I was in a broken plain. it is called the blood plain. it is not a place that exists in this world. it is a part of the phantom city after all. it got its name both due to the red coloured frigid grass and the bloody wars that we're fought for this land.
if I were to say it is the dragon outpost of the phantom city, I would be very correct to say that.this is but a memory, of a time that I will never be able to forget.
my past is a jigsaw puzzle that I would rather not solve right now. after all, it is a long and sad story.
anyway, I have been in this memory three times in my life counting this time also, each time has screwed up my life in some way.
for now, I go over this empty place. the place is actually very peaceful when a war is not being fought over it. the grass sway in the wind almost as if they are dancing, inviting you to go amongst them. through the moment you do that you will find yourself frozen solid. if you are frozen solid, you can't move regardless of how strong you are. you have to wait for an ally to come and save you and thaw you out of your frozen prison. if an enemy finds you, death was guaranteed. this was the place where the bloodiest of war happened and I am the man meant to guard it.
I find comfort in the grass in front of me and sit down, this is my dream and I can control every aspect of it. after all, knowing the topic of the conversation I am going to have today, sitting was better for everybody involved. it also does not help that it is freezing cold. if possible I would make it warmer, but this is how to remember the place. this is a terrifying place, even for a memory.
I heard a rustling sound as I turned my head and saw them.
me - lord heavenly sight and lord thought slayer, why have you summoned me at such a dangerous time. you know how hard it is for me to get out of this place. In the real world, I am in a dicey position. if I don't get out in time and keep replenishing my supply of mana I will become something, even I am not sure of what.
two guys appeared in front of me. you would know them as the third emperor and the fifth emperor, respectively.
it looks like I have to fulfill my contract to them right now.there is a reason that I have the pleasure of talking to them and the reason that they help me so much.
lord heavenly sight ( also known as the third emperor) - a young one, we would not be calling upon you if it were not something that is important. something has happened that should not have happened.
me - milord, I won't be much of a help if I am a blob of flesh. my body is lost and I have shifted my soul again. I need to replenish my mana or the god mana will get me.
lord thought slayer ( or fifth emperor ) - so that's why locking onto your soul was so hard.
is it the ant queen that you bargained for.
me - yes milord.
this is their empire, it is not surprising that they know everything. after all, I think the empire has bought a couple of ant queens from her. even she has to give respect to the empire. the empire doesn't really give the option of privacy.
lord heavenly sight( sitting down in from of me as floating fireball appeared in front of me warming me up ) - you have a mind mage next to you, he is already close to finding this place, he should get you out.so it's fine after all, god mana takes some time to infect beings like you, you are nothing but a soul inhabiting a semi-dead body.
me - can we get down to business milords. I don't know how long I have here.
lord heavenly sight - we need you to fulfill the contract we made after the bloody banquet me - milord, can I dare to enquire why is that you are activating me now. I am one of your aces after all.
lord heavenly sight - it is the gods, young man.
the gods are rising again.
me - I apologise, milord, but those god cores were significantly weakened. normal army officials can deal with it. I am sure you haven't allowed them to gather power.
lord thought slayer - not those gods, you idiot. we are talking of the old gods. we have already suppressed those god cores, both the throne and nobles are fighting each other for that very reason, they believe the other has released this god core. the seals of one the old gods are loosening. many of the seal bearers are already hunted down. you shattering one of the seals, has not helped.
me - I apologise, milords, about that. but I needed the tower to transfer some souls for me. I did not expect that my quest would cause this kind of damage.
lord heavenly sight - we know kid, that is why we haven't yet sent an army to hunt you down. but you will need to leave your obsession with your fallen legion and focus on the now. you know what you taking up your role means. the empire is on the verge of a civil war, the one without rules. if that happened and the old god's escape, it is a threat to the entire world.
me - milord, if it is possible to explain to me the situation of the empire, it will give me a sense of urgency so that I can escape this predicament that I created.
lord heavenly sight - we will try to explain this as briefly as possible. we are bring besieged by our enemy on all sides. we have the phantom world empire next to us, who planning an attack on us. it looks like they have sent their prince as a scapegoat, it's not like this is the first time those kings have sacrificed their children to harm us in any way possible. the Phantom world empire is still gathering it's forces on the other side.
