Chapter 9

After a short and pleasant conversation between two friends, Forge took Janus to meet the captain of the Rangers. Passing through the banqueting hall they passed a number of Rangers ether eating are speaking in small groups possibly just having time off from work or drill.

The hall was the largest room of the base with enough space for five hundred people with plenty of space to walk down comfortably. The area only had about thirty or so rangers currently present, they themselves were a mix of new recruits and veterans. Most are human however Janus could make out a few dwarfs, an elf too but what caught his eye for a second was a person with bright rose red skin. Before Janus could see who, it was, he walked past, unable to turn his head to keep a better look. Passing the main dining table reserved for the higher ranks that overlooked the entire room. Janus walked through the door on the right with Forge by his side to finally see the captain’s office.

Janus and Forge were silent as they walked, despite the good talk they had something alarmed Forge earlier that had Janus worried. It happened on eye contact, does he know? Has word of Janus’s Dullahan state reached here already? No, if it was already known by now the inquisitor Thorn would have just taken Janus away in cuffs from the start. But something unnerved Forge that was bothering Janus to much with worry. We are friends Janus thought, but has something happened? He can’t possibly know that Janus is a Dullahan.

They stopped at the door, for a second Forge reached for it but stopped himself, “What do you plan to say if he asks you to join?” Forge mentioned. “Would you like to join?” Forge asked unsure.

Janus shrugged, “if he wants Second Borns in the ranks he will be disappointed.” Janus says frowning, “We are not all equals after all. I mean you were an actual Marine once before.” Forge then waved the perceived compliment off, “Honestly, I don’t think me joining is realistic Forge.” Expressing honestly but not just because he is a Dullahan now, joining was a nice idea awhile back but Janus now liked the independence of the Adventurer’s Guild more.

“Don’t cut yourself short, Janus.” Forge complements, “Before I became a US Marine I was selling Ice cream. And after this life who knows what we could become.”

Janus half-heartedly agreed with that, “if there is a life after this one maybe.” He responds cynically.

Forge sort of agreed equally, “In our experience can we really argue?” a fair point Janus marked. Janus politely smiled and gave a thumbs up, as Forge narrowed his eyes at Janus thumb, he then again reached for the door and stopped himself. Janus then heard Forge speak out a random word, “Nod.”

The word was so random Janus furrowed his brow confused a little then turned to him. “Excuse me?” Janus says raising an eyebrow.

“Nod.” Forge says as he nods to the word. “Nod. That was your nickname when you were in the Fellowship with me.”

“I had a nickname?” Janus says confused, “What does Nod even mean?” Janus asked puzzled.

Forge nodded his head, “You would nod your head talking. You would nod while being talked to, you would nod while things however simple were being discussed or explained. You would nod your head every time you passed someone by or when they passed by.” Forge explained while nodding his head at the start and end of every sentence as Janus once did. “it was if your focus was to ensure it was clear you were polite and understanding.”

Janus gave an exhausted sigh, reluctant to continue the conversation. “And what of it?” He huffed already tired but as he raised his hand to his neck, a thought struck him and what Forge was talking about. His new secret, the Dullahan state he is in.

Forge eyed Janus suspiciously, “it’s just you have not done that, at all since arriving. Plus, your movements are very odd.” He pursed and saw the expression on Janus’s face that he was close to something, “you move and turn your body in an odd manner with your head completely still facing forward.”

Janus could feel his heart pounding at the words. He focused all his energy to keep a straight face, but Forge seemed to be on to him. No doubt he had no idea what, but he saw some sort of change. Thinking on an excuse he had been using previously, “I got in a monster fight over a week ago.” Janus then smiled and leaned into Forge like it was a secret, “I killed a lich king thrall.”

That surprised Forge, “really?” He just smiled approvingly at that, “Just the one?” He says abruptly, “I’ve killed Three.” Forge smiled while he knocked three times on the captain's door.

Janus was almost stunned silent at that, “Bullshit!” He denied as an order to enter called out inside.

