The barracks had private rooms so all the soldiers here had their privacy, Josh lay on the floor facing the ceiling ignoring the bed that seemed to be completely untouched, the room had nothing much in it just a bed,desk and a punching bag. Unlike the other soldiers who had decorated their rooms to make themselves more comfortable Josh simply left the room as he found it, he used the place for sleeping only so for him he did not really care much about how it looked and besides it was not as if he would invite someone in since most of his fellow comrades hated him because of his status as a noble.
In havena noblemen were usually assigned to be royal guards or mirrorstalkers a special group of elite warriors assigned to eradicate the Mirrorwights so seeing a nobleman join the army was strange sight at first for they thought they stood no chance of earning enough merit to rise in rank while competing with a nobleman but when they found out that the nobleman they were wary of had no ability whatsoever ever they started mocking him. A non empowered nobleman? That was unheard of after all their bloodlines were more pure which pleased their ancestors since that meant their family name would live for a long time. But Joshua Belling first born son of house belling failed to awaken and brought shame to his house which led to his father naming his little sister as the heiress of house Belling and him being forced to join the army.
To anyone else these past four years would be hell but to him he was at peace, he had long forgiven his father for what happened and he forgave himself too but now out of the blue there were people trying to disturb his fragile peace. A hero? What the hell were they blabbering on about, he had come to terms with the fact that he was a nobody and now they come to him trying to sell him hope? It took him a while to realize that hope is for fools,so he abandoned hope in search for peace and he finally achieved. Josh had learned to block out everything else and just focused on earning merit to slowly rise in the ranks or die trying, he had made peace with his unfortunate fate he had even stopped praying to the gods and he was also planning on removing his family name from his identity cutting off all ties with house Belling.
But now he found himself in a state of confusion his mind replaying the scenes from earlier, his well toned naked body lay unmoving on the floor a few scars could be seen on his body. Unlike the other empowered he could not heal so to him every wound left a scar but he knew that one day he will be wounded so bad that he will probably die but he had made peace with death so what was the purpose? He had face d discrimination head on but he did not falter, his parents called him a failure but he did not falter so death did not scare him because there was nothing to live for.
Closing his eyes and focusing on the scenes from earlier he could hear the prophecy loud and clear "When bloodless hands grasp forgotten might,
A forgotten God's power shall take flight.
From unexpected roots, a hero shall rise,
Without ancestral ties, yet bearing ancient eyes.
In darkness, a light shall spark anew,
Guiding the chosen one, as the forgotten God breaks through.
The boy without a lineage, shall inherit the divine,
And wield the power, that shall reshape the realms.
Seek the keystone, where shadows dance and play,
And claim the forgotten throne, on the day of reckoning's sway.
For when the bloodless hand, wields the ancient might,
The forgotten God's power, shall ignite the light." The prophecy replayed itself numerous times in his head, but what did it mean ? And why was it engraved on her back like that? He could not wrap his hnllead around the whole matterr, and they were some parts in the prophecy he could not understand at all like the opening part where it said "when bloodless hands grasp forgotten might." Or the part where did says,"seek the keys tone where shadows dance and play," What did this mean, does Lady Aurelia know what it means? Maybe I should ask her ? He thought but then again i.f he did wouldn't that be the same as implying that he was interested in their little games?
But then again what did he have to lose, well his life but other than that what more could he lose? Nothing, that was the answer he found. He had nothing to lose so maybe he could do it and see how everything goes but he was not sure whether to trust them, for all he knew they could be using him for their own agendas or to spite his family? [What are you two guys up to?]He muttered under his breath
He was left with only a few more merits until he could be promoted to a sparkspanner which was the equivalent of a sergeant back in the primitive days, it had taken him almost one and a half year to rise from a gearboxes which was the lowest of the lowest ranks to a cogger middle-lower rank and it had taken him almost twice the amount of time to get enough merit to be promoted in rank again.
