22 Threads

Mark awoke, the sun light blinding his eyes. This time the alarm didn't go off, and he felt relieved. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up, stretching his arms and releasing a loud yawn. He was expecting to see Sakura under the window. However she wasn't there, as he was once again in his old room, this time the room was nearly empty, with cardboard boxes stacked neatly against the wall. Thankfully his bed was still there and covered in his bedding, otherwise he would have awoken on the cold floor.

After stretching he slid out of bed and headed towards the wardrobe to grab some clothes, he planned to have a shower and see how far in to town he could get. He grabbed the wardrobe door and slowly pulled it open, deciding that he would wear something comfy rather than smart today, no one could see him as far as he was aware. As the wardrobe opened, Mark noticed it was empty, with only a couple of old items still folded at the bottom.

He stepped back aghast, where have all my things gone? he thought to himself. He headed over to the boxes that were stacked neatly and pulled open the top box. Inside the box were more of his clothes, neatly folded.

"It seems someone is moving me out!" Mark exclaimed. He grabbed a pair of jogging bottoms and a t-shirt from the pile of old clothes in the bottom of the wardrobe and headed in to the bathroom. The majority of his things were gone, such as his toothbrush and hair products. All that remained was a bar of soap used to wash his hands. He supposed that if someone was moving his stuff out, they would still need to wash.

He took the soap and stepped in to the shower, lightly lathering it across his body. It was a bit of a down step for his scrunchie, but then looking at the world he knew he would be in again soon, he couldn't complain to much.

After showing he realised he hadn't grabbed a towel, and quickly ran across his hallway to his cupboard, inside his towels were still there and he was able to dry himself and get changed.

He walked through his apartment and noticed that items were being boxed up or wrapped in every room, with his kitchen being bare of all products except for a handful of snacks and some semi skimmed milk.

As he was leaving the apartment, he noticed a To Let sign on the door. It seemed that who ever had inherited since his death had decided to keep ownership of the place. Mark hoped it was his sister as he had previously stated, but he was young and hadn't wrote out a proper will at this point in his life.

He decided to quickly head back inside and leave a note using the snacks that were left, maybe he could communicate with them from beyond the grave. It made him laugh a bit, imagining his families faces as they came home to a message from beyond.

He opened a pack of gummy bears and wrote out a single word on the kitchen side. MARK. Before smiling to himself and leaving.

He headed through the Park and noted that the Doughnut shop was closed today. The Park was busy however, with children and parents wandering through it, some children were playing with a ball on the field.

There was an ice cream van that was on the park today, and the sight of single cone icecream's made Mark feel nostalgic.

He decided to continue walking today, heading through the Park and beyond the station in to the wider city beyond. He had lived here long enough to know the city well, but the experience of walking it from beyond death made it totally different. From the noise of children playing and birds tweeting to the gentle feel of the breeze on his skin. The smells were different as well, there was a sweetness in the air from the ice cream van, and the smell of the flowers in the park was refreshing.

He finished walking through the park and reached the station, he wondered if he should head inside, to visit the place he had died. He decided not too, he didn't want to push himself to remember the incident to much. He continued past the station in to the busy metropolis beyond.

He firstly walked past more apartments, similar in structure and size to his own. This city was built uniformly, with similar structures dotted around the residential districs. This made everyone feel more equal and reduced the stress from constantly comparing yourself to your peers. This area's apartments were painted in a sandy colour, with the sunlight reflecting off them to make the streets very bright.

Mark soon left the residential district and felt that this had been the longest amount of time he had lasted. On previous attempts he had been removed from this world much sooner. He had been walking for around 30 minutes now since leaving the park.

As he entered the shopping district, he was pleasantly surprised to see the vast variety of stores that were open, he felt it was a shame he couldn't purchase any of the luxury items and take them back with him. He knew some of his Red Ribbons would enjoy the fragrance shops and clothes shops that lined the road.

He looked through the window of one of the fragrance shops, wondering if he could attempt to spray some on himself, taking the scent back with him. Mark headed to the door and wondered how he would open it, as the material from this world seemed to pass through him as he left his apartment.

