The hearth fire burned noisily whilst thick embers slow-roasted the wood chips crackling away. Zachary had decided to take a seat an hour into Brutus' story. Or he was thinking about whether or not to call it a recap. A recap of all the gloriously bad events that took place before and during his coma.
Ah, and on the matter of said coma. Zachary also learned it was widely considered a suicide attempt by most of his family members. Also, concerning said family. They dwelt someplace in an even bigger castle, where his grandfather, the patriarch who was the respected Duke lived.
Zachary sat in silence and listened intently. One of the great things he still remembered was his ability to retain large amounts of information quickly. Tears of joy almost streamed down his cheeks.
'This transmigration didn't erase the way my mind works. That's something I should be glad about.'
There were a host of worst case scenarios he had already started imagining.
Brutus concluded his story at the two-hour mark, and Zachary needed a good stretch after sitting down for so long. He couldn't help but marvel at the man's commitment to explaining everything in great detail. He did hope the crestfallen brute was being paid for this, since most of the history lesson he spoke on wasn't important to the current him.
However, he did listen intently to the tale about his mother, Diane Cloud, who unfortunately died two years ago. Brutus sounded a little sketchy when he tried to talk about her, but Zachary had already gotten the gist of it all. However, what stood out the most about that story was the revelation that the owner of that giant dragon outside belonged to his mother.
'So my mother was the eldest daughter to the Patriarch or the Duke, and he also had two other sons who had kids my age. There was a falling out, lines were drawn, and rather unfortunately, my mother was killed.'
Zachary took a prolonged pause after that thought. He felt warm when he thought about the idea of a mother; clearly, this body still had a strange attachment to these people. Although, he also couldn't deny the lack of a mother from his previous world may have some strange reason behind that feeling. Zachary shook his head from side to side, refusing to fall down that rabbit hole.
'Right, so here is what I do know. Because my late mother chose to be with a foreigner. She was cast aside and forced to live as a branch family member.'
Zachary knew this play quite well. Unfortunately, just like in his world, discrimination came in all forms, especially from royal or wealthy households. And that was a truth as old as time.
"My Mother...how did she die?" He asked plainly. Brutus looked a little troubled by his frankness but swiftly followed suit.
"She was...killed by...she was killed by-"
Annoyingly enough, those same brass doors burst open again, and two more boiled leather fellows bundled inside. Zachary cocked one brow upwards, he bounced his curious glare between the three men. 'How weirdly on time, just before he was about to talk.'
The two men walked inside, turned towards him, Zachary gave them a short wave and in response they almost jumped out of their armour, screaming ghost with pointed iron fingers. With a whack against their bodies from Brutus, they resumed their stiff postures and adopted what Zachary could consider to be model knights.
"F-f-f-f-f-forgiveness my lord! Ahem, b-but there is a problem." The one on the left stammered awkwardly,
"We've received troubling news that the grandchildren of Duke Cloud plan on sacking the west side of your territory on Staple Myers. "
Zachary twisted his head towards Brutus, he paid close attention to the look of shock and betrayal against the bearded fellows' face.
"Damn it! Those reckless brats have no care about the order of things. Tsk, listen Young Lord. I'm afraid this introduction of ours will have to be cut short. Those little runts from your clan seem to think this old boar is useless. Hmph, let me teach them something their fathers should've taught them." Brutus performed a cordial bow to Zachary before twisting against his heels.
"Rest well, young lord; I...I won't be long."
Zachary watched the fork-bearded man exit the room, tailed by the two guards. Once the door finally slammed shut, he rose up and stood rooted to his heels for a short while. Between the flying dragon outside and the tense history between his side of the family and everyone else, there were quite a few things to unpack here.
He had gathered a few things from that conversation just now. He was a young lord of a noble house, presumably one of the youngest children, considering how the man named Brutus addressed him. His grandfather was the patriarch of this clan. And likely someone his late mother didn't get along with.
'That would explain why I'm being hidden away from the main estate. I wonder if they had something to do with my mother's death as well.'
Zachary smoothed the bridge of his nose whilst he thought about these matters. It was safe to say this new world was still filled with all the dangers and secrets as his old one. What bothered him the most about this situation was the idea of starting from scratch without any prior knowledge of where he was and how he had actually gotten here.