Janus had no time to probe for more details the Rangers captain stood up to shake his hand. “Sir Janus thank you for coming to see me at short notice, I am captain Rider of the Segundo West Rangers.”

Janus smiled still eyeing Forge sceptically on his previous claim, “My pleasure.” as they shake hands, “And it’s just Janus, I’m not a knight.” Smiling back to him. Glancing around the room Adel was right, wood manikin heads line box shelves across the back of the room, detailed replicas of a Spartan, Samurai, all you could imagine for soldier’s head protection. Then something caught Janus’s eye, a Storm Trooper helmet. A replica Storm Trooper helmet from Star Wars original movies, a silent moment passed as Janus processed the object. “Impressive, collection you have.”

Proud with himself, Rider waved his hand across the room to present his hobby, “I have researched as much Earth warrior history as I can gather.” By the looks of it, the helmet details, and the stacks of books he has devoted himself to the task pretty well. It is actually a more difficult thing to do given that all knowledge of earth is second hand from Second Borns. Knowledge only from the single biased of individuals that bothered to learn or witness anything really. The empire of men has a devoted council that interview, cross reference and catalogue any information and all they can scribe. Everything from history to literature, the problem is they have gathered so much information from so many individuals there is a constant inconsistency of data that conflict both large and small.

Rider notices Janus fascination with the storm trooper helmet, “Do you like it?” he says nodding. “It took a lot of research, but I managed to finally get a blacksmith to replicate one.”

Janus was going to comment but he saw Forge behind Rider mouthing the words (play along) that was moving gears in Janus’s head. It began to click, these books, these replicas and all detail. Rider has been tricked in believing that Star Wars actually happened. Keeping a steady emotionless face Janus contained himself with the realisation that this is happening. It’s not unheard of, there are entire communities or even generations of people in this world that believes Star trek is part of real earth history. But Star Wars of all things, Janus is not going to let this opportunity pass.

Janus snapping his fingers and pointing at the helmet, “it is widely known that its production was fast, however it did greatly reduce the wearers accuracy.” He stated like a military historian, “cost-effective yet detrimental to the user function especially on the battle of Endor.”

Forge winced a little that Janus might of overdone it as rider asks, “you sound knowledgeable of these events, it’s hard for me to find details. Is there anything you could share?”

Janus gave a polite half smile thinking to himself that the people here have actually made their captain believe that it happened, “Only that it was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.” Forge bent over in a silent bark of laughter. Rider on the other hand nodded approvingly as if Janus was his new trusted authority on the subject.

Rider then gestures for the side table with hot coffee brewing. Forge and Janus exchanged a look to each other with silent cackling laughter.

Moving to the table the scent of hot coffee was gripping hold of Janus senses so much, he comes to realis that he hadn’t had a good coffee in over a year. Everyone sits comfortably but Janus saw the table was too low for his comfort. If he had to bend any lower for a drink, there would be a risk of his head losing balance and causing a bit of a scare. So, no coffee to his immense disappointment.

With his brains protests Janus starts the conversation, “So, what’s all this about?” Janus with a question to help cleared his head that is demanding caffein. In his previous life he lived off five mugs a day, and his brain is demanding caffeine by pounding his skull.

Rider smiled excitedly, “As you two know changes are coming. The Fellowship and Ranger merger for one.” Janus looked at Forge to see if he knows what this was about.

Janus pointed at Rider then Forge and pulled the paper from his pocket. “So, I’ve read, I am aware since the last time I saw Forge he was in the Fellowship.”

Forge nods with agreement, “it was easy to reintegrate, I even got my rank.” He points to his elite mountaineering badges and Sargent stripes.

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Rider continues to explain, “I was put in charge of this base and asked to recruit five hundred new members.” Janus thought for a moment he was here to be recruited for the base, “First I’d like to recruit Second Borns and create a public relations unit. People that have a real link to the communities, culture groups and backgrounds you can expect.”

Rider is not the first person to have such an idea, others have always tried to exploit tactics or technology from earth. However eighty percent of humans in this world have adopted cultures from earth, they were rooted into these groups a thousand years ago, started by Second Born.

