Loud noises and shouts faded in. The scent of smoke and metal filled the air. Waylen's vision finally began to fade in, and his eyes widened as he realized he was in the middle of a battlefield.
He was anything but prepared, but instinct took over as he thought of a way to escape. He rushed towards a nearby forest that he had spotted. Shouts and unknown screeches sounded all around him. Waylen's mind whirled; all he could do was run towards his objective.
In the corner of his eye, he noticed a headless knight in full metal armor flying straight in his direction. "Wh-" He barely had time to register what was happening before the corpse flew straight into him, knocking the breath out of him.
Luckily, he wasn't completely without protection, as he was dressed in the exact same gear as the other knights around him, and the armor prevented most injuries.
Waylen quickly got up and glanced at the battle. The knights dressed like him were engaged in combat with strange, dark creatures of different shapes and sizes, most abnormally large. The one that had thrown the corpse towards him was charging at him with impressive speed, its eyes gleaming with deadly intent.
'What am I supposed to do against that thing?!' Waylen cried internally, panic gripping him. The creature charging at him looked like a wolf from Earth, except three times the size and mutated in various ways.
He frantically reached for his sword that was, for some reason, still within his sheath. The creature approached with speeds that he couldn't hope to outrun.
'How is this fair?! He said the trials wouldn't be impossible no matter what!' He cursed inwardly but didn't have much time to ponder.
Seeing no other option, he opted to stand his ground, holding the sword forward in an amateurish stance, aiming for what he hoped was a vital point on the wolf. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," Waylen muttered, his heart pounding in his chest.
The wolf, screeching unnaturally, charged straight into him, swiping its claws at his torso. He was thrown back, his chestplate caved in, while his sword was nowhere to be seen. Despite being barely conscious, Waylen struggled to his feet.
'I'm not fit to be here... I don't want to die like this,' he thought in regret.
Then, he suddenly felt strength surging into him. He looked at his aggressor and saw the bloodied sword cleanly stabbed through the wolf's mouth, straight through its head. The wolf was no longer responsive, its dark body collapsing to the ground.
"I'm alive...?" Waylen whispered, disbelief in his voice.
He had no time to consider what had just happened. He quickly retrieved a sword from one of the fallen knights and began thinking this through. Looking down, he noticed that the wounds he had sustained were less serious than before, which was completely illogical. But he had no time to think about this as another creature charged at him.
'What in the actual fuck is that?' The creature looked like an actual corpse, nothing he had ever seen before, with four legs and two pincer-like arms. It was far beyond anything Waylen could handle, and his luck from before likely wouldn't repeat.
'Fuck! Why is it going after me specifically!?' While frantically looking around in desperation, a lance suddenly impaled the creature from the side, saving him. A knight had intervened.
He hadn't even had a chance to look at his runes yet, and all he could do was try to avoid attention. Luckily, he seemed to be on the winning side, and all he had to do was survive.
Right as he was trying to think of a plan, something comes flying into the edge of his vision. Not having any time to react, Waylen was hit straight on his head, and everything fades to black once more.
Waking up with a throbbing headache, he realized he had lost consciousness. He could feel bandages tightly wrapped around his head; at least he was alive.
"Hah..." Waylen was laying on a very uncomfortable stretcher, alongside many other soldiers. Many were far worse off than him, with multiple of them having missing limbs.
'What kind of trial sends you straight into a battlefield?! Nobody said this would happen!' Waylen cursed internally, yet he was glad it was finally over; the sounds of battle could no longer be heard, replaced by frequent groaning all around him, being a clear indication of pain.
"Can you move?" A man who looked to be a field medic quickly approached Waylen upon noticing he woke up.
"Yes, I think so."
"Alright, soldier, please locate your assigned lieutenant. We need your spot for more serious cases." He then gestured towards all of Waylen's belongings that were stacked up next to him before moving on to attend to the others.
'Hell, I just woke up... Assigned lieutenant? How am I supposed to know that!' Reluctantly, he got up, took his protective gear with him; it appeared they had removed it for a more thorough examination.
'What do I do... I guess I need to figure it out.' He silently cursed as he left the tent, clearly set up as a temporary field hospital. Looking at his battered armor, he noticed a shield symbol with the number "4" on it.
'Maybe that can help? Well, I have to try.' As Waylen looked around, he noticed that pretty much everyone here had the same number on them. That wouldn't be much help to him then.
'Do I just wander around until someone recognizes me? I don't have any other option...' Waylen walked through the huge camp, clearly set up for warfare, as he finally noticed how demotivated everyone was. No chatter or laughter could be heard as every single soldier around him looked depressed.
"Soldier, this isn't your place to be; go back to your camp immediately."
A stern voice could be heard behind him, as he turned around to find a robust man in a visibly better quality uniform, he had a visible frown on his head as he was probably pondering about how to deal with this.
"Huh? Oh-Sorry sir, I think I might have memory loss, took a blow to the head," replied Waylen in a flustered tone; he had no idea what rank this guy had.
"What division are you from? Do you know?" Receiving no reply as Waylen tried to think of a response, the man eventually just sighed and gestured to follow him, apparently having seen a lot of cases like his.
"Do you at least remember your name? It will make everything much easier."
'I probably shouldn't say Waylen... Did I replace someone here, or did I just join this army out of nowhere?' He wasn't sure what to answer, but eventually settled on just saying he didn't remember.
"That's a rather serious case alright... I'm the Lieutenant assigned to the 27th division; I'll figure something out." He replied with annoyance, yet he still decided to personally take care of a single soldier. Waylen found that rather strange, but he dared not question it.
"I'll identify you; everyone should be firmly documented. Wait outside." The lieutenant entered a tent nearby, and Waylen found a place outside.
'What even is this place... It almost looks like another world.'
As Waylen finally got some time to ponder his situation, he finally decided to check his so-called runes. Focusing on it, everything around him got clouded in a dark fog. This came to him almost instinctively, and he just knew how to enter this state.
Suddenly red symbols flashed in front of his face as Waylen could somehow understand them despite never having seen them before.
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Dark Aether.
Absorption.
Stern will.
Demonic heart.
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'What...?'
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