Awakening Of The New Emperor

POV: Recruit 79

1 month later

It had been about a month since we left now. We've finally began passing the worst of the cold, which makes sleeping a lot easier.

If I had to guess, we had about a week left on our journey.

Outside of the occasional hiccup, especially with bandits or thugs trying to sneak into our campsite, it had been a pretty smooth journey. We've met a few stragglers that added a bit of color to our otherwise bleak and quite empty past month.

As we get closer to Vareth, Zhang's controlled region, the forests have become a lot more dense, and as of yesterday, we had lost the path, now venturing without any clear sense of direction.

"Don't forget to stay alert, these areas are typically a bit more dangerous," Oswin pointed out, gesturing at a wolf carcass that was rotting away near the tree.

Flies buzzed around as I couldn't help but feel a sense of disgust.

Most of the snow was gone as we got closer to the warmer temperatures. While nowhere was considered 'warm', at least snow wouldn't pile on my sleeping bag... Only patches of snow spotting around the grass remained.

"How are you feeling?" Oswin asked. "Excited to get back to being a slave?"

"You know, if I hadn't known how badly I'd get my ass whooped, I would beat you up just for saying that," I replied.

"The sad thing is, I believe you," he sighed. "Otherwise though?"

I looked over at Oswin before looking slightly upwards towards the blood red moon, still always finding a way to glisten upon the floor below regardless of where I am. "I suppose so. While I don't have much to look forward to, it'd be nice being worth something again. Every day when I was wandering around in this region I felt like I was just a ticking time bomb, waiting to get picked off by some guard or looker."

"If it makes you feel better, a good majority of the guards in The Hidden Lotus had never really seen any soldiers from The New Order," Oswin added. "Unless they've specifically been ordered for one of the raids, they'd never bat an eye."

I missed most of what he said, only focusing on the last bit.

"Wait, there were other raids?"

Oswin nodded. "Following the raid on the base you were in, 2 more took place the following day."

"What happened?" I asked, my eyes bulging.

He shrugged, which was about as much as I expected. "Beats me. However they all appeared successful, judging by the reactions I caught from passing lotus soldiers. Zhang must've took a big hit in personnel."

"Unfortunately for you guys, Zhang's power doesn't rest within his numbers, but rather the combined strength of those few who rest at the top," I spat out of annoyance.

"You sure tolerate me a lot in contrast to how you speak to me," he laughed.

I sighed.

"Not much of a choice, do I?"

Oswin stood still as a statue, not moving a muscle, face mostly expressionless outside of his jaw being slightly slacked.

"Are you okay? Did I accidentally hit a nerve or something?"

He gestured over in the distance, as I followed where his finger pointed.

I didn't notice anything at first, but mostly because I was looking for the long thing. I scouted through the tall grass that rested just in front of us, spotting no animals or anything that seemed to pose an immediate threat.

That was, until, I spotted what he was worked up over.

While it was far enough away to be hidden by a slight layer of fog, there was the occasional clearing that let me get a good glimpse.

It was a temple, ancient one at that.

In fact, it almost rung a bell, like I knew what I was looking at, but didn't at the same time.

Oswin began walking towards it, curiosity now painted his face, a hard difference from his dropped jaw just a moment ago.

I followed suit, also curious, but slightly worried of course.

'How couldn't I be? It's a damn ancient temple in the middle of the forest, with nobody around. If I get ambushed by a bunch of mummies or something, I might just run away.' I thought.

"Do you know what this is?" Oswin asked as we continued pushing forward.

The temple now came into full view. It soared high, dwarfing the tall trees that surrounded it. 'How did I not see this in the sky? There was no way it wasn't on the rising skyline as we came down this direction!'

"No, I don't, I mean—maybe?"

"It's from before the fall," he answered calmly. "These were used to worship the Emperor, where people would come to pray, offer blessings."

"That's where I recognize it!" I exclaimed. This was basic history, how could I forget?

"Why is it here? I thought all the militias collectively agreed to get rid of all the ancient workings, after all it would only hurt their campaign," I continued to admire the architecture.

Oswin continued walking towards the entrance of it, as I followed.

"Whatever this is, it seems to have some natural technique to stay hidden from the outside world, or else this would be rubble—if not, nothing, right now."

"Just gonna take a guess knowing you, we're going in, aren't we?" I sighed.

"Of course!"

***

What felt like hours, we finally entered the temple.

I don't know if I was just tired, but I was very much sure that the distance we had to travel should not have taken that long.

Oh well, we're inside now I guess.

"I can't see for shit," I snarled, annoyed.

Oswin began rubbing his hands together, slight nexus particles gathering around the palms in harmony as his hands began turning red from heat.

Just moments later, he clenched his hands together before pulling them back, a slight ball of fire appearing just in the center, which was emitting plenty enough heat to light up the surrounding areas.

He held out his hand to gather the ball of fire, bringing it with him as it hovered above his palm ever so gently.

"Let's get moving, I don't want to shave off too much time," he instructed.

"Yeah yeah general," I joked.