Mental Rebirth

Rufus looks around the void. Square glass plates dart by him like fish in water. He takes glimpses at the plates, which reflect various memories.

'Just what the hell is going on?'

Rufus is extremely disoriented from the trauma he relived only a few moments ago, yet his mental turmoil fades unnaturally quick. The feeling of confusion is replaced with a subtle nostalgia. This nostalgia builds without Rufus' consent, as if this abyss of his own memories was forcing it onto him.

Rufus pauses for a moment before taking a single step. A wave spreads through the floor of the void, as if someone had stepped in a shallow puddle. The wave stretched out almost infinitely as the sound echoed and matched the visual.

After a few moments of a cautious pause, Rufus decides to take a couple more steps. These couple cautious steps turn into a dozen, and then it became a slow stride down this void. The sound of wet steps echoing around. Rufus continues down this mysterious stroll, trying to take in what is happening around him.

'This must be what they mean by, "your life flashing before your eyes", right?'

His nose picks up nothing at all. His sense of taste and smell have seemingly been shut off in some way. Another effect of this void, Rufus figured.

Rufus kept aimlessly traveling through the darkness until his curiosity piqued. He reaches out and grabs onto one of the memory plates. The plate seems weightless as he holds it in front of his face. While in front of his face, he inspects the memory.

The plate shows his memory from his perspective, it looks like he is doing pushups. Sweat dripping from his face onto the dry soil below him. The sun blasting his skin and militaristic uniform with the tough heat.

Rufus knows this as a random day as a trainee, training. He had received money from the government, to pay for his essentials, as an orphan and all. This did not last long, however. When he lost his title as a minor, so did he lose the monthly income. To provide care for his little sister, he had to join the military and work till he was soaked in his own sweat. He had set up an automatic deduction from his pay to be delivered to Leylin. He still remembers the not-so-long-ago days for their lasting bruising, aches, and overall damage to his body.

Rufus stares at the memory before tossing it a few yards in front of him. For a moment, it looks like the memory would fall to the floor, however it loses its momentum and boomerangs back at Rufus with the speed of the other memories. Rufus' eyes widen, and he instinctively ducks like he was trained to. A sharp noise flies above him as the memory pierces through the space like a traveling arrow. Rufus slowly rises and looks back, seeing the memory that nearly gave him a concussion slowly coincide with the current of other memories.

Rufus' heart pumps with adrenaline, but oddly he calms almost instantly. Like it was just shut off by some force. And by "some force", Rufus' theory about this abyss became one evidence stronger.

He glares at the current with a mix of interest and nostalgia. Interest of what memory he will fish in next, and nostalgia for the old memories he hasn't revisited up until now. Rufus swiftly snatches another memory, like how one would fish with a spear in a stream. He inspects this memory, eager to feed his undying curiosity.

In this memory, Rufus seemed much younger, probably around 5 or 6 years of age. He is curled up in his arms and legs, indicating he was sad about something. He was in his room he had lived in before the "incident", it was rather lavish for the district it was in. Nice clean floors that gave a beautiful, sparkling reflection. Actual windows, as well as smooth wooden tables, desks, drawers, and more. After closer inspection of the memory, Rufus could just barely make out wrinkled papers on top of a desk in the corner of the room. After a bit of thought, Rufus had realized what this memory was.

When a child turns of age 6, the kingdom of Meyler has a series of mandatory tests that the child must complete. The tests were all a part of the kingdom's catalog of every citizen and children's potential. That night, when Rufus had received the results of his tests, he was overjoyed to see how well he did. Only to see that out of each subject except for his intelligence, he had a single-digit score when the average was three-digit scores. In chi control he had gotten a score of 5, the only reason he had got any points at all was simply due to him participating. This was the moment Rufus had realized, his only attribute was his intelligence. Then and there he had seen that he had no natural talent in anything. No physical strength. No power. Only his brain. He tried to accept it, but it hurt too much to even think about it. It took a great few years, however, he had overtime accepted that he was just talentless.

