Chapter 151: Book 2 – Prologue.

It started with his heart beating loudly. He could tell that his senses dulled, still, he relied on his senses, his eyes squinting until he passed through a wall of flesh.

“It is a fine boy!”

He didn’t recognize those words first. He thought how gigantic the people in front of him was. No, he was smaller than them, he could see that his hand was little, there was sticky fluid around it.

He was raised gently by one of the people he saw. A hand landed on his butt, he looked at the one who did it, his little eyes glaring at the man who spanked him. He was trying to focus his eyes, he was unsuccessful with how blurry it all was.

“A warrior as well!!”

Warrior? He thought about the word that he could understand. He turned to the other person that was breathing heavily, she had long flaxen hair, her face was sculpted, she bit her pink lips, the dam of her eyes flooding as she stares at him.

“Look at this son of yours, madam! He barely cries! He is a warrior like the father!”

The woman with flaxen hair was struggling to breathe, she took him in her arms, her tears wetting his cheeks. He didn’t understand why his heart was beating, he felt incredible comfort as he was enveloped by the arms of this woman. His eyelids grew heavier, he closed his eyes and slept.

***

He felt like he was swimming in an endless crystal clear lake. Above him was the sun that seems to be so far despite how many times he tried to swim up. He was swimming and swimming yet there was no sound other than the water being moved. He steadily floated and swam to where the sun was.

***

“He looks sleepy.”

“Isn’t he?”

“Is he dreaming?”

“Who knows?”

He saw a man in his twenties, his eyes were sharp, he wore a beard, and his hair was that of silver gold. He had green eyes, and he wore a strange armor that he has not seen in his life. It was silver, yet it was inscribed with many runes.

“He’s dazzled?”

“Take the armor will you?”

“I think he likes it!”

“Your blinding your son!”

Son? He thought how these two were speaking so lovingly towards him. The man was noble, and the others look like she was noblewoman with how she was dressed. The man had the countenance of the knight, his eyes had a glint, his posture straight and sharpened like a blade. His silver-gold hair shone when the sun hit it.

“See? You are? He’s glaring at you!”

“Nonsense,” the knight said. “He must be curious about the armor. Isn’t that right, little guy?”

He wiggled his armored right index finger at him. He extended his little hand and grabbed hold of the Knight’s right hand. The Knight’s eyes widened, his lips curved into a smile.

“See? I know that he likes it, Selina!”

“Lionel, stop shaking his hand!”

He lets go of the finger of the man named Lionel. He turned his attention to the woman whose name is Selina, His eyes cloudy, he closed his eyelids once again.

***

“The Tower of Nimrod, it is wonderful as ever isn’t it?”

He looks at the window and saw a tower that reaches the clouds above. He couldn’t see an end to the tower, he travels his gaze on it but the tower still had no end.

“Is the labyrinth well-guarded?”

“It should be. Though it can’t be helped that there are random strays that could escape. We can never tame the endless labyrinth, and the day where we could reach the lower floors are that of a dream of many Questing Knights.”

“…”

“Do not worry, Selina. I shall not quest until I see how my boy is grown. I promise you that.”

The two looked at each other with such affection. He frowned, his right hand smacking Lionel. Lionel turned to him and smiled, his gauntlet covered hand caressing his head

“He’s looking at the tower you know? One day, you’ll study in the City of Babel, my child. You will become a fine man as well, Einar. For now, be a good child and grow strong, okay?”

Her love was a fire that burnt him all the time. It was the kind of fire that Einar wasn’t fond off. He didn’t hate the thought of her love; however, he cannot easily accept the name. The memories that were lingering inside his head started to pour. He couldn’t understand why at first. So he turned to where his mother’s chest and started sleeping once again. The warm and soft sensation calmed his head. He tightly closed his eyes and had a dream of swimming in the lake again.

***

“Let us play Einar!” an angelic voice said. She had a braided hair that rested on her left shoulder, her cheeks were plump, and she has sky blue eyes and a rose-colored hair. “You always play alone and sitting on this rock!”

A young man at the age of fifteen sat on a rock, he was tall for his age, he has green eyes, his features were sharp, and he has silver blond hair that was a mix of his parents. He was holding on to a strange tag. Written on it were the name, Caterina and Gael. The girl who was pulling on his sleeve rested her chin on Einar’s shoulder.

“I want to be alone, Thea.”

“No!” Thea of House Zia shook her head. “I can’t let you do that! You always do this! Lady Selina said that I need to accompany you!”

Einar shook his head and turned to where the manor was. “Is your father home?”

“Papa Bors?” She said, tilting her head. “I think he’s still journeying with Sir Lionel!”

“I see.” He nodded. “I’ll be going back to the manor. Can you wait for me?”

Thea pouted. She sprinted back to the manor. Einar turned his attention to the tower that reached the skies.

“I am no longer in that world…what happened?”

