Several Years Ago
The young woman awoke. As she regained consciousness, the cold hit her; her entire body was numb and shivering. A relentless blizzard whirled around the young woman, deafening her ears and blinding her eyes.
Forcing herself to move, the young woman struggled to sit up; either an incredible force prevented her, or her body was too weak from the cold to even budge.
Not giving up, the young woman stubbornly squirmed and wriggled her body until, eventually, the layers of snow that buried her shrugged off.
Now free, she sat up groaning and shivering. She rubbed the back of her aching head and then almost screamed as she felt something oozing and bumpy and wet. Her fingers recoiled, and she saw that they were now covered in blood, as were the insides of the hood of her coat.
Had she been struck over the head? Was that why she had been unconscious in the snow?
But that was a question for another time; there were more important things at hand, the young woman knew, and that was to get out of this snowstorm. There was nothing around but endless blankets of snow.
As the wind and the blizzard continued to howl, thin black strands of hair gushed forwards and covered the young woman's face. She shoved her hair to the side, trying to see through the constant snow, flakes of it smothering her eyelashes, sticking and clunking to them.
She told herself it was best to keep moving, knowing that it would build up even a measly ounce of body heat. She stuffed her hands in her coat pockets and pulled her fur-trimmed hood over, relieved to have it to protect her ears from the constant frost but still grimacing from occasionally feeling the patches of dried blood inside of it.
Though the young woman trekked forwards, not knowing how far the blizzard reached, she fought through it and hoped to eventually get out of it or at the very least find shelter.
Eventually, she did as she spied a naturally formed cave on the side of a snow-covered mountain. The young woman rushed inside, sobbing tears of relief that almost froze on her cold cheeks as they fell. To keep warm and not die of frostbite or hypothermia, the young woman paced around the small cave, occasionally doing star jumps despite all she wanted was to rest.
Now that her blood was properly pumping around her body and she was safe from the blizzard still howling outside, the young woman finally had time to think.
Where was she?
Why was she unconscious in the snow?
What caused that head injury of hers?
And most importantly, who was she?
The young woman recalled back as far as she could, but her first memory was only moments ago when she woke up in the snow.
There was nothing else.
Just blank pages.
Perhaps her severe head injury had given her amnesia? That was the more feasible solution, or rather the only one she could think of.
Hesitantly, she slowly reached out to the back of her head again, this time mentally prepared. Her fingers lightly brushed against the large gnash, the scrunched up and peeling skin, the dried lumpy bump.
What could have caused it? It seemed like she had received quite a brutal hit at the back of her head, one that she was surprised to have even lived through as she saw how much blood had stained the inside of her hood.
Her hands carefully felt around, examining the wound gingerly as it stung with every touch. Then she reached the nape and felt something else; a scar, no multiple ones. There were letters carved into the skin. She traced the scar, wanting to know what the letters spelt out.
Murder.
It spelt out 'murder'.
Why did she have the word murder branded on her neck?
And what's more, she felt some sort of spell attached to it, a message. The young woman didn't even know she was a mage until then, nor how to cast a spell, but now the knowledge slowly flowed into her mind. She knew how to read the message.
Her fingers returned to the scarred skin on her nape, pressing against it and sending out a short burst of magic into it. The information arrived within an instant, the message in the brand: homicide, five.
Murder. Homicide. Five.
No, but that would mean-
No, she wouldn't ever-
But she had no memories, so how could she deny it being the truth? Yet somewhere deep down, the young woman knew she was not a person capable of murder. Without memories, how was she so sure what kind of person she was? Perhaps it was best to have lost who she was, not to remember if she had been a murderer before waking up in the snow.
Desperately wanting to find any other clue as to who she was, or perhaps refute her from being a murderer of five people. The young woman inspected her clothes.
She found an inside pocket in her coat and stuffed her hand inside, finding two pieces of paper. Unfolding them, she discovered that they were letters, one addressed to someone called Corinna from Rin and the other to Rin from Corinna.
