Allegory sat up in bed with a cold sweat, his breathing heavy as if he had just run for miles. He stayed there a few moments wondering what it was that had haunted him in his sleep. He knew it was a battle between two mages, but did not know who or where they were. For that matter, he did not recognize where he was at the immediate moment either.
He moved to get out of bed and stood upright. He felt slight pains in his body as he struggled to land the maneuver, but accomplished it nonetheless. There were a few bandages as well as cuts and bruises, but nothing horribly disfiguring. As he looked up from his arms, he finally noticed the room in which he was standing. It was covered in a plethora of flowers as well as potion bottles, a mortar and pestle, and several other objects of pastel colors decorating the interior of the room. If he didn’t know better, he could swear he was in a girl’s bedroom.
But who was he to know better? He could not remember who he was outside of his name. He made his way to the mirror near the door. The edges were covered in dried flowers along the frame. He stared into the new face that looked back.
“Allegory Evenstar…” he muttered to himself as he continued to stare into the gray eyes that looked back at him.
From his reflection, he appeared to be a half human, half elf with a height of about 6 feet and well built with a fair amount of tone. His hair was long, yet messy with a blend of black and white due to his mixed heritage. Around his eyes were dark, branching black tattoos. The one around his left eye descended toward his jaw while the one around his right seemed to surround the side of the eye. However, none of these traits were diminished with his pale complexion.
He sighed loudly as he tried to remember who he was. He spun from the mirror in frustration. When his eyes crossed the threshold of the bed he had awoken on, he froze as it was almost completely soaked in dried blood. On an otherwise ordinary day, the modest wooden bed would be decorated with more cute flowers and light colors. But today, the floral patterns of the blanket were seemingly lost to the sea of blood upon it. He walked toward it and placed his hand upon the bed as if to investigate.
Allegory was so lost in thought that he was not able to hear the door creak open behind him. What caught his attention was the sound of silver shaking nervously on porcelain. He turned around slowly and was met with the frightened gaze of a young woman holding a tray of tea. But her eyes were wide with fear, or perhaps embarrassment. It was then that Allegory felt a breeze near his genitals that led him to realize that his reflection a moment ago had no clothes on.
His face immediately grew bright red as he quickly struggled to grab a blanket to cover himself with from the bed. The sheet was tucked tighter than he expected, causing him to lose his balance on the railing and fall face first over the bed. His head collided with the dresser and he was out cold once more.
When he awoke this time, the girl was tending to his bandages. He jumped to cover himself again, but realized he was once more in the bed.
“You should be more careful! You just recovered from a horrible injury. You shouldn’t be walking around. Although I am puzzled why your wounds healed so quic-” she tried to finish, but she was interrupted herself by another guest at the door. It was an old man who appeared to be oddly energetic.
“Oh dear boy! When I heard the commotion in here, I believed you had finally regained consciousness, and here you are! My dear Tira, your talents are as remarkable as ever.” the old man almost sang as he wrapped an arm around the girl named Tira.
The old man was a lanky gentleman with a slight hunch, but his energy betrayed his looks. He wore brown suspenders on his brown slacks to hold his pants up around the bottom of his white billow button-up shirt. His hair was short and gray, and barely fading to where his scalp could almost be seen. And yet, despite his looks, his smile was wide and he seemed to be filled with joy.
“Grandfather, he’s still recovering, but I don’t think-” she barely managed say before she was interrupted yet again.
“Oh it’s such a wonderful day, children! So much to do to prepare for the festivities! I hope you’ll pardon me as I go attend to the planning!” he said in a lively manner as he sped out the room.
Tira continued to change his bandages in silence as Allegory watched. He took a moment to look up at her. She was a young human girl, no older than 23, with straight dark red hair and almost doll-like skin. She only stood at about 5 ¼ feet tall and was very small. She was sporting a dirty apron on to pof her yellow shirt and dirt stained pants. She looked back at him with her light brown eyes, and let out a gentle smile. Allegory couldn’t help but smile back.
“It’s nice to meet you Tira. I’m Allegory.”
“Hello, Allegory. It’s a pleasure. I’m still relieved to see you are still with us today. You gave us quite the fright last night.”
Allegory paused for a moment. “I’m sorry, but I don’t recall. What happened last night?”
“I suppose it’s only natural that you’d be confused. Whatever happened to you was not pretty. My grandfather, the blacksmith’s son, and myself saw a streak of light hit the ground just outside of town. When we went to go see what it was, we just found you lying in a large crater. You had massive cuts and a couple broken limbs, and even fragments of wood embedded in your body. The doctor did what he could, and I did my best to tend to your wounds, but we expected you to pass away.”
She eyed him carefully. “However, your recovery rate is astounding. You landed here 3 days ago on the verge of death and I found you standing up in minimal pain. Not even my best healing poultices are capable of that. What is your secret, Allegory?”
“I…I don’t know” he stammered. “I can’t really remember anything except my name. But I’m very much indebted to you for bringing me back here and tending to me.”
“That’s unfortunate.” She commented as she replaced the final bandage. “Would you like to see where we found you? Maybe that will jog some memories of yours? You seem to be well enough to move at least, so as long as I watch over you, you should be ok.”
Allegory stood up and bowed as he dressed in an outfit her grandfather provided. Luckily this one did not have suspenders, but simply trousers with a button up billowy shirt and a humble cloak. They made their way out her door. The quiet village seemed abuzz with people running back and forth while others celebrated in the streets. Empty tables were being lined up in front of every vendor as tablecloths were draped over each one. Allegory was stopped by several other people who wanted to pat him on the back, offer him a pint, and invite him to celebrate with them. He kindly waived them off as he made his way toward the edge of town with Tira.
“What is going on today?” Allegory asked while surveying the rest of the town.
“Oh, it’s a wonderful story!” Tira spoke loudly as she let out a happy bounce. “Let me tell you on the way.”
Allegory wasn’t sure why, but he felt a sense of dread as she began her story. The rim of his crater could be seen on the horizon. The sheer size of the hills caused his worry to grow even greater as they journeyed on.
