It's time to present to you the second part of our fanfiction. Please enjoy.
Part 2: Blast from the past
Chapter 1: Where am I?
Eric is dreaming about the day that he and Mary will be in the Mineral Town church saying his vows to the pastor. But just before he kisses the bride, the vision starts to fade away. One by one, the people who are sitting in the benches start to vanish into thin air. Then finally, Mary starts to fade as well. Eric is now alone in the church, looking around desperately looking for his future in the pews. Tears fall uncontrollably from his cheeks as the loneliness consumes him from the inside out.
Eric keeps having that same nightmare over and over again, each time the despair or ending steadily becomes worse. He tries to wake up, but he can barely crack his eyes open before a haze of crimson red covers his vision, and he blacks out again. This continues for a long time in his heart, body, and soul. To him, it feels like justified torture. He knew that he shouldn't have depended on the stone so much, he knew that magic has it's limits, but he wanted to push it.
Now he lost everything. His home, the love of his life, and the farm that he promised he would care for. All of that hard work gone and wasted, three years that he cannot get back. However even in his miseries, he does not want give up just yet. No matter how bad things get, he needs to get back home. . . Somehow. . . And wake up from the nightmare he is having.
He finally wakes up in an unfamiliar bed. He looks around and sees that he is in a clinic of some sort. But the clinic is nothing like the one he knows from Mineral Town. The clinic looks like it used to be a normal home, just remodeled to be a clinic. Behind some sheets, he can hear the voices of two people, a man and a young woman. None of them ware familiar to him.
He has questions to ask, so he tries to get up and ask someone. But as soon as he tries to get up, he screams loudly from the pain in his chest. He flails his body around, but only finds that it only makes the pain worse! He looks at himself and finds that his chest, arms, and legs are covered in bandages. As he rubs his forehead, he notices that it is also bandaged. At first, he is unsure of how did he get his injuries.
The two people who were behind a curtain hear Eric screaming in pain. They run to him so they can check on him. Eric looks to his side to see two unfamiliar faces. One of them is almost dressed like a doctor. He has a doctor's shirt on, but strangely no pants. He is walking around in his boxer shorts. But what freaks him out the most is that his left eye is fake, made out of metal almost like it's mechanical.
The other person is a young attractive woman. She is tall, has long very light brown hair, and violet eyes behind small glasses. She is wearing a green shirt with tan shorts and work boots. He looks at the two strangers trying to struggle against the pain. After a moment, he finally remembers that he used the teleport stone to go to Mary's home. But instead of going there, he found himself in the middle of the sky.
“I would advise against moving.” said the odd doctor. “You're injuries are not fatal, but you do have a fractured rib. If you move around too much, you might puncture a vital organ.”
“Who are you?” asked Eric.
“My name is Doctor Hardy. I run the clinic for Forget-Me-Not Valley. And the young lady with me is Flora. She pretty much saved your life.”
“Forget-Me-Not Valley?” asked Eric. He has heard of the village from some of the villagers in the past, but never visited it before. “How did I get here? What happened?”
The young woman named Flora answers, “While I was resting, I heard someone rolling down the mountain close to where I live. I found you unconscious near a river in the middle of the rain struggling for life. I don't know how you got up there, or why were you there to begin with.”
“How long have I've been asleep? What day is it?” Eric continued with the questions.
“It's Spring 4, so you've been out for 2 weeks” answered Doctor Hardy. The news shock him enough to try to stand again. But all he does is scream in agony once again. Even though he is in pain, he is kicking and screaming trying to stand up. But the pain in his chest only gets worse. He finally stops as soon as he hears something crack in his chest. The overwhelming fear that he could die allows him to restrain himself. “I thought I've advised you from moving?! Do you want to die?”
Eric starts to breathe heavily for a moment before yelling, “I have to get back to Mineral Town! Someone important to me is waiting! Please let me go!”
“You can leave as soon as you you can walk on your own.” said Doctor Hardy. “But until then, try to get some rest. It's pretty late at night.”
The condition that he is in disables him from moving freely. So instead of forcing himself, he tries to relax and hopes that he can recover quickly. His eye lids become heavy, and he falls into a deep sleep. As he sleeps, he dreams about the same exact thing that he was just dreaming moments before. But this time he dreams that just before he kisses the bride, Gray bursts into the church yelling, “I object!” Then moments later, Mary leaves his side, and runs into Gray's arms.
