Chapter 68

　　Kalen Caledon drifted in and out of consciousness, his mind never settling. He dreamed, but they were fragmented images, scenes out of context. His body felt light, his spirit unburdened. He felt warm and safe, and he slept without fear.

　　"Kalen, are you listening to me?" A woman asked, and Kal looked up from the book he was studying. The thick tome was gripped in his tiny hands while he lounged in a chair in the family living quarters.

　　The woman who spoke to him was tall and beautiful, her hair long and silky, flowing down her back. With high cheekbones and a prominent nose, Kal could recognize some of the similarities in their appearances. Her blue eyes were focused on his face, a frown creating creases in her otherwise perfect features.

　　"What?" Kal asked dumbly, frowning at the question. What had she been asking him? Additionally, who was she? For the life of him, he had no recollection of this woman or even knew her name!

　　It was frustrating. His memory had always been outstanding, even as a child, a by-product of his superior genetics and breeding, or at least that was what he had been told. Who had said that, and when?

　　Confused by the gaps in his knowledge, he barely heard the woman repeat the question. His concentration was turned inward as he ruminated on his plight. He was interrupted by a pair of fingers snapping in front of his face to gain his attention.

　　"Do not make me repeat myself, Kalen. Honestly, is that book more important than your own mother? Is that what Aurora is teaching you, to disrespect your parents?!" Kal`s mother ranted, pacing angrily and waving her arms.

　　His mother&. this woman was his mother? Why couldn`t he remember anything about her!?

　　Kal`s frown deepened as a flash of pain shot through his head, and an intense image of a monstrous mechanical beast appeared in his mind. Its metal hands clawed at his mind, ripping away chunks of his memories, devouring them in its hunger.

　　He shook his head, desperate to escape the vision. In a blink, he returned to reality. Blinking his eyes, he looked around once more. The woman was gone, as was the book that he was holding. Standing, Kal was surprised that he was tall, having grown higher than the beautiful woman had been before.

　　He was in the same room, although the furniture and artwork differed. The room felt colder, less lived in, if that were possible. The windows were dark, the sun had fallen, and a white moon hung in the sky.

　　Kal felt drawn to the outdoors, stepping onto a balcony and into the warm summer night. The air smelled of flowers, and he could hear cicadas in the distance. It was strange. He knew this place but couldn`t tell when it was. It held a familiarity to him but was absent from his memories.

　　Staring out into the night, he felt calm. The weight on his shoulders eased slightly. Drawing in a deep breath, he let it out softly.

　　In a flash of intense light, the darkness was driven back by an explosion from above. Kal looked up, startled as the silent eruption of white light expanded across the moon, engulfing its surface.

　　Watching the disaster unfold, Kal`s emotions were turbulent.

　　He knew without a doubt that this had been a monumental occasion in his life, something that had moulded him into the man he was, but he didn`t know why it occurred. The palace began to shake around him, the effects of the devastation on the moon`s surface finally reaching them.

　　"This is the consequence of your actions, Kalen." A man spoke from behind him.

　　Kal turned immediately at the words, and the room shifted. He was in the large hall. A handsome man sat on the throne in front of him. Wearing a uniform heavily embroidered in gold, his hands covered in rings with rare stones, the man stared at Kal emotionlessly.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author`s consent. Report any sightings.

　　Emerick Caledon.` Kal thought to himself. He remembered this person. The rage he felt threatened to break through, latching firmly onto the memory in a way that could never be taken away from him.

　　Kal could see the similarities between them, almost mirrorlike in their resemblance. But years of vice and debauchery had taken a toll on the Duke. His skin was flushed and waxy, stretched taut by rejuvenation procedures that kept him healthy but could barely keep up with his lifestyle.

　　Owing to his superior genetics, Kal`s father was in shape, his figure slim and athletic, but the cracks were showing in the fa鏰de. A failure as a Pilot, the Duke had never once trained in combat or even been near a Mech, preferring to trust underlings with that duty.

