"What the fuck is happening to me?"
...
"What is this pain?…"
...
"Ahhh! My eyes."
The boy raised his palms above his eyes and covered them. He looked dazed and confused. As if he had just woken up. He slowly let his hands down as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. He then looked to the side, avoiding the bright sun.
His vision blurred and cleared rapidly; as his pupils dilated, his vision started becoming clearer. First he saw only green dotted with white, and then he saw white and blue. He felt the grass in his palms; it stung, but it wasn't painful. It was like the view in front of him. Even though his eyes pained he kept them open.
"Wow..." He muttered as he looked at the green grass fields that had sheep grazing and the large mountains in the distance; birds flew by him as his gaze darted to the strangely feathered red birds he'd never seen before. His eyesight had never been great, especially as he got older; the scene mesmerized him.
Although the boy seemed to be a native of this place, he didn't recognize the beautiful scenery around him. His vision darted around, like a curious child who had never been outside; his mouth was open, and his jaw hung loose.
'How am I alive? Shouldn't I already have perished?' He thought back, realizing he didn't have any recollection of how he got there. He was supposed to be in his bedchamber, by his wife, enjoying tea as he looked out into the large city from the window.
'Let's see, hmm, it was an assassination if I remember it correctly; the assassin wore a black mask, it had a symbol... I could recognize it anywhere. The red cross with a black snake wrapped around it, the order of the... Red Church..'.? He was an old man in his memories, one with greying hair and in his late 50s. He had already lived his life to the full and had children and even grandchildren. He remembered his first wife, who fought valiantly against the assassin.
The scene of her getting her throat slashed repeated in his mind, once, twice, thrice...
His beloved wife, Stuse, muttered his name, "Aegis..." Aegis Bernard Leos, the third of his name and the greatest king who ruled the kingdom of Leos in its millennia-old history. His eyes shed a tear; he looked at the grassy plains, unable to make a guess as to what happened.
He couldn't help but sigh inwardly; deep sadness welled up inside him.
"How did I even get to this place? It reminds me of the northern plains near Kaitlyn's hometown..." He remembered his second wife, the one who passed away in his arms; he remembered closing her lifeless eyes with the blood-soaked palms of his hands.
'The battle of the Giant's castle...' He thought solemnly.
He loved her the dearest; she even bore him two lovely children, Kate and Kris.
'They married the princes of Juaid City. They were such fine gentlemen; I hope they took good care of them two...'
His gaze shifted to the ball of fluff that had snuck behind him when he didn't notice; he jumped away startled.
"Baaa!"
"Sheep?" Aegis had never seen a sheep this close in his life, except for when they were on his dinner plate, of course. He instinctively looked down, noticing the clothes he wore; they were stained and dirty. He didn't remember wearing such clothes that made him feel like a peasant.
"Ugh!" He snickered like a true noble-born.
He felt slightly perturbed. He instinctively put his hands inside a pocket that looked like it had been sewn back for who knows how many times. He found something that resembled a goatskin parchment; he pulled it out and opened the crumpled parchment.
"Year..." He said as he struggled to read what was written on the goatskin, the writing felt familiar to him, as if it was something he had written when he was just a toddler; the paper also seemed years old as well.
"8...9...3?!" His eyes widened, and his legs gave out; his hands instinctively clutched his head, which felt like it would explode. Veins popped up in his forehead, and his nose started bleeding. He grunted as he collapsed on the ground; the sheep beside him ran away, startled.
"Heh... Heh..." He breathed harshly as the pain started subsiding, his nose stopped bleeding, the veins in his forehead disappeared, and the look of agony on his face slowly went away, replaced by a small smile.
"Ahh, how it feels to be alive again... Thank the Lord of Light." He said, spreading his arms as if he was hugging the world, and he glanced at the large mountains in the distance. A breeze came by as it carried the crumpled parchment away. Ageis took a deep breath and looked around himself. He was surrounded by sheep.
'Sheepherder named Alicent Gregis? Son of a peasant? Hmm, life doesn't seem bad for this vessel now, does it? It should last around 6 decades at least if I don't get involved with... don't get involved with... What was it again? The Arisers? Avengers?' He was momentarily confused. He couldn't find the memories he was looking for.
Born in 839 of the 4th age, Aegis Bernard Leos III was the greatest emperor, who conquered the central continent from Juaid City of Zerya in the south to Sewenard in the south. For 30 years he reigned supreme as the giant-blooded conqueror who united the north and the south as well as the Cackos Archipelago in the east. When he was 17, he married his first wife, Stuse Karys, daughter of the lord of Grimgate town. He had two sons with her, Sarys and Salger, both of whom died in the naval battle for the Battle of Fort Gras of the Balt kingdom, an arduously long battle that was fought for a week straight with no side claiming defeat as their own. After losing his heirs, he married his next wife, Kaitlyn, a girl who, although a commoner of the north, was his dearest. She bore him no sons as well, yet he loved his daughters, who married the princes of Juaid city. His third wife was the noble lady of the kingdom of Akaris in the east, whom he married in his 40s. She bore him a son, a child of heritage that stemmed from the giants as well as the elves, one fit to rule the greatest empire in history; his name was...
"... I don't know..."
'Isn't it quite shameful that I can't name my heir? Well, I was quite old before I passed... This deserves no excuse.'
As time passed, he realized certain parts of his memory were missing, the memories he held after the birth of his heir to his end. He remembered nothing. Even the memories that that date, 'Year 893,' signified were missing, even the cause of the instinctual reaction. Where'd they been to?
"A side effect of the revival process? I got amnesia, perhaps... How did I even revive?…" He said as he sat, put his hand to his chin, and stroked his beard, which was nonexistent; the body he housed was that of a boy in his late teens.
He sat in the shade of a tree, looking off into the mountains in the distance, stroking his smooth chin, deep in thought.
'This world is strange; there's the supernatural, the red-crossed symbol with the snake... The group that assassinated me was the Red Church. It's an order of the Church of the God of Light. I was their greatest supporter. I ravaged these lands, murdering hundreds upon thousands, perhaps even a million, to create the Leos Empire. I spread their faith far and wide, and they assassinated me'? He widened his eyes and looked at the clouds in the sky.
'You're the only one who can give me an answer. Why was I assassinated? Why was I reborn as a teen in the North? Why have I lost my memories?' He said to himself, his questions were many, but he had assisted the lord in his conquest; he had exterminated the believers of the evil gods and the devils. It was all for the Lord, for his light and warmth; the only one who could answer him was the Divine Lord of Light.
'God almighty... The father of knowledge and wisdom... The Lord who gives light to the dark and warmth to the cold... He who stands above all in the Kingdom of Heaven... The God of Light, Suryavya..'.
A beam of light shone through the cloudy skies and hit the teen, illuminating his ocean blue eyes; the winds howled as the grass swayed uncontrollably. Aegis flinched as his eyes pained; a pain of a thousand needles pierced his eyes Blood flowed uncontrollably from the hole that once was the boy's eye.
He shivered and fell onto the ground, writhing in pain and agony as the bloody lump of meat fell from his eyes. He looked at the sun with his other eye, the one that was unharmed. He felt helpless at first, and then he calmed down.
The skin around his eyes converged, forming a mass of meat; the meat molded into an eyeball shape, which gradually gained the white coloration with a glowing blue iris.
'The abyss is growing stronger; my light remains no longer... After these 300 years, I can only admire you from afar and cheer you, friend.'
'S-Suryavya, you've perished?'
'Indeed, sharp as always...King who once was... '