Chapter 18: A Forgotten Memory
Lumine opened his eyes slowly as he felt a slight headache and his body floating in a depthless lake.
" What... where am I? "
He opened his eyes slowly and found before his eyes a stark white ceiling, different from that ceiling in his home... a ceiling different from the one he saw every time he woke up in the Red Mist.
He rose slowly from the comfortable bed he was on, raised his hand to his head, and covered his eyes with his fingers as he thought, 'Where is that... girl? What did she do to me?.. Those feeli—...'
As Lumine recalled the last thing he could remember, he heard a calm and intimate voice of a girl from his right, "Are you awake?"
'It's her.' Lumine moved his hand away from his face and turned his head toward the girl. The girl held a knife in her hand to peel the red apple in her other hand. She was a girl with sky-blue hair and white streaks, wearing a dress that revealed none of her charms.
Lumine stared at her soft face, not hiding the astonishment on his countenance, as he whispered in a faint voice, "What is this familiarity in her voice?.."
The girl extended her hand to Lumine and smiled before saying, "Here, you like apples, don't you?"
The sky-haired girl was not wrong in her assumption, but Lumine shook his head and refused to take the apple from her, like a hunter in the hunting club accustomed to not taking food from those he does not know.
The girl nodded her head and spoke as she placed the apple on a small table beside her, "I am Amelia, Amelia Toria."
Lumine glanced at Amelia for a few hesitant seconds, but in the end, he sighed and said in a clear voice, "Rhine... Schwartz. Where am I, and why am I here?"
Amelia smiled at Rhine's response and said, "Schwartz? Then you can call me Amelia, just Amelia... or you can call me Amelia-tan, I don't mind, hehe. You are in my home. You fainted in the inn as soon as you saw me. I am glad you remembered who I am, but I didn't expect you to faint, my dear Lumine."
Lumine glared at Amelia with obvious anger in his eyes. He wanted to hide his identity and gain information from her, but her preparations had outmatched him and secured her control over the situation.
'What is she talking about?.. I must escape from her.' Lumine felt the gravity of the situation. Hiding the anger in his eyes, he spoke, "Rhine Schwartz is a better name, you can call me that... What do you mean? This is my first time meeting you, I don't know you."
Amelia clasped her hands together and raised them to her chin, saying in a sweet voice, "Oh, my dear doesn't remember me. Nymir, what should I do?"
Lumine sensed feigned emotions on her face and a false sadness in her tone, but he ignored her strange behavior and eyed the knife on the table. With a swift movement, he extended his hand and tried to grab the knife to confront the girl.
Amelia extended her hand with extreme speed and grabbed the knife beside her before Lumine could, saying in a sharp voice, "Stop."
Lumine ignored her warning and grabbed the edge of the table, and with all his strength, threw the small table at Amelia's ribs.
Amelia raised her feet to the bed and stamped on it with all her might. The bed tilted in the opposite direction, and Amelia retreated backward enough to evade the table.
Amelia stared at Lumine for a few seconds, waiting for his next move. She sighed when she noticed him pulling a stick out of his pocket, and tossed the knife from her hand as she said, "Leave the stick, I intend no harm... I am a Walker, but I am of the Pathway of Mirrors. My path does not focus on physical attacks, and I lack combat experience like yours... but I can help you master your path... the Bond Path."
Lumine analyzed swiftly as he listened to her, 'How did she evade my attack when her path has nothing to do with physical attacks? Does it grant her a greater awareness of her surroundings?..'
Amelia turned her head toward the bed and continued, "Can you not think about this? Why would I take care of you if I wanted to torture you or something else?"
"The Bond Path... Mirrors? What is this path?" Lumine ignored her last point and tried to conceal his knowledge of the Walkers while hiding his hand behind his back, thinking, 'Knife.'
Amelia sighed and said, "Why don't you leave the stick behind your back so we can talk calmly? You shouldn't be stubborn with me, my dear Rhine..."
Lumine stared at Amelia's face calmly, without blinking.
Amelia raised her hands up to gain Lumine's trust before speaking, "You don't know how to bond, right? I can help you. Accept my help, and I will be the best person for you... Even so, even if you refuse, I will still be the best person for you. Listen to what I want to say; you will be shocked, but you will not regret it."
Lumine gazed at Amelia's face as she spoke and thought, 'Her expressions are genuine... but perhaps...'
Lumine weighed the two choices before him: either listen to her or escape through the window. He did not know the consequences of listening to her, and he might not be able to control the situation if Amelia was exploiting him. He would gain if she was sincere...
He also did not know which floor he was on, and found no way to escape except by thinking of the axe and throwing it at the window. In the best-case scenario, he would escape successfully, and in the worst, he would die if he were on a high floor.
Amelia noticed Lumine's silence and his body freezing as he thought, prompting her to speak, "Why aren't you speaking? Do you want to escape through the window? You can escape; we are on the first floor, the distance isn't far. But it's useless, I know where Rahil's house is, my dear."
'Stick.' Lumine thought of the stick and moved his hand from behind his back as he said, "Fine, I will listen to you, but it's best we stay where we are."
Amelia sighed and lowered her hands as she said, "Fine. I would have preferred to sit, but have it your way. First and foremost, do you remember me?"
Lumine shook his head and said while staring into her eyes, "No. Who are you, and why are you acting as if you are close to me?"
Amelia closed her eyes and took a breath of air before speaking, "I am... your wife. I know this is sudden, but nobody remembers me..."
