Ludo woke up in a panic, having nightmares from the shadow that jumped him the day before. He looked around, he was on a bed, its sheets were white and clean and the pillow was the most comfortable thing Ludo had rested on that he could remember. Still, he was troubled over the change of scenery. He had passed out in the forest.

Carefully leaving the bed, he began to search for ways to escape. The window was wide open, a light breeze explored his room, he looked outside the house to see a small village. Its inhabitants were as active as villagers would be, taking water from the nearby well, hanging clothes to dry, moving chickens and goats into backyard pens and the children ran and played.

Ludo couldn’t escape through there. What if the villagers tried to apprehend him or kill him? He docked down, hoping no one had seen him. Looking for other options there was the door and another smaller window. Ludo, in a haphazard way, went over to the handle and expecting it to be locked, twisted it. To his surprise the door opened wide, with a creak way too loud for his comfort. To his luck it seemed like the house was empty, he tiptoed towards the front door and heard the sounds of footsteps behind him.

“Hello, I’m glad you’re alright.” The voice said. Ludo turned around, putting his fists up, to see the man who had just said that. His magical eyes flared up again.

EMMER MOREELS

HUMAN (AGE 55)

LEVEL 108

STRENGTH: 25

STAMINA: 25

MANA: 2

SPEED: 28

DEFENSE: 15

INTELLIGENCE: 13

POINTS AVAILABLE: 0

SKILLS: ONE-HANDED LEVEL: 35, RIDER LEVEL: 28, MEDICINE LEVEL: 25, SCOUTING LEVEL: 16…

…And so much more, the man introduced himself with the name Ludo already saw. Bringing Ludo to the table were a sizable breakfast was ready for him to eat. Realizing how hungry he was, Ludo devoured the breakfast while Emmer sat opposite him, silently staring at him. Once Ludo had finished eating, Emmer cleared his throat.

“I want to ask you, boy—“

“Ludo!” He said without thinking, seeing Emmer’s offended face, he backtracked. “That’s my name” His voice trailed off.

“Well, Ludo, I wanted to ask you, why were you in the forest alone at night?” Emmer said.

“I—“ Ludo began, not really sure what he should tell Emmer, if it was a lie, the man would become suspicious of him and think of him as a spy, but would he belief the truth of Ludo’s situation?

“I think you should tell him the truth!” Ben said in the back of Ludo’s mind.

Why?

“You don’t have much options, and creating an enemy this early on is stupid!” Ben said.

Agreeing with Ben’s reasoning, Ludo explained how he had woken up in the middle of nowhere, with no recollection of his past self. Emmer kept quiet as Ludo explained away, not moving an inch nor blinking. Making Ludo doubt if he was even human, regardless of what his magical eyes said.

“I see, but are you sure you can’t remember anything? Not even a small detail.”

“Sorry, but I can’t. I’ve tried.”

“Very well.” Emmer stood up from the table, entering a room and appearing shortly after with two wooden swords. “First rule of Isosal, if you don’t know how to fight, you die.”

Ludo gulped back a gasp when he heard this. He tried not to show Emmer his fear but the old man saw right through his charade.

“Right, you don’t have any memories, you probably lost them because of how hostile this region is.”

“Is it really?” Ludo said. Emmer nodded.

“Isosal is a border region of Selon settled by adventurers, most of the land outside of these settlements are hostile, filled with monsters and bandits.”

Hey, Ben! Ludo said to Ben through his thoughts. Is it possible that we—I was attacked by a bandit and lost my memories because of it?

“Can’t say, I don’t remember anything before you woke up either!” Ben replied.

Disappointed, Ludo kept listening to what Emmer had to say about Selon, which he learned it was the kingdom that ruled over these lands. The capital, Sarnesse and its beautiful statues. But what interested Ludo the most was Emmer’s tale of the adventurer’s guild in a nearby town of Balessia.

“Can we go there and be an adventuer?” Ludo said, his imagination going wild over the descriptions Emmer gave him about adventurers. He wanted to meet one.

“Not yet Ludo, if you can’t even use a sword, you’d never be able to join in the first place—”

Ludo lowered his head in defeat.

“—which is why I plan to teach you.”

Ludo’s face brightened up, Emmer smirked and took Ludo to the front yard of the house. Many villagers waved at Emmer who waved at them back. Emmer seemed to be popular here.

“Why is everyone waving at us?” Ludo said.

“Because I founded this settlement eight years ago.” Emmer replied.