Rufus throws the memory like a Frisbee, however this time he had learned his lesson, throwing the memory into the current instead of against it. Rufus yawns, pondering on just when this will end, or if at all. Just then, something catches his eye. It was just a passing memory, yet there was something alluring about it. Before Rufus had known it, his body had reacted on its own and caught it. For some reason it was warm, but as if he had already subconsciously known, he had understood it to be a fresh memory.

He stared into it, showing the events that had finally unclouded his brain entirely. It was him and many other men, they were rushing out into a battlefield of sorts. The field itself was mostly overgrazed grass with large patches of grainy sand. The moonlight hit everything at an angle as it slowly fell below the horizon. Rufus and the men he followed had drawn their blades, charging into another army. Blood is seen anywhere he looked, even though he couldn't hear the memory, he clearly saw that the men were yelling with their whole lungs. Sparks of raging collisions between blades were a common site. He saw as suddenly a line of soldiers approached from a nearby hill. Their uniforms, of the enemy sovereign of Istria, however theirs in particular was modified uniquely. They pulled out their own blades and, with supernatural speed and strength, took out lines of Rufus' fellow brother-in-arms. Rufus and his allies were not prepared to fight against martial artists, after all, they were just simple foot soldiers, the weakest of the weak. He saw in the memory as his self ran desperately to the ocean. As Rufus had traveled over a small hill, a dozen or so small ships were in sights. Rufus quickly jumped in one and started to sail, but not before shouting for his allies to retreat. To Rufus' horror, over the hill, only the enemy soldiers rose. Rufus attempted to row the small ship faster, but it was too late. When he turned back to the enemy soldiers behind him, he is greeted to a dagger piercing the air before piercing the lower waist. He stumbles back before tripping into the water.

This final revelation shattering Rufus' "amnesia" struck him like lightning. Rufus begins to remember everything now. Along with this shift in his mind came a shift in the void. The current of memories changed, it began surrounding around Rufus in a large circle. The memories that couldn't fit in the inner circle simply rose higher, with the nearly infinite amount of memories, it stretched up higher and higher. Up until, it looked like a cyclone. He looks up, where the never-ending darkness continues.

"If I die here, then Leylin will most definitely die as well. She will probably starve to death alone. Waiting for either me or a paycheck to return. She won't even know what happened to me. How pitiful I truly am."

Rufus' heart races more and more as he realizes what that means. He doesn't want Leylin to die. She is the only reason he kept himself alive. All he needed was just a bit more strength. All he asks for is just a little talent so he can defend Leylin.

"I don't want that, dammit!"

For the first time in a long time, he curses his talentless. He thought he had accepted it, but now he wasn't so sure. Rufus gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.

"All I require is just a chance! One chance to use strength against my foes! To protect my family! I don't quite understand what you are, but I do know you are listening! So please! Help me out here!"

He calls out to the void, pleading for it to help him. He pauses, hoping for something to happen. When it continues to be indifferent, he simply looked to his feet in disappointment. His eyes squint from his pained heart, knowing his little sister couldn't survive. He lets out a silent sigh, his mood exponentially becoming more bleak.

Suddenly, his chest begins to feel warm. The warmth came in a wave that dispersed throughout his whole body. He looks at his chest when another wave of warmth travels. As he sees the warmth throbs in his heart, he sees a blue flicker begin there. As the warmth travels throughout his body, so does this blue light, seemingly glowing through his pale skin. More waves of warmth are born and travels to the very tips of his body. After a few moments, the waves of warmths align with his heartbeat, moving identically. He could feel this as a sign. He looks back up at the black sky. The sky mostly seems indifferent, however it had an almost undetectable new hint of blue. Rufus tilts his head in gratitude and gave the void an appreciating smile. Rufus takes a deep breath in as he closes his eyes. He felt himself in a position of laying on his back. His back raises with little gravity before dropping. Suddenly, he felt the same chill of the familiar water. When he opens his eyes, he sees the same dark water.