Year 65

"It…it was horrible, my Emperor! The place was so dead. Like I could feel it everywhere…my…my hands…my skin…wrinkled with age! How could I have aged so quickly? It's an evil place! Don't send me back! I beg of you!" the test subject pleads while groveling at your boots, but all you do smile.

"WE FOUND IT! WE'VE FINALLY FOUND IT!" you shout in glee.

After Elam's tinkering with machinery to repair the portal, sacrificing several lesser mages to fuel the portal with magical energy again, you and Galen trying to channel the energy to get the right location and after sending in several "test subjects" with ropes tied around them, you've at last discovered the way to reach the Isle of Mortos.

The Island of Mortos seems to be so heavily disguised by magic that it's impossible to actually find through normal means. Basically the necromancers only allow access if they want it to or in your case, meddling with a magic portal for so long that you eventually found it through trial and error.

Now that you've found it, the current problem is that it's a one-way trip. Hence the ropes you tied to the test subjects so you could pull them back through. (Though that still didn't always ensure their return)

There's also the fact that "dialing" the way to get to Mortos in the first place has been fairly taxing on you and Galen who isn't looking so great nowadays.

"A testament to your persistence, my Emperor…can I go lay down? I feel sort of weak." Galen remarks.
"Galen you're a wizard, you of all people besides myself should be happy to discover a new mystery of the arcane! I mean with magic apparently dying out, I'd think this would be fairly interesting to you."
"Emperor, in all honesty I'd rather just be back home using charm spells on young girls."
"That's your problem Galen, you have no true ambition!" you say.
"Yes, you're right my Emperor. I'm a lowly worm before your greatness." Galen says.
"I'll let that remark pass since I KNOW you're intelligent enough to NOT use sarcasm on me. And I'm not going to let your whining and depression annoy me today as this is a great break through."

At this point Galen says nothing and just shuffles off to find some place to lie down. You also ignore the test subject who has already been taken away by nearby Eyes to who knows where.

You continue to stare at the portal, which will now lead you to Mortos. You almost want to enter right now, but you know that it will still have to wait. You call Elam over who normally isn't a nervous sort, but is when he gets near the portal.

"So…this is it then?" Elam asks.
"This is it Elam. Have you finished building that other smaller portal for me?" you say.
"It's almost finished, though it took a lot of mithril to build it. Good thing Nyttrus had several deposits, because it's not like we had much of it. Also it's going to need magical energy of course for it to be fully powered. I imagine you've still got mages left?"
"Maybe a few still locked up, but I question if it'll be enough…well there's always Galen. Should work."
"You're going to sacrifice Galen?"
"He's served his purpose and he'll serve it one last time for the greater good of the Empire. He's getting old and weak anyway, how many years does he really have left? Wasn't aware that you held any fondness for him."
"No, I don't really. Still though…what about your Eternal Project?"
"What about it?"
"Well without any more mages you won't be able to continue it correct?"
"If this plan goes the way I hope it does, it won't matter, besides I thought you were coming up with an idea to take the Eternal Project in a new direction without the use of magic." You say.
"I was, but then I had to focus my efforts on this project and as I know it was of great importance to you, I didn't want to divert my attention." Elam responds.
"Probably was wise of you. Well, after we get the second portal up and running, you'll be able to pursue your desire for more biological experiments and find a new way of creating Eternals."

Elam nods and excuses himself to go back to work on finishing the other portal. The smaller one is going to be the "return" portal back here after its power up, "calibrated" and dragged through the Mortos portal.

The test subject didn't say anything about any ghoul creatures or other undead around, just a dead feeling everywhere so it looks like you go lucky as far as the location is concerned. Though you still have no idea where you'll be located on Mortos. After all you only visited the place once and that was thirty years ago. You were so different back then. The trusting, loyal, good soldier that never questioned anything.

You've been thinking more about those last few days with Casimir recently, your trip to Mortos and the days immediately afterwards. The big lie that Casimir perpetrated just to secure his own immortality was still nothing compared to the one that nobody except Jacob and Semra knew about. It's still odd to think about how you were never truly meant to be an Eternal.

Still, it's often been said the bigger the lie; the more people are willing to believe it. Maybe its because your entire life is a "lie" that you managed to achieve so much within it. Maybe that's why you managed to become a successful Emperor and maybe that's why you intend to succeed where your "father" failed.

Nicodemus, the necromancer that you encountered during your last trip to Mortos, tried to convince you to not pursue the same path as Casimir. Semra has tried to do the same on several occasions. As far as you know, they're still the only two that are going to be your major obstacles between you and your goals. You aren't sure what Semra's been up to as there has been no sign of her or any indication of an attack from Dokkrus, but rest assured when she does pop up again, you have no doubt its going to be at the most inopportune time.

As for Nicodemus, you imagine you'll have quite a fight on your hands with him and that's not even counting other necromancers that must live on the island and their undead. You haven't been idle though. You've been practicing and strengthening your own magic abilities.

Eventually you stop your reminiscing and decide you need to get on with your plans, you aren't getting any younger.

In another few weeks, Elam tells you that the second portal is ready, so you gather up Galen and the remaining mages to go about its activation. Galen repeatedly tells you that he doesn't think there's going to be enough energy within the captive mages power up the second portal, but you assure him that there will be. The fool doesn't even consider the possibility that HE is going to be joining them. Well not until the last moment when he's grabbed by Eyes and strapped down to the draining chair hooked up to the portal.

"Emperor?! What is this?! No! I was loyal! You can't! You…" Galen shouts before you punch him in the face and have him gagged.
"Stop whining Galen." You say motioning Elam to hit the switch and watch the last of your mages being drained of their energy and life.

When the portal is powered and you finish your calibrations, you have the smaller portal ready to be dragged through the larger one. Several Eyes, several third gen Eternals and some very nervous engineers all prepare to enter, plus one.

"Emperor, you're going with them?" Elam asks.
"I'm confident that this is going to work and if not, well then I don't deserve to be Emperor any longer. Let's get going." You say.

