3 CH2:G:Seeing A New World
Relcian plague, a plague that covered half of Regalia. Unlike the Gratorian plague that occurs in one of the regions conquered by the Rhaodian Empire. The Relcian plague was less lethal than estimated by scholars. Killing 15% of the population, the Relcian Plague originated in Relcian region of Regalia, but due to the steadfast assistance of the Rhaodian Empire and their clergymen of the holy church, the plague was contained.' Journal Entry #27 Radolf Almata.
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"Rai… Rai, did you doze off again? Hurry up, come inside!" an exhausted motherly voice calls outs. 'Me? Who am I? Rai…?'
Raicer starrily woke from his spot on the bench near the door in front of their townhouse, He was happily napping and dreaming about fighting armies and dragons. 'I was heroic.'
Raicer held a breath, the excitement crawling up his face as he realized why his mother was calling him. He stumbles off the bench as quick as his four-year-old body can. 'My hands are small… am I small?'
Raicer jaunts pass their slightly open front door for his easy entrance, entering the hallway he begins to jump up the stairs with his stubby little legs; his excitement is intoxicating. Raicer ran pass the town midwife who was proudly jaunting pass him with a proud and loving expression on her face, leaving the door slightly open to his parent's bedroom.
Raicer at the prospect of seeing his first sibling hastily opens the door further to the sight of his mother sitting up on her drenched bed, clutching a bundle in her arms…
"There you are Rai…" Raicer's mother greets him warmly, looking up towards him smiling. The exhausted look on her face had Raicer worried for a second, but that beautiful smile always makes him jump with glee.
"Come on, see your baby brother…" Raicer's mother motions him forward.
Raicer approaches in anticipation, excited with glee on beholding his baby sibling for the first time.
"It's a boy"
And there he was, clutching Raicer's mother's tit, eyes are a pure green like emeralds, unlike Raicer's blue ocean ones. The baby looks calm yet so tired as if he spent a day with Raicer's father on his town watch duty.
"Can I name him? Can I name!? Please…" Raicer's excitement overtakes his jubilant mood; blurting out his thoughts.
"No, No... Rai… he already has a name… Gulcasa Lacea…" Raicer's mother gently caresses her baby's head, stroking his head gently as he lightly naps.
"Why did you not protect him Raicer…" Raicer's mother accuses him. Blood started to spurt out of her mouth as she spoke. 'Wait, I did...mother I did!'
The baby's head turns to him, glaring with his pale emerald eyes. Blood began spouting than pouring out the baby's mouth and eyes, but his eyes, that unsettling glare, froze Raicer to his spot.
"Why didn't you save me, brother?"
'I did! I swear I did! I gave you my life! I gave me my life...'
#Gulcasa
Gulcasa eyes quickly open up to a shadowed light, his arm is twitching mighty. 'Am I confined? Where am I? Where are my glasses? Damn the god that curse me with my near-sight.'
Gulcasa struggles to understand where he is and why he feels confined. 'And what the hell is up with that confusing dream I just woke up from? Me being my brother? My brother… where is he?'
"Rai… Rai? Where are you…?" Gulcasa questions the silence.
Gulcasa hears nothing but the resounding ringing in his ears; He tries to shake the pulsating noise out of his head, swaying his head to both sides. Gulcasa left arm continues its frantic twitching. He tries to lift his arms up to cover his ears from that goddamn racket, piercing his earlobes; but Gulcasa arms are banded by leather straps, holding his arms and entire body in a cot.
Gulcasa shake into a panic, he shifts side to side in hopes to escape this confinement that was holding him, but all he really accomplish was to budge the cot to the side. The pulsating noise starts to dissipate, echoing out of Gulcasa's ears, which was happening to be nullifying his hearing.
Gulcasa now hear the moans, and several other things, crying, snoring, coughing, and wheezing. eerily though, no sound from his brother, but only the constant clatter of distress stirring. 'Where am I? In an Infirmary? God damn it If only I can see as far… I am on a cot that is what I know for sure, which is all I can possibly see at the moment.'
Gulcasa turns his head to the side of him, he glimpses another cot beside him which happens to be a fully bandaged man moaning asleep. Gulcasa's left arm still continues to twitch like wriggling insects have burrowed themselves inside his arm, the shuddering twitches felt like the last spasm of a death spat. 'Maybe that's why I am strapped? To stop me lurching out of the cot…?'
"Ah shit…" Gulcasa groans. 'What the fuck is wrong with me, my arm is twitching, I'm normally this blind and I am strapped to this god damn cot like a lunatic.'
"You are awake?" a kindly old male voice pierce Gulcasa thoughts, waking him from his newfound depression.
