THE FORSAKEN LORD

Arjun's POV

I groggily opened my eyes and observed the surroundings. It was simple room, made of stone walls, small windows and muddy floors. I was lying on a wooden bedstead with feather mattresses covered with bandages all over my body. I tried to sit up but winced in pain as it was aching all over my body.

 Hearing my wincing sound, three people entered the room. Two middle aged man and a young woman, probably in her twenties. They were adorned with simple clothes. One of the men, fair and blonde haired with blue eyes, was holding a staff like thing while the other man, fair and red haired with red eyes, looked neat and proper like an official.

 The young woman, brown and black hair with hazel eyes was looking at me curiously. After staring at each other for a moment, I asked

"Where am I? How many days have passed?"

They didn't reply as they continued to stare at me confused like they couldn't understand what I was asking. The man with red hair slightly nudged at the man in blonde hair. The man in blonde hair stepped forward as he extended his staff towards me.

 I got weirded and scared as I recoiled back but soon understood my mistake as I screamed in pain. But suddenly a light appeared above my head as I felt pain decrease gradually. After I recovered, I looked back at them trying to understand what happened now as the man in red hairs said

"Hello, I am Bhagat and these two are Peter and his daughter, Aparna. Can you repeat what you said earlier?" the red hair middle aged man asked as he introduced themselves. I became stunned as I understood them even though it was a different language but weirdly enough, I could understand what they were saying.

"Where am I? How long have I been asleep?" I asked again but in the same language as they just spoke. I was bewildered about how fast I could learn a language.

"You are at my house in Lethia village and have been asleep for a day." Peter replied as the room went into comfortable silence. A moment later,

"Thanks, but why?" Arjun asked gratefully but confused

"Fate." Peter replied with a smile

"Fate?" Arjun questioned confused

"Well, let's talk about that after you have recovered. For now, just take rest." Bhagat said as he pulled the Peter and went out. Arjun and young woman, Aparna smiled at each other as a quiet lull hung over them which was broken by his stomach growling.

 Arjun gave an awkward smile while Aparna said with a smile

"I will bring you something to eat."

"Thanks." Arjun replied

Bhagat and Peter's POV

"Why did you pull me out?" Peter asked annoyed

"We can't tell him just yet. We need to observe him first." Bhagat said with caution.

"You don't trust him." Peter asked bewildered and he continued to say

"But token showed him to us."

"Is token finding an owner for itself or is it helping us?" Bhagat asked

"How do I know what token intends?" Peter replied

"Exactly, we don't know about the token even after 20 years. But what we can know about is this man." Bhagat said

"So, we wait and observe." Peter asked

"Yes, we wait and observe." Bhagat said as they both peered into the house. 

A week went by, before Arjun could walk on his own. After he got out his bed, he walked out of the room with using walls as support. When he opened the door to outside, he saw a lines of stone houses albeit scattered, signifying this world still technologically backward.

 He slowly but steadily walked out of the house. As he was about to go out, he heard a woman's voice asking

"Are you going out?"

"Yes, I have been cooped up for long, I want to explore your village." Arjun said with a smile.

"Then let's go. I will show you around." Aparna offered.

"It's okay, I don't want to disturb you." Arjun declined

"Do you want to go or not?" Aparna asked

"Okay, let's go." Arjun gave in as he replied

They walked side by side towards the village's market as she introduced every shop and people. Then she took him to school, pharmacy, barracks, agricultural field, and finally to the wall that was surrounding the village.

"What do I about my lodging? Should I build myself a house?" Arjun asked

"For that we have our own people, here follow me I will take you there." Aparna replied as he followed her.

They both reached before a house and she stepped forward to knock on the door. A few moments later, we heard footsteps coming from behind the door as it slowly opened.

"Aparna, what brings you? The middle-aged man with glasses asked

"Hello, Mr. David, how are you doing?" Aparna asked

"I am fine, dear. Who is this young man?" David asked curiously

"Oh, this is our new resident. Arjun Rayar. Arjun, this Mr. David, our architect."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Henry." Arjun said as he stepped forward and extended his hand.

"Nice lad." David said as he shook Arjun's hands and continued to ask

"So, you want to build a house."

"Yes."

"Have you decided on the plot. Did Bhagat give you green light?" David asked

"Not yet. But if you don't mind, I have some ideas of my own. Can you take a look?"

"Oh, interesting. Show me." David said

Arjun took a pen and paper and drew a house with full plumbing and heating system. David was astonished seeing the architect as he examined with a fervor of a child.

