Sleeping peacefully, a voice in Cordayl's head whispers for him to wake up. The tone and volume of the voice grow angrier and louder until the final "WAKE UP!" forces Cordayl to jump out of his sleep.
Sitting up in the bed, Cordayl scopes out the basement he is in. As his eyes quickly adjust to the low lighting, the room is completely unfamiliar to him.
As Cordayl steps out of the bed, every limb in his body creaks like a rusty door hinge, so he takes the time to stretch and loosen his body up. Feeling a lot better now, Cordayl advances towards the staircase to exit the room.
"How long are you going to let him just lie there in peace?" the young man named Abram asked his father.
"For as long as he needs to. This is my home, and I do as I please here, Abram. Watch your tone, boy." Esquimo reminds his son.
"Sorry father. But every day it grows harder and harder to sleep under the same roof as that monster. My mind rages, telling me to spill his blood and redeem the honor of our kingdom." Abram expresses.
"And what honor is there in killing a sleeping man? No harm will beset him under my care. My son, if it is that much of a bother to be here, then why not go and travel some? See the world! While our part is ruined, there is still plenty of beauty out there." Esquimo tells Abram.
Abram is shocked to hear his father dismiss his worries. "You would choose this stranger's safety over my peace of mind! A stranger!" Abram erupts.
"This is something you would not understand, my son." Esquimo dismisses his son's rage.
Walking up the steps, Cordayl can hear the conversation as he nears the living area. Coming into the light, the conversation ends when Esquimo and Abram see Cordayl standing at the edge of the room.
"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Cordayl ask.
"No, please take a seat," Esquimo says, pointing toward an empty seat next to him.
As Cordayl looks at the seat, which is not too far from the son, who is mean-mugging the hell out of Cordayl, Cordayl decides to sit in a seat across from them both.
Abram gets up and quickly storms out, slamming the front door with a dramatic bang.
Esquimo doesn't even seem to notice, taking out his pipe and proceeding to light it. Taking a pull, Esquimo exhales, "How did you sleep?" he asks.
"Pretty good, I'd say. Do you mind if I ask some questions?" Cordayl ask.
"Figured you would have a few. Shoot, lad." Esquimo says.
"You know my name but I do not know yours. Why is that?" Cordayl asks his first question.
"Because we have never met. Well, that's not true. We met when you were only a child. How old are you now?" Esquimo responds.
"18 last time I checked.? How did I end up here." Cordayl quickly replies.
"Well from what the footage showed, you had ascended high into the sky. Then there was a boom, a big boom, like big big. I rode to the scene, and I found you on the ground bleeding from the head. I recognized you, so I brought you here to my home until you naturally healed yourself. Took longer than expected to be honest." Esquimo answers.
"Longer than expected? I've never slept longer than a week when injured. How long have I been healing?" Cordayl ask.
"It's been 7 months as of yesterday," Esquimo says, pulling from his pipe again.
"7 months!" Cordayl says amazed. "Wait which month is it now?" Cordayl ask.
"May," Esquimo answers.
"Damn, so I'm 19 now," Cordayl whispers, sounding more shocked about this news than the coma.
"Damn, someone must have beat my ass. Well if you watched it, did I win or lose?" Cordayl ask.
Esquimo's eyes squint as he looks at Cordayl who is eagerly awaiting his answer. "How much of that day do you remember?"
"None. I'm not even sure what day you're talking about." Cordayl replies.
"What is the last thing you do remember?" Esquimo ask.
"The last thing I remember is," Cordayl pauses as he realizes he doesn't remember anything. He puts his head in his hands as he tries to recall his last memory. "The last thing I remember is… The last thing I remember… I don't remember anything" Cordayl says astounded. "I see a bunch of eyeless faces, and I can see fighting. A lot of fighting, but I can't describe to you any of it or why it happened." Cordayl finishes.
"Amazing, so you have no recollection at all?" Esquimo repeats.
"I just told you I didn't Esquimo," Cordayl replies dryly.
"I'm sorry, it's just that, well, you are kind of a mark in history now," Esquimo tells him.
