Rory POV
Rory Mercury couldn't believe her eyes.
Before her it stood a man that she had believed long dead.
She hoped she was wrong, and her long-dead lover did actually manage to come back to life, hiding it's undead status in some ways, and that it was just pure unluckiness that she didn't meet him before in the last two thousand years.
She had happily greeted him, but he didn't seem to really recognize her.
"Oh, right, last time he saw me, i still looked like a teen girl, he obviously can't recognize me now as i look like a grandma" She thought.
"Then i just have to use magic shifting to look once again like the Reaper of Emroy…" She thought again, as she casted in her mind the spell to change her appearance, making her body once again look young and petite.
"Hey, Calasta! Do you recognize me now? It's me, Rory, i missed you so much! It may have been thousands of years, but I still remember you like it was yesterday!"
Marquis Calasta, that was apparently also attending the Classical Reenactment Week with a boy, a student of the school she taught in, made a surprised face as she changed form, and then he dropped on the ground with his arms stretched, as to pray.
Marquis Calasta POV
She was there! Rory the Reaper, servant of Emroy and fledging demigod of death and war!
He dared to not recognize her at first!
Calasta profusely bowed to the ground, as it was known that Rory killed for much less.
"R-Rory Mercury! Emroy be praised! I didn't recognize you, please be merciful! This kid told me you rebelled against Master Emroy! I obviously didn't believe his h-heretical lie!"
Calasta once saw Rory during a national religious celebration and he knew she worked in the main Emroy Temple of the Imperial Capital, and he also spoke to her a bunch of times.
She was beautiful, a dark and outerworldish beauty, with her jet black hair and red eyes, and her body that embodied both the shapes of a grown woman, the youth and strength of a teen and the cuteness of a little girl in a proportioned and small frame, obviously a body build by the Gods.
She was also a woman of great intellect, with 960 years of life experience, and he heard that at 1000yo, a demigod would have become a real deity.
Rory wasn't wearing her typical black garment, and she didn't have her huge halberd around, which was strange, also, the bloodlust and the mocking tone in her voice were gone, and she instead gave the chilled out and peaceful vibes of an old lady.
"Aw, dear Calasta, you don't have to bow to me, the times when i was famous are looooong gone. I did fight and defeat Emroy… destroying it's physical form… But that happened many, many years ago… We're talking about thousands of year ago… I'm just an old lady, a school teacher now, a theologian and a scholar at most. Nobody, excepts history nerds and some cultists remembers me nowadays… And you? What happened to you in all of these years? I thought you died burnt by a wyvern. Look, there is even your old friend here, Cicero De Moltose!" Rory said to him.
"Why are you here? You also like to think about the past, don't you? I understand you, modernity is quite tiring, with its fast-paced rhythm of life… I love the reenactment week, i attend it every year with most of our old friends from the past, but we never met you before. I see you're quite the good magician today, you still look absolutely pristine, are you even an undead? Right now we came here because we sensed the magic spike coming from the Triumphal Gate and because we heard they were doing a parade" Rory once again said.
Calasta really didn't understand.
He was never burned by a wyvern, and he wasn't a friend of Rory.
"Professor Mercury… There must be a misunderstanding… This man here is just a cosplayer, a reenactor, he can't be the real Marquis Calasta you knew, hahaha" The boy accompanying him said to The Reaper.
"Right? You're a reenactor right? What's your real name?" Asked the boy.
The undead man that was with Rory, Cicero de Moltose, looked at the boy and said:
"I recognize that look in his eyes. That voice. That feel. He isn't a cosplayer, he's the real deal."
"You're called Cicero De Moltose, right? And you said you're a member of the Dove Party? Well… I do know a Cicero of the Dove Party… But he's called Cicero LA Moltose, for he is a follower of La & Elange… You're an imposter, undead scourge, i don't even understand how you're able to speak, every undead is usually a mindless piece of walking meat!" Calasta said, in an angry voice
As an answer, the undead man started to laugh loudly, as he also used the spell to change appearence, and to the surprise of Calasta, he assumed the exact same look as Cicero La Moltose.
"HAHAHAHA! Old friend, you recognize me now? Im Cicero, your buddy! La & Elange? HAHAHAHAHA, i'm now a Deusist, that's why i changed my middle name in De, as in 'DEus'. I converted a lot of centuries ago! "
Ancient Imperial POV
The legionaries were marching in this strange city, and the legions were separating themselves in the various streets to survey the biggest area possible.
