"17C, are you okay!?" a familiar voice is calling out to me, but I do not know where it is coming from. I need to open my eyes, but I can not seem to manage it.
"Valian, you must have took a hard hit dude" that sounded just like one of my friend's voices, but I can not distinguish who's voice it is.
"it is time to wake up. You have been unconscious for too long" that sounds like 7P. I must have passed out when we reached the temple.
"this should wake him up. I pray to you-" I feel something wash down my throat, and my eyes quickly open. A disgusting taste spreads across my tongue, and I sit up in a flash. I look around to see that the girl from before, Camilla. Around me, I can see that Alice, 7P, Halfar and Seive are sitting close to me. But as much as I want to say something, a voice in my head is calling out, which sounds familiar. The voice sounds like it is crying for my help. It just repeats '17C, where are you? I need you'. I do not know what to make of it, but right now, I need to focus on gaining a proper understanding of where we are. If I didn't know any better, I would say that we were sent back in time. But could that bomb really do something like that? Or are we trapped in some kind of limbo? If this is a kind of limbo, the last place I thought I would end up in is some kind of roman city. And to think that we are in Rome of all places. I heard that before 'The Fracturing', Rome was one of two great cities. The two most known cities of the Roman Empire were Rome, and Constantinople. But after a series of events, 'The Fracturing' happened, and everything was scattered. After everyone got settled into their new lands, human history continued. I am so amazed that I am able to be present in a pre-fracturing Rome. I snap out of my deep thoughts and look to my friends, who are all gathered around me, with concerned expressions on their faces.
"I guess the wound was too much for me to bare, how long have I been unconscious for?" Halfar looks up to the sun, nearly blinding him due to his stupidity. He looks back to me, recovering from the holes that the sun probably burned into his retinas.
"nearly a day. Night has already come and gone" that can't be right. It did not feel like a whole day at all. As I think about the implications of time passing so quickly, Camilla leans in to inspect me. The girl from before appears to be very interested in me, in terms of my wounds and our mysterious appearance here. Camilla places her right hand on her face.
"your wound has been completely healed by the power of my prayer, but I have never been granted such power by the gods. Your group is becoming more strange with every passing moment. I would like to ask all of you many questions later" we all nod our heads in agreement with this religious girl. Camilla claps her hands together in joy. I raise my hand to speak to Camilla, who is still shaking with anticipation. Camilla looks to me as I inhale before speaking.
"I do not know how you can heal people, but each-I mean most of us here, are able to use some form of a power" Seive, Halfar and Felicity look at me with displeased faces. Every other member of our group are just looking at the three. Camilla looks at her hands and turns to me, sceptical of my claims, she tilts her head and folds her arms.
"if that is so, then please demonstrate to me that you can wield such powers" I accept Camilla's challenge and push myself to my feet. Unfortunately, I lose all of my strength immediately and fall to my knees. I am going to need a walking stick, so I will create just that. I hold out my hand and visualise a walking cane in my hand. With some of my strength being used to create the object, I can feel my body becoming weak. The cane finally materialises in my hand and I use it to prevent myself from falling to the ground. I use the cane to hold my failing body up. Using the cane I have just created, I manage to pull myself back up onto my feet. I focus some of my energy on using the cane as a third leg. Seeing this, Camilla claps in joy and amazement at my struggle. Alice walks up to me and tries to help me to stand. Alice holds my head up to look into my eyes.
"are you okay 17C?" Alice is looking through the windows of my eyes, into my very soul. Alice is really worried about me. I am trying to not shake, but I am still growing used to this cane. While trying to hide the fact that I am struggling, I answer Alice.
"I am okay. Please don't worry about me Alice" Alice shakes her head to me and places her hand on top of mine, which I am holding my cane with. Halfar and Seive are looking at me with amazed faces. 7P and Felicity are looking at Alice in agreement, while 11O seems to be thinking about something. What could 11O be thinking abut? It is obviously something which is taking up all of his thoughts. Alice grips tightly onto my hand and looks away.
