《Field of Memories》


 Chapter 0

    Chapter 0 - As the Story Begins


    When is the beginning? Some have wondered about this question. It is the same for this certain being.


    This being first open its vision. Unable to comprehend its surrounding, it wanders. In front of it is barren. Behind of it is barren. It finds itself to be in the beginning.


    It hesitates. It does not know anything. It keeps wandering, unable to have any goals whatsoever. Nevertheless, there is no uncertainty at the same time.


    It lives.


    It lives for the sake of living. It first realizes that its goal is to live. How to live, the being ask itself. As it is a natural thing to do, it keeps living.


    Unbeknownst to it, the story of a certain being begins.


    Unbeknownst to it, it travels through many locations.


    Unbeknownst to it, it suddenly stops for a while.


    Unbeknownst to it, it stops for no reasons.


    Unbeknownst to it, it meets others for the first time.


    Unbeknownst to it, it learns how to communicate.


    Unbeknownst to it, it is growing.


    Unbeknownst to it, it is alive.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Unbeknownst to it, everything that has happened, it simply walks through its thread of life.


    All the memories that it has, none of them are important.


    All of the bonds that it has, none of them are important.


    Everything that it has, none of them are important. It does not feel... interested.


    It is the one who does not feel anything. It is devoid of emotion.


    It is an empty being.


    When is the beginning? Some have wondered about this question. However, when is the end?


    The endless cycle of the certain being. It keeps wandering.


    For it to be inside of an endless story.


    Thus, this is a prologue.


    A prologue for a certain being.


    A prologue for itself.


    A prologue for none other.


    A prologue for its own story.


    A prologue for... an empty being.


    Why is a prologue created for the certain being?


    Why is a prologue created for itself?


    Why is a prologue created for none other?


    Why is a prologue created for its own story?


    Why is a prologue created for... the empty being?


    Why?


    Are there any reasons?


    Are there any reasons for this prologue to be created?


    If there is a beginning, should there be an end? What happens between the beginning and the end?


    If there is a prologue, should there be an epilogue? What happens between the prologue and the epilogue?


    It begins to feel something. It finally gains interest for the first time.


    What is it interested in?


    As it finally gains interest, the prologue comes to a close. This is the end of the beginning.

 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1 - His Beginning


    [ Where... am I? ]


    He wakes up. Opening his eyes, his surrounding has become nothing that he recognizes.


    [ Anyone there? ]


    No respond. His surrounding is nothing but barren, after all. He then stands up and walks. He does not know where he will end up. Nevertheless, he walks. He keeps on walking. As he walks, his surrounding does not even change.


    He keeps on walking yet again.


    He walks.


    He walks.


    He keeps on walking.


    It feels like eternity.


    [ How did I end up here? I don''t even remember what my name is... ]


    A young man, who has forgotten everything about himself, keeps on walking. He thinks that he will be stuck forever if he decides to stop. Therefore, he walks.


    It feels like an endless cycle.


    [ ...Huh? ]


    After an unknown amount of time, he eventually sees something. Something different from the barren surrounding. He regains his hope, albeit only a little. He thinks that, at the very least, this may be the lucky ticket for him.


    [ A cave? ]


    What he sees from the distance is a cave. A cave in the middle of nowhere.


    [ Should I enter this suspicious cave? ]


    After thinking for a while, he decides to enter the cave. After all, he only has two choices: enter the cave or keep on walking. He is afraid that he will not find anything anymore if he keeps on walking. He might even walk for eternity.


    Endless journey is quite terrifying, isn''t it?


    [ Right... let''s go in. ]


    Upon entering the dark cave, he keeps on walking. There are no light source. It is pitch black. He feels a little bit nervous, but he does not want to go back walking for eternity. Therefore, he walks. As he walks, his surrounding is still pitch black.


    He keeps on walking yet again.


    He walks.


    He walks.


    He keeps on walking.


    However, this time, he begins to feel afraid.


    Afraid of his decision without bearing any fruits.


    Afraid of stucking in the endless loop of the cave.


    Afraid of the darkness eventually consumes him.


    Afraid of the nothingness.


