What is going on?

  Adion felt himself grow cold, and everything around him turned quiet. He stared at the words carved into his arm and he felt how they slowly carved into his retinas. As he lifted his eyes from his arm and stared out into the empty room, he could still see those words.

  Find Sell. Kill Narvar.

  The words felt incredibly meaningful, and they refused to be forgotten. He felt how they carved deeper into him, into his very soul.

  Sell.

  Adion knew it was the name of someone very important. He could feel how much love he held for that name. He had just forgotten for a long time. But the feelings were still there, deep inside.

  He felt his heart start beating fiercely.

  Sell!

  Adion couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

  I knew it. I knew I was missing something. Don’t worry, I’ll never forget again. I’ll remember. I’ll find you.

  Adion felt such an incredible joy, he felt how a small part of himself had finally returned.

  But then he focused on the second part.

  Kill Narvar?

  Adion looked around the room and spread out his space mana, his breathing agitated. He hadn’t focused on his surroundings at all, and didn’t know how long he was lost in his emotions.

  I must have realized something was wrong. In desperation, I etched these words into my own skin.

  But why didn’t I just write it down?

  Adion started examining his clothes, to feel for some hidden piece of paper he might have forgotten he had written. But he didn’t find anything.

  And why didn’t I think about it? How could I have never thought about it? Writing everything down would surely help me remember. Why wouldn’t Narvar think about it…

  Did he…stop me from doing so? Did he want me to forget?

  Adion looked down in his arm again.

  Kill Narvar.

  Why? Narvar is a friend.

  Adion had a hard time accepting that particular message. Narvar was basically the only one he knew, at least that he remembered. And he was a nice old man who had taken care of Adion. He had saved him. He was trying to make him better.

  But. I wouldn’t write that for no reason. It must be incredibly important.

  Narvar isn’t as innocent as he appears.

  Adion slowly realized that Narvar wasn’t the man he knew. But it was hard to accept. It was even harder to accept that he should kill him.

  Adion slowly spread his space mana through the building, looking for Narvar.

  He soon found him in a room of his own, seemingly meditating. Adion couldn’t see his expression, his space sense wasn’t fine-tuned enough for that at such a distance.

  Narvar. What is actually going on here? Why do I need to kill you?

  Adion didn’t feel like it made any sense. Narvar had clearly looked out for him during the past few weeks. He had constantly tried to help him with his memory loss.

  He is even going to spend his precious contribution points on a rare healing pill for me.

  Wait.

  An idea suddenly hit Adion.

  If he has constantly tried to help me, why would I feel so desperate to carve a message into my arm? It doesn’t make any sense.

  I wouldn’t do that unless I knew my memory was going to get worse. A lot worse.

  Would an ordinary injury warrant such an action? I don’t think so. Normally, I should be getting better with time. With rest, and Narvar looking out for me, I should at least not be getting worse.

  But the past me seemed to have realized that I would be getting worse. So how did I know that?

  Adion looked down on his arm again. The answer was written in his skin.

  Narvar is doing this to me, isn’t he?

  Why? Why!?

  Adion clenched his fists. He didn’t want to believe, but nothing else made any sense.

  I need to know the truth.

  Adion left his room. His senses were locked onto Narvar in his room further down the hall.

  Should I just attack? No. I need to have some answers. I don’t believe Narvar can fight me if I go all out, even if he is a Gold mage.

  When he arrived at Narvar’s room, he opened the door without knocking and stepped inside.

  Narvar was sitting cross-legged on his bed. He looked at Adion with a gentle smile when he saw him enter.

  “Adion,” Narvar said, “Are you feeling better? Do you need anything?”

  Adion furrowed his brows. He just couldn’t wrap his head around Narvar being his enemy.

  “Who are you?” Adion asked, looking at Narvar closely. He was ready to make a move at the slightest indication of a fight from Narvar.

  “What do you mean?” Narvar asked, confused, “Did you forget me?”

  Adion focused his attention on Narvar’s aura, trying to get a sense of his emotions.

  He appears a little confused?

  “Did you do this to me? Are you the reason I’m forgetting things?” Adion asked, scrutinizing Narvar’s face, searching for any signs of another person appearing. He couldn’t see how the gentle Narvar in front of him could be the man he suspected. But if he pushed him, he might get to see the mask slip, and the real Narvar appear.

  “Why would you think that?” Narvar asked.

  “I-,” Adion shook his, trying to stay clearheaded, “Answer me. Are you doing this?”

  “Of course not,” Narvar answered.

  He’s…lying.

  Even though everything pointed toward that being the case, Adion still felt shocked when he confirmed it.