"I am enlightened, lad. Truly a marvel." David replied with great enthusiasm.

"Thank you but compared to your expertise, mine is nothing." Arjun replied humbly

"Don't sell yourself short, lad. With some slight tweaks, this house will be a one of a kind." David said patting his shoulder as he continued to say

"You go square the details with bhagat and I will start on this soon."

"Okay thank you." Arjun said as he said his byes to Mr. Henry and took Aparna to meet with the chief. They walked towards chief's house but he wasn't there and then they went to the fields where he was overseeing the harvesting of crops. 

"Hey, chief. I want to build my own house." Arjun said

"So, you are moving out." Bhagat asked

"Yes, I have been disturbing you for a week now. It's time to move out. build my own place." Arjun said

"Good, choose any land on the west side of village. Go see Mr. Henry. He is our architect." Bhagat said

"Already met. Just needed your confirmation." Arjun said smiling cheekily as Bhagat looked at Aparna annoyed as she introduced Henry before he gave the green light.

A day later, Arjun's house was built on the west side of the village. To be exact it was a manor rather than a house. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open kitchen and a dining hall. It had slanted roofs typical of medieval period and an open area with no roofing in the center of the house.

 Another week went by as Arjun got accustomed to the village. The village primarily lived of lands, as mortals worked the lands and warriors or mages hunted the animals or protected the village from monsters. Arjun even though being a mortal, was genetically enhanced due to earth's advanced technologies. So, he had the strength of a peak human. Hence, he joined the hunting group as well as helped working on the fields.

 On one such day he was about to toil another day at work, he suddenly heard loud drumming sounds coming from the direction of the wall. Arjun was bewildered and shocked hearing the sound echoing through the village. He swiftly dressed and dashed towards the wall where he saw a crowd of mages and warriors along with chief and the priest.

"What's happening?" Arjun asked as he walked up to a friend from his hunting team

"The monsters are coming. You need to go take shelter." Thomas advised him.

"What do you mean to take shelter? Will they be able to breach the wall?" Arjun asked terrified thinking dense hordes of monsters dashing into the village.

"Yes, these walls can't hold them back." Thomas replied gravely

"You should go fast. Follow the crowd, you will reach an underground shelter at the north side of the village." Thomas said

"No, I will stay and fight." Arjun said as he saw chief and the priest commanding the guards to open the gate.

Arjun walked to a dwarf standing at the corner and asked

"Varun, I need a new spear, my old one broke."

"No. this is not like the usual hunting. This is way more dangerous and every man or woman is for themselves as we can't protect you. So, you should go to the shelter." Bhagat said to Arjun sternly

"No, I want to help. This is also my village. I want to protect it." Arjun said to Bhagat who kept a stern face but to trained eye we could see he was happy. Peter who also heard this smiled joyfully but quickly covered it up to not being weird in this situation.

"But Arjun, you don't have mana. I am afraid we can't…." Peter said to which Arjun scoffed with disdain and said

"Mana? How do you think I survived that day?" Seeing that Arjun was not backing down, chief sighed in defeat at his stubbornness and said

"Varun, give the man a spear."

The Dwarf opened his armory to Arjun with a wide grin as he gave him a large number of spears to choose from. After taking a look, Arjun chose an iron spear.

The gate opened slowly with a creaking sound of iron dragging on the ground and everyone slowly walked out. They swiftly spread out, standing parallel to the wall with enough space between each other covering a wide area. Arjun, Bhagat and Peter stood in front of the gate. Arjun was confused by formation and asked

"Can a single person fight this much monster?" Arjun asked

"This is only tier 0 monsters. They can handle it alone. But can you? You don't have any mana. With what will you fight? That spear or your body?" Bhagat said to which Arjun was about to retort back when Peter said

"Concentrate on the fight, they are here."

Arjun got into fighting stance as he held the spear in an underhanded grip and stood in a firm stance with his front foot forward. When the monsters got close, he thrusted the spear towards its throat killing it one strike. He pulled the spear back sliding it back into position as he got ready for the next monster.

 Everyone froze with their mouth wide open in awe seeing how effortlessly a mortal finished of a monster. Soon, they were also pulled into fight. Some fighters coated their weapons with mana, killing two or three effortlessly while others used wind, fire, earth spells to kill multiple monsters.

 Arjun seeing them in action understood why they took this formation. The fight went on for hours and everyone's mana was getting depleted slowly but the monsters still kept on coming. The mages and warriors switched out with each other as the tired ones took rest.

