Chapter 16.5: Those Who Remember

  The first thing that Kazuya sensed was the smell of fresh linen. He ran his hand up and down the soft duvet. It was nice and thick, unlike the thin cotton sheets that used to cover him at the orphanage. He wasted no time in pulling up the duvet to his nose and taking another deep inhale. His head felt wonderfully light.

  “You’re awake.”

  Kazuya’s eyes flew open. He peeked out from under the covers to greet the source of the gentle voice. A lady dressed in a simple white blouse and a black skirt sat next to his bed. A black blazer hung on her shoulders, moving slightly as she breathed. She closed the small book she was reading, giving him a small smile that immediately put him at ease. Kazuya sat upright. “H-Hello,” he said as he averted his gaze, suddenly embarrassed by how he had behaved earlier.

  The lady scooted nearer to his bed and adjusted the poppy hairpin that was nestled in her hair. “I’m Meng Mo Wang, the Recordkeeper of the Tokyo Sanctum. Almost everyone here calls me Lady Meng. Nice to meet you, Kazuya Aiuchi.”

  “S-Sanctum? B-But I was…” Kazuya furrowed his brows as he tried to piece together the events that led him here, but they were fragmented at best.

  Lady Meng obviously noticed the confusion on his face. “Are you trying to remember how you got here?”

  “I know I was outside for a very long time, then…”

  “Let’s just start there,” Lady Meng said kindly. “Do you remember why you were outside?”

  It all came back to him. The screaming, the blood. His hands started to tremble. “O-Oh,” he stammered. He reached up instinctively for his knit cap, but his fingers only touched hair. He brought his knees to his chest quickly, his heart racing.

  “Kazuya, look at me,” Lady Meng said calmly.

  Kazuya did as he was told.

  Lady Meng held up a hand and struck him on the cheek.

  It was not a hard slap, but it was enough to make his cheek sting. It momentarily took his mind off the events that led to his abrupt departure from the orphanage.

  “I’m sorry, but it was necessary. In no way do I intend to invalidate your feelings. I only intended to correct what you know,” Lady Meng said flatly, her voice gaining some sternness. “You thought you killed whoever pushed you back there, is that right?”

  “But I-”

  “It was true that you blew them back with your ability,” Lady Meng cut him off. “However, they only sustained injuries which were not life-threatening.”

  “Really?”

  Lady Meng held out her right hand. “May I?”

  Kazuya reached out and grasped her hand. Lady Meng lifted his hand and placed the back of it on her forehead. Her left hand reached for the back of his neck. She gently drew him closer. “Make yourself comfortable,” she said and closed her eyes.

  Kazuya mirrored Lady Meng, the only way he knew how to calm his tingling nerves. “Are you ready to enter my memory scape?” Lady Meng asked.

  “R-Ready.”

  ***

  One moment, he was drifting through the quiet darkness. In the next, he heard the voice of the headmaster.

  When he opened his eyes, he was staring into the headmaster’s narrow and weary eyes. “The children involved in the accident have since made a full recovery,” the headmaster said. “I suppose that Kazuya is safe?”

  “As I have said, I am the social worker attached to Kazuya. Rest assured that he is in safe hands. The purpose of my visit is to verify a few things about him and retrieve any important documents that are not accounted for.”

  Kazuya clapped a hand over his mouth for the voice that came out of him was Lady Meng’s. “I would not do that if I were you.” The memory scape screeched to a halt. “You view this memory from my perspective. Given that the past has been set in stone, anything that alters this flow will leave you with a nasty headache.”

  Kazuya remained stock still, not daring to utter a single word. The flow resumed, and he watched as the headmaster breathed a sigh of relief. “May I visit the children?” Lady Meng asked.

  The headmaster headed to the courtyard, where everyone was playing under the supervision of the wardens. “Is this everyone you have here? Staff and children?” Lady Meng asked.

  “Yes, everyone is often gathered outside here at this time,” the headmaster replied.

  “I see. I take it that you know everyone here well,” Lady Meng said.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Indeed,” the headmaster replied. “Remembering faces is part of our jobs, don’t you think so, Miss Meng?”

  “I do,” Lady Meng replied. “But I would prefer if I did not have to remember everything.”

  Lady Meng’s index finger connected with the headmaster’s forehead. “Summons to the Soul,” Lady Meng chanted. “Come forth to me.”

  The tendrils that sprang from the flower that bloomed under Lady Meng’s finger connected with that of a palm-sized book she produced. Words started filling the blank pages faster than Kazuya could read them. Once finished, she stretched the book out and ripped it along its spine. She tossed the pages into the air and turned her back on the scattered pages. With a flick of her hand, purple rays pierced through them.

  The memory scape dissolved just like the tattered pages that fell around them.

  ***

  “My ability allows me to erase or modify people’s memories. What I did was a simple ritual to erase their memories of you,” Lady Meng explained as Kazuya regained his senses. “If you suspect that the memories are false, I can assure you that your fears are very much unfounded. I cannot use my ability on myself or anyone in the Meng family.”

  “I didn’t kill them…” Kazuya gasped, bunching up his shirt under his fist. “I d-didn’t…”

  Hot tears of relief flow from him. The weights on his shoulders that nearly crushed him were finally released. Lady Meng handed him a silk handkerchief.

  “Thank you,” he said between sobs. “Thank you so much.”

  Kazuya gradually composed himself and handed back the handkerchief, which she politely declined, “You can keep it.”

