The teenager didn't respond, continuing to stare at nothing.
'Hmm, strange,' the man thought, puzzled.
"Answer my question or I will arrest you on behalf of the kingdom for questioni-" he paused, astounded, "Wait a second, are those my clothes you're wearing?!"
The slight bit of surprise he derived from this revelation caused the knife to knick the boy's neck, drawing blood.
"PRESUMPTUOUS!" A voice, which did not sound like it should come from a boy of his age, exploded from the teenager's mouth.
The man flew backward around two hundred feet, smashing through a few tree trunks before being snagged by a large bramble bush and thrown to the ground.
There was no indication of what caused Fys to be launched through the air, only a slight ripple in the energy waves that was invisible to the naked eye. The boy's eyes betrayed the absence of the person who had occupied his mind before. His eyes radiated power and menace.
The moment he had been knicked by the knife, it was like a flip had been switched and the boy had retaliated on instinct.
After a few seconds, however, the boy's senses gradually returned and he was left staring in bewilderment at something beneath his line of vision.
It just so happened that Fys had managed to loge his knife in Avnar's neck before he had been sent flying. Call it instinct, but Fys had felt something the moment he accidentally drew blood from the boy that made him tense up.
And right he was. Although he was now unconscious, Fys had managed to keep the anomaly from escaping into a more populated area.
Meanwhile, Avnar was having difficulty coping with what had just occurred. One second he's walking along, minding his own business, and the next he has a knife stuck in his throat? What kind of weird and wacky sh*t was he on?
The knife was deeply embedded in Avnar's throat and seemed to be a fatal wound. Blood was flowing out around the edges of the blade and running down his body. He wondered if he was going to die today. After all, he'd been through and all the aspirations he had, he would die just like that? Without accomplishing a single thing and dying a nobody?
'Well, whatever...' he thought as he fell to his knees, 'This world wasn't meant for me anyway. I guess I just wish I could have changed the world to more resemble what I believed a perfect existence to be. Now, none of that.. matters..... anymore...' His thoughts trailed into nothingness as the comforting darkness enveloped him once again.
Memories, recently erased, ensued.
————————————
The light penetrated my eyelids.
My mind was sluggish at this point, hardly comprehending the luminescence of the outside light source.
'Is this the afterlife?' I wondered as my mind regained sensibility. 'I don't want it. Let me return to the abyss. That place of eternal bliss, an utter void of thought, where my freedom from the chains of life lay. What does this disappointing reality have to offer me but more pain and suffering? Why should I endure it when I could remain here in this preterition where all existence originates and eventually returns to?'
Alas, such peace and bliss cannot last forever in this life of mine. The life that never seems to end.
At that moment, a shock of some sort percolated my being and my mind was involuntary jolted out of its sluggish state and into full awareness.
"WHY!" I screamed in anguish. My eyes sprang open and I found myself in a sitting position.
The sight that greeted my eyes was rather frightening, to say the least. An anthropomorphic figure stood a few feet away from me, staring into my eyes with a curious expression. As I could not assign a gender to it as of yet I took to calling the creature 'it'. It had the standard height and girth of humans from Drasylis but was very different from any creature that inhabited it as far as he knew. It had on a strange set of armor that looked to be built of elements not found or known of on Drasylis and was built exquisitely. The parts of its body that were uncovered were covered in scales. The scales were monochromatically orange, smooth, and gleamed in the artificial light above us; overlapping with neat precision. It had five digits on its hands but the digits ended in inch-long claws. I figured the same was most likely true with its feet but they were shielded from view by armored boots that matched the rest of its armor.
The more I studied its figure, the more obvious it seemed to me that this creature was in some way related to a dragon. It had a long, scaly tail which ended in a metal blade that was most likely fixed there for combat. The head of this creature was the most damning evidence of all that this creature was indeed related to the dragons. The shape of its head was draconic and sported a pair of eyes to match. The irises of its eyes were a glowing orange to match its scales that captivated me as I studied them.
The draconic humanoid stared back at me for a few seconds, then looked over its shoulder with a strange look on its face, and questioned another creature of the same visage.
"Why is he staring at me so intently," he asked in a seemingly masculine voice.
Instead of the larger draconid behind him answering, I answered instead, "I do that a lot. It's a habit." I sigh as I think about what I just said, "Well, not a habit per say, I don't do it intentionally, it just happens."
The smaller draconid recoiled in shock, "You can speak Laknian? How is that possible, nobody of the lower world knows our language."
"Someone taught it to me," I said in a pained voice traced with reverie, "A few years ago. However, that doesn't matter. Why did you wake me up, couldn't you have just let me die?"
The orange draconid gave me an even weirder look.
"Well, I guess I'm no longer needed to translate," The large blue draconid behind the orange one said. "Truly a strange day. It's not every day a human, of all species, wanders into our border." He muttered as he walked out the ornate metal door and into the hallway.
"Why would you want to die? I thought that all humans would sell their souls to live even just a second more on this planet." The draconid asked in confusion.
I gave a broken laugh, "If you'd lived my life, you'd understand that my life isn't a life worth living. So, is this Laknia?" I looked around the room, not finding anything to support my inquiry.
The walls were made of large gray bricks, the likes of which I'd seen only in the most secure rooms in my father's palace. They acted both as a magical dampener and an almost indestructible material. More purified forms of the metallic alloy provide a complete magic cancelation ability that temporarily erases one's connection to their soul tether. This alloy is called solenstone, solen meaning silent and stone after its texture. Solenstone is extremely expensive to produce, even at its lowest quality, and can only be afforded by the richest of noble households and organizations. Seeing such a large quantity of highly purified solenstone surrounding him made quite the impression. "Where are we?"
