The Guardian

Who are you again?

I had good news and bad news. The good news was that there was a cure to my memory loss. The bad news is... I forgot.

The camel and the giant walked me over to the far end of the oasis. The colors started fading into the sand color, and the trees and plants started becoming less abundant. The beauty of the oasis could only stretch so far until the harsh environment of the desert overpowered it.

The sand started turning to sandstone as we came closer to what looked to be a pile of sand rocks. The giant got down on one knee and started humming a tune. Giants were known to have good voices from their... their... something... size? Probably that... was I gonna say something else? Before I could try to think back to what I was gonna follow up that statement with, the ground started to shake. Dust and sand started kicking up, surrounding us like a tornado.

The rocks began slowly lifting out of the ground, revealing stems underneath them. Those rocks weren't rocks. They were mushrooms that looked like rocks. The mini sandstorm started to die down, revealing a hole under where the mushrooms had moved from. I dared to peek down the deep dark hole. It seemed to never end. I grabbed a piece of sandstone and dropped it down, counting each second until it hit the ground and echoed back up. Once it did, it made a splashing sound. 28 seconds.

"Surely you guys don't want me to go down there... do you?"

The camel walked up behind me, perring down the hole before looking back up at me.
"You'll be fine. Worst that will happen is you get a slight concussion."

What?! There was no way I was going down there. The only way I'd go down there is if I get pushed down there... I really wish I hadn't thought that just now.

As I fell down the deep, long hole, I could still feel that camel's hoof in my back. I counted for every second I was in the air, so I would k ow when to brace for impact. I made it to 24 seconds before I hit the water. Maybe I should have been counting the entire time, not when I realized I was falling.

I must have landed in Fresher water. Otherwise, I would have turned into a billion pieces floating in the water by the time I hit the water. Even though it was Fresher water, my body still ached from the pain. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't swim to the surface and find my way to shore, though. The cave was practically pitch black. I might as well have my eyes closed as I walk down this endless expanse.

I kept my arms outstretched while i walked, hoping I wouldn't fall off some cliff. As my hands finally felt the cold stone wall, I used it to stay on track to going wherever I was going. Sliding my hands against the stone wall in the quiet pitch dark made my mind go at ease. I could finally stop thinking. Just focus on the wall as I moved. With nothing around me, I had nothing to think about. At least I wished it was that way.

Without the sounds of the real world, the sounds of my mind filled in, and the same thing happened for my vision. I could hear Zyloff's voice in my head, mocking my every thought. At times, I could swear I saw the shadow of his everchamging silhouette looming in the darkness ahead. Now he was all I could think about. I hoped that meant that I would forget about him too, but instead, it did the opposite. I forgot about my friends and my family, and why I was even down here or doing this adventure at all. I felt like a kid in his imagination, down here just to have fun.

Zyloff kept talking and talking, his scratchy voice bouncing off the walls and echoing through the cave I was in. He was all I could focus on. I even found myself forgetting to breathe and walk at times, but I remembered everything relating to him. When we were saving animals in the burning jungle, I stayed at the back of Lady Nature because everything I was close to her head, I hallucinated about him. I tried to occupy my time sticking close to Mamble and Rosslyn, talking as much as I could so his blasted voice didn't play in my mind. At times, I even caught myself thinking with his voice, just narrating my thoughts.