Michael's muscles tensed up as the tanks rolled around him.
He was knee deep in the trenches, bullets streaming above him as he ran, trying to evade the artillery shells falling on him. He tried reaching for his sword, but nothing was there, except a older pistol, like the ones that he trained with at the Academy. He wasn't great at them, no where near the skill that Joseph presented, but, he could use one in a pinch. But, where was he? Why was he running? Wasn't he at that mission with Joseph still?
As these thoughts battered Michael's head into a daze, a shell blazed directly to his location. He reacted just fast enough to see it, but no where near fast enough for him to dodge. As he stared at it, he closed his eyes, anticipating his death.
But, when he opened it, he was unscathed. Looking back up, he saw a black cloud where the shell was, and looking around him, the muddy trenches turned into rolling hills of grayish grass under a overcast sky, extending as far as he could see.
"You there, buddy?" A voice spoke, confidently.
As Michael turned around, he was face to face with a man, no older than he was. The man had short brown hair that wasn't arranged in any particular style, with tan skin, and with a black suit on, almost like the ones that he had worn before on stealth missions, but with a fair amount of armor under it, and a small, golden star where a chest pocket would go. The most identifying part of the man, was a sheathed sword on his side. The sword had a far more brilliant design to it than the rest of the man, with a mix of black and gold coloring on the hilt and handle, and by looking closer, one could see that the blade itself was solid white. The material that it was made out of was indiscernible, due to the sheer amount of magical alterations to the sword. It wasn't like that was needed to identify the man, Michael could do that well enough.
"What do you want." Michael said, coldly.
The man said, "Don't know what issue you got with me, but I guess I just want to tell you to get your head out of the sand."
Michael replied sharply, "I don't want to hear any advice from you."
The man looked up for a second, before looking back at Michael. When Michael viewed the man again, he was older, with a small beard, scars across his arms and legs, wearing a polo and khaki shorts. The sword remained.
The man said, "I'm just telling you to man up. If you keep on acting like this, you're gonna piss yourself in a fight."
Michael spoke with much more anger, "Shut the hell up! Stop talking!"
Michael tried to cover his eyes and ears, but it was like his body was invisible. Nothing could stop this
The man looked older still, dropping the polo and khaki for a stained T-Shirt and pants with a camouflage pattern. The sword remained.
"Me? Stop talking? The only reason that you are alive is because of me. You whine and whine, complain about every little thing that you do, when it's your fault. It's always your fault, you could make things so much simpler if you took it into your own hands, like you did back the-"
Michael ran up to the man, and punched him in the face. The man stumbled back, covering his mouth. However, when he came back up, he looked middle-aged, with prison garb instead of his clothes. The sword was in his hands.
"Just like that, Mike."
The man dusted himself off, before he unsheathed the sword, raising it in the air. Michael could feel a shift in the atmosphere, as if time was stopping. Mana could be seen by even the blind, streaming to the man's sword, as it shined gold. Michael stood there, frozen, his eyes filled with the fear of a wild animal facing it's demise. The man slammed his sword down, with Michael hearing a ping, before the clash of metal and flesh would have obliterated him.
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Michael sleeps light. A bit too light, from time to time.
As the medical staff were cleaning the room after they had examined Michael, one of the staff members had accidentally knocked over a few needles that were about to be thrown away. When the needle pinged off the ground, Michael woke up, throwing his arms out and his body up, hitting his head on the hanging light above him.
Michael grabbed his forehead, swearing underneath his breath.
A doctor who was still in the room walked to him, "Are you alright?"
Michael grunted, "Never better, Doc."
"Michael Torres, is it?"
Michael rubbed his head, the pain not yet subsiding, "Yeah, that's me."
"My name is Doctor Ryan. I was sent to wait on you to recover fully, but it seems that you've already come to. Do you mind if I sit?"
Michael motioned to the chair near his bed, which Dr. Ryan sat in promptly.
"So, why'd you come?" Michael asked.
Dr. Ryan pushed his glasses up, "Well, it's regarding a few injuries you have."
As Dr. Ryan spoke, he signaled for the staff to move.
Dr. Ryan coughed, before saying, "It's about your state."
Michael leaned back, "My state?
Dr. Ryan continued, "Due to a combination of the information I was able to gauge from your documents, and what I was able to see from your condition, I think you are suffering from a deteriorating mental state. Tell me, have you suffered from any nightmares or night terrors in the past?"
Michael nodded, "I had night terrors when I was younger, but I haven't had any recently, I think."
Dr. Ryan frowned, "Mmm, I'll sign you up for a test. Of the other topic, you suffered severe burns to your body, and injuries to your Mana during your fight. When you used that flame attack at the end, you pushed the Mana used to protect yourself from your body into your sword, depleting you of your defenses and your Mana in general."
Michael put his head on his hand, "Yeah, I know."
Dr. Ryan continued, "So, you should know that I am strongly advising you to stop this behavior. You must lay off the Mana usage for a week at least. You should know how bad it is to fully deplete yourself of it."