"you have taken a bullet and also a fragment from a blade. You put yourself in harms way just so the rest of the group could be happy. You are not okay, you have received a lot of pain just trying to make sure that the rest of us are happy. So please, do not brush us off, please let us take care of you when you are mortally wounded like you were during that battle. The moment you lost consciousness, the moment you fell to the ground, I never want to see that happen to you again" Halfar, Seive, 7P and Felicity walk up to Alice and I. They all gather around us and simultaneously agree with Alice. Seive steps forward and adjusts his glasses before he speaks.
"you have been friends with Halfar and I for a long time, so we do agree with Alice. We want you to survive the adventure in fleeing from Ismilda. We do not want you to die fighting against her. You are probably the reason why Halfar and I are still alive" I am only doing what should be expected of me. My father always told me to make sure that non of my friends could be hurt while I am around. Even though my father did not practice what he preached, I intend on doing better and going through with protecting my friends until the end. 7P also steps forward.
"I have been helping you on this journey of ours, and you are always the one who went to help the person who was in trouble. When you fell down all those levels in the facility, we could not spare any time to rescue you. We left you for dead, yet you not only returned, but you also continued to help all of us. Even after everything you have done for us, for people who you have mostly only just met, you have not asked that much, if anything at all from us. We are all in agreement that you should become our leader" I shake my head to 7P in disagreement.
"what you said is true, I have not known many of you long enough to be considered a good leader. I am not good at making important decisions either, so there is also that reason for me to not be the leader. 16M is doing a good job as leader anyways. And to address the issue you have with me helping so much, I should be doing more to help. I am not going to just stand idly by while there is something you need help with" while I may want to help everywhere I can, I also feel that the loss of my parents and everything we have gone through, will soon push me to the breaking point. I still want to be the man who my father wanted me to be. My one goal is to be worthy of being called a true friend by everyone in our group. 11O finally makes a move and steps up to me.
"no, you are an absolute idiot. You have no care for your own safety, while also not expecting anything in return for your help. I do not know what kind of game you are playing at, but putting everyone else before yourself is not something that you would expect to find in a world of twenty billion people. I do not know what you have gone through which could lead you towards being this kind of a person, but you do not have to be the only one helping. We are not going to let you do this alone any longer" I am happy that everyone wants to help. But I still need to work hard to earn my place as their real friend. With no other choice, I nod to 11O, who has a firm and annoyed face.
"I will not object to your help. I will enjoy the company when I am out there helping any of you with your troubles" everyone around me are showing me pleased faces. It seems that my friends are happy with the outcome. Camilla steps in-between all of us and turns to me.
"not to ruin this moment, but now that you are leader, I need to ask you many questions about the world which you came from" I nod to Camilla, who shifts her expression to one of satisfaction. I am about to walk over to her, when a man in armour rushes into the temple. The man runs over to Camilla, who is caught off-guard by this sudden interruption.
"Priestess Camilla, we must immediately warn you of an army which is approaching the city!" Camilla immediately looks alarmed by the words from this soldier.
"from where!? We did not hear any news about an army coming our way" the soldier gestures for Camilla to follow him. I also follow behind them. The rest of my group follows behind me. The soldier turns back to Camilla while rushing through the streets.
"it is the Visigoths, I believe. We must defend the city from such uncivilised animals" Camilla nods and turns back to us, showing a visibly shaken expression.
"We have already dealt with the Visigoths twice, but something must have happened during peace negotiations. This is very coincidental. I fear that there is a reason that you have been brought to this certain time. We are going to need some help when dealing with this army" I turn around to face everyone else in my group. All of my friends are moving their heads up and down, in agreement with helping Camilla. I return my attention to Camilla.
"we will help you to defend this city" Camilla breathes a sigh of relief and waves her hand for us to follow her through the streets.
"we should be able to assess the Visigoth numbers from one of the higher walls. Come with me, and I will show you what we are dealing with" I nod to Camilla and walk behind her as she turns around to walk through the busy streets. Due to the clothing we are wearing, we are being glanced over by nearly every person who we pass by. But as we get closer to the walls, the voices of panicked people is becoming ever more clearer. Camilla walks around the corner of a street and we follow behind her. As we reach the other side, I can see that she is already halfway up a set of stairs. I follow her up and the rest of my group follows behind me. As I reach the top, I see Camilla standing at the edge of the wall, looking down at what I can presume are the enemy forces. I walk over to Camilla to assure her that we can help. As I reach her, the full enemy force comes into view. The entire visible field is covered by the Visigoth forces. I have a bad feeling, as if we are not only going to lose, but this city is also going to be ruined by the enemy once they defeat us. I am going to have to fight all of them. I am not going to allow all of these innocent people to fall victim to these hordes. I turn to Camilla, who is showing a face full of fear.