“Wait you’re the lord!” Ludo knelt before Emmer, he didn’t know why he did it, but he felt like the gesture was necessary to show respect.

“Thanks Ludo… but such formalities are unnecessary, I’m just a simple resident.”

Ludo stood up again. Emmer gave him one of the wooden swords and the two stepped a few steps away from each other, reading their swords. Ben tried to help Ludo, but he was completely outclassed. The stance Emmer took was enough to frighten him. Emmer sighed, dropping the stance a few seconds later, shaking his head.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“This is ridiculous Ludo, that’s not how you use a sword.” Emmer walked up to Ludo and corrected his stance. “It’s rather basic, but I had hoped your mind would at least remember fragments on sword fighting, but I guess that is not happening.”

“Yeah, I did too!” Ben said in the back of Ludo’s mind.

Shut up, Ben!

Their match began shortly after. Like a dance of two extremes, Emmer moved like a blur in front of Ludo, not even his magical eyes were able to catch him properly. With some dumb luck, he managed to block two strikes coming his way. The third strike was aimed at his sword, sweeping it away from him and the next thing Ludo saw was a fist coming to his face. Ludo closed his eyes and put both of his hands in front of his face. Ludo backed away from the fist, stumbling and falling into his back. Emmer towered above him.

“My win.” Emmer quipped, helping Ludo up.

“I’m sure you will get him next time!” Ben said.

Shut up, Ben!

While Ludo placed the training swords back in place, Emmer appeared before him, holding an open parchment. He gazed at it for a few seconds before addressing Ludo.

“This is incredible. Ludo, it looks like not only your memories have left you but your level and skills.”

“My what?”

“Skills, no one-handed, no bare-handed, nothing! And its my first time seeing a seventeen year old adult being at level 1.”

“Is it that rare?”

“Very”

Ludo’s heart sank, he was already been given a bad hand from the very start. Thinking his life was over, he lowered his head.

“But.” Emmer began. “That doesn’t mean your life is over, you’ll just have a bumpier start than most.”

Emmer stood up, patting Ludo on the shoulder before leaving the room. Now alone, Ludo sat on a nearby chair and began thinking of what to do now with his life. He was thinking of being a farmer in Emmer’s village.

It would probably be peaceful to live here…

Emmer returned with a fresh pack of clothes and a bag. He handed them to Ludo who checked them multiple times. Wondering for what they’d be for. Emmer smiled upon noticing Ludo’s confusion.

“You don’t want to travel for seven days with a single pair of clothing, do you?”

Ludo looked at Emmer, processing what he had heard. He jumped out of the chair and thanked Emmer, shaking his hand. Emmer calmed him down, telling him he had to explain somethings to him.

“That bag you have there is a basic item bag, it can fit up to ten items.” Emmer took Ludo outside, this time they circled around the house and into the stables, where a large horse was busy eating. Upon noticing the horse, Ludo stopped.

“Don’t worry Ludo it won’t bite.” Emmer encouraged Ludo to get closer and ride the horse. Ludo did, still half blind from his magical eyes. Emmer guided the horse with the reins while Ludo stirred to the sides, completing a lap. Ludo and Emmer placed the horse back into the stable.

After a quick dinner. Ludo left for the room Emmer gave him, falling into the bed, tired but happy with the progress. Emmer had told him they would depart first thing in the morning to the nearby town so he tried to fall asleep quickly.

“What an interesting day this has been.” Ben said. “You sure you want to go to that town?”

“What else can I do?” Ludo replied. “Adventuring sounds interesting, I’d rather be that than a farmer.” Ben didn’t reply and Ludo fell asleep soon after.

The sun hadn’t even come out the next day when Ludo and Emmer left the village for the town. The few villagers awake at that hour said their goodbyes and in a manner of minutes the village was lost to Ludo’s eyes. They traveled on horseback for much of the day through quiet and calm sights that Ludo enjoyed. Emmer stopped the horse sometime in the afternoon, a man arrived not so long after, the two talked and the man left after Emmer handed him a letter, then he looked at Ludo.

“It’s time for our practice.” Emmer grabbed one wooden sword and handed Ludo another, the two went at it. Ludo still wasn’t used to Emmer’s speed and the skill disparity was too great. He found himself back in the floor a few seconds after the battle had begun. Emmer picked him back up and told him to get ready for a rematch.

“What’s the point if you are going to beat me again!?”

