Elijah POV

My mind felt numb. I wanted to open my eyes but I couldn’t tell if I even could. Everywhere I looked I saw nothing but pitch darkness. My entire body, well I couldn’t feel it. As if I was just floating in the endless darkness without any of my senses.

I drifted around aimlessly, or maybe not at all. But it felt like my sense of time was warped. I could feel a residual warmth emanating from my being but nothing I could firmly grasp.

‘Was I dead? Is this what death felt like?’ I thought. I tried to conjure up memories but I got nothing but a head splitting headache. Strange how I couldn’t feel my body but I could still get headaches.

If I am dead then is this just the existence I live now. Well I suppose it wouldn’t really be living but still. I doubted it hardly mattered if that was the case.

‘How strange. I would have imagined death to be a bit more peaceful. Something akin to a deep sleep you never woke up from.’

I couldn’t exactly tell how long each thought was from the last as I existed. Until a warm growing light emerged in the distance. Without a second thought my being began to draw closer to it. And as I did I could feel what felt like little tingles and stings that suggested I still had a physical body.

As I drew closer and closer to the light it didn’t get any clearer. In fact it looked like the light from a very murky window or something. I couldn’t quite describe it, but it felt like it was a long lost memory that was trying to resurface from deep within my subconscious mind.

The light now engulfed my entire being as I was momentarily blinded by it. I willed my eyes to close but I couldn’t tell if I succeeded as I was now lying on solid ground. The soft grass lightly tickling my face and fingers.

‘Fingers!’ I thought as my eyes slowly readjusted to the light. I pushed myself off the ground as I used my hands to feel for my body. Yes, two legs and arms with a head full of hair. But something was off about this body of mine.

It felt familiar yet strange. Like a set of clothes you haven’t worn for years that you would find at the back of your dresser. I propped myself up as I stared out towards the world. It was a nice summer day, I seemed to be at some sort of park of sorts. Very small from the looks of it as a massive city surrounded us at all sides.

Large towering buildings made of steel and concrete stretched on for miles. Strange, I knew what the buildings were but I could have sworn I have never seen them before.

“Hey Nico, enjoying yourself there?” A friendly voice called out to me.

I turned my head knowing that he had called me, despite not recalling my name myself. As I turned I saw a young boy, no older than ten, maybe twelve. He had an athletic build for such a young boy with short blonde hair.

I have never seen this boy but seeing him now gives me a feeling of comfort and joy that I couldn’t explain. He offered me a helping hand and I took it. But instead of helping me up he yanked hard as I tripped over my own legs and face planted onto the floor.

I could hear him laughing his ass off as I dragged myself off the ground.

“Come on Grey, don’t be just an ass.” This time a female voice that stirred up deeper feelings called out. I could hear her footsteps draw closer until she stood before me. But the name Grey. Grey… Grey… Why did that sound so familiar? Why, what was all of this? Was this some kind of strange afterlife? Or was I reincarnated in a different world like those books I have read before.

“Are you alright, Nico?” The female voice called my name as I stared up at her.

Despite being just as young as us she was… I could feel only what could be described as young love in my heart as I stared up as this young girl. She had long flowing brown hair that was haloed by the sunlight to give her the appearance of some sort of holy being. Her clear blue eyes that resembled a flowing summer river stared back at me with nothing but innocence and concern.

She offered me a hand and this time I wasn’t sent tripping over my own limbs.

“Aw come on Cecilia. Nico can take a hit or two. Can’t you buddy.” Grey said jokingly as he came from behind and gave me a playful smack on the head.

“You boys, be nice now!” A stern voice of an older woman called to us. Grey looked back with a playful smile and a small wink. “You got it, Headmaster Willbeck!”

He then turned towards us. “Come on then, it isn’t everyday we all have free time at such a park.”

Cecilia looked deadpan at Grey for a few moments before lightly laughing herself. And I could feel a small pang in my chest.

Grey led the both of us by our hands as we frolicked and played like the small children we were. I would be lying if I didn’t say I enjoyed such a peaceful life. But still the questions rolled around in my head. There were flashes, blurry images of a life I had lived before all of this. I was some sort of mage I think? And there was a dragon and we were attacking some sort of underground castle? And Grey. That name, that name didn’t sit right in my mind. Something about that name, such a harmless name. Just a dull color but it burned in mind like a hot iron.

Why was I here? And why did all of this feel so familiar? As if answering my own question, my surroundings blurred and disappeared. Turning into flashing lights of purple that danced around almost as if they had a mind of their own.