You enter the portal and you have that old familiar feeling…

A deadness all around you. The land is still dead, everything is still drab and gray. Same way it was when you last were here. The others with you all begin to complain about not feelings quite right.

"It'll pass if you keep your mind focused, the key is to not let this place cause you to spiral into a depression. Come on we need to get this portal into a good place…that large rock structure in the ground over there looks as good as any. I want the engineers to embed this portal in it, don't want it just standing out here in the open wasteland. Follow me and DON'T stray too far. There are magic areas or what are called negative zones. You step into one and you could be an old man or even a corpse before you knew what was going on. I'll be able to detect them, just follow me."

Your small march to the rock destination is uneventful other than some of your people still saying how this all feels so hopeless. Unfortunately most of it is from the engineers who are less accustomed to this sort of thing.

As you wait for the portal to be embedded in the rock, you begin to ponder if you still shouldn't wait awhile before marching an army into Mortos. It might be this place sapping your "enthusiasm" but the grim reality of how difficult this is really going to be is starting to set in the closer you get to your goals. It does occur to you that Nicodemus was powerful enough to destroy Casimir with barely any effort.

You wait

Whether this place is a cause of disillusionment or not, the fact does remain that you still need to take this goal step by step. While it's true that you want to get this on with quickly, you can't afford to rush headlong into things.

Speaking of which, you also can't allow hopelessness to take over the mindset of your people so you begin to yell words of encouragement to everyone. You talk about tales of former glories. Not just your own, but those also containing people resembling your current crew. Meaning you remind the third gens of their glorious deeds during the war against Nakol and the hated Iznac of Nyttrus. You remind the Eyes of their important work of maintain order throughout the Empire and how they've often they've played vital roles in undermining the enemy.

And while the engineers have never usually directly participated in battle, you remind them of their contributions to building the weapons and machines of war that have repeatedly brought the Empire's enemies low. Even now the skill of the engineers may possibly be one of the most important roles in achieving this mission.

Sometimes words really can go a long way to motivation even when in an accursed place like this. Everyone more or less snaps out of their low spirits and gets on with their tasks.

When the job is done, several people are still eager to leave this place and are more than willing to enter the portal regardless of whether its going to work or not. You still go first however, and taking a deep breath you enter the portal, which should go back to your previous location in Evigrus…

And suddenly you do indeed find yourself back at Elam workshop in New Dessel.

"You're back!" Elam exclaims as the rest of your people suddenly appear beside you as well. Everyone is certainly happier to be back too.

"The next time I get the chance to go in, I think I need to re-adjust the location of where its going to send returning people. The last thing I want is a bunch of undead wandering into New Dessel." You say.
"Sounds like a plan. So…when are you invading?" Elam asks.
"I'm holding off, or rather re-thinking the approach just like I did with Dokkrus. Honestly this recent visit has put a few things in perspective. Tell me, have we made any advancement in those gnome automatons?"
"Automatons? Uh, not much since the end of the Nakol War. Nyttrus wasn't the best environment for them and you wanted to keep a low profile in Dokkrus."
"Yeah, well as much as I'd like to keep a low profile in Mortos, I don't think its going to be possible for long and more importantly automatons don't suffer morale problems. I know I said you were going to be able to work on your biological experiments, but you might need to hold off still and start making not only improvements on the automatons, but making A LOT of them."

Elam seems a little disappointed that once again his own ideas are going to be placed on hold again, but he doesn't argue since it would be pointless anyway.

You decide that you're going to have to condition your people to steel their minds against the oppressive atmosphere of Mortos by having regular scouting missions and guard duty for the "return portal" on Mortos. You're fairly certain that most, if not all the third gen Eternals are going to be able to achieve this without too many problems. The Eyes are mostly made up of "normal" humans (and a few elves) though they're certainly trained for difficult conditions. As for anyone else you need to send in, you're going to have to limit their time in Mortos and have them supervised by someone that has already proven themselves to be resistant to the debilitating effects.

All the while, the new automatons will act as good support troops in case conflict should arise and you have no doubt that it will. You need to find that book that Casimir desired so badly and that's going to require tracking it down first. This all may take a while, which brings you to the idea that the fourth gen Eternals are going to be ready in a couple years. Assuming you haven't achieved your goals by then, you'll be able to start sending them in as well, but then why wait? They're going to have to get resilient to Mortos sometime.

You're next visit is to Brenda who has been looking more than a little worn and tired nowadays. She still does her job like the loyal Empire soldier she's always been, but underneath is a lot of heartache from another lost love. You imagine the only thing that keeps her going nowadays is her love of training the Eternals. She's always seen them as her "children" of sorts. Though today she'd going to lose them a few years early…

"Now? They're still two years away from proper training." Brenda remarks.
"Well, there is a new war coming and they're not only going to have to be prepared for it physically, but mentally as well. They're going to start their first assignment in Mortos and they need to start getting accustomed to the horrors of the place because trust me, as good as you think you've prepared them, there is nothing that is going to prepare them for this experience short of going their personally." You say.
"But…(sigh) nevermind. Take who you need."
"Something wrong Brenda?"
"Of course something is wrong, you've come to me yet again asking me to hand over something I hold dear." Brenda says starting to get upset.
"Brenda, I really don't understand why the hell you're getting upset with me, whether they go now or in two years either way, they're going to leave here and you know this. I know you see them as your children, but as any parent knows, you've got to let them go eventually." You say, but Brenda's not really listening.
"Everytime you see me, it's just to ask me for something, not even to exchange pleasantries. Years ago it was Warrick, now it's the fourth gens, I'm fully expecting you to come in here one day and ask me to go sacrifice myself for the greater good of the Empire. I mean why not right? I already heard how you've recently sacrificed all the remaining mages in the Empire, which means no more Eternal Project. Won't be much need for me anymore."
"Now you're being overly dramatic. I think you know that isn't true." You say.

Brenda puts her head in her hands and then makes a rubbing motion at her temples.

