4 Chapter 4: The Journey begins

This room…. is inside of my head! What is she talking about!

"Relax, it's only metaphorical." Epoh tried to calm me down.

"You mean…..."

"Yes, this room is a symbolic representation of your head." She said, her arms crossed over her chest.

I see. So, this room is like my head…. all messed up! Well, can't argue about that, it's fairly true though.

"The objects inside this room represent your thoughts. Right now they are scattered here and there. So, the first thing we need to do is clean up this mess, put everything in an orderly manner. Let's organize your thoughts." As soon as she finished talking, she started cleaning the room. I hesitated a bit at first, but then decided to join her.

Suddenly I had a thought so I turned towards her, and at that exact moment she spoke up, "You're probably thinking if this room is actually like the inside of your head, then where are your memories?"

How is she doing that? She keeps reading my mind! Or am I that predictable?

"Come here." She guided me towards the other end of the room. There was a small chest of drawers behind the cot which I didn't notice before. She pulled out the top drawer to reveal a few photographs. I took them out and went through the pictures. There were only a few pictures displaying my dad, my mom, my apartment and me. There was also one picture capturing me in my childhood days along with the younger version of my mom under a starlit sky.

"As of now you have only this much memories. The rest of the photographs are missing. We need to find them." We searched through the rest of the drawers also. In the bottom drawer we found an empty photo album. It said on the front cover- 'Journey of my life.' Epoh carefully put all the photos in it.

"Memories are precious, you should take great care to preserve them." She gently moved her hand over the photo album. She put it back in the drawer again. "Now, back to work," and then she went back to clean up the room without wasting any more time. There were dirty clothes, old books, children toys, photo frames, letters, obscured household objects and lots of other stuffs. It took us about an hour to properly put everything organized, stack the books on the racks properly, clean off the dusts and remove the cobwebs. It was more tiring than I thought.

"That took a lot out of me. Phew!" I commented and laid down on the cot that we just cleared up. Epoh came and sat on the cot as well. There wasn't a single trace of tiredness on her face.

"Seriously, you got tired just by cleaning up a room? I'm guessing you have never done that before. You are so lousy!" She scoffed.

I felt a bit humiliated. "Unlike you, I don't have the 'gift' of not getting tired." I replied back.

"Still. You have to do better than this. At least for the sake of your future" She advised me.

"I'll see."

I looked around the room while lying down. Compared to what we witnessed when we came to the room, it looked like heaven! How the hell did we manage to turn that garbage into something this good!

I was already tired form all the work in the farms. Also, I didn't get a decent sleep last night. I was already feeling dizzy while cleaning up the room and then the contact with the cot made it worse. If I am dead, how am I still sleepy? Do souls need to take rest as well? Who cares, I'll just take a nap.

As soon as I closed my eyes and was waiting for a peaceful nap, Epoh decided to ruin it for me, "I've got one more thing to show you." She got excited and jumped out of the bed.

"Not now, too tired." I replied while keeping my eyes closed.

"No, I have to show it to you right now!" She was persistent.

"Can I just take a short nap and then go, please?" I pleaded.

"Not happening." She denied my request instantly. And then she started pulling my arm again, like she did earlier. It was so irritating! She might be several thousand years old, but her behaviors were mostly childish.

"What's gotten into you? Let go of my hand."

"Come on, don't be so lazy. It's important."

I knew it would be futile to struggle with her further, so I gave in. Having no other option, I decided to follow her lead. She took me to the downstairs. Just besides the kitchen there was a small room. Epoh slowly opened the door. It was dark inside as the windows were closed. In the middle of the room there was an altar. A candle stand was placed on top of that altar. It had about five candles, but only the middle one was still glowing faintly. From the look of it the rest of the candles somehow got extinguished, two of them were still emitting white fumes. Although it was daytime, the entire scene seemed a bit creepy to me. A dark room illuminated very dimly by a single candle; what's that supposed to mean? I turned towards Epoh for explanation.

"Guess what, that candle stand is…. your heart." She said quietly. Yet another metaphor! "That's the last candle burning and it's slowly becoming fainter with every passing minute. It seems that candle won't last long, and when this one gets extinguished, it'll be an end for you."

The candles are dying out. My heart is dying out!

"But you said I'm already dead. And now you're saying I'm about to die. What's going on?" I was utterly confused.

"Well, I'll rephrase that this time." She cleared her throat. "You're almost dead."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"If we don't save that last candle from getting extinguished, you'll end up being dead. It's simple equation though: to keep you alive, we need to keep those candles alive." It didn't sound simple at all to me.

"Okay. You have matches right? Let's light them up."

"Actually, ordinary matches won't work to light up those candles." Her tone was serious. "To keep those candles active, we need Oneiri."

"Wait, so we can't do it ourselves? Why do we need Oneiri for that? And why can't we use ordinary matches?" My mind was crowded by questions.

"Because she is the 'keeper of your heart'. Only she has the ability to keep those candles burning." She was dead serious. "Only she can prevent your heart from stop beating forever. I can only manage it for a while, but we need her back as soon as possible."

Oneiri is the 'Keeper of my heart'! Only she can save my heart from stop beating. Who is she anyway? Do I even know her?

"I'm not following you. I don't understand everything you said just now. I mean it doesn't make any sense!" I was furious. I'm gonna lose my mind!

"Not everything does, boy." She said in a calm tone. "Not everything has to. It doesn't make sense to you because it's all new to you. You're in this complicated situation for the very first time."

"So, what am I supposed to do?" I felt so helpless.

"As I told you before, all you can do now is have faith in me and do whatever I say. I know you're a bit skeptical about everything happening here, but honestly I can't help you unless you hold an open mind and accept the things going on, how crazy they may seem. You ignore any of my instructions at any point, and that might be an end for you. This is not easy, I understand, but please put your trust in me and I promise I'll bring back to you whatever you have lost here; your memories and your life. Can you do that? Can you believe in me for a bit longer? You see, in the end, it all will make sense and then you'll be grateful for your choice of actions."

