Astrum Irae

I take a deep breath and announce my thoughts to the audience.

"So, to start things off, I propose a cooperation between us all," I exclaim. "One, where we all have a position of equal standing in a country, preferably the one that has already been claimed, and we work together to unite the world under one flag. We would ignore the 'God's' proclamation, and instead rank priority of powers by how much we contribute to the country."

A deep silence hovers and weaves through the space, until a man responds, "I am the one who obtained a kingdom. My kingdom's legacy is that the king is chosen through a show of power, and I won the tournament. So, you want to use my kingdom, and expand it to take over everything in the entire world?"

"Yes. I know that it may be hard to maintain a proper government across the entire globe, which is why I propose a system where city-states have enough power to the point of being their own individual countries, and yet, in name, the whole planet is united as one country. If we do this, there will be no pesky obstacles in the second step."

Suddenly, the pink apparition bursts into space.

"I will allow it!" it yells, then mysteriously disappears back into the void.

Silence re-envelops the equilateral. This time, after a while, a younger girl, most likely in her teens still, puts out her opinion, "I concur. We shouldn't be divided and hinder each other under competition. Instead, we should use it to further our own gains and goals."

With that, a few murmurs of agreement are put forth.

"Ok," I start, "Let's put it to a vote. Raise your hand if you agree that we should all meet up in his-" I point at the man who previously spoke, "kingdom, and work together the further our own means."

After I finish, I raise my own hand. Looking around, I see a majority of people following suit. After half a minute, only 4 people haven't joined in.

Before I say anything, the 'King' questions them. "What's wrong? If you have any complaints please come forth and say so."

One of the opposition, an older man around the age of 60, hesitatingly says, "Well, the planet is the same size as earth, no? If that's the case then it will be near impossible for all of us to get to the same country with the limited tech available."

I jump in with, "Difficult- not impossible. You do bring up a valid point, though. My only thought is that I'm unsure what constitutes a country in its mind. I mean, this time period back on Earth would be a time when the entire continent of North America doesn't have a single, real, country on it. Undeveloped tribes roamed instead."

"Yes, you're right," a random man interjects. "Is anyone somewhere like that?"

Silence.

"So, everyone is currently in a country with a proper government?" another asks.

A couple of 'yeah's get thrown out in response.

"Well, how about this?" I start. "We can call a meeting whenever we want, so if it turns out that the planet is split into separate continents with an unfathomable ocean in the middle, we'll just work with whoever is on our continent, and eventually unite the 2 with a magic archway over the entire ocean or something.

"So, now, does anyone else have any complaints?"

This time no one speaks up, and we all agree to just call another meeting if there is a major issue. Before we all leave, the first king states that the name of his kingdom is called Imvros- the Kingdom of Imvros.

I memorize the name, then will myself out of the blank space, back into my body.

I feel the feeling of rough bark scrape up against my back. I open my eyes to find myself exactly where I was before the conference. I sigh and get up, walk over to the river, and take a look at myself in the reflection.

The clouds let off a while back, revealing the sun in all its majesty. I enjoy the warm feeling it produces, and observe the figure staring back at me in the water.

My facial features aren't handsome in the slightest, currently. My nose it quite nubby, my jaw recedes too far inward and I have deep, dark lines under my eyes, making it seem like I haven't slept in days. To pair up with the lines, the color of my irises is light blue. I have straight, black hair around shoulder length. Unfortunately, before I was brought here I hadn't had a haircut in months. I also haven't shaved in a similar amount of time, and I have rough patches around my chin due to my inability to grow a beard. I'm of average height, 5'9", and am currently rather malnourished in appearance. Being homeless for 2 months didn't do me any help; my gut is pressed up against my spine and my muscle mass is nonexistent. On top of that, I'm pretty sure my skin has degraded to a shade of yellow. If I were to guess, I currently weigh around 100 pounds. Nobody said anything about it earlier, for whatever reason this damn world may have, be it etiquette or something else.

"Hmm," I ponder out loud. "This body of mine certainly isn't very charismatic. It's to the point that I'm surprised people even listened to me this whole time. But, I suppose it could contribute to why I was... betrayed." My voice slightly carries off when trying to force out the last word.

I relax on the waterfront for a bit, then retreat back to my tree, evidently in no rush.

"Good tree…" I muse. "I do, however, have an issue at hand that seems to require some attention. Why have I suddenly seemingly lost my sanity? I mean, realistically, killing a measly 20 or so people shouldn't lead to a radical change in personality, unless, perhaps, I've always been a psychopath, or a sociopath. I never had any of those tendencies, but at least right now I'm a something-path.

