We were boys, all of us. We weren't born warriors, we weren't machines. Barely graduates of high school, still dreamers. That war brought the worst out of us. I've never seen trees burn so fiercely, I never thought seeing humans burn would bring me comfort, that it was one less Charlie to jump out of nowhere and kill one of my friends.
We were not war hero's. We came back to booing, not screams of glory. This conflicted with my Idolization of my father. He returned as a hero of the country, a medal of honor recipient, praised for his bravery in battle, for his willingness to give life and limb for the cause. Who am I to return with a purple heart, after one of their dirty traps pierced my leg.
It was a sharpened peace of bamboo barley covered by shrubbery, the fuckers covered it with there shit. Had to get it amputated. The path was supposed to have been cleared weeks before.
They said I was lucky, that others have died to less. In all truth a lucky man would be better off dead.
Twenty years later a man barely surviving with the money his parents left him, hanged from the sturdiest pillar in his house. His body was found months later eaten by rats.
It was dark, too dark it made me uncomfortable. Is this death? A question that answered itself. In truth I wasn't religious, I kinda expected to return to nothing.
Light shot by, turning into a glare. A voice from beyond leaks into my mind.
"Test batch 456." There was a long pause. "Other worlders I Amesh grant upon you a fragment of my power. Execute my will, and slay the demon king."
The words that came into my head were utter lunacy. Slay the demon king? Like Satan? Why can't a being like a god kill this so-called demon king? Am I going back to war?
It suddenly returned to black, and my body ached.
"Zyreen." A voice of a girl echoed into my mind. "Zyreen?"
I open my eyes, and the first thing I see is the green of the grass. I look up to see a girl with strange long pointy ears poking me with a stick. "Zyreen." She tilts her head.
I reacted in a moment, reaching down grabbing the revolver resting at my waist, letting three shots fly at the girl. The thunder of bullets collided with a blue sphere surrounding the woman, and ricocheted in other directions. The girl fell on her butt holding her ears.
"Ky, oct fhaaa, ky." She screamed.
I sat up in confusement. The girl is wearing some kind of military clothes, a full on dress suit, with medals in all. Just seeing them made me mad.
"Where am I?" I ask.
She looked up into my eyes, with a confused glare.
"Why," she struggled with each word, "do, you, speak, like a human?" She asked.
This confused me. I am a human.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
She touched her ears, then she touched mine, and nodded.
"System." She said with effort.
"System?" I ask.
A blue screen appeared in front of me.
Race, Elf.
Country of arrogance, The Federation of the holy forest.
Level, 3.
Class, ranger.
Titles, none.
Name, Vector/ Elf name Xie.
Skills, trap detection.
Blessings, you are blessed by a minor god, effect unknown.
I read the page with confusion, and when I saw trap detection it felt like someone was mocking me. And that's when it clicked. I looked down and saw it, I had a leg. Pulling back my pants I see a wooden Leg that looked completely life-like as if it was made by a master sculptor. My joy vanished in an instant.
She looked at me strangely through all this. Eventually she got up and started walking away, it's as if me trying to kill her didn't faze her at all.