A Dreamer's Knight

Chapter 28 - A Meeting with Fate

Mom looked up from her computer as One closed the door behind him. "Oh! Hello One. I didn't expect to see you again so soon. How did your meeting with Miss Myssohn go?"

"Not good," he said as he sat down on one of the many chairs situated around her desk. "You might as well just keep the ring. I'm just going to reseal the memories in it anyway."

"I'm afraid that's out of the question."

"There's no reason for me to remember any of that now, Mom. Whatever Teria and I had, it's gone now." One let out a sigh. "I'd rather have no memories than bad memories."

"You don't understand." Mom held up the ring. "I can't reseal or release the memories in an empty artifact."

Startled, One said, "What? What are you talking about?"

"There are no memories in this ring. There never were. It may have the signature of a memory seal, but there are no memories inside. Even if you recovered all the memories, there'd still be some residual thoughts remaining. This ring is completely empty of memories."

"Are you saying I imagined the horrible, agonizing pain? What about the memories that did come back?"

"I'm not saying what you experienced wasn't real. I am, however, saying that someone put a pretty convincing memory seal on this ring. If I had to guess, I'd imagine that they switched out the real ring for a fake."

One plopped down on his armchair, feeling dazed. "Why would anyone do that? It's not like anyone else could use them."

"I don't know," Mom replied, handing him the ring, "but if I were you, I'd ask Luck about it."

"Why Luck?" asked One, "What does she have to do with this?"

"Only two people came into contact with you from the moment you appeared on your floor in pain to when you gave me the ring: Atraius and Luck."

One considered this for a moment. "I don't see Atraius doing this kinda thing."

"Neither do I." Mom leaned forward and squinted at her screen. "Let's see ... aha! Luck's in the mall right now."

One started toward the nearest door, but Mom stopped him. "The hedge maze has been floating around my floor lately. It would probably be better in the long run to just take the elevator."

One spent most of the ride wondering why Luck would steal his memory artifact. Luck had her quirks ... all Dreamers did, after all ... still, he never would've thought she'd do such a thing. Of course, One had never seen her hit someone either. Had she known the ring held memories of Teria? Is that why she fought Teria? As strange as it was seeing her fighting, he couldn't help but feel happy. She was fighting for him.

His musings were cut short as the elevator doors opened to reveal the food court of the floor known as 'The Mall'. Although considered one floor, the Mall was really a combination of Fate, Luck, and Karma's respective floors. The first floor was for Karma and contained mostly clothing shops, bookstores, and the occasional sporting goods business. The second floor belonged to Fate and housed mostly electronics and entertainment stores. The third and final floor was Luck's and contained mostly novelty and specialty shops, as well as the food courts.

Just as Two gave access to his floor to his drinking buddies, the Destiny sisters allow certain norms (usually friends from past assignments) access to the mall, which is why One was joined by throngs of shoppers as he stepped out of the elevator into the food court.

The tantalizing scents of burgers on the grill and pizzas baking in ovens made One's stomach rumble. As much as he would have liked to have a nice cheeseburger with a side of bacon-cheddar wedges, One had work to do. With a sigh and a final longing glance at the restaurants, he headed toward the nearest mall directory.