Journey to the Deep Dark - Ch. 1 - Lost

    Thump-thump
    Thump-thump
    Thump-thump
    "Don't go down there, it's way too dangerous!"
    "This is the biggest score of our lives! We can't just back out!
    Thump-thump
    "If we do, we will die."
    Thump-thump
    "If you're scared, stay here.
    Thump-thump
    "...Fine.
    Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump
    "Ian!"
    Thump-thump
    "Hey, put the gun down, okay? Put the gun down!"
    Thump-thump
    "IAN!"
    Thump-th-
    BANG.
   
    When I woke up, there was no light. No sound. No nothing. Nothing but a ringing sound in my ears and an aching in my head. Slowly, my senses started to fade in around me. Sound started to echo around me.
    "Mitchell Hughes is dead sir. Like you ordered."
    "How'd you do it?"
    "Threw him into the river. Seemed suitable."
    "Very good... Take the day off, Major."
    "Who's gonna watch the cells?"
    "Do you honestly think somebody's gonna try to bust a Bacca out of prison?"
    "...No sir."
    "Take the day off. We don't need anyone guarding the cells..."
    "Yes sir. Thank you sir!" There were footsteps fading away into the distance, and then there was quiet. My feeling came back next. I felt something cold and hard beneath me; it felt like rock. I let out a low moan and slowly pushed myself up. I could feel my heart beating normally in my chest.
    Thump-thump... Thump-thump...
    My arms shook weakly under my weight, and I only managed to roll myself onto my back before they gave out. I groaned. I opened my eyes, but I couldn't see anything. Either I was blind or they place I was in was very dark, and to be honest, both made me feel less than safe.
    I tried to remember why I was in this place, the cell as the men outside had said... But I didn't remember anything at all. It was like my whole memory had been wiped. Whatever had happened before, I was a new person...
    Suddenly, I heard someone stand behind the thin wall over. He moaned and fell down roughly. Maybe he hit his head too.
    "Mitch!" He shouted out. No one answered him. It sounded like we were the only two in this prison. "Mitch?!" He called again. I sighed, and chose to respond.
    "They said something about someone called Mitch Hughes." I said. My own voice surprised me. It was smoother than I expected, maybe a little higher.
    There was a hesitation before he sat down with his back to the wall we shared. "What did they say?" He asked fearfully.
    "They um... I heard the guards saying they threw him into a river of some kind." I said quietly. I hesitated as there was no response. "I'm sorry... If you knew him. What did he do wrong?"
    I heard a sniff. "He was curious." The voice said. "He wanted to know what was on the other side of the river..."
    "Oh..." Other side of the river? What was so bad about crossing a river? I didn't understand, but then the voice spoke again.
    "What's your name?" He asked gently.
    "U-Um... I don't really know." I replied.
    "You don't know?" The voice asked.
    "I don't know who I am." I said. "It's just dark. That's all I can see. I don't remember anything. I'm a bit scared, to be honest." I laughed nervously. "Maybe I'm scared of the dark... But maybe I'm not. Or maybe I am..."
    "Look, just... Relax. I'm sure you just hit your head, it'll come back to you in time. You'll be alright."
    "But why am I in a cell?" I asked? "Did I trespass? Hurt someone? Kill someone?"
   "Don't overthink it, okay? Just stay calm. Don't do anything hast-"
   Suddenly, there was the sound of a door opening and I looked up, but it wasn't my cell. It was in the other's.
   "I got you." A voice said. "And keep quiet... I'm pretty sure this is illegal."
   "Who are you?"
   "You met me a few weeks ago. I'm the crazy girl in Mitch's Latin class. I heard you got captured and I skipped class... Are you okay?"
   "Um... Fine. Trouble standing though. Mitch did this thing that made all my systems shut off and they're sorta... Recalibrating I guess."
   "It's cool, Calvin's outside. He'll help you. Come on, let's go."
   "Wait, wait!"
   "What are you doing?"
   "Just lemme do something really quick!"
   I heard my door open and I opened my eyes as somebody helped me stand. "Good luck." Then the person to whom the voice belonged ran off with the girl that saved him. I stood still for a moment, and I looked around. Now there was light. I blinked as I got used to it and stared at the open door. I crept towards it, and sighed with a relief as I realized I could walk. With my memory gone, I wasn't sure about whit I could or couldn't do.
    I poked my head into the hall. I saw some stuff sitting on a table with a candle lighting everything. "Er... Hello?" I called. My voice echoed through the long hallway with no response. I walked out. On the table was a jacket, a sword, and a little metal ball. I eyed it curiously and poked it. It uncurled and stood up on its back legs like a meerkat. It let out a purring sort of hum. It beeped morse at me... I understood morse, apparently, okay.
   "IAN." It beeped. "YOU HAVe SUFFeReD CRANIAL TRAUMA."
   "Yeah, lost my memory." I said. "Um... Who are you exactly?"
   "I AM DeRP."
    I raised an eyebrow. "DeRP?" I asked. "Your name is seriously DeRP?"
    "POSITIVe."
    "...That's rather odd, isn't it?"
    "POSITIVe."
    "Okay... So you have like data banks or whatever, right?"
    "POSITIVe."
    "Okay, tell me who I am."
    "YOU ARe IAN SUNDee."
    "Um... Access databanks on Ian Sundee."
    DeRP took a moment to search its databanks.
    "THeRe IS NO FILe ON IAN SUNDee."
    "Oh come on! How can you know who I am but not have a file on me?"
    "THe FILe ON IAN SUNDee HAS BeeN DeLeTeD."
    "By who?"
    "BY IAN SUNDee."
    "What?" I stared at the robot. "Why would I delete my own file?"
    "PROCeSSING..."
    I waited, but when there was a response, it was a voice; my own voice.
    "This is Ian Sundee... And this is my last voice log. DeRP, do NOT delete this log. This is a message to myself. You have chosen to lose your memory voluntarily; you did something pretty bad and it had to look like you seriously didn't remember anything and therefore couldn't have been there. So we made it so you literally didn't remember anything. Whether or not this works will depend on if you live long enough to hear this message. If you're listening to this, you probably lived through it. Unless you followed your damn instincts and busted out."
    I stiffened, then sighed. I didn't care at this point. "But what did I do..." I murmured.
    "You're probably wondering what you did." I blinked. "You went someplace you shouldn't have, with a bad team. Long story short, you all got caught but the rest of the guys managed to escape but you were unconscious. Now what you have to do is act like you had your memory wiped by the rest of the guys and with any luck, you'll be set free. Good luck... Oh and one thing that you have to remember... Aw come on, can't I just...? I can just tell him. Dude, come on, that'll like hurt your soul. Let me just tell him. Fine... Well, good luck me."
    Then the recording clicked off.
    I sighed. "So I can't know anything?"
    "POSITIVe."
    "What about that team of ours..." My voice trailed off as the door at the end of the hall suddenly opened and a guard stepped inside, looking through his papers.
    The guard stopped as he heard a noise and looked up, but nothing was there. He shrugged and pinned one up on the board by the door, then left again.
    There was a moment's hesitation before I dropped down from the rafters. I glanced up. "Okay... So I can climb. Good, good..." I took a deep breath. I looked at DeRP. It looked like a metal roly poly, about a foot long and three inches thick. It crawled up my arm and onto my shoulder just like a bug.
    "Now what?" I asked. "Do I run or do I stay and act like I never broke out?"
    There was a hesitation.
    "Hey Ian." I blinked and looked up at the sound of the new voice. It sounded so familiar, but I couldn't recognize it... I knew the voice, but I didn't. It was so odd. I quickly realized the voice was coming from DeRP and stopped looking around. "If you survive long enough to hear this, run away while you can. You won't remember me, or anybody else you see. Your memory has been completely wiped for your own safety and if anybody tells you what you were, it could hurt your mind enough to kill you. So that's why you deleted your file from DeRP. So... I guess run. I-I don't know where you'll go. You won't find me. Just run, Ian."
   The voice sounded sad as the message clicked to a stop. I hesitated, then grabbed the jacket and put it on over my dark blue shirt. I stuck the sword and its sheath to my belt and put the sunglasses up on my forehead. I ran glanced behind my once more before I ran out the direction the man in the other cell had gone. No one was expecting me to get out, so no one was guarding anything. I looked around. It was about dawn it looked like, in a town I'd never been to. Or at least, I thought I'd never been to it...
    I didn't know what to do. I didn't know who I could trust in this place, or if I could even trust anyone at all. I had no idea what my next move should be.
    "DeRP, what do I do?!" I hissed.
    "IF YOU ARe SeeN IN THIS TOWN, YOU WILL Be KILLeD. FLeeING IS ReCOMMeNDeD."
    "You got it, Beemo." I said on instinct, and ran towards the woods. I made it through and started to walk along a road. I didn't know where I was going, or how far it was. I had no idea what to do. Everything in me was panicking a little bit.