"Arjun, let's take some rest. Let the second batch continue the battle." Priest Peter said as he stepped backward while another mage took his position

"No need. I can go on." Arjun said as he continued his battle

After fighting for hours again, the monsters started to thin out as everyone joined together to finish the last ones. After the fight was finished, everyone erupted in cheers as Arjun lay on the ground, completely exhausted but with a big grin on his face from receiving praises from his comrades.

 "Let's go, lad. Are you going to sleep here?" Priest Peter asked with a satisfied smile as he extended his hand to pull him up.

Arjun stood up with his help as everyone surrounded him. With the young ones looking at him with stars in their eyes while the older ones gave him a nod of acknowledgement with a smile.

 With previous prejudice of him being a weak mortal cleared out, they all accepted him as a brother in arms who survived a war. Arjun soaked in their praises as he felt happy about protecting the place he had come to love. Everyone returned back as victors and village erupted in celebration. After entering the village, all of them spilt to meet up with their loved ones while chief Bhagat, priest Peter joined with Arjun as they walked back together.

"How do you feel about village?" Priest Peter asked breaking the silence between them.

"It's good, I love the atmosphere and the people" Arjun asked

"What is your plan next?" Bhagat asked

"Don't know. Haven't decided yet. Maybe I will stay here for good or go out to explore. Find out what's there. Why, do you want to kick me out?" Arjun asked as he teased them. They gave a nervous laugh before a tensed silence hung over them again which he broke to ask

"What is it that you want to ask?" Arjun asked warily

"We want you to be our lord." Peter said cautiously gauging his reaction

"Huh, nice joke." Arjun said with a laugh but soon realized they were serious as he continued

"Why? You already have him, right?" Arjun asked Peter as he pointed at Bhagat

"It's Fate. Only a person selected by the token can be a lord. And we believe it's you."

"How do you know it's my fate?" Arjun asked

"Do you know how we saved you? It's because of a vision I had. And I believe the token is guided us to you."

"You keep on mentioning this token. What is it?" Arjun asked

"You don't know what a token is? Where have you been living before you fell off the cliff?" Bhagat asked confused

"No. In a faraway place." Arjun asked

"Which city/town/village are you from?" Bhagat reiterated his question

"I am not from any city/town/village that you know." Arjun replied

"Well, that's explains it. You must belong to hidden primitive tribe." Bhagat said

"No, I am not from this planet." Arjun replied seriously

"What do you mean you are not this planet?" Peter asked cautiously before it clicked him and continued to ask

"You mean you are an alien?" Peter and bhagat was shocked in understanding that there was life outside this planet and that life was somehow able to traverse the space and stumbled upon their planet.

"Yes, I am from a planet called Earth. Similar to this one but albeit smaller and has only one moon. It was also more peaceful well if we don't consider the destruction that took to make that peace. So, yeah I don't know what a token is."

Chief and the priest were shocked to hear about my origins and didn't know what to believe or if they should follow the token's choice but still priest trusted the token wholeheartedly as he said

"To know what a token is?"

"Priest," Bhagat said

"What?" Peter asked with a questioning look

"We can't trust him. What if his planet is invading our planet? Then if we provide the token to him, we would become traitors in the eyes of Lemurian's and sinners to our ancestors and future generation."

"Don't worry, chief. I don't feel any malice coming from him and we should trust the token. And what other choice do we have? How long will we live like this?" Priest said as chief shut up and started thinking while Peter continues

"So, to know what the token is. You need to know our history." Priest said and took a pause as he continued

"Our planet is called Lemuria. From ancient times, we had mages and warriors, in fact, all the people could use mana and our planet was prosperous. But about 10000 years ago, we had a devastating war in which the whole planet was engulfed in. We don't who started it or who we fought with but it nearly destroyed our population. We lost all our legacy and then came the dark period for 5000 years. There are no records about this period. Its as if all the remaining mages and warriors have vanished." The priest said gravely as he took a heavy sigh and then continued.

"Then 1000 years ago, some mortals were able to use mana again, hence, mages and warriors started appearing again. But along with it came the monsters. No walls around settlements could stop them as they ravaged our houses and killed any lives that was in their path. Helpless, all the mages and warriors came together to fight but they couldn't hold on for long before their mana was depleted, that was when one warrior stumbled upon a token. With the help of that token he built a sanctuary, a settlement where we could rest and recoup to fight the next battle." Priest said with a smile as he remised about his past for a moment and continued to say

 "Then slowly we prospered again and with prosperous life came more conquering as ambitious individuals started hunting for tokens and eventually more tokens were discovered but not anyone could activate it. To use the token tan individual should fulfill a criterion and only then will be eligible to be a lord. Every token as different criteria or rules for acceptance and those diverse individuals built their own safe haven and sat on top of as lords of sanctuary. These sanctuaries, it starts with a village and goes up to a city." Peter took a pause to let what he said sink in.

