The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

Ravian left the blacksmith’s shop with Karius, carrying everything the man had ordered the smith to prepare.

He was still wearing his worn-out white linen clothes underneath, but a light set of leather armor now sat over them, and around his waist hung a utility belt holding two things: the longsword from the smith, and Max’s leather pouch, which he had taken before leaving his shack.

Karius had paid for all of it without comment, telling him to consider it a gift for joining the unit.

Ravian still felt the equation didn’t quite add up. From the way Karius spoke, he commanded dozens of squads and thousands of men. What possible difference could one young man at the Awakened rank make? And yet Karius seemed to see a completely different kind of value in him — one Ravian couldn’t identify — and had spent accordingly.

At least he looked somewhat like a fighter now. A desperately poor one, admittedly. After all, who wore cheap linen under leather armor?

Ravian did. He didn’t particularly care about that right now.

He was on his way back to his shack to show Karius Max’s corpse as requested, but his thoughts hadn’t moved from what the Book of Sovereign Pride had told him.

Two extra lives.

He had two extra lives now — and he had no idea how they worked, or even what obtaining something like that truly meant. When he had asked the Book, it had told him only that he had gained two lives he could use.

That was all.

’Does that mean I’d actually come back if I died right now?’ The thought settled in his mind for a moment.

’Should I test it?’

The idea appeared, as his ideas usually did, from the particular corner of his mind where sanity kept inconsistent hours.

Then Ravian immediately buried it.

’No. Absolutely not. I don’t know for certain that I’d come back.’

’And even if I would, I don’t know whether additional lives can be gained again — which means wasting one now out of curiosity would be throwing away a future chance to survive through my own stupidity.’

Testing something like that wouldn’t be bravery. It would be idiocy of a special kind.

’It would be something else entirely if lives could be gained through devoured Records...’

Even he recognized that as wishful thinking. There was no reason to believe something like that could come from just anyone his ability consumed.

They were approaching the slums again — Ravian hadn’t gone far from them to begin with.

”Ravian,” Karius said suddenly.

”Yes, Sir Karius?” Ravian responded almost immediately, turning toward him.

”Since you’ve decided to come with me, there’s something you need to understand.” Karius kept his eyes on the road ahead.

”War is deadly. Literally. It isn’t some alley fight like what you’ve dealt with before. This is war — tens of thousands of fighters clashing on each side in every major engagement.”

”Among them are thousands of Awakened at different levels. Mercenaries, nobles — it doesn’t matter what you are when you step onto that field.”

His tone settled into something heavier.

”Daily individual missions. Group missions. Patrols. Raids. Defense lines. Emergency deployments. Everyone’s survival depends on their own strength, and you won’t be any different from the rest.”

Ravian listened carefully. He understood that what Karius was saying was far more important for someone in his position than anything else he could have been told right now.

”You’ll be placed in one of the squads under my command,” Karius continued.

”But that doesn’t grant you any special treatment. You’ll have to fight and struggle to stay alive just like everyone else. The only thing I’ll do for you is make sure you’re not thrown into high-risk missions from the very start.”

His gaze shifted toward Ravian.

”But you need to improve — your strength, your fighting style, all of it. Otherwise, you’ll die in your first battle without anyone even noticing it happened.”

Ravian didn’t know why, but Karius seemed to care about him more than the situation logically warranted. He was self-aware enough to know his current worth, and it certainly didn’t match the way a commander of Karius’s level was treating him.

Fortunately, Karius didn’t seem intent on leaving him confused about it.

”You look a great deal like my son.” His voice dropped slightly.

”He died on the battlefield.”

Ravian’s expression shifted.

Karius continued, eyes still on the road.

”I don’t regret bringing him into the army. He was a man. And men are meant to defend their mothers, their wives, their homeland — everything they hold dear — even when the price is their lives and the lives of their sons.”

He turned to Ravian.

”Don’t you think so?” There was sadness on his face. But there was pride there too, and the pride hadn’t dimmed.

Ravian looked at him.

Then his eyes went still — that particular stillness that had always set him apart, even in the life before this one.

”You’re right, Sir Karius.” His voice was calm, but something lay beneath it, quiet and heavy.

”I may seem careless at times, but I understand loss better than most people would expect.”

He looked ahead.

”And believe me — if I could pay with my own soul for five more minutes with the people I’ve lost, I would do it without a second thought.”

This time, it was Ravian who turned away first and fixed his eyes on the road.

Karius was quietly surprised by what had crossed Ravian’s face in that moment. Since they had met, the boy had seemed careless — almost cold. Cold enough that Karius had been fairly certain he wouldn’t hesitate to put a blade through someone’s heart if he believed they were likely to do the same to him first.

But beneath that sharpness, there was someone who had suffered. Genuinely, deeply suffered.

And that suffering had shaped everything he was now.

What Karius did not know was that Ravian did not carry the weight of one person’s pain.

He carried the weight of two.

The memories of the young man whose body he now wore, and the grief of the life he had lived before.

”Anyway,” Ravian said, changing the subject with deliberate abruptness — he could feel the conversation pulling toward territory he wasn’t ready to share —

”When were you planning to take me to the Imperial Army? Next week? The one after?”

”Today,” Karius replied, with a faintly mocking smile.

”Huh?” Ravian turned sharply.

”You’re coming with me to the camp today,” Karius said.

”As soon as we’ve dealt with Max.” He was already quickening his pace toward the alley Ravian had come from earlier.

”What? I haven’t prepared anything. I haven’t even said goodbye to my home. My neighbors—” Ravian hurried after him.

They reached the alley quickly.

”You call this a home?” Karius glanced at the shabby structure with undisguised disdain.

”You’re not even a convincing liar. If you’d told me you wanted to say goodbye to that crumbling little shelter of yours that barely qualifies as a roof, I might have actually believed you — but ’home’?”

”Don’t insult it. This place sheltered me for years.” Ravian narrowed his eyes, even as he was privately aware that he had lived here for approximately one day.

But Karius wasn’t listening.

”Haha — and these comrades of yours? You’re calling those people scattered across the alley your neighbors? What about the rats? Your roommates?” Karius’s laughter came out freely now, entirely at Ravian’s expense.

”Damn it — did you come here to confirm that corpse or to dissect my entire life?” Frustration broke across Ravian’s face.

’Insufferable old man. It’s not as though I chose the body I ended up in,’ Ravian thought, cursing him inwardly with remarkable sincerity.

”Alright, alright.” Karius finished laughing and clapped his hands once.

Clap!

A faint shockwave spread outward from his palms, washing through the entire alley — and everyone in it slumped unconscious where they stood or sat.

”Ugh—!” Ravian felt a sharp pressure in his ears and a brief spin of dizziness, but nothing more. Karius had clearly targeted only the non-Awakened.

”Now no one will bother us while we work.” Karius’s expression changed — not dramatically, but cleanly. The amusement was gone.

”Stay behind me and don’t move until I’m finished.” He swept his gaze across the alley with slow, deliberate precision.

”And I should mention — I’ve already confirmed part of your story. The squad’s disappearance drew some curious parties who came looking for the reason.”

He fixed his eyes on four specific points — different corners of the alley, nothing visible to Ravian at all.

For a breath, nothing happened.

Then—

”Damn it — why is one of the Empire’s Guardians in a place like this?!” A voice cracked with barely contained panic as a shadow emerged from one of the spots Karius had been watching.