"Apologies. I'm just…tired. Tired of all this. I continual question why I'm even doing this anymore. I'm losing my passion for it and just counting down the days for death it seems. I know you'll say that I should be doing this for the greater good of the Empire and all of that, but I just don't believe it anymore. I mean obviously I'd never be a traitor and I'm too old to do anything else with my life, but quite honestly I'm not seeing much to look forward to in the future."

Given Brenda's state of mind, you'd almost think she'd taken a trip to Mortos. You probably could come up with something inspiring, but this is Brenda and she'd see right through it, or even if she didn't she wouldn't be in the mood to here it, so you take a gamble and try a different approach.

"Brenda, I'm going to tell you something that I've NEVER told anyone. I wasn't even supposed to BE an Eternal. I'm a fucking mistake. A bureaucratic mistake that was covered up so the Emperor wouldn't get pissed off. Oh and here's another kicker. The Emperor? He died because of me."

This information certainly gets Brenda's attention.

"That's right, I'm partially responsible for killing our old Emperor Casimir, but if its any consolation, he fucking deserved it because not only was he responsible for Alison's death, but he was ALSO the one that had your husband assassinated."

Brenda's face now turns to shock as you reveal secrets that you've kept hidden for so long.

"I wasn't even supposed to be here and I saw everything I believed in nearly destroyed with a single action and one of the people I grew up completely trusting to be the worst liar of all. Even that fucking svelk bitch didn't lie to me like Casimir did. And yet like an idiot I still blindly trusted him all the way up until his spell failed and resulted in his death."

You pause for a moment to allow Brenda to ask any questions, but she has none. She still continues to remain in silent shock.

"So if you think that the institution you were bred, raised and trained to loyally serve all your life has somehow resulted in you feeling underappreciated, well…that's partially true. The Empire is unforgiving. It demands everything and YOU as an Eternal are one of its top servants, which means the most is expected of you. As Emperor everything is expected of me. Quite honestly, I get tired too. Even when I'm winning, there's some sort of catch, or problem, or something that makes it less fun than it could be. Getting old doesn't help. In fact if I wasn't Emperor, I might be questioning my future as well. I'd probably march into Dokkrus or Mortos by myself and just fight and fight until I was eventually overwhelmed and killed, but that isn't an option for me. I AM the Empire and if its going to survive, I can't fucking die. It's that simple. If there was any other way, I'd probably take it, because the journey that has lead me up to this point hasn't been easy and it's resulted in considerable losses."

You touch Brenda's hand.

"So all that being said, if I as a mistake who should've been killed at birth can shoulder the weight of the entire Empire, I believe YOU as a TRUE Eternal, can handle the sacrifices that are asked of you. Look, I won't need all of the fourth gens right now…just give me your best leaders. They'll be going in with the third gens anyway, so they won't get too overwhelmed." You say.
"I'll get a list and get back to you as soon as possible my Emperor." Brenda answers.
"Okay…and thank you Brenda for all your hard work for the Empire. I appreciate it."
"I live to serve. Long live the Empire."

With those last few words, you leave Brenda's presence feeling more exhausted than you did when you visited Mortos. In fact you think you'd rather be back there.
Year 67

"Svelk? And you're sure about this?" you ask.
"Absolutely sure my Emperor. We fought off a band of them just the other day. There have also been other sightings of them roaming about the wastes of Mortos." General Damon responds.

You silently curse to yourself about this news. You knew the svelk were going to show up at the most inopportune time and sure enough they have. You didn't expect them on Mortos though. Is this what Semra was planning? Is she trying to get the book herself?

General Damon goes on to report that the fourth gens have been proving themselves very well in battle and showing good resistance against the negative effects of Mortos.

"They're a true credit to the name Eternal, my Emperor." Damon remarks.
"Hrm. Well I'd expect nothing less, especially after having the best trainer." You say.
"Mentor Brenda was indeed a very good teacher, I will always be grateful for her lessons when she taught me the rest of the third gens." Damon says with a bit of pride.

Cassandra speaks up next and tells you that the Eyes have still not yet located the temple you last remember the book being at, but they have located more than a few ghouls towns and mapped out where some negative zones are located.

"Just glad we've got a relatively large population of Sul Monkeys to use as testing for such zones. It certainly cuts down on our own casualties." Cassandra says and then starts to say something else before stopping.
"What is it?" you ask.
"Oh nothing my Emperor, it's just a silly thought, nevermind."
"You were going to ask me if humans are related to Sul Monkeys somehow, weren't you?"
"How did you know?" Cassandra asks.
"Given that I had to hear Semra and several other svelk refer to humans as monkeys on more than one occasion, I've heard the theories before."
"Oh. So is it true? I mean my parents said it was and most others of my kind believe it, but I always wondered and I figured you being the Emperor and all might know for certain…"

You nearly laugh.

"As much as I might like the idea of being all knowing, I have no idea nor do I really care. You'd probably be better off asking Elam, he knows more about all that stuff. Speaking of which I need to go talk with him about increasing automaton production."

As you're about to make your way to do just that, you receive an urgent message.

"Message from Kivan, Emperor. Very urgent." The courier says.
"Everything is urgent according to Kivan, let's see…" you say and then begin to read.

Then you feel a small sinking feeling when you see the news. It's a short message, but one of great impact.

"I have to go." You say and leave New Dessel.

Brenda has killed herself. Her body was found by an Eye who was going to pick her up for her re-assignment as a trainer for them. She was in her bathtub with slashed wrists. Her body has already been taken for preparation; Kivan decided it would be best to keep this incident relatively quiet and contact you immediately.

When you arrive at the capital, Kivan is already outside waiting for you and trying to apologize for disturbing you.

"Nevermind all that, where is she?"
"The mortuary, of course. She'll be ready for the hero's funeral that…"
"No. No, we aren't going to have all that. She wouldn't want it. We'll do what we did with Warrick. A simple private funeral." You say still trying to wrap your head around the fact that Brenda's dead.
"As you wish Emperor. Uh…this was also found on the site of her death. It hasn't been opened and it was addressed to you."

