Who am I?

"Patient is awake! " said one nurse. "Pulse is higher than usual, Dr Andrews. " said another nurse. "How fast?" Asked a male voice. "500 beats per minute doctor! " cried the second nurse. "That's five times faster than the usual." He said in a panicky tone. "Check his pupils! " ordered the doctor, and my eyes were pried open. "Try to take deep breaths " ordered the nurse who had a bright light scanning my eyes. Then it hit me, I was alive. I thought I was dreaming at first, but after I felt the pain on my back, it hit me; I was never to fly again.

The nurses kept giving me instructions and I followed. The whole time I couldn't stop wondering how I understood them. In the midst of my thoughts I felt a sharp pain in my head like something had just snapped in it. I saw the room spinning before a voice I hadn't heard before shouted "Watch out! " and an explosion erupted sending the people around me flying towards the walls of the room I was in.

I tried raising my head but it was strapped down. I was about to struggle when a pot like chamber fell on me and secreted fumes. In my panicked state, I tried taking deep breaths but choked on the fumes. I lost consciousness.

When I woke up I found a man sitting next to me. As soon as he saw that I was awake he put some kind of mask on my face. I tried holding my breath but someone else hit me in the gut and I exhaled. Not wanting to give up, I tried holding my breath again but I was out of air and with the gas I had already inhaled while trying to hold my breath, I passed out again wondering what I had done to deserve the treatment I was getting.

After that, I don't know what happened because I was not there anymore. I was watching the legions fly back home to Krodelia. I had my bow Archien in one hand and my special blade Arc in the other. I flew after them and when I got there it was like getting into a completely different atmosphere.

It was the most marvelous place anyone can dream of; Clear white skies, beautiful golden mountains that have cracks releasing pure golden water, also known as the Drink of the Gods, not that everyone here is a God. The water flows down to scenic valleys that have flowers of every kind and color and then up into the air where the buildings are. The air belongs to the people but the ground is for the plants. Only specialized farmers can reach the ground, not just anyone. In the center of all the buildings is a huge castle for Royalty. That is my home. From inside you can see the ground but not touch it. I could see everyone above but I could not get to them. I felt like a caged bird, unable to be free. Then I saw two winged creatures flying to me. They landed in front of me and started laughing. One of them said "Where is your pride now prince!" and they continued laughing at me. My heart broke, knowing that the people laughing at me were my brothers I screamed to consciousness. There were nurses surrounding me. As soon as they saw me open my eyes, they scattered and ran for the door. All accept one young nurse. She looked no older than 25 years. She put her hands up as a form of surrendering. I turned my head towards her. The other nurses were knocking on the glass doors shouting for her to get out, but she didn't listen. I could tell that she was scared, but was taking a leap of faith. She approached me slowly, "I come in peace" she said. She unbuckled my limbs and took a few steps back. I tried to stand on my own but my knees buckled and I fell but she caught me in midair. I looked into her eyes, her beautiful eyes, full of tranquility and got trapped in her serene stare. I couldn't look away. I wanted to but I couldn't. There was something about her, something intriguingly special, but I couldn't tell what. "You can't move on your own. The sedatives that they gave you blocks all the instructions from your brain reaching your limbs." The way she handled me, it was like something she had been doing since she was born. She put me back on the bed and I lied down again. I have to say, I felt quite embarrassed. Being handled by a lady like that. I was the one who used to handle people not them handling me, but then again, what would I have done to one as beautiful as her?

