"Wake up Mika, stop shaking it already!"
Two deep blue eyes opened as the voice echoed in the encampment.
The cold prickled against his skin, but the panic overcame the irritation.
His body shot up and his chest heaved up and down with large gasps.
The man looked to his side where he was faced by the black walls of the room.
"Nightmare?"
Another voice reached the man’s ears, softer and calmer.
A contrast to the previous one.
His head snapped to the front, coming face with two men in front of him.
Sleek black hair with tips falling down in front of his eyes, just like him. Red crimson eyes that shone as bright as the smile on his face.
Icarus Heliarke.
And the second man.
Unruly meadow green hair. Golden eyes that shone like the brightest amber and a calmness on his face that resembled the seas.
Modric Sylbane.
It took him not more than a second to recognize the two.
After all, how could he not?
They were his squadmates. The man looked at them with widened eyes.
The only problem was..
In a snap, the man grabbed the hand of Icarus, his fingers closing around it.
The cold seeped into his skin, sending a shiver down his body.
It was real and solid.
It wasn’t a dream.
’H-how? How are they...’
It was the only thought that ran through the 20 year old squadron commander, Mikhail Hendrix’s mind.
They were all supposed to be dead. He had seen it with his own eyes.
In fact...
Mikhail’s gaze went down to his own hands, both pale as snow and without a blemish.
He was supposed to be dead too.
Excluding the ragged furry clothes, there wasn’t a single injury on his body.
’How is this possible?’
Had he returned back in time?
There was no indication of what had happened.
Forcing himself to remember, Mikhail could still vividly remember the last moments of his life.
In the middle of a tundra, beyond the Ironhold.
Stranded with nowhere to go, surrounded by Sylaris.
The bodies of his dead squadmates in front of him, the pooling blood freezing beneath them.
Mikhail himself, on the verge of death.
And then...
’Huh?’
His memory ran blank. He was unable to remember anything that happened past that point.
’Urgh!’
Mikhail tried to push further but to no avail. Nothing came to his mind.
The only thing he knew for sure was that he had died right there.
Along with his squadron. Otherwise he would not be here right now.
But then..
Why was he unable to remember his death?
Snip! Snip!
Suddenly, snippets of memories ran through his head at once, causing him to collapse back in his rucksack.
"Yo Mika, you good?" Mikhail heard Icarus, but he couldn’t focus on him right now.
Taking a deep breath, he looked up at Modric.
"I’m fine, just a bad dream."
He felt Modric’s eyes pause over him for a second before he nodded.
"Hope it wasn’t too bad. In any case, your presence is requested at the ground for the morning drills."
Mikhail nodded.
"I’ll be there, you two go ahead."
As Modric and Icarus were about to leave, Mikhail called them out.
"Wait."
The duo turned, confused.
"What’s the date today?"
Icarus’ eyes widened while Modric’s eyebrows raised a little.
"I think he might have hit his head somewhere while-"
Modric interrupted him, paying him no heed.
"It’s Tuesday, April 9th of the year 2093 today, Mika."
Mikhail’s eyes momentarily widened but he quickly composed himself and nodded.
"Thanks, you can go now, I’ll be there in a few minutes."
Modric nodded, stepping out the door while dragging Icarus with him.
As soon as the duo left, Mikhail stood up instantly, panicked like a rat.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," He started cursing.
His eyes darted around the room, landing on a mirror by the wall.
It wasn’t that large, even having a few cracks on it.
But it was enough for him to see his face and body.
And as he walked over, his reflection made a chilling realization run down his spine.
Mikhail knew what had happened.
He had regressed back in time after dying.
Of course, he couldn’t remember the exact time or day from when he had died.
But if he had to make an estimate on the last thing he could remember, he had regressed back by 7 years.
A drop of sweat beaded down his head in the cold.
It did not make sense to him.
’Why me? Why only me?’
Why not his squadron?
But it was then that a possibility came to his mind.
Looking in the mirror, his hand quickly went to the bandages wrapped around his neck, starting to loosen them up.
Within a minute, he was done, the bandages falling to the ground.
His fingers pressed against a part of the neck where a symbol was etched.
Or was supposed to be as it had changed now, proving his fears true,
Right above his collarbone, the crook where his shoulder and neck connected..
Was a tattoo.
A tattoo of an inverted rosemary cross.
As his eyes landed on it, the mark shone in a bright crimson color, burning against his neck.
His eyes twitched at the sudden pain but they didn’t leave sight of the mark.
Mikhail was left stunned.
"What the-"
’It wasn’t supposed to be like this.’
It wasn’t supposed to be inverted. It should’ve been straight.
It was a mark that people would die to get their hands on.
The mark, including Mikhail, was a rarity that only 8 people in the world possessed.
It was called a Rosaryth.
But after his regression, it had changed now.
The mark was inverted, something that wasn’t supposed to happen.
Mikhail wanted to curse again.
More and more mysteries were piling up and he couldn’t make sense of a single one.
As he was about to pick up his bandages, a head-splitting pain assaulted his head.
Collapsing to the ground in pain, Mikahil felt like tearing his skin off as he squirmed.
The following second, his body convulsed, his hand automatically shooting to his mouth.
"Blergh!"
Mikhail felt something wet dripping down his hand as it came out his mouth.
Opening his eyes, he was shockingly greeted by a sight of fresh crimson.
Blood.
The fresh taste of iron registered in his mouth as he looked at the crimson-stained bandages.
Before he could make sense of it, something more shocking took place.
[Regression Assimilation Complete!]
[Oath Complete!]
Suddenly, a window popped up in front of him.
—————〔Oath XXX〕—————
• Condition: *$@*#@((@$&
[Penalty]
• Death
———————————————
[Low Character Progression!]
[Unable to display conditions of Oath XXX]
’What!?’
His brain was unable to catch up with so many holographic screens in front of his eyes.
It was too much information.
The man had just landed in his world for fuck’s sake.
Unfortunately, the worst for Mikhail was still yet to come.
As the next window...
—————〔Chronicle I〕—————
• Condition: Uncover the assassination and save your academy from getting destroyed.
[Rewards:]
• Character Progression: +15%
• Mana Increase: +300
———————————————
Made his face turn ghost white.