The Beginning Of The New

Six Months Later~

I have gained the ability to walk!

A lot has changed since my birth. I am in the ancient world, specifically, well… nowhere. My parents are mercenaries, not just mercenaries though, they are leaders of their massive group. They work around Greece but do not have a strict base. They are considered among the best of most mercenaries. The bad news is that my parents take jobs for Carthage. That is normally fine, but tensions between Rome and Carthage have been growing. It seems to be far away, but it is never good to take chances.

In other news, I have accepted my new identity and life, it took a while to get over losing my parents. But, time heals all wounds, or at least lets them scar.

My parents are both very rare in terms of race. Well, the whole group is really, they are all Celts and what seem to be Vikings. Most of them are descendants of the Celts who invaded Greece about sixty years back.

The Vikings do not seem to not know much about how they came here. It seems they came with the Celts, but how did they end up there? The odd part is that that should happen in around 700 A.D. The timetable for the start of their seafaring is entirely off. Considering how much time has passed it is a miracle that they haven't mixed at all with other ethnicities.

I thought it would be difficult due to inbreeding but apparently, both groups came here in a massive group, they have also only mixed a bit and exclusively with each other. About an eigth of the troops are of mixed blood, but they lean heavily to one side mostly. The only reason I know they are Vikings is because of who they worship and how they identify differently.

The biggest problem I have is the lack of ability to implement future technology. What kind of seventeen-year-old knows how to build stuff from absolute scratch? The best I have is gorilla tactics, but that already exists to some extent, and it is countered by horses. There are a lot of times when its applications can help me though.

Well, no crying over spoiled milk. My parents take jobs very frequently and are surprisingly powerful, they do of course lose a lot of people. But the group has about two thousand people, in addition to having it trained from birth due to being mercenaries for generations. Not to mention how a little something called Darwin's theory of evolution proves that those who have survived have some advantages. Not to mention they came from a history of violence and savagery.

Carthage is our greatest partner due to their habit of taking lots of mercenaries, in addition, they are not discriminatory like some other places. They have already abolished slavery! Has humanity devolved over time?

Rome was kind of disappointing. They have not had that whole Ceaser fiasco and have not expanded further than Italy. It would've been funner if they at least built the Coliseum yet. They are like an egg, nothing has come out yet, but promise is leaking from it. They are surprisingly less racist, but at the same time very slave reliant.

When I was around two months I mastered Latin, including reading and writing. I have tried to imitate it, but I discovered I still have to work on pronunciation. It doesn't help that I am under almost constant watch, everyone is like hawks. Luckily, it looks like their fear is waning with the months.

We moved to a different location for every job with no real main base. We are currently at some kind of inn that is located in who knows where.

As stars blanketed the night sky, my parents went out to feast with the troops. Not being able to join is one of the many woes of being a baby.

The candle's dull fire next to me gave off small heat. It was soothing as I calmed down to sleep.

*Whamm* the door was busted open. Before I knew what happened something came flying at me. Just before it hit me I heard a voice yell out, "Tiwaz!"

Suddenly a film of yellow appeared in front of me, kind of like a bubble. The object hit the film and smashed partway through, I felt blood run down my forehead. An edged blade cut into my upper forehead, not enough to pierce fully through, but enough to gently tap my skull.

Some drops of blood ran down my head down my eyes and around my nose. It landed squarely in my mouth, it was rich in iron with a hint of salt. Surprisingly good.

I felt pain in my head, a lot less than I thought. It barely touched me, I ignored my shock at the sudden chance of death and stared at the film.

The film held the object in place, it seems to have been bent inwards by the spinning displacing it. A small portion of the barrier was split just at the end, there the blade tapped my forehead.

Magic? I was shocked for a second before I heard a grunt. As if time resumed, the film moved backward assuming its original state. The ax went with it and thudded to the ground letting me see what was happening.

A large and burly man was holding a one-handed ax in a defensive pose. Sparks were coming out as his ax was pushed back by another person's ax.

