Aldburg Chronicles: Knighthood In Another World

Eric's life had been so peaceful on earth. His parents were both alive, he was okay in school he was okay in sports, he even had a few girlfriends. His mind pulled memories of this peaceful life in a long string, as if he were receiving a personal curation of his best moments. He thought that he had lived a normal life.

"So why, why!? Why do I know what burning hair smells like now?" He questioned in his head,"Was I really that much of a monster? Why is my life nothing but chaos now? Goblins? Inquisitors? Princes? The army? Magic? What the hell is any of this!?"

Rage filled his chest as he stared at the sky-colored inferno, the knight and his men sprinting through the gates with their weapons drawn, the ash and smoke that filled his lungs, the smell of burning human beings and of course, the screams. Even though they were in the distance, it was all Eric could hear. He closed his eyes and covered his ears, trying to shut them out, but it was too late. The screams of the burning were like nothing Eric could have imagined. His jaw clenched so hard it felt like he would break his own teeth.

"This is hell, this has to be hell. I'm in hell." He thought.

His body screamed from his day long march, no joint was left undamaged, his feet felt as though they had been worn down to the bone.

"Why? Why would I get up? Why would I run into the flames unarmed, unarmored and inexperienced? What have these people done for me? They're not even from my planet. So, why? Why am I already at the fucking gate!?"

Eric ran with all his might through the gates of the village.

He looked to his left, fire. Then to his right, fire. Lapping blue flames clung to every surface, he coughed on smoke. He couldn't see more than five meters in front of him, the smoke and ash obscured too much of his vision, then, he heard it.

"Somebody! Please! Help!" A child's voice cut through the crackling and burning of buildings.

As if by instinct, Eric could determine where it was, it was close, maybe three buildings down from where he was. He took of running again, his feet banging against the floor, sending waves of agony coursing through his body. It didn't matter.

Twenty meters.

Ten meters.

Five meters.

On the floor, pinned to the ground by the wooden beam of the collapsing roof, was a little girl. She was no older than eight years old. Her face was covered in burns and blisters, her hair had started to burn clean off and between fits of heavy coughing she let out pained gasps and yelps.

He grabbed the beam with his bare hands, the pain was unimaginable, his nose was filled with the smell of his own burning skin but he didn't care. He pushed hard off the ground, using years of deadlift training to free the girl. It wouldn't move. He pushed harder, harder and harder still, until it felt like every tendon, every muscle was going to snap in two. He craned his head back and screamed as loud as he was able, his blood pressure in his head so tremendous his vision was slowly blacking out.

Just as he thought it would be hopeless, that he had given all he could give, he felt the beam raise off the floor. The girl kicked and scrambled and soon she was out onto the street. Eric dropped the beam, a thud bellowed out and blue embers flew out.

He collapsed back to the ground, vision completely blacked out, dizzy, every muscle screaming at him to stop moving. He ignored them completely, he slowly rose to his feet, looking down at the girl. She was burnt badly, but not so badly that she wouldn't survive. He bent down to her eye level, pointed to the village and with a deep breath said, "Go, get out of the village, don't come back until you see the fire stop okay."

She couldn't speak, she just coughed meekly. Eric took a deep breath, realising what he had to do. He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder in one swift motion. She shrieked in pain as her burnt skin came into contact with Eric. She kicked and struggled but Eric powered through.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I know it hurts, just a few more seconds." He tried to reassure her as he ran towards the village gate.

Once they were finally out of the dense smoke he set her down.

"Just, just breathe the fresh air and wait here okay, just wait here, don't run off. If you hear any noises, hide, if you see any lights, don't go to them." Eric panted, running back into the dense smoke and ash.

Barreling through the gates once more, this time, he sprinted further passed the building he had saved the girl from.

"Anyone! If you can hear me, shout! Shout as loud as you can! I'll find you! I'll help you." He yelled, his voice hoarse on smoke.

"Help us!"

"Help!"

"Please, Gods help us!"

"Please!"

His head whipped around, a cacophony of cries and screams for help came from all directions, countless voices, more people than he had ever heard cry for help, he thought the screams were coming from further in the distance but he was wrong, the quiet on this street was because they didn't have enough air left to keep screaming in pain. All these people had used their last words available to beg him for help

He couldn't save them all.

