~Roy
The next morning, we finally returned to camp. After saluting the guards and exchanging nods with the soldiers stationed at the gates, we walked in without a word. It had been a long journey.
Andrew was the first to see us.
"You guys are finally back," he said, walking up with a familiar smirk. "How did the meeting go? Everything is fine, right?"
I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Brother, nothing special. I'll explain everything, can you please gather everyone for a meeting?"
Andrew raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "Okay okay, count on me. I'll let them know. Midday, during the training break."
I gave him a small nod. Lauren yawned beside me, then rubbed her eyes.
"No problem for me," she said, "but I'm so exhausted. I feel like I could sleep for a week."
I glanced at her with a little smile. "Then you may get some rest. I'll handle your duties today. Thanks for coming with me."
She lit up like a flame. She raised her hand and declared, "THANK YOU, BEST LEADER!"
Andrew chuckled. "Alright then, I'll see you both later."
When the sun reached its peak, we gathered everyone in the open hall, a quiet tension settling among the group as they waited for me to speak.
I stood before them, and told them about that Kevin want me to help him to find the spies of the third party in his castle that caused the ambush, they all opposed me for that, saying it was not our problem, but Lauren continued the explanation of the danger that may come to us from this, and after several discussions, they finally accepted it.
Even so, Andrew didn't look convinced. His arms were crossed. There was something about that thing that still bothered him... but he said nothing.
That night, I sat at my desk, with the candle lights flickering, I wrote the letter to the king.
I believe that there are forces moving in secret within the Drayton Empire that may be connected to the recent attack during the trade.
I request Your Majesty's permission to conduct a covert infiltration and surveillance operation, alongside Commander Lauren.
This mission is considered extremely important to avoid escalation that threatens the stability between our empires and to uncover the hidden elements behind it.
--Commander Roy
I sealed the letter with wax and gave it to a trusted guard. "Deliver this to the man in this location"
He nodded. It was thanks to the king's earlier actions that I now had this direct line with him.
After I sent the message to the king, I returned to my desk to finish some reports. The camp outside had quieted down. That's when I heard a knock.
"Come in," I said, I expected a soldier. But it was Yuri.
He stepped in, as always calm, but he carried a sword.
He closed the door behind him and walked in. "So," he said, "how did your meeting with Kevin go?"
I hesitated for a moment. I didn't know if I should tell him everything. But this is Yuri… he wasn't like the others. He was someone I really trusted and respected. He's, my mentor.
So, I told him everything. From Kevin's request to the danger we might face.
Yuri listened in silence, then looked down for a moment, thinking. "I don't agree with you going there alone," he said. "But maybe it's time."
He stepped closer and held the sword toward me. "It's time for you to walk your own path, Roy. I'll take care of things here."
Then he paused, his voice serious. "And soon… it's time you learn the truth about yourself."
I looked at him with confused eyes but before I could speak, he raised the sword slightly.
"Roy," he said, "I want you to stop using this two swords style of yours. From now on, train with this one."
I blinked. "That's why you never agreed to let me practice with you with my two swords." I said quietly. "You always insisted on one."
Yuri nodded. "You're right. Look at this."
I took the sword and froze. It wasn't normal. The blade was smooth, flawless, and light. The blade felt alive in my hands.
"This sword," Yuri said, "was mine long ago. But I've always preferred the fists job and beside that." He point his hand on his sword "This little blade helped me enough."
He glanced at it once more, then back at me. "It's made from cold iron, it's the hardest metal known. Coated in a tungsten layer, so it'll never chip or break."
I was speechless. "This is a treasure. It's almost impossible to make something like this."
Yuri gave a small chuckle. "Yeah haha. It took the best swordsmith I know almost a year to forge it."
I stood up slowly, holding the sword with both hands, and bowed my head. "Thank you… for this gift."
He smiled. "Sit down, Roy. There's still more I need to tell you."
