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Jasmine
A TALL MAN WITH BROADshoulders dropped the large stick he was carrying and approached the foaming river hastily. He held a large cup as he leaned over. I assumed he was here to get some water, but I did not know why he would need the stick to support himself when he did not look hurt.
Time moved slowly. I wasn’t actually here, and the memory was more painful when it lasted longer than it had. Perhaps he was doing this, making time move slower so he could feel more.
I knew he was the monster in the tower. I knew it even as I caught a peek of his blue eyes, and the memory of them being vicious-red suddenly overwhelmed my sight.
“Hello?” I called.
He did not hear me.
Instead, he leaned over to the running river and tried to dip his cup into it.
Even before it happened, I knew something was wrong with this scene. It wasn’t a happy moment. The monster’s memory was clouded with grief over whatever had happened here in the past.
The forest swirled around me as he lost his footing and fell into the river.
I felt the cold of the water even though I wasn’t in it, and the trees around me started to disappear as he forgot about them amidst his fight against the water.
The memory took me with him. The water welcomed me within its chilly embrace. I felt the cold and the wet but knew these weren’t my experiences. I felt whatever he felt and saw the blur as he did.
He lost consciousness.
Time moved even faster as he lost his memories in the river.
For me, it was only a few seconds of darkness amidst the cold.
I did not know how long it took him to reach safety, but finally, the water carried him to the river bank like an ill child that needed his mother’s comfort. The guy collapsed in the mud. I found myself right next to him, and as soon as I did, I leaned over to check if he was still breathing.
He did. He was unconscious, but he lived. The mug of water was gone. The river had taken it away.
I did not know why the monster on the island was stuck in this particular memory. It did not seem like he was hurt. He would wake up soon, and wherever this forest was, he could survive and find his way through the...
“The arena,” I whispered as the forest around me started to take shape. He was waking up.
“It is,” a man’s voice reached me. I did not come from the man standing before me, but I knew it was him who had spoken.
I got on my knees beside him and touched his shoulder. When he did not move, I shook him gently to force him to wake up.
He opened his blue eyes, but he did not see me.
“You are not here,” I told him. I didn’t know if the memory-him was capable of hearing me, but somewhere in his mind, he had to be listening. “This is only a memory.”
His face twisted with confusion. I knew he had heard me then. I shook him harder, and he pulled himself away from me as if the motion hurt him.
“You are not here,” I repeated. “You are on an island located north of Terlyth. You are...”
“A prisoner...” He whispered. He looked at me for the first time ever. I wondered if he had been pretending that I wasn’t here with him for he did not look surprised to see me.
“I’m a monster,” he said, pushing himself off the ground in haste. “I have to find her.”
“Find who?” I asked, but he did not wait to explain. He looked at the river and jolted off opposite the river’s flow.
He started running. His clothes were still wet, and the added weight put a grimace on his face, but he did not stop to rest even as his breathing became heavy.
“Where are we going?” I asked as I ran after him. He did not respond.
The memory-time started to run faster. The forest around us became a blur as the guy ran up the river. He did not stop until we reached the first spot from which he had fallen.