The second person was a member of the mercenary group. I felt hatred oozing from him as he smashed into the intruder's ax. His ax was a massive battle ax that looked like it was about to demolish the intruder's ax.

With a tsk, the intruder repositioned his ax so that the mercenary weapon slipped off the side and only damaged part of the arm. He broke into a sprint towards me in desperation. Am I a hostage? Before I knew what happened, a dagger was launched toward me. Is that guy suicidal?

Unluckily, the barrier didn't appear this time, it looked like the mercenary was too slow to react. Taking a sigh, I rolled to the side so that the dagger hit the mattress beneath me.

At the last second the intruder had a look of despair, he immediately tried to dodge, but it was too late. Did he have eyes on the back of his head? I pondered over this as his leg was grabbed by the mercenary, he was lifted and slammed into the wall. Still being held, the mercenary grabbed a shield from his back and lifted the intruder's head. He slammed the intruder into the edge of the shield so his nose broke and parts of his skull were shown.

He quickly pulled back and slammed the shield in again, a line of the skull was showing. Again, and again, and again. Before I knew it I was looking at a hit that went halfway through the intruder's head.

I felt that I should feel bad, he was killed due to me. Even if he tried to kill me, all I felt was a slight glee in my chest.

Is this due to my Viking blood? Before I had more time to think it over, a group of men arrived at the door. It was quickly knocked off its hinges as everyone moved in with no regard to the damage.

Before I knew it, I was in my mother's arms as a middle-aged Celtic woman held her hand over me. There was a deafening silence over all the warriors, the girl's arm lit up.

I felt like I could run a hundred miles as if I had the best rest of my life. My injuries immediately closed as my mother put me on a table.

She immediately stripped me of my clothing and started carefully inspecting each and every part of my body. Father soon barged in and made eye contact with his wife.

"Who was on guard?" Father's voice boomed as the very air seemed to crackle with energy, lightning was falling outside. Soon a man solemnly stood out of the group, he walked before Father and knelt with his neck stretched out.

After a moment of silence, Father didn't say a word as lightning seemed to instantly gather in his hand.

It formed a massive battle ax made purely of lightning. There were no details or strict endings, the energy just formed a vague shape, but that was enough.

He slowly lifted his ax above his head, his other hand slowly grasping it. In one motion, it sounded like lightning.

There was no blood, just burn marks on the head and body. The wounds had cauterized, and a thud resounded in the silent room.

"Leave," said Father in a voice that sounded like a chained beast. With their heads down the group of warriors left the room.

Mother and Father stared at each other, "Who was it?" Father spoke, annunciating each syllable and speaking slowly.

Mother shook her head, it seemed like no one knew who it was. Father came to me and knelt down. He brushed his calloused fingers over where the ax hit me before picking me up. Getting up with a sad look, he turned towards Mother.

She wore the same expression and before I knew it, I was in the middle of a hug. My parents were both leaning against each other.

They both held me like I would go missing the second they looked away. Mother was resting her head on Father's shoulders as she opened her eyes and looked up. "Was it really the right thing?" Her tone sounded like she was crying, "Brining our child into this world?"

Father simply looked up and kissed her forehead. "No matter what, our child will survive," He spoke as if it was a fact, "We survived that hellhole. Nothing here will hurt our child as long as I stand." Mother looked up and-

Wasn't I almost murdered? I made my protest heard as I wiggled and whined. My parents pulled away from the kiss and chuckled.

With a slight smile, they called some servants in to clean the corpse. The whole time they were gazing at each other, didn't they just talk about how my birth might have been wrong?

The next day, my parents mounted their horses and started moving east. Mother and Father were riding with me on mothers lap. Behind me were countless footsteps and trods of horses. I had to wiggle and move my body like charades to get my mother to understand my intent. She picked me up slightly and moved me so I could see the army.

