Who Am I? (Book 1)

Chapter 17

When I woke up night had become dawn. Natasha was already "making" breakfast, in truth, she used her magic to make the trees grow fruits. I looked at her for quite a while before I felt a dull pain on my wrist. When I pulled it out of the water my hand seemed fine. The mark was completely gone, but I had very visible scars that reminded me of it. The scars followed my veins, both big and small, visible and not visible, every vein affected by the mark had a scar running over it now. I went to Natasha and showed her the progress. "This is amazing ... we must inform Julia about this discovery". She gave me a dazzling smile and I suddenly realized why she seemed so familiar. "You and me ... we met in secret a couple of years ago (ok, in reality only 2.5 years ago, but I have absolutely no clue why I couldn't remember it, I can't have sealed away that much of my memories, right?)". Her eyes lit up with joy. "You remember?" Without thinking I kissed her, and she kissed me back, just like we did in my memory. When our lips met I realized how much I had missed her and how I had longed for someone to fully understand my emotions. 

"I wanted to tell you, but Julia can be quite strict ... oh, and you could just use my nickname, you know". She flashed me a playful smile and took my hands in hers. "I really do love you, Julie ... we should change our world together". I sat there, smiling like an idiot. "I love you too ... but when did you speak with Julia?" I thought I had been with Tash all the time before our departure. "Right before we left ... I really wanted to tell you when Julia took you to our house". I fiddled with my hair a little. "I think the right choice was to wait until I remembered ..." I was still thinking about something, something that bothered me. "Does the village know that we ...?" Tash seemed a bit uncomfortable when I asked her. "No ... they are a bit ... conservative". She seemed sad but still, she gave me a little smile. "But ... someone must know". I couldn't really imagine us keeping it a secret from everyone. "Julia knows, and my sister Christa".

"Um ... aren't you hungry by now?" Tash tried to change the subject and I had to admit, I was extremely hungry. "Why can't we just forget about the journey and spend some time together, just for one or two days. My mark is gone, so we have time, right?" Tash gave me a mischievous smile (which reminded me of William's, even though they looked nothing alike). "I like the way you think, but this mission is not just to retrieve your memories". I was a bit disappointed but at the same time, I did understand. "So ... how do I remember my memories or rather dream about my memories? Can't I just ... eventually remember it all?" It didn't make sense to me. "Well ... some of your memories were sealed away by you but ... the other memories were sealed away with illusion magic. Those return because you're surrounded by magic, the others won't come back like that".

"Tash ... what happened after the attack?" My dream told me nothing about the aftermath and I knew that Tash did not become a guard. "You fainted after touching the water, so I had to swim back and get you. After the beasts left I carried you back to the village. My superiors weren't angry at me, they called me brave but ... the wound I got from the beast ... it burns even though the wound is long gone. They couldn't accept me, it was too risky since the wound burn, even more, the closer the beasts are. You ... disappeared shortly after, but that's all I can tell you". We ate the rest of the fruit in silence, but at the same time, we kept close to each other. "We shouldn't be here for too long". Tash stood up and gathered our equipment. "Right ..." It wasn't tempting to leave the island at all, I was safe here and I wanted this moment to last. In fact, I just wanted to return to the village and be with Tash, we could change their beliefs with time. But I knew there was no turning back, Julia had made that crystal clear.