Soon the light stabilized as I was standing before Grey, only this time he was much older. Perhaps 17 or 18 years old. He had grown to be a well built young man. I could tell he trained hard to reach the body he has now.

And for some reason a deep burning hatred in my heart was directed at him as I was yelling at him.

“What do you mean you won’t do it?!” I yelled, feeling the veins bulge in my neck and forehead.

Grey with his stoic and emotionless face merely shook his head.

A laugh escaped my lips as I staggered back. “I don’t believe it? After all we have gone through this is where you leave us, leave me to dry?!” I hurtled each word with pure malice.

This time Grey shot back. Raising his own voice. “Don’t you understand what you are asking for? We break out Cecilia then what? The three of us run from the entire world? Where will we run to then Nico? You are expecting me to throw away everything I have worked for for such a plan!”

“You were my brother! How many times did I risk my neck for you! I followed you and supported you as if we were blood. And this is how you repay me? Don’t you understand that this is a chance for all of us? To-”

“To what? Live like rats in the streets running and dodging people who could move entire continents with mere words? I have chosen to take my life into my own hands and change my fate. Don’t get in my way.” Grey retorted as he turned his back on me.

Anger flared up within me again. I could feel my face turning red as I pointed an accusing finger at my childhood friend.

“Don’t you dare turn your back on me! If it weren’t for me you-”

“If it weren’t for either of you then Miss Willbeck would still be alive.” Grey interrupted.

I had known Willbeck’s death had an enormous effect on Grey but still. To bring up her death at such a time to use as an excuse. Doesn’t he understand that she was a mother figure to all of us?

But before I could continue, Grey turned back to me. And I could have sworn for a moment that I could see his usual stone cold eyes wet with tears.

“Leave. Before I alert the guards.” He said using his own imposing figure to intimidate me.

Not hiding my disgust at what my friend, a friend I had considered my own brother has become, I spat on the floor.

“Fine, I’ll just do it myself.” Even as I said those words I knew it was a hollow promise. Cecilia was the Legacy, and the people who held her now won’t make it any easier to free her. But still, unlike Grey I will at least die trying.

My surroundings shifted again, yet the deep rooted feeling of betrayal and hatred still lingered as the world changed around me. This time I was in a dark circular room with raised seats. Harsh overhead lights beamed downwards towards a stadium of some sort.

And in that stadium were two figures. One was Grey, he was sweating heavily as he leaned on his own sword for support. And on the other side was Cecilia. She seemed completely unbothered and calm as I could feel the untamed power coming off of her. The creeping sense of nervousness seeped into my mind as they clashed again.

Anyone could tell that Grey was unmatched. While his stance and fighting style told of untold effort and time, Cecilia’s raw strength was too much. But as they clashed again, the sound of their blades bouncing off each other as they swung around again to meet blade to blade.

Silence seemed to fill the room as I saw Grey’s blade pierce through Cecilia’s abdomen and burst out of her back covered in crimson blood. My eyes bulged in their sockets as I stared, words couldn’t describe what I felt at that moment. I did the only thing my body knew to do, I screamed. I screamed as my vocal cords and throat cried out in pain but I didn’t care.

I saw medics rushing in as they took Cecilia’s motionless body and carried it away. Jumping out of my seat I rushed towards them. Until I was met with a swift strike to my stomach. I doubled over in pain as another swift strike towards my head made the world go black.

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“Nice to meet you, I’m Grey.” A masked man stretched out his hand towards me. The name Grey sent a chill down my spine, the same name, but he couldn’t be the same person right? He was totally different, and this life. It was not the same as before.

He was a young man from the looks of it, fairly tall with a slender but firm build. His pale almost white blonde hair framed his masked face as two piercing golden eyes stared out from the eye slits.

As I took his hand I couldn’t shake off the feeling that this Grey and the Grey of my past life was somehow connected. It was all too strange with these visions showing me two people with supposably the same name. Vision? No, this felt more like memories. I could have sworn I have been here before.

At the exams for the Adventurer’s Guild. Bits and pieces of this place seemed familiar, and that masked man who now stood before me. I could feel the pieces in my brain struggling to stick together as my mind became a jumbled mess.

Flashes of my old childhood friend's face appeared over this person’s white mask.

My world went dark as the surrounding area shifted once more. This time I was in a large dark room. Some sort of meeting room I would presume from the many chairs and the long table. From how it was decorated it was clearly a room of great importance and the gathering place of rich and influential people.

