“I think he is waking up,” the old, bearded man said, looking down. The white-haired woman opposite him quickly nodded her agreement.

“What should we do, Argarth?” she asked the bearded man.

“I do not know,” Argarth said, his frizzy eyebrows pushed together in a frown. “I was tending to dinner in the kitchen when, all of a sudden, he stood there. And just as soon as he had appeared, he collapsed.” They both looked down at the boy, laying there on the bedroll.

“I do not know who he is or where he came from, but I think all will be revealed in time. For now, we should let the boy be, he will tell us why he is here soon enough.”

     As he slowly awoke, it felt as if he was waking up for the first time in years. He could not remember falling asleep. Nor could he remember where he was. Who were the two people sitting nearby? To his right sat a tall, bald, brown-bearded man with prominent lines on his face. Under a pair of thick, bushy eyebrows sat kind, green eyes with a knowing gaze. The man wore simple beige robes. Next to the man sat a woman. She was a bit shorter than him, with long, white hair and purple eyes. She had a warm smile and soft features. A pendant, depicting a shield, hung from her neck over the simple, dark blue blouse she was wearing.

“Hello, child. My name is Lia,” she said, then pointed to the man. “And this is Argarth,” she continued without letting go of him with those purple eyes. “Did you sleep well?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. “I suppose so, though it feels as if I’ve been asleep forever,” he said, stretching his arms above his head and sitting up against the stone wall behind him.

“All right, we will start with something easier. What is your name?”

“It’s…” He paused for a moment before continuing. “I can’t remember,” he said staring at the air in front of him as if his name would materialise out of thin air. Why could he not remember his name? It was at the tip of his tongue. It was... No, he could not recall it. He frowned and tightened his fists.

“It is okay, just take a deep breath and clear your thoughts. What do you remember?” The way she spoke to him was calming and relaxing, almost like magic. He nodded and took a deep breath before looking up at her again.

“I remember waking up, but before that, nothing,” he answered, staring off into the distance. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no worries,” she said with but the tiniest of hints of what to him sounded like disappointment. “Argarth told me that when you arrived you had simply appeared in the kitchen, how did you get in there?” Her lips were tightened and her eyes now looked at him as if she was trying to look through him. He had no memory of this. Argarth protested to Lia’s questions.

“Do not pressure the lad too much Lia, I do not think much good will…”

“Wait! I remember something,” the boy said, interrupting Argarth. There was a picture burned into his mind. “A face. It is a woman, with dark eyes and black hair. She is surrounded by some sort of shadow. The shadow seems to flow from her onto the ground in tendrils. And she looks angry, mad even. Who is she?” He blurted it all out a bit too quickly, stumbling over his words.

“I am sorry, but we cannot be certain,” Argarth said with a hint of worry in his tone. “You should rest now and we will be back tomorrow to see how you feel and to see if you remember anything more.” They both stood up to leave. “Good night m’boy.”

Argarth and Lia left the room and the boy went back to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a woman with black hair and eyes as dark as the night. She spoke with someone - or something. He could not see what it was because it was surrounded by the same darkness that was enveloping her, but whatever was inside was covered completely by tendrils and spikes of darkness. The only thing visible through the shadows were two glowing, red eyes.

“I will make sure it is done my lord, I give you my word.” the woman said to the thing in the darkness, bowing her head slightly, showing no emotion whatsoever.

“Good.” The words from the thing, shrouded in darkness, came in a low, piercing whisper. “The time of reckoning is at hand and soon all your endeavours will be rewarded. See to it that you get this done, or your life is mine.” As it said the last part, the voice, and the darkness, disappeared leaving behind the woman and the lesser darkness surrounding her. Beneath where the darkness had been, the ground was covered in ash. And yet the air above was thin and cold, freezing almost. The woman turned her gaze and seemed to look straight at the boy. Then nothing, emptiness, darkness.

As the boy fell asleep, Argarth and Lia walked up the stairs and into the garden.

“Are you thinking the same thing as I am? Do you think it is her?” Lia asked uncertainly, then noticed Argarth’s absent gaze. “Argarth, what is it?” She looked at Argarth, but he did not answer. She thought he looked worried. “Argarth! What is it?” she asked, putting her hand on his arm. He finally looked at her, sighed and looked at the ground.

