Chapter 2 - Beginnings

Continent of Andras, Solari, 3 Alorinni, 882 Lumina Calendar. Sapiens Kingdom, Prospera (capital).

In a cold, dark corridor, a child in tattered clothing lay motionless.

The child appeared lifeless, with a pale body and vacant eyes devoid of any signs of life.

Suddenly, the child's body began to twitch, starting from the fingers, then followed by the legs, and finally, the eyes opened, showing signs of life.

"Where am I?" the child murmured, sitting up on the floor where they lay.

After their words echoed through the cold, dark corridor, the child suddenly remembered something.

"Ah, I... I've come back to life..." they said, their voice trembling as tears streamed down their face, filled with a mixture of emotions and happiness.

"Thank you, Grandfather God. Thank you..." The child expressed immense gratitude in this situation.

Yes, this child is the vessel inhabited by Damian Suryana, our main character. With the help of Grandfather God/Protogonos, Damian has successfully been reincarnated.

The child, with the soul of Damian Suryana, now known as Damian Blackwood, wiped away their tears and began to rise from their position, taking in their surroundings.

In Damian's view, there was only a dark corridor, with a faint light visible at the end. Perhaps it was an exit that was a little far away, hence the dim light.

Damian also felt the piercing cold on their skin and caught a whiff of the foul odor within the corridor. Curious about the source of the stench, they followed it and eventually came across a group of horrifying corpses.

"W-What is this?!" Damian exclaimed, shocked by the gruesome sight.

After the exclamation, they felt an intense wave of nausea and quickly vomited. Damian had never seen something as horrifying and repulsive as this before.

"W-What kind of place is this?" Damian muttered, kneeling on the ground after emptying their stomach.

Damian truly had no idea where they were at the moment, but they had to get out of this place immediately. They didn't want to stay in such a horrifying and repulsive place any longer.

Damian attempted to escape, despite their weak body, towards the dim light at the end of the dark corridor. As they ran, they passed by the lifeless bodies scattered around, even stumbling over one of them.

"Damn it..." Damian picked themselves up and glanced at the corpse. Through gritted teeth, they said, "Forgive me..." Then, they continued their escape.

With labored breaths, Damian continued to run towards the light, striving to reach it. However, due to their already weakened body, they eventually collapsed before reaching the light.

...

Outside the corridor where Damian was, two knights stood wearing full armor and holding long spears in their hands. They stood on either side of the cave/corridor entrance.

Thudd!

Suddenly, the two knights heard a thud sound coming from inside the cave/corridor. They looked at each other, nodded, and agreed to investigate what was happening inside.

Inside the corridor, only the light from outside illuminated them. The two knights began to examine the entrance of the corridor while keeping their guard up, extending their spears forward, alert to potential threats.

They stepped cautiously and eventually found a small child lying on the dark floor of the corridor. The two knights exchanged a brief glance, then with a nod, one of them approached the child. He flipped his spear and gently touched the child's body.

There was no response from the child, so the knight squatted down, removed his armored gloves, and used his index finger to feel the child's breath.

He felt a faint exhale coming from the child's nose and with a joyful shout, he said, "Hey, this child is still breathing!"

His companion, who was standing behind, approached and said, "But we must report this to our leader before taking any action."

The kneeling knight shook his head and replied, "What if the child dies while we go to report?" as he put his armored gloves back on.

The knight standing with the spear in his hand let out a soft sigh and said, "Alright, we'll take the child to the camp and report this incident to our leader."

The kneeling knight felt relieved upon hearing his companion's words. He stood up, nodded, and immediately lifted the small child in his arms.

The two fully armored knights exited, one of them carrying the child with both hands, while the other held their spears.

...

In short, the two knights arrived at their camp and immediately reported what they had found to their leader. Their leader was shocked because the cave/corridor guarded by the knights was actually a storage place for corpses to be cremated.

