Trying to teleport out of haste didn't work quite well for him.

So Hero fell side-first on cold and hard wood planks. He sat up, rubbing his temple as it hurt from colliding with the floor. He murmured curses to himself as he got up, before stumbling a little. He held tightly to his bed, but ended up falling onto the soft duvet. He sighed as he stared at the ceiling.

Things were changing.

He thought that he'll be general until he retires, then die some boring death in a old cabin in the woods with fifteen cats.

He's 21 now. He never thought that he would live until this age when he was still with his father. Now, he has magic, and there's some weird shit going on and Darryl probably has theories that Hero was most probably not a human. He himself also noticed, but he did not really give it attention. He noticed that his eyesight has improved, greatly. Years ago he was a little shortsighted, which caused him to be clumsy. Ever since he joined the underground, his aim with guns and bows were extraordinary.

He even caught sight of two of his soldiers banging in the kitchen late at night.

He made sure the food were still... Uncontaminated.

His reflexes were ridiculously fast. A group of soldiers were having a small brawl in the dining hall and a half eaten apple had flown towards him from behind. He had no idea why his hand shot up, but was puzzled as to why there was an apple core in his hand. He turned around to glare at the now silent soldiers before crushing the apple into bits and throwing in onto the floor. He demanded them to clean up the entire dining hall afterwards.

Nearly all senses have increased. He smelled rotten food in the kitchens all the way from his room, and ordered the cooks to get rid of it. Surprisingly, the cooks did not even smell anything. Hero heard some nasty rumors being spread in the dining hall from outside, and his soldiers were given punishments. Five rounds around the castle, if you stop or start walking, another round is added. When surrounded by machines, the incessant high-pitched sounds made him go mad.

He sighed and got up from his bed, deciding that a warm bath could help him ease down. He was wrong. After stripping himself and taking a good look at the mirror, he released the concealment charms on his skin. His skin was (baby)soft as ever, but was littered with ugly and nasty scars. Small scars on his arms, long and wide ones on his chest, long and thin ones on his back and more and more small scars on his thighs and his calves. There were dark marks on his shoulders and waist from burns and bad bruises. Usually from his father or being around explosives. The scars were also from his father and the battle.

He stared dully at himself. Long strands of golden hair dangled in front of his eyes. He pushed them behind his ear, before biting his lip at his eyes. He was born with dark blue eyes, and now, they were pale. He couldn't see the blue anymore. He couldn't see his irises. He looked blind. Dianne used to tell him that undeserving boys got pretty eyelashes, and he realized that he was one of them. He chuckled bitterly at the nostalgia. He never seemed to fit the role of a general, according to first impressions. He looked nice and pretty in royal robes, not stern or terrifying. His height had always been a bitch. He no longer had that much of an appetite anymore, only having small pieces of bread and a cup of coffee everyday. So he looked small, weak, frail, and even feminine.

He hated it.

But it does come with benefits. Merchants from other countries try to steal from the castle. And when the pretty, slender general greets them, they let down their guard. And once Hero finds out, the merchants get to meet his soldier personality, and none have lived to tell the tale.

He sighed and turned away, preparing the bath tub. After it was half full, he sank into it with a groan, man, he deserved this. He soaked for a good five minutes before he started actually washing himself. He had to sleep early today, so he could wake up in a good mood. Hopefully. Then after a short briefing with his soldiers, he needed to do a ton of paperwork, do his rounds in the castle, base and the towers, before entertaining Markus. He sighed and leaned back.

○

Hero checked the time. 6pm, and he had already completed his rounds. Now, he has to get to the castle from the wall towers completely opposite of the castle. Hero watched out for any approaching soldiers before concentrating hard on the quiet hallway outside of Markus' rooms. He felt the annoying pull on his chest as he waited for a crack sound before opening his eyes. He found himself in said hallway, standing like an idiot. He composed himself before he knocked politely on Markus' door.

"Come in."