He was one of the few non empowered soldiers who were very exceptional on the frontlines but of course he only fell short to the soldiers who wielded many diverse abilities. But his perfect memory and superior CQC, weapon knowledge and his ability to remain calm under immense pressure made him be one of the few non empowered soldiers who stood out, the next was Iver Dame an exceptional sniper dubbed the nickname "God's eye". With a clean shaved face and his auburn hair coupled with his many piercings and a bullseye tattoo under his left eye made him more mysterious plus he was also crowned havena's most attractive young soldier of the year 4 times in a row, his enigmatic crimson eyes that seemed to disdain everyone always brightened up whenever he would greet Josh so both him and Josh had an "OKAY" relationship
Another one wss Elena Monroe dubbed "The She-Reaper.", with her petite and tiny frame one would mistaken the young woman for anything but a cold hearted killer, her skill with a blade was second to none and her brutality was unmatched, but for Josh the way she fought had a beautiful side to it, like a dancing succubus let loose in the middle of a battlefield. She had only ever spoken to Josh once so he did not know if she was okay with him or not but for all he knew was that she never looked at him with disdain but only calm indifference so to him it was still much better than the ones who would throw him disdainful looks. Elena's appearance was that of a young teenage girl with long black hair tied in two pigtails, and a beautiful oval face with a small scar on her her upper lip.
There were three more exceptional non-empowered soldiers , two of them were called the Laughting twins, and the last one simply went by Elijah who alongside with iver and Elena made up unit 6.He had never had a one on one encounter with either of the twins or had he ever fought with them, having no idea how these two twing earned such a nickname Josh hoped he could one day see them at the Frontlines. Out of the six of them, he was the only nobleman amongst them and he also had a nickname albeit he did not know how to feel about it "The noble." It sounded more like a title than a nickname but it did strike fear into the enemy soldiers because even though the six were non-empowered they were also classified as special threats in three kingdoms, a privilege the empowered soldiers were supposed to have but instead their enemies would focus more on non-empowered soldiers and that made them very angry. So the six were no one's favorite and although they were deadly on the battlefield their superior could not let them advance in rank since they had no ancestral powers
[Well there's no use crying about it.] He comforted himself with a slight smile his strange silver eyes calmly stared at the ceiling, exhaling deeply he sat up and opened the brass tube he had in his hand. All of the information stored in that tube was classified and once he read it there was no turning back because then he would have two choices just as the steam-commander said"Once you read the contents of the tube you will have two choices, join us or die." That was the ultimatum he was given, so by reading the contents his life was no longer in his hands, Josh's hands trembled and his eyes grew wide ad he read the first line
"Expedition report of the kagami sekai by Edward Belling." That name was the name of his grandfather, what business would his grandfather have in exploring the mirror realm? Was it not a known fact that entry into the mirror realm was not possible so why was there an Expedition report and why was his grandfather the one who wrote it? This made no sense whatsoever, but he placed his reasoning aside and continued reading the report
[Entry into the kagami sekai was made in the year 819, 24 may. Entry was made possible because of my ancestral power, Realm Wanderer. It took me several tries for several years but only when I became a "Pillar" was I able to feel the presence of the other world, but still my efforts alone were not enough so I requested the aid of an unlikely ally a grand sorceress whom I cannot name because of the binding vow I made. With her magic and my ability we were able to slip into the mirror realm, a world of horrors. It's no place a human can survive, we only managed to because of the sorceress.
This world is covered in vast darkness with a shattered crimson moon hanging above, the terrain is mostly water, it's a world mostly covered in dark waters and there only pieces of land are the black jagged rocks protruding from the water, gigantic trees that reached the heavens are everywhere some acting as shelters for lower ranking wights. And in some regions there are floating chained Islands, but we dared not try to reach them for we could feel the presence of many high ranking wights even from a distance.
But in here the wights all have humanoid statures unlike their grotesque and transformed appearance, we normally see them in. And they also have a language of their own, in our scouting we also discovered many ruins that resembled early human settlements. And some even had what seemed to resemble texts, I believe if we could decipher these texts we could uncover the secrets of this world. For a long time we scouted the world without much problem until one day we stumbled upon a high ranking wight capable of human speech.
The wight began a game of cat and mouse with us but no matter how much we ran, it was always hot on our trail, no matter what we did we could not even throw it off. And we also could not return to our own world because we needed to return from the same point we came in and after many months if not years of traveling we could not exactly locate our point of entry, so the game of cat and mouse went on for a long time until I finally made my mind to face the wight head on while the grand sorceress prepared a point of exit.
