I Don’t Want to Start a Story!

“Okay, Max. Let’s get that wrapped up.” Elder Charaka gestured for Max to sit down on the other side of his desk.

The community’s hospital was a lot more modern than Max had expected when Darius and Cy dropped him off in the morning. The smell of soap and antiseptic was oddly comforting, but it wasn't strong enough to cover the stench plaguing this world. Nonetheless, it was a slight relief as he followed instructions and gave consent to one medical test after another. Just moments ago, Elder Charaka pulled out a metal bowl filled with polished white stones. He had asked Max if he could make a small cut and use his blood to stain them. “Wasn’t too bad, was it?”

“… It wasn’t exactly a small scratch,” Max muttered as the gentle, wrinkly fingers of Elder Charaka wrapped a bandage around his forearm. The magic community’s senior doctor was wearing loose, clean clothes while his long white hair was tied up tightly. His face and eyes came across as gentle, but Max couldn’t help but feel cautious around him.

Suddenly, a large bang caused Max to jump as a red smoke began to drift from the stones. Elder Charaka took his seat before leaning over the bowl and breathing in the smoke deeply into his lungs. The gesture both puzzled and intrigued Max. He hadn’t seen something like this before. Perhaps it could be a useful skill to learn? Elder Charaka began filling in the paperwork on his desk in between sniffs before both the smoke and the pen stopped. “And we are finished.”

“That was… fast.” It hadn’t been fast. It had taken all morning.

Elder Charaka gave a proud smile. “We aim to please. I saw from the forms that you’re an amnesiac. Want to know more about your physical body?”

It was a little intriguing. Working with a blank slate had its difficulties. There had been numerous times when the body he woke up in would fail before he had a chance to get started. Chronic illness, birth defects, cancers, allergies, lactose intolerance; anything could be potentially lurking in his current DNA. Max was about to inquire when another prompt emerged.

Story Name:

Long Lost Son

Genre:

Folklore

Description:

The MC discovers their origin and decides to return to where they belong.

Goal:

Bring back the seven mythical creatures to your hometown.

Difficulty:

★★☆☆☆

How to Start:

Discover who you are!

Well, it was fun to consider it. “No.”

Elder Charaka frowned from Max’s response. “No? I would have thought a person with no memories would be aching to learn about what happened to them. Are you sure you don’t want to know anything? What about your age?”

“No, thank you.”

“You’re twenty-two.” Elder Charaka’s voice was flat as he judged Max’s reaction. The number wasn’t surprising to him. “Blood type?”

“No, I’m alright-”

“Type O-negative. Congratulations, you’re a universal donor.” Historically, knowing someone’s blood type hadn’t been too helpful unless he was in a story about war, medicine, innovation, etc, or childbirth was on the table. None of which apply to this round yet. “How about any allergies?”

“I said no.”

“Celery.” Max was getting irritated from the answers to questions he didn’t want to ask. “Stay clear of celery sticks, leaves, spice, or anything made from the vegetable. They’ll make your mouth itch. How about where you’re originally from? Because your genetics point to-”

“Stop!” Just in time before the prompt could be activated, but it meant Elder Charaka was looking for a reason why he suddenly interrupted him. It didn’t take long for the lies to start flowing out of his mouth. “I don’t want to know. My first memory was from a few months ago of me waking up on a farm. In my pocket, there was a note about how I didn’t want to remember anything anymore. I guess I poisoned myself or something so I would forget it all.”

“… Really?”

“Yes, you can ask Darius if you don’t believe me.” Max knew he would be able to disprove his story in an instant. But at the moment, Darius was colluding with Max. He was his best option to support his claims. “I don’t want to know anything about me. I must’ve lost my memories for a reason.”

Max watched an unamused Elder Charaka scratch out something on the form before writing something else. It was out of his view, so Max couldn’t know what had been edited. When he finished, Elder Charaka smiled at him. “Okay, then that concludes the medical exam.”

“How did it go?” Cy asked, at the reception room of the hospital. Elder Charaka merely gave a wave to him before slamming the door behind Max. “…Not well, I take it?”

“I guess not.” Max was also puzzled by the sudden animosity towards him. It hadn’t been his best lie, but he was under the impression that Darius’s name must hold some weight since he was both talented in his skillset and was an Elder in the community. Cy led him through a series of doors to reach the original forest filled with quaint cabins. “Did you submit all those papers?”

“Almost all of them.” Cy rubbed his eyes, which were suffering from lack of sleep. The pair of them had spent the whole night trying to fill in the confusing questions as best as they could. Most of the answers ended up being ‘N/A’ or ‘Max doesn’t remember.’ It didn’t seem like his stay was going to be approved at this rate. “The only thing left is an ability evaluation from Elder Aris.”

Cy began leading Max over to the open field from the other day. The morning air was crisp and refreshing compared to the hot summer. There seemed to be a match going on between two of the residents while a few others watched. From the stumbles, loosely swinging arms, and sudden eruption of flames, light, and lightning, their abilities were clear for Max. High skills levels but not much control, they were just sloppy. It took Max a second to notice Cy wasn’t walking with him anymore. “Why’d you stop?”

“Maybe we should come back another time?” Cy nervously pulled his hood to further cover his face. “It seems like Elder Aris is busy with a few of his pupils.”

Max looked back to the pitch. Neither fighter was particularly intimidating, not like the accuracy of Darius’s readings or even the blood magic performed by Elder Charaka. They were… ordinary and typical. Figures he had seen time and time again across the worlds. The ones who thought they were destined for something but amounted to nothing compared to people like Max. Looking at the other community members around the fighters, he spotted a potential candidate for an elder. It was the man with a scar who stared at them the other day.

“And? Your Dad said we needed to get all this paperwork done today. Who knows how long it’ll take for him to look at the runes.”

“Yeah… but…” Cy searched for excuses. “Let’s come back later. We need him to kind of like you. Especially since, you failed the medical exam.”

“I failed it?” Max was perplexed. How can he fail a medical exam? “I know it didn’t go well, but it seems harsh to not even review the results. Are you sure?”

Cy gave a hesitant nod. “I’ve never seen him slam a door before.”

“….It was really that bad? I guess he seemed sceptical about my amnesia story… Did that make me fail?” His lie wasn’t great, but it seemed unfair to fail him on that without consulting with Darius.

“Probably. Did he mention anything else to you?”

“Only that I’m twenty-two, blood type O-, and I’m allergic to celery. You think I failed because I have an allergy? He didn’t make it sound that bad-”

“You’re twenty-two!?”

“Apparently-”

“No way, that’ll make you younger than me.”

“Why are you so surprised? Couldn’t you see it in my soul?”

“Because I’m not as good as my Dad! I can’t make out the blurred parts.”

“Blurred parts?”

“What are you boys talking about?” Darius interrupted behind them, causing both of them to jump out of their skin. “We don’t have time to waste bickering. Max’s assessment is going to take a long time. Let’s go.” He took charge, leading the way to the pitch.

“That’s not good,” Cy whispered to Max. “I think Dad’s here cause you’re going to fail this too.”

“Is that a feeling or did you read the fate of your Dad?”

“My fate changed.” Cy pointed over at a cabin’s window, which showed their reflections. “At the moment, it’s indicating that I'll be forced to leave tomorrow. I assume you’re going with me.”