He wakes up from his nightmare, and sees that morning came already. He is still in pain, but the fear that Gray might have already made his move haunt him enough to get up and limp out. The doctor is still sleeping, so he does not see him limping out of the clinic. Just as he limps out the door, he finds the same woman who was there last night with the doctor. She is shocked to see him out of bed, and Eric fears that she will force him back into the clinic.
They stare at one another for a moment. Flora then says, “Are you okay?You still look a little beat up.”
“I'm going back to Mineral Town. Please don't stop me, I have something important to do.” just after Eric said that, he collapses to the ground, and tries his best to hold back the agonizing scream that will wake up the doctor.
Flora helps him up and asks, “Why do you need to go to Mineral Town in a hurry? Why can't it wait until you heal up?”
“I already told you. Someone important to me is waiting for me there. If I don't go back right now, it might be too late!”
Flora feels bad for him, so she tells him, “You can't go there in your condition. So at least let me help you get there in one piece.”
Flora lifts his arm over her shoulder, and helps him walk to the south where Eric can see a beach in the distance. Eric looks at Flora and says, “Thank you very much. But do you know how to get to Mineral Town. I have never been here before, so I am not sure of the way back.”
“I have been to Mineral Town before, there is a boat in the beach. We can take it to go to the docks of Mineral Town.” She then looks back at him and asks, “By the way, I never got you name.”
“Sorry. My name is Eric.” he answered.
Flora nods and says, “My name is Flora. I know that the doctor introduced me last night, but I thought that I should introduce myself anyway.”
At the beach, they found someone who is willing to take them to Mineral Town for a small fee. Luckily, Eric still has his money that he made just before he used the stone. So the boat departed, and he sat down and relaxed trying to ignore the pain he is still in. He is able to remove the bandages from his head, the wound he received from the fall is in his hair, so there are no visible scars on his head. His arms and chest are still healing, so he left the bandages until he gets better.
The boat docked in Mineral Town several hours later. Eric wastes no time getting off the boat, and head to the direction of the library. By now, he is able to walk freely without Flora's help. Flora follows him just in case he needs help. As he walks through mineral Town, he notices that the people walking around are not familiar, but he ignores it for the moment. His only interest is going to the library as soon as he can.
After an hour of walking, he finally reaches Mary's home. He take a few deep breaths before walking into the library. As he walks through the door, he yells, “Mary, I am here!” But what he finds shocks him. The reception desk that Mary always sits in is missing. There are still many books, but they all have price tags. There are many unfamiliar people inside looking back at him strangely.
Just then, and older man walks up to him and says, “Welcome stranger. I am the book shop keeper, how may I help you?”
“Book shop? What happened to the Library? Where's Mary?” asked Eric.
“Library?” asked the keeper. “I think you're mistaken, Mineral Town doesn't have a library. And I do not know anyone by the name of Mary.”
“What are you talking about! This place was a library last time I was-” Eric cuts himself off when he sees a calendar behind the shop keeper. He walks up to him, and takes a good look at the date. The date reads Spring 5, 2108. The last day he remembered was Winter 20, 2007. A hundred years has passed when he appeared in Forget-Me-Not Valley.
He stands there staring at the calendar for a while before he says, “Please tell me that this is some sort of mistake. What year is it? Please tell me!”
The shop keeper says, “Last time I checked, it's 2108. You're a pretty strange one young man, can I offer you a book?”
The shock causes Eric to pass out. About an hour later, he finds himself in a clinic again, but this time, he is in a very familiar clinic. When he wakes up, he was expecting to find Doctor Trent and Elli like he usually does, but he only finds Flora sitting next to him.
“Hi there!” cheered Flora. “You have a bad habit of passing out in strange places.”
“How long was I unconscious this time.” asked Eric.
“About an hour.” answered Flora. “So, did you do what you have to do here?”
“Not really.” answered Eric. “I want to go to the Farm, I need to know what happened to it.”
“The farm?” asked Flora. She takes a moment to think before answering, “I'm sure it's fine. I heard that it's doing very well these days.”
