Lost and Found
Chapter 4: MemoryThe sounds of celebration filled the air as drunken songs and cheers flowed from the tongs of the villagers. A great feast had been made in the honor of their heroes, but the guests of honor were nowhere to be found. The duo in the middle of the festivities had snuck out and made their way into the forest trekking through the blackness of night.
"Sorry about this", spoke Robin as she turned toward her battle weary companion. Exhaustion and hunger could be seen on his face as he followed Robin from behind. The battle with the bandits had taken a lot out of him. It was his first time engaging in such a fight. To be truthful though it would have been a lot easier if Robin had simply defeated all the foes herself, but there was something in her that made her let him do it. Maybe it was a habit, or maybe she knew she would get nothing out of the fight, but one thing was clear she used that battle to train the greenhorn..
"Don't worry about it", spoke Moses as he tried to keep up. "Getting you memories back is one of our goals. The sooner we find out why you were in that field, the sooner I can discover my own part in this strange adventure." In truth though Moses doubted that the two facts anything to do with each other, nor did he consider that he would ever figure out why he was in this medieval world.
"So Robin", spoke Moses trying to slow down their pace. "Did you remember anything while we were fighting? Well I mean other than the fact that you are a tactician."
"Yes", spoke Robin as she caught onto Moses ploy. She slowed her pace allowing the young man to keep up easier. "I remembered a group", she began to speak as she closed her eyes to mediate on her memories. "There was a brown haired man dressed in suit, but coved in thick armor." Moses raised an eyebrow to Robins comment. It seemed quite weird to him that a man would be dressed in a suit before placing on his armor, but then again he was new to this world. Maybe that was the custom for knights to wear suits into battle.
As Robin continued to speak of her regained memories and Moses began to focus on her words. "There was also a woman ", she spoke though her voice was filled with a tone of annoyance. "She had beautiful blonde hair and wore a frilly yellow dress, but something about her reminded me of frogs. In truth I cannot tell you why. Frogs, noted Moses as he continued to listen to her speak. What do frogs have to do with a girl in a yellow dress, asked the young man to himself? Maybe it is a old repressed memory thought Moses as he focused back on what Robin was saying.
"Lastly", she spoke as she began to really focus on her memory. "There was a man with deep blue hair", as the words exited her mouth and image of him flashed in her mind. She could see him standing there with his face a blush staring into her eyes. His lips were moving, but she could not hear the words. The image triggered something, a fondness though she had no idea why it was there. "Chrom", she spoke aloud as her cheeks turned a bright red. Her mind began to drift along in a mixture of emotions as memories from her past floated in her mind. Her memories were still faint, but for some reason this person named Chrom began to stand out in her mind.
"Chrom", spoke Moses as his voice pulled Robin back to reality. "Is that the name of the blue haired guy", he asked partially confused about a man having blue hair. His words shattered the moment she was having and her memories began to fade once more.
"Umm, yeah", spoke Robin as she stopped walking. She was quite upset at Moses right now. She was just about to regain some of her memory when he opened his mouth to speak. She knew it was not his fault as she never warned him, but still she was still angry. She needed to know who Chrom was and why did she feel these emotions. She needed time to think and she soon realized she would not receive it with Moses around. "Here", she spoke with a hint of anger in her tone. She pointed to the ground where there was a patch of barren dirt. She didn't even turn around to look at Moses as she began to speak. "We can set up camp here for the night. I am going to find something to eat; I will leave the fire to you." As she finished speaking she vanished into the woods leaving Moses to fend for himself.
"Wait", spoke Moses, but the tactician was already gone. "I don't know how to make a fire", he spoke as with his hand stretched out to where she was heading. He had never actually made a fire before. His home back in the modern world was air conditioned and the nights they did use the chimney he always used a lighter. "I guess I am going to need wood", spoke Moses as he examined the area. There were a few broken branches lying around and an old stump not far behind. Moses let out a great sigh as he began to collect the wood. "Hope she doesn't get lost out there", he spoke as he picked up a branch.
Robin continued to run for a few minutes making sure she put plenty of distance between her and Moses. She felt a bit bad about leaving Moses alone, but she needed this time to think. There were few dangers a man could not take care of with a sword thought Robin as she continued moving. "He will be fine", Robin spoke to herself reassuring her decision.
Robin came across an old foundation of a fort. Something about this spot agitated Robin's memories. She took it as a sign and took a seat in the foundation. "Ok", she spoke to herself as she began to meditate once more on her memories. She began to think of Chrom and attempted to bring up the feelings she had felt before.
