Teyao

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Dreams are a beautiful thing, sometimes they show you memories and thoughts you didn't realize you had lost, serving as a mirror to some of the desires your subconscious decided you possessed. Other times they were nightmares, your fears made manifest in the worst way. But from time to time, there were those dreams that were so vivid, so calling, that one may be tempted to never wake up.

But as all good things dreams always reach an end.

He calmly opened his eyes, the last thing he remembered was hearing they would be placed in a wagon towards Valhaim before passing out, the events of the last... hours? yes hours, still fresh in his mind, he was James and a part of him was Zigmund and that was okay, he would help his party, and one day he would return to his family. There was nothing else to discuss, it was almost baffling how natural it felt to just accept it but for once he was thankful that things weren't unnecessarily hard.

As Zell sat beside him he couldn't help but direct a wry grin to the taller man "Yeah, yeah I am feeling better, thanks for asking" He let his grimace recede, just a little "Truth be told I am still dealing with some things but, well, give me some minutes and I will explain" He gave another grin to indicate that everything was in order then he turned back to watch the trees.

He-Zigmund's-He knew that the situation was pretty grim over in Valheim, he would have preferred to take his time and relax with his party members but there was a serious threat hanging over the city. At his side he heard the conversation between Zell and Kass, he knew some of what he was saying but it was interesting hearing a Paladin of Hades.

Just as he was about to speak he managed to catch the words from Fenna and had to suppress a flinch.

Right, ah fuck better to rip the bandage as soon as possible.

He stood up to a comfortable position (careful to not fail in the jousting) the cleared his throat to catch the attention of all his party members "Hey guys! I need to speak with you" Awkward opening but keep rolling "I would like to congratulate you, all of you, Second chance for beating m- Zigmund, a no small feat" He tried to direct a smile but failed midway "Sadly there is no time to celebrate, the thing I did with Zigmund was basically an exchange of memories and we got a problem, Valheim is under siege by forces of the Witch Queen, I calculate we have enough time to rest before we need to get in the thick of it again but I thought you would appreciate more being in the known" He tried to make eye contact with them "Sorry for dropping it like this but from the memories, the situation ain't pretty"

Then he directed his gaze to his resurrected friend "Especially to you Clive, I am glad you are alive and I would love nothing more than to throw a party to celebrate your return but the situation is dire" Once more he focused on his party "That should be all, please rest as much as you can, we may have to fight soon"

Then he moved to talk with the driver, chances are they heard him but better make sure, he felt bad pressuring them but if they delayed they may not even find a city intact.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Will post today

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Slowly, agonizingly slowly he patched himself as much as he could, he- Zigmund was a bastard but he was an efficient bastard, the punctures were clean enough that one may be able to see throught him, he wasn't sure if he could manage to hold until help arrived but frankly he was out of options. It rankled being left at the mercy of strangers but what truly hurt was knowing he couldn't patch his friends himself, fucking joke of a healer he was. Didn't help that he was feeling guilty about causing the injuries in the first place.

Yeah, turns out conducing surgery on oneself is oddly meditatig, who could have guess that was what would resolve his state of mind.

Okay maybe resolve wasn't the proper word, his head was still a mess but at least he could think as himself now. The Blessing was... weird, even after using he still felt like he didn't comprehend it at all, after it was activated for a fraction of a second it was like he saw, felt, experienced and became everything about Zigmund, if he closed his eyes he could vividly remember the memories of the other man, his memories now, of scurring along the streets of the capitol, of getting into mischief with his fellow rats as a wee lad, of his crimes, of his archievments.

Of his sins.

Fuck he remembered the glee he felt just a couple minutes ago when he was demolishing his friends, except that all he could feel now was the burning mix of shame, guilt and disgust that threatened to make him vomit wha little he had of breakfast.

But that wasn't him, those weren't James' actions, they were Zigmund's... right? Frankly, he couldn't tell where James finished and Zigmund started anymore, to him it felt abnormally natural, he was James who was Zigmund who was James, and that felt like the correct answer. The only answer.

He instinctively knew that if Zigmund, the other Zigmun, was still alive he would be dealing with the exact same thing, at the thought an alien yet familiar part of him couldn't help but feel bitter at the bastard for dying and leaving him as this mess, despite it being caused by his -their? Nha that felt weird, caused by his actions in the first place. But that felt like part of course didn't it? Just a stupid idiot making a mess and having to deal with the consequences.