"Who is that? Who are you?" Gulcasa gasp out a question, imploring the unknown to answer.
"I am the doctor of this fair hospice, my young boy. Doctor Radolf Almata. It's a pleasure meeting you." The doctor elderly said.
"The pleasure is all mine…The name is Gulcasa. I would shake your hand, but I'm a bit of a bind." Gulcasa snarky response.
"Oh, that… Well you see, young man, they brought you in… Your body was twitching quite frantically. It was a miracle getting you to the cot, let alone from the battlefield." Doctor Radulf severely says.
"My brother! Where is he? Was he the one who brought me in?"
"Sadly… no, my boy. You were brought in by the perimeter guards who happen to found you on one of their patrols with a bunch of looters." Radulf mystifyingly said.
"Looters? "
"But where is my brother? Raicer?"
"I do not know, my boy." The doctor perplexingly reply.
"I am sure my brother was there. I heard him there, I'm sure of it." Gulcasa undoubtedly say.
Gulcasa did hear his brother's last words to him when he was about to fall unconscious. 'The help did finally come…' Gulcasa reasons his brother is reporting back to the major about the battle.
"My boy, I do not know what happened to your brother but if he was with the looters, I am sorry to tell you this…" The doctor cautiously says.
"But when they found the looters, leaving your body near their path. The guards quickly pursued them. They imprison them late last night and executed them early this morning…" The doctor gloomily said.
"What…Why?" Gulcasa ask in dismay and consternation.
"They were looters and deserters my boy… Sadly with a moral compass to not let you die helplessly in the aftermath of a battle…"
Radulf mournful express; conveying the loss of life for such a virtuous deed. Gulcasa pales at the idea of his brother being executed in trying to save his life.
"I'm sure my brother was not executed with those looters! He is a Captain in the Red Army…"
Gulcasa assuring himself that they would not have executed his brother if they knew he was and his rank. Besides Raicer is not deserter or looter; he fought tooth and nail to gain his position, bravery of battle and leadership. Not in any world where Raicer would be classified a looter and severely executed the following day.
"A Captain you say? His full name, please? I will get one of my helpers to go talk to one of the officer registries to find him." Radulf adamantly says.
"Captain Raicer Lacea, of the 98th Regiment of the Red."
Gulcasa proudly said, with newfound optimism that his brother made it out alright. The doctor nodded to his reply and headed off to one of his helpers who was tending someone heavily bandages a cot away from them.
Gulcasa cannot really see far, maybe 10 paces at least; at the end of that range, everything becomes blurry without his glasses. The doctor exit Gulcasa view, Gulcasa curses himself for having such paltry vision. 'Sometimes I wish I was born with a normal set of eyes; I wouldn't have been tormented by the other children in my village.'
Gulcasa sighs than remember his loving family, he would have cursed his fate in blustering and barging his way through life with this vision; but remember his family calms his mind.
Gulcasa remembering his father for one of those rare times, remembering the town children tormenting him. His father happened upon one of these weekly occasions, seeing his son in peril, he decided then to train his son; like he did with his adopted son Raicer on swordsmanship and brawling. Raicer began training at a very young age before Gulcasa, He 4 years older than Gulcasa; Raicer was said to have been a prodigy amongst students and recruits.
Gulcasa remembers how the town girls would swoon to Raicer as he jaunted around the streets of Artuwel. Raicer was considered handsome with his ocean deep eyes and obsidian dark long hair. Raicer a noble in heart, Raicer was always defending him and helping me in avoiding the other kids' torments, Gulcasa remembers fondly.
Gulcasa sigh at the loss of his brother. Gulcasa wonders where his brother and what his brother is doing. 'Probably out and about.'
Gulcasa imagine Raicer reporting to the major and going off into a marvelous adventure, saving the country in the process; maybe even marrying a princess. Being a citizen of Regalia, Raicer and Gulcasa were conscripted by their local lord of West Marsh to fight for the Baron Recrest of Registar on his succession to the Regelian Throne.
Gulcasa's father died during the Relcian plague summer, and their mother followed after their father. Gulcasa at age fourteen and his brother Raicer at age eighteen lived in their family's townhouse where Raicer became guard lieutenant through his own merits and Gulcasa tagging along as a fresh new recruit. They manage to earn a meager living for themselves in those quiet times. They were also able to save their meager earnings to afford Gulcasa an eyepiece. 'Those were some hard and quiet times…"
Gulcasa reflects back; on how his brother kept it all together after their parents passing. 'That all change on conscription day…'
Gulcasa sighs in relief at the end of the constant channeling twitches of his arm. Gulcasa must have had one hell of an injury to have caused such extreme ailment. Gulcasa was still strapped onto his cot like this fearing for another pain-induced fit.
