Ch 1 - Rebirth pg6

In one fluid motion, Merciless slams the Young One hard into the side of the tree several times; each slam having more strength driving it. The final impact, Merciless releases his grip, dropping the Young One to his knees, only to be quickly kicked in the gut by a steel toed sabaton. The blow forces the air out from the Young One's lungs, which begins an equally violent coughing fit. Merciless turns towards Kendrick and tosses the Young One to the feet of the Dark Lord.

The Young One lays on the ground for moment, only able to cough. As the burning sensation in his lungs and throat dies down, he is finally able to catch his breath. Kendrick looks down and places a hand over his mouth, to cover up his distaste for the display of weakness in front of him.

“Well? Have we learned something from this little... lesson on manners? I dearly hope that for your sake that you did. I would much prefer it that you try to act as civilized as you can. That way, I wouldn't be forced to take actions and make decisions that are simply beneath me.”

The Young One works up the strength to sit up; rubbing his stomach, trying to sooth the pain still shooting through his body. The thought keeps racing through this mind.

“W-where... where am I and what's... going on? What do want them me!?” asking in a raspy voice. Kendrick flashes Merciless a quick glace, who's ready darting towards the Young One, who's now kneeing.

“You don't learn quickly, do you? I guess I shouldn't expect much from you, should I?” asking Kendrick as Merciless grabs the back of the Young One's neck, slamming his head into the wet ground.

Confusion and fear is replaced by anger and frustration. The Young One quickly rolls to side, slipping out from Merciless's grip. Using the momentum from his roll, the Young One lifts up onto his feet quickly, only to stumble backwards a few feet, due to his injures. Everyone in the surrounding area stands almost stupefied by the sudden flare of action coming from a creature that has continued to show weakness.

“My, my... I guess you have a little fight in you. Not many are brave or foolish enough to fight or even out up a struggle against Merciless. Those that do; however, don't live long after to boast about it”. While Kendrick drags on with his lecture, Merciless and the Young One have lock eyes, sharing glaces of hatred for each other. “By some bizarre twist of fate, you are needed alive by our beloved Sin Lord. I can't begin to understand why such a mighty and powerful Lord such as himself needs from you. But, alas, that is not my place to question the wisdom of my Lord and what he desires. Now, before we continue, I'll... request your name one last time. Please cooperate, I grow bored of this.”

The Young One thinks to himself, how is he going to answer Kendrick's question, when he has been asking the very same one since the moment he had awaken in this hellish nightmare. With that finished thought, a flash of images courses through his mind and the intense headache returns.

Grabbing the sides of his head, the Young One thrashes about on the ground as sounds of people talking and mixed images continue to race through his mind. Kendrick looks on, unamused. Merciless and the other Dread Knights watch in delight, knowing that their prey is in a lot of pain at the moment.

Mixed images of fragmented memories with and without sound, fantasies too prefect to be true and dreams to outrageous; flick on and off in his head. As if his whole life was set to a strobe light, moving faster than he can register what he was seeing in his head.

Then, continuous flashes of a young girl, replace all the other images. Snips and pieces, blurs and fuzzy images, pictures, fragments of memories or where they dreams? Was what he seeing in his mind real or something that his mind fabricated? He was unsure, confused even more.

The images begin to slow down and then backdrops, surrounds and backgrounds begin to fill in the rest of the images, making everything he was seeing a little more real. Places where the young girl was standing start to look familiar to him. Then, a voice; a voice breaks the silences of the moving pictures. The voice to the Young One's ear sounds surreal and even angelic.

He then use realized that what he had heard wasn't actually an angelic voice, but the emotion and affect it had on him. Wanting to hear her voice, he does everything he can to drive out the pain and focus on her lips as she mouthed his name and that's when he remembered...

The Young One stopped, the pain in his head subsides and completely disappears all together. Taking a moment to collect himself, the Young One stands up and looks Kendrick in the eyes. At that brief moment in space and time, it only lasted for a second, he had completely remembered who he was.

“My name... my name is Nevermore.”