“It would take three centuries for humanity to take the next step of the liberation.

The red planet Mars would become the testing ground for the newly created weapons of emancipation, the Legionaries.

Marcos Obregon was appointed the Commander of the Legionaries, as he was one of the main driving forces behind the Orphan Program.

Liberating Mars would not only free the most-populated planet in the system, but it would also send a message to our brothers and sisters in shackles across the galaxy.

You are not alone. We are coming.”

- Elistar Iscariot, Grand Magister during the second Kingfisher dynasty.

I was slightly shocked by how quickly things had changed. Still, my memories from the time in the dark and the previous Alucard were piecing things together faster and faster, keeping me pleasantly confused instead of unpleasantly panicking. Parts of the puzzle were starting to come together.

Like the parting comment about Auntie Dearest, Lady Justine Kaylock, my late father's younger sister, married away at sixteen to only be widowed a few months later. It was a tragedy for the Kaylock family since the old Baron had been the last living member.

Now, the barony was held by my aunt, and since she ruled as regent at Nachtwald until young Alucard, that would be me, came of age. No one but the king could order her to remarry, not until I came of age and took the mantle as the head of the house. That gave her about a year to have med strangled in my sleep. I was starting to suspect she had some issues being wed down, as she would call it.

The old Alucard would never have considered a betrayal. Not his sweet aunt, but the new Alucard was disturbed. That I had recently been rebuffed at the bank from accessing any further funds from the family accounts was just another of the signs I had picked up over the years.

I would have to deal with her, one way or another, during the next year and gather some protection around myself. As powerful as Awakened could become, we operated within the spectrum of human capability, at least during the early stage of our development into something…other.

There was also a feeling the brothers would eventually come knocking again, but based on Greg's words, I doubted it would be during the next few years. No, I didn't fully trust them or this mistress they mentioned. The entire spiel had been too convenient, and their motivation was suspect. Not that I didn't appreciate the gifts. Especially the food I could smell from the backpack and the Ability Crystal. I would have to find some sort of equal payment for the “gifts” before I saw them the next time. However, One piece of advice resonated with me. Grow in power. It was advice bordering on meaningless, but in the end, it always came down to power.

A large part of my initial growth would come from the clear ability crystal they had given me. If the ability were even halfway useful, it would set me up as an Awakened at the top of the first rank despite my lack of experience and lack of experience using the powers from the domain I was connected to.

Ability crystals of this size were unheard of for anyone but dukes or royalty. Even for them, it wasn't exactly common. I would start the attunement process the moment I found someplace far enough away from the road and was cleared of critters. The last part would probably be more difficult as I made my way deeper into the woods.

Having walked for a quarter of an hour inside the forest, I had to admit that the Ironwoods were amazing. Of course, I had seen the woods on my way to Murktown when I got shipped off to become a man, but just in passing from the inside of a carriage. Neither would the past me have been able to appreciate its majesty if he had spent time in the woods.

The gray trees stretched dozens of meters in the air, some reaching a hundred or more. They stood strong and thick, letting little light through their sprawling branches. That left a specious forest floor covered in leaves damp and slowly rotting. You could camp an army under some of these trees, and no one would know unless you stood on top of it.

The lack of sun hitting the ground probably explained the lack of other greenery. Still, when it was there, it mostly meant the bush or whatever had been feeding on the ambient energy from all the anomalies and breaches appearing in this place. More often than not, it would be something expensive and rare. Looking around to make sure no one had noticed, I quickly whipped away the fleck of spittle from the corner of my mouth. Loot, here I come.

At this point, I was deep enough into the forest that I felt it reasonable to walk slower, if only to avoid getting ambushed and killed during my first day back from the dead. I doubted the people from Murktown would come looking this far or bother following something as weak as me if they even had brought proper trackers. Not that I would have left much in the way of traces since I had held the rift to my domain clamped shut. That was my working theory, at least.

Keeping my head on a swivel, I couldn't feel any breeze in the forest. No wind to clear the air, so the constant smell of decomposition was something I would have to grow used to while I was scouting for a fortress. Rumor had it there were several dozen inside the forest, constantly manned and defended. I would have been handed a map of the outposts or forts, no doubt, if I had registered at one of the Hunters Guilds in Murktown.

It made me wonder how they navigated by map in this never-ending forest; nothing stood out enough to be a landmark, and everything did. There had to be some guild trick to it, but since I didn't have much choice, I had to keep playing the hand I was dealt and keep walking.

If I were lucky, the forts would hold a few freelancers whom I could team up with or mercenaries. I reasoned that I was much less likely to die if I could throw someone else in front of whatever was trying to rip my guts out. I just needed to make sure I could halfway trust them and, more importantly, that I could run faster.

Neither did I see a reason to announce my awakening anytime soon. It would take a long time before I gained enough power to make it obvious outside of combat, and the Awakened barrier would be too good of an advantage if my sweet Aunt had sent more people to poke a hole in my chest.