Having a Second Born today that lived that life on earth would be a real connection to the source material of their peoples of origin. Makes it easier for the Rangers to approach specific groups and communicate then later those groups come and join comfortably. “So, I’m English and Segundo does not have a very large English community so I’m not much help.” There is an English Duchies territory deep in the empire, but they are too far away.

Janus thought about that, it’s sometimes estimated that one in a thousand births in this world are Second Borns. Still no guarantee that they will wake up too, people that are Second Borns could be aware of their past lives in childhood or in their late seventies.

Upon finishing his considerations, the door knocked and Rider then called out to enter. The door opened and entered a tall man with dark skin and a ranger’s Corporal badge. He approached and Rider introduced, “Janus this is Clay, he’s a Second Born too.”

Janus stood and shook his hand, “Glad to meet you, so how’s the afterlife been treating you?” Janus asked and wondered that he has been meeting a lot of Second Borns lately. Still meeting others like himself or Forge can be interesting at times.

He smiled and shook tightly with a firm grip, “Can not complain but this world certainly changes a man.” He shrugged.

Janus and Clay both sit down and rider poured a cup of coffee for him, “Oh ya, how so?” Janus asked curiously.

Clay sucked in air and confidently responded with, “I used to be white.” Clay says nonchalantly.

That made Janus bounce, he coughed little like drinking too much the wrong way. “Wow, wow for real? Well, this must be an experience for you.” Janus pounds his chest as if clearing his throat of a cough. Unsure if he was serious or not, many Second Borns often lie or embellish their past lives. It’s challenging to prove or disprove what many claim. However, it has been recorded that people do change in small or great ways when reborn. It is not uncommon for someone to be reborn with different colour eyes, reborn shorter or taller, maybe a different shape face. That said it is not impossible for people to completely change race or even gender for that matter. Some speculate that it’s so the human soul from Earth takes a true physical form of what it should be in this world. Other more enlightened people say they gain more genetic features from their birth parents here as convenient. Janus on the other hand believes that birth in this world is the same as the last, and that no one has a choice.

“I would just like to hear what your thoughts are and how you lived. As you can see I have always been curious of Earth.” Rider explained his interest, the three of them looked to one another as if for permission.

Janus started, “I died the year of our lord twenty, twenty.” He says piously like a historic mark, then points to the others. “Clay when did you die?” A question not many openly talk about, a very touchy subject that the dead don’t like being remined that they are dead.

Clay shuffled in his seat, “Late nineteen eighty, New York. Last thing I saw was a barrel of a gun and… here I am.” He holds his hands out showing himself. “I didn’t see who pulled the trigger, but I woke up at nine years of age here in an Arabian community inside the south of the empire.”

They looked at Forge expectingly, he looked at Janus and said, “two thousand seven. I served in the Marine Corp, I went to Iraq, Afghanistan.” In the short time Janus knew Forge he never spoke how he died. He believed his service was true, Forges character and abilities to lead or train are honestly expert. Forge also claimed to have visited the North Pole and climbed Everest. Given his enthusiasm plus extensive knowledge of survival and mountaineering, Janus believed him. Still Forge never stated which or what killed him, but what could kill him after such a life.

Rider listened silently as the conversation was growing, Forge spoke of his time on mountains. Then they speak mostly about their adult life before death and Janus spoke about college, spoke about dropping out, he then spoke about school which he also dropped out of. Clay was the most interesting speaking as an eyewitness to the civil rights movement in America. As they all openly helped themselves to drinks and cakes on the side. Janus maintaining his cover remained upright as his eye began to twitch for caffeine.

Clay then jumped back on the military subject and spoke of Vietnam in his young life he was drafted. His time in the war but was vague on details, another veteran Janus thought. “Where did you serve Janus?” Rider asked.

Janus was expecting such a question especially with present compony. “I was never in the army.”

Rider was genuinely surprised, “surely you did something, how else would you be here?” Rider clearly subscribed to the myth that all Second Borns have a heroic or warrior background. Who could blame him? The Fellowship saved this world a long time ago and they were basically founded by the cast of the Deadliest Warrior tv series.

