The sight of green canopies partially covered the cerulean sky and its fluffy clouds; the gift of vision. The rustling trees grew to be audible for his ears; the gift of hearing. The felt world was regained as he sensed the cool light breeze hit him; the gift of sensation.
The first heartbeat thumped, stimulating all the senses at once. A perfect momentary bliss.
The second heartbeat, stronger than the first, shot the brain into working. Lungs expanded, heaving as much air as possible. And so blood began to move. With it came a sudden heat wave from all over his body, and a drumming in his head.
"Ugh." I wiped the morning out of my eyes. "What in the…" I muttered, sitting on my backside and seeing what I thought of as a weird place to wake up in. Studying what looked like a scattered forest. Inspecting it from all directions.
'Trees. Trees. More trees. A man. More tre—Oh a person!' I noticed the odd man, trotting back and forth from two points. He had both a beard and a haircut that gave him a square-ish like face. But that's as far as his oddness went, his attire seemed normal—consisting of leggings and a black shirt that shone from the front.
The speed at which he paced around was fast. That was until he had noticed me, completely stopping to slap his palm against his face. 'He's either crazy or this is out of context.' I thought, lifting myself off the dirt. My legs were a bit shaky, probably because I stood up too soon after waking up.
He then walked over, standing right in front of me. Seeing him up closely now, he has a bite-shaped notch on his left ear, and what made him shine earlier was a thin breastplate he had on. 'Now that's unsettling, especially with an ear like that.'
Suddenly, he blurred something in a serious tone.
"How did you do it?" he asked, frowning.
'What are you talking about?'
"What do you mean?" I inquired, tidying my clothes, specifically this full-length tunic with a hood that I have no recollection of wearing. "And who are you?"
Squareface's eyes widened, as if he heard something truly shocking. "Oh this is unfortunate." He said, looking a bit worried. "Do you know where you are?"
"Well yeah, otherwise why would I…" I tried to finish stating the obvious before realizing how I didn't have an answer. 'Where am I?' The question crossed my mind, turning around to inspect the place one more time.
Nope, place doesn't ring any bells. In fact, after a minute I figured that there were no bells to ring in the first place.
When I thought about home, nothing came to mind. About my family, school, friends, country; their questions remained unanswered. And there was only one conclusion that clicked with my situation.
'Amnesia.'
It was a puzzle. I knew where to put the pieces, like home, school, friends; I just don't have the pieces to form the picture. I felt terrified, living in a world I knew so much about yet not attached to. 'Like a robot…'
"You're right…this is unfortunate." I muttered, looking down at my hands, pinching them hoping this was a dream of some sort. But pain. I felt it, the response my nerves gave to being twisted. It was appalling.
Suddenly, a voice uttered from behind him, "He's alive?" said a man of similar attire, except his shirt was tighter. Dark brown hair and a cleanly shaved face, but any of that barely mattered compared to the weird question he had asked.
'What's that supposed to mean.' My fingers started twitching. 'Why would he say that? What is going on? Why am I here?' Questions began to flood my mind. Details like squareface's bitten ear became critical.
'No normal person would look like that, right?' I tried comforting myself, but the shaking only increased.
Squareface tilted his head to check who I assume was someone he knew. The slight smile he had made upon seeing him only confirmed it, and so my fear of what I had tried denying.
It became hard to breathe, my heart started racing, my whole body began trembling. All my thoughts were at disarray, except for one…
'Did they try to—' Moments of earlier flashed through my mind; his panicked speed, his initial confusion, taking pity after knowing about my amnesia. '—kill me…?'
"Thervan, you won't believe it! He has memory—!" A fist crossed his face without warning, before another connected with his chin. Collapsing him to the ground, motionless. Feeling the adrenaline rush, I observed his body for a few moments to make sure he was unconscious.
There was almost no doubt about it. This 'Thervan' guy here wouldn't be so surprised if I was alive or not, nor indicate that I was supposed to be dead. It just doesn't add up. But what does add up is squareface's first words to me. Asking me how I did 'it', referring to how I am still alive.