Hopefully, she was letting things be well enough alone, but I knew she must be getting desperate if she had someone try to murder me inside of Murktown. It made me wonder what she hoped to gain by this. Eventually, enough neighbors would complain, the barons would become difficult because of the breach of tradition, and the King would have to set his foot down, probably by marrying her off to one of his supporters, so he gained control of my lands. I sent a silent prayer for the hypothetical fellow, wishing him luck.

Cursing under my breath, I heard something moving in front of me—several somethings. Making this much racket in the forest either spoke of overconfidence or foolishness. I was hoping for the latter.

Crouching down by one of the large roots of a tree, I wanted to wait and see if they were coming closer or moving away, but they seemed to have stopped, so I took a chance by sneaking over to the next tree closer to them.

Voices in a language I had never encountered before came from the other side of the tree. Not that I had experience with much, but imperial standard. Their voices were strangely high-pitched for such guttural language.

I was picking up at least three different somethings speaking, carefully peeking between the roots of the tree, and we got goblins! Two of them seemed to be scolding a smaller goblin about something loudly, or I doubt I would have been able to get this close.

Grinning, I pulled on the release strap on my backpack, almost forgetting to catch the backpack from dropping with a thud to the forest floor.

This should be easy enough. The impression I had of the race was that they posed no danger to a grown man unless they came in a swarm. People spoke of them as they would rodents, so there should be nothing to worry about, right?

Stolen story; please report.

If goblins were left alone to multiply for an extended period, they could out-breed bunnies. Still, considering they needed females of other races to spawn more goblins, the signs of a goblin clan in the area became apparent rather quickly and normally dealt with swiftly.

With the grin still on my face, I pulled my sword. The blade was made of Nachtwald steel forged from the rare black iron of the eastern part of the Earldom.

The blade itself was just a bit longer than my outstretched arm, three fingers thick and sharp on both sides—the good-sized cross-guard with knuckle protection running from the guard to the pommel. The guard made it excellent for punching or catching other blades, or so my memories from the time I had spent in the dark told me.

The pre-death Alucard had little interest in weapons, so I was relying on fragmented memories but with none of the muscle memory to draw on.

I would have to set up training sessions based on my memories when they were in a more comprehensive form. While I no doubt had a lot to learn from guild instructors, there was a plethora of different fighting styles and tactics I could draw from to slowly make something that would fit my eventual abilities and whatever domain I was connected to. I really did need to have my affinity checked, somewhat discreetly if possible.

Sadly, it was not an enchanted blade, so I didn't dare fill it with the power from my domain. I would have to commission an enchanted one or see if someone in Murktown could reforge the one I had. Just the thought of how much Awakened equipment cost made me want to sit down and cry while stroking my remaining gold coins.

My sword should do just fine against goblins, enchanted or not, who were even considered little more than a pest by farmers and villagers. Fingers crossed.

Peaking between the roots again, I could tell they were merely six meters away now, and none of them seemed to sport any ranged weapons.

Steeling my nerves, I vaulted over the roots separating us; swinging my blade wildly, I somehow cut at the largest one's neck. Only to stare dumbfounded as my sword glanced off, almost flying out of my grip. The little shit was an Awakened! Stepping into a stance, my memory told me, would give me the most bang for my point. I stabbed at its back again before it could recover from the blow or the two other goblins had time to understand what was happening.

This time, it worked. With a screech, the goblin fell forward, and the tip of my blade entered its chest. I knew it had died when it hit the ground from the surprisingly large amount of power entering my body.

Feeling something slamming against my left ribs, it would seem the companions had decided to join the fun. A brief flash appeared in my vision from the spear striking my Awakened barrier. Instinctively, I brought my sword in a cross slash to the left, cutting the spear-wielding goblin from shoulder to hip. It went down, screaming as it lay on the ground, trying to push its intestine back into its body. Not Awakened then, from the lack of any barrier. I still got a tiny sliver of energy as it bled out in seconds.

The last goblin seemed to have frozen in fear at my appearance and was just starting to react to my presence.

It was the smallest of the trio, and its reaction to me was to turn around and run. I stood frozen for a moment, too, just looking at its tiny legs scrambling across the wet leaves covering the ground. Its oversized belly and head made its slippery gait comic until I almost started laughing, but I knew what this thing could do given a chance. I was buzzing with energy and power from my kills. Give me one more!

I felt no remorse moments later as my blade slid between two of its vertebrae. The goblin died before it hit the ground. Another tiny sliver of power entered my body before I hurried back to my backpack.

I sat down for a moment on one of the roots my backpack was leaning on, unwrapping a bit of the dried meat and cheese the brothers had been kind enough to pack for me. I had plenty for the coming days.

Water is also something I would not lack. The unassuming waterskin wrapped to the right side of my backpack didn't seem to understand the meaning of empty. After my tenth guzzle, it contained just as much as before I had taken my first drop from it. I couldn't see any enchantments or feel any power from it, but I held it upside down while squeezing as much water I could out of it for three minutes straight, to no avail. The waterskin was still full.