Gulcasa can barely see anything outside his 10-meter range, all he saw was the man beside him heavily bandaged and the tent wall extruding out of the ground on side of him. Gulcasa guesses they put him at the very back of the hospice, because how the nervous sight of him strapped on a cot and constantly twitching.
Gulcasa tries to fall back asleep, but he could not; something kept on nagging him to worry about his brother. If Gulcasa wasn't nearly so blind and strapped into a cot he would be finding Raicer, making sure Raicer doesn't do anything too heroic… like saving damsels, becoming a lord… not some stupid jester; Raicer always brags about.
Gulcasa chortles a laugh at the idea of Raicer dressed up as a jester, he then began coughing profusely, the excitement of the chortle spat out a wallop of something out his throat; the thick dark substance began to slide down his throat and in the clot's cotton mattress.
'Is that blood?'
"What the Fu-"
{User: ⊪ ⊫ ⊯ ⋥ 001… Host Corruption}
{Class Rank: ⊪ ⊫ ⊯ ⋥ 001}
{Strength: 12 +}
{Constitution: 11 +}
{Dexterity: 12 +}
{Intelligence: 15 +}
{Perception: 8 +}
{Stat Points: 73 +}
'What the fuck is going on?' Symbols and words begin to jot out into Gulcasa's peripheral vision.
Gulcasa begins to panic on what the hell is going. "Go away, fuck! Go away…"
The stats on the corner of his eyes begin to slowly fade away as if it was never been. 'The Doctor, he must have done something to me.'
Gulcasa tries to breathe slowly, calming his panic nerves. 'Okay, okay, calm down Gul, whatever this maybe it's gone now.'Gulcasa sighs slightly then he froze as realizations hit his mind.
Gulcasa realized what this actually was. It was the infamous Blood Status his brother Raicer was going on about, years back he told him a secret that Gulcasa somewhat knew when they were growing up. Gulcasa knew his brother was actually his half-brother, apparently his mother when she was a young maid working in a nobleman's estate.
Gulcasa's mother managed to get pregnant by a nobleman's son during her stay at the estate; she left disgraced because of it...Though she was able to find peace and live happily with their father...Gulcasa sighs at the memory of mother and father, they loved Raicer and himself so much.
Gulcasa's father loved his adopted son like his own son; Gulcasa father helped Raicer to gain an officer rank in the local town guards where they both worked. 'I'll never forget them…' His brother told Gulcasa about his blood status awhile back when Gulcasa was 10 and he was 14. After that, they guessed on which noble family he was a bastard from. Gulcasa never found out, but when he meets back with his brother, he might maybe ask him.
Gulcasa also reasons on asking him about why he also has a blood status as well. Gulcasa contemplates how to summon it back to his vision. 'Think of blood….blood.'
{User: ⊪ ⊫ ⊯ ⋥ 001… Host Corruption}
{Class Rank: ⊪ ⊫ ⊯ ⋥ 001}
{Strength: 12 +}
{Constitution: 11 +}
{Dexterity: 12 +}
{Intelligence: 15 +}
{Perception: 8 +}
{Stat Points: 73 +}
Gulcasa startles back, holding back a curse. The symbols reacted through Gulcasa musings of blood; he was nearly flustered at the speed it pops up into his vision. 'Well, guess… I got that figured out.'
Gulcasa reasons thinking it away would make it disappear. Gulcasa staring and reading at the newfound symbols typing out on the corner of his eyes.
'Strength, 12? What is that plus symbol there for? No matter… Let's scan further.'
'Constitution, 11? Well, I'm reasonably healthy, but not entirely so. I'm not that strong either.'
'Dexterity, 12. I guess that makes a lot of sense, I'm decent enough to knit up sock holes, but not expert with a rapier or a sword; unlike my brother.'
'Intelligence, 15. Now I am getting somewhere, I knew somewhere in my brain I was reasonably intelligence; if not a genius. I chuckle to myself about the idea of me being a genius, well it's good that I'm not a dumb blind fellow.'
'Perception, 8… Ah, the bane of my life, it all makes sense now why my brother always mocks my perception, I have always wonder where he got that word from.'
'Now, what is this Stats Points, 73? This is odd, I've never heard this stat before…well whatever it may be, I have a lot of it. Whooping 73, wish I had that amount of Regis Gold in my pocket.'
'Hold on a moment, that plus symbol, means to add, right? Or was my town teacher pulling our legs from time to time when we were children? So if that means what I think it means, it means I can add points to my Blood Status…'
'Fuck Yes! Plus Perception! Plus I don't care how much! All into Perception!'
