1 The Old and the new

In the continent of Azure the king of the Zon was slowly looking at the distant horizon.

"I have life a full life in these three lifetimes" he said to himself.

Johnny have lived three lives and every time he reincarnated or was transmigrated he was always transported to a land full of war, dissent or court intrigue in a medieval setting.

The continent he was living in now was united by him through years of hard work , organization and battle and with that he manage to unite the continent.

"My king you should be in bed!" his trusted knight Lucia came from behind him and slowly pulled him back.

"I can feel my body weakening Lucia, summon the children and my wife I will pass on my will to them" as he slowly cough.

After he was back into his chamber Lucia left with haste to summon his family.

He looked at her departing back and remember his youth , he always felt like this when his time was up.

The first one to show up was his lovely wife the he endeared and love then his two daughters then son as the night swoop in to cover the skies. Jen the oldest but the most intelliegnt , Hemmi the middle child the strongest and the last one Trey the youngest the most mischievous of the three

"My love they are here" my wife walked towards me carassing my face as I play her on the waist.

"My children my time is near its end I have called you here to pass on my will".

He had decided to leave the throne to Jen for she is the most intelligent he called her forward to sit beside him and held her hands He then slowly took my crown with his other hand and passed it onto her

"You will carry on my legacy" then he looked at my other children and asked them to support their sister in her endeavor to be the new queen.

They both ran towards me and hug me then promised that they will not let my hard work of uniting the continent go to waste.

After that he dismissed the children and I called my wife to lay beside me. As we lay there hugging each other I slowly closed my eyed and drifted away.

As I drifted away a saw a small glowing orb in my head and I knew it was time.

My consciousness was transported into a dark yet warm void as my consciousness followed the orb.

"Here we go again" he though.

As he followed the orb the space suddenly became a hallway. and in the end of the hallway there was a lady sitting on a table.

"Welcome back Johnny Hathaway" as the lady bowed before me.

The lady was fate, in my original timeline she was my kindly old neighbor in the twentieth century that I helped out and in that regard my reward was to a life of adventure with unbridled strength, dexterity, agility, and stamina. Basically everything about him have been enhanced.

He was a student. going through college before my untimely death when the my neighbor house was being robbed and I came over to help as I heard the ruckus.

"Hello Ms. Elora" he said to her as he bowed back to her.

As we talked the hallway suddenly lit up and became doors.

" Your new life awaits Johnny Hathaway" she pointed at the doors.

It was always the same , he looked back and smiled at her then picked a door. With a flash of light the door opened and pulled him inside.

In a distant forest there were bodies shrewn everywhere suddenly one of the bodies had a strange glow.

Johnny slowly opened his eyes and sat up, he saw that his surrounding was full of devastation. Bodies of broken men and horses where everywhere he looked as far as he could see then a his eyes started to glow.

The previous body's memories started to intertwine with his. This boys name was Godi a fifteen year old boy that just joined a mercenary company. He was from the frostlands in the northern part of the kingdom of Grey a poor provincial settlement.

He had three sisters and a mother but his father died a few summers back campaigning with the army to fight the Theodorian Empire. He took whatever remaining equipment his father had and their best horse and went to the city and quickly joined some raw mercenary group.

After he signed up they heard the kingdom of the south the Touri allied with them and the call to arms exploded , the army gathered and marched out to meet the Theodorian army that was wreaking havoc in the countryside. The armies met in the outlying village of thornin and a battle ensued.

The Grey and Touri armies were better trained as many of the Theodorian armies were conscripted and had mostly mercenaries but their numbers beat the Kingdoms today as swarms of unrelenting infantry crashed upon them. Four thousand versus twelve thousand, eventually the men got tired and the Theodorian sent their elite heavy infantry in and the battle became a rout.

In the chaos of the retreat , men and horses were cut down. The surrounding countryside became a bloodbath after they broke and Godi was among the casualties.

As the memories flash before his eyes he quickly checked himself the wound in the chest he got was now completely healed. He was wearing a leather vest, leather helmet and regular boots and a copper plate in his collar. The copper represent his status as a mercenary , there were five grades of mercenary. Copper , Bronze , iron , silver and gold.