It was impossible for anyone to still be alive in that place, thought the leader of the knights. However, to verify the truth of the report, the leader of the knights examined the condition of the child lying in one of their camp tents.

Carefully, the leader of the knights examined the child's body to ensure that the report from his subordinates was not mere fabrication. And indeed, he discovered that the child was still breathing, albeit very weakly. The child was still alive.

After looking at the child's face, the leader of the knights realized that he was a young thief who had met a tragic end after being attacked by a group of adult thieves who wanted to take his stolen loot.

With deep emotions, the leader of the knights concluded that this child had been mistakenly presumed dead by the adult thieves and his body had been discarded in the disposal and cremation area for corpses. The leader then decided to let the young child rest in their tent.

...

Damian finally regained consciousness inside a disheveled tent, lying on a straw bed. He tried to sit up with all his strength, but his efforts were in vain, and he fell back to the ground.

In that state, Damian saw two individuals wearing full armor approaching him from outside the messy tent.

Both individuals carefully lifted Damian's body back onto the straw bed.

"When you're awake, try not to move too much like that, dear," one of them said with concern.

"Yes, your body is very weak right now and needs rest," added the other person in armor, reaching for something on the rickety table beside them. They continued, "Eat this and then rest. We'll go and inform our leader that you're awake."

Damian didn't utter a single word and simply took the bowl of wheat porridge given to him by one of them. He eagerly ate the porridge.

Seeing Damian eating the porridge they provided, the two knights felt relieved. They then left the tent.

However, before they left, one of them said while looking at Damian, "We are good knights and won't harm you or do anything to you, so don't appear frightened like that, okay?" After that, they stepped out of the tent.

Damian fell silent after hearing the words of one of them. Indeed, he felt suspicious and afraid after seeing the spears they were carrying. "Anyone would feel scared after seeing the spears you're holding!" exclaimed Damian, before continuing to eat his porridge.

____________________

Inside the largest tent among the others in the camp, a figure wearing full armor with a symbol of light emblazoned on the chest plate could be seen. This person was sitting while holding a wooden cup and a drink in their hands. They were the leader of the knights responsible for guarding this area.

Guarding this area had been their duty for the past five years under the orders of the kingdom's king. They were tasked with guarding the disposal and cremation area for bodies because this area had the potential to spawn undead creatures such as zombies and ghouls in large numbers.

Suddenly, two of their subordinates who had previously brought Damian entered the tent and respectfully lowered their heads before them.

The knight leader, who did not wear their helmet, revealed a fierce face but there was a hint of gentleness behind their fierceness.

With their deep voice, the knight leader asked, "Has the child regained consciousness?"

The two knights immediately nodded in unison and replied, "Yes, Commander!" with their chests puffed out.

Upon hearing their response, the Knight Commander nodded and continued, "Take me there to see for myself." They then grabbed their sword from beside them and added, "You, go and call a Priest from the temple here. We'll sort out the expenses later." They pointed to one of the two knights.

The knight who was pointed at immediately lowered their head and prepared to leave with their horse waiting outside the tent, heading towards the temple as commanded by their leader.

Meanwhile, the Knight Commander and the remaining knight began walking towards the tent where Damian was resting inside.

...

Damian, on the other hand, observed his emaciated body covered in bruises. "If only there was a mirror here..." he murmured, scanning his surroundings.

In his view, there was only a rickety table, a wooden chair, the straw bed he used, a lantern hanging from the ceiling, and the earthen floor. There was nothing else inside the tent.

"Truly a medieval world, huh..." he sighed.

Suddenly, from outside the tent, two individuals entered wearing armor. One of them was clad in complete silver armor, while the other wore only a breastplate and leggings, with an unhelmeted head.

The unhelmeted person politely introduced themselves, "I am the Knight Commander who leads the knights in this camp." They approached Damian and continued, "So, how do you feel, lad? Do you remember anything?"

