Returning back to consciousness, I am disappointed again. I am still here, still in this miserable state. Why can't I just die? Well, maybe because I'm already dead... Yeah, that's possibly it. At least I remember, that I'm already dead.

I don't remember my name. I was 21, when I died from heart disease. (Yeah, I shouldn't spend my whole life sitting in front of the computer and eating unhealthy food didn't help either. But dyeing in 21 because of the heart disease really sucks). My parents names were Eric and Joann. I was still studying in the physics university. I didn't have a girlfriend. I had two good friends in the university: Marc and Dale. I loved reading novels and mangas, I loved watching anime, and of course I loved playing games. Especially strategic games. I am -who knows where- and I keep forgetting things in here.

Ok, let me clear the things a bit for you. I don't know where is it here, it's just emptiness, void, nothingness. No light, no floor, no ceiling, no walls, just nothing... I don't feel or see anything and can't even move. I tried, I tried to somehow move, crawl, to find something here, but I can't. For me there are only two things here, being asleep, and thinking. I don't remember how long have I been here. Every time after waking up I lose part of my memories. I first noticed it when I couldn't remember my own name. Actually I can remember a lot of names: my parents, friends, my first love... But I forgot my own name, I actually thought it'd be the last thing someone would forget. I have memories of being called by my name, but it always slips away from me when I try to remember.

And my memories of doing the only thing I can here, thinking, slips away even more. There are really few things I can remember thinking about, probably because I keep thinking about them over and over again. Like how much I'd like to die and escape this misery. This boredom.

But even how much I want to die already, the thought of losing myself, losing all my memories is scary. I need to keep repeating the most important things.

I don't remember my name. I was 21, when I died from heart disease. My parents names were Eric and Joann. I was still studying in the physics university. I didn't have a girlfriend. I had two good friends in the university: Marc and Dale. I loved reading novels and mangas, I loved watching anime, and of course I loved playing games. Especially strategic games. I am -who knows where- and I keep forgetti...

*Sigh*, the exhaustion again. I close my imaginary eyes and sleep envelops me again. I wonder what will I forget this time, I won't even notice it.

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Returning back to consciousness, I am disappointed again. I am still here, still in this miserable state. Why can't I just die? Well, maybe because I'm already dead... Yeah, that's possibly it. At least I remember, that I'm already dead.

I don't remember my name. I was 21, when I died from heart disease. My parents names were Eric and Joann. I was still studying in the physics university. I didn't have a girlfriend. I loved reading novels and mangas, I loved watching anime, and of course I loved playing games. Especially strategic games. I am -who...

*muffled voice* (?)

Huh? This is something new, at least I don't remember something like this before. I never heard anyone here besides my own voice in my head.

"Hello?" (me)

*muffled voice* (?)

This time the voice is more distinct. But I still can't understand anything, it's like some background sounds, that you would never pay attention to, well, if you weren't in complete silence like me.

"Hello? Can someone hear me?" (me)

Am I going insane after all this time alone?

I feel my consciousness drift away again. But this time there is no exhaustion. This is something new, something different. Am I going to finally leave this place? Closing my imaginary eyes I lose consciousness again, but this time with some hope.

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The first thing I notice is light. There is a lot of light, it feels like years from the last time I've seen light. There is sky, earth, air, everything there should be in living world. Have I been reincarnated or something? I can't control my body, am I an infant? Then why am in the top of the small mountain looking down on the city from above. It's around a kilometer distance from here to the city. Was I reincarnated as a freaking bird? Well, it would be awesome if I were a dragon though. Interrupting my train of thought I inhale panicking, as my body dives down to the city after a huge leap. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? Am I going to die right after being reborn?

Taking a second look, and pondering for a brief second after the initial shock, I can officially conclude, that it's not -my- body. It looks more like I'm a passenger or more precisely a spectator in someone's body. I can see only the things -the owner- looks to, I can't even look around freely.

As I was getting my head around all of this (while still falling, with increasing velocity), the city keeps getting bigger and bigger, and I can make out, a lot of people, in the size of ants from this point of view, surrounding it. How big of a freaking leap was it to carry us all the way here? Are we gliding? Can -the owner- fly or something?

Even with the limited view I get, I can tell that the body I'm in right now is humanoid. I can't see the face after all. And what are all those people doing so orderly packed around city, it doesn't look like they are waiting for great concert or something, it's more like an army with what looks like in separated rectangular forms. If I had to guess, I'd say there are at least couple of hundred people in every rectangle. In total of 10 rectangular formations, which means around 8000-10000 soldiers. I should describe the city a bit too. Calling it a city is a bit forceful though. It looks more like a bigger than average village, with wooden walls of 4 meter in height. Village is really close to the mountain, it should be used as a natural barrier, I guess. The defenders of the siege, are standing behind the walls and are numbering less than thousand. And if the numbers alone didn't mean anything, only by the looks of the weapons, armors and the way they are standing it's obvious that defenders are no soldiers.

