Dreamsphere- 20: The Stranger

Chapter Twenty1

The Stranger2

3

Rough hands clenched the dirt beneath him. He gasped for breath, uneasy in this unfamiliar air. Rolling over, he looked to the sky. It was blue, white clouds rolled by, and above the clouds, enormous ships flew on.4

He looked at his hands once more. They would be clean if it weren't for the dirt he had gotten under his nails. He flexed his fingers. They were rough, as though from a lifetime of weathering, but they were new.5

He stood up. He was pale, and the sun bore down on him hotly. He found it difficult to stand at first, but he got used to his new legs quickly. Looking down the mountain, he found a sea of black. The Black Mist was close, yet it was closer than he knew.6

He tried to move his mouth. Good, it worked. Now, for sound: “F—” he attempted. “F—Fere—” He tried once more, but slower: “Fer-es-tae. Ferestae.” Good, he could talk, and he knew his name.7

He walked along a level area of ground until he found water. It was no bigger than a large pond, but it would do.8

He looked at himself in it. A narrow face stared back at him, resting under a mop of brown hair. He noticed only now that he was naked, but he knew nothing of shame. His body appeared lithe and powerful, a good trait, he supposed.9

Kneeling down, he tried to touch the water, only to find that he couldn't. His finger pierced the surface, but it made no ripple, and he felt nothing. When he removed his finger, he found that it had dissolved as it breached the surface. He watched as his fingertip quickly reappeared.10

He made a brief note to himself to avoid water.11

Something told him to go up, so he turned and ascended to the peak of the mountain. Once there, he looked down into a crater at one of those flying machines he'd seen above the clouds. But why wasn't this one up there with them? He disregarded the thought and clambered down into the crater.12

The air became cool as he descended the steep slope, signaling that this was no volcanic depression in danger of eruption.13

A man in loose green garments came out onto the deck of the ship-like vessel. Noticing the wanderer, a worried expression crossed his face. He turned into a giant red-winged beast and swooped down toward the cold, exposed man. He removed his jacket and wrapped it around the stranger, then flew him up into the ship.14

15

A few hours later, the man sat fully dressed in a comfortable chair, eying a cup of broth and noodles he held in his lap. He noticed that it was liquid, and only once pretended to sip from it as one of the men had instructed. He had no idea why they were treating him with such hospitality, but he found it welcome.16

Several of the fiery-eyed people stood around him with wondering faces. One of them told him his name—Randall—and Ferestae returned the polite gesture.17

“Where did you come from?” Randall asked.18

Ferestae took a minute to find his voice, then answered, “I don't know.”19

“Have you been living on the mountain all this time?”20

“No. I just found myself there. I have no memory; all I know is my name.”21

Randall shared a few unheard words with another man, and turned back to Ferestae. “The way it looks, you are suffering from amnesia. You may have even been left for dead by someone in command of a Bird, but who knows?” He shook his head. “Just know that you are in good hands.”22

Ferestae's expression was unchanging, but he would have smiled if he'd known how, and he said, “Thank you, Randall.” Then, thinking of the green-clothed man, he asked, “Where is the man who saved me?”23

“Right here,” the man said as he stepped forward. “My name is Galidea.”24

“Nice to meet you then. I was just wondering: you are not like me, I assume, so why did you choose to show your true form without knowing who I was?”25

Galidea laughed. “I sensed that you were no harm, and that any man wandering around on the surface was not there by choice. And from the lack of food due to the Black Mist, nobody would be alive and in your health on the surface after seventeen years.” He smiled. “Besides, we feel the compassion to help all those in need.”26

Ferestae nodded. “Then I am assured that I am indeed in good hands.”27

28

The people on the ship gave Ferestae a nice room to stay in out of friendly generosity. He stayed in the room thinking, trying to find his past through a process of rigorous introspection. His memories stayed secret to him.29