the snake council is also looking to attack. your attack was just one of the many. we knew that they were attacking long ago, but neither the throne nor the noble faction is interested in it. knowing the other factions. they will allow these two to attack and gouge out our strength.
me - they do seem to be more interested in fighting each other than the enemy this year, milord.
lord thought slayer - we don't have much longer, you friend in the city has already managed to locate you and is removing you outside right now.
me -how is the civil war this year, milord.according to what I heard, it was going very bloodily this year.
lord thought slayer - we will send you our latest report. by the way how long before you get out and fulfill your part of the contract.
me - it might take some time, milord. we aren't exactly an army down there. we literally have a kid, the other worlder who had just come from a peaceful world and me, who has lost all power.
lord thought slayer- times up kid, we will be leaving now.
and as strangely as they came they also left. I could feel myself wake up. out there, it will be a few seconds. in here it will be a few minutes. In this dreamland, time always worked in a weird way. I am not a mental mage, I have no idea how it works.
this is the ability of the fifth emperor, which he called a dream world. I don't know if he meant to call his ability as a dream world or the place we are in as a dream world.
the contract that we were talking about is a result of the bloody banquet. I was meant to die that day, killed by the ex emperors. that day it was the third emperor who gave me the contract. I was to become their monster, in return for their support.
my job is that I am a warrior scribe, I hunt monsters that threaten the border but my actual job is to study and figure out if anyone from our long lists of enemy is preparing to attack and take the role of monster when it is needed.
to tell you more about my role as a monster, I will have to tell you about the empire. the empire is split into two forces, the nobles, and the throne. they are split completely on that basis. the army, the secret forces, the government. basically, anything that holds power is split into two factions.
in times of peace, this actually leads to some very good things. the competition forces people to perform better every day.
the civil war is screwing things for everybody. the prince of this generation, prince night wind, is a person supported by the noble. this is the reason that the civil war this time is fought with such ferocity.
it is to see which force can win over the others. if the prince wins, the throne will become a vassal to the nobles and if the emperor wins, the nobles will be weakened greatly. many of the nobles will begin to attempt kamikaze attacks against the throne. they will be destroyed anyway.
my job is to be an assassin basically. simply put, we don't share much of our intentions with our enemy. this civil war what was meant to be bloody, we knew that from a long ago, but our enemy must have gotten this information much later, like a couple of months after the civil war, where the winning party would have already absorbed the losing party and put a strong front against enemies that would dare to invade.but all our enemies have already begun to invade us at our most sensitive moment.
the snakes are supposed to have found out about our civil war many months later, but their armies are already beginning to knock on our door.
while the battle in the center involves only youngsters, there is a massive cold war happening in the country, where every single part of the army is fighting itself or at least are not capable of working together.
right now, the men in the capital who can't leave are the leaders that run this country. every single major power is somehow or the other involved in this matter. those that are being hunted and killed. this is a war and a force that does not choose a side is doomed to fall
the emperors can't even forcefully shut down the civil war, because these are only worries, after all no large army is sighted in our borders.
so even if they were to send the orders, the involved two parties will not back down. the civil war will be stopped in name, but they will keep fighting in the shadows. a more dangerous prospect, especially if gods are involved. gods are not weaklings like the one we fought. the god of darkness is considered an upstart bratty god. the ones we are talking about are the sealed gods, who made all species unite and eradicate them. even then we were almost destroyed. the sealing god war is one of the darkest level of our history.
right now what they need is a third enemy that will force them to stop fighting each other and make them fight that third enemy.
that is my role, to assassinate the higher-ups of both factions and make them focus on killing me. once that is done, if an enemy were to strike, at least we will be ready for the enemy. At the same time, they will most likely tell me to figure out the spy hiding among us. if we want to hide our secrets, our enemies will take a long time to find them. if there is snitch, he has to be in our core. if that is true, he will need to be weeded out of our empire or this empire of mine will burn.
well if they are fulfilling the contract, then my life will be many times easier. you see they have agreed to give me a magical artifact should I ever take up the position of the monster and not wield any strength. after all immortality makes me almost impossible to kill, but to kill my enemy, I need strength.
( after a few seconds )
I can finally see two familiar faces in front of me. nameless seems to have packed quite a few injuries and phantom snow is unconscious, most likely in his endeavor to heal me.
me - how long was I out?