Present day.

Lleyton woke to a light touch on his shoulder. Looking down on him was a bearded balding man in dark blue robes donning a warm smile. The man laid a tray on his bedside table full of colorful fruit, bright buttered bread, steaming tea, and a pink spread.

"Good morning, Lleyton. Are you ready?" It was Eeva, standing in the entrance of his chamber doorway, sparkling and golden in a white blue dress which danced in the morning breeze flowing through the hallway windows much like her words seemed to.

Lleyton sat up and covered himself with the silk sheets. These people appeared to lack discretion. His head lightly throbbed. He slowly chewed the soft bread which melted in his mouth, sipping from the hot liquid, his eyes still adjusting to the light which was flooding his room from the hall.

"Ready for what?" Lleyton said lethargically and sarcastically as he rubbed his eyes.

Eeva thought he was experiencing more amnesia until she realized he was teasing her. She rolled her eyes.

"Get dressed, we're showing you around the city before school," Eeva said, tossing heaps of clothing at him.

Lleyton gobbled up his breakfast while he pulled on dark silk pants and a black robe. He met Eeva in the hallway and they made their way back towards the spiraling stairs, the grand chamber, the lift, and then stopping on what appeared to be the ground floor.

It was bustling with people, workers directing others to various golden rooms scattered throughout, avoiding the marble pillars and shuffling along the shining floor. There was one specific door on the main floor that Eeva told Lleyton never to go into, saying it was a top-secret research area of the facility.

"What're you making in there?" He had asked her.

"Ghosts," Eeva told him and smiled, Lleyton unaware if she was joking with him. She had a clear love for discovery, her love for what lay beyond the door written upon her face.

At the front was a giant glass swinging door which Lleyton and Eeva walked through. The crowd within the facility which made him feel small paled in comparison to the crowd he found himself in now. Eeva looked back at him, wanting to see his reaction to the new world that lay before him. The new ocean he found himself swimming in.

Masses of people walked among the streets, chattering and laughing and skipping, wearing colorful garbs. The hot sun shone through a faint blue field which lay atop the city. Were his eyes still adjusting and deceiving him? The air was filled with flowers, a slight breeze alleviated the somewhat uncomfortable humidity.

"Come on," Eeva called to him, as she made her way to a carriage that awaited them, which had strange looking, thick, and stocky grey creatures roped at the front.

Large clay buildings of colorful wood surrounded him everywhere, with littler homes interspersed between. The contrast between the golden facility he had just exited, and the rustic rest of the city, was obvious and stark.

As he made his way to the carriage after Eeva, he noticed the people trying to point discreetly, whispering, and averting their eyes when he came close to meeting theirs. Lleyton realized he was popular, and he didn't know if it was borne out of hatred, curiosity, or fear of an outsider. Possibly all three, he thought to himself.

"It'll pass," Eeva said to him as she climbed into the carriage. "This city doesn't get a lot of drama here. You're the city's new hottest thing."

Two guards assigned to follow Eeva and Lleyton helped her settle in the golden wooden carriage.

As Lleyton reached up to board himself, he was tackled to the ground in the crowd. About to fight back, he realized as quickly as he fell that the tackle was anything but malicious. Berry perfume was salient, long dark hair laying over his face from his gentle attacker.

"Oof, terribly sorry," A young woman got up off of him, less frantically as a normal person would have been.

She wore a pink-violet dress which she was dusting off from her fall, fixing ribbons in her dark hair, and wore a dark blue jewel at her chest which Lleyton could tell was sentimental. Bright brown eyes squinted as she laughed at her clumsiness, holding out a small but strong hand to help him up. Lleyton had the impression that the dirt which now scuffed her knees fit her better than her dress.

"Maybe I should keep my eyes open when I run, huh?" She said to him, looking him up and down.

"Or maybe be on time to wherever you're heading," Lleyton cheekily replied.

She lay her mouth open in exaggerated offense, and said, "Being late makes your appearance that much grander though," She said. "Are you a Farm Boy on a visit permit? Why don't I know you?"

