Modernizing a Fantasy World with a System REDUX

Links in the story description.

Patrons:

Dante

rangerbookwyrm

Garret Newbrough

Eli Makaafi

ENJOY THE CHAPTER!

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"The first thing we have to do today is pick up your brother from the waystone in Crava," father said as the five of us - me, my parents, Ilyor, and Sir Poltira, Head Royal Knight - headed down into the tunnels beneath the castle to the underground staging grounds where the royal escort would be waiting. "Have I ever told you how the capital city of Endrillion came to be?" He asked as they stood on a magical platform that lowered deep into the ground. I shook my head, knowing full-well that he had told me this story before. I just liked hearing him talk.

He saw through me and chuckled, making me blush, before starting to speak. "Millennia ago, before the Nine Kingdoms united under our house, the Demons ravaged the land. This island was one of the few safe havens for the mortal inhabitants of these lands, which is why it is named 'Endril' after the Angel of Protection. The East half of the island consists entirely of a rocky plateau, which overlooks the ocean for leagues. Near the edge of that plateau, a mountain loomed, called Mt. Endril. Back then, Humans, Beastkin, and mortals of all races gathered to pray for protection from the gods."

"Many alliances were forged there, including one of the oldest in our kingdom's history; that of the Steelheart-Eil Brotherhood. The Steelheart Dwarves fled to these lands when the Goldbriar clan took over the tunnels to the North, fearing destruction, and our ancestors took them in with the promise of protection in return for services. Together, they turned Mt. Endril into a towering fortress, where the refugees of the Demon War gathered to mount a counteroffensive. Beneath the fortress spanned hundreds of leagues of tunnels, which became the Steelheart home."

"Once the Demons had been forced back into Nihil, our ancestors saw fit to unite the Nine Kingdoms together against Axriel. The threat of the Empire unsettled the Dwarves, who then decided to move into the caves beneath Mt. Locke, which left the tunnels beneath Fort Endril empty. Our ancestors started building the capital of the new Eilon Kingdom around the fort, which was made to be their castle. Today, Endrillion covers 85,000 acres and is home to half-a-million people - one-fourteenth of the Kingdom's population."

'Seven-million people is a lot, for a fantasy environment, but still less than even just New York City,' I thought, though I was still a bit awed. The elevator came to a stop, revealing an absolutely massive cavern that stretched back into the base of the mountain. At the very front of the cavern were a pair of gargantuan doors that would slide sideways to open up to the main street of Endrillion, which was wide enough to consider a marching army.

"The Royal Staging Grounds lie beneath the castle, and open up into Endrillion Proper. They are large enough to hold up to three-hundred-thousand people. I have been making extensions to the caverns to allow for an additional two-hundred thousand, so they may act as a refugee bunker in case of a catastrophic attack, additionally," father continued. "Currently, the cavern is home to Endrillion's standing army of sixty-nine-thousand men, while the rest of the army is deployed across the kingdom's borders and throughout its lands."

"How many men could we rally if war came?" I asked, curious.

"If we draft able-bodied men, we could muster upwards of two-million soldiers, though they would require training and arms. A good portion of them would be put to work crafting those arms," Father said. "This is exactly what happened twenty years ago, when the Axrelian Empire attacked our Western borders. Even with two-million men, their army outnumbered ours five-to-one, so we had to use clever tactics and dirty tricks to hold our lands. The loss was devastating, including my own parents, then the King and Queen. To take the throne, I married your mother, and we've spent the fifteen years since then rebuilding."

"Axriel now has, and has had for most of its history, the largest standing army in the world, at times with more than thirty-million men in its rank. Pure military might is how it has conquered so much land and so many peoples, taking them into the iron grip of their militaristic society. Much of the West is completely under their control, and the rest would have fallen to them without our intervention. In fact, Elion is the only Kingdom to have stood against them and held its own, even with an inferior military force. Currently, Axriel is estimated to have between twelve and fourteen-million men in its army."