{Perception: 81}
"Arrrrggghh, my eyes, I am blind!" Gulcasa screams out; the intensity of the shadowed light is glaring his sensitive eyes.
'Perception, down, down!'
{Perception: 40}
Gulcasa scopes the hospice with his new range, delighted of what he can see. He realizes he is not half blind anymore.
'Holy cow. Ah shit, what is that smell?' The hospice odors enter through Gulcasa sensitive nose, it was intoxicatingly foul… blood, vomit, sweat and other unmentionables drown into his senses.
Gulcasa tries gander his surroundings as much as possible of what he could see. But him tied down like this really soured his first experience of actually seeing. Gulcasa glimpse the man on the cot beside him, Gulcasa's eyes dilate at seeing the man in a new light, clear daylight; it seems.
Gulcasa can see the dust off the man's breath that was leaving out of his mouth, the follicles of his beard and hair; the wrinkles near the man's eyes as clear crevasse, They were like rugged mountain slopes. 'I can see everything.'
Gulcasa gawking around in utter fascination in finally able to see. He glimpses a fly, accurately counting the number of pupils it has on its odd frame. Gulcasa senses feel quadrupled on how they were before, he could smell what the man two cots down ate this morning, and he can see that lovely nurse buxom strains of linen on her clothing that is covering the contours of her butt who just happens to be walking 20 paces away from him. Ahem.
Gulcasa sees and hear Radolf comforting another victim of circumstance 10 cots away from him. 'This is fucking amazing, I can finally see so far, all those years stumbling and barging into people are finally over. What a fucking relief and joy of it all; I honestly can't wait to tell my brother.'
Gulcasa sighs in contentment and excitement on the bright future he has to imagine experiencing.
"You look quite happy my boy… What has gotten your mood up?" Radolf who was walking past Gulcasa merrily ask.
"I can finally see and smell the world…" Gulcasa eyes, his ears, everything tingles around him, he can feel the fabric in his clothing, the cot; he can feel the wind brushing against his skin and the leather straps around his person.
'I feel and see everything.' Gulcasa felt exhilarated.
Radolf inspects Gulcasa worriedly.
"Are you alright my boy? Did you hit your head somewhere?" Radolf inquires with worried wrinkles; wrinkling his forehead.
"Oh no, nothing of the sort Radolf… It just feels like I can finally see the world." Gulcasa dazzlingly say.
"Well you are no longer twitching, so I guess I can take those straps off you." Radolf reviewed.
Radolf unstraps Gulcasa from his cot, and help him sit up. The touch of him was uncomfortable to Gulcasa at the least, every fiber of his hand tingles Gulcasa's shoulder the feeling was so unnerving being touched by another.
"Uhm, Radolf, I have a question for you…?" Gulcasa query Radolf.
"What is it, my boy?"
"What are Blood Status?"
"Blood Status you say? Why would you ask such a question, my boy?"
'Should I tell him? But I'm not noble? So how would I explain it to him? What should I respond?'
"My…my brother always talks about his blood status, I always wonder what it was?" Gulcasa shyly lied a response to Radolf inquiry.
"I take it, your brother is not of your blood entirely?" Radolf replies, nodding confirming his theory.
"Yes, my brother was baseborn of some noblemen. I still love him like a full brother though; he is the only family that I have left in this world…" Gulcasa sighs at the memory of mother and father.
"Ah well, that explains it. You want to know what Blood Status are… Right?" Radolf wishes to confirm.
"Yes sir, I would."
"Well Boy, I am no noble, as you can see by my profession and the low jingle in my pockets." Radolf snarly says. He begins to jingle his bottom to no sound than sat down near a chair next to my cot. I chuckle at the idea of being stitched up by a noble.
"As the scholars from the High Institute of Haftgar tries to theorize what this anomaly is, and why certain bloodline have it and some don't, it is known to have been a gift from the Gods; which most religious folks believe, oddly not the Rhaodians who happens to believe it's a curse," Radolf says in consternation.
"Well, whatever it may be. It can only be attained through hereditary bloodlines, which are mostly in the nobility. Some people tend to lie on having the Blood Status, there is no way to disprove their claims if they know enough about it. Anyways I am losing topic…" The elderly man scolded himself.
"The Blood Status shows the five attributes and the class rank of their User. The User being the default. Scholars are confounded by what the meaning of this. But the Default User is probably the person who happens to have this gift or curse." Radolf nods to himself.
