Death Or Dream?

So much for high pain tolerance.

I screamed in agony as the arrow went through my right shoulder, nearly severing my arm in such a way that it dangled from my shoulder by just a chunk of flesh.

I fell to my knees, screaming and desperately holding onto my arm to prevent it from falling off.

It hurts! It felt like tiny spikes of molten metal creeping into my body. The gash on my chest is nothing compared to what I am feeling right now.

I couldn't hear Felix calling out to me over the screaming. I may have screamed for a few minutes before my voice started to crack.

I stopped screaming and clenched my teeth. Destroying my voice won't make things better. I activated Haema and attempted to stop the bleeding and heal myself.

The bleeding slowed down, but I found it hard to heal myself. Do injuries caused by daemons take longer to heal?

Before I could think of an answer, Felix shouted in my ear, "MORDRED WATCH OUT!"

A shadow loomed over me. I looked up and saw a daemon coming right at me from above.

Holding my dangling arm, I jumped and rolled away just as the daemon struck with its sword, decimating the field of corpses.

Bits of Deathwalkers rained down on me as the daemon, a six-foot-tall swordsman, turned to me.

I looked at its faceless visage, and a primal fear gripped me with icy fingers, paralyzing me, and dug into me. The horrible pain I was feeling disappeared for a second as a glacial chill enveloped me.

I looked desperately at the featureless black canvas the thing had for a face. I tried to find any meaning for its brutal slaughter.

But I found nothing.

And that pissed me off. The flames of anger melted away the freezing fear and enveloped me.

I glared at the daemon just as it vanished from my eyes.

By pure instinct, I quickly jumped to the right, just as the daemon appeared where I previously stood and swung at me.

I dropped to the ground. The sword passed above my head by an inch and generated a strong gust.

I kicked at the ground and flew low to the ground, essentially creating some distance between me and the daemon.

"Get out of there, Mordred!", Felix's voice yelled in my ears. I nodded and was about to run as fast as I could from the daemon when my eyes fell on it looking at me.

It doesn't matter if I run. The daemon will eventually cut me down.

There is only one way.

"Felix! Can you shoot the daemon I'm facing?", I asked.

"Just a second!"

"I don't have a second!", I yelled, hearing a boom from the other side as Felix launched another projectile.

"Bullseye! Yeah, I'm back!"

The daemon appeared in front of me and brought down its sword.

"Damnit, Felix! Can you shoot?", I quickly dodged the head-slicing attack.

"You're not in range. Oh, don't tell me. You're crazy!"

"It's the only way I can survive.", I said through clenched teeth. The pain is becoming unbearable. It won't be long before I pass out.

"Fine. Just move around until you're in range."

"Easy for you to say!", I streamed ardor into my legs and ran.

I didn't know I could be this fast. My body screamed in pain as I weaved between dead bodies and Deathwalkers who were still fighting.

I turned around and saw that the daemon was gone. That's when I slammed into something and fell on my back.

"Ow.", I painfully looked up, and all the color drained from my face.

"Oh."

The daemon looked down at me and raised its sword. I tried to move away, but my body just collapsed at that moment.

I do hope I'm in range.

"Alright, Mordred. You're in range."

Just in time.

I saw a familiar blue flash, and everything went dark.

*******

The sun shone brightly through the canopy as I slowly opened my eyes.

With a groan, I got up from the blanket I was sleeping on and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

The sound of flowing water made me turn around to see a beautiful stream of water. I can see the beautiful pebbles beneath the crystal clear water.

A light fog hung in the air, and the air was quite cold. I rubbed my arms to warm them up and frowned.

My right arm seems to be fine. Last I remembered, it was dangling from my shoulder by just a piece of flesh. I was also not in immense pain.

"What the?", I looked down and saw that my body was bigger and well-built. I wore chain mail over a simple tunic shirt instead of the Deathwalker uniform.

I looked beside me and saw a familiar black armor on the ground beside me. The remains of a small campfire smoldered a few feet from where I sat.

"How?", I asked, looking around at my surroundings. I was in a familiar wood, and I was sitting in the shade of one of the many trees in it.

The leaves rustled in the cool morning breeze, and the songs of birds formed a beautiful melody as the sun rose in the sky.

A massive contrast to the bloody battlefield I was just in.

I dipped my hands into the stream. The water was fast-flowing and ice-cold. I splashed some into my face and felt refreshed.

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with fresh cool air. I breathed out, and a small smile formed on my lips.

How peaceful.

Looks like I died for the second time on the same day as I was reborn.

I chuckled. What an achievement.

It appears that I have woken up in my previous world, in one of the many woods of Great Britain, in my previous body.

How strange.

The first time I died, I found myself in an endless dark void of nothingness. I expected to return to the void, but instead, I found myself in a familiar and peaceful wood.