Michael groaned, "Alright, I understand. Is there anything else I need to know?"
Dr. Ryan said, "No, that is all. Your injuries have been mostly healed, just don't do anything dangerous for a few days."
Dr. Ryan got up from his chair, and left the room, leaving Michael in silence.
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Suddenly, the door to the room opened, with Joseph, and Roy walking in. Roy was an older man, in his late 30's, compared to Michael and Joseph being 21. Roy had brown hair, not organized in any discernible way, and had bronze skin. He had his military uniform on, it being a light gray color, apart from his right arm, which was mechanical, created from a dark gray metal. He got it when he was defusing a bomb under enemy fire. The arm was imbued to Roy's mana, making it feel the same as a real arm.
Joseph said, "You're finally awake!"
Michael replied, laughing dryly "Yeah, no thanks to me, really. I even banged my head on the light in here."
Joseph leans against a wall next to Michael's bed, "If it wasn't for you, I would have died, you know."
Michael sighed, "I know, but still."
Joseph slapped him on the back, and said, "Yeah, still, we're not in a perfect world. I'm sure that nobody wanted you to do nothing, and to be frank, you did get him in one attack."."
Michael would rub his back, and would lighten up a bit, with the thought still at the back of his mind, "Yeah, I guess that's right. What happened after that, anyways?"
Joseph said, "Not much, we weren't able to find anything there, and there's no sign of their leader or whatever. Roland's group has been looking into it."
Michael relaxed, "Roland's on it? It should be done soon then!"
Roy said, "Yeah, sucks that we couldn't help more, but I guess that's how it goes."
Roy asked Joseph, "Anyways, when will our new recruit be here?"
Michael raised an eyebrow, "Recruit?"
Joseph perked up, "Oh, she'll be here anytime now!" He turned to Michael, eager to explain, "Her name is Lena, she's an electric magic specialist from Eldra! They say she's a prodigy, and I was actually planning on picking her up from the station after this!"
Michael turned to Roy, "Do we have the new barracks set up for all of this?"
Roy said, while tossing one set of keys to Michael and two sets to Joseph, "I moved most everything in, you're good."
Michael has a sigh of relief, "At least everything was handled while I was out."
Joseph said, in a joking tone, "So, you didn't trust me to do the work?"
Michael said, half-joking, "I have my doubts sometimes, but you did pretty well from what I have seen."
Joseph acts flustered, "You don't have to be so kind, dear leader! Anyways, you can go with Roy. I'll pick up the new gal, and take her to the barracks, we can meet up there!"
Michael said, "Alright. Roy, I guess I'm going with you."
Joseph said, jokingly, "Make sure not to pull something, Michael."
Roy said, "I'm fine with that. I don't want to go playing parent for the new dude right away like I had to do with you two, anyways." Roy would have a hearty laugh.
Joseph said, "Well, I gotta go! I'll see you two later!" Then, he ran out the room somewhat happily.
Roy said, "That boy's always going off somewhere."
Michael replied, "Yeah, he is."
He then turned to Roy, "Don't you think it's strange how this has been happening so quickly?"
Roy replied, "How what has?"
Michael said, "Like, us. The squad getting promoted. Isn't that too fast?"
Roy rubbed his chin, thinking, "Probably just a lack of people, though that is a interesting observation. A lot of people in your class were like that, like Ken and Kaina. Speaking of them, and a few other of your classmates, they've been deployed to the South recently."
Michael exclaimed, "Really? I'm surprised, especially after all that's happened with Ken."
Roy said, "Yeah, I know. Anyways, we aught to stop gossiping and go."
Michael replied, "I guess."
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At the local train station, it was a normal day, filled with bustling commuters and trains flying across the railway. In between the busy laborers, was a woman with long, curly, black hair, and blue eyes of similar color and deepness as the ocean. She had a black military uniform, with a dark blue overcoat, and was holding a large suitcase. As she was scanning the station for someone, she was surprised to see a strange, blond man running at her. That man, obviously being Joseph. As Joseph walked forward, she prepared herself.
He said, "Are you Lena?"
She responded, "That would be me. I assume that'd mean that you're Joseph?
He pointed at himself, as he said, "That'd be me!"
Lena looked unimpressed, "Uh-huh. So, where do I have to go?"
Joseph would reply, feigning offense, "That's so rude! No exposition or anything?" He'd sigh, before saying, "I suppose we should get out of this area, wouldn't want to get in the way of anyone." He'd motion to follow him, and Lena would grab her bags.
"So, how far away is this place, anyways?" Lena would say.
Joseph said, "Not that far away, anyways. So, do you have any questions? You're new to the area, from my understanding."
Lena replied, "I do have one. Who are the others in the group?"
Joseph said, "Well, there's me, not much to say that you couldn't realize already, Michael, he's my best friend, and our leader, he's really cool and does a lot of the work, and Roy, who brings us back down to earth, and does the same thing to our targets."
Lena said, "Sounds like quite the rogue's gallery."
Joseph said, "Yeah, well, I think you'll fit in just fine."
Lena smiled, "You might be right."