He ran to the nearest house, he could hear two people coughing in the smoke.

"Hello! Is anybody in there?" He asked in the doorway.

A voice to hoarse to vocalize returned, from what he could gather, they were saying yes.

He jumped into the building, as he did, a smoldering block of wood fell directly onto his head, he stumbled and tried to hold himself up, putting his hand onto searing hot wood, he snapped it back and continued his march through the smoke, scanning the floor for anybody he could find.

Sat propped up in the corner of the room was an old man, he had escaped most of the flames but was falling in and out of consciousness from the smoke, his head bobbing up and down as he resisted the long sleep.

Eric kicked through rubble, his pants slowly singeing and threatening to catch fire.

"Five steps."

"Three steps"

"One more."

He hoisted the old man onto his shoulder and trudged to the door as fast as he could, ignoring his lungs filling with ash and smoke, ignoring the burning in his throat and the cough developing, ignoring that he was growing weaker with no oxygen.

"M-my daughter... upstairs." The old man said, no louder than a whisper as they exited the building.

"Oh fuck." Eric thought.

He set the man down on his back, "Stay low." He said as he ran into the building yet again, looking for the stairs.

Directly in the way was another beam. He couldn't possibly lift this one, it was twice as thick as the one he had lifted before, he had to squeeze over.

In the greatest stroke of luck since he arrived in this world, he discovered it wasn't actively on fire. He positioned his chest and kicked himself over, squeezing between the beam and walls of the stairs, his skin scraped against the hot wood, splinters snagging his skin and sticking into his fingers. He flopped over the beam and began to drag himself up the stairs. The smoke was even thicker here. He climbed the stairs slowly, trudging along as his body slowed down.

"It'll be worth it. It has to be worth it." He reassured himself.

He reached the top and scanned what little information of the room he could. He heard a noise coming from the center of the room and moved towards it, crouching low to avoid what smoke he could.

He felt around in front of him, his vision obscured. With a resonating 'squelch' he slapped something wet on the ground. He looked down at his hand. 

Blood.

"Is anybody there?" He called out.

In response, he heard an odd bubbling sound. 

He fumbled around, waving his arms through the air trying to find any point of reference. 

With an echoing thud he found one, a beam, stood vertically in the middle of the room.

He moved his hands down it, feeling for any fire.

"Oh, God!" He cried.

He fell back to the ground, what he had felt at the bottom of the beam, was the old man's daughter, impaled by a piece of the falling roof. He felt his stomach drop and coughed hard, a mixture of disgust and smoke nearly inducing vomit.

He moved closer to make out any details, on her neck was a small silver necklace, tarnished by the heat but still, it was something. He snatched it from her neck and shuffled to the stairs as fast as he could.

Two stairs down, the boards beneath his feet gave out and his leg shot down into the stairs. He yelled in pain as wood sliced into his leg. He pulled on the banister and just managed to get out of the hole. 

"Good, I didn't drop it." He thought, the necklace still tight in his hand.

Hobbling out of the house, he saw the old man was still conscious, but just barely.

He threw him over his shoulder and marched to the village gate, clutching the necklace tight in his left hand the entire way. Each step remined him of every injury he had sustained that day, he was growing dizzier by the second. He saw the smoke begin to thin and knew he was almost to the gate.

"Just a few more steps, just a few more." He thought on repeat like a mantra.

He had made it. The little girl sat by a tree, her face in tears, but she was alive. 

He set the man down on the ground, propping him up on a tree. 

"Just catch your breath okay" Eric said.

He realized he'd have to take his own advice, sitting down and taking deep breaths. He wanted to rush back in, wanted to save more people, but he was on the verge of passing out from lack of oxygen, he was bleeding heavily and the adrenaline was beginning to be ineffective at masking the pain of his injuries.

He took deep, prolonged breaths, he looked at the two people he had saved and smiled.

"It's going to be worth it."

The old man looked at him, and then down, his face taking on a mournful expression. Eric walked over to him and put the necklace into his hand.

"I'm sorry." 

The man began to sob, Eric couldn't help but tear up as well.