"Well, we are in Laknia, that's for sure. However, I can't tell you exactly where we are. I need you to answer some questions first," the draconid said.
"What's your name?" I asked. "I like to address people by their names when talking to them."
"You sure are a strange human. Not that I've interacted with very many before but I figured most, upon seeing us, would cower in terror and behave like idiotic fools. Oh, my name is Leonis, feel free to call me Leon."
"Leon, is it?" I gave a small chuckle, "Your preconceptions of humankind run as deep as the Exyrtil River. Although, I suppose you would be right in this regard. No human in this world ever had to endure what I had to and I pray none ever do. I wouldn't wish my life upon anybody, not even the cruel gods themselves. Put anybody in my position and I'm sure they'd have off'd themselves by now. But to me? What is staring death in the face compared with the rest of my life? I've kept myself among the living because I want revenge, to destroy those who've wronged me. I have a much better chance at finding a means to attain that revenge in Laknia than I would anywhere else." I sighed and raked my hands through my hair in a bout of mental agony, "Humans are all hypocrites, has anyone ever told you that? No matter where I happen to go, there are always the same power hungry and hypocritical humans! Where else can I find solace, escape, and a means to an end but here in Laknia!" I realize I am now shouting and decide it would be wise to calm down. I sigh in anguish and look down at my scarred hands, a tear falls from my left eye and lands in the groove of one of said scars, conforming to its shape.
I suddenly squeeze my hands together and close my eyes shut as I remember my failures which had killed all of those I truly cared for, "I don't know what to do." The tears came in earnest now and my interrogator, being the kind draconid he was, waited for me to pull myself together which I did after a few minutes. However, I was not done with my monologue and before the draconid could open his mouth, I started again.
"Every time I look at another human all I am reminded of is how flawed of a race we are. I can only hope to try and correct humanity although I have no idea how. Thus, my last hopes lie here. Kill me, torture me, hang me out to dry I don't care. Just don't banish me or send me back. I don't want to set foot on the corrupted soil of human civilization again without the tools I need for revenge and correction."
Leon was completely and utterly dumbfounded. His eyes, which had been narrowed into slits before, had widened, further showing his astonishment at my sudden monologue.
'How old is this kid? Isn't he supposed to be fourteen or something? I read the report the examiner gave to me, how could a fourteen year old be this... I don't even know how to describe it. Enlightened? No, I wouldn't say that. More like, after whatever he's been through, his view of this world and his own species was twisted and warped beyond recognition. What the hell happened to this kid?'
(AN: So, I just realized I am mixing first and third person point of view together so I am just going to roll with it. Obviously Avnar doesn't know what Leon is thinking inside his head. Keep this in mind while you read.)
Instead of following through with this question, Leon took an object out of a drawer to the right of him and held it up to my face.
It was none other than the black moon carving.
"Where did you get this?" Leon's eyes had narrowed back into slits as he asked in a fiercer tone of voice than before.
I didn't answer but stared longingly at the carving as if it were a lifeline. The heart which kept me alive.
"Give it back," I managed in a choked voice filled with emotion.
'So stupid! How had I forgotten about it? I was vowed protect it as long as I lived and it was given to me be someone I deeply respected and loved as the mother I never had. How could I betray her like that! The one who sacrificed everything, so that I could live.'
"Give it back!!" I yelled at Leon more ferociously than before.
"Answer my question. Where did y-," the carving was suddenly ripped from Leon's hand at that point and flew threw the air at high speeds for a moment before landing in my hands.
"I got it from someone. A dragon. She represented everything a human should be but isn't. Compassionate, kind, you name it. She sacrificed everything for me and I promised in return to seek out Laknia and protect this carving in her honor. I will not part with this carving so if you want it, you'll have to take it from my corpse."
A moment of sudden lucidness overtook me as my entire being trembled. I looked around in confusion, not recognizing my surroundings.
'Wait...The carving?' I look down at my hands in shock, 'Where am I? What am I doing here?'
The world trembled as the memory began to break.
My soul seemed to be ripped from my body and before my soul could be whisked away in the torrent of energy surrounding me I heard myself say, "Protect the carving, it is the key to your memories."
The self that was not myself's eyes glowed with power, and yet it was still me, just not how I was now.
Before I could say a single word I was viciously ripped away with the current and shoved into a world of darkness once again.
Instead of ruminating amongst the darkness however, the world started to fracture and eventually shattered and I was left surrounded by my own darkness for a few moments, flailing around helplessly before being thrust back up into consciousness.
My body jerked and my eyes sprang open. I was out of breath and sweat poured from my pores and down my body, drenching the bed beneath me. I tried to catch my breath and per my observant nature, I quickly scanned my surroundings to try and denote where I was. I was certainly not in that room walled with solenstone bricks but instead in the room I had stolen the clothes and food from.
I noticed that I was restrained to the bed as when I had jerked from my reawakening, I had felt as well as heard the rattle of chains. Not being able to do anything at the moment, I just laid there frantically looking around to see if anyone was in the building with me.
It looked like there wasn't but that didn't give me any solace. All I could do right now was wait for them to come back. I couldn't use mana because somehow, these destitute people could afford to buy solenstone chains.
All that aside, there were too many questions going through my mind.
First up, hadn't I died?
'A knife made of steel had pierced straight through my neck. How am I not dead? Such a wound would kill anybody it was inflicted upon so how had I survived?'
I tried looking at my neck but to no avail. In my current state I was unable to see even a fraction of my neck. Hell, even in a state where I wasn't chained up I wouldn't be able to see my neck. Not without a mirror or body of water anyway. So, all in all, this question would remain unanswered until the person who stabbed me returned.
Second question, what was that dream?