The group of Count Colt Formal went to the big Colosseum area, where a big stage was standing just outside the giant building.
"Legions! Keep it up! Lock your shields and stay tight to not get lost in the mob! Let's see what's this fuss about!" The young Count said.
He thought that this city was really ideal: sentient, sapient, citizens from every species were walking and chatting together, even traditionally loathed species such as orcs and demons.
This was the perfect society he was imagining, and back at his home in Italica, he was trying to lay the path for such a thing to happen by adding non-human personnel in his servant roster.
His imagination was stopped by the sound of trumpets and drums.
What sounded like a military march was heard, and a group of soldiers wearing strange full body covering uniforms without armor goose-stepped on the stage.
A powerful voice, that came out of nowhere, announced their presence.
"And now, the ground unit of the 2nd Formalian 'Countess Myui' Squadron, will celebrate this day by playing the famous 'Colt Formal March', the iconic march of the former Italican and now Formalian armies!"
"WHAT? How is it possible? The Formalian and Italican armies? We're the soldiers of the city of Italica, Count Formal is our lord! They're talking about us!" A legionary said.
"Should we also get up on the stage?" Another legionary asked.
"There's something strange. Myui is my youngest daughter. She's my designed heir and she's to become Countess when i die. And i'm pretty sure i have no squadron or unit named 'Countess Myui'. Also, I AM Colt Formal, and i'm also pretty sure there are no military marches named after me either…" The Count said.
While the Italican regiment was waiting for the modern Formalian band to play the music, Viscount Herm Fule Maio and his nobleman cavalry regiment had took a detour from the main path of this historical looking part of the city and followed the biggest and widest road they found.
"These stupid barbarians! Look, no horses in sight! Just those stupid and ugly looking metal carriages! They may be just as fast or even faster, but nothing can beat the sight of a beautiful and strong horse. They're so unoriginal they even copied our dragon symbol!" The Viscount said, as he pointed out one of the Tricolour flags on a building.
"After The Empire will conquer this city, we'll make sure to demolish all of this weird looking shit and replace it with our own glorious and majestic buildings! Huge and tall glass towers, what an useless invention, they are probably brittle and easy to break, glass isn't a construction material, it's just for windows, why using glass when you can use STONES or even WOOD? How are these buildings even sustaining their own weight? How are they expecting them to last under trebuchet and spell fire?" A nobleman said.
A citizen of this city saw the cavalry column and said: "Guys, the Reenactment area is the other way around, you're going into the business district of the town right now"
Viscount Herm Fule was furious. "Guys?" How DARE a stupid random PEASANT to refer to him with "GUYS"? And what an ugly pronunciation of the Imperial language! Stupid uneducated folk!
"I AM THE VISCOUNT HERM FULE AND I AM A NOBLE, SO I CAN GO WHEREVER I WANT IN ANY TOWN I WANT, FUCK OFF PEASANT! BOW TO ME AND ASK FOR PARDON!" He shouted, swinging his sword at the man.
"WOAH, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM DUDE? Keep this sword out of my face. Fucking weird ass moron." the man said, running off, with a scared look on his face.
"CAVALRY, GET HIM, BUT DO NOT KILL HIM, I WANT TO ARREST HIM AND THEN MAKE HIM PAY A FAT FUCKING FINE FOR DISRESPECTING ME!" Herm Fule Maio said, sending some cavalrymen to chase the running citizen.
Modern Saderan POV
"Hello? 122? emergency number? I'm currently being pursued by… crazy men on horseback? OH DEUS! THAT WAS CLOSE! 122, this is an emergency, they're armed, real weapons and… OH DEUS, HE HAS A MILITARY GRADE WAND, HE'S SHOOTING SPELLS AT ME!"
Lucius was just an ordinary young man, he made a living selling items in a videogames and comics store.
He always loved to read about fantasy books that talked about magicless worlds, medieval themed ones were his favorites. When he was a teen, he always imagined himself as a warrior of a magicless world, armed with just a spear, a sword and maybe, a musket, fighting off enemy knights on a battlefield.
"How ironic" he thought. He was probably going to die or get injured by crazy men dressed up as knights. Except that in this situation he had no spear or sword.
As he was running away through the city streets, followed by the horses, he was involuntarily causing traffic to stop, and other people to run away and call the police themselves.
