Vidan could feel his consciousness slowly pouring into a vessel, like some mist.
"...GETTING BACK ITS COLOUR !"
"YOUNG PRINCE IS SHOWING SIGNS OF LIFE !".
He could feel his body as one whole again.
"MIRACLE! MIRACLE !"
'Wish I could stab these voices' he thought to himself. It was irritating to his head, like someone was using a loudspeaker close to his ears while you were sleeping.
Though dullness still shrouded his head but it wasn't as abnormal as it was earlier. He could think and feel himself.
"FINALLY..." "...THE QUEEN !..." "...NORMAL BREAThING..." "...COLOUR BACK..." "...AT LEAST A WEEKS TIME..."
The noises increased and got so loud that it was unbearable to him now.
Vidan opened his eyes irritably, and gathering whatever strength he had at the moment sprung up from the cushiony ground.
"SHUT UP!" he shouted as loud as his body allowed him. "The poor man cannot rest even for a second" he spoke bitterly looking around from where the noises were coming. He found out that he was surrounded by a strange-looking crowd which had was now dead silent with looks of disbelief on their faces.
Close to him was a small framed girl and even with his hazy vision and a clouded mind he could tell the girl was startled by his sudden outburst.
When Vidan's droopy eyes fell over her the girl quickly floated several meters back, "SORRY ELDER BROTHER MIKHAIL !"
'Did she just fly ?' Vidan eye's traced back the large distance the little girl had jumped effortlessly, it was without a doubt abnormal.
Vidan opened his mouth to question but before he could ask he was already falling to the ground, loosing his consciousness again.
________
This time Vidan woke up to something heavy and damp on his leg. Overall he was feeling much better than earlier.
Without any haste, he opened his eyes and found a middle-aged woman asleep with her head resting on his leg.
She had a long gentle-looking face with eyes that were sunken in their sockets.
Though this woman was in Vidan's close proximity yet surprisingly he did not feel any threat from her. On the contrary he felt safe.
Vidan looked around and noticed that he was in a luxurious large room that smelled enriching. There was a grand chandelier that hung from the high ceiling and the whole place looked straight from some Royal Palace.
There was a thin layer of smoke that filled the whole room, and Vidan had guessed it was the reason for the such pleasant smell.
Behind his grand-sized bed were a dozen or so people resting in a corner, some dozing off in the chairs while some were completely flat on the ground looking exhausted.
Vidan wanted to get up and scrutinize his surroundings further but he didn't wanted to overwhelm the woman.
Everything was strange to him yet he felt unthreatened. After taking a moment or two he softly patted the woman's back.
"Mother" he spoke, and he himself was taken aback by his choice of words but it came out naturally.
Listening to Vidan the woman slowly got up and rubbed her deep sunken eyes. She looked at Vidan blankly and in the next second jumped over and hugged him tightly.
"Mikhail...Son...Son...So Glad...." she spoke through her tears.
Vidan hugged her back. "Mother, I am fine." He was not sure why he was saying and doing such things, but it came as natural as breathing.
The whole moment had a certain warmth to it, Probably the most he had ever felt.
The bright moment was soon broken when the room was filled with the cheerful murmur. All the people who had been lying exhausted earlier were now on their feet. They all had a tired smile on their faces and they all grouped behind the kind faced lady.
"Mikhail" the lady spoke "Do you feel weak son ?Any Pain ? Light head ?" she bombarded him with questions. Vidan had never known prior this what caring expressions would seem like, but she looked like she actually cared for him.
"I have never felt better." Vidan replied truthfully in a calming tone.
"My lady. Let me check the young prince. " a hefty man stepped forward from the crowd. Without a doubt he was the largest man Vidan had seen till date. He had a long beard that reached his chest and looked like he was from some ancient nomadic tribe.
Vidan looked around noticing only now it was not just the man who looked from medieval times, but it was everything and everyone. The clothes of the people were like gowns and armor.
Everything in here was grand but ancient. The place and the people had an aesthetic like that of 16th-century Europe. It was not just that the setting was different, even the the chandelier he had seen earlier was glowing with stone-like objects.
Vidan realized only then that the language everyone was speaking including him was way different from the language that was known to him, but strangely he was sure that he could not only speak this foreign language fluently but also write it down.
He was somehow in a whole different world.
What was the strangest part of it all was that even though everything was new to his eyes still the feeling wasn't. Everything and everyone felt known to him, this was like "home".
"Hussain ? Khalid ?" Vidan suddenly remembered.
'Wasn't I in Hussain's house? Weren't they about to frame me ? What is all this ? Is this a dream ?' He looked around but this felt real.
'Was the 17 years of my life a dream? Which one is true ? What is true ?' Questions started to rise in Vidan's head one after the other.
Suddenly everything and everyone came to a standstill and the same voice he had felt earlier resonated inside his head.
The voice resonated "THAT AND THIS BOTH ARE MENIAL. THE ONLY TRUTH IS YOU AND YOUR PRESENT. SO USE IT WISELY." the voice spoke with the same depth it had earlier.
It then slowly subsided leaving Vidan with a sudden headache, his face twitched with the sudden pang in his head.
"Mikhail" the lady's expression turned that of worry when she saw her son's expression twisting in pain.
"My prince" the hefty man stepped forward in a hurry. He lifted both his hands over Vidan's head and suddenly his palms started to glow green.
The glow gradually started to expand and cover his whole hand.
Vidan couldn't believe what was happening. It was without a doubt some sort of magic, something he had only read about in fantasy novels.
