A New Name [First Draft]

Ricky was unsure how many days had passed. Had it been weeks? Maybe even months? The days were all so similar, they kept bleeding into each other.

Celi had started slowly adding more and more activities to his schedule, mostly longer physical training and lessons. Although the going on his body was slow, he seemed to pick up on this new language surprisingly fast. At first he suspected it was because he was really an adult, but his father had tried teaching him the spoken Western language. They had waited until Ricky was old enough to understand that he shouldn't use it outside their home. However, he had been too old to pick it up naturally.

Ricky knew that younger children would learn languages faster, but sometimes he knew words that neither Celi nor the maids had ever told him. It felt like he was remembering them, like they had been taught to him before and then been forgotten. It made Ricky nervous, scared that they would know he had memories of things that hadn't happened or things from a world so different from this one. However, no one seemed to notice. No one made any reaction that he now mostly understood everything, even though he had only been truly alive for a few weeks. Or months?

Another shocking discovery was the lack of reaction that Darva was still with him. No one ever made any attempts to remove her or question where she came from. Not that Ricky would know, anyway. Apparently, these people were also insisting that Darva was his soulmate. Or as they called it 'soulbeast'. They also said she had been born with him, but this made no sense to Ricky and frankly made his head hurt. Also, much like Ricky's mother from before, none of them seemed to accept that Darva's name was Darva. It was wrong, but he couldn't understand how or why.

Speaking of soulbeasts, as he became more aware of his surroundings, the other adults slowly introduced him to their own. It seemed that everyone here had a soulbeast, which was divided into three categories: landbeasts, waterbeasts and firebeast. Landbeasts were mammalian creatures, with fur, tails and ears that looked like most animals Ricky knew. From the few he saw, however, he noticed they were all wild animals. Other than Darva, he had yet to see a domesticated landbeast. Or any domesticated soulbeast, for that matter.

Waterbeast were not fish, as Ricky had first thought. They had two scaly legs, two wings, feathered bodies and beaks. Birds. They were birds. It made no sense. Anything from Rory's (the door-guy) osprey to Eudie's (the older maid) emerald green hummingbird, it seemed to consist of the whole range of birds that Ricky was aware of.

What was most confusing of all were the firebeasts. They had four legs and a tail, like a landbeast. But their bodies were covered with scales and had no external ears, like the airbeast. Ricky knew reptiles preferred warmer weather, even the Central area of his old home was too cold for them, but calling them firebeast seemed to be a bit of an exaggeration.

Only a few times did Ricky see animals that he had no idea what to call. Celi's "dog" was one of these. He hadn't really caught on to the 'no domesticated animals' rule at that point and had, at first glance, assumed it was... well... a dog. Once it put its front paws on his bed, Ricky nearly passed out. The animal was huge. Its head reached Celi's navel and its wheat-colored fur was. Only when it was sniffing Ricky curiously, did he notice the flat-faced snout, the wild eyes, the giant mouth, the row of skull-crushing teeth.

"Max," Celi said, finally noticing how terrified Ricky looked. The dog-like beast didn't even give the furious Darva a second thought. Instead of giving the beast a command, she simply touched its forehead. The beast seemed to huff, then stepped down from the bed and sat down by the door, leaning against Rory's leg. Though, even while sitting down, it was leaning more on his hip. The man patted the dog and looked pretty happy to have found someone who could match the tiny kitten.

~

One day, Celi had brought him a book. Even for a 5-year-old, it seemed a bit early. She claimed it was to get him familiar with the letters and maybe even get him to write his own name.

The book placed in Ricky's lap was small and light, with a dark brown leather cover. Three big circles were engraved on the front, with some star-like symbols inside. Two smaller circles with even more complicated lines. It made him dizzy, thinking of someone carving these out by hand. When he opened the book, the three big star-circles appeared and Ricky figured they were important, somehow. He wondered what they meant.

After staying in this place for so long, Ricky thought he was starting to get used to all the weird and shocking discoveries. However, he found himself, once again, stunned. The first two pages of the books was covered in these star-like symbols. He thumbed through the entire book and they never stopped. There were only these messed-up stars. No chapter markers, not even page numbers. Were these letters? He couldn't even tell where the words ended or sentences, for that matter. The first star on every single page had a circle, like those on the front, but otherwise they all looked somewhat the same.

Wordlessly, Ricky shut the book closed and handed it back to Celi. "Headache," was all he said. She just smiled and took the book and started reading from it. How that was even possible was beyond his comprehension, he couldn't even pay attention to the story. When he closed his eyes, all he saw was messed-up stars. They were scattered randomly across the sky, he felt like he was supposed to navigate a huge, dangerous water, without being able to tell any of them apart.

