Fractured: Eternal War

Chapter 5: Heroes and Villains

Steve's POV:

Everything is black and I suddenly open my eyes, the first thing I see being the sky, the sun still shining it's bright rays down upon the grass and life around me. I lift myself up so I can see where I am, to see trees surrounding me. Once I stand up, I decide to walk straight ahead, through all the foliage. Whenever I reincarnate, I always spawn somewhere close by to the little house I made with Alex, the first one we ever built, many years ago. Since we are Deathless, we always return in that vicinity. Making it similar to a spawn point in a few ways. Cryus never explained why this is so, but gave hints it is a very important place to him. I eventually end up on the side of a road, which leads to a large village located conveniently close to our house. I walk to my left, and I arrive to our house that I made with Alex. We both decided to make it out of wooden planks made from nearby trees from the edge of the forest. I run my hand over the tree stumps, with an iron axe still embedded inside of it. When I look ahead, I see the oak tree near the lake, where Alex, Ceris and I used to have picnics. This gives me pained memories as I remember not being able to save her from the strange black portal we found on one of our adventures together. We trusted Ceris to the point that we consider her family, like a daughter that we never had. That's when I decide to walk to the edge of the lake to splash my face with it's lukewarm water. When I'm done, I see my reflection, only it's not mine. Rather a version of me, almost an exact replica,except it had this gleaming white eyes.

"Hey there, I see you're back, and I'm guessing you didn't come back through a portal." says Alex, walking towards me.

"Yeah, I, uh, found the pickaxe of Cryus... but uh, long story short, I got it but died fighting an army."

"Well, it's been like a week Steve," says Alex, sitting beside me. "How you died must've not been pretty. I also see that your troubled, is everything ok? Don't lie to me, nothing hides from my gaze of doom!"

I laugh with her, remembering our fight with a impersonator of some old God. Of course I wanted to tell her about the reflection of me with the glowing white eyes, I'm sure it related to my battle against Herok. Since my eyes were eerily similar to his. Perhaps a part of his essence entered me before my soul left, I guess. I have this odd feeling that I shouldn't tell Alex. Some instinct tells me I shouldn't burden her with with this information. Especially since I was almost clueless to what it meant. And didn't wish to worry her without more information. Suddenly Alex leans into my shoulder. I put my arm around her waist from reflex, although we can't "die", we still cherish life as we if we had only one life to live.

"Hey Steve, what do you think happened to Ceris?" asks Alex, clearly reminiscing about the past.

"Honestly, the black portal is unlike anything I've ever seen," I reply, thinking back on the day we lost her. "I have this feeling she's still alive out there, waiting for us to find her."

"Hmm, I'd like to think that too Steve..." Alex says. "Maybe we're getting too old for this worrying. Let's go back to the place where you found the pickaxe, after all, I don't think it's a very good idea to leave it for others to find."

"You're right, let's go back into the house to pack some food and arm ourselves before heading out. We have to make a camp along the way since we won't be able to reach there today."

So we both stand up and head towards the house. Inside, I take a backpack, putting various items, from potions to bedding to weapons. Since Alex and I have a small fraction of the essence of Cryus, we are given certain advantages over normal mortals. Soon, we have everything we need for the trip and we had a small stable where we keep our horses, Blackjack and Crystal. Alex and I put the saddles with extra pouches in case we come across some treasure and require extra storage. Our horses plod towards the village, knowing the route by heart. When we enter the village, both Alex and I go towards our typical villagers, finding the ones willing to trade for our few missing supplies. The main one being new armor for myself since mine had been left behind in the battlefield. Diamond armor is extremely rare, which I've had one set until I died with it, saving a village from a group of marauders who used lava traps to get me.