“I couldn’t take it anymore.” I trembled as the fear of death kept weighing me on all fours on the ground. “I had a horrible life. I just wanted to end it all.”
Everyone was frozen in gawk. None of them had anything to say. After a short yet dreary silence, Alex knelt and wrapped her arms around me. I clenched my teeth together to keep myself from screaming while tears continued to gush out.
After another short silence, Katie spoke, “Zeki, is your guild’s proposal still open?”
Heads turned to Zeki. He smiled. “The Boston Tea Party will welcome him with open arms.”
“That’s a great idea,” Marseille sighed in relief. “As long as he’s inside the Great Blue Zone, he’ll be okay.”
“Then it settled,” Wilt declared. “Sam will be leaving with you.” He then glanced at Raja. “We still have much work to be done before another raid comes.” With that said, everyone dispersed with haste. “In the meantime,” he offered me his hand to stand up, “we’ll help you p
It was morning. A bright ray woke me up when it struck my eyelids. Before continuing my journey, I needed to get something to eat. Utilizing my powers and my months’ worth of experience in thriving in this dark forest, I managed to catch a few squirrels and roasted them. I kept their furs in case I could sell them at Sweet Haven. I chuckled upon remembering Alex skinned a deer in a bloody fashion, causing Katie, Brock, and Li to faint. Moments later, I gathered mints and herbs to make toothpaste that I learned from the Green Bits. It wasn’t like the ones back on Earth, but it was better than getting tooth decay. I kept moving westward, with my sense of direction to guide me. It was lunchtime. I gathered the firewood to cook all the squirrel meat. I was now all alone, surrounded by towering trees and the night-like darkness when my senses went alarmed. It came from behind. As I turned around, there was a massive horned serpent crouching several yards away. It
The Blood Eagle warriors brought the prisoners in the middle of the camp, all bound with ropes. They had them lined up before the dejected crowd of raiders. How funny it was that everything that happened had led me here, standing among the droves of the scummiest people around, not realizing that I wasn’t one of them. “Make way! Make way for the king!” someone cried. There he was, the one from that red chaff with the highest value. The crowd stepped back, giving way to Aurelius, the King of the Blood Eagle Guild. He had six dangerous-looking warriors flanked from both sides. Dressed like a high-class Roman, Aurelius walked in a regal gait like a king, or a Roman Emperor since he came from that era. His smug face got that vibe too, and he looked kingly handsome enough to make any Roman girl fawn all over him; that wouldn’t work on modern girls, in my opinion. The king beamed at the prisoners. Some of them were frightened, others looked defiant, and the rest ga
While looking for a place to sit and eat, I noticed something odd about this camp. This place was large enough to accommodate hundreds of people here. The Blood Eagles were supposed to be over ten times the number; that included the mercenary guilds and the raiders they press-ganged. Also, there was supposed to be a fleet of seventy-two landships. Only a single one parked next to the hill-fort. Where were the rest of them? I headed toward the landship to investigate. It looked the same as the first one I saw months ago. However, after a closer look, I was bewildered to see damages on its walls, especially the diagonal slash that stretched the entire front of its keep. They were like battle scars. Something must’ve happened to this guild when they went to Everlasting End. “Hey, hoodie!” My nerves froze. I was the only person around who was wearing a hoodie coat. Did the Blood Eagles find out about me? “Hey, hoodie! Over here!” That sounded like
As Cara explained, a few weeks after the Sack of Ashpile, ten mercenary guilds arrived with their landships. The loot that the Blood Eagles acquired was able to hire them all. Together with thousands of raiders press-ganged to their guild, they began their journey to Everlasting End. After passing through the Equator, they faced erratic weather, giant monstrous worms, dragons, and beyond. To my surprise, no one got recalled when they reached Everlasting End. “What’s it like?” I asked. “I don’t know,” Cara answered. “We could see a huge land at our horizon, but none of us got to step foot on it.” The pupils of her eyes started to contract. “We were only halfway until they came out of nowhere.” “What happened?” I asked again. “Is it the G8?” “I-I don’t know.” She trembled when a horrible memory of that ill-fated battle resurfaced. “W-we lost so many. We didn’t even know who attacked us. We managed to get away with only one landship left.”