Kivan hands you an envelope, which you take and read alone.

My Emperor

By the time you read this, you no doubt will know I have decided to move on from this world. I just can't go on any longer. I've given all that I have and anymore that I do have left isn't worth much anyway.

I thank you for not taking all the fourth gen Eternals immediately and giving me those last two years with most of them, just as you gave me that one last year with Warrick.

I did try to heed your words that you spoke to me a couple years ago and I almost even convinced myself, but ultimately they just weren't enough. I hope that I haven't disappointed you too much. I always tried not to; all of us did and still do.

You told me that you were a "mistake" that wasn't supposed to be an Eternal. I don't believe that's true. Whatever the nature of events that occurred; there is no denying that you aren't a TRUE Eternal. You are the best of all of us and I have no doubt that you won't accomplish your goals in achieving immortality to keep the Empire alive.

I always had a feeling you'd outlive all of us, even when that svelk bitch tried to break your spirit on the first day of training. Personally I believe you'd outlive the Empire itself if you and it weren't so intrinsically linked.

I die knowing that not just the Empire will live on, but that the name Eternal also lives on.

It was an honor to serve under you. I go now to join our fallen siblings.

Brenda

Not much moves you emotionally nowadays, but this has certainly done it. You aren't disappointed by Brenda's actions. You understand them from her point of view, you just wish you could've convinced her that her life did still have purpose. Brenda may not have been the traditional Eternal bringing glory on the battlefield, but her role was nevertheless an important one and like the loss of Warrick, Roldan, Kane and Decena, the Empire is just a little worse off because she's no longer part of it.

Brenda is eventually placed where the other great heroes of the Empire are entombed. Her deeds will forever be remembered and when the news of her death is made public to the Eternals she trained you remind them all that she would want them to not falter in their assignments nor spend time lingering over her passing.

Life goes on and so do your goals.

Getting back to the current problem at hand, the recent incursions of svelk are growing to become more frequent, still no real confirmation on what they're doing there exactly. It hardly matters you suppose since whatever they're there for it's only to hinder you.

Knowing Semra, part of her plan is to try to divide your attention. She wants you to attack Dokkrus so you'll get tied up in a land war there and lose your edge in Mortos. Better that you should keep to your plan. If Semra wants to open up another front, she's going to have to come to you and you're more than ready for that.

In fact you probably can do more to damage her if you start capturing some of her people. Granted svelk aren't necessarily the most talkative captives, but if you can capture some of her mages to power up a second portal or even more, well that would at least allow you have more entryways in and out of Mortos. You also could hamper the svelk by destroying or capturing their own portals. Either way, your best decision is to keep your efforts focused on Mortos. You've still got a book to track down and you haven't even begun to face the full power of the necromancers yet. In fact you're starting to wonder when that shoe is going to drop.

Year 70

Ignoring the stench and claws of your nearby zombie attackers, your Eternals make quick work of them while you put down the necromancer with a lightning bolt to his baldhead. He's not coming back and the last of his minions fall uselessly into piles of putrid mush.
If there's one thing that's sure to stop an undead army, it's taking out the necromancer.

The undead in general are vastly outclassed, not just in the face of your highly skilled soldiers, but also due your superior weaponry. Guns have advanced drastically since they were introduced to the battlefield and such power easily rips through the relatively weak and slow moving undead. Your automatons are the perfect foil against them.

Really the only advantage the dead have over your own people is numbers and their annoying tendency to not stay down. But eliminate the necromancer and a shambling rotting horde goes down quicker than a house of cards. True, there is still enough negative energy here to keep some of the corpses still standing, but not enough to be a threat and certainly not as organized.

Still, fighting the necromancers on their own home isn't completely easy. If it were, you wouldn't still be at war with them. The insane Mortos ghoul "citizens" actually give you more trouble besides the necromancers themselves. Something about the fact that they're actually "living" makes them somehow worse than the undead. Their gibbering, howling and just general unpleasantness is still enough to make you shudder at the fact that you nearly once got caught by a pack of them on your first visit here.

Of course the group that has been the biggest thorn in your side are the svelk, which as you've come to learn through captives is that they are actually allied with the necromancers.

You have no idea how this ever came to be, something about a very old "agreement" which you never knew the svelk as a collective group could be so honorable about. Of course maybe its just Semra's doing, but either way it doesn't change the fact that they've been making things difficult for you.

So far you've found none of their portals back to Dokkrus, so it appears that the svelk are sending their people on a one way trip. Of course if they're allies, they might have an easier time of heading back through the necromancers' magic.

You haven't found the book yet either despite actually locating the temple where it was last time. Figures it would be moved and you have an idea that it's probably with Nicodemus who still hasn't made an appearance or tried to contact you at all like you almost expected he would.

A few "cities" have been scouted out on Mortos, but none of them seem like places of major importance. Given the utter ruin of every population center its hard to know exactly where it might be kept, so you're going to just go through the tedious process of search every corner of this dismal island if you have to.

"Emperor, Sightmaster Cassandra has just sent word that they've managed to capture another svelk mage." A fourth gen comes up to report to you while you're making double sure that the necromancer is dead.

"Not surprised, Cass loves capturing svelk more than she loved intimidating humans." You respond.

You imagine Flevas would've enjoyed the chance as well if he were still alive. You sometimes wish the elf were still around, as he'd definitely be an asset right now, but then you wish a lot of people were still around. Even your top advisor Kivan died a few years ago of natural causes. That's a rarity nowadays, at least for people that know you on a personal basis. His replacement is capable, but honestly you barely remember what his replacement's name is since you've been spending most of your time in Mortos.

Some probably believe you shouldn't push yourself so hard, and they may very well have a point since you're not in your twenties anymore and you're in pain most of the time due to a combination of age, old wounds, and just general exertion. You can't afford to stop though, not when you're so close to your goal. The funny thing is, your time here in Mortos somewhat envigorates you. It's probably just a mindset as it certainly can't be physically. Still, you haven't been involved in a real war since Nyttrus and getting back into battle again, even to your limited degree (mostly relying on magic) almost makes you feel "young" again. But then, you always were one to embrace the call of war and the personal glories of direct combat. Something about killing your enemies directly has always been a lot more satisfying. If you weren't weakened and slowed by your age, you'd be tempted to go wading in with a sword in hand again.

