Mason felt himself slipping as darkness clouded his senses, he couldn't tell if he was going up or going down.
He was wondering, " how will heaven look like or will I go to hell because of the lives I have taken. Perhaps I could enter purgatory and offer penance and attone for my sins."
Suddenly, he felt himself being yanked out of wherever he was and suddenly, there was a bright light and he was back on land.
He looked around, he was close to a waterfall with sparse trees , this suggested that this place was frequented by people.
He touched the back of his head , there was a wound there but not the kind caused by a bullet wound but could be caused by blunt force.
" Mason , Mason ... Where are you ?" A voice rang out from inside the woods , probably a woman.
But Mason didn't reply, he was vigilant and seeing as he didn't know where he was he decided to keep calm and study his surroundings.
As he was looking around , his eyes caught glimpse of his reflection, something impossible had occurred, he was no longer in his body but rather in the body of a young teenager between the ages of fourteen and sixteen.
He was still in the state of surprise and shock when a woman came rushing through the forest dressed as a nun.
" What happened to you Mason?" She asked, checking him for bruises. When she saw the wound at the back of his head she didn't panic. Suddenly a warm light glowed from her hands which immediately healed the wound , Mason could even feel that wound closing at incredible speeds.
In his mind, thousands of gears were spinning,
" Is this alien technology, why am I here , is this purgatory or hell." This were all the thoughts that were running through his head.
But he did nothing, he didn't even do so much as cough as the nun led him through the forest. It was until they reached a walled city that he spoke up for the first time.
" Where are we ? "
The nun looked back at him with pity before replying,
" We are in Weimer ? " She replied
" As in Weimer, Germany ? " Mason asked.
" No." She replied, " we are German people, but we are citezens of the Prussian empire."
Mason went quiet, if this was true then it meant that the alternate earth theory wasn't completely rubbish . But there were still several loopholes, like why the nun could heal injuries and why the guards at the gate carried sword and spears. Even still why was the Prussian empire still in existence.
He was still thinking about it when they arrived at a cathedral, behind it was the orphanage that houses up to seventy children.
" Mason remember to rest properly you need to be strong for your journey to the capital for your academy entrance examination." The nun said while half pushing him into a room.
She then left and made her way into the cathedral and there she encountered the priest Zacharia, one eyed with a face full of scars .
" I'm sorry father, he tried to kill himself again." Agatha as that was the nuns name said to the priest . " And now he has lost most of his memories."
" Don't you think that is a good thing, I mean loosing his memory. He could actually forge new memories and forget his past. Don't you think so sister Agatha " Zacharia asked .
" I defer to your judgement father." Agatha replied before leaving the chapel.
After that Zacharia continued his prayers,
" Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."
The next morning, around maybe five o'clock Mason woke up from sleep, cleaned up the room and went for a run. During the run, he noticed that he hadn't even run for ten minutes and he had started breathing hard out of exhaustion . He tried doing push ups but failed after ten. His only successful rep was the sit ups.
He was now getting used to the idea that this body was now his and that it was weak , so he would need to train regularly.
" What are you doing son ? " Zacharia asked, as he seemed to appear out of nowhere.
" I am trying to train my body Father. " Mason replied looking the priest straight in the eye without flinching or lowering his gaze.
" It seems that your accident made you more brave, you have never looked me straight in the eye before ."
" Forgive me father, I didn't mean to be discourteous ." Mason apologized, " but I was wondering in regards to my memory loss, I was wondering if there is a Library where I could could brush up on my knowledge so that I won't embarrass my self due to my faded knowledge."
Mason was then led into a small library with just few books like the Bible, a book on the the history and applications of magic, an overview of magic beasts and demons and also the world map.
It was the map that finally convinced him that he was in an alternate universe. Earth still looked the same on the maps although the borders on the maps were redrawn, it was still the same.
According to history books ,it seems that history follows the same path till 1290 a.d after the northern crusades and the fall of Acre .
It was said that a strange meteor exploded up on entering the earths atmosphere sending shockwaves and debris all over the earth.
At first , people thought that this was just a world wide natural phenomenon but a few months later several strange occurrences were sighted like a man who shot out a river of fire from his hands or a woman who healed her dying husband.
There were even cases of mutations like vampires, humans who survived on blood, there were shapeshifters like werewolves .
After some years the energy that caused the change in human physiology was dubbed magic and after so much resistance, people came to accept it as part of them.
There were different categories of magic like the elemental magic which included fire, lightning, earth control, water , frost and air magic.
There were also other kinds of magic like flight , telekinesis, healing or light magic darkness magic, body strengthening magic , shapeshifting and rune magic.
Because of magic history took a turn , there was no invention of the steam engine that kick-started the industrial revolution, people were so obsessed with magic that they remained relatively stagnant in terms of technology. Except for the teleportation stations and the communication and tracking devices , there were no further progress in science and technology.
But magic even with all its thrill came with a heavy price , one hundred years after humanity discovered magic they were invaded by an alien race that were dubbed demons who wreaked havoc through kingdoms , slaughtering thousands as they swept through like a plague.
Because of this humanity moved past their differences and for once banded together to fight off the demon the demon invasion.
For over two hundred years they fought and lost, developed magic weapons ( weapons that channelled magic) and by the 190th year the humans started pushing back hard against the demons , it was an age of great and powerful magic weilders. Finally the demons retreated to the south American continent making it their stronghold.
Some groups of demons still remained on other continents but were being hunted without end.
After that humanity gathered themselves to form empires ruled by the strong. In Europe, there was the Prussian empire, the Ottoman empire, the coalition of Balkan states , the Britainia empire, the French Republic and the Russian empire.
In Asia was the empire of Japan, the Ming dynasty, the Joseon kingdom and the Persian empire.
In Africa was the Borno kingdom, the Sokoto caliphate , the Oyo empire, the Benin kingdom, the Egyptian empire and the Limpopo empire.
In north and central America, the Mayans ,the Aztecs and the other native tribes unites into a single empire.
And as time went by human greed took over and they began fighting against themselves for resources like the mana stones and crystals which was essential in powering up teleportation gates, communication devices and used in making magic weapons.
They also fought for access to magical ores like mythril , a lightweight silvery metal that is extremely durable and sometimes has a magical sheen.
There was adamantium an almost indestructible metal if forged correctly.
Orichalcum was a rise gold metal that had anti magic qualities.
Darksteel, very rare was brittle in its ore form but when forged, it becomes indestructible.
Starmetal was another metal with no much special qualities except that it was extremely magic friendly.
And just as the oil boom and the industrial revolution gave rise to corporations, the discovery of these ores gave rise to the guilds. The guilds just like corporations were driven by profit and could do anything in pursuit of that not even in fear of what the government would say, after all they paid the bulk of taxes even after all their tax evasions and most times provided government officials with "extracurricular activities".
In heirachial structure of the society, at the very top was the royalty then the nobles , then the guild masters, the military and then the commoners.
Then there was the matter of the magic academy. When a child turns fifteen he is sent if to a magic academy where he or she would be tested . They are tested in two things magic capacity and magic attributes, if they reach the requirements they would be admitted into the academy and given all necessary resources to grow. After graduation depending on your performance, you will stand a chance to be scouted by guilds or even government agencies .
But the academy environment was very brutal, only ten out of every one hundred students get admitted and only three in twenty graduate successfully and in three days Mason would find himself in that jungle. Only time would tell if he is going to come out successfully after five years or join the dregs as a weastreal.