After some nimble movements, -the owner- glides towards the rear of the village, where the tallest building is standing, almost leaning against the steep mountain. It is the farthest from all of the walls too, the safest place in the village by the looks of it. I probably should stop calling him -the owner-, though, it's like he's my master or something. I'll call him Glider for now. So closing with huge velocity towards the ground in the rear of the village, I'm not as worried as I was at the start. Obviously this is some kind of magic-medieval world, judging by structures and the army near the village. And seeing how nimble and practiced are Glider's flying, there is no reason to worry about the landing. Well, even if I wasn't wrong, the landing wasn't as smooth and showy as I hoped. Glider used the mountain, clinging to it and probably some magic, to drop the momentum. I'm really curious what he did there, all I could feel is some strange streams around his body and inside as well. Did he use air magic to slow his fall or something? I hope the army didn't notice us, although the landing wasn't flashy and didn't cause too much noise, we were falling quite a while, and as good as I was able to see them, they could as easily see the object falling from the top of the mountain with such a huge speed.

Dusting off the clothes, Glider walks out of the little dent in the ground, which can barely called a crater. Then he closes his eyes, and my vision darkens. After a second my vision switches to the point right above the village gates, where a soldier from the attackers with flashy armor, which I assume to be the general, comes riding on the horse. I surely haven't seen a lot of horses, but this huge muscular animal which is a head taller than any normal horse should be don't strike me as a ride, more like a monster, it's really imposing, even more than the flashy armor and the huge pole arm the general carries with him.

Now that I'm looking at them from 10 meters distance above them, I can see, that the general is human. But what shocked me and excited at the same time are the villagers. I can see animal ears on some of them, and even some tails here and there. Demihumans, it's so cool. I really am in a magical world. I can even see some elves, although they are rare. It's worth mentioning, that villagers have humans too. So it's not just a human vs demihuman war.

I'm still surprised of how am I hanging here in midair, right above their heads and none of them react to it. We were at the rear of the village, the farthest point to here a moment ago, and now after Glider closed his eyes, we are hovering here, and no one can see us. He should've used some kind of magic again. Probably to gather some information. I still don't know his intentions though, is he infiltrating the village, to sneak attack them from behind, while soldier occupy them from the gates? Soldiers shouldn't have that much problems with those frail walls though, so I don't see a point in that. So it's safe to assume, that Glider is here to help the villagers.

While I was occupied in my own thoughts, trying to make sense of the situation, the flashy general starts talking, still riding on the huge horse and pole arm in hand. He really can make an impression, but what impresses me more is the fact that he - a general, openly comes to speak himself, not afraid of an arrow or even some magic, which will kill him, while he is in the front of the whole army. Even if he came with the 10 times greater army against the villagers, who doesn't even have a decent equipment, he is not a coward. Or he is just a fool to expose himself like this.

"I am Alkeides Alberich, the general of the 5th imperial army. I was send by his imperial Majesty, to investigate the village's involvement of aiding the corruptor. If you are innocent, open the gates immediately and let the investigation prove it, or else we will be forced to take action." Alkeides's voice beams through the whole territory. He has some lungs there, it should be some kind of a magic too. Is Alklodis his first name? I'll just call him Al, and problem solved. Al looks like righteous knight, who is after some kind of criminal. I have a bad feeling about this criminal though.

After a 5 second of silence and some hushed murmurs from the side of the villagers, a burly man, with a lot of thick hair all over his body, which can be called fur, and bear-ears steps atop the wall and answers.

"I'm Uthyr, the village chief. I assure you we know nothing about the corruptor and have never seen him, not to mention aiding." (Uthyr)

Frowning, Al's voice beams once more, a bit higher this time, and carrying threat with it "I already gave you my orders, why are the gates still closed? I won't repeat myself" (Al)

Sweating profusely and after a bit of hesitation, the village chief orders to open the gates. Al, in turn, gives an order to his people, after which a 1000 man division splits in groups and starts entering the village for the investigation I assume. Uthyr looks concerned and I can see villagers glaring at the imperial army and some looking pale in fear. But I'm surprised of how few are scared, considering they are villagers, they should have a lot less spirit in such an odds against them. What's worrying me is why do they look so guilty? All the glaring and fear. Are they secretly some kind of criminal village, aiding the super-criminal, the corruptor? And what did he do, to get such a name? It sure sounds cool. It's not always the weak, who is in the right after all, the cliche scenario of injustice and stuff...

The soldiers keep searching in orderly fashion. Aside from a few cases, when villagers were unwilling to let them in, and got punched by soldiers and dragged away by other villagers, still glaring, the search continued unhindered. I can feel Glider's teeth clenching, every time, he sees a not so friendly behavior from soldiers, while still using his magical skills to maintain the look over the whole situations from above. I mean, the soldiers obviously are trying to do their job. Why even resist if they are innocent?

