I apologize for the lack of updates and the past week, I went to visit my family only to find out that there contracted had left and the new house needed a lot of work, so I've been helping them. It's been an exhausting christmas, fear not, I have been typing a bit and planning out the story and releases will begin again after new years when things settle down.
I hope you all had a merry Christmas and will have a happy new year.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Chapter 12 Soon
Been a rough week with finals and papers due, Chapter 12 is about half way done and I hope to finish it this weekend.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Friday, December 11, 2015
Chapter 11 is up on royal road!
Here the link:
http://royalroadl.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=4405
Enjoy!
http://royalroadl.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=4405
Enjoy!
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Chapter 11 tonight
Chapter 11 is ready to post. Expect it today, the releases as of late have been fast mostly due to me having a lot of finished material. Releases will slow down next week, but expect them to pick up again after Christmas. Enjoy!
EDIT: I did another prepost reading of Chapter 11 and I have decided that it would be better to put it and chapter 12 together, this requires a bit of editing so I won't release it until tomorrow, sorry about that but I think this will be better for the story.
EDIT: I did another prepost reading of Chapter 11 and I have decided that it would be better to put it and chapter 12 together, this requires a bit of editing so I won't release it until tomorrow, sorry about that but I think this will be better for the story.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Posting Chapters on Royal Road
I like the formatting and publicity of royal road, so I will post chapters on there from now on. I will make sure to put up a post with a link to the chapter whenever a new chapter is posted on that site.
Expect updates on when the next chapter is going to be posted, the occasional rant, and questions for the audience to be posted here.
Immortal Witness is currently up to chapter 10:
http://royalroadl.com/fiction/4405
Expect updates on when the next chapter is going to be posted, the occasional rant, and questions for the audience to be posted here.
Immortal Witness is currently up to chapter 10:
http://royalroadl.com/fiction/4405
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Borrowed Time
The next morning, a servant woke me up and told me to meet the heroes in the courtyard as combat and magic training will begin immediately. I quickly get dressed in the clothes given to me, and rush out to the royal castles training grounds.
Before me I see a group of three different individuals and the harem standing around, probably waiting for me. The first of the three strangers is a stern looking knight with graying hair, his most defining features being his strong gaze and well-kept handlebar mustache.
Next to the knight, leaning on a staff, an old man with a grey beard down to his waist and eyes filled with wisdom observes the four heroes before him.
The final person was a young looking woman with long green hair, her skin was a white as snow and her features elegant and beautiful, the only thing abnormal about her were her elongated ears, ending in a point.
“Sorry, my room was quite far from the training grounds.” I give an earnest apology for my truancy, and the three strangers and the harem all give an understanding nod. “Now that the witness is here we can begin,” the knight speaks up, “I am Knight Commander Alex Ironhand, this is the Great Sage Geras, and this is Lady Valas of the Elven Kingdom.”
The old man nods and the woman curtseys. “We have been requested by the King to tutor you young heroes so that you will be ready to fight Nazrax when he returns. Before we begin, Geras has provided a means to read your auras so that we may better know your levels of mana.”
Putting aside my excitement that apparently elves also exist in this world, I am extremely excited to learn our mana levels.
Geras brought out a blue orb, and Knight Commander Alex began to explain mana to us; “Everyone has mana, but a select few have enough to use the various types of magic. Most people either can only use a few first tier martial styles to increase their physical strength, speed and endurance or cast a few first tier combat and utility spells.
Others use their meager mana to form contracts with a lesser spirit, the spirit then fights with them and provides mana for various abilities related to its element. Spirits are picky however, and even if someone had the necessary amount of mana to form a contract with one, that person man not attract any spirits to contract with.
Truly gifted and well trained individuals with large amounts of mana can cast higher tier magic, channel more into their bodies to increase their fighting capabilities, and even attract and form multiple contracts with spirits.”
Alex stops, and Geras begins to speak; “There are six tiers of Arcane magic, six tiers of marital techniques, and seven types of spirits. Some people are only able to use one of the three types of magic, while others can use two. Exceptional people can sometimes use all three. The four heroes of legend not only could use multiple types, but they could reach the sixth tier in all magic types they could use. They were truly awe inspiring, and I am sure the current heros will reach that level with time.”
Geras continues after smiling at the four heroes, “Do not think just because a spell or martial magic technique is a higher tier that it is automatically stronger. Spells and Martial techniques all get stronger the more mana and practice you put into them. In fact, one of the most famous mages in the southern empire almost exclusively uses a low level wind spell that he has perfected into a extremely deadly attack.”
Hiro speaks up when Geras finishes, “Sensei, why do spirits not have tiers?”
Lady Valas answers him, “Spirits come in lesser, greater, high, and lord varieties. Furthermore, there are seven types of spirits: Light, Dark, Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and Nature. The type of spirit you can acquire depends on your mana and what spirit is attracted to you. It is very rare, but a person with an exceptional amount of mana who manages to attract one could contract with a High Elemental Spirit.
High elemental spirits are extremely powerful, they can easily fight people capable of using sixth tier magic, and the abilities they grant their contractors are on the level of fifth or sixth tier arcane spells and martial styles. The Elemental Lords have never contracted with a person, as the amount of mana that would be required is something only a god could have, and they would have to want to choose to contract with that person as well.
It's even possible to contract with multiple spirits if you have the mana to sustain them, though it would be impossible for even talented individuals with high amounts of mana to do so with multiple greater or high spirits.”
Hiro cocks his head, “Why is that?”
Lady Valas chuckles as she explains further, “The mana to sustain a spirit has to come from the person contracting it, while the spirit can easily make up for this amount with its own mana when using arcane or martial magic, it means that your personal mana is greatly reduced. Since that is the case, contracting with another spirit of great power is impossible.”