Both of us kept quiet for a while. I needed some time to process everything in my head.

"All right." I sighed. "Until I get to know the entire truth, until I get back my memories, I'll listen to whatever you have to say. I'll follow you blindly. That's the best I can do in this situation. Now, tell me this, where is she? Where can we find Oneiri?"

"She has been captured by one of the most dreadful monsters called Osore. That beast has kept her captivated in his den for a while. We need to rescue her from that monster…. as soon as possible."

"How dangerous is that Osore guy?"

"Pretty dangerous and powerful. I can only pray that he has not caused much harm to Oneiri. He will be a formidable enemy, it won't be easy to beat that monster. But there's nothing we can do about it. We'll face him, we have to win against him so that we can bring Oneiri back. Otherwise you are going to die."

"Can you give an estimate of how long this candle will sustain on its own?"

"Maybe a week and half."

"And how far is Osore's den from here?"

"It will take about five days to reach there."

"Hmmm, I see. So that means if everything goes well we can make it back with Oneiri just about the time this candle gets extinguished. Hopefully, we can make it back before that happens."

"That seems like it."

"We don't have much time then. It'll be best if we set out soon, like today. What about this afternoon?"

"That was exactly my plan!" She smirked.

That little devil, she has already thought everything through. It means everything's going according to her plan then. Nice!

Suddenly she took my hands into her and asked, "You do believe in me, don't you?"

"That I do. I have to. There's no other way." I nodded.

"Great. Otherwise nothing will work. Trust is an essential requirement for friendship, it builds an invisible bond between two people." She was relieved.

Did she just imply that we have become friends? I mean I don't know much about her, but she seems a nice person and she's doing all these for my sake also. I guess we can become friends then.

She was staring at my face as if she was expecting some sort of reply from me. But before I could say anything she spoke up, "I have to bring her back. And I don't want you to die."

"Me neither." I smiled.

* * *

After we finished our lunch, she disappeared into her room, saying 'I'll be back soon.' But we all know how it works when a girl says she'll be back soon. As expected, she came out after more than half an hour.

"So, what do you think?" She swirled around to display her gorgeous pink frock.

"I think it looks cute on you." I blushed.

"Thank you!" She pinched my cheek.

"Now, we need a little makeover for you." She said examining me.

"What's wrong with my clothes?"

"You're wearing the same black t-shirt and blue jeans since you came here. We need brand-new clothes for you before we embark on this great journey." She said dramatically.

"Seriously, that's what you are most concerned about now! I mean my life is on the line and all you care about is my clothes." She is unbelievable!

"See, that's exactly why. This will be difficult mission. We need to set a good mood here. We should always maintain positive thinking. Dressing up properly, wearing new clothes can boost your positivity."

Girls and their obsessions with clothes. For us boys, we can survive with one set of clothes, but they need a whole wardrobe!

"I think we can try some of Oneiri's clothes on you. They might fit!" She threw me a mischievous smile.

"No thanks, I'm fine like this." I folded my hands as a gesture to her.

"You know what, she has some really beautiful dresses in her wardrobe. I'm pretty confident that they will look very good on you." She was smiling like the devil itself.

"Will you please cut it out and focus more on the important things here?" She really got some nerves to joke around even in a situation like this.

"As you wish." She said and then again went back to her room. This time she brought a bag pack along with her.

"What's that for?"

"We will be outside for a long time. Don't worry, I have taken all sorts of things we'll be needing for the entire duration of this journey." She was full of motivation for the mission.

"Great. Let's set out then." I was prepared as well, although all I needed was mental preparation.

"Yay, here begins our great journey!" She cried, throwing her hands in the air. She was surprisingly excited as if we were going for a trip or camping. Maybe all she was trying to accomplish was keeping the mood upbeat. It's positivity she said.

We left the house shortly afterwards. We didn't have to lock the house as it was the only residence around that area.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen while we are gone. This place is very safe."

How did Oneiri get captured by a horrible monster in the first place if the area is

actually safe! There's no point in bothering about that, I trust her.

"So, which direction are we supposed to head for?" I asked.

"North. Towards the east lies the 'prison of lost souls' where you came from."

"Great. Now do you have a compass or such sort of instrument?"

"What do you need a compass for?" She looked surprised.

"To find out the directions, obviously." I rolled my eyes.

"Huh, such a noob. We don't need any compass for that." She said confidently. "First stand facing the sun. It's afternoon now, so you are facing towards West. That makes the East to be at your back. Now, spread your arms towards your sides. Your left arm is now pointing towards South and the right arm towards North. See, it's so simple."

Well, it is simple. Who needs a compass when the nature is full of them!

Shortly after we started moving towards North, Epoh threw me a question, "Now the trick I just taught you will work only during daytime. What will you do during the night?"

"Polaris. The North star." I answered promptly. Thanks to the flashback I has last night, I knew that.

"Correct, good job." She patted my back. "Let's keep moving. Here we come Oneiri, we'll rescue you for sure. You just wait for us."

She is going to meet her friend after a long time. She might have felt lonely all this time. Maybe the fact that we are going to save her closest friend makes her so happy. She knows the risks, she knows it won't be easy. And maybe that's why she's trying to keep up a positive mindset. She wants her friend back, I want back my memories…. and my life. This journey is really important for both of us. We have to succeed, there's no place for mistakes. The next few days are going to be tough. My time is short and limited; the clock is ticking. I have no idea what's waiting ahead of us, how it'll end up. The uncertainty of tomorrow fills me with thrill, the possibility of success provides me with motivation.