As the endless white void that had been my home for more than a 100 years slowly dimmed and flickered into nothingness, a strange blend of sensations began to permeant throughout my entire body; each sensation rapidly growing stronger and stronger with every passing second.
Simultaneously, I began to feel as though my body was being gently lifted up, all while my soul was being harshly dragged back down to earth.
I could feel fresh blood beginning to pump through my veins again, even as my lungs struggled to expand and contract; as if it was the first time they had ever had to preform such an action.
And I also felt something strange inside myself. Like something intimately familiar had suddenly become foreign again; and it was determined to kill me. I could feel that foreign something trying to burn me from the inside out all while something else healed me just as fast.
The two sensations continued to fight for dominance inside me, before mercifully, the two began to equalize and merge. And at long last I felt whole & complete once more. I still felt warm, but it was a comfortable, familiar kind of warm.
[Integration into new world successful!]
[We apologize for any discomfort you might have experienced while the origin of your powers was being adapted to better conform with this world's logic, and to your personalized backstory.]
(Author's note: Y/N is not going to have a system that talks to him throughout the entire story. It's just an easy way to convey background information in the beginning. You won't see [x] again after the next chapter)
Slowly opening my eyes, I found myself alone in a peaceful forest clearing, as small rays of light gently broke through the canopy and reflected off the nearby river; bathing me and the surroundings in a ethereal glow.
For a long while I simple laid there; enjoying the sensations I hadn't even noticed were missing. The best way to describe it was that it felt like a weird background noise had suddenly stopped, and now everything sounded much sharper and more in focus. Everything sounded fine before, but now it was perfect.
Once I had my fill, I sat up and made sure everything was in order. 10 fingers and toes, 2 eyes and ears, and one of everything else.
Though there was something strange...
"Why are my hands so tiny?" I asked aloud to no one. In fact, everything about me was suddenly much more compact then it should be.
Shuffling over towards the river, I looked at my reflection only to see a child-like version of myself staring back.
Y/N:
I had definitely made sure that my age was set as 20 when using the appearance customizer, but now it looked like I were 11 or 12 years old. What gives?
[Age parameter was reset to better conform to your personalized backstory. (Decision authorized by: Your assigned angel)]
[Note: The strength of your powers, the level of control you've achieve, and the skills you've learned during training have not been affected]
"Ok..." I began slowly before yelling out in frustration. "What backstory!?"
[Backstory created by assigned angel to help user better integrate into new world.]
[Would you like to view backstory (1 of 2)?]
Quickly selecting yes, I felt my conscious fade as new memories began flowing into my head.
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Once upon a time, I was nothing more than just a humble and tiny little Fire Spirit; standing no taller than a single acorn.
My days were spent exploring the nearby forests and hills, often playing with the other nature spirits and fairies. (And just as often hiding from the fairies when they tried to snuff me out in some stupid game they invented.)
But despite all that, I was content.
My absolute favorite thing to do however, was to listen to the stories of knights and adventures that the children would make up when they would play with the fairies. How they would go on all these grand quests, and do all manner of heroic deeds.
And I wanted to be just like them.
I would wander all over the forest looking for tiny twigs to use as swords; and I would practice swinging them around for hours. I wanted to become a great adventurer. I wanted to go on a grand quest just like the humans did.
Though...it became increasingly difficult when the others would snap my makeshift swords or try to snuff out my flames while I were practicing.
It quickly become their favorite game to play when they were bored...
After a while I began to resent them a little for that. Was it really so wrong for someone like me to have dreams like that? What right did they have to stop me from even trying?
If only I hadn't been born as a weak little Fire Spirit. Everyone told me over and over again that it was impossible for someone like me to be anything more.
If only I had been born as something stronger...
If only I could've been human...
Maybe then, I would have been allowed to dream...
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"Wait, that's it!?" I exclaimed when the memories had stopped flowing. "How did I go from fire spirit to human?! Play the second part!"
[Access to backstory (2 of 2) temporally restricted.]
[Decision made by: Your assigned angel]
[Explanation: Would be more a dramatic reveal later.]
"Oh, come on!" I whined, burying my face in my hands. "Ok, here's a different question. Why. Am. I. A. Kid?"
[Nature spirits normally only interact with other nature spirits and/or fairies.]
[Fairies, in turn, prefer playing with human children as their imaginations are less restrained.]
