The sun reflected in his eyes but he focused on the silver knight.
"Where am I?"
All around him, the sound of human cries echoed.
The silver knight cocked his head at the young teenager, "You don't know where you are, lad?"
He found this matter strange.
"No," the boy affirmed.
Nothing was familiar to him.
Of course, granted, everything around him was in ruins, but… even things beyond that like the overly blue sky or extra two purple stars that hung just beside the sun were just too unfamiliar.
What the boy found even weirder was the fact that he couldn't find anything in him to compare his unfamiliar environment with.
Not a single picture rang in his mind when he thought, 'Oh, this does not look familiar' or, 'Oh, it seems I'm far from home.'
The boy took his time to observe his surrounding.
There were other knights dressed in silver, just like the one before him attending to figures covered in brown dust.
It took him a second to realize that they were humans.
Clearly, this piqued his interest as he kept watching some adults cry their hearts out loud before the knights. Some wept in a way that they could fill an entire river before nighttime. Whilst, some just kept quiet and maintained composure, an alarming display of character in this chaotic scene.
He even caught the gazes of a few, who looked straight at him, not even bowing to his own intense stare. He proved to be the one that bowed out.
Finally, the boy spoke, "What is all this?"
It came out in a pure curious tone as if he hadn't, for once, gotten infected by the contagious sorrow in the atmosphere.
"You can't remember?" asked the silver knight. If anything, he was getting a bit too concerned.
"Yes, I can't," responded the boy.
The silver knight proceeded to ask a bunch of questions, "What is your name?"
"I don't know."
"Do you know what happened here?"
"No."
"Does the name Thyur ring a bell to you?"
"No."
"Who are your parents?"
"I do not know."
"What can you remember?"
"Nothing."
After his round of questions, the silver knight fell to his knees with a dramatic movement.
He shook his head, "By heaven's grace, this does not look good at all."
Now that they were quiet, both the boy and the knight could hear similar questions being asked in their surroundings.
"Who are you?"
"I don't know"
"What is your name?"
"I don't know."
The boy and knight understood the situation. This certainly was not looking good!
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—----------Three days later—-----------
The young boy without a name woke up in a warm tent.
His eyes were blank for a second, but he quickly remembered how he got here.
Actually, he was still in the kingdom called Thyur. He was in the supposedly destroyed capital.
After he met the knight in silver and realized something was strange about his situation, he was informed that reinforcement from the knight's kingdom was coming for him and the other humans that were found in the capital.
It had been about four days now, but there were no signs of any reinforcement. The young boy guessed the geographical distance between the two nations was that long.
It wasn't a big issue for the boy, anyway. He could use the spare time to evaluate himself, which he very much did.
After rounds and rounds of evaluation, he reached one conclusion. He had no idea who he was.
Nothing.
Not even a name.
He was the only one among others in the same situation that couldn't remember his name.
Normally, a regular person would have gone mad at this discovery, but the young boy was, however, calm.
He had an anti-social temperament about himself that scared off other people and knights… Well, all except one.
Getting out of his tent, the boy was greeted with the sight of a knight carrying two bowls of soup, "Blessed sun, young lad. If you keep waking up late, I won't be able to cover for you. You know, for someone of your demeanor, I wouldn't tag you as a not-morning person."
The knight was the first person the young boy had ever met since he woke up. For some reason, the knight had a few screws loose, as he couldn't take a hint.
Whenever the young boy tried to be unresponsive, he would talk for hours, thinking it was all right.
The young boy responded in a raspy tone, "Blessed Sun. Thank you."
He grabbed one of the soup bowls and went back into his tent. The knight followed him inside, and they both sat quietly as they ate.
Yeah, the tent belonged to two of them.
There were about fifty survivors, plus the small group of knights, estimated around ten knights. Seeing as the knights didn't know what they were heading into when they arrived, there was no way that they would have enough tents to provide for all of them.
Hence, the knights paired up with the survivors. Some were in pairs of fours, some in three, while some in two.
Luckily, the young boy found himself in a pair of two with a familiar knight.
It could have been worse.
The knight smiled at him, "Aye, have your memories resurfaced?"
"No," responded the young boy.
He had been asked the same question for the past few days.
The knight offered positive words, "Damnation, it must be the result of the impact. Messed with your brain. Hopefully, you would get them back soon"
Pausing his food, the young boy looked right at the knight, "What if I don't remember?"
He understood little, but there was an innate feeling hiding in him that hinted he might never remember.
It was as if his truest self deemed the memories as irrelevant and that scared him.
What was he without his memories?
"Well, it might be a good thing. You can start afresh. Be whoever you want to be. Build new and better memories. Cheer up, the world is not ending soon, lad."
The knight said, "You know, there was once a married man that got shipwrecked. He lost his memory and fell in love with a woman from a faraway land. He had kids, but couldn't get over the guilt of losing his memories. One day, he ran away from home and challenged a sea storm just to refresh his memory. Luckily for him, he got them back and also survived the storm."
"Unluckily for him, he found out that the two women in his life were the same. She never left him but decided not to tell him the truth, as his memories came with other responsibilities. Hahahahaha, moral of the story, don't fight it. Flow with it."
The young boy watched the knight, who had a proud look on his face as if he had said something inspiring.
The boy couldn't help but fake a smile, "That's a weird story. Also, it seems you are bad with jokes."
"Hahahahaha, I get told that a lot," the knight shamelessly laughed.
"Is that story even real?"
"No. I made it up."
"Well, that explains a lot."
The boy finally asked, "What is your name?"
The knight announced with a blush, "Hehe, I thought you wouldn't ask. I'm Trystan,"
The only reply he got from the young boy was silence, which he gladly took.
The two concentrated on their meat soup once more. The taste of the meal was a bit saggy, but they could work with it. It seemed they both agreed that whatever could enter their tummies served as food.
Not long after, they were done.
Cleaning his lips, the boy surprisingly attempted to break the silence, "Where are we going?"
"Huh?"
"Where do you come from? I understand that this place is the location of the now-destroyed Thyur Nation and that you came from another kingdom on a mission. I take it that is the place you are taking us to," the boy explained.
"You are smart," commended Trystan.
"It's not a matter of being clever. Anyone could discern these facts," shot down the boy.
Trystan's lips twitched, "Just take the damn compliment, lad. Don't have to be stuck up your own arse."
As if challenging him, the boy blankly stared at Trystan and spoke, "I'm not stuck up my arse."
"Oh, yes, you are."
"I find that hard to believe."
"...And that, young lad, is why you are stuck up your own arse," concluded Trystan with a winning smile.
Knowing the mouthy knight, the boy was sure that a response would begin an ear-numbing conversation. So, he remained silent and saved himself from the trouble.
He had no idea that he was pouting, which just made Trystan giggle.
*Thud*
The sound of loud wing claps disturbed this positive atmosphere. It came from outside and attracted the attention of the two males.
Opening the tent, the boy saw the weird shape of an object flying in the air.
No, it wasn't just one object. The number of objects was countless.
"What is that?" passively asked the boy.
"That is our ride to the kingdom of Gretia, my home!"