The next town over was about twenty miles from the last. Took me several hours to walk there, so it was maybe midday by the time I arrived. "What about here?" I asked DeRP. "Am I a fugitive here?"
    "NOT YeT." DeRP replied.
    "That's reassuring, thank you." I walked through the streets, thinking things through as I did. I didn't have any friends or allies last I checked. I had no money, so I couldn't crash at an inn. I checked my pockets just in case, and felt a piece of paper. I pulled it out, and found a picture with just a black hole. My eyes narrowed in confusion. Here was a messy scrawl written on it. 'journey to the deep dark'. It was telling me to go there... Journey there. But where is the deep dark? What even is it?
    Not knowing what else to do, I nodded to myself. I'd go to the deep dark.
    "Hey DeRP, what's the deep dark?"
    "THe DeeP DARK IS A DeSeRTeD MINING COLONY THAT IS IN AN ALTeRNATe DIMeNSION. IT IS ReSTRICTeD FROM VISITORS."
    "Perfect." For some reason, the idea of breaking the rules excited me. "So we need something to do. Let's go there."
    "YOU NeeD A PORTAL IN ORDeR TO JOURNeY TO THe DeeP DARK."
    "Then where do we get one?"
    "YOU CANNOT BUY A PORTAL TO THe DeeP DARK."
    "Can you make one?"
    "CReATING A PORTAL TO THE DeeP DARK IS INCReDIBLY DIFFICULT."
    "So how do I find one?"
    "INSUFFICIeNT DATA."
    I sighed and went into an alleyway, sitting down. "Where should I go?"
    "UNKNOWN."
    "Yeah, yeah, that's basically how I feel right now." I stayed there in the alley in silence, uncertain of what to do. I was lost with no home in the entire world that I knew of. I was safe for now... But not for long.
    I was scared and I felt more alone than I ever had; which wasn't too hard. I didn't know what to do with myself. I couldn't even eat anything without any money.
    I sighed and leaned my head against me knees. Hey, at least it couldn't get much worse...