2 THE MARTEL’S

Charles Martel opens his drowsy eyes. He looks at the ceiling. At first he was disoriented. His eyes were full of confusions.

Then he recognized the place he is at and he smiles bitterly. Tears started pooling in his eyes. He takes a deep breath as he tightens his palm.

His heart started beating like a pounding of war drums.

Charles Martell has a clear skin, white and flawless. His hair is as straight as Orlanth Bow. Give him a few years and he would be as beautiful as the male courtesan in the Capital.

But right now his skin is pale. His straight hair is messy and his hand is trembling. He slowly traces his hand to his heart.

'No blood' he muttered and then he was shocked when he discovered that his voice sounded a little shriller than his usual voice.

'Did it really work? Is my hypothesis correct?' he asks himself as a smile begins to form from his mouth.

But he contains his excitement as he slowly gets out of his bed. Then he laughs when he realizes his height.

'A mere four feet runt' he exclaimed as he laughs.

He touches his own face and feels the textures of his skin and the shape of his face. Boyish he surmised.

Then he goes to his drawer and pulls out a mirror and this time it took all of him not to jump in happiness.

There is a scar of a thunderbolt on his left forehead that never existed before.

'The Mark of Ulr' he muttered in almost an unbelieving tone.

'I succeeded! I return to my world. The Legend of Ulr Blind Eye was true'

Then he checks the bracelet that his mother gives him before his journeys to Windhill.

At the time he was still a ten year old boy, whining, and thinking how unfair it is for him to live under the shadows of his brothers, to see her mother have to bow and greet the legitimate wife of his father, to see his mother shed tears when she was being bullied by the Household.

But now, after what happens to him...after all that he learned in that other world, he finally understand why his father exiled him here, and why his mother wanted him gone from the household.

He looks at the yellow round stone that is on the center of that bracelet and chuckles. The yellow stone has lost all of its glimmers and shine.

But Charles was happy. He was back. Back home. Back to his own world. He still remembers what happen.

Yesterday, or for him, 35 years, he was pushed by his eldest brother into a pond. His eldest brother knows that he is weak in winter.

The cold is harmful to his body.

When he was pushed down inside the pond, if not for his steward fast action in saving him, he would drown.

Then when he rested himself inside his room he was attack by a heart attack. He dies. Or he should be.

But then he was transported to this planet called Earth.

He lives there for 35 years, living among the people of that world, get a job, become a professor and then die of a gunshot in an alley of Oslo.

And once again he returns back to his body. His live on Earth now seems like a fleeting dream. It was there he learns about science.

About planets. About stars. About other worlds. Strategy. Warfare. Medicine. He soaks up knowledge like a sponge.

He participated in many wars of that world.

If the people of his world could see, what he has seen, they would have worship the people of Earth.

When he first arrived there, he sees buildings as tall as the sky, steel bird flying in the clouds, and iron horses charging on the street like lightning.

He saw weapons that would pierce steel armor in a matter of seconds. He saw weapon that could destroy planets.

He saw the worst side humanity could have. He saw the greatest virtue humanity could possess. He saw both good and bad.

He saw light and darkness. But as much as the people of earth believe that science is the only answer, Charles has always felt he was more superior from them.

Because he has proven, that even in a world void of magic, magic existed. Because he was there...defying every law of physics possible.

And when he falls down on that alley, bleeding profusely while looking up at the man gunning him down, he smiles.

Because, for the second time in his life, he sees the bracelet on his left arm, once again glowed with that blue light.

And here he is. Again. In his ten year old body. Thirty five years in that world, but barely a moment has passed here in Midgard.

And he could feel energy coursing through his body, like his 35 years old energy was compressed inside the body of the ten year old.

The cold does not bother him that much anymore. He even felt refreshed and energetic.

'HAHAHA' he laughs.

Then he started thinking. He quickly adjusts his thinking and accepts the current situation. It's not the first time and he was already prepared to return.

He has long hypothesized that if he dies again, his soul would once again return back to his time and world.

The answer was in the lore…but since Earth doesn't have Midgard lore, he had to rely on his memories when he sometimes went with his father to the ancestor grave and pay his respect.

Usually at that time some of the Priest of the Gods will tell stories about the Gods.

Thankfully, he still remembers some of the stories about Ulr and about his bracelet.

So, now as he already quickly adjusted himself to his former life he thought about the threats he has to face from now on.

His eldest brother wanted to kill him. His real mother is suppressed inside the Household by his father legitimate wife.

He has no allies in the household, no great background among the nobility and no followers.

Now that he has returned to this world, he has to cope with the dangers of this world.

In here, status is everything. There is no democracy. No equality. And his position, while he is a noble, he is a concubine son.

He will not inherit the Vassal Prince position, Jon will. Jon Martell, his eldest brother and the heir of Lindberg.

But Charles knows, that attempt on drowning him was an assassination attempt.

Charles could not understand it before because he was ten years old but he is now 45 years old in soul.

How could he not understand?

The only thing that perplexed him is why? Jon is already set to rule over Lindberg when father joins Sarun in the Underworld.

He poses no threats whatsoever.

There is something he doesn't know.

He knows that there is something he doesn't know, and that something is why suddenly his own legitimate brother wanted to kill him.

If before, Charles would only think that Jon only wanted to bully him, but after thinking in that world, he doesn't need to drown him.

Which means, even though he returns to his body now, that doesn't mean his day ahead would be good.

Jon will be planning to send him to Sarun downstairs

Which means, the guest that is about to come late tonight, would be his chance for survival and probably for power and influence.

While his position in this world is not high, with knowledge of other world, he refuses to believe that he could not thrive.

And he has already had a plan. The plan instantly formed in his mind when he thinks of his problem.

After all, he is a strategist on Earth. Then he sets his new goal. To survive his brother machinations

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