[In this world, the Fire Spirit you once were, would have had very limited exposure to adult humans. Thus, when you did became human, your closest reference for what an older human looks like would most likely have been that of a 11 year old child.]
[Your chosen appearance settings have been noted, and will be applied as you age naturally.]
[We hope you enjoy a wonderful life, bye bye!]
"Yeah...well some warning would have been nice." I grumbled irritable.
Unfortunately it didn't seem like there was anything I could do about the age problem now. The system screen didn't show up again no matter what I tried, so I decided it would be smarter to just move on to the next biggest problem.
The fact that I were lost in the middle of a forest, standing butt-ass naked. It wasn't like I was exactly defenseless though, so I decided to just pick a direction, and started walking.
Thankfully it seemed that luck was on my side as after 30 or so minutes, I came across a large dirt road and felt the ground beginning to tremble beneath me.
"Based on these vibrations, there are about...a dozen horses." I said placing my hand against the ground and closing my eyes. "They're moving fast, and...crap! Coming this way!"
Quickly moving back behind the tree-line, I managed to hide just in time for the horses and their riders to go surging past.
Their clothing gave me vague Viking or maybe Celtic vibes; and from the excited look on the men's faces, they were probably on their way home from a successful raid.
Their clothing certainly didn't look modern, but I didn't want to make any assumptions yet. (Especially since the Nasuverse was no stranger to things being way more complicated than they looked.)
Honestly I was just going to let the riders go until I saw an old wooden wagon holding several children inside; none of them looked older than 10.
For less than a second, I locked eyes with one of the girls in the wagon. Someone had given her a nasty black eye, but I could still clearly make out the look of fear and desperation on her face.
"Well...that settles that then." I said nonchalantly as the last of the raiders rode past my hiding spot.
I waited a solid minute or two to put some more distance between me and the raiders. Then, once I were sure the raiders were a good distance away, I began focusing on a particular spot on my back.
With a small grunt of effort, two large feathery wings made of fire suddenly erupted from my back; from their appearance, they looked like miniature replicas of Phoenix's wings.
I then bent my knees slightly, before shooting off into the sky like a rocket!
I was lucky that it was a sunny mid-day afternoon and that the clouds were hanging low. It meant that odds were good that I hadn't been spotted as I made my ascent upwards. (Wings made of fire may look cool, but man were they terrible for stealth missions.)
It didn't take me long to catchup to the raiders. Honestly, they were pretty sloppy compared to the elite military platoons I would sometimes fight during my training. They were so confident in themselves that they hadn't even bothered assigning anyone watching the rear to make sure they weren't being followed.
By the time they got back to their base, the sun was just now beginning to set. It painting the sky in a picturesque shade of blue and orange, and it was the perfect camouflage for someone like me.
From what I could observe while flying, this was likely a new base that they were still in the middle of establishing. The outer defenses were placed decently well, but the various facilities inside were rather haphazard with where they had been set up.
A frontal assault would have been difficult and time consuming for most people, but who would expect someone to just fly in and stage an attack from inside their own base?
After confirming where they were keeping the hostages, I descended quickly and began taking out the guards patrolling the perimeter, (and occasionally stealing an article or two of clothing for my trouble). Thankfully I still had my Eikon powers, so I were a lot stronger than the average 11 year old.
As I continued to sneak around the base, I made sure to listen in on some of the conversations that the men were having. They were all largely unimportant, (the standard blustering and posturing you'd expect with raiders), but something interesting I learned was that they all spoke with a distinctly Scottish accent.
Filing that info away for later, I silently made my way over to the building holding the hostages and entered.
"W-who are you!?!" asked one of the hostages. It was the same girl I had spotted on the wagon, though now she was sporting a few fresh bruises and a broken arm. "S-stay away from us you hear!" she stammered, trying to shield some of the younger kids behind her.
"Ok...was not expecting her to be British."
Quickly dismissed the thought, I slowly crouched down and spoke in what was hopefully a polite and calming tone. "It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."
"Y-you don't sound l-like them...Who are you?"
"My name's Y/N. I saw you guys being brought here, and came to rescue you."
"W-what are you, stupid?!" the girl hissed; now seemingly stuck between wanting to yell at me, but not wanting to alert the guards. "You should've have gone for help or somethin'!"
Letting the comment slide, I gave the girl a noncommittal hum before shifted focus to her injuries.
