Shattered super-soldier

“Could you tell me more about the city of Uliat?”

Esen considered for a few moments before she shook her head, a moment later she waved her hand at him dismissively and an instance later he found himself in another carriage, a moment later Esen’s voice sounded out next to his ear

“I still have work to do, why don’t you continue your meditation?”

Matthew let out a sigh, it seemed to him that Matriarch Esen was more than a little whimsical, she reminded him of the biological immortal old farts from the Trerubic Empire, once they got older than a millennium most mortal lifeforms mostly lost interest in anything they didn’t need to do

‘...At least she’s not a complete hedonist, I wonder how one turns out like that at such a young age… Well never mind that’

Matthew received the crystal glass of water handed to him by a servant and downed before he let out a deep breath and closed his eyes

“Wake me up in the evening please”

“Understood, have a pleasant rest Sand prophet”

After Matthew heard the servant’s response, he shut out the world around him and focused on figuring out his new mystic sense

‘...I completely forgot to ask Esen about this Mystic stuff… Oh well, I’ll ask her next time’

After this thought passed through his mind Matthew heightened his focus and entered a meditative state as he continued to feel out the strange new sensations of the strange energy all around him…

-

When Matthew opened his eyes again fire spread out in his view, however he quickly discovered his own eyes no longer reflected the present

“Mattie, come on, you are going to miss the tram if you space out like that”

The woman in front of him that spoke to him with kindness and the kind of unlimited love reserved for what a mother felt for their children, her face was covered by a shadow, Matthew no longer remembered the face of his mother

“Yeah, I got it… I’ll be back early tonight, mom”

“Sure, have a great day”

Matthew felt his vision move, as the body of his younger finished shoveling down his breakfast, before he stood up and headed towards the door, this day might seem like any other and to his past self it was, but Matthew of the present remembered this day vividly

‘...I can’t leave like this’

As his past self walked towards the door, he challenged his will

‘Don’t just leave like this… You are going to regret it!’

His will seemed to have a influence as the younger Matthew stopped for a moment before he opened the door and yelled back into the apartment

“Love you mom, see you later!”

Then as to hide his embarrassment he quickly opened the door and ran out without hearing any response, from there his vision blurred as the world around him rushed ahead, soon he arrived at the academy he attended where faceless people around pass by in a blur, faceless shadows taught illegible lessons that wouldn’t matter in a few hours

‘...It sure was peaceful back then’

If the day hadn’t ended in tragedy, then scenes like this would continue to play out all over Eirmal 4, however this wasn’t a found memory for a reason

“That’s weird…”

Matthew of the past gazed up at the sky, atmosphere fighter jets flew above, having scrambled since the nobility had received the notice of the penance blockaded earlier than the populace

‘...It’s burning’

A faint shimmer of heat spread out across the faceless crowds that were still unaware of what wound be happening in a few moments

‘...It’s burning’

Matthew felt it on his skin, the heat rose around him as the temperature rose, the foliage started drying up before catching fire, the flames rose as the heat intensified, glass shattered, smoke rose and everything around him burned

‘No… This isn’t fire…’

Matthew had realized it by now, there were none of the prickling of his skin, no irritation of his eyes from the smoke

‘...It’s anger… My rage’

-

“---Sand prophet, please wake up”

Matthew’s consciousness rose to the surface suddenly, a moment passed before his eyes snapped open, after a moment he realized he still sat in the floating carriage and before was the same young servant who had followed him so far, upon seeing Matthew’s eyes open he kneeled on the floor and lowered his head deeply

“I apologize, Sand prophet, I failed the task you bestowed me… I will accept any punishment”

Matthew didn’t understand what the servant was talking about before Aea’s voice sounded out in his mind

[Loss of consciousness estimated to be 68 hours]

‘So almost 3 days… It seems we’re close to Uliat already’

“...It’s fine, I had a rather fruitful meditation”

The young servant lowered his head deeper and responded respectfully

“Thank you for forgiving my incompetence, Sand prophet”

“I said it’s fine, could you fetch me some water”

“At once!”