I narrowed my eyes in thought as we departed from the elevator platform and made our way towards the ginormous gates, before which the royal convoy was waiting. In a battle between Axriel and Eilon, I wasn't sure who would win. It wasn't a matter of if the conflict would occur; it was when. The two nations were destined to battle, soon, and I had to be ready for that to happen within my lifetime. I hadn't experienced war in my previous life. I was sixteen when I died, so I couldn't even if the United States were involved in any major conflicts.

I was eight-years-old, now. This meant I had a variety of new lessons added onto my previous roster. Now, I would be expected to learn magic - not just what I could figure out on my own - and swordplay. Battle tactics and military history. I would be raised as a general, which is what I would become in the case of a war. I would be responsible for the lives of many men - responsible for their lives and deaths. I would be responsible for the deaths of anyone my men killed. The thought sickened me, but I knew it was necessary. To protect my family and my people, I would slaughter those of someone else.

We approached the convoy, in front of which the Royal Guard were lined up and being inspected by two more Royal Knights. I recognized each of these men, as they had been working in the castle for years before I was born. Each was a capable warrior or mage, as well as being good men. I felt safe with them, like I did with my own family.

There were fifteen of them that would be joining us on the six-hour-round-trip-journey to pick up my brother from the waystone portal in the small town of Hrava to the West. To accommodate them, an additional carriage would be either in front or behind that which me, my parents, Ilyor, and Sir Poltira rode in. Father addressed the guard before we climbed in our carriages and set off into the city. I sat by the window with Ilyor on my left, watching the people we passed. People of every race bustled about in the streets, from Gnomes to Dragonkin; Halflings to Elves. I had only ever been out in the city once, to dedicate the Royal Confectionery that my mother had insisted be built to sell all of the desserts I 'came up with'.

The carriage continued down the street until it eventually left through the large palisade of the wall that surrounded the city. At that point, I left the window and leaned back in my seat, shutting my eyes with a sigh. I was a modern kid, prior to dying. I was used to having constant entertainment to help with my ADHD, in the form of my cell phone. Fortunately, I had prepared for this; I pulled out a book and started reading. It was somewhat difficult, with the jostling of the suspensionless carriage, but I managed.

This book was about the principles of magical awakenings. Magic in this world was very soft, meaning you could do pretty much anything with it as long as you had the skill and knowledge. The only limiting factors with it were affinities, which manifested as a glow around the eyes. One could still use any magic, even without the according affinity, but they had to use chanting to do so. Latin was the most common language used for magical chants, because nobody spoke it casually. Of course, it wasn't called Latin in this world, but 'Ancient Common'. English was Central Common or Eilonish.

Affinities were generally hereditary. I, for instance, had both the water and fire affinities, the former I had received from my mother, Rel, who had water, nature, and light affinities, and the latter from my father, Aedon IV, who had fire and earth. One unlocked more affinities as they age; usually born with one, unlocking another at age ten, another at age thirty, then at sixty, then at one-hundred and twenty. It was different depending on your race, but was the same for Humans and Beastkin. However, some people were lucky enough to get multiple at once, and some were unlucky enough to miss out on one or two. I had gotten two upon birth, which was considered lucky.

The book was intended for first-year Kingdom Academy students to read; Ravelus had given it to me after he finished his first year, and I had been re-reading it since then. The very first spell the book taught had the simple incantation of 'Ignire', and generated a flame over the focus. In this case, I was using the catalyst mother had gotten me for my seventh birthday - an ordinary wooden wand. Wands were standard for younger mages to use because they were generally weaker than staves. Additionally, this one was designed for beginners, made of spruce and steeped in low-concentration manadew. In my opinion, it barely qualified as a catalyst because the transfer rate was abhorrent.