Lleyton hesitated a moment, and before he spoke, she realized. "Oh, you're no-memory-river-boy, aren't you? You're not a deranged and dangerous celebrity, I hope?" She playfully said as she nodded towards the guards in the carriage. Tact was not her strong suit it seemed, but her realness was somehow refreshing to Lleyton.

"I hope not," Lleyton replied, forcing a smile as the girl laughed, despite Lleyton only half-joking.

Eeva poked her head out of the carriage. "Lleyton, this is Calysa Naerstrom. I think she's running back to the mental asylum she just escaped from."

Calysa and Eeva both laughed, clearly friends.

Lleyton was sad to see Eeva capable of being friendly with others, but seemingly not him. Could he ever become friends with the one who saved his life? He felt like a chore assigned by her father, a ball and chain weighing her down. The feeling felt like a boot upon his chest.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Lleyton. I'm not sure why Eeva is in charge of helping you with your memory. She is truly a goldfish among whales," Calysa winked at her friend, and Eeva scoffed playfully. Lleyton didn't understand the reference, but the laughter of the two would make anyone smile.

Lleyton climbed into the carriage as the grey creatures, Shantles as Eeva called them, began to move forward.

"What's so wrong with being golden?" Eeva yelled back to Calysa as the carriage sprinted forth down the road, Calysa resuming her travel. "Calysa is a Host, a celebrity in this city, just like you. Do you know what a Host is?"

Lleyton was surprised. He found Calysa to be very pretty, but she lacked any indication of fame, of being a celebrity. "No," he replied to Eeva tersely. If she wanted to be friends with everyone else, then fine, he would strictly be business to her.

Eeva appeared taken aback from his reply, but continued, "A Host is a descendant of the very first of the Gifted. Do you know who the Gifted are?"

Lleyton looked at her blankly and confused. Eeva recognized the blankness on his face, and tried to comfort him, saying, "Don't worry. You will learn these things, at the school."

There was an awkward silence as Eeva looked out the carriage, Lleyton doing the same. She wondered where his sudden closed off attitude had come from.

"So if Calysa is a celebrity, what's that make you and your father? Gods? I should have guessed with all these servants working for you."

Lleyton's attempt to offend Eeva was successful. She squinted at him. "These are not 'servants'. They help my father because they choose to. My father takes care of them. If they chose not to, he would wish them well."

Lleyton could tell she was telling the truth. He had seen how the people treated Aimos back in the grand chamber. They adored him. Still, Lleyton was envious of Calysa so easily having Eeva's friendship, and so he dug deeper. "So why do you and him live in that fancy place while the others don't? The architecture looks like it was built in two different eras. Speaking of which, why are we being dragged by these creatures when you have the technology to scan my brain in that basement of yours?"

Eeva realized she may need to recalibrate how she was going to teach Lleyton. Was she re-teaching him information he already knew but had forgotten? Or would she be teaching him everything for the very first time? She calmly leaned forward, and said, "The oldest laws of Gaiathal dictate technology is only used for protection, which our Medicine department falls under, which father and I happen to live over top of. Our people are perfectly happy living simple lives. Could we create some machines that drive us fast? Sure. But we do not live to work here. We work occasionally to live. We have all we need, and we are happy."

Lleyton looked around at the people, laughing with each other, sitting, children playing in fields and chasing each other. Was it paradise he stumbled into, or a façade?

"Gaiathal?" Lleyton asked her, confused.

"This planet," She replied, motioning everywhere around her, again recalibrating what she thought he knew.

Lleyton was annoyed with himself for not knowing the name of the planet he was on. A feeling of hopelessness washed over him, his anger flickering out towards Eeva like a flame. "So you, your father, mother, and brother live comfy technological lives in that golden palace while others live as peasants? Really nice of you."

For the first time, Lleyton saw Eeva wounded. This surprised him.

After a long pause, she replied quietly, "Firstly, we do not live there because we want to. They," she motioned to everyone around the carriage, "... Want us to. They know as long as our Six, my father, is with us safe, we as a people are safe."

This made sense to Lleyton. As long as they had that seemingly invincible titan on their side, what forces could pose a threat? It unsettled Lleyton that he was able to recall what a Six was but not the name of the planet he lived on, like it had some deeper nefarious meaning.