Hero sighed as he twisted open the door, greeted with the sight of his brother lying down on his bed with documents and crumbs of food surrounding him. Markus looked up at him with a 'save me' expression before sliding down face first onto the duvet. Hero brushed aside a few documents before taking a seat on his brother's bed, "What do you need help with?"

Markus did not raise his head from the duvet, his muffled voice being a little distorted, "I need a distraction."

Hero smirked and muttered under his breath, "Other than that woman you brought home, you wild nasty animal?"

Markus shot up from the bed, narrowly missing his brother's chin and giving him a look of disgust. Hero just cocked his head and smiled obnoxiously back at him. Markus grumbled under his breath as he got up and swiped his cloak from the carpet. He turned and demanded, "Walk with me."

Hero smiled a little more genuinely before standing up and bowing to his little brother. The siblings walked side to side along the hallway, guards bowing to Markus and saluting to Hero. The latter's hand gripped tightly on the diamond sword hanging from his belt. His eyes were alert and he kept quiet, making sure he would not miss a sound. He realised they were heading to the throne room, and he sneaked a glance to his brother. Markus just looked tired, and done with paperwork.

Hero halted in his long strides as his vision grew a little cloudy. He noticed Markus' blurry figure turning around and shouting a distorted message at him. His vision grew white like a flash before he was greeted with a little faded scenario. Markus was next to him in the throne room, talking until the doors burst open to one of Hero's best guards looking distressed. He heard his own voice speaking, but he could not make it out. The guard answered, and Hero looked at Markus, who gave him an uncertain look before nodding. Hero's hands went to his sword as the guard pulled in a boy by his sleeve, who was kicking and yelling.

"Hero?"

The cloudy vision disappeared and Hero found himself in the hallway with Markus gently shaking him. He cleared his throat awkwardly and muttered, "My apologies."

He made a move to start walking but Markus stopped him with a hand. "You sure you're okay? You looked a little dazed and couldn't move for a moment there."

Hero forced himself to nod, his temples aching for some reason. Markus hesitated before he stepped back to allow Hero to lead, himself falling into his brother's side quickly. The two took long strides with their backs straight and chins slightly raised. They were royalty now, the exact definition of rags to riches. They did not allow any emotion to be shown, especially Hero with his reputation. Markus only allowed himself to smile, chuckle lightheartedly when meeting with merchants or high-class families/nobles.

They reached the throne room eventually, and it was rather quiet and empty, except for the two guards stationed at the castle entrance. Hero faltered in his steps to allow Markus to take a seat on the regal chair, before standing guard next to him, his hand still remaining at his sword. Markus folded his legs and leaned on a hand, whistling in boredom. Hero nodded to the guards and the two opened the doors, and people started strolling in with a soldier escort. They came to Markus, bargaining deals, asking for permission to set up businesses, invitations to grand balls and some even offering up their daughters' hands in marriage to either of the brothers.

After a little digging, both brothers discovered their family name to be quite the noble and rich one in the Scandinavian area, which was quite close to Minecraftia. Hero was still the head as the oldest, and it was expected of him to marry a nice lady of another noble family to keep the bloodline rich and pure. Hero hated it. He had just raised an eyebrow at each woman who were instructed by their parents to flutter their eyelashes, subtly allow their dresses to droop lower showing off their good bits and of course, do other sultry things that made the brothers wince rather than get interested.

Hero was in his very early 20s and Markus in his late teens, but the latter was more experienced in the area surprisingly. Markus' big frame and slight muscled build had ladies swooning. Hero's small frame and slender build has visiting sons of noble families wink at him and sometimes bigger women staring with a creepy smirk. Hero avoided looking directly at them, with Markus snickering next to him.

The Persson brothers were basically not interested. At all.

Thankfully, the visitors grew lesser and lesser and it was nearing half past nine, where the gates will be closed and Hero would escort Markus back to his rooms to retire. Right before Hero gestured for the guards to lock the doors, a third guard came strolling in. Well, he was rather hiding. Half of his body stuck out, and he looked extremely distressed or annoyed.