"The five attributes are Strength, which is affected by the body of said person. It mainly focuses on how strong they are and their physical appearance. The more strength you have, the better your figure will be apparent. The more you focus on your muscles the more strength you have." Radolf says while trying to tense up his arms to show his frail biceps. Gulcasa chuckles at his demonstration.
"The next is Constitution, this values the health of the said person, their endurance and how fast they heal. It's quite rare for someone to be high in the constitution, but I hear they live for a very long time. I could use some of that." Radolf mourns; he glances down at his wrinkled hands.
"Anywho, right Dexterity. Now from what I read it some noblemen reports and books, Dexterity is the flexibility, speed, and dexterity of said person. The faster your movements are in the body, the higher your dexterity. I probably high dexterity, but I would not know the number of course." Radolf flexes his fingers and starts to move each one separately like someone playing with some sort of musical instruments.
"What are the noble average ratings for every stat? Doctor Radolf?" Gulcasa inquires, inspired by an idea that just recently pops into his mind.
"Quite an interesting question… From what I can surmise, and study about. Stat points are really important to the nobility. Apparently, the higher someone total stats are the more desirable they are for a partner. Being born with good genes, in this case, parents with good stats could help their offspring base stats quite well." The wise old man ponders, losing track of the time.
"Oh right, Stat rating. Having a stat 10 or lower is usually consider undesirables, I know a son of a young noble who had low perception. He was cursed with never finding a mate in the nobility." Radolf sorrowfully says.
'Yeah, I can truly understand that noble's disadvantage, wish I was rich though.'
"Anywho. Mid-tier stats are around 12 to 13, which are very common amongst the lower echelon nobility. 15 and above are the high-tier of nobility and are the most sort after stat line…"
"Anyone got stat points over 20?" Gulcasa sincerely ask.
"Yes a few, but most nobility hide them really well. Some brag about having such a high stats, the most report highest stats are usually amongst strength and perception; maybe some 100 years old noble have a high constitution." Radolf ponders.
'And my perception is 40.'
Gulcasa glances at his stats again and ponder what it all means.
{Class Rank: ⊪ ⊫ ⊯ ⋥ 001}
{Strength: 12 +}
{Constitution: 11 +}
{Dexterity: 12 +}
{Intelligence: 15 +}
{Perception: 40 +}
{Stat Points: 41 +}
'Wait my Stat Points decrease to 41 from 73? Does that mean I allocated some of them into Perception? I can allocate my stats, instead of earning them from my genes or gaining them through physical means and practice.'
"Okay, last two stats, Perception and Intelligence. Perception is quite a common gift, having good eyesight and sensitive is very sort after in the nobility; they do like to go hunting and relax their life away. Being more sensitive to food, that attribute would be a desirable trait." Radolf states.
"The amazing thing about people who have the Blood Status gift is their stats never decrease. So it's desirable to increase your stats while you are young. Having a younger more healthy body would help you in the long run, or so I heard from many of my noble colleagues." Radolf said in excitement with a hint of jealousy in his tone.
'Wait, did not I just decrease my Perception from 80 to 40 a while ago? I just altered my stats instantly… What the hell am I?'
"Lastly Intelligence, which is the rarest stat point to increase; to be honest, my boy, no one knows how to gain intelligence or what it actually does? I assume that you learn faster with a high intelligence rating, but other than that. No one truly knows why they exist. There are rumors though, intelligence caters to the supernatural, and people who can lift things with a thought; which I believe are utter nonsense." Radolf dismiss.
"I heard that the infamous sword collector can lift things with his mind?" Gulcasa say.
Gulcasa interests have peaked up to this point. Stories from his mother telling him to in bed, about the infamous sword collector, who wanders around, killing people to collect their swords; Raicer and Gulcasa were always excited when their mother told them that particular story.
"Utter nonsense… Is that fable still around? People lifting up things with their mind, making fire come out of their hands; utter horse shite." Radolf crudely dismisses.
"All I know is intelligence, is a mystery that alters one's mind…" Radolf perplexedly says.
"Anywho… Lad, I got to tend to the other patients; it was an interesting discussion we just had, but there is no rest for the wicked." Radolf jokingly says.
A boy, no near a man ran up to Radolf as he was about to get up from his stool. The boy then whispers in Radolf's ear. Radolf face slightly pales than nods.
"Thank you Jon for the message, go on replace Ned bandages now." Radolf grandfatherly smiled at the young boy as the boy headed off to another cot with a heavily bandaged man.
Radolf hauntingly stares at Gulcasa for a moment.
"Doctor…?" Gulcasa nervously call.
Radolf went out of his stupor, and replies.
"I'm sorry, my boy… but I just recently learned it is reported that your brother, Raicer Lacea, was killed during action…"
