"Kill these fucking deserters and get me to the medic." You say.

The screams of the belzak deserters begging for their lives and death squeals fall on deaf ears…or rather ear as the case may be now.

Eventually you manage to make it to the medic who immediately starts administering an antidote to you. You're out of commission and very sick for a couple of days, but after which time you're at least able to stand without feeling ill anymore. Your chewed off ear isn't an excessive problem as you can still hear relatively well, still you do feel a sense of "loss."

In any event the expansionist eastern campaign is over. All the tribes have been either wiped out or subdued to the point of submissiveness. Brenda will be relieved to hear it, as you know she was always concerned about having most of the veteran troops there instead of the northern borders. She'll also be pleased that there weren't many losses overall.

You're satisfied with the results, though now you're just wondering what you're going to do with yourself again.

Year 50

"Our defenses are strong in the north. Have been for years. No need to be concerned about that." You say.
"I know, but this is a big thing. I mean after all these years now Edgar wants to speak with us?" Brenda asks.
"My reports say he's gotten a lot more organized and isn't dealing with anarchy in his ranks anymore. He even re-conquered the old core lands of the Empire. It could be that he wants to see how strong we really are. His message said he's coming alone without anyone else."
"Well, maybe that's a good sign. Maybe he just wants to talk."
"Or maybe he wants to kill us both to a great show of strength so Nalin will capitulate with minimum fuss." You point out.
"Yeah…there is that tactic. (sigh) Well I guess we all knew this day was coming. Guess I better practice my combat skills., which sadly have probably declined from lack of use. Would you spar with me?"
"Of course. Don't worry, I'm sure you're not that out of practice." You remark.

You and Brenda go to her personal training room where you and her prepare to spar. Brenda makes a few remarks about this being like the old days when Mistress made you fight each other. Brenda mentions the time when you broke Gerald's arm and Kane's nose when she pit them both against you.

"Yeah, I remember that. That was my first match. Mistress had it in for me after I begged for my life. I was always pretty aggressive after that, well at least until Gruz told me I should master my anger better, and I did…anyway let's get on with this." You say not really wanting to think about those days or any of the names mentioned.

Brenda isn't quite as skilled as you remember her to be and she has indeed let her talents decline. Then again as you remember she always was more skilled with the bow. Something you never quite got the hang of yourself. You begin to get more in a "drill instructor mode" and shout commands at her to watch her techniques.

"Alright, alright, I told you I was out of practice." She shouts back.
"Well you shouldn't have let it get this bad in the first place." You say.

After this remark, Brenda begins to get a little annoyed, which of course means she makes even more mistakes.

"Brenda, come on I know you're better than this! Focus!"
"I am!"
"Well prove it!"
"Well, I'm sorry I'm not the fucking lord of war that you are!"
"You don't need to be me, you just need to be an Eternal!"
"What the hell for? The Empire is fucking dead and we've just been upkeeping a parody of it for the past fifteen years! I don't even know what I'm doing trying to run this fucking country anymore! I never wanted this! I…I just wanted…to spend the rest of my…(sob) life with Roldan…(sob)"

At this point Brenda sits down on the floor and completely breaks down in tears. You can honestly say you weren't expecting this.

"Brenda…"
"I'm sorry, but I can't be the Eternal you are. I can't even be the Eternal that Edgar is. I lost that edge when I fell in love. I wasn't supposed to and neither was Roldan! If we hadn't been so weak, he'd still be alive and…"
"Dammit Brenda, you can't keep blaming yourself for his death! Your relationship and whatever feelings you had for each other had nothing to do with some insane asshole blowing him up. What's bringing this all on? Edgar? I think you're worrying about him more than you need to. I mean for all we know he just wants play catch up and even if he doesn't we're going to be ready for him and his army of half assed Eternals…"

Brenda shakes her head and tries to compose herself.
"No, it's not Edgar. It's you."
"Me? What do you mean? Out with it."
"I…I think I've developed the same kind of feelings for you that I did for Roldan." Brenda says.

Another surprise for you today, not exactly the best timing with all that's coming up soon.

