It was a joyous day.

A Party…

As the DJ in one corner of the room rocked the joint with a blend of Techno and rock the young hunter welcomed his guests.

“Welcome… welcome everyone”

“Nice to see you” said one guest.

“Yoo, s’up dude? Been’a’while” said another.

He welcomed the guests who joined him in his quaint home with the biggest smile he could muster.

“What you been up to bro?”

“The usual I guess.”

“Seeing everyone back here is so awesome”

“Totally. It’s been like forever since we did something like this.”

“Welcome guys.”

“Missed you like bunch.”

“Likewise.”

They were happy for they were oblivious of everything that happened to him. People congratulated him as he thread through the crowd out onto the porch outside.

He leaned his elbow to the wooden rail taking in the fresh air. He was content with what he saw.

Everything was back to normal. Everyone and everything was back to the way they were.

The Hunter was finally home, his real home, in 2017.

A gentle breeze flew over the grass fields, the flowers danced and the trees shook. Bees were busy hopping from one flower to another, carrying pollen. Ants carried pieces of food back into their colony. The butterflies happily fluttered about, some sucking nectar from flowers. Birds sang the most beautiful songs.

The old earth was back, the trees, the ocean, life. Even technology was back.

His house sat on the very top of a small hill and he could see the Scrappers of the city some few kilometers away: a wooden cottage made of strong boards surrounded by blooming Meadows and a virgin forest of pure greenery.

The sun warmed his face. The canned drink in his hand found its way to his lips and gracefully quenched his thirst. He had always wanted a peaceful life and now he had it. Everything pleased him.

A few steps to the door he halted…

Shiiiiiiiiiii…

“Mhuh?”

It was in the distant.

He spinned around and saw in the horizon, burning in black flames, turning everything into ash. The sky turned bright red racing towards his apartment.

“No no no no no.” He ran out into the yard. It was the same in the east and the west. “This can’t be happening?”

He dashed back into the room weaving through the still crowd trying to get them to leave.

“Everybody out… You need to leave, now!”

But they made him feel invisible.

Through the cracks of space between the standing guests he saw the black flames closing in through the window.

Looking back at his guests he became petrified, his face went pale when they all turn to him in unison, with bloodshot eyes.

“W-what’s going on? Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

He was frightened.

His head jerked as tore his eyes off them to see why they stared at so menacingly.

Already having the feeling of something bad happening on him he lifted his hands to inspect and saw he was expelling the same black flames which raced towards him from the horizon. His hands started shaking.

“No, No, not again!… It’s done, it’s already over!”

He tried shaking off the flames but it spread encasing him. Tears flowed down his cheeks—only to be evaporated by the flames—and a cry so bitter from his lips.

Soon he was covered in the thick black flame and he dropped to his knees. The black flames had reached his house turning everything in its path into ash and slowly fading away.

His fear peaked and boom!!! An explosion from him sends a shock wave around kicking the ash and dust left behind in the black flame’s wake—

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A pair of closed eyes shot open.

He checked at his surroundings to see if he had gone up in flames and turned the place to ash like in his dream.

The hunter peeled his back off the chair and buried his face in his palms, his elbows on his thighs:

It’s just a dream! Just a nightmare.

His greatest fear which was destroying the world yet again, after he would have save it. And it haunted him…

“As always…”

Every night for over fifty years, he hasn’t been able to get good sleep. Always haunted by dreams, either a kind like this; faces of people he did not know—assumed to be souls of people who died— or that of him losing control. And today wasn’t any different.

He always wondered if it was because he had been asleep for over a century and a half. But if that should be the case then he shouldn’t feel sleep at all, yet he did, and yet it never came.

The shimmering orange glow from the burning candle gave an orange hue to him and the furniture in the room.

He stood and walked over to the window.

From the looks of it, it was just a few past midnight. The street was empty. The only company it had was the constant bluish white glow of the magic stone lamps adding colour to the stones.

“I guess I’ll head out then”

He made a decision. If he could not sleep then he would go out to check things out.

He came down the stairs into the inn.

The chairs were overturned onto the table.

Lanterns are still on… Someone’s probably around.

He went up to the door ignoring the faint glow coming from the room beside the counter and grabbed the knob and gave it a twist and gently pulled but it didn’t budge.

It’s locked.

He’d have to leave the exploring for the next day.

Maybe I should go the other way? Or perhaps—huh?

Then he heard a faint clutter from the room behind the counter—one that a normal person wouldn’t be able to pick.

There was a faint scent in the air over the others coming from the room, one very familiar.

He walked over to the counter, pulled back a stool ever so softly and sat.

