"Ari… when I return from the mission…" I took my wife's hand, gently running my thumb across it. Her skin felt soft against mine
"I'll bring you a gift" I said. "Something nice for Darim and for you."
I pulled her close, wrapped an arm around her waist, and kissed her.
"Just coming back safe is enough for me" she said with a smile.
How can someone look so beautiful when they smile?
"I'll come back. I promise" I answered, smiling as well.
I turned to leave. "Have the ingredients ready for my favorite meal. I'll be back in a few days."
Arisha laughed, brushing her hand over her cheek. "I'm spoiling you too much, I think."
I tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "That's why there's no better wife than you."
She laughed back. "Take care, Akhem."
…
"Eresh?"
A jolt ran through me.
Huh? What… what just happened? I was just with Ari.
I touched my lips without thinking. There was still warmth there, the faint reminder of her kiss: soft, gentle, and far too vivid. The way she leaned into me, the promise I'd made… it all felt real.
But it wasn't. That wasn't me.
It was Akhem.
His memories.
I covered my eyes with my hand.
What the hell is happening?
Feelings and names were one thing… but full memories? Moments so vivid they pulled me away from where I was, from what I was doing. I could remember the texture of her skin, the sound of her laugh.
Am I going to start seeing visions out of nowhere?
If this keeps up… it'll drive me insane.
"Eresh, are you alright?" Kisaya asked.
How many times has she asked me that lately?
I lowered my hand and looked at her. Her gaze was firm, the kind a trained fighter carries. And beneath all that discipline was the same worry again, the one that never seemed to leave her anymore.
I should tell her what's happening to me. But not now, Ishtal is probably watching.
Besides…
If I can really access someone else's memories, there's no way he'd ever let that go. He'd turn it into a tool.
A weapon.
"I'm fine. Don't worry" I told her.
Kisaya nodded, but her face said she didn't believe me.
Ishtal had already left. I only told him I had a lot of speed and strength, nothing else. He didn't entirely believe me, but he left anyway.
A few hours later, just as he promised, people came with animals—thinking our job was to drain them and skin them. That was the cover story.
They brought the sheep and goats in, all of them tied, their hooves scraping against the floor as they were guided inside.
I drank their blood.
Kisaya skinned them, her blade sliding cleanly beneath the hide. Those same people came back hours later to pick up the meat.
Now that thirst wasn't an issue… maybe I should try to find them.
If I didn't want Ishtal to find out, I couldn't ask anyone. I'd have to look for them myself. But how?
I sat there, turning the problem over and over, until an idea finally came to me. I'd wait until night.
The hours dragged after that. Every minute felt stretched thin. I tried to train, to focus my mind on anything else, but it didn't work. My hands moved, but my head wasn't in it. At some point, I stopped entirely and just watched Kisaya practicing. Even then, I couldn't focus, my attention kept drifting, pulled back to the same place.
Arisha and Darim.
When I finally looked out the window, the sky had darkened.
Night had come at last.
"I'm going for a walk" I told Kisaya.
She looked up from the table. "Should I come with you?" she asked.
"No" I said. "I want to clear my head for a bit."
She studied me for a long second, then nodded. She didn't like it, but she let me go.
I stepped outside.
Most people shut away in their homes, fires crackling softly through thin walls, the smell of food drifting across the street. I followed the path toward the market.
I had to find them, see if they were safe, if they needed something, anything at all.
Even if I knew the feeling wasn't mine. I felt it as if it were mine.
But… there was a problem.
I was definitely being followed, so I stopped and looked around.
Nothing seemed out of place, but I already knew—Ishtal wouldn't let me walk out without someone watching. There had to be a chosen nearby.
Still, all I could see were regular people going about their lives, carrying baskets, talking on corners, nothing suspicious at all.
I had no way of finding whoever it was… not yet.
So for now, I'd just pretend this really was a simple walk. I reached the market in a few minutes.
