Chapter 13 Chapter 13
For a moment, nothing happened as the teenager blinked once, then again, before finally looking down at himself to make sure all his limbs were still attached.
“I think I’m still alive.”
Gareth nodded.
“A disappointing outcome for some people.”
“I heard that.”
“You were supposed to.”
The crystal continued glowing.
Silver light swirled around Adrian before slowly fading into the air.
Then silence returned to the chamber. Most importantly, nothing exploded.
Adrian looked relieved.
“I was worried there for a second.”
Kael wasn’t listening because a memory had surfaced. A memory he hadn’t thought about in decades.
Adrian Falk.
The name barely existed in his previous life.
Not as a famous general, not as a legendary warrior but as a casualty.
The image returned with uncomfortable clarity.
A memory surfaced of a ruined village consumed by flames, where monsters rampaged through shattered streets littered with bodies, and among the dead lay a young man gripping a sword in his final moments, forgotten by the world and known only by the name Adrian Falk.
Kael remembered it because the boy had been one of thousands.
One more victim swallowed by a cruel future. One more person nobody remembered, one more life erased before it truly began.
But now Adrian stood directly in front of him, alive.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No reason."
Adrian narrowed his eyes.
"That's suspicious."
"It's not."
"People only say 'no reason' when there is absolutely a reason."
Gareth immediately joined the conversation. “He’s right.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. You’re both suspicious.”
Adrian looked pleased anyway.
Kael sighed.
For the first time since returning to the past, he realized something important.
He hadn’t merely changed events, he had changed a person’s fate.
The boy who should have died was standing here alive.
The realization affected him more than expected because until now, every change had felt distant.
Saving a village, avoiding a battle, and altering the future were important changes, but Adrian wasn’t an event or a distant consequence of history. He was a living person standing right in front of Kael.
A living reminder that history could be rewritten.
Something warm stirred inside Kael’s chest. A dangerous feeling yet he couldn’t stop it.
Maybe not everyone needed to die this time. Maybe some people could be saved, maybe…..
"Can I come with you?"
Kael blinked.
"What?"
Adrian smiled.
"You saved my life."
"You're welcome."
"So I've decided."
"Decided what?"
"I'm joining you."
"I'm joining you."
"No."
Adrian blinked.
"That was very fast."
"I've had practice."
Kael stared and the teenager stared back. Neither moved, finally Gareth pointed toward the exit.
"I support Kael."
Adrian looked relieved.
"Really?"
"Absolutely."
Adrian smiled.
Gareth pointed toward the forest.
"Leave."
“I haven’t done anything.”
“You’ve done plenty.”
Adrian pointed accusingly. “You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.”
The argument continued throughout the entire journey out of the ruin.
Adrian followed them without hesitation, Kael ignored him as best he could, and although Gareth repeatedly threatened to send him back where he came from, none of those threats accomplished anything beyond encouraging Adrian to keep walking beside them.
By sunset, Adrian was still there.
By dinner, Adrian was somehow sitting beside their campfire.
Nobody knew when that happened, especially Adrian.
“I think this is fate,” he announced.
“It’s not,” Kael replied.
“It feels like fate.”
“It feels like trespassing.”
Adrian chose to ignore that.
The next morning, Kael decided to test him.
If Adrian wanted to follow him, then he needed to prove useful.
The first test involved swordsmanship, it went very badly.
Adrian swung his wooden practice sword with great confidence, but the weapon immediately flew out of his hand, struck a tree, bounced off the trunk, and came straight back to hit him, leaving the tree as the unquestionable winner of the duel.
Gareth laughed for nearly five minutes.
The second test involved tracking, that somehow went worse.
Kael showed him animal footprints. Adrian studied them carefully then pointed confidently.
"What animal made those tracks?"
Adrian studied them carefully.
"Dragon."
Kael stared. "Dragon."
Adrian pointed.
"A small dragon."
Gareth nearly fell over laughing.
"It's a rabbit."
The third test focused on awareness.
Kael hid behind a bush and Adrian failed to find him. Kael hid behind a rock, Adrian failed again.
Kael stood directly behind Adrian and the teenager still failed.
"Do you see anything unusual?"
Adrian looked left, then right, then up.
"No."
Kael was standing directly behind him.
Gareth sat down because he was laughing too hard.
By the end of the day, Adrian’s performance could only be described as catastrophic yet something bothered Kael.
No matter how badly Adrian performed, he never complained. Never quit and never asked for easier tasks.
Whenever he failed, Adrian simply picked himself up and tried again, only to fail once more before getting back on his feet yet again, repeating the cycle so many times that his determination became almost ridiculous.
As the sun began setting, Adrian collapsed beside the campfire.
His arms hurt, his legs hurt. His pride definitely hurt but he was smiling.
“I improved.”
“You absolutely did not,” Gareth replied.
“I improved emotionally.”
The old hunter couldn’t argue with that.
Kael watched the exchange quietly. Most talented people relied on talent.
Most gifted people relied on gifts but Adrian had neither yet he kept moving forward.
That kind of persistence was very rare.
As darkness settled across the mountains, a familiar mechanical voice suddenly echoed inside Kael’s mind.
“Compatible Commander Unit Detected.”
Kael froze.
The notification appeared again.
“Compatibility Analysis In Progress.”
His pulse quickened. Slowly, he turned toward Adrian.
The teenager sat beside the fire attempting to roast bread. However, he had set the bread on fire.
The bread appeared stronger than he was yet the System had chosen him.
Not Gareth or anyone else.
Adrian Falk.
The boy who should have died. The boy who couldn’t identify a rabbit. The boy who somehow found hidden treasures by accident.
The boy who refused to give up.
The notification flashed one final time then new words appeared.
“Potential Recruitment Candidate Confirmed.”
Kael stared at the message, then at Adrian.
For the first time, he began wondering whether this disaster of a teenager might become something much greater than history ever allowed him to be.
