With new found vigor and a fast and eager march, Aurel set of onto his journey, a journey that would change the fates of many forever…
—-
"Ah fuck me!"
It had been 15 hours since his "fast and eager march" and Aurel had long since lost his youthful vigor. "Shit! How could I forget to bring food! Clothes! Anything!" Aurel lamented aloud.
He had been so overwhelmed by the transmigration and amazing environment that he strutted off to find civilization, thinking,'How far could it possibly be?' Well….really far! It had been 15 hours and he had yet to reach the end of the dirt road.
To be honest he considered turning around at the 3 hour point but a nagging voice in his head told him' go a little farther!','Almost there!', Civilization is just around the corner!'. Naturally he was screwed over by his internal self that he ended in his present state.
Laying on the ground like a dog with dirt and leaves stuck all over him and breathing in and out heavily from his forced hiking pace."sigh, there's no way I'm turning back at this point with the sun setting" Aurel, seeing the sun is setting chose to walk to the side of the dirt path and conjure up a make shift campsite. First he gathered some leaves and set them in a pile along with other soft vegetation like moss and etc,then he grabbed twigs and acorns and set them down.Then, it dawned on him that there was no way in hell he could catch any animals, not with his skills.
" Guess it's raw acorns for dinner! Hmm the makeshift vege-bed came out well…" Aurel yawned by the end of his sentence, he was really tired and ready to pass out.
Staring into the night sky while laying on the ground, Aurel gasped" it's beautiful…" The night sky was filled with stars and the Milky Way was visible making it look like a picture shot on an iPhone 12. Seeing such a sight, Aurel suddenly felt tears at the corners of his eyes" Sorry mom, dad, i may never get to see you again" It had just dawned on him that he may never meet his parents again. After a few minutes of tearing up a fierce glint appeared in his eyes, completely different from his usual easy going and lazy eyed attitude" Don't worry mother, father. I'll make you prou…" Before he could finish he was out like a lightbulb completely exhausted from his day of marching.
The sun was rising and it sent out a dazzling orange glow which shot through the gaps in the trees, birds sang in harmony, Bambi pranced about…
VROOOOM!
Then without warning, sounds of multiple vehicles driving nearby abruptly shook the quiet forest awake with their rumbling engines. Jumping out of his vege-bed, Aurel quickly became alert and with his mind moving relatively quick due to adrenaline,deduced that the noise was most likely from a nearby vehicle and taking his chances of starving alone in a forest or getting killed, dashed towards the noise.
Oddly enough, after about 20 seconds of a full speed sprint, Aurel Sitz abruptly reached the end of the dense forest and what greeted him was vast and endless vibrant green plains. Along with, of course, the vehicles that made the jarring sound which had only became louder with his approach.
A few dozen meters away was a paved road, on top of which was a column of vehicles and horses.
The vehicles were similar to the ones he was familiar with, they had four wheels and a base frame, that's where the similarities ended.
These vehicles were old, very old. In fact Aurel almost thought he stumbled upon some parade with refurbished cars from the early 1900s. What he also noticed was that there was a large variety, with anything from armored trucks to sleek open hooded convertibles. While the bulky warhorses either dragged massive artillery pieces behind them or were mounted by men in strict and efficient formations.
Aurel then noted that they were obviously military, with a black and grey color scheme with the only blotch of color being a magnificent red flag with a big iron cross in the center that was outlined in grey and colored in black. The soldier were all dressed neatly in grey uniforms that reminded him of WW1 Germany uniforms along with a helmet with a spiked top. The men who rode in the luxurious convertible at the middle of the column dressed similarly to the soldiers except with a German WW2 officers hat rather than the pointed helmet and numerous medals and badges of rank on their shoulders. A soldier leisurely sitting on the back of one of the armored trucks yelled and pointed in his direction causing a chain reaction of shouts and yells and the next thing Aurel knew a duo of cavalrymen approached him with lightning speed.
They were dressed in elegant all grey uniforms and had the typical spiked helmet with rifles slung over their shoulders and swords on their belts. The man who arrived first , and appeared middle aged with a black mustache,spoke to him in a heavy German accent "This is no place for a boy to play, go home and tend to your family!"
'The hell?'After a moment of thought Aurel then came to a realization. 'They think I want to join the army!' Aurel wanted to laugh out loud, after all why would he want to do something so dangerous! But then some conflicting thoughts clashed in his mind. 'What else would I even do?''I don't know where I am and I don't have anywhere to go.' Gritting his teeth Aurel finally spoke."Please let me join! I have no family and nowhere to go!" Tossing his cards on the table, he decided to gamble and see if he could get into the army, at least he would stay until he knew what the hell was going on. The two cavalrymen revealed sympathetic gazes and glanced at each other. The younger of the two coughed and said" I don't see why not, he looks like he has some potential, plus he'd probably just die if we leave him anyway." The middle aged cavalryman nodded"sigh, that's true and it's not like we don't have other brats in the infantry divisions." The middle aged man lamented with clear sadness in his eyes. " Wait, what do you mean I'd die anyway?" Aurel asked, genuinely confused. The two cavalrymen looked at him as if he just grew 4 eyes and legs and then let out a loud chuckle. "Boy, we're 10 miles east of the frontline to the western theatre of the Great War! The war that's said to end all wars!" The middle aged man said in between laughs.
Aurel just stared at them dumbfounded,' Did they say the war to end all wars? Plus the uniforms… and the vehicles!'
"I've transmigrated back into World War One!!"