Memories

~Forward
People change. But sometimes, it’s not for the better.

~Chapter 1
In this region that I live in, there is a saying, and a gesture to go along with it. People use this saying when someone does something unexpected. They will shrug, and say, “People change,” like it doesn’t even matter. Well, I say that it does.
The region of which this saying originates is my home. But I was not born here. I ran away from where I was born because I was not happy with that place. This became my home. But, this is not my story. It is one of a friend of mine, a very dear friend.
Mountains cover the outskirts of the region, past that are lands that have never been discovered by the inhabitants of my home. My home is a place of forests, but within the region there are swamps, hills, even some lonely mountains that seem as if they do not belong. It is a peaceful place, for the most part.
Over the many years I have lived here I have seen much of the region, and it’s inhabitants. In it, orcs, trolls, goblins, humans, and elves dwell. Humans are the dominant race. There is one kingdom that stands above the rest, and it is called Heromia. It was there that I first saw my dear friend.
I spent a long time exploring the region, and I have come to know it pretty well. It was not long after I settled down that I met a certain man…

~Chapter 2
He was six feet tall, slim and black hair that ran down to his broad shoulders. He wore a plain shirt, white, and plain pants that were torn all over. He had an ordinary face, with a beard and a moustache. He seemed like a very ordinary man.
He had been running from trolls. Or, so he thought when he came to. You see, he was running away, and a troll knocked him out with the toss of a rock. He then lost his memory.
“Where am I?” he first asked.
“You are in a cave, that is my home. At least, for now it is.”
“What am I doing here?”
“You were knocked out with a rock, thrown by a troll. I found you laying in the middle of the forest.”
“Um, do you know who I am?”
I paused out of shock. This man didn’t even know who he was. At the time, neither did I.
“No, I am sorry, but I do not. Have you forgotten?”
“I must have. I don’t remember a thing, except I was running, and I fought trolls, and then the rest is blank.”
Here is when I knew I was in for it, and over my head. I didn’t have any idea of how to help this man, and with the information he gave me he didn’t know either. What could I possibly offer this man? Well, he did need help to get his memory back, and maybe a friend. So, I decided to help him, and did the logical thing.
“Maybe if we find those trolls, you might remember?”

~Chapter 3
“But what are we going to do when we find them?” he asked. “Fight them?”
“When you recover more fully from your wound, we’ll see if you can fight. You see, I used to be a weapons smith, and so I have many variations of weapons. You can use whatever you like.”
“Alright.”
I began to ask him questions, see if they could spark a memory. Nothing worked. Three days passed, and he was able to walk. During these days he laid down most of the day, and I fed him and cared for him while he rested. Two more days passed, and I thought we could finally see if he could fight.
I offered him a spear. He was useless with it. I tried a hammer. He could barely lift it. Maybe a lighter hammer would work, I thought. Couldn’t use that either. Finally I gave him a sword.
It was one of my finest. The blade was thin, and curved slightly. The hilt had a crescent moon with a blade going through it on it. The rest of the hilt was black.
At first, he was as useless as ever. But just as I was rummaging around to find another weapon, a spark went off.
“Wait, let me try again,” was all he said.
We fought, not too hard at first, but then as we progressed, we began to use all of our skill. Even in his weakened condition, I could tell he was more skilled than I. But I didn’t mind. My talents were spread out, but his were focused. He was talented with one weapon, but I could use many.
“Stop, I think we know now that you can fight.”
He was breathing heavily after that. I took him inside my cave to get some food and drink.
My cave was at the base of a small hill. It was quite large, and went through a little over half of the hill’s diameter. I had made the cave my home by filling it up with all of my tools from my trade, and adding a few touches that were…a part of me.
I had a fire going, and over it a pot with deer soup in it. It smelled delicious. By now it had been on the fire for a good two hours. After sitting there for that long, it was just perfect.
“So, you obviously are very talented with the sword. Do you know where you learned to use it?”
“No, I don’t even really know what I was doing. The only word I can think of to describe it as is instinct.”
“Some pretty good instinct you got there. Here, have some soup.” I handed spooned out him some in one of my wooden bowls. He nodded thanks.
“You can keep the sword. At least, you can have it until we find your sword or swords.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you want to head out in search of those trolls tomorrow?”
“I think I’m ready.”
“Then it’s set.”

