Through the Memory Veil

Forest.

Cobble road.

Passive, quiet trees.

Cold, skin cutting air.

Warm breath escaping your lungs.

Dancing wind running between trees.

Darkness

Forest.

Cobble road.

Passive, quiet trees.

Cold, skin cutting air.

Warm breath escaping your lungs.

Dancing wind running between trees

Majestic mountains proudly standing over the horizon.

Their grey skin being so harsh to live but being chosen by so many species.

They stay in contrast to the forever going green all around them, surrounding them from every side.

Silent whispers of the wind carry tales of forgotten travellers, lost to time, their voices barely reaching the ears of those who remain, fading with each passing breeze.

Darkness

Forest.

Cobble road.

Passive, quiet trees.

Cold, skin cutting air.

Warm breath escaping your lungs.

Dancing wind running between trees

Majestic mountains proudly standing over the horizon.

Their grey skin being so harsh to live but being chosen by so many species.

They stay in contrast to the forever going green all around them, surrounding them from every side.

Silent whispers of the wind carry tales of forgotten travellers, lost to time, their voices barely reaching the ears of those who remain, fading with each passing breeze.

Forest transforms slowly as the road guides you forward, step by step giving up the space to sickly green swamp. Insects start buzzing in the air, trees rot, and the fresh air becomes heavy.

For the first time since … you see other life forms than plants, you think while seeing a mosquito trying to sit on your unarmoured hand. You wave to scare it off, but the feeling is at the same time familiar and unknown.

A sudden, harsh noise disturbs the fragile peace of the swamp. Broken branch alerts birds that have chosen this unfriendly place as their home, sending them in the sky by dozens. Even if the sound alerts you, you are still in awe at the reflex of this tiny creatures.

You scan the thin line of trees with your sight, looking for a potential danger. You don’t know what to expect. Your road so far has been safe, but for some reason you didn’t feel that way since … You drew up your sword, a beautiful example of … work. Light reflecting in it was giving you comfort.

The creature jumped out of the thicket ahead, cutting the distance in mere seconds. You couldn’t discern any details of the monster, it was moving like a black stain on reality, without definitive contours or body parts. At one fraction of the second, it had a horse skull, at the other a lion’s claws were aiming at you. You stroke at its throat when suddenly …

Darkness

Majestic mountains proudly standing over the horizon.

Their grey skin being so harsh to live but being chosen by so many species.

They stay in contrast to the forever going green all around them, surrounding them from every side.

Silent whispers of the wind carry tales of forgotten travellers, lost to time, their voices barely reaching the ears of those who remain, fading with each passing breeze.

… transforms slowly as the road guides you forward, step by step giving up the space to sickly green swamp. Insects start buzzing in the air, trees rot, and the fresh air becomes heavy.

For the first time since … you see other life forms than plants, you think while seeing a mosquito trying to sit on your unarmoured hand. You wave to scare it off, but the feeling is at the same time familiar and unfamiliar.

A sudden, harsh noise disturbs the fragile peace of the swamp. Broken branch alerts birds that have chosen this unfriendly place as their home, sending them in the sky by dozens. Even if the sound alerts you, you are still in awe at the reflex of this tiny creatures.

You scan the thin line of trees with your sight, looking for a potential danger. You don’t know what to expect. Your road so far has been safe, but for some reason you didn’t feel that way since … You drew up your sword, a beautiful example of … work. Light reflecting in it was giving you comfort.

The creature jumped out of the thicket ahead, cutting the distance in mere seconds. You couldn’t discern any details of the monster, it was moving like a black stain on reality, without definitive contours or body parts. At one fraction of the second, it had a horse skull, at the other a lion’s claws were aiming at you. You stroke at its throat when suddenly …

An arrow pierces the dog skull trying to bite off your ankle. The creature made an inexplicable sound, clearly hurt by the projectile, its blood splitting everywhere, covering your armour and face in a warm, dark red liquid. You stab its back with your sword while its squirming, when another arrow reaches its target, touching near the creature’s heart, visibly trying to end it.

 When the body drops in postmortem shaking, you kick it off and face towards the direction the arrows came from. They were helping few seconds ago, but that could change in any moment. From the thicket emerges a tall man, wearing leather jacket and fur boots, holding a well-made bow in his hands. He is tense, ready to shoot again at your slightest move. You suppose it’s only normal in such situation.

“Nice shot”, you say out loud, to ease up the tension, “I owe you”. The man relaxes his muscles a bit, lowering his bow. “If you would die here, it would get to me next.”, he cheers up and approaches you slowly, still with a great caution but in a seemingly friendly manner. You put your sword back in its scabbard very slowly to make it halfway hidden at the exact moment when the man reaches you and shakes your other hand.