Thinking back on the corpse, didn't that meant that James, the part that was him inside that Zigmund died alongside him? A pit opened on his stomach, that would mean he just created a copy of himself and sentenced it to die before it could fully form. A diferent coin toss and he would be the dead personality, yet he didn't find himself frightened by the though, he could easily imagine the other James would be happy to have died helping take down Zigmund.

Fucking hell that brought a new host of confusing feelings to his mind.

Speaking of confusing feelings.

Clive was dead, he killed him, except Clive was alive now and he killed Zigmund, there was some sort of irony or dark humor in that a part of Zigmund was still alive but he didn't feel like laughing when he was the butt of the joke. At least James was happy to see a comrade back.

Gods he was feeling tired.

He sat there, letting his thoughts run rampant, there was a halfhearted attempt to listen to the conversation going around him but he abandoned it as soon as he realized he just didn't have the strength to focus on anything. Instead he just stared at the corpse, the corpse that belonged to a man who lost his way a long time ago and who did things he wasn't proud of. What a fucking mess.

When the help finally arrived he allowed himself to nod off.

He dreamed of his childhood, of his loving family waiting for him to return.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

I will post tonight

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@TeyaoStill confused except now I feel like I'm on an acid trip too! Lmao nice post. Really well-written and interesting xD

@Zool

Thanks dude! I too felt like an acid trip writing it.

That was truly amazing to read, Teyao really pulled off the concept of being in two minds literally.

@Jay009

It was fun trying to blend the two personalities.

James sharing a mind with Zigmund was not one of the things I expected to happen this battle. Very good writing Teyao!

@Zapdos

Thanks dude, truth be told neither did I

Working on something rn

@Dark Cloud

Take your time dude, your posts are always great!

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

He went down.

Two debilitating wounds that presented a serious risk to his life, if untreated they may become a bigger problem and he would be close to useless until he could heal. He barely felt them, instead, all his attention went to... somewhere

So many thoughts... so many of them... all at once...

A child raised in the Capital City. The empire. Martial arts. Hunger. Need for power. A boy grows and does what he must. The Underworld - a hidden place in plain sight. A man grown. Seedy business and big risks. A closed heart. RED. The Devil Baphomet. A contract, a sword, special training. The Antiquinities. The Witch Queen

All of this James was unable to handle, the knowledge threatened to tear his mind apart. But the comprehension didn't stop there. There was more, like a flood or a tsunami, an unending deluge that refused to stop until

Hacking. Soul Gems. Mytheria. Cursed equipment. The Colosseum... Other dimensional entities... Eretia, Eredge and Dantuin

The siege of Valheim

A part of him, a part that felt foreigner and familiar at the same time was screaming that the information was important somehow, but as he was right now he barely hung on to consciousness, his mind couldn't focus on anything, sliding from topic to topic, incapable of holding a single coherent thought, if General Shigure could see him now he would be the laughingstock of the army. He was wasting time that much he could tell and the discipline instilled by countless hours of training was all but yelling at him to get back at it, the battle was still raging on but no matter how much he wanted to join all he could do was observe from his place on the ground. He felt some faint irritation as he watched Zell use his sword, sure he had his anchor but in his opinion his swordsmanship was a silver better than the other man's... or was it? For some reason, he had the feeling it wasn't quite correct.

He closed his eyes again, he was tempted to go to sleep, he was so very tired for some reason, guess taking a nap before attacking the temple was not the smartest of ideas, at least he had taken the time to enjoy his coffee before everything went down.

A new voice.

"I will bring our best healers and medicine, don't worry!"

He left a grunt at the irritant voice of the villager, thankful that someone was there to help his party in his moment of weakness, General Saladin likely had a way to reanimate them if they fell but he was friends with them so he would prefer they keep their lives thank you.

“Is everyone okay?”

The druid

Ah! the fucking druid was making sure everyone was still alive despite being injured himself, classic from the guy really, he would have to do something good for him later he decided. Right now all he wanted was to just sleep.

The adrenaline was wearing down and he was starting to feel the way everything hurt, it reminded him of that one time in the Colosseum, he knew he was being silly it wasn't like this was the first time he was wounded like this but he guessed it was just a natural response to react like this to the extent of his injuries.