***

What happens if your body experiences strange things? What happens if your soul is forcibly placed inside a body, and then forced inside a young body, and then to an old body, and go through a toddlers body? What happens to the mind of the soul that was recycled over and over again?

Nolan, no, it was Einar of House Elior, asked the things to the robed priest who was carrying a tome too big to hold in one hand. He was perplexed by the question of the young man.

“That is a troubling statement,” the priest said. “The God of Life Val and Goddess of Death Casak made the world with the thought of a soul remaining inside only one body. If the soul comes out of the body after he perishes, the soul will be thrown into the cycle of rebirth, where Anakan would receive the soul. Inemra would then judge the soul, and Aridim would rename this soul and throw him to where he would redo his life without memories.”

“So?”

“It means that it is impossible for one’s soul to experience such as that. It would go against the laws of how Val and Casak made our worlds.”

“Thank you, priest,” Einar said. “Ah, are the sermons going to be troublesome again this year?”

“It shouldn’t be,” the priest said. “Though, I think that you are the only that asks such questions. Good day, Child, may you be blessed by Thendr.”

The priest wended his way through the crowd of teenagers carrying their books. All of them were armed with their own sets of weapons, customary to the children who were studying in the academy where the nobles are given education until the coming of age which was twenty in this world.

“Still, what a strange world where they could wear such uniforms?”

He was wearing a gray school uniform with a red tie, and he sported a dagger on his waist. It was odd that he was barely armed, but this was a world where magic and martial has intertwined. Not to mention that Einar has kept the abilities that he had before he became to this world.

He took the life essence of Gael Jag, Catherine, and Kaiser, the half-dragon. He lost most of the strength that Kaiser had, but Gael Jag and Catherine had allowed his soul to keep the ability of a time wraith. He could shift his appearance to a wraith, and use the abilities of a time wraith.

“Still, it may not be that great when you have wizards here,” he thought. “This world is hopeful that it is no surprise that they can take on monsters that are considered hard to kill in that world. Magic is superior here, and unlike the previous world where we could only rely on runes and lackluster spells. This world is abundant with spells that could even defeat Kaiser in one strike. “

This was a hopeful world compared to the world where the darkness lurks. No matter how much Einar searches, there was no one like the Bleak Walkers who took on the bleak path to save a world that was unkind to them. That’s why Einar, no, Nolan Salvatore was glad that there was no one like them in this world.

“Einar?” Thea, who was following him said. “Why do you always look like that?”

“I always look like this.”

“Stone-faced, and is trap in his own bubble of a world?”

“I can’t really retort that.”

Einar felt like he was always lost. When he got motor controls of his body, he was unable to adjust to the sudden change, he convulsed and had spasms that lasted for a year. He would violently break his own arm, and somehow mistake his own strength, causing incredible damage that thankfully, magic could heal.

He always disoriented and only at the age of ten that he was able to handle the body. The feeling was the same as a man who was trapped inside a child’s body, his limbs held tightly by chains. Einar was a head taller than anyone, and yet he was a lonesome man whose only friend was the daughter of the House of Zia.

Einar was walking the corridor when he saw a group of students blocking the hallway. Thea was curious, however, she stopped by Einar’s side and looked at the students.

“It’s her again.”

“Her?”

“Well, there’s an enrollee here who was able to succeed in entering this academy. You know how things are usually, and it isn’t easy to enter our school.”

“Is she bullied?”

“Bullied?” She smirked. “It’s the opposite actually, she’s the one bullying—and the school acknowledges that she has the right to defend herself.”

“That’s odd.”

“It is. Oh, look at that, she’s wounded again.”

Einar let his gaze travel to where the person Thea was referring to. She had shoulder-length hair with the color of a white lily. She has wounds on her cheek, she wore a black uniform, a black skirt, and a rather loose white ribbon. Her belly was wrapped in bandages, and she carried a rucksack filled with magic stones. She was holding a worn sword that seems to have been chipped. She smelled of blood and her black eyes were like ice.

She had an unapproachable aura and she didn’t even register the crowd that was both jeering and awed at her. Einar calmly watched the woman go, his eyes not even having a little change.

“What’s her name?”

“Alice Dame, the student who took the Dame title at the age of fourteen. She’s an incredible student and a personage that would soon get the attention of all the Questing Guilds. She’s something, and I doubt that she’d ever mingled with us despite her status as a commoner turned Prodigal Genius.”

“I see,” Einar said.

Thea shook her shoulders. “So are we going to the labyrinth today?”

“We should,” Einar declared. “Aren’t you going to practice your magic?”

“Yeah, it would really help if you are with me. My school of magic uses symbolism and spoken spells in spell casting. It’s hard to focus when you are swarmed by monsters.”

“Then let us go and practice.”

Einar said as he took a step out of the academy. His eyes staring firmly at the Tower of Nimrod.