“Look sister,” a voice said. “It appears he’s awakened.”
Who’s voice is this? With one eye opened, he saw a blurry male boy standing beside his bed along with a young girl standing beside him carrying a teacup in her hand. It appeared that they, rather than Noreko, filled the teacup on the drawer for him as steam lifted off the recently filled cup.
He thrust the covers off of himself and twisted his legs around to dangle off the edge of the bed. “And who might you two be?”
The girl furrowed her brows preparing to speak. “We’re—”
“I am Reginald,” he said cutting her off, “and this is my sister Regina. We are as you can imagine, Rinas’s children.”
“Oh? I wasn’t aware he had children.”
The young boy wore a butler-like uniform while his sister wore a maid-like outfit. What a strange sort of attire for a nobleman’s children. Am I actually awake or am I in a dream?
Nothing appeared to suggest he was in fact dreaming so he quickly tossed that idea away without giving it another second thought.
“My sister and I were at our mother’s residence only to return today. I expect you’ll see us regularly now until we’re to go back to hers.” Rinas must’ve been separated from his wife, lover, or another appropriate word to describe this relationship he personally knew nothing about.
“Does he have you two carrying out duties?”
“Yes sir.”
“Father,” Regina said, “wants us to not get too comfortable, unlike Mother. He always says we must experience what it is like to be like everyone else in society.” She didn’t appear too thrilled about that. She crossed her arms and frowned just a little.
Her brother elbowed her gently causing her to stick her tongue out towards him. “We must remain professional. Especially in front of a guest.”
“I don’t want to be professional.”
“Forgive my sister sir…”
“Kiran.”
“Kiran,” Reginald said acknowledging his name with a slight nod of his head. “We shall leave you now so we’re no longer bothering you unless there is something else you need.”
“I’m good for now. I do think however, that I will get up and walk around a bit for today.” He had been feeling quite a bit better and thought moving around would be good for him. Laying around in bed for days on end was starting to get quite tiring.
He took the teacup and drank some of it while they both backed away a couple of steps. “Is your father here?”
The boy nodded. “Are you wanting to see him?”
“I think I am. Where might I go to speak with him?”
“He should be in his office. If you’d like, I can let him know that you want to speak with him and have him come to you.”
“That would be very helpful,” he said lifting the teacup to his lips.
While he hadn’t cared for the tea at first, as the days went on by, he grew to like it strangely enough. It certainly felt like it made him feel better so even if it tasted foul, he’d still drink it for relief.
Both of Rinas’s children who must’ve been no older than twelve left to tell Rinas to expect a visit from him. He forced his body up and began to stretch a little. Blood flowed and he certainly felt the weakness still inhabiting his body.
Recovery sure wasn’t pleasant. But it was necessary.
He wandered out of the room wandering through the halls passing by closed room after closed room. Rinas’s mansion was quite large making it easy to wander to his heart’s desire.
While he felt well enough to walk for a bit of time, his shoulder still hurt. It was a constant reminder of the damage inflicted upon himself.
As he walked by a window down one of the hallways, someone began to near him from behind.
“Kiran,” Rinas said. “You appear to be doing a lot better. I do hope however that you’re strong enough to be up and moving around.”
“I’m feeling good enough to get up and move around a bit. If I tire out I’ll head straight back to bed. For now at least, I’m capable of this.”
“Very good. Now then, what is it that you wanted to see me for?”
“I’ve been thinking about whether I’m to stay with this coalition of yours.”
“And I presume you’ve made your decision?”
“I have.”
He had been thinking about it for days making arguments for each side. It required a lot of thinking and thoroughness but he had plenty of time to think. It was all he could do while laying in bed all day.
With all that time however, making such a decision still wasn’t easy. It felt clear to him that he would always have doubts no matter what he decided in regards to staying or leaving.
“I’ve decided to stay.”
Rinas appeared relieved. He relaxed his shoulders and smiled. “I’m glad you’ve decided to remain with us. Don’t tell anyone else this, but I value you particularly quite highly.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“I’m not that special.”
“You can say that all you like, but I like to think of myself capable of knowing those who are remarkable and those who are not. It’s my job and duty to select those capable of fulfilling our coalition’s goals of creating stronger bonds between familiars and humanity as a whole. Choosing those suitable for our movement is not easy and from what I’ve seen so far, I am certainly impressed by you and your efforts thus far in such a short period of time.”
He could think of him highly all he wanted but Kiran was just a person. He didn’t see himself to whatever elevated status Rinas had of him. At the same time, he could see where someone like him came from. A person of his status certainly had an obligation to pick and choose carefully since a movement like this could easily be ruined by one or two badly chosen people in low or high places.
“Since you’ve agreed to remain with us,” he continued to say, “I believe you especially deserve the opportunity to potentially gain insight into this past of yours that you so desire. You should go and see Noreko if you’re feeling up for it as he may be able to assist you in this regard. Although you need not rush even though I realize you must be eager to regain your memories.”
He had been getting some insight into his past but he had only a little bit of insight. He knew next to nothing of his past and he wanted to know more. This was an opportunity he had been desiring for so long. It felt almost too good to be true.
Rather than delay that desire, he felt well enough to see whether Noreko would be willing to do whatever he needed to do to unlock his lost past. One of the reasons he joined the coalition, was to pursue this goal of his and to see him making progress there felt fulfilling. All it took was for him to decide to stay within the coalition.
