It's very strange to live a second life. Especially when you can't remember your first one. Was reincarnation supposed to do that? I thought the entire deal with reincarnation was that you got to keep your memories from your past life- all the personal ones at least. My memories of my last family, and any memory of any meaningful relationship was gone except for that crazy memory of the lady with the knife, (which I certainly could have gone without) and my memory of Grima, his words had left an impression on my mind.

"You will be worthy of the power I bestow upon you."

I didn't want anything Grima had to give. I knew that Grima was the one who was holding my memories hostage. I would pry my memories from him if I had to break every bone in his body.

In my new life, I was born into a wealthy family. For the first four years of my life I rarely saw my parents, instead I was left with the servants on our estate. The thought that I would take my memories back was the only thing that staved off the boredom of my infancy. Once I became four, my parents finally stepped into my life and that was when my life began.

-Dismas

The melodic tune of violins drifted throughout the ballroom, blending together with the chatter of the nobles, generals, and other big wigs. The entire scene would've been boredom for any child, even for me who had the mind of an adult (which was often a curse more than a boon). I was basically being dragged around by my father and displayed as a trophy, which I totally understood. My father wanted to show off his heir and try to find some noble girl to wed me to in order to increase our family's station. I didn't really care for it but I couldn't really do anything about it.

"Dismas, pay attention!" My father ordered and my mind came back into focus.

I still felt weird responding to Dismas, even after five years. It was like this world was trying to make me forget everything that I once was, even my name.

Father, being the general of an army, had spent the last year tempering me into a model soldier. Which meant If I didn't listen to him he would beat the crap out of me (which I had learned the hard way.)

My posture straightened and I turned my attention to him, I knew better than to make him angry.

He turned to the man he was talking to. The man was probably in his early thirties, around my father's age, and was dressed in clothes that were slightly fancier than the rest at the party. His auburn hair was adorned with a golden crown.

My father bowed, "I apologize for his behavior, King Gangrel. The boy still has a lot of learning to do."

Gangrel laughed heartily, "He's just a boy, General Garroth. I remember I didn't like these parties when my father brought me to them when I was his age."

"Discipline is something you must imprint at an early stage so whoever your teaching, whether it's your own flesh and blood or not, will respect you and follow you without question." My father defended, he really was scary whenever someone questioned his methods. Scratch that, he was just scary in general.

Gangrel didn't take offense like I thought he would instead he opted to shrug, like he wasn't the king of an entire country. Maybe he was closer to Father than I originally thought.

"He's only a child, but I won't question your parenting or whatever you call it. Besides, if he has you leading him, I'm sure he'll become a strong soldier and will keep Plegia safe from anything that might hurt her." After he finished what he said, he looked down at me and flashed a warm smile.

His words and his personality seemed genuine and unlike how I thought a king would act. He A king wasn't supposed to act familiar with people under his station, was he?

I bowed and thanked him, "Thank you, King Gangrel. Hearing such encouraging words from a man of your status is an honor."

I felt a chill run down my back as chuckle rang from behind me, "My, my, what a well spoken boy you have, General Garroth."

I jumped back and did a complete one-eighty. Staring down at me was a tall, thin man clad in a dark suit. His slanting red eyes looked down at me, like a snake that was about to strike out and attack it's prey. His fingernails resembled claws more than a human's nails, each sharpened down to an intimidating point.

The man suppressed his laughter with his hand- apparently scaring the living daylights out of kids was a favorite pastime for him.

Thoroughly entertained, he turned his attention to my father, "It's nice to see you, General."

"Heirophant." My father replied curtly, his disdain for all people not excluding the Heirophant.

The "heirophant" snickered before acting like his feelings were hurt, "I thought you would be more happy to see me, old friend."

King Gangrel chimed in, further increasing my suspicion that he and father were closer than I thought, "Come Garroth, we haven't seen Validar since we were young, let's get a couple of drinks and catch up with how he has been doing."

My father looked skeptical but eventually nodded before bending down to whisper in my ear, "You go outside and run around. I have some grownup talk to attend to."

I was curious as to what the three of theirs relationship was but the prospect of me getting out of this ball room of boredom was too great. I nodded enthusiastically and ran off towards the entrance.

-Dismas

My lungs filled with fresh air as I inhaled the outside air. I fell backwards onto the grass, groaned out loud, and loosened my necktie. The coolness of the grass felt good on my arms and neck.

I rubbed my eyes, not realizing how tired I was, a nap might actually be a good idea. "Thank God, I'm out of there. I don't ever want to come to another one of these parties again." I said to no one in particular.

I heard a girlish giggle as a white haired girl appeared over me, her brown irises glinting with childish mischief, "I know, huh? These parties are boring!"

She was way too close but the constant tempering of my nerves for the past year had made me able to hide my discomfort (one thing I could be thankful to my father for.) I nodded and said nothing and her face disappeared from my vision. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see her laying down in the grass beside me.

I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep, she could lay there all she wanted, it wasn't bothering me... sort of. She sighed deeply and I opened my eyes. I turned to where she was laying to see her staring at me. I guess she thought I might've played with her since I looked around her age.

I ignored her and tried to go back to what I was doing. The next two sighs I ignored but the third was the last straw. I turned my head to her.

"Do you want something?" I asked, making sure my annoyance was clear.

She nodded and pointed to herself, "My name is Robin. What's your name?"

