[Did this work? It's been some time since these events have passed. What is Life like for you now, Lark?]
Now it seemed the voice and I could work a little better together. My mind flickered past almost perfect memories. I didn't even know I had most of these memories, but there they were, clearer than the day I lived them.
And the Voice had us watch them all.
It was a constant stream of slow decline in my life laid bare by the Voice. While my prowess on the battlefield was well received, it seemed that I lacked the capability to fight as part of a team. And as powerful of a fighter I was, being unable to function as a member of a team made me a liability to the protectorate around me.
The first dismissal was when I was removed from my squad and placed under special orders. My supervisor wanted to have me removed from his care, but as a late arrival Skygge he was met with Sute, who spoke to him. Reviewing the memories with the voice, I remember hearing something called the 'krieger kode', but I don't know what this was. It was the language of my people, but the words were unfamiliar, as well as the context.
So instead I was given my new assignment. Each day I worked, I would sweep the streets, collect refuse from collection points outside stores and homes, and dump it at the recycling center. It was always odd to turn these materials in, because the trash either went towards the materials reprocessing for things like wood and metal, while bio waste was sent to the bio-fields. These always creeped me out. At first they were run by undead skeletons, but eventually the labor force was switched to homunculi.
I still bunked with the other soldiers in the bunkhouse, but I was never part of their squad again. At first it was good work. Sweeping streets, collecting trash, trimming trees in public places, clearing stone debris. I could probably have kept this job forever.
[What happened then Lark?]
Memories shifted at the Voice's behest. Soon, slowly over the months, as the size of Haven grew, the skeletons disappeared, replaced with homunculi. At first they just replaced those at the recycling center and bio fields. Then they took over trash collection and sweeping the streets. Then debris cleanup and material transportation. My simple tasks that I was able to do were slowly assumed by the unthinking automatons. And then I had no task, and with it no purpose.
[What did you do for work?]
Shortly after I did not have streets to sweep, I was assigned the new post of 'visual deterrent'. My job was to stand in a specific spot. 8 hours a day. I was told by simply standing there I stopped possible crime. The first place I was posted was a jobsite on a mountaintop. By reviewing these memories with the Voice, I realize now that this worksite became the artillery base for Haven. Next I was posted at a reconstruction point, which was the Haven Academy after an attack. My posts moved from place to place. When it was an important job, they assigned me to work directly under another person, who would carry an extra rifle and weapon in case my rifle and axe were not functioning. This continued until my last assignment.
[What was the last assignment of being a 'visual deterrent', Lark?]
The Voice danced through my memories to memories to a few weeks before everything changed. A few weeks before I met Gina, and she took me to meet my new forever friend.
When will I meet my forever friend?
[Lark, we will meet when the time is right. But first I need to learn so I can protect you, just as you protect me.]
Lark's memories moved to him reporting in to his senior officer. It was another Skygge. Although this one one was very recently plated by his looks. His name was Sergeant Arnold.
"Lark, you have a new assignment. Your shift is switching from Morning and Afternoon to Evening and Morning, 4 days a week. Do you understand?"
I remember handing him my schedule cards. He had usually been responsible for re-ordering them for me so i did not get confused on the dates. Today, he scribbled out the pictures that Sute had drawn, and redrew them. It changed what I was supposed to do and when I was supposed to do it. I was sad that I lost the pretty pictures that Sute had drawn for me.
"Effective immediately you will continue your task 'Visual Deterrence' to aid in safeguarding Public Bathouse Number 10, also known as 'The Spawning Pool'. Do you know its location?"
I knew my numbers up to 10. Even in the strange language of Haven. I could still count to 10. But I did not know this location. Then I remembered. This was the Bathhouse located across from where I ate dinner every day. I stopped using this bathhouse because it had closed. I remember being happy, because this was the first time I knew where to go for my assignment. I smiled and saluted my supervisor. Then I ran to my new location.
When I arrived, my supervisor was right behind me. He moved me to the street corner opposite the bathhouse and across the street from the cafe.
"Lark, your job is to stand on this street corner and not say anything. You are to stay here where others can see you. You will do so 8 hours a day, starting from midnight everyday until 8 in the morning. Someone will come by to let you know when you are done each day. I have written this into your cards so you won't forget."
I understood this job. Stand and stay quiet. I had done this at the mountaintop jobsite, the Academy, outside the place where the outsiders stayed during a really important meeting, and most recently outside the training dungeon while the rest of the soldiers were inside training. My job was like being a big brother and watching out for stuff. I had a 'big brother' back before he came to Haven. He was working on the day of Sute's speech, on the day of the flash. He had not made it. I missed him so much it started to hurt. The memories started to crack under the weight of loss.
[I am with you Lark. I know loss is difficult, but I am here with you.]
A rush of something warm in my chest helped wipe away the sad. Then my memory went back to when I first saw Gina.
Gina was a short girl. And I am pretty sure Gina was human. Even if she was short, she did not have the bright colored hair of the Gole. And her skin was light tan with freckles, so she couldn't be one of the planetouched, a Lybringer or Skygge like me. She did not have sharp ears so she could not be a forest elf, and she was uncovered in the sunlight, so she couldn't be a dhamphir. So she was a human. Or a Construct. Or a Changeling in disguise.
Wait, what are all these thoughts? I never tried to differentiate who people were before. I simply knew them as Skygge or not.
[I am adding context to your memories Lark. As I learn from all of the pieces of your memory, I can put together a bigger picture for your own understanding. But be patient. Too much understanding at once is dangerous.]
Anyways. Gina was always there in front of the bathhouse number 10. She started a few hours before I got off shift and continued to stand there handing out treats and trying to get others to talk to her. After a few days, I guess she would notice me looking at her.
Then one day she waved. I knew I wasn't supposed to talk, and I had to stand still. But I didn't see any issue in waving back.
[When did this change?]
One day I remember in the morning someone went to Gina and pointed to me, and said something to her. I couldn't hear what was said, but I knew they were probably talking about me. Soon, as the sun crested over Haven's mountains, my relief came to inform me I was done on my post, and as I was leaving, Gina ran over. She greeted me with a smile and a plate of my favorite Scones from the Skygge cafe. That was the day I went to meet my new forever friend.
***
I am able to learn. It seems that the condition that my host Lark suffers from only affects his ability to reason and understand, as well as a bit of damage to some of his long term memories. The majority of his memory is able to be salvaged, studied, compiled, and cross-referenced. I am piecing together this strange new world one memory at a time. There is still just so much context missing.
I know I am in a multicultural city called Haven. My host is a Skygge, which is one of the two varieties of the Planetouched Race. He suffers from Persistent Personality Damage, which primarily affects logic, reasoning, and understanding. I can fix this.
The skygge are bipedal humanoids that are identified because of their black horns, light brown skin, and red eyes. The other planetouched people have light blue eyes, flawless white skin, and blonde hair, often emitting a glow.
My host, and now me it seems, belongs to the Protectorate, the nationalized armed services of Haven. I am aware there are other regions of Haven other than the Capital Region, but I can only remember their names of 'Foundry and Biome'. I can't find any memories of these. Lark must have never visited them.
There are a few other countries other than Haven. By the conversation excerpts I have been able to piece together, all of them hate Haven, and I can assume it is racially motivated. All of the other nations are Human.
This world is a strange one. The memories my mother had imparted to me were of a completely different world.
I will have to work hard here to make sure my host can thrive.
***