Geras steps up once again “I will now read your auras to determine your affinities and how much mana you possess.” He first steps up to Kamiko, urging her to place her palm on the orb, she does and it begins to shine like a brilliant blue miniature sun. “You young miss have an amazing amount of mana! Absolutely stunning! I have seen sixth tier mages with only half the mana you have. The blue coloration indicates that you are very suited to learn arcane magic.”
He then turns to Izumi, she places her hand on the orb and it begins to glow as brilliantly as when Kamiko touched, except in a mix of both red and green, Geras’s grin grows wider, “You have as much mana as your friend, and the red indicates you would excel at martial magic. The green tells us that it's highly likely you could form a contract with a spirit as well.”
Next, Akane touches the orb, and it glows brightly as a swirling mix of red and blue. “You hero’s do not disappoint in the slightest, Akane you are suitable to learn both Arcane and Martial magic.. You also have an incredible amount of mana like your friends.”
The Harem girls all have wide smiles after hearing how special they are; thankfully they can’t see me rolling my eyes. As if their egos needed another boost, let’s see what Hiro has gotten, I bet he has an affinity with arcane, martial and spirits; and more mana than everyone so far. His protagonist cheat powers must be tremendous.
Hiro did not disappoint. As he touched the orb, it began to give off enough light to blind everyone assembled, the orb was a beautiful mix of green, red and blue all swirling in a fascinating pattern.
After a few moments of rubbing our eyes, the old man began to tear up, as if he saw the glory of a god. “Young Hero, you have nearly twice the mana of your friends, and you are suitable to learn arcane, and martial magic, you also have a very high chance of contracting with a strong spirit!. Please allow me to teach you, I will never find a better student!”
Commander Ironhand and Lady Valas both look pleased as well once they heard the harems abilities. As the three of them continue to gush over the four that have been observed, I attempt to get the attention of Geras.
I ask, “Hey, what about me?” The Sage looks confused for a moment, “You are the Witness, you have the power of recollection.” My brow furrows, “Right I heard that, what about my mana and suitable techniques for me to learn?”
The old man’s eyes widen with surprise: “You don’t know? The Witness has no mana; it’s the consequence of having near immortality.”
“What do you mean no mana? How am I supposed to fight- WAIT WHAT?”
Hiro’s Harem looks at the sage as well, just as shocked as I am. Geras smiles as he answers, “You have a phylactery inside your body, this crystal constantly contains and suplements your life force, making you heal at an incredible fast rate and you cannot die as long as the phylactery is intact. Because of your near immortality, the spirits strip your soul of mana. As the Witness, you must write about the hero's exploits, they do not need to worry about protecting you since you are nearly impossible to kill. And when Nazrax is defeated, your phylactery will absorb his essence and shatter, killing him permanently, this time he will not have enough power to reincarnate and we will finally be truly victorious.”
The other two smile and nod while the sage explains this.
My mind is blank, trying to process what I just heard, “Just how hard is it to kill me?” the sage quickly answers, “So long as the phylactery that is your heart is unbroken, you can heal from any injury. More grievous wounds and full body destruction will take longer to heal, however the only way to shatter a phylactery is magic of the sixth tier, the flames of a truly ancient dragon, or a weapon that can kill immortals such as weapons the origional four hero's held.
Other methods may exist, but it must something as powerful as one of the mentioned methods.” My mind continues to race, “So in exchange for this power, I have no way of defending myself outside of swinging a weapon?”
The sage responds, “I’m afraid so, even most common soldiers can use a little magic, you will always be at a disadvantage when it comes to offense. Thankfully you have the heroes to deal with threats, just focus on writing their story.”
I feel a little angry at his words, “Don’t get me wrong, being nearly impossible to kill sounds pretty great, but having absolutely no magic fucking sucks.” The three instructors and the Harem all raise their eyebrows in surprise; my students have never heard me curse before.
“I get dragged into this world, and I don’t even get to use magic or fight? I just sit down and write about the heroes great adventures? Hoping that the monsters don’t pay attention to me so I am not attacked, and have to regenerate?”
I get angrier and angrier as I think about my present situation, “Do you realize how much dying probably hurts? I can’t imagine it, and I probably will die a lot. These shits,” I point to the harem, “will grow complacent knowing that I can’t die, and won’t try to defend me at all. It would be a waste of time, why save the Witness from a painful death when we could kill the monster while it’s distracted.”
Hiro steps up, and looks me in the eye, “Sensei, you're out of line, we are all in this together and we have to help these people. We can return once that Nazrax guy has been defeated.” What he says makes sense, but the idiot has missed one key point.
“Hiro, do you not realize the implication of what Geras said?” Hiro looks confused as he thinks about my question, after a moment of thought he shrugs when he can’t figure it out. “When you guys defeat Nazrax, even if everyone survives and we succeed, I have to die. My phylactery shattering to kill him means I never get to return home even if there is a method. I’m on borrowed time, you kids get to learn magic and have heroic adventures. I only get to watch and record your story while you become stronger so you can speed up my fucking death.”
Hiro and his harem pale at my words, the knight has a grim look, Lady Valas looks at me with pity, and Geras nods and state's “Witness, please do not be angry, we cannot defeat Nazrax without your sacrifice.”
I shout at him, “To hell with you! You and your kingdom can kiss my ass! You kidnap me from my world and force me to follow and write about your precious heroes exploits then expect me to sacrifice my life? I get to die while Hiro has a nice adventure with his cheerleaders.”
Akane shouts at me, “Sensei ENOUGH!”
I glare at her, “You four idiots didn’t get summoned to be a sacrifice for a bunch of people you don’t even know, at least you might get to return home alive!”
“DON’T SHOUT AT AKANE LIKE THAT!” Hiro’s face contorts in anger, Izumi is calm as ever, and Kamiko looks terrified.