"That arm doesn't look too good, can I see it?."
"What, why?" the girl asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
"I need to see how bad the damage is. Please, trust me."
For a while, the two of us just stared at each other. It was obvious that she still didn't trust me, but eventually she relent and shifted slightly to give me better access to her arm.
Gently placing my hand over the break, my hands began to glow brightly as I focused a small bit of Phoenix's energy towards injury; and within a few minutes the broken arm was as good as new.
"It's all better...How did-" the girl started asking before one the kids behind her interrupted.
"A-are you an angel mister?" the kid asked, staring in awe.
"I don't think I am..." I replied. I swear this kid's name better not turn out to be Anakin or something.
"But you had wings! They're gone now, but I saw them when your hands turned all shiny! They were big and had feathers; and you healed Addy's arm too! My mum told me that angels can heal people." the kid finished matter-a-factly, as the other children crowded around and let out a choir of "I saw them too!".
I really didn't have the t̶i̶m̶e̶ heart to tell them otherwise, so I quickly healed their injuries as well before addressing the eldest girl again.
"Listen Addy, I'm going to do everything in my power to get you all out of here safely. Is this everyone the raiders have taken?"
"N-no your h-holiness(?)..." the girl replied. She wasn't not quite sure how to address me now, but quickly moved on, "They raided our village a few days ago too, and they took some of the woman. They were being kept in here with us, but the Picts dragged them out just before you came in."
"Picts? Where have I heard that name before?" I wanted to ask more, but decided it could wait till after.
"Ok, I want all you guys to stay here with Addy, alright? You're probably going hear a lot of fighting soon but don't worry, I promise I wont let anything bad happen to any of you."
With one last reassuring smile, I stealthy left the hostage building, and realized just how much time I had spent inside.
"I'm taking too long." I noted warily as I saw a full moon planted firmly in the night sky. It was a miracle that these Picts hadn't already noticed that some of their guards had been taken out, but I couldn't risk taking any more time. But now there were even more hostages to rescue...
"No point staying hidden anymore." I decided.
There just wasn't enough time to go looking for a whole new group of hostages. So, the best thing to do now would be to draw all the Picts to me and to eliminate them first.
I didn't want anyone to attack the kids while I were busy fighting though, so I decided to use a handy little trick that Joshua had taught me.
Manifesting and scattering Phoenix's feathers in a circle around the hostage building, I called forth my wings once more and took off; lighting up the night sky like a flare.
It took me less than a minute to reach a good altitude. Then before anyone knew what was happening, I suddenly changed directions and came hurtling back down like a meteor!
(And just to be dramatic little shit, I changed the shape of the fireball to that of Ifrit's face!)
While the Picts did scramble their defenses, but it was obvious that they were all terrified; after-all, they had never seen anything like me before.
For a second the world turned silent, then with a thunderous BOOM!!! I slammed into the earth; shaking the entire valley. A massive pillar of fire erupted from the point of impact; and I emerged from the flames in all my winged glory.
With all eyes on me, no one noticed tendrils of fire suddenly erupting from the feathers surrounding the hostage building; crisscrossing and connecting at random to form a kind of bubble barrier.
(A/N: imagine this but half a sphere, and covering a building.)
As the seconds ticked by, no one dared to move or utter a single word. So decided to break the stalemate myself, I uttered a single phrase.
"Hello there."
The place lit up like a powder keg. The Picts starting bellowing out war cries and charged straight at me with their weapons raised! (Hell, some even tried to attack me with just their fists!)
Quickly summoning some fire and shaping it into a spear, I meet the Picts head on.
If it wasn't for the fact that my makeshift weapon was so hot that it was instantly cauterizing the wounds I was inflicting, it would have been a bloodbath.
I didn't take any joy in kill them however. Years spent honing the healing aspect of my powers, combined with having spent so much time with two brothers who always fought for the sake of others, had imparted a strong sense of morality in me. I recognized that despite whatever crimes that may have committed, these Picts were still people.
So my attacks were precise, efficient, and inflicted as little pain as possible. Needing no more than a single attack per Pict.
Within a few minutes most of the Picts laid dead at my feet; with the remaining handful keeping a safe distance.
"So you're the bastard causing all that racket. You don't even look old enough to drink yet boy."
