Jake\'s POV

I stared at the screen, frozen for a moment. It\'s impossible, how can this be? I rubbed my eyes, and pinched my arms to see if all these is just another dream. Nothing happened, I was still standing at the recording room, staring at a picture of the guy from my dreams in front of me.

I scrutinized his appearance, taking a mental note of every minute detail to his body and, I realised, there\'s no doubt that he is the same person who repeatedly appears in my dreams. And, what was even more strange, was that he is wearing the same clothes in which he comes in my dreams. In fact, as I progressed through other pictures of him, I was convinced that he never dressed like a normal human.

Mr Sanders coughed a little behind me, as of reminding me of his presence in the room. Lost in my own reverie, I had completely forgotten about him. I shook back to reality and looked at him, trying to hide the confusion in my face.

"Sir, as I was saying, there are a few documents that shall require your signing today. Also, you have a meeting with Mr Roberts in a week\'s time, to discuss how to proceed further in your plan." My butler said politely.

"What plan?" I asked bewildered, "And why would I meet with Mr Roberts? He is, umm, my dead girlfriend\'s father after all."

Mr Sanders looked astonished by my remark.

"But sir, you have to meet him! You sold the company to him and now you are a member of his advisory board. He insisted on keeping regular contacts with you." Mr Sanders iterated.

"Sold the company?" I was feeling really dizzy now, "But….but when did this happen? I can\'t remember anything about it. My head…." It was all too much to bear for me and I started feeling nauseous.

Mr Sanders looked alarmed at the sudden change of my countenance.

"Sir! Are you alright? Please, do sit down and have some water." He insisted, and then instructed the other servants to bring a glass of water and something to eat, "Maybe you are unwell Sir. You should rest, we can continue with the signatures later."

"No!" I said alarmed, "You are right…. I am a bit distracted. Actually I have my exams coming, and I am really stressed about it. I think, I should return to college now, Mr Sanders. I promise, I\'ll pay a visit soon to sign the papers."

Mr Sanders didn\'t look too convinced.

"Are you sure that you are fit enough to travel, Sir? Maybe….you should rest a day and then return."

He tried to persuade me but I declined him vehemently. Somehow, all this mystery regarding the lapses in my memory was getting too much for me. I had to find a solution to all this, and I don\'t think I can rest until I have got the answers. And, somehow I felt that Mike would know them.

I returned by the afternoon flight and entered my apartment when the sun had already set behind the horizon. I found Mike sitting on the couch, books opened all around him but he was staring absently at the ceiling. He didn\'t seem to have noticed my approach, so I coughed a little. Mike looked up, and was astonished to see me.

"I thought you would spend the night at your Father\'s place." He said, making room for me to sit beside him on the couch, "Why are you back so early then?"

I sat beside Mike and waited a moment before answering, trying to collect my thoughts and trying to find the best ways to present them before him. I know how I would sound, like a mad man raving about gaps in his memory. Maybe, I have some kind of brain tumor or dementia, maybe that would explain these symptoms better.

"Er... Mike, there\'s something I need to tell you. But first, you must promise that you will take me seriously. This is not a joke, and I am very confused about everything that\'s happening in and around me. I... I feel there\'s something wrong with me, but I don\'t know what. There are things that I should remember, but I don\'t and when other people remind me of them, I suddenly start feeling dizzy, as if it\'s there...hidden deep within my mind but I am unable to retrieve it." I said, all these in a single breath.

Mike looked confused.

"Can you elaborate?" He said.

So, I took a deep breath and started narrating my peculiar experiences. I told him about the recurring dreams, the Knight who inevitably appeared in all of them, I told him about my butler\'s comments, about the strange CCTV footage that I had no recollection about, and lastly about Mr Roberts. Mike listened patiently, nodding once in a while, and when I had finished talking, he didn\'t look confused at all.

In fact, he was smiling.

