The fire starts, embers and regrets everywhere, Edna crawled through the ashes barely holding onto life. She stared up to the sky begging for something, something like rain to put out the fire on her body but nothing came.
So she forced herself up and started running despite the pain in her legs, she found a river and a… house! She ran into the water letting the waves rush around her a man came out of the house clearly in hiding from the war, his eyes widened and mumbled something Edna could not hear over the water, he helped her out of the water and forced her into his house as she kicked and clawed at him with the amount of strength she had, he laid her down on the couch and asked looking deeply concerned, his bushy brown eyebrows furrow ''what happened, were you caught in the war or fighting in it?''
She barely could muster words, when he said war it brought back the pain of the fire and she flinched ''don't say war,and yes i was caught in it not fighting,gods no i would not-''
She started muttering gibberish to herself making the man even more concerned he responded back sounding more fatherly then ever, she barely remembered her father he died when she was sixteen ''do you remember what happened?''
She tried to remember so much that it hurt her head, so she just shaked her head and looked away at the family pictures on the wall. She was confused but would not mention it. If he had pictures of his family everywhere where were they? He sighed a little disappointed that she could not remember then she finally remembered something she spoke almost sounding like a puppet under control ''time to pray to our gods!''
But instead she just coughed looking dazed on what happened so did the man who thought she was actually going to pray to them and scowled ''the gods are not to be trusted after what they did.''
''What did they do?'' She replied not remembering why the war started or if it was going to end.
All she knew was fire, this man's face, and blood. The man sighed and mumbled something, probably about how absurd that she could not remember even though she was in caught in the crossfire of the war then he finally replied, face softening once again ''oh dear why can't you-oh right, well the gods started this war for their favor but not responding to our prays to end it.''
But she did not hear the last part because she blacked out, from exhaustion, that wa sa lot of talking for the day she needed to rest the man sighed wanting to talk to her more and tell her his name but he knew it was stupid to wake it up, so he put a blanket on her and went into his own room and fell asleep.
The next morning was not so peaceful. She woke up screaming, screaming for something she could not remember, the man ran down stairs expecting a fire or guards but all he saw was Edna crying into a ball. He sighed and she cried harder thinking he was mad at her but then she realized she did not even know his name! How could she feel bad she finally spoke soft and barley above a whisper ''who are you, and whats for breakfast?''
He figured she would ask sooner or later so he looked away and answered somberly, he knew who he was but he was not ready to announce that yet ''I am taran, carpenter of the gods, that's I am going to say and we are having scrambled eggs.''
Her eyes lighted up she loved scrambled eggs she nodded eagerly and tried sitting up but she winced in pain instead because her wounds were still very fresh from the morning before she had a very odd nightmare, a nightmare were she was shot out the sky.. and falling forever this was a nice wake up, Taran seemed very nice but she still needs to find her memories one way or another, she sighed and let the smell of the eggs sooth her she struggled to get up, knowing this would probably upset Taran because she could see the look on his face, the worried sad look, the same look her father used to give she stared for a little too long and finally put her gaze on the scrambled eggs on the counter and she was about to deny the eggs but her stomach betrayed her by grumbling, she could hear taran chuckling as she sat down and devoured the food like it was her first meal in years, which was partly true because she has not eaten for a week now, one of her memory came back, she froze, she now remembers running through the streets running away from a… guard? She could not tell because the memory was still very fuzzy she looked to be stealing food so she connected that she not very wealthy or not maybe she was stealing for another reason she was so lost in thought that she could not hear the screams and cries from outside till she saw Tarans face, a once warm smile now an empty stare.
He looked at her and said ''basement. Now!''
She got up immediately also immensely regretting that because her body ached afterwards but she bolted the basement and slowed down and looked back, screaming for Taran, he was right behind her. Good she did not want to lose him, he was like a father to her, once he was in he slammed the metal door shut and she curled up on the couch and cried silently trying to understand why there was so much fighting! She could not remember and she only got a brief answer, which did not help her draw a conclusion in the slightest. Taran looked at her with that same worried look he gave her when they first met near the river though he did not speak but he spoke with his next actions he put a blanket on her and stepped back from asking why she was so scared if she was so calm about the fire in her in the river when they first met. Taran looked at the iron door like it was some gate that could easily be broken into to, he looked back at Edna who was sleepy peacefully after an hour of crying, he heard crashing upstairs it seems that she heard it too because she sat bolt upright looking around frantically like something was out to get her, he looked at her and reassured her that they were just stealing a few things nothing to worry about, but she did worry because it was a beautiful home she did not want them to break something beautiful she looked back at Taran and asked softly ''you have to go up there and stop them, your house is too pretty to be broken.''