    [ ...Please. ]


    He begs for help. He does not want to be stuck forever in an endless pitch black cycle. He prefers the endless cycle before entering the cave to his current predicament. He feels regret beginning to sprout inside of him.


    [ Is this the feeling... of regret? ]


    He never feel regret before. Even though he does not remember anything, he is really sure that he never feel regret even once in his life. He starts to doubt his own feeling.


    [ Why... why does this happen to me? ]


    Certainly, why does it have to be you?


    His doubt becomes stronger. He feels like something is trying to rip out his heart. He is in pain.


    Do you feel it? This never-ending pain?


    His breath and pulse become unstable. His body is shaking.


    Have you suffered enough?


    His mental state starts to crumble.


    There is nothing else for you.


    [ I... want to... die. ]


    Do you truly want to end this story?


    [ Why... can''t... I... ]


    He falls unconscious.


    ...


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    After an unknown amount of time, he wakes up.


    [ Where... am I? ]


    Opening his eyes, his surrounding has become barren.


    [ Anyone there? ]


    No respond. His surrounding is nothing but barren, after all. He then stands up and walks. He does not know where he will end up. Nevertheless, he walks. He keeps on walking. As he walks, his surrounding does not even change.


    He keeps on walking yet again.


    He walks.


    He walks.


    He keeps on walking.


    It feels like twice as much as eternity.


    [ How did I end up here? Who am I? ]


    A young man, who has forgotten everything about himself, keeps on walking. He thinks that he will be stuck forever if he decides to stop. Therefore, he walks.


    It feels like an endless cycle, doesn''t it?


    [ ...Huh? ]


    After an unknown amount of time, he eventually sees something. Something different from the barren surrounding. He somewhat regains his hope, albeit only a little.


    [ A cave? ]


    What he sees from the distance is a cave. A cave in the middle of nowhere.


    [ Should I enter this suspicious cave? ]


    After thinking for a while, he decides not to enter the cave. After all, he only has two choices: enter the cave or keep on walking. He is afraid that if he enters a dark cave in the middle of nowhere, he might be devoured by the darkness. He feels like he is afraid of the dark.


    He ignores the cave and keeps on walking. He walks for eternity. He eventually wants to stop, thinking that walking is not worth his effort. As he stops, he falls unconscious.


    ...


    After an unknown amount of time, he wakes up.


    [ Where... am I? ]


    Opening his eyes, his surrounding has become barren yet again.


    [ Anyone there? ]


    No respond. His surrounding is nothing but barren, after all. He then stands up and walks. He does not know where he will end up. Nevertheless, he reluctantly walks. He keeps on walking. As he walks, his surrounding does not even change, as expected.


    [ ...Huh, hold up. Why do I feel uneasy? ]


    He keeps on walking yet again.


    He walks.


    He walks.


    He keeps on walking.


    It feels like thrice as much as eternity.


    [ I feel something is amiss, but I cannot point it out. ]


    A young man, who has probably forgotten everything about himself, keeps on walking. He thinks that he will be stuck forever if he decides to stop. Therefore, he reluctantly walks.


    It feels like another endless cycle, doesn''t it?


    [ ...Huh? ]


    After a while, he sees something. Something distinctively different from the barren surrounding. He feels like he regains his hope, albeit only a little. He thinks that, at the very least, this may be the lucky ticket for him... or not.


    [ What? This cave... Why do I feel like I know this cave? ]


    What he sees from the distance is a cave. An extremely suspicious cave in the middle of nowhere.


    [ Should I enter this cave... again? Wait, why did I say ''again''? ]


    After thinking for a while, he reluctantly decides to enter the cave. After all, he probably only has two choices: enter the cave or keep on walking. He is afraid that he might not find anything anymore if he keeps on walking. There is a chance that he might even walk for eternity.


    Several endless journeys are really terrifying, aren''t they?


    [ Right... worrying about this will not get me anywhere. I should just move on. ]


    Upon entering the suspicious dark cave, he reluctantly keeps on walking. There are no light source. It is pitch black, as expected. For some reasons, he feels extremely afraid, but he does not want to go back walking for eternity. Therefore, he reluctantly walks. As he walks, his surrounding is still pitch black, as usual.


