After the morning shift, Josiah was finishing his lunch in the cafeteria at the back of his job, during staff break. There was a fuzz over Rebecca getting engaged soon. Everybody was delighted and energetic. Josiah was leaning both arms on the table, in a tired fashion. Unlike all of his coworkers, he didn't seem very excited for the news himself."Congratulations, Rebecca!" "Wow, you're getting engaged, congratulations!"He kept hearing those kinds of comments from the other coworkers.'Another one is getting married, already?' Josiah thought to himself. 'And Rebecca too of all people... She was the only one who would ever talk to me outside the job matters... It's not like I was hoping for anything, but still... Seeing her getting engaged all of a sudden like this...'Josiah took the last sip of the bitter and now cold coffee of the cafeteria and hammered the empty cup on the table. Then he started getting up.'Well... To be fair we talked to each other once or twice...'Josiah felt
He struggled a bit, but after all, Josiah managed to open his eyes again. The vision came back to him all blurred... But it all slowly became clear again after a short while. He started hearing voices:"We need to start getting ready, Beata.""Oh, he is opening the eyes already! Look at him. He has the mother's eyes…"'What?' Josiah thought to himself. 'What is this all about? Where am I?'He moved his head to look around, but it felt different. It's like the head didn't respond as well as it used to, also the two women in the room seemed very tall for some reason. Maybe a bit too tall? 'Is it because I'm lying on this bed here, or maybe...?'He took a look to his body. He was completely naked. And covered in some wacky goo. And worst of all: he was a baby! His body looked like the one of a newborn.'What the hell!? What is this? Did I die and come back to life? So reincarnation is real? But what about my consciousness? I still remember everything. My mom asking me to exchange the pil
Mirild was carrying Josiah in her arms, covered with a blanket. She had verbally expressed her worry about people in the castle hearing the baby making noises, so Josiah was all quiet."Great. It looks like he is calm, even with all the fight happening outside." Beata, the midwife, observed."It's almost like he understands what we are trying to do here." Mirild pointed out.Thomas; Mirild's faithful servant was now in the room together with her and the midwife. His job was helping the mother carry all the needed things. Mirild wanted to pack up a big box filled with trinkets she said were essential for 'fighting', whatever the hell she meant by that. In Josiah's view, she didn't look at all like the fighter type. Josiah just assumed she was making stuff up since Thomas was going to be the one carrying it all anyway."Got everything there? Let's do this now." Mirild said."Shouldn't Beata perform a last check outside just to be sure, madam? Emperor Eneris may order someone to hold us d
"Here. Take care of my son."The tall servant with grizzly hair wanted to protest, but he himself wasn't as confident in his battle skills as Mirild was, so he complied without questioning.Thomas held the baby in his arms and before the soldiers could advance, Mirild quickly grabbed a short sword from the stash behind her. It was a beautifully curved sword with the blade made of shimmering silver metal, with a dark red colored hilt."A level 42? Could this be Mirild, the early spouse candidate of Eneris?" The high ranked soldier exclaimed with a serious expression. He followed the sentence with a louder order:"Get her! Before she draws more of them!" One of the soldiers advanced immediately, carrying two of his blades on the hands. Nothing in the vision of the baby Josiah hinted Mirild could withstand a charge like that, but one clash with that simple shiny sword and the guy got thrown back, his body falling with the back to the floor.Another soldier started an attempt on his own.