The whole group of two thousand followed us, among them, there were about five hundred on horses. Those on horses wore bronze helmets with two horns to make them look taller. Normally it would look comical, but imagine an army marching in it, it's surprisingly terrifying. They had spears with swords as side weapons on their hips, and one of their hands always had a shield. Most of them were Celts with a few Vikings among them. The Celtic ones had blue paint over their body in spiral patterns.

Among them, four stood out. Each of them had something that seemed to grab the attention of everyone. The first was a man in his early forties who wore dull golden armor with a dull golden horn on his waist. He had flowing blonde hair and golden eyes, his eyes felt like they could see through everything about me.

The second was a man in his mid-twenties with what looked like dyed hair, it was yellow like the sun at the roots with strands of black mixed in. The oddest was his eyes, they looked like the sun, but his pupils seemed so black that the light didn't even exist. It was like there was a layer of mist covering his features like the truth was being screamed at me with lies. He had a hazy frown on his face, what did he look like? Looking again I noticed how light his armor was, it was more like purplish black armor.

The longer I looked at him, the more my head started hurting. Shaking off a headache, I moved to the next one. It was the woman who delivered me and healed me recently, she had red hair and her eyes were a fiery shade of red. Rather simple in comparison to the rest, she also had only a simple spear and red leather armor.

The fourth was a man in his twenties with white hair and black eyes. This one was obviously less trained than the rest, he merely had a hammer and black cloak. Around him was simply the smell of smoke.

They all rode behind our parents and seemed equally interested in me. Soon Mother pulled me back into her embrace and rested me to sleep. It was surprisingly easy, I thought horses would be more uncomfortable. With one last look, I looked at Mother's battle gear. She had black leather armor that clung to her and a sleek spear on her back.

She smiled as she saw me staring at her spear, she simply pulled it off and held it out to me. It was mystifying with a pulling in my gut, a kind of weird Deja Vu. Then mother pulled it away, "As expected of my son," she had a massive smile on her face with a satisfied look. Father merely chuckled.

We marched for three days, and by the end, we reached the mountains. We arrived in a small village on a plain, the soldiers quickly brought all of the residents before my parents and me, who they refused to let out of their sight.

"We will be staying here for a while, you are expected to gather your things by the time the sun starts setting," Father proclaimed. Soon an old man stumbled forward and started opening his mouth. The man with dyed hair simply threw a knife into his throat.

The redhead simply sighed and the corpse was incinerated. Soon everyone started to panic and scream, the troops simply threatened them and it was as quiet as a mouse.

But, magic. I never thought I would ever witness it. With it anything is possible, I need to learn it. I will demonstrate my abilities sooner than I thought, I will also need to figure out how common it is. I think I have waited long enough to start speaking, my dad can make lightning appear, so speaking a little early isn't that bad.

Soon, my parents found the biggest house and commandeered it. I was about to pass out at this point so my parents went to the largest room and set me down to sleep with them. Soon, I felt the air become weird. My parents awkwardly went to a nearby room and took a small bed for me. After poutine me in, Father started to touch-

I turned sideways and tried to ignore it as much as possible. Why are all lovers like this!? Eventually, I couldn't ignore it anymore, they were so loud it felt like they would wake the whole mountain. But, Father finished before I started crying. I breathed a sigh of relief inside until my Father started going again a second later. I spoke my first word, "No." It just slipped out, this tourcher is beyond human.

My parents quickly stopped and stared at each other, Mother blankly said, "Did our son just speak?" Was it too early? For a second I panicked, then they both ran up to me and started patting my head and hugging me.

Would it kill them to put clothes on? "Your lack of restraint is the reason his first words are no," Mother said melancholicly. "It was you who seduced me!" Father started his defense, but, Father that is the wrong answer. No one can win against a woman in an argument.

Soon the lesson continued deep into the night, and then they put me in another room and started going at it again. I was so tired that I just fell asleep to it.

I woke up at sunrise, roughly twelve hours later. I took a breath of fresh air when I noticed that the noises hadn't stopped. With a sigh, I cried for food. The good thing is that my parents started waning me off milk around four months. This was mostly due to my reluctance and having eaten real food very easily and "well." Which just means not swallowing whole.

