"Geeze, why does dusk have to come so soon?" Silas complains as he rubs the back of his neck.
"Would you shut up, its just a little bit of dark, its not going to freaking kill us." I manage to hit his head this time. Silas rolls his eyes and stumbles over something. Looking where he tripped I see that its a necklace, "What is a necklace doing out in the middle of here?" I pick it up and put it in my hands to look at it closer. Why does this silver necklace look familiar?
"Agh, my neck, stupid necklace laying on the stupid ground. Aydub you know who's locket thing that is?"
"Maybe...the circle locket rings a bell and the symbol of an owl... An owl..." Running my finger down the locket I wonder, who's locket is this? Silas and I stand looking at the locket when it hits me, "This is my mom's!" He looks at me like I was half bear and half kobold, "So your mom just left her locket or something out in the middle of nowhere? Yeah thats likely" I shoot Silas a death glare and continue to examine the locket, Mom said this was her prized possesion... Touching the locket it pops open and I semi yelp.
"Did you just 'eep'?" Silas looks over at me.
"No I just said,'wannahackaloogie in your face'" Hearing the heavy sarchasim we both start laughing. Looking at the locket I see a small picture, a young purple haired woman, my mother, and a black haired red eyed man...my dad. I feel the tears streaming down my cheeks but I'm not sad.
"Are you crying kid?" Silas puts a hand on my shoulder.
"No these are stupid rain drops appearing out of...no..." I fall into Silas and cry, its pathetic but I never really even knew my father but I loved him and he just up and vanished! I don't know what he thought, confusion, pity, maybe even amusement but I didn't really care at the time. I feel a hand patting my back, "Its alright kid, I kinda know what you must be thinking."
I stand up straight and wipe my eyes, "How? Do you read minds or something?"
All he does is shrug, "My parents were murdered not to long ago by some Fomors, right infront of me too. It didn't bother me for some reason but..." He paused to wipe his eyes, "But I still miss them, I don't have any siblings or anything so...got kinda lonley at home."
I bite my lip. Silas has been through quite a bit of hell himself.
"Hey Aydub, since your a Dark Knight and all...have you seen Tir Na Nog before?"
I scoff, " Tir Na Nog, the place of endless paradise. An assumable place where you can never grow old, die, or become sick."
"So you have seen it? What was it like?! Was it beautiful like everyone says it is, or is it more of a paradise than we ima-"
"THERE ISN'T A SUCH THING!"
Silas takes a step back, I guess my temper got the best of me.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Tir Na Nog isn't a paradise, its a damned fomor infested pit of hell. There aren't any more humans there, only zombies and fomors. Its ridiculous, the damned place that we call a 'paradise' is actually the last place on the face of this world ANYONE would want to be." I pause to catch myself before I start to rant on, "There is no paradise, there never will be. Tir Na Nog is a nightmare for people... But...the way I am now it'd seem like home." Silas puts a hand on my shoulder.
"How 'bout we just set up a camp and sleep away from the road. Its gettin' dark." We walk about 100 yards away from the road and set up camp. I can tell by the moons that its almost midnight.
"Why can't I sleep...."
"You shouldn't worry so much. Crap happens, just deal with it." I hear Silas mumble. Is he sleep talking or actually talking to me?
"Silas you awake or are you sleep talking, because seriously its freaking me out."
"No I'm sleep talking." I hear the heavy sarchasim, "Really, you need to think about it, when you get home your family will be happy to see you...maybe."
"But what if-"
"No 'what if'ing me alright? They'll be happy to see you end of story, now get some sleep."
Leaning my head on the ground I stare at the night sky. Its so endless.
My eyes close and I drift off to sleep.
~.~.~*.*~.~.~
"Aydub, can you hear me now?"
"Yeah, I can hear you." I look up and face Nao.
"Its good to see you again, even if it is just for this brief time." Her voice is softer than the flutter of owl wings above me.
I shrug my shoulders and look down. What is it that I forgot about here?
"You know, you can become your old self again."
"I can become a Paladin again!?"
Nao shakes her head, "Sadly, you are forced to be a Dark Knight ,Aydub. I mean, do you wish to rebirth into your old self?"
"Old self? I've been this way for as long as I can remember..."
"As long as you can remember, do you remember this form?" Nao waves her hand, that pink haired girl appears again. Her orange dress fans out, her deep sea foam eyes are pupil-less, "Its nice to see you Aydub! I can't believe I actually chose myself to look like that!"
"What?! Wait, so you're me and I'm you? This is confusing." I scratch my head.
"Yup! We're the same person! We're one of the lucky few to rebirth!"
"Rebirth? The thing that some people have the ability to do?"
"Yes, you actually decided to become a boy. You didn't want a hell filled world, you wanted to lose your memory."
