The goddess’s hand wrapped around him before he could think to run. She picked him up as if he were a child’s toy. He tried to struggle free, but her grip only tightened. He stared up at her as her thumb started toward him. He tried to keep his head out of the way, but it was futile. Her thumb quickly caught his head pulling it back.

He stared up helplessly as she brought her free hand closer, revealing a small vial in her massive hand. Every instinct screamed at him to escape to keep away from the vial, but her grip held him firm. She pressed it to his lips, and he felt the contents flow into him. He tried not to drink it, but his body was not listening to him. Despite his revulsion at the vial’s contents, his body drank deeply.

"Drink and forget. I will give you everything you ever wanted. A loving family. A comfortable home. And then, " Her grip tightened, and forcing the air out his lungs. He coughed up the strange liquid and caused more to spill from the impossibly full vial. “And then, you will pay for your defiance. On your twentieth birthday you will remember.”

She pulled the vial away and turned him to look at her. “You will remember, just as everything you love is taken from you, right before your eyes…” Her voice trailed off and his world went dark.

…

Orn gasps and struggles to breath. He can still feel the hand of the goddess squeezing him. In the darkness, he pushes against the weight on his chest. Everything is a blur; his mind is filled with memories that are his and yet not. He shakes his head trying to focus only to hear the goddess’ words ringing in his ears. I’ll let you remember right before I take it all away…

He redoubles his efforts and feels himself sliding free from under the weight. He struggles to fill his lungs as he wriggles free. Finally catching his breath, he feels his foot come loose from the weight that was pinning him.

Once free he quickly slides backwards, pushing himself from the unseen thing that held him. Concerned with what he pushed himself from he does not notice the edge and falls backwards.

For a moment he feels weightless, and air rushes past him. A moment later there is a wet snapping sound as his body strikes the unyielding floor.

Air rushes from his lungs leaving him to gasp breathlessly as the pain in his broken arm washes over him. He doubles over clutching his arm to his chest. Lying in the fetal position he feels tears and snot are running down his face.

Cutting through the pain and haze in his mind, are jumbled half remembered threats.

Cradling his arm, he pushes himself to his knees. He feels a sharp pain in his side as he manages to force himself upright. Staggering and heads for the door. I must warn them.

Vertigo fills him as he crosses the dark room. It feels like an eternity before he reaches the door. He places the shoulder of his uninjured arm against the door and rests for a moment against it. Then taking a deep breath he pushes it open just wide enough to pass through.

He steps out into the hall dimly lit by the moonlight filtering through the windows. Just two doors down he sees his parents’ door. He staggers the distance feeling the pain in his arm becoming distant as his head becomes fuzzy.

Reaching the closed door, he yells. His head instantly swims, and he stumbles from vertigo unable to tell if he even managed to make a sound. Feeling his strength giving way he throws himself against the door with the last of his strength.

He bounces off the door with a thud, landing flat on the carpet in the hall. His good shoulder feels like it is on fire, but it does not feel broken. His other arm is no longer screaming at him, a weird hollow feeling taking place of the pain.

Orn was unsure how long he lay on the floor, but after what felt like an eternity the door swung open and light flooded into his eyes. He squints against the light as figures rush out.

“ORN!” A female voice screams. Dropping to her knees next to him she lifts him from the floor. Fear making her voice shake she asks “Orn, what happened?!”

He struggles to focus. The fuzzy feeling getting worse. He can tell he is losing feeling in his legs and other arm. He tries to explain as his vision fades.

Stolen novel; please report.

Still struggling to explain, the darkness overtakes him.

...

Orn opened his eyes to see the canopy of a bed. His mind was cloudy, and he struggled to remember what he was doing. He knew it was important, but the memory felt just out of reach. Every time he pushed through the fuzzy feeling a strange memory would swell up. Memories of places and people he did not know.

