Chapter 10

Little lights came out of the darkness gradually, nothing new from the tricks my eyes would play.  They were nothing different from a mirage or hallucination.  They came to me and flit around my face.  Their soft inaudible whisperings made my conscience smile.

One flit to my forehead, and I lost consciousness, going black in an endless dark world.

It was a dreamless sleep, but I thought I was asleep when I awoke.  There was daylight and beautiful sounds and people.  There had been so much nothing for so long that I had completely forgotten that things…at all existed.  I couldn't imagine leaving such a pleasant dream, which I was convinced it was, so I snuggled into the blankets, reveling in it all before this lovely hallucination wafted away from me.  

"Young one," a lovely voice woke me from the half sleep I had accepted as my fate.  "It is not good to sleep so long."

I opened my eyes and found an angular face peering at me.  The woman's eyes were a violet, royal purple, midnight crayon color.

I sat up.  "Who…where…?"Fog clouded my mind.

The woman, who I now saw was a fairy, put a hand on my forehead.  "Don't strain yourself, new one.  We have done what we can to heal your wounds."

I pushed the warm blankets from me and found that I was only covered in a generic white shift.  I felt through the soft fabric to my stomach where a brief flash of a memory reminded me that a blade had poked through my flesh.  I lifted the shift to see and found a deep indent of shimmery new skin in the rest of my pale skin.  

"How long…?" I began, trying to form what question to ask.  Images reappeared in my mind, but they made no sense to me.  Scarlet clothes, scarlet blood, a shimmery key, paint, a little yellow haired boy.  

"What is your name, young one?"the fairy asked me.

I opened my mouth to speak.  Nothing came.  I had forgotten my name.  I looked to my clean pale arms.

"Ah, child," the fairy cooed, "I am sorry."

I looked up at her, lost.

"You've lost yourself in the darkness.  While we can heal your body, we cannot heal your mind."

I pulled my knees to my chest.  If I didn't remember who I was or why I was anywhere, what would happen to me?

"I am Quinna," the elegant fairy greeted.  "I suppose if you don't remember your name, you may choose your own."

I nodded, not having a name in my conscious that I wanted to take.  I studied my forearms.  "Where am I?"

"Young one, many eugal from the Morning Prince's castle, in the forest of Chen."  She stood.

"How long have I been here?" I asked, looking up at her, before looking away.

"Ten days."

I felt anxious then.

"Are you alright?"  Quinna tilted her head to look in my face, but I turned my view away from her.

"Fine," I answered confused.  I didn't know why I suddenly felt sick.  There was something I was supposed to do, but I didn't even know my own name.

Quinna sat beside me on the bed.  "It will be alright, young one.  Do you know how long you've been here?  Out of Humanity?"

"A long time…"I answered slowly.  "I don't know.  Quinna, I don't remember…"I rubbed my forehead.

"Dear Imaginary, you do know your child has let you go now?  You are not with them anymore?"

I looked up at Quinna.  "Yes, I know.  I wish I remembered…even her name.  I don't know…"I rubbed my forehead again.  

"Dear, it will be alright."  Quinna rubbed my back.

I shook my head, trying to shake the blackness from my memories.  "I don't remember…There are faces and places, but I can't fix things together to make sense."

"What do you remember?"

I shook my head vigorously.  "I can't give anything a name or why it is important to me."  I looked up into Quinna's comforting, pretty eyes.  "Where am I?"

Quinna stroked my cheek.  "You don't even seem to remember what you have asked.  This is Chen, the Fae Forest.  Those Imaginaries of a sane mind and Fae form flock here to be with their own kind.  Yet, you are not Fae, Young One."

I shook my head.  "No."

The door opened.  A young girl with a pair of powerful tawny bird wings as arms peered inside.

"Quinna,"she said timidly.  "The Morning Prince wishes to receive an audience with you."

Quinna nodded.  "Aribella, please stay with our guest.  She needs to rest.  I will see to the Morning Prince."

The girl entered and smiled nervously at me, brown hair flopping into her earnest face.

Quinna nodded to me before leaving.