"Thank God!" He exclaimed, jumping like a child, "It\'s finally coming back to you! Oh! I thought that I would have to live with this alone my whole life, without having anyone to share."

"What are you talking about?" I frowned. I had sought Mike\'s help because I thought he would be able to clear my confusion, but I hadn\'t expected him to strengthen it.

"Jake! Your memories have been tampered with! You don\'t remember what happened to you in the past few months, because the events were extraordinary! Both of us lived through it, but only I remember all completely." Mike said effused.

Then, he started explaining. The more he talked, the more insane it sounded. He spoke about Goblins and magic and stuff that I had read in fairy tales long ago. None of his words made any sense, especially the one where he claimed to be a Half-Goblin himself!

"Mike, you are joking with me right?" I laughed, "All this can\'t possibly be true! Or, have you lost your mind again? Do you need me to take you to a psychiatrist?"

Mike expression turned grave.

"I know, it\'s too much to ask you to believe me. But, I have proof. Watch closely."

He prompted me look at the paper in his hand, as he closed his eyes and his brows furrowed in concentration.

To my utter surprise, the paper burst into flames spontaneously!

"How did you do that? Is it some kind of Magic trick?" I asked bewildered.

"It\'s not a trick, Jake! It\'s real magic." Mike said.

I still had a hard time believing everything Mike was saying. But, he gave reasons which fit with my current condition. The Knight in my dreams is apparently a soldier named Maland, one who had frequented my Father\'s house with me, acting as a bodyguard. He told me about Cassie, a girl who was apparently our friend, but whom I failed to remember. Mike grudgingly accepted that he loved Cassie, and somehow that statement made me jump.

"So….we need to find this girl!" I said.

"Sit down, Jake." Mike sighed, "it\'s not that easy. I... I actually saw Cassie last night at the party, and that was the reason I left so early yesterday. But, I feel it was just some trick that my eyes were playing on me. After all, she has no reason to be here."

"But, how can you say that? Maybe, maybe she has returned to Earth to look for you! Maybe she came to know about her mother\'s evil deeds and she wants to undo them now. We should search for her then." I said expectantly.

"But, how? You don\'t even know how she looks!" Mike said miserably.

"Isn\'t there some kind of photo of her?" I suggested.

Mike nodded, "She wasn\'t big on all these stuff."

I thought about it a little, then I was stuck by a brilliant idea.

"You can do magic, right? Can\'t you do something to reverse the spell that the Queen had cast on me?" I suggested.

"I don\'t know." Mike said reluctantly, "I had thought about this before, but I don\'t think I can do it. The spell that the Queen had used is a pretty advance once, and I have no idea if it can be reversed in the first place. If only Cassie was here, she could have told me."

He looked morose, so I tried to come up with something to cheer him up.

"Let\'s...not lose hope okay?" I said, "We will find some way and meanwhile, you should keep your eyes open for Cassie."

I went to the college next day, still confused about what to do regarding this new-found information. I had racked my brains the last night, searching for any clue pertaining to what Mike had said, but my brain was blurred the moment I tried to think about the past. It really was a curse, living like this!

Suddenly, I froze in my path. I blinked a few times, convinced that I was seeing an apparition. The Knight from my dreams was staring at me from the corner of the room, looking every bit uncomfortable in a shirt and jeans. He had shed his traditional clothes, but there was no doubt that it was the same person.

So, Mike was right! I still had doubts in my mind pertaining to his sanity, but seeing the Knight in front of me now, my doubts disappeared. Maybe, Cassie has really returned looking for us. I thought I should run and tell Mike about it, but then something else struck me.

I should approach the knight and try striking a conversation with him. He still doesn\'t know that I recognised him, and maybe I can extract some information from him. And, what better way to start an interaction than flirting? It was an arena that I excelled in, and the more I thought about it, the more my grin widened.

I should really catch him off guard, and somehow I felt that would be the best way to make him reveal something important.