"Where am I?" the boy gasped, his voice shaky as he sat up from his bed, disoriented. His breath came in short, frantic bursts, chest heaving as his eyes scanned the dark room.
To the right of his bed, about 6 feet away, there was a table with what seemed to be some leftover food. In front of the bed, there was a huge mirror. The boy also noticed a window to his right, about two feet away, its dark curtains drawn tightly across it.
The boy lifted the blanket off himself as he got up, walking towards the mirror to see his reflection. But before he did, he decided to quickly turn back and open the curtains to see where he was.
As the boy pulled back the curtains, he found himself gazing out over a small village. The stars twinkled brightly in the night sky, and the village lay still in peaceful silence.
He then turned around and started walking back towards the mirror as he analyzed the rest of the room. The boy stepped in front of the mirror and was caught by surprise, staring at his own reflection. He was a tall male with dark gray hair going down to the bottom of his ears shaped in a middle parting. The boy also had dark purple eyes and looked to be around 18 years old.
The boy wore a tattered brown T-shirt and shorts, the fabric torn in places, with holes large enough for a finger to slip through.
KNOCK KNOCK
Suddenly, a knock was on the door. The boy froze, unsure of who it was at this late hour. The door then creaked open slightly.
"Ah, you're finally awake," said a voice. The door then swung open where the boy saw a tall 35-year-old man standing in front of him. The man had a scruffy beard, brown hair, blue eyes, and a few cuts on his face wearing a checkered shirt with a pair of blue jeans.
"Who are you?" the boy curiously asked.
"I should be asking you the same question," chuckled the man.
"I found you out cold in a forest nearby the village. I thought at first you must have been mugged or knocked unconscious, but there was no evidence to suggest a thing."
"Before anything could happen to you, I decided to take you into the village and my inn until you woke up. I couldn't leave a boy like you in the wild like that."
The man then smiled, "As for your question, my name is Hunter. Now tell me, who are you and what happened to you?"
The boy was at first hesitant to answer, unsure whether to trust this man and his words.
"I know this must be all a shock to you, but trust me, I am not here to harm you one bit," gently said Hunter.
The boy let his guard down as he had no other option but to trust the stranger.
"I'm not sure either what happened. In fact, I don't remember what my name is, let alone anything else."
Hunter was surprised. "You don't remember anything?!"
The boy shook his head.
"Well… perhaps you took a hard fall that you don't remember a thing. Tell me, how do you feel? Your head, your body?" quickly asked Hunter.
The boy walked around the room to see if he felt anything odd. He then turned to Hunter, "I feel perfectly fine, but I just can't remember anything at all."
Hunter put his hand over his chin, pondering what to do. "Interesting well that is odd indeed."
"Here, why don't we head down to the lobby?" Hunter offered, turning toward the hallway.
"I'll make you something warm, and you can ask me anything. Maybe it'll help jog some memories."
Without a word, the boy gave a small nod and followed him, the soft creak of the wooden floor beneath their feet, the only sound as they made their way down to the quiet lobby.
The lobby exuded a modest charm, serving as a tranquil retreat. A handful of chairs and a couple of wooden tables, some with open bottles still lingering, adorned the space. A fireplace was all the way to the bottom left corner of the room. To the top left stood a bar, while a reception desk occupied the far-right corner of the room. A lone tattered, blunt, heavy steel war axe as well was placed near the door of the establishment.
Hunter navigated behind the bar, ready to prepare a drink for the boy.
He then pointed to a seat in front of the bar, "Take a seat boy, I'll get it ready in a minute."
The boy nodded his head and sat down in front of the bar waiting for his drink.
"What is this place?" curiously asked the boy.
"This place is called the Wolf's Inn," replied Hunter as he grabbed a kettle with a carton of milk.
Hunter then poured the milk into the kettle and carried it to the fireplace. He ignited a fire and set the kettle atop it to warm the milk.
"AKA, I am the owner of this place. It's place for those traveling and looking for a place to stay in for the night."
Hunter then turned around, making his way back towards the bar.
"Interesting," responded the boy.
The boy then asked another question, "How many people usually come here a night?"
Hunter shook his head, placed his hand behind his head. "Well, these days, not much in fact…but can't be helped unfortunately, I suppose."