He was using an elementary school grade spell to fight off gravity, so his body felt lighter and he could run faster and for longer periods of times, but obviously, he was still less fast than horses and his magicka was running out quickly…
Saderan Law Enforcement POV
"SDR-1, this is SDR-2, the local police department is being overwhelmed by emergency calls, apparently a group of crazy men on horses armed with primitive battle wands and melee weapons are charging through the city, causing disorder. Some witnesses report they come from the Reenactment Fair, and they are among the people that came out the Triumphal Gate."
"Received. We'll treat this menace as they were full-on terrorists. Give the order to deploy the local anti-terrorism units and the riot-control police with a warping gate."
The Spec-Op agent removed the safety from his gun and used the teleport device connected to the magical net of the city and the satellite system to cast a warping spell on himself and spawn right on the zone of the threat.
He disappeared from his current location, and reappeared right in front of the charging horses, making them to suddenly stop, rearing and shrieking.
"Stop. Stop right where you are. I'm Agent SDR-1 of the Penitus Oculatus, Saderan Special Forces, and you guys are under arrest for disturbances to public order, attempted murder, possession of illegal magic-arms and if you don't put down your weapons now, resisting to a public officer." He said, professionally pointing his pistol at the leader of the cavalrymen.
About ten seconds later, a full squad of riot-control police "Vigiles Urbani" spawned behind him, wearing the black ballistic armor over the iconic dark purple uniform of the Saderan armed forces, along with the characteristic Legionary-looking ballistic helm. They locked in their ballistic shields, decorated with the Saderan Dragon, and they raised their electrified batons.
"VIGILES, FORM TESTUDO FORMATION!" He shouted at them.
The Vigiles Urbani formed a shield wall, while the rear ranks raised the shields above their heads, only letting the batons out.
Soon enough, the Limitanei border guards spawned in too, armed with standard issue enchanted rifles and both riot control bullets and real, lethal bullets.
"Dismount from the horses, put your weapons down and raise your arms. If you keep resisting, you'll be treated as TERRORISTS!" He shouted again at the people on horseback.
Ancient Imperial POV
There was no doubt about it.
The men that appeared out of nothing before their eyes, were undoubtedly Imperial Legionaries.
They had roughly the same appearance, the same dragon symbol in the shields and formed the same testudo formation as the Legionaries.
Why were the Legionaries turning against the finest noblemen of The Empire?
"Stupid peasant. Put down your small and worthless black wand and let us punish that fool that disrespected the Viscount." An Imperial noble said.
The man with the small wand pointed at them referred himself as a "Penitus Oculatus" agent.
What was the Penitus Oculatus? It sounded like an important role.
Was he a fellow high-ranking nobleman or a wealthy and influent man of any kind?
"Noble Sir, if you put that thing down, we'll reward you with a Knight position, which is probably higher than your current rank. Maybe even a Lord title. So please, call down your warriors!"
But the man kept pointing his weapon at them.
"What did you smoke? Are you high? YOU put down your weapon, I'm a law enforcement agent!"
The audacity of this man… to speak back to a nobleman, and to turn Legionaries against an Imperial retinue… he deserved to be caught and trialed for high treason…
"Alright then, it means we must end this like real men! Your formation better be really trained, because we'll charge right through it! ATTACK!" The noble knight ordered.
In the exact moment the horsemen pointed their lances forward, the "Penitus Oculatus" agent fired with his strange wand.
A wizard noble sensed magic coming out from the weapon, but he was also sure it was a mechanical weapon and not a magic based one.
When the bullets from the weapon struck, they instantly knocked out the target.
They weren't lethal, but they flew fast enough they still caused bruises and bleedings if they hit weak spots of the body.
A cavalryman was about to pierce the agent with his spear, but he simply disappeared and reappeared on the back of the safe testudo formation, protected by the legionary looking men.
The cavalrymen expected a harsh impact with the infantry formation, but they didn't expect it to be so harsh and powerful.
As they were about 1 meter of distance from the legionary-looking men, a nearly invisible magic barrier appeared, their lances cracked against it, and the horses smashed at full speed against it, breaking their bones and dismounting their riders.
Then, they got pelted with magically enchanted knocking-out bullets by the "Limitanei" men, while the "Vigiles Urbani" rushed with handcuffs, and in the matter of few seconds, they were all down and knocked out.
Saderan Law Enforcement POV
"Citizens! Go away! This is a crime scene! If you interfere, we'll arrest you too! Photos, videos and media covering are allowed, just stay back and don't interfere with the work of the agents." Said the Penitus Oculatus agent, while he was busy mass arresting and putting handcuffs on the downed 80 men strong cavalry battalion.