Taran looked surprised because she was normally skittish and did not want him out her sight for more then five seconds but he guessed that she did not want his home destroyed he shook his head and replied sounding more frightened than he liked ''no, it's too dangerous.''
She frowned. How could he just throw away his family photos or those amazing china he owned? That is something edna could probably never understand about taran the way he could just throw away his life because he was afraid, but she could not tell him that because she too was afraid of the people upstairs after a silent argument they both agreed to go up once the people have stolen and left after a few hours they have left, it was odd that only what sounded to be two people could steal for hours. Taran opened the iron door and walked out climbing the basement stairs once they were up and in the main living room, Edna almost fainted it looked like a tornado went swirling around in his house, glass broken, door wide open his family photos somehow missing from its placements but not broken, nothing was stolen. She drew the conclusion that they must of been looking for something or someone, then again she did not know much about Taran only his name and his profession she looked up at him he was in the face muttering about how long this would take to clean up and how annoying thi was, maybe they were looking for Taran for war reasons or looking for her either way she did not know because once again or memorys were stolen by something but then she got a flash of a memory, it was fire and a man she did not recognize the man that stood amongst the flames but that definitely was a man and he had some aura around him like the flames came from him, she looked at Taran who clearly saw something in her eyes and her discomfort and asked ''you remembered something didn't you?''
She looked up at him shyly surprised on how he could read people that quickly she looked away and rubbed the back of her neck and replied ''yes,it happened earlier when i was eating your scrambled eggs too.''
His eyes twinkled a little and he answered back ''i guess my scrambled eggs really are that good,huh?'' she laughed; she knew he was trying to bring light to the situation at hand, but she laughed alongside him anyway. Taran asked if she could help clean up the mess that was made from the two people who have no names or faces as they cleaned he shared story of his family yet not fully she had a hint that he was hiding something from her but she did not bring it up after fixing the glass and sweeping the floor they sat down on the couch and turned on the television despite the world being partly old and medieval like the towns and fashion we still had some modern inventions mostly the tools for entertainment like the television. They turned on a good musical because that's the only thing available and let the music calm them and eventually they fell asleep, Taran on an armchair and Edna on the couch.
She had another nightmare more vivid than the last but she woke up the same, screaming and crying which did not alarm Taran now because he has gotten used to it plus he was awake so he could see it was just a nightmare. Once she arose she saw him and turned red from embarrassment not expecting him to be awake, seemingly not remembering her little fit from earlier and looked away not meeting eye contact.
Taran raised an eyebrow like he was going to ask a question but instead asked if she wanted for breakfast ''do you want pancakes or eggs again?'' She was not ready to speak yet so she just pointed to the eggs in the fridge and also the pancake batter. She wanted both since she was so hungry and cold, she looked to see if the windows were still busted. She sighed and wrapped herself in her blanket trying to ignore the horrors of the world around her she wanted to remember but she also did not want to for it would probably ruin her friendship with Taran but the smell of food made her arise from her cocoon she limped towards the table, sitting down and finally bringing herself to look out the broken windows. It was worse than she thought blood was everywhere, bones made into altars for the gods not just any gods the god war and fire, her eyes narrow in disgust but the sound of a clattering plate made her gaze snap to the food, she ate the food while staring at the bone alters outside she almost threw up when she saw dead baby carcesses on them
she looked over to Taran who was visibly scowling ''Edna,thats the altars for the god of war and blood,don't trust anyone who has his markings,that god is a pig of a god'' Edna's eyes widen on the amount of disgust and hate that was in tarans voice she was stunned into silence,dropping her fork and wanted to ask about his family but she did not want and so she just stared at the now on the table family photos but something was off, taran starred as she took off the picture frame and flipped it over, and there was a marking.
Seeing the marking made Taren pissed so she asked ''what's wrong with this mark? Did you not put it here?''
Taran responded teeth grinding against each other to a forced smile he was trying to ease her into his answer ''no,it seems his little followers were the ones that raided our house,clearly looking for someone…'' Then his gaze snapped to Edna thinking that she was the one that they wanted, Edna looked shocked and snapped back ''it's not me! Why would they want a girl with no memories!"