~Chapter 4

The next day, I gathered supplies and tools for the trip. Blankets, my three favourite weapons (a double sided spear, twin short swords, and my bow and arrows), preserved food, and other general camping supplies.
We moved to the area where I first found him. He recognized it. He pointed in direction that I believed to be was south.
“I was running from there, then I came here,” he said.
“What do you want to do? Find the trolls or where you were running from?”
“I only know the general direction. The forest could go on and on, and we’d be searching for days. Let’s find those trolls.”
So we searched for the trolls. Late in the afternoon we came upon their tracks. They were a day old. We followed them until evening, and then we stopped to set up camp.
I gathered some firewood. It hadn’t rained for the past week, so the wood was dry. After the fire was blazing, I brought out some preserved deer meet. I put some on two sticks and gave one stick to the man. We sat there in silence, waiting for our meat to cook.
After dinner, we decided to catch an early sleep and wake up early in the morning for a head start on the trolls.
As we set up our blankets, the man asked a few questions.
“Do you know where I possibly could be from?”
“There are many villages in the surrounding areas, you could be from any one of them.”
He looked sad. What I said was not very comforting, and made him even more depressed that he already was. I couldn’t begin to imagine what it was like to lose your memory. To some people, that was their most valuable possession, but everyone valued their memories very highly in this region.
“I wonder if I had a family…”
“If you did, I’m sure they are very worried about you right now.” He smiled slightly. That comment was more uplifting.
“In which direction are we headed?”
“I think it’s north-west.”
“Alright, well good night.”
“Good night.”
I sat there pondering for a moment, looking at the stars that shone bright tonight. I wondered what was up there with the stars. I wondered if there were worlds like our own out there with the stars. Maybe this man was from one of those worlds. I fell asleep soon after.

~Chapter 5

The next morning, we had a quick breakfast of more preserved deer meat. We then packed up our camp, and started on the trail again.
As the day wore on, we seemed to be gaining on the trolls. Suddenly, the trail was fresh, and we stood in the bushes out of sight of the troll campsite. I looked in on them, and noticed there were seven trolls. That many was too much for just the two of us.
I signaled to the man to back off to talk. We walked slowly backward, careful not to be seen.
“There are about seven of them that I can see, and there may be more,” I said, “I don’t think we can win if we fight them.”
“We have to. I have this feeling as if I’m about to remember something, but it’s just out of reach. I need to find out what that is, and I think those trolls are key to me getting my memory back.”
I thought about our situation for a moment. Why risk my life for a man I don’t know and never met before in my life? However, when I reconsidered, I knew that if we surprised the trolls, we could win. If we had the cover of darkness and were very quiet, that is.
“Alright, we’ll fight them, but we have to sneak up on them. That means that we wait for the cover of darkness, and then make our move.”
“But I need that memory!”
“Yes, but-” I heard something behind me. Turning around fast, I saw three trolls.
I unsheathed my two shorts swords, and we immediately engaged in combat. The man took one of them down quite fast. By the time I had killed another, the last one was already slain by him. He was very skilled.
“Well, do you still think we need to wait?” he asked.
Sighing, I signaled with the sword in my right hand to move forward. He charged. I ran after him.
It seems that there were five more trolls, instead of four. I fought two of them at once, easily fighting them off with my two swords. He killed the three of them by the time I had wounded one and killed the other. I made a killing move to finish off the last remaining troll.
“You fight well. Those instincts of yours are getting better.”
“Yes, they are.”
“Has your memory come back at all?”
“No, but I have this feeling that there is something that will bring back some of it hidden here.”
Just as I was about to say that I hoped this wasn’t more “instinct” he uncovered some skins left by the trolls to find two average sized swords.
“These are my swords!” he exclaimed.
“Really? What else do you remember now?”
“I had them especially crafted for me when I was just a young man. I can remember growing up and fighting with these swords. They are my most prized possession.”
“Do you remember who you are?”
“Unfortunately, no. But at least now I know why I am so talented with the sword. I was brought up with them from a very young age.”
I stepped forward to look at the swords. They were quite nice, a little worn, but the hilts were both extremely detailed.
“May I have a look at them?” I asked. He nodded and handed them over to me.
Looking closer, I saw that the swords had two very different hilts. One of the hilts was silver, and one was gold. The golden one depicted a dragon with two heads, one being the end of the handle part of the hilt. The cross part of the hilt depicted a snake that was biting the dragon. The silver one had four small symbols on it. At one end of the cross part of the hilt, there was a symbol that portrayed two lightning bolts coming together to hit one place. At the center of the hilt (where the cross part and handle meet) there was the symbol of two crossed swords. At the other end of the cross part, there was the symbol of the moon and sun separated by a diagonal line. At the end of the handle, there was the symbol of a rose withering.
The swords were completely balanced with each other, and both of them were quite light. The weapon smith that forged these was extremely talented, and put a lot of time into making these. No wonder they were so special to him.
I handed the swords back to him and then I said, “Well, where to now?
“I think we should find out where I came from. Oh, and this belongs to you.”
He handed me back the sword I had given him. I added it to the other three weapons I carried with me.
“Well, let’s head back then, and find out where you come from.”