"CAN SOMEONE CAST A CALMING SPELL ON THE HORSES TO PREVENT THEM FROM RUNNING AWAY?" he shouted.
"What a fucking mess, like, WHY would someone do such a thing? What was the point? Also, dear Deus, some of these poor horses got their bones completely smashed and cracked by the Barrier Spell, we also need a veterinary and someone that knows a healing spell!" A policeman said.
"Terrorists? I don't think so. Drunken idiots? Madmen? Who are they?" another policeman said.
"Let's forget about it. It's not important, the important thing for now is that they broke the law. Just arrest these fools, handcuff them and bring them in the various police stations of the town for now. Wow, this guy really had a cool, yet obsolete wand. Yeah guys, look, it's a Lindon Brownbranch battlewand, it was a standard issue magic weapon of the ancient Imperial Army and it doesn't look like a cheap reproduction either! Look!" Said a high ranking police officer, as he used a magic-detector on the artifact, revealing the obsolete and ancient enchantment the wand had.
"This type of enchantment is only found on original magic weapons from the 6th to 12th century. The technique to make them was lost through time, only some sapient undead still know how to make them, and usually they can't make such strong magic bonds! It doesn't look stolen from a museum either, it's brand new and pristine. This is impossible, there is only one way to get one of these" The Officer said, looking at everyone else around him with a dramatic face.
"To travel back in time and get an original one from the past" He concluded.
Everyone went silent.
Marquis Calasta POV
His new acquaintances started running and they dragged him along.
They told him they had received "notifications" on their phones that said that a crazy group of men on horseback had started charging in the city roads and the Vigiles Urbani Police had said everyone to run away in safe places.
"Vigiles Urbani" he thought.
"That's bad, Vigiles Urbani are usually civilian militias, not people with training and experience" He thought again.
"But oh well, this is the future. Maybe these futuristic Vigiles Urbani are actually competent…"
After they made a run for it, they waited for about some time in a local restaurant, where they also stopped for dinner.
"Wow, this place is fantastic. It's all clean, nice and good looking. Look at the staff, so nicely dressed and professional looking too! This surely ain't a low level pub. The future must be really rich and prosperous if all of their restaurants and building interiors are like this!"
After about 45 minutes, the boy and the other people, received another "notification" that said the "terrorist threat" had been taken care of, and everything was back to normality.
In the meanwhile, Rory Mercury had turned back to her normal old lady look.
"Oh Deus, eating dinner with the history teacher, this is so awkward and cringe… also I need to go back home soon, mom and dad are worried about me…" The boy said.
"Don't worry, I'll call your parents and tell them you're ok, I have their number." Professor Rory Mercury told him, reassuring the boy.
"Guys, how much money do you have? Let's pay everything together" The undead that was Cicero said.
"Not much but not few either, i just planned to buy a reproduction gladius at the shop today, i just have 60 Falms." The boys said.
"34 Falms here" Cicero said.
"22 here… Today i spent 400 Falms buying back my own decorative dagger that i had apparently gifted to some nobleman 1200 years ago…" Rory said.
"I uhm… I have around 70 Suwanis and some Sinkus and even some Mudwanian Denari…" Marquis Calasta said, slamming on the table the gold coins.
"HOLY FUCK, YOU'RE FILTHY RICH, YOU COULD SELL EACH ONE OF THESE FOR A SMALL FORTUNE TO A MUSEUM, THEY'RE EVEN IN GOOD CONDITIONS!" The boy said.
"Aurelius, don't swear…" Rory said.
"Professor Mercury… We're not at school!" Protested the boy.
"…Wait a second…" Said Rory, as she casted some type of spell on the coins.
"You're not the Marquis Calasta i know!" Rory said.
"Behind the Triumphal Gate there is the past, right?" She asked to Calasta.
Calasta was relieved. Finally someone who understood what was happening to him.
As they ordered food, he spent the night narrating his adventure through the Gate.
In the end they concluded he was from a parallel universe.
They were discussing what to do.
Marquis Calasta was from the year 687 of the Imperial Calendary, 2300 years into the past.
"Falmartia Universalis IV starts in the year 687! I love that game! If you play as the Empire, you have to dishenerit Zorzal I before the Gate event happens, so you can delay the Vassal Revolt and then you can gain Imperial Authority to keep your dynasty re-elected. Once i managed to unify The Empire under a single state and pass every reform by 758! Speedrun! Oh, i also killed off Rory Mercury and Giselle during the year 896 "Godly Wars" event and i kept Falmartian Paganism around!" The boy said.
