I awoke and attempted to sit up when a searing pain shot through my shoulder. I moaned in pain, let out a hard sigh, and then laid back down. I noticed it was wrapped with a fresh bandage and only a little red was poking through.

I was lying in the bed back in Clem’s room. A glance out the window nearby showed that it was probably close to noon. I wondered if I had done anything embarrassing this time. At least my returned memories were mostly of combat. 

It was a little jarring to have so many of my memories return, but I still couldn’t remember my own name. I thought nicknames were a quirky thing that I did, but maybe it was a cultural staple of my world? Everywhere I went in my memory, everyone just referred to me as Magus. Any actual mentioning of my name was still being shrouded by the veil.

I looked to the side of the bed and noticed a bell on a table. It would have been in reach if it had not been put on my bad side. I cursed as I tried to reach it with my right hand. Leaning into my left sent a needle of pain searing through my shoulder again. I took one of the many pillows on the bed and threw it and the bell fell to the floor with a clang.

The metallic ring had been muted and quick due to the floor muffling the bell’s vibrations. I began to wonder if anyone even heard the commotion. How did they even hear a normal bell ringing? Was the soundproofing in the room really that bad? I wasn’t left with my thoughts for long when the door swung open and a few maids rushed in followed by Clem, Rox, and the King.

‘Thank the Twelve Realms your awake!’

‘Ya, ya, Clem. I’m fine. How long have I been out?’

‘Three days! We thought the Aura had ruined your mind until you started muttering and tossing.’

‘It wasn’t so much the Aura as it was a huge crack in Victoria’s memory binding spell. I had a good ten years of my life return to me. It takes a bit of time to recalibrate when that happens.’

She paused and looked at me apprehensively. A sense of worry washed across her face.

‘Calm down. You’re not going to lose me yet. I still don’t have my name. My guess is that the good ol’ headmistress put that one under layers of protection just in case.’

She visibly relaxed and took a cup from the maid. The King stood regally at the end of the bed as Rox and Clem helped me sit up and put a pillow behind my back. I winced but choked down the pain. I took a sip of the water as Clem handed it to me, which cured a massive case of cottonmouth that I hadn’t realized I had. I pointed to my shoulder as I talked to the King.

‘I see that none of the fairy girls you sent had any recovery abilities. You don’t happen to have one of those handy healing tonics that they had at the school?’

‘Now that you are awake, I’ll send for one at the barracks. We don’t have many, but I think you earned it.’

‘Thank you, Sir. Now on to business. How did any of that happen? Where was your guard?’

‘Regrettably, it seems as though a separate attack was taking place on the Prime Minister. He called all the guards in haste to protect himself. The end result was that the party was left…vulnerable.’

I clicked my tongue in disgust. I swear I saw the King jump a little. He definitely stood up taller, like he subconsciously felt that he was being examined by a superior. 

‘Forgive me if this is common knowledge, but how often do humans become mu…Revenant? It that common?’

‘This is the first we have ever come across. We currently have the metal spike you retrieved being examined by our scholars and a few of the Fairybond. Hopefully, that can give us a hint as to how that happened. I fear this will cause a good bit of friction with Albedon, but I will handle it.’

‘Albedon?’

‘The kingdom to the north that Prince Causius was from.’

‘You may want to consult with Miss Flameking at the Fairybond school. She could give some insight as to the metallurgical qualities of the item and perhaps the runes. As much as I don’t want to rely on her, Miss Orica is probably a good source for that as well.’

A look was passed across the three. They were debating telling me something. After a moment’s hesitation, Rox spoke up.

‘The Headmistress, Miss Irons, and Miss Orica have disappeared from the school. Miss Wintry has taken over as acting Headmistress for now. We have several people out tracking them.’

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I thought back to my memories of running into a younger version of their party.

‘They probably went back into the tower.’

‘The tower to the south? No one has ever survived going there. Why would they do that?’

‘The tower acts as a bridge between all worlds infected by the Revenant. They could use it to travel to other worlds if they wanted. She may be gathering resources she could no longer find here.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like a focus to strengthen her so she can wipe my memories again. Or something to make them so strong they don’t need to answer to the kingdom anymore. Your guess is as good as mine. Hell, them going to the tower is just an educated guess.’

The three passed glances again and the King took a deep breath and slowly let it out. It was a signal that it was my turn to talk.

‘Now, some questions for you, young lady. Why did you and the school lie about you being a Fairybond?’

‘We didn’t. I have no bond with a fairy. I refused the fairy at my Naming Ceremony.’

I sighed again as I thought about what to say next. The rising of my chest moved my shoulder and sent a trickle of pain out of it. The thee waited in silence for me to continue.