“I WILL SPEAK AS I PLEASE, CONSIDERING THAT I’M GOING TO DIE FOR YOU SHITHEADS AND THIS WORLD”
A loud crack is heard, as Hiro’s fist, coated in a blue light, collides with my face. I feel my skull shatter from his blow. ‘How is he so strong?’ I think, but I start to choke on blood as I collapse on my back, my face in ruins from his punch.
I hear a couple of screams, but they sound distant. Hiro stands above me, his face pale as he looks at my mangled skull. I can feel death grasping at me, my lower body twitching, death throes from having my skull shattered and the pieces forced into my frontal lobe.
There is a lot of pain, but it feels dull. As my consciousness begins to fade, my head begins to glow and crackle. Red lightning surges throughout my wounds. Bone reassembles, my nose sets, the wounded parts of my brain regenerate. After only a few moments, I gasp as my face heals.
Coughing up a little blood, I stand and glare at Hiro. He falls under my gaze, landing on his rear, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. The girls, Commander Alex, and Lady Valas all wear a similar expression. Only the Great Sage Geras remains calm, as if he expected this outcome.
“Hiro, did you just try to kill me?” I speak between clenched teeth.
“S-s-sensei, I di-didn’t m-mean…” Hiro stutters in terror at my death and regeneration.
“YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!” I grab his scrawny neck and start to squeeze, lost in my rage. Maybe I’m going a bit too far, but in my defense, the little bastard almost accidentally murdered me. In fact he would have successfully done so if I wasn’t cursed with immortality.
As I throttle him, I hear the others begging me to stop, and strong arms attempt to pry me off, someone shouts “OH HOLY SAINTS, HE'S KILLING THE HERO!”
Despite the attempts to pry me off, I still cling to his damn neck. I really do want to kill this guy. Suddenly I see a flash of metal and lose feeling in my lower arms.
I try to resist the arms pulling me off Hiro, but I cannot hang onto him due to my forearms separating from my elbows, someone had hacked off my forearms. I shout in pain, staring in shock at my stumps. As I pass out from the pain and loss of blood, I feel myself being dragged from the training grounds.
---
The next morning, a servant woke me up and told me to meet the heroes in the courtyard as combat and magic training will begin immediately. I quickly get dressed in the clothes given to me, and rush out to the royal castles training grounds.
Before me I see a group of three different individuals and the harem standing around, probably waiting for me. The first of the three strangers is a stern looking knight with graying hair, his most defining features being his strong gaze and well-kept handlebar mustache.
Next to the knight, leaning on a staff, an old man with a grey beard down to his waist and eyes filled with wisdom observes the four heroes before him.
The final person was a young looking woman with long green hair, her skin was a white as snow and her features elegant and beautiful, the only thing abnormal about her were her elongated ears, ending in a point.
“Sorry, my room was quite far from the training grounds.” I give an earnest apology for my truancy, and the three strangers and the harem all give an understanding nod. “Now that the witness is here we can begin,” the knight speaks up, “I am Knight Commander Alex Ironhand, this is the Great Sage Geras, and this is Lady Valas of the Elven Kingdom.”
The old man nods and the woman curtseys. “We have been requested by the King to tutor you young heroes so that you will be ready to fight Nazrax when he returns. Before we begin, Geras has provided a means to read your auras so that we may better know your levels of mana.”
Putting aside my excitement that apparently elves also exist in this world, I am extremely excited to learn our mana levels.
Geras brought out a blue orb, and Knight Commander Alex began to explain mana to us; “Everyone has mana, but a select few have enough to use the various types of magic. Most people either can only use a few first tier martial styles to increase their physical strength, speed and endurance or cast a few first tier combat and utility spells.
Others use their meager mana to form contracts with a lesser spirit, the spirit then fights with them and provides mana for various abilities related to its element. Spirits are picky however, and even if someone had the necessary amount of mana to form a contract with one, that person man not attract any spirits to contract with.
Truly gifted and well trained individuals with large amounts of mana can cast higher tier magic, channel more into their bodies to increase their fighting capabilities, and even attract and form multiple contracts with spirits.”
Alex stops, and Geras begins to speak; “There are six tiers of Arcane magic, six tiers of marital techniques, and seven types of spirits. Some people are only able to use one of the three types of magic, while others can use two. Exceptional people can sometimes use all three. The four heroes of legend not only could use multiple types, but they could reach the sixth tier in all magic types they could use. They were truly awe inspiring, and I am sure the current heros will reach that level with time.”
Geras continues after smiling at the four heroes, “Do not think just because a spell or martial magic technique is a higher tier that it is automatically stronger. Spells and Martial techniques all get stronger the more mana and practice you put into them. In fact, one of the most famous mages in the southern empire almost exclusively uses a low level wind spell that he has perfected into a extremely deadly attack.”
Hiro speaks up when Geras finishes, “Sensei, why do spirits not have tiers?”
Lady Valas answers him, “Spirits come in lesser, greater, high, and lord varieties. Furthermore, there are seven types of spirits: Light, Dark, Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and Nature. The type of spirit you can acquire depends on your mana and what spirit is attracted to you. It is very rare, but a person with an exceptional amount of mana who manages to attract one could contract with a High Elemental Spirit.
High elemental spirits are extremely powerful, they can easily fight people capable of using sixth tier magic, and the abilities they grant their contractors are on the level of fifth or sixth tier arcane spells and martial styles. The Elemental Lords have never contracted with a person, as the amount of mana that would be required is something only a god could have, and they would have to want to choose to contract with that person as well.
It's even possible to contract with multiple spirits if you have the mana to sustain them, though it would be impossible for even talented individuals with high amounts of mana to do so with multiple greater or high spirits.”
