Mitaki, a brave warrior who had fought many battles, was found one day fighting an Ulbernaut outside of a village of Enkidukai. There was a woman picking herbs in the area, who had just looked over to see the fierce battle. She looked in horror, thinking that Mitaki would be killed and their village would be destroyed, but after a few minutes, the fight was over. Mitaki had slain the creature. She dropped the herbs and began to run toward him, saying nothing and falling into his arms in a hug. The villagers ran toward the slain Ulbernaut and began to cheer as Mitaki held her in his arms trying to comfort her and tell her that she was safe now. The villagers held a feast that same night to celebrate Mitaki's victory over the creature that had been terrorizing their village. The woman that Mitaki had seen earlier picking herbs, walked up to him as he was polishing his sword.
"Thanks for earlier...I don't know what I would've done if that creature had found me before you got here," she said, "I was out trying to find an herb to cure my friend's illness, and..." she gets a startled look on her face. "I FORGOT! I left the herbs back outside the village!"
"Can you use any of these?" Mitaki reaches into his sack and pulls out a pile of herbs.
"Yes! Those are the ones! But wait, when did you..."
"I collect them. Ever since an incident in Hydlaa, I've held on to many different herbs so that I may help those that need them. These aren't the ones you were picking, just ones that I've kept with me for a long time"
"Can you come with me please? There's not much time left, my friend is about to..."
Mitaki and the girl rush to her friend's home. When they get there, a sick girl is lying in bed, rolling around and coughing.
"Raskah, I have the herbs you need! Hang in there!"
She grinds up the herbs into a potion, and has the sick girl drink it. She stops coughing and falls asleep a few seconds later.
"She just needs to rest now..." The girl hugs Mitaki, "Thank you, I don't know what I would've done if it wasn't for you..."
"I'm glad she's feeling better, I don't want to see anyone else suffer..."
"Hey, I never got your name..."
"It's Mitaki...Mitaki Naru."
"I'm Rabalah..." She kisses Mitaki on the cheek. "Will you stay with us? We don't have anyone like you to protect us...the villagers and I adore you..."
"I wish I could, but...when I make friends, I can never take the pain of losing them...and if anything ever happened to me, I don't want you to suffer because of it."
"You're strong...you can protect everyone, and I know nothing could ever happen to you...you were able to slay an Ulbernaut, there's no way anything could happen. If something happens, I'm ready to take the risk...I want to be with you."
After many monthes, the two have a child and name him Malkari. The villagers decorated the young Enkidukai's fur with special symbols that meant "courage" and "wisdom" in their customs, and was said to bless the child with the courage of his father. But there was a mistake made when the symbol was decorated. It was aligned upside-down, and the meaning changed from "courage" to "age." In a year's time, the child had undergone a magic that would completely change his life. Instead of getting the courage of his father, he had grown to the age of his father, and had been blessed with the wisdom of his father as well. But, the age, was not a blessing, instead it was a curse. He awakened, and looked around, seeing straw and cement-covered walls all around him. He layed back down and tried to think, memories suddenly pouring into his head. When the wisdom symbol was decorated onto him, they forgot to remove the "memory" fragment from it.
They had never done this ritual with a child, only when people want to change themselves, or have amnesia and need to borrow the memories of someone close to them. Malkari began to see images of Mitaki's adventures in Hydlaa, experiencing both his satisfaction of battle, and the pain of losing those close to him. The memory of the pain from scars on his flesh began to enter his head, and the pain was so real that they began to form scars on his own body. He screamed in pain, as the memories continued to pour into his head. He had left Hydlaa and met his wife. The pain continued as Mitaki suffered from losing her, and the village began to blame him for her death, as he had not been there to protect her like he had promised...or had been forced to promise. The memories stopped when the image of a gallows appeared in his head.