"I have not had much experience with fighting with swords, but I promise you that not only will I defend my friends, but I will also defend your city" Camilla is showing a stunned face to my words. She starts to go teary eyes and wipes her eyes.
"thank you. I know that your help will be vital, but I do not think that we are going to hold this time. I do not think we are going to survive this battle. I also am starting to believe that our last two scares were just us biding our time until this city falls. Stranger, if this city falls, please do not put your life down. You seem to have an important part to play in this battle, but I do not believe that dying is the reason why you are here" I do not feel good about leaving so many people at the mercy of the barbarians. If it comes to it, I will make sure that I can hep everyone to escape, I will find all who I can manage to help. At this point, since I do not know if we are going to be able to return to the present, I might as well help to the best of my ability. I put on a gentle smile and shake my head to Camilla.
"I am not going to just let something as terrible as this happen. I am going to fight to protect everyone here, no matter what. I am sorry to tell you, but I am going to fight that army until everyone is safe" Camilla makes an uneasy face, one of objection, but she does not say anything. As the invading horde roars outside the walls, 11O walks up to us.
"although I may be concerned with the outcome of this battle, I do agree with 17C. We will do everything we can to help" Camilla is still paralysed by our words. Alice, 7P, Halfar and Seive also walk over and gather around us. Camilla shakes her head and smiles.
"thank you, all of you. We will have some time to prepare, but I fear that we will not have too long" that is concerning, I wonder how Camilla knows how long we have until the city falls.
"how long do you think we have?" Camilla looks out towards the hordes and places her left hand over her face, exhaling deeply.
"I believe we will have two days at the most" that does not leave a lot of time for us to prepare and train. But I think we will be able to make it work. I turn back to the rest of my group, who are looking to each other with hesitation in their eyes.
"we will have to make the best of those two days. It will all depend on how hard we work towards becoming strong fighters. The fate of this city is now in our hands" 11O and 7P nod to me in agreement, while Alice, Halfar, Seive and Felicity are not looking too certain of our chances. Halfar and Seive move forward and Seive points to Felicity.
"while some of you have special powers which help you fight against powerful foes, some of us are not so lucky" That does create a bit of a problem. But there should be a way for us to be able to train the members of our group who do not have any powers.
"maybe one of us can train your abilities with swords. After all, we are going to be fighting with them" Halfar and Seive sigh, but nod in agreement with me. Camilla turns away and raises her hands to gather our attention.
"we still have two days, so we should return to the temple so that all of you can fully recover from the effects that travelling from such long distances can have on you" without even hearing our answer, Camilla starts walking back towards the temple. Even as we move further away from the walls, we can still hear the roars of the Visigoths. I can feel the fear and terror flowing through the city with each passing moment. Roman soldiers are moving through the streets as we reach and pass the Forum. Even though an attack is not likely to happen as soon as the hordes have reached us, the soldiers are readying themselves nonetheless. I wonder what the soldiers are going to think of some kids like us helping to defend against such an intimidating foe. But as I am thinking on something to humour myself with, I am instantly stopped by the sight of a soldier passing us. Except this soldier is around my age, maybe even younger. Are the Romans desperate? Or do they normally recruit at such a young age? Times really have changed. If that soldier is going to fight with all he has got, then I should also do the same. 11O quickens his pace to move closer to me.
"you should really speak to Felicity, she is going through a lot right now. We need to help her, seeing as though her father died helping us" I nod to 11O and turn to Felicity, who is looking towards the ground, with her head held low, seemingly consumed by thoughts of grief and misery. We finally reach the temple and Camilla spins around to face us.
