I heard that the previous chapter was too short, so this one is a bit longer.

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*** Jan Sobieski ***

“Doc, he safe?” Said some elderly man.

“Yes, mister Sobieski. Your grandson is fine. There were a lot of people there and he just probably fainted because of lack of oxygen and stress. That’s all. His blood work is good, nanobots also didn’t spot anything disturbing inside his body. It’s all safe.” Said nicely some not so pretty woman.

“Thanks. Godspeed.”

Big, sturdy looking old man with gray hair was standing in a hospital room, looking on a youth lying in a capsule. He was quite similar to that particular youth, which was Cad. That man was Cad’s grandpa, hardass oldtimer born in 1999, survivor of the WW III, great man. His name was Jan Sobieski.

He was rising his grandson alone, as his dear son and his wife have passed away. He did his best to rise him properly, so he won’t be a clumsy bitch, like most of the boys nowadays are. Goddamn pussies. These times usually women have bigger balls than men.

Jan managed to accomplish his goal, Cod was slowly becoming a real man. He was on the right path to the manhood, like in the old times, better times. Jan’s grandpa, also a vet from a war, taught him, now he teaches his grandson. History does like to repeat itself.

*** Cod ***

This… What happened? I remember that some white lighting kind of hit me, but what was that? And was that seriously a white lightning? What in the world, is my surname Chu or what… Thought Cod.

Suddenly he realised something, he was now standing on field filled with people, lots of people. Men mostly. They were all wearing armor and uniforms. In theirs hands there were all kinds of medieval weapons. Bows, crossbows, swords, spears, everything imaginable. They all looked tired and dirty. Cod was currently standing with them, directly in the front row. On the opposite side rows of people also were standing, looking exactly the same like men surrounding Cod. What’s that? He Thought. These armors, weapons… This situation... Oh! I get it! Right! I fell unconscious so this probably is just a lucid dream, which I get from time to time. Heh. Funny setting I think, or maybe a little bit scary. Seems like in this dream I’ll be a soldier taking part in medieval battle. Anyway. Let’s enjoy it for now.

When Cod was just standing there, some other man, which was sitting on a sturdy looking, powerful horse, started shouting something. It aroused all the men around, they shouted too. Soon everyone was shouting, on both sides. And so it began, while Cod was slightly confused, but he quickly recovered. It’s time, he thought. Opposing armies were about to crash and Cod went with the flow, went with them into the fight. He thought that it will be a nice “real life” experience and occasion for him, to test his abilities in dangerous situation without risking his life, as he trained military combat with his grandpa, so such a thing will be very beneficial for him. In real life, if something bad happens, that’s it, but here, in his dream, he didn’t need to fear anything. So he decided to fight.

He began to run together with the people surrounding him. They were around 400 yards away from the opposite army. At first it wasn’t so bad, but the closer they got to their opponents, the more Cod felt suppressed.

This feeling… Why, when I look at these men, I feel like I’m being strangled? This… I’m slowly getting scared! Thought Cod. He began realizing. Even though it was but a dream, he was frightened. I mean seriously, have ever any of you took part in a brutal mass fight? It’s very scary, believe me. That’s why it was perfectly normal that Cod was scared, but he didn’t expect that. Such realism, he thought. Well, but it’s good, it’ll just benefit me more. As his grandpa always says, Don’t be a pussy and just do it. And so, he did.

Around his waist Cod found a sword, he quickly took it out while running. He was seriously frightened now, as they were going to crash into the opponent in mere seconds.

Even though Cod trained, as almost everyone else did, swordsmanship and combat, this was something entirely different. One can’t compare the situation when you are sparing with a friend, to this. This felt like a real battle, when it’s either you, your comrades and family, or the guy on the opposite side. Spars were fun, this was horrible. He however didn’t run away, but continued.

Then the clash came. Cod was attacked by some shouting man with a sword. He tried to cut him down, but Cod quickly blocked his attack.

Even though this aura and situation kinda suppresses me, I’ll somehow manage.

After blocking, he began fighting with this man and honestly, thanks to his good skill with swords, he had the upper hand. But he forgot one thing. It wasn’t a duel. Nor was it a spar. It was a war, a battle. Soon enough blade flew from somewhere behind him.

ACH!

One scream late, the blade has pierced through his knee. He began falling, and while doing so, he managed to slash the throat of the man before him in anger. He was furious now! It hurt so much! Cod managed to get a hold of himself and didn’t let his body fall over completely as it would mean defeat in this dream. That he couldn’t let happen, as he didn’t like to lose. He blindly thrust his blade behind him, soon a loud shriek followed. He killed second enemy. This feeling was something that cannot be described.

Somehow he managed to kneel. It hurt like hell. He never experienced something like this. Grandpa’s training seemed almost funny now. Cod didn’t have the time to think and dwell on that however. He quickly decided what to do and while taking the blade out of his leg and abruptly standing up, he clenched his teeth as not to alarm anyone and looked around. Fortunately, no one bothered with him. Everyone were busy with theirs fights.

