No beast stood in my way even though the tried their best to keep us away before. The mountain deserted as if all those living there felt the passing of time, and the coming change. Without the flickering fire, and the slight buzzing of the whisp, only silence would greet me atop this mountain.
Opposed to the one before this one had its stairs running along the outside long before the first one, just barely appearing above the level where the snowstorm raged. And while I wondered if this was planned in any way, it still made me thankful as an orderly path made it much easier to climb upwards, allowing me to reach the top within a short time even after her spell faded.
I hope I’m in time.
I stared at the whisp, that now rested on top of the platform. Just like before, a moment after the whisp took its position, the earth started to tremble. But now, when I wasn’t in danger of falling to death or attacked by wyverns, I had time to observe the changes as I made my way down again.
Quickly the whisps light raised the temperature and with it the turbulent sea of snow down below. The raging waves turned into mellow tides, which didn’t last long, sinking slower and slower, while the last remnants of the wind streamed into one direction. Towards the tower of snow that rose in the distance, the one thing that kept struggling against the warmth inside this world of ice. And after merely half an hour the whisp has changed the view completely. The storm that seemed unchanging from within was gone, leaving a glittering clear landscape beneath.
“You did it.”
A voice came up. Looking down I saw Narva walk up towards me, all alone.
“What about the others?”
“They’re fine. The hid inside the inner structure when we came across the entry.” Her expression however showed a new bitterness.
“Is anything wrong?”
“Well,” she fiddled with her thumbs, “I kind of snapped at them.”
I could only look at her incredulously as I couldn’t imagine what brought her to do so.
“After you stormed off, they didn’t listen to me. Instead they said that you’d left us alone. And when nobody refuted that…”
I only looked at her, unsure what to say.
“Even after all you did to protect them, they treated you like that.” She looked away, biting down at her lips. “Though I’m not better, as I also doubted you when I saw these black flames. Even if it was only a moment, it still happened.”
I closed my eyes, as I tried to think about what happened. It wasn’t exactly hidden that I didn’t gain the trust of the group. At least not in full. Instead they only followed after me in fear for their own life. As they wouldn’t survive on their own.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be.”
“But I…!”
Opening my eyes once more I looked at her. “You came after me, didn’t you? And from what I’ve heard you even got angry for my sake. I should thank you instead.”
“No!”
“Really. Thank you for standing with me. You are the only one I can rely on in here.”
“That…!” She stopped herself. Then, with newfound courage she continued. “Leave it to me! I’ll stand with you against all odds.” As her troubles faded a smile found its way on her face once more.
“Is it too late for us to reconcile?” A weak voice resounded.
Looking past Narva I saw Homura walk up towards us, clinging onto the mountain wall to keep herself afoot. Behind her, her entourage followed, making visible motions to step towards her, help her stand, only to back away when she looked at them.
“You need to rest.” Anyone could see that she could barely keep herself from falling down.
“Don’t underestimate us kitsune. This is nothing. Besides, if I don’t do this right now, I fear it will be too late.”
She continued onward till she stopped in front of me, facing me resolutely.
“We didn’t trust you. Even after you joined us, we relied on your power without trying to change how we felt, as we only saw what we wanted to see. One who burns down whatever stood in his way. And in our fear we failed to see you for who you are. For that I need to apologize.
But after those words you said following our last battle I noticed. You’re not someone who hurts those that stand with him. You protected us, even when we dragged you down. For that I must thank you.”
“There were still those that died while you were unconscious.”
“Yeah,” her voice turned somber, “but without you we would have been dead altogether. And I would be happy to count one who tries his best to protect his comrades to mine. May I ask you,” she stretched her hand towards me, “to stay with us? This time, I swear, we will treat you better.”
I looked down at her hand, stunned at her sudden change in attitude. Before I had an answer however, Narva stepped next to me, smiling gently as she nodded. She already knew what I wanted to ask her, even without me needing to do so.
“Okay.” I grabbed her hand in return.
As relief took over and all tension left her body, her legs gave out. I could barely catch her, stopping her from falling completely. And without her looking up, I could hear her voice once more before she passed out again.
“Thank you.”
Keep getting better!! You can do it Ryudo!
I will try my best!
Hmm, what do you feel was lacking? Maybe articulating it to others would help?
I had some problems with finding the right words while trying to maintain a certain degree of realism.
Such speeches dwelling on inner thoughts are just so much more complicated to write.
@Ryudo1701 what about his inner thoughts didn’t you like?
@Dreamheart While I made him kindhearted to those he cares about, it just didn't seem that good, considering he was only with them for a few days. Maybe it was all too quick in succession?
Whereas his lack of memory should've made him more reliant on others that showed him kindness, letting them trust them more, hence it should be acceptable/ comprehensible. Even the sudden shifts in his thoughts (like his repulsion towards the anger changing into an acceptance of it) are only because he's learning more and more about himself.
Now that I think about it I guess I should've wrote a bit more of an explanation about that, even if this story originally had more of an action focus, than a psychological one.
@Ryudo1701 Well, there you go, you just found a way to solve your own problem. Anyway when people don’t know why they are feeling a certain way, or at least for me, it’s kinda like having a research debate in my own head until it sort of clicks? Like asking a question to myself, then coming up with various hypotheses to see how each one feels? I imagine for someone without context memories they’d have to approach in an even more also scientific exploratory mannar.
@Dreamheart It certainly brought my mind to focus on points I didn't think enough before, thanks for the help~
About one approaching memory loss in a scientific exploratory manner I believe it would take one to be such a person at base, because while someone could of course change complete through amnesia, I think that through the subconsciousness we would still be influenced by out past self (which would be a kindhearted, scarred warrior, that survived through power and luck, not through logic and such)
@Ryudo1701 True. Recently I got super irritated at one story because they weren’t following than one principle of amnesia. They used to be a stone cold assassin but after getting it they couldn’t even fight when attacked and were all naive and innocent so I just couldn’t stomach it. I just kept having that giaco commercial sayings repeating through my head. “That’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works!
@Dreamheart Yeah, there are things like muscle memory, so even if that mc turned naive and innocent when attacked he should react without thinking and probably kill or hurt the attacker at least. Though while writing about a person with amnesia I noticed how hard of a theme it is, if one tries to keep the story congruent.
That's why I like feedback, as such things will be pointed out (and possibly revised).