Hiro cocks his head, “Why is that?”
Lady Valas chuckles as she explains further, “The mana to sustain a spirit has to come from the person contracting it, while the spirit can easily make up for this amount with its own mana when using arcane or martial magic, it means that your personal mana is greatly reduced. Since that is the case, contracting with another spirit of great power is impossible.”
Geras steps up once again “I will now read your auras to determine your affinities and how much mana you possess.” He first steps up to Kamiko, urging her to place her palm on the orb, she does and it begins to shine like a brilliant blue miniature sun. “You young miss have an amazing amount of mana! Absolutely stunning! I have seen sixth tier mages with only half the mana you have. The blue coloration indicates that you are very suited to learn arcane magic.”
He then turns to Izumi, she places her hand on the orb and it begins to glow as brilliantly as when Kamiko touched, except in a mix of both red and green, Geras’s grin grows wider, “You have as much mana as your friend, and the red indicates you would excel at martial magic. The green tells us that it's highly likely you could form a contract with a spirit as well.”
Next, Akane touches the orb, and it glows brightly as a swirling mix of red and blue. “You hero’s do not disappoint in the slightest, Akane you are suitable to learn both Arcane and Martial magic.. You also have an incredible amount of mana like your friends.”
The Harem girls all have wide smiles after hearing how special they are; thankfully they can’t see me rolling my eyes. As if their egos needed another boost, let’s see what Hiro has gotten, I bet he has an affinity with arcane, martial and spirits; and more mana than everyone so far. His protagonist cheat powers must be tremendous.
Hiro did not disappoint. As he touched the orb, it began to give off enough light to blind everyone assembled, the orb was a beautiful mix of green, red and blue all swirling in a fascinating pattern.
After a few moments of rubbing our eyes, the old man began to tear up, as if he saw the glory of a god. “Young Hero, you have nearly twice the mana of your friends, and you are suitable to learn arcane, and martial magic, you also have a very high chance of contracting with a strong spirit!. Please allow me to teach you, I will never find a better student!”
Commander Ironhand and Lady Valas both look pleased as well once they heard the harems abilities. As the three of them continue to gush over the four that have been observed, I attempt to get the attention of Geras.
I ask, “Hey, what about me?” The Sage looks confused for a moment, “You are the Witness, you have the power of recollection.” My brow furrows, “Right I heard that, what about my mana and suitable techniques for me to learn?”
The old man’s eyes widen with surprise: “You don’t know? The Witness has no mana; it’s the consequence of having near immortality.”
“What do you mean no mana? How am I supposed to fight- WAIT WHAT?”
Hiro’s Harem looks at the sage as well, just as shocked as I am. Geras smiles as he answers, “You have a phylactery inside your body, this crystal constantly contains and suplements your life force, making you heal at an incredible fast rate and you cannot die as long as the phylactery is intact. Because of your near immortality, the spirits strip your soul of mana. As the Witness, you must write about the hero's exploits, they do not need to worry about protecting you since you are nearly impossible to kill. And when Nazrax is defeated, your phylactery will absorb his essence and shatter, killing him permanently, this time he will not have enough power to reincarnate and we will finally be truly victorious.”
The other two smile and nod while the sage explains this.
My mind is blank, trying to process what I just heard, “Just how hard is it to kill me?” the sage quickly answers, “So long as the phylactery that is your heart is unbroken, you can heal from any injury. More grievous wounds and full body destruction will take longer to heal, however the only way to shatter a phylactery is magic of the sixth tier, the flames of a truly ancient dragon, or a weapon that can kill immortals such as weapons the origional four hero's held.
Other methods may exist, but it must something as powerful as one of the mentioned methods.” My mind continues to race, “So in exchange for this power, I have no way of defending myself outside of swinging a weapon?”
The sage responds, “I’m afraid so, even most common soldiers can use a little magic, you will always be at a disadvantage when it comes to offense. Thankfully you have the heroes to deal with threats, just focus on writing their story.”
I feel a little angry at his words, “Don’t get me wrong, being nearly impossible to kill sounds pretty great, but having absolutely no magic fucking sucks.” The three instructors and the Harem all raise their eyebrows in surprise; my students have never heard me curse before.
“I get dragged into this world, and I don’t even get to use magic or fight? I just sit down and write about the heroes great adventures? Hoping that the monsters don’t pay attention to me so I am not attacked, and have to regenerate?”
I get angrier and angrier as I think about my present situation, “Do you realize how much dying probably hurts? I can’t imagine it, and I probably will die a lot. These shits,” I point to the harem, “will grow complacent knowing that I can’t die, and won’t try to defend me at all. It would be a waste of time, why save the Witness from a painful death when we could kill the monster while it’s distracted.”
Hiro steps up, and looks me in the eye, “Sensei, you're out of line, we are all in this together and we have to help these people. We can return once that Nazrax guy has been defeated.” What he says makes sense, but the idiot has missed one key point.
“Hiro, do you not realize the implication of what Geras said?” Hiro looks confused as he thinks about my question, after a moment of thought he shrugs when he can’t figure it out. “When you guys defeat Nazrax, even if everyone survives and we succeed, I have to die. My phylactery shattering to kill him means I never get to return home even if there is a method. I’m on borrowed time, you kids get to learn magic and have heroic adventures. I only get to watch and record your story while you become stronger so you can speed up my fucking death.”
Hiro and his harem pale at my words, the knight has a grim look, Lady Valas looks at me with pity, and Geras nods and state's “Witness, please do not be angry, we cannot defeat Nazrax without your sacrifice.”
I shout at him, “To hell with you! You and your kingdom can kiss my ass! You kidnap me from my world and force me to follow and write about your precious heroes exploits then expect me to sacrifice my life? I get to die while Hiro has a nice adventure with his cheerleaders.”