"…Uh…I don't know what to say…I guess…I mean…are you sure?" you ask.
"I think I'd know. It's been building up slowly over time. At first I was just happy to have you around, another Eternal to talk to. Sure you weren't Roldan, and you're certainly less fun loving than he could be, but there was that familiar bond. Then when you were so instrumental in helping to keep order in this place, I remembered why we all admired and respected you as a leader so much back in the day. It also began to remind me of how Roldan and I complimented each other in keeping order here during the days of the Empire. You were bringing the memories of those good old days back and making them reality again."
"You probably just still miss him and are transferring those feelings."
"I thought so too, which is why I didn't do anything before. In fact I was feeling guilty about it, I thought I was dishonoring Roldan's memory. Wasn't until I heard about your close call with death during your campaign in the east that I knew it was more than mere transference. I was so happy that you were still alive, I nearly told you how I felt when you came back. I just didn't think you suffered from such weaknesses and I wanted to remain strong because your respect was more important than my silly attractions."

You don't have much experience with any of this, but you need to say or do something make Brenda feel better.

"Brenda, you'll always have my respect. As for anything between us, I never thought about it because I figured you'd always be carrying a torch for Roldan. I'm not opposed to the idea however. I mean we do have much in common and contrary to popular belief, I'm not quite the unfeeling golem that most consider me to be. I do have feelings, even if I don't show them a lot and I would've thought you knew that."
"I know you do, but you're in control of them or you at least direct them better. I worry that if by some chance something would to occur between us, that you would lose your edge. I don't want you to become weaker or distracted because of me. You're needed as you are now."

You're about to reply, and then there's a knock on the door.

"Sorry to disturb your training, but I've been told that the leader of the Eternal Dominion has been spotted at the northern border. He's on a horse by himself, and several soldiers are already escorting him to Fort Glory. Did you want to meet him there or did you want us to escort him all the way to the capital?" a voice asks from behind the door.

The pair of you didn't expect him this soon, let alone be in the middle of the discussion you're having now. You'd probably both like to wrap this up before having to focus on Edgar, though the question is if you'd have enough time to do it anyway.

You let the soldiers escort Edgar to the capital

Edgar can wait, you need to wrap this up now, or at least get some sort of temporary closure on this situation.

"Bring Edgar here, it won't hurt him to ride a little longer!" you yell before turning your attention back to Brenda.

"Okay, we've got a little more time and that's all I need. Stop worrying about me, I'm not going to suddenly turn into some love sick idiot that can't think things through if we have a deeper relationship! My question is, do you want one with me? Do you genuinely feel that strongly for me?"
"Yes, I do." Brenda says.
"Then we shouldn't avoid how we feel." You reply and kiss Brenda.

Brenda kisses you back and the pair of you give in to your physical desires. You're both at it so long you lose track of time and you're interrupted again with another knock at the door.

"Erm, I hate to disturb you again, but I've just received word that general Edgar was attacked on the road by fanatics opposing our talks with the Eternal Dominion. We don't even know what's happened to him and soldiers are…"
"WHAT?!" you shout. "Fuck, hold on!"

In exasperation you get dressed as fast as you can and Brenda does likewise. You're cursing the entire time, Brenda says nothing, but you can imagine that she's already starting to blame herself for this.

You question the advisor on what he's heard and he mentions that Edgar and his escort were ambushed near the village of Helas. Apparently nobody even saw it coming, the guards that were assigned to escort had several crossbow bolts in their bodies. Edgar must've put up a fight since there were some of the assassins found dead at the scene, though no sign of him. There was a blood trail, but it disappeared after a half of mile or so. So far none of the villagers from Helas have been incredibly helpful, which pretty much indicates that most of them must've known about it.

Brenda orders a complete search of the area, while you press forward to interrogating the entire village of Helas. You don't have too much success and just find out how much the inhabitants really don't like the idea Nalin becoming friendly with the Eternal Dominion. They assume if that happens then you'll start lording it over them like the Eternals do in the Dominion (as opposed to the "nice" way you do it now)

After executing half of the village, you proceed with the search, but you still can't find any trace of Edgar. You suspect that he's covering his tracks and making his way back home. You can't allow that to happen, because if he does, he's going to declare war on you probably believing this to be a set up, and while that may happen anyway, you'd at least like to try to convince him that it wasn't. Or failing that, depriving the Eternal Dominion of their leader…

You order double the amount of troops along the northern borders; you're going to need them there regardless of what happens. Brenda and you have a long argument about how your feelings lead to this situation. Brenda of course says that it just proves her right and that you need to put an end to the relationship. You get to the point where you're too frustrated with her to argue anymore and perhaps in some small way she has a point so you ultimately agree and say it's business from here on out.