    He keeps on walking yet again.


    He walks.


    He walks.


    He keeps on walking.


    However, this time, something is different.


    [ Hmm? A door? ]


    A door now stands in front of him. It feels like it is screaming, telling him to open the door.


    [ Should I open it? I think there is nothing else in this cave. This is probably the dead end. ]


    He then pushes the door. However, the door does not budge.


    [ Does it require a key? I don''t see any keyhole. ]


    He pushes the door yet again. With his all-out strength, he eventually manages to open the door. Behind the door is a huge dim room, with many mirrors nicely arranged. However, there are eight mirrors that stand out. Those mirrors feel extravagant. Even then, they are still really beautiful.


    It is a shame that they can only reflect the outside.


    He then approaches one of them to see his reflection.


    [ So this is how I look like... ]


    If only they also can reflect the inside... What is inside is what truly matters.


    Feeling somewhat amazed by his own appearance, he touches the mirror in front of him. Suddenly, that mirror begin to crack. As the mirror cracks, he suddenly feels sick.


    [ What... is happening? ]


    He feels like something is ripping out his heart. He is in pain.


    Do you feel it again? This never-ending pain?


    His breath and pulse become somewhat unstable. His body is shaking.


    Do you want to suffer more?


    His mental state seems to crumble.


    There are more for you, and only for you.


    [ I... ]


    He falls unconscious.


    ...


    After a while, he wakes up.


    [ Where... am I? ]


    Opening his eyes, he feels like his surrounding is the same as usual.


    [ What had happened before? I do not remember anything. ]


    He then stands up and walks. He feels like he knows where he will end up. Nevertheless, he walks. He keeps on walking without looking at his surrounding.


    [ I think... I have done this several times. ]


    He keeps on walking yet again. However, it does not feel like eternity.


    You begin to feel something different.


    [ What is this feeling...? ]


    A young man, despite feeling a little bit weird, keeps on walking. He does not know what will happen if he stops. Therefore, he does not stop walking.


    You feel like something new is going to happen.


    [ Oh, finally. ]


    After a while, he sees something that he has anticipated. Something unique from his surrounding. What he sees from the distance is a cave. He feels that whatever is inside the cave, there might be something important.


    [ Let''s go. ]


    Without unnecessarily thinking, he enters the cave. He feels like his only choice is to enter the cave. He somewhat knows that he will definitely find something inside. Not entering the cave will result in him walking for eternity.


    Upon entering the pitch black cave, he keeps on walking. However, for some reasons, he does not feel afraid. As he walks, his surrounding begins to light up a bit. He feels like the cave is leading him to somewhere.


    After walking for a while, he sees a door. He immediately opens the door. Behind the door is a huge empty dim room. A mirror is placed in the center of the room.


    [ A mirror... interesting. ]


    He immediately has the urge to touch the mirror.


    [ Ah, the mirror is cracking. ]


    As the mirror cracks, he feels like he is going to faint. Eventually, he falls unconcious.

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2 - The Story of a Certain Prince


    [ Mommy, mommy! Can you read that story again? ]


    [ Sure, dear, the story about that prince, right? ]


    [ Yes! ]


    It was at night. The child usually listened to a bed-time story before going to sleep. His favorite story was a story about a certain prince.


    Most children stories are extremely clich¨¦, such as a hero slaying the demon lord and lived happily ever after, or maybe a prince who eventually married a wonderful princess and lived happily ever after. Children loves these clich¨¦s. Most of them even wish to become like the protagonists in the stories they have heard. They are the embodiment of idealistic role models.


    However, the protagonists in the stories, as stated before, are ideal. In other words, they are not real. There are no such thing as happily ever after. Most children do not know about that fact. Even if those types of protagonists are real, the stories only show the important part of what the children want to hear. They do not know and do not care what happens outside the stories. They only care about the glory and the happy ending of the protagonists. Of course, they do not realize it.


    Children are innocent beings, after all.


    However, not all of them are that gullible. In fact, the child that wanted to hear his favorite bed-time story was far from innocent. He understood that many children stories were blatantly fake. He even hated most stories, simply because they always had happy endings.


