The first thing I noticed was the strong odour of smoke. It assaulted me mercilessly, leaving me in a coughing fit.

I blinked my eyes. My vision was hazy and I felt nauseous... Wait, where was I?

As my surroundings grew clearer, I noticed that the sky was dark, the looming grey clouds presenting a gloomy atmosphere. In the distance, I heard the cry of voices and the clashing of metal against metal. One particular voice, however, was high-pitched and sounded much nearer than the others.

Grunting, I slowly tried to come to my bearings. After shakily managing to stand, I noticed I was in the middle of a vast field. The once green grass was stained with red patches. On the horizon, I spotted a group of soldiers fighting ghastly-looking skeleton wariors.

Before I could react, the high-pitched voice cried out from behind.

"Asleep on the battlefield, huh, Captain? You're the Captain of the Volunteer Army, for crying out loud!"

I spun around in shock, coming face to face with a tiny fairy-like creature. She (I'm assuming it's a female) looked at me with a stern expression on her tiny face. Her red hair was tied into a bun, and her rainbow coloured wings shone gorgeously.

I could do nothing but stare at her. She looked so... familiar. Her voice, too. Even though she was speaking in a language I've never heard before, I clearly understood every word she said.

Could we have met before in another world?

"W-where are we?"

She grew even angrier. "Huh? Where are we, you want to know? Still half-asleep, I see!"

I groggily listened as she explained our current circumstances. Apparently we were on the front lines of a battlefield, fighing against what is known as the "Black Army".

Despite the instability of my mental state, I managed to absorb all that she was saying. I was confused, though. Why did it all seem so familiar? Why did I have this sense of deja-vu, that I had embarked on a similar adventure before?

Captain? Volunteer Army? Pirika? Black Army? I've never heard these terms before, but something told me that I have.

My head was in a complete whirl trying to grasp everything. All these emotions, the thoughts...

And then out of the blue, the memories hit me.

I remembered my final moments from a world long gone. Thousands of men and women saying their goodbyes before me, slowly disappearing forever. The tears shed, the stories shared... And Pirika, the fairy, was there too.

It suddenly seemed so clear. Why everything felt so familiar. I was given the same position in the previous world. But the world died out abruptly before we could accomplish our mission. My comrades, Pirika, myself, dissolved into nothing.

But now here I was, in the same position where I started off. It was almost as if I had been given a second chance. How could I make things different from before, I wondered...

"HEY! Are you listening to me?!"

Pirika's shrill voice jolted me out of my dazed state.

"I repeat again, Captain! They're almost here! Defend the town at all costs! No more daydreaming, understand?!"

I glanced down at my sword, tucked comfortably in my polished leather sheath. Slowly, a confident smile grew on my face.

To whoever gave me this second chance, I thank you. The previous world I was in suffered a cruel fate, and we failed our mission.

But in this new world, whatever it is that caused our demise, I will not let it happen again. I will find and regroup my comrades, and together we will eliminate the forces of evil. We will finish what we started in the old world.

This is my promise as Captain of the Volunteer Army.

The sword slid out from its sheath, its blade glowing with power. Looking up at the stormy skies above, I let out a bellowing cry with every fibre of my being.

"REACH FOR THE LIGHT!"

With that, I raced towards the incoming Black Troops, Pirika's cries of encouragement echoing across the battlefield.