Chapter One
"Help me… please…"
The call was mournful and echoing, metallic. It raked across the senses, causing an explosion of pain. The brunet gasped, crying out softly amber eyes widening as he stumbled into the small clearing after experiencing the blinding white flash that accompanied the plea. He paled instantly, his skin clammy as he grasped at the rough, uneven bark of a large oak tree. He squeezed his eyes shut, his head throbbing suddenly as his world began to spin. He ignored the sounds of movement behind him, looking around for the source of the call, finding nothing. Swallowing thickly, he panted for breath, his skin glistening; droplets of sweat rolling down his neck.
"Who's there?" he called, keeping his voice low to prevent his companions overhearing in case there really wasn't anyone there. He knew they already thought him crazy; he'd already heard their whispered comments and didn't want to give them any further evidence.
He growled softly, narrow Grecian features twisting in frustration as he strained to hear the soft plea once more, but only heard the hushed muttering of his companions as they grew closer. He tried to filter them out as he listened for the voice he'd heard, but it was no use.
"Mica?" the young female voice sounded far away as he strained listening. He jumped, turning, brought back to the present by a gentle touch on his arm and looked back to see worried eyes studying him. "Are you all right?"
He swallowed, gazing into the girl's eyes with a feeling that he should know her; she was his companion after all. He recognized her that much but… he sighed heavily, shaking his head. It was like holding onto sand. One minute he'd think he'd have something, and the next it slipped away. He knew her though; she had that sense of consistency. He could remember waking up and seeing her face – all of their faces – every day and they moved together from place to place. How long he'd been traveling with them he couldn't say, but enough to recognize her as such at least.
He looked away again, biting at his bottom lip as he searched the trees and listened again for the strange plea, but only for a moment before he exhaled heavily and turned to her again. "I'm fine," he replied. Mica, the name she'd used when she spoke to him. It didn't sound familiar, but it must have been his. She'd been looking at him and touched his arm when she'd spoken. He just… wished he could remember.
He knew he'd disappointed her when her hopeful expression vanished in an instant. He shifted uncomfortably, feeling his insides knot. He hated disappointing people, and it left him feeling horrible whenever he did.
"Sorry," he murmured, lowering his gaze and swallowing thickly. He glanced up again when she touched his arm once more to see her smiling at him.
"It's okay," she replied, keeping her voice low as well. "You can't help it, nor can you change what you've been through. I'm just glad that you remember us enough to know that you can stay with us. I'd hate to wake up one morning and find that you'd left us."
He sighed and looked back toward the trees, his expression thoughtful as he chewed his lip.
"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, drawing his attention once more.
"Yes," he replied and smiled at her reassuringly. "It's just a headache, that's all."
"They've been happening a lot, haven't they?" She still looked worried.
He exhaled heavily and nodded. In all honesty, he'd been trying to hide them since they moved around so much. The man leading their group liked to push them to get as far as they could every day before they made camp for the night, the older woman with them agreeing. They avoided towns as much as possible, staying mostly in the heavily forested areas and cutting across wide open spaces quickly.
He might not remember who they were exactly, but he did remember that they weren't traveling because they enjoyed it. They weren't gypsies looking for work, they were hunted. Most importantly, he could recall what the men hunting them looked like. Making his headaches known endangered the others, making them stop for him, and he didn't want to cause anyone problems.
He turned to glance over his shoulder when he heard a loud groan and saw the man leading them stop and stretch his back at length, and the woman beginning to pull things out of her pack to set up camp. He swallowed thickly when the man looked over, feeling his gaze.
"So," the man began gruffly addressing the girl. "How is he?"
The girl squeezed his arm gently and smiled at him reassuringly before heading back to the others. "He's okay," he heard her say. "It's just a headache."
He shrank back in the shadows against the tree when the man looked up at him again with a grim, thoughtful expression on his weathered face.
"Well," the man said at last, inclining his head toward the woman. "I suppose that it's about time to make camp anyway, it's not like we'd get much further before dark anyhow. Just hope this headache of his is gone by morning."
He nodded to the man curtly, his throat tightening at the thought of what might happen if it wasn't. It wasn't the first time this had happened after all, but it was rare enough to allow forgiveness, and was the main reason he'd tried to hide the fact that they happened more often than he let on.
Sighing, he dropped his own pack and slumped down against the oak tree closing his eyes as he once more tried to tune out the noise his companions made. This time though, he wasn't trying to listen for the voice he'd heard but to ease his throbbing headache.
