Country Weapon - Chapter 6

August Clementine was once Reacher, a wealthy and thrill-seeking businessman who had everything but satisfaction in life. After a fatal adventure, Reacher awakens on a parallel Earth, in the body of the destitute and troubled 19-year-old August Clementine. With his new identity, August finds himself burdened with debt and responsible for his beloved younger sister, Sophia. Desperate to change their fate, August immerses himself in Enders Light, a cutting-edge VRMMORPG that blurs the line between virtual and reality. In this fantastical game world, players can bring specific items that meet certain requirements into the real world and even gain a fraction of their in-game abilities and strength. Stuck at level 12 and unable to progress past his starting village due to a rare armor shortage, August must rely on his wits and determination. A breakthrough comes when he retrieves a mystical purification stone from a river teeming with magical aqua beasts and uses it to cleanse an ancient, corrupted altar. His reward includes the legendary Fruit of Corruption, a priceless item with the potential to grant supernatural abilities in the real world. Caught between the allure of selling the fruit for financial security and the temptation of gaining extraordinary powers, August must make a choice that will define his and Sophia’s future... “What? I gained the ability to extract any item from the game into the real world without restrictions?”

The prince of Maldonia, Prince Artemis of House Arteides, the bear killer, the slayer of the elves is crowned King when his father King Arteides dies. The whole kingdom of Maldonia depends on him now, but he puts the throne in jeopardy after he refuses to marry Princess Thelma of House Taelin from the kingdom of Prophis and opt to marry Aurora Kholin, the love of his life.

Aurora is a seer and a powerful witch who has yet to aknowledge her powers, only Artemis knows of it. Lucian Mithandir is in exile recruiting an army to fight Prince Castellan of house Taelin for the throne of Prophis. Artemis wants no parts of this war, but he is very aware whoever wins the war will later turn to Maldonia.

Artemis has no clue that a bigger war is coming which will set kingdoms on fire, Aurora has seen it in her dreams and it’s for the Sweet Waters Throne in Maldonia. The end is uncertain but the ways are clearer, who will sit on the throne after the war between Lord Gandalf of House Old City who owns mighty huge lions and King Artemis of Maldonia who has Aurora and dragons breathing fire.

~ Excerpt Scene ~

The men of the secret council remained behind after the king walked away to further discuss the situation at the borders of the kingdom. The battlefield was named Stonedance and that’s because of its stony surface and this part of the place was usually abandoned and without inhabitants. Some people claimed Stonedance was cursed, that’s because it laid in the middle of two powerful kingdoms.

Stonedance was neither cold nor humid as it stood between the hot and shining Maldonia, and the freezing and gothic Prophis. It was the perfect place to fight and camp, the two battalions had all the space to themselves to prepare for war. Three hundred thousand men loyal to King Castellan Taelin of Prophis laid on the East, and two hundred thousand men keen to keep Lucian Mithandir.

Whatever was going on in Stonedance was of no Artemis’s concern as he focused more on sharpening his swordsmanship skills. He trained from morning to noon, with the lord commander of his kingsguard, Sir Dante Lucan who he befriended and these two became inseparable in a span of just a week.

“Come to me! Hard” Artemis urged his lord commander to not be easy on him.

“If I go hard on you Your Grace, we shall be left without a king to rule” replied Sir Dante Lucan with a smile. “You are getting better day by day; may I ask why the sudden interest in swordsmanship?”

.....

“I am a celebrated knight Sir Dante. I have fought in wars ever since I was nine”

“Exactly my point Your Grace. You are good with your sword, and have been for some time” Sir Dante smiled softly “Is it the war in Stonedance which makes His Grace nervous?”

“Some say I am ought to join my uncle, support the house my mother called it home. While others say my uncle betrayed me the very first day he took Mithandir inside his walls”

“And what do you say, Your Grace?”

Aurora joined them and Sir Dante excused himself. It had been a week and four days since they were last seeing at court.

“I am a warlock Artemis” For the first time ever since Artemis knew Aurora, this was the first she’s declared and accepted her true nature. “I am a seer, spaewife, or any other words you may want to use but I am not normal”

“We have talked about this Aurora, when the time is right…”

Aurora interrupted “The time is now!” she said. “I can feel the flames in my dreams getting hotter. If I don’t seek the help I need now, I fear for my own existence. I saw myself riding a ─” she paused softly.

Artemis leaned on to her “Riding a what?” he asked suspiciously.

“It may sound crazy, I mean I have never heard of such creatures and even if they exist…”

“What were you riding Aurora?”

After a few seconds of not being sure how will Artemis react or take it, Aurora finally exhaled softly and brought herself to speak “A dragon” and then she paused waiting to see how will Artemis take all of it.

I found a girl of unknown origin outside; she claims to be a time traveler from a post-apocalyptic era.Great calamity is imminent, with abominations spreading across the land, human civilization annihilated, and even the world itself shattering, all beyond redemption.As for myself,I am considering how to confine this beautiful girl, who has temporarily lost her powers, within my home.

Thousands of years ago, the First Expungement came. The world changed, and humanity was nearly wiped out. Thankfully, with the paracausal power of Angelicas, humans was able to push back the Ghost tide and rebuild their civilization.

Now, however, it was time for the Second.

Finn Thresher was just a normal university student at first. He, like the rest of the public world, had no idea what was coming for them — but sometimes, just because you don’t know, doesn’t mean you can’t be harmed.

His family… his sight… his purpose. All lost to the paranormal.

It was time to abandon his beliefs. To throw away his morals.

After all… if these creatures weren’t human anyway, there was no point in showing them humanity.

In the first battle of this war, the Ghosts won, nearly driving the human race to extinction. In the second, the humans fought back with the power of Angelicas and managed to secure a victory.

Now, the third and final round was approaching — and this time, it’s personal.