Zachary hated not knowing what was lurking in wait. One of the things he prided himself on the most in his old life was his meticulous methods of information gathering.
"There are way too many holes in this; if only I had some way of remembering...hmm if only I still had that thing...the apple of Acrux."
Zachary was a bit crestfallen thinking about that revolutionary artificial intelligence system. He couldn't help imagining what could've been if he had had that relic. The Apple was like an encyclopaedia of everything! Built into a sentinel chip that responded based on one's thoughts. Thinking of his past life, Zachary started seeing how careless he had been. Of course, they would come for him. What he had perfected threatened to completely dismantle the planet's political and economic system. And worst of all, Zachary was born from poverty. His ideals and moral compass were forged off the back of hard work, compassion and looking after the weak and poor.
Without the proper backing, his death was always coming. He exhaled a deep sigh and rubbed the side of his sore neck. Zachary remembered the faint remnants of the last moments of his life. The explosion. And all those people he likely killed along with him. He shuddered at the thought of the wreckage before carefully attempting to calm his racing heart.
A strange surge of different emotions welled inside of his brain at once. Zachary felt his breaths quickening, sweat beaded against his forehead suddenly, and a blurred vision was the icing on the cake of what was likely a panic attack.
'My goodness, a panic attack? M-me b-but why-wa-wait this feeling.'
Suddenly, a warm sensation welled against his two eyes. He felt something unnatural awakening. A sharp pain splintered against the side of his head, like a thousand knives had been plunged into the same point.
A terrible cry out of agony howled, but the pain swiftly drifted away seconds later. But something strange was happening.
Zachary clutched the loose clothes around his chest and was forced into blinking a few times before he noticed a peculiar set of tiny particles casting a strange light before him.
He rubbed his eyes several times and waved his hand through the pixelated screen.
Shortly afterward, he was left breathless as he stared at what he could only describe as aa game-like menu materialised before his very eyes.
"Wh...what the fu-"
Other POV
The scent of death and burning metals filled his nostrils. Brutus galloped through the field of partial grassland with uneasy thoughts. His small company of 12 rode around him—figures of black darting across the meadow with iron armed at the ready. A tall hill beckoned their arrival, and Brutus felt a terrible premonition looming in the air.
He gave the men around him a knowing nod before countless swords were pulled free from their scabbards. Brutus inhaled a bellyful of air before erupting a bellowing roar.
"Charge!"
The dozens of hoofs ate away at the soft ground and closed in on the hill's edge. Brutus held the reigns tightly before cycling his Ki through the open channels within his body. A thin layer of blue smoke appeared against his hulking frame. A mysterious wind wrapped around his entire body, stirring his perfectly combed hair wildly.
Brutus understood this skirmish would be a lose-lose situation for him. These were the kids of his peers; embarrassingly enough, in the last few years, they had acquired enough resources to accelerate their strength to a level good enough to stand against him on the same field. Normally, that would dent his pride, but Brutus had to remember the origins of this ancient clan. Humility was everything. Especially in these current circumstances.
Climbing the hill in haste, the air was suddenly halted by the whining snarl of a great beast. Brutus felt his blood turn cold. For across this vast spread of land, there was only one beast capable of causing the skies to quake in that way.
His band reached the top of the hill and held their steads in place. From a vantage point, they could see across the endless open clearing. To the side were wisps and forest remnants. Brutus shuddered coldly; he recognised only a few days ago, this entire clearing was covered in tall forests.
That blood-curdling sound whined loudly against the air again. Brutus tossed his gaze towards the heavens, and his eyes bulged wide in terror. His men spotted the creature first, lurking amongst the unnatural clouds above.
"By the Gods! D-d-d-ra" Muttered one of them.
"T-t-two dragons?" confirmed another.
Brutus couldn't even take in the level of death against the clearing below. Two medium-sized dragons were hovering above. Since he was currently at the peak of the Bronze body rank, he could see the features of those arrogant fellows seated proudly atop of those dragons, even from this far away he knew exactly who those two brats were riding those beasts proudly.
They, of course, were the grandchildren of the patriarch, Govan and Lotten Cloud.