He shook the thoughts off. 'This is my chance to fix things'. He would deal with Kadria when he found her.
Absently, he reached into his mind to see if he could feel a binding stone.
As expected, the connection wasn't present. There was no overwhelming presence of something ancient and overwhelming threatening to consume his very essence.
But there was an odd feeling he hadn't felt before. Like he was tethered to something he couldn't see or feel.
Whatever it was, it never became more than a strange feeling in the back of his mind.
August knew something or somebody was tied to him in his mental world, but he couldn't see who or how.
Was this Kadria's work? Or a lingering aftereffect of losing access to his binding stones?
Noticing the carriage slow down, August pulled himself from his thoughts.
He put everything back in the duffel bag and closed it. When the carriage stopped, he opened the door and stepped out into the ancient ruins of a fortress.
Lichen and moss grew over mountains. The ruins were thick with grass and trees. The remains of a keep, maybe three stories tall, stuck out like a sore thumb in the rubble.
August saw the worn-out interior of the keep in places, where the walls had fallen away.
He knew this place. Almost any student of history did.
"Oh! Are you August Straub? Sorry, I mean Bastion August Straub. Sir," a youthful voice chirped.
It sounded familiar to August, but he initially wasn't sure why.
He turned to face the speaker. A young beastkin girl wearing black-painted armor, with a scimitar at her side.
Her black cat ears twitched constantly as August watched, and she scratched her cheek.
She had a massive bushy tail, which swished back and forth faster with each passing second, kicking up dust from the ground. Her legs twisting back and forth.
She placed her arms over her chest nervously, hiding her hefty bust from view.
But she couldn't hide the rest of her generous curves, particularly in her tailored uniform.
"Um, am I right? You're wearing the uniform of a Bastion," a much younger Jafeila asked slowly, looking at August through upturned eyes.
He continued staring at her. 'When was Jafeila this cute?' August blinked. 'Wait, Straub?'
Something clicked in his memory, without August even thinking about it.
His last name wasn't Martel in this timeline. It was Straub. He had inherited the last name of an Imperial noble, as well as the body of one.
"I am," August said. He paused despite himself. He'd naturally spoken in Imperial, the native tongue of the Empire, rather than his birth language.
Was this another effect of whatever Kadria had done to send him back, just like these memories of his new life that were rising within his mind?
He shook the discomfort off. "You're Jafeila?"
"Eh? You know who I am?" The beastkin's tail and ears shot bolt upright before flattening. "Sorry, I mean—yes, I am. Champion-in-training Jafeila reporting for duty, Bastion."
It took considerable effort for August not to stare at Jafeila in shock.
She had never been so cute and nervous before. He felt that he was seeing an exotic animal that must be cherished and protected.
A side of his lover that she had never spoken to him about and that he had never seen.
Jafeila had been the fourth trigem Champion to join August's service, although he had known her from earlier in his career.
By the time he met her, she was a hardened veteran from years of fighting demonic hordes.
She had survived the fall of the Empire, the roving bands of demons in the aftermath, the invading armies of greedy neighbors, and much, much more.
He remembered his first meeting with her vividly. She had been a monogem Champion serving a Bastion from Trafaumh.
August had been a relatively new Bastion. He was popular in Falmir due to a heroic victory against a demonic horde, despite the odds being stacked against him.
They had met in a field of demonic corpses, and Jafeila had dismissed him with a glance.
The nervous looks she gave him right now were a far cry from dismissive.
She pressed her fingers together and licked her lips as her tail beat up a storm behind her.
"Champion Jafeila," August corrected. "You're no longer in training as of now. Walk with me."
Jafeila half-squeaked, half-screamed in delight at the news that she had finally been promoted to a full Champion and bounced behind August.
He ignored her for a moment, letting her burn off her nervous energy.
Hopefully, she'd be a little calmer once she settled down and got to know him.
But a niggling thought ate at the back of his mind. 'Would any of my women be the same as they were in my timeline?'
Could they be the same given he planned to change the course of history?
He suppressed the thought and looked at the ruins around him. Striding toward the remains of the keep, he recalled what this place was.
Gharrick Pass. One of only two major land routes connecting the Anfang Empire with its eastern neighbors through the Gharrick Mountains.
It was through this fortress that the Empire had been attacked from behind.
This ruined fortress indirectly caused the end of world. No wonder Kadria had said she knew exactly the place to send him.
She had held up her end of the bargain so far. If August could protect this pass, he could stop the collapse of the Empire.
August felt the slight pull of a binding stone from beneath the keep.
With a wave of his hand, he told Jafeila to follow him and entered the ruins.
Gharrick Pass had been abandoned centuries old. But with the binding stone's power, August could rebuild the fortress practically overnight.
That made finding it his highest priority. There might be a slight complication, however.
"Lady von Clair wanted you to visit her once you arrived," Jafeila said. "She said she would organize everything you needed. Do you know her?"
Consulting his few implanted memories, August decided he didn't.
He'd never even heard the name in his life. "I don't, but it's normal for Bastions to work with the ruling nobles," he replied, taking a stab in the dark regarding Lady von Clair's status.
"Although we serve as soldiers of the Emperor, and are part of the Imperial Army, Bastions spend most of their time keeping the peace.
It's a lot easier for us to do our jobs if we work with the nobles."
"Ohhhh."
Jafeila fell silent for a little while. The pair stepped over rubble and stagnant pools of water.
One of the staircases down was flooded, presumably blocked, so August looked for another way down.
"So what sort of things will she do for us?" she asked suddenly.
August smiled wryly. "It's more accurate to say what she'll ask us to do for her."