Before she could react, Sasha was sent flying from being hit by a Roltni. Felix watched in horror as Sasha was flung against the tree next to him. He wanted to do something to help her but there was no chance for him to do so. If he didn’t finish repairing the barrier though, they would be swarmed so he continued carving into the wood. Raising her Ak, Sasha fired off several bullets in succession at the creature.

Even with the force of the bullets, it wasn’t enough to stop the Roltni. Instead, all it did was piss it off. Swinging at her again, Sasha jumped out of the way just in time. Dropping her magazine, she stuck another one in and racked the lever to load round into the chamber. Firing another set of bullets at the creature to deter its gaze away from Felix. Just as she fired at the Roltni again she saw a white ray of light hitting the mountain across from them.

Looking over at the village she saw the Roltni burst into flames. Although, she was too far away to see that it was just the Roltni on fire and not the whole village. As she saw the fire Sasha began seeing another scene. One in a desert that held a similar fire. Seeing a sea of flames surrounded by a red and gold sunset. Then her perspective changed.

“Private Denisovich, finish loading the supplies so we can head out.” Sasha heard someone say from behind him. Who was Private Denisovich? Was she, no he, Private Denisovich? Sasha didn’t know.

“Private, can you hear me? Quit spacing out already!” the man said angrily before whacking him up the back of the head.

“Sorry, I’ll finish loading up the supplies.” Sasha said before lifting up a crate of supplies into the back of the truck. As Sasha did several children ran up to him. Each of them was asking questions in Dari which Sasha had to try and translate as best he could. Mostly, they just wanted him to play with them. However, he could not as he had to get the rest of the supplies loaded up and head back to base.

Once they had loaded up the supplies he and the other six men started up the truck and headed back to base. Once they had made their way back they started unloading. As soon as they did the Captain exited his tent and walked over to the troop. He had each of them line up before calling upon four of them for an emergency mission.

“As of a few minutes ago, we received word that Mujahideen forces have taken over the village you were just at. We will be going in and eradicating these forces as quickly as possible.” The Captain said. Although it was a vivid scene Sasha couldn’t make out the Captain’s face. Even so, he went along with the Captains orders and prepared a Dragunov Sniper Rifle as instructed.

Moving into position, Sasha Denisovich laid over the edge of a sandhill with his Dragunov rifle resting over the ridge. Looking through the scope Sasha could see the enemy forces in the village along with several civilians. From where he was he couldn’t do anything to free the civilians so he opened communications.

“This is private Denisovich. I see the target. Alongside them are the villagers who seem to be their hostages. How should we proceed?” Sasha said.

“Hold your position Private. What are the coordinates for the village?” the Captain asked through the comms.

Giving him the coordinates, Sasha waited for orders. Before any orders came he saw the entire village get struck with air to ground missiles. The entire village burst into flames along with the civilians. Sasha looked through his scope in shock. Unable to contain his rage he released several shots into the surviving enemies.

As she let out a scream of agony and mental suffering Sasha’s Ak-47 morphed into that of a Dragunov rifle and she fired off several 7.62x52mm bullets into the Roltni’s body. Each of which blew a good chunk off its body until it was split in two. Just as she destroyed the creature, Felix had finished carving the runic symbol. Sasha, despite there no longer being any Roltni around continued firing her Dragunov until all that could be heard was the slight tapping of a trigger that could do nothing, the pouring rain, and the frantic screams of rage from Sasha.

As the rain fell down tears began flowing down Sasha’s face in a way that it was difficult to tell whether it was her or the rain. Felix took the weapon from her before grabbing her shoulders. Nothing he did could calm her down as she kept freaking out and trying to fight him in a manic rage. Not knowing what else to do he apologized before hitting her on the back of the neck. Knocking her out cold, he threw her on his back and carried her along with her weapon back to the village.

“What happened to Sasha?” I asked with a worried look as Felix came back with her unconscious on his back. Setting her on the sleeping mat in the back room of the barracks I sat next to her as Felix explained what happened. From what he could tell she started freaking out right after she was hit by the Roltni. Though I wouldn’t be able to ascertain what exactly happened until she woke up.

“Tell me, who are you two?” Felix asked once he had given me some time to think.

“My name is Nero, a mage. Sasha here is a summoned hero. There’s not much more to tell.” I answered honestly. If I tried to lie here then it probably wouldn’t go so well.

“A hero, huh? My father fought against a summoned hero during the war against the Empire. He told me that he was a cunning warrior who he had nothing but respect for. However, you do know that summoning a hero is considered a crime?” Felix said before pouring both he and I a cup of honey brew.

