Lucrys’ eyes shot open and he sat up. His body ached. He yawned, shaking off sleep, but he felt exhausted. Around him, corpses lay still in mud and grass. The stonework he sat upon was etched with scorch marks in some places and coated with ice in others. Fires burned past the archway that led away from Tunuurel. The billowing smoke filled his nostrils, causing his lungs to tighten. Dust carried remnants of ash to coat his naked form. His clothes wouldn’t regenerate with his frame.

     He looked down at himself. The aching was disappearing, and his body looked fine. He struggled to remember the events clearly. Skaarin had betrayed him somehow. But he couldn’t remember why. He felt as though something was missing. He yawned and lay back down on the stonework, staring as the smoke stole away the clouds and sky.

     Beside him was a stone ring, set with keys. It looked aged. A cracking green rock with black rust dusted its frame. He picked them up. They were cold. A cold he had grown used to over the year. Cold like his cell.

     He sat up abruptly, remembering that he and Skaarin had created a ring with his memories. He remembered that Skaarin had used other items to share memories with him beforehand. And he had left a ring with memories inside the cell.

     A ring that may hold what he was missing.

     Lucrys ran to the black castle until he came to its wall. Small parts of the structure had been destroyed. He looked around, coming to a realization. The area was empty - he didn’t know how long he’d been asleep after his body had healed.

     He traced the wall, following it to a garden that cascaded in stone rows up to the cliff that defended castle Tunuurel. In the bottom row, foot long slits were cut behind the grass. He could hear a woman singing inside. He walked to the dungeon entryway and found the door ajar. Quietly, he slipped inside.

     As he snuck by the first cells, he could hear a man complimenting the singer. He kept himself low in the shadows as he came upon his cell. He put the keys to the lock and shifted through them. Each key was the same: Lucrys clunked it into the hole, but it wouldn’t turn. He tried them again. He must’ve missed using one. There must’ve been a key he’d missed. But again, none would turn in the keyhole.

     Lucrys collapsed in front of the metal door. He slammed his fist into it angrily, forcing himself to hold back his tears. “I just wanted to know what I forgot!” he cried.

     “Hey,” Grenivous said from his cell. “You have the cell keys, don’t you?”

     Lucrys looked up and walked toward him slowly.

     “You’re Lucrys, aren’t you?” Nii’rah’s soft voice echoed lightly from her cell as she walked to the bars in the door. “Isn’t that you?” she asked. “You are Lucrys, right?”

     “Look at how damned the poor man is, Nii’rah,” Grenivous said. “There’s no one else a scarred body like that could be. Hey, you scream a lot, you know. I’m surprised you’re alive.”

     “Especially after dealing with Skaarin’s ass for as long as you did,” Nii’rah added. “Didn’t sound like you needed his help getting fucked up, though.”

     Lucrys walked into the light. The two saw him clearly for the first time, and took a long look at his scarred frame.

     “You want some clothes?” Nii’rah asked.

     “Those keys can get us out of here, right? Open our locks, would you?” Grenivous motioned Lucrys toward his cell.

     Lucrys shifted back. “Who are you? Why are you here?”

     “The hell do you mean?” Nii’rah snapped. “Skaarin put my ass in here.”

     “But why? What did you do wrong?”

     “Oh.” Nii’rah sighed. “That’s what you mean. I was a thief.”

     “Prisoner of war,” Grenivous mumbled. “If you’d even call it that. Alucin didn’t wage wars. He just stole from people. Better thief than Nii’rah could ever hope to be.”

     Lucrys shuffled toward the doors and sifted through the keys. As he did, he came across one that opened Grenivous’s lock.

     “Gimme that,” Grenivous said. He pulled the keys away from Lucrys, and took the key to his cell from the ring. He walked to Nii’rah’s cell and let her out, taking her cell key from the ring, as well. “Reminders,” he said, holding hers up to her.

     “Keep it,” She shrugged. She stared at Lucrys and Grenivous for a long moment. “You know,” a smile played at her lips. “It’s been a long damn while since I saw your ugly mug.”

     “Your hair reflects your years of waste well, girl.”

     Lucrys shifted into the middle of the reunion. “None of the keys worked on my cell.”

     Nii’rah and Grenivous looked at him. “Skaarin’s study?” Nii’rah asked.

     “Try it,” Grenivous replied with a shrug. “I don’t know where a damn thing is in here. We’ll follow you.”