"Please, no more injections" I pleaded with her and she promised me that there wouldn't be any. I leaned back on the pillows of the bed and let my senses roam free. For the first time in a long time I was able to let my mental links attain people's emotions around me. It felt good for once to be free like that again. Just when I was about to let my links leave the building, I felt scared. I did not even know what I was afraid of but something held me back. In all that time, I had my eyes closed, but when I opened them, I found doctors around me with needles. The woman was not there. I screamed in fear and every glass around me cracked. I could feel my body warming up and preparing to shield its self. Just when I was about to wave, she came in running and chased everyone away. "I am so sorry; I did not even know they were in here" she said trying to meet my gaze. When she did, she moved away in fear. "You promised," I said trying to get up from the bed. I stood on my own, "You said there would be no needles!" and the glasses shattered but the pieces floated in the air. The doctors from the outside kept shouting and begging her to leave the room but she didn't. I felt her fear but what really got my attention was her urge to protect. She was willing to protect me even though I was about to hurt her. I was still hoping that her urge to protect would betray her and she would run out in fear, I mean I am a god after all so I was hoping that she would be a little scared but nope, she started getting closer to me. When she finally touched my hand, all the glass pieces fell on the ground and I collapsed, but she caught me before I reached the ground. She put me back on the bed again but this time I sat up watching the door. I was ready to annihilate anyone who walked through the door. "I'm Ashley, Ashley Peale." She said moving the long hair from my face. To get a better look at me. That was when I realized I had long hair for the first time. "What's yours?" she asked in a sweet voice. "Kyle O'Casey," I whispered. "You have a pretty name, Ashley" and she blushed and looked away from me. "So can you tell me more about yourself?" she asked solemnly. "When do I go home?" I asked her. "Well, if I knew where your family was I would take you there, but the thing is you don't have an identity? We looked through every system but you don't exist." she replied. "But," I said confused "I'm here aren't I?" I said raising my voice to her. "I know but we are still looking." "If I don't exist then how is it that I am in front of you right now, are you trying to tell me that I'm a ghost?" I asked frustrated. "I'm afraid I don't have an explanation for that" she replied. "Here's what I know though, you heal faster than normal humans, you fell from the sky, you have markings all over your body and your eyes glow in the dark. Wanna tell me about that?" "There's nothing to tell "I replied with a grumpy tone. "And where am I?" "You're on planet Earth " and when she said it I felt a pit open in my stomach. Just then I heard two people talking: "He's been in here for too long. The problem is if we allow him to leave this place who will monitor him? We cannot have an alien moving around the city without a chaperone." said a male voice. "Maybe he could stay with the nurse I told you about. She seems rather fond of him." Replied a female voice. "If it truly is time for him to leave this place as the council suggests then he will be more than safe with Mrs. Peale, but if anything goes wrong then he comes back here and stays under for as long as we can keep him" "There's no arguing with that idea" replied the male voice. "Hey! Are you okay?" asked a worried Ashley who was waving her hand in front of me "Yeah I'm fine, just thinking about things" then someone opened the door and I turned towards it and got ready. There was a woman with long blonde hair dressed in a red suit. She looked to be in her early forties. I stood up and stood in front of Ashley I was about to attack her when Ashley held my hand and said "She's harmless." And I calmed down. "It seems you already have control over him" said the woman to Ashley. "He trusts me and I don't think it's a good idea to break his trust." Replied Ashley. As if planned, my eyes changed color and I saw her take a few steps back. "We'll keep our distance if that's okay with you" said the woman. They stood in the far end of the room and started talking. My senses activated when I heard them say my name. "The director suggested that he stay with you since you two are already close, but if anything happens you bring him back" said the woman. "I think that's a good idea" I said with no regard of how they would react. When they did look at me surprised, "Fine, fine I will close my ears if you also keep your voices down, not that I will not be able to hear you either way." And I turned away from them. In a few moments they left the room. With the fatigue that I was feeling, I didn't think I would still be awake when she came back but then again, dozing off risked the sharp needles I didn't like. Having no other choice, I stood up and started looking around the place. There was nothing interesting unless you liked looking at screens full of incomprehensible gibberish.

I was about to take a seat on the bed when I heard her footsteps approaching, I turned towards them and looked through the wall. I saw her carrying a bag full of clothes. She walked through the door and closed it behind her. "I have never worn anything other than leather clothes and I get the feeling that those aren't leather" as soon as she heard me I saw a shameful look on her face. "Well, there aren't any leather clothes in this place, but as soon as we leave this place I will get you leather clothes." She said looking away from me. "You know," I said to her "you don't have to lie to me. Now I could get inside your head and find out the truth but something tells me I shouldn't." "Because it's rude, yes." She replied. "Just because you're what you are doesn't mean you have to read peoples mind all the time. "Well, maybe you humans should learn to conceal your thoughts." I said putting on the shirt she had gotten for me. "We don't do that here" she said stretching out her hand for mine. I touched her hand and she gave out a slight shriek which made me pull back. "What's wrong?" I asked surprised. "Sorry," She said trying to calm herself "Your hands, they're unusually cold and very soft, papery soft." I took it all in without a word.

