Calixte ArcThe commissar took a step back... and a bullet ran out. It didn't hit him, but it shattered the test tube on the table. "That was the only warning shot you'll get," Rolo said. He sounded so calm.But the commissar didn't hear him. The man turned around and stared at the broken test tube, his face losing all color. From the shattered glass, a pink vapor was raising."What did you do?" the commissar hissed. "The experiment! You tainted it!""What experiment?" I demanded to know, but the commissar seemed beyond word right now."I don't know. It was incomplete. Whatever this mixture was, it can't-" the commissar broke off. The pink mist wafted over him and he fell to the ground, eyes rolling in the back of his head.I didn't even have time to shout "Run" before I inhaled the sweetest scent of whatever had escaped from the vial. The world around me began to spin. Tanya, Rolo, and the commissar spun until they were shapeless black spots and the room around me vanished with them
Calixte ArcNone of the others were stirring. Not the commissar, my wife, or my best friend. I could still see the pink vapor in the air, but it wasn't affecting me anymore. Why were the rest of them still under the effects of the vapor? Maybe it had run its course in me? Was I just lucky?I pulled myself off the ground, using the table the commissar had been working on to keep my balance. Now that I wasn't unconscious, I could smell the pink vapor. It reminded me of chocolate and strawberry milk. It was an odd combination of flavors, but it seemed good. Now that it wasn't putting me on the ground.I handled the commissary first. Putting my knee on his back, I took out my rope and tied his hands together behind his back. As tight as I could make them. Then I repeated the process with his feet.I quickly searched him, disarming him of his weapons and anything else he might be able to use to cut his bindings. Once I was sure he was safe, they wanted the commissar alive, I turned back to
Calixte"Why would I tell you anything, imperial scum?"That was a good question. Why would he tell me anything? I hated his ideology, but that might be personal now because of Tanya and what they have done to her. They butchered her family in front of her and send her fleeing to a foreign country. I had a personal stake in it.If I truly believed in expansionism, if I bought into everything my father tried to sell me, and this man was attacking my beliefs, would I help him? No, of course not. I would do everything in my power to stop him and now h was doing that to me.I could try and trick it out of him, but I knew nothing about this commissar, so there was no point in weeding it out of him. I would have to know him on a personal level... Wouldn't I?I would just have to hand him over to the Office of Secret Intelligence. Mireille and Agent Caron would have to deal with him.I turned the next page in his notes, hoping to find something easier to read. Nope, if anything the Roslachni
EuphemiaOf course, she had the room under magical surveillance. Not just the room with the prisoner who was begging to tell her what he knew, but all of the rooms. They were all under constant surveillance, which Rachel Edgecombe was happy to brag to me about.Brag was too strong of a word. It wasn't so much as bragging, but showing me. "I don't know if I can trust what he says.""He seemed pretty genuine about wanting to tell you. I hear torture does that""He genuinely wants to avoid more pain and suffering, that's what that boy wants. Prisoners who undergo the suffering of torture will often confess to anything. Maybe they're strong enough to keep what they know a secret but want the pain to end. So they tell us a sweet little lie."Or they tell us what they think we want to know. Maybe they don't know anything and whatever they can say to end the torment, they'll do. Even if it's a bald-faced lie."I cocked my head to the right. "So torture isn't effective?""That is a question t
Calixte ArcThe transport was taking us back to Acadia, and as a prince, I was given my own private chambers. I was prepared to share with Tanya and try to investigate the notes in secret, but she chose to ride in a compartment where she could lie down. When I asked what was wrong, she didn't answer. She only said she wanted to be alone.Rolo felt the same way. He didn't want to talk to me or anyone else. He answered the soldier's question curtly, then he disappeared into a private room.I told Tanya, Rolo, and the soldiers that the commissar woke up and got free. He destroyed his notes and the pink substance and was going to kill me so I had to put a bullet in his head. I had to get my story straight before we reached Acadia because the OSI was going to want to debrief me.On the other hand... I quickly felt around, spreading my mana through the room. There were no active spells around me, so I was confident that no one was watching me. This world wasn't advanced enough for security
Calixte ArcNo one in the class was able to shoot down a single enemy. I wasn't the worst, which I took some pride in."Over the next year, we'll incorporate this flight simulator into our training. Until you can survive a dogfight with at least one kill to your name, you're not touching the real deal. Now get out of here.""I wasn't in the simulator for a minute before I got gunned down," Rolo said."Don't pity yourself. Besides, you did last longer than Theo. He got shot down in twenty seconds.""Is that supposed to make me feel better? I wasn't as bad as I could have been?"I clapped him on the back. "Exactly. You were the second worst.""I feel so much better."I smiled. It seemed I had been teasing Rolo for a long time. Not so much lately. Maybe I would have to change that. Well, after Rolo recovered from whatever the pink gas showed him.I made my first kill in the simulator three weeks later. Three weeks of grueling training with Victoria's forces and I succeeded. After practic
I reached for the door, but the serum, or whatever it was, wasn't finished with me. With another spin of the world, I sank back down into my memories.I was standing in a familiar restaurant, watching myself and two others at a table. This was the last day that I had spent with Kaya before turning."Forgive me if I presume too much, but you seem... Acquainted." They seemed more than merely acquainted, they seemed close. Very close. I hope I wasn't overstepping my boundaries and assuming. What was that saying again? Assuming makes an ass out of you and me?Thankfully my assumption paid off and I didn't come out looking like an ass. The governor smiled. "Not at all, Your Highness. I have known Princess Kaya since she was born.""May I inquire as to the nature of your relationship?" I asked in the politest way that I could."Governor Tanaka is my uncle," Kaya said. "He's my father's brother.""I was under the impression that Tanaka was a family name," I said.Governor Tanaka nodded. "It
I want to post this here to see if there would be any interest in a story like this? I've already written it, so it would just have to undergo editing and, hopefully, just a few revises. If you would be interest in it, let me know. The name is this story would be Gamer Reborn.Chapter IThey say the butterfly effect states that one minor change is enough to alter the course of history. In the case of both my lives, I can trace what happened to be down to two events: Andrei Petrov surviving Afghanistan and my father growing a conscious.Andrei Petrov was a soldier in Soviet 40th Army. He was a nobody, a mere grunt that could have died without leaving a mark on the world. He nearly did just that, in 1988. His comrades managed to get him medical help just in time, but it was a close thing.After the fall of the Soviet Union, Andrei Petrov moved to the United States of America. It was in Hawaii that he met Mera Cyrus, the daughter of a wealthy real estate dynasty. Before Andrei's near dea