Quince: The lost echo

My name is Quince. I have been a monster hunter for the last 6 years. I was born in Rakka
to a family of city guards. Both my parents were city guards. They are good people, good to
criminals too. My dad likes to take me hunting deer or boar in the nearby forest. We would
lay for hours watching and waiting for the right moment to attack, after the hunt we would
always return full with meat and leather to either eat or sell.

As for the city I was born in, it is quite a small city with farms and minds on the hill. When the
autumn hit it was beautiful with the river carrying falling leaves into the city, the sun reflecting
off the cobbled brick and wooden features of the houses and buildings in the city. nearby
there is also an active hot spring where many people come to bathe especially in winter
when it is the coldest. There is also an aqueduct system in place to deliver the hot spring
water into bathhouses and rich people's home in the city but those bathouses are quite
expensive for the average man.

My mother is a harsh woman, she always scolded my father when i got injured after hunting
or scolded me when i was bad to other people or almost injuring myself as i play and explore
the city i was born in. I don’t know what happened to the both now or how they are doing
since that was a long time ago in a different place, a different time.

I had a few friends that I like to play with. I especially like playing hide and seek around the
city. I was pretty good at finding them wherever they were hiding. For food i prefer meaty
food like my favorite, a nice juicy steak but i can eat anything really as long as they are
somewhat edible. Anyway i was in that city with my parents until i was 14, at the time a
knight rode into the city to recruit men for the lord's guard, i asked my parents to join them at
first my mom object to it but my father was happy that i could become a squire eventually,
me and my father successfully persuaded my mother so there i was off to a new life as a
squire.

I was trained alongside one of my friends named Kartos. He is a brave and strong young lad,
always good with a horse. That is why the knight that trained us put him in charge of the
keep of the horses and mule at the stable. As for me? I am good with a blade, especially a
blade and dagger combination, a one two stab and they are dead. I must admit my master at
the time didn't like it very much since my style was very let’s say un orthodox compared to
the great sword or sword and shield that knights typically carry in battle.

One day I started experiencing weird ‘visions’ shall we say, silhouette of people that aren't
there walking by or buildings and places that don’t exist. I reasoned with it as a hallucination
from exhaustion or my imagination getting the better of me. That is until I saw myself that
looked like me but different with different clothing just standing there and poof disappeared
right in front of my eyes.
After that encounter I started having strange dreams and visions of battle I never had or
things I never did. After those events I usually felt tired and doozy like my mind was thrusted
into somewhere else where I was not. On the positive side of this is I manage to surprise my
trainer with a new technique I learned from my visions which got me quite the praise and
rank advancement.

One day me and 2 others and kartos were travelling to do a simple quest of finding a
kidnapped girl from some goblin. It should be easy peasy, nothing special really, that was
until we heard the roar of a troll. Kartos quickly charged his horse with all his bravado and
might, i soon followed in and charged.

Karto managed to dodge the troll attack and swirve his horse with skill and dexterity
unmatched by me, me? well i got knocked the fuck out by the troll club all i saw was the sky
and my head hitting something and my vision going black.

The next thing I know I woke up in a strange house with trinkets and clockwork devices. a
strange mechanical creature of a dog-like shape approached me and ‘licked’ me with its
gear tongue. It was quite cute. I quickly tried to orient myself and call for my friends but no
answer was given. i looked out the window to see a great city of marble and brass and
smoke and fire billowing from great tube, strange cylindrical shaped object floats above the
city and bellows some words such as “Join the imperial army today, and brought peace to
this great war of 5 nations” and “the 52nd mechanized walker corps has pushed back the
devil of the abyss, the 202nd airborne infantry has successfully landed and secured the
island of Tarahal from the adyr terrorist”

I was rather shocked at first until I remembered that I previously had a dream that looked
somewhat like this place, the sky and the city. I remember that I battled some bandit
mugging me in an alleyway nearby. I don’t know what is happening and while I ponder my
situation.

A woman knocked at my door, the woman yells with a familiar voice but one i can't recall
where from. i told her to come and she said “is the potion ordered by mister flimsby ready?” i
don’t know why but the memories of making them and i just said “yes, it’s in the cupboard’’
instinctively.

After the affairs with the client i return to my study and found a journal listing my name as
“Jormunga” an ‘artificer’ after seeing the name memories started flooding in of me mixing
chemical and learning at a fancy university about alchemy, mathematics, physics, and other
topics that i never heard off.

I just decided well this is my life now, i continue working and working as an alchemist getting
quite the money brewing potion. I manage to make some friends and married a handsome
man i met at a coffee bar, i still miss the taste of coffee sometimes but a last a few years of
that life is pretty good i guess but i had to fuck it up.

i think i was 39 at the time in that life when i decided to start making this ‘gunpowder’
ordered by the local military garrison for their single shot rifle, one day i was in the storage
for gunpowder just to check the quantities and quality of the batch i had made before
sending it to the garrison i accidentally knocked over a torch that unfortunately landed on a
bag of gunpowder and blow me to the sky. The next thing i know i woke up in a small castle
up a mountain.

This time apparently I was an apprentice to a man named von Richten, a monster hunter, he
called me to train with him on sword fighting and hunting and was surprised by my skill. He
said that I exceeded his expectations, especially after the last time we trained. I quickly
made friends with the other apprentice in training as well, we like to train together even
without von richten. Other than training we like to dine and explore the castle grounds.

One day master Von richten disappeared, we waited for days in the castle keep doing our
daily chores and task the master gave us before his journey, his las word was “I had a thing i
need to do, i will be gone for a while to meet an old friend” that was 100 days ago. We
decided without the master's permission to break into his room and find out where he had
gone and we found multiple mentions and maps of the land called ‘borovia’. So I decided to
follow this map and enter this foggy land of horrors by myself.

But it is not only master von richten i am searching however before master disappeared i
had heard of a dwarven stronghold that was once rich and prosperous, legends told of their
invincible warrior that could fight for days without end and shed blood without collapsing, but
someday out of the blue they disappeared just gone without a trace. I have been searching
for it before but now with the info from master notes I know where it is. In borovia.

So that is my story, my name is Quince, my body age is 27 my consciousness age?

unknown. I don't know how long this has been happening or how many times I died
previously but now here I am and well? this is my life now until I die again.