The first thing I felt when we woke up was thirst. My mouth and throat cried out to be slaked, blooming with pain. When was the last time something had even touched my throat? I slowly became more and more aware of my surroundings: the concrete beneath me which had a crack running along my back and left leg, the wind whistling in all directions around me, a muted light shining through my closed eyes.

There was an ache that swam and crawled all through my body. Whenever my thirst seemed to spike, so did the ache a second later. It was focused around my left jaw and cheek, partially spreading down onto my neck. It seared through my mind enough to sear an unending itch through my skin and into my bones.

I tried to swallow, something that I quickly found to be a mistake as my body refused to move properly. Letting out a quiet groan of pain, I tried to push my body into sitting up. My muscles flexed and I felt myself shift, but a second of continued strain did little more than feed the rolling ache.

My body relaxed, and I tried something else. With a great deal of effort, I managed to crack one eye open, then the other. Bleary and unfocused, I could tell little of the world above me: buildings crowding together, looming over me like they fretted over my condition. Behind them, the sky was a brilliant blue, an ineffectual attempt at consoling me over my current state.

I slowly blinked, and the world came a bit more into focus. Another slow blink, and a new blur distinguished itself from the world behind it. White and yellow was all I could tell at first, but as the world around me came into focus, I could start to see a woman, her platinum blond hair bordered by a gold-fringed hood, her amber eyes staring down at me with no hint or mark of emotion.

"Welcome back," she said quietly. She paused like she was waiting for a response. "Hello," she continued, "how are you feeling?"

Through the dense fog of my thoughts, something in the back of my mind told me that this… wasn't how normal people talked. I tried to respond, but only a choking, rasping wheeze managed to escape my withered throat. No, this wouldn't do. Taking a deep breath, I tried to sit up again, testing the strength left in my muscles and pushing back against the ache. This second attempt got myself up partway, with a soft hand on my back being the only reason I managed to fully sit up.

I looked around at the world around me, as much as my neck allowed. The buildings, I realized, were not just neglected and abandoned, they were damaged beyond hope of repair. Concrete piled at their bases like snowdrifts and significant parts of their façades hung askew, poised like gargoyles ready to plunge to the world below.

Near where the two sat stood something different entirely- it looked like the stone itself had risen and grown several bundled spires from the ground like a tree, as if the earth were seeking to impale the sky itself. Thinner lines of stone- or maybe some kind of metal wire- bound the larger parts together, branching between them like veins or barbed wire. Dimly, behind all the material of this structure, something shone like it had drained a diluted piece of the sun and kept it captured within.

Down what remained of the streets, I spied what could only be described as an impossibly dense fog hanging like a resolute wall; churning, roiling, but never faltering or moving. Out of all the things I saw here, this instinctively seemed the most alarming, the most upsetting, what made me want to stay away the most. My current lethargy, and the fact that the fog was stationary, calmed down those tumultuous feelings.

"Don't worry, it's okay," The woman said, sharing a glance with me. "I don't remember either." She stood slowly, moving like her limbs were made of lead, pointing toward something that otherwise looked mundane to me. Partially hidden behind a building was a tree that sat above the ground. Its bark, and what few leaves I could see, were all a brilliant white that almost seemed to shine. "Come on," she reached a hand down to me, "over there."

Weakly, I set my hand in hers and tried to rise to my feet. Once again, my sore body protested and would have let me drop back to the ground, were it not for her. Perhaps it showed how my thirst weakened me, perhaps it was a show of her strength, but either way, she managed to effortlessly pull me to my feet.

Now upright, my body wavered uncertainly, feeling like it would drop out from underneath me at any moment. I felt a gentle tug on my hand that calmly urged me forward. "We can go slowly; I am here with you." I looked over at her, now able to see her more clearly, briefly wondering if I was simply towering over her, or whether she was just that short. Her white and gold hood draped down behind her into two ragged black tails, with two gold-fringed straps wrapping around her neck. The rags she wore covered little more than was strictly necessary- the hem was high, and there were multiple tears in unfortunate locations. She had a number of pieces of jewelry with tiger eye pearls over her body, but the most worrying thing she wore were bandages all over her left leg.

Meekly, I picked up and moved one foot, then the other. Gradually, I could feel my body loosening up. Every step became less and less taxing, but I still had to focus to keep myself from toppling over. At least she was there with me, gently urging me onward. The street felt like it stretched on forever, but, weak though I felt, I felt like I could make it with her help.

A deep, wracking cough suddenly overtook me and I stumbled. The world underneath me began to topple away, but an arm slipped behind me and stopped my fall. As the cough faded, I felt her prop me back up. "Just a bit farther," she reassured me as I got my feet back underneath myself, "we're all right."

Another eternity of waiting and the white tree, no less blinding this close, finally came into view. "It's dry, isn't it?" She rubbed a small circle into the back of my hand and stepped away from me, towards the tree. "This spring will slake our thirst." She gingerly knelt down at the base of the tree, almost as though with reverence, or though she were worried it would crumble beneath her touch. "It seems everyone, everywhere, is thirsty. But here is a spring that will cure that thirst. One that weeps tears of blood." She looked back at me. "That's what they said, anyway." She raised a hand and beckoned me forward.

Slowly, I complied with her silent request, but just as I neared the tree, I was struck with another coughing fit. Pain seared through my sides, and I tasted metal in my mouth. Again, the ground threatened to slip away, but I reached forward and gripped one of the limbs of the tree with what little strength remained in my arms. I searched for breath, but my body kept trying to reject whatever was in my system with more and more force. I screwed my eyes shut and saw things that weren't there- a woman standing over me, a blade struck through my chest, someone impaled through several spines.