Arjun hearing the story was shocked and asked carefully

"You want to me to use this token to be a lord."

"Yes." Peter replied

"Why didn't you all try?" Arjun asked

"We tried, everyone one of us, even on a child who was just born but the token hasn't accepted. But as I said I had vision about you." Peter replied

"So, what are you? A SEER? Did you see me leading this village as its lord?" Arjun asked

"I have dabbled in divination but the vision I had was unlike any other. It was clear, like, it was asking us to save you. Normally when I divine the future, I just get bits or pieces of future. But this one was clear, so I think it was the token who gave me the vision."

"How do you know it's the token?"

"Because tokens are intellectual and its origins are still unknown to us. And there were instances in our history were a token had guided someone to find its owner, so, I believe you are the one token wants." Peter replied

"This is too much. I don't know what to say. I don't know if I am up to the task or even if I am worthy. I need some time to think." Arjun replied

"Okay." Peter replied disheartened that Arjun didn't agree readily.

Arjun walked away from them towards his house with weight of the news on his head.

Arjun's POV

After reaching home, he freshened up and then entered the kitchen to make some food. He cooked him a shawarma and some fries along with some milk tea. After having dinner, he laid on the bed thinking about the day. The thrill and excitement of fighting again and compadre among the villagers. His thoughts unconsciously drifted towards his crew mates and sadness covered his face as how fast they destroyed years of friendship they had.

 As he was immersed in his thoughts, slowly drifting towards darkness and loneliness he heard a shrill cry and yelling for 'help' followed by beatings of drums. He promptly got up, took his spear and dashed towards the origin of sound. There he saw big wolf standing in front of Amy.

 He took the spear and stood in his stance and gave a long whistle. The wolf hearing the sound turned towards him and looked at me for a moment. Seeing my intimidating stance something irked in its mind as it turned and dashed towards me. I waited patiently for it to reach my range, as soon as, it reached my range I thrusted my spear towards his throat. But before the spear could pierce its throat it dodged just in time to escape imminent death, although, my spear nicked its neck. The wolf becoming angrier lunged at me, I rotated my hand in fluid motion along with my body through 180° rotation as the back of spear smashed into its body with full force. The wolf hit by brunt force of spear, smashed into the ground forming a crater. I didn't waste any time dawdling as I jump high towards it. As I reached near it, I slide the spear through my palms, extending it and thrusted it through the wolf's eyes. 

The wolf writhed in pain and howled for help as I firmly held the spear, plunging deeper and deeper into its brain. After an arduous struggle between us, it slowly and painfully died. After which, I pulled my spear out and turned to ask

"Hey, Amy are you okay?"

"Yes." She said whimpering as tears were about to break out of eyes.

"It's okay. You are safe now." Arjun consoled her as she broke into tears and hugged his leg. Seeing her in pitiful, he lifted her up and wiped her tears as he said

"Don't cry. Brave girls don't cry. Is Amy a brave girl?"

"Yes." Amy said as she tried hard to hold back her tears and look brave. Arjun smiled seeing how cute she looked and walked to the center of the village. On the way he saw, houses broken and many carcasses of the wolves. When he reached the center of the village, he saw many people standing around in groups.

"Amy, where did you run off to?" Aparna asked as she saw us coming from a distance.

"I went to call, big brother." Amy said with her head down guiltily. Aparna seething with anger softened hearing that but still scolded her as she said

"You should not have gone alone. What would have happened if a wolf had attacked you?" As she was about to continue her scolding, Arjun said

"Okay, don't scold her. She came searching for me because she was worried about me. Now tell me what's happening."

"Well, wolves broke in. Everyone is fighting it around the village except for those three." Aparna said pointed at three people.

"Well then I will go help others. Amy, stay here with Aparna. Don't run around." Arjun said as he put her down

"Okay. Come back safe." Amy said with worry etched in her face

"Okay." Arjun replied with a smile.

"Pinkie swear." Amy said as she extended her pinkie towards me

"Pinkie swear." Arjun hooked his pinkie with hers and sealed with a thumb. 