I held my wand in front of me and closed my eyes, focusing within myself. The pulse within my heart slowly spread through my veins to reach my other organs. I felt empowered - stronger. This was the effect of activating one's mana circuits. I had been physically strengthened beyond the limits of a normal Human. Me, an eight-year-old boy, could run at a rate of fifteen meters-per-second, 50% faster than Usain Bolt's top speed. More importantly, however, this state allowed one to use magic beyond their affinities.

I began channeling my mana through my veins down into my arm, creating a channel from the core in my heart to my fingertips. The wand in my hand created a bridge through my flesh when I ordinarily wouldn't have been able to force it out, but the wand had an enchantment that pulled mana from strong sources in contact with it and channeled it for use. I opened my eyes to find the runes on the side of the wand glowing slightly. " Ignire ," I said gently, and a small flame sparked into existence at the tip of the wand.

"Well done," mother commented, having been watching. "Try channeling more mana into the flame itself, not into the wand."

I nodded, shutting my eyes once more and visualizing my body. I could see the interior of my body, most of it covered in fog like the unknown in a top-down game. A blue sphere pulsed alongside my heartbeat, growing and shrinking as my lungs inflated, sending mana through my arteries, veins, and capillaries down into my arm, then to my fingertips. I could then sense it disappearing for a couple millimeters before reappearing inside the wand. There, it was processed by the runes within the wand and refined into a more controllable state. At the tip, that refined mana was twisted into flame.

I focused and willed the flame to expand into the shape and size of a pencil. Now that the flame was there, I could control it as I wished due to my fire affinity. I had done this before, every day, to practice my mana control. It was a basic exercise for anyone looking to 0ractice external control. I maintained the flame for an entire hour, changing its shape in the air and moving it around. I finished by making a heart with it before cutting off the flow of mana to the wand, causing the spell to falter.

I put my wand away, mentally taxed from the exercise, and looked out the carriage window to see that we were finally coming up on the town of Crava. It was of modest size, with a population of a few thousand. It was an inland town, surrounded by forest for a few leagues, with a river running straight through it. It was actually built atop an ancient Magizoe ruins, which is where it got its name, meaning 'Island-Splitter' in their language. It was host to one of the many Waystone Monuments found all over the world, which allowed for instant transportation of people and goods, regardless of distance.

The escort was received with a lot of attention from the citizens of Crava, whom came out onto the street and peered out from their windows to watch as we rolled past. I waved at a boy around my age who was staring at me with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. He tentatively waved back.

After a couple more minutes, the carriages entered a large square, which surrounded a tall and weathered stone covered in tiny runes. At the base of the obelisk was an alcove, like the cutout tunnel in the base of a redwood tree in the Redwood National Park back on Earth. This one was large enough for a covered wagon to fit through.

The carriages stopped in front of the stone, arrayed in a half-circle, and the guards got out of theirs and formed a perimeter. The door was opened by the driver, and father was the first to step out, one hand on the pommel of his sword while the other rested horizontally behind his back. He was met with the applause of many of the citizens watching from behind the perimeter. He was known as a good king, and he deserved it.

Father turned around and help mother down as she went next, also to applause, before also helping me out of the carriage. I did the same for Ilyor, much to her embarrassment.

"He should come through at noon," mother said. "That's what he told me in his letter."

Waystone Monuments were unique in that only one person could be using any of them at any one moment. One monument, sending one unit of space to any one location. To coordinate, the various monuments across the world functioned on a timer. All throughout the day, they would activate and transport their contents to whatever other monument was selected. Almost like the trains of a train station.

Sure enough, as soon as the clock on the nearby clock tower struck twelve, the runes on the monument lit up in a variety of colors, working their way down the stone to the archway at its base. The veil of reality itself therein began vibrating, rolling back and forth like a heat haze before simply snapping out of existence for but a moment. The air there was exchanged for that here, and a lone boy stood in the center of the chamber.

