Exactly 3 days passed.
The strange golden-haired man had been deemed harmless.
He had been released from the village chief's home and he now roamed the village streets nervously.
For about 3 seconds at least.
My teacher took him in just as he had taken me in so many years ago.
And just like that, teacher's household had 4 people instead of 3.
The sun eventually set, and it was time for a homely dinner.
After all the cutlery was put down and all the food was wolfishly devoured, only myself and the strange golden-haired man were left alone at the table.
He hadn't spoken a word since he had entered teacher's home.
So I was rather surprised when he innocently looked up and asked me of all people, a rather darting question.
"Can you use any arcane?"
I shook my head quietly.
"Arcane is restricted here."
He nodded in acceptance.
"Oh."
"I see."
He developed a rather dissatisfied expression.
I felt a huge well of curiosity building up within my mind.
"How did you enter here?"
Memories of a time long ago, when I had dreamed of leaving the village had entered my mind.
Could I use this chance to leave?
There wasn't much left, now that I could no longer become the village chief.
The man smiled guiltily.
"I-. Can't... Remember."
I sighed in frustration.
"Haa. Who even are you?"
He thought deeply before he gave in to his mental strain.
"I'm sorry but... I really can't remember a thing."
"The last thing I remember was me waking up in the middle of a pond."
I felt croaky and disappointed.
"Follow me."
"I'll solve this mystery and you'll help me."
He had a rather amusing expression stripped across his face, but nevertheless, he obediently followed me as we trekked to the pond.
Where he had first found himself, merely 3 days ago.
We stood by the outskirts of the pond calmly.
I cleared my throat hesitantly.
"Does this remind you of anything?"
The man's face was going red as he agonized in his mind, looking for any memory that he could grasp.
"Agh."
"Damn it..."
"Nothing comes up."
I squinted my eyes at him.
The young me reassured himself that all was fine.
'He has no reason to lie.'
We sat down on the grass bed before the pond and we engaged in light chatter.
An idea materialized in my mind.
I spoke my thoughts out loud briefly.
"What if I hit you?"
"D'you think that'd do any good?"
The man shrugged slowly.
"It's worth a try."
I grinned majestically.
"Don't regret your words."
Bang.
I smacked him square in the face. It felt good, relieving my stress like this.
His face dropped back before it shot forth.
His eyes rolled over in a strange distorted manner before a look of shock came to his mouth.
"I can remember- something."
I was practically hopping around in excitement.
Would this be my chance to finally leave this god-forsaken village?
"What is it?"
My voice was packed with joy.
He squinted his eyes in tight confusion.
"It's... A tale."
"I can tell you it, it's all I can visualize right now."
We sat ourselves down carefully.
I shuffled around to get into a comfortable position.
I hoped that this tale would be my getaway from the village.
"Speak away."
And that he did.
He told a strange tale.
It didn't have much to do with the pond, or the village, or anything relevant to me.
It was about a young boy dreaming of becoming the King.
He did end up becoming the king after hundreds of challenges and clashes but at the end of his journey, he ended up falling into a ravine.
The ravine closed up over his head and he was never seen again.
Apparently, the ravine was called the ravine of dreams.
It helped people achieve their greatest desires before leading them into itself so that they could meet their fatal ends.
He re-told this same tale again and again, with extra qualities added to it each time.
And upon rescanning his god-given appearance once more, I knew something was up.
"Hey..."
I spoke with a curious look in my eyes.
"Do you think that you fell into the ravine?"
"And that this is where the ravine leads to?"
He grumbled in thought.
"I never thought of that..."
I began letting off all my issues and stress whilst littering in some actually relevant points about this place.
He took them all in gladly.
I looked up at him slowly.
"Do you think you could break me out of here?"
"You seem pretty darn strong. I think you could even give the chief a run for his money. Even though the chief is a duelment that's pretty irrelevant since all arcane is sealed off here."
"You've also got some pretty lean muscles. They're like my teacher's."
The man rubbed his golden hair in embarrassment, his face was being invaded by red as I spoke.
He coughed painfully.
"I don't know..."
"It would be pretty risky."
"If you help me, I can try to get you out of here. Truth be told, I'm already starting to dislike this place. That chief fella beat me for 2 days. That was how long it took him to realize I had no memory. My back's absolutely infested with bruises now."
"If you grab the keys to the chief's home, and if you tell me when he falls asleep, then I think I might be able to take him out."
"The man housing me is also a swordsman right?"
I smirked, glad my teacher was receiving some recognition.
"He's also my teacher!"
The golden-haired man laughed heartily.
"Yeah, that's great. He must have quite a few swords then. Right? I just need one and I won't need it for more than a night."
"From what I saw in the chief's house, he had a key there. I think that might be the clue to unlocking this ravine so that we can escape."
Before I fully accepted his terms, I made sure I wasn't getting manipulated.
"Y-you won't kill anyone, right? Or hurt the chief too bad? You'll just get the key and run, after finding me of course."
The golden-haired man nodded eagerly.
"Yeah. I would never betray someone like you. You're my favorite person right now. But I don't know if that's a compliment considering how much I've forgotten right now."
I laughed it off innocently.
"I'll make a plan."
"I'll track the chief's sleeping time, and I'll look for where he keeps the lock to his door. I'll get a sword for you, a great one. One capable of cutting even the chief's monstrous skin and once all that's done, you can get the key and get us out of here."
"Everyone leaves and everyone has a good life."
I whispered in my mind mischievously.
'Apart from the chief.'
I liked this plan because it disadvantaged the chief.
I hated that guy at this point in time.
If I couldn't be the chief, then I couldn't be bothered to waste away my life in the hay fields.
The golden-haired man grinned at me pleasingly.
"I'll shake on that."
He put an arm out.
We shook firmly.
"We'll finish this before the year comes to an end."
I nodded ravenously.
"Yeah. The sooner we leave the better."
We left the pond with big smiles stuck to our faces.
That handshake was the beginning of the end.