Hero's Anamnesis

Chapter 1

The Boy on the Sand

The waves rolled over the moist sands, sighing as the waters pushed gently forward and then withdrew back into the sea. It was in the early hours of the morning. The night before had been a ferocious storm that had rocked the waters that now swayed so calmly against the shore. The sun peaked over the curving horizon, tinting the far off waters gold. Not far from where the waves touched the shore, a boy lay on the sand.

His skin was cold, and his body was perfectly still; his green clothes were waterlogged and torn. He was dead, having drowned at sea when his ship had been caught in the storm the night before. Now he was washed up on a foreign shore, yet to be discovered. This was until someone or something came upon him.

Bare, pale feet stopped in the sand when a pair of curious aquamarine eyes spotted the boy lying on the shore. The feet approached him, a girl's feet. Her skin was pale blue, almost white, and decorated sparsely by darkly colored markings. Prussian blue hair hung down her back in a braid that stopped half way down her body.

The girl knelt beside the boy, examining her newly found specimen. He hadn't been dead long, and it was obvious, by his waterlogged state, that he'd drown. He was young, not a child but under twenty at least. The girl frowned; she hated to see someone die so young. However, there was something that could be done about it.

She left the boys side and headed towards the sea. She waded into the deeper water until she was immersed from the waist down. She scanned the water, in search of something. When she at last spotted it, she reached out to it and it came to her. A tiny ball of soft light rose out of the surf and hovered to the girl who beaconed for it. As she headed back t the shore she cradled the light in her hands.

The girl returned to the drowned boy and knelt by him again. This time she held out the light above him. As it levitated in between her hands it began to glow brighter until it reached its apex. It hummed softly for a moment and then the light dissipated and floated downward, fading when it toughed the boy.

A moment passed and suddenly breath returned to the boy, his chest lifted and fell as he breathed in the first breath after hours without life. Slowly, consciousness returned to him. He first saw the orange dawn lit sky above him, feathery clouds stretched across it. As he sat, up he came face to face with the girl who had resurrected him, though he was unaware of her deed. Once he noticed her she spoke to him.

"Be thankful", she said, "for your life has been restored."

The boy stared at her blankly, in a daze. The moment he regained consciousness he had become very confused as well. He did not know where he was or how he got there, and now he was spoken o be a strange girl. Receiving no response from him she spoke again.

"I am called Reka, I am the spirit who dwells in these waters. Who are you, human?"

The boy remained silent, his sapphire blue eyes darted back forth as he searched for an answer. I am…Nothing came to mind. A name, he was looking for a name, but he could find none. In fact there wasn't much at all that he could remember. Who? What? Where? When? All questions he himself couldn't answer, but why?

"Will you answer me?" the spirit asked. After more silence she inquired, "Can you answer me?" The boy shook his head, frowning slightly. Reka took a breath, questioning further, "Is there anything you can tell me?" The boy shook his head again. "I see…well then, human, what shall I call you?"

Once again the young man couldn't answer. What should she call him? He hadn't a clue. While he was thinking so hard the spirit's patience ran out, "Alright then", she said "seeing as you won't give me something to call you I shall have to decide myself. From now on I shall refer to you as…" she paused to think, staring at him with scrutinizing eyes as she searched for some outstand quality she could name him for.

He was light skinned, but not pallid. His face was soft and young looking, framed by locks of his golden wheat colored hair. No ideas came to her yet, and so Reka continued to stare at the boy, who stared back at her with his serene blue eyes. Blue eyes. That was it!

Reka's expression brightened, an idea striking her, "I know. From now on I'll call you Blue-Eyed One. Will that do?" The boy, or Blue-Eyed One, as Reka had declared, merely shrugged having no other option. "Very well then, Blue-Eyed One it is." Reka confirmed, she then said one more thing, "By the way Blue-Eyed One, do you speak? What I mean is can you speak, or are you mute?"

"I can speak" he replied, his voice sounded more mature that the spirit expected based on his young looks, "I just haven't had a need for it yet I suppose."

"I understand, so you are a quiet one?" nodded Reka, "I can respect that. I was just curious since you hadn't said a word yet. Well enough of this," she said, standing as she changed the subject, "come with me, let's not stay out in the open like this?"

"Why?" the blonde boy asked, "Is it dangerous here?"

"Not exactly that, well at least not for you. You are a human, I am not. " Reka explained, "I am an Espri."

The other individual present gave her an inquisitive look, "An Espri? What is that?"

"As I told you before, I am a spirit. Espri are apparitions of the natural elements earth, wind, fire, water, ice, and the rest. We are born attributed to an element, mine being water. I've lived off of these shores my whole life watching the people who inhabit this land. They are…" she searched for a proper adjective, "a curious species. They are interesting to me, I like to observe them. Though it's difficult as I can only do so from afar."

"Are they afraid of you?" the blue eyed one asked.

Reka had begun to walk, expecting the boy to follow, but she paused a moment, when he asked this question. "Well…no. Actually I don't know. I've never been seen by a human before you." She glanced back at him, "Are you afraid?" The blonde shook his head in reply. "I see," Reka continued, walking again, "I did not expect as such. I do resemble a human after all, though I do not always appear this way."

