The Voice of Irene

Chapter One: The Village

Aphmau's POV

I woke up in a forest clearing. My head was throbbing, and I had no idea where I was. All I knew was that my name was Aphmau.

'Ugh. What is going on?' A female voice asked in my head.

"What the heck?" I exclaimed.

'Holy nether this is not my body.' The voice said, sounding a little freaked out.

I frowned, then inwardly thought, 'Who are you?'

'My name is Irene.' The voice said, then she made a sort of humming noise, as if she was thinking something over. 'I could've sworn that I was just about to die. What happened?'

'How am I supposed to know?' I asked. 'You're the one who's a voice in my head.'

'Touché.' Irene said. 'I suppose I'm stuck in your head then. Lord only knows my body is most likely dead by now, especially with the absence of my mind. Soul? What am I exactly, if I'm no longer technically alive?'

I gave what could be considered a mental shrug. 'This will be weird I guess. But I'll probably get used to it.'

'Hopefully, at least.' Irene said brightly.

I snorted and stood up, looking for anything to use as a shelter. I saw a guy cutting down a tree, and chased after him, to see if he knew where any shelter was.

'Well he sure didn't want to talk to you.' Irene commented.

'Yeah. Wonder why.' I replied as I noticed a village and began walking towards it.

'Well, regardless, I'm going to try and figure out why I'm in your head.' She seemed to shrug it off.

I felt a strange sensation in my head and shook it a bit. 'What was that?' I asked.

'Oh I'm going through your mind to see if I can find anything that'll help me. It's really empty in here. You don't remember anything before waking up in that clearing back there, don't you?' Irene asked.

I took a little offense to her saying my head was kind of empty (did she call me dumb?) but answered nonetheless. 'Not a single thing except my name. I don't even know if it really is my name.'

'This is not going to be easy, then.' Irene muttered.

I walked up to the village, and saw two guards standing outside of it. "Hi, my name's Aphmau." I said brightly.

'I thought you weren't sure if it was or wasn't.' Irene commented, amused.

'Oh hush you.' I mentally rolled my eyes. Only about a second had passed for our little conversation in the conscious world.

"My name is Garroth, and this is Zenix." The guard on the right said.

'There's something up about that Zenix guy... Don't trust him, Aphmau.' Irene warned. 'Or at least be wary of him.'

'Alright. I figure it's a good thing to be about anyone until they earn your trust.' I replied.

I shook both of their hands and went into the village.

'Oh wow that kind of sucks.' Irene commented as I stared at some people stuck in the well.

'Kind of? Really? Hang on I'm going to save them.' I said, the first three words in my reply incredulous. I made a pickaxe and broke the stone at the edge, which would let them out if they'd actually leave. 'Oh these guards are dumb. I say villagers, it is time we took a bath together in the well! A bath we can't get out of!' I joked.

Irene snorted. 'I like you. I think we'll get along great.'

I mentally nodded. 'Good. It's always a good thing to get along with voices in your head.' I stopped for a moment while leading some people from the well. 'Am I crazy? That sounded kind of crazy.'

'It did.' Irene agreed but didn't reply to my question. I mentally shrugged, decided I didn't care if I was crazy, and kept leading people to houses for the night.

Afterwards, I went off to find somewhere I would be able to sleep for the time being.

'I suppose I could sleep here. I mean, no one else is here so yeah...' I trailed off, setting up a bed in the library house next to the well.

'Yep, that works.' Irene seemed to nod. 'By the state of the village, there's no Lord. Either that or the Lord just sucks and is super lazy.'

I mentally snorted and fell asleep. The next morning I went around, fixing up some things, and just generally making everything better.

'Yeah there's no Lord here. Nor even the laziest Lord would allow their village to be in this state.' Irene decided. 'Be careful Aphmau, the more you help out, the more people will begin to listen to you and you'll end up as the Lord sooner or later.'

'I don't think that's a bad thing, really.' I commented, switching out some of the old road (nasty, that is- all moldy and gross) with some newer wood.

'There are those who don't like others being in power.' Irene warned. 'Another Lord, perhaps. Maybe he or she will get angry that you, or anyone really, became Lord of a village. Just be on guard.'

I tilted my head a bit in consideration. 'Alright, I'll keep my eyes open if people start to defer to me to make decisions for the village.'

'That's the best I can ask for, really.' Irene accepted.

As I was working, a wolf came up to me and began sniffing around. "Oh!" I exclaimed quietly, checking my pockets. "Yes! I have bones." I cheered.

I pulled them out and fed them to the wolf, who sat at my feet after about two. I put the rest away. "Hm. I'm going to name you Thorgi." I decided.

'Aphmau did you just tame a wolf for the sake of taming a wolf?' Irene asked.

'Yes.' I said immediately. 'Plus I wanted a pet.'

She snickered, and I told Thorgi to follow me. The day was nearing its end, and so I finished up the last of what I was doing and went back to the library house.

As it turns out, I have a roommate. "Oh. You're the girl who moved in then?" A blond girl with purple eyes asked me. I believe her name was Emmalyn.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, I didn't realize anyone lived here." I replied.

She just gave a small obnoxious scoff. "Well don't bother me and I'll leave you alone." She said, turning away.

"Okay." I nodded, then went to my bed. Thorgi laid on it at my feet, and I leaned over and pet him before going to sleep.