Josiah always thought he would be kept in the dark regarding his consciousness of that new life, as his mind was still stuck in the Josiah of the modern era, however having lived for a sufficient number of hours, things were starting to come back to his head.They were mostly phrases… Excerpts of conversations he overheard. Perhaps they were sentences said by those around him when he was still inside his mother's belly?Emperor Eneris and Mirild used to be close to each other. Four months ago she was supposed to be the consort, the one who would bring the birth to the new emperor of Bucoa."How is he doing?""He is moving. He does it all the time. He won't stop moving. He is going to be a very energetic little emperor.""You bet he is.""Do you think he is really going to be a 'he'?""The doctors said that. There is no mistake. You are going to give birth to the next supreme leader."Josiah remembered his mom's voice and the other one was familiar as well. The whole conversation came v
The storm hadn't even stopped completely and a couple of soldiers, this time soldiers from Eneris' army, were knocking on the door of the old farmer."Excuse me, sir. We are looking for a middle-aged man carrying a baby. You know… The poor fellow was obliged to run from the castle in the middle of the enemy attack. The army is now tasked with tracking back the victims from inside the castle...""Oh, so he is a friend of yours, then?""Yes… You could say so. Then you have seen him?""For sure! In fact, I have been sheltering him right here. I and my spouse have been very kind to the visitor. She even baked a carrot cake for him, you know. He seemed like a nice fellow.""Oh, that's nice of you. Emperor Eneris wants you to take this as gratitude." The soldier took a coin from inside his pocket."Oh, thanks a lot! I appreciate. Come in, he is right here in the…" The man started saying as he invited the soldiers to go inside his house. The entrance led to the dining room, where Josiah and t
Josiah was nervous.He was carrying the knife in his hands, but the hands were shaking.'There is no need to fear, I should just stick to what I practiced.' Josiah told to himself.In that world finding wild creatures like that blue wolf from earlier was pretty common, they were so many it wasn't uncommon for normal citizens having to deal with them themselves. The creature in front of Josiah was a wobbly mass of sticky fluid. It didn't have an exact face, but there was a part of it considered the front, which it was known the creature used for sensing the world around it, and the other part was the back, which was the weak spot.The wobbly mass moved around very slowly, making it very easier to outrun it if one ever wanted to, but didn't exactly make the things easier if one was actually willing to get rid of it. Even knowing it was not the fastest thing on earth, with a knife and a body of that size of his, Josiah had to be careful not to get hit when he was approaching to strike th
"Ready? Let's begin then…""What is this? You are going to teach me the sword...?" Josiah asked."Teach you 'about' the sword, that is. Here, grab it." Thomas did not hold himself as he threw a heavy broadsword at a four-year-old child. Josiah didn't mind and caught it on the air by the hilt, like he was accustomed to it, though."You really are skilled. I used to be skeptical about the stories surrounding the royal bloodline, but watching the son of the emperor grow beside my eyes made me realize the rumors really are true… The superstition surrounding the royalblood is something I never gave credit, but seeing you with these old eyes, I'm starting to believe…"Josiah stopped looking at the sword's shape and brightness and got focused on the old servant's words:"What is this all about royal blood and bloodline you keep saying of?""You know you have been born inside the castle of Bucoa. Those who are born with the bloodline of the emperor or the high skilled combatants are called 'ro
"Lenny!" Josiah shouted, seeing her being knocked unconscious on the floor. 'Damn it! Is she all right?' Josiah started getting worried. He had just freed himself from the flaming piece of armor.The whole scenery was now lit on due to the flames of the two balls the magician released out from nowhere, and also the last attack, which was some sort of energy wave."Hah! You kids are no match for this power. Come on. It's only me and you now, little brat."'This is not good,' Josiah thought. 'Lenny is already out and we don't even know everything he can do. Not only that I am also stuck inside this hole and can't seem to be able to climb back. He could finish soldier Ray on his own, which means without Lenny to distract him it's going to be very hard to fight him one-on-one. What should I do…?'The magician seemed to be expecting Josiah to charge in, with a malicious smile on his face. The last attack made his face now clear to be seen. He was an older man, with his pale face full of wr
Fingers were snapped.The complete darkness was turned into an enlightened environment. Josiah's eyes went out of focus for a second. He could now catch the barren walls and the surroundings with his eyes. The light source was unclear, but it illuminated everything with a weak, yellow light. Over the ground, there were a lot of unknown objects scattered over. Dolls, metal tools, jewelry, curtains… The purpose of everything was mysterious. And to his left, Josiah could catch the silhouette of the owner of the voice of who directed to them a while ago: a short man on a dark blue robe, covering his head with a hood. The man didn't look very physically strong. He seemed weaker than the people he was used to sparring with inside the army. Josiah couldn't see his face because the light source seemed to come straight from behind him, rendering his face pitch black."You…""Witness the power of magic!"The man extended his hands to Josiah and a huge mass of fire came towards him. A concentra