"My name is Dismas. Is that all you wanted?" I asked impatiently.

She shook her head and pointed her finger in my face, focusing my green and browns heterochromic eyes on the finger, "Why are your eyes different colors?"

"Because." I stood up and walked away. I had seen a garden behind the mansion through the windows while I had been inside. It didn't sound overly enjoyable but at this point I was desperate for any means to escape boredom and this child who had taken to bothering me.

I walked around the outside of the mansion until I reached the entrance of the garden, an arch three times my height and made completely out of rose bushes. The entire garden wall was made of the same rose bushes. They were thicker and taller than any hedge I had seen in this life or my old one. Wine red roses with bright scarlet centers covered the walls of the garden. Their unique appearance taking my mind by surprise as I stared at them, my body hypnotized by the beauty of them.

"Do you like the roses?" Robin's voice asked from behind me.

I reluctantly broke my gaze away from the flowers and turned to speak to Robin, "Why did you follow me?"

She walked past me and smelled one of the roses, "These roses are called Dragon Blood Roses. They don't grow anywhere except for in this garden."

"That doesn't answer my question." I grumbled.

She didn't even turn away from the rose she was smelling, "You didn't answer my question first."

I clicked my tongue and ran through the arched entrance of the garden. The smell of the roses permeated the crisp night air, their intoxicating aroma bringing me deeper into the garden. I noticed that no other plants made their home in the garden. The roses reigned over this area of the world, their kingdom of supremacy had weeded out the inferior plants that had dared to challenge the roses for territory.

When I neared the center of the garden, the first thing I heard was the babbling of water. The sound ray of foreign energy that echoed throughout the otherwise silent garden. It was as if the roses had not yet taken the final citadel of the garden.

I looked behind me to see if Robin had followed me into the garden. Once I had determined she had not followed me, I entered the center of the garden to see the cause of the babbling water, a fountain with a beautiful statue in the middle. The statue was made out of a smooth black stone that was polished so shiny I was sure I could've eaten off of it. It seemed like it was made in the likeness of a man but at closer look it was different from a normal man. The ears were long, tapered, and stuck far out from the sides of its head and it had small horns growing out of the top of it's head.

The statue's head was facing the sky so I couldn't see it's eyes. Water poured from the sides off it's face, giving the image that it was crying. It's arm was extended in front of it with a jagged cut made across it's wrist. Water bubbled up from the gash like blooded gushing from a wound. Engraved on the podium upon which the statue were these words.

This garden is the place where Love first died. Let these roses, which are stained with blood, stand as the reminder of how dangerous Love is and what betrayals lie in wait should you dabble in it's magic.

I stared up at the statue, wondering just who was betrayed here and why. The statue and engraving told such a sad tale that I wished I could've known more about. I heard a cackling laugh and a purple mist spewed from the mouth of the statue. The mist swirled around the fountain before forming into a smoky likeness of the statue.

Six familiar eyes appeared on the face of the smoky figure as it looked down on me,"It's been a long time, Dismas."

"Grima." I growled, my fists shaking with rage. I wanted nothing more in the world than to destroy him with my fists and take my memories back but what could I have done with the body of a five year old.

"I see you've been enjoying the view of my garden."

"I find it hard to see you in love with anyone. And if you're powerful enough to bring my soul into this world how could you be betrayed by someone? This entire garden seems like an entire lie."

His red eyes started to glow brighter and his voice began to get snippy, "A lie? You know nothing!"

My vision started to blur and I started to hyperventilate the air was taken out of my lungs as quickly as it had been there. Was this the power of Grima? What was the extent of his power? I fell to the ground, every breath gasping for air that wasn't there anymore.

I looked up at him. His eyes were glowing a harsher red than ever before, yet staying as still as the statue behind him. "I loved her and she betrayed me! You have no idea what that is like!"

I wanted to say something- anything but my voice wouldn't work. It felt like an eternity since I had last breathed air. I couldn't feel my legs or arms anymore and my breathing started to slow, my body accepting its demise as I felt the life leaving my body.

"This is how I die? It's even more pathetic than my last death. I hope I die for real this time."

His eyes dimmed and he chuckled, "You are making it really hard not to kill you. Do you know how tempting it is to me? It wouldn't even take a second. Unfortunately, you are of use to me and I don't waste tools that still have their uses."

I coughed as the air came back to my lungs. My chest heaved as I lay with my eyes staring at the cobbled stone around the fountain trying to get my vision back into focus.

"Dismas? Where did you go?" I heard Robin's voice call out somewhere else in the garden.

"We'll meet again Dismas." I lifted my head to see Grima's smoky apparition dissipating into the air.

Tears started to drip down my cheeks. I could almost hear them steaming on my skin from how livid I was. "I don't want this anymore! I'm so sick of this crap!"

I pushed myself up and walked out of the garden, ignoring whatever Robin was saying to me as I passed her. As I came back to the entrance of the mansion, my father called me from the carriage in front of the mansion.

I ran to the carriage and hopped in. Father didn't look to happy, maybe that heirophant guy rubbed him the wrong way. I wouldn't blame him, that guy was unnerving to be around.

"We're going to be starting your sword training once we get back. Discipline is only one part of being a soldier." Father said bluntly as the mansion became a small speck on the horizon.

I could barely hold in my excitement. Sword lessons would make my memories that much more obtainable. Grima would beg me to end him once I was done with him.