To Corinna,
Please be safe. I did not go to our usual meeting place right after the blood moon as there was another monster nearby, so I had to leave. I managed to leave you this message here, but the monster keeps returning. I think it is hunting me down. I don't know the reason why though. If it keeps on coming back, I will have to try and lose it or fight it off. I will use my mask as a last resort, but I doubt it will come to that. I will keep showing up to this spot as much as I can. Hopefully, we will be reunited again.
Love Rin.
Dearest Rin,
Sorry I wasn't able to get here on time. I was transformed for far longer after the blood moon. Several days have passed since I regained consciousness, but I am now human and in complete control. I think I have been using my mask too much recently. It keeps on calling me even when it is not a blood moon. I need you here with me to keep me sane. I will await at our spot nearby if that monster you wrote of is lurking around.
Love Corinna.
Could she be one of these people?
Why would she have these on her if she wasn't?
But to her disappointment, all that was on the letters were talks of meeting up at 'the usual place', which of course she did not know where. There was no clue as to which she could be, Corinna or Rin, or perhaps neither, and she had just stolen these messages. Why did she have both letters in the first place, not just one?
With no other clues to who she was on her person, the young woman waited in the safety of the small cave until the blizzard outside calmed down.
Once it was no longer snowing, she stepped outside and began trekking once again through the desolate field of white in search of answers. As she walked, she reread the two letters, hoping to find something in them that she missed the first time, whilst also occupying her mind away from the branded 'murder' on the back of her neck.
The young woman glanced around, scoping the area for any signs of life and other people. Even if she could not find answers about who she was, the young woman still wanted to know where she was.
That was when she heard heavy footsteps behind.
A person?
A large shadow loomed over her.
She turned and gazed up at the towering beast before her.
It was a hulk of muscle covered in thick white fur, almost blending completely into the snow if it weren't for its black eyes and the bloodstains near its mouth.
A yeti.
Screaming, the young woman ran away, her feet almost slipping on the snow. However, no matter how fast she ran, the yeti's long legs quickly caught up to her.
The yeti bounded after her, its heavy footsteps causing the ground to shake from its weight. With a blood-curdling howl, the yeti swung its lumbering arm and struck the young woman to the ground. Blood oozed from the now forming gnash and graze on her forehead. Her vision blurred and shook, and she could not focus, almost unconscious. With one hand, the yeti scooped the young woman up by the waist, squeezing her until she could barely breathe.
Still screaming, the young woman flailed her arms and battered her fists against the yeti but to no avail, her strength waning as she lost air.
The yeti opened its mouth wide, revealing its sharp canines and large molars, with strips of flesh and blood stuck between them and saliva drooling out. It brought her closer, opening its mouth even wider, about to consume her.
Admitting defeat, the young woman closed her eyes, her life, as far as she could remember, already over in a matter of hours.
There was an ear-pitching scream, but it wasn't hers, followed by another one in a language she did not recognise.
The yeti turned and then dropped the young woman, and she fell and landed on the soft snow. Still dazed from the hit before, the young woman slowly stumbled up and saw two figures fighting against the yeti, both shouting in an unfamiliar language. One of them was a human, but the other...
The other was a seven-foot-tall orc, its dark greenish skin a bruised blot amongst the blanket of snow surrounding them.
It was only a matter of moments before the yeti was defeated, receiving a spiked club to the back of its head from the muscular orc and collapsed to the ground, either unconscious or dead.
After speaking to each other in the unfamiliar language, the two newcomers turned around to face the young woman.
The human had long dark hair, part of it plaited to the side, their skin a brown almond colour that radiated warmth as did their gentle smile. They said something she could not understand and then offered her their hand.
She backed away from it, her focus switching between the defeated yeti and the orc in front of her.
The human continued to speak to her and offered her a hand.
"Get away from me!" She retreated.
"Oh, that's the language you speak!" said the orc.
The young woman almost screamed upon hearing the orc talk.
A bright light shone on the orc's face as it covered it with its hands, then slowly, its body shrunk and changed colour until finally, standing before her was no longer an orc but a young man with warm walnut brown skin and dark curly hair, holding a mask that resembled an orc face.