After he had wracked his brain hour after hour, he found something. It was like the tip of something whole, where anything past that small dot of a clue was restricted to him. He was doing something. There was a reason for his being here. But as he continued to delve, he found nothing further than that.30

What was I supposed to do? he asked himself repeatedly. No answers presented themselves. He found nothing. His existence might as well have been meaningless.31

He carried on without worrying about it, coming to the realization that the answer may find him when he was not looking for it. He talked with the people of the ship—which they called “Pyre” as he found out—and learned everything about the world he had forgotten.32

Then he thought, Did I really forget anything? What if I never had anything to forget in the first place?33

Once again he returned to his fearful wondering, and once again he shrugged it off.34

The people offered him food, but he never found himself hungry; bathing, but he remembered the lake; and entertainment, but none of it amused him. He was constantly falling back on his thoughts of who he was, where he came from, why he was here. And it made him lose all care for anything.35

Eventually, after studying the people, he began to associate such things as happiness and smiling, anger and scowling, and sadness and crying—he reminded himself not to cry for the drops of water that ran down the criers' faces. He wasn't so compelled to display such emotions, even if he knew how, so the reminder was unneeded.36

There were some things he could never figure out though. People hugged—usually a man and woman—and he didn't know what it meant. Hand gestures such as waving eluded him; the people waved to one another once when they met together, another time when they parted, and even in passing. There was no explanation for it.37

Then, one day as he was walking by an open door, he heard a conversation about himself.38

“Do you think it's him?” one man said.39

“Who?” an older voice responded. “The bearer of the Prodigious Flame?”40

“Yes. He appeared seemingly out of nowhere, Elder. Perhaps Suspenza sent him.”41

“Perhaps, but I sense something within him. I do not believe it is him. He may have been god-sent, but the fact that he cannot remember any sort of a past troubles me greatly. If he were to pass the test, I could surely then give it to him. However, as it stands, my fears are too great to even consider administering the test to him.”42

Test? Prodigious Flame? Is this what my purpose was? But the elder claims he is afraid of my intentions. Maybe he is right to be so worrisome; even I don't know what I am capable of.43

But, that name, “Suspenza.” Why is that so familiar?44

“But surely, Elder,” the man went on, “we can try, right?”45

“Give me some time to consider it.”46

“How much?”47

“As much as I need.”48

“Understood, Elder.”49

Reacting quickly, Ferestae continued walking so as to not appear conspicuous.50

“Ferestae,” he heard the man call from behind.51

He turned around. “Good afternoon, Galidea.”52

The man walked up to Ferestae and gently pulled him forward by the arm. Speaking in a hushed voice, he said, “Did you hear anything I was talking to the elder about?”53

“Only a little bit,” he lied. He surprised himself at this; he hadn't said anything but the truth yet. “What's the matter?”54

“There is an invaluable relic here, and I think you are the one who is supposed to take it. It was said that a man sent to us by a god was destined to return the item to its altar in Huda.”55

Ferestae thought for a moment. Had he been sent by a god? He had appeared out of nowhere. But still, the elder was right; his lack of memory was a troubling thought.56

“I don't know where I came from,” he said. “If I was sent by a god, then surely your elder will be able to determine that. For now, I have no recollection of who I am or why I am here.”57

The man nodded in understanding. “Then it shall be left to the elder.”58

59

Later that day, Ferestae went outside of the ship. He climbed up to the top edge of the crater and looked out across the horizon. The sun was setting, casting a golden metallic tinge over the surface of the sea of black clouds below.60

What is it? he wondered. He walked down the side of the mountain until he was only feet away from the Mist.61

He felt an eerie familiarity with the Mist before him. A sort of gravitational pull emanated from it, like he was magnetized to it.62

Then it began to rise towards him.63

Feeling fear for the first time, he pulled himself away and ran back up the mountain, down into the crater, and up into the ship.64

He didn't tell anyone what happened. He constantly wondered about it, though it was never the foremost question on his mind.65

Who am I?66