Lights flashed. The room flickered. The world spun. For a moment, I was lost in time and space. For a moment, I was gone. I was gone, and then I was back. What happened? I was in a room and someone was walking around, seemingly doing something.
My vision was blurry. I seemed to be returning from a long trip to unconsciousness. I blinked a few times, and the world started to come back into focus. Now, I noticed that I was lying on a bed. The bed was in a room. The room was tiny. The white walls stained with age and neglect. The only source of light was a flickering fluorescent tube on the god-forsaken ceiling. The room was freezing cold. I could see my breath. I shivered. Now the figure that was walking around came into focus. I could see the backside... It appeared to be a young lady. She was wearing a green waxed jacket, and her long brown hair was tied in a ponytail. She didn't seem to notice that I was awake. She was busy doing something. I tried to speak, but my throat was dry. I cleared my throat and tried again.
"Hello?" I said. My voice was hoarse and barely audible. The figure stopped moving. She turned around and looked at me. Her eyes were a deep shade of blue. She looked at me for a moment, and then she smiled.
She hurried to my side. "You're awake," she said. "How are you feeling?"
When she drew closer, I could see her face more clearly. She was young, maybe in her late twenties. She had a kind face that was marked by a scar that ran from her left eyebrow to her cheek. She was beautiful. I tried to speak, but my throat was still dry. She noticed and hurried to a small table in the corner of the room. She poured some water into a glass and brought it to me. "Here," she said. "Drink this."
I took the glass and drank. The water was cold and refreshing. I drank it all and handed the glass back to her. "Thank you," I said. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck."
"Who are you?" I asked. "And where am I?"
Her face fell. "You don't remember, do you?" she said. "You don't remember anything?" I shook my head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I hoped so hard that pain wouldn't take your memory away."
As I looked at her, with her soft eyes and her kind smile, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu. It was as if I had seen her before. It was as if I had known her before. But that was impossible. I had never seen her before. I had never known her before. Or had I?
Then I saw it. A flash of memory. A glimpse of something that I couldn't quite grasp. It was there for a moment, and then it was gone. I tried to hold on to it, but it slipped through my fingers like dust in the wind. I shook my head. "I'm sorry," I said. "I don't remember anything."
"I am Carol Halmen," she said. "I am your personal assistant while we were on Earth." She paused for a moment, as if she was waiting for me to say something. When I didn't, she continued. "Do you remember your name?"
I thought for a moment. "No," I said. "I don't remember my name."
She was disappointed and her face advertised lines of worry that reflected her concern. "This is going to be a problem," she said. "A big problem."
"This hideout is not safe anymore," she continued. "I have been breached. We need to move. Like now!"
I tried to sit up, but my body was weak. I fell back onto the bed. "What's going on?" I asked. "Who are you? And why do I feel like I know you?"
She looked at me for a moment, and then she sighed. "I am your personal assistant," she said. "I have been with you for a long time. I have been with you since the beginning."
Another flash of memory. Another glimpse of something that I couldn't quite grasp. Then a name. A name that seemed to come from nowhere. A name that seemed to come from everywhere. "Who is She?" I asked.
Carol looked at me, a smile kicked in. "You remember her, right?" she said. There was a glimpse of hope in her eyes. "You remember her, don't you?"
"I don't know," I said. "The name just came to me. I don't know who she is." Her face fell again.
"Her full name is Sheena," she said. "Sheena Riderin... She has betrayed you twice. She was the tool behind the downfall of our team. Our mission and vision were compromised because of her. She is the reason why we are here. She is the reason why you are here."
I tried to remember, but my mind was blank. "I don't remember her," I said. "I don't remember anything."
"She is sweet and kind," Carol said. "But she is dangerous, because she has lost her identity. The enemy is manipulating her using some sort of mind control. She kinda has two personalities. One is the sweet and kind Sheena, and the other is the dangerous and manipulative Sheena. Given her powers, she is one of our enemy's most deadly weapons." She paused for a moment. Tears welled up in her eyes. "All our friends are dead because of her."
