ONE (Book 1 in the Amnesia Archives)

Chapter 22

I spun around, I could barely see anything in the pitch darkness, but the voice had been clear as day. There was someone here and it was our pursuer, or kidnapper. I wondered if the two beings were the same, which would make sense, but I also wondered why on earth would anyone be after us?

"Who are you?" Aknon asked, standing in front of me, despite wincing because of his injured leg. I didn't know why he felt the need to do that, but I wasn't complaining as the two of us stared at the mass of darkness.

"Who I am isn't important," the figure said. I didn't know how I knew, but the figure shook their head. "But my purpose is very important."

"What would that be?" I asked, leaning around my brother. "Because I'm pretty sure that you're the one to cause this." I gestured around us.

The figure chuckled. "Well, yes, I did cause this. Do you like it?" They gestured around to the walls, which somehow made it easier to see. This person must have some kind of magic, there's no way something like that could be created without it. "I think that it's very handy, especially when the village is being threatened by such terrible weather. Oh, the conditions they were put through were dreadful." I could be convinced that they were bragging from the way they were talking.

"Names are important," Aknon argued. "Please let us know yours." I didn't agree with him, but I knew that we would both be somewhat comforted by knowing the name of this person. I didn't think that it was worth asking for their name again as they had already brushed us off the first time.

"Nevermind that." The person waved a hand and Aknon fell onto me, snoring loudly.

"H-Hey!" I exclaimed as I struggled to Keep Aknon standing. "There's no need for that. All he did was ask your name."

"I don't want to talk to him," the person said simply. "Aknon is far too interested in curing his appearance, you are not." The person nodded towards me, and once again it was like I could see darkness within darkness. The person was moving, but I could only sense it rather than see it.

"Neither is my sister," I pointed out before clamping my mouth shut. I hoped this person wouldn't go after my sister and Prin. They might have Onyx by their sides, and Sarphi may be a fierce fighter when she has to be, I didn't think that they could hold their own against someone who could make Aknon fall asleep so easily.

"Your sister didn't suit this meeting either, she is far too preoccupied. I wouldn't be able to have a conversation with her whilst that human is around." I figured that the human was Prin. "Even now, we are being eavesdropped on by that doll in your pocket."

"Yeah, she does that." I looked down at my chest where Senka was hidden. "Are you the one who has been chasing us? That's not nice." I felt like I was scolding a toddler, but I really needed some kind of humour right now, "But what do you mean? You have a plan for us?"

"One question at a time," the person commanded and sighed. "No, I am not the one pursuing you, that is a far more dangerous threat than I."

"A more dangerous threat?" I questioned. "You made my brother fall asleep with a wave of your hand."

The persons shrugged, shadows shifting around them. "He could do that too if he practised that kind of magic." He did have a point. "But you're going in the right direction, you just have to keep going."

I couldn't help but let out a pathetic laugh. "That's it?" I asked. "Is that all you wanted to tell us? Because that's certainly not worth all of this." I gestured around us with my free hand, getting a hold of Aknon with my tail to help me keep him balanced.

The person laughed and shook their head, as though I had made a lame joke. "Ohm no I had this set up for years. You don't get rid of skeletons like this that easily." They kicked something and I let out a screech as it hit my leg, causing them to laugh. "Relax, it's a skull. They're the one who's dead."

"This isn't adding up. What aren't you telling me?" I wanted to be more intimidating, but I probably looked like a puppy in comparison to this person. "If you have a mission for us to go on, we're already on a mission."

The person nodded their head. "You're on a mission to discover why you're like this, and your brother wants to cure it. But I'm here to give you another message, and a warning."

"A warning?" I repeated. "What kind of warning?" I shifted from foot to foot, trying not to show how restless I was. I felt anxiety and fear dancing on my nerves. "I've had my fair share of warnings."

"I'm sure you have." They nodded. "However, this time the warning is real." They stepped towards me, striding so quickly that they were inches in front of me before I could take another breath. "Someone is coming after you. They're not coming after your siblings, just you."

My blood ran cold. "Me?" I didn't know why exactly someone would be out for me specifically. Well, I didn't know why anyone would be out for me for a serious reason, a reason for someone to trap us and face us directly. Or face me directly. I was used to petty threats of death by men who didn't want me flirting with their wives, or men who didn't want me to be flirting with them, or just general threats of others who didn't like what I looked like. The latter was the most common, which was really frustrating.

"You should prepare yourself, Acer," the person said, voice deepening. I could smell metal on his breath, almost as though he drank blood or ate money. "Someone is pursuing you, not your siblings.,. Someone with grave intentions, someone who will capture you. You need to be ready. There is no way of getting out of this."

With every word. My body shuddered with the feeling of bugs crawling over me. "You're warning me about something I can't get out of." I nodded my head slowly. "But why? How can I prepare myself for something I don't know?"

"I am not the one aware of your fate," the person told me with a small scoff as they stepped back and turned. "I am only a messenger."

"A messenger wouldn't go to this much trouble," I said with a laugh, glancing around at the room we were in. "A messenger doesn't create a whole room trap with decaying skeletons and acid on the walls,"

The person shrugged their shoulders. "The room already existed; I simply recycled it for this specific purpose. I created this years ago. The skeletons were previous victims of mine, the ones originally meant to be taken by the trap."

"How did you even lure them into the trap anyway?" I asked, but I quickly regretted it as I wasn't sure I wanted to know. "This was under a house."

The person nodded. "Yes, it was their house." He pointed to the skeletons again. "But that's not important at the moment. What is important is that I was sent here to warn you about your fate. Now I can finally go. I've been waiting at least thirty years down here."

"What do you mean your work is done?" I asked, stepping forward, dragging Aknon with me. "You haven't told me anything."

"I have told you that you need to prepare yourself for capture. That your siblings will not be harmed or pursued. What else can I tell you?" The figure turned their head once against of ace me. I still couldn't figure out many of their features, despite them having been close to me earlier. They were made out of pure shadows.

"Who are you?" I asked for a final time.

The figure gave a small chuckle, as though they couldn't believe I was still asking this question. "I am a shadow, a messenger. I am a likeness."

"A likeness? Of what?" I narrowed my eyes at the figure, but they just shook their head and melted into the wall. The only sound which came from them was a snapping of their fingers.

Aknon jolted awake, just as the ceiling shifted. I could hear Sarphi panicking and Onyx barking. Everything seemed to go back to normal, or whatever we constituted as normal.

"What just happened?" Aknon asked, He coughed several times and spun around, yelling as he irritated his bad leg. "Where did the person go?"

I sighed and opened my coat, letting Sneka pop her head out again. "What?" she asked with a yawn. "I was napping."

"I got them to open the ceiling," I stated simply before shuffling backwards and looking up, noticing the silence. "Hey, you gonna help us down?" I yelled up to the others.

"You're alive?" Sarphi's footsteps were loud as she came into view, "what's going on?"

I shook my head. "Just let us up first, then we'll explain everything." I squeezed Aknon's shoulder, reminding myself that he was here and awake now, but also that the past half an hour was real.