Once In Time 《II》

Garrick looked silently at the figures encrusted in the wooden gate in front of him.

Mysterious beings with dark masks that covered their faces, accompanied by huge horned beasts clad in gray armor, could be seen on top of a mountain, watching with hostility what appeared to be a king and a human army.

A few red stains were scattered around the gate, which perhaps indicated a shower of blood, that is, a massacre. Most of the red dots were located next to the side of the humans, who had their swords raised to the sky.

Two more prominent silhouettes were etched on each side of each faction, both in the humans and masked sides. One of them appeared to be a middle-aged man, a bit weathered with age with long gray hair that fanned out to the sides of the mask he wore. He was holding a terrifying sword in his hand, covered in what appeared to be some kind of glowing reddish aura.

On the other side was a handsome young man with short black hair that didn't even reach his shoulders, wearing gleaming silver armor, totally surrounded by a blue energy as he floated in the sky with strange symbols around him.

Garrick stood there, analyzing every aspect of the story told at the gate. Nothing came to mind that matched Earth's history, even the events after the catastrophe didn't seem to be what those things at the gate were telling.

"What is this supposed to mean?"

He stretched out his hand towards the figures encrusted in the gate, and the mist that surrounded the place followed his movement. His fingers were covered in thick mist, and as soon as he made contact with the surface, it darted like a flexible snake toward the gate.

CREEECK

A huge creak could be heard, as the wooden gate glowed a bluish color with a few shades of gold.

Garrick stood motionless but shocked by what had just happened. If it weren't for his life experiences over the years, he would surely have fallen to the ground in fright.

SASSSHH~

He looked to the side and followed the movement of the mist, which had already returned to its place of origin, almost as if everything he had seen it do now was just a lie.

He turned forward once more, looking at the gate that was now open. He couldn't see much inside the place and so he narrowed his eyes. As soon as he strained his eyes to the extreme, Garrick was able to see an empty, but vast hall and even more dimly lit than the one he was in now.

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it", said Garrick, as he walked through the door without much thought, after all, he had no choice but to go that way.

"Ignite", he said, trying to make a small flame emerge from his fingers. But failing miserably, even though it was a simple spell, which could be used even by stupid children.

Even though he was a disappointment when it came to magic and mana manipulation, he was still capable of using simple spells like that one. But the place apparently repelled any kind of enchantment, so there was nothing to be done about it.

BAAAAM!

The gate slammed shut behind Garrick, startling him. For a moment, his heart signaled that it would leap from his body through his mouth in fear. But he calmed down (once again), and started walking, exploring the room he was in.

He continued walking for a few minutes down the huge, dimly lit hallway he was in. In this way, he noticed that the same appearance was repeated indefinitely, with broken and poorly placed chandeliers on the wall and some parts of the wall broken or scratched.

Moving closer and closer to the end of the huge room, a dim, flickering light that Garrick did not know where it came from, revealed something shocking. There wasn't a gate waiting to be open, this time two mysterious guys were fighting before him.

No, to be more precise, it was a person he knew intimately fighting a strong opponent. He looked at the young man in disbelief, that scene that unfolded was nothing more than an unreal memory, as he had seen it in a cinematic of the first game of his favorite game franchise.

Still, those two seemed to want to prove that Garrick's thoughts, that it wasn't real, were nothing more than futile as they attacked each other hostilely with precision.

The young black-haired boy was holding a beautiful and ornate sword. His sword crashed hard against the attacks of a middle-aged man whose face was covered in scars. They were wearing casual clothes and didn't seem to mind it, dueling without batting an eye.

The battle was fierce, and neither of them seemed to have the upper hand over the other.

They watched the way each other walked, breathed, and tried to identify the smallest mistakes their opponent made. After all, in a battle like that one, even the smallest mistake could lead someone to defeat.

KAPANG! KAPAM

He understood. Seeing that scene unfolding before him, the thin-cheeked, frail-looking boy finally understood everything. Garrick had understood what that gate meant to represent, he had understood everything, this all was...