"I have already assigned all of you rooms that you can rest in. Halfar, Seive, 17C and 11O will be staying in one room, while Alice, 7P, Felicity and I will be staying in my large room" Camilla opens up the temple doors, and guides us towards our rooms. Many of the monks, priests and worshippers are giving us glances as we pass through the hallways. Strangers appearing out of nowhere, only a day before a large army arrives tends to look very suspicious from a logical view. I can understand why they are giving us such looks. Camilla reaches a large archway and holds her hands out as if she is presenting the most amazing piece of architecture in the world.
"this is my room! It will be where Alice, 7P and Felicity will be staying so-" Felicity walks past us and nearly bumps into Camilla, interrupting her. I turn to 11O and raise my hand as a way of saying 'I will handle this'. I run after Felicity as she breaks into a full sprint, wiping her eyes as she passes an intersection of corridors. I am trying to catch up to Felicity, but she is running at such a speed which does not allow me to gain even a single meter on her. She turns a corner, and moments later, I reach the same corner. I turn around the corner of the hallway and find her at the end of a balcony, leaning on the railing. I run over to speak with her as quickly as I can. As I reach the balcony where she is, I can hear her sobbing, crying. I walk over to her side.
"I am sorry for your loss. It should have not ended that way, but now we are here, stranded" Felicity's wails and cries echo through the streets below us. Birds are flying away as Felicity's cries reach them. Due to the way our world has progressed, the overpopulation has led to a decline in morals. I wish it were not the case, but most people in population centres tend to feel less emotionally. For country people, it is very different. I can not possibly imagine what it must be like to lose the one person who you had known for all your life. The only person in your life. Felicity wipes away some tears and looks to me, with bloodshot eyes and a wet face.
"he gave his life for a bunch of strangers. I watched as he died. I was not able to properly process his death in my mind, but now I am. I am starting to feel all of my emotions caving in around me. I can feel an emptiness, where he once was. I lost my father, and I could not do anything to save him. If only I had been strong enough to help him. I am powerless, but I do not want to be" Felicity is now an emotional wreck in front of me. Felicity's sorrow is mostly my fault, seeing as though our group asked for help, which led to the agents finding us. If we had just continued through the forest, those agents would have never fought and killed Felicity's father. I owe it to Felicity to try and make her life better, to try an help her through this great loss. If this has taught me anything, it is that the worst is yet to come, and we are still going to lose a lot of people who we care about. Not only is this battle going to be important for the survival of the city, but also for each of us. I am going to have to fight until there is nothing left of me. I can not just allow more people to fall because of my inability and weakness.
"Felicity, I promise you that your father's death will not be in vain. From the limited time I knew your father, I know that he would not want you to become a husk of sorrow and pain. He wanted you to survive, so I will do my best to protect your life. Every single one of us in our group have lost our families to the same people who you lost your father to" Felicity slowly turns her head towards me and sobs as she stops, looking towards me with her watery nose.
"you led those agents to our house, and you dragged us into a hopeless battle. You may have saved my father from the debt collector, but you also influenced his decision in helping you. I can not forgive what you have done, but I thank you for saving my father" Felicity has probably spent her whole life in that cabin. The moment her father helped strangers, was the moment she lost her father, and her home. I completely understand why she can not forgive us so easily, if ever. I will not stop until Felicity has a place to call home.
"Felicity, I am so sorry that this has all happened to you. No one should have to go through what you are going through. We can not change the past, but we can try to make a better future. If you ever need someone to talk to, you can talk to any of us. We are all happy to comfort you during these troubling times. All of these events are too much for a single person to handle, so please do not feel like you have to handle them alone" we are all a part of a group now, so we should help each other whenever there is a problem or a grievance. Felicity wipes her eyes and lets out a sad exhale.
"I am scared of what could be worse than this. But if all of you are willing to be there for me when I feel down, then you have my thanks" I nod to Felicity in acknowledgement and turn to look over the streets below, filled with soldier and crowds of people.
"I agree. I am afraid of the potential carnage that can result from these battles. If the city walls and gates fall, we will all be trapped. I will do my best to prevent a tragedy" Felicity makes a forces smile of optimism, but it quickly fades. I stand beside Felicity as she continues to mourn.