A couple months pass and still no word on Edgar either. You aren't exactly ready to declare him dead, but if he was still alive and managed to make it back to the Eternal Dominion, it really seems like he would've declared war on you by now. As it stands you haven't heard a word from them. They haven't even sent any threatening messengers asking about their leader (you assume he told them he was going to visit you). You chalk it up to whatever selfish power grab they probably got going on. Still there's always the possibility they could attack even with disorganized leadership. However it isn't really Edgar or the ED that you're worried about, things are obviously strained with Brenda. Brenda and you barely even meet in person anymore and you mainly stay at Fort Glory. She's been delegating a lot of responsibility to her staff and become increasingly withdrawn. You attempt to reach out to her, but she doesn't respond positively and just requests that you leave her alone. From what her advisors tell you, she spends most of her time staring and talking to a portrait of Roldan a lot and constantly re-reading love letters he wrote to her. Mostly apologizing for straying from him and being responsible for his death.

You step in to take up the slack of rulership, and there aren't too many objections though things in Nalin haven't exactly been the most calm as far as civil obedience goes lately.

Year 51

"…and so I'm sorry. I'm sorry that my weakness diminished your strength. Even though we didn't go through with a closer relationship, I know you were continuing to worry about me. I couldn't let you be distracted with lesser concerns. I saw that happen with Roldan, and I wouldn't let it happen to you too.

I think this will be for the best. I feel like I've just been walking through a parody of life ever since Roldan died and I think you know that I was growing weary of rulership anyway.

Assuming Edgar is indeed dead, I guess this will make you the last of the original Eternals. I guess what you once told me what Captain Gruz's last words were are true. You outlived everyone.

Thank you for your company and making the last fifteen years much more bearable, I wish you well in whatever your future plans are, but I'm going to be with my beloved Roldan now.

May you always remain the paragon of the Empire that you are.

Love Brenda

You knew it was only a matter of time and you suspected it was coming, but perhaps this is the only way it could've been. Apparently she hadn't been happy for a long time, still, you wish that things could've been different. Maybe you didn't exactly have a relationship with Brenda like Roldan did, but you did have one of sorts for the past fifteen years and now you definitely feel a great sense of loss because she's gone.

However, life goes on. After shedding a few tears in private and composing yourself, you fold the letter and put it with the rest of your personal belongings. You then make arrangements for her funeral, which is a small one. You have her body burned outside Fort Glory since you know that she had Roldan's body burned outside the fort as well. It only seems fitting.

You officially take over as sole ruler of Nalin unsure of what the future may hold.
Year 56

"Sir, you want us to completely wipe out all settlements with the plague?" Colonel Gemma asks.
"That's what I said isn't it? I've already assigned all the medics, healers and hedge wizards in the land to focus on the less affected areas. As for those places really bad off kill all the people, cleanse the area with fire, no more problem."
"But, you're going to have mass riots! The people will protest, even soldiers! I mean some of their families are in the quarantined areas!"
"Well I guess you better have those soldiers executed then if you think they'll be a problem. In fact I'm surprised to hear you balk from these orders, I remember you when you were a young soldier wiping out Belzak women and children without hesitation."
"I…I'm not sir, I'm just concerned about the repercussions of potentially losing more of our army."
"You let me worry about the repercussions! Look here's what you do, gather up all the old guard such as yourself to carry out this plan. In fact get those elves I made into orphans during the tribal wars. I'm guessing they should be good and obedient soldiers by now, but they probably won't hesitate to murder some defenseless humans. The plague doesn't seem to be affecting non-humans as much anyway, so they're probably more resistant. In fact gather some of those kobolds too; they can clear out the bodies. Those little bastards seem to be immune altogether. That's all for now."

Gemma nods and takes her leave.