“I fear we are all in grave danger,” he said at last. She knew what he meant.

“Perhaps, but we cannot know for certain and if we act without proof we might start the war all over again!” Argarth frowned at her words.

“Lia, the war and the past thirty years were simply ash and embers. I fear the real flames are still ahead of us.” Lia stopped and took a deep breath.

“What are you saying, will there be trouble?” Argarth delayed a second before answering.

“Undoubtedly so. I do not know what will happen or when, but I feel a change is coming, and it might not be for the better.” He scratched his bald head and dried non-existing beads of sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “But for now there is nothing we can do, so let us sleep, it is late and I need to consider today’s events,” Argarth said without objection from Lia.

“Of course, good night.” Argarth looked down for a moment before reacting.

“Good night.”

After sleeping a while the boy opened his eyes sharply.

“Nathan,” he said and then he paused. “My name is Nathan.” As Nathan slowly went back to sleep, he felt as if something was watching him. He remembered the woman’s dark gaze. It haunted his thoughts for a while before he fell asleep once more. As the night progressed, he had another strange dream. He saw a big, sinister-looking tower, standing in the knee-deep snow. In the background, he saw a ridge of snow-covered peaks rising up as far as the eye could see to the left and right. His mind focused on the top of the tower, which held a large balcony. On the balcony stood a small, waist-high, marble pillar of simple design. Above the pillar, floating in the air as if held up by invisible strings, level with Nathan’s chest, was an orb about the size of a human head. Around the orb was a thick darkness. All the light around the orb seemed to be consumed by the purple and black flames that demanded Nathan’s gaze. He could not make out whether the flames were inside the orb, or on its surface. Behind the orb, where the balcony connected with the rest of the tower stood a large, wooden door. Suddenly, the door burst open and a blur of white landed in front of the pedestal.

“He did what?” The woman in darkness said to the big, white-haired creature. With its height and muscle, Nathan had no doubt it would be bigger and stronger than the woman, yet it was cowering before her.

“He left,” the creature said, “with the prisoners. Said he would take them to you. That’s what the messenger said.” The woman slapped the creature with the back of her hand. The blow looked like it would not have hurt much from the way her hand moved through the air, yet the creature was thrown to the side of the balcony by the force of the blow.

“How dare you speak to me in such a way?” It was a rhetorical question. “You are to address me as ’Lady Black’.” She did not wait for a response but continued, turning away slightly from the creature. “So he has finally snapped out of it.” The creature began to stand and the woman turned to face it once more. “Gregle, take the elite forces and find them. Alive,” she said, putting emphasis on the last word.

“Of course Lady Black, your wish is my command,” Gregle said. As the dream faded and Nathan watched Gregle scurry off into the tower, he fell into deep sleep which lasted the rest of that strange night, which happened to be his seventeenth birthday.

     The next morning he woke to the yellow streams of sunlight shining through the small window at the top of the wall. Nathan looked around and analysed his surroundings like he always did. Was that something he did? He shook his head slightly, getting the thought out of his mind and simply trusted his instincts. It was dark and a bit chilly in there. Some areas of the stone floor, rectangular in shape, had a different shade to them than the others, as if the dust, moist and air had not gotten to them as much as the rest of the floor. There was one such area next to either wall on his left and right and two in the middle with the shorter sides parallel to the wall opposite him. He reasoned this had been a wine cellar once, and that these marks were from the shelves which had stood there. But how could he know such a thing? He could not remember anything but his name, but just by looking at this room he could see what it had been. And things that had happened. There were two pale, red stains on the floor in the middle of the room, and on the wall next to them were small scratches. The stains could have been wine, but somehow Nathan knew better. He could almost see it. One person coming down, to fetch something or to hide. The other person was waiting. The first person swings something big, perhaps a candlestick, at the other one but misses and hits the wall, chipping off a piece of the stone. The other then attacks the first, perhaps with a knife or other sharp object. The first one knows it is over but takes one last swing at the other and manages to bash its head with the candlestick and they both go down. He knew that two people had died here. Somehow he could sense the energy still lingering around the stains. But why would he, Nathan, with no memory but his name and fractions of some strange dream, know these things? A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

“Good morning m’boy! Did you sleep well?” Argarth asked with a cheerful voice as he entered the cellar and flooded it with yellow streams of light coming through the doorway at the top of the stairs on Nathan’s right. Nathan held up his arms to shield his eyes from the light.