  “You are,” Adion murmured, “You are the one making me forget…How? Why?”

  Narvar looked at Adion, surprised. “I’m not sure why you believe this all of a sudden, but I can assure you-”

  “You’re lying!” Adion yelled, he could feel the deceitful fluctuations coming off Narvar’s aura.

  How come I never noticed before? I never even felt the need to check.

  “Why!?” Adion questioned, “Why did you do this to me?”

  “I…” Narvar began speaking, uncertain. Finally he let out a sigh, “I was ordered to.”

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Adion felt his heart beat fiercely.

  He admitted it.

  “Who ordered you? How do I make it stop? How do I get my memories back?” Adion continued to ask. His hand was on the handle of his sword that hung from his waist. He knew that the worst had been confirmed, and there was no going back from this.

  But no matter what, I need answers.

  “I don’t know who the orders came from originally,” Narvar said with a sad smile, “The higher-ups. Whatever that means.”

  “But…why? Why are you doing this? What do you want me to forget?” Adion asked in a shaky voice.

  “We want you to forget that you are our enemy, so that you could join us. You’re space magic is too important. Unfortunately, it’s hard to make you forget only that one thing. I never wanted you to forget so much about yourself,” Narvar said, his head hanging down in shame.

  Adion focused on Narvar’s aura. He didn’t know why Narvar answered everything, but he didn’t seem to be lying anymore.

  “So you’re my enemy…You were just pretending to be my friend,” Adion said.

  Adion felt deeply betrayed. With his cloudy memory, Narvar was the only one he had to rely on, the only one he could remember past experiences with, his only friend.

  But he didn’t have the time to be upset.

  Adion froze the space around Narvar and pulled out his sword. In a second, his blade was pressed against Narvar’s neck.

  “Don’t fight my space, or you’re dead,” Adion warned when he felt Narvar’s Will clash against his. If Narvar struggled, he could break free in no time with his Gold mage Will.

  “Tell me how to get my memories back,” Adion said with a furious expression. He released Narvar’s head so he could answer.

  Narvar stopped struggling, perhaps fearing his head would fall off before he could get loose.

  “Adion, don’t do this,” Narvar said with a sad look.

  “Answer!” Adion yelled.

  “I don’t know how to fix it,” Narvar answered with a guilty sigh, “It’s the Persmytha tea that makes you forget. I don’t know of any antidote. I can only hope it goes away with time.”

  The Persmytha tea. But the tea makes me better…Damn! Why did I believe all his lies so easily? Am I an idiot without my memories?

  “What about the healing pill? The one from your organization?” Adion asked.

  “I made it up,” Narvar said, “I’m sorry Adion. If you can calm down, I’ll figure out a way to help you.”

  “You think-” Adion began, but midspeech, Narvar wrestled for control, breaking free.

  Adion swung out with his sword, but Narvar blasted out a wind, making Adion fly into the wall.

  “Arg!” Adion cried out in pain and shock.

  He looked up to see Narvar dash out of the room, the wind making him impossibly fast.

  “Narvar!” Damn it!

  Adion ran after him. He felt Narvar’s movements from his sphere of space mana. He didn’t need to think, he froze Narvar in space and teleported over.

  Adion didn’t hesitate as he teleported over and swung his sword. But Narvar was a Gold mage, he could only be kept still for a split second. By the time Adion teleported over, he was already on his way again, and a conjured wind made Adion fly down the hallway in the opposite direction.

  I can’t let him get away. If he is part of an organization that is my enemy, it will be a disaster if he lets them know about this.

  Adion still had Narvar in his sphere of space mana. He felt how he just left the building and continued escaping down the street. Adion didn’t hesitate and teleported after him.

  “What!?” A man yelled out in surprise as Adion appeared on the street.

  Right, my space magic is special. I should probably be careful…

  Whatever. My enemies already seem to know about it so it doesn’t matter. I need to catch Narvar. If he gets backup, I’ll be screwed.

  Adion got his swordstrike ready and froze Narvar in space at the same time as he teleported over and swung his sword.

  The sword managed to make a small cut on Narva’s side, but he was immediately pushed back by the wind again.

  I can’t let this go on. Narvar can keep conjuring winds for much longer than I can teleport after him.

  Adion started running after Narvar again at full speed, trying to think of a new way to attack.

  By now, the fight between two powerful mages had caught the attention of the people on the street, but as they were mostly non-mages, they didn’t get involved. Adion saw how they all started fleeing, afraid to get caught in the crossfire.

  Wait…Fire!

  The fight spurred something in Adion, it was almost like a muscle memory, and he remembered that he could also use fire to attack. He thought about it for a second and decided it was worth the Will to conjure some.