"Is that so?" The boy asked, "So then how else do you appear?"

"That is not important at the moment." Reka dismissed, ending conversation about that topic, "Now, just keep following me, and don't lag behind. It may be an early hour, but the humans will arrive here soon. There is a village just over that hill you see there." She said, pointing out the landmark for her companion to see. "From what I've observed, the people there make much of their living off of the sea. They draw food as and miscellaneous things from the water, as well as use it for travel and trade."

"You know all this?" The human replied, "Perhaps then it has not been so hard to observe them after all."

Reka laughed, "I know so much due to a collective effort. I haven't had much else to do here than watch the people and explore my surroundings, though by now I assure you I can navigate through these waters by memory alone."

"How long have you been here?" The blue-eyed one asked.

"Decades, though I can't tell you how many. I never bothered to count them." Replied the Espri.

The boy was a bit surprised by her answer. The Espri looked his age or perhaps slightly younger. Then again she wasn't human and as she'd said, she was a spirit, so was it really wasn't all that hard to believe.

The two walked the rest of the way in silence, though they did not travel much farther. Reka lead the boy to a small cove indenting the shore line. In the far end of the cove was a cave carved by the waves. A shallow strait of water flowed into the cave from the sea. The Espri entered the cave, though the human was hesitant to follow. "It's safe, I assure you." Said the spirit, noticing his reluctance.

The blue-eyed one fallowed her in. The cave was dark and filled with the smell of the sea. The boy kept to the far right of the cave where the water did not reach. The Espri, however, was content with sloshing through the small strait that grew deeper and wider as they progressed further into the cave. The rim of sand that the boy had kept himself on grew thinner and thinner for a while, but eventually reached a consistent width, which was just wide enough for him to stand on. They had reached the core of the cave, a miniature salt lake.

"Here is a much more favorable setting." Commented Reka as she stroked comfortably through the water.

"I can hardly see." Said the blonde. It was dark and moist where they were. The only light streamed in from an aperture in the ceiling of the cave, directly above the center of the lake.

"I don't mind it." The spirit said, "There is water here, so I am content." She began to circle around the lake, watched by the boy who sat cross legged on the damp but firm sand. After a small silence the Espri addressed the blonde again. "I want to show you something." She said before ducking under the water for a few moments. When she resurfaced she swam closer to him and held up a small object on a string. "Do you recognize this?" She asked.

The boy squinted, trying to see through the murky light. He reached out for it, and the Espri gave it to him so that he could examine it closer. It was cold and rusty in his hand; he brought it closer to his face and immediately recognized it. "It's a fishing hook." He informed, handing it back to Reka.

The Espri glanced at the objet, "A fishing hook?" she repeated.

"Yes." Confirmed the young man, "Normally you'd find it attached to a fishing rod. People use it to catch fish."

"They do?" Reka looked interested, "I've never seen one before. I thought humans used nets to catch fish?"

"Nets can catch greater sums of fish at once, but usually that takes a long while. It's quicker to use a fishing rod, and sometimes more efficient. It'd be difficult to try using a fishing net in a river." The boy explained.

"I see," replied Reka, "how is it used though?" she asked.

"You cast the hook into the water and wait for something to bite. The hook will have bait on it to lure something in. Then when you've got something, you reel it in."

"Hmm…." Reka thought for a moment, and then she smiled when an idea came to her. "I would like to ask you a favor." She said, "I would like you to bring me a fishing rod."

"Why do you want that?" the blue-eyed boy asked.

"I'm curious," explained Reka, "I'd like to see how one of these rods works. Besides, it's the least you can do for me after I saved your life." The boy looked at her questioningly. "Do you not remember, it was not long ago, a few minutes actually."

Now that she mentioned it, he did remember the Espri saying something like that. Be thankful for your life has been restored. When she'd said it he had still been in a daze of confusion, he hadn't quite understood what she meant, as plain as it had been said. "You saved my life?" he asked.

"I suppose that's one way of putting it, but I did not save your life, I returned it to you." Reka replied.

"You mean to say that I was dead? What happened to me?" asked the boy.

"You had drowned." Reka answered. "I found you on the shore just this morning after last night's storm. You do remember the storm at least, don't you?"

"No….I don't remember anything." The blonde shook his head, a slightly uneasy look coming to him. He couldn't understand it. Someone should remember something as traumatizing as nearly drowning, or in this case, successfully drowning. Though was it really so surprising, he couldn't remember his own name after all.

Reka frowned at his brooding. "Don't look so unhappy. You're alive aren't you? Be thankful."

"I am thankful, very much so. I owe you my life. " He replied before sighing, "Still I am also very confused. I can't remember a thing about myself. It worries me."

"Why not put your mind to something else then?" Reka asked, "Clearly it's no use being pensive over memories that aren't there."

"I suppose you're right." The blue-eyed individual agreed. "Well then I guess I might as well get started on finding you that fishing rod you asked for." He then stood, patting the sand off of his legs.

Reka smiled, "That is a good plan. Now, you remember that village I told you about? You can begin your search there."