“Hey kid, you want to buy something?”

I was currently standing in front of a toady looking street vendor selling meat skewers. The smell of the skewers had enchanted me, making me arrive at this place. It had been a while since I’ve eaten grilled meat.

“Go ask your parents if you’ve got no money.”

“How much for a skewer?” That woman had given me a coin pouch to safely carry the silver coin. It was hand-made and the name, Esther, was embroidered on it. 

“Five coppers for one, kid.” 

I was about to open my pouch when I saw something glistening in front of the toady man's mouth. It looked like a circle.

“Sorry, could you repeat that?”

“A kid your age already losing their hearing? I said five, coppers.” A golden circle was hovering in front of the man’s mouth, appearing as if to cover it. 

“What about this one?” I pointed to a skewer with only vegetables.

“Three coppers, scram if you’re not going to buy anything.” It appeared again when he said three. Didn’t he see the thing?

“Are you lying about the price?”

The toad crossed his arms. “Lying about the price? Who decided that?”

“Do you want me to buy you one sweetie?” That woman arrived. “How much for a skewer?”

“That’ll be three coppers.” 

My eyebrows scrunched together as I held the meat skewer in my hand. Did the golden thingy really detect that he was lying? And like he said, who was the one deciding that? The Goddess that kept being mentioned? Did this make me a mage? This was all too confusing. 

Taking a bite of the skewer filled my head with more tasteful thoughts. It was amazing. A rich umami that could only come from natural coals meeting fatty meat. It wasn’t too rich either with the help of the green bits of herbs covering it. A bit gamey maybe, but that only added to the charm. The temple didn’t have that much meat to eat and this tasted different from the liquid-based dishes Victoria made for me.

“Is this meat from the four-eyed deer monster?” I asked her

“You can’t eat monsters, sweetie.”

“Why not?” I took another cube of meat into my mouth.

“Monsters were poisoned by the Goddess to make it so we wouldn't needlessly hunt them.”

“Why?” I put the last cube in my mouth. “Wouldn’t it be better to hunt them for food? Why did she do that?” Maybe they would taste four times as good as this.

“Are you interested in the Goddess? Maybe we can ask someone in church about it.” She went on to explain that the church in town was the place to ask about the Goddess, the divine or anything monster related. A church didn’t sound like a place where I would be comfortable at. It’s a wonder how I managed to even stay at a temple.

With an empty skewer in one hand, and Victoria’s hand in the other, I accompanied her wherever she led me. The sight of the town was quite something. It looked like a medieval city. Cobblestones laid on our path and carriages with horses could be seen going up and down the streets, clipping and clopping all the while. Passing a bunch of people, we arrived in front of a shop.

The town was pretty developed for being a town on the outskirts, Gale said. There was a social class system used in the Kingdom where the aristocracy held more power than the commoners. Not that different from my old life then, where the rich did whatever they wanted. 

The noble ruling over this town was Baron Barre, which was also the name of the town. Barre of the Guillain Kingdom. It rolled nicely off the tongue. Gale didn’t seem that happy when talking about him.

“Why don’t you wait on the bench here?” It sat outside the store, shaded by a big leafy tree. My legs had begun to ache so it was a welcome offer. 

Sitting on the bench and watching the people walking past me was entertaining enough. There were some guards walking around with spears in their hand patrolling the area, people who were haggling with vendors trying to get the most for their money. I should try doing that next time. 

Yet what had been the most entertaining was the striking hair colors of the people in this town. Red, blue, green, a bunch of colors littered the heads of the passerbys. Speaking of, a boy with red hair had appeared in front of me.

“What’s a young lady like you doing here? Never seen you here before.”

A young lady, wasn’t that usually used when talking to nobles? Well I did wear a rather pretty dress and fancy sunhat. Victoria had given me one of hers to protect me from the scorching summer sun. 

The boy had a tall frame with sun-kissed skin, evidence of him playing outside a lot. He still had some boyness to him as his face was rounder than it was sharp. His unnatural green eyes stared at me and his red hair looked like a hedgehog I saw once. Anyway, who is he?

“I’m not a young lady, my name is Esther. I’ve never seen you before either.”

“Is that so? I’m Eric, I live in that house over there”, he said, pointing at the house next to the shop. “I’m fourteen.”

Is that how you are supposed to introduce yourself?

“I live outside town, I’m thirteen”

He smirked. “I’m older than you then. Are you lost or something?” 

“I’m waiting for my mother.”

“That sounds boring.” The boy took a seat beside me as if it was natural, plopping himself down. He was a whole head higher than me. “Yeah this is boring, wanna go play instead?” It hadn’t even been a full minute before he complained.

“My mother said to not go with strangers.” 

Victoria didn’t tell me this but the point still stands, I think. She didn't really exude a sense of confidence. Besides, playing? That sounded far too childish.

“I’m not a stranger, I know your name and you know mine. Oh I know.” He rummaged through his bag, eventually pulling something wrapped in paper.

“My dad told me to give a gift to someone to make them your friend. Here take one.” It was candy. 

