Brumby turned out to be an older man with a grumpy expression. But, he let me sit in the back of his wagon while his mule pulled it. There were some sacs with odd looking produce. I assumed he was going to sell them.

The journey took two days in total. Though I could see the city walls by the time we stopped. Brumby didn’t explain why we set up camp early instead of trying to make it before the gates closed. I decided it was better to just accept it. Especially since he let me ride for free.

Early the next day I saw the walls of Khazalie. I had honestly assumed something of a small town that was just a bit bigger than the village. Turns out I was wrong, very wrong. Khazalie was a huge city. You could even see what looked like a castle rising in the middle. The city guard waved us through, apparently they knew the old man since before.

“This is as far as I go, lad", he said to me. “I hope you find your memories. Or at least some common sense.”

“Thank you for the ride, it was very kind of you", I said and watched him turn his wagon down a street. Pausing for a bit I considered my options. First thing I needed to do was earn some money. The problem was how. There was little I could do in this medieval world. Adjusting my grip on my jacket I considered the herbs. Maybe I could sell some of them to an apothecary? That should earn me some money at least.

After asking around for a bit I finally found a small shop. A bell chimed as I opened the door, coming out from the back was a wiry man. He gave me a disgusted look before plastering on a smile.

“What can I do for you, sir?” He said.

“I was hoping you might be willing to buy some of the herbs I’ve gathered", I said. The smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown.

“Let’s see them, then.” Opening my jacket I placed it on the counter. “Hmm... most of these are nothing more than weeds. This one is poisonous. Oh, there are a few here that are a bit rare. I have plenty of these but it never hurts to have more.”

He handed me three silver coins, unfortunately I had no idea about their value or how it compared to the market. It could be a fortune and he could have just scammed me. There was no way to know. Because I was hungry I spent some money on a piece of bread. The vendor gave me five copper coins for a loaf. There were some odd looks my way, probably for the way I was dressed, otherwise they left me mostly alone.

After stilling my hunger with bread and quenching my thirst with some water I started to look for lodging. I managed to figure out which buildings were inns but everywhere I asked they wanted more money than I had. Even after trying to find cheaper and more rundown places I couldn’t find anything. It was starting to look like I would have to sleep outside.

As it grew darker people disappeared from the streets. Windows were closed and there was no light spilling from open doors. Even the pubs was closed.

“Hey!” someone shouted. “Hey! You there! What are you doing out?”

A man dressed in a uniform and wearing leather armour approached me. Frowning.

“I... what?” I couldn’t understand why he seemed angry.

“Are you a traveller? Why aren’t you in an inn?”

“I tried but I didn’t have enough money...” opening my palm I showed the few meagre coins. The guard made a sound of irritation.

“Come with me, you can spend the night in the guard house.”

“Oh, I can just sleep outside...”

“No one sleeps outside! There is a curfew and you know it is for a good reason! Come on!”

Despite his forceful words he still just guided me. After a few minutes of walking we reached a house near the wall. By now it was almost fully dark. The guard banged on the door four measured times. It opened and he hurriedly pushed me inside before following. He then slammed the door shut and barricaded it with a thick plank.

Inside the guard house there were two more men. They relaxed slightly once the door was shut. Against one wall there was a stove radiating warmth. On top sat a kettle and steam was emitting from it. The stove was more sophistication than I had expected from this medieval world.

“Well, then", the first guard said. “My name is Leon. And you are?”

“Remi", I replied.

“Alright, Remi. How come you wasn’t aware of the curfew?”

Time to pull up my amnesia card again. “I apologise, you see, I have lost my memories. The only thing I know about myself is my name. There was this forest I woke up in. Nadem?”

“The Great Nadem forest? I see... that do explain a few things.” Leon went to a small desk, pulled out some paper and ink before sitting down in front of the stove. “Please, sit down.”

I did, clutching my jacket to my body. There were so much I didn’t understand and didn’t know. Studying me the city guard made a few notes on his piece of paper. He then showed it to me. It read:

Remi, 21

Water appraisal

Mastered

Delving

Mastered

Herbology

Mastered

“What is this?” I asked, trying to understand what I was reading.

“Your name, your age, and your abilities.”

“Abilities?”

“So you don’t even remember that... in this world there is something we call Flow. With Flow we can do things that either our physical body cannot do, or things with Flow instead of our physical body. I have the ability of Appraisal, that’s what just used on you.”

Magic. This guy was talking about magic! I had seen some supernatural things but it sounded like this Flow was something natural to this world.

“Can anyone use Flow?”

“Of course. There are countless of abilities. Some are inborn and some are acquired. I admit I was quite impressed when I saw that someone so young has mastered three abilities.”

That wasn’t much help, I had no idea what they meant or what they did. Sighing I slumped in my chair. This felt so messy and weird. The guards spoke to each other but I didn’t pay them any mind.

“So, if he lost his memories, how did he managed to even get a little money?” The youngest guard said.

“That’s a good question”, the oldest one said. “How did you get money?”

“Oh, I sold some of these herbs to an apothecary”, I said and showed my small collection. “Unfortunately I have no idea if the amount I received was proper or what that amount actually is.”

Leon looked over the herbs and then his hand froze over some flower named Idris. “This..!” he exclaimed. “I give you two, no five, no ten silvers for this flower!”

Taken aback by the sudden fervour I nodded and let him take it. To my confusion he immediately threw it into the stove. Opening it only for as long as it took to make certain the Idris was inside. Then slammed it shut. Just as I was about to ask what that was all about there was a shrill shriek outside.

Coming from above.

Loud, chilling, and terrifying.

Leon took his time explaining things to me. Starting with the source of the horrible shriek. Apparently, everyone city across the kingdom would be assaulted every night by winged creatures. No one knew what they looked like. Because no one had come face to face with one and survived. The curfew wasn’t about oppression, it was about survival. Being outside after dark was a death sentence. So no pubs were open late. The gates were closed. Children were kept inside and no teenager snuck outside.

Barring the doors and closing all windows kept you safe. Using stoves instead of open fireplaces meant the creatures couldn’t get inside. Richer people and the nobility used expensive grills in order to have open fireplaces. The Royal Castle supposedly had people with abilities that allowed them to perform spells.

As for the Idris flower, apparently burning it created fumes that the creatures couldn’t stand. However, overuse had made the flower rare.

He then went on to explain the value of the coins. A hundred copper coins were worth one silver, one thousand silver coins were worth one gold. While using silver wasn’t uncommon, most people only used copper. Once upon a time there had been iron coins but as the uses of iron increased, so did its value. Owning any amount of gold meant you were rich.

I now understood why Brumby had insisted we set up camp the night before we reached the city. He had known about the creatures. You could sleep outside if you were far away enough from the walls. If you were too close...

My jaw cracked when I yawned. Smiling with understanding Leon offered me to borrow a bed. He said he wanted to help me get back on my feet. For which I was definitely thankful.