'Wake up Memor.'
The sun hadn't risen yet when Memor heard the voice of his uncle stripping him of his sleep, but it was for the better, as it was another nightmare.
Dazed, Memor looked around, his peers slept in silence, they laid in an alternating pattern where each person's head was placed next to two sets of feet. The male and female were split at the center of the tent occupying one side each.
Memor sluggishly picked himself up and cautiously stepped over his peers to leave the tent. The wind blew softly against his dry skin. Memor's charred lips cracked under his breathing, his eyes were half open from the sleep crust holding his eyelashes together.
He walked towards the water barrels stationed in his section of the camp, where he washed his face and drank water, before walking to the edge of camp where he sat yesterday.
A sense of gloom enveloped Memor's being as he stared into the quiet fields of dark grass shivering under the morning breeze. The eclipsed moon glared down at Memor, caressing his skin in soft pale light. The looseness of his tunic made him feel free, but only physically, his mind was entrapped in what was to come.
Is anyone here?
'...'
Seeing as there was no response, Memor grabbed the pouch of Bayel flowers from the insides of his harem pants and swallowed one whole. Soon the heat bolstered in his stomach, rising and intensifying. It came to a climax with sharp pain spreading throughout his body, his mind went numb as he dropped to one knee.
After the ordeal, Memor returned the pouch back to its place and left for his tent where he jumped right into unconsciousness.
In an ocean of Bayel flowers, one man stood at its center. He couldn't remember how many times he had been here, but it had already become a home of sorts. Looking down at his feet, the layers of flowers have drowned his shins. Memor started walking, he didn't know his reasoning but he went anyways, the sweet smell of flowers rushed into his nostrils invoking a gag from him.
Shortly after, Memor began to retch, Bayel flower flowed at his mouth like a waterfall, adding more to the already infinite sea. Once he was done, he kneeled down in a stupor, before he knew what happened Memor awoke.
The sun had already risen into the sky, but his peers were still asleep except for Yorgos who left a large empty space in the row of youngsters. He looked to his left, Luni laid open mouthed, Memor could have sworn he could spot flacks of the red fruit skin that hung on the Aplaire fruit between his teeth.
Memor shook his head and got up, he wore his studded leather armor before returning to the spot he sat at early dawn. After a few hours of waiting, boredom had caught on to him, he picked up a stick and started doodling on the ground which he desecrated with his foot. Memor's mind whirled with ideas, he didn't have anything to do but think.
I wonder how many Unique Fragment Abilities there are? Twenty? No, it should be way more than that…
Just then Uncle Ceres's voice echoed in his mind, emotionless as always.
'How is the trip going?'
You know how it went…By the way, can you see through the Phantom Realm with my vision?
'No.'
How unfortunate, if you could I would know who that person was last night.
'...'
Memor drew more on the dirt, he had to tear up another section of the ground to continue his doodling, just then he heard footsteps, rotating his head, Memor spotted Luni approaching, a wide smile on his face with Jerky and bread in his hands.
"How you doing, my long lost brother?" Luni plopped down next to Memor, handing him a piece of bread and jerky.
Memor chortled, he couldn't help but smile a tidbit."I don't know, how you doing my adopted brother?" Memor took the food he was offered.
Luni looked into the distant sky, his mind occupied with thoughts Memor was oblivious to, suddenly he spoke,"say, what do you think city life is like?"
"Where is this coming from?" Memor asked.
"You know, now that we are far away from the village I thought maybe someday we might visit the city together someday." Luni turned to Memor with a bright smile on his face.
"Maybe." Memor replied almost in a whisper, his body relaxed as they both stared into the distant lands.
While laying at the edge of camp, Costa searched around, inspecting every corner of the camp, when his eye fell on Memor it was as if he had found his son skipping school.
Costa yelled as he took piqued strides Memor,"Memor, aren't you assigned to the labour team, what are you doing here?!"
"What?" Memor propped himself up with an elbow.
Costa looked at Memor, baffled as well. From what Memor wore he didn't seem like he was from the labour team but the assault team. In a moment Costa made up his mind,"You stole that armor from the assault team didn't you?! Get up and get to work right now this is a punishment not a vacation!"
Memor stared at Costa, realizing just how he ended up in this predicament.
Councillor Spyro signed me up for both teams, huh? Memor sighed internally, beside him, he could hear stifled giggles escaping Luni.
Before Memor could explain, Costa dragged Memor away from the camp and into the forest where the labour team sawed at the trees, toppling them one by one.
Memor was dragged deep into the forest away from all the noise of the labour team."You will work here alone until you cut down two trees, understand!"
Only two trees? Memor nodded without complaining. With that, Costa held out his hand, and the next moment a black rift appeared in his palm, it looked infinitely deep and oozed with black smoke. The smoke slowly coalesced into an axe.
Handing it to Memor, Costa left still busy with other matters.
Memor inspected his surroundings, there was no one. A perfect opportunity for Spyro's pawn? Memor thinks otherwise. He had suspected that Costa was a subordinate of Spyro, but after watching his action it was highly unlikely.
They should be here by now. Memor looked at the dark Navy-blue bark in front of him, though his focus was all in what he heard. After waiting a few seconds a familiar click of the tongue travelled to his ear.
Without looking around, Memor started hacking at the tree, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Hack. Hack.
What is this thing made of? Memor looked at the scratches he had put onto the tree bark. Even without having emotions, Memor could clearly see below the seal of emotion, he would have felt annoyed.
The clicking of tongue continued as Memor attempted to chop down the trees.
They don't want to do this either, huh? Memor listened in on the clicking, he couldn't pinpoint its location, it seemed to be moving all around him. Brushing his hand against the tree bark, the chip he had left on the tree was insubstantial to its overall structure.
Memor sighed, if he wanted to finish it by the end of the day he would have to pick up the pace. Just then from behind him soft footsteps came, and the clicking stopped.
Turning around, Memor saw Luni approaching with the same smile he always held. Memor let out an ecstatic smile as well, he dropped the axe and fell onto the ground."Here, you do it?"
Luni chuckled,"They really didn't go easy on you."
Luni picked up the axe and hacked at the tree, sending shards flying all over, but the damage was minimal.
Staring at Memor, Luni shook his head and dropped the axe,"You're on your own, I recommend you just run away or something." Luni walked away.
Run away, huh? Memor stood back up and left the forest, there was no point in staying any longer, if Costa comes and finds trouble Memor could always run to his teammates if needed or just escape again.
Going back to his original spot Memor went a bit farther away from camp, he sat behind a mound, obstructing the view the others had on him. This was Memor's last attempt at inviting them for a peaceful chat, to save them from…
It was quiet, only the sound of the wind came, bringing with it the scent of floral sweetness, the kind that was similar to Bayel flowers, which was disgusting to Memor. Light footsteps came from the other side of the mound.
So they decided to come. Memor waited in silence, when the footsteps stopped right behind him he heard a familiar voice.
"Hey Memor."
"Hey Elena."