"These are my memories of the 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐬. The gate was the records of the battle of Junno's capital, and now I'm witnessing the protagonist's first really relevant victory in his life."

KLANG

As Garrick spoke, the boy parried two attacks from the older man and threw himself to the side as he dodged another one. He twisted awkwardly and positioned himself with one leg behind him for support.

He lunged forward like lightning, sword aimed at his opponent without the slightest hesitation in his eyes.

The older man could not have foreseen that attack, but he positioned himself quickly, unfortunately failing. Two attacks followed each other at a speed that left the middle-aged man with no room to react.

KLANG

Drops of blood spread like raindrops in the air, and a loud sound resounded throughout the room.

The man fell to the ground helplessly, his hand was bleeding and had been disarmed. He knew. He had lost that duel. A look of complete despair was spread across his face, he didn't know how to react to it. He had lost to a mere boy, being a renowned swordmaster.

Garrick looked at the boy who was celebrating in a triumphant pose, an honest and genuine smile plastered from ear to ear on his face. He lifted the sword up and swung it in one swift motion.

Garrick sighed lightly and continued walking, crossing the boy as if he were a mere mirage. It was exciting to be able to see a scene from his favorite game unfold right before his eyes. Still, there was nothing more to be seen there, so he wasted no more time and just went on his way.

Minutes passed with various thoughts filling the young man's mind and then a hall as large as the previous one was revealed. This time some candlesticks placed correctly with small candles, poorly lit the place.

He took a few quick steps, stepping fully into the room and fixing his eyes on the center of the room. A sword with countless chains binding it to the floor was in the center of the room, about 50 meters from where Garrick was.

The young man looked around, the place was extremely decorated, but there were some vines and broken parts that were scattered around the building. Some supports that refer to the Gothic period caught his attention, but not enough to take his eyes off the sword stuck on the floor in the center of the hall.

His glance turned back in the weapon's direction, his eyes gleaming at the sight. It was extremely beautiful, but it had a lot of weird and scary things about it, like a circle that reminded Garrick of an eyeball. The circle was covered with some weird holes around it and red designs that didn't make any sense to the boy. But he couldn't see anything else, because the room was kind of dark.

The floor that held the sword was poorly lit by the candles scattered around the place. The sword made small movements slightly, it was stuck to something on the ground, but Garrick could not see it and so he approached so he could identify it precisely.

He walked even deeper into the hall and as soon as he got too close to the sword, the atmosphere in the room became tense. The youth had never felt so much pressure in his entire life, not even the great prominent figures he knew and the other great powers on Earth were capable of exerting such pressure.

Honestly, it was a very strange feeling and could be said as an almost immeasurable kind of power. Because of his heightened senses, developed during his years in the army, Garrick was feeling dizzier and dizzier with each passing second and his legs were shaking, in short, he just wanted from the bottom of his heart to just fall to the ground right there.

His body screamed internally, begging him to just accept the external pressure and fall there. But he kept fighting this mysterious force steadfastly and stood his ground in the face of such a threat. That is, relatively standing, as his knees were starting to bend more and more and the young man knew that if he kept pushing harder, he would end up breaking or straining some muscle or bone in his body.

'I came back from the dead and am I going to die again?', he thought internally, a little scared, 'This can only be a bad joke'

He looked straight ahead, forcing his neck to bow, still trying to keep up with everything that was happening. The sword on the ground moved once more, no, it didn't just move: it pulsed like a heart and a huge flash utterly filled Garrick's vision.

Garrick, stunned by all that was happening, froze and let one of his legs give way, dropping to his knees on the floor. At the same instant, the surge of power in the room made his body shudder, and a cold sweat broke out on his back.

The strange sounds the sword made as it moved suddenly ceased its activity. The boy opened his eyes little by little, in time to witness what was happening. His worry took over his body as he came across something surreal.

"He arrived. It took longer than we expected." A hoarse voice, which sounded as if several people were talking at once, said.

'What the fuck is that thing?', Garrick thought, as he looked at that.