“They call me Leo.”, the man is smiling sincerely. “You’re the first person outside the camp I have ever seen.” Now that he is closer, you can look on his features. His messy hair, full of leaves and twigs suggests he wanders this swamp regularly. Same for his beard. The dark circles under his eyes were contrasting with his energetic attitude. His clothes were dirty, but it could be seen they were well taken care of. And did he just mention a camp?

“I’m …”, you say while you shake his hand. Wait. Something’s off. “Wait. Why do I…? I swear I remember my name… What’s going on?”, you struggle, as you start noticing discrepancies in your memory. Where did you come from? Where were you going? You remember noticing the mountains and entering the swamp, then the attack of the creature but… what was happening before?

Darkness

A sudden, harsh noise disturbs the fragile peace of the swamp. Broken branch alerts birds that have chosen this unfriendly place as their home, sending them in the sky by dozens. Even if the sound alerts you, you are still in awe at the reflex of this tiny creatures.

You scan the thin line of trees with your sight, looking for a potential danger. You don’t know what to expect. Your road so far has been safe, but for some reason you didn’t feel that way since … You drew up your sword, a beautiful example of … work. Light reflecting in it was giving you comfort.

The creature jumped out of the thicket ahead, cutting the distance in mere seconds. You couldn’t discern any details of the monster, it was moving like a black stain on reality, without definitive contours or body parts. At one fraction of the second, it had a horse skull, at the other a lion’s claws were aiming at you. You stroke at its throat when suddenly …

An arrow pierces the dog skull trying to bite off your ankle. The creature made an inexplicable sound, clearly hurt by the projectile, its blood splitting everywhere, covering your armour and face in a warm, dark red liquid. You stab its back with your sword while its squirming, when another arrow reaches its target, touching near the creature’s heart, visibly trying to end it.

When the body drops in postmortem shaking, you kick it off and face towards the direction the arrows came from. They were helping few seconds ago, but that could change in any moment. From the thicket emerges a tall man, wearing leather jacket and fur boots, holding a well-made bow in his hands. He is tense, ready to shoot again at your slightest move. You suppose it’s only normal in such situation.

“Nice shot”, you say out loud, to ease up the tension, “I owe you”. The man relaxes his muscles a bit, lowering his bow. “If you would die here, it would get to me next.”, he cheers up and approaches you slowly, still with a great caution but in a seemingly friendly manner. You put your sword back in its scabbard very slowly to make it halfway hidden at the exact moment when the man reaches you and shakes your other hand.

“They call me Leo.”, the man is smiling sincerely. “You’re the first person outside the camp I have ever seen.” Now that he is closer, you can look on his features. His messy hair, full of leaves and twigs suggests he wanders this swamp regularly. Same for his beard. The dark circles under his eyes were contrasting with his energetic attitude. His clothes were dirty, but it could be seen they were well taken care of. And did he just mention a camp?

“I’m …”, you say while you shake his hand. Wait. Something’s off. “Wait. Why do I…? I swear I remember my name… What’s going on?”, you struggle, as you start noticing discrepancies in your memory. Where did you come from? Where were you going? You remember noticing the mountains and entering the swamp, then the attack of the creature but… what was happening before?

“Don’t worry.”, Leo says calmingly. “Most of the people from the camp don’t remember either.”. He looks around, worried. “We should head there, before I forget.”

“Why would you forget?” you look at the man not understanding. “The location of the camp seems pretty important.” Both of you start walking in a direction the man came from

“Don’t you have the impression that there is something going on with our memories?”, he looked at you, changing the subject. “With others we realized that we are not able to remember anything past some period. Hard to tell how long it is.”

“The earliest thing I remember is …” you stop for a second, trying to remember. Who taught you how to fight? It was … Where were you going? Of course, to … Shit. Even your name was escaping you. The last thing you were remembering was …

Darkness

“Nice shot”, you say out loud, to ease up the tension, “I owe you”. The man relaxes his muscles a bit, lowering his bow. “If you would die here, it would get to me next.”, he cheers up and approaches you slowly, still with a great caution but in a seemingly friendly manner. You put your sword back in its scabbard very slowly to make it halfway hidden at the exact moment when the man reaches you and shakes your other hand.

“They call me Leo.”, the man is smiling sincerely. “You’re the first person outside the camp I have ever seen.” Now that he is closer, you can look on his features. His messy hair, full of leaves and twigs suggests he wanders this swamp regularly. Same for his beard. The dark circles under his eyes were contrasting with his energetic attitude. His clothes were dirty, but it could be seen they were well taken care of. And did he just mention a camp?