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Fear was trying to take over the control of him, his instincts were telling him to run away. Just like as his life would be in real danger. And that pain… It was unimaginable. He was feeling terrible, it hurt so much, however he didn’t spat a mouthful of blood, he stood up and readied himself for another battle, which came pretty quickly. Someone from the other side noticed him and his bloody leg. This soldier, Daniel was his name, thought that he will get an easy kill in a moment, he was kind of happy, as every single confirmed kill could give you military merits. How was the confirmation done one could ask. Oh, simple thing it was - after the battle everyone just went over and chopped off heads of these they killed. No one dared to lie in this matter and take head of someone else’s kill, as if it was a matter of honor and life - upon discovering such a lie, you’d be slowly gutted alive as a punishment. That’s why Daniel was happy. Easy merits. He however was quite foolish, overconfident one could say. He was quite experienced soldier, but thinking wasn’t his thing, nor was he very skilled with the sword and art of war. He just got lucky over and over again, which led him to believe, he’s invincible.

He rushed in Cod’s direction, with a smile on his face, rising his sword. Cod just stood there, not moving too much, as his leg was immobile. When Daniel got close, he didn’t think too much and simply attacked, as when he looked at Cod, he only saw a rookie. Beginner, that knows jack. He thought in a moment, he’ll just have his head. Oh boy, how wrong he was.

Suddenly Cod quickly slashed at him, making him surprised.

So this rookie has some skill, eh? Thought Daniel. It was however too late. His lifeless body fell on the ground.

Cod then puked. This was his first time fighting seriously with someone and he already killed three people. It hit him. Truck called reality smashed him in his head as he looked in these dead eyes of the man lying on the ground. I… I… He began panicking. Not for long tho. It’s either them or me, he thought. He even forgot for a moment, that it’s just a dream.

And so it continued, the battle that is. It didn’t take long for it to finish though. It wasn’t too big of a battle, rather small one, not even thousand people took part in it. So after his third kill, Cod didn’t encounter another enemy, because he stayed behind with his limping leg. Soon, it was over. Cod stood there, looking around. His side won, so did he. They all began shouting with vigor. Cod did too, but suddenly he fell unconscious.

That dream… It was so real. Seriously. Thought Cod while he was waking up.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was lying in hospital capsule, his grandpa was standing near it, looking at him. He was slightly confused, however. Despite the dream, which was mega weird, there was still this white light, that he saw.

“Finally, kiddo! You scared me a littl’! Fainting in a crowd, what the hell was that supposed to be?” Said Jan.

“Grandpa! How are everyone? What happened there? What was that blinding light?” Replied Cod.

“What? What are you talking about kid? Did you hit yourself on the head when you fell?”

“No, grandpa, no. On the show… The reactor was behaving weirdly and then I saw some blinding light, it burned and hurt. Then I fell unconscious.”

“This… Could it be? I mean no one besides you was affected in any way, no one saw anything suspicious, but this light you say you saw… Back in my days, actually it happened even before I was born, certain scientist which was working with some faulty nuclear reactor, got accidentally shot by a radiation beam. He reported same thing as you… Blinding white light, that burned and hurt. Could it be? I mean you couldn’t know what beam of particles coming from radioactive decay can do to you and how it feels, as it is prohibited to talk about it in school and public. Weird! This is fishy. Well, right now it doesn’t matter. You are fine kiddo, that’s the most important thing. Now get your ass out of there, you still gotta do your training today, you slacker, you were sleeping for couple hours, it’s almost night.”

That’s indeed weird, thought Cod. Nevermind it, as grandpa said, I’m fine, that’s what matters. As for that weird dream… Well it actually benefited me kind of. It was traumatic, but it indeed did benefit me.

And so, Cod quickly got up from the medical capsule, reported to the doc and left the hospital with his grandpa.

.....

Later that day, when the doc was doing maintenance on the medical capsule, he noticed something strange.

“What’s this? This capsule… That kid, Cod Sobieski laid here, but this report, it can’t be true? I mean besides being unconscious he was fine and there was nothing about that when I looked on the report… I think I gotta talk with IT to check this issue as it probably is some bug. Again. These dumb shits from IT can’t do a jack.” Said to himself the doctor.

And what was written in the report made by the capsule’s control system?

Name: Cod Sobieski

Age: 15

……….

Logfile:

13:42 - Patient Admitted, scans ran. Nothing wrong found. Vitals stable. He’s just unconscious.

16:21 - Detected wound on left leg, knee stabbed with some sharp object. Knife probably. Besides that multiple cuts on whole body. Running the healing process, sending healing bots into the bloodstream.

17:01 - Finished healing the wound. Patient fine again.