I don’t know how long I held onto RED, but I noticed the caravan was no longer in sight. I felt a hand brush my cheek, just under my eyes. I looked up to see RED smiling at me, his gentle eyes so full of care and love that it almost broke my heart.
I knew he felt something for me, something deeper than friendship… But I didn’t think I could ever bring myself to love him in the same way. RED was, to me, a precious friend. He was someone I cared about, and he was someone I once hurt in the past.
I had hurt most of the people that I cared about at some point during my time in this world.
“Thank you, RED,” I said as I pushed him away. “We need to catch up to the rest of the group.”
“No, Calliope,” RED’s voice insisted. I could see a spark of determination in his eyes. It was something solid, something very real, and it was strong. “I need to tell you this.”
“RED, it can wait. We don’t have time to talk about feelings anymo…”
“Calliope!” His voice shook me to my core. His face turned, his gentle smile became something serious, something profound. “I’m sure you know how I feel about you, but that’s NOT what I’m about to tell you.”
“R-RED,” I stuttered. “What is it, then?” His aura scared me, a bit. What could be so important...
“Calliope, my real name is Sal.”
Thunder crashed. The world shook. My eyes lost focus. A flood of thoughts broke through the dam that held them in place. Memories came back like an avalanche, burying my mind. My heart was beating hard enough to crack my ribs, and the booming of it was all I could hear. Everything faded from my view, turning a bright white.
-
I was sitting at the lunch table at school. Sal was across from me. He had brown shaggy hair and a sharp nose. I had found him being picked on just minutes earlier, and I dragged him away from the jerks. He was quiet and played with his food.
“Thank you,” he finally said.
“It’s no problem,” I replied as I took a bite. I wasn’t the strongest or the fastest kid, but I wasn’t truly small or scrawny like Sal. Those bullies wouldn’t mess with me so easily.
I knew why they were picking on Sal, but I genuinely didn’t care about him being bisexual. I just didn’t like what those other boys were saying. That was why I stepped in. That was all. I couldn't tell if it was pity or on the merit of my own morals. I certainly didn't consider myself a 'good person', but I didn't need to be a good person to help out Sal there. It didn't cost me anything but my lonely lunch.
We finished our meals in silence. Sal looked like he didn't want to say anything, and his face was still flushed from the event. I didn't blame him for receding like that. I think most people, when faced with confrontation, would shrink back. Sal stood from the table and started to walk off with his tray, his shoulders huddled in, making him look even smaller than he was. He looked so tiny and weak.
“Hey, Sal,” I called out and he stopped. “Let’s eat lunch together again, tomorrow.” My offer had no ulterior motives. I didn't want him to be alone and get picked on, and I didn't exactly mind the company.
He turned and looked at me. His genuine smile warmed my heart a bit. He looked thankful and he waved with one hand. He didn't say it aloud, but he definitely agreed to eat with me in the future. I couldn't hide my own grin.
That was where it all started. That was how our friendship began. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but everything began from that moment. By quietly stepping in to help someone else, I sparked a friendship that even crossed worlds.
Those bullies never bothered him again, either. For the life of me, I don't even remember what I threatened them with. I couldn't remember them clearly. All I remember was them backing off without a fuss.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
-
I was lying on my bed, throwing a bouncy ball against the ceiling of my room. Sal was sitting next to me doing his homework. I had already given up on mine. I knew what I wanted to do with my future, and I was already earning money in my spare time doing it. I didn’t need to know how to do integration. A calculator could do all the math I’d ever need for the rest of my life.
“Hey XXXX,” Sal called my name.
“Yeah?” I replied.
“Do you really think you’ll be able to do this Dark Gamer thing forever?” He asked.
I smiled. He didn’t know, but I was making a lot more money than he thought. I had a fantastic reputation in my professional circle. Sal and I didn’t play games together much anymore, due to my job, but we were still close. We’d go out for meals from time to time, or we’d just get together and hang out while doing schoolwork. One time we snuck through the backwoods of Jamison Street to look at a big industrial accident that happened at the tile factory there. You know, generic teenage antics.
