Life and death, time and space - in a mysterious twist of fate, I have overcome them and reincarnated into a new person, a new family, in another world. And right now, my life, present and future, is being threatened.
I can't allow that.
As I looked out over the village, from atop the church, a fierce battle raged below. Monsters and humans clashed, their cries echoing through the air and then I saw him, Baldur the fowl.
A towering orc with a sadistic grin, surrounded by humans who dared to challenge him.
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"It's here. I can feel it. The origin point," he said, his crimson eyes gleaming with wicked intensity as steam wafted from his body.
The soldiers charged, but Baldur's shadow expanded, spewing out wild orcs. The battle had begun.
-
As the villagers' cries reached us, my family sprang into action. Granddad and Sir Dordis rushed out, their fighting spirit burning bright. Dad helped Mom don her armor, a short exchange of words between them before Mom left.
"Get to the church. It's safest there" said mom as she held Dad's gaze.
"I should drag you with me but.."
"For the sake of our family... be safe." They said in unison and looked at me.
Mom walked over and gave me a kiss on the forehead, her love and words warming my heart.
"Sweetheart, as I live, nothing shall harm you." The very same words she said to me during the Arch wizard and Arshüdehem's fight. It was only a few days ago we survived that but now it feels like a lifetime ago. Her words encouraged and made me feel safe and loved. As she left, a heroic knight in appearance I made firm my determination.
'I will protect this life, family and village'
Left behind by the others we also left the house and made for the church. The villagers' cries and the clash of steel on steel filled the air. Granddad, Sir Dordis, and Mom fought fearlessly, their strength and skill awe-inspiring. But a one-handed orc and his unit stood in their way, their wrathful eyes locked on Mom.
The battle raged on, shockwaves sweeping up the snow as Mom clashed with the one-handed orc. I was torn away from the fight, taken to the church by Dad. But I couldn't shake off the feeling of restlessness, the sense that something was wrong.
So I snuck out of the basement, and found my way to the top of the church. And that's when I saw it - Mom, her speed and technique flawless, had thrust her rapier through the one-handed orc's torso, a hole bursting open. The scene was unbelievable, her execution perfect.
I felt a surge of pride and fear, knowing that this world was both brutal and beautiful.
The other orcs fell one after the other, Granddad and sir Dordis slayed them with their might and magic.
The battle was in our favor but a sense of apprehension arrested me, making me restless, waiting for the other shoe to drop when it did.
Black flames erupted into the air, burning away at the air and shattering the barrier set up by granddad.
"I did not come here to have my orcs defeated by humans" a voice echoed in my ears and my eyes darted around to find the owner.
A dreadful aura swept into the battlefield, causing everyone fright as a terrifying wild orc strode forward.
There was no doubt that this was Baldur the fowl. His aura and appearance spoke to one truth in my mind.
'He is evil'
"Arise.." he commanded and the flames engulfed the defeated orcs, reanimating them.
"Roooaar" they roared.
"I came here for one thing only and it's not you" Said Baldur to Mom, granddad and sir Dordis.
"enjoy your playtime with my minions" he sneered a halo of black flames dancing behind him.
"Baaaaldur" Mom screamed. Fury in her voice.
"Gwen watch out" and sir. Dordis warned, jumping to her defense, blocking an attack from the one handed orc who was flaming black as mom charged at Baldur.
Clank.
"persistent bug" an earthen wall rose up in front of Baldur and blocked mom.
"Do you wish to die so badly" he said to her from behind the wall and shot out a blast of black flames breaking through the wall.
Boom.
'mom' I unconsciously reached out but granddad was faster. He shielded her with a barrier.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size, damn orc" he wielded his staff and shot out air blasts in rapid succession.
Boom, boom, boom …
Baldur surrounded himself with earthen walls, appearing unscathed.
"Wizard" His crimson eyes glowed wicked red.
"No, you don't" and granddad surrounded himself with a golden light "your evil eyes won't work on me".
"Is that so. I've always liked the traditional approach anyways" he replied and pointed his staff forward shooting earthen spikes.
Boom,…
A barrier erected by granddad received the impact and shielded them from the torrent of spikes flying at them.
