26 May 2018 • 8 min read

Chapter 3

Updated: 10/11/2021

“Move it, mincemeat.” The butt of a spear poked Ethan in the back.

“Hey! There’s no need for that!” Ethan protested.

“Of course there is. You’re slow,” the Krell tribesman pointed out.

“We’ve been climbing this mountain nonstop for the entire evening! When are we going to stop?” Ethan complained.

“Once the boss gives the word,” the man replied nonchalantly.

“Shut it back there!” Kothar shouted from the front.

“Yes, boss.” True to his word, the man shut up.

They’d been climbing nonstop since dusk. After Ethan’s revelation, Kothar had, for some reason, decided to withdraw from the battle with his small unit.

Ethan had no idea what happened to the rest of the army, and they’d been herding him at spearpoint ever since. He knew he could escape if he really wished to. He could activate the Survival Protocol yet again, but it would really harm him this time. The stress accumulating on his body from using it a second time in rapid succession would be a truly unpleasant experience. Besides, he had no idea where to go.

Looking around, he could only see rocks and light shrubbery sprouting from some cracks in the landscape. Although, with his computer-enhanced vision, he did notice some motion in the vegetation every now and then. At first, he’d thought they were animals, but then he noticed something else.

Every time he noticed the motion, it was followed by a different bird call, and his party would sound another bird call in response.

He assumed it was a predetermined pattern, used as a method for identification or some such, that allowed them to travel past ambushes on the mountainside. It was quite primitive, but effective nonetheless. Although his implants had managed to crack the pattern after a couple of such encounters, he kept his mouth shut, not wishing to offend the locals.

From what he was told about the Krell tribes, they were quite aggressive to strangers. But maybe that was because of the horned people - the Polarii – that were hunting them down everywhere? He did not know. He didn’t have the full picture. He was hoping to fill that gap in his knowledge on the way up the mountain, but every time he tried to chat up the warriors, they either rebuked him, or Kothar put a stop to it.

They clearly wanted him in the dark about everything.

After he’d mentioned that he’d come from a different world, Kothar issued a few terse commands, then the troupe of soldiers surrounding him had closed ranks and escorted him away from the battlefield, then out of the plains, and now up the sharp inclines of this mountain.

He only wished he knew where they were going. Maybe a camp of some sort? They walked in silence for some time as he reviewed the battle logs from earlier, still unable to believe his eyes:

You evade the fireball. (2) +6XP
You evade the arrows. (4) +8XP
You evade the fireball. (3) +9XP
You evade the swipe of a battleaxe. +2XP
…
You evade the spear attack. +3XP
You kick the [Soldier] in the face, breaking his jaw. +8XP
The [Soldier] is stunned. The [Soldier] faints. +12XP
The [Warrior] attacks the [Soldier] with a slash of his broadsword.
The [Soldier] dies. +36XP (ASSIST)
…
Congratulations, you are now a level 2 [Scientist]!
Congratulations, you are now a level 2 [Engineer]!
Feat of Strength performed. +2 STR, +1 DEX, +4 AGI

AI, analyse that combat log, see if you can glean anything from it. I want to know how this levelling system works. Come to think of it, what was that about the unknown data interface? He thought at his AI.

<Unknown. The foreign interface appeared to be latching to the visual and the auditory cortices directly by an unknown, non-physical means.>

Why didn’t it blind and deafen me the moment it invaded my brain then?

Good work! Keep it that way, and put that on the priority analysis list too. But wait… what audio am I receiving?

<All communications with the locals are automatically translated from their languages to the host’s main language. Analysis suggests that the same is happening on their end.>

So I’ve not been speaking the same language as them all this time? Holy shit, I’m actually inside a video game dimension! He wanted to pinch himself but decided against it. No reason to make them doubt his sanity again, after all.

The Krell… They looked a lot like textbook Native Americans, and their tribalism certainly deepened the impression. But they also tattooed their bodies heavily, Native Americans didn’t do that, did they? Wait, they did it during wars, right? AI, is this correct?

<Assessment is correct! Would you like to watch an educational video on the subject?>

Maybe later. I certainly need to investigate this in the future. Remind me to do so when I have a moment.

Aylin Merza was currently in the Magisterium part of the war camp. She had petitioned for an audience with the Vice Magister, and naturally her request—coming from a lowly [Pyromancer]—was put on the waiting list. The Vice Magister was a busy personality and had many responsibilities.

Like polishing his golden behind, she thought disdainfully.

But she wanted that divination, even if [Commander] Talius would not authorise it. he had to know where that man went! More importantly, she had to know where he came from. If only the [Commander] would understand!

But maybe—just maybe—he did understand her. She had her suspicions that he might have picked up on some of her more… extracurricular activities. Her other fields of study were of the less known—and much less welcomed—variety. She just didn’t understand why things like soul trapping magic and necromancy were so ubiquitously frowned upon.