Afterwards, Celi left him with a wood board, some white paper and a box of gray charcoal pencils. She said he could practice writing, then draw whatever when he got tired of it. Celi seemed to be especially busy lately and left him all alone more and more often.

Ricky glanced up at the circle with two lines that Celi had drawn up from him. Somehow, this not-even-a-star was his name. Somehow. He tried to copy it a few times, got frustrated, gave up and started doodling instead. He wrote 'Ricky', then 'Abi' in the written Central language, just to have something to do. To make sure it was real. To remember his name. It was becoming more and more difficult to remember. Details were slowly fading. He wrote 'Darva' in a weak act of rebellion. They still wouldn't accept the name, but Ricky didn't care. His mother always told him that names had power. Which was probably why his life before had been one big joke.

His mother. Ricky closed his eyes, trying to remember her face. She was the opposite of his father, he remembered as much. Light skin, dirty blonde hair, dark blue eyes. Always dressing up in odd, colorful clothes. Ricky sighed and opened his eyes. His doodles had taken the crude image of his mother, but her face remained black.

~

"What did you draw?" Celi was looking over his paper, amused by his shaky lines. It wasn't good, but it was definitely a start. Then her eyes glanced over the rest of the paper. Celi had only heard ambiguous rumors about the star children, the most prevalent were about the runes. Everyone knew that a star child could not read or write words, but instead used runes. Those lines looked remarkably similar to runes, which Celi had only seen at a glance from an ancient book.

"Abi, what is this?" The small child leaned in and looked at where Celi pointed.

"Oh," he said, then seemed to be thinking for a moment. "Mother."

Celi stared at him. "Mother?" A chill went down her spine. "What do you mean? You've never met mother."

"Mother," he stated again. "From before."

Both of them just stared at each other with equally confused looks. Celi's confusion turned to sadness, which caused a jolt of painful guilt in Ricky.

The next day, Celi seemed determined to get Rick on his feet. It seemed lessons were taken out of the equation entirely and all that remained was essentially P.E., which Ricky never liked before and doing exercises several times a day didn't help much.

After two weeks, the blue and green-knot maids were standing on each side of him. One hand on each of his elbows, keeping him steady. Ricky was already exhausted, but Celi had seemed so stressed and busy recently, that he wanted to work extra hard and make her happy.

~

The maids brought something that resembled a wheelchair, but looked more like just a chair with wheels. Even if Ricky had the arm power to move it, the wheels were too small and far away from him to reach. This was clearly made for moving people about, not allowing them to move on their own. The thought left Ricky frowning and determined to regain the ability to walk on his own two feet.

Glancing at his own reflection made his heart hurt, but he did it, anyway. It was better than wasting his low stamina on being angry on things he couldn't change. He was wearing a baby blue suit, a simple vest and pants that only reached his knees. Underneath was a white shirt and long white socks, on his feet were dark brown shoes with soft soles. It felt odd, like wearing several layers of socks.

He took a good look at himself; his body was small and skinny, skin was still sickly pale, but it was definitely getting better. Small braids went from his hairline and down to the back of his neck, keeping his long, light blond hair out of his face. It kinda looked like he had slicked his hair back, but with braids. He had wanted to protest, about both the length and braids, but it didn't seem that anyone understood the issue.

His only solace was his eyes, they looked exactly like they had done before; dark brown.

Sitting in the ableist chair-with-wheels, Ricky was taken outside his bedroom for the first time. Outside his bedroom was a living room bigger than the entire apartment he had before. One wall was covered in bookshelves and display cases, all of which were empty. A dark oak table and two couches with cream covers were placed in one end of the room, placed between two tall windows. Most of the floor was taken up by a large, fluffy mat with a big, colorful chest beside it.

"When you're healthy, this will be your playroom. Once you're older, it will be your parlor, where you can greet guests." The other door also apparently lead to his study/office and a small, private library. Ricky had never been much of a reader, but with all this space for it, he might have to start. He also realized that without the internet, this would be his only chance of learning about this strange new place.

Eudie wheeled him out in a long, dark hallway. The walls were covered with old paintings of people who stared down on him, making him feel even smaller. Sconces for candles were placed in intervals between the decorations, but they didn't provide a lot of lights. There were also no windows, so the dark red carpet that ran along the entire corridor and the dark brown walls and ceiling, made Ricky want to squint at the darkness.

He made sure to remember his door, which was painted baby blue. All the other doors in this hall were brown. And in the next hall, all the doors were also brown. After the third hall, Ricky thought even the paintings started looking identical. He quickly gave up on keeping track of where they were going.

After several other halls, they came to a white double door. Eudie knocked on it, while the blue-knot maid helped Ricky stand up. Someone opened the door from the inside and on unsteady legs, he walked inside the parlor, all while making sure to stay within arm's reach of the older maid.