He almost protested as Mac helped him to his feet, why was she dragging him to shelter when she knew the rain would heal him? Knowing Mac she had a reason so he allowed his broken body to be dragged along, trying as hard as he could to do something resembling a walk but knew it was Mac doing most of the work, damn when had she gotten this strong? the wonders of Ascencion he supposed.

"Crazy 'Ogre plan 2.0' hmm? Magnifique, my friend." She chuckled. It was really quite amazing how in-tune with eachother they all were. "What on earth did you do to him? To Zigmund... to make him so vulnerable?"

Mac

He looked at her in confusion, him? vulnerable? just what was she talking abo-

He saw it from the corner of his eye, slumped where it had ended after Zell cleaved through it.

Zigmund's/His corpse.

Reality broke.

Two incompatible sets of thoughts appeared in his head at the same time, consuming his attention and dragging him to the depths of his mind, he was Zigmund he was James he was Zigmund! he was James! he was Zigmund!! HE WAS JAMES AND ZIGMUND WAS DEAD!!!

He wanted to rebuke it and knew it was true, what happened? why was he like... this? -The Blessing! He barely could understand it before he used it, how could he be so reckless!? He had no choice, he- Zigmund was just too strong, he should had-

He needed to focus.

James had used a Blessing that... that did something to him and Zigmund making it difficult to separate between them, James was alive and Zigmund was dead, James was going to keep adventuring with Second Chance and Zigmund's story had reached its end, those were the indisputable facts. He wanted to cry, to rage, he was afraid, he was jubilant at being alive, he was thankful his party was alive and well, he was surprised that Clive had returned from the dead, he was spiteful for the fate that befell him, he knew he wanted nothing more than keep sane and he couldn't continue tearing himself apart. Pragmatism won, a compromise was reached and James returned to the waking world. A million thoughts were running through his mind but first he had to take care of his injuries as much as he could, this body wouldn't heal from the rain and if he wanted to last long enough for help to arrive then he would need to act fast, his hands pulled his bag of medical supplies and he got to work.

He could hear Mac questioning Clive in the background. Another thing to add to the list.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

I will post tomorrow

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Just had to check Teyao's newly edited Blessings post on the character tab to get myself in on this joke... and now I'm even more confused lol. Guess I'll just have to wait and see how things play out xD

@Zool

This Blessing is a woozy, its basically a forced understanding, you know the tipical "Human sees an Eldritch being and goes mad with knowledge beyond their understanding"? Well its that but between two people, for a single moment, Zigmun saw Everything about James, his hystory, his best moments, his worst moments, the toughts that he doesn't say and even the subconcious desicions that James himself doesn't realize he takes. For a fraction of a second Zigmund knew James better than he knows himself.

The same went for James understanding Zigmund.

@TeyaoYou crazy son of a gun! Lathop, of all the blessings

This is about to get complicated. I'm not even talking about Zigmund's reaction, although things are about to get real weird for him, that's for sure. It's James and therefore you. James' future influence in this story has potentially taken on quite the number of extra facets. I don't even know where to start. We will have to have some long talks in PM!

Now I know why this happened in your IC post 7 months ago:

<Snipped quote>

It always stuck with me, as some of those blessings I signed off on art the very beginning of the RP we're kind of out there. Well now I know rofl!

@xenon

I feel this is the weirdest one, no real combat application but opens so many cans of worms, I love it.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

He was sure that someone, somewhere was laughing at him, tracking where his anchor had ended had taken longer than expected and on top of that started raining, then the moment he picked it up an explosion went off behind him. He was too far to be blown over but still close enough to feel the sheer force of the explosion.

His annoyance turned to terror when he looked at the monster with his friend in its hand.

“Captain, this is his full power of Zigmund, I can sense it through the water. His affinity is the same as mine. Our friend will need our help to fight and defeat him.” He looked around the battlefield for his tower shield and spotted it many yards away from himself. “Captain, I will try and lure the battle away from Adam. If you have any ideas, I put my trust in your capable hands. “ He began to run but stopped to quickly say what was on his mind to James. “You remind me of Areleth and the stories my mother Anne used to say about him in his younger days.”

Kass

Barracker words felt like a gun against his head.

What could they do? Calm down! what could they do!? Calm down!, WHAT COULD THEY DO!!!??? CALM THE FUCK DOWN!!! A swallow breath and the thoughts kept rushing furiously through his head, the enemy was faster than them, stronger than them, had a way to make himself temporarily invulnerable, could create weaponry from the environment, was more experienced, and had seemingly just gotten a boost from the rain.