Akane shouts at me, “Sensei ENOUGH!”
I glare at her, “You four idiots didn’t get summoned to be a sacrifice for a bunch of people you don’t even know, at least you might get to return home alive!”
“DON’T SHOUT AT AKANE LIKE THAT!” Hiro’s face contorts in anger, Izumi is calm as ever, and Kamiko looks terrified.
“I WILL SPEAK AS I PLEASE, CONSIDERING THAT I’M GOING TO DIE FOR YOU SHITHEADS AND THIS WORLD”
A loud crack is heard, as Hiro’s fist, coated in a blue light, collides with my face. I feel my skull shatter from his blow. ‘How is he so strong?’ I think, but I start to choke on blood as I collapse on my back, my face in ruins from his punch.
I hear a couple of screams, but they sound distant. Hiro stands above me, his face pale as he looks at my mangled skull. I can feel death grasping at me, my lower body twitching, death throes from having my skull shattered and the pieces forced into my frontal lobe.
There is a lot of pain, but it feels dull. As my consciousness begins to fade, my head begins to glow and crackle. Red lightning surges throughout my wounds. Bone reassembles, my nose sets, the wounded parts of my brain regenerate. After only a few moments, I gasp as my face heals.
Coughing up a little blood, I stand and glare at Hiro. He falls under my gaze, landing on his rear, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. The girls, Commander Alex, and Lady Valas all wear a similar expression. Only the Great Sage Geras remains calm, as if he expected this outcome.
“Hiro, did you just try to kill me?” I speak between clenched teeth.
“S-s-sensei, I di-didn’t m-mean…” Hiro stutters in terror at my death and regeneration.
“YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!” I grab his scrawny neck and start to squeeze, lost in my rage. Maybe I’m going a bit too far, but in my defense, the little bastard almost accidentally murdered me. In fact he would have successfully done so if I wasn’t cursed with immortality.
As I throttle him, I hear the others begging me to stop, and strong arms attempt to pry me off, someone shouts “OH HOLY SAINTS, HE'S KILLING THE HERO!”
Despite the attempts to pry me off, I still cling to his damn neck. I really do want to kill this guy. Suddenly I see a flash of metal and lose feeling in my lower arms.
I try to resist the arms pulling me off Hiro, but I cannot hang onto him due to my forearms separating from my elbows, someone had hacked off my forearms. I shout in pain, staring in shock at my stumps. As I pass out from the pain and loss of blood, I feel myself being dragged from the training grounds.
---
Prologue and Chapter 1
Prologue: Sorrow
In the capital city Avaritia, of the Virtus Kingdom, a young man sits alone in a tavern, drowning his sorrows in the most potent alcohol he can afford. He appears to be in his early twenties, with a fit build, short black hair, steel grey eyes and a tired visage. The stools to either side of him are empty; anyone who could read the mood would know that he wishes to be left alone to wallow in his misery.
The man sighs as he finishes his current drink, and signals the bartender to refill his class. Without a word the man’s glass is filled with a generous amount of whiskey, enough to drown even the greatest of sorrows. The man continues to drink and sigh, one can only wonder at what kind of scenario would lead a person to have given up on life so completely.
It could be the loss of a lover, bankruptcy, a terminal illness, or maybe being summoned to another world with absolutely no powers and dying painfully over a dozen times.
“This sucks…”
---
Chapter 1: An outsiders perspective
2 months earlier-
As I was walking home after I finished teaching my third class of the day, I couldn’t help but feel elated, my day off is tomorrow and I plan to properly waste it doing trivial things. Teaching english in a foreign land is surprisingly stressful, I can sense my students judging my every move and I need to make sure I perfectly speak both english and japanese if I want to appear competent enough to teach them.
It doesn’t matter what nation you are in, teenagers are assholes, and if you show any sign of weakness they will not hesitate to ridicule you. Luckily, I have three members of the student council in my classroom, all of whom consider me to be an excellent teacher despite my foreigner status. becaue of this, most delinquents are too afraid of being reprimanded and subsequently shunned by them and the other students to cause me grief.
While I am grateful to those three students for helping to keep the peace, I can’t help but think that they are extremely odd. They are certainly the most well-known students in the school, and they are excellent at both academics and athletics. The problem is, I can’t help but think of slice of life anime’s when I see them. It’s really unsettling.
The student council president, Hiro Ikehara; with his short brown hair, brown eyes and handsome face, looks like a pretty boy ripped straight from the pages of a manga. He even has a harem, the Vice President, Akane Fukushima, the student council secretary, Izumi Higuchi and his half-sister Kamiko. Akane has red eyes, red hair and, unsurprisingly since these four hit all the stereotypes, a short temper. Izumi has flowing silver hair, bright green eyes and a quiet disposition; I think I have only heard her speak twice in five weeks of class time. His half-sister, Kamiko, has blue hair, brown eyes and a cheery disposition similar to her brothers.
All three girls share two common traits: they are painfully beautiful and madly in love with Hiro. The sickening sight of the three teenage girls fighting for his affection has caused me to steadfastly avoid any contact with them outside of teaching the older three in class. Even then I still have to witness the occasional puke inducing episode, usually instigated by Akane screaming at another girl or frantically denying that she is interested in Hiro while her face does its best impression of a tomato.
Sometimes I wish it was a crappy anime, at least then I could skip to the last episode when one of the girls win and not have to deal with loud and obnoxious love-struck teenagers fighting over a guy for an entire school term. Also the obvious romantic interest Hiro’s half-sister shows when I see them while walking between lessons is spine-tingling.
Thankfully she is too young to take my class and annoy the shit out of me like the other two, so I am grateful to whatever god is watching my back for giving that minor blessing. I know I sound a little harsh, but the popularity and bizarre antics of this group is surreal.