"Can't be helped?" further questioned the boy.
Hunter grabbed a cold drink from below the bar before sitting down across from the boy.
"These days, people are very hostile towards one another, I'm afraid. Survival of the fittest is the motto around the country."
Hunter then proceeded to take a sip from his drink, following up that previous statement, "And people who kill people, Aether Hunters, are ruthless to all. That's why it was important for me to save you before someone else perhaps killed you."
The boy was shaken upon hearing that. "Why would they kill me?"
"Aether my friend," quickly responded the 35-year-old man.
"Aether is the genesis of all lifeforce. It makes me, you, nature and everything around us. Without aether, our bodies will naturally lose that lifeforce and proceed to slowly wilt away." explained Hunter.
Hunter then got back up to go check up on the kettle. "Over the past 100 years, aether in our country has been slowly draining away with it increasing exponentially over the last 10 years. Less aether means basically a quicker death for all of us."
The boy was still lost, "What does that have to do with them killing me?"
The milk was warm enough. Hunter put out the fire and proceeded to head back to the bar with the hot kettle in hand.
"If they killed you, most likely they would try to steal whatever you had including your aether so they can live longer. Survival of the fittest as I said."
The boy, filled with curiosity, asked, "Why didn't you kill me? Couldn't you have saved yourself from this disease?"
Hunter smiled as he poured warm milk into a tall glass cup. "I have always believed in the greater good of humanity. My life is not more valuable than yours or anyone else's. If I must die, then so be it. But killing others to save myself… I would be no better than the disease itself."
"I believe we should be helping others and find ways to survive together. Sadly however, that's just not the case these days," sighed Hunter as he grabbed powdered packet below the bar.
He then poured the brown powder inside the packet into the milk before mixing it with a spoon.
Afterwards, Hunter pushed the glass towards the boy, "This is called hot chocolate. It's a sweet, warm milk drink. Try it and let me know how it tastes."
The boy looked at the glass with curiosity before drinking the hot chocolate.
"Well?" asked Hunter.
The boy drank the entire hot chocolate in mere seconds before responding, "It's good."
"Bahahahaah," chuckled Hunter.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing at all, just looking how fast you drank the milk. I guess you must have loved it."
Hunter then proceeded to grab his bottle and drink from it once more before asking the boy a question, "So, do you have a plan of what you want to do next?"
The boy scratched his head, "Well…I'm not sure exactly."
"Tell you what," said Hunter as he took another sip from his drink.
"Stay here with me at the inn until you remember your lost memories or have a sense of direction of what you want to do. I'll make sure you are protected, and no one harms you as well. In exchange, help around the inn with chores as needed."
The boy nodded his head in agreement. "That sounds perfectly fine with me."
As Hunter took another sip from his drink, the boy looked around the establishment.
Suddenly, the heavy steel beaten axe at the front of the door caught the boy's attention.
"What's the axe for?" the boy pointed at the front of the inn.
"Ah that axe. Now that brings back some memories," fondly said Hunter.
"Much to how I look now, I used to be a traveling adventurer helping people with their problems. Always wanted to be that hero in those fiction books you would read."
Hunter put the drink down looking at the boy's tattered garments. "Speaking of looks, we must get you a new change of clothes."
Suddenly out of nowhere a scream was heard from outside the inn, "AHHH SOMEONE HELP ME!"
The boy got up from his seat ready to go check outside before Hunter placed his hand on his shoulder.
"You stay right here, let me go check the situation out."
Hunter then grabbed the worn-down axe beside the inn's entrance before stepping outside.
To his surprise, he looked to his right and saw a woman up against the establishment wall with a man hovering over with a dagger.
"Hey you," pointed Hunter at the man. "Step aside from her right now."
The man looked to his left with a smirk on his face. "Come on old man, you know hard life is. Tell you what, if I kill her, we both can share her aether, does that sound good."
"Absolutely not, step aside from her right now," sternly said Hunter.
Although he was told to stay inside, the boy's curiosity led him to peak at what was going on outside.
Hunter looked behind his left shoulder to see the boy looking over the situation. "What did I tell you boy, stay-"
Suddenly, the strange man threw the dagger at Hunter's chest. Hunter quickly let go of his axe and clutched to his chest that started to bleed.