  He gathered the pure mana around him and conjured a ball of flames. He could control it perfectly with his Authority now that it had been conjured.

  Once again, Adion froze the space around Narvar and teleported over. This time he threw the fire at him instead of striking with his sword.

  Unfortunately, Narvar now broke free almost immediately, and Adion’s fire was met with a huge amount of wind. Even if Adion had Authority over the fire, a wind under the control of a Gold mage wasn’t something easy to contend against. He let go of his fire, so not to waste his Will unnecessarily.

  Fire is pointless. My only option…

  Adion’s memory was incredibly cloudy, but through his instincts, this kind of fighting gave him insights to several options.

  Good thing Narvar told me to practice my space magic, or my volatile space might have been too complicated to perform.

  Narvar was now out of the town walls. Adion didn’t know what his plan was, but he didn’t want to give him any more time.

  Adion once again teleported, but this time he didn’t freeze Narvar or teleport right next to him. He teleported onto the city walls.

  Is he just going to keep running out into the desert? All the way back?

  Adion could see how Narvar almost flew as the winds carried him across the sand further and further out.

  Narvar is tricky. I can’t half-ass this. I need to go all out.

  Adion looked closely at the direction Narvar was traveling in.

  It should work.

  “Adion, stop this!” Narvar’s voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

  He saw that Narvar was still running, but he looked back to see Adion on the walls. His wind made his words reach Adion with perfect clarity.

  “You don’t really want to fight me,” Narvar continued, “I can help you!”

  Adion hesitated slightly. He felt that Narvar’s words made sense.

  Maybe I could- Wait!

  Adion slapped himself hard.

  What was that! Why do I always trust his words so easily?

  Adion felt a chill run down his back.

  He is doing something to me. Something to affect my mind. To make me trust him.

  Adion looked down on his arm again.

  Kill Narvar.

  Adion closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

  Kill Narvar. Kill Narvar. Kill Narvar.

  Kill Narvar!

  Adion didn’t hesitate and teleported after him. Narvar was too far away now, so he couldn’t reach him in a single teleportation, but that was fine.

  Adion focused on the space a hundred feet in front of Narvar, slightly below the ground in the sand.

  Remember. Kill Narvar. Don’t let him affect you.

  Adion teleported over and quickly froze the space around him to keep the sand from burying him. He focused on his sphere of space mana and could feel Narvar approaching.

  It’s one, two, four, eight, sixteen, infinitely. All at once. I can do it.

  Adion focused, knowing he had to create the volatile space immediately, there was no time to amp up power.

  Adion kept his senses on Narvar. Waiting for the right moment.

  Just then, Narvar turned to look back to the town wall again.

  Now.

  Adion teleported over. He used all his Will and, in a second, his Authority took hold of space the size of a fist in front of Narvar chest. With a thought, the space froze, and split into countless pieces, sporadically moving in a deathly pattern.

  Kill Narvar!

  Adion pushed the volatile space into Narvar’s chest.

  “Haah,” Adion almost collapsed from the effort.

  A few drops of blood landed on Adion’s face, and he saw Narvar fall down on the ground just a few feet in front of him.

  Is he…dead?

  Narvar’s crash into the sand had made the air slightly dusty. Adion approache him, treading carefully.

  “I’m sorry, boy,” A weak voice sounded.

  Narvar had been flipped onto his back from the attack. Adion saw the big hole in the middle of his chest, a few fragments of white bone sticked out from the deep red blood that overflowed down onto the sand.

  I…

  Adion felt himself shaking.

  “Narvar,” Adion said, feeling incredibly conflicted, “Why?”

  “I’m a fool. An old fool,” Narvar said a weak voice as he coughed up some blood.

  “I didn’t want this,” Adion said, feeling the need to defend himself.

  “I know,” Narvar said with the usual gentle smile on his face.

  Aren’t you going to curse me? When will you show me the real you if not now?

  “I’m truly sorry, Adion,” Narvar said, his eyes growing misty. “Go home to your family. I’m sure they miss you.”

  Narvar’s eyes grew dimmer and dimmer, until Adion saw the last bit of life leave them.

  “Why,” Adion muttered as he looked down on the only person he knew in this world.

  Even if he knew he shouldn’t, he couldn’t stop the tears from coming.

  “Why!?” Adion yelled out to the empty desert.

  He got down on his knees and closed Narvar’s lifeless eyes.

  He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, but as he looked up and searched his mind for a plan on where to go from here, he saw his arm again.

  Kill Narvar. Find Sell.

  Find Sell.