Darkness.
Cold.
Pressure crushing in from every direction.
My lungs burned.
Up.
I forced my arms upward, kicking against the current that tried to drag us deeper into the river's throat. My grip around her tightened, not crushing, just enough to keep her from being ripped away.
Light broke through the surface above.
I surged toward it.
We erupted from the water in a violent gasp.
Air tore into my lungs like fire. She coughed beside me, choking, disoriented, fingers clutching at my soaked shirt as if letting go meant disappearing.
"Breathe," I rasped. "Just breathe."
The waterfall thundered somewhere behind us now, distant but still monstrous. The rain had softened to a steady pour, but the river remained merciless, pulling at our bodies, dragging us sideways.
I dug my heels against the riverbed.
The current fought back.
But my body
Stronger than it should be.
I don't know how I knew where to step.
I don't know how I kept my footing.
But I did.
With one arm around her waist, I forced us toward the edge where jagged stones broke the current.
Step.
Slip.
Recover.
Step again.
Finally, my hand slammed against solid rock.
I hauled her up first.
Her body collapsed onto the cold stone shore, drenched white fabric clinging to her frame, golden hair plastered across her face. She coughed violently, rolling to her side as water spilled from her lungs.
I climbed up after her, my muscles trembling not from weakness, but from adrenaline crashing all at once.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Only the river roared.
Only the rain fell.
We were alive.
Barely.
For a long moment, we did nothing but breathe.
The cold wind cut through our soaked clothes. She trembled, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to hold in what little warmth remained.
Then, softly
"Who… are you?" she asked.
Her voice wasn't accusatory.
It was uncertain.
Fragile.
I looked at her.
At the mud on my hands.
At the blood still faintly staining my sleeves.
At the river that had almost swallowed us whole.
"I…" My throat felt dry despite the water I had just swallowed. "Honestly… I don't know."
Her brows drew together.
"You don't know?"
"I don't remember," I said, meeting her eyes. "Not properly. I woke up in the rain. Knights were already searching. I was just… there."
Confusion flickered across her face but not disbelief.
"Then why?" she pressed, her voice quieter now. "Why did you help me?"
I let out a slow breath.
"At first?" I gave a faint, humorless huff. "I was trying to escape. I had no intention of getting involved in whatever this is."
Her expression tightened slightly.
"But then I ran into you," I continued. "And it became obvious we were being hunted by the same people."
I glanced back toward the roaring waterfall.
"We were both in the same predicament. Two lives threatened by the same blades."
A pause.
"I figured… running alone wouldn't change much."
The wind passed between us.
She studied me carefully now not as prey, not as nobility assessing a commoner but as someone trying to determine whether I was a danger.
Or an ally.
She studied me for a long moment.
"Then you are either a fool… or a good man," she said quietly.
A faint smile tugged at my lips despite the cold."Humor me," I replied. "I lost my memories and woke up in a forest being hunted. If I am a fool, at least I'm a consistent one."
Her gaze sharpened.
"You lost your memories?"
"Yes." I held her eyes. "I remember nothing of this place. Not my name. Not my past."
That wasn't entirely true.
I remembered another life.
Another world.
But this body, this history, was empty.
Her expression shifted, no longer just wary, but calculating.
"I see…" she murmured.
The wind picked up, rustling the trees along the riverbank.
"We should move. Immediately."
I frowned slightly. "Where?"
She hesitated just for a fraction of a second.
"A duchess being hunted by royal knights," I continued evenly, "would not be able to walk openly. If they want you silenced, your name will spread fast. Posters. Decrees. Public accusation."
It was the simplest way to turn a noble into an enemy.
Her jaw tightened.
"You speak as though you understand court procedure."
"I don't," I said calmly. "I'm guessing."
In truth, I was piecing things together.
Knights. A secret about a prince. An execution without trial.
If this were anything like the political intrigue stories I once read…
No.
I needed more evidence before jumping to conclusions.
Was this coincidence?
Or had I truly been pulled into something resembling the world of a novel?
The duchess looked at me again, this time not as a stranger, but as an unknown variable.
"Then until you remember your name," she said slowly, "I will call you… something temporary."
The air between us shifted.
"And what shall I call you?" I asked.
She straightened despite the cold.
Even drenched and trembling, there was dignity in the way she carried herself.
"I am Duchess Dowager Fenrina Kallish of the Kallish Family."
The name lingered in the air.
Kallish.
It struck something faint in the back of my mind not memory, but familiarity.
A noble house.
Old.
Influential.
If knights were hunting her, then this wasn't rebellion.
This was erasure.
I exhaled slowly.
I see…
Is this part of your dying wish too, Mr. Author?
Was this the world you wrote?
Or am I merely forcing meaning where there is none?
Her sharp gaze did not waver.
"For your name," she said, voice calmer now, composed despite the storm, "shall I call you… Perditus?"
Perditus.
Lost.
The word felt deliberate.
Intentional.
Fitting.
I held her gaze for a moment longer before nodding.
"Then I will be identified as such."
Perditus.
If I had no past in this world
Then I would begin with a name given in the rain.
"Now," she said, steadying her breath, "returning to the matter at hand… where shall we flee?"
I glanced toward the forest line, dark and endless.
"You're the one being hunted," I replied evenly. "I assume you have somewhere safer than a riverbank."
Her gaze hardened slightly.
"There is still land that remains under my name," she said. "Territory loyal to the Kallish banner. The people there are mine. They will not turn against me."
That was assuming news had not reached them first.
"That land," she continued more quietly, "is my late husband's homeland. I know its terrain. Its roads. Its hidden paths."
Late husband.
Dowager.
So the power she carried now was inherited and possibly contested.
"I see," I nodded. "Then lead the way before something else decides to find us."
She did not argue.
Instead, as we began walking along the treeline, she reached into the inner fold of her blouse and withdrew something small.
A pendant.
Silver.
Etched with a crest I did not recognize.
She held it gently in her palm and closed her eyes.
Her voice softened but did not waver.
"Seek and be the light of my direction, for I offer unto thee grace and praise… Lux Via."
The pendant pulsed.
A warm golden glow bloomed outward, pushing back the gray of the storm.
Small orbs of light emerged, hovering around her like drifting fireflies before aligning themselves into a thin stream that stretched forward into the forest.
A path.
Not physical.
But guided.
"Follow me," she said.
The light reflected in her golden eyes.
Magic.
Refined.
Controlled.
Not improvised.
This was no ordinary noble.
I watched the orbs drift ahead of us.
Sir…
Was I placed inside your work?
If so…
Damn you, sir.