The alarm went off. It was a loud, piercing sound that made my head hurt. Carol looked around, panic in her eyes. "We need to move," she said. "Now!"
Now, we were at the foot of a mountain thirty kilometers away from the previous hideout. The footsteps and angry screams of the enemy were getting fainter. We had been running all afternoon and were now hiding in a long cave buried in the mountain. We were tired and hungry. We were also cold. The cave was dark and damp. The only source of light was a small fire that Carol had managed to start.
We were sitting on the ground close to the fire. Our backs were against the cold, hard wall of the cave. We had left in a hurry, and had left almost everything behind. We had no food, no water, no blankets, and no weapons.
I had been unconscious for about a week and hadn't eaten anything. I was weak and hungry. The race had taken a toll on me. At some point, Carol had carried me on her back for about an hour. While I was on her back, she kept trying to help me regain my memory. She told me stories about our time on Earth. How our team came together to fight back Earth's greatest enemy. Our enemy called themselves the "Inevitable". They were an army trained in the art of war and destruction by Megagem, the country known to the home of the most advanced aliens in the multiverse.
She told me of how we turned our backs against Megagem's offer to join them and how we haunted them for years. Venessa, Wendy, and the five brothers were citizens of Megagem who could not stand the injustice and the tyranny of their government.
Carol was the only human among our initial team of fifteen who is still alive and she was the weakest of us all, which no special abilities aside from her high intelligence and her ability to respond quickly, calmly, and effectively to a crisis or emergency. She was a world-class scientist, inventor, and hacker. She was the one who designed the technology that made it possible for us to travel through the multiverse undetected. She was a genius. She was also my best friend.
Well, at least that's what she told me. I didn't remember any of it. I didn't remember her. I didn't remember our team. I didn't remember our mission. I didn't remember anything.
On the other hand, I was the only one who was not human nor from Megagem. It looked like I was a mistake of some sort. I was like a failed experiment that was destroyed and thrown away because I was not controllable. From the beginning, I had no memory of my true identity. I was found by Carol washed to the shore of a beach on Earth, naked and unconscious.
After about six months of Carol trying but failing to help me regain my identity, she decided to give me a new identity, Brenton Brew. This was before Megagem attacked Earth.
For about two years, she taught me survival skills, combat skills (even though she had none), and how to use the technology she had designed. She also taught me how to speak and Write English. She told me that I had a photographic memory and learned faster than any human she had ever met.
Let me whisper a fun fact that she told about myself. I understood every language spoken on Earth and could speak them fluently.
She also told me that I had a special ability that no one else, except her, knew about...An ability that made me formidable. She called it "The Power of the Nature".
I don't die.
To be discrete, I do die. At least, Sheena killed me twice. But I always come back to life. How does that work? Let me explain.
I possess two identities. One shapes my physical body, while the other empowers it. This second identity manages my memories, emotions, thoughts, and existence. It cannot be killed as it remains unseen, untouched, unperceived, and unheard.
It is composed of nature's energy. Whenever I am presumed dead, it ventures into the wild, absorbing enough minerals to recreate the first identity. This process usually takes close to two weeks. Once the first identity is ready, the second identity installs itself, incorporating all the data stored from the preceding deceased identity.
However, there is a downside: at times, it takes a while for some of my memories to be restored. In such cases, my body has undergone so much pain that the second identity attempts to restore it without the associated trauma.
Carol has conducted research on my second identity following my initial demise, attempting to discern how to enable my second identity to generate a spare first identity. This way, I can switch immediately if anything happens to the current one.
Think of it as facilitating self-healing for my body, except that it is not.
As my second identity is composed of nature's energy, I don't experience exhaustion like others. I also don't age or fall ill. Nevertheless, I am unquestionably human in every other aspect. I eat, sleep, and breathe. I feel pain and emotions. I can be injured and bleed, just like everyone else. I also experience hunger and fatigue, much like I am feeling now.