Only you could find a zest for "life" in a literal land of the dead.

"Should I tell the messenger any new orders you may have for her?" the fourth gen asks.
"No, just tell him the message has been received and approved of. Cassandra knows what to do with the dark elven bastard. She's probably already hauling him away back to Evigrus. We should have enough of them soon." You say.

You've already been going through with your plan of using the svelk mages that you've managed to capture to "power up" new portals…bigger portals. Portals large enough that will allow a large new weapon of destruction to enter Mortos.

These weapons are called the juggernauts; large heavily armored wheeled machines mounted with a cannon and repeater rifles on their sides. A crew apparently operates them from the inside. You have no idea how Elam came up with the concept, but you're glad he did. He must be channeling his creative energy back into technological advances since he hasn't had the time to work on his desire to his biological experiments. (Every once in awhile he still tells you that he'd like to restart a new Eternal Project)

They might not be airships, but if you can get them rolling into Mortos, it would definitely give an advantage or at least even the playing field, because deep down you know you still haven't seen the worst this place has to offer. At some point when the necromancers start getting desperate and realize that you aren't going to just go away, they're going to start bringing out their own "big guns" and you're going to have to be ready for whatever those may be.
Year 75

The longer you spend in this place, the more you're starting to like it and that is somewhat of a worrying thought to you, because it certainly isn't a thought shared by anyone under your command. The last five years have probably been a nightmare to most.

You've had to rotate your "normal" military personnel fairly regularly. Most of them can only handle the psychological impact of the powerful undead horrors the necromancers have unleashed a limited amount of times before they become more of a liability rather than an asset. You can only imagine how full the asylums are getting back home. For the most part you've regulated most of your military to defend Evigrus since the svelk in last two years have tried to open up a new front by transporting groups of elite via portals. They've been relatively unsuccessful and even less so when they attempted to do the same thing on Nyttrus where your kobolds easily overwhelmed them and used the land to their advantage. The svelk for the most part have seemingly pulled out of Mortos though altogether.

You've had to pull back your Eyes as well. Well trained they may be, most of them are still human and with that they suffer the same failings of the mind. It's just as well, since things are starting to get a little unstable back home. It's probably a combination of several things (Some of which might be all the new asylum patients) so Cassandra and the Eyes are back to their primary job of maintaining order.

Even the Eternals are starting to get weary of this war and most of them have aged several years than normal. Still, they are Eternals, and whether they are third or fourth generation, they stand by your side…even in death.

Since your time here, you've learned how to use the necromancer's magic against them. You've managed to unlock the secrets of necromancy. You're no master at it, and it takes great concentration on your part, but its come in handy at times. The odd thing is you seem to only be able to maintain control over fallen Eternals. Attempting to raise others has only resulted in them eventually turning against you. You wonder if its because of the way Eternals are "made" or their conditioned loyaty from birth, or maybe a combination of both that seems to result in their dedication to you and resist the overpowering will of the necromancers.

As far as your own concerns about your state of mind you've been trying to hold it together. You sometimes think you're living on borrowed time and that if you don't achieve your goal soon, this place will eventually consume you. Maybe that's why you're starting to like it here, because you feel so close to death and this place is basically a home to the dead.

But you're not dying here if you can help it; in fact the whole point to this is so you don't die at all. You've already begun to unlock the talents of the necromantic arts by yourself. As soon as you get that book, you KNOW you'll be able to master them completely and become immortal.

And that goal is now closer than ever because you've finally tracked it down.

You stand on a slightly elevated bit of land with what remains of your army of Eternals (both living and dead) and a few juggernauts filled with crews of half mad engineers. In the distance a ruined fortress lies before you. It is a non-descript thing and has no real defenses since its walls are mostly broken or gone completely, but THAT is where your goal lies. Inside it somewhere.

And that is also where Nicodemus must be.

You need to attack now, because you know it'll be only a matter of time before reinforcements to help him show up. There are ALWAYS undead, no matter how many you put down in this place.

"General Damon, today the Empire assures its mastery over death itself." You say.
"We are all prepared my Emperor, we just await your word."

You nod and for a moment there is complete silence.

"ATTACK!" you shout and then in unison, you and your Eternals advance towards the target. You lead from the front, just like the old days…

Your juggernauts rumble past the sides of your army and then that's when you finally hear him in your head…

"This will not end well for you, Eternal. Turn back from this path now, or suffer the same fate as your father Casimir."

Naturally you ignore this pitiful attempt at stopping you, so Nicodemus finally unleashes his defenses.

Several undead rise up out of the ground. Not just the normal type either, these are the remains of some sort of long dead gigantic beasts that must've once roamed this island. They are accompanied by the appearance of several ghostly forms. Wraiths and spectres with their ability to drain life with a mere touch.

To your far left and far right, hordes of skeletons and zombies come popping up out of the ground. Nicodemus probably believes that you've foolishly walked into an obvious trap, but honestly you knew something like this would happen. Your goal here is to get the book at all costs.

"Death will not stop us today! But then some of you personally already know that! Destroy these abominations and take the fortress!" you shout.

One of your juggernauts is already moving far ahead of your army and firing off its canon, blowing away bits of the gigantic bone horrors. Under the right circumstances you believe it would easily finish up the task, but it isn't those undead giants that are the problem, the problem lies with the wraiths and spectres who easily glide through the machine and turning it into a steel coffin by killing the crew within.

Your other juggernaut decides not to engage such ghostly creatures and instead turns off to fend off the approaching undead horde to your left. Hopefully it can destroy a good chunk of them.