But all of that seemed to disappear as the entire room was covered in blood. And in the far end of that bloodied mess was a blonde man. In his hands a sword of amethyst flames burned itself into my retinas as its edges’ were dyed red. Standing tall over him was a dragon with scales darker than any night. Its teeth and claws were dyed the same color as the blade of its master.

The man turned and revealed his face to me. His pale almost milk-like skin with two piercing cat-like eyes that seemed to stare into your very soul. And in that very moment I saw him for what he truly was.

As if the floodgates were opened all the past memories of my two lives rushed into my mind. From my time at the orphanage and meeting Grey. To my short lived love with Cecilia to her death by Grey’s hands. All the way to my soul being salvaged and placed into this body that was once called Elijah by the High Sovereign. All of it assaulted my mind and my very soul.

“Grey!” I shouted as the mana flared up inside of me, making the ground and walls shudder. Grey, the friend I once considered my own brother. The one who turned his back on me when I needed him the most. I would have followed him to the ends of the world but when I needed him he left me to die as he was crowned king.

The man who followed me into this new life, knowing who I was and playing me like a puppet. I could see it now. That first meeting was no coincidence. No, Grey seems to have learned a few tricks when he came to this world. He has been pulling the strings all along.

And here he was now, in his memory. Standing before me with his sword stained with the blood of these dwarves I once respected and some I had known personally.

Without a second thought I lunged forward as black obsidian spikes shot out from the ground and towards Grey. But before I could land my strike the entire world came to a crawl as the world all around me evaporated into tiny particles of purple.

And I was once again felt without a physical body, back in that endless void where I was once before.

Then a voice echoed all around me. It sounded distant, as if I was hearing from another room. I could barely make it out but I could catch glimpses of what was being said.

“The incarnate seems to be stabilizing, lord Archaevoist.”

“So it would seem. That overgrown snake did quiet the number on this poor soul.”

“Shouldn’t we inform Lord Gre-”

“Not now, he is currently running around Dicathen cleaning up the mess he has left. We shall notify him when the boy is ready.”

And with that everything went black as I was plunged back into the halls of my past.

Arthur POV

Soaring high above the clouds was a liberating feeling. The cold wind wasn’t much trouble with aether acting as a thick layer of armor for me and Sylvie as we made our way towards western coast of Dicathen.

If my mental math was adding up the Alacryan ships should be making landfall in a couple of weeks at Etistin Bay. I have already had the soldiers create a strong base of operations there with at least one Lance on a rotating schedule to oversee preparations. While all of the Lances with the exception of Aya still held great contempt for me they still bent the knee when it came to orders. I was still the king after all and they all knew that my popularity among the common people was only growing by the day.

And a Lance going against the ruling monarch was not a good look and would do numbers on morale. And they understood if it truly came to it I would have all of them dealt with if they caused more trouble than they were worth.

‘That is assuming you are good at math and the last time I checked you never really did well on that subject at the academy.’ Regis chimed in.

“Yeah yeah, and you are made from a part of me so what does that make you?” I asked back.

‘Keyword, “a part of you.” So I’m not a total lost cause.’ Regis shot back.

“Sometimes I wish you were just like any other sentient weapon” I said with a mental sigh.

‘Aw don’t say papa. If it weren’t for him I don’t think we would be here right now.’ Sylvie said back. Of course she calls me papa to earn some brownie points. The more she matured the more crafty she became.

I could sense Regis smiling from within my core as we continued to fly. By now I could see the coastline in the distance. We dipped lower as we slowed our approach, wouldn’t want to alarm any of the soldiers posted up there now would we?

‘Still, why did you bother giving that Guild fellow one of the Retainer’s horns?’ Regis asked. Indeed it wasn’t the smartest decision. The horns from any of the Vritra-blooded humans were a valuable resource. They not only held massive amounts of mana but they also sometimes held the memories and emotions of their respective owners.

“Kaspian? Don’t you think having him would be a valuable asset?” I asked.

‘His only a light yellow, and given he makes the most of it that horn I would hazard to guess that he makes it to mid-silver, tops if he is lucky. What use is that against Scythes or even Retainers when you can wipe the floor with those Vritra mutts with one finger.’ Regis asked back.

“True, while he won’t be that useful in the physical sense at least for a long time. Don’t you think it would help in winning him fully over to my side? I know that I wasn’t the most ordinary mage when I still had a mana core,”

‘You indeed were a freak.’ Regis added.