Chapter 6

Two days is how long it took us to get back to the place where I found him. I decided that we should stop by my cave and restock on supplies. He agreed with me.
That night in my cave, I was awoken by some noise. I found out that it was he that was making the noise; he was rolling around, obviously having a nightmare. I tried to awaken him, and as I pressed my hands on his body, I felt sweat immediately cover my palms.
Eventually I got him awake. He sat up, and almost knocked me over. I inquired into what was going on.
“Were you having some kind of nightmare?” I asked.
“Uh…no, it was nothing.”
“What are you talking about? You looked as if you were in some kind of torment!”
“I said, never MIND!”
I sat there, shocked. This was the first time he had refused to tell me something that had to do with him. It hurt, somewhere. I was beginning to think of him as a friend.
I lay back down to go back to sleep. Then, he spoke again.
“I dreamt about my family. They were…dying in a fire. I didn’t want it to be true, but maybe it is.”
Again, I was taken aback. I had never really had a family, so I didn’t know how he felt. I could only imagine.
“Then the best thing we can do is find out the truth,” was all I could think of to say.
He nodded, and went back to sleep. There were no more sounds in the night.

~Chapter 7

The whole day we didn’t talk. He obviously was still troubled by the dream. Three days passed, each like the other-traveling, eating, and small amounts of hunting. Then, in the afternoon, we came to what looked to be the ruins of a village.
It was burnt right down to the ground. Nothing remained, and I mean nothing. There were just the marks of where the houses used to be. Everything else was completely destroyed.
The man started to walk around, his eyes bulging at each house mark he passed. Finally, he stopped at one particular mark. He dropped to his knees, and cried.
I walked toward him, and put my hand on his shoulder. He hit it away, and then got up and ran. Where, I cannot tell you. But when he came back that night he was carrying something. It was a burnt shield. He tossed it on the ground next to me.
“An Royal Guard shield. They were the ones that burnt Yenich to the ground,” he said.
“Yenich?” I asked.
“That’s the name of this place. Oh, you should probably know, my name is Keitar. This is-I mean was-my hometown. Now it’s all gone.”
“So you remember everything?”
He nodded. And then he told me his story.
This was actually not the place he was born, but he called it his hometown because this was his home, as he saw it. He was born the son of Neizar, the ruling king back in that time. He ran away from the capital, Inur, when he was six years old. He then came here, where he spent the rest of his life up until now.
He ran away because he was the son of a king. He was a prince, but he did not feel like a prince. Keitar relinquished his title as future king, and ran away.
His father was extremely angry with him, but Keitar was smart for that age and quickly fled to a village in the outskirts of the Kingdom, which ended up being Yenich. His father searched for a year, but after having no luck, gave the title of future king to Zeinar, Keitar’s brother.
Keitar loved the village. A very caring family adopted him, and they raised him until he could live on his own. At that time he married the daughter of the two “parents” that raised him. He had two children with her. Her name was Marlene.
Keitar learned the sword from a master when he was sixteen years old. After his training was complete, he was given the gift of the two swords he now possesses, and was given the charge of protecting the village.
And protect the village he did. He became the village general, and stopped attacks from the likes of trolls, orcs and even some goblins. He even fought off an entire army of forest trolls with the village men’s help.
It was indeed the Royal Guard that had burned the village to the ground. Keitar’s brother, Zeinar, was a very jealous man. He was always jealous of his older brother, and also feared that should Keitar return, he could claim the throne.
Two years ago Zeinar became king. Almost immediately he sent out scouts to find Keitar. When they did, they reported back, and the army was dispatched to destroy the town, and leave none alive.
“My family didn’t survive. I was in a mental shock, so I just did what I knew best, I ran. It wouldn’t have matter had I stayed. The village was doomed from the beginning.”
We sat there in silence for a few moments. Then I asked the question that had been forming in my mind.
“What will you do now?”
He stared at me for a moment. Then he walked away. He came back an hour later, just as I was about to go to sleep.
“I want to have my revenge. Will you help me?” he inquired.
I thought about it for a moment. I didn’t exactly know what revenge meant to him, so I could be in over my head again. However, he was the first real friend I had ever had, so I gave the only reply that was fitting.
“Yes, I will help you.”