I sat down again, and Yuri joined me.
Just then, the door creaked open. A soldier stepped inside, and his name was Locas. He carried a small tray with two cups of tea.
"I told him to make two," Yuri said with a calm smile. "If you don't mind."
"Oh, sure. Thank you, Locas."
Locas nodded and quietly left the room.
Yuri handed me a cup, then leaned back slightly. "Roy," he began, "have you ever wondered why you and Andrew… feels so different from the others?"
Honestly, I had. And beside that I'd fought people with inhuman power, strength that shouldn't exist. Especially Yuri.
"Yes," I said. "But I never asked myself why. I guess I just didn't care."
Yuri chuckled. "That's just like you." Then his expression shifted, it became more serious than I'd ever seen. "But now… you need to know. And what I'm about to say stays between us."
That tone… it was scary.
"Tell me everything," I said.
Yuri took a slow sip of his tea, then started.
"After the biggest war in the human history, the radiation was everywhere. People barely survived. So, scientists began working on something… a way to make the human body adapt to nuclear energy, rather than suffer from it."
He took another sip. "They wanted a cure that could let the human body absorb radiation without damage or... maybe even use it. At first, they failed. Years of experiments on animals. Nothing worked."
I listened closely as he went on.
"Thirty years later, a scientist named Leo led a project with a new idea. What if radiation could become a fuel source for the human body… not just for machines, but for muscle cells? They tried modifying genes and adding synthetic protein layers around muscle fibers to channel energy instead of breaking down under it."
I blinked. That sounded half-impossible...
"Out of five thousand test subjects, only one survived. A single rat. But it didn't just survive, his nature changed. Its cells absorbed radiation and turned it into raw output. Strength, reflexes, awareness. It didn't just resist damage. It fed on the energy that should have killed it."
I leaned forward. "This's… Impossible."
"You're right," Yuri said. "And that's where the real story begins."
Yuri continued, his tone shifting from calm to cold.
"After the team witnessed the rat survive the radiation, everything changed. The success, however small, opened a door they could never close again. Some researchers left the original project and went to work separately. They relocated to the edge of the radiation zones… and there, they began the most horrible... no let's say the most horrifying experiment ever conducted on living beings."
The way he talked was scary.
"They stopped using animals. Instead… they began with children. Whatever it is, Abandoned, stolen and forgotten kids. Human biology offered them a complexity animals couldn't give. They started by altering genes, splicing strands with synthetic constructs designed to absorb and adapt to nuclear particles."
He took a breath. "They tried enhancing mitochondrial efficiency, rewiring neural networks, replacing weak DNA with nanite-sequenced artificial chromosomes. They wanted to build a human who could feed off radiation, turn decay into power. Some of the theories were insane and I will give you some names like reverse telomere degradation, subdermal micro-reactors, atomic-level muscle reconstruction."
Yuri glanced down at his tea, swirling it slowly before whispering, "But none of them work. Not at first."
He looked back up.
"Child after child... their bodies couldn't take it. Their hearts exploded in their chests. Some melted from the inside out. Others screamed until their throats were ripped open before they exploded into pieces of mangled flesh. It wasn't just death; it was a massacre."
A chill ran through me. My stomach twisted. How could humans do this?
"But they kept going," Yuri said quietly. "Years passed. Hundreds of failed trials. Then one child survived."
I stared. "One?"
"Yes. A boy. Ten years old. His body adapted. His muscles were dense as iron cables, and his brain processed information like an adult's. He never got tired. He could withstand direct exposure to nuclear isotopes without a single burn. They thought they had succeeded… until one year later, he died."
Yuri's eyes darkened.
"But his existence was proof. So, they escalated. Not only the children now. Adults were next."
I leaned forward, my heartbeat louder than ever.
"They dragged in the homeless men and woman. They were injected with the serum and exposed to high-radiation chambers, restrained as their bodies mutated. Some screamed until their jaws dislocated. Some ripped their own limbs off under stress. Others... their skin turned into bubbles that slid off the bone.
