The hearth fire burned noisily whilst thick embers slow-roasted the wood chips crackling away. Zachary had decided to take a seat an hour into Brutus' story. Or he was thinking about whether or not to call it a recap. A recap of all the gloriously dastardly events that took place before and during his coma.

Ah, and on the matter of said coma. Zachary also learned that it was widely considered a suicide attempt by most of his family members. Also, said family didn't live here or near here. They dwelt someplace in an even bigger castle, where his grandfather, the patriarch and respected Duke lived.

Zachary sat in silence and listened intently. One of the great things he still remembered was his ability to retain large amounts of information quickly. Tears of joy almost streamed down his cheeks because of that.

Brutus concluded his story at the two-hour mark, and Zachary needed a good stretch. He couldn't help but marvel at the man's commitment to talking. He did hope the crestfallen brute was being paid for this since most of the history lesson he spoke on wasn't important to the current him.

However, he did listen intently to the tale about his mother, Diane Salazar, who unfortunately died two years ago. Brutus sounded a little sketchy when he tried to talk about her, but Zachary had already gotten the gist of it all. However, what stood out the most about that story was the revelation that the owner of that giant dragon outside belonged to his mother.

'So my mother was the eldest daughter to the Patriarch or the Duke, and he also had two other sons who had kids my age. There was a falling out, lines were drawn, and rather unfortunately, my mother was killed.'

Zachary took a prolonged pause after that thought. He felt warm when he thought about the idea of a mother; clearly, this body still had a strange attachment to these people.

'Because my late mother chose to be with a foreigner. She was cast aside and forced to live as a branch family member.'

Zachary knew this play quite well. Unfortunately, just like in his world, discrimination from royal or wealthy households was a truth as old as time.

"My Mother...how did she die?" He asked plainly. Brutus looked a little troubled by his frankness but swiftly followed suit.

"She was...killed by...she was killed by-"

Those same brass doors burst open again, and two more boiled leather fellows appeared this time. They walked inside, turned towards the blinking little boy, and almost jumped out of their armour, screaming ghost with pointed iron fingers. With a whack against their arms from Brutus, they turned into model knights again.

' "f-f-f-f-f-forgiveness my lord! Ahem, there is a problem. We've received troubling news that the grandchildren of Duke Salazar plan on sacking the west side of your territory on Staple Myers. "

Zachary paid close attention to the look of shock and betrayal against Brutus' face.

"Damn it! Those reckless brats have no care about the order of things. Tsk, listen Yong Lord. I'm afraid this introduction of ours will have to be cut short. Those little runts from your clan seem to think this old boar is useless. Hmph, let me teach them something their fathers should've taught them." Brutus performed a cordial bow to Zachary before twisting against his heels.

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"Rest well, young lord; I...I won't be long."

Zachary watched the fork-beared man exit the room, tailed by the two guards. Once the door finally slammed shut, he remained rooted to his heels for a short while. Between the flying dragon outside and the tense history between his side of the family and everyone else, there were quite a few things to unpack here.

He had gathered a few things from that conversation just now. He was a young lord of a noble house, preferably one of the youngest children, considering how the man named Brutus addressed him. His grandfather was the patriarch of this clan. And likely someone his late mother didn't get along with.

'That would explain why I'm being hidden away from the main estate. I wonder if they had something to do with my mother's death as well.'

Zachary smoothed the bridge of his nose whilst he thought about these matters. It was safe to say this new world was still filled with all the dangers and secrets as his old one. What bothered him the most about this situation was the idea of starting from scratch.

Zachary hated not knowing what was lurking in wait. One of the things he prided himself on the most in his old life was his meticulous methods of information gathering.

"There are way too many holes in this; if only I had some way of remembering...hmm if only I still had that thing...the apple of Acrux."

Zachary was a bit crestfallen thinking about that revolutionary artificial intelligence system. He couldn't help imagining what could've been if he had had that relic. The Apple was like an encyclopedia of everything, built into a sentinel chip that responded based on one's thoughts. Thinking of his past life, Zachary started seeing how careless he had been. Of course, they would come for him. What he had perfected threatened to completely dismantle the planet's political and economic system.

Without proper backing, his death would always come. He exhaled a deep sigh and rubbed the side of his sore neck. Zachary remembered the faint remnants of the last moments of his life. The explosion. And all those people he likely killed along with him. He shuddered at the thought of the wreckage before carefully attempting to calm his racing heart.

A strange surge of different emotions welled inside of his brain at once. Zachary felt his breaths quickening, sweat beaded against his forehead suddenly, and a blurred vision was the icing on the cake of what was likely a panic attack.

'My goodness, a panic attack? M-me b-but why-wa-wait this feeling.'

Suddenly, a warm sensation welled against his two eyes. He felt something unnatural awakening. A sharp pain splintered against the side of his head like a thousand knives had been plunged into the same point.

A terrible cry out of agony howled, but the pain swiftly drifted away seconds later. But something strange was happening.

Zachary clutched the loose clothes around his chest and was forced to blink a few times before he noticed a peculiar set of tiny particles casting a strange light before him.

He rubbed his eyes several times and waved his hand through the pixelated screen. Shortly, he was stunned into silence as he saw a game-like menu materialise before his very eyes.

Other POV

The scent of death and burning metals filled his nostrils. Brutus galloped through the field of partial grassland. His small company of 12 rode around him—figures of black darting across the meadow with iron armed at the ready. A tall hill beckoned their arrival, and Brutus felt a terrible premonition looming in the air.

He gave the men around him a knowing nod before countless swords were pulled free from their scabbards. Brutus inhaled a bellyful of air before erupting a bellowing roar.

"Charge!"

The dozens of hoofs ate away at the soft ground and closed in on the hill's edge. Brutus held the reigns tightly before cycling his Ki through the open channels within his body. A thin layer of blue smoke appeared against his hulking frame. A mysterious wind wrapped around his entire body, stirring his perfectly combed hair wildly.

Brutus was under no illusion this skirmish would be a lose-lose situation for him. These were the kids of his peers; embarrassingly enough, in the last few years, they had acquired enough resources to accelerate their strength to a level good enough to stand against him on the same field. Normally, that would dent his pride, but Brutus was under no illusion about the origins of this clan.

Climbing the hill in haste, the air was suddenly halted by the whining snarl of a great beast. Brutus felt his blood turn cold. For across this vast spread of land, there was only one beast capable of causing the skies to quake in that way.

His band reached the top of the hill and held their steads in place. From a vantage point, they could see across the endless open clearing. To the side were wisps and forest remnants. Brutus shuddered coldly; he recognised only a few days ago, this entire clearing was covered in tall forests.

That blood-curdling sound whined loudly against the air again. Brutus tossed his gaze towards the heavens, and his eyes bulged wide in terror. His men spotted the creature first, lurking amongst the unnatural clouds above.

"By the Gods! D-d-d-ra"

"T-t-two dragons?"

Brutus couldn't even take in the level of death against the clearing below. Two medium-sized dragons were hovering above. Since he was currently at the peak of the Bronze body rank, he could see the features of those arrogant fellows seated proudly atop those dragons, even from this far away.

They, of course, were the grandchildren of the patriarch, Govan and Lotten Cloud.