He was tall for his age, with fair skin, crimson hair, and golden eyes. He wore an academy uniform, complete with its midnight-blue cape, and had the family's Crown Heir sword strapped at his waist, upon the pommel of which he rested his idle hand. He blinked away the shock of using an artifact such as the monument and smiled upon seeing us, walking towards us.

He gave a curt bow to mother and father before turning to me, only to break into a mad grin and snatch me up in an embrace, rubbing his fist between my upper ears. "We'll look who it is," he said darkly. "My brother, come to challenge me again?"

I focused my mana throughout my body and forced him off of me before jumping up on his back and clasping my hands over his ears. We devolved into a 'fight' wherein he utterly destroyed me, but I managed to get in a few good hits. This was much to the enjoyment of many onlookers, who had come to expect this every year. Mother sighed and waved her hand, picking both of us up with magic and hanging us in the air like cats lifted by the scruffs of their necks.

"Every year…" she sighed before smiling. "Well? You look good, Ravelus. I see your knight training has gone well."

Ravelus scratched the back of his head. "Thank you, mother. I made sure to train my spirit connection, too."

"Good," mother nodded. "We'll eat somewhere local before heading back to-"

The carriages all burst into blue flames, which consumed the horses and a couple guards on the perimeter. The heat was so intense that my brother and I fell to our knees, arms covering our faces, and the civilians started to scatter.

"Ambush!" Sir Poltira shouted, drawing his axe and looking around with wary eyes.

" Revelare Vitam !" Rel called out, using a spell. Her eyes flashed green and yellow before fading, and she whipped around. "Behind us!"

Sure enough, between us and the monument several portals swirled into existence - a coordinated effort between spacial mages, no doubt - and men began rushing through and into the square.

"Boys, behind me! Hek'Netir, take out those portals!" Aedon ordered. Two shadowy figures like that which mother had summoned that morning appeared and rushed forward, weaving through the approaching men like water between the stones of a riverbed, leaving bodies in their wake.

This was the first time I'd seen people die. Memories of the events that sent me to this world resurfaced, and my pulse quickened beyond what the situation pushed it to. It was hard to hear, both because of the ringing in my ears from the explosions and the loudness of my own heartbeat.

"Form up, men! Protect the Royal Family!" Sir Poltira ordered. "Leave these scoundrels to me, my liege!"

"More of them, East!" Rel shouted, sending vines up through the pavement just as another portal opened, where from archers and mages came. The vines wrapped around their legs and arms before sharp thorns burst through their flesh, instantly disabling most of them, but they continued to come out of the portal faster than mother could kill them with nature magic. She started speaking incantations and throwing a variety of elements at them, until they suddenly stopped making it close to the attackers.

The vines capturing and debilitating most of the ranged attackers suddenly withered away as a hulking figure stepped out of the portal. A wave of nausea overwhelmed me, making me gag in disgust as the smell of pure pestilence and decay snared my senses. Mother immediately jumped into the air and floated in that direction, summoning a gust of wind to blow away the corpses from between the two of them.

Yet another portal opened up to the West, opposite mother's battleground, to which Aedon immediately sprinted. "Protect my sons!" He called out to the remaining guards around us before disappearing in a flash. Blood rained from the skies as limbs, heads, and chunks of flesh were separated from their persons and sent flying by Aedon's blade.

That's when the ground next to us exploded, sending me, Ravelus, and the guards flying through the air nearby to the flaming carriages. A portal formed a few paces from where I lay, and more men charged out to begin engaging the conscious gaurds. Ravelus was up in an instant, sword drawn, and started fighting three men that targeted him. 

He parried a swing before cutting the arm off one man, only to duck under another attack. He brought his blade up into the attacker's gut, disemboweling him, before yanking him to the side just in time to make him tank the attack of his ally. A swipe of Ravelus's blade decapitated the previously-unharmed man, and a follow up stab cut out the heart of the disarmed man.