He seemed to agree with that answer because he nodded and did not bring it up again after that.
As he sadly looked at at the photo occasionally muttering that it was ruined; Edna was outside sighting despite getting yelled at by Taran for going outside she stayed put, after staring off into the distance she saw a alter close by and went to touch it (she did not know why she just felt the need to) as she touched it she felt a surge through her body. She fell backwards in shock and scrambled back to the house.
She ran in speaking too fast to seem eligible, Taran raised an eyebrow and she calmed herself down and spoke shaky but calmly ''when i touched the altar i felt something, i don't know what it was…''
Tarans eyes widen in surprise and he responded more shaky in a way that she would not bring up to him later ''That is probably why they raided this house…you have some sort of connection,but i can't put my finger on what!''
Edna looked away and out the window,trying to figure out what she could have to have a connection to a god! She remembered her memory that she had a few hours ago;but she could not bring that up to Taran,no that would scare him and he was in too much fright as it is with this in mind he tried hiding it but it was clear he was scared he was pacing up and down the house muttering that we had to leave to another city,if there was one left and not infested with his followers, after a few minutes of arguing and crying we finally came to an agreement to go away for a little bit till things clear (If they ever do) as we packed our bags we chatted about things and what kind of house they selled at the hopefully still intact city.
He packed his car with his stuff since she had nothing to carry with her and we got in the car,driving down the road with so much grace that she fell asleep on the window letting the sound of the rusted radio sooth her to sleep,something that was rare in this war.
They hit a bump,and she heard screaming she bolted upright frantically looking around but nothing was amais, it probably was a memory again she thought as she tried falling back into her not so peaceful slumber even if it was not as peaceful as she hoped it still was nice to finally have a nice sleep after two days of sleeping on the hard couch,these cushions on the car were soft and squishy like a nice pillow. But she was wrong and the screaming was real and she was not dreaming; they just did not notice it before a whole dozen of the war gods' followers jumped out and shot the car's tires,causing the car to come to a screeching stop.
Before i can process what was happening one of the followers screamed ''out of the car,NOW!''
Their booming voice causing the car to shake they got out of the car not willingly,they wanted to fight back and run but the followers were carrying guns so they would not make it far before they were shot dead, she looked around expecting to be dragged away from Taran, but that did not happen they just peered at them rudely and then laughed, just laughed not a word was said because they knew of the followers said anything it would be cruel and hateful. They raided Tarans stuff without consent or permission when Taran tried to intervene he would get a gun to his head and a glare after they left they did not take anything like before at the house they just tore pictures especially the only one of his wife, Edna saw it before Taran did so she snatched it and shoved it in her pocket before he could see it; if he saw it he probably would end it all two picture of his beloved wife have been ruined and she could not loose another person she loved,that's when she remembered her third memory of someone holding her and singing a lullaby it must of been a mother figure but the tune sounded so soft and sweet it could put her asleep right here and now.
Taran peered from the truck,seeming pissed yet again, and spoke ''come one,we need to get going before those bitches come back.''
He sounded so mad she did it out of fear as he saw her face his face softened and turned on the radio again (it still worked even if it was shot at three times) she was too busy thinking to listen to the radio,why did the followers not drag her away and why did they not take anything? It seems she was thinking out loud because Taran sighed and replied to the outspoken thought ''i don't know maybe because its not you but something you possess.''
Edna raised an eyebrow and answered him sounding more mad then she liked ''oh,so your saying i am carrying like a fucking crown,like look at me i am in rags'' she huffed,Tarans eyes narrowed but he did argue and just nodded and grunted in agrement she was kinda mad that he agreed that she was really poor but that was some stupid to get mad at,she fell asleep once again thinking about the memory she had as she slept and then she heard crying again but it sounded like..Taran? She arose from her slumber and realized the picture fell out her pocket and Taren was holding it and crying. She knew he would never forgive her for hiding it from him but she did not want to keep the secret,she hated keeping secrets, she was about to speak but decided not to because it was not the best time at the moment and only patted his shoulder and tried to fall back into her wonderful dream,she could not so she stared at Taram and his tears,more sad then she realized that she was, then she realized again that they were in the next city (it was not the most fanciest but not the poorest) and she smiled briefly and tapped Tarans on the shoulder snapping him back to reality and his tears ''we are here,sorry about the picture.''
Taran wiped away his tears and smiled shyly ''well best get going,i know a cheap motel we can sleep in till we have the money to buy a house!''