She focused on the man and just let her mind wonder. She felt a faint sensation in the back of her head as the names of the other two companions rushed to the fore front of her mind. "Fredrick and Lissa", she spoke aloud as her memories began to return to her. She began to remember them eating meat by an open fire and the suddenness of their new found companionship. She remembered something, a great explosion of fire and falling balls of magma, and then a girl, or was it a man. In truth she was not sure from the memory, but something about that person began to ache at her heart.
"Lucina", she spoke as a flood of memories rushed to the fore front of her mind. The sudden jolt of memories caused her to grab her head in pain. She remembered now. She knew who Chrom was, and she knew Fredrick. She knew of the wars she fought and of the people she had meet. She remembered her choice, the one she made atop of the dragon, and she remembered sacrificing herself to end the threat of Grima for good. But most of all she remembered Lucina, her daughter. "I remember", she spoke as she rose from the foundation. She was surprised to see the sun rising over the tree line.
"I have been here that long", she spoke as she realized the time that had flown by much quicker than she thought. Immediately she thought of Moses and a strong feeling of guilt began to rise up in her stomach. "I left him there all night", she thought as she began to rush back toward his direction. As she ran back her mind began to think upon the situation. She had left him there alone in the forest, knowing full well he had no idea of where he was. He was exhausted from his earlier bout with the brigands, and hungry as she had dragged him away from the feast. Her worries began to feed flames of her growing guilt. She quickened her pace rushing to get back to Moses as quick as she could.
"Moses", she screamed the second she arrived in the clearing, but she met only with silence. She stopped for a moment and began to look around the campsite. She could see charred logs sitting in a pit and two logs surrounding it. The second log however was crocket almost as if someone had knocked it out of place. On the ground near the tree line she saw a steel axe simply lying in the dirt.
"What happened here", spoke Robin as she walked up to the axe. A foul stench rose up from the handle and entered into her nostrils. It smelt like rotting flesh, and immediately Robin's mind recognized the stench. "Oh no", she spoke as she soon realized that this was the remains of a risen.
Earlier that night"Got it", spoke Moses as a flame began to burn in the pile of dried leaves and twigs. After trying several methods of starting a fire Moses had decided to use sparks from his own iron swords. The duel swordsman slammed both of the blades together making them spark over the pile. Eventually the leaves caught a flame and began to burn the branches. Moses added some kindling he cut out from a nearby tree stump to help the fire grow. Lastly he added two logs to give the fire some long lasting fuel.
"My first fire", spoke Moses as he stared into the flame. A loud grumble from his stomach reminded the burly man that he had not eaten since this morning. "I wonder when Robin is coming back", he spoke as worry began to build in his head. He did not like the idea of sending a woman out to find food, but Robin, though she lost her memories, was a native and more than likely she would find food better than him. He also register the point that she was a far better at fighting than he was and could probably take anything that lived in these woods.
"Oh well", he spoke as he stared into the flame once more. His mind began to wonder back onto the battle he had fought earlier. He thought of the men he had slain, and the blood that now stained his hands. For a moment he looked down at his hands half expecting them to actually be covered in blood. "They were evil men", he spoke to himself trying to justify their killings. It was the first time he had ever killed a man and even more so how he killed there leader. At the time it did not bother him as each battle won would lead to another, but now that he was in the quite of the woods their deaths came back to him.
A sick feeling began to rise up in his stomach replacing the feeling of hunger. He began to hold his arms tightly and curl up into a ball around the fire. "I had to", he spoke to himself again. "Either they were going to kill me and all of the villagers, or I was going to kill them. I had to", he spoke again as he took a look at his swords. He held them up, and stared at their edge. "I wonder ", he spoke while still staring at the edges of his swords. "How many lives have these blades taken? How many sons, how many daughters," as Moses stared at the sword he heard a crack coming from the nearby forest.
"Robin", spoke Moses as he shot up from the fire. He prayed she did not see him curling into a ball. Such weakness is unbecoming of a man, but to his surprise he was met with an eerie silence. He had spent to long staring into the fire. His eyes were not adjusted to the dark, and he could only see up to the nearby tree line, but the sound was a bit further. "Never stare into a fire in the distance", spoke Moses aloud. He remembered the words from his uncle who served in the military. "It blinds you to everything around it." From what he could remember it would take at least thirty minutes before his eyes would adjust.
Moses strained his eyes against the tree line, searching for whatever made the sound. As he stared he saw two menacing red circles floating in the air. "What the hell", he spoke as his eyes made out the figure of a man. The dark figure stepped forward into the range of his eyes. It was a man, or at least it looked like one. It skin was a rotten grey and its eyes where a blazing crimson. From its mouth spewed a blacken air and in its right hand was a steel axe.
