Back in Danger

"What do you want?" I said to him with malice in my voice.

Vortigern looked at me with a frown, "What's with the attitude?"

"You know exactly why, you filthy Valik," I asked him, "Why are you here? Were you not King Uther's brother by blood?"

Vortigern sarcastically whimpered, "Wow, playing the Valik race card. Such a Lavinan move, man."

His words to me were tuned out. Tuned out by the black pit of hate swelling up within me. Hate, kept in check by the anguished feeling of helplessness locking in the hate. Into a confined space in the back of my subconscious.

No matter how much I hated Vortigern, I couldn't do anything. I saw Vortigern fight and defeat the six knights. Even if it was only six knights, the fact that Vortigern was in this space with me not frozen in the place spoke volumes about the difference of power between us.

"I'm going to give you something of value," Vortigern said in a serious tone, "The time will come for it to be used."

I didn't understand what Vortigern was talking about. I asked him, "What are you talking about? What will come?"

He only looked at me with a smile before saying, "My salvation."

***

The feeling of warmth enveloped me. Almost as if a blanket was being snugged around me. It felt...nice.

"Wake up..." a voice called out to me. A voice with concern called out. It sounded... desperate.

I opened my eyes to see Alice on top of me, meeting my eyes with sorrow.

"Grim! You're awake!" Alice hugged me, and she sobbed, "I thought you'd never wake up..."

I looked around from her shoulder to find out we weren't at the orphanage. We were in one of the rooms similar to the one I had my evaluation at. The quiet atmosphere was interrupted every so and then by Alice's sniffles.

After a few minutes, Alice was able to compose herself. Even if she managed to make herself more presentable, she looked tired.

Alice had noticeable bags under her eyes. She looked heavily stressed. Why? Am I really that important?

I pushed that question out of my mind. There were bigger questions that needed to be answered. Luckily for me, Alice filled me right in of what I missed while I was in the vision. I was in the vision for three months.

Ms. Shiva came to wake me up after I had skipped breakfast the morning I entered the vision. She had realized something was wrong when I didn't wake up no matter how much she shook me. She checked my vitals and felt my heart beating and that I was breathing. She decided to take me to the priest in the empire's walls.

Ms. Shiva told Fay and Alice along with the other kids about what was happening. Alice grew gloomy while Fay said nothing.

Upon our arrival at the church, the priest immediately took me in to have me examined. Clerics came and checked me up but couldn't find anything that explained why I was unconscious. The priest decided to keep me at the church for further testing.

"Everyone back at the orphanage will be happy to see you're awake! Let me go get them." Alice said to me cheerfully.

Her gloomy mood was no longer present before me. She seemed much happier to see my well-being...

Why?

A part of me wanted to know but the other part of me pushed it aside. More important things had to be done.

I asked Alice, "What do you mean get the others? It's not worth going back to the orphanage at this time. Look out the window, it's late now."

Alice turned back and looked at me. Her eyes looked at me with sorrow before telling me, "The orphanage... no longer exists."

Before I asked anything, Alice said, "War has broken out between Aloa and Valken. They attacked some of the towns and places near the outskirts of the Aloa."

It made sense why Alice looked like horrible. She must have endured all of that while keeping herself sane. That's too much grief for just a mere child to handle.

I walked to Alice who was standing near the door. She was confused at what I was doing until I wrapped my arms around her in a embrace.

"Hey, I'm fine. I may look bad, but I've managed so far. No need to worry about me, alright?" Alice told me in a calming manner. I didn't let go of her. My intuition was right because it didn't take long for Alice's tears to start running down.

I wanted to offer verbal sympathy, but it didn't feel right for me to say anything. The previous "Grim" would have joined Alice in tears toward the loss of their home. The orphanage mean't everything to them.

As for me, the orphanage was an obstacle that hindered me from going forward with my plans. I'm an imposter to Grim's identity. A pretender.

After Alice, finished crying, she gave me a smile before opening the door. I wanted to follow her, but Alice stopped me.

"Woah there, you need rest. You just woke up. Go back and get some sleep." She told me sternly.

I laughed and said, "You of all people are telling someone to go get sleep?"

Alice did not laugh and just stared at me with a blank expression. Not wanting to be a part of the awkward interaction any longer, I turned back and walked to the bed. The door closed behind me, telling me that Alice had left the room.

A gave it a few seconds and once I was sure Alice was out of range, I got off the bed. The church had me wearing fur pants and a soft silk shirt. The shirt was a long-sleeve shirt which made me question if it hid my markings.

I pulled back the sleeve of my right arm to see the black mark there. Nothing changed besides the fact that it looked alive. The Mark's shape started to change into an oval and stayed that way.

I was both confused and amazed at the same time. Does this mark change anything with my essence link? Can I use essence now?

I got on top of the bed and sat in a meditating pose. I closed my eyes and focused my concentration on to the darkness surrounding me.

One of the beginning starting techniques I read from the books Fay gave me was called 𝘌𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘮. 𝘌𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘮 is the process of controlling your breathing in pieces. This type of breathing allows your heart to become accustom to the essence scattered around. It means for me, it w-

"Feum! Feum!"

"What the fuck?" I said as I opened my eyes. In front of me was a black fox with yellow eyes. It had black antlers on top of it's head. The black fox jumped into my lap and snuggled in.

I looked at the mark on my palm, and it was no longer visible.

Was the mark just for this? This furry thing?

The black fox looked at me with sad eyes, as if it could hear me. Now that I think about it though, if he's connected to the mark. Then it would definitely make sense that he could hear me.

I met the fox's eyes for a moment, I could see reminisce in its yellow eyes. Almost as if we have been here before. I wouldn't understand h-

"Gabriel! It's really you! What happened?" I asked Gabriel, "how did you end up as this?"

"Feum!" the fox spoFeumack to me.

At first, I thought that because of the black box, it had turned Gabriel into whatever he is now. It made sense at first considering Gabriel existed in my previous world. The man that visited me that night said that what was happening between me and Yithrus was caused by "higher beings"

If that's the case, then they probably had to change a part of Gabriel in order to put him in this world with me. Why? I don't know.

"Feum! Feum!"

GaFeuml Feumamed out to me and ran towards the window. I got off the bed and followed him. I looked outside to see a fire on some buildings. Civilians were getting killed by soldiers wearing light blue armor.

An army of the light blue knights marched through the town. There was a more majestic looking knight in the center. He was mounted on a horse that was given similar armor to the knight mounting it. It wasn't as fancy but, still beat the other knight's armor in terms of quality.

The knight riding the horse yelled with authority, "Aloaens! The 5th wall has fallen! It won't be long until the 4th and 3rd are claimed. Surrender now!"

I watched as soldiers started to drag dead bodies into piles. It didn't take me long to find out what they were planning to do with the piles as smoked filled the air. I watched as corpses of women, children, and men were burned to ashes.

A part of me wanted to fight back, but that was realistically impossible. I can't use essence nor do I know if I can even sense it. Why am I so weak? How am I supposed to accomplish what the higher beings wanted me to do like this?

I hate it.

Hate...hate...hate...hate

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AN: Yo wassup guys, currently on feb break which is why uploading schedule has been mid. It will go back to normal soon enough.