Ch.2 Memory Loss

Toc stood at the gate of the farm, the house behind him. The clouds above were puffy and white. So blindingly white they were, he felt he needed some shades to just look up at them.

"Toc! Come on! Your girlfriend is waiting!" called a boy from down the street he hung out with sometimes when he went to the pub to drink.

Toc laughed at the prankster, waving after him. His hand unlocked the gate and left. They were going to go meet up with the others at the corner ahead. His friend looked back at him with a smile as big as his heart was at times.

"Stop being so slow! Come on!"

He found himself jogging after them under the high sun. His friends all looked back at him laughing as they ran towards the pub in a big group, hogging the entire pathway. They didn't care though. They were all having fun. He smiled at them, giving them his biggest smile.

He closed his eyes, letting himself go. Reopening them he found himself in the bar sitting at a big round table with all his friends singing as loud as possible holding up huge glass mugs filled with beer or ale of some sort. They were singing In Search of Diamonds with their mugs raised in the air. We were all drunk. People around us began to pound their glasses on the table shouting out my name.

The pounding began to send my head into aches. I growled grasping my head as they chanted my name one at a time.

"Toc!"

"Toc!"

"Toc!"

He sprang up in a rage to shut them up. His eyes flew open to glare at the side door of the kitchen. "What? Shut up! Stop calling my name! Shut up!"

A bottle broke at my feet. When he leapt up he must've disturbed it enough to make it roll off the table. The door burst open with a man standing there panting. His hair fell into his eyes as he stared at him. "She's awake! Lady Sell is awake!"

"What?" He exclaimed breathless. "Los! Los come down!"

"If you're wondering about the girl from the other day she's already at the hospital." The man replied sprinting from the house.

He ran after him in a hurry, surprised by what he had said. "Already there?"

They burst into the room panting. Los stood at the end of the bed surprised by their entrance. Hel sat at the edge of my bed grasping my hand. I was sitting up looking dazed as I looked at them. I looked at both of them then to Hel and lastly at Los.

"What's going on?"

They all stared at me with a smile. "You're awake! This is a wonderful day! How do you feel?"

I blinked with dazed eyes. A look of confusion passed over my face as I looked at my bandaged body. "What happened to me?"

Hel narrowed his eyes. "You don't remember?"

I shook my head. "Who are you? Who are all of you? Also, who am I?"

The room went into a state of shocked silence. Los was also at a loss for words. His mouth hung open as he fell to his knees and slowly shook his head. "What happened to your memory? What's happened to you?"

The doctor strode in, just alerted on the status of me. "She's awake! Good!"

"She doesn't remember anything, doc." Toc whispered. "Why doesn't she remember?"

The doctor walked over to me. He looked into my eyes for a moment. I watched his face tighten and his mouth formed a line. "Her mind has been injured. It's in a state of shock. I'm not sure when or if she'll get her memory back. She's been through a lot."

Hel hung his head over his lap. His hand stroking my hand. "I won't leave your side. I swear to that. I'll help you get your memory back. Not just for us but for those that need your help. Your name is Sell, you have a mother called Aumi, two older brothers called Toc and Des, and a father called Rien."

I nodded my head slowly trying to take all of this in but my head was pounding so great that I had trouble just thinking. I grasped my head wincing. "My head hurts so badly…!"

The doctor stepped away back to the door. "I'll get medicine for that. Just relax and rest."

We watched him leave. The room was in total silence. Not a single person spoke to anyone about anything. The Lord next to Toc stifled a sob. He rose turning his back on us. "Excuse me…I'll be back."

Toc watched him leave the room and knew that he had been in desperate need of having Lady Sell back to herself. He looked back at me with a frown. I cocked my head to the man who sat at the edge of my bed stroking my hand gently. "Who are you?"

Hel smiled to me placing his other hand on mine. "I'm Hel. A good friend of yours. We go back a long ways. Back to when we were kids."

I blinked and stared at him, looking him over. A memory came to me and I smiled. "Ah! I know you! Hel! We've grown up so big now!" I hugged him about the neck tightly and pulled away. "When can we play tag again?"

His mouth opened but nothing came out. He smiled and said nothing. I didn't understand. I watched as tears came from his eyes and ran down his cheeks. "Why are you crying? Are you ok? Do you not like tag anymore?"