“Uhm yes, I did,” he replied, looking down quickly, struggling with himself whether he should tell the old man about last night’s dream. He decided that since he knew no one else, he might as well share his dream with Argarth. “I had another strange dream,” he finally said.

“Yes yes, and you can tell me all about it later. But first you need to eat something,” Argarth said with a smile as he pointed out through the door. Nathan made an effort to smile as convincingly as possible, though the old man had already started walking up the stone stairs to the sunny, summer day outside. As they entered the beautiful garden, Nathan saw Lia sitting there by a green, round, wooden table. The table stood between the two big apple trees in front of him. Beneath his bare feet was a stone path that led to a very big house standing at his right, separate from the wine cellar. Where were his shoes? Did he have shoes? The house looked to be very old. Its faded bone-white colour was cracked in several places, revealing the bricks beneath. The house had a big oak door, which stood like a mountain, guarding the entrance to the house. Only one window, high above the door, adorned the face of the house. It looked as if it led to the third floor and had coloured glass, showing a picture of a purple shield of the same kind as the pendant Lia had around her neck. Nathan’s eyes flitted to Lia and he noticed her eyes. They were of the same purple colour. She was studying him as he took it all in. He broke the gaze and looked around once more. To the left, the path led to a small garden, next to the wine cellar, where many different plants and herbs grew. Nathan recognised a few of them, strangely enough. Past the garden, the path turned right around some bushes which seemed to enclose a small clearing which could be accessed from the lawn. The path then came up behind one of the apple trees, running along a small, wooden fence before turning right behind the trees and continuing along another garden where different fruits and berries grew. The path came to a close back in front of the house. Nathan’s gaze once again turned toward the garden. Argarth had reached the table and was now sitting next to Lia, taking a big bite of a red apple.

“Come over here and sit down!” he said cheerfully, still chewing on the apple.

Nathan walked through the dry summer grass and sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table. It was not very comfortable. Though he could not complain. It was, after all, the only chair he knew.

“Here, have something to eat,” Lia said with that magical, calm voice as she handed him a piece of bread with some cheese on it and an apple.

“Thank you,” Nathan said with a small nod and a polite smile, taking the bread and the apple. He looked at it for a while, uncertain.

“It is not poison, it is breakfast. Eat it!” Argarth said with a chuckle. Nathan slowly moved the bread toward his mouth. He took a bite and chewed. It tasted better than anything he had ever tasted. But then again, he could not remember tasting anything else. It was a bit sad, and frustrating, not to remember a single thing. They sat in silence while eating. Nathan, admiring the environment, and the other two, admiring the weather.

“Now m’boy, tell me about this dream of yours.” Argarth finally said after waiting for Nathan to finish his breakfast.

“Yes, I dreamt about…” He stopped and smiled. “Wait, didn’t you want to know my name?”

“So you remember now?” Lia asked with a grin.

“My name is Nathan,” Nathan said, smiling back.

“A pleasure to meet you, Nathan,” Argarth said, holding out his hand for Nathan to shake. Nathan grabbed it and was surprised at how firm the old man’s grip was.

“So, about my dream,” Nathan said after a moment. “I only remember fractions of the dream, but I remember enough to know it was no ordinary dream. I mean, why else would I have it, when I can’t remember anything else?” Nathan looked down, taking a deep breath, before continuing. “I saw a big tower. At the top, there was a balcony. The woman was there again, the one I told you about. And there was something else," he said, frowning. "Oh, right! There was some kind of ball. It was on top of a pillar. It was sort of black and purple, but like fire! And it drew all the light from the surroundings. That’s all I can remember, I think.” When Nathan finally finished, he looked up, only to see both Lia and Argarth staring at him. Argarth’s brow was drawn together and his mouth slightly open. Lia’s eyes were wide and her face slackened

“What’s wrong?” Nathan asked. He did not get an answer. Argarth and Lia looked at each other, then at Nathan.

“Are you sure that is what you saw?” Lia asked in a sharp tone, her voice no longer calm and magical. Nathan nodded.

“Come with us,” Argarth said.

“What’s going on?” Nathan asked, a shudder running along his spine. Argarth looked at him, suspicion in his eyes.

“You will see.”