"Really?" Cordayl asks confused.
"Really," Esquimo tells him
"What did I do to become… historical?" Cordayl ask.
"Well… you kind of.. happened to.. destroy the entire kingdom of Youtound." Esquimo cautiously tells him
"I did that? An entire kingdom? By myself?" Cordayl asks, not believing Esquimo at all. "Come on Esquimo, I might have forgotten some things but I'm not stupid. Do I even strike you as someone capable of destroying a whole kingdom, let alone the Youtound Kingdom? One of the last great kingdoms, not to mention the strongest. I mean I know I can take King Juulian, and probably beat his best warriors. But destroying the entire kingdom? " Cordayl responds disbelievingly.
"You did lad, hold on." Esquimo gets up and turns on his television, while he is looking for the footage, Cordayl asks him if he has anything to drink. Esquimo tells him of course and to help himself to whatever he wants.
Heading into the kitchen, Cordayl opens each cupboard until he finds the glasses. Grabbing one, he proceeds to the refrigerator. Opening it up, he sees a big ass baked chicken next to some cake and his mouth instantly salivates.
Cordayl hesitates to grab it, but then a flashback of Esquimo saying "whatever you want" plays through his head in a more tempting tone, so he grabs both.
"Ahh, here it is!" Esquimo exclaims in excitement as Cordayl walks back into the living area. Cordayl places the massive meal on the table and Esquimo looks at him, bewildered as hell. Then he remembers Cordayl has been sleeping for 7 months and brushes the dismay off.
"Watch Cordayl, and tell me if that is you or not," Esquimo instructs. Playing the video of an old new clip, the scene changes to the news report at the scene
"This is Randy Quinn of the Youtound Kingdom's number 1 news reporting channel, 3-time winner-"
"Dude not now!" The cameraman shouts.
"Sorry. Reporting live at the scene of chaos. Moments ago, our kingdom suffered an attack on our grounds, unlike anything we have ever witnessed. It's the first attack inside our kingdom walls in 900 years. Why are you panning upwards? Who is that in the sky? Is he, is he holding King Juulian?" The news reporter asks as he squints to be certain.
Suddenly screams of horror and shock can be heard as the king is dropped hundreds of feet from the air.
"OH my- the king has just been murdered by this unidentified assailant. Camera can you get a good zoom?" The reporter asks.
As he does so, the camera sees Cordayl hovering in the air seconds before his black aura explodes out into the sky, darkening the whole kingdom. Suddenly his aura starts to suck back into Cordayl until it is encircled around him, just a small pitch-black sphere in the sky. Then it expands, first sucking away any color in the kingdom.
A pull is felt, as small objects on the street start to ascend towards the sphere.
"What we are witnessing right now is nothing short of a true phenomenon. Judging by the reaction of the objects around me, I'm assuming that we are right under the beauty of a black hole." The report states in awe before suddenly being pulled into the force as well,
It is a slow pull, but nothing is safe from being uprooted and dragged into the darkness as screams can be heard from civilians being drawn into the black hole. Eventually the camera is swallowed and the video ends.
Cordayl watches in horror as what has been shown to him truly shocks him. Cordayl stands up in anger. "That's bullshit! I know I wouldn't do that. I'm being framed!"
"That's impossible Cordayl. The cameraman caught you. In 4k too. I mean just look at the hairstyle. Your tribe are the only warriors known to have hair like that. And you also know you are the last of said tribe. The only difference now is that your hair is longer." Esquimo tells him.
"But why would I do that? All my life I've avoided the Youtound Kingdom. I've avoided every kingdom! So why would I go there and wild out like that? That specific move is forbidden for all Melatonin warriors."
"So it's undeniable that it is you then," Esquimo replies.
"Yes. No! Because why would I use it?" Cordayl ask.
"I think you know why Cordayl," Esquimo says sadly.
"That's bullshit! Otherwise, I would have gone back to destroy them years ago. Instead, I tried to live a normal fucking life like everyone else. Something happened, I don't know what, I don't know why. And I can't remember." Cordayl smashes his head into his fist, trying everything to remember. But to no avail