When Wyn awoke for the second time, he found himself wrapped in a snug blanket and seated on the bright orange sofa in the sitting room. Henrik sat on a stool across Declan, and he was observing him silently when Lorin arrived from the kitchen with a glass mug filled with water.
Lorin held the glass mug in front of Wyn, who glanced from Lorin to the glass mug warily, a look of hesitation and doubt written on his face.
"It's warm water," Lorin said plainly.
Wyn was suspicious of accepting something from a stranger, but he was far too thirsty to care. His throat was hoarse, dry, and in need of some liquid to soothe it. He took the glass mug and brought it to his lips quickly. As he drank, he watched in incredulity as the elderly man waved his hand in the air and a stool appeared next to him.
Lorin sat down on the stool as Wyn almost spat his water out in bewilderment.
"How…how did you do that?" Wyn asked in disbelief.
The elderly man and Lorin exchanged glances, clearly puzzled but intrigued by the odd man in front of them.
"Let's start with names, shall we?" The elderly man said with a pleasant smile. "I'm Henrik, and this is Lorin," he motioned to him. "What's your name?"
"I'm Wyn," he answered.
"Alright, Wyn. You seem mighty confused…"
"I am," Wyn interposed. "I'm completely, properly mystified!"
"And might I ask what confounded you?" Henrik asked.
"The white light…the glow…" Wyn began. "The glow that came out of your hands, of your palm. What was that? How are you able to do that? Why are there so many abnormalities outside? And…where am I?" his questions spilled out incessantly. "How did I end up here?"
Henrik and Lorin glanced at each other.
"Excuse us for a second," Henrik brought Lorin to a corner of the sitting room where they would be unheard by Wyn.
"He's weird," Lorin declared in a sharp but soft whisper. "He doesn't seem to know anything about magic, and he's curious and confused about everything. He doesn't even know where we are."
"Exactly," Henrik spoke in a low tone. "I believe he has amnesia."
"Amnesia?" Lorin's eyes widened in surprise. "But that's a mortal ailment. People like us do not contract amnesia."
"Correction. It is rare for people like us to contract amnesia, but it is entirely possible,"
Henrik said. "Observe his behavior and his mannerisms. He is scared and flustered. He can't seem to remember anything about magic and is bemused by it. Those are the symptoms of amnesia."
"So, you're saying we have our first amnesiac patient? After all this time?" the corners of Lorin's mouth curved up into a small smile.
"We don't celebrate over another's misfortune, Lorin, but yes, it seems like we do."
"What do we do with him now?" Lorin asked.
"Well, there are various degrees to amnesia, but patients usually lose a part of their memory. They forget who they are, where they are from, the people in their lives, and their environment. He clearly has forgotten the majority of his memory," Henrik explained. "We might have to take care of him for a period of time, before his memory returns."
"How do we cure him?"
"We don't."
"What?" Lorin frowned. "We don't?"
Henrik shook his head. "Unfortunately, there is no cure for amnesia, magical or not. The brain is a powerful entity, and memory is an enigma that is unable to be deciphered even with the most powerful of magics."
"What if he doesn't recall his memory?" Lorin asked curiously. "What happens then?"
Henrik pondered for a moment.
"He becomes a whole new person, different from who he was in the past. As healers, we have to help him."
Wyn looked curiously at the two men converse as he drank his mug of water. He was eager to know how they were speaking of him. When they returned, Wyn quickly averted his gaze. He pretended as though he was not peeking by swallowing the remaining gulps of water left in his mug, but he couldn't seem to finish it no matter how much water he swallowed.
"Erm…" he pointed towards the glass mug. "I can't seem to finish this."
"Of course you can't," Lorin moved to his stool. "The mug is clever."
"What?"
"It's a clever mug. A magical mug. As long as you put your lips up to the mug, there will be water for you to drink. The moment you pull away, there won't be any. It's an extremely rare mug, that one. Only a few of us have them."
"That's impossible!" Wyn exclaimed.
But it was not, for the evidence was lying right in his hands.
A lightbulb popped up in Wyn's mind. "That would solve starvation in a great many nations...I'm sorry, did you say magic?"
"Yes," Henrik nodded. "You must be confused, and Lorin and I will explain everything to you."
"But magic isn't real," Wyn said. "It's a fairytale, a myth, a legend. It's a…story, concocted for children."
Lorin laughed. "That's what magical beings want mortals to believe."
"Mortals?" Wyn tilted his head in puzzlement.
"Humans," Lorin corrected himself. "Those without magic, who live in the realm of the apes."
"Realm of the apes?" Wyn's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"Let us start with something simpler. We'll introduce everything for you," Henrik spoke with an amiable and helpful tone. "Start from the beginning, Lorin. Tell him everything."
Wyn looked to Lorin attentively.
"Where do I even begin?" Lorin chuckled. "You're in Alleria, an island in the heart of the Caribbean Sea secluded and hidden away from the apes, the mortals, the humans. It is the land of hope, the land of contentment, and the land of magic."
"I don't believe in magic," Wyn said. "It's not real."
"Everything you saw was magic," Lorin said. "Your questions, about the white glow, about the—" Lorin formed quotation marks with his fingers as he spoke his next word "abnormalities. They're all magic."
Wyn shook his head in skepticism. "No…it's not true. It can't be. It isn't."
"Let us prove it to you," Henrik said. "Lorin will take you on a walk around the village."
Lorin rose from his stool and looked at Wyn with an expectant gaze. "Come on then. Let's get going."
Stupefied and doubtful, but at the same time fascinated and engrossed by what was just told to him, Wyn stood up from his seat and followed Lorin out of the hut in anticipation.
Magic can't exist, could it?