𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹, wmmap

𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗜: chapter 1

𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗜 : Sorry,
but I don't really know

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 1

It has been a week since he woke up, a week since the world feels too big and too small, a week since he feels like a part of him is still lost somewhere in a dream.

When he first opened his eyes, he was told he had been asleep for many days. Why was he asleep in the first place? He didn't have enough courage to ask. What preoccupied him even more was the fact that nothing around him looked even close to familiar. When he looked at his surroundings, it was like he was detached from the world as it awoke nothing in his mind. He had no recollection of anything he saw.

The first person he saw was Felix. He has been at his side ever since. Felix was also the person who said that his name is Achlys. It feels wrong to call himself that name when it doesn't feel like his name at all, but he should get used to it.

Achlys —it feels so wrong—is in the gardens of the palace, drinking tea and eating delicious soft biscuits that the cook, miss Carina, baked especially for him. Speaking of miss Carina, she is one of the few people who go out of their way to still try and make Achlys remember everything he forgot. It gets annoying, but he knows her intentions are good.

The sun is very bright and it would be blinding if he didn't enjoy it so much. Achlys spends most of his time in the gardens. It is peaceful and he doesn't have to see the sad looks in the eyes of everyone he passes by. It makes him feel down to see the realization that he still doesn't remember strike their faces.

Where is Felix?

He said he would be gone for a few minutes. Maybe he got tired of dealing with Achlys too, just like all those other people that gave up on him. This makes him remember something that happened after he woke up, something that made him realize that even those who should care for him don't really do so.

Felix told him a few hours after he woke up that Achlys' husband couldn't come see him and, honestly speaking, he didn't know if he should feel disheartened or glad. Achlys' first reaction was I have a husband? What? and that was that conversation. It was never brought up again.

Does Achlys even want to know what that was all about? Not really. What if his husband is some sort of cold tyrannical man or an old fig of a man? Of course, there is also the possibility of him being the prince charming, loving type. Whatever.

Again, where is Felix? He is quite literally Achlys' only comfort in this huge and lonely palace.

STEP

STEP

STEP

Achlys raises his head and looks towards the source of the sound. The marble floor was it a terrace? that is directly connected to this part of the garden, only a few meters away from him, is where the disruptor of his peace is.

Achlys looks at the man and, caught in an illusion of hope, rises from the comfortable chair he has been sitting in for the last half hour. Maybe if he gets closer, he will see the man better and possibly recognize him. God how he wishes for that, to recognize somebody, see someone familiar.

The man has golden hair like the sun and eyes like the clear, endless sky and Achlys wants to cry because he swears he has seen them somewhere else, if not in this life, then maybe in another. Those eyes seem so far away and he wants to see them up close because they make him feel the most alive he has felt this past week.

And so, he steps closer to the man with cerulean eyes.

His hair is disheveled and he looks tired.

When he finally reaches the unknown person, Achlys finds it hard to talk, yet he does nonetheless, "Do I," a pause, "Do I know you?" His voice trembles and he wishes it doesn't.

The eyes that look so unaffected yet tired widen slightly and Achlys feels that, if he had not paid enough attention, he should have missed the happening.

His Imperial Majesty,
Empress Consort Achlys of Obelia