When God Closed His Eyes

Chapter5: Memory-Bearer

POV: Kaelen

On getting home.

I made a clear decision to run into the narrow alleyway because I needed to find Elara before the King's men caught me.

My lungs burned for air, and I wanted to rip down every poster that carried my drawn face. The King had turned the whole city against me, and I felt a strong desire to cut his throat for making me a hunted man.

I pulled my hood low over my forehead, hiding my eyes, but I knew the guards were searching every corner so I chose to duck into the ruined district, hoping she was still alive.

I turned a sharp corner into a collapsed stone building and found her right away.

There she was.

Elara sat quietly on a broken stone slab.

She was not running, and she did not even look afraid. She just sat there, waiting for me as if we had planned to meet.

"You are late," she said asI pulled my dagger out, and my fingers tightened around the handle because I did not trust anyone anymore.

"You stayed here?" I asked her, as my voice sounded rough. "Are you crazy? The entire royal guard wants us dead."

"Well, I knew you would come," she said, standing up to face me. "Running will not save us, Rowan. We have nowhere left to go."

"Stop calling me that name!" I shouted, taking a step toward her because my anger was rising. "My name is Kaelen! And I am the King's…" I stopped speaking because I looked down at my boots as the bright daylight hit my legs, but no shadow appeared behind me. My lack of a shadow proved I was not a normal man, and my chest felt tight with shame.

"You are the King's victim," Elara said rather with her voice filled with pity that made me furious. "You are not a monster, Rowan. You are just the only person who lost everything."

"Well, you will not understand Elara, a creature at my door spoke to me last night," I told her, stepping closer because I wanted answers. "It talked about a burning village, a crying child, and something called the Blink.

“And I was so curious. Please what is the Blink?"

While I spoke, Elara took a slow step toward me, as tears filled her eyes.

"Kael,the Blink is the reason you have no past. It is why the King fears you, and it is why nobody in this city remembers what happened five years ago."

"What do you mean nobody remembers?" I asked, as I shook my head in disbelief. "People have families, and they have memories."

"They have fake memories," she said, and her voice shook. "The King used a dark magic to rewrite everyone's minds so he could protect his power. Everyone forgot their real lives, and they woke up with false histories inside their heads. The magic failed on me, so I remember everything."

I stared at her, and I felt a sudden urge to call her a liar because her words scared me. "That is impossible. No man can rewrite the whole world."

"The world ended five years ago, Rowan," she whispered, looking straight into my eyes as what she was saying hit me hard, and I struggled to catch my breath.

I wanted to deny her story, but a part of my mind knew she spoke the truth. I felt weak, like a child lost in a dark forest, and I hated that feeling.

"If the world ended, why are we standing here?" I asked her.

"Because the King made a deal with a terrible power to stitch reality back together," Elara said, coming close enough that I could feel her breath. "He needed human souls to act as anchors, so he stole yours first.”

“That grey creature you saw last night is your true body, and it is trying to reunite with your mind."

"No… no, no , no" I said, backing away from her because I did not want to hear any more. "No, you are lying to me."

"Let me show you the truth," she said, reaching her hand toward my face.

"Stop fighting me, Rowan. You need to see what he stole from you."

Before I could raise my dagger or strike her, Elara pressed her fingers against my forehead as her touch felt icy cold.

Then my mind exploded with pain as the ruined building vanished from my sight, and I found myself standing in a wide field of dead grass.

The sky above me was not blue but rather, it was a dark crimson color, torn apart by black lightning.

I felt terrified, but I could not look away.

I looked up at the sky, and my chest heaved as I saw two suns hanging over the world. One was our yellow sun, fading away into darkness and beside it was a second sun, made of black fire and pulsing shadows that poured thick dark rain onto the earth.

A loud voice called out my real name from the center of that black sun, and I knew my life as Kaelen was over.

I made the choice to accept the vision, letting the old horror flood my mind as I prepared to reclaim the identity the King had stolen from me.