“I worked at a factory and now I’m a lone adventurer.” Janus explained unpleased, the conversation felt like it turned sour for him. Talking about accomplishments in the past life while he had none will do that.

Forge, good guy he was sensed Janus’s mood change. “You made it into the Fellowship starter program, and you survived a year in the wildlands alone. Good accomplishments for this world.” Thanks for the flattery, Janus thought with a smiled. “Come to think of it. You leaving the Fellowship apprenticeship was sudden, why is that?” Janus was on a fast-track program that extensively trains and works like a sponsorship, once accepted its crazy for anyone to just walk away.

A question Janus would rather not answer. “I just felt like I could do something, but I was wrong, and I regret it” Janus responds, “Many people go out alone for fame or fortune.” Especially when they are too overconfident it results in their death. like what happened to Janus when he found a forbidden cheat book to help with infinite power. Not that Janus is going to confess that or his recent death. “People want a change. Or people just change” Janus said sadly then stood and gave his thanks, “I’ve wasted enough of your time, I can’t join so I’ll leave now. Great seeing you Forge.” Giving a thumbs up he then moved to the door.

Forge stood and walked after Janus, “Buddy, wait up.” Please don’t push this Forge, Janus thought.

Rider stands to say, “Janus please. I hope I did not cause offence.” Trying to invite Janus back to the table.

Janus smiled politely and waved, “It’s fine and thank you for the company.” Janus stepped out and tried to close the door, but Forge blocked and stepped passed.

Forge shut the door and stayed close, “Janus what did you mean about change?” a concerned look was on his face again.

Janus huffed, he refused to talk about it. “I can’t say.” Janus uncomfortable began to walk.

Forge rushed past and stopped him walking, “Can’t say or won’t say?” The look Forge gave Janus was the same as they met outside, “What did you find in that forest Janus?”

Janus’s heartbeat quickened to the question, “How did you die on Earth?” Janus didn’t mean to ask this but was too emotional and he said it like it was a sting.

Forge’s reaction was the same as other times Janus asked him. “That’s my business Janus, not yours.” As Forge pressed a finger on Janus’s breastplate with a small push.

With venom Janus swiped away Forges hand, “And me going alone in the forest is yours?”

Both stiffened like a fight was about to break, “It is When!” Forge spoke a little loudly but stopped to looked back and down the hallway if anyone was there and back to Janus. “It is when you return with green eyes Janus.” He continued pointing his thump and finger to his own eyes.

That was what caught Forge off guard outdoors, Janus originally had hazel brown eyes before he left. Janus’s breath quickened, “I can’t say. I don’t want to talk about…”

They looked at one another for a moment while Forges expression turned more thoughtful. “Why don’t you stay?”

The question off footed Janus, he was stunned. “Stay?” He said than burst out laughing, leaning back almost losing his head. “Join the Rangers? Forge I like you but me in the Rangers is the worst idea.”

Forge shook his head, “No rejoin the Fellowship, if you’re struggling, we can help you.” Offering a handout.

Janus should feel bad seeing sincerity on Forges face but was uncaring. “Is it the Fellowship?” Janus pulled the newspaper out his pocket. “I’ve read the news, A historic breakthrough, is what it says but it’s an end for the Fellowship.”

They both just looked at one another and Forge just shrugged and pointed at the paper, “The joining makes sense, both groups have worked together for centuries.”

Janus chuckled at that, “While the Fellowship has been around for over two millennia.” They did save the world back then. From an outsider’s perspective The Fellowship joining the Rangers makes sense. But the Rangers outnumber the Fellowship ten to one. It is nothing more than the consumption of a smaller group.

Janus explained this but Forge waved it off, he says, “They more complement each other than you think.” That is true, both organisations are popular for trainees and Second Borns such as themselves. But key differences in structure. Janus explained, The Fellowship is made up of two groups. The first is the top members, best of the best. The finest Warriors, Mages and Adventurers the guild have to offer. The second Fellowship group is made up of untrained and unprepared citizens that seek to be trained to be an adventurer from the best. Janus did concede that there is a huge void between the two groups and the Rangers can fill that hole with a military structure of ranks and skills. But that’s the major problem with the organisations, that Fellowship is primarily a volunteer service for the adventure’s guild. While the Rangers are also volunteers, they are still a uniformed service.

