An Interesting Name

'Who am I?'

It was as if, just a moment ago, he had all and every bit of his memories within his grasp, but then, all of a sudden, they were all, each and every one of them, shattered—shattered into a thousand million pieces, leaving only a few fragments behind while the rest were swallowed by the endless nothingness of the Abyss.

He did not remember anything. He was really confused—extremely confused.

Suddenly, he had a really disturbing idea of bursting his head open, put his hand inside the brain juice and try to attach, to tie back the tangled brain knots that, he thought, were probably torn from the inside. But, he did not do that, directly, at least.

As he was frantically rummaging through his brain for answers, he forgot all about the mysterious man in front of him.

But, for some unknown reason, the mysterious man did not mind at all.

After waging a thorough battle inside his head, he answered the mysterious man after waiting nearly 20 seconds, or even more.

 he said, his voice barely audible,"Stark… Stark Arriate,"

He said that, but...

'Wait, was… is my name really Stark Arriate?'

He didn't remember. He did not know.

Or rather, the more appropriate explanation would be that he couldn't confirm whether what he remembered was true or not.

He recalled the name, but he didn't know if it was his or someone else's.

He was lost in a momentary haze.

He had a hundred different thoughts, a hundred different questions, and a hundred different situations he could think of—how it happened. But all of them seemingly did not add up.

Right at the end, right before it would make sense, right when Stark thought it would just make sense, he would find a gap of understanding inside them, and then... he'd start all over again.

His head was starting to hurt—really bad. He felt like someone was pinning sharp nails from the inside of his head, making loud noises.

Thump Thump

It was making his ears go numb from the constant thumping.

He was feeling nauseated, very close to vomiting once again and, probably this time, losing his goddamn mind along the way.

But just then, the ominously mysterious man said, "Oh... Oh really now? If that's what your name is, then so be it. Stark... Stark Arriate. Ah... such… such interesting, interesting names I encounter, I swear. You would be surprised. Though I, myself, probably have the most interesting name, I daresay. Well... Do you want to know? You probably do, don't you?"

Stark looked at him with his dark, hollow eyes, showing little to no emotion, seemingly still lost in his own absurd thoughts, seemingly too preoccupied to care.

The mysterious man looked back at Stark with his dark, crimson-red eyes and stated, after a few long moments, "Shin Asukah. That's my name. My real name. My really, really extremely interesting, interesting name—that's it. Shin Asukah. Shin... Asukah... Don't you find it interesting? Isn't it interesting? It is, isn't it? It truly is."

"Don't you just... want! to take it and make it yours? You do, don't you? You really do. After all, it is really, really interesting." the man added, as if prompting Stark to give him an affirmative answer, for god knows what.

Stark stared at the mysterious man, seemingly adding to the list of things that made him confused.

'What? Make the name mine? What does that mean? How does one go about making someone's name theirs? And why??'

Stark did not know when, but the movement of his hands, somewhere along the way, probably when Mr. Shin chanted the strange words, became slower and slower still, As if in slow motion.

"What?"

Even the sound of his own voice was not reaching Stark's ears.

Stark, in fear and disbelief, realized that even the girl and the old man's movements were just as slow. The girl was speaking... to someone, somebody maybe. But the voice was unable to reach his numb ears.

He saw that the clown was laughing, but even his movements were stuck in time, refusing to flow out like the endless tide of water it was.

He stared at the man with deep apprehension and fear as the man sat up from the wooden crate and slowly but surely came closer and closer still, towards Stark.

Then, out of the corner of his left eye, he saw, another man with blond hair and gray eyes, was suddenly so near him that Stark thought that the man would probably hear his wildly beating heart if he leaned just a tad bit closer.

Stark didn't realize it at first, but there was a dark obsidian dagger pointed straight at his neck, held by the man. Inches away from slicing through his neck.

'Who is he? When did he get so close? What? What is happening?'

Stark was at a loss, suddenly feeling mind-boggling dread. His hair stood on end.

As he watched, wide-eyed, the man named Shin Asukah came near him, crouched down and suddenly stated, "I know, I know that you are a Name Eater. Aren't you? You are. No benefit in lying."

Stark watched in horror as the dark dagger slowly nearing his neck, threatening to slit it open at any moment.

Mr. Shin looked at Stark for a few long moments, narrowed his eyes and asked with a form of finality, "What is your name, boy? What is your real name? Do you even have one? Do not dare lie to me."

"I don't know," Stark said truthfully, realizing he could speak again.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I can't remember anything. I forgot—forgot everything. I have lost all my memories."

"Then who is Stark Arriate?"

"I don't know either. It's the only name I remembered. I don't know if it is mine or not either"

Mr. Shin stared at Stark for a few long moments and then moved his lips,

"Argo~ Viatra~ Vortigos~

Argo~ Viatra~ Vortigos~

Argo~ Viatra~ Vortigos~"

As Mr. Shin said the following, which Stark did not know the meaning of whatsoever, he realized that the eyes of the mysterious man suddenly turned from dark red to midnight blue.

And just then, just as he heard those strange words, Stark suddenly thought that lying was the most dangerous thing he could have done at that moment.

He was a bit relieved that he did not and answered truthfully.

Few moments past and then a few more. After a while, The Man suddenly Stretched his brows and blinked a couple of times

The mysterious man then, gestured the blond man who was holding a dark obsidian dagger near stark's neck to release him,

The blond listened and did so without a moment's hesitation.

"It seems you're telling the truth... you really don't remember anything. You have lost all of your memories. How curious. really curious. Curious indeed."

As he said that, the space surrounding them returned to normal once again. Time started to flow like the endless tide of water it was.

The girl from before, Miss Sia, stammered, " ...Were really bruised and battered, so please... you... need... to...?"

She was confused for a moment, but then looked at Mr. Shin and asked, "What just happened? Did you do sorcery? Mr. Shin?"

He looked at the girl. " Do you remember? I told you that there is a creature called the name eater, here in the dark forest. It eats people's names, meaning their memoirs and takes their bodies as vessels. I thought that he was one of them. Probably, Seeing his confusion about his own name, through my sorcery, I tested him, And it turns out he just has Amnesia. Seriously what a waste of time."

Hearing that the girl, might have been, a bit shocked initially, but then composed herself. Like it did not matter anymore.

If she was shocked, she was doing a great job, not letting it show on her delicate face.

Sia, moved her head and looked at Stark, then after a few moments of silence, she said, "I am sorry, He has brain rot. Please don't mind it."

Hearing that the man with the top hat said, "what? who has brain rot? Why? I did not do anything, wrong? here."

Stark looked at all of the people within the carriage, a old clown, a girl, probably the same age as him, a blond man with a dagger and a mysterious man whose really, really interesting name was Shin Asukah.

Stark thought dazedly,

'What am I doing here? who am I actually? Stark Arriate? Who is that? Is it me?? What is my true Identity?"

As he thought that, his vision slowly darkened. Then, all of a sudden he felt himself falling to the side before losing consciousness.