**This is a DIRECT sequel to my previous story. While there is nothing stopping you from reading this without having read the other one, at some point it will probably get rather confusing.

With that out of the way...let's roll on!**

Chapter 1 - Who was I, now?

My mind was clear in the way that mud isn't. The ass-kicking gauntlet of a situation before me brought to mind a trek through brambles, possibly made of fire, wearing underwear also made of brambles and a device built to dispense lemon juice when it detected brambles touching skin.

With an already-growling tummy, my ass in a patch of something that was probably as poisonous as it was itchy, and a decided lack of any possessions beyond the contents of my increasingly irritated skin...I was brutally torn between the urge to address any of those concerns or to simply stay down as fate most likely expected.

I had no idea what exactly had happened to land me in this-Is that poison ivy? Regardless...all I knew was that I'd made a very weighty decision and that at least one result of that decision found me here, cursing at once myself and the vengeful being that saw fit to test me so.

Thinking back a bit, I went over the interaction with the witch as I let the potential enormity of my next choice hold me down as surely as tightly coiling chains.

-

"That should do it. Happy now?" I heard the familiar, upbeat, and certainly feminine voice ask me.

Looking up at the figure above me, I saw long blonde hair woven into twin braids and further tamed by a wide-brimmed hat, sparkling blue eyes set within a childish, too-knowing face, and some revealing robes to complete her still-too-young-to-even-be-jailbait ensemble.

"Do I look...wait-do I know you?" I asked, already settling upon the answer before she offered it.

"Not anymore. My name is Miranda and some day in the future, you're going to seek me out for answers. This wasn't some sort of hack job, so I've made certain you'll remember just enough to get yourself into some trouble. I've taken all of those nasty unwanted memories, just as you asked, and I was even kind enough to leave the memory of you begging me to take them."

She was right. I had been desperate to forget something...or a lot of somethings. The greater part of me knew that choosing the path of disremembrance was the right decision. My damnable curiosity kept tugging at where my shirt tails might have been if I hadn't been naked in a constant nagging play to get me to question why I made that choice in the first place. Even if I knew it was the correct path to have chosen...Why did I feel so hollow?

"Wait, you're just going to leave me here? I don't even have any clothes!" I pleadingly shouted as I sat up.
"If you wanted clothes, you should have asked for them," she said as she narrowed her eyes somewhat.
"Then could I have some-"
"No," she said dismissively, seeming to enjoy herself as she did so. "I'm not here to hold your hand, boy. What you've given me is a prize that nearly makes us even for what you took from me. When the day comes that you want these memories back, and you will, do not arrive empty-handed or you can't even imagine the cost I will demand from you."

"What if I don't want my memories back?"
"Ha! I'd think your children at the very least would-Ah, but I've said too much. How cruel of me."

"Children!? Wait, wait."
"That'll be my cue to leave. As an honest courtesy, I would advise staying far away from Alnor. There are two-well...possibly three very cruel monsters living there that would likely stop at nothing to make you their eternal plaything. Now...I have to wonder-would that just make you more curious? Oh, this is just going to be a treat for the eyes and soul either way!"

Getting to my feet, I looked around at the dense greenery before responding, "I feel like I should be angry with you and I'm getting the feeling that you're just fucking with me...but you did what I asked so I guess I'll just have to trust you on Alnor. I mean, you haven't thrown me to the ground to have your way with-"

"Oh! I knew I was forgetting something. I can be rather silly, no?"

The look on her face told me she wasn't just making a bad joke, and the light starting to gleam around the head of her staff proclaimed that she likely had the ability to make good on her implied threat.

I took in the rest of the scene spread before me and saw a few trees standing tall in this otherwise sea of bamboo forest that spread out from me to either side and behind me as far as my eyes could see.

Ahead of me, just beyond the small robed figure, was the edge of some canyon or gorge. Even without looking, the very distant sound of the river below convinced me that the drop was substantial. If the grade wasn't too steep, I could risk my skin and attempt to slide down, but the thought that I'd be risking all of my skin on such a gamble was enough to kill that idea entirely.

"Uh...look, you're cute and all, but I'm not some kind of whore," I attempted, stalling for time as I looked around nervously.

This was apparently among the most hilarious things Miranda had ever heard as her tiny giggles grew and flourished into a heady laughter that was starting to get contagious. A tiny apprehensive smile broke its way through to the corners of my mouth, despite my worries, as I considered the potential position in which I found myself.

"Oh no…certainly not some kind of whore. And did you seriously think I was going to pay you?" she forced out between shuddering laughter.
"Ha ha...yeah…" I attempted feebly as I looked over my shoulder, seeing little beyond more foliage.

Wiping a few wayward tears from her eyes, she let loose a long sigh before speaking again, "I haven't laughed like that in ages. Damn it, now I'm not even in the mood so...well played, boy. We'll see each other again soon enough."

With that, the petite witch vanished in a powerful burst of light that easily threw me back onto the ground, leaving me alone save for the embrace of this unknown wilderness that seemed to spread from me in every direction.

-

For all my mental bitching, the choice I had to make wasn't really all that difficult. My options were to stay on the ground until someone stumbled by to claim or eat me (perhaps a fusion of those two), or to get up and get back to living.

It sounded silly to let that thought process bear fruit. Hadn't I decided that I was done giving up on life?