I wanted to look away, but I couldn't.
"Eventually," Yuri said, "after decades of trial and failure, they started finding patterns. Gene types that responded better. Psychological traits that made survival more likely. They gathered everything... notes, samples, blueprints and after that, everyone just split."
"Split?" I said in surprise.
"Each team went to a different empire. Around the same time, the political structures we now know, Devotion, Drayton, and Polon were forming. These scientists embedded themselves in each one, working in secret. Each empire started developing its own version of the project, its own system."
My mind froze. "Wait… you mean…"
"Yes. You. Me. Andrew. And you can say that Prince Kevin too. We're the results of those experiments."
My hands trembled. "But... if that's true, why don't I remember any of it?" There are a lot of questions, but where should I start asking... the only memory I had is my mother smiling and telling her last words in her deathbed...
Yuri nodded. "Memory loss was part of it. Before the three empires turned against each other, they shared a common experimental base. A massive one, deep in the forest. I can say that you were there."
I felt dizzy. "We were... in that forest?"
Yuri nodded grimly. "Well, that's what I think. Eight years ago. The tension between empires spiked. Officially, they destroyed the facility because of 'security risks.' But I think something else happened-it's just a mystery. Every child involved either vanished or died. I personally think that Drayton has a hand in it, because their soldiers just have an unhuman force."
He exhaled. "Thinking about it, even their descendants would be affected and become very powerful, which was their goal as well."
I whispered, "Does the King know?"
"Yes. The kings. All of them. They've known from the start. But this is a top empire secret. No one knows about that."
"So, that's why he was so kind and wanted to meet us in particular." Yuri leaned in, his voice low. There's more?
"After more years of research, they made a final discovery. They found that after enough time, the altered genes can evolve. They called it the Awakening. The body reaches a point where it unlocks its full potential. And I'm not talking just about strength here, but speed, reflexes, healing, vision..."
I blinked. I remembered the battlefield now, how Yuri moved once, faster than I could track.
"Yuri... did your body get awakened?"
He didn't answer. Just looked at me with that distant calm.
"When the body awakens," he said, "sometimes the memories come back. But not everyone survives the awakening. Some people... can't handle it. Their bodies unravel. They don't just die... they dissolve, their skin bubbling like acid foam, their bones collapsing inward, as if their very existence was being erased."
My heart pounded. So, we lost our memories because of this?
I was speechless.
I felt like my entire life had just been rewritten.
"The worst part?" Yuri continued. "We don't know what the other empires are doing. We don't know what versions of the experiment they've created, or how far they've taken it. We only know our own sins. And we stopped that."
I sat back, stunned.
"So that's why there are no more weapons, and we never recreate them. Is it because..."
"Because now." Yuri gave a bitter smile. "We are the weapons."
A time of silence passed.
Yuri looked at me, voice steady. "I don't know anything about your past. That's why I told you that now, it's your own path. Unlike me, you're a guy with a vision. I'll always be at your back. Remember that."
He stood, took the last sip of his tea, and set the cup down. "That's enough talk for now. I've told you everything I know. It's your turn to figure things out." He glanced back with a faint smile. "Tomorrow, we will spar."
Then he walked off, leaving me alone with everything he'd just dropped like a bomb.
My brain couldn't take a breath.
Experiments… beasts… human weapons?
Me? Andrew?
My hand was trembling again. I looked down at it, like it didn't belong to me. I tried to focus, but I couldn't.
And then... her face flashed through my mind. The princess.
That fight there, and when I fought against her. Her strength. The way she moved... That wasn't normal.
I swallowed hard. Is she one of us too?
My heart was pounding. My head ached. I felt like I was falling through memories I didn't have.
Too much. It's all too much.
I need to rest. But I know I won't sleep. Not tonight.