Following the voice to a large Pict emerging from a near building. The Pict soldiers made way for the man who walked through the crowd and came to a stop just a few meters away from me. The man finished his drink in one big gulp before tossing the empty wooden goblet over his shoulder.
Sneering rudely the Pict captain continued, "Man or demon, whichever you be, begone! We have no time for some upstart brat!"
"You guys beat children, raid villages, and kidnap woman; and you have gall to call me a demon?" I retorted sarcastically.
"That's why you're here? Who gives a shit about some stupid hostages brat!"
The Pict captain suddenly closed the distance with a burst of inhuman speed. It was honestly so unexpected that I only barely had enough time to raise my spear to protect myself from his overhead swing.
"What the hell?!" I thought as my arms bent slightly to compensate for the downward force. There was no way this guy was human, he had the strength of at least 10 men.
Quickly refocusing on the fight, I redirected the captain's attack and stuck him on the side of the head; which appeared to have no effect whatever.
"He's not too bad." I thought with a smirk as the two of us continued to trade blows.
I was obviously holding back a lot, but compared to the regular Pict soldiers I had fought before, the captain was head and shoulders above them in both skill and power.
Deciding I could stop holding back just a little, I suddenly began pressed the attack!
"Lets see how he handles this!"
Almost immediately the Pict Captain was put the defensive. He managed to deflect most of my attacks with his sword, but that was only because I was still going easy on him.
Quickly realizing that he couldn't beat me with a frontal assault, the captain switched to "hit and run" tactics. He began running around the battlefield, jumping this way and that, all in the hopes of creating a single opening.
"Come on, don't stop now!" I laughed as the captain had to break off his assault to catch his breath. "You were doing pretty good!"
"Damn brat. What the hell are you?" the captain struggled to get out between deep breaths. His eyes shifted slightly to look over my shoulder, before a maniacal smile broke out across his face. "Now lad! Do it now!"
During my clash with the captain, the two of us had ended up switched positions. And I was so confident in myself that I had made the rookie mistake of losing my place on the battlefield; and now my back was wide open to the Pict soldiers.
A second after the captain gave the order, I felt a blade pierce though my back. It slide with novice precision through the back of my ribcage, ripped straight through my heart, and only stopped once it had come out the front of my chest.
"I-I did it!" shouted the solider, "I killed the demon!"
"Yes, well done lad, well done." congratulated the captain, stabbing his sword into the ground and leaning on it.
"What was he captain?" another solider asked. "He was so strong, I didn't think anything could kill him."
"Honestly, at this point even I'm not sure if there is anything that can actually kill me, but looks like we can rule out a sword through the heart."
All eyes suddenly snapped to me at the sound of those words. The look of horror on the Pict's face was pretty justified considered I looked pretty peachy for someone with a sword in his chest.
Turning my head slightly, I smiled and politely asked the solider holding the sword, "Excuse me, would you mind? It feels a bit itchy."
The solider was so surprised by the request that he actually did it! They all stared at the gaping hole in my chest, and watched as grew smaller and smaller until there wasn't even a hint that it ever happened in the first place.
"So," I began, re-summoning my weapon. "shall we continue?"
To his credit, the captain did chose to keep fighting, but there was no heart in any of his attacks. He was just attacking desperately, hoping to get lucky.
The battle didn't last much longer after that, and after I dealt with the captain, I turned around to find that the remining Pict soldiers had fled. It was a simple matter after that to search the camp and reunite the kids with their mothers.
I tried explaining to them that I wasn't some kind of "red-winged angel", but after saving their lives and healing everyone I didn't have much success in convincing them otherwise.
I helped them load a few wagons with horses and supplies, and escorted them back to their village. They wanted to hold a feast in my honor, but I decided to decline. The trip to the village had given me the chance I needed to gather some more information, and now I needed sometime alone to process everything.
"Just you wait till King Uther hears about this!" one of the mothers had shouted during the trip.
"Well, at least now I know where I am." I thought as I gathered the remaining supplies from the Pict camp for my own use.
I was in a land of myth, and a time of magic. The Western Roman Empire had just collapsed, forcing Britannia to become independent and break off into several smaller countries. With Saxons invading from the across the sea, and Picts coming in from the north; this era with it's almost daily violent skirmishes between the various kingdoms could only be described as the Dark Ages.
With Uther still on the throne, the destiny of a great kingdom had yet to be written. I had started my second life in the land that would one day be known as Camelot.