After one of soldiers exited a little wooden house, while dragging a woman from her hair, some of the villagers try to pounce on him, to end up getting knocked back by the more experienced and better armed soldiers. In total of 3 women are dragged towards the gate and thrown at the general's feet. Soldier makes a report after a salute. "Sir, we found these women hiding inside the houses. They still have the lifetime slave mark on their skin" Says the soldier, pointing and their arms, where I can see some black runes in circular pattern around their arms. One of the women is human, while the two others have rat and dog ears, unfortunately, without tails. Dog eared woman's ears are hanging down, submissively, I can tell that she is scared. Soldier continues "I'm sure we can find a lot more if we keep searching, they are hiding in some crafty places, but we will be able to find them all with given time, but this three are already enough, to be sure that they were freed by the corruptor".

If the villagers were restless and concerned before this, now they look, like they are ready to fight at any moment. Ignoring their glares and the atmosphere, general orders smirking "Take those slaves, and the village chief for interrogation. Kill anyone who will try to resist." After giving the brutal order, it looks like chaos is near the eruption. Which will be followed by a lot of deaths and destruction. Although I said this village is probably full of criminals, if their infringement is seeking freedom for themselves, it looks like imperial army and Al are bad guys here. As I thought to this point, my vision jumps back to the place Glider's body was all this time, and he springs to action. Jumping on the building's roofs, he runs at astonishing speed towards the gates, ignoring startled looks of villagers and soldiers alike standing on the streets. At this point I'm 90% certain, that Glider is the corruptor, who freed slaves and helped them find a better live for themselves.

I can feel emotions boiling inside of him, and it's more like I feel how he moves instead of seeing it. Light and practiced steps, carrying him with a huge speed towards his destination. It looks like he is a lot stronger than average soldier, but even if he is stronger than that general - Al, will he be able to defeat 10000 men strong army. It looks more like suicide to me. In a span of a few short seconds he already appeared near the gates and it looks like everyone noticed him, looking at him with surprised looks. Making the final and biggest leap, right from the top of the walls, he descends in front of slave-women, clashing against Al's pole arm with his long sword, which he took out lightning fast out of nowhere, that even I, who can feel everything he can, couldn't register the action. Collision of those weapons knocked near standing soldiers. Al got knocked back by the sword's strike, out of his horse, landing on the ground. If he can so effortlessly jump around the 10000 man army, he can kill Al or take him hostage and escape without problems, and if villagers close the gates and hide behind them, maybe they will have a chance.

But Al gets up without a problem, pole arm still in hand and it looks like he didn't even get a scratch from their exchange, and I have the feeling it was just the surprise attack that managed to throw Al out of balance, the fight won't go so easily now. Glider, or should I start calling him corruptor, scans Al's equipment, and locks his gaze right on the bracelet. Al smirks, noticing his gaze. "Do you protective barrier bestowed upon me by his imperial Majesty?".

Not answering him, and without even a change in his face, anyone would believe that he isn't concerned about that bracelet and that he is sure of his win anyway, but I can feel his emotions, and it looks like he is troubled by that particular bracelet. Al continues "You guessed it correctly, his Majesty know about you magic powers and he gave me this bracelet, to assure my victory, Corruptor. Today I shall punish you for your sins against the empire and his Majesty." After getting the confirmation worry in the Corruptor's heart intensifies. I'm still not sure is that bracelet the reason why Al is without a scratch after the exchange, or did it supposedly defend him against some kind of magical attack, which Corruptor used with his sword attack earlier?

Now that I look at them closer, why does everyone has some color shades to them? Some of them are light green, some darker, some orange and those three women are red. It's really hard to distinguish, I have to concentrate to actually see their colors, which is why I haven't noticed it yet with all the action and stuff. I'll ignore it for now.

Around three dozen soldiers charge at Corrupter, their weapons drown, but Corrupter, don't even spare a glance for them, keeping his eyes on Al. Some kind of invisible wave washes over those soldiers, who are still 10 meter away from Corrupter, and after a slight pause, they fall to the ground, dropping their weapons, unconscious. I don't know what he did there, but it sure as hell was cool. Al don't stop though, ordering other soldiers to keep attacking, probably knowing, that their fallen comrades are not dead, they charge ahead unfazed. I'm guessing, that Al tries to exhaust Corrupter. But if he has the cool and awesome super-mega-antimagic-bracelet, why would he use such a tactic. Probably that bracelet has it's charge, and he is afraid, that it will end sooner than Corrupter's stamina in direct fight. Getting the confirmation from Corrupter's emotions, I feel proud of my own deduction skills. I don't even know anything about magic, I doubt novels and games count here.

After sending second batch to the dreamland, Corrupter tries to leap to Al, just to end up being surrounded by even more soldiers. It seems that those soldiers, that keep jumping on him have some kind of defense as well, although nowhere near as good as Al's, it still keeps draining Corrupter. I can feel his impatience and frustration. I also can feel, that he is holding back, afraid of killing those soldiers, who are all green by the way. Only Al and rarely some random soldiers are orange, and Al have the darkest shade too, just a bit away from red. It doesn't look like some kind of power indication, those slave women can't be stronger than Al can they? I'll still keep ignoring it then, no helping it.

Imperial army have come prepared, and the odds aren't in Corrupter's side right now, I wonder what will he do in this situation.