~Chapter 8

The first part of his plan was to get to Inur. He wouldn’t tell me anymore of it, and he wouldn’t say why, so I stopped asking.
We reached the city in a matter of seven days. When we got there, I stood in awe. I had never seen Inur, and frankly it amazed me.
The walls seemed to go on forever. In actual fact they were thirty feet high, solid brick. There were two sets of walls. The Outer Wall went around the entire city. The Inner Wall was around the Royal Castle, and an elite defense force, the Royal Guard, guarded it. The same Royal Guard that burned down Yenich.
“So, we’re here, what do we do now?” I asked.
“You follow me, and don’t attract any attention,” Keitar replied.
I followed him through the North Gate and into a shop. Keitar asked if I had any money.
“Ha, no. I have no need for money.”
“Well that makes this more difficult…”
He started looking around the shop. It was a clothing shop, filled with many people, and the store hands seemed to be very busy. Keitar then gave me further instructions.
“Go talk to someone that can help you. Ask to see if they have any shirts that are blue.”
“Why?”
“Just do it!”
“Alright, I will.”
I found that there was one shop hand that was not busy. I did as was instructed.
“We have many. If you’ll just follow me sir,” said a young man about the age of sixteen.
“Here we are, this is very high quality wool.”
“Uh, have you got anything else?” was my immediate response. The shirt was ugly.
“Yes, over here.”
He picked out another. I didn’t like it either. I realized that it was the blue I didn’t like, not the shirts themselves.
“Thanks, but I’ll have to pass.”
“Come again, and have a nice day,” the youth said.
I looked around the shop, but Keitar was nowhere to be found. I went out onto the street. He beckoned to me from an alley.
“Here, put this on,” he said. In his hand was a normal, brown cloak.
“Where did you get this? Did you actually steal these cloaks?”
“Hush! Yes, but it’s for a good cause. Besides, I’ll pay them back…someday.”
“Keitar, stealing is wrong!”
“I know that! But I really had no choice. My plan won’t work without cloaks. Now, let’s get out of here, before the shopkeeper notices he’s been robbed.”
It was then that I first noticed the change in Keitar. He was actually acting dishonorable, and honor was a quality I had seen shine through from him ever since he could remember somewhat of his past. Also, he seemed to have a new determination, one that drove him like a wild beast. Finally, I noticed that his eyes were different. They were eyes that sought revenge. Keitar seemed to be obsessed with having his revenge. And he had a look that said he wouldn’t let anyone or anything stand in his way of having it.
As I was continuing to follow him, he handed me an apple.
“Here, eat this,” he said.
“Did you steal this too?” I asked.
“Just eat it.”
When we reached a fork in the road, Keitar led me right, into the part of town that was definitely the slums.
“Here is where we’ll be sleeping.”
“What? Can’t we find someplace…clean?”
“No. That’s also one of the reasons we needed the cloaks, to keep warm.”
“Can’t we just use our blankets?”
“They’d get stolen.”
“Wonderful place that you decided would be our resting area.”
“Come on, it’s not that bad. Now let’s find a spot.”
We found one down a dark alley. Keitar slept sitting up, his right hand on his sword. I could hardly sleep. I think I only got four hours of sleep that night.