The hefty man then touched Vidan's head with his glowing hands and the pain disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.
"The portion..." one of the robed females handed the hefty man a flask which had a light green portion inside it.
"My Prince have this." The hefty man brought the flask to Vidan's lips and without any retaliation Vidan gulped it down.
Suddenly his head started to get clearer. It was like clouds were being removed from inside his head.
Once the people around were sure Vidan was fine, they along with the Lady got busy in some discussion.
Vidan was least bothered them at the moment, what intrigued him was 'Magic' 'special portions' and this 'world'.
He looked at the hefty man intriguingly, and suddenly the man's name "Durik Ironstand" popped inside his head.
The feeling was weird to Vidan, it felt like this piece of information was already inside his head waiting to be discovered.
Vidan concentrated a little harder and this time information along with visual memories related to Durkin started to unlock inside his head.
The hefty man Durkin was the General of this Kingdom which was called 'Sunspire'. He was an exception 'cultivator' who was well-versed in combat as well as healing.
Vidan couldn't understand certain terms and was clueless how magic worked here, but the idea of magic was enough to make him giggle inwardly.
Vidan was ready to delve again into various other topics inside his head when a female warrior, thickly clad in armor entered the room.
Although she was not rushing towards them but her expressions and body language screamed of urgency.
"My Queen. My Prince." she gave a slight bow, and facing the Lady continued "The first line of warriors have already been compromised. The enemy lines of 'Drakmoor' are up against the kingdom barrier. If the attack continues the barrier might take irreparable damage or shatter."
A deep frown appeared on everyone's face in the room. After a moment the Lady who was being referred to as the Queen spoke
"What about the evacuation ?"
"Still undergoing. Civilian lives would be lost if things continue."
"What about the King ?"
"The King along with his ministers are on their way... but as per the line pigeon he wouldn't make it in time."
The queen's expression soured even further. After taking a few seconds to pounder over the whole situation she gestured for the messenger to dismiss.
The female messenger looked at the queen with hopeful eyes one last time and left after greeting the Lady and Vidan.
Vidan felt a bad taste in his mouth. Was he such a stroke of bad luck that the moment he got into this world, it was already being attacked?
Without wasting any further time he quickly delved into the memories to learn about everything that was there inside his head.
As he did so an avalanche of information that was both trivial and informative came tumbling down in his head. This made his mind go heavy again, and the world around him started to twist and turn.
Vidan forcefully stopped the incoming information, the last thing he wanted at the moment was to faint again.
After taking a few seconds to calm his head Vidan decided to delve into information only necessary at the moment. He picked forth information only necessary at the moment, and the information unlocked.
- 'Drakmoor was a neighboring kingdom of Sunspire. And the two nations have shared unfriendly relations for a very long time.
In the past few decades, the relationship had worsened further and Drakmoor had declared war on Sunspire. Since then all kinds of attacks and plotting have been common from both sides.
As for his situation, Vidan at present was in the body of the prince of Sunspire known as Mikhail Leotard who was the future heir to sit on the throne.
The room became visibly fidgety after the messanger left, but there was an unnatural silence to the whole place. It felt like the dozen of people present had held their breath in.
Finally, Durkin broke the pinching silence. "My lady we all have to go to the forefront. Otherwise both human lives and material resources would be lost. With their attack, Drakmoorians would make sure to destroy the most they could.
And with the Kingdom's current financial condition, it would be impossible for us to repair the barrier. We have to defend -" he urged the queen, and all the others in the room seemed to be aligned to the thought.
"NO," the queen cut him short. "You and the healers have to stay. We almost lost Mikhail, he is the future of our Kingdom."
Durkin tried speaking further, but the queen spoke in a sharp voice. "Don't you trust the capabilities of your King to handle this situation ?"
Queen's words gave no room for further talk.
According to Vidan's analysis of the whole situation he could not agree with Durkin more. Vidan had peeked into the memories and was made aware that Sunspire was not a very wealthy Kingdom, and as things were here survival itself was at stake.
Even if somehow they get out of this one, and with a godly luck manages to defend the next large-scale attack. Still the kingdom would still fall financially if not under the Drakmoorian blades and even if the King had some amazing plan still it was irrational to take such a financial loss.
Vidan felt death glances of everyone over him while he was still busy with his thoughts.
There was particularly a young hooded girl who stared at Vidan with resentful expressions. Her large glassy eyes were so intensely staring at him that he felt a whole burning between his forehead.
The silence thickened and the stares became more intense. This was unusual, he was not even the one who had actively made the decision.
Vidan delved into his mind to look for a reason, and instantly it all became obvious why.
The prince was good for nothing. A typical spoiled prince who only knew how to expolit and be engaged in immoral activities.
The prince who was not even fifteen years of age was full of himself.
'A hedonist.'
What was even worse was that the queen was completely blinded by her motherly emotion for her son.
As Vidan had just thought nothing could disappoint him any further he came to realize the prince was fucking magicless, and not only that even his social awareness was below average.
Mikhail Leotard was a piece of trash no matter how he looked.
He sighed tiredly. There were more pressing matters at the moment than to spit curse at the prince.
After pondering over for a while Vidan came to the conclusion that Durkin and others had to go, there was no other way to this problem.
After taking a moment he removed the soft sheet he was covered in and got off his bed.
The Queen held Vidan's arms with traces of worry "Where are you going son ?" she asked.
"To the battlefront" Vidan replied.