Eric stands up, and begins to walk out of the clinic in a hurry. Flora has no idea why is he headed there, but she follows him anyway. Eric needs to know what has happened within the last 100 years. His curiosity forces him to move forward even tough his legs are screaming in pain.
As he approaches the farm, he notices that it is still standing where it was. He runs over ignoring how much in pain he is in to get a closer look. He stops in front of the entrance, and gasps heavily at the sight of the farm. A hundred years has passed, and the farm has not changed much at all. There is no weeds or garbage in the field, the buildings are well kept, and there are animals in the field.
Flora catches up to him, and takes a look at the farm. Nothing has changed since the last time she has been there. She looks at Eric and asks, “So, why did you want to come here so suddenly?”
“I can't believe it. It's still here.” said Eric. He then sees a young blond girl out in the pasture milking some cows. The overalls and plaid shirt gives the impression that she is a farmer like he is. At that moment, he felt that the young girl must be related to him, and the farm was passed down through the generations. He runs up to her to see if he can get to know that girl.
As he runs, he waves at her yelling to grab her attention. The young girl stands up, and stares at the stranger running up to her. She is unsure why, but she just stands there waiting to see what Eric wants. Eric stops a few feet in front of her, and takes a few deep breaths of air before saying anything.
The young woman stares at Eric for a moment, and says, “Hello there, and welcome to my farm. Can I help you?”
Eric just stands there speechless trying to find something appropriate to say. Then Flora walks by and says, “Hi Claire. How's the farm?”
“Oh hey Flora, long time no see.”
Flora points at Eric and says, “So, do you know this guy? He's been dying to come here for some reason.”
The young woman named Claire takes a quick look at Eric, and shakes her head no. Eric then stands up straight and says, “Of course you do not know me.” He puts his hand on his chin, and looks at Claire with confidence as he continues, “My name is Eric, I used to live here in Mineral Town a long time ago. I just came over to see how the farm was doing, and it looks fantastic!”
Claire looks at Eric with a confused look on her face and says, “Um, thanks, I do take good care of it. But I don't remember meeting you before, or hearing about you before. Are you sure you used to live here in Mineral Town?”
“Of course! It was a very long time ago, not many people would remember me. So I take it that you inherited this farm from your father, or your grandfather?” asked Eric.
Claire shakes her head no again and says, “No, this farm was abandoned when I got here.”
Eric's proud face turns from proud to shocked after hearing the news. He looks at her with his eyes wide open and asks, “What do you mean abandoned?”
Claire took a moment to think, then explained, “Let's see. . . There used to be a farmer here before me, but he died about 50 years ago. He got too old I guess. I remember hearing that he had a son, but he didn't want to be a farmer. He became a lawyer instead, so he moved to the city and opened up his own firm.”
After hearing her story, he drops his head down in disappointment. He then dared himself to ask, “But the old farmer had a son at least. Do you happen to know the name of his wife?”
She shakes her head again and says, “Nope, not a clue. It happened so many years ago, I don't think anyone knows anymore.”
“I see.” replied Eric. He then turned around looking like his whole world just fell apart. He starts to walks out of the farm saying, “I'm sorry I bothered you, I'll be going now.”
Flora then said her own goodbyes, and ran after Eric. She walks beside him for a moment before asking, “So, was she that special person you were talking about?”
“No, the special person has been gone long ago.” answered Eric.
After they left the farm, Eric turns right heading down the path to where the chicken farm used to be. Flora then asks, “Well, what are you going to do now? Are you going home?”
Eric stops and says out loud, “Oh my god. Now that I think about it, I don't have a home to go to anymore. I am lost, and I have no idea how to get back. I don't have the stone anymore.” He collapses on the ground trembling. His sadness, fear, and agony starts to overwhelm him. “What am I going to do? I need to go back, but I don't know how. How am I going to live from now on?”
Flora places his hand on his shoulder and says, “You don't have a home anymore? Then why not stay in my place in Forget-Me-Not Valley for now? If you want, I'll even give you a job!”
Eric looks back at Flora and says, “You're willing to let me stay at your house? But I'm just a complete stranger, why would you invite me to stay at your place?”
Flora winks and says, “You may be a bit odd, but you seem like a nice guy. And besides, if you do try anything, I'll beat you up.”