The boy looked in fear at Hunter and then turned to look at the strange man cackling in joy.
"Who are going to save now old man? You couldn't even save yourself there?"
Hunter turned around to the boy. "Quick boy, grab my axe…and protect the woman at all costs."
The boy immediately said, "Hunter but-"
"Don't worry about me," smiled Hunter. "I'll be fine, the dagger didn't go that deep. But saving the woman is our main concern. Now go."
Without hesitation, the boy grabbed the axe and faced the stranger. The man couldn't help but laugh even more, seeing a naïve boy hold up the axe.
"You really can't make this up, I guess fate has blessed me with so much aether today," chuckled the man.
He went to his back pockets and grabbed some rope, tying the woman to a nearby pole next to the establishment. The man then immediately turned to her as she screamed, threatening her not to make a move or make a noise, else he would torture her. Then he faced the boy, bringing out another sharp dagger.
"Come boy, let's see what you can do for that pathetic old man," taunted the man.
The boy lifted the axe as he went charging into the man. The man smirked as he held the knife, pointing it towards the boy's chest. The boy brought the axe above his head and attempted to swing down onto the man, only for the man to quickly move to the right.
"Man, how slow that swing was," again taunted the strange man. Quickly, he took his knife and stabbed it into the boy's left arm. The boy let a howling scream as he winced in pain.
"Kid!" shouted Hunter in worry.
Despite the pain, the boy tightly gripped the axe attempted to swing at the strange man once more. The man simply dodged and laughed once more.
Hunter looked at the boy in worry and then at his own injury before slamming his fist on the ground.
"Damn this bleeding," thought Hunter as he finally pulled out the knife. The bleeding was pretty bad, and he didn't want it to be worsened with any sudden movements.
The man then once more stabbed the boy's left arm in a different spot, this time going deeper while laughing at his scream and pain. The boy kicked him in the chest for him in desperation to get him away from his arm. The man was pushed away but left his knife in the boy's left arm.
"Shit my dagger… no matter, this boy can't do anything," thought the strange man.
The boy looked around frantically, as he looked for ways to beat the man. In the spur of the moment, he suddenly came up with a plan.
"What now boy?" smirked once more the man. "You seem to have a different look on your face than before. Dare I say…you think you can beat me?"
The boy once more gripped onto the axe before looking down at the dirt road. He then swung as hard in front of him. The dirt and sand flew everywhere as it became difficult for the man to see.
"What the-" the man said before he profusely started to cough a lot.
Hunter looked at the situation with curiosity," What's this boy up to?"
Out of the dirt from the other side, a dagger flew by the strange man.
The man wheezed as he turned around to see where his knife went, "My dagger!"
Then suddenly, the boy rushed out of the dirt smoke, bringing the axe up high before making direct contact with the strange man. The man screamed as he was punched into the ground from the axe.
Hunter looked at the boy with amazement with the strategy he executed before he bursted into laughter.
The boy stuck the axe into the ground before catching his breath, "Hunter are you alright?"
"What a way to beat him boy!" chuckled Hunter. He then tore off his right sleeve before wrapping his chest with it to stop the bleeding before making his way towards the boy.
"Man for someone who can't remember a lick, you sure know how to fight."
The boy smiled back at Hunter, "Yeah I suppose so."
"Hey since you don't a name, I thought of one looking at your fight. What about Kyro?" cheerily asked Hunter.
The boy looked confused, "Kyro?"
Hunter nodded, "As in victorious one."
The boy thought about it before he said, "It's a bit odd, but I think I like that."
"Kyro it is!"
Hunter then grabbed the axe that was stuck in the ground and made his way to the woman tied up, freeing her from the rope she was tied. Without another second to spare, she quickly ran off in hopes of avoiding further danger.
Kyro asked Hunter, "What do we do about this guy then?"
"I will bring tie him outside far away from the village tomorrow," said Hunter as he walked back towards Kyro.
He then pointed towards the Inn, "Why don't you head on inside in the meantime? I'll sort this all out and take care of our injuries before we head to bed."
Kyro nodded and began to head back towards the Inn before turning around, "Could I have another glass of hot chocolate?"
Hunter smiled and laughed, "Of course, I will make another one for you as well."