(CHAPTER 24: FORGOTTEN)

The duo stare at each other, before staring back at Brine. "You, you don't know him?" "No, I don't. You definitely get the wrong person." She replied, "No its you, its definitely you!" Norman snapped, green shirt, radish grey trouser, leather boot, carrot orange blonde hair, blank pure eyes. That's definitely her! Thus, she is the only girl at Rose's hut. This isn't a mistake! It is her!

"Do we really get the wrong girl?" Norman seems shaken. "It's her, bring her to Hero. He will gave us the answer." Norman opened the oak door of the medic cabin and headed in.

The moment the door swung open, every single eye on the room turn towards them. "We got the delivery," Norman looked at Sam's bed, he was awake as he smile weakly towards them. Both Jack and Norman let out a sigh of relief. At least the old man kept their promise. "The problem is things doesn't turn out the way we wanted, or at least he wanted." Jack plopped down Brine on a stool beside Hero's bed before retreating back to the crowd.

"Why did you tie her?" The old man asked, "Sorry, work habit." Norman replied. "Haha, very funny." The old man let out a fake laughter. "What's the problem you've been talking about?"

"The girl." Norman lower his volume as he whispered. "She seems to lose her memory."

"Y- you are okay." Hero let out a light laugh. She kept her head low as she sat beside him silently. "I am r-really wo-rried about you. Now looks like things, turn out fine." He let out a chuckle as his hands reach out for her face, but before he could even touch her face, she turn her head away and stood up from the chair as she backs up from him.

"I don't even know you." She whispered out.

"Huh."

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!!" she let out a scream. "I DON'T KNOW THIS VILLAGE, I DON'T KNOW THESE PEOPLE, I DON'T KNOW THIS WORLD!!!" She screamed as she wrap her arms around her head.

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO I AM!!"

It was dead silent in the medic cabin as she kneel down to the ground and sobbed. As Hero look at her. For that moment, everyone in the room heard something, the sound of a heart being crushed into pieces. One of the nurses working in the medic suggest to take her back to her home to rest. "She is tired, these events happened far too quickly, don't stress her out." The old man advised. The nurse nodded as she led her to her home.

"That is quite a twist, eh?" Norman stood beside him. "Never see that coming." He stares at Hero, who was staring blankly at the rooftop of the cabin.

"The soul box Norman." The old man replied. "It breaks with a price."

"What."

"Memories."

"A soul for a soul right? Can't imagine a life without memories of your past."

"Yeah, maybe it is."

"AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!"

"What was that." Norman and the old man turn around, the source of sound seems to come from the medic. "You forget to stitch someone's gut out?" Norman said as he open the door and headed into the cabin. "Not so funny," The old man rolled his eyes as he followed him into the medic.

"What happened." The old man ask one of the nurses on duty. "Dr Murphy it was all right seconds ago. We didn't touch or do anything! They just started to howl and clutching their heads. Other villagers are there to hold the man down. They seem unstable so we have to tie them up."

Murphy and Norman rush towards the bed but what rolled into their eyes is two crazy, beast like men, being tied and stripped on their bed. Struggling, howling and shaking furiously like a total maniac. "What is happening doctor!" Norman questioned. "Working on it young lad. Doria go to get the surgery kit! I will get the herbs!" Murphy said as he urges to the storage area.

"Norman." Sam said softly as tears gushes in his eyes. "Something, something is feeding on my AAAAAaaaaaaaaa!!!!!" He screamed once before he could even finish as Jack follows. "You are gonna be alright, okay. You are gonna be alright." This is all Norman could say for them.

"I got the kit doctor!"

"I got the herbs as well! Now bring them to the surgical room!"

"What are you going to do!?" Norman asked, he was anxious, he was panic, he was in fear.

"Cut open their head to see what's inside." Murphy replied. "The source of pain seems to be in their brain, once we cut in, we will decide what's step next. And don't worry, these herbs here are able to get them into some pretty deep sleep, they won't feel pain." Murphy patted his back and together with the nurses as well as some villagers, they push Jack and Sam into the room.

All Norman could do right now is pray.

"Things been rough eh."