Or had I? Damn it. That Miranda was a lying bitch-either her memory removal truly was a hack job or...I didn't want to consider the alternative as it cast aspersions on the choice to burn from my mind something that was very large and veryconnected.

Was it something that I had done? Maybe people that I knew…? She mentioned children but she couldn't mean-

"Fuck!" I shouted to break my own reverie, adding, "If there is one person's judgement I should trust, it's damn well going to be my own."

Cracking my knuckles and stretching a bit, I figured I needed clothes, shelter, and some food. A loud growling from my stomach prompted me to mentally add: "Not necessarily in that order."

Following the lip of the canyon before me, I figured I'd be more likely to find some kind of civilization if I stuck close to the river below. As I ventured a glance over the side, I was glad I hadn't tried to slide my way down, as the sheer drop of at least a hundred meters would have seen me with a bit more about which to complain than some raw skin-in the unlikely event that I survived at all.

For at least an hour, I continued in that way until I heard the sound of singing somewhere ahead of me. That seemed like as good a direction as any. Music soothes the savage beast so it was unlikely that a savage beast would be singing; that carried, right?

I began the stealthiest approach I could manage in the hopes that who-or whatever was singing would be more interested in helping me find clothes than in making sure I stayed out of them.

Satisfied that I had succeeded on my stealth roll, I came upon a scene of such profound beauty that it kicked the breath from me, forcing me to wrap myself around the bole of the nearest towering giant bamboo tree to take in the sight. Perhaps as a gift from some unseen force, a strong breeze saw fit to mask that momentary lapse of control.

Kissed by the passing breath of that wind, the small bamboo leaves of the canopy above set free their musically soothing hiss at the breeze's touch as their fallen leafy brethren tossed and rolled in their own dance below.

Breaking the line of the forest's advance in a nearly perfect circle was the clearing that sat before me. Nestled at its center was a placid pond, the water so clear that its dark bottom appeared as a shaded iris in this eye of the forest itself, the short grasses that made up the distance between the distinct realms of wood and water looking to me like a paler ocular sclera.

And somehow, as expected, the gentle singing resonated from the beautifully inhuman, and inhumanly beautiful pupil of this extemporaneous eye.

With long tresses of ebony hair fanned out behind her in the water like the backdrop of a portrait, a complexion so flawlessly pale as to be nearly pearlescent, and a perfectly proportioned figure that defied any term short of "generous", it took me several breaths to realize that this scene was likely not meant for my eyes to see.

Maybe it should have been obvious that her strange horns, scaled arms and talons, and snake-like lower half meant that I was about to have a non-standard encounter. That thought was further reinforced when my daze caused me to lose my grip on the overgrown plant to which I held, sending me to faceplant into the clearing with a decided lack of any grace.

Hearing the disturbance, the singer immediately stopped her song and shot bolt upright to stare daggers at this unseemly intruder that had disturbed her.

Jumping into damage control mode, I quickly began to try muttering an apology, perhaps hoping that my obvious lack of malicious intent might salvage this fateful encounter.

"Uh...sorry! I was lost and I heard your singing so I thought-"

With her gaze projecting enough force to silence me, her mood turning somehow more angry, and her skin reddening as she made no attempt to cover herself, she simply made a gesture in my direction. Expecting some sort of weapon or magical assault to issue forth made it all the more baffling when I was grabbed from behind, my eyes quickly covered as I was dragged a short way from the clearing.

"Oh dear, oh dear...you've broken the laws of the vale of silence and upset the Honored Mistress Tsukiko. Whatever shall we do with you?" a soft feminine voice intoned, seeming to crawl its way into my ear.

Perhaps the thought of crawling was borne by the realization that I was being held by no less than six chitinous arms.

Thankfully, given my utterly helpless position, the voice seemed to be genuinely asking the question rather than rhetorically stalling for time as a suitable torment was devised.

"Look, I don't know where I am, how I got here...exactly, or uh...anything about your glade of silence. I was only staring at your mistress because I was going to wait until she was done singing so I could ask her where the nearest town was...or some clothes, or-"

"The mistress will be further displeased at the additional stain you have thrown upon her honor by admitting to such brazen indiscretion as staring at her naked body," the voice continued to whisper.

If there was anything playful in her tone, I wasn't picking it up. She hadn't already killed me, so I was pretty sure that was a bonus. Of course she could have just been holding me still until her mistress could come handle it. With my thoughts still rattling around like marbles in a toy chest that'd been thrown down a hill, I decided to go for the desperate honesty play.

"Really, I'm sorry. I didn't know about your vale, or your mistress, or whatever the hell other rules I've probably broken. Tell your mistress that I didn't have a choice in apparel, so I'm not going to apologize for being naked, or for trying to be polite by waiting for her to finish singing, or for staring at a hot woman. Those are all...uh...victimless crimes."

The slackening grip upon me left out crucial details in what I needed to know about what was about to happen. What might have been an attempt at an indignant slap in the face from a dainty hand was instead delivered like a bell-ringing haymaker as the large, scaled claw extended a fond greeting to the left side of my face.

In a full and resounding feminine voice, the lady Tsukiko spoke, "His words are nearly as offensive as his presence. Put some clothes on him and we will take him to the village to answer for his crimes."

What an amazing way to start a day.