As we were heading out to the exterior of the building, I kept wondering why this was a surprise to her, mean I knew that where I come from people have very soft skin, everything about us is different, then I realized I shouldn't judge, because it's not every mortal that unknowingly takes a stranger to their house. When I stepped out of the door, a bright light shone into my eyes and I quickly shut them and shielded my face with my arm. I felt this excess heat penetrating my skin. It was not the hot kind of heat but the calming kind. It was gentle and soothing. I didn't get it at first but then it came to my erased mind, it was the warmth of the sun. I remembered that I hadn't felt the sun's heat in I don't know how long. As soon as she saw me shielding my face she ran to my side and grabbed my arm. "I'm sorry I forgot that you have hyper sensitive eyes" she said leading me towards the direction she was heading to. I heard her grabbing something and a door opened. She gentle put me inside and closed the door. You may wonder how I knew it was a door with my eyes closed but when a door opens, you definitely know the sound. I opened my eyes after the door was closed. It was slightly dark compared to the outside light. She got on the front side of the car and brought the engine to life. The sound of the engine was smooth but unsettling. There was this hissing sound from the car as it reared away from the place it was parked. Into what I assumed was the city. I tried to look at the view outside but it sent my head spinning so I decided to doze off.

I opened my eyes and found myself in a cage. I looked around and the ground was full of ashes, the only thing worth observing were the wings that were stretched out on the ashes. I felt a shot of pain emanating from my back and the wings flapped. I stretched out my hand to try and reach the wings but they were a few millimeters from my reach. I touched a single feather and the pain on my back got worse. The wings flapped vigorously raising the ash dust into the air and obstructing everything. I squinted my eyes to look through the dust and I saw a few plants germinating around the wings. My heart jumped in merriment, but the joy was short lived. Just then, I heard a beat of wings above me and the ashes cleared. The plants withered back into the ashes as two flying creatures landed in front of the cage. I jumped away from the bars of the cage in fear, seeing this the creatures laughed at me. I summed up the courage to ask them, "Who are you" "Ahh!" said the shorter one of the two, "so they wiped your memory, this should be fun" "And then he says humans are good, and kind, all the words he uses to describe them" said the taller one, "Well, at least now we know for sure that Cupids are as naïve as ever" "I said who are you?" this time I fueled it in with a little anger. "You know little brother that rage is going to be the end of you" said the shorter one, "Anyways, I'm Luke, and the short guy is our big brother, Romeo" said the taller guy.

"You don't know us huh... well you're about to" said the one called Romeo as they took off into the sky unsettling the dust around us. When it cleared they were gone. As I looked for them, there was a shot of pain in my back as if it was being ripped apart. I screamed in agony and woke up.

I looked at my surroundings and I was not familiar with anything there. There was a huge screen like device in front of me on a small three legged table. I on the other hand was lying on a couch with my face up. I then started observing the place... The ceiling was white but uncomfortably low for my liking. The wall on my left was white and the rest of the walls peach looking. The ground had a huge rug that was way too dusty for my liking, I could smell the dust on it.

Then I got the scent again, I knew it from somewhere but couldn't quite place it; it was a tint of roses, a touch of lotus essence and chocolate but it was tainted with burnt flesh. I sat up and opened my mental barriers to my surrounding but jumped as I found a woman sitting in front of me looking at me as if I was a new toy. I made the mistake of invading her mind and was greeted by a wave of admiration. "Before you say anything I should make it clear to you that I am not hot, I'm not on fire and no I am not the most handsome creature you have ever met. Just wait until you meet the right mate for yourself and all those thoughts will vanish." But it was as if I was talking to a deaf animal, because she did not even flinch or stop staring.

"Hello!" I waved my hand in front of her and she came to her senses "Sorry," she said, "You just look-", "And please do not say hot, because I'm not on fire" I finished. When I looked closely, I was covered by a blanket over my head which I had not noticed before. I got one of my hands out when she pulled it off me and covered her eyes as she took a couple steps back. I could see the fear clearly flashing in her eyes. She was afraid of me. I raised my hands as a sign of coming in peace as I stood up and approached her, "Stop glowing first!" and she coiled up at the corner I had led her to. When I looked at myself, my skin was releasing a cobalt blue shade which was blinding to the normal eye. I took a couple of deep breaths and the glow started fading. I concentrated on getting rid of it and it died out immediately. She gave out a loud sigh of relief and I saw her flinch with pain. "You're hurt" I said taking a step closer to her. "I'm fine," she replied "nothing a few bandages can't fix" Then it hit me, 'Women of this time are really tough and if not, they are good at pretending' I did not understand why she would not let me help her; she was obviously in pain, even though she was trying really hard not to show it. "You don't have to act tough with me, I know you're in pain and I know I'm the cause of it" I said as I closed my eyes and focused on her thoughts.

I saw how she dragged me out of the car with a blanket covering me, I was glowing and she was biting her bottom lip in pain as I staggered up the steps. I saw how she carefully laid me down on the couch as my glow got brighter and she had to scoot a little further from me.