~Chapter 9

When we awoke, Keitar gave me further instructions. He told me to go up to the Main Gate of the Inner Wall and talk to the guards about the brother of the king. After about ten minutes, I was supposed to walk along the wall until Keitar contacted me.
It was very early in the morning. In fact, the sun wouldn’t be up for another few hours. Even though I was tired, I did what I was told.
As I approached the Main Gate, the guard stopped me.
“What business have you here?” he asked.
“I simply want to talk and enjoy the company of some fellow men,” I replied. I brought out a few of beers that Keitar had given me. He probably stole them as well.
“This late at night?”
“Actually, it’s early morning, I’m a really early riser.”
“Alright, sit down. What’s on your mind?”
“Actually, I was quite interested in the story of the king’s brother.”
“Ah, you must not be from around here if you haven’t heard that.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Well, let’s see now. It was more than a decade ago now, maybe more, I’m not sure. In any case, the king was only four years old. He had an older brother, I forget his name In any case his brother had just turned six years old when his father (on his birthday) told him about how he would rule the entire kingdom someday. Well, that young child got some kind of weird feeling about being king and ran off. He left a note saying things about how he ‘didn’t want to rule’ or ‘couldn’t stand being king’. If you ask certain people though, they’ll tell you he was just one freaked out kid. Or they’ll even say that he was told to run away because of this. Well, that’s how our current king got to be king, cause his brother was a frightened little child.”
By now both guards were pretty boozed up. I thought I might as well ask something that might reveal if Keitar was telling the truth.
“Interesting story. I’ve also heard that the current king is afraid that his brother will come back and take his throne?”
“You heard right. In fact us Royal Guards had to burn a whole village just so we could wipe him out!” exclaimed the other guard, who seemed not to hold his liquor very well. The first guard elbowed him in the ribs.
“Really? Wow, the king must’ve been determined.”
“Yes, he was. But that’s all over and done now,” said the first guard. Keita
I thought it was time to go, so I just said a quick farewell, and off I went around the wall.
I had been walking for just over a minute when a rope came and landed right in front of me. This must’ve been how Keitar was contacting me.
When I had climbed over the wall, there stood Keitar. “Good job,” he said, “now the fun begins.”
He ran off before I could even ask what kind of fun he was talking about. I quickly ran after him.
We got into the palace. Keitar then stopped me, and took me aside.
“I want you to climb back over the wall now,” he said.
“What?” I asked.
“Look, there is something I have to do here, and you’re no part of it. I don’t want to be harmed because of me. So, I want to say goodbye now.”
“But we’ll meet again won’t we?”
“I highly doubt it. Once my deed is done, I will flee this place, probably this country. You will never hear from me again.”
“But why? Why can’t we stay friends?”
“Because I will be forever on the run. I don’t want to endanger you now, or ever.” He hugged me. Then he said the last words I ever heard from him.
“You truly were a great friend, and I thank you for this. I will never forget you.”
“And I will never forget you.”
He nodded to me and then ran off, but I decided I would follow him. After he was out of sight, I did so.

~Chapter 10

I heard the groans of men dying many times as I followed him. He seemed to be slaying every man that stood in his way. Then I followed him into what looked like a bedroom. I didn’t dare look, and thankfully I didn’t, for he came out right away. He visited three other bedrooms. The next place I followed him to seemed to be the king’s study. I stood outside of it, trying to listen.
When I could hear, I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Why are you here?” asked an unknown man, who I assumed to be the king.
“I have just killed your family, like you killed mine,” said Keitar.
“What? How could you?” asked the king.
“I only sought revenge for what you did to me. Now you feel my pain. For what reason did I deserve the desolating of my family, my village, my very life? I made it extremely clear that the throne was of no interest to me. Yet you still sought me out and took away everything I valued dear. Well today I come back for revenge. However, know that I spared you. I will not be taking the kingship from you. But if you even once seek my life again, I will come back and you will die. Do I make myself clear?”
There was silence for a moment. Then the king said:
“Crystal clear.”
“You also might want to remember that you have no heir now, so I’d be careful of dying if I were you.”
With that, I heard footsteps, and that was my cue to flee. I had to get to the rope to get out of here before Keitar did so I could escape.
Eventually I did get out, but Keitar never left by the rope that was left there. I waited until daybreak for him, and since he did not appear, I left.

~Chapter 11

I never saw Keitar again. Some say he went off and took his own life. Others say he traveled far to another country and became a great warrior there. The rumors never end. But I like to think that he became a wanderer of the forests. I like to think he is still wandering, and wondering if he did the right thing when he sought revenge.
There was a terrible uproar over the murders of the king’s family. The assailant’s name was never mentioned, but people began to think it was the brother of the king back from the dead.
The king remarried, eventually. After a few years, the buzz over the murders had almost completely died. Now only a few people dwelled on that terrible event.

Epilogue

You may want to know why I am telling this story. The reason is, people change. It happens everyday. However, sometimes, the change is a bad one, and in this case, catastrophic. I am telling this story as a warning. Do not let misery drive you to be a completely different person, for the only result will be the destruction of your former self, and the transformation into a terrible state.
It happened to my very dearest friend. He was once a very humble man, so humble he didn’t see himself fit to rule as king. He turned into a raging maniac, seeking revenge. This may be your only warning, so heed it well.

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john, yes I know you've seen it. Just re-post your rating here if you want :P
Anyways thought this place needed another story, this section was starting to die.

Yes this place needs a lot more action going on... something is missing... anyways, yeah, same comments. Definitely your best work so far.

You can't really call it dead. You can say really really really inactive. @_@

What a messed up ending. I don't think you should bring people to your level of suffering just because they did something that made you miserable.

Ah, you didn't like my ending eh? Your not supposed to. That's what it's all about-change. You go from sort-of liking the character to despising him in the end.
Also the character himself despises what he has done as well, but that's reading in between the lines :P