Opening his eyes wearily after a few moments, he dug into the pack and pulled out a dirty beige rough woolen blanket and shook it out, scattering dirt and leaves in the small gust he created. Tucking it up around his shoulders, he turned on his side away from the others and curled up.
Thankfully, from the first headache he'd experienced with the others, they knew not to disturb him for food regardless of how long it had been since he'd eaten. They had all learned then that it only made him sick, his stomach turning in knots to accompany the severity of the headache and expelling anything and everything that was put into it. He was lucky enough to get water to stay down. No, it was better to go hungry for now then to make things worse.
Concentrating, the sound of the birds around them helped to soothe his headache. The quiet and sometimes not so quiet sounds of his companions' conversation became nothing more than a soft din replaced by the sound of his breathing as he focused on it instead, gradually slowing it the more he focused.
He sighed softly as he drifted off to sleep, his headache easing even more as he was encompassed in darkness. Then, in his mind's eye, he saw the clearing they had entered; only this time, he was alone with nothing but the birds to keep him company. They were singing softly though they were hidden in the trees in the soft light of evening. He swallowed upon seeing himself, but the self he saw in his mind's eye appeared calm and relaxed and gradually the tension, discomfort and pain of the day left him completely.
'Hello?'
His breath hitched and the self in his mind's eye gave a jerk at the sound, opening his eyes. No one had ever invaded his solitude before, at least not that he could remember. Looking around, he didn't see anyone; he was still alone and the birds were still chirping merrily in the trees. The sunlight still streamed warmly down upon him, highlighting the different tones in his short, curly chestnut hair, but something was off about this place...
'Hello? Is anyone there?
"Hello?" he called in return, continuing to scan his surroundings. "Yes... I'm here. Who are you?"
Silence; then after a moment, a soft, stifling sob. 'Please...' the voice called out pleading pitifully. 'Please... help me.'
Coldness filled him that seemed to soak down to his bones despite the warmth of the day at the fear in the voice. "What's wrong?" he asked getting to his feet, pushing himself up against the trunk of the tree and swayed slightly as he gained his footing among its gnarled roots. "Where are you?"
He gasped as inertia took over, and stumbled, trying to regain his balance as he swept swiftly through the forest beyond the meadow where he'd started. It took him a moment to steady himself and he realized that he had never moved a step, but that it was the forest which in fact moved around him. The forest flashed by him as though he were following a path. "Wait," he called out. "Slow down!"
But the movement continued steadily, even speeding up and he swallowed, trying to remember the twists and turns, the lefts and rights through the winding forest as it sped by. Suddenly, there was a flash as the edge of the forest burst around him and he was in a wide open meadow of tall grasses and yellow wild flowers. There he saw a tall white oak tree, taller than any of the trees around.
Moving forward, though more slowly this time, he noticed a weathered wooden fence and an old, weathered, but still inhabitable cabin nearby with a red shingle roof. It had a small porch and screen door that hung a little crookedly on the door frame.
The landscape moved around him again, drawing backward this time, and he stumbled slightly, surprised by the change in direction. He saw the white oak once more, off to the left of his field of view, but it was what was in his central view that made him gasp. Some tall grass and yellow flowers had been trampled and cleared around the capsule-like top of a cylinder sticking out about two feet above the ground.
He swallowed convulsively when he saw the capsule, recognizing it. "This..." he asked. "This is where you are?"
At first, his only answer was another stifling sob, and he didn't think whoever was in trouble or seemed to be in trouble, would answer. After a few moments of silence however, there was a soft, tearful response he had to strain to hear.
'Yes...'
He exhaled a shuddering breath as a chill ran down his spine. "How-how long?"
More tears and he waited patiently for a reply.
'I... I don't know...'
He shuddered once more closing his eyes, and steepled his long, nimble fingers against his lips.
'Please....' the pleading and decidedly male voice begged. 'Please help me...'
"I will..." he promised and opened his eyes, sitting down in front of the capsule the man had showed him. "But you have to show me how to get here again - slower, this time, all right? Can you do that?"
'I... I think so...'
He waited but nothing happened. "Are you all right?" he asked after a few moments of silence though he could still sense the man's presence.
'Umm...' the man replied hesitantly. 'Just… Just a moment...'
He blinked and couldn't help the smile that graced his features, closing his eyes with a nod, exhaling softly he waited. Hands resting on his knees, he focused on his breathing once more and centered himself. Willing himself to relax, the scene around him dissolved slowly, once more revealing the clearing where he had started.