“I think I can,” I replied.
“D-do you ever think about the future? Like what you want to do down the road or who you want to marry?”
I almost laughed. “To be honest, Sal, I’m content with just leveling up characters in games. I’ve never met a girl that made me want to hang out with her over playing video games, either. It takes someone special to pull me from my games.”
“You’re not playing video games right now,” said Sal, a bit of teasing in his tone. I tossed the bouncy ball at him and he ducked. It hit the dresser behind him before bouncing to the floor somewhere out of sight.
“That’s because I’m spending time with my best friend. I’ll always make time for you," I said. It was the truth. Sal was my best friend, the one person in the world I could trust with anything.
-
One by one memories of our time together returned to me. I didn’t know just when I fell to my knees. I didn’t know when I started crying.
I couldn’t hold back my tears long enough to say anything at all. I remained still; the silence was broken only by my sniffles and sobs.
Nox tore those memories from me. He tore my best friend, one of the few people I cared about in all the world, from me. He turned my best friend into a fucking encyclopedia and trapped him in my goddamn head!
More than sadness, I could feel an uncontrollable rage burning in my heart. I couldn’t see through my blurred eyes, and everything was turning red. More than weakness, I felt my own strength bubbling just under my skin, as if I were made of mana itself rather than flesh and blood.
“I’m going to kill him,” I said through grit teeth. My voice sounded like an iron rake being dragged across a gravel road.
“I’ll help you, Calliope,” Sal replied.
Hearing the name Calliope made me shiver. I still couldn’t remember my real name, the name I had in my last life.
“Do you remember my name, Sal?” I asked.
“I cannot.”
I grit my teeth at his answer. My breathing was growing erratic and I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, ready to break through my ribs like a bomb. The wetness on my cheeks faded into a hard heat. My knuckles turned white from clenching my fists so hard.
It took me a moment before I could manage to stand up again. Off in the distance I could sense Lily’s escort knights fighting off a low-ranked monster swarm.
“We need to return to the group, Sal,” I said. My duty to Lily and the escorts grounded me. It gave me a point to return to, a way to climb back from the edge.
“Keep calling me RED for now,” he replied. I winced and held a hand over my aching heart.
“I don’t want to,” I told him.
“But you have to. Nox has spies. The Country of Gransus was the kingdom he set up many years ago. He moved one of The Tempered, the founder of this country, to this world back then. If you start calling me Sal, and one of the spies hears, who knows what will happen…”
“I’m going to be honest here,” I said through grit teeth, “I don’t think it matters.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I think he already knows I have my memory back. And, I think he knows it doesn’t matter if I do hate him…”
I looked Sal in the eyes.
“Sal, the last time we met, Nox threatened my family from our world. I’m sure he’ll go after yours, too. I know you and your mom weren't on the best terms, but I can't let him kill her all the same.”
My words brought a profound silence with them. I sighed and patted Sal on the shoulder as I passed by him.
“I’m going to go clean up the monsters head of the group. You should go help kill the small fry for now. As much as we hate him, we can’t just go after him…”
I was about ten steps away when I turned back.
“Yet. Sal, we will kill Nox, but for now, the only thing we can do is to level up and prepare. He holds all the cards, but as that old saying goes, ‘It’s not about the cards you're dealt, but how you play the game.’ I know we can win.”
I left Sal standing alone on that large tree root. My tumultuous heart finally calmed down.
I was a guardian to this small caravan going through The Pass. I couldn't forget my role. I thought of Lily's face and I managed to eke out a smile. Thoughts of her were what kept me calm, kept me sane. I couldn't just get hellbent on revenge and turn blind to reality.
I was stronger than that.
“Who I am is what I do.”
I repeated my new mantra quietly to myself as I moved.