If she’s going to torch an entire village anyway, why not capture all that spiritual power for herself, while she’s at it? Why not raise the skeletons to faithfully serve a righteous purpose? So what if thousands of immortal souls would suffer for eternity? It’s not her problem once they’re bound to the soul crystals, or undead vessels—Or both! A Revenant! A girl can dream, right? It’s not like they can harm anyone unbidden!

Unless someone broke the crystals, or the undead went feral, of course.

But she was careful, and would never slip and allow such a thing to happen, ever.

She was currently waiting, sitting at a bench and sipping some spiced wine from a pitcher she had managed to liberate somewhere, and she kept reheating the wine goblet using a simple spell from the palms of her hands as she waited, and waited, and waited. Aylin wasn’t going to give up no matter what, she wanted that divination.

[Commander] Talius be damned! Knowledge – her knowledge – was more important!

And finally, after a long wait, the Vice Magister sent for her. She got up hastily, produced a hand mirror, and retouched her makeup. She donned her ornaments and jewellery in the right arrangements – a seductive symbol of the power of her noble heritage – from her delicate horns and made sure she was stunning as always. She would get what she wanted, no matter what the price.

Ethan’s group had journeyed up the slopes of the mountain for two more days without stopping for anything, other than food, sleep, and calls of nature. They fed him dried stringy meat that he dared not imagine from whence it came. The taste was strange to his palate, but not entirely unpleasant after a few bites. As they climbed higher, it got much, much colder, and when their waterskins dried up, they filled them with snow to melt using their body heat.

They weren’t entirely cruel, though, they did give him some furs to warm himself up, once they had made absolutely sure that he couldn’t cast any fire magic.

This is torture! The sadistic bastards! Ethan thought, not daring to actually voice this sentiment.

Something in the group dynamic had shifted in those last few hours though. Everyone looked warier as if they were expecting an attack at any time.

Their formation tightened, they took fewer breaks, and they appeared more alert. This naturally made him very nervous. If such strong warriors could be unnerved by something, what would such a thing do to him, a newly dislocated civilian from a different world?

He soon found out what had put them on edge when a gigantic bird the size of a building swooped down from the mountain peak and grabbed a man in its huge talons.

Kothar was out there in an instant, drawing a bead with his longbow. He took aim, and shouted, “[Triple Shot]!”

An arrow left the longbow, and ghostly images of two other arrows could be seen mirroring its path as it closed on the giant bird of prey. The three arrows pierced the poor man in the chest and the neck, he must have died quickly, for he stopped his struggles immediately. The bird continued flying away.

“What the hell was that?” Ethan asked Kothar after the bird had disappeared.

“That was a Roc. They live high in the mountains, have you not seen one before?” Kothar was very calm, despite almost having lost his head to a giant bird mere seconds ago.

“Did you just kill your own kinsman?” Ethan’s tone was icy cold.

“Yes. He would have endured horrible torture in the beaks of the chicks and begged for a death long in coming. They would have kept him alive for days, so I spared him that fate.”

Ethan looked away in shame, his anger dissipating. Now he understood. Suddenly his tiny problems paled in comparison to this simple fact of life. This was not a forgiving world. It was eat or be eaten.

He was determined to remember that.

When Aylin entered the Vice Magister’s tent, she stood there in shock. Sitting there and laughing with the Vice Magister was none other than her very own secret nemesis, [Commander] Talius, and the look he gave her made her blood run cold.

“Oh hello, Lady Merza! Are you here to petition His Radiance for a divination against my orders?” He asked in a cool voice, as blunt and to the point as always.

“Um… Uh…” Aylin’s mind was screaming at her to recover with something, anything, to say, but nothing came to mind. She squirmed and prayed for the earth to swallow her whole at that very moment.

“I see. As expected!” Talius looked to the Vice Magister. “You see, Your Radiance, I win,” he said, proffering an upturned palm to the man.

Aylin looked up quizzically.

“His Radiance made a bet. He said that you would never have the gall to go against my orders since any respectable student of the Magisterium would never go against a direct order from their superior. It looks like I won the bet.”

The Vice Magister handed him a sealed pouch of coins while staring daggers at Aylin.

“I’ll take my leave, then. With your permission, Your Radiance?” The [Commander] bowed. “Until next time.” He turned to leave.

As he was leaving, he leaned in and whispered in her ear, “It looks like you, young lady, are in big trouble! Moreover, once I made sure of your intentions, I took the time to tell him about your nightly activities.” He brushed a tear from her cheeks.

“Good luck, kid!” He smiled as he left.

Late that night, she snuck out of the camp and started trekking north. With all her secrets made public, the only thing waiting for her at home was a trial. Her disgrace was so vile, she would no longer be welcome in The Empire. Even her family would disown her, once the news had travelled back to the capital. Her only choice was to die at the hands of these savages, and she was determined to take as many of them with her as she could.