The undead giants still intact begin to lumber forward to meet your army while throwing large pieces of stone lying nearby. You cast a barrier in front of your army to protect against the projectiles and then throw your own projectiles in the form of fire at the giants while your army opens fire at their legs until the bone and rotting flesh that are allowing them to still stand is finally severed to a degree that the rest of their bulk goes crashing to the ground. Most of them splinter into pieces from the fall, but other continue to come at you, dragging themselves toward you with their arms. These are dispatched with a few well places magic bolts and more gunfire.

With the giants mostly taken care of, you notice the spectres and wraiths steadily approaching. You immediately drop the barrier and redirect your energy to cast an enchantment over your soldiers' hand weapons. Guns are useless against things like spectres and wraiths, but with some skill they can still be overcome by an enchanted melee weapon.

"Prepare for melee and don't let them touch you!" you shout.

The unearthly howls and shrieks by the ghostly assaliants fill your ears as you blast them with your magic bolts. Your dead Eternals come in very handy here as they directly engage the spectres and wraiths and try to shield their living brethren (and you) from being touched. It isn't without some casualties though and the problems increase when the horde on your right finally reaches you. Fortunately the left side seems to be preoccupied with overwhelming the juggernaut, which has now resorted to its inside mounted repeater rifles, and just trying to run them over though its wheels are starting to get jammed with body parts.

"FIGHT THROUGH THESE ROTTING BAGS, WE'RE NEARLY THERE!" you shout just in time to see several necromancers appear on the battlements and begin doing some sort of chant.

Suddenly there's an aura of death around you, and it isn't just becase you're surrounded by zombies. You feel like you just walked into one of those negative zones, except this one is being forced on you.

You're old enough as it is, you can't afford to age anymore. You have to do something now because you won't even make it to the broken fortress gates at this point.

You call your Eternals to surround you and you begin to cast a spell of your own. Your living Eternals are suffering the affects of the necromancers' spell, but trying to cancel their spell through your willpower isn't going to help because they're too strong collectively.

So you rely on your traditional blast everything in the nearby area and hope it kills everything.

You bring down an inferno on not just your enemies, but you and your people as well. Though you attempt to protect some with a surrounding barrier, but you just don't have the strength to protect everyone.

Most of the horde to your right are incinerated as are most of your people. There isn't even much left to "raise."

To your left, there is a similar sight with a pile of burned undead no longer in any condition to pose a threat, though the juggernaut sits still and completely blackened by the rain of fire. The crew inside has no doubt cooked to death.

Most importantly are the effects you see in front of you. You no longer see the row of necromancers and no longer feel the effects of their spell. The ruined fortess is also partially on fire, but it being made of stone it isn't doing much more than cracking the already damaged structure.

You're incredibly drained however. This battle has really taken it out of you and you've still got Nicodemus and who knows what else to deal with. General Damon still by your side helps you from falling down. The Eternals that are still alive are finishing up putting down the undead that managed to survive by being within your protective barrier when you cast it.

"Come on, my Emperor. As you said, we're almost there." He says.

There are other necromantic arts that you've learned besides raising your Eternals, though you haven't really pondered using them since there wasn't any need or you still didn't really have mastery over them.

One of these was emulating the life drain of some of the undead here.

And suddenly you're actually pondering draining your own Eternals of their lifeforce to sustain your own. The thought does not give you any pleasure to do so, but you just aren't sure if you're going to make it otherwise.

You drain the living

If there were any other way, you'd do it, but there isn't. You set out on this task with the mindset of achieving it at all costs. And if this task involves the death of ALL your troops, then so be it. They will have died in honor of the Empire and their Emperor.

The irony isn't lost on you that you'll be essentially doing something similar to what Casimir was planning on doing with you.

"Damon, your service to me will always be remembered." You say and then tighten your grip on him as he continues to prop you up. Before he can reply, you begin the process. It happens so quick that he doesn't even have time to struggle or cry out. His body falls to the ground a drained husk.

You feel a little better, but far from full strength. Your remaining Eternals stand nearby in utter shock. You know several of them were always a little uncomfortable with the fact that you could raise the dead, all of them accept the idea that they are to die in battle for you…but this a little different. They aren't sure what to think.

"Eternals! My children! An Eternal's life is dedicated utterly to the Empire and by proxy it's Emperor! Do not hesitate before your Emperor! Your FATHER. In order for me to defeat my enemies, I need you! I need you all as I always have! I cannot do this alone and I willingly admit it for there is no shame in a father needing the help of his children! It is true your bodies will die today, but all of you will LIVE on through me. Are YOU not willing to fulfill your oaths to make the ultimate sacrifice for me? Are you not deserving of the name ETERNAL?" you shout.

There is a slight silence after your speech and for a moment you believe you're going to have to take what you need by force, but just as you foolishly did when Casimir asked it of you, all your remaining Eternals willing step forward and bow to you on one knee accepting their fate.

"If it is your will my Emperor that we die to today so that you may achieve victory, then we accept our fates with dignity."

Blind loyalty, it's a beautiful thing…

Without another word you proceed to drain the life force of your Eternals. To their credit, most of them make a minimum of sound as they die. One by one they fall to the ground as husks.

You on the other hand begin to feel a lot better in fact you believe you've actually turned back the clock a bit! You don't have a mirror to look at your face, but your hands aren't as wrinkled anymore and when you go to touch your face, you feel less wrinkles there as well. You don't even feel all normal aches and pains you've gained through old age. (They're still there though)

While you're marveling at this magic feat, you hear that voice in your head again…

"You didn't heed anything I tried to tell you, did you Eternal? If Casimir were still here, I'm sure he'd be proud that he molded a near perfect copy of himself. Enter then…let us get this over with so that you may learn how futile all your plans have been. It will be the black trap door to the far left once your enter the fortress. I think the fire from your little inferno rain has died down around it by now. Down the ladder and straight ahead to the large room. Can't miss it." Nicodemus says.

The tone in Nicodemus' voice is almost one of boredom. He either doesn't believe you'll be any serious threat against him or either that he's just as eager to put an end to this conflict once and for all.

You're not going down there completely alone though. With a little effort, you raise a few of your recently drained Eternals back from the dead. As usual, they no longer retain any "personality" they just exist to follow your commands. Sort of how they were trained to do in life actually.