Whatever, it's not like there's therapeutic treatments in this world to solve this, haha. If it becomes an issue, I simply will re-conform to society, and, the more likely case, it helps me in this brutal, savage world then all the better."

I stay sitting there, in a sense of tranquility, for the evening and night all the way up to the morning, not having any further worries about my previous predicaments.

Half an hour after the break of dawn, I'm still sitting under the tree patiently. Eventually, a few women push themselves through the brush lining the riverbed, revealing woven baskets held against their bosoms. The baskets are placed down by each of their sides, and they open them up to reveal clothes inside. They start to wash the clothes in the river while chatting with each other. I can't make out what they're saying at all over the roaring river upstream.

I sigh, get up, and stretch for a moment before trekking across the calm river. The water is flat, yet the current still pulls an annoying amount due to the water being stomach deep. I stumble a few times, drawing quite a bit of attention to myself.

Some of the women just gasp, some back away, and some abandon their laundry to run back into the brush. I calmly walk up and stop a few feet away from the group.

"Excuse me, do you ladies mind if I go back to your village with you? I recently floated down the river, and am currently quite lost," I say politely after flashing a brisk smile.

Some of them look back and forth between themselves, unsure of what to say. Eventually, one gathers some courage and speaks up.

"You look rather starved, but our village doesn't have much food. We couldn't spare any more for you."

"That's fine, I merely want directions," I reply.

"Then I suppose it's okay. Wait for us to finish first, then we'll lead you back."

"Perfect! Much thanks."

I walk to a spot with some grass, devoid of any pesky sand, and lie down. A few minutes later, every single person has finished up washing, and we set off into the brush. A nice trail has developed over seemingly countless years of usage, and we maintain a decent speed despite the heavy, wet clothes inside each basket.

I suspect that a single one of these women could beat me senseless if not for my gift.

After marching for about 10 minutes, I hear sounds of heavy footsteps up around a bend in the path. Then, 3 men burst around the corner and stop about 10 feet away from my pack.

"You, there! Who are you?" the man in front questions.

Haha, oops. I'm assuming one of them ran back to the village.

"Me? Why I'm just a lost soul looking for a way to get to Imvros. Heard of it?" I slyly rebuke.

"Step away from the women and we'll talk."

"Sure. I mean, look at me. Any single one of them could snap my arm like a chicken wing. No harm to be done." With that, I step forward and meet the man who I've been conversing with.

"Imvros, you say? Imvros? That's on the complete opposite side of the continent! The only reason I've even heard of it is because they're famous for hosting sadistic barbarians who play with their prisoners of war for months after they're captured."

"Ha, well, that's a shock to me. Would've been nice of my acquaintance to mention that. Really. Alas, I have no choice. I'll go to the nearest major city and work my way across the continent from there. Would that be a problem?

"In fact," I say while flashing a malicious grin, "I am a magician. I can be of some service if need be."

The man's face pails, clearly understanding the underlying meaning in my speech. "No, sir, that'd be no problem at all. In fact, let me gift you some food and a guide for your trip to the city, Hammerwood."

"I appreciate the offer, really, but I have little need for those things. Could you instead provide me a human sacrifice? My magic school allows me to communicate with greater beings than us humans, and I recently have acquired some insight."

His face darkens and shudder momentarily, attempting to bottle his inner rage. I pretend to take no note of it, curious how he will react.

"Esteemed magician lord," he forces out, "We have no available people to give to you for a sacrifice."

"Well, that's no matter at all. If you can't give me one, then I'll simply take one."

On that note, the 3 men all draw their swords and charge at me, utilizing some group work. I hear the women stumbling and running off behind me. I don't bother with them, and immediately shoot a [Flamethrower] without putting too much effort into it. The flame connects at chest level, and all 3 collapse while screaming.

Well, 3 is greater than one I suppose.

I attempt to salvage a sword sheath from at least one of them, but all 3 were burnt severely.

I wince from the putrid stench of burnt flesh, resolve myself, and use a sword to dig deep into the man who I was talking to's leg. I attempt to cup some blood in my hands, but it's messy and the pentagram that resulted looks bad.

Thinking outside the box, I use the sword to hack at the other leg until it comes off, then use the exposed part as a paintbrush and draw a decently sized pentagram on the dirt path.

I sigh, then chant in monotone, "Hey, can I have a pleasant conversation with you please?"

With that, I suddenly find myself in the same white space as just earlier.