‘My power comes from who I was before being brought to this world. I am the Magus. I have a link directly with Yggdrasil. In a sense, I am her champion. With this comes the ability to absorb Aura and convert it back into its pure form, Mana. I can utilize Mana to create abilities like the ones you have witnessed. The more Mana I get, the stronger I become.’

The three royals looked like their eyes were about to pop out of their heads. The King’s legs buckled and he took a knee at the end of the bed. The two princesses looked down at him and then followed. The King looked to the floor and spoke.

‘I’m deeply sorry. If we had known of your arrival, we would have made better preparations. And to think that the school treated you so poorly. I shall have Victoria imprisoned for everything she has done.’

I failed at trying not to smile at this predicament. A brief thought of milking it out crossed my mind, but in the end, I knew it would be out of my character.

‘Please. Everyone stand up. I’m not anyone that special. My world was at war. The World Tree saw fit to give me the power to do something about it. I’m just a soldier in the end.’

The two princesses raised their heads to look at me. The King’s view stayed glued to the floor.

‘No, we all know the prophecy. It has been passed down since the Revenant first attacked. It says that a Prophet of the World Tree shall appear when the world is plunged into darkness. It says that the fate of the world hangs on your life. If you die, the Revenant win, and if you live, then the Revenant will be wiped from this world forever. It even specifies that the Prophet will destroy the Beast that is the heart of the swarm.’

‘Prophet? But, I don't have any ability to see the future. And all that you said has pretty much happened. Not much of a prophesy if it already occurred. I killed the Hive Queen. By the looks of the age of Vicky back then, I did it at least ten or fifteen years ago. The real question is how do the Revenant keep coming if the Queen is dead? Did a new one form? The Queen existed between worlds, and it was obviously attached to this world too.’

The King looked up in shock. He opened his mouth to talk but was cut off by Clem.

‘Ten of fifteen years ago? So, how…how old are you?’

‘Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. If you would have asked me yesterday, I’d have said twenty-two. But now I have memories of at least ten years of military service. So I’m probably closer to twenty-eight or nine. Who knows really. How did Iggy put it? Time doesn’t move the same between worlds. If it was linear, that would make me forty to forty-five, but I have no memories past killing the Hive Queen.’

Rox grinned and punched me lightly on the shoulder. I winced and her father shot her a sharp glare. He stayed kneeling but the two girls had a better sense of the mood and had stood up.

‘You look pretty good for an old person.’

‘Thanks, Rox. But this obviously isn’t my original body. Whatever the school does to pull in souls also creates a new body. My old body wasn’t so weak and…tiny. It seems all the imported souls start with a teenage body, and preference is given to femininity over strength.’

‘They always said the fairies prefer a feminine host because they are all female, so that’s why only beautiful women were chosen.’

‘If that’s the case, I’m a really bad fit for a fairy to begin with.’

‘I wouldn’t say that…’

We all just stared blankly at what Clem had just mumbled. After a few seconds of blushing and awkward silence, I decided to jumpstart the plan.

‘Alright. For now, let’s keep the whole Prophet thing to ourselves. I’m just Samantha Rye, the newest confederate of the kingdom. I need that potion and we need to figure out how humans are becoming Revenant. As soon as possible, we need enough strength to get to the tower. I might be able to get back to my world and even get some help from there. At the very least, we can find out if there is a new Hive Queen.’

The King was flabbergasted. He stood and voiced his protest.

‘You can’t be serious? You are the arrival of the prophesied savior of our world, and we can’t even announce it or have a parade. You should at least receive an award for killing the Revenant in the castle.’

‘Look, the longer we spend on useless platitudes and performances, the less time we have to organize and gather strength. I started back at square one when I got here and I’m going to need a ton more Aura if I’m going to get back up to full strength to fight a second Queen.’

Clem jumped in with a plan of her own.

‘If you are looking for Aura, remember that tournament I talked to you about? I bet that chunk of crystalized Aura is bigger than what you just got out of the Quillion. Albedon has been hoarding it from the Fairybond for several years for their own research. I have no clue why they decided to put it up for a prize, but we pretty much have the win in the bag with you on our team.’

‘That sounds seriously suspicious. Who gets to fight in the tournament?’

‘Anyone with royal ties from any of the surrounding countries.’

‘So each country is going to send the strongest people from each of their royal families to compete for a giant chunk of Aura? Together in one place?’

‘Oh. Ya, that sounds bad when you put it that way.’

‘It’s obviously a trap.’

‘So, what are we going to do?’

‘Probably fight anyway. And if things do go south, just steal it…maybe?’

‘Sam, you can’t be serious.’

‘Why not? I have a feeling that we’ll be able to learn more about how the knights were all mutants if we go. The signs all point to their research into Aura. They probably plan on using that to win the contest. We just need to figure out if they know how to make Revenant or not. So when and where is the tournament?’

‘Two weeks, and we are hosting it here at our coliseum.’

‘Then we have two weeks to prepare.’