A moment later Allora walked out of the room—not in her usual working dress rather in a slightly stylish blue morning gown tied at the waist; a magic stone lantern in her hand. She didn’t expect to find anyone around and got a little spooked when she saw him quietly sitting.

“…Hey…” Even though it wasn’t visible on her face she was wondering as to why he was up this late. “What are you doing up so late?” she couldn’t help but think out loud.

He had no true reason for coming down. Things unfazed him but this; his nightmare had somewhat of an impact since it was something he’d been trying to avoid been repeated. Exploring was his only way to evade that haunting thoughts of losing everything he’d have worked for.

He gave himself the time to wonder why she was still up: She looked so stressed.

“… Thirsty.”

“We’re closed… but I see no reason not to.”

She disappeared into the room again and returned moments later with a tray holding six mugs of ale.

She walked over to his side and set the tray on the counter beside him.

The hunter grabbed a mug and took it to his mouth.

Just like the morning before she was nervous and he could feel it all oozing out of her even though she tried her best to suppress it and him not looking at her.

Mustering up her courage she asked was on her mind.

“May I join you…?”

“It’s not my place to send you off.”

She took the seat beside him, reached for a mug and placed it before herself. Clasping it in both hands she the mug took to her lip and downed a couple of gulps.

Like a pro the young hunter emptied the mug and set it back on the tray picking another.

Feeling her nervousness ceaselessly seeping out of her and permeating through the air, from the corner of his eye he saw her looking straight ahead unsure of what to say. Even though he didn’t care for her presence even in the slightest he decided to break the silence between them.

“… Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“I couldn’t. So I figured I’d do some of my work now before the morning.”

To him it felt odd that such a young person would be having trouble sleeping. In a split second he came to a conclusion. Maybe it could be the effect of the spell she was under.

Or something else that drove her to be so? He could scent sadness on her.

“… Are you always like this?”

It took a lot out of him to ask. And not because he cared but seeing the dark circles under her eyes he let the words flow.

“How?”

“… Sleep deprived.”

“Pretty much…”

“… I see…”

Unlike her, he never felt that deprived even without sleep and when he tried to, he only met the dreams which were just like the one he had earlier.

He emptied the second mug and reached for another.

Allora looked at him, stunned at how a person as young as him could hold down the alcoholic beverage and not hinge.

She turned her sights to her mug in front of her, feeling her heartbeat climbing, building courage to ask something she had held on to for so long.

“Can I ask you something?” She asked.

He listened as her heart sped in anticipation.

“……”

“How is it like… out there?”

That answered his question.

She had been in the ruin all her life, it was her home but it wasn’t her life. She yearned for excitement… for adventure, something new. But knowing how the world is, she would be torn apart by monster, bandits and demons.

Someone like her would last a day out there.

It was as if time slowed down in her eyes. To her, it felt like she had been waiting long to hear an answer.

“… I can tell you this… There’s nothing for you out there. It’s safe in here than being out there.”

Well, not all true but relatively safe, as she said earlier. It was true the world out there was dangerous but staying in here, to her was a hellish prison.

The undisputable fact was as harsh as ever.

“… I see.”

She took another gulp after he emptied the mug and reached for another.

“… You shouldn’t be drinking too much… Aren’t you drunk?”

It was his fourth mug and yet he didn’t sway, still sober. It was as if he hadn’t taken any in the first place. She watch in amazement, clearly trying to hide how surprised she was, in all her life she working as a waitress she had never seen a feat.

“No…”

I wish I could, but I could never no matter how much I take in…. And it still tastes like crap!

Seeing and thinking, she being the only one sober among the two, she downed the mug and reached for the last one.

He watched as she emptied it as well.

A couple of minutes later she felt the heat erupt from within her stomach. The alcohol was in her blood and she was beginning to feel its effects.

She started to feel dizzy and could not keep a straight head from swaying, so she laid it on the counter.

“… I don’t want to be here anymore… Please help us.” It was faint but loud and clear to his ears.

“Silly little girl. Can’t even hold in a couple of little drinks…”

Easy for him to say. He could not succumb to any booze.

“… What- what did you say…?” She said drunkenly.

“Go home, little girl.”

“I am, home.”

Mhmm? So she stays here. It should have been obvious.

“… Then go to sleep.”

Slowly she got off the chair grabbing the lantern and forced herself to walk. He watched from the edge of his sockets as she fought to maintain her balance trying to get to the stairs beside the counter wall.

Help us, huh?

He emptied the mug and reunited it with the others…

He was unsure of what sort of grip the demon had on the people and what really happened in the town. But why didn’t they leave already? What was so good that it got them staying? Does the spell have that much a strong hold on them? He wondered…

An hour passed as he gave thought to what Allora said and he finally came to a conclusion.