“Because using a sword is a manner of practice. I can tell you everything I know but if you don’t try it in the field then you are as much as an amateur as a child.” Emmer jumped forward, Ludo blocked his attack, somehow, and dodged a slash aiming at his head, he had been able to see that using his magical eyes. Ludo jumped back, trying to keep a distance between him and Emmer.

“Better.” Emmer smiled. “But you can’t be passive all the time in a fight or else—“ Emmer jumped forwards again, Ludo put his sword in position, ready to block his attack which never came. Emmer had shifted his attack mid swing, evading Ludo’s block and hitting him on the side.

Ludo fell to his knees, the blow had knocked the wind out of him. Between gasps, he felt Emmer’s practice sword tap him in the head and the usual phrase that followed. Emmer helped Ludo up, shaking the dust from his back and telling him to rest for the day.

Emmer had brought two sleeping bags for the night, the two of them slept close to the fire to keep warm, but Ludo couldn’t sleep, troubled mostly by his own power. Magical eyes had proven to be his biggest weakness, constantly keeping him distracted and feeding him useless information, he would be an easy target to kill if he didn’t learn how to control his power.

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Ben said at the back of Ludo’s mind.

“I don’t know.” Ludo whispered. “But I can’t win a fight with how the power works.” Throughout the night, Ludo tried to shut his magical eyes off with little success until he fell asleep.

The next day was uneventful with the exception of Emmer teaching Ludo more about riding a horse and continuing their swordsmanship. The third and fourth day went by in a breeze, continuing their routine and Ludo discretely practicing to turn off his magical eyes. On the fifth day, with the excuse of going for a leak, Ludo separated from Emmer before they departed from their sleeping area. Once he was far away enough he began to concentrate.

“Good luck!” Ben said. Ludo closed his eyes, took deep and long breaths and opened them, only to see the same amount of information as before.

“You need to concentrate better!” Ben said.

“How can I even do that?” Ludo asked, annoyed that his view was now pop up after pop up of details around him. He closed his eyes again and began to control his breathing.

Focus…

Focus.

FOCUS!

Ludo opened his eyes again, and for the first time in days he that he could see the world without unnecessary information flooding his sight and making him near blind. A tear ran down his face as he fell on his knees. Happy he could see again.

“Now, now Ludo, don’t cry.” Ben said.

“But I can see again!”

“You could always see.”

“Don’t ruin the moment.” Ludo got back on his feet. He stared at a bird resting on a branch above him.

“Now, focus on a single target and—ARGH!” Ludo’s vision blurred, he felt a sharp pain in his eyes and his vision was flooded with information again. He stumbled into a tree as the noise from footsteps came rushing towards him. He didn’t have to guess who it was as Emmer’s voice reached his ears.

“Are you alright, Ludo!? Emmer said, he ran to Ludo’s side and began checking him for any wounds.

“I’m alright. Tripped.” Ludo tried to stand up, but his legs had lost all their strength. Emmer took him back to the campfire. As Ludo’s vision somewhat cleared, he got a closer look at Emmer’s sword. Shining brightly and with a mirror-like reflection, Ludo saw his face across the blade. At the center of the cross-guard rested a large red gemstone. The entire weapon looked like it was worth a fortune.

The two sat around the campfire. Ludo squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds and once he reopened them his vision had cleared. He had learned how to turn magical eyes off and on.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Emmer stared at Ludo. He had seen him turn off his magical eyes.

“Yeah sure, just, tired?” Ludo blurted out, following Ben’s advice on hiding his magical eyes. He noticed that Emmer hadn’t believed a single word he had said, but he didn’t ask anything else.

Two days and nights later and they were at the first few hours of sunshine of the seventh day. Emmer wasn’t lying when he said the journey would take them this long. Ludo kept his practice with Emmer, gaining One-handed and Riding skills, although they were still level one. One thing Ludo had noticed was that for the first time in their journey, he had begun seeing various people walking alongside them in the road. The road itself had shifted from a muddy mess to a paved wonder. They were close.

“So how does Balessia look?” Ludo said.

“See for yourself.” Emmer chuckled. Ludo peeked over Emmer’s shoulders and saw something not so impressive as what he had expected. Palisades blocked most of the view inside the town and there was nothing that caught his attention from the few small glimpses he could steal from beyond the open gates. All the buildings looked as humble and unimpressive as the ones in Emmer’s village. Emmer greeted the guards, paid for the entrance and took Ludo inside Balessia.