Thervan himself had realized the situation he is in by now, taking stance with an antique-looking knife he had tucked in his back. Luckily the distance between us—seven meters or less—kept death's door away from me.
I was shaking, yet energetic and much more aware, effected by my body's flight-or-fight response. A tense few seconds have passed and he finally made his first move, a step forward.
I was in a clear disadvantage—unequipped—and the act of searching squareface's body for something I could utilize in exchange for whatever short seconds of vulnerability he could exploit was not ideal.
Time was of essence, I didn't have enough of it to consider all of my options. So in turn, I also stepped forward. Which not only got me closer to a predictable end, but right beside a body that could wake up and destroy any chance I had at winning this one on one.
His partner in crime made yet another step forward while I grew anxious over it. Even though the flow of battle was slower than my thoughts, watching him gradually close the distance sent me through rollercoasters of fear and agony.
There was no winning against him with no combat experience or an element of surprise, no fleeing with these trembling legs—especially when covered in a long piece of clothing that made it harder to run. There was no survival if I feared risking my life to save it!
'I never chose to be here. To die in agony in place of my past self! I didn't do anything, it's not fair!'
Just looking at this squareshit's face lying on the ground, unaware of my pain, poked my nerves. This urge to bash his skull in, to enact justice for myself. But then the anger had faded, slowly positioning a foot over his neck as I glared at his friend.
Thervan quickly stopped, his eyes couldn't hide it. What I lacked right now was a curse that binded him from moving, an attachment to someone.
'Not so hasty anymore, are you?' The distance was now about three meters and a half. Enough time to crush his windpipe and force his lower jaw to reach his collar bone, or so I believe. But now the speed of this race is in my hands, I can't give him time to think.
"Your knife." I voiced mentally exhausted. "Throw it to me."
He hesitated for a second but gave it up when I pressed in deeper. "Now take 15 steps back." I ordered, taking another five extra just to be sure.
I swiftly squatted for the knife and held it against the hostage's neck. "Go around to the opposite direction while maintaning the distance." I issued another order, constantly watching him as he did it. When he was done, it was time for the trickiest part. The cut gamble.
"If he doesn't get bandaged in time, kill him. It is better if he won't wake up to a slow painful death." I bluffed, carving a shallow cut from his arm's shoulder to wrist.
'This relies on whether he'll believe me or not.'
I began slowly walking away, knife pointed at him before jogging toward the direction he came from. 'They both wear the same, squareface has no pockets. Meaning that whatever they used to get here still has their keys in it. Which was also another gamble.'
And that wasn't the only gamble here. The last one was whether he would leave his friend alone to chase me, or tend to him until he wakes up—which should take at least five minutes. The chances of the latter were better now that I have his knife at my disposal, however; everything falls apart if he chose the first option, meaning he could take me on unarmed.
A minute later.
'Still no sounds of approach.' I thought, getting out of the forest.
Spotting their means of transportation killed all the built up intensity. 'A carriage, really? What kind of sick joke is this?'
"Hey there!" A man on the carriage spoke, waving at me with a pleasant smile. "Where are the other two?"
'Maybe he wasn't in on their plan?' I guessed, approaching him cautiously, trying to gauge how much he knew from his reaction. That's when he noticed the blood-stained knife at hand. And with a swift chain of movements he got off the carriage before leaping over meters of ground and tackling me down, all under two seconds!
He repeated his question but this time in a more threatening voice, "Where are the other two." robbing me of what I thought was an advantage.
After I told him what had happened, he threw me against a tree and pinned my right hand to it with the knife before sprinting to their rescue.
'Fuck fuck fuck, this hurts so fucking much!' The knife's iron skyrocketed this burning sensation whenever I slightly moved my hand. Even more so when I knew I will get killed when they return.
'Even the world's fastest man isn't that fast! And how did I even piss off these people?!' I shouted at myself. Giving up on thinking, it seems destiny had chosen its course. And that's me to die. 'At least I tried.'