“I’m …”, you say while you shake his hand. Wait. Something’s off. “Wait. Why do I…? I swear I remember my name… What’s going on?”, you struggle, as you start noticing discrepancies in your memory. Where did you come from? Where were you going? You remember noticing the mountains and entering the swamp, then the attack of the creature but… what was happening before?

“Don’t worry.”, Leo says calmingly. “Most of the people from the camp don’t remember either.”. He looks around, worried. “We should head there, before I forget.”

“Why would you forget?” you look at the man without understanding. “The location of the camp seems pretty important.” Both of you start walking in a direction the man came from

“Don’t you have the impression that there is something going on with our memories?”, he looked at you, changing the subject. “With others we realized that we are not able to remember anything past some period. Hard to tell how long it is.”

“The earliest thing I remember is …” you stop for a second, trying to remember. Who taught you how to fight? It was … Where were you going? Of course, to … Shit. Even your name was escaping you. The last thing you were remembering was meeting with Leo. Everything before that just seemed… dark. Like if somebody poured out black paint over your memories. Even worse, it seemed like its natural not to remember. Like there was nothing to remember.

“I had to come from somewhere…”, you say more to yourself then to Leo. “I must have had an objective…”

“We all had.” Leo says with a regret. “But until we figure out what is going on, the objective is just to survive.” Now he smiles sadly. Not very comforting, to be honest.

You walk for some time in silence, listening for potential dangers. This swamp doesn’t seem very safe, something could attack you at any moment. You didn’t see any animals or monsters so far, but you’re nervously holding your sword.

“We should arrive soon.” Leo says with much more confidence. “I try to repeat the way in my head all the time. We figured that it diminishes the chances of forgetting it. Same with names. He smiles proudly.” Cute.

He pushes away leaves of a fallen tree, which like a curtain unveils a tragedy.

Burned ground.

Ripped tents.

Frozen campfire.

Bodies stuck on spears with their blood boiling and pouring out of eyes and mouth.

Some of them are just standing like nothing happened, with their heads exploded and their blood defying the gravity floating out to the sky forming weird geometrical shapes.

One of them is kneeling, lacking both hands and his head changing shapes in a rhythm of beating heart, from male to female, to canine, to feline, to equine to undefined void on the canvas of the reality.

And in the middle of this grotesque painting, levitates a human skeleton. It is wearing noble but ragged clothes in the colour of crying sky. Rings on its hands look like tears of a broken world, their colour being that of endless jealousy. Its scepter long and metallic, adorned with decorations of serpents opening their mouths at the floating gem ending it. The gem is surrounded by particles of an unknown colour, while the head is facing you with an unearthly gaze.

Darkness. 

“Don’t you have the impression that there is something going on with our memories?”, he looked mysteriously at you. “With others we realized that we are not able to remember anything past some period. Hard to tell how long it is.”

“The earliest thing I remember is …” you stop for a second, trying to remember. Who taught you how to fight? It was … Where were you going? Of course, to … Shit. Even your name was escaping you. The last thing you were remembering was meeting with Leo. Everything before that just seemed… dark. Like if somebody poured out black paint over your memories. Even worse, it seemed like its natural not to remember. Like there was nothing to remember.

“I had to come from somewhere…”, you say more to yourself then to Leo. “I must have had an objective…”

“We all had.” Leo says with a regret. “But until we figure out what is going on, the objective is just to survive.” Now he smiles sadly. Not very comforting, to be honest.

You walk for some time in silence, listening to potential dangers. This swamp doesn’t seem very safe, something could attack you in any moment. You didn’t see any animals or monsters so far, but you’re nervously holding your sword.

“We should arrive soon.” Leo says with much more confidence. “I try to repeat the way in my head all the time. We figured that it diminishes the chances of forgetting it. Same with names. He smiles proudly.” Cute.

He pushes away leaves of a fallen tree, which like a curtain unveils a small, but well-kept camp.

Patched, but clean tents.

Barrels full of fruits and vegetables.

Few healthy-looking people.

Warm campfire, inviting to sit next to it.

“Welcome to your new home.” Leo says with a smile. “We need more people able to fight, like you.” He grabs your shoulder and with open arm shows the whole camp.

Darkness

He pushes away leaves of a fallen tree, which like a curtain unveils a small, but well-kept camp.

Patched, but clean tents.

Barrels full of fruits and vegetables.

Few healthy-looking people.

Warm campfire, inviting to sit next to it.

“Welcome to your new home.” Skeleton says, laughing.

Darkness.