While from his understanding Noreko didn’t solely work out of this mansion, he had been working here far more often so he could keep close tabs on him and Lar. For this reason, he was there for him to seek out allowing him the opportunity to see whether he would do whatever needed to be done for him to see into his past.
When he reached what was supposed to be his laboratory that lay on a lower level beneath the mansion, a faint ward rippled across the door he tried to twist open. As if the one who created it knew he was there, the ward disappeared and the door opened without him having to open it.
The bald sorcerer had their back turned to him as they worked at a wooden table near the back of the darkened room. They motioned their hands while carrying some piece of glassware with a strange liquid in it.
After Kiran stepped fully into the lab beneath Rinas’s mansion, they made a specific gesture with their hand which caused the door to close behind him. That same faint ward reappeared sealing the room. He’s quite cautious it seems.
The trick of having the door open and close however, was admittedly a neat maneuver. “That’s a neat little trick you did there with the door,” he said while coming closer to the sorcerer whose back was turned away still motioning the glassware.
“You liked that did you? It’s admittedly a simple spell any new budding sorcerer can manage.”
I might have to learn that spell so I can open and close doors freely. Just think of all the pranks I could get up to. Such evil thoughts had to be banished immediately so he shifted his thoughts away towards more productive ones.
“What exactly are you up to?”
“I am trying to mix an enhancement potion that can be a little tricky to make. It requires precise ratios to be effective and I am trying to see whether I can make them more potent without compromising the longevity.”
That sure sounds like a lot of fun. His eyes began to glaze over as the sorcerer began to go on a long tangent over the complexities and numerous mathematical formulas that go into such creations. It was quite technical and beyond his own capabilities to understand such things.
“Am I boring you?”
“No, not at all.”
“You sure? I thought you went absent-minded there for a moment.”
“Well, alright. I admit, I might’ve lost focus for a second.”
“No worries. I even bore myself sometimes.” Noreko carefully emptied the glassware of the strange liquid into several smaller vials. He put corks into each of them and closed a big worn book on the table beside them. “May I ask how you are doing? By appearances alone, you appear to be doing quite a lot better but how is your shoulder doing more specifically?”
“Considering how deep that sword cut through, I’m a bit surprised by how it’s doing.” He motioned his injured shoulder noticing how stiff and sharp some of the pains were still, but compared to a week ago when he could barely even move it, it was a night and day difference.
“Those healing bandages are quite great at what they do. I believe within another couple of weeks it’ll be as good as new. So long as you keep your shoulder wrapped as I’ve suggested of course.”
“You don’t have to worry there. I wouldn’t think to remove them.”
“Excellent. That is all a sorcerer can ask for their subjects to do as they’re told for their own betterment. You wouldn’t even begin to know how many people will go against orders given by sorcerers such as I. No, don’t do exactly what I told you not to and then expect everything to work out! What foolish people. But alas, I imagine you came here for other reasons than for me to merely ask about the state of your being.”
“I did. I’ve been informed you are prepared to help me finally recover my memories.”
“Ah, yes. I thought we might delay such endeavors until your body has recovered more, but you have recovered a lot already.” He lifted a finger to his chin and came up close to examine him. “I take it you’re wanting me to go ahead and help you with this matter now rather than delay it any further?”
“If possible.”
They began to stroke their short beard. “These memories of yours that appear at random, you’ve experienced them whenever you were sleeping correct?”
“That’s normally when they occur. Although I’ve had a brief memory of my past come to me when I was awake. They seem to come to me better when I’m asleep as far as I can tell.”
“I see. Well, I am certainly far from an expert on this matter. I wouldn’t want to lie to you and tell you otherwise. But with that being said, I believe I may have a method to, shall we say, grant you further insight into this past of yours. It’s not a guaranteed way to work however so try not to get your hopes up too much.”
He would keep his expectations in check while allowing for some hope that whatever process he would undergo, would end up working.
“Then let us begin. First I’m going to need you to sit down on this table over here.” He led him to a table made of stone with numerous geometrical symbols and lines etched onto all of its surfaces. As Kiran sat on the edge of it with his feet barely touching the floor, the sorcerer went and dug through a whole cabinet full of labeled vials. “You’re going to need to take this. It will force you into a deep sleep. We need to make an effort to force your body into a resting state while maintaining your lucidity. I will warn you though, you’ll be unable to move your actual body once you’re in this state so try to remain calm if you’re just laying there unable to move. You should come out of it eventually.”
“Should?”
“I’m certain you will,” he said. “Once your body has been put in this state and you retain your lucidity, I will then prepare a spell to try to make these dormant memories of yours return to the surface.” He uncorked the vial he carried in his hand. “Now then, take this.”
He drank from the vial that Noreko handed him. It tasted foul. His tongue and throat burned. He began to cough and his breath was vile enough that he could smell it.
“Sorry about the taste.” It can taste as foul as it does as long as it can work towards leading me to my goals. “Now lay down on your back and try to relax. It should only take a minute or so to knock you out.”
With his hands joined together over his body, he breathed in and out preparing himself. Is this really going to work? Am I going to regain all or at least some of my memories? This was what he had been wanting for a long time even though a part of himself didn’t. Those memories were being kept away from him and he was eager to have them back so that he could make better sense of the world and of his own circumstances.
He thought a minute had passed. “Uh, is this thing going to work?”
Noreko stood off to his right by the slab he laid upon. With a simple nod, his body began to submit to the liquid he had drank. The world went dark and he became unable to move his body.
Yet he retained his lucidity as the sorcerer said he would.