Should We Meet Again

Chapter One

A young man stood amongst a seemingly endless sea of trees and wildlife. Autumn leaves peppered the grass around his feet, their brilliant hues being augmented ever so gently by the rays of sunlight that shone through the canopy. A gentle breeze caressed his face, anchoring his thoughts in the present moment. It was so serene, so familiar. Something inside of him felt like he'd known this place forever.

"Come on, Caleb. Hurry up!"

A girl was in front of him now, weaving through the wilderness, her indigo hair trailing behind her. Her amber eyes watched him, beckoning him to follow. The boy could feel the smile stretching across his face as he ran after his sister. Out on the outskirts, there was little more enjoyable than playing in the forests with her. It was so strange, this joy. It came so naturally, and yet at the same time, it seemed so foreign. Time seemed to disappear as he continued on, fading from his mind and becoming an almost an incomprehensible concept as he chased after his sister's back.

Eventually, his brain began to register some inconsistencies. Tiny seeds of doubt and suspicion that had been planted in his brain since the beginning began sprouting and growing until he could ignore them no more. Where was he? How did he get here? He had no memories to answer these questions. If fact, he seemed to have no memories at all. That was okay, wasn't it? He should consider himself lucky to find himself in such a serene place on little more than a whim. Despite his contentment, trained instinct began to take control, and he desperately wanted for an explanation to all of this. His gaze turned once again to the girl ahead of him. Perhaps his sister knew the answer.

"Hey, hold on -."

Wait, what was her name? Why couldn't he remember her name? She was his sister, his best friend, his companion, and he couldn't remember her name. The young boy looked on as his sister stopped and turned around in compliance to his request. But that was when he truly knew something was amiss. Her face, the face he was sure he'd known his entire life, appeared as nothing but a blur. The amber eyes he knew she had, the boyish confidence that always augmented her expression, the charming smile that could brighten any day; all of them were gone.

"What's wrong, Caleb?"

With that question, the world around him began to crumble apart. The beautiful autumn scene withered to a decrepit black. The boy's emotions changed with his surroundings. His contentment had been replaced with various feelings: anger, regret, and most prominently of all, fear. 'What's wrong?' she asks? Everything was wrong. None of this was real. She wasn't his sister and this wasn't his home. Caleb? No. His name was –

"Talon!"

The assassin jolted awake to the sensation of being shaken rather violently. It took him a second to gather what exactly was going on. He was lying down on something, the ground, presumably, and a clear night sky loomed over him. The ambient starlight lit up the surrounding tree line. On her knees beside him was ad new comrade of his, a comrade that was wearing a very concerned and very real face.

It was that dream. Again.

"Riven, why did you wake me? Is it my watch?" he asked.

The young woman visibly relaxed at her mentor's return to consciousness. "You looked like you were having a bad dream," she answered. "And no, your watch isn't for another couple of hours."

Talon returned her statement with a displeased stare. Riven quickly caught his meaning and elaborated. "It's not like I abandoned my post just to do you a favor," she explained, "You were making noise, a lot of it. It was kind of difficult to concentrate with you grunting and moaning in your sleep."

He took a deep breath and eased his body for the first time since he awoke. "Then, you have my thanks. I apologize for disturbing you."

"No problem," the white-haired swordswoman answered. She gave the assassin a brief smile before returning to her "post". Despite being deep in Demacian territory, they both knew their two-man camp was practically undetectable. Taking turns sleeping was more of a precaution against dangerous wildlife stumbling onto them than a defense against enemy troops.