'Axe.' Lumine detected no deceit in her eyes or voice, but he doubted the truth of her words; how could she be his wife when he didn't remember her? He thought of the axe, and the stick in his hand transformed into the axe he had bought from the club, before he said, "Do you think I'm stu—... You said you are a Walker, right?"
Amelia nodded her head and said, "Yes. A problem occurred to me and I barely survived. Because of this, everyone lost their memories of me."
Amelia stopped speaking and pointed her hand toward a red notebook on the floor before continuing, "Look over there. It's a notebook, and it contains some of our pictures. You can pick it up; I won't do anything."
Lumine looked at the notebook on the floor and found it open to pictures of him with her. Lumine was on the rooftop of one of the buildings in Hansan City, and beside him was Amelia, holding his hand and kissing his cheek. He stared at the picture for a few seconds before raising his eyes and saying, "Is this the only proof of your words?"
Amelia's face flushed, and she said bashfully, "On your upper thigh, there is a scar. You were hit by a stray arrow during one of the club's trips... You told me it was a stray arrow from the Count; Deco was in danger before a massive bear."
"At that time, you were behind the bear, and the Count was behind you both. The Count raised his bow, intending to hit the bear in the thigh so it would fall to the ground and Deco could escape. But you were not in sync with him in your early days, and you didn't know he was skilled in archery, just as he didn't know your style."
"You picked up your axe and ran to strike the bear on its neck. You succeeded in striking its neck, but the arrow hit you in the thigh because you crossed its path."
"Unfortunately, your blow wasn't strong enough, and the bear turned on you. It scratched you with its claws, and you fell to the ground with a severe injury. In that split second, the Count drew another arrow and shot it into the bear's eye."
"And from behind the bear, Deco took his sword and stabbed the bear in its back... Am I right? That's what you told me upon your return from the trip."
Lumine stared at her face, tense and hesitant because of her words. He remained silent for a while before deciding to relax his hand and speak, "Why does no one remember you? What happened for us to forget everything?"
Amelia stared at the floor and spoke in a low voice, "My sister sent us a letter... my mother collapsed at home from work exhaustion. I had to go see her, but on the way there, the carriage fell into the Red Mist..."
Lumine remembered the eclipse that occurred in the Red Mist and the terrifying creatures that were approaching him when he fell to the ground. He remembered that murderous aura he felt when he tried to approach the man who was knocking on the door, before he shouted aloud, "The Red Mist?! How are you alive then? How is this possible?"
Amelia did not raise her head from the floor and continued in a frantic tone, "I don't know... I was riding in the carriage, watching the road and anticipating my arrival more than anything else. Suddenly, cries of various creatures echoed from the forest, and the driver opened his window and told me, 'The horse isn't listening to my orders.' Then, I opened the door, was struck by a headache, and the place around us changed."
Lumine hesitated to approach and comfort her. Instead, he decided to ask to verify her experience in the Red Mist, "How was it? What was the place like there?"
Amelia raised her head to Lumine and gazed at him with clear sadness in her eyes, "I saw many visions and places. In the first place, there were three stone pyramids and a massive statue of a man with the body of a cat... I saw the place like the imaginings of the Egyptian civilization in ancient books."
"And in a flash of lightning, the place around us changed. We were on a freezing cold island. There was nothing around us but the whiteness of snow and the blueness of water... The sea stretched out without waves or motion, just still water extending endlessly. While I was absorbed in the view of the sea, I heard screams from behind me. They were terrifying. They were..."
Amelia stumbled over her words. She fell silent for a moment and then continued, "I wanted to forget everything, dive into the sea, and escape, but in another flash of lightning, the place around us changed again."
"The third place was like an abandoned and ruined city, yet the buildings and roads were organized as if it were the capital, Trakis. Beside every building, there were carriages of various shapes and colors. But the thing that terrified me... your parents' house was there..."
"I tried to approach the house, but the driver stopped me. He picked up pieces of broken glass from the ground, gave them to me, and screamed in panic, 'Take this! Commit suicide before the worst begins! They are coming, they are coming to kill us, I saw them!' And while he was screaming, he took the glass and slashed..."
Lumine noticed her breathing heavily, her shoulders trembling violently, and the color of life extinguished from her eyes.
She continued to tremble for a few seconds before her knees collapsed to the floor, and tears poured from her eyes like rain.
Watching her in this state, with the clear brokenness in her posture and actions, Lumine believed her. He tossed the axe to the floor, took a step forward, and approached her.
Step by step, he neared her, close enough to embrace her and share her burden. But before he could reach her, she continued in a lifeless tone, hiding her face between her knees, "I wanted to die... I wanted to join him, but I was afraid... I thought of you alone at home waiting for my return. I thought of you going out every day, waiting for a letter from me. I thought of you, wished to meet you, wanted to hold your hand, and prayed to return ag—..."
Lumine dropped to his knees, approached her, and gripped her hand firmly while thinking in anger, 'The Red Mist...'
Amelia raised her head from her knees, gripped his hand tightly, and stared at his face for a second before embracing him.
As Amelia threw herself into his embrace, he felt her entire body trembling.
He slowly raised his hand and patted her back while she wept against his shoulder, saying, "It's alright..."
He closed his eyes, searching the corners of his memory and looking into every familiar or passing face that had crossed his life... but he found no trace of her.
Lumine drew back slightly and looked at her tear-stained face. His eyes met her sky-blue eyes, and despite the absence of memory, he felt a strange weight in his chest... a sense of guilt for forgetting, and a deeper sense of responsibility toward this girl who had returned for his sake.