Heck, I even expected to wake up in hell. But this is different.

Was what I just experienced in Blood Valley one of my punishments?

Or was it all just an illusion?

I woke up in a futuristic world, went to the north, and faced shadowy monsters called daemons. Was it all just an elaborate illusion?

I walked over to the campsite and bent over my armor, about to retrieve it, when I froze as another question entered my mind.

Perhaps everything I just experienced on the battlefield was real, and I am actually in another world. Then...

"Is this a dream?", I asked.

I heard clapping behind me, "Pretty good. You figured it out quite quickly."

I turned around and saw him.

It was the mysterious blue-eyed wizard with white hair. He looked the same as the last time I saw him in Camlann.

But what is he doing here? If this is a dream...

"How is someone you barely saw in your last moments in the dream?", He spoke with a calm and pleasant smile.

I frowned at him, "That's creepy. Get out of my head."

He chuckled at my response, "An interesting reaction. You are quite the odd one, Sir Mordred."

I shrugged, "I've heard that a lot of times."

Wait. Why am I so calm right now? I'm in a dream talking to a stranger!

"Who are you?", I asked.

"Who am I? I am just a warlock who likes to travel a lot.", he replied.

My eyes narrowed, "A warlock who travels? Then how come you are in my dream?"

"Any warlock who has reached the pinnacle of living energy is capable of manipulating the human mind."

"Living energy?"

The warlock nodded, "Ardor, magic, magia, elan. It has different names across different universes. To put it simply. It is the wonderful energy that can alter the very fabric of reality."

"In this world, it is called ardor. So I'll use that name."

He smiled, "To put it simply, I am the one at the apex of ardor in any universe."

I blinked in disbelief, "You can...travel between different universes?"

"Indeed. I guess this is the traveling stage of my life.", he laughed at his joke.

"How and why?"

The warlock tilted his head, "Pardon?"

I gazed into his blue eyes as I asked my question., "How did you reincarnate me? And why?"

He met my gaze and pondered the question for a minute before answering me.

"As to how you reincarnated into this world. It is not that hard.", he chuckled, "I know some unbelievably divine beings. Death, Order, Rebirth, Life, those guys."

"It took some convincing and a lot of paperwork, especially with Rebirth, who was quite stubborn.", he sighed and clapped with excitement, "But I managed to get you reincarnated in this world."

"Sure. It took some time, centuries actually but here we are. You in the body of your parallel version."

"But why?!", I asked him, my fists clenched in anger.

"Why did you do it? Haven't I suffered enough in my previous life? Why do I have to suffer in this life as well? Why even give a sinner like me a second life like this? Why didn't you give Arthur this chance?", I glared at him.

"I should've just died back in Camlann!"

The man was unfazed by my outburst.

"I'm sorry Mordred for the suffering you have endured. But this is for your own good."

I sneered, "Almost dying due to painful injuries was for my own good? Gee.Thanks for that."

"Your life reminded me of my own past. Like you, I made mistakes. Terrible ones. Some of my actions were unforgivable. But before I got a chance to fix them. It was too late.", he said.

He gave me a sad smile and his eyes showed despair. It was the despair of a man full of regrets. It was the same look Merlin gave me back in the Dawn Palace.

But this was much much deeper.

"I was unable to get a second chance.", he spoke, "And that is why I want you to live this life. You are a heinous villain but you were broken by the world."

He stood up, "I believe in second chances, Mordred. I only wish for you to fully grasp this chance and live how you really want to."

Suddenly the wind picked up and I saw the sky breaking up into small pieces. Not only the sky, but the trees were breaking down as well. The entire world is dissolving around us.

The warlock looked at the sky, "I'm afraid that our time here is coming to an end. You are about to wake up."

The ground started breaking and I stumbled, "Wait! I have many more things to ask you!"

His sad smile turned to one of longing, "Don't worry Mordred. This will not be the last time we'll be seeing each other. I'll look forward to our next meeting in this dream."

"I can have this dream again?", I asked as the surroundings dissolved into pure white, my armor floated away into dust along with the campfire, and the creek stopped flowing and dissolved into particles of light.

The traveling warlock nodded and gave a charming smile, "Indeed. We'll meet again the next time you pass out on the battlefield. We'll have an amazing conversation then."

"Oh.", I realized his words, "That's gonna be a huge pain."

"To attain enlightenment, one must endure some pain.", he gave me a wink and said, "Oh! And say hi to Merlin for me! Tell her that her master is proud of her!"

"Wait. What?", I stared at him as the ground dissolved and I stumbled into the white void.

As I fell, I locked my eyes with him, "What's your name?"

"My name?", the warlock smiled as he faded away.

"My name is Eravon Lock."