Five long and grueling months passed by, an entire year of his life gone, wasted.
"Since his awakening our patient has seemingly undergone a deep depressive state, he hardly eats or speaks." Doctor Aniha stood at the center of the cold room, surrounded by the four members of the board, their bodies shrouded by shadow.
"To be quite blunt, the mental state of your patient is of no concern to us at this moment. Does the boy show any signs of regaining his memory?" One of the board members spoke harshly.
Aniha shook her head no, one of her fangs gently digging into her bottom lip.
"It's starting to look like there's no hope of his memory returning to him. We've seen zero progress, he doesn't recognize his friends, he didn't even know his own name when he came to! We can't keep him here any longer, he's suffering, this is inhumane." She desperately attempted to hold back her tears, her voice quivering.
"If you were aware of what's at stake, you wouldn't be making that suggestion." A soft voice chimed.
"You've all been saying that over and over but refuse to tell me anything."
"We understand your frustration, doctor, but this is a highly classified issue."
"He's suffering, he doesn't remember anything, he can hardly use magic, he can't manifest his soul weapon, he can't do anything. Just let the boy go home."
She abruptly turned, storming off without another word, a door suddenly whooshing open before closing itself again.
"The doctors right. It's been half a year and yet no progress is made, maybe we should look for leads elsewhere." One of the men suggested.
"Nonsense. Why do we continue to waste our time when we can almost say for certain that he was the one responsible? We can't seriously be considering letting him walk because of his memory loss?"
The room fell to an uncomfortable silence, the stinging cold becoming much more prevalent.
"We won't find any answers with the boy, and prosecuting him without knowing for certain he's guilty will reflect badly on the board, you know that more than anyone Jonah. You're too connected to this case to make any rational judgements."
"Don't give me that! The more time we waste the more we put at risk! This isn't a matter of revenge, it's a matter of protecting ourselves! Have you all not considered what he may know? What may happen if he were to regain his memory? We're putting everything we've built at stake to uphold rules we needn't follow." Jonah stood, his chair clattering onto the ground and his heart thudding in his chest.
"Regardless, the boy proved a great asset before his memory loss, if there is even a slight chance he could be put back to work, I won't throw it away."
Another wave of silence drowned the room, and without another word, Jonah too was gone.
"Keep an eye on him, something tells me he's going to do something rash."
Dhakari sat alone in his room with his head hung low, shadows cast upon his wooden floorboards, dreaded hair cascading over his face and obscuring his vision even further. Along the surrounding walls were posters of movies he didn't recognize, a shelf full of books he doesn't remember reading, and across from his bed was another, belonging to a roommate that he can't remember meeting. His hands were clutched tightly around the soft blanket beneath him, the rest of his body almost entirely unmoving. Five months of physical and mental therapy, five months of constant reminder that he's a blank and empty slate, that he may never be the person so many want him to be. The sad faces of those he could no longer recognize plagued his mind, the sound of sniffling and crying echoing in his mind repeatedly, and those tears weighed on his soul like an ocean.
His entire spirit was crushed, he felt incomplete, like a puzzle entirely undone.
There was a soft knock on his door, though he didn't bother raising his head to greet whoever was there. If it was anyone important like his roommate or his doctor, they'd have a key and would come inside anyway.
The door gently swung open, the sound of silent creaking following the soft footsteps of Aniha. She stood above him with a saddened expression, her hands held firm around her clipboard.
"You're set to return to your family tomorrow, tonight will be your last night here." She hoped that that news would cheer him up, or at the very least return the soul to his eyes, but he didn't move at all.
"I'll be accompanying you and staying by your side just in case." She followed up, "please, don't worry about your memory, I promise, we'll figure this out." He still didn't bother to look at her.
"Please try and eat before you sleep today." She was gone as quick as she came.
The door gently shut, and he could hear the sound of her footsteps slowly and hesitantly beating away from the door. Then, the footsteps returned. Had the doctor forgotten something? Why did she return so soon? Dhakari didn't really care much.
The door swung open once more, but these footsteps were different somehow. They were much more delicate, more soft, like the person entering his room was walking on the tips of their toes. The door closed again, and the sound of creaking faintly approached, becoming louder and louder until finally, it stopped just before him.
It didn't speak, it didn't move, it was as if it disappeared the moment it got too close.
For some reason, he felt the sudden urge to look up at whoever was there.
His eyes met hers, a woman of average height and stature with whitish-blonde hair and eyebrows, her eyes blue as the deep sea, her lips a perfect pink, and her skin somehow appeared to give off a faint glow.
She propped one knee onto his bed, her hand extending until it was held beneath his chin, cupping it and forcing him to look into her eyes. He didn't know this woman, not once had he seen her in his five months of being here, and he didn't expect to remember.
Something about her presence was soothing, familiar, which was a sensation unbeknownst to him. Familiarity was something inconceivable to him up until this very moment.
She dropped her hand from his chin and lowered it to his chest, his heart thudding louder and becoming more prominent as she lowered herself onto his bed.
"Don't worry, I'm here. Don't be sad." Her voice was something beautiful, something mere words could ever describe. She slipped another hand around the back of his head, pressing him down over her shoulder and embracing him, and almost instinctively, he returned her embrace, a tear streaming down the side of his face.
"You're afraid, you're confused, you're alone, but don't worry. I'm here for you Dhakari. I promised you that I'd always protect you, so don't worry about a thing." Everything flowed out of him at once, all his sadness, his frustration, everything came flooding from his eyes. And then there was darkness.
"If you ever feel like you're afraid or alone, say my name."