"You said what!? Soldier Ray? How? What happened?" Major Clockburn asked holding the messenger on the shoulders."I don't know! One minute he was following me for the interview, then when I called he wasn't there anymore. I searched everywhere, but…""It's the same thing that happened to the villagers..." Clockburn observed. "Change of plans. Everyone! We are going to divide and search for Ray. Each of you… Grab a tracking bracelet inside the vehicles!"A tracking bracelet was made with a bond of blood between two holders. It worked similar to Watt's bloodbound power, two people bonded to use the power: the holder and the vessel. They both cut a small drip on the wrist. The vessel wears the bracelet around his wrist and the blood of the holder reacts whenever he points his wrist in the direction of the vessel.Major Clockburn was the holder of several bracelets inside the carriages. This way he could track the soldiers of his squad.Too bad the soldiers weren't using the bracelet after
The experienced soldiers and higher-ranked officers were divided in squads. Each squad had a leader; which needed to be at least a three-star ranked person. The leader gave orders to four commanders which needed to be at least a sergeant, and each commander was in charge of up to a crew of fifteen. Squads were in charge of missions to protect and aid the kingdom. Things that couldn't be done by a crew of recruits. The missions often required dealing with criminals, creatures, or any other thing which required experience in combat.Josiah had spent almost the entire year in the reserve, helping with the affairs, instructing newer teams, improving his sword skills, and getting better on the art of controlling the blood flow. Then, one day on the eleventh month, Josiah's squad was called into the city of Bhule, one of the cities of the kingdom which were located most farther from the capital.The trip took a long day, even if the squad went by carriage instead of marching. After all, th
Lenny was crouching with both her arms and legs on the ground. It was the way she moved when she lived in the forest.Josiah saw her using that form only once and then never faced anyone moving like that before. He had no idea what to expect. In his experience moving in such a way is only bad for a human.'An animal also moves on four feet. If she is confident in her speed this means I should expect her speed to match at least that of an animal.'Lenny began crawling around Josiah, trying to find a weak spot. He swung the sword at her, causing her to stay back. They tested each other for a while and then Josiah got accustomed to her speed.Or at least he thought he got.Lenny charged at him with the speed he assumed she would but she dramatically altered the speed midway, causing Josiah's timed to swing to be a little late. 'What!? She can jump almost like a talpig!'Josiah had to switch his swinging to some plan to defend from her leap. He used a cross-blocking stance to protect his
Everywhere near the low number of buildings was a complete desert, whenever it was close to the dusk. Especially on the abandoned factories near the 40s. The soldiers were under training in the west side, the superiors who didn't work with the soldiers were preparing to move back to the central headquarters, and even the security moved further closer to the gates, as the streets around the 40s were completely devoid of the possibility of being targeted by trespassers since they were in the middle of the complex. At that time the whistling winds were the only visitors in the area. If somebody screamed there, he'd never be heard.Josiah's jacket flapped with the strong wind blowing at his body. He wasn't wearing any armor. He just had his sword; the gift his mother gave him and his dearest weapon. He was holding it pointing the blade down.Tonight was their promised test. They agreed on the rules. In order to prove her worth, Lenny needed to withstand a spar with him for two minutes. Th
The rest of the tournament took place in the afternoon and for Josiah, it was very underwhelming. Reeve didn't ever recover his condition in time so he had to withdraw, thus causing Josiah to be the winner of the tournament for abandonment.The overall results of the tournament were as follows:First Round:A) Josiah vs Greg — Winner: JosiahB) Watt vs Lawrence — Winner: LawrenceC) Ellis vs Douglas — Winner: DouglasD) Teagan vs Daniel — Winner: TeaganE) Quinn vs Reeve — Winner: ReeveF) Brooks vs Dave Johnson — Winner: Dave JohnsonG) Yvonne vs Will — Winner: YvonneH) Kyleigh vs Austin — Winner: AustinSecond Round:1) Josiah vs Lawrence — Winner: Josiah2) Douglas vs Teagan — Winner: Douglas3) Reeve vs Dave Johnson — Winner: Reeve4) Yvonne vs Austin — Winner: YvonneSemifinals:Josiah vs Douglas — Winner: JosiahReeve vs Yvonne — Winner: YvonneAfternoon:Third prize. Reeve vs Douglas — Winner: DouglasFinals. Josiah vs Yvonne — Winner: JosiahJosiah still doesn't know whet
"Lenny?" Josiah almost couldn't keep the low tone as he asked for her, after entering his tent.There was nobody in.'Of course, she wouldn't be here anymore. If anything, she must have left and his somewhere…'Josiah stood silent for a moment so he could hear the instructor and Koda talking to each other outside the tent:"The infiltrator was last seen running to the west.""What's west?""Nothing. The fields proceed to the west up to two thousand miles.""Do you think there's any place to hide?""At this point just running on a random direction is hideout enough.""Do we send a group to…"With the duo walking away, the voices started getting to low to be heard.'Lenny… Where did you go? I hope she doesn't get treated as a deserter or something because of that… I wonder if the team is going to start searching for this so-called infiltrator?'Since there was nothing to do inside the tent, Josiah walked away and went on a quest to finding more information around.'Maybe Watt knows somet
"Next two!" Koda shouted.Reeve and Dave Johnson stepped up to the circle.Josiah was tired of his own fight, but he also wanted to witness that one. It could be that he'd be matched with the promising son of the lieutenant like they said, after all.The two young men were about the same size and had a pretty underdeveloped physique. Someone who didn't know them wouldn't give much to them. They stood still facing each other and waited until the whistling sound marked the beginning of the fight.And it soon started.Of course, Dave Johson knew all about Reeve's weapon. It caused the pain to be transferred to the attacker. With that prior knowledge, he charged in bare-handed, striking for disarming the opponent before he could draw his. Dave had all of his weapons firmly tied to the back and the hands-free. The whole way he carried his armor around was made for building up speed.They were taught how to disarm a man with a knife on the army. Theoretically, it was no big deal.'That's wh