As he pondered what he would do, the door opened, with a young woman walking out, her head facing towards the ground. Mark suddenly realised the door was opening and decided to run for it, running straight through the woman into the shop beyond.

The woman felt something large and warm pass through her body. She suddenly looked up to see where that sensation had come from, she stared infront of her, but nothing was there from out of the ordinary, she then turned behind her to look back in to the shop.

Mark also felt a weird sensation as he ran through her, normally there was no feelings, it was as if he didn't exist in this material world. He quickly turned and started at the young woman.

He saw that she was looking back at him, her mouth agape. A shiver ran down his spine.

"Emma!" He exclaimed, the woman he saved.

"Mark, we've got a busy day!" he heard in his ear. He continued to stare at Emma, who shook her head in shock. Mouth agape. She worded his name

"Mark?" she questioned.

"Get up!" He heard again, before being shaken awake.

"Good Morning Sakura," Mark exclaimed, still shocked at this dream, did Emma really notice him?

"When are we going for the Mount Tai Wood Bandits?" Sakura asked excitedly. She was dressed in her normal flowery kimono, her hair styled in to a bun atop her head.

"Soon!" Mark replied. "Get Boudica and Tsubotai to meet me downstairs."

Sakura nodded and excitedly headed to leave the room.

"Also get Little Tai to get the Red Ribbons kitted out with what is downstairs, tell him once they are finished to line up outside the fort for 'morning exercise', equip them as you see fit from our earlier unit separation." He ordered.

She smiled and ran off. Mark suddenly realised that this woman was more terrifying than Boudica. He could see that she relished the opportunity to get violent, and that worried him.

He rolled out of his bed and dressed in his tunic and pants, attaching the red ribbon to his arm. He headed to the mirror and looked at himself. Today he was going to be a commander, they were going to remove the Mount Tai Wood Bandits and cement themselves as a force in the area.

He stood by the door and went to grab the handle.

"Wilson, I keep having these strange dreams." Mark stated.

"Interesting, I have no record of any dreams." Wilson replied. "Please explain."

"They are from my past life." Mark added, "I am there, but at the same time I am not"

"I am always with you, even in your dreamland, so that is confusing." Wilson replied. "Do they feel like flashbacks?"

"No, they feel like the present, a time after I have died. I am there, but when I walk around I am invisible to the people around me. I can't interact with anything that is not in my apartment. I can see people discussing life post my death, they had my funeral yesterday."

"It seems you have some karma threads attached to that world that haven't been fully cleared. This is risky as your soul should only have access to one world and one life at a time, but it seems a thread of you remains there. Next time you go arrive there, concentrate hard and see if you can take me with you. We need to find the source and cut the thread." Wilson replied seriously. "For now, good luck with your conquest!"

Mark thought deeply about Wilson's words, and worried at this potential risk. So the other world was his old world and he was still partially there.

Mark opened the door and headed downstairs, Red Ribbons were running in and out grabbing the equipment purchased the night prior, a smile appeared on his face when he caught eye contact with an excitable Maurice.

Eduardo was stood directing them all, whilst Boudica and Tsubotai were sat waiting patiently for him. Mark headed towards them and pulled out a chair.

"Good morning Boss!" Tsubotai exclaimed.

"Good morning." Mark replied. "We have a busy day ahead, Eduardo please will you grab Filipe and bring him up."

Eduardo heard the order and nodded, before heading downstairs.

"Young Filipe will take us to the Mount Tai Wood Bandits hideout, you two will join him on his journey with a handful of Red Ribbons. When you arrive you will check the state of play and see if it something we can deal with today. I will follow up with the main force for your information." Mark started. "My plan is for you to get solid information on numbers and positions, we will then surround the camp with our force. I intend to then scope out any potential recruits who we will aim to keep alive. We will then launch arrows from the forest at the rest and then charge in causing them to panic and surrender. Or so I hope."

"It's a plan." Boudica replied happily, excited for the opportunity, "but if it comes to fruition that is a different conversation."