That Awakened had a high appetite was well known, but I felt my hunger was being a bit silly. Walking around debating whether I should try eating the bark of the trees was a bit much. I doubt every Awakened felt like this all the time, or they would do nothing but eat. No, something was wrong with me, or this was a quirk only the newly Awakened had to deal with.

I planned on acquiring better information about the Awakened when I reached a Guild, but there were a few things I could piece together from the ideas or memories being fed to my subconscious.

Number one: I had instinctively known I had a barrier protecting my flesh. The barrier would fail with enough damage, but it was one of the things that made Awakened much tougher to deal with than normal people.

Number two. I could empower an enchanted blade with my domain to gift the recipients any sharp and pointed love I chose to gift them. I had some particularly nasty debilitating ideas I wanted to try, and if they would actually work with any enchanted weapon, even arrows or bolts.

Number three: Using my domain to enchant my strength, speed and perception temporarily should be as easy as flooding myself with the power coming from the rift of my domain, but there would be a price to pay in exhaustion or if I overdid it in death. Then again, I should naturally improve as I stole the power from those I killed and increasingly got used to having the power of my domain coursing through me. Blood and conflict.

Finally, having satisfied the worst of my hunger, I couldn't help but want to smack myself in the face. Looking back at the fight with the goblins. While not catastrophic, considering I was still alive. It was amateurish to the extreme. Until I got people to watch my back, I couldn't afford to be that stupid again. I would need to have my subconscious working on a full training regime to improve my odds of survival. That I had none of the sense of honor and self-entitlement that my previous life as nobility had ingrained in my dumb ass would certainly help.

Deciding to get one last thing done before heading out, I brought out the crystal. The earlier I did it, the better off I would be,

Bringing the crystal up to my chest, I opened the rift to my domain slightly, and this time, with a lot better control than a few hours earlier.

I guided the power through my body and gently into the crystal. It was intuitive, and my power knew what it was supposed to do. Easy-peasy. I should then let go of my connection to the domain to let the ability crystal fall into place. At least, that was how it should go.

Instead, I felt something moving behind me from the increased perception of being connected to my domain. Without a thought, I spun around while standing up as my sword flew from my scabbard in a slash, decapitating the goblin that had been standing over me with a spear. Its face was locked in an evil glee at what it had believed was an easy kill even as the head hit the ground, and I felt another wisp of power entering me as its headless body toppled over.

This time, being hyper-focused on my domain being open, I sensed the wisp of power being refined by my domain and moved somewhere just above my belly button, almost the same place as the crystal now held. It took me a second, but I realized the crystal was now gone from my hand and instead was inside of me, but not inside of me…Inside my spirit?

Well, everything seemed to have worked as intended either way. The ability crystal should now gradually attune to me as it fills up with power drawn through the rift and, when it is ready, hatch into an ability that was supposed to work for me. That's where my knowledge of the crystals worked ended.

As I was sitting there trying to discern what was happening with my connection to the domain and what it was doing to the ability crystal, I noticed a gradual change in my mood. My curiosity was fading, and the excitement I had over successfully moving the crystal to what I now had decided was my spirit or something similar was going away. Instead, I found myself staring out into nothing.

My curiosity was being replaced by indifference. The good mood of my success was becoming difficult to keep up with and, quite frankly, a burden. My mind wandered to the edge of the tear. Trying to see inside the dark palace that was both here and not here. The rift or portal that allowed me to draw on such unimaginable power.

A dark, hungering void was all I could think of as I drew nearer and nearer the tear leading into the domain, my domain. A pang of hunger flashed through my body, The need for substance overpowering my strange apathy and sluggish thoughts. Only with an immense effort of will did I manage to cut the connection. The tear closed as if nothing had happened, as if the hungering dark that resided inside it hadn't tried to swallow my mind or maybe my very soul.

Gasping for breath, I scrambled to find food in my backpack with shaking hands as my heart struggled to beat. I was so tired. I could have closed my eyes and fallen asleep there and then, but I doubt I would have woken up from a nap without taking in some substance first. There was simply nothing left in me. Now that I was in control of my faculties again, I wanted to hit myself for continuing to find dumb ways to die.

I had never heard a hint of someone's connection to a domain doing what mine did to me, but it could also be one of those things that weren't talked about, just another Awakened thing. One more thing I would need to ask about discreetly, I had a feeling it was abnormal, and my domain was merely being an ass.

Stuffing myself with cheese, sausage and bread made me realize the amount of food I had wouldn't last many days or a day if I kept going down the road of stupid shit. At least I needed to secure a source of food before I experimented more with my domain.

It was time to hit the metaphorical road and, with some luck, find a fort before I managed to starve myself to death a couple of hours from Murktown. I'll never live it down if I do.