"This is Nasmin," said the man, motioning over to the other person. "And I'm Sumit. It is snow nice to meet you."
"We thaw you being attacked by that yeti and decided to help," said Nasim.
The two of them chuckled at their own jokes before returning their attention to the young woman they had just saved.
"What's your name?" asked Nasim.
"I- I don't know," replied the young woman, bowing her head. Her hands felt the inside of her coat pocket where the two letters were kept safe. "Where am I? And what are..." She pointed a shaking finger at the yeti, then looked to the man called Sumit, who used to be an orc.
Sumit and Nasim looked at each other.
"She doesn't know, does she?" said Sumit.
*
The three of them made camp as another snowstorm started to hurl. The young woman remained silent for a long moment after Nasim and Sumit had explained everything: how they were in the Eternal Abyss, how they could not die, and how all of the monsters here were, in fact, human.
"So..." she finally managed to utter, her hand hesitantly tracing the brand on the back of her neck. "I really am in the Eternal Abyss."
"I know this must be difficult to come to terms with," hushed Nasim, they reached out a comforting hand to the young woman, but she shrunk away. "We all lose our memories eventually in this place, but I cannot imagine what you are going through, losing them all and waking up without knowing where you are."
"Maybe it is for the best," mumbled the young woman. "Since I have actually killed people."
"Well, that's not really true," said Sumit, shrugging.
The young woman looked at him. "What do you mean? Was I innocent?"
"You weren't the person that killed those people; it was the 'you' with all the memories."
"And I am still that person? Just because I cannot remember anything-"
"Do you think you are capable of murder now? The person that you are now?"
The young woman frowned, hesitating before finally shaking her head.
"There you go then!" Sumit leaned back casually. "Consider your memory loss a fresh start, a new 'you'. You are not the same person as that murderer without those memories."
"Is that your coping mechanism, then? How you get through knowing why you are down here?"
"Yeah, I guess it is."
"What about what you two did to that yeti? You said it was a human. How do you justify that?"
Sumit frowned. "It tried to eat you."
"We have been tracking down that yeti for quite some time," explained Nasim. "She lost her mind to her mask years ago and will never turn back into a human. What we did was necessary to stop her from hurting anyone. I apologise if you disagreed with our methods."
The young woman shook her head. "Sorry, I am still confused about my own beliefs on right and wrong. Thank you both for saving me."
"Do you have any clues as to who you were before?" asked Nasim with a warm smile.
"I just have these letters." The young woman took them out of her coat pockets, hesitant at first, but then showed them to Nasim and Sumit. "I'm not sure which one I am, Corinna or Rin, or if I'm neither of them."
"Why don't you go by both in the meantime?" suggested Sumit. "Rin... Co-rin-na. Rin could be a nickname."
The young woman nodded. "I suppose it is better than nothing."
Present Day
Sumit was silent after Rin had finished telling him her story. Then he asked, "so this Nasim knows me even longer than you? Where are they now?"
Rin glanced away, her lip quivering, parting as if the words were right there, but she hesitated.
Sumit saw a semblance of sadness in Rin's eyes.
"Nasim's sentence finished four years ago," Rin eventually mumbled. "I'm sorry. They would have perhaps known more about your past than I."
"Why? Did I not tell you stuff too?" asked Sumit.
"You did... what you could remember at the time, but you met Nasim when you still most of your memories, not all of it taken away from the curse."
"So, what did I tell you about my past then?"
Rin paused. "You wrote some of it down and showed it to me once we became better friends."
"What was on it?" Sumit pressed again, sensing that Rin was delaying in answering.
"The reason why you're down here," replied Rin softly. Then, she looked at him directly. "I know why you committed murder, why you killed those two people."
There was a moment of silence as Sumit's brain registered what Rin had just said.
He swallowed. "You know why I killed someone?" he mumbled as if the words would finally settle the reality that he had been fighting against, that he was a murderer.
Rin frowned as if she had realised his thoughts and regretted admitting anything. "You always considered that part of your life as someone else's. Since you did not have the memories, you were not that person anymore." She paused. "I can tell you the reason why you killed if that is something you would want to know."