As I am walking and joyfully contemplating what I shall do during my day off, I see the Hiro harem arguing on the sidewalk directly in my path. I quickly lower my head and attempt to sneak by, but since I am the only person of European descent walking in the area, I unfortunately stick out like a sore thumb.
“Hey guys look! It’s Sensei!”
Shit, they spotted me.
Hiro lightly bows as he addresses me, “Hey Sensei, sorry about Akane’s actions today, I don’t know why she freaked out like that.” I have to stifle a laugh; I’m pretty sure the only one present who doesn’t know why she acted like that is Hiro himself. Despite my harsh thoughts earlier, I can see why people like this group. They are polite, kind, and treat their elders with respect. They also do not have a hint of prejudice in their voice while speaking to a foreigner like me, so I can be civil with them despite of their strangeness. That does not change the fact that I wish to be as far away from this terrifying quartet as soon as possible, so I will keep this short. One snarky comment, and then I will excuse myself.
I smirk as I respond to Hiro, “I can’t possibly think of a reason,” I quickly glance at the girls next to Hiro, they give me a ‘what can you do’ shrug of acceptance, apparently they are perfectly fine with how dense Hiro is. Hiro noticed my glance, and looks around confused. The girls give a small chuckle, as he furrows his brow, trying to figure out why I and his companions look so amused.
As I am about to excuse myself, a sudden screeching noise behind me caused my students and I to quickly whip around to see the source of the noise. A cargo truck, swerving madly, suddenly careened towards us.
I would like to say I heroically tried to shield my students, but in actuality I tried to get the fuck out of the way as fast as possible. Unfortunately, I was too slow. As the truck plowed into me, I heard screams and the world went white.
---
Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Summoned to a new world
With my arms in front of me to cover my face, I slowly realize that I am not splattered across the front of a truck. Relieved and confused, I slowly lower my arms and look around. Shockingly, I am not on a sidewalk in Japan, I appear to now be in a European style church.
Looking around, I see that I am currently on a slightly raised platform, with steps in front of me. Below my feet, a strange looking glyph composed of circles, triangles, and squares is giving off a gradually fading white glow. Surrounding the platform are men and woman in regal robes and knights in splendid armor. Directly before me, a stunning young woman is kneeling in front of the steps leading up to the platform, her golden hair flowing over her shoulders.
Next to her is a middle-aged man, also kneeling, his shoulder length grey hair neatly combed, and his goatee trimmed. Both are wearing regal old fashioned and expensive looking clothing, and the man has an elegant crown adorning his head.
“Greetings oh great heroes, I am King Elrick Reinhart, ruler of the Virtus Kingdom. The time foretold by the prophecy is approaching. Our world is in great danger from an ancient evil, and we have summoned you to this world like in the legends of old so that you can defeat it.” All of kneeling people, almost fifty in total, suddenly plead “Please save us!” and stand up. Naturally, I am a bit shocked at this sequence of events.
Unfortunately, before I can even ask a question, a screeching voice belonging to a crimson haired demon that has plagued me for weeks now bursts my eardrums with her surprised scream.
“WHAAAAAAAT?”
I feel a cold chill creep up my back, causing my neck hair to stand on end. “No, oh god no, it couldn’t be…” I whisper to myself as I turn around and my face pales. My nightmare has come true; standing before me, in all their disturbing glory, is a pretty boy, his young sister, a red haired howler monkey, and a quiet doll with silver hair.
I have been summoned into another world with Hiro’s harem.
As the King begins to explain the situation, my already furrowed brow wrinkles further and further, and the faces of the four others with me quickly turn from looks of confusion to ecstatic smiles. I’m sure the four of them are happily dreaming about how they will become great heroes, saving a world from evil, and then return home after a grand adventure.
Apparently the prophecy the king mentioned told of the reincarnation of a powerful evil sorcerer, Nazrax, who will plunge the world into another age of war and death. Nazrax was originally defeated by the first four heroes from another world, but they knew he would return someday, and left behind the tales of their journey so that those summoned in the future can use the information to become stronger and defeat the sorcerer Nazrax once again.
“Heroes, we beseech you, please follow in the footsteps of your predecessors and prepare for the second coming of Nazrax, we need you if we are to triumph over his evil once again!”
With that final proclamation, the king seems to have finished his sales pitch. Naturally I have questions, but before I can say my piece, a justice idiot steps in front of me and shouts with resolve, “Do not worry good people of the Virtus Kingdom. I, Hiro Ikehara, will train to become powerful enough to save you from the evil that is to come!” The three girls that form his shadow also step up, and proclaim how they will help Hiro and fight by his side.
I will admit, I am a little shocked that these kids are so willing to train for a life or death final battle against an ancient evil in a world they know nothing about. But they seem happy with the situation, and the king said he needed four heroes, so I don’t really care what they do.
“Excuse me your majesty,” I say with as much eloquence as I can muster, “these teenagers seem to have this covered, could you send me back? My students here are free to have fun and fight in another world, but I just want to go home.”
The king's face seems to pale slightly, ‘oh, I guess they can’t send people back’, is my immediate thought. “I am truly sorry sir, even if we could send you back at this time, we cannot do so. You are the Witness; you must record the journey and victory of the four heroes!” While I did notice his evasion of my question about sending people home, it looks like I have a purpose in this world after all.
Upon seeing my curious look, the king explains: “The witness is the person who wrote the original four heroes tales. He is the reason we have the records from that time, he also played a crucial role in the first battle against Nazgrax. Without a witness, the heroes would of failed in the old legends!”
Well shit, looks like I’m stuck here, guess I’ll have to help save the world after all.