　　This memory was clear to Kal, the aftermath of the attack on that city whose name had been erased from Kal`s mind. His father had blamed the Emperor, but they both knew it was retaliation for Kal`s actions against him.

　　Looking away from the Duke on his throne, he focused on the woman beside him. His mother, a memory also ripped away from him. He vaguely recalled that she had spent years alone with Kal and his grandparents without Emerick before becoming Duchess, but he could not find many of those memories.

　　Kal didn`t know if he should be angry at that. It seemed to him they were never close anyway.

　　The scene shifted, and Kal was back on Caledon, but this time wearing the uniform of his House, the black and red clothing crisp and clean. Standing before him was a Mech, its monstrous form dwarfing his own.

　　The Titan Atlas stared at him with hungry green eyes, and Kal recoiled from it.

　　He couldn`t feel the link between them. The absence was a gaping hole in his mind, one where the memories of his youth had fallen into, never to be seen again.

　　Kal screamed, shutting his eyes from the sight of the Titan, fleeing the memory of their first encounter. He ran through the corridors of his mind, arriving at a new location.

　　Kal opened his eyes again, only to find himself trapped in the stasis pod. The oppressive silence of his cell was maddening, and even the loss of some of his memories by Atlas couldn`t strip this time from him.

　　He hung in the quiet solitude of the pod, listening to the ever-present beep as it counted down his sentence. In his mind, he railed at it, desperate to escape. With all of his strength and willpower, he urged his body to move and break free.

　　Screaming, Kal clenched his fist and slammed it against the glass of his stasis pod. He was shocked at the unexpected feeling. The stasis pod had no glass! With that shock came new sensations. He could feel liquid against his skin, and something was over his mouth, providing oxygen while restricting his movements.

　　Scared, confused, and unsure of where he was, Kal flailed at his bindings, ripping the mask from his face while he tried to open his eyes. Expecting to draw in air, he inhaled a mouthful of liquid, causing him to cough and choke.

　　Clasping his throat, he slammed his hand against the glass, desperate to escape, when mechanical arms grasped him around the torso. The liquid began to drain around him as something sharp prodded his arm. Sedated, his last sight was of strangers rushing into his room, visitors he didn`t recognize.

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　　Kal woke up to voices, a quiet muttering of a man as he spoke, followed by a crisp response from a woman. Their voices were comforting as he slowly came around. Blankets were across his body, tucking him tightly into a soft bed.

　　His throat was dry, and his breathing was raspy. His consciousness fluttered between sleep and waking, and his awareness of what they were saying faded in and out.

　　"&.quite severe, likely long term&." The man was saying before Kal lost track of it. Drifting off once more, he was awakened by a straw being placed in his mouth. Sucking the water desperately, he heard the voices again.

　　"&..slower, don`t choke. Just rest. You`ve been through&." Before it faded away and he fell asleep again.

　　He was in the black void, standing on a platform, staring at the darkness. In the distance, a pair of green eyes stared back at him, waiting for his return. Kal knew they couldn`t reach him and was too far away ever to hurt him again.

　　But he was scared. That voice deep within him whimpered at the remembered pain. Falling onto the cold stone of the platform, Kal curled into a ball, shielding his head with his arms as tears streaked down his face.

　　"This is the consequence of your actions, Kalen." His father whispered, and the void shook around him. Looking out from the shelter of his arms, the Titan reared its head up from the darkness. Its green eyes hovered right in front of him.

　　With a scream, Kal lurched awake, clutching the bedsheets in his grasping hands. He was coated in a cold sweat, his hair plastered to his head. Panting, he looked around wildly for the green eyes, but he only saw white walls and large windows that showed a sunny day and a field of green grass.

　　Relief flooded through him before he collapsed against the pillows. Great, racking sobs ripped their way from his chest, his pillow stained with tears as Kal wept.