The inside looked pretty similar to his own, except instead of a wall of books, this one had a wall lined up with maids. A few were bustling about, serving tea and cakes, while most of them were standing with their hands on their back, waiting for orders. The table was nicely decorated with an overflow of sweets, but no one was seated on the couches. Instead, two women sat by a smaller table, right next to a huge floor-to-ceiling window.

Ricky suddenly realized that he hadn't been or even seen the outside yet. Much like his room, the glass here was translucent, so lights still came in, but the view was obscured.

Celi gave him a bright smile, as she watched him enter on his own two feet. It seemed she had insisted on him practicing for this day, although no one seemed willing to explain. Not that he had asked. The young woman was wearing a dark red dress with frilly neckline and puffy shoulders. Her ash blonde hair was put up in a simple ponytail with thick braids on each side. Her skin had a golden glow and Ricky hoped this meant she would be less stressed now.

The other woman didn't look much older, but it was also difficult to tell. His first impression was that she looked like a ghost. Her hair was platinum blond, almost white. For some reason, Ricky instinctively knew it was natural. The woman's skin was also as close to white as humanly possible, which reminded Ricky of his own sickly complexion, and some tastless maid had dressed her in a completely white dress. Even the flowers in her hair was white. Only her eyes were marbles of absolute and total darkness.

If he was being completely honest, she scared him. Her eyes were unfocused, like she wasn't even really seeing anything.

Celi put her cup down and placed a hand on the other woman's arm. "Mother, he's here." Her words stunned Ricky and rooted him in place. Mother?! This lady looked to be the same age as Celi!

The white woman blinked once and turned her eyes slightly down. She blinked again and seemed to finally find Ricky. "The baby?" Her voice waa thin and frail, sounding like an old grandma.

"Yes, do you remember we talked about it?" Celi said in a kind and patient tone. She motioned for him to go closer and Ricky managed to uproot his feet and take a step closer. The white woman narrowed her eyes at him, but Eudie was giving him a subtle push. With his unsteady legs, Ricky had no choice but to walk closer.

"H-hello," Rick started, but was interrupted by the woman leaning forward. She seemed to study his face, before grabbing his wrist and pulling him close.

"Baby?" Her voice sounded weird and hollow. Despite her small, fragile frame, the white woman easily lifted him up and placed him on her lap. Her skinny arms embracing him, face buried in his shoulder.

Ricky was too stunned to resist. A strange, warm feeling spread through his body. The woman smelled warm and like real flowers, not perfumes. He took a deep breath and she suddenly pulled him away, keeping him at an arm's length and studying his face again.

"I'm so sorry, my baby. This is long overdue." She placed an index finger on each of his temples and pressed her lips against the middle of his forehead. Ricky felt a tingling feeling that moved from the front of his brain, where rationality, thoughts, language was stored. The feeling spread deeper and out to the sides of his temples, memories, emotions, attachments. Then it moved so deep, he wasn't even aware, but the tingling reached the very back, to his brainstem. Which controlled his very life, his instincts, breathing, heartbeat, his consciousness. Activating something ancient, that spread back up, to his working memories, causing Ricky to remember things he didn't know that he knew.

He remembered the human language, he remembered that the star-like symbols in the books were their written language and, with some practice, he knew he could read it and even write it with little issue. There were humans, elves and dwarves here, but not in the same way as the stories from before. They all looked 'human', but the color of their hair and eyes were all different. He remembered that his light hair and dark eyes meant he was very, very human. He remembered that the place where he was, had no name. That they didn't name things, cities, forests, rivers. Only the living had names. People and souls. He remembered that Darva wasn't his soulmate, but his soul. Born together with him, formed from his placenta, she was an extension of him. She was his soul. And his magic. He remembered that 'Darva' was not an appropriate name for a soul.

He finally got his eyes to focus and looked up at the white woman, and from these ancient memories, he knew three things for certain. One, her black eyes and white hair meant she was as pure of a human as was physically possible. Two, her true name was Rozelina Sommerfield. Three, he was her third child.

Roze smiled down at her baby boy, feeling more awake and alive than she had for the last five years. She had been certain he wouldn't survive the black poison and had prepared herself for the moment the news would reach her. But he had been holding on so long, she was starting to suspect that he had already passed away and no one would dare tell her.

"Happy birthday, my sweet baby. Your true name is Albidan Blockberget. Now, tell me the name of your soul."

The cat jumped up, out of nowhere. It startled him, as he wasn't aware she had followed him. His soul, huh. Running a hand over her back, she started purring loudly. He then touched the middle of her forehead, like his mother had done to him.

"Her name is Red."