Without any other warning it rushed forward its axe at the ready. Immediately Moses realized that this thing was not friendly and lifted his swords ready for battle. As the monster charged forward it began to swing it axe. Moses seeing an opportunity rushed forward to intercept its swing. His body was still sore from his earlier bout with the bandits, but self preservation pushed him forward. As the blade of the axe came down he intercepted it with his left hand sword. His swinging motion redirected the swing causing the axe to slam into the dirt. He then jolted his right hand forward and stabbed the figure in the center of its chest with his primary sword.
"Finished", spoke Moses as a sense of pride filled his chest. He was proud of his progress and thought he had gotten pretty good at using the duel sword style, but his celebration was soon ended when the monster began to move again.
The monster let out a roar as it swung its axe from an unorthodox position. Immediately Moses jumped backwards leaving his right hand blade in its chest. "It's still alive", he spoke to himself as shock filled his face. The monster charged once more, but this time attacked with a horizontal swing. Moses switched his secondary sword to his dominant hand and blocked the incoming blow with his iron sword making sure to use both hands on the blade. He threw the axe off with the combine strength of both his arm and slammed his shoulder against the monster throwing it off balance. He then rushed forward and stabbed it in the chest with his secondary sword. Without wasting another moment he switched his right hand over to his first blade and ripped the two swords out the side of its body.
The monster let out a scream before its body disintegrated into a puff of purple smoke. "What in the world was that", spoke Moses as he stared at the steel axe on the ground. It was all that was left of the monster. Immediately his mind shifted to Robin who was alone in the woods. "I bet she probably ran into a couple of them to", spoke Moses as he began to descend into the forest only to be stopped by the aching of his body.
"Looks like I am pushing my limits", spoke Moses as he leaned on a nearby tree. As he lowered his head he felt a sudden brush of wind. A loud thump rang out above him as an axe smashed into the tree just above his head. If he had been standing straight up that would have been his end. Moses turned to see another monster moving in his direction. It seemed to have switched weapons as its hand axe was now lodged in the tree.
"Shit", spoke Moses as he felt his body getting heavy. "Another one", he spoke as he moved behind the tree. His body was now tired and Moses had very little energy to fight. The monster moved in and walked around the tree. It swung its axe like the first monster using a horizontal slash. "I got one last chance", spoke Moses to himself as he allowed his body to fall. The monster's axe slammed into the tree missing Moses' body.
"Now", shouted Moses as he used all the strength in his legs. He shot up with all his might and stabbed his blades straight into the creature's skull. The creature paused for a moment and then vanished into a pile of dark smoke.
Moses fell to the ground with the tip of his blades sinking into the earth praying that there were no more creatures around. He laid there for a moment as his eyes began to shut. The duel swordsman passed out still holding his swords.
For Moses it only seemed like a minute as he awoke at the sound of his name. He could hear Robin calling his name, but to his great surprise the sun was already up. "Over here", he shouted as he rose to his feet using his blades as support. He was soon met with the image of Robin's rushing around a large tree.
Moses took the time to brush the dirt off his iron swords and sheathed them around his waist. He looked up to see Robin grabbing him and wrapping her arms around his waist. The sudden jolt mad him grind his teeth in pain as his sore body screamed at his brain to make her stop. "Robin", he spoke as he tried to break her grip but all that accomplish was to make her squeeze even tighter.
"I am sorry", shouted Robin as she tighten her grip. Her surprising strength was squeezing what little life Moses had left out of him. "I am sorry", she spoke again as tears began to run down her eyes. The guilt that had been building up as she searched for him suddenly turned to joy and caused the fair maiden to cry.
"Ok", spoke Moses. His voice was grinded by pain giving Robin the signal to stop. It took a moment for the silver haired maiden to realize what she was doing and she immediately let him go.
"Oops', she spoke as she whipped the tears from her eyes. Her sense of guilt rose back up in her belly as she saw Moses twitching from the pain of his sore muscles. "I am sorry", she spoke again as she jumped into an explanation. "I know I said I was going to gather some food, but alone the way I had a flash back. Well to be truth full I really wanted to leave to think about my past."
Robin was stopped mid sentence by the sound Moses growling stomach. "Listen Robin", he spoke as he stumbled away from the tree. "I can't understand a word you are saying. I would love to listen to you but the only thing I can hear right now is the growling of my stomach and the cry of my muscles. Can we just get something to eat", spoke Moses as he rubbed his stomach.
Robin smiled, and began to lead the way. "Yeah I saw a berry bush on my way here." With those words the duo disappeared into the forest.
Author Notes: Just to warn you beforehand there will be an appearance of a Balgoth the Destroyer. I had decided that he, and that would be the character I named by pen name after, would be in every work I do.