He shifted in irritation only to be struck with a wave of pain from across his body. His mind emptied as the pain washed over him. Distracted by the pain he gave up attempting to remember whatever it was that was so important.

With the loss of focus the strange memories fell away as well. The disappearance of the strange memories provided him some comfort as he waited for the pain to subside. Eventually the stabbing pain slowly retreated to a dull ache. Unlike the memories, the pain was something familiar to him.

Ready to try again, he slowly tried to move his limbs. Everything hurt to move, but his right arm was by far the worst. Realizing his head was the only thing that would move without pain; he slowly turned to the left. On a chair next to his bedside was a sandy haired young woman in a maid outfit. She pulled the yarn on her knitting tight and absentmindedly glanced up.

Olivia The name came instantly to mind as he remembered his ever-present caretaker, and playmate.

“Your ladyship! He’s awake!” Olivia jumped from her seat, letting her knitting fall to the floor.

A muffled sound came from his right, and Orn slowly turned his head to the other side. A blond woman in her mid-twenties slowly picked her head up from the bed. Her hair was a mess and she had large black circles under her eyes.

Mother, as with Olivia he felt a wash of memories rush over him. A disturbing number of them involved her falling asleep in a chair next to his bed while he healed.

“Orn” His mother’s voice was full of concern. She placed her hand gently on the blanket next to him. “You had us so worried. You were so hurt. You were rambling something about an attack and the Goddesses. Your father ran out to check with the hunters. What happened?”

Orn missed everything she said after the word ‘Goddesses.’ The word triggered a memory and his mind raced back to a white room. The goddess’ threat once more echoing in his mind, he felt the fear wash over him again. Without thinking he tried to sit upright, but pain and weakness immediately drove him back.

His mother scrambled forward and placed her hand on his chest. “STOP THAT! You’ll hurt yourself again. I…” Her voice cut off in a sob.

Orn froze, as he saw tears appearing at the corner of her eyes. They stayed frozen like that for what seemed like an eternity as Orn stared into the panicked face looking down at him.

Once she felt sure he was not going to move again she whipped at her eyes with the sleeve of her free hand. The other hand stayed firmly on his chest, “Please. You will hurt yourself more.”

Her pained expression cut through his terror. Not trying to move he took a slow breath and tried to explain. Despite himself he could feel the fear rising and he struggled to not move, as the goddess’s threats played over and over in his mind. “The empire is betraying the Kingdom. They will attack. They are coming here.”

“We have to prepare, they are coming.” He repeated staring at his unmoving mother.

She replied slowly placing her hand on his head, “Your father is with the hunters. They sent word earlier. There is no attack coming.” Her voice and expression grew softer, “I know it is scary to be so close to the war, but you are safe. It was just a bad dream”

Orn shook his head and instantly regretted it as a wave of vertigo hit him. He paused to let it pass before continuing, “But they will. They will betray the kingdom, on my birthday.”

“That proves it was a dream,” she replied slowly stroking his head. “They have been the kingdom’s enemy for generations, you cannot betray an enemy. I know it is scary, but nothing bad is going to happen. There is nothing to worry about.”

“The goddess… she… she said on my twentieth birthday...” Orn trailed off as he realized he said twentieth. He was not that old, was he? He could remember being older. His head began to throb as he tried to sort out the various memories that were now running through his mind.

His mother smiled down at him. “Orn, you are not even five. If the empire comes when you are twenty you will be a knight like your father. Then you can chase them off just as he did. It was just a bad dream, get some rest.”

As she spoke, he felt a warm feeling coming from where her hand rested on his head. Orn blinked suddenly feeling his mind going fuzzy. Confusion was quickly replaced by memories of his mother patching him up, Mother always uses her healing ability to patch me up.

As the warm feeling spread over him, he felt the fear and pain growing distant. Suddenly he felt very tired. “Now rest and try to heal. Your father will keep us all safe.”

His mother might have said more, but he did not hear her. The warm feeling spread across him pushing him into a deep sleep.