Conquest of the Dark Lord

Chapter 3: Less Power but not Powerless

When Andromedis woke up, he was sitting in a bed. This bed was small and plain unlike the extravagant one he'd had in his sleeping chambers back in his castle.

"Where am I?" he thought. "And why do I feel so strange?"

He removed the blankets covering him, and got up to inspect himself.

His hands were no longer scarred or calloused, and he tested his voice. "Hello?" he said aloud. His voice sounded different too. He looked around the room and noticed a mirror hanging on the wall. He walked over to it and inspected himself, noticing he no longer had any facial hair unlike the beard he had last time he was conscious. He noticed this first, and the second thing he noticed was that he looked younger as he stared at his lean form.

"I look a decade younger than when I last was conscious," he thought. "Did the leap between worlds do this to me?"

He then noticed he was bandaged heavily around his torso, and he wondered, "What happened to me?"

He inspected the room he was in, looking for his cloak, but it was nowhere to be found. He did however, notice his katana leaning up against the bedpost. He sighed as he walked over to a nearby window and opened it. The visible sky his gaze fell upon was clear of clouds and blue with the sun's position in the sky communicating that it was late afternoon, almost evening. This spectacle would've been impossible to witness in his old world, and Andromedis took note of this.

"In my world," he thought, resting his arms on the window. "I burned so many trees, houses, and fields that I single-handedly created a wasteland of a world where not even the sun could be seen through the smog that covered the sky." He chuckled thinking back to Apollo's rant, but his reminiscing was cut short by a knock at the door, shaking him from his thoughts. Hearing this, he quickly crossed the room and seized his katana; drawing it and pointing it at the door as it opened in case the newcomer turned out to be hostile.

The visitor who entered though, turned out to be a girl who came in carrying Andromedis's cloak, and when she saw him with his katana poised ready to strike, she yelped and dropped his neatly folded attire on the floor, crouching in terror with her hands over her head.

This scene persisted for the next few seconds, but eventually she looked up at Andromedis and stated, "You're finally awake, mister."

With his katana still raised, Andromedis asked, "And who would you be?"

Still looking scared, the girl whimpered, "Please put down the sword sir."

Andromedis sighed and sheathed his sword, sensing no threat from this girl.

Seeing this, the girl perked up almost immediately and said, "My name is Elise Noman." She picked up the dropped cloak and elaborated, "I found you passed out in the forest with a ripped cloak and pine needles impaled in you."

She pointed at a bowl on a nightstand on the far side of the bed. "I removed the pine needles and fixed your cloak," she said holding up Andromedis's cloak for him to take.

He took it and looked it over to find that his cloak had indeed been sewn back together; although, not as cleanly as he'd like. He looked sideways at Elise and asked, "And what of my shirt?"

"Torn to bits," Elise answered. "That evergreen tree really did a number on you."

Andromedis sighed. He had loved that shirt, but it would appear he would have to make do. "Do you have any other shirts that would fit me?" he asked. "Preferably in Men's size."

Elise thought about it, then answered, "I do have some of my father's old shirts. Would one of those work?"

Andromedis nodded. "That should suffice." He attempted to walk out the door, but Elise stopped him.