I was lost in thought when Carol spoke. "I wish we could get back to the old happy days," she said. "I wish we could wind back the clock and start over, when we were all together and happy." She looked at me and smiled sadly.
"Sometimes I wonder why we fight," she said. "Why do we fight when we know that we are going to lose? Why do we fight when we know that we are going to die? Why do we fight when we know that we are going to lose everything that we love?" her voice broke. She wiped a tear from her eye using the back of her hand.
"Brenton, you gave me hope. You gave me a reason to fight, to live, to survive. After my husband and two daughters dies, I had nothing to live for. You were that ray of hope that I needed to keep going."
I didn't know what to say. I must be very important to her. I must have been very important to our team. I must have been very important to our mission. What happened to her husband and daughters? How were they killed? I thought.
She looked at me and smiled. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted to tell you how much you mean to me." She looked away. "I have been dying to tell you that for a long time since Sheena betrayed us."
She paused briefly, exhaling and inhaling deeply. Suddenly, I saw a flash of light, which triggered a lot of memories. Starting from when I first met Carol, to when we were betrayed by Sheena and scattered by the Inevitable. I remembered everything. I remembered who I was. I remembered my name. I remembered my mission. I remembered my team. I remembered everything.
Except who I was before I met Carol.
I felt flooded and overwhelmed by the memories. I felt like I was drowning in them. I started to cry. I cried for the friends that we lost. I cried for the mission that we failed. I cried for the world that we couldn't save. I cried for the life that I couldn't remember. I cried for the life that I couldn't have.
Carol pulled up close to me, her eyes red-rimmed. We sat in silence for a while, the only sound the sniffles escaping our noses. Tears welled up again, blurring the world around us. Eventually, our sobs subsided into ragged breaths. Too weary to cry anymore, we drifted off to sleep, curled up together.
"Today, we are going to Megagem's capital, Gemioro," I said as soon as Carol stirred awake. "We are going to find Sheena and win her over to our side..."
Carol rubbed her eyes for a few seconds before she realized what I had said. She looked at me dazzled. "What?!" she exclaimed. "You are joking, right?" Her eyes scanned my face, searching for any sign of jest.
I nodded in the negative. "I am serious, friend," I said with a thin smile. "Can you see what I see? Sheena is not our enemy. She is also a victim in a worse way than we are. She is being manipulated by the Inevitable. We need to save her."
Carol's eyes widened in disbelief. "You can't be serious," she said. "Sheena is the reason why we are in this mess. She is the reason why we lost everything. She is the reason why we are running for our lives. She is the reason why you keep making the same mistakes over and over again." She paused for a moment, fury in her eyes. "Why do you feel this strong connection to her? It feels like you are under some sort of spell."
I shook my head slowly. "I don't know," I said. "It is true that I feel a strong connection to her. I can't explain it, but I feel like I know her. I feel like I have known her for a long time. I feel like I have a bond with her that I can't break."
"Strong enough to risk our lives for her?" Carol asked. "Strong enough to destroy everything that we have worked for?!" Her voice was rising. I could see the anger in her eyes and the pain in her face. The tension in the air was thick and rusty. I could feel it in my bones.
"Relax, Carol," I said. "I know that this is a risk. I know that this is dangerous. But I also know that this is the right thing to do. Don't you trust me?"
"I trusted you once," she said. "And it clouded my judgment. I didn't see that you had a weakness that could be exploited. A blind spot that weakens your leadership." She paused for a moment, her eyes searching mine. After a moment, she sighed. "I trust you, Brenton. I trust you with my heart. But I don't trust you with my life anymore."
Carol was a type of friend that would process her emotions loudly when she is in shock or disbelief. Whenever she uses contradictory statements, it means there is an overwhelming emotion that she is trying to control. That is what she was doing now.
She stood up from the hard ground and walked to the entrance of the cave. She looked out into the darkness, her back turned to me. I could see her shoulders shaking. I could hear her breathing, ragged and uneven. She was in pain and she was trying hard not to show it.