Reborn: From Nothing

The morning sun was beating on me. My clothes are a mess, whatever is not covered in blood is covered in dirt. The holes in my clothes are small and probably repairable.

I don’t know where I am. I was hardly conscious when Cassius took over my body and fled the scene of battle. There is a stream nearby. I walk over to it, my body racked with pain. I had received more wounds than any battle ever before.

I step into the water, planning to clean myself while I drink. Accidentally, I kick my right foot backward and fall flat onto my face.

I should get up.

10 minutes pass.

I can’t bring myself to stand up. The water is heavy. My limbs are heavier. I keep telling myself that I need to stand and can hardly breathe with my head almost underwater, but I just don’t.

Ever since Cassius and his family died, there has been a grand weight on my shoulders. I found the strength to move in spite of this through hatred.

I hated the world and everything in it. Even more so, I felt a feeling beyond hatred for Ozias.

Now I have lost that hatred, and the depression remains.

What did Cassius tell me to do?

“with the desperation of a cornered animal, push forward and don’t look back.”

Fuck it.

With these words in my mind, I manage to pull myself onto my feet. I bend over to finish hydrating myself and leave the stream with a limp.

I continue to follow it to the north. If I keep moving to the north, I’ll surely find some form of civilization.

…

After hours of walking, I came across a road that ran east to west. I decided to follow it east.

There is an older man ahead of me. He is riding on a wagon that is carrying various goods. I imagine he is a merchant. However, he seems to have a sword for self-protection.

I imagine the only people working as merchants in these parts are old soldiers who are able to protect themselves.

Ah shit, I just realized I am not covering my face.

If any of my old enemies see me like this…

“Um… excuse me sir…”

It's been a while since I have properly held a conversation. That meeting with Cassius was good practice, but I will have to get used to this.

“Hm? I feel like I’ve heard of someone like you before…” He replies. I really do need to hide my face.

“Um… yeah maybe… do you have a hooded cloak?” I ask. That really did sound suspicious, didn’t it?

“Yeah, I have some. Let me look through them to see if there is one for your size.”

He climbed onto his cart and rummaged around his goods. He seemed to be pretty unorganized. Eventually, with some force, he pulled out a cloak from underneath some box. He dusted it off with his hand and tossed it over to me.

I reach into my coin bag and grab the biggest one I can see. I toss it to him and he looks perplexed.

“I don’t have change for this.” He responds. It seems he had a price in mind well below that. I didn’t really care about that though.

“Just keep the change.”

“No kid, take it back. Keep that cloak while you’re at it.”

He threw the coin back at me, I caught it and stared at it. Is he really giving someone like me this for free?

“Um… thank… you.”

“You’re welcome, kid. Where are you going to?”

“The capital… um… where is it?”

I should ask this guy since he’s already proven himself to be a nice person.

“Well, you are walking in the wrong direction. I’m on the way to the capital myself. Why don’t you hop onto the carriage?”

Can I really trust this guy? This could very well be a trap, or he could be using me for some end. I don’t think I should be getting this involved with a stranger.

“Hey kid, I won’t bite. Hop on.”

My legs could give out at any moment. I am starving and exhausted. I should consider myself lucky that I even have a chance to take here.

“Alright.”

I pull myself onto the carriage, flinching from the pain of lifting my arm up. By this point, he’s seen the state of my clothes and myself. It makes me wonder why he’s taking this risk at all.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“Cassius.”

“Im Crassus.” He shares his name with me. “Cassius, where did you get those injuries? And how did you end up lost in these parts?”

“I…” how was I going to explain this? “I got caught in a skirmish between the soldiers.”

Even after I’ve done so many awful things, it feels wrong to lie to this man.

“Those demons” he sighed and shoved his hand into his face. “To think they would do this to a kid.”

“It’s alright…”

“No, it isn’t. In my times, men would never turn their blade upon a child. To think that men have changed so much.”

“It’s ok… I deserve this…”

“Nobody deserves to be struck with a blade, none except those who turn blades upon children.” He ranted, “But don’t worry, as long as we travel together, no one will hurt you.”