Damian fell silent for a moment before answering, "I feel fine, but... I don't remember anything." Holding his head, he tried to recall what the Knight Commander meant.

However, all that appeared in his memory were fragments of his life before arriving in this world and his encounter with the God/Protogonos.

The Knight Commander nodded, then turned to their subordinate behind them before returning their gaze to Damian, saying, "It seems you've experienced amnesia, lad..." The expression on the Knight Commander's face showed concern.

Damian also feigned a sad expression after hearing the Knight Commander's words, though his sadness appeared genuine.

"Is that so..." Damian said, pretending to be sorrowful about his amnesia.

The Knight Commander smiled bitterly at Damian's apparent sadness, "He was beaten by his own companions almost to death, and now he's experiencing amnesia... Oh, Protogonos, he's just a little child trying to survive. Why do You subject him to such trials..." they pondered silently in their heart.

Exhale...

From outside the disheveled tent, the sound of a horse's breath abruptly halting could be heard, followed by the heavy footsteps of someone wearing armor entering the tent. Damian observed two figures entering the tent: one wearing complete armor like the Knight Commander's subordinates, while the other donned a white robe with a cowl.

"A priest, huh... But for what?" Damian wondered to himself.

Without waiting long, the Knight Commander immediately saluted by bowing their head upon seeing the priest figure mentioned by Damian. "Greetings, Master Priest, may the blessings of the God of Light be with you..." said the Knight Commander with utmost respect.

They appeared sincere and serious as they spoke. "Should I say it too?" Damian pondered after witnessing that.

"Greetings, Knight Commander, may the blessings of the God of Light also be with you..." the Priest replied, returning the salute from the Knight Commander with a gentle smile and raising their hand, adorned with a necklace bearing a sun symbol.

"Is this child the one in need of assistance from the God of Light?" the Priest continued, inquiring to the Knight Commander.

The Knight Commander glanced at Damian momentarily before nodding and answering, "Yes, Master Priest."

The Priest nodded and approached Damian, asking, "Do you still have parents, child?"

Damian fell silent for a moment before answering, "No, Master Priest," with a smile.

Damian's innocent smile touched the Priest's heart. They extended their palm, holding the necklace, and uttered, "Oh, God of Light, bestow your power upon this servant's hand and heal the child before me, HEAL..."

A golden-green magical circle with strange inscriptions appeared in front of the Priest's hand after they recited the incantation. And in an instant, Damian felt an indescribable warmth, and his bruised body was instantly healed.

"T-This... magic... It's magic!" exclaimed Damian in awe, witnessing what was happening before him.

Although he had seen magical circles before when he was with the God/Protogonos, it was still amazing to see it again.

Seeing Damian display his wonder as if he had never seen magic before, the Priest wanted to make sure, "Is this your first time seeing magic like this, child?"

Damian shook his head and replied, "I know that magic is common, but this is the first time I've seen it firsthand, and it's really cool!"

The Priest smiled once again and caressed Damian's head. "You must have suffered a lot..." the Priest said empathetically.

Upon hearing that, Damian felt warmth in his heart. He was moved by the Priest's words. "He is a good person," Damian thought as he gazed at the Priest before him.

The Priest lifted their hand from Damian's head and turned to the Knight Commander. Then they said, "I have finished healing him, and as for the cost..." The Priest looked at Damian, smiled, and continued, "Today, you don't have to pay anything."

The Knight Commander, upon hearing that, displayed a look of joy on their battle-worn face. They were extremely grateful not to have to pay because the cost of utilizing the services of a Priest like this was indeed expensive, around 10 silver coins, equivalent to a knight's monthly salary.

"Thank you so much, Master Priest!" the Knight Commander said, bowing their head at a 40-degree angle.

Damian Suryana, now known as Damian Blackwood, witnessed all of this and felt immensely grateful to be reborn in this child's body and to have encountered kind-hearted individuals like them.