Forge nodded his understanding, “Things are changing.” Forge remarked, “nothing to be worried about anyway. The merger will be keeping qualities from both groups anyway. And besides the Fellowship was founded by soldiers from earth.” Forge said with frustration.

And Janus could tell Forge was on the edge of anger but decides to push another augment again. “You wonder why they did not build a military system all those years ago?” Janus could tell he was being more argumentative but didn’t care, “the fact they came from all across time and space was the problem. The discipline of a Roman Soldier or a Samurai is vastly different to someone from the Australian SAS.” Saying that out loud made Janus realised the original Fellowship was basically time traveller expendables.

Forge throw his hands up frustrated then rubbed his face down with his palm. “Since when were you so passionate of the Fellowship?”

Janus let out a big sigh, “I’m not. I just figured when I was done, I’d be back but on the top.”

Forge was surprised, “You wanted to be a big hero?” He tilted his head thinking back on their time together.

Janus just laughed again, “Ha, Is this the American humour I’ve heard about? No, I wanted the guild bonuses…”

A stunned silence passed by for a couple seconds between the two. Forge finally shook his head, “You just wanted the tax exemption from the adventurer’s guild?” Forge rises his voice slightly, “Janus I had a higher opinion of you then this!”

Janus just laughedin his face, “Is there anything else?” He then shrugged, “This world is just like Earth. What else is there if not avoiding death for as long as possible and work to live with a stable fortune?”

Forge had an understanding look but still disappointed at Janus. “Friendship… how about the adventure?” Forge listed out loud.

“Friendship?” Janus called out, “friendship is nice but only the poor people think it makes them rich.” Forge had a broken-hearted expression looking at Janus as he continued. “And the adventure you speak of. People go on those adventures for fame or wealth. If not, the danger outweighs the reason to go on such perilous journey.”

Forge did not argue or yell he just simply looked at Janus for a minute and said, “You have changed…”

Janus just stared blankly but no less felt hurt by the mark. More than you know Janus wanted to say. He then let out a depressing sigh and stepped passed Forge. “I must go.” Janus said sadly.

Forge reached out and stopped Janus by putting his hand on his shoulder. “Is there anything I can help with?”

Janus turned to look him in the eye. He then felt a touch of guilt for the conversation they had. Despite Janus argumentative mood Forge was still trying to reach out to Janus.

Janus then mumbled a little and looked down, “I could… I could really do with some money… it’s important.” Wincing as if asking hurt.

Forge thought about that for a second, he then nodded his head. “If you’re asking then it must be important. I’ll tell Rider to give you my weeks wage today.”

Janus was grateful but still grumbled a little. “Thanks… I’ll pay you back.”

Forge gave a half smile, “I know you will. Until then, the mess hall will be serving slop. Let’s have a meal and talk some more.” Lovely ranger slop Janus was thinking. At that moment his body felt like demanding to accept, the head of Janus seemed to agree with it. “I’ll see you in the mess hall we just passed, I’ll talk to Rider then I’ll grab some drinks from my room.”

Drinks? Janus liked the idea, but he knew that Forge liked to brew his own honey mead, he likes to think he’s skilled at the craft. He probably thinks it makes him fancy.

Forge rested a hand on Janus, “You can trust me. Talk to me.” He said it with genuine reassurance that hope sparked in Janus.

The hope and trust warmed in Janus so much it had him thinking. Maybe I can tell him, maybe everything will be all right and maybe he can help. With emotion in his voice, he says to Forge, “Go get that cheap ass mead you brew, and I’ll talk to you. I’ll tell you what happened.” He says while returning with a smile and a hand on Forges shoulder.

Forge smiled back, “I’ll see you in the mess hall.” He says while walking past Janus and giving a pat on the back, grinning he mutters. “Back soon, Nod” smiling at the nickname.