While you're doing all this, you can't help but feel like you're still being watched or there is another presence here and you don't mean Nicodemus.

You enter the ruined fortress, which still has a few minor fires burning, but nothing dangerous. You see the trapdoor where Nicodemus mentioned it and go a few more steps before stopping.

"Semra…I know you're here thanks to our little mind link." You say looking up and around for her.

Semra materializes between you and the trapdoor and your dead Eternals stand ready.

"So let me guess, you're here to distract me or waste my time while Nicodemus sneaks away to take the book elsewhere?" you ask.
"Actually I'm here to stop you from taking it period since I'm the only one who seems to actually care about this world anymore."
"You care about the world? Since when?"
"My dear Eternal, I care about the world when it's about to be destroyed by a short sighted mistake that has delusions of grandeur and a serious case of megalomania."
"When you say mistake, do you mean me specifically or your actions that allowed me to live in the first place?"
"Both I suppose. I know I should just try to kill you, but somehow the maternal instinct in me just makes it difficult sometimes…" Semra steps forward, but when she sees that you (and your Eternals) are not about to let her get any closer she backs away again.

"Oh right, that's why you've been sending svelk warbands to continually try to kill me." You say.
"Pfft. You know as well as I do, you were never in any real danger…well no danger you couldn't handle anyway. If I really wanted to kill you, I would've made a better effort don't you think?"
"Not really. I know you Semra, and you like playing games. Perhaps you didn't so call try hard enough because it would be more amusing to you to watch me struggle. So you did just enough to make things difficult, and figured I'd either give up or if your people got lucky, then great. If not, well there was always the entire island of Mortos doing a good enough job of trying to kill me."

Semra smiles a bit at your theory.

"Well, I suppose you do know me a little better now that our minds are so closely linked. To be fair though, I never thought you'd give up. I knew you'd die first if it came down to it."
"Whatever, I'm tired of talking…" you say raising your hands to cast a spell.
"Wait!" Semra says backing up towards the trapdoor and getting into a defensive position.
"WHAT!?"
"Just... Just hear me out okay?"
"Hear you…Are you drunk or something?" you say in exasperation.
"Look you can see into my mind that I have no trickery planned. This is just me here. I don't even have any reinforcements."

Semra at this point relaxes her stance by opening her arms wide. She has completely let her guard down, physically and mentally.

She's telling the truth. There is no trickery and this isn't a delaying tactic, Nicodemus is still waiting for you. You also sense a little concern within her. You have to admit that's somewhat surprising.

"You've got a few seconds. Better make them good." You say.
"Okay. Look, don't do this. That book nearly destroyed the world before, it may or may not hold the secrets to immortality, but it also opens up a gate to the realm of the dead! You think Mortos is bad? Think about when that gate is opened up!"
"Yes, yes, I've heard this horror story before. Nicodemus told me about it right after he killed Casimir. If I'd had any sense, I would've tried to take the book then and saved me all this trouble in the first place." you answer.

Semra shakes her head.

"If you had any sense, you'd turn back right now."
"Hm. I'll be sure to have that written on your tombstone, unless you're planning on running off and letting Nicodemus shoulder the responsibility of trying to kill me."
"Nicodemus doesn't even give a shit anymore what you do. I'm sure he's contacted you. Haven't you detected a tone of apathy in his voice?"

You chuckle.

"Are you serious? You're saying Nicodemus has no intention of stopping me?"
"No, he doesn't. At least not anymore. He claims he's tired of life, so he's effectively given up."
"I don't believe it."
"Believe that or don't, but one thing you better believe is that book is bad for you, me, and everyone on this fucking world. It already turned Mortos into a permanent graveyard and it eventually resulted in the destruction of my own Empire because we svelk had to make a pact with the infernal realm just to combat the utter annihilation that would've consumed everyone. We even made a deal with the necromancers that should this problem ever get this bad again, we would assist to prevent it if possible. Never thought we'd have to actually honor it though just because we didn't think anyone get close enough and be foolish enough to try again." Semra says.
"Yeah…the destruction of your Empire doesn't sound like a bad thing. And it wasn't the book that caused that; it was your own government's idiocy with dealing with demons in the first place. So once again, you lot were your own worst enemy." You say.

Semra rubs her head in an attempt to continue to try to "get through" to you.

"Look, you won. I mean think about it, you've unlocked some of the secrets of necromancy and even mastered some of its spells. I just saw you drain the lives of these now dead Eternals standing near you. You drained their lives and made yourself even a little younger. Think about that for a moment. You've already ACHIEVED immortality. I mean yes, it isn't perfect and you're going to need an ongoing supply of people to sustain you, but you're the ruler of the Empire. How hard is it going to be to just shuffle in a bunch of worthless peasants, criminals, sveld, or whoever every so often to be feasted on like cattle?"
"I'm not a wendigo or ghoul you know." You say establishing the fact that you are a lot of things, but cannibal isn't one of them.
"I don't mean literally of course, but the premise is the same."

You continue to listen while also continuing to read Semra's mind. You still sense no lying and nothing but sincerity. Unless she's found a way to lie so convincingly that she herself believes everything…which you wouldn't put past her. She does have somewhat of a point about draining the life force of people being able to sustain you theoretically indefinitely.

"We of course are never going to have a relationship in the way I'd desire us to. We aren't even going to be friends. And one day you and I are going to finally meet on the battlefield and one of us is going to die, but I tell you…no I BEG you…DO NOT do this thing. This path will lead to all of our ruin and nobody will win save for death itself."

Semra looks on at you expecting your response.

You turn back

Maybe it's due to sensing no deception and hearing Semra actually beg you for something that does it, but she actually manages to convince you.

"Okay." You reply.
"…Really?" Semra says with a little shock.
"You've never lied to me Semra. You've always had an ulterior motive, but you've never lied. I can't even sense a hidden motive either and given your genuine concern I have to believe that there must be something to what you're saying."
"Okay…so where does that leave us?"
"Same as always. However since I know if I engage you in combat right now you'll just run away as soon as you start losing, so I suggest we leave this place and just chalk this up as a sign of things to come on Dokkrus."
"I'll be waiting." Semra says.

