Another Lost Soul

Chapter 2

It only took a week for me to get accustomed to being alone. I spent my time picking up the city and looking for canned food. Occasionally, I'd hear a deer but other than that, it was always dead quiet.

I sat on a bench outside and stared upwards. I'm hungry. I don't remember much of what happened up until last week, but I know I had friends and family. I don't know their names or faces but I know they were there. I'd like to know where they are now.

"Amir." I speak my name to give it meaning. If I don't say it often, I'll forget it. "Amir....where are we?"

I don't know where I am. Somewhere in the rotten city. I hate the way it reeks of wet ash and concrete drenched in slippery mold. Humidity fills my senses, leaving my fingers sticky and uncomfortable. I love the smell of rain but I don't like the way it feels on my skin.

I laid down on the bench and stared up at the clouds. It's cold today. There's no food in the stores around here.

I thought long and hard before I ventured out toward the forest and tried my best to stay on the trail. It's bad enough that I don't know where I am but the last thing I need is to get lost.

The sky is a pale grey, but it's difficult to tell through the leaves above me. Some are brilliant shades of purple while others resemble that of a deep orange sunrise.

"You must be alone." I turned to my side, finding a young man with long grey hair standing across the trail. "What's your name?"

He's wearing something I can't make sense of, but seems important. He even has round glasses sat atop his nose, that mask his purple tinted eyes.

"I'm...." Shit. I forgot! I looked down. "I don't know."

He carefully stepped over to me like a shepherd to a lamb, gently taking my hand in his own and examining the writing on my palm. "Is your name Amir?"

"Oh. That's what it is. Forgot I wrote it down."

"Why are you wandering out here by yourself? It's dangerous to be out here this late."

"I was hungry, that's all. Do I know you?"

"Do you?" He cocked his head with a small smile. "I worry you might be lost, Darling."

"Lost? But I-" I looked down, finding that my feet were surrounded by tall blades of grass and vines that sharply wrapped my ankles. They slowly slithered beneath the edge of my pants, piercing the skin beneath. "The path..."

"Follow me." He helped me out of the vines and wrapped his hand around my own.

The taller man led me to some kind of treehouse that was built without wooden boards. It seemed as if the tree had grown in the shape of a small hut low to the ground but not quite touching. "Watch your step."

I walked inside and examined the oddly comfortable atmosphere. "Did you build this?"

"No, but I did create it."

"How?"

"Im a mage." He held out a warm cup of tea to me, gently making sure I could hold it safely. "I moved out here a few years back and learned quite a bit of magic."

"I didn't know people still believed in that stuff."

He looks offended by that, but smiles anyway. A light blush spreads across his cheeks as he leads me to the kitchen and holds his hand over a small handmade stove.

Within a couple seconds, a small flame burst from his palm and left his skin with a tiny smear of soot. "It's not as simple as belief. In a place as rich as this, you can become what you believe with a bit of hard work and practice. I learned that from a friend."

"What's your name?"

"Alenor. Do you need a place to stay, Amir?"

"What makes you think I would willingly stay with a stranger

"Do you have any idea of your way back home for the night?"

"No, but...I'll admit you're a little odd."

"That means I'm interesting, so I'll take it and run." He laughed. "I'll make you something to eat, you can sit down for a bit."