"I'm Aribella,"the girl told me quietly, watching me with wide curious eyes.

"Hello," I said with a nod.

"You don't remember your name?" she asked timidly, sitting herself on my bed.

"I don't remember much more than just my name.  A lot more."  I closed my eyes.  "But I can see things.  They just don't make sense to me.  There's no connection."

Aribella nodded.  "Just like that poor dear little boy with the golden hair.  He was so peculiar, but he never remembered his name when I saw him.  The poor little dear had a mission and couldn't remember the specifics to complete it."

I looked at her with contemplation.  "I have a mission."  I moaned and put my face in my hands.  "And it's important, but I don't remember!"

Aribella put the edge of her tawny wing on my back.  "I'm sure you'll remember."

I nodded and looked up at her.  I had nothing to say to that.

"Let me show you around?" she asked with a smooth c**k of her head."It's a beautiful community.  Fae are just lovely."

It was as lovely as Aribella had said.  The city was enchanting, seamlessly melding into and out of the forest around it.  Magic seemed to flow through all of the edges of the streets.  The people were spectacularly graceful.  I was almost enjoying myself, but it was difficult to converse with people when you couldn't even introduce yourself.

Aribella showed me the library, and I was lost.  If I didn't remember my past, at least I could learn what I could.  That night, I was reading in my room, surrounding by a small fortress of books.  

I was in the middle of a riveting history of a place called Mattel of toys come to life when I felt an immense pain in my chest, a sheer ripping of what I could only call my soul.  I was filled with panicked sadness, but besides forgetting so much, I had no reason to be sad, and the pain wasn't directly mine.  It was all so sudden and intense and real on my soul that tears bled from my eyes.  I was paralyzed with fear of my ripping soul and the pain accompanied with it.  The book I had been reading fell to the ground forgotten and neglected as I sat frozen with pain and panic.  

A knock echoed at my door, and I choked out a 'come in.'

Aribella entered and was instantly alarmed.  "Dear dear dear, what is the matter?"

I didn't look at her.  My eyes were unfocused:  I couldn't focus them with so much else that was occupying my being.  "I feel…as if I have been ripped, my soul has," I explained haltingly, my fear screamingly present.

Aribella frowned.  "A fairy said she felt like that a week ago.  Quinna spoke with her and explained why, but I do not know the reason.  Mayhaps I should fetch Quinna."

I nodded, and soon enough, the violet eyed fairy was sitting beside me.

She looked at me somberly.  "My dear, I'm afraid something awful has happened."

The ripping sensation had numbed slightly, but I couldn't forget the suddenness of it.  "What has?" I asked quietly.

"You say your soul feels as if it has been ripped.  Then, I am afraid that your child has died."

My eyes went wide, and I fisted the sheets of my bed.  After the initial shock and pain, there was an insistent feeling that it was my fault, that I had caused her to die.  

Quinna set an arm around me.  "Young one, all children must die--"

"But mine didn't have to!  Not now!"  I cried out.  "I could have saved her!"  My cheeks grew hot and soaked.  "That was my mission, to save her."  I brought my knees to my chest and hid my face.  "But I don't remember what I was supposed to do."

Quinna shook her head at me."Your child outgrew you.  How were you to save her?  You couldn't."

"But I could.  She was here," I murmured.  "She was hurt.  I could save her, but I don't remember how."  I felt myself began to rock, and my palms carried a puddle of my confused tears.  

Quinna shook her head again.  "My dear, I'm afraid the shock may have gone to your mind."

I glared up at her.  "I am not crazy."

Quinna put a hand on my shoulder.  "I'm sure you're not crazy.  The stress may be too much for you.  Please don't strain yourself.  I'm sure you'll get better, Young One."

I pulled away, and I laid on my pillow.

Quinna rubbed my back briefly.  She stood and moved to leave.  "I nearly forgot.  The Prince of the Morning wishes to meet you.  He believes you may be someone he's looking for.  You are to meet him tomorrow."

I was absolutely still.  It did not matter what I did.  I was defeated.

"Rest, young one.  Tomorrow, you meet with royalty."