The pair of you linger a few seconds looking at each other before you back away releasing control of your dead Eternals and allowing them to fall to the ground. As you leave the fortress, you half expect a comment from Nicodemus in your head again, but you hear nothing though perhaps he knows you're planning on leaving because you aren't attacked by anything on your long trek back to safe territory.

When you arrive at "Home camp" you're immediately seen to by the Eternal detachment that constantly guard the portals back home.

"Emperor are you all right?" one of the Eternals asks.
"I'm fine. Start telling people to pull out of here, I got what I came for." You say and return to Evigrus where the aura is a lot livelier and a lot less oppressive.

You have a kind of immortality now. It isn't perfect, but you believe that it should work for your purposes. Having solved the problem of dying via old age, you decide to set up your next major plan. Invading Dokkrus.

Year 80

"So you're sure Semra is in this fortress you speak of?" you ask Cassandra.
"Yes Emperor. We've seen her going into and out of the place several times now."
"Good, hopefully we can get her before this time before she runs off again. Let's try to capture more svelk this time as well, I think I'll need a bit of a recharge after this is over. The life force of the svelk is so… invigorating."
"If you say so my Emperor." Cassandra answers shuffling a bit nervously.

Since you've been here on Dokkrus you've been killing two harpies with one stone by draining svelk to sustain yourself. They're a great target for your purposes. They're your enemy for one, but due to their long life spans they sustain you a lot longer than a shorter lived race like humans for example.

Still even with this advantage, as the years have gone on you've noticed a need to drain more svelk with more frequency just to sustain yourself. It is probably this past time that has Cassandra a bit nervous given that she's an elf herself. It is a bit of a slight concern for yourself as well because you didn't think this was going to be quite the problem it currently is becoming.

In any event, you're fine for now and even after you go kill Semra there are more than enough svelk to round up, a whole continent full of them. Maybe you could even do something similar to them like what Casimir did with the gnomes.

Wasting no more time, you order an assault upon the fortress where Semra was last located. The siege goes fairly quickly, Semra must be running out of powerful svelk mages to give you a challenge anymore.

When you get inside the fortress, you attempt to follow your inherent sense of where she might be, eventually you get to her private chambers where you're beginning to sense her very strongly. Meanwhile a few of your Eternals catch up to you saying that they and the rest have been tearing the place up looking for Semra but say she's nowhere to be found.

"No…she's here. I can sense her. In fact she's so close I can almost touch her. Go search again, I'll stay here and have a look around." You say to your Eternals who immediately follow your commands and leave.

Closing the door behind you make your next move.

"Okay Semra, you can show yourself now. Come on now I know you're here. No need to be shy, it's just me and you. We won't be disturbed and it won't take long." You say.

At that moment Semra does indeed show herself and she materializes in front of you sitting on her bed.

"I'm guessing you don't mean sex." She says.
"Oh no, the only penetration you're going to feel today is this." You say and brandish the mithril dagger.

"My gift to you. I'm still surprised you have it." Semra remarks.
"I made a promise I was going to one day stick this inside you and I aim to keep it." You say and start approaching her. Semra still makes no attempt at aggression you can't even detect any such thoughts in her head. In fact from what you can tell from her body language and her mind she's resigned herself into giving herself up to you.

"I thought you'd put up more of a fight than this." You remark now in front of her.
"What for? At this point your power has grown to be greater than mine. I can't beat you. You've already destroyed a portion of Dokkrus and made it hard enough for me to ever build up another force to oppose you again. And as you might have been able to tell I'm tired of running. You'll just hunt me down again and since our minds have been linked its much easier for you now."

At this point Semra stands up from the bed.

"So kill me now and fulfill all your desires since the day I first tormented you in class. Carry out all the revenge you've ever wanted due to my action…I only have one request."
"Oh?"
"You told me that you'd give me one last kiss as you stuck the knife in. That's my last wish."

Same old Semra.

"Very well, as you wish then…Mistress."

You and Semra look at each for a moment in silence perhaps even wondering if things had been different…just maybe you two would have been an item in some strange way.

Your lips press against Semra's own and your dagger plunges into her stomach. As she stifles calling out in pain, you begin draining her life force. She manages to put both arms around you at this point.

With the pair of you still embraced in a death kiss and your knife still being twisted inside her, you begin to feel her life force reinvigorating you.

And then you don't and then you begin to feel the exact opposite…

Semra is starting to drain you! You attempt to pull away, but Semra squeezes on to you tighter and jumps up to wrap her legs around your waist as well.

You don't know how this is possible, you detected no malicious intent and Semra never had this sort of ability, she didn't having any necromantic powers.

Or at least she didn't when you last met her.

"Oh my dear sweet trusting Eternal, there were a few tricks that Nicodemus taught me before I took my own leave of Mortos. I have to admit though neither one of us expected you to listen to me back then. Even with extensively training myself to block you out of my deepest thoughts despite our link, I still didn't think you'd listen to me having always been mistrustful of me in the past. Funny that the one time that you believed me to be completely truthful is the one time you should've trusted your suspicious nature."

You attempt to slam Semra into a wall and furniture, but it doesn't get her off of you. You try to twist the dagger deeper inside her, but she bears the pain. You even try to punch her in the head, but by that time your punches aren't enough to stop her.

Eventually you lose enough energy that you fall to the floor with Semra still on top of you. Feeling very dizzy you see Semra pull the dagger out of her stomach.

"Ah shit, (pant) that's going to require some healing…glad I just recharged. Still could use a bit more though…shhhhh just let this happen lover."

You weakly try to get her off of you, but Semra easily pins both of your hands down on the floor. Semra then moves her body downward on to yours. Face to face, you lay helplessly before her.

"Remember this." She says and kisses you one last time and soon you are utterly drained to a husk and Semra has once again escaped long before anyone arrives to help you.