Light shattered my vision. My head throbbed.
The air was cold, the smell citrus-like.
I opened my eyes. The walls were pale stone.
The ceiling was high, a woman sat in front of me with azure eyes and hair that matched like the sky to the sea. A white ribbon neatly to the side.
I looked down, realizing I was seated at the center of a small pentacle within a circle.
I had no clothing.
My gaze lifted, and I saw that just an arm's length away sat the young woman, dressed in a white gown. The fabric shined with her puffed sleeves and on her bridge were high quality gold buttons, made from the actual metal.
Is she rich?
She flinched when she saw me looking at her.
As if I had startled her.
She composed herself a moment later and reached for the clothing beside her, setting it on my lap.
She kept her eyes with mine.
Her hands were clasped gently in front of her.
Her expression was weary yet calm.
"…What is your name?" she asked me, tilting her head. I tilted mine in response.
My name is… my name is?... What is my name?
I paused, thinking. Now that I think of it I don't remember… much of anything.
Panic set in, I felt myself be begin to shake but she grabbed my hand.
"It's ok if you don't remember it… not many do."
She let go of my hand.
I didn't like the sensation regardless. I am strangely repellant to the touch of her…
"I summoned you," she continued, standing up.
"I am Princess Alteria Miriam Seraphine Von Rimu. I ask that you call me Alteria or simply Princess."
Her voice was smooth yet shaky.
Composed yet without orchestra.
As if she didn't like what she was saying herself.
"I summoned you to serve me. I want to see if you and I are compatible for this. If not then I'll be forced to send you back. Back to wherever you came from. Back to what time period you resided in. Back to… your previous home."
A stillness settled between us.
Silence entered the air.
Her words should have felt impossible.
She summoned me?
And send me back… Where?
Home? Why can't I remember what my home is?
I began to shake again.
This time she crotched to hold my hand.
She watched him for a long moment, the silence between them stretching, weighty and expectant.
"You don't remember it, do you?" Her voice was soft, almost a whisper. "Your name."
He hesitated. Then shook his head once, slow. "...No."
Alteria exhaled. Not with frustration, but something more controlled. Calculated.
"Then for now, I'll call you Raze," she said, the name slipping from her lips like a decision already made. "Until yours comes back to you."
She stepped forward. Her eyes locked onto his. Stern. Commanding. Like the moment had shifted into something ceremonial.
"You'll serve as my Drakos," she said. "That means you protect me. And you obey."
His brow furrowed. A flicker of instinct.
Some buried resistance, surfaced.
"And if I don't?" he asked.
Alteria didn't blink. Didn't flinch.
"Then I'll send you back," she replied, voice cold as marble. "Wherever you came from. Whoever you used to be."
I blinked, frowning slightly.
It bothered me that I still couldn't remember my name but…
I suppose the name Raze would work for now.
Her hand kept me there. The certainty in her voice anchored me like a chain.
I lowered my gaze, my body felt broken… wrong.
She touched my chin, lifting my head back up.
She stood once more.
Too light. Too still.
I clenched my hands tighter.
"Drakos…?" I repeated the word she had said twice by now. Bodyguard?… That is how she described it, no? I would feel idiotic if I asked her to explain the concept to me again.
I just sighed, looking down at the wooden floor before pushing myself up.
Alteria's gaze lifted with me.
I was still unclothed.
She didn't react. She didn't turn away, neither did she acknowledge the fact. Maybe she didn't care.
"Put on those clothes, it doesn't matter if they don't fit for now. I will be waiting outside for you, Raze…"
That name.
It isn't mine.
My eyes flickered to the garments now on the floor after I rose up.
Brown in color.
Some of its material reminded me of a potato sack. Without another word, she turned and strode toward the door.
Her movements held no hesitation.
She stepped past the threshold, and the door shut softly behind her. I stood in the silence.
Alone.
It was more calm this way.
I exhaled, reaching for the clothing, fingers brushing over the fabric. My mind tried to make sense of what had happened, but logic slipped through my grasp like sand.
I needed to move forward.
"I will wait outside."
Her words repeated in my mind of the little memory I did have.
I dressed quickly.
Pulling the clothing over my skin.
A stitched symbol.
Unfamiliar, yet strangely known.
A ram.
To my right was a broken mirror.
My hair was white my eyes purple.
It was long, falling in front of my face.
But I didn't have time to dwell on it.
I moved to the handle but something was against the door. Alteria moved from behind the door as she opened it for me.
"…Yes."
The door opened.
She stood in the hallway, candlelight catching the edges of her hair. She studied me momentarily.
"Come."
She turned, reaching for my hand. I let her take it.
The silence stretched as we walked.
The air was hollow, the walls too quiet.
Was no one else here?
Our footsteps tapped against the stone.
The sound returning in a whisper like the castle itself was murmuring in response.
If this place had once been full of life, it had long since been stripped away.
We descended a spiral staircase.
It led deeper underground, with each step, the air thickened into something colder.
Heavier.
The scent of parchment lingered, but beneath it was something unmistakable. Blood. At the base of the staircase, we entered a chamber.
Banners lined the walls, ancient and faded with time. The largest hung at the center, its azure hues mirroring the color of Alteria's eyes and hair.
In its center…a ram.
This was more than familiar, my eyes widened in recognition. Sure, it was the same insignia as the one on my sleeve. But it was more than that…
Beneath the banner, on a raised pedestal, rested a trident.
Black metal, streaked with silver and gold.
The air around it was heavier, like the weapon carried more than just weight.
"This is the Von Rimu Oathblade," Alteria said. Her voice was softer now, but deliberate.
I stared at it. Regal. Untouched by dust. Waiting.
"Bind?" The word slipped out before I could stop it. Alteria didn't hesitate. She stepped forward, fingers curling around the handle.
"To serve as my Drakos, you must take the Oath," she said. "It will forge a connection between us. One that cannot be broken."
I swallowed. My throat was dry. A thousand questions clawed at the edge of my mind.
I ignored them, reaching out.
The moment my fingers touched the metal, fire ripped through me. My breath caught. My chest tightened.
Alteria closed her eyes.
I followed.
I remember now.
I panicked then.
I thought I messed up.
Maybe I did.
I had no name. No memories. No home.
But this.
This was real.
Or at least, I needed it to be.
This moment...
It was the most important of our lives.
And I would grow to regret it and cherish it.
…
…
…
[Ping!]
[ status engine. . . ]
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>>>
[ name: ??? ]
[ role: drakos ]
[ current status: processing ]
Your mission as Raze Santiago Von Rimu is…
To Free Verus.