It was quieter than during the day, only a few stalls still open. I sat on the same statue as before. I felt a heaviness in my chest when I didn't see them, even though it was impossible that they'd be here at this hour.
I already knew what I was going to do.
But still… should I pick a random direction and just walk, hoping to run into them?
Wait and trust the city to push them into my path again?
Something tightened in my chest.
Left…
A voice whispered in my head.
What?
I straightened slowly, eyes scanning the square. Nothing. No one close enough to have spoken to me.
Left…
The voice said again.
It sounded… familiar, somehow. But not in a way tied to anyone I'd ever known. Familiar in a way I couldn't explain. And then it hit me, the memory.
"Is that you, Akhem?" I asked out loud, half panicked.
Silence.
There was no answer, only the murmur of distant conversations and the faint creak of wood. A quiet laugh slipped out; maybe I really was losing my mind. Even so, I stood and walked left.
I had to start somewhere.
After a few hundred meters, I stopped.
Alright… now I'll listen.
Until now, I hadn't focused on listening consciously. And even without trying, everything was already too loud.
But now, I had to. If I wanted to find them quickly in a city this size, I needed control.
I closed my eyes and focused.
Sounds sharpened instantly.
Voices, heartbeats, breaths, tools…
Everything.
My eyes snapped open.
It was… overwhelming. Everything stacked over everything else, with no order at all. It all crashed together into one monstrous noise.
I frowned.
Aren't voices supposed to be louder than heartbeats? Why do they blend together? Was it my hearing that was wrong now?
I needed to learn to separate the sounds. Focus on one thing at a time.
I closed my eyes again.
It was confusing, chaotic—like trying to count raindrops in a storm. But I just had to learn. Separate, prioritize, choose what to listen to.
Everyone grows up learning how to ignore noise. I just had to do it… more precisely.
Among all the sounds, I picked one, a single strike. What was that? A hammer? I focused on it, on its rhythmic strikes.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
Little by little, the other sounds faded, until only the hammer remained. The strike was clear now, nothing interfering, nothing crowding it out.
A small smile crept in as my hands curled into fists.
I'd done it.
So I tried again.
The sounds flooded in all at once. This time, I aimed for something specific: voices.
I listened through them carefully.
Children arguing over toys. A couple muttering about prices. A drunk rambling to no one. Merchants haggling.
None of them were theirs.
So I kept walking, letting each voice fall away as I moved through the street, waiting for the right one to appear.
Time passed.
I stopped to listen several times. People were going to sleep, the voices were fewer and fewer, replaced by the low hum of breathing behind closed doors.
But they still didn't appear.
I should stop for today. I'll come back tomorrow.
Then:
Right…
came the same voice as before, the one that had whispered left to me earlier.
Akhem's voice.
I followed without hesitation, hoping he was guiding me toward them. Whether it was madness or not didn't matter.
Only a handful of conversations remained, scattered across the street. The night thickened, the dark clinging to the houses as the city's heartbeats slowed.
Until finally…
I heard her.
"Mother, I understand… but my home is in Uruk. The home I shared with him… I need to go back" said a voice…
Arisha's.
I smiled. Except… it didn't feel like my smile.
Another voice answered: a woman, older, worn down but steady:
"I understand, my child, but you'll be alone there. What will happen to Darim while you work? Who will watch him?"
There was a silence. I could almost see Arisha's face without needing to look—eyes lowered, hands gripping her clothes.
"I know… I know… but… it's our home" Arisha replied, voice heavy with sadness.
A knot twisted in my chest.
The older woman sighed.
"Alright. Give me a few more days. I'll see what I can do. Now go to bed, it's late."
They were somewhere nearby.
One of these houses.
Close.
I kept walking casually, as if nothing had happened. I didn't turn my head. Didn't change my pace. Whoever was following me couldn't know I had found what I was looking for. I walked for a long time that night, stopping and pretending to listen exactly the same way each time.
Showing them only a strange man with a hood and bad habits, nothing more.
Until I could eventually sense them…
…and slip away.