"You didn't have to go through all that, you know you could've just

left me in your vehicle. " I said looking away so as not to meet her questioning gaze. "Well, I was charged with looking after you. I couldn't fail in the first few hours now could I?" "You need medical attention; my glow is a dangerous thing to have on your skin... It continuously corrodes anything that is not resistant to it." I said looking into her mind to know where she kept medical supplies. I was surprised to find out that as a highly trained medical student she only kept bandages in her house.

I followed her steps to the bathroom and opened the cupboard. I took the bandages and some rubbing alcohol. I then took a towel hanging on one of the hangers and took it with me. When I returned she was sitting on the couch. She opened her hands to receive the things I had gone to fetch and I saw the damage on her hands. They had been burnt as if she had pressed her hands on a hot stove. I paused for a few seconds as I assessed the situation while using her knowledge to find out the best way to treat her. I came up blank on healing burns from the glow, so I sat next to her.

"You humans don't glow do you?" I asked her. "No we don't." she replied. "Well," I said in reply "I don't really know how to treat anything, but I will apply some rubbing alcohol to disinfect your wounds and then wrap them in bandages... hopefully that will help." "Where did you learn first aid?" she asked trying to distract herself from the pain. "I didn't, I just took all that from your memories" I said which took her by surprise and she looked at me. "Yes, I can read your mind as easily as you can read a book." I registered the shock on her face. "What else can you do?" she asked still uncertain that I was telling the truth.

"I can control people like puppets,

I can erase people's memories,

I can see through solid objects like walls and many other things,

I can run very fast and,

I glow in the dark" I said scurrying through my mind for anything else that I could remember. "Yeah, that's just about it" I said as I finished wrapping her hands with bandages. She wriggled her fingers and found that she could move all of them despite being wrapped up. "You just got even more interesting" she said standing up and heading for a certain door.

In a matter of seconds, I heard the clattering of plates on a table. "I hope you're hungry, because I ordered pizza, lots of it" I was quite amazed by her, mean a lot of people would have freaked out and ran for the hills if there is anything like that but instead she was handling this whole situation quite well. As I was walking through the door she asked, "You do eat, right?"

"Yeah, mean every creature needs nutrition, even one as formidable as me." I said. I heard a knock on the door and I quickly cowered behind her. The fact that I had not heard whatever it was approach freaked me out. "It's okay," she assured me, "He's the delivery boy, you know, to deliver our food." She said going out back to the living room and then further. I looked through the walls and saw a man standing at the door. He was wearing a red trouser, a blue shirt covered by a black jersey and a black hat that looks like a fruit basket. From his movements, he was getting impatient. He knocked again and in instinct I approached the door but froze in mid stride. I realized I did not even know what I would say to him. I was about to go and find Ashley when she walked through the door she had disappeared in. "He's going to drop the pizza thingy, he's not a patient person" I said pointing at the door. She stared at me with a confused expression on her face as she headed for the door. She had a brief exchange with the person at the door and smiled as she closed the door with three boxes stacked up on her hands. She placed them on the table and then approached me. "You could tell he was impatient," she looked at me with a questioning expression "how?" "I don't know," I said flatly "I just felt it."

She got even closer, with a weird expression on her face as if she was not satisfied and was still looking for something else. Then she sniffed the air around me. I froze as she did this, I was tense and very uncomfortable. "You smell like... like... like grapes that are going bad" she said wrinkling her nose. "You should shower" she said pushing me towards the living room and steering me further into a hallway with two doors on the left and one on the right at the far end. She pushed me into the door on the right and I was met by a basin at the door on my right, a bath tub on the left and a sprinkling tap at the far end of the room. She pushed me towards the sprinkler. I was close enough when she opened the glass door and pushed me inside and opened the tap and water sprinkled on me soaking my clothes and skin which started glowing blue and so did my eyes, it was as if there was a light within me looking for a way out. She moved away as I got brighter and quickly closed the door as the glow got bright enough to even blind me. I took off my clothes and used the shirt to scrub my body. I saw a bar soap on a protrusion from the wall and grabbed it. I used it to clean up.