My throat was sore. It had been hours telling Aurelius everything I knew back on Earth: current news, trends, history, technologies, military; the last two had him interested the most. He was like a little boy listening to storytime, with his eyes sparkled in awe. It was weird to see him like this. Aurelius was a ruthless king and a brilliant strategist from my perspective earlier. Nevertheless, I kept myself polite, especially when I couldn’t answer most of the questions about modern devices. That was beyond the knowledge of any normal kid like me to understand how they were made. Upon finishing, he ordered me to tidy up the room for the upcoming meeting with his commanders. I couldn’t complain that he treated me like one of his own servants due to my current dilemma. While he was waiting on his chair, I was dusting the bookshelves, using my handkerchief. Since he was royalty and also an enemy, asking him for cleaning tools might be my death sentence. I kept glancin
I froze halfway. If I remembered correctly, Aurelius did say the Storm Brothers had information about Rockflower. They must’ve learned about my friends and the elites defending the town. Masaru might’ve recognized me from the time we liberated Hammerhorn. I need to confront him, or else my cover would be blown. Slowly turning to face him, though avoiding his gaze again, I pretended to be a medieval peasant who shrunk himself before an intimidating overlord. “I-I’m just a newcomer, sire.” “I said who, not what!” Masaru growled, which I quivered. “Answer the damn question, and don’t lie to me.” I gulped. Just like that Asian warrior said earlier, “Don’t lie.” If they had the ability to know if a person told the truth or not, I must be careful with my words. “S-Samson, sire.” “Sam Son?” Masaru made it sound like a Chinese name. “Enough, Lord Masaru,” Aurelius growled. “We have important things that need to be discussed.
After crossing the bridge, the Blood Eagles lit their torches as we entered the forest to guide our way, but they weren’t bright enough to get a clear view of the wagon’s contents. As time passed, my companions were almost on their last legs from pushing. I had to increase my speed to keep up the pace. “Are we there yet?” I inquired. “Keep moving,” a Blood Eagle member exclaimed. “We’re almost there.” “Good, my back’s killing me,” one of the pushers said with relief. Several minutes later, we stumbled upon a mound with a large cave similar to Andorra’s Vein. After reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, we found ourselves in a dome-shaped cavern, bustling in all manners of activities and working hands. It was much bigger than the two mines of Andorra’s Vein combined. Maybe the size of a football stadium. However, there were fissures, rubble, and cracks everywhere. Of course, they were Mount Fort’s handiwork. At the center of this place, t
Sir Chandos was standing before me, alive and well, though his armor was battered and had leg cuffs chained to an iron ball. Nevertheless, he was beaming at me with a smile. “Sir Roche, it’s good to see you —” Sir Chandos dropped his smile and turned away when the foreman shifted his attention toward us. The Grendel Knight squatted on the ground, facing the warheads on the left. Then he buried his mouth under his folding arms. “No slacking off,” the foreman snarled after noticing that I stopped working. I went back on filling up another crack, though keeping a close distance with Sir Chandos. “Don’t turn around,” Sir Chandos’ voice whispered. “Keep working, and keep your voice down.” “Alright,” I said in a hushed tone. “What happened? Sinchi said that you were recalled.” “So Sinchi managed to escape.” he sounded surprised yet relieved. “I’m glad he warned you and everyone in town.” I hung my head down. “The Blood Eagles used Sinchi and
By the next day, while reinforcement would arrive at any moment, Katie had finished our flag’s design. The whole gang loved it when she showed it to us before presenting it to the Mayflowers. Katie and all the seamstresses in the hill-fort gathered together to knit our flag inside Wilt Hall. We were astonished that Katie could knit. We waited by the entrance for hours. Mrs. Smith, Hassan, Commander Raja, Miranda, and the two Green Bit chiefs arrived with a wooden pole and silver ball. “How’s it going?” Hassan asked. Before anyone could respond, Katie came out to present our flag. “What do you think?” The flag was divided diagonally from the lower hoist-side corner, with the blue upper triangle and the green lower triangle. At the center along the dividing line was the fiery silhouette of a foxfire. “Looks good,” Miranda said, and many agreed. “It is.” Commander Raja asked curiously. “What are the symbolisms on those colors?” “L
It was afternoon. Marseille and I were strolling around Hammerhorn, with the newly blue sky that covered the entirety of the hill. This place was littered with emptied tents. Much of the supplies and valuables that the Blood Eagles left behind were now spoils of war. It was nice that the bathhouse and bridge remained intact. While everyone was tidying up their new home, Marseille told me what happened during the battle. It turned out that she and Deborah arrived to save Mrs. Smith’s group when a Blood Eagle company finally caught them crossing the river. As veteran elites, they managed to turn the tide of battle in our favor. Once the news of Commodus’s demise had been spread, the few hundred surviving Eagles and raiders began to scatter in retreat. Marseille stated that the big shots and guilds would eventually hunt them down, along with Alvarez, Javier, and the Storm Brothers. They would never pose a threat to this world ever again. For two days, my friends