Sure, killing him, no big deal.

FUCK

Kass was still waiting for his response "Buys us time! There is a way to deal with him we just need to figure out how!" He nodded at his answer, swift indeed, and without waiting for a moment he launched himself towards Adam, he was out of Lesser restores but he could still heal.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, anchor haphazardly held over his shoulder, thankfully that bastard was too busy engaging in combat to notice him. Reaching Adam was as relieving as it was stressful, the younger man was a mess, broken bones, laryngeal trauma, bruises on top of bruises, and most likely a mild concussion. He did what he could before casting Increase Healing Speed, there... there was a risk that his injuries may heal wrong, he tried to set things right as well as he could but without the time to do surgery there was a big risk. But his life was more important, better to give him a chance to fight once more than let him be a sitting duck.

Now back to that fucking glaring problem.

Zigmund, how could they defeat him? They needed something with enough power to put him down permanently but what could they us- voices, who- there, Zell was saying something, it was faint and he couldn't make what he was saying but the gesture, someone else may have mistaken it as a goodbye between two people, but he knew Zell, the tough bastard was not the type to give in to desperation, rage yes, grief maybe but fear? Not in a thousand years. A memory came back to him, of a night full of laughter and drink and at the end of it-

Power.

A plan was beginning to unfold in his mind.

He cast another Source Infusion and started running towards the enemy he couldn't hope to defeat "Bastard! Motherfucker! Die fucking ogre!" He wondered if they would understand the call back- and the message attached to it, just like before, a distraction, an attacker, and a sensible person. Of course, that guy was too smart and experienced to fall to the same strategy as an ogre.

That was why it was good he had, how had Zell put it? Ah yes, 'a party trick for every occasion'

How apt.

All his Blessing until now had required him to say a chant, but this one, he had the feeling this one didn't require it. So even as his mouth continued to sprout obscenities his mind crafted a different message.

Finally he reached Zigmund, the little part of his mind that still could ponder such matters wondered why would the monster allow him to approach? Maybe because it knew that he couldn't do anything to damage him? Well jokes on him, he knew he was a bitch in melee combat anyways. He swung his weapon fully knowing that it was doomed from the start, but it didn't matter, whether it was a punch or a stab that he received in return was irrelevant, contact was made and the Blessing triggered.

"Oh Lathop, Whisperer in the Void, Messanger Divine, give right to our connection true, share our communion and grant us E̶̹͕̤͓̲͌̈͆̿͆ņ̶̛̤̠͚̤̆̓͌̓̈́̒l̸̤͈̣̣͓̘̺̞̗̟͌̋̐̿͠͠ỉ̶̧̨̤͓̙̬̠͐̀̃͂̀̃̊̔̾̈̕g̵̡̜̖͙͍̥̹̟͎͙̱̞̘̈́̀̒̑͋̃̎̌̎̐̀͊͑̒̕ẖ̷͙̼̭̣̖̥̫̝̜͛̾̍̈̾̊̂͛͘͝ţ̷̰̯̼̖̰̝͍͇̻̣͍̩͌̕m̷̛͍͂͆̈́́͠ë̷͚̳̗͙̝̠̤͚͖́n̸̢̡̪̺͖̫̹̯̜͖͇̜͙̋͂ͅͅt̶̛̬̠̞͇̱͌̈̐͗̀̉̊̿̒͛"

In that moment...

James saw Zigmund

And

Zigmund saw James

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Before he could answer him the Swordman was already zapping across the battlefield, as much as he wanted to accompany him to check on Mac but it was Kass who needed his help right now. He moved as fast as his legs could carry him, the journey more difficult than he expected, the infusion spell had left behind a lingering sense of weakness that he was having some difficulty accounting for.

After a short track, he finally reached him.

The battle raged furiously behind him, last he saw everyone was finally arming a strong response against the ninja, but he couldn't allow himself to be distracted, not with a patient in front of him.

Kass was lucky to have that supernatural toughness of his, whether it was from his class or his vampiric nature it was obvious that without it he would be knocked out or worse, heck from what he could see the guy was holding on by sheer fucking will. That won't do, Lesser Restore flashed through his mind again before it turned gray and inert, spent for the rest of the day.

"Good job holding up Kass, here, its time to go back into the fight"

Now, where was his anchor?