War and Survival

Ikem sat grimly in silence, it was expected as he had once again forgotten part of his memories.

All he remembered last were the moments of him walking through the huge, white, metallic door and after that, Nothing.

His memories turned blank.

And the minute he tried to force himself to remember, a great, unbearable pain assaulted his brain, forcing him to withdraw and not go further with any more attempts.

'I'm not a masochist', he thought to himself.

Also, although he didn't know how he exerted himself, he knew he was weak; his muscles felt severely sore and he heard a deeply disturbing buzzing sound every time he tried to think.

"What is wrong with you?", the man seated across the desk from him questioned.

Ikem had been lost in thought and had apparently forgotten that he had been sitting on an interview for the past 15 minutes without saying anything.

"Huh", Ikem was quickly drawn back to reality. His lack of reaction from the beginning of the interview had already been quickly jotted down by his interviewer.

"I repeat, what is your name?" the interviewer asked, his annoyance clearly detailed by the deep frown on his face.

Ikemefuna appeared dumbstruck by the otherwise easily placed question. 'His name'. Something was off [he trailed off], he assesed, how could he have lost his memories so easily?. And that too when he was in this strange facility?, something was definitely off.

"My name?" he began slowly, "I.....I don't remember", he acted shaken.

"Interesting", the interviewer muttered while concealing a grin, "Could you clarify, what do you mean by what you just said?" he questioned, positioning his pen correctly upon his writing scroll.

"I don't know my name, or who I am or what I'm doing here", Ikem confessed. "If I may ask, where am I?".

He had already decided. He first needed to get a grasp on where he was and how on earth he had gotten there before anything else.

The instructor scribbled down on his sheet before speaking.

"Oh?, but the camp healer had said you were okay, strangely no damage was done by the accident, so,if you're indeed speaking the truth, I'm guessing your amnesia occured before your test; before you were brought here", the interviewer said, he was a middle aged man, with short auburn hair, he wore thick-rimmed glasses and a black suit, he seemed normal– plain even.

The only strange thing about him was an uncanny 'C' shaped scar on his left cheek which happened to seem more profound every time the flickering light from the room's bulb hit it.

"Perhaps", Ikem replied, "I have no memories of before my entrance into this room".

The interviewer grunted sharply, he set down his pen as he folded his hands, placing them atop the wooden interview desk.

"Fine" he agreed solemnly. "You are in Camp Perudaux", he explained, " a recruite training centre, set up amiably by the J.P.P.; the Joint Pantheon Prefecture. A Liaison guild whose military duties are based on the sole purpose of 'keeping the peace' between all the Faith Nations, well.... at least the major ones." He stopped, sighing lengthily.

"You were brought in from a destruction-kissed city, the sole survivor of a city with it's sixty two thousand plus population dead, killed by what was identified as an outrageous lightning meteor field".

"Lightning?... I see". Ikem didn't know what to say, he had found an answer to one of his questions and in the same vein opened a door to many more.

"You have been deemed to have passed the recruit assessment test, and with or without your knowing had escaped what I would refer to as an unforseen accident," he paused.

"I had?", Ikem questioned, trying to fill in after the silence had dragged on for an awkward amount of time.

"You had", the interviewer affirmed. "An attack that happened to take the life of .... a rather weak O.I.T {Officer in Training} Examiner". "Now, to have survived two major mishaps in more or less Seventy-two hours, we would have taken you in as a suspect for questioning, but since you claim to have no memory of what had transpired in both situations, the Management has agreed to nullify all allegations and charges against you".

Ikemefuna was shocked, "They believed me that easily and without any proof, how?". Under normal circumstances the possibility of such an occurrence was zero, so how?, why?.

"Let me let you in on a secret", the interviewer whispered while releasing a grin. "Every interviewer, Every examiner, all personel in the staff of recruitment, all have a gift connected with an ability in revealing truths".

Ikem gasped in surprise, 'was this real'. Without any knowledge of this ability he would have made serious blunders in his stay in Camp Perudaux, part of which he had already committed in this his first interview.

'But then can I really believe whatever he says, for all I know, he might just be trying to scare me'. Ikem thought as he stared at the grin playing on the man's lips.

"Boy!", the interviewer spoke fiercly, dragging Ikem out of his world of thoughts, "You lied about not knowing your name, and so I ask yet again, what is your name?".

Ikemefuna closed his eyes in apprehension, he felt insecure, his mood had unintentionally turned sombre.

'Curses'.

"My name is Ikemefuna". He spoke slowly.

"Ikem...efuna?". The interviewer asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Such a strange name, what does it mean?".

This stirred a deep feeling from Ikem's chest. Did his name mean anything?. He had never given rise to such a thought since he had awoken, yes his name did mean something.

"Ikemefuna", Ikem began, "the name implies this: 'My strength should not fade; it should not be forgotten".

Funny enough, it was after Ikem had spoken the meaning of his name that he recognized it's implications on his current situation. 'Was it connected?',

He didn't know.

Ikem felt perplexed but due to his new found insecurities he decided to sort his thought elsewhere, he chose to hide his confusion from his interviewer till he could leave.

"Anything else sir?" he asked his interviewer; who had bent beneath the desk to retrieve something.

"No, nothing else ". The interviewer replied while dropping noiselessly; a large wooden box. "Welcome to Camp Perudaux".