Markus halted his rambling on the last woman he deflowered and sat back, Hero stepping forward with his hand braced on his sheath. Hero narrowed his eyes, whatever he saw before in the hallway was happening right then and there. "What's going on?"

The guard kept looking over his shoulder to whisper harshly before he answered, "I have a visitor, sir, he insisted to see you but he's rather feisty."

The Persson brothers heard a soft 'Let go of me!' from behind the doors and the two exchanged glances. Markus nodded and Hero turned to his guard with the signal. The man threw forward a little boy by the sleeve, and he looked just like the boy Hero saw earlier. He was young, probably early teens, but Hero still kept his guard up, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

The boy scrambled to his feet and stared in awe at the Swedish brothers. Hero narrowed his eyes even more, while Markus offered a smile behind him. The boy felt conflicted between the brothers' differing attitudes before he bowed and yelled, "I'm sorry, your highness and general Persson!"

Hero stepped backwards to Markus' side, but still watched the boy's every move. The boy raised from his bow and exclaimed, "I'm Jens Bergensten! My grandfather was Ivan Zharkov. He sent my mother a letter to find the two of you if something happened to him."

Both Hero and Markus were taken by surprise, but only the latter showed it. Hero's eye twitched, but he listened. The boy hid behind his long ginger hair and said, "My father left my family and my mother passed. I found the letter, um, it's right here..."

The boy shoved his hands into his pockets and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. He held it out shyly, and Markus shoved Hero a little. Hero shot a warning glare towards his little brother before stalking forward, purposefully stomping every step, the dragging scrape of his blade against the floor when he unsheathed his sword. The boy's eyes widened and he shut his eyes and Hero dove forward with his sword raised. The boy gasped as he opened his eyes to find the tip of the blade pierced through the top of the letter. He released it and Hero raised his sword, turning back to let Markus slide it off.

Markus was beckoning him over but he couldn't leave his eye from the boy so he called over on guard to stand and watch the boy before he walked back to read the letter over his brother's shoulder. He was greeted with a messy scrawl of Russian, and he winced. He cleared his throat before translating it out for Markus.

"My rose,

I hope Mr. Bergensten is treating you well. How is your child? How are you? Are you safe with the revolution and Russians happening?

I've escaped from the village I was stationed at with two young brothers and a girl. I've told you about Markus, Hero, Dianna and Peter, right? Peter did not make it.

Look, the Russians had been suspicious of me since day one. They're probably looking for me, my rose. I am not safe, neither are the three with me. I'm planning to move soon, hopefully they don't find us sooner than that. It's very dangerous and risky, so, I may not survive to write you another letter, my rose.

However, I will do everything in power to protect the three of them. If anything happens to me, and you do not receive another letter, you have to escape with your family. They will track my entire family down and will find you. They will try to get information from me, and will use you as blackmail. Find the three of them. I've raised them well.

The boys, especially the older one, will protect you. Dianne can help you with your child and Markus will as well. When they do find me, I'm sending them to the East. Find them there.

Till my next letter, or none at all.

Ivan Zharkov."

Hero frowned. He looked back the boy and demanded, "Your parents. What happened to them, exactly?"

The boy winced before whispering, "Father left shortly after I was born. It was just Mother and I after that. Then, Mother and I left the village to go to the East, probably to find you. Some Russian soldiers took her away, and she hid me in an orphanage who took me in. She left me a chained box, and I opened it recently to find the letter, sir."

Both Hero and Markus looked grim at the mention of the boy losing his parents. The two could empathize with the boy from their experience. Markus raised his hand to slide it down Hero's arm comfortingly. Hero did not stir but he turned to Markus. "What shall we do?"

Markus narrowed his eyes before saying, "Give him the best hospitality. We think better in the morning with a full belly and a good night's rest. You don't have anything important tomorrow, don't you?"

Hero somehow winced at the thought of sleep and food, but he muttered, "No, of course not. I'll clear my schedule for you."