Norman turn his head around, Hero was talking to him. "So much have happened these days." He let out a dry laugh before patting the stool beside his bed. "Care to come for a talk? It sucks to not being able to get out of bed."

"Yeah, sure."

Norman walk towards him and sat down, almost collapsing. "You okay?" Hero asked. "Yeah, not much." Norman nodded. "We've been together since kids, we've gone through a lot. We've fought, we've battle, we've been together for a long time." He sniffed. "Ain't expecting the earth and moon to be parted someday."

"You guys been together since kids? You are related to them?"

"No." Norman shook his head. "We were orphans. When we were young, we were taken away from villages after raids against our will. Johnny kept us, they train us, feed us, take care of us, as a price we need to kill for them." He let out a chuckle before continuing:

"We've always been the elite of the gang, the surrounding forces us to work like slave, work like dogs just to get his affection and attention. And yet, he never glance on us, to him we were just tools, nothing more than his piece of chess. We've raided countless of village, splash blood on our hand, kill without hesitation. And now after what I've been, after what I've saw, I felt guilty for what we've done." Norman burry his head into his palm as he let out a deep breath. "Perhaps we've been fighting for the wrong side, for the wrong reason, at the wrong time."

"That's a great backstory for you Norman." Hero comfort him. "At least you HAVE a backstory."

"You don't?"

"Yeah I don't. " Hero shrug is shoulders. "I awake in the middle of the jungle at south. With no memories, no food, no tools, no people, nothing. I only got a book that tells me bout my name as well as how to survive. And that's how I live for the first 2 months, alone."

"Until you meet the girl."

"Yeah Brine." He smiled. "I meet her in the woods, all alone, scared, wet, hungry. And I kept her by my side since then. We make it out of the forest, over the river, across the desert. Just to find a place to settle her down.

"Looks like we are not so different." Norman said. "But what are you going to do once you settle down the girl?"

"Well, I have some job to do. Some answers to get, about this place, this land, this world, about this reality." Hero stared right at the corner of the room. He has already senses something, he has already senses their presence.

"Hey where are you staring at." Norman laughed "There's a ghost?"

"Nothing, maybe just a sense." Hero shook his head. "Anyway, where are we again?"

"About how you got poisoned from drinking water from the cursed well." Norman reminded.

"Ah yes the well. We needed to defeat the pharaoh and get the curse breaker in order to destroy the curse. And Brine she went to the pyramid all by herself, and she fo-" Suddenly he stopped talking. His expression turns blank as he turn his head around.

"She what?"

"Well, she fought for me and lost her sight."

"Girl you okay?" The woman walk towards her and wipe her hands dry with an apron. "Hope the kid isn't bothering you."

"Yeah I love kids." Brine smiled as he patted one of the kids head. "Thanks for the dinner too, Anne."

"You, don't remember being here before?" The woman sat beside her as he signaled the kids to go to bed. The kids wave at her as they hop onto the stairs and back to their room.

"I, I don't remember." Brine say as she scratch her head. "I just woke up in the Hut last night, with nothing but darkness. And it was moment before I realizes that I am blind."

"Must've been terrifying huh." Anne copped as she hand her a cut of hot cactus fruit juice.

"Yeah. Then an old lady come. She was happy that I was awake, she told me to stay put and some guy name Hero would be back for me." She let out a bitter smile. "I have no idea for what she is talking about. And it was moment before she realizes that I've lost my memory. I ask her for what am I, and who I am, what is my name. But all she could answer is my name, how I got here. The other remains a mystery."

"He must be heartbroken" Anne let out a sigh. "Poor man."

"He?" Brine turn her head around. "The man? Hero?"

"Yeah, last night he gamble his own life for you and the village." Anne smiled as he take a gulp out of the mug. "He was indeed, a hero."

"He did?" Brine took a sip out of the hot juice. It was bitter sweet and sour, just like her feelings right now. With a hint of confusion.

That night, she sneak back to his bed, and sat right beside him. She tries to jog back some memories but failed. Yet she felt a weird feeling when is near with him, as if there is some part of her that remembers him.

Norman who was now pacing around the surgery room peered towards the duo and let out a smile, she will remember about him.

She will.