    Having said that, what exactly is his favorite story?


    [ Alright, mommy is going to start. ]


    This is the story of a certain prince.


    Once upon a time, in a certain kingdom, there lived a handsome prince. He was the fifth child of the king. However, he had shown many signs of his wonderful talents. At the age of 3, he was able to immediately understand all of the contents after reading books. At the age of 4, he was able to use magic perfectly. As a result, people around him, the nobilities, praise him. They call him a genius. A genius that only appeared once every ten thousand years.


    At first, the prince was really happy. He loved being praised by others. As a result, he kept studying and learning everything, so that he could receive more praises. At the age of 7, he was able to defeat all of the kingdom''s soldiers in a spar, including the highest ranking ones. He was truly a genius. Of course, he was praised yet again. However, something had sprouted inside of him. A new emotion he had never felt before.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    He became prideful. Too prideful, in fact.


    The king was sure that his fifth child would probably become the next king after he retired. However, after that spar with the soldiers, he started to show his arrogance side of his character. In his perspective, everyone was inferior to him, including his own father. He became so prideful that he hated his own families. He thought that they were massive thorns in his side. They would become his obstacles in the future. Therefore, he decided to usurp the throne.


    The king eventually noticed the change of his behavior. However, it was a little bit too late. All of his siblings had been killed. The prince himself had gathered enough forces. The king was powerless. There was nothing he could do.


    [ You have gone senile, father. It is time for me to rule this kingdom. ]


    [ My... child... p-please... ]


    That was his father''s last words.


    He successfully became the king at the age of 15. He was eventually known as the tyrannical ruler. Obviously, in his perspective, the citizens were way too inferior to him. He thought that all he could do was to use them as tools for him to succeed even more. In other words, they became his slaves. There was no one in the kingdom that could oppose him. After all, he also killed everyone who had the potential to become thorns in his side.


    Until that day, the day when he met his demise.


    In this particular story, there were evil beings known as monsters. Their instincts were to kill everyone in front of them, especially humans. Despite that, they did not actively go attacking places with large amounts of population.


    However, that day was the exception. The monsters suddenly attacked the kingdom. There were approximately one hundred thousand monsters. The kingdom was not capable to defend itself. After all, there was only one ''capable'' person.


    It is obvious that one person could not win against one hundred thousand enemies.


    Even if he was dubbed as a genius that only appeared once every ten thousand years, he could not go against numbers. He was so prideful that he believed no one would be able to oppose him. As a result, the kingdom was destroyed and fallen into ruin. Of course, he himself was killed by the monsters. However, maybe because of karma, he did not die immediately. He felt pain for the first time. It was so painful that he could not cry anymore. He did not have the energy to do so.


    [ It... h-hu... hurts... s-so... much... ]


    Even when he was about to die, he did not blame himself. He blamed everyone because of their inferiority.


    [ D-damn... inferior be-... ings... ]


    After muttering his last words, he drew his last breath.


    This is the end of the prince''s story.


    However, what if the prince has chances to restart his life?


    Will the same thing happen over and over again?


    Will he be in an endless cycle?


    Or will he walk in a new thread of life?


    Aren''t you curious?


    What would you do in a situation like that?


    Would you realize that you had walked the same path of life again?


    Would you be able to stop the endless journey?


    Would you finally be... free?


    Free from this endless cycle of one''s life?


    Free from this boundless shackle of madness?


    Free from this never-ending nightmare?


    The child immediately fell asleep after hearing the ending of his favorite story. His mother kissed his forehead before leaving his room.


    [ I don''t understand why he really like this story... ]


    Hence, the mother went to her own room, wondering about why her only child''s favorite story was something like that.


    Why did he like the story?


    What did he like about the prince?


    Was he aspiring to become someone similar to the prince?


    Who did he want to become?


    These types of questions were the ones popping inside her mind. After all, the preconception was that all children loved the main characters in their favorite stories. However, his mother thought that this was something minor, as every children would eventually know that those stories were fake. She decided that it was no use thinking too much about this. She immediately fell asleep as she was really exhausted.


    [ Good night... ]