He shook his head wiping his eyes with his arm. "I'm sorry. I'll be ok. I do like tag but, Sell, we're adults now. We don't play games like that anymore."

I frowned at him seeing my mistake. "Oh. I'm sorry." I hung my head feeling like an idiot. "We had fun though, right?"

Hel nodded to me. "Your mother will be happy to know you're up. You want me to go get her?"

I nodded. "Where's mom?" I remembered my mom's smiling face as we played together in a field of flowers close to home. "Has she come to visit me often?"

"She's not left your side." Toc replied as he got to his feet. "I'll get her. You watch her, Hel."

Hel nodded to him as he left and turned back to me. "Everyone was so worried about you. We thought you wouldn't make it through the night."

I wondered what they were talking about. "What happened to me?"

Everyone went silent. All heads turned to one another wondering how they would lie about the actual thing. Hel cleared his through looking at the bed sheets. "You were coming home one night. It was midnight. Some of the lamps in the street were out so it was pretty dark around the pathway. Creepers and Skeletons spawned and attacked your dad who was coming home with groceries."

I gasped grasping Hel's hands. "Is he ok?"

Hel nodded. "Yes! He's going to be ok but he's in the room across from yours from injuries. The Creeper exploded and injured your dad. You were just coming back from the market. You heard the screams of help and you ran to them to find your dad there.

"You had bought a iron sword for one of your brothers and used it against the skeleton. You defeated it but you also got injured from a second Creeper that you didn't know about. It snuck up behind you. You didn't get out of the way in time and the blast got you. I was on the wall on duty and saw the explosions.

"I left my post to check it out and found you and your dad bleeding on the pathway. I took you to the hospital and here we all are." Hel gestured around the room at them.

Los looked to the Lord raising a brow. He looked to her and then to Hel. This wasn't a very convincing story. I stared at them in shock. "So, a Creeper injured me and another got my dad?"

Everyone nodded at me. I sat back against the pillow in a haze. My mind pounded at all the facts. I couldn't believe that I had been harmed by a simple Creeper. I also couldn't believe dad didn't have a weapon on him at the time.

He never left the house without something on him! I looked out the window and stared out at the wall. "You must have good sight, Hel."

"I do. I've been told I got a hawk's eyesight I can see so far away." He chuckled rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"Thank you for rescuing me and dad." I smiled at him warmly seeing him blush slightly and smile back. "I'd probably be dead by now if it weren't for you."

"I-It's quite alright." He replied hesitantly. "I'm going to go check on your dad. I'll be right back."

I watched him get up and leave me with two other people that I didn't know. It was silent in an awkward way. "Who are you two?"

The Lord jumped slightly and looked to Los. Los smiled stepping forward. "I'm your cousin. This is my dad."

"Ah! Uncle Vash! How are you? I haven't seen you in such a long time!" I exclaimed raising my arms up to invite him for a hug but pain shot through them and my entire body making me fall back against the pillow, pain on my face.

"Sell!" they exclaimed going over to either side of me. I smiled at them.

"It'll be ok. I'm just moving a tad bit too soon."

The door opened and Aumi walked in. She smiled with tears running down her face as she went over to me and held me. "Oh, Sell! You're awake! Thank Notch!"

I looked at the ceiling as she cried on me wondering why she was crying so much. I remembered what Hel had said to me. "I'll be ok, mom. The Creeper only gave me a few good bruises and some fractures. I'll be healed in no time!"

My mother stared at me for a moment, her smile coming on a bit slowly. "You've gone back to the past. It's ok, honey."

I looked at her funny. "What past?"

I watched as my cousin and her father grasped my mother's shoulders shaking their heads for some reason. What was going on? My mother burst into tears again hiding her face in her hands. "I can't believe this has happened!"

I reached out slowly and rested my hand on her head. "It'll be ok. I and dad will recover from those Creepers before you know it. Stop crying, mom."

She cried harder from this and it didn't make sense why. I was in such confusion from everything. Why was she still crying? It wasn't like her to keep on like this. "Mom, stop crying. Mom? Mom, listen to me." I pleaded to her grasping her shoulder. "Des! Des!"

My brother came hurrying in at the yell of his name. He knelt by her holding her in a hug. "Come on, mom. Let's go get you some food and get a nap into you. What do you say?"