As they entered the motel it smelled funny but it was surprisingly clean and well kept,the man at the counter smiles as soon as we came in; Edna could not tell if he was faking the smile or not,the man spoke in a calm,professional tone ''hello sir'' clearly talking to Taran ''what room would you like?''
Taran smiled back but it was more forced,he had no reason to smile and she knew that ''ah,good day sir,we will have room 4 please.''
Then Taran slid money on the counter and we walked down the hallway to our room in silence.
As we entered the room without thinking Edna plopped on the bed cocooning in the blankets as Taran ordered from the man down stairs, Taran raised an eyebrow at Edna clearly saying with his eyes don't fall asleep,food will be here soon.
After they ate,she felt happy,genuinely happy but she knew that she would not feel so happy soon,because the food that was given to her was poisoned with a sleeping potion,as she almost passed out she now knew why the man at the counter was so happy,Taran noticed her fatigue and catched her before she could fall on the hardwood floor and hurt her head (which could of been the mans plan all along) he laid her on the bed softly,unsure of what to make of this situation he growled underneath his breath muttering curses about the man's fate and fortune and let her sleep off the poison that has fallen upon her but he did not expect survival because that is the most deadly poison in all of the cities, yet she awakened with a gasp and looked around frantically all she saw before she fainted again was tarans shocked face at her awakening; she awoke again this time permanently and smelled the scent of pancakes next to her she looked around they were not in the hotel anymore; she rubbed her eyes and looked out the window the bustling streets have turned into forest greenery and the scent of gasoline and sorrow now was the scent of water and a spark of hope for the future .
She ate the pancakes with the brute of a berlin tiger once she finished she wobbled out of the bed looking for taran but only found a note from him in the kitchen ''gone out foraging will be back before 5:00 for dinner.'' She felt some panic because they had dodged death twice and she feared he would not come back since it seems there are many people who have them on their hit list; the reason why was unknown to her, maybe it had to do with the man in her flash of memory. The moment she thought back to it another memory flashed through her mind a big burly man in red and black armor but his face was hidden by the shadows it seems he was tearing up towns she fell back against the counter when her memory flashed absolutely mortified on what she witnessed she wished she saw what that man looked like so she could track him down and possibly kill him but there was a certain godly aura around him that she could even feel through the memory.
She looked through the kitchen for snacks of any kind to fuel herself since she was hungry all of a sudden even if just eating breakfast she reached for a snack bar but tarans booming voice was heard behind her ''don't! I am about to make dinner.''
Has it been that long? Just a moment ago she was having a memory attack and it was morning luckily taran answered her inner question since he could see how troubled she looked ''you have been passed out on the counter,i had to lay you on the floor when i got back'' he answers; gives her a weird look and she sighed and replied ''sorry, i had another memory attack.''
''Ah, i see'' he responded with a concerned look on his face, but she was more concerned then him since if she passes out from memories that means she will be an easier target for people who want to hurt her she looked out the window to the trees and swears she saw something passing through the trees, but the smell of biscuits and gravy drew her away from the window and to the kitchen and made sure not to tell taran since he already had a lot on his mind and she did not want to be a bother him with what she has seen in her memory, but if he knows who the man in her dreams were maybe he could protect her more then he already is. There also was a high probability that this man could be a higher danger and taran may be unable to protect her from him so she took in a deep shallow breath and finally spoke ''i-i saw a man in my dreams, his face was shadowed but he had some kind of godly aura to him but…oh it as terrible; he was tearing up towns like they were just stakes in the ground'' she exclaims in a shaky tone
Taran froze mid mixing the gravy and dropped the whisk into the pan. He looked at her with a solemn look and responded; voice shaky and uncertain ''that…my dear is the god of war; I do not know how you saw him in your memory, but it must be some kind of message. I know we have moved 2 times already but we need to again we never know if he's watching through those memories'' taps her forehead which makes her giggle despite the sition ''this is no giggling matter edna.''
Edna sighs and looks away ''i know i am sorry;'' looks back at him with a hopeful look ''maybe we can find a nice place,settle down and we could be a family? Like father and daughter?" she froze realizing she spilled too much; she felt like she wanted to curl into a ball for speaking her mind, but taran just smiled softly and replied ''that would be nice.''
They shared a small smile before taran turned back to finishing making dinner; muttering about packing materials and supplies as he serves her dinner; she looks up from her plate in concern because he was not eating his portion of food.