“Your majesty,” Akane interrupts before I can ask my next question, “What powers do we heroes have?” The king grinned as he answered, “Heroes are blessed by the spirits with great power! You all assuredly have an incredibly large amount of mana, and each of you have a unique power!”
The king takes out an ancient looking tome, “This is the record written by the previous witness. If you place your hand upon this book, it will tell us the abilities the spirits have gifted you.”
The king walks up to Akane, and she places her hand upon the book. It begins to glow and the book talks, much to the surprise of the Harem and I.
“THE HERO AKANE FUKUSHIMA, YOU HAVE THE BEEN GIVEN THE GIFT OF FURY, EVIL SHALL COWER BEFORE YOUR RIGHTEOUS ANGER.”
I am now a bit excited; hero’s,villains, magic, gifts from spirits. Even my cynical self can’t help but be excited when I’m told I get to be a mage and throw lightning everywhere. I wonder what abilities I will be granted. The king then approaches Izumi and she places her hand on the book.
“THE HERO IZUMI HIGUCHI, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE GIFT OF FORESIGHT, WITH IT YOU CAN STOP EVIL BEFORE IT OCCURS AND PREDICT A FOE'S MOVEMENTS IN BATTLE.”
Hiro’s sister, Kamiko is approached next; she places her hand on the book after a little coercion from her brother.
“THE HERO KAMIKO IKEHARA, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE GIFT OF CLAIRVOYANCE, YOU CAN FIND EVIL NO MATTER WHERE IT HIDES.”
Up next is the harem lord himself, Hiro. He puts his hand on the tome instantly when it is presented to him.
“THE LEADER OF THE HEROES, HIRO IKEHARA, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE GIFT OF LEADERSHIP, YOUR FRIENDS AND ALLIES WILL NEVER KNOW DESPAIR SO LONG AS YOU ARE STILL FIGHTING.”
The crowd before us begins to cheer after the four heroes abilities are revealed, Hiro’s harem are grinning like idiots, obviously pleased with their current situation. I of course am a bit unsatisfied; it appears that I have been forgotten in all the celebration.
Thankfully a certain pretty boy has also noticed my predicament, and quickly rushes to my aid; I don’t know what I would do without his benevolence. At times like this, I wish my thoughts could have a sarcastic tone and my brain could roll its eyes.
“Your majesty, Sensei hasn’t been told his abilities by the book yet.” The king looks confused for a second, then seems to remember that we have no clue what is going on. “Oh I apologize, Witness, I forgot you do not know the tales. The Witness always has the gift of recollection. The book is unnecessary to determine your ability.”
“I see.” While I am a little disappointed that I don’t get a cool introduction, recollection does sound interesting. Maybe I’ll be some kind of super rainman. Perfect memory would undoubtedly be useful if I am expected to be recording the group’s adventures.
The rest of our day was spent being introduced to a variety of nobles, knights, and court magicians. We also met the queen, the princes and the princesses. The first princess, Alice Reinhart, was the blonde young lady present during the summoning. Apparently she is a gifted magician and assisted in the summoning spell.
After a day of speeches, feasts and greetings, my first day in the new world ends. I retire to my room and sit in quiet contemplation. While I was a little angry that I most likely will not be able to return home, being a powerful hero and having an adventure in new world would most likely be a more interesting life than teaching English to Japanese high school students.
I fall asleep excited about the coming adventure.
With my arms in front of me to cover my face, I slowly realize that I am not splattered across the front of a truck. Relieved and confused, I slowly lower my arms and look around. Shockingly, I am not on a sidewalk in Japan, I appear to now be in a European style church.
Looking around, I see that I am currently on a slightly raised platform, with steps in front of me. Below my feet, a strange looking glyph composed of circles, triangles, and squares is giving off a gradually fading white glow. Surrounding the platform are men and woman in regal robes and knights in splendid armor. Directly before me, a stunning young woman is kneeling in front of the steps leading up to the platform, her golden hair flowing over her shoulders.
Next to her is a middle-aged man, also kneeling, his shoulder length grey hair neatly combed, and his goatee trimmed. Both are wearing regal old fashioned and expensive looking clothing, and the man has an elegant crown adorning his head.
“Greetings oh great heroes, I am King Elrick Reinhart, ruler of the Virtus Kingdom. The time foretold by the prophecy is approaching. Our world is in great danger from an ancient evil, and we have summoned you to this world like in the legends of old so that you can defeat it.” All of kneeling people, almost fifty in total, suddenly plead “Please save us!” and stand up. Naturally, I am a bit shocked at this sequence of events.
Unfortunately, before I can even ask a question, a screeching voice belonging to a crimson haired demon that has plagued me for weeks now bursts my eardrums with her surprised scream.
“WHAAAAAAAT?”
I feel a cold chill creep up my back, causing my neck hair to stand on end. “No, oh god no, it couldn’t be…” I whisper to myself as I turn around and my face pales. My nightmare has come true; standing before me, in all their disturbing glory, is a pretty boy, his young sister, a red haired howler monkey, and a quiet doll with silver hair.
I have been summoned into another world with Hiro’s harem.
As the King begins to explain the situation, my already furrowed brow wrinkles further and further, and the faces of the four others with me quickly turn from looks of confusion to ecstatic smiles. I’m sure the four of them are happily dreaming about how they will become great heroes, saving a world from evil, and then return home after a grand adventure.
Apparently the prophecy the king mentioned told of the reincarnation of a powerful evil sorcerer, Nazrax, who will plunge the world into another age of war and death. Nazrax was originally defeated by the first four heroes from another world, but they knew he would return someday, and left behind the tales of their journey so that those summoned in the future can use the information to become stronger and defeat the sorcerer Nazrax once again.
“Heroes, we beseech you, please follow in the footsteps of your predecessors and prepare for the second coming of Nazrax, we need you if we are to triumph over his evil once again!”
