Ten years ago
Edge of the Solarian northern jungle.
Damien woke up to the sound of something crashing to the ground. He was lying on a medium-sized bed, with a very soft pillow laid under his head.
He at first wondered why he was laid on a bed and where he even was, and then the experience before he blacked out came back to him. Shivering, he felt for his sides and found it covered in a bandage. He had thought himself dead at that point.
The first thing that caught his attention was a boy who looked his age spitting out curses while bending down to pick up what Damien assumed fell on the floor.
At first, Damien couldn't understand what the boy was saying; it took a few combinations of curses for him to fully grasp the language the boy was speaking.
Sitting up, he could see that the boy was holding a steel cup. He was a slim boy with blond hair halfway to his shoulders, but instead of being scrawny like Damien, he could see well-formed muscles on the boy's thin frame.
Turning, the boy froze and his eyes widened when they fell upon Damien.
"You're awake," He said, as if he was referring to himself.
"You're awake?" Now he sounded like he was asking Damien. Damien didn't want to make a bad impression by answering a question like that sarcastically, so he just continued staring.
"You're awake," Now he sounded like the realization had finally hit him, sinking fully into his brain. His eyes widened further. Damien wondered if he was going to push out his eyeballs but was surprised when he quickly shook himself out of it, looked at Damien once more, and then ran out of the room screaming at the top of his lungs, "He's awake!"
Now that he was the only person left in the room, Damien fully took in the place he woke up in.
The room was a comfortably large bedroom with an entrance placed opposite the bed, giving him full awareness when anyone was approaching. The bed was placed in the middle of the room, a double window was set on Damien's left side, combined with a huge wardrobe. He could see luggage boxes placed on the top of the wardrobe. On his right was a reading table and chair placed close to the wall with a mirror hanging above.
Damien didn't understand how he knew those things; one minute, he knew nothing about them, and then the next, his head was filled with knowledge about the things he was looking at. It was a strange sensation that he was oddly thankful for.
He began hearing voices approaching from outside the room. Judging by the discussions going on, he could tell that the voices belonged to three people.
Looking at the entrance, the first person entered. A brown-haired woman wearing a black gown with a losely tied scarf around her head. When she saw him sitting up, she rushed at him. "No, no, no. Do not put too much strain on your body, you'll open your already healing wound." She looked at him with pity. "Oh, poor boy, your parents must be worried sick about you. Lie down some more till you gain some strength."
At that time his stomach rumbled.
"You must be very hungry, seeing as you lost a lot of blood."
She turned back to the entrance where Damien could finally see that three more people had entered.
"Keilan!, get the poor boy some food," The boy that Damien had woken up to ran out.
The other woman in the room, an aging woman whom Damien could see strands of grey hair coming out of a scarf tied around her head. Her face was wrinkled and she carried a walking stick, but he could tell that she was anything but weak. There was strength in the way she carried herself, even though she was hunched on a stick.
She approached Damien and her eyes roamed over his body like it could see into his insides.
Damien wanted to squirm, but with much effort, he held himself steady. The woman gave him a little smile and a nod at that.
"From what I can see he looks fine. Mara, please pull off the bandages."
The first woman, who was now named Mara, began pulling off the bandages wrapped around Damien's stomach. The moment it was fully removed, Damien felt for his sides and was relieved to find them smooth; only red lines across his ribs were evidence that he was ever injured.
Looking up, he found himself surrounded by three adults who had different expressions ranging from surprise to a little bit of alarm.
"I didn't think children could have such quick healing." The third person, a man whose face Damien's mind was beginning to piece together as the person whose spear had killed the large cat. It seemed the man even did more and brought him to what Damien now assumed was his house. He was also of middle age like Mara; his body was packed with muscles even through the baggy clothing he was putting on.
From the muscles and the obvious use of a weapon when he killed the cat, Damien judged him as from a warrior caste.
"It shouldn't be possible this quickly with a child as young as him. From the feel of the ambient energy around, it seems he's started absorbing cosmo, and at an astounding rate, too." She looked over at the man. "That shouldn't be possible at this age."
Looking back at Damien, "What is your name, boy?" She asked.
"Damien" He answered confidently, any trace of discomfort strangely gone from his body.
She nodded approvingly.
"Where are you from?"
This time, confusion was beginning to creep on his features "I don't know."
Everybody mirrored his confusion at the answer.
"You don't know where you're from, or you don't know the general area of where you came from?" the old woman asked, this time scrutinizing Damien closely.
He suppressed his body's urgent to squirm, answering.
"I don't know where I'm from."
"Then how did you find your way into the jungle?" This time, it was the man who asked.
"I don't know, I just woke up there." Damien was beginning to get more uncomfortable. No matter how he tried, his mind couldn't come up with anything before he woke up in that jungle.
"Then what of your parents? won't anyone get worried when they find out you're missing?" Mara asked, worried.
"I don't have one; at least, I don't think so."
At this, everyone quieted.
"Do you know anything that could help us locate where you're from so that we could take you there safely? There must be someone worried sick about you." Mara said, worry plain on everybody's face.
"I– I don't remember anything from before I wo–woke up." He stammered.
This time worry turned to shock.
The man asked, "You don't remember anything at all?"
Damien shook his head.
"How old are you?" The old woman asked.
Damien shook his head, his voice timid. "I don't know."
"Monarch's balls." Everyone turned around to see Keilan standing at the entrance, his eyes as wide as saucers.
"Language!" Mara scolded while the man tried to hide his amusement. The old woman had a little smile on her face, and the boy tried to hide his embarrassed face from Mara. The exclamation from him had broken the tension in the room.
Mara turned back to Damien. "Since you don't remember anything from before, would you be okay staying with us? We don't want you living out on the streets since you don't have anywhere to stay."
Damien nodded, and Mara smiled, turning to the old woman. "Healer Salem, is he okay to move?" She asked.
The healer studied him again some more. "From what I can see, he looks okay. I'll want him to come by my place sometime later for me to check him for any side effects of whatever happened to his body."
Mara nodded, then turned back to Damien. "Go with Keilan; he'll take you to the kitchen to get some food to eat and afterward show you around."
Damien nodded, looking at Keilan, who had a big smile on his face. He began waving Damien over excitedly.
Standing up, Damien followed Keilan out of the room.
Leaving the now-discussing adults to their new heated discussion.