Ignoring his comment I continued. “But lest you forget breaking past to the next mana core stage when you’ve reached a wall is quite the challenge for many people. Giving him the means to do so will plant a small seed of doubt and gratitude in his mind I could possibly use in the future to gain favor with the Adventurer’s Guild.”

Regis considered my words for a moment. ‘Ok two questions. First of all, why are we bothering to fly all the way here when we can just teleport? And second, why are you such a manipulative asshole?’

“First, flying gives us time to talk. Like right now for instance. And second, this is just politics buddy.”

‘Whelp. I’m just glad I don’t need to bother with that bullcrap.’

“You and me both. We all know you’ll be lured away by a pretty lady if you were.”

‘And I’ll have it no other way.’

I rolled my eyes at his last comment as we finally landed at Estistin Bay. Large stone walls lined the coastline of the beach with large cannons installed every couple of meters.

We slowly began to descend as a lone figure came to meet us. From the way the sunlight reflected off of his silver colored plate armor I knew it was Lance Bairon before he was face to face with us.

As we both floated a couple of feet apart staring at each other, with Bairon’s face scrunched up into a scowl. I waited for him to speak first but in the end he grunted as he motioned for us to follow.

Quickly turning around he flew back down to the main camp as Sylvie and I both exchanged a glance.

‘Still hates us huh.’ She commented as she transformed in her humanoid form in a flash of golden mana.

‘I would say hate is too kind of a word.’ Regis added as he lept out of my body and fully manifested into his wolf form.

‘Man, I can’t wait to see his reaction when he realizes that his brother is still alive.’ I thought as we followed him down.

As we touched the ground some soldier, an older gentleman from the looks of it and soldiers seemed to have been his previous profession as well. He seemed strong, growing to such an age as an active soldier meant either he was good at running away and hiding or was skilled enough to handle things when shit hit the fan.

“My king, Estistin Bay, welcomes you.” He said as he fell to his knees and lowered his head. Many of the other soldiers around us did the same, but not all. Men from what I could gather were a part of the Bairon’s squad only curtly bowed out of courtesy.

Gently placing a hand on the older man’s shoulder I spoke to him.

“Rise, there is no need to grovel before my feet. Especially a man such as you. I could only imagine what you have been through at your age.” I said as I urged the man to stand on his feet. Knowing the irony that if you factor mental age, well… I would probably outmatch older asuras in that department.

The old man rose with what seemed like water in his eyes. From the way he looked up at me as if I was some savior coming down from the heavens, the sheer reverence he held for me, I could guess that he took some part in the growing religion around me. I would have expected regular people who don’t understand my form of aetheric arts or by people who were swept up in the wartime craze to follow such ideals, not an old soldier who would have seen such propaganda from the previous royal families. Perhaps I should have dealt with this religion before it had grown to this scale. But if I knew anything about such beliefs, it was that trying to squash them myself would only strengthen it and help it grow. As well as labeling me as too kind and humble to accept the title of godhood.

‘Well, judging by how previous generations who came into contact with the asuras worshipped them as gods. I would say you aren’t that far off from what they would imagine a god would be.’ Regis said, trying to lighten the mood.

Still, it didn't quite sit right with me being considered a god. Although it wasn’t all bad. But I’ll eventually have to cross that bridge when I get there, for now I have a war to win. For now I will have to look on the brighter side of things.

Turning my attention to why I was here. I looked at Bairon, his entire body was tense with what I could imagine was a mixture of hatred and fear. All of the Lances have seen what I was capable of and I wouldn’t doubt that news of my dealing with a Scythe and a Retainer would soon reach the ears of the Lances if it hadn’t already.

And while I didn’t really have a need for the Lances, it would be a shame to have a couple of white core mages go to waste. I of course had plans for them for the future, and I also held them in high regard, especially for Bairon here. So I will have to make due, and I did make a promise to Lucas after all.

“Lance Bairon?” I beckoned and in turn the Lance straightened his posture. Only now did I recognize that from his point of view I had quite the entourage with me. A sentient weapon harnessing the power of destruction, a dragon, and two custodians. If I had to hazard a guess I would feel confident in taking down a squad of elite asuras or two with such a backing.

‘Yeah, but you would be the one doing the heavy lifting.’ Regis interjected.

‘Fair’ I shot back before turning my attention back to the Lance.

“Why not give me a tour Lance, while the idea came from me this is my first time being here personally in quite a while? We have many things to discuss as we walk.”