The dreaded noises finally ended and soon after Mother came in and picked me up. Luckily, she was clothed this time. She went to the first floor of the ancient three-story mansion. There I found that the four of what I decided to call 'captains.'

The only thing I find odd is how I haven't seen any of them before. All of them were staring at me creepily, after gripping Mother somewhat, the stare was returned and they looked away. We all sat at a massive eating table with Mother at one end and two captains at each side.

A couple of members of the group brought plates of food to us, it was a fucking buffet. Soon Father walked in and stood at the other end of the table from Mother. All of the captains looked lazily at Father as he opened his mouth to speak, "We have walked this land for far too long, it is time to prepare the next generation." As he talked each of the captains had their reaction. He continued by stating, "Per tradition, after speaking his first words, we shall train and name our son."

The redhead's eyes seemed to hold a kind of sadness, then it disappeared and I felt resolve burning off her.

The one with dyed hair broke into a small smile and I could see the very gears turning in his head.

The one with golden hair seemed to have a kind of apathetic look like my parents said nothing. The opposite of the others.

Solemnly, the white-haired one looked up, and in a crackling voice that told of unknown ages, he stated, "I will assume the duty to find the lost ones." His voice sounded completely different than his body it left an unsettling feeling in my stomach.

Soon Father sat down, and at once everyone started eating in silence. Training, finally a change from the mundane. With a slight smile, I ate to my content then impatiently waited for my parents to finish.

Soon my mom picked me up and brought me outside, she walked until she reached the mountains and spoke, weird words again.

A small cave opened up in front of her, perfectly circular. She soon brought me inside and sat me down. Naturally, I started panicking so started reversing my breathing to calm down. Whatever happens, Mother will be with me, I am fine.

Soon the mouth of the cave closed, it was pitch black. I couldn't feel Mother's warmth anymore and slowly I breathed. Soon, I felt something in my chest. My heart beating rhythmically, thump, thump, thump.

Like a call, I felt the rest of my body seem to beat with it. I felt a tiny wet thing run against me. It started forming symbols, slow at first, but constantly speeding up. Soon, I identified the thing as multiple little lines, tentacles maybe.

I just walled off my emotions and lay there. Soon enough, after all of my body was touched by it, it stopped. I was alone once more in the dark. Soon the process was repeated, this time I instinctively took a massive breath. My breathing was broken. Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.

I felt my lungs start to… Pulsate? It was kind of like a muscle spasm, but it only grew bigger with time. Eventually, the thing went away and the pulsation slowed down.

This was repeated again and again, before I knew it, my whole body was pulsating. Tears started to form in my eyes, how long has it been? When will Mother return? Why can't I control my body?

Finally, I felt something in my heart. It was comforting me, it was surprisingly cold. It reminded me of home. In my past world, in the cold city of Boston. I found an odd pleasantness in the icy touch. I heard a creepy voice resound through the cave, speaking in an odd language. The cold comfort seemed to flicker and disappear. Soon the thing came back once more, it started making my heart beat faster and faster, I felt like a hummingbird. My heart seemed to vibrate faster endlessly, the sound of its beat echoing constantly in my head. I didn't feel tired or annoyed by it, just unsettled. The weird voice returned and started chanting increasingly fast. The beating hastened. Then the cold returned, it seemed to slow down my heart, make it steadier. Each beat released a wave of completeness inside me, as the cold spread throughout my body. I felt a flicker of concentrated energy in my throat, then it vanished.

My body slowly calmed down once more, but the chanting only sped up. Eventually, the pulsations overwhelmed the cold. I felt some liquid leaking spraying from my orifices, I felt my stamina drain from me. The cold became stronger and stronger.

Finally, the cold overwhelmed it once more. Now whatever stamina was leaking was counteracted. Although the liquids came out, it was calmer.

Then, I passed out.