Blaring Horns

* BUZZ *

* BUZZ *

* BUZZ *

Jun violently gets up as he extensively inhaled as if he were drowned.

As soon as his vision cleared up, he saw himself sitting in a run-down alleyway covered in grunge and dust. The smell of piss and shit invaded his senses as loud cries resounded around him.

Bewildered, Jun looked around further to see men wearing solemn expressions. Each person was holding a weapon. The stronger ones had a sword while the frail ones carried wooden sticks and a kitchen knife.

Some children were crying loud as they see their fathers or brothers depart. Some wives were holding various trinkets, such as rosaries and charms. None wore expressions lighter than woe.

Jun closed his eyes and tried to recall what happened before. To his surprise, he remembered two different scenarios in his mind.

In one scene, he saw himself drinking liquor more than what a human could ever hold, regardless of how strong one's tolerance for alcohol, once the alcohol content reached a particular concentration. A human's body can only crumble and fall apart.

With blurry eyes and on the brink of passing out, he uttered to himself.

"In this life, I was suppressed, despised and misunderstood. But I did not give up. I was forced."

With his dispersing strength, he clicked on a button with a red dot in the middle. With the clicking sound, he died.

In the second scene, he saw himself. The same body and facial features, except for scars and pimples. If he didn't know any better, he could've thought it was his twin or a doppelgänger.

Then he saw himself whimpering on the ground while a man wearing a full set of leather armour kicked him. Subconsciously, his fist clenched. He began to recall why this happened.

After thinking for a bit, the scene changed into a run-down barracks.

"No! Why should I fight the war? I'm weak and untrained. Just because the Lord wanted me to fight doesn't mean I can!" The past Jun shouted.

"You got no say in this! Such is the law of the crown. Peasants like us can only fight to our deaths." a man clad in leather armour answered.

"But I have gold coins! Why can't I buy myself out of this like the nobles?" Jun argued.

The man reprimanded, "The nobles hold power beyond gold, and you know that. No matter what, they still possess magic. Why are you such a coward?"

"I didn't work my life off just to die off because the rich had an impulse that they want to splurge on a war!" Jun shouted as he stood up and ran.

The man didn't stop Jun this time. "The boy is a coward, but why is he so resolute? It doesn't make sense," he mumbled as he slowly stood up. Looking at where Jun ran off to, he began to walk.

Jun kept running while he looked back to see if someone chased him. When he was already around a hundred meters away from where he was, he saw the man reprimanding him stand up.

Then, to his fear, each step that the man took covered 15 meters. His ignorant mind did not understand what was happening. Even his current self broke into a cold sweat.

With a loud gulp, he tried to increase his speed. Others who saw him running only shook their heads as they sympathize with Jun. They, too, did not want to enter such a mindless war, but the laws prohibit them.

Which law, you might ask, but these people won't show you a decree or an ordinance. This is the law of the jungle. Only the strong have a voice.

Seeing the man who covered 15 meters in each step was chasing Jun. They turned a blind eye as they went back to their own business. They didn't want to die a meaningless death, but at least, if they died on the battlefield. Their surviving family members will gain remunerations. Dissertation not only will result in immediate death, but it also brings dishonour to his name and his family.

Trusting someone who has a history of disloyalty is harder than believing in a stranger without it. If it happened before, what about later?"

No one stepped up for Jun, not even the people he helped before nor the people he called friends. Resentment and desperation filled up his heart. But he knew he couldn't blame them.

If it were the day before yesterday, he might have been able to accept death on the battlefield. But yesterday, Jun's heart begun to pump the second type of fluid that is now running in his veins along with his blood. Mana.

The real source of power by the nobles. Magic.

In this world, civilization has thrived. Industrialization took effect, and even people below the poverty line are only called peasants instead of slaves.

This world holds danger beyond the abilities of a single person. Idiots can become powerful, but powerful beings can never be idiots, their experience throughout their journey in attaining strength enlightened them. Wisdom tails strength. If one remained an idiot, only death remains in one's path.

This enlightenment made human civilization flourish. Peasants are protected for menial labours. Commoners maintain a status higher than peasants due to their pocket change but are still labourers. Medium Class are people filled with ambitions. These are labourers employed by the rich and the powerful. These people also have their own businesses hoping to open their very own empire.

But that's the end for the regular people. There is no high class, but if there were one, then that'd be the nobility. These aristocrats have only one difference between the ordinary people, that is soul energy. For mages, its mana. For knights, its Ehr. For martial artists, its Qi. There are many more forms of soul energy. Whatever the name is, it has the power to alter the world—creating fire in your fingertips, creating a barrier a hundred times broader than a knight's shield, or punching through the air that can hit things several meters away. It can be done with soul energy.

Jun is just an orphan. A peasant who lives in the streets only caring about earning money to survive for the next day. But last night, everything changed for him. An unexplainable strength began to flow in his veins, and as he tried to understand himself, flame sparked in the tail-end of his fingers.

But Jun knew he fucked up. He had no idea how to control mana, and the mandatory education only provided him with the basics of what to do when you're suddenly able to control mana.

"Go to the nearest Mage tower for a certification."

As idiotic and empty as it sounds, even when one can't control mana, they'll be able to conjure the element that has the highest affinity with them. The element conjured without trigger will only put the spell used on limbo. It only shows up in the real world but won't affect it. The only thing it does is deplete the user's mana.

And so, when Jun ran out of mana, he passed out. When he woke up, he was already in the barrack's infirmary with the man watching over him.

Back in the alleyway, Jun was gasping for breath. Blood trickling down his mouth. Cuts and bruises spread out all over his body like an infection and his vision blurry. Just before he lost consciousness, he declared, "In this life, I was suppressed, despised and misunderstood. But I did not give up. I was forced."

After speaking those lines, a glint in his eyes appeared as mana began to churn within him. He continued, "Even if I die, someone shall replace me and bring me the glory I deserve. I shall never again be forced to sacrifice my life without my consent. I shall not suffer under thousand's reprimands. Whoever is out there who can help me as long as you can grant my wish, bring me, my family and my descendants a peaceful future.

The man kneeled as he got close to him, held Jun's collar and said, "for a coward and a deserter, you talk grandeur by stretching reality."

From his waist, he unsheathed his short sword. A weak glimmer of yellow light began to circulate around the sharp edges of the sword. Then the man brought the sword upright with both of his hands then prayed, "If you are spared somehow under the blade of my sword. I shall let you go and let you be." It was a Knight's vow.

With another spark in the man's eyes, he stabbed his sword into Jun's heart.

When the sword stabbed, a loud explosion resounded. Jun immediately woke up from his stupor as he tightly clenched his chest where the stab hit.

In his neck, a necklace was hanging. It had a fire insignia engraved on the guard of a silver, short sword and held by a chain of alternating colours between pale gold and pale blue that shimmered in silver.