When I walked out of the bathroom, my eyes were not as bright and my skin was flickering. I closed the door and when I turned around she was standing there with an innocent grin on her face which startled me, and considering the fact that I was only wrapped in a towel made me feel naked. She approached me slowly and I got backed up to a wall. I watched her with unease as she admired and touched my glowing skin. With every touch my skin would flicker a little brighter and then go back to its usual glow. She then touched a scar like part of my skin and then a black ink like goo started spreading on my skin which surprised me. I looked at it as it absorbed the glow from my skin and glowed brighter than the rest of my skin. I expected her to be as surprised as I was but she was not. She touched the ink and it produced a powder like glowing substance which evaporated with the water on my skin and vanished into thin air. "So, hypothetically speaking of course, say you were to take a bath in a bath tub, would the water turn blue?" she asked after swallowing the huge lump in her throat. "I don't know," I said looking down at her. She finally looked up and touched my face which felt hotter with every caress. Then she gained some composure and moved a few steps back. She led me to the living room where I found a fresh change of clothes on the couch I was lying on. I took the clothes and went back to the bathroom to change. When I came back she was in the kitchen so I joined her. I found her sitting on one end of the table and her plate had a slice of some kind of food I did not know. I sat down next to her and she got me a plate and served me the same thing from the boxes delivered earlier. She gave me a fork and a table knife and urged me to eat. I put down the utensils and used my hand to grab the slice and took a hesitant bite. My taste buds absorbed everything from the bite; mushrooms, tangy tomatoes, a slight onion like taste, chicken, green pepper, flour and some oil. The bite was scrumptious! I swallowed my slice in three more bites. She asked me if I wanted more and I nodded. When she finished her third slice, all the boxes were empty. "So that is pizza," I said "It tastes really good." "I'm glad you like it" she said with a smile. "Do you live alone?" I asked her.

"Why do you ask?" she asked back. "I... I don't know, just curious, because there is this scent here... it's not yours or mine..." "Yeah, it's probably my boyfriend's" she replied.

"Oh, so this person lives here?" I questioned further.

"Yeah, but right now he's not around, he travels a lot so..."

"Do you miss him?" and she blushed

"Well, when I'm alone in this fortress, I do" she said with a sad smile. "Enough about me, what about you... do you maybe know why you ended up here or what happened to you, do you remember anything?"

I shook my head sadly surprised that the tables had turned. So you still don't remember anything about your previous life before you came here?"

"Nope," I said flatly "although I have been having these unusual dreams... I see people, flying people, scorched fields, wings, castles in the air..." "Maybe you're starting to remember." "Maybe..." my voice trailed away in murmurs. "Any who, I wanna show you something, she said taking my hand and leading me to the living room. She turned on a huge screen and sat on the couch. She tapped the seat next to her and I joined her. "What's your favorite movie?" she asked me.

"What's a movie?"

"You don't know what a movie is?"

"Should I?"

"I was hoping you would," she said surprised, "but then it's okay, maybe I could just show you"

"Okay" I agreed.

She connected another machine to the huge screen and then pressed some buttons and we watched a "movie" entitled 'Amazing Spiderman' which was really interesting.

When it was over I asked her "So if I were to be bitten by a spider, would I become like Peter Parker?"

"No, of course not. You would have been bitten by an ordinary spider" she argued

"But what if it is not?" and she laughed. It was my first time hearing her laugh and the sound of it was exciting, it made me want to laugh too. "Kyle, you wouldn't be Spiderman," she held my chin "you would still be Kyle O'Casey. Now, I'm tired and I want to go to bed. Come with, I will show you your room." She stood up and I followed. We went to the hallway with two doors on the left and she opened the second door and walked in. I followed her in and I found it was small and simple; a bed in one corner to the right, a study table in the one next to the bed. There was a wardrobe straight ahead when you walked in the room in the third corner. I found some pajamas on the bed. "Put them on" she ordered and turned around. I opened the wardrobe doors and hid between them to put on the trouser. Then I removed the t-shirt and but the clothes in a basket on the other side of the wardrobe. I took the top half of the pajamas which was a silk shirt. I was about to put it on when I heard Ashley gasp. I quickly turned to face her. "I studied your whole body but I've never seen those wounds " she said with registered shock on her face. "How did you get them?" "I don't remember, but then who knows, maybe I had wings there," I said jokingly. "And they look like they hurt, don't those hurt, because they are releasing a cobalt blue puss. She said in a concerned tone, "wait a minute, are you bleeding?" By the time I felt her presence behind me it was too late. I was about to turn and face her when I felt her hands touch me on the wounds. My eyes flickered and I froze in that position. I then had a vision. I was looking at a glass box with wings inside. When I attempted to approach them, they flapped violently. In fear, I jumped back and was pulled back to reality. I found myself in bed. I didn't even attempt to try and comprehend how I had gotten into bed. After that I went to sleep.