He had a look of strength in his eyes, nothing like what I saw in my reflection. That strength was directed in the wrong direction.

The young victim of war he was consoling was a facade. In reality, I was an offender, a violent and evil person. You shouldn’t be comforting me, I’m a murderer.

The conversation dried quickly after that. The rhythmic sound of wheels bumping over stones lulled me, but the carts bumping kept me awake.

My stomach rumbled loudly. It’s been a while since I have eaten a food.

Crassus reaches into a bag behind him and pulls out some bread and jerky. I take the food he offers and start to eat it. At first, I controlled myself, eating slowly. But I soon found myself devouring it with haste.

The man smiles a bit at this site. Is it just natural for old people to enjoy feeding kids? I barely remember my parents back on earth, but I can recall them shoving food down my throat whenever they had the chance.

I could have gotten to know them much better, but I always shut myself in my room and skipped visiting them. I wonder, if I had left my comfort area and truly got to know them, would things have been different in my previous world?

I’m going to do it… I’m going to try and talk to this man.

“Um, Crassus… how long have you been a merchant?”

“How long has the sky been blue? Haha, well let’s see…”

I heard all about it. His son moved off to the magic kingdom while he was at war and he used his spoils to become a traveling merchant. He spent 10 years searching for him before they reunited.

After his wife died peacefully, he took up selling supplies to refugees for cheap. Apparently, “after 60 years of life, you stop being the center of the universe.”

I heard all about random encounters along the way. Places you must visit while you are in each country. I heard about different animal meats and their flavors. Apparently, the meant from a crystal tarantula tastes similar to cow meat.

Grekia has so many olive groves that even the poorest can afford to drink wine regularly. He never got to enter the Unified Elven Kingdom, but the towns around it had the most exquisite fabrics and clothing that he had ever seen.

All sorts of factoids and stories filled my mind for the next three days that we rode. He carried the conversation almost entirely by himself, but he could tell that I was listening.

On the third day, we made it to the capital…

“It was a pleasure to meet you Cassius, I hope that one day we see each other again. By then, I imagine you will have plenty of your own stories to tell.”

“Yeah, I hope so too.”

I turn around to walk away after saying goodbye… wait, was I supposed to wait for him to reply?

I turn around again and see him standing there confused.

“Is there anything else?” he asks.

“Uh, umm… no.”

I leave for good this time, making my way to an inn. By now, I know how to distinguish between a good, family-run place and a poor establishment that uses slaves.

I lay down in the bed, my wounds healed a little over these past few days, allowing me to rest slightly more comfortably.

Before I could properly fall asleep, I heard a commotion outside of my window. A girl was shouting, I recognized the voice, but I wasn’t sure where from.

“Please, just let me go!”

“Not until you give me that fat coin purse you have.”

Was this a mugging?

I probably shouldn’t get involved, I’ll only make the situation worse…

Damnit, I can’t just ignore this. What would Cassius think?

I quickly walk down the stairs and out of the inn. Just a turn around the corner to the right brings me to a dirty alley where there is a man with a knife confronting a lone woman. I recognized the woman, I met her just a few days ago.

What do I do?

“Umm… you shouldn’t do that…” I protest.

“Huh? Another fucking kid getting in my way now.” He turns around and swings his knife. I wasn’t close to him at all, this was just a threat.

The threat works, I flinch and stumble backward a bit. I don’t fear death or any power this man wields. There is something deeper inside of me at work, I don’t know what it is.

For some reason, I can’t grab my daggers, or raise my fists. The thought makes me shiver. There is no way I could possibly fight this man.

So I run, I run as fast as possible in his direction.

I slip past his hip and grab the girl. I lift her up in a princess-style carry and jump up onto the roof of the building next to us.

He jumps onto the roof as well. He tries to chase us, but can’t keep up. Even if im in no state to fight, I can still run faster than him.

I run until we reach the edge of the city and its walls. I set her down, she is staring at me in amazement.

“Because of the cloak and your demeanor, I couldn’t tell at first. But, you really are that Cassius from a few days ago”

“Um.. hello, Olivia.”