I failed! I failed! I was so close… I was about to pass out from the blood loss. My eyes were getting heavy. Once they shut, that would be my end. “I got you! I got you!” Commodus bragged. “Didn’t I tell you that you’re nothing but a bug?” His loud, boastful voice was ringing my ears, which kept me from losing consciousness. I took a glance at him. My fist was still hovering near his face. That gave me one last idea as I quickly grabbed his hand that was holding the spear, grasping tightly so that he wouldn’t escape. “I got you,” I said with a weak voice, concentrating all my super-strength toward my fist. “What do you mean…?” Commodus was no longer bemused when my fist near him shook. He then realized my intent once my thumb released the full force from my bent index finger. “No, no, NO…!” Bam! A flick on his forehead and Commodus was sent zooming down the ground, along with his spear. My scream thundered throughout the sky in excruci
After I regained consciousness, I was in a different location, lying on the ground with an aching back — again. Once I returned to my feet, my senses alarmed me to duck. A halberd almost cleaved my head. A knight in red armor appeared from nowhere and prepared another swing. I slammed the ground with my heel to rock his footings before sending him flying with a punch. Two more knights, four Greek hoplites, six Chinese armored warriors, and dozens of raiders appeared in front of me. I waited for them to make a move. However, my eyes bulged to find Cara and her friends were among the raiders. They were shocked to see me again. Boom! I caught a cannonball before it could strike the back of my head. Several dozen yards away, a cannon team was reloading. The Eagles were about to gang up on me. I jabbed the ground, knocking them off their feet. Then I threw the cannonball back toward the cannon, and it broke into iron scraps. More enemies got close,
The raining weapons almost got me as I leaped into a safe distance. While keeping myself out of Commodus’s reach, I threw whatever I could get my hands on at him; branches, trees, and rocks. However, he evaded them with the same grace and agility as Cutler while manipulating the weapons to fly toward me. I had to dodge them with every inch of my life until I hid behind a tree once again. “Damn it, I need to get close.” My blood began to boil. “Wait, why did I say that?” Why did I feel the urge to attack him? My brain told me not to do anything stupid. “Calm down, Sam.” I breathed in and out when my rage grew. “Calm down.” “You’re quite confident for a newcomer,” Commodus’s booming voice wasn’t far from my hiding place, though not close. “I sensed both your fear and rage were conflicting. Signs of experience. Tell me, are you a warrior back in our world?” “I’m a former social justice warrior,” I replied. “I think that counts.” “You sounded doub
For a long time, we had a staring contest. My plan was that if Aurelius even flinched once, I’d give an earth-shattering punch before making my escape. Fighting a commander was one thing, but there was no way I could go up against aGuildmaster. As minutes passed, none of us even blinked. If I could land just one blow, it’d be over for him. He would never survive against my super-strength. Still, I didn’t have the confidence to fight him head-on. Aurelius observed me with hate-filled eyes as the raging battle thundered around us. What was he waiting for? I must get back to my friends. “That was genius!” he burst out laughing, to which I flinched. “You masked your escape when Anne unleashed her moon. We expected you to hold your siege or run away. Instead, you blow up your town as a diversion so you can bring the heaven stone to Hammerhorn. A better-fortified position. “Such a shame that there’s no one left in that hill-f
The five of us remained on guard. Those who were weaponless picked up the bronze knives that were scattered all over the ground. I, on the other hand, grabbed the uprooted tree. As we got close to finishing him off, Cutler cackled again before he was coughing heavily. Eventually, cracks began to appear all over his body. “Cutman?” Brock called him out. “It’s Cutler,” he corrected before coughing again, yet he was motionless. He had no strength to spare a glance at us. “That boy’s name is Wilt, huh? Let me tell you. He went down with a brave face.” His breathing was slowing down. “Thanks for the hunt, Foxfires.” He drew one last breath with a satisfying smile. “It sure is fun….” He slowly became dust. “He….” Katie took a deep breath five times to cool herself down. Her skin was no longer burning red. “He went down like a warrior,” she said begrudgingly out of respect. It wasn’t long for Zeki and Commander Raja to arrive, looking exhausted. “Is everyone
The bugs were the first to charge while the tengu braves followed behind. In a short moment, we were being surrounded, struggling to watch each other’s backs, especially Alex. “Alex,” Katie called while kicking a monstrous wasp in mid-air. “Now’s the time to do your magic.” “I can’t… focus…” Alex struggled to come up with a magic tune while most of the enemies set their sights on her. “I need to focus.” Cutler was observing our battle, waiting for his chance to strike. “Commander Cutler.” Another tengu brave appeared. “Our forces managed to regroup after the enemies ambushed us. We struck them back in a six-pronged assault. King Aurelius is now clashing with Chief Bess as we speak. And Rockflower’s denizens are almost at the river with the heaven stone.” “Good,” Cutler said. “We’re making progress.” “Why are you doing this?” Katie demanded, and the enemies got her attention. Cutler signaled the bugs to stop attacking. “Why are you dest
Back on the ground, we were heading to our rendezvous location with the Green Bits to help them stop the Blood Eagles from reaching Mrs. Smith’s group. However, ten seconds had passed, Li had everyone halted. “Look, Storm Brothers!” He pointed at them stuck on a redwood tree, about twelve meters above us. They were back in their human forms, but they had white eyes, scorching burns, and smokes rising from their bodies. “They’re unconscious,” Commander Raja sighed with relief after watching them motionless for a while. “They must’ve been caught by the blast.” “Good, we should finish them off,” Alex stated. “You’re right.” The commander summoned his spears. “We have to make sure they will never be a threat ever again.” The rest of us reluctantly conceded. Even though the brothers were now defenseless, they were too dangerous to be left alive. “Enemies from above!” I cried when my skin crawled in alarm. Twelve tengu braves pierced through