I hadn’t had real sugar in a while, it was supposed to be pretty rare so how did this kid get some? Not one to pass up this opportunity, I unwrapped one and popped it into my mouth. It exploded. The sweetness ran across my tongue like a galloping horse as it rammed against my senses. My cheeks scrunched up from the shock and it felt like my mouth was burning while it tried to secrete more saliva.

“There, we’re now friends.” He smiled. 

“Is that how that works?” I snuck another piece into my mouth.

“Hey, don't take all of them!” Tsk, he took them away.

“Don’t click your tongue at me…”

“Who’s this, Esther? A new friend?” Victoria was finished with her shopping.

“Yeah, he gave me some candy."

“Did he now? Well thank you for that.” Victoria smiled at him.

“O-oh it was no problem, my lady. My name is Eric. I live over there”. He shot to his feet, his face turning red like his hair.

“Oh my! My lady?”

He had a dumb expression on his face. “Mom, can I go play with Eric for a bit?”

“Hmm.” She turned to look at the guards. “Make sure to meet us by the fountain on the next bell, okay? Eric, can I offer you this mission?”

“Of course!”

“Eric, let's go.”

“Huh? Oh, sure.” Eric followed me after giving my mother a farewell. I saw that she was waving at us when I turned around. My cheeks filled with air as I walked a little faster. 

“Hey where are you going, that’s the wrong way.”

“Really? I don’t even know where I am going.”

“Weirdo.” Eric raised his eyebrows at me. “This way. All the kids are playing over there.”

Snaking around some alleys and streets, we arrived into a clearing free of buildings and trees. Children’s laughter filled the air as they ran around and chatted together. 

“Hey guys! A brought another one to play with.”

“Eric!” A girl in shorts came running up to us. “I told you to stop bringing over random kids!” She said grumpily.

“She’s not some random kid, I befriended her with some candy. Isn’t that fine? She looked pretty bored so I took her along.” Rubbing his nose, it looked like he thought he did something heroic. I wasn’t actually bored.

“That’s not the correct way to befriend someone! Ugh, well what’s done is done, I guess. I’m Karrie by the way.”

My sunhat did a fine job of blocking me from the glaring sun, it also blocked everything higher than me, such as her face. Tilting my head to move it out of the way, a sight I had not expected punched me in the face. 

“What? What are you doing here?” She took my line.

“Ann?”

“Who’s that, I said my name was Karrie.”

“You know her?” Eric asked.

“She’s my neighbor. Did you get sick again? Haven’t seen you around lately.”

Chestnut-brown hair done in a short bob, a pair of brown eyes and above them, two thin eyebrows framing her round face. A vivid image of her laying in a casket filled my head. There was no mistaking it, she had a different name but this was definitely her. 

“Hello? You home?” A hand appeared in front of me, waving back and forth.

“Oh, sorry. Nice to meet you, I’m Esther. I live outside of town”. 

“What kind of greeting is that supposed to be? And I already know who you are.” She tilted her head to the side.

“I lost my memories a few days ago, so I don't remember anyone.”

“Are you joking? How’s that possible”

“I don’t know, the priest said he didn’t know either.”

She crossed her arms. “You called a priest? Must have been serious then…”

“Whoah, that's so cool!” Jumping into the conversation was a cheerful looking Eric. “So you don’t remember anything? What about your parents, did you remember them?”

“Hey! What are you saying!” Seeing her slap Eric on the back resurfaced some old memories. 

“When I woke up, I just saw this pretty lady looking at me.” 

“Yeah that’s right, she’s really pretty!” Eric said, rubbing his back. Tsk.

“Hey, stop clicking your tongue at me! What did I do now? Well? And then what happened?”

“Hey quit it, look how sad she is getting!”

Sad? Me? Well this works out. The golden magic circle thingy had nagged at me and with Ann popping up, I could investigate them both.

“Ann, do you know what happened on Earth?”

She was silent, only looking at me. Her mouth finally opened after I had already drilled a hole into her eyes. “Oh.” Was she also reincarnated? “You were talking to me? I don’t know this erf thing you are talking about, but my name is Karrie.”

No magic circle appeared. How could this be? She was definitely Ann. I couldn’t forget her face even if I wanted to. 

“Are we going to play or what?” Eric said.

“Ah, that’s right, let's do something fun!” Ann– Karrie said.

“We? You gonna ditch the others?”

“They only do tiring stuff, the weather is too hot today and I don’t want to get sweaty. You know anything interesting to do, Esther?” Right the circle must not be detecting lies after all.

“Esther? Hello?” 

“Oh, sorry, I don’t remember.”

“Wow… I bet you say that often.” Eric said incredulously. Karrie glanced at me and nodded.

Ridiculous as it sounds, it was the truth, or more correctly, I didn’t know any games. Having never had the chance to play with others, remembering games or fun things to do was just wasted energy I could instead use to survive. Well, there was one activity I was often a part of.  

“How about truth or dare?” I spat out.

“You serious?” They said in tandem.

“It was a joke”, was what I wanted to say as an excuse, however I couldn’t. Before those words exited my mouth, a golden circle had formed in front of it, blocking me from speaking.

Did this mean she really wasn’t Ann?