"Secondly," Eeva continued, looking up at him, "It is half-brother and step-mother. My mother died giving birth to me."

Lleyton felt as if his stomach was kicked in. "I'm sorry," he managed to say to her after several awkward seconds.

She shrugged her shoulders at him, eyes filled with a layer of tears that she refused him to see fall on her cheeks.

You moron, he thought to himself. She barely knows you and you expect to be best friends? Her people show you sanctuary and you insult her? Lleyton felt sick with himself, like he squandered his last chance of her trust.

When he wasn't looking, she wiped tears from her eyes. It was obvious even to Lleyton that she blamed herself for her mother's death. She quickly mustered up a new topic of discussion to remove the last words that clung ominously in the air as the carriage came to a stop. "Here is the front gate of Orconia City, our capital; Orconia is our province. Our hunters and fishers will usually use this gate to fish in the fresh lakes, rivers, and hunt in the woodlands. We were out for learning in the field, my class of younglings and I... Through here is where we found you, unconscious and barely breathing."

Lleyton was peering at the giant walls of the city, which he now realized was enclosed all around by giant golden stone. His eyes were not deceiving him earlier. There was a blue field which stretched all the way from the front wall of the city to the back, forming a layer over top. The front gate was golden and steel too, it's outline was barely visible as it fit snugly into the wall. To his right he saw hunters grab primitive steel weapons from an armory after typing a keypad, the juxtaposition jarring, before they went out the gate.

"That shimmer," He said to her, his eyes fixed on the blue lid.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Eeva replied. "My great grandfather's sister invented it. She had a lot of issues, but intelligence wasn't one of them. It lets the sun and rain in if we want it to, but can keep out anything else."

Eeva continued, "She even laid the foundations of our Facility, and the basement where we were caring for you. Always so obsessed with discovering, that woman."

Lleyton was fascinated but his interest was brought back to the front gate and the river she found him in. He said, "I want to see the river. Maybe it will jog something loose... help my memory."

Eeva and the two guards shook their heads at him.

"Father's orders. Whoever harmed you might still be there, waiting. It's not safe."

"Your father also said I'm free to leave when I wish," Lleyton said.

Eeva sighed, and said, "Fine, go ahead, we won't stop you. But if you decide not to go, do it quickly. We have a busy day ahead of us and no time to waste."

She swung the wooden carriage door open for him to dismount with a swift push of an elegant hand.

Lleyton was hoping to elicit a more compassionate response from her, any signs that she truly cared for him. It was wishful, naïve thinking.

Please stay in the carriage, you fool, Eeva thought to herself. Why do men so recklessly throw their lives around to prove how brave they are?

Lleyton paused, imagining the world beyond the walls. Imagining what kind of enemies lurked outside. Enemies that meant him harm. Enemies that if given a second chance to kill him, may very well take it.

He didn't know what frightened him more. The thought that it was inevitable he would meet his attackers again one day, or that he had no idea who they were.

He swung the door of the carriage closed, visually defeated, slouched, his head low. Eeva felt bad for him again, but was relieved. She sympathized with the boy, but could not empathize. Calysa's joking aside, Eeva savoured every memory she created and would do the same for the ones she hadn't yet made. She was not the type of person to take her privileged life for granted including the joyous memories of her childhood, and couldn't imagine losing them as this boy before her had.

Eeva took Lleyton all around the city. The north of the city beyond the walls was surrounded by forest and jungle. The northwest was the West Orcanian Forest where Lleyton was found, the North Naerstrom Jungle stood directly in front, and the Easterly Woodlands were to the north east. The front gate was the access points to these areas of the province, and to the other provinces of Gaiathal beyond them. The back gate was at the southernmost point of the city walls, surrounded entirely by silver cliff which dove down to a vast beach surrounded by ocean. Off the coast was a small island that the people of the city would occasionally go to for vacationing, according to Eeva, because of its absence of dangerous animals. The street that they had taken from in front of Aimos's complex cut the city in half, stretching from the front to back gate, and was the largest. Most homes clustered along this road along with Aimos and Eeva's facility. This main street was filled with market places, restaurants, lounging areas, games places and pubs.