This had nothing to do with me so I’d leave them to their fate, after I getting what I need.

Just about ending his thought he decided to leave for his room.

His foot touched the floor and he was very well on the way to the stairs… but halted.

What would happen if they found the mugs on the table? He wondered.

The mugs called on to him begging to be put way…

He walked back to the counter, pick up the tray and without hesitation went through the small dual doors.

The room was dark but he could see fine.

There were shelves to the wall on the far side of the stone sink—it had a cupboard above it—and one to the wall at the end of the room stuffed with bowls and other utensils. Another stood in the middle of the room—if it were any longer it would divide the room into two. Both sides of it had two stone tables much like the sink. The one in front had a greater half smoothly polished which served as table for cutting ingredients. The other half had four cylindrical holes drilled into the stone and equally spaced; with the magic item fire stone—a gem which produces heat/fire—it served as a stove to cook. The one behind was just used to hold larger utensils.

At the back of the room in the corner sat drums which held the ale they served, one of the many stacked up, in front had a tap.

The sink before him was also dived into two, one just a tad bigger than the other.

The bigger sink was piled with dirty bowls so high that any least sound could make them topple over. It seemed they couldn’t complete their chores before closing up as she had said. The second sink was empty but had a small cork in the center to stop water from escaping.

He placed the tray by the sink and spun around in search of the container which held their water. He didn’t need to go more than 30 degrees to his left to see a drum to the corner of the room.

Where he was felt familiar to him, like he needed to finish up what was left.

Absentmindedly he began to move.

A couple of steps, after grabbing the jug that sat by the counter, he was before the drum. He lifted the covering. It had water to the brim.

He drowned the jug into the water for a moment and took it out...

Before the sink he paused… he stretched out his hand about tilting the mug over the empty sink with the cork and—

In a glitch he saw himself in the kitchen; small with a kitchen counter, sink, refrigerator, and stylish smooth polished dining wooden table.

This feels oddly familiar.

Before he could get the chance to look around he found himself back at the inn.

Facing the sink tilting the jug further everything glitched again but this time he was in modern kitchen—21st century. Before he could get a better look he was returned to the inn yet again.

“A memory…?” he asked himself softly.

Yes it was. Memories like this came in once a while, fragments which sometimes seemed utterly pointless and meaningless. Once in a while when he found himself in situations; whether trivial, like this one right now or something a bit significant like the first time he fought a demon after awakening allowing a huge chunk of memory to return. But since this had no effect to the memory and he desired he decided to chuck it up to surplus.

He poured the water into the second sink and placed the jug back where it was.

With one whiff of the air he could tell were everything was. The waves of scent coming from each part of the room gave him a good idea what held what.

He reached up and opened the cabinet above the sink. It was almost empty with a few bowls and a couple of mugs.

He grabbed the first bowl and with the a little soap he found in the cabinet and a small cloth rough like a sponge he started to clean it. When he was done he gently dropped it into the water for a rinse. He took the rinsed bowl out letting every trickle of water slide off back into the basin and placed it carefully into the cabinet. He moved of the next.

One by one he tore through the mountain of bowls. He washed, rinsed and arranged the bowls in the cabinet.

Washing the bowls he slowly washed away his thoughts…

I return to my room after I finished washing and assembling everything.

A certain calm that I haven’t felt in a long time has come over me.

To be able to do something like this feels… rather satisfying.

Why does it feel like so?

Was it something I did in my past?

Or just a whim I did just a few moments ago to keep me calm?

Though, that memory seemed to imply that I was familiar with doing that. Makes me wonder, is it something as trivial as I thought? Or that is part of a greater memory fragment? What happened back then?

How was I like? Every time I try to learn a bit more about myself from these, such fragments I feel amiss. Was I always like this?

Sit on the chair…

I want my memories back.

I want to go back to the past.

I want to remember the life I had before.

Even if it’s for a brief moment I want to feel at peace. Then again what really is peace?

Enough of that for now I guess. Until, and the demons I find will answer all my questions I will finally be who and where I need to be…

Right now though…

What do I do now? I don’t know if I can sleep but I guess I’ll have to take what I get, sleep or no sleep.

… All I can do now is to wait till sleep takes me again and try to get the little I can… Or I could just by time till the morning arrives and takes my sleep…?

… … … … … ….

I lost track of time whiles washing and now also…

Mphuh. My eyes are open but it feels like I am asleep, but my brain is still working.

That’s good though. That means I might be relaxed.

Eyelids feel heavy… The room is slowly becoming hazy with each blink.

I don’t think I can keep it open anymore. Eyelids lower… Everything is black. They’re closed. Guess it’s another good thing.

Is this me sleeping…?

I hope so…

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