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Chapter 4
🕑 Added 2024-03-17 11:41:24 +0000 UTCIt was still dark when Anthony woke up, but his father was not beside him anymore. He remembered the fact that farm life usually started very early. He checked to see on the interface what time it was but there was no time indicated anywhere and when he checked the browser, it said the time and date of his previous world which was five in the morning on a Tuesday.
He thought first of the game’s capability of switching between virtual reality and on-screen gameplay. He could only play virtually if he were somewhere alone or sleeping but could still play to make sure his character grew using the on-screen option when he was outside because he would still be aware of his surroundings and he would look like he was just staring at something or meditating. Playing on-screen was also the only way for him to be able to use the inventory in real life.
Anthony closed his Diablo II interface and thought of the things that he would say later to his father and sister. He would need to lie a lot to get more information from them.
When he died in the previous world due to the pandemic disease he was twenty-three years old, and this body was seventeen. He wondered if this world considered him an adult since from what he knew, place settings like this had their people usually grow up very fast. This meant children who were fifteen years old were considered an adult already, but he knew he shouldn’t assume too much since this place was not Earth of the past.
Anthony wondered where his body’s mother was. He then smelled breakfast cooking and was glad that he had enough strength to stand up on his own, so he went outside the room.
When he saw his father and sisters, he could see the delight on their faces in the fact that he was now able to move on his own. They started eating breakfast which was fried egg, bread and cheese, and cold milk on a pitcher and there was water on a second pitcher. This time he could taste the salt on the eggs, and he knew that they had salt and possibly some spices, it was just that whoever cooked the stew, soup thingy didn’t know what they were doing.
Even though the house looked poor, at least it was not so poor that they had nothing to eat. Based on the food, all of it was possibly from the farm. He was also wrong that there was no furniture. There was a cupboard and some shelves it was just that the furniture were those truly needed in a house. There were no such things as solely for interior decoration.
After breakfast, he turned to his father and sister.
“I need to talk to the both of you.”
The man and the girl looked at him wonderingly.
“I think due to the sickness I had; all of my memories are gone. I’m still able to think logically, do some basic mathematical calculations in my mind, and perform basic mental inferences and that means that I have not become “witless” or “stupid.” It was just I don’t remember anything at all. The only thing I know so far is my name which is “Anton” and the only reason I know that is you two kept calling me that.” Anthony drank some water, and he could see the man and girl looked stricken.
The man calmed his expression while the girl still looked troubled.
“Is the only thing you remember is your name?” The man asked.
“No. I don’t remember my name it was just that you two have been calling me that since last night. I don’t remember anything at all. I did not say anything at all last night because I was hoping that my memory would come back while we were sleeping but I’m afraid that it wouldn’t since I can’t still remember anything,” Anthony explained calmly.
“So, you don’t remember us? You don’t remember Mama?” The girl asked and she started crying.
Anthony apologized when he saw the girl sobbing.
“You don’t need to apologize. We knew this could happen since everyone in the village and the outlying farm got sick. At first, everyone thought that it was just normal fever and chills but when everyone got sick, we knew that we had some sort of plague in our hands. We were just glad that it was just fever and chills and not something that could mar your skin or blind you or something like that. Some people died though, the very old and some of the young ones. We even heard some who were the same as you who lost their memories. Thankfully, none became stupid or “witless.” They just lost their memories just like you and up until today, no one had regained them,” The man said.
The girl stood up and hugged him.
“I’m sorry Anton. We will help you with your memories. I will teach you everything.”
“We will teach you everything,” The man declared.
“We still have a couple of hours before we need to start doing chores on the farm so we could use that time to teach you things.” The man then turned to the girl.
“Anna go ahead and feed the pig and the chickens and make sure that the cow and the goat are alright. I will go ahead and start teaching Anton things.”
The girl named Anna stood up from the table and went outside.
“First things first, my name is Anders and the girl’s name is Anna. I’m your father and she is your sister. Your mother’s name, bless her soul was Annette. She died from fever as well when Anna was seven years old, and you were twelve. I think it was the same sickness that took over the whole place, but it could be from something else since it happened years ago, and we didn’t have the money and there wasn’t any cleric nearby anyway. The village doctor tried his best, but your mother still died.”
“Do you happen to know the time and date?”
Anders took a timepiece from somewhere and checked it.
“It’s about five forty in the morning and it’s a Tuesday.”
Anthony was startled. That meant that the time and day were the same as in his previous world, but he was sure that the date was different, and his father confirmed it by saying that the year was 1224 O.C.
“I’m forty-four years old and your sister’s twelve and you’re seventeen. Our farm is located in the country of Mendi and the nearest village is called Oakswood.”
Anthony had a lot of questions, but he was glad that his case was not an isolated one. Learning that some people did lose their memories due to the plague that swept the land comforted him somewhat. It meant that he didn’t have to lie too much. He could attribute his inquisitiveness to his lack of memories.