"Tsk"
"I'll go left, you go right" Mom stepped to the side, evading the torrent and closed the distance.
"Now" she screamed and threw her hand back.
[Cocytus]
7th howl
Her thrust gorged out the earth, a powerful force flying towards Baldur.
[B'lhárkir] Baldur manifested shields of black flames in his hands and blocked the attack, including Granddad's, who'd leapt to the other side of him to blast him with a concentrated cannon attack.
Boom.
[B'lhárkir] black flames shield absorbed both attacks, allowing Baldur to emerge unharmed.
He fused [B'lhárkir], and unleashed a wave attack which swept everyone away, clearing the battlefield momentarily leaving him the only standing on his feet.
"H-how? The black flames of Arshüdehem" recognized granddad.
"Now my flames. I tamed the flames left behind in Arshüdehem's defeat. Adding it to my power" Gloated Baldur.
"Your skills are the real deal but you're centuries too early to defeat me now" he continued.
"I am the usurper, Baldur the fowl. Dark lord"
He announced releasing his magic force.
A pool worth of power cultivated through years and warped to become something twisted. He was the first truly evil being I had seen and he gave me goosebumps.
"Y-yeah, we know" mom rose to her feet,
"That's why you will meet your end here" and granddad added following suit.
Together they stood against him. Heroes in my eyes.
"Kakakaka… very well. If it is death you desire, grant I shall" Baldur began an incantation in a strange language and banged his staff, conjuring a tornado of black flames in the middle of the village.
"Dad"
"Got it" Granddad roused his magic, trying to contain the tornado while Mom kicked off the ground, meeting Baldur in a clash of speed. They darted here and there, a battle of sword and magic.
My gaze shifted to Sir Dordis, hoping he could assist Mom but he was engaged with the one handed orc who madly rained attacks on him but he stood his ground, effectively being more than a match for the mad orc.
The battlefield was fierce with no luxury for anyone to aid another.
I had to do something, doom loomed over us.
I calmed my nerves and breathed, the exhaustion momentarily lifting from my mind.
'I am not powerless'. In my previous life, I was powerless and could do nothing to change my fate but the story is different here.
With everything I've learnt in this short time I still don't know how or why I was reincarnated but I wasn't about to do nothing and stand by while we faced our end.
Concentrating, I allowed my mind to sink deep into myself. To discover a way to remove the delay that occurred when I tried to do magic.
During my awakening, I was able to perceive the essence of magic, allowing me a momentarily omnipotence which allowed me to create a pocket universe to swallow the magic storm that threatened to destroy our village but that action led to me becoming tethered to it in the sense that my magic power too was swallowed up and is being stored there effectively making me the slowest caster in the history of magic. That meant I was the weakest magician in the world.
My mind expanded within myself, my perception of reality evolving as I grasped understanding of my situation.
Space and Time.
The difference between the other magicians in this world and I was space and time. Their magic power was stored within themselves, allowing them to use it effortlessly with little to no time delay. But on the other hand, I drew my magic from a separate space to this one. This process results in the passage of time as energy travels from one space to influence another.
The problem was separation. The difference of realities.
In that case, the two had to become one and the only common factor of them was, me.
If there was a conjuncture of worlds, the changes in reality would be unpredictable but if as the tether and link to both worlds I could exist in them both at the same time. That would solve the problem and become an improvement.
I opened a gate to the pocket universe, establishing a stronger connection between both spaces. And then I pulled them closer together.
Fisk whoosh bang whoosh. Bang.
All kinds of brilliant, beautiful, terrifying events of light and sound went off around me in a tapestry of space and time. Rings of magic circles revolving and evolving around me while I experienced expansion, enlightenment and transcendence of soul, mind and body beyond the threshold of reality and humanity.
And then I was established in the realities of both universes, existing in both of them at the same time.
A disorienting experience at first but one that expanded my perception beyond one universe.
My eyes, purple shot open and the world came into focus.
I raised my right hand up, locking my gaze to the stupefied orc shaman staring at me.
[Decimation]
His body locked into place, rings of magic circles forming around him as he was torn apart from the atomic level. His being came undone as his presence was denied in this world, crumbling to dust.