"Why?! What was so bad about it???" I cry out, this is frustrating, and why am I getting irritable?!
"Our husband. He left us and then to many things happened..."
"Why do you remember this and not me?"
"I am the symbol of your lost memory, your old self. You can remember if you want, it'd make us happy Aydub!"
"Tch, I don't want to remember then! I want this memory now and forever got it?! You aren't going to change that!"
"Alright Aydub. When you wake up you'll be greeted by someone else, maybe Silas and her. Just remember this conversation. Have a good time until we meet again." Nao dissipates with my other self. The platform dissolves and I fall through white the owls flutter about and turn black. The sky shades and turns black with the owls.
~.~.~*.*~.~.~
I feel myself tossing and turning. My hand crosses over something soft. A giggle is let out.
"Oh my! You are a little pervert!"
"Huh?" I o pen my eyes, a tan girl with teal eyes and silver blonde hair sits infront of me, my hand on her...well you get the point, "AGH!!!! W-WHO?! WHAT THE HELL?!"
"Hmm? What's the matter sir? Do you not enjoy touching my-"
"Sh-shut up whoever you are! And why'd you call me sir?!" I'm sitting up, my hair down and in a bed head.
"Hehe, well, I'm your spirit!" She giggles and points to my white bow.
"Oh... So, what's your name?" I scratch my head and my stomach, a total guy thing.
Her face is sad and she gives me something that mom would call, the puppy eye treatment.
"Its so sad, I don't have a name yet! So you have to name me!" She pokes my nose and smiles.
"Alright... I'll think about it, can I just call you Bow for a while?"
She pouts, "Hmph! Fine but you better make a pretty name for me then! Bow is soooooooo ugly."
How the hell would a bow know if she's only been alive for like 40 minutes?
"Hey...Why are you talking to yourself Aydub? -yawn-" Silas wakes up and rubs his eyes.
"Uhhh Silas, this is uhhh..."
"Who?" He looks over towards me and his eyes open up like he just saw an explosion, "DID YOU GET A GIRLFRIEND OVERNIGHT OR SOMETHING?! Who is she????"
"I don't have a name, but I'm Aydub's spirit bow." She said with her nose slightly in the air, what a snoot.
We talked for a while, Bow seems to have lost her memory.
Bow complains that she's hungry, "Well, what do you want to eat?"
She floats in mid-air and strokes her chin, "I want a helmet! A nice shiny new one too master!"
I roll my eyes as Silas and I get up to pack up camp, Bow seems content to just watch and observe us. She's pretty weird, but she seems like a good friend.
As Silas and I mindlessly chat up the road to Dunbarton Bow floats around foxes and raccoons. She awe's and ooh's at everything, trees, animals, even the dirt! it's like she's 4 or something.
If you haven't been on a trail to Dunbarton then you have no idea how beautiful it can be. The trees are scattered and shade the path somewhat, and the bears seem friendly as long as you don't get near them and touch them.
The sunlight is barely comming over the horizon as I walk into the walled town.
"Aydub, I'm going to go hunt some, my skills seem to be really dull. I'll catch you later." Silas waves and walks off into the feild, dissapearing into the tall grass. Bow plops her arms on my head and rests her head on them.
"So, humans' lives are pretty interesting aren't they?" She seems content and facinated.
"It varies on the person's life. Mine's interesting I guess." I look up at her and she smiles I can't help but return the smile.
I stop by the healer's house to pick up some bandages and stamina potions, being an archer you lose stamina quickly.
Bow pops out for a second but Manus doesn't seem to see her, maybe only I can.
"Hey Bow, I'm going to name you something cool."
"Oh? What would that be Master?" She asks with a curious look.
"I'll name you Reseku. Seems like something you'd be called."
"Really nice Master! Now what about my helmet?"
"Haha, alright I'm going to buy you one. You like expensive stuff right?"
"Oh yeah." She nods her head eagerly.
Looking at Nereys's shop I end up buying another bow with a sheild. A blue helmet seems rare but I bought it and tossed it to Reseku who seemed to eat it as if it were an apple! I seem pretty content myself with a sheild, its mostly for looks but you never know.
"Oh my that was very tasty!" Reseku says wiping her mouth, "May I have another Master?"
I laugh, "Sure Reseku. Nereys I'll buy another Guardian Helmet."
"Thank you sir." She hands me the helmet and I hand her the money."
"Here," I toss the helmet to Reseku but it clatters to the ground. I turn around and start to say,"I thought you were going to catch-"
Starlin looks at me and I look at her, "It..."
Her face lights up with extreme joy and screams loudly.
A whole group arrives, my entire family... AND HISHIMA!
"Mommy!! Its Aydub!!!" Star squeals.
"Please tell me this isn't Fake." Mom says with tears in her eyes.
No no no! This isn't good....