“I know. Though it was by complete accident. I had intended on summoning a simple familiar but the circle I used caused me to summon her.” I replied. Knowing what the regulations were, I was probably going to get taken back to the capital as a criminal.

“As soon as she wakes up I want both of you to leave. I won’t tell anyone about this as thanks for helping us. That’s all I will do though. Any more than that and I’ll be committing treason. Now, you should probably get some rest as well. Wouldn’t want you to be too tired to pass through the mountains.” Felix said with a comforting sigh before getting up and walking back into the main room of the barracks. He then explained to the other two what was going to happen. Neither of them had any reason to complain and went along with Felix.

After that, I laid down on the mat next to Sasha and closed my eyes. Several hours later I awoke to Sasha shooting upright on the mat trying to catch her breath. She was covered in a cold sweat and looked terrified despite nothing being wrong. Even so, this made me a bit worried. As her heavy breathing slowed I sat up and looked at her. Though she didn’t even seem to notice me.

“Are you okay?” I asked groggily. As soon as I spoke her gaze snapped towards me with a surprised look.

“Nero?” She said as if confirming that I was actually there.

“Yes… What happened?” I asked.

“I… Don’t know. I saw a bright light hit the mountain and after that, all I could see were these scenes I had never seen before. For some reason, they terrify me.” she explained as best as she could.

“Could they be your old memories?” I asked.

“Maybe. Though I don’t want to see any more if they are.” Sasha replied before suddenly crying out in pain and grabbing her head. She began making a pained noise that sounded like she was choking on a scream. Scenes flashed in her eyes in a way that would make an epileptic begin seizing.

“Sasha! What’s happening?” I exclaimed with a worried tone. What was I supposed to do? Before I could figure that out she stopped and returned to breathing heavily as she tried to catch her breath.

“I… I can see them. So many innocent people… all dead, because of me. I killed them.” Sasha said in a hushed tone to herself as she held her head in pain. Though she spoke just loud enough that I could make out what she was saying. Just as I was about to speak she let go of her head and looked up at me.

“Why are you staring at me like that, Nero? Is something wrong?” Sasha asked as if nothing was wrong. Did she forget what happened or was she blocking it out subconsciously? Either way, it wasn’t right. Though I couldn’t just tell her she was freaking out if she forgot it. That might make it worse.

“... Nothing. Though we need to get going. Felix told me that we needed to leave as soon as you woke up.” I said.

“Alright. Just give me a minute to change and make sure my Ak is clean.” Sasha said. Had she also forgotten that her gun transformed? Perhaps she did. When I looked over at the weapon to point out that it had changed I was shocked to see that it had returned to normal. I guess there was no reason to explain it.

“Sounds good. My robe isn’t dry yet so I’ll keep wearing this.” I said before going into the main area of the barracks. Looking out the door I saw that the rain had moved on in the night. However, everything was still wet and muddy. It was gonna be a pain to traverse the mountain in this.

As soon as Sasha was ready we threw on our packs and headed over to the barn. Loading up the Norhs and climbing on top of them, we started heading north as we were before into the mountains. Surprisingly, the Norhs had an easier time passing through the muddy terrain than they did on the rocky terrain. It may have been because it was a lot softer ground but who knew. Moving along, I couldn’t help but wonder what was happening to Sasha. Once we stop I’ll need to take a look at the book to see if anything new had appeared.

* * *

Resting on his knees in the solace of his room, Thomas was in the middle of praying when his eyes suddenly shot open. The pupils of his eyes morphed around until they looked similar to a runic symbol. As this happened his entire perspective changed till he saw a thin metal and stone bridge barely wide enough for a single person. He knew exactly where he was as he had been here before many times.

It was an ancient pathway known by many as the Bridge of Ascanon. To many, it was considered a dangerous uncrossable bridge that led to the fabled continent of the Everglades. Even though it was only a small ocean away, no one had managed to survive crossing by boat. The bridge was the only way to the continent and it was guarded by several immortal beings that were meant to test those who attempted to cross it. Standing in front of him was one of these beings.

It had the figure of a woman with several wings used to cover her body. Each of the wings was coated in eyes to see in every direction. However, none of the eyes matched as their pupils contained every color on the spectrum. Even colors that could not be recognized by humans stood out in these eyes. From under her wings, she extended her hand which held a rolled-up piece of parchment.

“Thank you, Messenger. I shall do as our creator commands.” Thomas said before taking the parchment. The being gave a bow and disappeared into the fog. Unrolling the parchment, Thomas gave it a quick read before his perspective returned. “I guess I better prepare to head to Islandhand.” he said to himself before getting up off his knees.