"Ah! It hurts. Where is my pillow?"
I feel a sharp throb in my neck but keep my eyes squeezed shut, clinging to the last remnants of sleep.
"Ah. Is this Tuesday? I have a presentation," I mutter, still not fully awake, though my senses are coming back slowly. An unfamiliar scent of rock and mud enters my nose. My fingers brush against a surface that is cold, jagged, and caked with grit.
What's going on? Did I fall asleep on the library floor?
I slowly open my eyes, but what greets me is pitch-black darkness. I blink several times, yet the darkness remains.
So, it is pure soil indeed. Did I crawl back outside somehow?
As soon as my consciousness fully returns, a bone-crushing pain washes over my entire body. It feels like someone is breaking my skull with a hammer.
I groan in pain.
The air is thick and heavy, sticking to the back of my throat. Every breath feels like I'm inhaling wet wool. The silence feels absolute, only my fast breath reaches my ear.
Finally, I barely manage to calm myself down.
I don't feel any strength remaining in my body. I force my shaking legs to lock, pushing off the floor until I'm upright. The world tilts, and a fresh wave of nausea threatens to pull me back down.
Soon, my palm slips into a deep indentation in the rock—a cavity about a foot wide. As I feel along the wall, I realize the surface is riddled with these hollows.
"Burnt soil…Jagged walls.... I'm in a cave," I whisper to the void. "But how?"
I move forward with the last bit of remaining strength. My head spins around as I am about to lose consciousness again. My mouth dries up like I haven't drunk for months.
I drag my hand along the wall for support, the sharp grit biting into my palms as I stumble forward into the unknown.
I drag my hand along the wall for support, the sharp grit biting into my palms as I stumble forward into the void.
Five minutes… ten… twenty. Time has lost its shape, dissolving into the oppressive dark. Despite the fragility of my frame, I force my legs to move, but they finally betray me. My muscles lock. My strength evaporates.
Thud.
I collapse onto the damp soil, legs folding beneath me. Every inch of my body screams, and the hollow ache of starvation is a physical weight in my gut.
"I am lost," I groan. The sound of my own voice is pathetic. My calm, collected mind shatters against the weight of the absolute silence. Soon, a heavy darkness begins to swallow me whole. My vision blurs, and my eyelids grow heavy, sinking under their own weight. As the world fades, I pray for the hallucinations to finally end.
—
I slowly open my eyes. The pain that had rack my body was gone, mysteriously banished. As I look in my surroundings, I realized I am inside a modern building.
"Where am I?"
I stand before a room and reach out. My hand slip through the wall like a ghost's. I gasped. Did I die? Am I a spirit?
From inside the room, voices drift toward me. I move toward them, a strange sense of familiarity tugging at my chest. They don't notice me; I become a phantom in their presence. As I draw closer, I see the patient. She is beautiful, but her face was etched with exhaustion.
My heart ached. She looks so much like my mother—the mother I lost when I was only ten.
Is this a dream?
Just as I reach for her, I see the third person: a baby. Their conversation reached my ear.
"Congratulations, Ma'am. You've brought a healthy boy into the world."
A midwife in a sterile white gown smiles warmly. She cradled the newborn with practiced grace before leaning down to hand him to his mother.
"My baby… my son. My heart," Vena whispered. Her voice was raspy, but her eyes—framed by tangled, dark-brown hair—shone with a fierce light.
"That's…", my voice stuck midway, sensing something odd.
"He hasn't cried yet, but his breathing is steady," the midwife noted, checking the infant's vitals.
"He's just taking it all in," Vena replied, a breath of pure relief escaping her lungs. "He's perfect."
"Rest now, Ma'am. You've earned your peace. I'll be just outside if you need me."
"Thank you, Evelyn. For everything."
With a quiet nod, Evelyn slipped out of the chamber, leaving the room settled in a soft, peaceful hush. Vena looked down at the tiny life in her arms.
"Mother…is that you?" I speak with a heartfelt feeling, yet I know she couldn't hear me. I just stared at her, almost crying, after seeing her many years later.
"Now, all that remains is to give you a name," she murmured, her voice breaking. "I only wish he could have seen you."
A single tear traced a path down her cheek. "But don't you worry. I will never let you feel the void where he should have been."
A strange feeling usurps in my heart at the mention of father.
As if sensing her sorrow, the babe stirred. He didn't cry; instead, he reached out, his tiny, uncoordinated hand brushing against her cheek as if to wipe the salt away.
Vena let out a wet laugh. "Ah! Forgive me, little one. I didn't realize you were awake."
"Ha Ha, you were always like this,", I mumbled, and this scene really comforted my heart.
She wiped her eyes, pulling him closer. "If your father were here, he would have known exactly what to call you. He was obsessed with the sky, you know? He used to say that in this vast, complicated world, I was the most dazzling thing in existence... and the sky was a close second."
She looked toward the window, though her mind was miles away. "I'd watch him stare at the horizon for hours, lost in the blue. I never quite understood why."
She turned back to her son, her expression hardening with love. "But that doesn't matter now. I want him to live on through you. I want his spirit, his charisma, and his reach to be yours. So, I name you after the thing he loved most."
"From today, your name is Skyre."
She kissed his forehead. "You aren't named for the sky's beauty, Skyre. I name you for its height. I believe you will be the one to finally touch it. You will reach places no one else can."
I stand still like a crumbling pillar, crying. But I know I need to get out of here. It's either past memory or an illusion.
She paused, looking at the tiny face, feeling a sudden surge of humility.
"No… I won't burden you with grand expectations. It's just… even without a name, I can feel the greatness in you. 'Skyre' is just my selfish way of making sure the world sees it, too."
"I give you the last legacy that your father left behind, this earring..", even though I don't know the origin. But take it, it's yours. Only when you are in real danger will it help you. That's what your father said."
"That spiral-shaped earring.....",
Soon, everything starts to distort and crumble slowly. Cracks appear everywhere, and darkness starts swallowing me from my feet. I was stuck freeze unable to move a finger.
Then, memory after memory appeared. Some I know, some I don't know.
I just saw a glimpse… a glimpse of the future.
Time feels slow or stopped entirely. "How much time has passed?" I only asked myself to console myself that not much time had passed.
Hours..Week..Month….year passed in the prison of forgotten memories.