I watched them leave, my mom's cries fading as they got further down the hall. It all felt like a dream to me for some odd reason. I figured it must be my injuries.

"Sell, we're going to let you rest. We'll be back to check on you in a bit." Los said pushing the Lord out.

I nodded to them. "Ok. Thanks."

As the door shut I sat there staring out the window. I watched the clouds float on into the horizon lazily. Something within me was unsettling. What? Why?

Why did I feel troubled just by looking out into the horizon? Was there something out there that I was scared of? Of course, it must've been the Creepers and the skeleton that made me feel this way. There's no other explanation for it. The door opened and the doctor returned to give me medicine that would help me rest.

"Take this. It'll ease your head. You'll be able to sleep too."

I nodded taking the pill and swallowing it with water. He helped me settle under the covers and left the room. Before I knew it my eyes were heavy and I wanted to rest more. I felt them close and didn't stop them. Nothing but darkness would greet me as I dreamed.

I don't even think I was dreaming. It was just darkness. I stood there suspended in the air within the darkness that had no temperature. Even so, I still felt cold for some reason. My eyes looked about dully, almost lifeless.

Being here, I felt like a big part of me was missing. Why? Where had this part of me gone?

"Sell?" spoke a voice that sounded like a whisper.

I turned to the sound but saw no one there. Had someone just called my name?

"Sell."

I turned back towards the voice but still no one was there. "Who's there? Where are you?"

Silence met my questions. Something touched me making me spin around to see a small child staring up at me. "Where did you come from?"

"Sell, what are you doing here?" the boy asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked bending over slightly. "Where am I?"

"Hym, she doesn't remember." Spoke a voice that was gentle.

I turned to see a woman with white robes walking towards us. She looked like an angel. Something tugged within me but I didn't understand what it was trying to say.

I stared at her in silence as she stared at me back.

"You truly don't remember anything? Nothing at all?"

I shook my head in confusion at what she wanted from me. "Where am I? Who are you? Why am I here?"

The woman smiled holding out her hand for mine. "We'll discuss this slowly. Take my hand, Lady Sell."

I hesitantly reached out, taking her hand, her icy cold hand that chilled me through to the bone. I gasped yanking my hand away and grasping it with my other hand. "You're so cold! What's wrong with you?"

The boy that she had called Hym gasped. "Oh no…! Her memory is truly gone!"

The woman before me nodded. "She'll get it back. Her body, her mind, her existence, won't let her forget it. She just needs to be shown."

"Force won't make that happen, Ananon." Spoke another voice.

I turned to see a bright light illuminating the darkness growing brighter as it neared. I shielded my arms with my arm from the light. "Who's there?"

"Lady Sell, it saddens me to see you like this." The woman said as the light began to fade. Her body was covered in white robes too. "Everyone cries out for you more than ever now."

I stared at her in silence. None of my questions had been answered. Was I dreaming? I had to be. The woman next to the younger raised her hand to me.

"I'll leave you with a gift to push you along to get your memory. You are the one that walks two worlds yet communicates to them both. You walk these two naturally. You intertwine them like yin and yang.

"Life and Death. Light and Dark. Good and Evil. It doesn't matter the name that you give them. There is only one who can battle one side to protect the other. There is only one who passes over to the darkness to take back what has fallen from the light."

"That is you, Lady Sell!" exclaimed Lady Ananon.

A bright light absorbed my body. I gasped at the rate it had absorbed me and shut my eyes thinking that I was going to die but it soon faded leaving me alone in the darkness. I looked down to see my body covered in a black and white cloak split right down the center between the two colors.

"It does not matter whether you are lost or afraid," the voice whispered to me in the darkness. "You are not alone in your fight. Just listen and you'll hear the voices that cry out for your help. It'll all fall into place."

"Wait!" I cried out into the darkness. "What are you talking about? Tell me more! Hey!"

My eyes opened to see blue eyes staring over me. I gasped sitting upright. The figure step away smoothly, not making any sound. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

I stared at Hel and sighed. "Hel. Why are you staring at me so closely?"

He looked down apologetically. "I was wondering if you were ok. Clothes appeared on your body." His eyes went to my chest.

Looking down I saw the cloak that had been put on me by the woman from my dreams. I gasped grabbing the clothing. "What the hell? I thought that was a dream?" I looked up to Hel who had a look on his face that I couldn't read. "What? What's going on? Hel?"

