My story begins, my friends, in a village with no name in an insignificant world, just outside of the direct supervision of the inter-dimensional city of Minueta.
I woke up with no memory of how I got there, where "there" even was, who I was related to, where I was trying to go, or even who I was. I didn't even remember my name.
I opened my eyes, and saw that I was lying underneath a tree, tall and leafy. It must have been the height of spring, because it was warm but not hot. It was quite pleasant. I lied there for another half hour or so, trying my best to remember who I was. But I could not.
"What are you doing there?"
I sat up and looked for the voice.
"Time is running out. I brought you here for a reason."
"Where are you?" I asked the disembodied voice. "Who are you?"
The voice laughed. It was a girl, but I could not see her. "So it's true, every time you suffer such a severe wound, you lose your memory," she mused. "Well, that is opportune for me, as I can now have you instead of that woman."
I grit my teeth. "She has a name, and it is not 'that woman!'" I stopped and looked at the ground, trying to figure out what I had just said.
"Oh? So your mind forgets, but your body remembers? Or is it your soul? Your subconscious?" She guessed.
I grit my teeth again. I didn't know who this girl was, all I knew is that she was annoying.
"Fine!" I relented, exasperated. "Why did you bring me here?"
She was silent.
"Who are you talking to, Stranger?"
I turned and saw a little boy on the dirt path beside the tree.
"No one," I said.
He eyed me like you would eye a crazy person. Which I understood, to this boy, I probably seemed like I was absolutely insane.
I turned away from him and started walking toward the village.
"Where'r you going?" the boy asked me.
"To find some food, kid," I told him. I used a tone that would hopefully get him to leave me alone.
"Well, okay then," he said with a shrug. "But just so's you know, most of the people in town don't like strangers all that much."
I responded with a wave that I didn't really mean.
The town was busy, but not like marketplace kind of busy. Just "busy day at the job" kind of busy. People were moving goods from stalls and building, moving carts, baskets, tarps, shelves, anything you could think of almost.
I was approaching one of the food stalls when someone got in my path to food.
"Hello there, outsider," said the massive man in front of me. "What brings you to our town?'
People around us had stopped and were whispering, "who is he? Why is general Venerus concerning himself with him?"
"General Venerus?" I asked. "Is that what they call you?"
He nodded.
I looked up at him with contempt. "In a town this small, do you even count as a general? After all, you have no army."
He smirked a bit. "I am an army."
I laughed. "Whatever, man, just let me get my food and I'll be out of your hair, Mr. Army."
He grit his teeth. "Don't you mock me, stranger. I've probably killed more people than you've seen in your life."
I doubt it, I thought to myself. But I wasn't sure why.
Just as I reached for an apple, a piercing pain hit my skull.
I clutched my head and whipped around. No one had hit me and they were all looking at me like I was crazy. Again.
"I told you there wasn't much time," the girl's voice rang in my head again. "And now, what time you did have is gone. He's here."
"Who's here?"
"The archdragon, Rotuseax," she told me.
Just then the sky grew dark and thunder struck with no lightning. Then the ground trembled and a rift in the middle of the air opened up. From it, stepped out a dragon. It was huge. At least sixty feet tall, with four legs and two and a half wings. I say two and a half because it looked like there had at one point been four but one was completely gone, while the another was split in half.
It also had four horns, two curling up slightly at the ends. Red lightning arced across his scales and little flames came from his mouth with every breath he took.
"You," it said looking straight at me. "You. How dare you? HOW DARE YOU?!"
"How dare I what?" I asked, a little nervous mentally, but my body was oddly calm.
"My wings!" It said, lifting its torn wing. "And my tail!" It lifted a small tail, proportionately speaking.
"Did I do that?" I asked. It was simultaneously a taunt and a legitimate question.
"Yes!" Both the dragon and the girl in my head shouted.
"A shame I can't do it again," I said, once again with my double meanings.
The girl groaned and said to me, exasperated, "take out your sword!"
"What sword?" I asked.
"Hold out your hand," she ordered.
I did so.
The dragon reared back and swiped at me.
I jumped over its claws, and when I landed, I had a long katana in my hand.
I had no idea what it was or where it came from, but it was huge, and I could tell just by looking at it that it was sharp. Razor sharp.
I gripped the handle with both hands and took a fighting stance I did not know, but that my body felt comfortable in. I held the handle to the left of my face and had the blade going in front of my body at a downward angle.
Rotuseax roared and the lightning that had been arcing across his whole body, now coalesced into his forelegs, where the formed massive javelins of red lightning.
He threw them at me with intense force. I tried to think of a way out, but then the girl spoke to me again.
"Don't think, just follow what you're body wants to do! Your instincts!"
I leapt up past the first bolt of lightning and spring boarded off of the second straight toward his head.
I slashed but missed. Taking off only a piece of his horn.
"Stop fighting yourself!" The girl shouted at me. "At this point, you should just do what your body is telling you and not your brain."
I landed behind the dragon, but then I was in front of it, and it was falling to the ground.
"Yes! Just like that!" The girl said.
I turned and saw that I guess I had cut off all of his legs.
"How dare you?!" It shouted and breathed fire in my direction. But then I was beside its neck, which was bleeding profusely, like someone had just slashed it.
I looked up from watching my sword land on the ground and saw that I had sliced clean through the beast's neck and removed its head.
I stood up straight and held out my hand toward the animal, though I didn't know why. It just felt like I should. Within a few seconds, little silver sparks flew from its neck and formed a little ball of light in my hand. The ball of light then moved into my body and I felt a little warm glow in my chest.
"Good job!" The girl congratulated.
I reached out my left hand, quick as a whip and snatched what felt like a cloth out of nowhere. I dragged it out of some invisible place and threw it on the ground. Only then did I realize, it was the girl who had been talking to me all this time.
"What was that for?"
"I'm tired of hearing your voice but not seeing your face," I said.
"Well, you could've set me down a little gentler, don't you think?" She asked indignantly as she stood up and brushed the dirt off of her dress.
She was a cute girl, I won't lie. But I wasn't sure yet if her looks made up for her personality. She had long white hair, blue eyes, ad was about my height.
"What is your name?" I asked.
"You forgot that too?" She asked.
My face twisted in annoyance. "I forgot MY name!" I shouted at her. "What makes you think that I would remember anyone else's?"
She shrunk away from me, and I felt kind of bad. I didn't know what exactly we had been to each other before now, so I should've been a little more careful.
I knelt down to where she was no crouching and hugging her knees.
"I'm sorry," I apologized. "I shouldn't have raised my voice."
She shrugged. "You don't remember anything but the most basic of things apparently, so I expected too much."
My eye twitched. Was it just second nature for this girl to want to get on other's nerves?
I took a deep breath. "Yeah, but that's not really an excuse for acting that way now, is it?"
She shrugged again but said nothing.
I tried really hard to keep myself from rolling my eyes. I couldn't tell how old she was but she was acting like an eight year old.
"Is it dead?" One of the villagers asked.
I had almost forgotten about them.
I turned and nodded. "It's dead."