Chapter 5 – A New Title

Max sat inside the building as four legionaries in the burgundy, silver, and gold worked around him to prepare something. Each one of them was grievously wounded in one way or another. The worst was the smallest one among them. That man was missing an entire leg and had a wooden peg to replace it.

The entire building was a few smaller rooms surrounding a giant one that had a lot of straight lines with sharp cuts, not a single curve among them, all running to the back wall where a large platform rested. There was a slot for something large and circular to sit on it

Wonder what they’re doing.

He blinked as the one missing an eye opened a crate. Bright blue light flooded the room.

Max covered his eyes and learned exactly what sat in the large slot.

The one eyed legionary walked up the platform and placed the massive crystal into where he expected it to go. The light vanished and the room returned to mostly darkness except for a few lanterns and the now glowing lines on the ground. The rest moved to the open crate and began taking smaller versions and placing them in smaller slots in different parts of the lines.

He studied them and quickly learned that both sides were perfectly symmetrical without an inch in difference from what he could see.

Max couldn’t hold it anymore. “What is this?”

All the legionaries stopped in their spots and turned to look at him. They stared for a few seconds.

Max cursed to himself, regretting asking already and he hadn’t even been rejected.

“A teleporter. One way and going to take you close to your assigned Cursed Legion,” said the one eyed legionary.

“I was assigned a legion already?”

“Cursed.” the one legged man said suddenly. His very first words ever since Max arrived.

“What?”

“Cursed. You’re going to a Cursed Legion.”

Max blinked at him. He honestly did not know what the difference was supposed to be. No one had explained it. He had used it to escape an execution and stick one to the nobles and the Praetor. They didn’t deserve to have entertainment at his expense.

“You are going to Cursed Legion CXCIII. The Golden Claw Banner,” the one eyed man said. “Optio Ignacious will do everything in his power to make sure you survive… if you make it out of his initial training. Better dead training than out in the field, I say.”

Max gulped.

Open field? I know I’m going to a legion… but I didn’t think… What the hell did I even think? Of course there’s going to be fighting and a ton of it. It’s literally what legions do. At least I’m going to get proper training from this Ignacious fellow.

It didn’t take much longer until the four legionaries finished and the entire place glowed in a strong light blue color that illuminated the entire room enough that it was uncomfortable to look at the large orb on the platform directly.

The one with a missing upper lip stepped toward the teleporter while the rest moved back to stand next to Max. He raised his arms up and lightning crackled from his fingertips. It started in slow sparks that eventually transformed into roaring bolts and thunder booming in the room.

The orbs pulsed brighter with every bolt that slammed into the large orb on the platform.

Max’s eyes widened. He was struggling to breathe from a lack of oxygen. He recognized that each person in here was as strong as the lady, which the achievements and titles had suggested she was level 38, but he didn’t quite understand what that meant. The highest level he had met was an adventurer that visited the Orphanage every once in a while to speak with Isabella, but even he had never made them feel this small.

The legionary shouted and released a final, massive bolt into the orb.

White light flooded Max’s senses and blinded him. He covered his head and snapped his eyes shut.

A whining sound echoed around him.

Then he heard fabric tear, but so much louder. As though someone ripped a curtain the size of a building.

Max grunted as he felt something pulling him and the crate under him toward the orb. A legionary grabbed his shoulder and held him steady as the wind picked up and a whirring sound grew louder. It echoed in his skull and made his still aching jaw and crunched nose complain.

“You can open your eyes now,” said the one eyed legionary.

Max did so.

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, he stared in awe. He wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at, but it was beautiful.

A swirling mass of blue and white energy hung a few inches off the platform in front of the orb. It was wide enough for two of the bigger legionaries next to him to walk through it shoulder to shoulder comfortably.

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I-Is that the teleporter the legionary was talking about? Do they just… walk through it?

The one eyed man patted his shoulder. “C’mon, they had a batch make it today. We can still catch up and join them if we push.”

A batch? Of what?

Max stood up and followed without saying another word. He doubted he could break the legionaries grip even if he wanted to.

The other three legionaries lined up around the teleporter and waited for them to go through.

He gulped as they walked up to it, stopping directly in front of the swirling light. He was nudged by the legionary.

Alright. Close your eyes and run through.

Max took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and charged through the swirling mass of light. The world spun and the ground vanished from under his feet. Light flooded his vision even through the closed eyes. He lost all sense of direction and up and down.

And then he dropped like a sack of potatoes, face planting into cool stone with a thud and a grunt.

Max heard voices around him and laughter.

He opened his eyes and found himself in a new world entirely. They were surrounded by a forest of green, browns, and a myriad of colors. Flowers colored the grounds and birds flew through the camp. Legionaries in the same lamellar burgundy, silver, and gold armor walked in pairs around a large camp full of buildings made of thick logs.

At least ten more were stationed in different areas around the camp.

A single tall pole was in the direct center of it all, a banner, snapping in the wind, with the same colors of the legionaries.

Three claw marks of gold were its insignia.

Max stood up, the cool breeze on his face was far more comfortable than the cold frigid weather of the town.

The legionary that had guided him stepped through the portal next. He did not trip, fall, or stumble in the process as he walked to stand beside Max. “The snow hasn’t made it up this far yet. Soon it will be here and this beauty will be veiled from the world.”