A grunt escaped Old Man Eisen as he knelt down to pick up his fishing equipment from his backyard on what he perceived a normal morning. Every day, he would wake up before dawn and make his way to the sea to capture some fish.
Slowly, he made his way out of his property as he was walking slowly to the seashore. But suddenly, he stopped, gazing at the dimly lit sky. What he saw made him stunned for quite some time.
For the first time in two decades, he witnessed a cloud in the sky once again.
The land here was strange. Eisen could still remember the last cloud that occupied the sky twenty years ago, and none did after it. Furthermore, not a single drop of water rained down ever since. Weirdly enough, the old trees stayed strong and hydrated, but any new plant would dry and die within the hour it was planted in.
This made his life significantly harder considering he was a farmer, so he changed his work to the second thing he did best: fishing. The money he made from selling the fish wasn't that amazing, but it wasn't bad either. At least, it allowed him to feed his daughter and wife, and sometimes get what they need.
As for water? They managed to find ways to make seawater drinkable.
But now? He noticed that the sky was covered in clouds, dark ones at that. Those signified rain, and rain in these lands meant hope!
With his spirits lifted, the old man increased his pace and soon reached the shore. There, he saw another strange thing on the sands.
An unconscious young man with white hair.
....
"...I am you!"
"...I am your anger..."
"...I will always be a part of you..."
"Snap out of it!"
My eyes opened. I don't know why, but my hand was grasping the neck of an old man, and he was trying to shout, "Snap out of it!"
As soon as the fog lifted from my mind, I softened my grip on his throat. I must have been grasping him extremely tight, because he was took a few minutes to catch his breath.
I looked at the old man emotionlessly and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm... cough cough... My name is Eisen," he said. Taking a deep breath, he returned the question, "And who are you?"
"I-" I didn't continue my sentence. That's right, who am I? Why can't I remember anything about my life? "I don't know..."
"You don't know who you are?" The old man, Eisen, raised an eyebrow at my response.
I shook my head and explained, "My memory is... gone, for now at least. Not all of it, though. General information are still there... But anything personal is gone."
Before he could say anything else, the door to the room opened and two women entered in haste. One was middle-aged while the other was young. Both of them had concern apparent on his face and the older one asked, "What's going on?"
"Oh, you're finally awake?" the younger one said in surprise.
"Finally? Have I been unconscious for a long time?" I asked, although I did not feel any curiosity regarding their answer.
"I found you at the sea side three weeks ago. I don't know when you entered your coma, however," Eisen replied. "But... I must say, I have never even seen you flinch all this time. Not until a few minutes ago."
I gave a slight nod and said, "Is there any food?"
"Come," said the middle-aged woman. "We'll talk over dinner."