"Now," he said, opening his eyes after feeling the scene around him change. "This time, a little slower, okay?"
'Okay,' the man agreed before the forest began to move once more as he showed him where he was.
All right, he thought. Left under the boughs of the arched trees, forward twenty, no, thirty paces, over the fallen log, steer right for fifteen paces... His thoughts went on and on as the man showed him the way to the edge of the forest to the place where the cylinder rose partially out of the ground.
"So..." he said once he'd mapped out the course through the forest in his head. "Who are you?"
Silence once more and he looked around still sensing the man's presence.
"Do you not know who you are, or do you just not want to tell me?" he asked.
'No,' the man replied.
"No, what?" he asked. "No, you don't know, or no, you don't want to tell me?"
'I don't know,' the man answered quietly, and he could almost hear the man swallow reflexively. 'D-does that mean you won't help me?'
"No," he replied. "I said I'd help you, and I meant it. I just... want to know more about you. Do you know why you were imprisoned?"
Again, there was silence, but he got the impression that the man was thinking rather than delaying in his response.
'I think so, yes...' the man replied after a moment.
"And?" he asked, prompting him to continue.
'I... I think I was part of the resistance...'
"You think you were part of the resistance?" he asked.
'Well...' the man drawled uncertainly. 'I - I'm not sure...'
"Why is that?" he asked. "Is it because you've been in there a while? How long have you been in there anyway?"
'I - I said I don't know...' the man replied. 'B-but I - I see things...'
"You see things?" he asked uncertainly and felt as though he could see the man when he sensed him nodding.
'Y-Yes...' the man answered and he was able to sense the man's nervousness.
"What kinds of things do you see?" he asked curiously.
'I - I've seen them...'
"Them?" he asked in confusion.
'M-my family... a-and the men w-who came to our house...' the man replied.
"You can see them?" he asked. "You mean the men who came and imprisoned you?"
'Yes...' the man replied. The sound was no more than a whisper and he could sense the man's fear and confusion. 'I... I mean, I think they were my family... t-the man...t-the one who c-came to our h-house… h-he said 'the-the family who s-stays together... pays together...' a-and w-we were k-kind of dressed t-the same... n-not like the other men who came. They were all in black armor.'
He exhaled heavily and nodded looking off into the distance, away from the half buried cylinder still in front of him. "The Black Knights..." he muttered. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair before looking back. "But you don't remember who you are?"
'No,' the man replied. 'I - I can see them... my family... a-and I hear names called out but...'
"But you don't remember who is who..." he finished when the man trailed off and sensed his acquiesce to the assumption. He exhaled heavily once more and scrubbed his face looking back at the cylinder. It was true he found, blinking as he looked at the outside of the cylinder. Cocking his head, he studied it curiously. Reaching up, he touched the plaque that was welded to the opening of the cylinder, but it was blank. It was scratched and tarnished as though there'd once been a name there, like all the cylinders that he'd come across had been marked, but this one was as though it had worn off or been destroyed. Pulling back in awe, he blinked again, letting his fingers fall. The man really didn't know who he was.
The man sighed heavily. 'No,' he said sadly.
He was quiet for a while, deep in thought.
'Please...' the man pleaded again, his voice trembling with suppressed fear. 'Help me.'
"I will," he assured him.
The man released a shuddering breath.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
'I've been better,' the man answered, exhaling heavily. 'D-do you know when you'll get here?'
He couldn't help the sad smile that tugged at his lips. "Look, I know you want to be released, and I intend to help you, but you will have to wait a little longer... I can't leave just yet."
'Why not?' the man asked, his voice filled with curiosity and petulance.
"Well, if I leave now, I could get lost for one thing; and you'll be waiting that much longer. I can't go in the middle of the night; it's too dark."
'You won't get lost,' the man said certainly. 'If you do, all you have to do is ask me and I can show you the way.'
"Yes... I've seen that," he replied. "My question is, how?"
'I - I don't know...' the man answered quietly. 'You're the first person I've ever met since...' He trailed off not knowing how to finish the sentence.
He nodded, understanding what the man didn't say. "Well, I still can't go until morning," he said and his thoughts lingered on the young girl he was traveling with and what she'd told him earlier. "I'm not traveling alone, and my companions will worry if I'm gone when they wake up."
'I see...' the man murmured.
"I'll be there as soon as I can though," he assured him. "I promise."