"It's all right," the woman grabbed my free arm, "it's all right." I felt a piercing pain near where she had grabbed me. Like an ebbing tide, I felt my coughing fit slowly recede, and I began pushing myself back upright.

The last thing I had expected when I opened my eyes was the tree glowing. It was another surprise entirely to see it sprout and grow new branches and leaves before my eyes, reaching up, welcoming the world around them. Blue points of light seemed to emerge from different points on the trunk, rising, circling, soaring through the air around the tree. As the new growth slowed, a few small red beads pushed their way through the bark of the tree and slowly ripened, now exposed to the air. I blinked a few times and stared down at the base of the tree. Was it just me, or did it look larger than a minute ago? Did the roots really force the ground around them away that much?

"So it is you," she mused, stepping up to the tree. What was so important about me? I silently asked the question, my throat and mind too tired to actually pose it. She grabbed onto one of the fruits, I supposed, of the tree and pulled it off, then turned back to me. "Here, this is for you."

I looked it over as I accepted it. It was blood-red, teardrop-shaped, and felt cold and hard against my skin like it was made of glass. At its base and tip, the glass frosted irregularly, like tree leaves or ice across a pond's surface. Within, some solid material seemed to float and tumble around in the liquid interior with the slightest of movements.

Was… was I supposed to eat or drink this? I seriously doubted that this all would just be for show. Some part of my mind protested about how I would eat it, given how hard it felt, but I was either dismissing those thoughts or completely willing to make myself look like a fool. I brought the "fruit" up to my mouth and tried to bite down, suppressing a shudder as my teeth effortlessly sliced through the otherwise tough exterior, like it was trying to invite me to cut through. A bit of the liquid began to drip out and escape my mouth, and instinctively, I tipped my head back and let it run onto my tongue.

It was succor, it was manna, it was everything that my mouth had been torturing me for. No sooner had I begun to taste it did I do everything in my power to drain the blessing before me. When sucking at the small lesions proved useless, I sunk my teeth in deeper, ripping a new laceration into the supple material. The flow gushed into my mouth, flooding my mind with desire. I was content to let this moment stretch forever, slaking my infinite thirst.

The flow dribbled off, wrenching me back into a half-slaked present filled with frustration. With the succulent waters all drained away, I found a rising fury from my unfulfilled need, and in an untempered instant, the brittle remnants in my hand shattered and crumbled. My eyes drifted up, back to the tree, where more of the fruits grew, all but begging to be taken as well. I discarded the old fragments in my hand, stepped up to grab a new fruit, and ripped it off the tree, tearing a new chunk out of it to pour into my maw, once again letting myself drift into bliss.

However, with each new swallow, the luscious taste seemed to fade, being replaced with a growing metallic sting. As my earlier desires faded, so did the abandon and elation ebb like shadows at dusk. As the last mouthful of liquid decanted into me, the growing revulsion made myself almost unable to swallow. My hand shook as I pulled the drained glassy fruit from my mouth.

With a growing conscience and deepening unease, I looked back at myself over the past minute with undiluted confusion and abject horror. Were those thoughts and feelings my own? Was that really me that so ravenously and mindlessly devoured it all? No, no, I thought, I was and would never have been that kind of person… right? …What kind of person was I? Then what made me do that? What unnatural force had seized me then? Was it really something else at all?

The soft 'plink' off to my side pulled me from my thoughts. The woman had pulled one of the now plethora of fruits from the tree, cradling it in both hands as she brought it to her mouth. As she opened wide and bared her teeth to bite into it, I suddenly noticed her prominent canine teeth that stretched longer than they should have…

My thoughts slowly began to spin and I swallowed the remaining liquid in my mouth. A metallic taste, fangs, a desperate thirst… It couldn't be. I turned my head away from her and brought a hand to my mouth, feeling the edge of my teeth. Just past the incisors, I brushed against the edge of something razor-sharp, just as I feared. But… those couldn't have been there, as far as my memory could tell. I remembered…

I…

Why… couldn't I remember anything? Why was everything turning up blank? I was so used to remembering something and having it just… turn up, right? Why was there… nothing?

I heard the woman release her meal and come up for air, then quietly sigh in contentment. She was there when I woke up, so she might be able to answer some of my questions, right? She had admitted that she didn't remember much, but something was better than the nothing I had.

"Excuse me," my voice was still ragged and tired, but it was a far cry better than it was earlier. How had it gotten better so- not the time. "Ma'am?" I wondered what to ask first. "Where are we?"

She looked up with innocent eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't know. There's… not much that I do remember."

"Do you remember who you are? I'm Caspian." I hurriedly added the last sentence.

"I am Io, and I am your attendant."

For a moment, I stood and stared at her. "My attendant…?"

"Yes," she brought a hand to her chest, "it is my duty to ease your burdens. But…" she hesitated and looked away, "I cannot remember who gave me that purpose, or for what purpose. I was simply… decided. Though my mind is far more clear, I still cannot recall everything, just that my place is by your side." She glanced down at the glassy remnants in her hand. "Perhaps some rest will do us well." She extended a hand and motioned towards the remnants I held.

I glanced down at what she gestured at, then felt a sudden lethargy sweep over me. I nodded, passed the glass over to her, then sat down under the sparse shade of the tree. Io set the remnants down near one of the roots of the tree, then set herself next to me. She reached up and set a hand on my shoulder, gently pulling on-

"Wait, when did I-"

"Shh," she broke my thoughts away from the strange half-cape and armor I was wearing, "we'll have plenty of time to worry about that when we're well-rested." She insistently pulled me down until my head rested firmly on her lap, then gently brushed her hands through my hair when I was settled.

It didn't take long for me to drift off to sleep.