  “S-So back there… I…”

  “You are blessed with a gift,” Lady Meng answered. “We have not ascertained their nature, but I am guessing that part of it is creating and manipulating barriers.”

  “There’s more to it?”

  “Your situation is rather complex,” Lady Meng said. “But first, let me confirm something of much importance. You’re sixteen, right? You look much younger than that.”

  Kazuya nodded his head, “I-I turned sixteen a week ago.”

  “Do you have any recollection of your parents? Your father, especially.”

  “N-No. My mother raised me herself until she passed.”

  “Kazuya, you are one of the descendants of a sorcerer clan, specifically the Aiuchi clan. You would inherit their powers when you are of age. Their powers, or Will as we call it, are defence-centric,” Lady Meng explained. “But…”

  Kazuya’s throat tightened slightly. Was there something bad? Could he actually kill someone this time?

  “Your gift came with fog-like properties, which have never been seen in the Aiuchi lineage.” Lady Meng spoke slowly. “The prevalent theory is that you experienced a Reawakening. It’s a phenomenon where your desires temporarily dominate the inherited Will, resulting in a complete overwrite or a fusion of whatever preceded it. It seems that you belong in the second category.”

  Kazuya nodded but did not understand most of what Lady Meng said. “A Reawakening is not that rare. It introduces variety in the current pool of Wills. Sometimes it is easy to tell if someone has undergone a Reawakening,” she added. “Like a change in their physical appearance.”

  “Change?”

  Lady Meng held up a mirror in Kazuya’s face. He let out a yelp, touching his grey hair and the corners of his eyes gingerly. “Why are my eyes… My hair! They are grey!”

  “It is a lot for you to take in. I will be here to answer any questions you have.”

  Kazuya shook his head furiously, suddenly reminded of the absence of his hat when he saw his reflection. “I don’t want to know about all of this stuff now,” he said as he played with the corner of his pillow. “All I want to–”

  “Do you not have any questions about your family?” Lady Meng cut him off.

  Kazuya looked away. He had a family, but they never looked for him after his mother passed on. He shook his head. “If my absence meant nothing to them, then my presence would have no meaning in it either. I’m not even sure if I want to introduce myself as an Aiuchi.”

  Lady Meng nodded. “You can always approach me whenever you are ready. The Athenaeum also holds the history of all sorcerer families that have existed,” she said. “The Sanctum is now a place you can call your home. You are welcome at the Athenaeum whenever you are ready.”

  “Thank you for the offer,” Kazuya said. “But could I ask if you have my hat. I-It has two pom-poms and little stars on it…”

  Lady Meng’s smile faded a bit. “I’m sorry. It got destroyed.”

  Kazuya’s shoulders slumped.

  “I know your late mother made it for you,” she continued. “But she unintentionally cursed it, and the phantom that lay dormant in it finally awakened when you thought you did the unforgivable. It possessed you to satiate its obsessio–.”

  Lady Meng paused and cleared her throat. “Pardon my poor choice of words. Occupational hazard,” she corrected herself. “ She wanted to see you grow up, so much so that she was bent on taking over the first body she possessed. She had wanted to use someone to find you, but in the heat of passion, she was not aware that she had possessed you.”

  Kazuya’s upper lip wobbled. He wiped his eyes before any tears could form.

  “If it is of any comfort to you, have this.” Lady Meng slipped a hand into her pocket and produced a granny square that had the same pattern as the knit hat. “I know it’ll never measure up to what your mother made. I hope it’ll suffice.”

  “T-Thank you.” Kazuya sniffled and clutched the square close to his chest. “I never thought that–”

  “Not everything has to be left in the past. People move on, but they hold onto bits and pieces of it.” Lady Meng tapped her temple. “Did I give you a fresh start? No, I did not. It is merely a new chapter. It just had to start that way. My life started when my ability received a name.”

  “What is yours called?”

  “The Twelve Flower Months of Remembrance.” Lady Meng sighed and leaned back into her chair. “With me, a fresh start is quite impossible.”

  “Do I get to name my ability?”

  “Usually, Dr. Farid does the naming with his book, but I thought I would do it on his behalf.” Lady Meng gave Kazuya a wink. “But I’ve already come up with one for you.”

  Kazuya leaned forward and perked up his ears. There was a twinkle in Lady Meng’s eyes as she withheld the name from him a little while longer.

  “It’ll be ‘Fog on the Tyne’,” revealed Lady Meng.

  It was a pretty name, but Kazuya did not tell Lady Meng that he loved it. The tears he held back throughout were finally trickling down his face. Embarrassed, he quickly wiped them away and thanked Lady Meng for everything she did for him.

  work!

  Blurb:

  THE TIDE HAS TURNED

  But there's no time to get a line in. The tidal wave came too fast, too strong. It drowned entire nations and cities, swallowed their peoples, and buried their dreams and their riches. It left behind the Obotema, a treacherous sea rife with piracy where no man is king.

  Sall has finally earned enough money to get as far away from those waters as possible, but all things are drawn on the tides.

  They say a man can decide his own fate on the Obotema. They also say that the sea itself is cursed. Sailors are turning sick and rabid, and scavengers looting the sunken cities are disappearing...

  A salty new adventure that runs headlong towards the grimdark edge of humanity, by Mitch Davis. Mad Max meets Pirates of the Caribbean with a dash of H.P. Lovecraft.

  It's about the motion of the ocean, baby