Seeing that he will need to have a place to stay, he accepts Flora's offer, and returns to Forget-Me-Not Valley with her. They take a boat back to the quiet village, and they walk together back to flora's home. They both walk up past an Inn, and they find themselves in front of a farm. Eric stops for a second, and looks up at the farm, but Flora hurries them along. It is getting late, and Flora wishes to return home.
Past the bridge, they turn left and head up walking next to a river. After a few minutes of walking, Flora points at a tent and says, “Here we are!”
Eric's jaw drops as he looks at the tent. He was originally expecting a house, or at least a shack. A weatherproof tent was the last thing he expected for a home. “It's not much, but it is home. I've spent a few good years living in there here in Forget-Me-Not Valley.”
Eric looks at her, and says, “You mean you're not from here?”
“Not really.” answered Flora. She opens the tent, and invites Eric in. The tent shocks him, it's quite big enough for people to live in. The tent comes complete with a small stove, a portable television, a radio, and sleeping bags. He also notices that there are two sleeping bags, so he assumes that there is someone else living with her. He becomes curious, and asks, “Does somebody live here? Like your husband or something?”
Flora laughs and says, “My partner used to be here as well. But after making a big discovery, he went back to the city to report his findings. It's been 2 months since he left, so I've been here all by myself. It'll be great to have company from now on.”
“What kind of work do you do here?” asked Eric curiously.
“Me and Carter are archaeologists. There is a cave nearby that has some remains of an ancient race. We've been here digging up any evidence of that civilization. Carter found a tablet containing ancient writing, and left me here to wait for him to come back. I have no idea when he's coming back though.”
“I see.” said Eric. He is not sure why, but as Flora explained her situation, he noticed that there was a feeling of loneliness in her eyes. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. It's almost as if she feels abandoned by her partner Carter. Since Carter is the name of a guy, Eric feels that she might have had feelings for him.
Before Eric says anything else to her, someone knocks on a post outside of the tent. Flora walks out of the tent to see who is knocking. Eric hears her talking to a stranger for a moment, so he becomes curious and walks out as well. He finds Flora talking to a young man close to his age. He is not sure why, but he becomes very interested in that young man.
The young man is dressed in a fashion that can pass as farmer's clothing. The work boots and gloves gives it away. But what catches his eye was the way he looks. His hair color and eye color matches his own. From Eric's hat, three strand of hair sticks out. One dropping to the left, one to his right, and one pointing upwards. The young man has them as well, but much shorter. Many of his facial features resembles his own as well.
The young man notices Eric stare at him. He then says to Flora, “I see that our patient is finally walking around.” He then walks up to Eric and says, “Hi there. So, you're the crazy guy that fell off the mountain. What's your name?”
“My name is Eric.”
“I see, my name is Marty.”
Flora joins in on the conversation and says, “Eric, Marty helped me carry you to the clinic that day. You should really thank him.”
“I see.” He then bows at Mary and says, “Thank you very much. I owe you for saving my life.”
“Eh, it's no problem.” He then turns around, and walks away heading south. He waves his hand ans says, “I'll see you two later, I need to get back home, and take it easy.”
Eric stands still for a moment watching Marty leave. As soon as he is out of sight, he asks Flora, “So, who was that guy? A friend of yours?”
“Marty is a local farmer. He comes by a lot and helps dig in the mines. You'll be seeing him around.” answered Flora.
Eric nods. After a while, the sun sets, and they decide to go to sleep early. It was a very long day for both of them, and they need to rest for the next day. Eric is far more tired, so he falls asleep much more quickly than Flora. As he sleeps, she stares at Eric and whispers to herself, “Wow, this has really been an odd day. But you know, this guy is very interesting. He says he's lost, and he has an air of mystery surrounding him. He's really cute too. I think I'm going to like having him stay with me.” She then closes her eyes, and fall asleep.
As Eric slept, his dreams are haunted by him being separated from Mary not by distance, but by time. He has no idea if getting back to his own time is even possible, but he still needs to at least try. So even though he is having bad dreams, he still kicks and screams trying his best not to give up. Tomorrow, he will start his search to return home.
To be Continued.
Sunberry is very unhappy!!!!