Beside him there was a spear almost half broken still he picked it up and then he decided to wander the battle field cautiously to gather provisions and weapons. He slowly walked toward each body turning the around and looting them for anything that hasn't been looted yet.

"No luck" he clicked his tongue.

Many of the items have been looted except for some half broken spears and rickety bows and arrows, but it was better than nothing.

Since this battle was over he quickly gather his thoughts. The remainder of the army would gather in the fortress of Acui so he started trudging back west.

He cautiously moved around the countryside avoiding the main roads for they would be full of patrols from the Theodorian empire. He decided to move into the forest following river towards the west a couple of days later he heard a commotion of the other side of the forest he was trudging on.

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In the forest a banner with a pigeon holding a sword was flapping in the wind.

"My lady the forest is even full of patrols and with all these refugee how will we make in back to Acui?" A solemn knight in mail armor said.

"How many soldiers do we have?" A young lady enquired.

"About fifty my lady" the knight beside her replied.

"Protect the rear but also send some soldiers to the flanks" she waived her hand.

"Yes lady Erina" the knight replied and walked off.

Erina was from a high noble family and this was her first campaign, she turned seventeen this year. Dressed in fine mail armor , metal helmet and armed with the arming sword that showed her status. The fifty knights were part of her guards. She had a hundred knights from the start but when the army routed this were the only surviving guards she had left but the worst part was they lost their horses in the battle and in the rout.

While retreating they saw a caravan of refugees and they beg her to protect them from the oncoming onslaught of the Theodorian empire and she complied.

She looked toward the caravan with a complicated face , she could have abandoned them but she didn't have the heart to. The caravan was full of elderly men and women there were also many young children. Most of their men left to fight the Theodorian empire and where somewhere else.

Not long after the knight. came back after issuing orders.

"My lady we are moving to slow the enemy will eventually catch up to us".

"It's fine August , they're moving as fast as they can. She gave him a side long glance

"Enemy attack!"

"They have come" she though

"Quickly to the rear!" she pulled out her sword and rushed onward to where the enemy was.

When she got to the rear there were intense melee going on the enemy were not knights but were mercenaries.

She charged at the closest enemy she could find and with her sword drawn she quickly swiped her sword with a swing causing the mercenary to block her with his mace. The mercenary tried to repel her attacks but with swift strikes of her sword he finally broke and and his neck was cut.

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Johnny slowly crept towards the ruckus and as he got there he saw a melee happening and civilians running for their lives.

He counted about a hundred mercenaries and fifty knights, the mercenaries were dressed like him but some wore mail they and as he looked closer he could see some iron and silver in their collar it was a pretty decent mercenary group that were fighting the knights.

"Mom!" "Mom!"

He looked toward where the sound was coming from and it was a little girl running around the chaos. She fell down the ground and a mercenary saw her and started walking towards her.

As the mercenary drew close he raised what looked like a mace towards her.

Johnny quickly grabbed his rickety bow and drew some quivers. he quickly tool aim and let loose. The mercenary didn't even see the arrow as it shot him in the eye. One by one the mercenary were shot by an arrow all fatal the throat, the eye, the heart. Not long after the mercenaries notice him and changed towards him. He quickly grabbed the spear and stood his ground, Johnny did a sweeping motion with the spear quickly tripping the attackers and with quick precision stabbed them in the face killed them.

After sending those mercenaries to the afterlife he quickly ran towards the girl and grabbed her and quickly threw her under a wagon. Then he speed off to fight the mercenaries , grabbing his spear and attacking with unbelievable speed and might. Everywhere he went mercenaries would dropped like flies with quick and precise attacks.

Soon enough the mercenaries had enough and scattered and the knights looked at him with suspicion. A lone figure started walking towards him, a young lady clad in fine mail armor.

"Thank you for the help,my name is Captain Erina. may I asked who you are?"

Johnny figured since he is in this world and have a past here he would use their names as he have always have.

"Godi, copper rank mercenary from the Grey kingdom" as he balled up his fist and put it on his chest as a salute to a superior officer.

"Copper rank?!" She gasp as the man in front of her fought like a veteran.