The young servant quickly got up and retrieved a jug of water and pour Matthew a glass of water which he handed respectfully to him, Matthew downed the water before he asked the young servant

“How long until we reach Uliat?”

“We should be arriving within a few minutes, the Matriarch instructed me to wake you before we arrived at our destination”

“Alright”

Matthew nodded and rose to his feet, as he stood his vision blurred for a moment, then it went back to normal, after steadying himself for a moment his vision flashed again, finding standing to be less than wise he sat down once again

“Sand prophet? Is everything alright?”

“I… I just need a moment…”

Matthew’s vision flashed once again, then again when he realized the young servant was speaking, no he was clearly yelling, but Matthew heard nothing as he suddenly realized the loud ringing in his ears, with it came a sharp pain that made him winch for a moment, when he opened his eyes again fire entered his eyes

‘What the fuck..?’

Matthew stared blankly at his surroundings, it wasn’t only the carriage, the flowing dunes of sand he could see out of the back also burned, everything burned, however none of it felt real… That is until he felt a sting on his arm and quickly discovered it had caught fire

“UGH!”

Matthew let out a grunt as he slapped his arm with a flat hand to try and extinguish the flames, however all he succeeded in was setting his other hand on fire as the flames instantly bit into his palm

“SHIT!”

A hardened soldier he might be, but anyone would panic if they were suddenly lit on fire, and panic Matthew sure did as he scrambled to his feet but managed to set off too hard, the next moment he went through the cloth cover of the carriage and tumbled out onto the burning sand where he managed to calm down enough to try and snuff the flames out by rolling

-

[I’ve just touched a stockpile a day’s travel outside of the capital, from the state of things on the street the collapse might happen sooner than we expected]

Esen showed a smile before she responded

[Good, I’ve got a surprise for you once you return, Ripper]

[...A surprise?]

[You’ll see once you're finished, I’m making steady progress back home too… Oh, and please promise me you won’t set off a nuke or another high yield explosive to try and kill yourself again]

[...Sure thing, Doc]

A moment after Ripper’s spoke, Aea reported

[Ripper have terminated the connection]

‘Shit, did she crush another radio?’

[The lack of response from the data ping would suggest so]

Doc let out a sigh, she was about to relay orders to have another radio delivered to Ripper when an agonized scream entered her ears, it took her only an instance for Doc’s peripheral senses to find the source of the scream, however a few moments passed before she realized the person rolling around in the sand in agony as the Major

“Wait, what?”

Initial surprise aside, Doc instantly opened a portal on top of herself to transport herself out of the carriage where she arrived a little more than 10 meters away from Matthew that still rolled around on the floor

‘Aea?’

[Thermal signature indicates no cool flame combustion, Mystic awakening suspected]

‘Why did it have to be a fire manifestation!?’

Doc didn’t need to see it, the smell of seared flesh was enough to confirm that the Matthew had reached at least medium rare, and he would suffer permanent damage once he reached well done, healing bio-nanites or not

‘Give me a manifestation pattern, Aea’

[Affirmative, starting pattern analysis…]

Moments passed, since both Esen and Matthew had left their carriages the entire convoy quickly circled back towards them, however before they could approach Esen quickly signaled for them to keep their distance

[Pattern analysis completed, uploading targeting schematic via neurological data stream]

Doc took a breath to steady herself, then she began wielding her Mystic powers to briefly open portals to the void that sucked the heat off Matthew’s vital organs to keep them from turning into mush while she yelled

“Matthew!”

Matthew continued writhing around on the ground in agony without hearing anything Doc said, seeing this she clicked her tongue as irritation flashed across her face

‘Why does he always have to be such a pain!’

Seeing that things had gotten to this point Doc decided that keeping Matthew alive took priority over the information advantage she currently held over him, so she yelled

“Major Rockwell! Pull yourself together you sorry, old, impotent sack of self-pity!”