From my battle with the wight I discovered that it was not really trying to kill me rather it was actually trying to push me past my limits, and just when I thought the wight would land a final blow it knelt next to me and whispered words that I still cannot forget,
"Stronger, you need to get stronger if you want to save your world from us. My people have found a way all thanks to one of you, the preparations are almost complete if that is the strength the pinnacle of your world currently posses then I'm afraid your world is already lost."When it whispered the words to me I was left shaken, what preparations was it talking of? I did not know but when it said "all thanks to one of you."I knew whom it meant, from my scout I had figured out that the wights were almost like us they too had a hierarchy system even though their seemed a little more primitive than ours but it was almost the same where the strong ate and the weak suffered.
For whatever reason the wight did not kill us but instead It left us and the grand sorceress was also able to create a point of exit and we left that world behind. If I could would I return to the kagami sekai? Yes, I would return because there is more to be studied there and I believe with further study we can stop whatever those wretched creatures are planning but as the wight said WE NEED TO GROW STRONGER,humanity's strength is not enough or else we will be eradicated or worse.] Josh's whole body trembled as he read the Expedition report, his grandfather was the second person to enter the kagami sekai? With the help of a grand sorceress? But sorcerer's are our biggest enemy besides the Mirrorwights, why would he enlist the help of one ? And who is she? Could she still be alive? After all it was well known that sorcerers had long life spans because of the deals they made with evil spirits. What was the Royal order's reaction after finding put grandfather worked with a sorceress? Was he punished or was he spared because of his accomplishments?
These were all the questions in Josh's mind, but he was still in for a treat because the Expedition report was just the first of the three contents in the brass tube, shocked to the core and overwhelmed by the great revelation Josh stood up and walked towards his punching bag and then with his left hand he threw his first punch, then the second followed by third and the number increased exponentially until an hour later when he had exhausted all of his strength and he fell down on his knees sweaty breathing heavily.
He remained in that position for a short while before getting up and returning to where he was initially seated ready to pick up where he left off. Unbeknownst to him in a certain office two people were seated across each other watching at a holographic video of him, and a silently discussion was taking place
[Using training as a way to calm his nerves and process information faster, that kid is something else.]Commander Stewart spoke with a light chuckle, Aurelia who sat opposite him smiled a bit but refrained from saying anything else.
They watched as he began reading the contents of the tube again but then Commander Stewart glanced over at Aurelia and as if she felt his gaze she too looked at him and spoke in a calm voice
[I can see you have something to say to me Commander, you may speak.] Still maintaining eye contact Stewart answered, [how can you be so sure he is the one the prophecy speaks of? I mean there prophecy does say and I quote 'When bloodless hands grasp forgotten might, A forgotten God's power shall take flight. From unexpected roots, a hero shall rise, Without ancestral ties, yet bearing ancient eyes'. I mean from my perspective the prophecy is hinting at commoner rather than a noble.]Lady Aurelia finally reacted with a small giggle as she answer
[Oh Commander is that what you truly believe? I mean yes it would make more sense but don't you think that is the most overused plot in all of the stories we heard as children?]The Commander smiled slowly faded under Aurelia's soft gaze
[But to reassure you I have proof, four years ago I had a dream and in that dream I saw in the depths of a forgotten forest, a sapling withering unable to grasp the ancient roots that whispered secrets of ancient slumbering and unawakened. I also saw a key rusted and old hidden in the heart of an old tree, the wind whispered truths in an unknown language and the sampling trembled. Finally I saw a door aja, creaking in the wind, revealing a path where shadows dance and play. The saplings roots in chains, bound and restrained as wind whispered "Amelikas ti ruun"] the commander's heart skipped a beat, disbelief crashing over him like a tidal wave. This can't be real, he thought, as the weight of her revelation hit him.
[That phrase is found in most of our records but we do not know what it means, our paleographers have been trying to understand what it means but we still do not know what it means. And the day I had the dream, was the same day Lord Belling failed his awakening, I believe he is the sapling in my dream.] Aurelia stared directly at the Commander as she spoke, she could see the battle in his eye.
The thought flickered, hesitant but persistent: Could it be possible? The Commander thought? Well he had no choice other than to trust the oracle and observe how everything plays out, after all it had taken them to lot of time to track down the"Hero" the prophecy spoke of.
[I see, I guess we will just have to wait for his response. But I have to say somehow this makes sense I mean his grandfather was the second human to enter the kagami sekai, maybe it is fate.] The Commander spoke, now feeling a lot relaxed. Lady Aurelia got up and bowed, [I shall take my leave, there are things I have to report back to her majesty.] With that she left the room, the Commander's focus went back to the holographic video of Josh.