A woman runs into the room after hearing the scream, slams open the door, and sees the now-grown Malkari bleeding on the straw bedding from the fresh scars carved into his body from the memories. In an instant, she realizes what must have happened and rushes out of the room to get some herbs. She places an incense in the room to put him to sleep as she applies the herbs to his wounds. In a few days, Malkari wakes up, and sees the girl sitting beside him rubbing something on one of his scars, feeling a stinging sensation. He says nothing and looks at her face, trying to recognize her. After a few minutes, the name "Raskah" comes to mind.
"Raskah...is that you?"
"So I was right...you were not blessed, you were cursed...the villagers did not want to admit what they did to you...Yes, I'm Raskah."
Since the last moment Mitaki had seen Raskah, he was handing her something, the memory blurry because of it being close to the time the image of the gallows appears in his head.
"The villagers banished me here for speaking out against them when they drew these symbols on you...I inspected them and found so many flaws, but they were foolish and did not want to admit they'd made any mistakes. After all, you're the son of Mitaki, the person who they used to believe was their savior..." Raskah begins to cry.
"My...father...?" Malkari begins to draw back the memories of his father and his pain. The wounds open back up and bleed through the bandages, and he begins to shiver in pain.
"Hold on, don't think! Just relax...I'll be right back!" Raskah runs out of the room, wiping the tears from her eyes and grabs her last remaining herbs, comes back in and unties the bandages and reapplies them to his wounds. She ties the cloth back around his wounds after the herbs are applied, and Malkari's pain disappears except for the sting of the herbs.
"You are not Mitaki, you are his son. The villagers branded you with hasted symbols. They meant to bless you, so that you would be like your father, but instead they ruined you...you do not have his courage or his wisdom, only his pain and suffering...You must relax, force the images out of your head. Try to think of the good, if there is any to be had...I did not know the man well myself, but he did save me and this village, so in doing that he has to have some calming memories."
"I...don't understand anything you're saying..." Malkari tries to move, but collapses back down to the bedding in pain. "If I'm not him, then...why do I remember his friends? Why do I remember them calling me Mitaki? Why do they -"
"Those are your father's memories. Like I said before, our village practices customs that would make us...different, from the other Enkidukai in Yliakum. We are more in tune with magic, and have created rituals that give us enhanced strength, knowledge, power..." Raskah wipes the remaining tears from her eyes. "You see, when you were born, you were branded with the symbols of Courage and Wisdom. Courage was drawn the wrong way to mean 'Age' which is why you are how you are. As for Wisdom, they have never done this mark on a newborn, and they forgot to remove the 'Memory' rune from it when they drew it on you, which is why you are having all of these painful memories. Mitaki had a lot of scars on his body, I'm guessing from previous battles he's fought, and as those memories were freshly created in your mind, your body began to feel the pain from those scars and opened wounds in your flesh. If you stay here I can heal them, but...your life has been shortened. You have no past except for that of a baby, which you by now have probably forgotten. If you can, try to remember Mitaki's visions of you..."
"I still don't understand, but...alright, I'll try." Malkari closes his eyes and tries to remember.
Mitaki walks up to the baby as he is being held in his mother's arms. He pats him on the head, and kisses Rabalah on the cheek as he walks outside to help a farmer in the village.
Malkari opens his eyes.
"That baby...is me...?" Malkari asks as he begins to raise his head off the bedding and put it in his hand.
"Yes...all of these memories, are your father's. I'm not really sure what I should do...your life is wrecked with what has happened...all I know to tell you is, after your wounds have recovered, you should find your father's friends...they can guide you better than me. I am, after all, an exile...all I can do is heal wounds, I am labeled a fool in the eyes of our village, and after what they think your father has done, you going into the village looking like that will get you killed as he was..."
"He's...dead?" The image of the gallows appears in his mind, but he quickly shakes the memory away.
"I'm afraid so...your father was executed after the villagers thought he had killed your mother. He tried to protect her, but she was killed before he could stop the thief." Raskah coughs and stands up. "Stay here for a few weeks, let your wounds recover...after that, you must leave this place before the villagers come. I am to be executed in one month, for my so-called heresy..."
(To be continued...)