"You sure enjoy killing me off in every game I'm featured in huh? Looks like someone's about to get a bad grade…" Rory jokingly said.
"Yeah, so i should go back in the Gate, smash Prince Zorzal's face with a punch and come back to save the future?" Calasta asked.
"Our two timelines are independent. In our world, the Gate opened right in the middle of Elbe, while in your world, the Gate opened here, in the middle of Sadera, during the Classical Reenactment Week. So no matter what you will do, your own world future will diverge from our own." Rory said.
"We could contact the authorities and tell them to just magically block the Gate, with modern magitech its easy to do. Even i could do it probably" Undead Cicero said.
"Is not that simple. Now our histories and fates are intertwined. Blocking the Gate would just mean to cure the symptom without knowing the illness that caused it. It's not normal for a magical Gate to link different universes and time, even with modern magitech, warping gates can only be used to travel inside this planet, let alone an ancient physical Gate created with two thousands years old magical technology!" Rory said.
"By the way, where do I stay tonight? I don't want to go back to my men yet, I need to get more informations on this situation, and I doubt the inns and other places will accept my money, so I have nowhere to sleep" Marquis Calasta said.
"You can stay at my place. I'll help you with your hunt for information, and I want to ask you some questions to see how much different your timeline from this timeline is." Said Rory.
"Staying at Rory the Reaper's place? S-such an honour…"
"I have already told you I'm not the Reaper anymore, think about it as a granny letting his little nephew stay at her place." Rory said, smiling, her sweet and calming elderly face looking at Calasta.
Count Colt Formal POV
It was starting to be late. The sky had turned black, but stars weren't anywere to be seen.
The city was also perpetually lightened up by magic and electrical lights.
Colt and his Cohort were still so confused.
Marquis Calasta and Herm Fule Maio were missing, but Formal didn't want to search for his friends at night, in this unknown place, he feared he could go missing too.
He even found a little painting of himself in a shop.
The familiar look and feel of the city started to vanish after night came, and vendors came to put put covers on the set-up.
As they left the area around the Gate, they found an endless maze of stone, glass and cement.
Nobody recognized their noble looks either or paid respect to their noble status.
"You clowns! The event is finished for today! Remove that medieval garment and go home!" a dude cleaning up the streets said.
"Leave them be, they're probably drunktard buffoons, look at how confused they look!" An elf working with his said.
"My loyal men, what if we go back in the Gate to sleep and we come back here tomorrow?" Count Formal said.
"Yeah, it sounds reasonable. We know nothing of this city. And it doesnt look like there are available spaces to set up the camp. Let's go back on our side and tomorrow we come back. At this point, i think we should drop the invasion thing, it's clear that this place can't be conventionally sieged and it may even straight up be one of our own cities."
They started heading back to the Gate, and many had already crossed it, when they heard a surprised voice.
"What the flying fuuuu- WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE TRIUMPHAL GATE, ITS CLOSING TIME, STOP YOU'LL RUIN IT!"
There was an angry, legionary looking man shouting at them.
"Hey! Stop! Where are you going! IM A POLICEMAN!" he said, but everyone ignored him.
"STOP JUMPING INTO THE FUCKING GATE, NO MORE MAGIC, HEY, COME BACK HERE!" the angry man shouted.
As the last legionary was getting in the Gate, the "policeman" person also jumped in, and he got restrained by two legionaries that were already on the other side.
Policeman POV
"WHAT IS THIS? WHERE AM I? WHY IS EVERYTHING GRASS NOW? STOP RESTRAINING ME! THIS IS A FELONY!" The policeman thought as two men grabbed him.
He saw a sign in the distance.
It was written in Old Imperial.
"Welcome to Holy Alnus Hill!"
He saw some lights in the distance.
"Wait. I recognize this place… I visited Alnus Hill and its archeological sites when i was a kid… If this is Alnus… In that direction there should be Italica… WHAT THE HELL? I was in Sadera just a second ago, Italica its like 3 days of car from Sadera!" The man thought.
"This is bad, i have to get back where i was before…" He thought as he tried to escape from the grabbing.
"Alt. You're not going anywhere, barbarian. You're going to tell us about your city and your nation!" One of the legionaries said.
"This is going to be a long night…." The policeman thought.