With that final proclamation, the king seems to have finished his sales pitch. Naturally I have questions, but before I can say my piece, a justice idiot steps in front of me and shouts with resolve, “Do not worry good people of the Virtus Kingdom. I, Hiro Ikehara, will train to become powerful enough to save you from the evil that is to come!” The three girls that form his shadow also step up, and proclaim how they will help Hiro and fight by his side.
I will admit, I am a little shocked that these kids are so willing to train for a life or death final battle against an ancient evil in a world they know nothing about. But they seem happy with the situation, and the king said he needed four heroes, so I don’t really care what they do.
“Excuse me your majesty,” I say with as much eloquence as I can muster, “these teenagers seem to have this covered, could you send me back? My students here are free to have fun and fight in another world, but I just want to go home.”
The king's face seems to pale slightly, ‘oh, I guess they can’t send people back’, is my immediate thought. “I am truly sorry sir, even if we could send you back at this time, we cannot do so. You are the Witness; you must record the journey and victory of the four heroes!” While I did notice his evasion of my question about sending people home, it looks like I have a purpose in this world after all.
Upon seeing my curious look, the king explains: “The witness is the person who wrote the original four heroes tales. He is the reason we have the records from that time, he also played a crucial role in the first battle against Nazgrax. Without a witness, the heroes would of failed in the old legends!”
Well shit, looks like I’m stuck here, guess I’ll have to help save the world after all.
“Your majesty,” Akane interrupts before I can ask my next question, “What powers do we heroes have?” The king grinned as he answered, “Heroes are blessed by the spirits with great power! You all assuredly have an incredibly large amount of mana, and each of you have a unique power!”
The king takes out an ancient looking tome, “This is the record written by the previous witness. If you place your hand upon this book, it will tell us the abilities the spirits have gifted you.”
The king walks up to Akane, and she places her hand upon the book. It begins to glow and the book talks, much to the surprise of the Harem and I.
“THE HERO AKANE FUKUSHIMA, YOU HAVE THE BEEN GIVEN THE GIFT OF FURY, EVIL SHALL COWER BEFORE YOUR RIGHTEOUS ANGER.”
I am now a bit excited; hero’s,villains, magic, gifts from spirits. Even my cynical self can’t help but be excited when I’m told I get to be a mage and throw lightning everywhere. I wonder what abilities I will be granted. The king then approaches Izumi and she places her hand on the book.
“THE HERO IZUMI HIGUCHI, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE GIFT OF FORESIGHT, WITH IT YOU CAN STOP EVIL BEFORE IT OCCURS AND PREDICT A FOE'S MOVEMENTS IN BATTLE.”
Hiro’s sister, Kamiko is approached next; she places her hand on the book after a little coercion from her brother.
“THE HERO KAMIKO IKEHARA, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE GIFT OF CLAIRVOYANCE, YOU CAN FIND EVIL NO MATTER WHERE IT HIDES.”
Up next is the harem lord himself, Hiro. He puts his hand on the tome instantly when it is presented to him.
“THE LEADER OF THE HEROES, HIRO IKEHARA, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE GIFT OF LEADERSHIP, YOUR FRIENDS AND ALLIES WILL NEVER KNOW DESPAIR SO LONG AS YOU ARE STILL FIGHTING.”
The crowd before us begins to cheer after the four heroes abilities are revealed, Hiro’s harem are grinning like idiots, obviously pleased with their current situation. I of course am a bit unsatisfied; it appears that I have been forgotten in all the celebration.
Thankfully a certain pretty boy has also noticed my predicament, and quickly rushes to my aid; I don’t know what I would do without his benevolence. At times like this, I wish my thoughts could have a sarcastic tone and my brain could roll its eyes.
“Your majesty, Sensei hasn’t been told his abilities by the book yet.” The king looks confused for a second, then seems to remember that we have no clue what is going on. “Oh I apologize, Witness, I forgot you do not know the tales. The Witness always has the gift of recollection. The book is unnecessary to determine your ability.”
“I see.” While I am a little disappointed that I don’t get a cool introduction, recollection does sound interesting. Maybe I’ll be some kind of super rainman. Perfect memory would undoubtedly be useful if I am expected to be recording the group’s adventures.
The rest of our day was spent being introduced to a variety of nobles, knights, and court magicians. We also met the queen, the princes and the princesses. The first princess, Alice Reinhart, was the blonde young lady present during the summoning. Apparently she is a gifted magician and assisted in the summoning spell.
After a day of speeches, feasts and greetings, my first day in the new world ends. I retire to my room and sit in quiet contemplation. While I was a little angry that I most likely will not be able to return home, being a powerful hero and having an adventure in new world would most likely be a more interesting life than teaching English to Japanese high school students.
I fall asleep excited about the coming adventure.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Introductions and About me
Howdy folks, my internet name is WizardFrog and I started this blog to share a story I am having a fun time working on.
I was urged by some friends to put it out there for others, and I'll gladly do so in the hopes that some people will enjoy it. I stress that I am not an author, nor do I want to pretend to be one. I am simply writing because I find it enjoyable.
I really don't care how popular this story becomes, or whether or not others hate or even love it. Of course it would be really neat if it became even a little popular, so feel free to share if you enjoy the story. Currently I have enough story prepared to easily reach 300 plus pages and I will release updates whenever I feel it is ready. I hope to have an update every two weeks after the initial surge.
One more thing, This story is intended for mature readers. It will have plenty of explicit language and violence, including gore. I try to avoid explicit sex as it makes me feel like a cheeto dust fingered basement dweller when I even so much as think about writing those types of scenes.
Tomorrow I will release the next few chapters, so enjoy the Prologue and Chapter 1 today.
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