The feelings in his heart arose...

It was of pain and failure. Of despair...

And he began to recover his consciousness...

His mind felt like it was about to explode into tiny little pieces. But it didn't; it was just a feeling, after all.

He got up and his mind awoke into realization. He panted as he felt lost and desolated. The first question that arose in mind was: where was he?

But thinking about it clearly, he recalled falling down. But who was that brunette he was falling with?

His head felt like it was about burst again as he realized a fact: he couldn't recall all of his past! He had forgotten everything! His memories were now gone with the fall!

“Arg!!!!!” Aag yelled, trying to escape out of this harsh reality, trying to claw out of its hands. He tried to remember. He tried to fight. He tried, but all he received was excruciating pain in his head. The pain fed on his will, and he fell weak as he clawed at the rough ground.

His struggle against his fate failed, as he lied down on the ground. He still tried to recollect, but he couldn't just do it. He felt hopeless. He felt the doom of despair, surging in his mind. He felt... the warmth of love.

“Aag.” He suddenly saw an image of a familiar brunette.

“Simara...” The words awoke in his mind and began to breed and breathe. He remembered. He finally remembered! He finally recollected!

He only remembered five things for now:

♦That his name was Aag.

♦His lover-till-the-end is a brunette named Simara.

♦They had fallen down together into here when the earth cracked open.

♦He was alone here; no indication of Simara being around. He was lost.

♦He still retained his skills but not his memories.

And Aag was now considering several things as he slowly recovered from the shock of losing most of his memories.

His first thought was: how had he survived?

They fell from the peak of the mountain, deep down into this chasm... yet he was still living after that happened and was mostly unscathed.

The second thing that came to his mind was: where was Simara?

He realized he was currently all alone. He had fallen with Simara, yet Simara wasn't around here. It made him lost his nerve.

“She's not here! GODAMN! She's not here!!!” he yelled, as he tried to vent all his frustration out on all the gods and goddesses that have ever existed in this world.

He calmed down soon after yelling for a while. He had to find Simara.

“Since I have survived this, she must have survived too,” Aag said to himself. “I must find her!”

He had to find her, no matter what. Even though this place was—ah! Where was he, he realized.

He had remembered falling deep into a dark abyss. It was very dark when he was falling. But here at the bottom, as he looked up, he clearly saw the light. Not possible.

His mind tried to go against the odds to find an explanation for that, but simply it couldn't. It just could give him one single idea, that was to try to move around and explore and get out of this place. And find Simara.

The place he was in was narrow with two big walls stretching on either side while leaving a considerable amount of space for him to move freely.

There were only two directions for him to venture out on, and he picked up a random one and walked through the narrow path, in the search of Simara.

He remembered that he wanted to find Utopia, but looking at his situation, he realized that he had found Dystopia instead.

But looking carefully at the situation, he still hoped to climb back to home again with Simara by his side.

But to be able to fulfil that, he had to put all his efforts into finding her, no matter if the weather is bad or good, he would find her...

“I will be always there whenever you are falling...” He remembered the once-forgotten lines. He recollected it and muttered it deep in his heart like a silent promise. “No matter where or what the weather will be... I will be right by you there, ready to catch you before you hit the ground and hurt yourself.”

Even if he had failed that promise once, he wouldn't fail again!

He would run to her, he would battle through countless enemies if it is required; he would break the gates of Hell and would find her and would catch her before she hits the ground... as he had promised.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He took fifteen more steps, and then felt tired, like if he had the whole of Earth as his burden. But he didn't want to rest, for he had a promise to keep.

His will fought against his fatigue and won, his hysteria calmed down as he slowly walked through the narrow passage while being lost all in his thoughts...

❃

Aag walked and continued to walk the wilderness. He had come out from that narrow passageway a long time ago and now had began his search for Simara. As far as his mind could recollect, he remembered her to be of the adventurous type, always looking for unreached places to venture at. 

Like that, if he remembered correctly, they had found the highest mountain in the world. No, it was not the Everest, no. It was another mountain which had remained overlooked by the people for most of these years. He couldn't remember the mountain’s name, but he remembered that he had a task to complete for now. To find Simara. 

The ground on which he was walking was baked and crumbling. The temperature was that of a scorcher. The skies were cloudless and red; it was evening or something. He couldn't see the sun anywhere in the firmament, but he could feel the heat stabbing his skin as it slowly entered his throat and mouth and slowly dried them... 

He walked for miles, and he frequently squinted his eyes to find an end to this desert, to find a haven, to find a vegetated land. 

The wilderness lacked life. It was barren, moreover. Aag’s mind was screaming for water to quench his desperate thirst and while keeping his head low, he walked the desert which lacked the sand. 

“Water...” he mumbled through his dry throat as his eyes inspected the lifeless lands stretching out to miles, and it seemed like he wasn't getting out of this desert any sooner. And moreover, his thirst was killing him. 

Having a dry mouth, having a dry throat, having stopped sweating, Aag walked the desert like a zombie, his back bent and his eyes lacking life. His mind had the will to continue, but it wasn't the same here for the body. His body staggered. His legs felt nimble. He was dying. And he feared that he would die before even getting to see Simara a very last time. He had the sorest need to see her. To find her and get out of this place together. 

For now, he had the sorest need to live, so that he is able to do what he wants to do. He had to find haven... and water too... 

“Simara...” he muttered... “Water..!” 

He staggered and fell down upon the water and got his face wet. Just feeling the water now caressing his face rather than the heat brought him new strength, as he rose quick and drank a handful from the oasis. And more handfuls. And he drank till his thirst was quenched. 

“Water!” He gasped. He had finally found a haven. An oasis amidst this desert. 

He got up, full of strength and moisture, as he wiped his face. He realized upon inspecting the oasis that there were only grasses and shrubs growing around the oasis and no tall trees as he had expected. 

For the journey ahead through the desert would be difficult, and he lacked any container to carry the water, so he decided to wait here till the dusk comes. He would set out at night after drinking some more from the oasis. 

❃

At night, it had gotten cooler and colder. The desert had now morphed into a cold land.  

A blue thing, almost round, hung in the firmament as Aag made this way through this bone-chilling cold. The cold, just like the heat, stabbed deep into his skin and chilled his bones. A wave of chills rode down from his shoulders to his back, causing a slight shudder around his spine.

He walked in the warmth of his clothes, he walked in the hope of finding life and people and more havens. He walked, and the cold winds blew past him.

As he made his advance, his eyes saw the flicker of light afar for a moment. Thinking his eyes were playing their mischievous tricks again with him, he squinted his eyes and looked at the distance to confirm if there really was any light there. For some moments, he saw nothing. But then all of sudden, his eyes caught the flickering of lamplights afar. 

Not too far that he couldn’t signal them from here! Just as he saw the lights, he waved his hands in the air and yelled, “Help! Here! Over here!! Help!!!”