Ravelus ran towards me, only for the ground beneath him to explode, launching him into the sky. I panicked, moving beneath him to catch him, only for a gust of wind to carry him to the ground uninjured but unconscious. More men came out of the portal just as mother finished with her opponent. She launched spells at them from a distance, but one of the men produced a blue pearl and smashed it on the ground, which created a spherical bubble around us that the spells fell apart upon.

It was me and an unconscious Ravelus against eleven men who clearly intended to kill us. I couldn't allow that. One of them men moved to stab Ravelus, and something clicked within me. I jumped in front of the blade as it came down, and a familiar warmth budded in my chest. Time seemed to slow to a halt, and something popped into my vision.

["Activation Requirements Met. Beginning Soul-Binding Process."]

Hot pain consumed my entire being for several 'moments' during which nobody had even been able to blink.

["Hello, host. I see you've finally met death once again. Allow me to open your for you."]

[ Gift Opened!]

10 Shop Credits

1x

Skill:

["With that, you should be able to survive long enough to get treatment. You now have thirty seconds to eliminate these threats before your skill timer runs out. Best of luck!"]

Time began to speed up, but only to a certain point. Warmth burned in my veins as I acted on instinct, kicking the man in the family jewels before grabbing the sword plunged to the hilt in my chest and pulling. The pommel hit the man straight in the chin, knocking him back a step as I completely removed the sword from my torso and swung it sideways seemingly at a snail's pace. I realized time had been slowed from my perspective by whatever that thing was that had spoken to me. Notably, it was the same voice I always heard in my dreams.

The top of the blade cut through the man's arm, then traced across the front of his throat, cutting into his airway and spilling his blood. I stepped forward and brought the blade to the side as another man swung for me, my blade sliding right past his as I tilted my head to the side to avoid getting stabbed in the eye, maintaining a cut on my cheek in the process but stabbing the man through the heart.

I let go of the plundered sword and snatched that of the enemy I'd just killed out of the air, pivoting on my heel like a ballerina and swinging outwards in a wide arc. I fought the fingers of a man holding a battle-ax and hit another man in the side of the head, slicing halfway through his head. Again, I released the blade and threw my shoulder into another man's chest, riding him to the ground while taking his dagger from its sheath at his side and bringing it up under his chin. Warm blood poured down my hands as I rolled over my shoulder and past another man, slashing out both of his Achilles tendons as I passed.

I threw the dagger at another man, who moved to block, but I had already picked up and javelin and stabbed him in the gut. Snatching his sword out of the air I swung hard and decapitated him in a quick slash. I ducked as a javelin almost struck me from behind. I did a spontaneous backflip over the blade of the man whose ankles I had slashed, landing on his back and plunging my sword into the base of his neck.

Wrenching it out, I was barely able to cut another javelin from the air, causing it to burst into shards of wood that littered my face and got in my eyes. Temporarily-blinded, I wasn't able to sense as another javelin struck me in the leg, but the pain took me to my knees before the man whose fingers I'd cut off could behead me with his ax. Forcing my eyes open, I jumped up into the air and twisted my legs around the man's neck, rotating him down under me and twisting his neck as I hit the ground, which snapped the discs in his spine out and paralyzed him from the neck down.

Rolling over my shoulder again, I tore the javelin from my leg and threw it at the one who had hit me with it, striking him through the eyes and puncturing his brain. The final two men came at me at once, swinging opposite directions in hopes of cornering me. I took up the paralyzed man's ax and used it to catch both blades before pushing forward and slicing through either man's side. I then pulled back, hooking them both on either spiked end of the ax and yanking them towards me. They tripped over their fallen comrades and fell on their own swords.

My perspective of time returned to normal in a snap, and a wave of exhaustion overtook me. I was vaguely aware of a deafening shattering sound, followed by the muffled voice of my mother, but it all sounded distant. The last thing I did before passing out was stomp on the head of the paralyzed man, caving his skull in. Darkness consumed me.