vega looked up, concentrating on possible weak spots. She leaped over her claws and slid under the knight’s attacks, unsure of how to land a blow. Because of the knight’s scales, it was hard to figure out where to slice and how to effectively hurt her. She shivered violently. The knight roared aloud and then attempted to knock Vega to the side, which she managed to avoid. The cold feeling in her veins began to get progressively stronger and stronger; Vega felt as if this was just anxiety building up and that it was getting worse. As she sprung up from the floor to stab the dragon, something new awakened inside of her.

Vega thrust her sword towards the dragon with a rapid motion, the cold soon fading away from her body and enveloping the blade with it. The blade pierced the knight’s scales with such force, causing her to bellow in pain. Vega, the swordswoman, let out a loud gasp as the frost wrapped around her opponent at high-speed, the knight’s shrieks soon becoming silence. The swordswoman’s adversary soon cracked and shattered into a million bloody pieces on the floor. Vega won her fight, but at what cost?

Petrified by her newfound ability, Vega gaped and gawked at the icy shards, tinged faintly with blood, scattered all over the floor. She did this. This once famous knight was dead at her feet because of her foolish actions! The swordswoman knelt down by the mess, tears soaking her cheeks and cloak. Once a confident thief, she cried loudly, regretting her decision even to steal the armor in the first place! In her mind, all Vega thought was of the knight’s family and friends. Sorrowfully yet hurriedly, the swordswoman gathered up all her stolen goods and made it out the window, leaving the frosty remains of her former opponent on the ground. She wove through the shadows to avoid accusations of murdering someone, but that’s all she was; a murderer! Dispirited, she crept into one of the many hiding spots she had, tears still streaming down her face, sneaking under a small yet comfortable space to rest.

Terrifying cackling filled the area suddenly. A young Vega stood amidst a celestial yet dark field, looking up at the sky with horror. A gray amalgam of parts rose above her, clear yet eldritch-looking at the same time. The chortling of it hurt her ears, causing the young girl to shudder. Then, the gray beast came flying down, striking the girl at her waist area. She screamed aloud, her words a jumbled up mess that nobody could understand. But somehow, someone did understand her. A blur, similar to the man who had once cradled her but much larger and pure white, flew in at high speeds. He flew in, screeching loudly at the gray abomination, soon looking down at injured Vega with a sense of sorrow. For a few moments, he became evident, and his voice became entirely clear. He was a white phoenix with similar eyes as Vega. She was unable to catch his other features. It all went by so fast, though, so soon he became the same haze once again but not before his words.

“I am sorry.”

Vega woke up sweating and sobbing. The familiarity of the voice from her first dream to this nightmare unnerved her; she just couldn’t understand what was happening. It was painfully obvious that this figure had to be one of her parents, for why would he be trying to save her from death and also be tenderly holding her in his arms? Curling up into a ball, Vega weeped about what happened recently. First, she murdered an innocent knight with her sudden ice powers who simply fought for the better of Nohseyrnas. Then, Vega experienced a nightmare about her supposed parent saving her from immediate death and also separating themselves from each other. After that, cold realization made her comprehend the fact that the other man in her first dream was her other guardian. The woman, Vega, wondered if they were looking for her at this moment, but not for very long. She kept crying until she couldn’t anymore. Soon, she fell asleep once again, this time experiencing no dreams in her slumber.