Hel shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It's ok." He turned and left from the room leaving me there alone.

I sat there in shocked confusion with heavy eyes. Before I knew it I was passed out once more with dreams of voices whispering to me.

'Lady Sell…Save us!'

'Lady Sell…!'

"Sell…!'

I curled up in the darkness, covering my ears and shutting my eyes tight. Why wouldn't they leave me alone? Who were they? It was several hours later before I was casted out into a field of flowers that went out a good bit. All around in the distance were mountains. Birds chirped and flew overhead making me duck my head slightly. I watched them play with one another in the air, doing their aerobatics. What was this place? Had I seen it somewhere? I walked to the edge of the field to look down at the gradual descend all around into other fields. Looking about I took note of the streams of water that ran through, sometimes intersecting. I was taken aback by the view. It was too gorgeous to be real.

"What is this place?" I asked myself aloud turning around to see a small cozy cottage with a water wheel on its side. I walked towards it transfixed by the coziness. "Why is this out here for? Where in hell am I?"

I touched the knob on the door, turning it. Surprisingly it was unlocked. Pushing open the door a male looked up at me with surprise. "Ah!"

"Ah!" I gasped in return. We stared at one another for a moment before the male smiled extending his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sell. I'm so glad you could finally make it here!"

I took his hand slowly and shook. "N-Nice to meet you too?"

He turned around and sat down in front of the fireplace. "We have much to discuss! I see you fought the Dark Lord! News of that battle has spread all through Minecraft!"

I stood there in complete confusion. "Pardon me, sir? Who are you?"

He looked back at me and face palmed himself. "Forgive me, my dear! I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Lord Dra'tor. I'm the far Northeastern direction. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

I stared at him for a moment. "You're the same age as I am."

He blinked and shook his head. "I'm two years older. Very close observation though."

"I'm sorry, Lord Dra'tor. I've lost my memory. So, if you called me here for some reason from before, I don't know what it's about or what I can do." I stood there staring him with a disappointed frown. "I'm sorry."

He smiled gently. "I figured you had. How's your father?"

"Still recovering from the creeper and skeleton attack." I took a seat next to him staring into the fire. My eyes lifeless like before.

The Lord stared at me and chuckled. "Ok. I'll play along then."

I looked at him oddly. "What?"

He shook his head, his red spikey hair waving in his movements. He turned to me with his sand colored eyes and smiled. "They're protecting you. I'm surprised by that actually. I thought they would've forced everything on you but they actually aren't. Even though the situation we're in is dire."

A memory struck me then as I stared into the fire. I grasped my head tightly gasping from pain. "Ah!"

Dra'tor was at my side suddenly. "My Lady?"

I shook my head trying to make the pain stop. "It hurts…!"

"You're remembering something." Dra'tor said gently touching my face. "Calm down and let it come through."

I let myself go as instructed and was flung into a time that I had forgotten. I stood before a person, a creature, something that was cloaked, holding a scythe and wanting to kill me. His appearance sent chills down my body. The evil aura about him made me stop breathing. He neared me, his eyes alight with fire. I screamed shutting my eyes tightly. "No!"

"Sell!" barked Dra'tor shaking me. "Sell?"

I gasped for breath staring at him in fear. I tried to speak but nothing came from my mouth except for murmurs. I felt him hold me protectively.

"It's ok, Lady Sell. You're fine. You're safe here with me."

I shook against him with fear. Who was that I had just remembered? Why had I remembered something like that? "May I have some water?"

Dra'tor nodded and fetched me a glass of water. As he passed a notebook fell to the floor from the arm of his chair. I reached out taking the glass that he offered and also reached for the book too. He was going to stop me but hesitated. "My Lady…?"

I drank a few sips of water ignoring him. My curiosity peaked as I opened the book and skimmed the pages. I stopped flipping when I recognized someone. Laying the book open I pointed to the creature I had remembered. "That! What is that? I just now saw it in my memories!"

Dra'tor looked down at the page not replying. "That is the one that has placed us in the dire situation. That, my Lady, is the Lord of the Darkness or Dark Lord."

I looked at the Lord with dread across my face. What had the Lord of the Darkness done and what situation were they in?