Lleyton learned that these people loved their Sweet Beer. At any time of day, no less. A gigantic square located in Eeva's backyard held large festivals and other events which people aptly called the 'Square'. Aimos would give weekly updates on provincial happenings in the Square to the people from a high podium that ascended from a staggeringly large shining stage that was connected to Aimos's facility, with a lush green field laid before its feet and littered with trees on the perimeter. Lleyton was the main priority of the last meeting, explaining his recent fame, and Aimos informed all citizens venturing out of the walls to stay on high alert.

Eeva had taken him to the Square. Masses of people were lounging in the sun with spreads of food and Sweet Beer, many offering Lleyton some as he and Eeva walked through, saying hello. It was anything but sweet.

For a moment while sipping one man's bitter beverage to the laughter of others, Lleyton felt at home. He half expected to see Calysa in the field.

Lleyton saw a child, limping with his arms around his friends having tripped while kicking a ball around, walk towards Eeva's facility and presumably towards the medical facility he himself had woken within.

But Eeva took issue with Lleyton calling it her facility. "The facility is not ours, Lleyton. It is the people's. We are just simply the keepers."

After showing Lleyton the power facility in the east, which provided the energy to everything within the city including the Filtration Field that protected above, Eeva showed him the stadium.

It was a massive bowl for spectators and combatants, but Eeva called them 'athletes', located west of the main street. She told him the games held inside were designed to keep the population fit, trained, and to ensure future generations were taught self defense in case they ever faced aggressors. A 'fun way to maintain and create warriors', she had said. The game was simple enough to understand for Lleyton. Five combatants a side formed a team, all were outfitted with their choice of two weapons. A sparring dagger, sword, axe, or shield. Eeva said some would even wield two shields if to a team's advantage. Everyone wore vests and neck-wear which tazed the wearer when struck by a 'kill' swing, incapacitating a player and removing them from the game. The first team which eliminated the other team won, although each team gave the Egg – a small and hidden metal trinket – to one of their members. If that member was eliminated, then that team lost no matter how many remained.

"Calysa is on one of the ten professional teams, which isn't all that surprising given that she's a Host and has all that extra power. There are matches often, and the city comes to watch. I think you'd like to watch some," Eeva had said as they passed the imposing bronze stadium. It was obvious to Lleyton that Eeva thought the game would appeal to him for the obvious skill he had in combat.

Eeva and Lleyton finally arrived at the Teaching Facility, where everyone in the city would come to learn or gather for meetings and discussion, which was east of the Square and a stone's toss away.

Hundreds of children and young adults wandered the hallways and lush courtyards of the huge complex, which Lleyton remarked was almost as nice as Aimos's facility. After a series of stairs and winding pristine yet rustic hallways, Lleyton was relieved to disappear into a room with Eeva, without people pointing and whispering at him. Some time had passed before small children stormed their way into the room, kicking and giggling and playing.

Eeva asked them to take a seat as she wandered to the front of the room, and Lleyton sat off to the side. Lleyton had just about forgotten that his royal tour guide was a teacher.

"Class, this is Lleyton. Say hello, please," Eeva said, the class echoing Eeva's hello, and all at once a flurry of questions were hurled upon him.

"Are you a farmer? Which Outpost? Why can't you remember anything? Are you an Orca like us? If not what's your Gift? Show us, show us!"

Lleyton was dazed. Orca? He thought to himself, Aimos's whale twined crown now flashing in his mind. Eeva intervened, noticing Lleyton's perplexed face.

"Class, please, sit. Lleyton is here to help me today, let's be polite," Eeva said. "Now Niko, what was it you said, 'is he an Orca like us'? Let's review what we learned yesterday. Please explain to the class what we mean by 'Orca'."

Eeva had a skill with children. Lleyton knew somehow that it was rare for kids this age to pay attention to anything for more than ten seconds, but here they clung to every word Eeva uttered.

"Orca's are an aminal on this planet..."

"Animal," Eeva corrected with a scrunched face.

"Am... animal on this planet. They can