Arjun gave her smile and dashed off towards the gate. On the way, he helped who were in a pinch. On the way, he helped the people who were in a pinch. By the time, he reached the gates the battle was almost over except for two or three wolves that were left. When he reached the gate, he saw chief and priest standing together with a dark look on their face.

"Hey, chief, priest what happened?" Arjun asked

"Do you know why the settlements built by lords are called sanctuaries?" Chief paused for a moment and then he asked, to which Arjun shakes his head sideways and he continues to say

"Because settlements not built with tokens can be invaded from inside but ones built with tokens cannot. So, settlements like us are always on edge as even those high walls can't save us from invasion of monsters."

Arjun was surprised to hear this new information as he looked at them and asked

"So, what will happen if I don't accept being your lord?"

"We will continue like this. We can't force you, right? Actually, you may be first and last person on this planet who won't jump at the chance to be at the top of the world."

Arjun gave a smile at what they said and shook his head in amusement. He then took his spear and went after the monsters. He slowly walked to the forest scanning for the battles that needed his help when he suddenly noticed a new wolf coming after him.

 He stood in his stance as the wolf lunged at him. He thrusted the spear towards the wolf sliding through it his palms. Wolf used its forelegs to kick the spear and changed its direction while using its claws to pierce and grasp by hands. But before the wolf could to get to me, I pulled the spear down with full force and smashed it down on the wolf's head. The wolf got beaten down and moved back as he looked at me warily. I was surprised to see clarity slowly coming in the wolf's eyes. A moment later, he stared at me with bloodthirsty eyes, not of madness but of cunning and intellectual.

 I got onto the battle stance and became alert as I started reading its movements. After a tense stance for few moments, the wolf backed down as he saw few people dashing to my side. It turned and walked away and I was surprised to see its cubs following it and that's when I understood that it was protecting its cubs. It walked some way before it pushed out a white wolf out of its pack and walked away with its other children.

The wolf that was pushed out looked at the big wolf and tries to follow its footsteps again but the big wolf glared at cub and howled as if he saying 'Stay there, don't follow me'. As the big wolf and its cubs walked away, the white wolf cub stayed behind looking at its family walking away into the forest.

 I walked to the wolf cub, sat down near it and waved to the villagers to go back. The cub looked at me and then turned to look into the forest waiting for his father and siblings to come back and pick him. Time went by as moon slowly set and sun rose up in the sky, the cub and the man looked at that direction still waiting for the wolves to come back. Knowing that they won't be coming back, Arjun got up pick few berries while the cub followed him with its eyes. Arjun came back and sat back down with a handful of berries, he ate one and gave one to the cub

"Hear eat this." The cub looked at me for a moment before it took a bite. I pitied it and felt sad for it as I said empathetically

"I am sorry your family left you."

The wolf stopped eating the berry as it realized the situation. It gazed into the forest as its eyes slowly glistened with tears. The cub in pain and anguish gave a sorrowful howl.

 Hearing it cry in distress, I also cried and slowly patted its head affectionately as I asked

"Do you want to come with me?" the wolf whimpered as it nodded as Arjun picked it up and walked back to the village as the sun slowly rose behind him.

"You need a name. Since you are white like a snow, I will name you snow." Arjun said with a smile as he slowly entered the village.

Snow gave a nod as he nudged towards my chest. I walked through the gate and saw chief and priest was standing there.

"What is that on your hands?" Bhagat asked

"Wolf cub. Abandoned." Arjun replied and then he continued to ask

"Priest Peter, does these monsters become lucid in mid-fight?"

"It happens but it's rare. Some monsters have attained lucidity and joined or made their own tribes." Peter replied

"Oh. Chief, Priest. I have decided to accept. I will be lord of Lethia, protecting and developing our village to new heights." Arjun said seriously

"Good. Then follow me." Chief and Priest said with a smile as they walked ahead while Arjun followed with snow in his hands. They passed through the village center and arrived at the chief's house. Chief Bhagat went inside and took out a box and gave it to Arjun as he said

"Drip a drop of blood on it."

"Okay." Arjun said as he opened the box saw a token made of wood forming a six-pointed star formed by two interlocking triangles. He held it in his left hand and cut his thumb of the right hand to drop a blood. He dropped a small drop of blood on the token. The token shined brightly and slowly merged into his hand as it tattooed itself onto his body. After a moment, Arjun heard a sound in his mind,

{

The chosen one has been identified.

SYSTEM INTIALIZING…

1%...25%...75%...100%...

}