You have more concerns today, but you're delegating them to the advisors as usual. If it isn't a problem that can be solved by force, you're not very interested in it. Brenda was right; ruling is a pain in the ass. When she was alive, you still had the "fun" part to focus on, now you have to do it all. This latest plague is probably the most exciting thing that's happened in years. Still can't figure out how and where it originated from though. A passing thought was it might be saboteurs from the Eternal Dominion, but they've been fighting amongst themselves ever since Edgar died. Never did find his body. You still wonder exactly what it was he wanted to discuss with you and Brenda. An alliance perhaps? A threat to submit? You'll never know.

The nation of Nalin has become a lot more totalitarian under your rule. You've actually made it even more "Empire like" than it already was mostly because it's what you know, but also because it makes you at least feel like things are how they "should be". Lately though even that hasn't helped your mindset. You've become increasingly bored with just plain ruling, and after this plague nonsense is taken care of, you're thinking of doing something to shake things up a bit.

The obvious idea is to expand again, specifically aggressive expansion into Eternal Dominion territory. It's been too long since you've experienced a good fight.

The other idea you've had is one you probably wouldn't have considered again, but at this point any change would be welcome. You've thought about just leaving. Leaving everything behind and the region entirely.

You expand

You left the Empire behind because you no longer believed in it. Nalin has become a kind of substitute for it though and ever since Brenda died, you've tried to make it even more like the Empire. This may be the closest you're going to get back to the "good old days" and with age ever creeping up on you, you need to make the best of things and not wallow in indecision or hesitation. You're the last of the real Eternals and you're going to act as such.

Nalin WILL become the new Empire.

After a few months of putting out some of the backlash of how you handled the plague, you make your plans for expansion. You also fully intend overseeing it personally.

The first round of conquests go well. The disorganized Eternals and their slaves don't give you too much trouble; indeed some of the population welcomes your intervention. Most of the new generations of Eternals have been so excessively cruel that their subjects are willing to accept any other tyrant as an improvement, even if it's another Eternal.

Eventually you do hit a brick wall of sorts, the remaining Eternals realize they need to unite against you. The Eternal Dominion is more advanced technology wise (having stolen ideas and equipment from the Felkan Kingdom), though through your initial conquests, you've made steps to try to close the gap in the availability of gunpower-based weapons for your own soldiers.

Still, even with the current stand off with the Eternal Dominion, you victories restore some of the appreciation of your citizens in Nalin who are probably just glad your violence is focused on others for a change.

The balance of power has been shifted enough for the Felkan Kingdom to take greater notice of you too, especially since now your territory borders some of their own. They send one of their own to speak to you, while you're currently at a conquered ED Fort making plans for your next attack. To your surprise one of their own, is also one of your own too, or as least was at one time.

"Warrick?" you ask. He's obviously older, has a missing eye and no hair, but you still recognize him despite your near disbelief.
"Yes, it's me…see you're missing a few body parts as well." He says causing you to touch where your ear used to be. Sometimes you even forget that it's missing.

"Well you know how it is…but I thought you were dead! I mean I'd heard…how is it that you're working for the Felkan Kingdom now?"
"That's a long story, but let's just say I found my own path, like I see you found yours. Which is sort of why I'm here."

Warrick mentions to you that the Felkan Kingdom has been expecting an attack from the Eternal Dominion for more than a decade, even after the disappearance of their leader Edgar. However, now that the ED seems to be no longer a potential threat they're worried about Nalin invading, perhaps even more so since you seem to be a more organized potential threat.

"Well, you can tell your king or whoever, that I'm not interested in the Felkan Kingdom. The Nalin Empire isn't in a position to attack such a powerful nation at this time."
"At this time…that implies that you might later."
"Heh, well you might be right, just as I might believe that you're planning on attack us."
"True, and while you probably will rightfully remain suspicious, the Felkan Kingdom has no interest in conquest. Especially not right now. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but we're still dealing with a massive gnoll invasion that hit our land years ago. Fighting another war isn't something we want right now."
"Hmm, you're right, you shouldn't be giving vital intelligence away like that. This new information gives me an advantage. Knowing that you aren't as powerful as I once thought, I may very well attack you now."
"Well I suppose you'll do what you have to then, but if you're still the leader I know you to be, you won't. You don't want to fight a war on two fronts either." Warrick says in an unconcerned tone.
"Ha ha! And you would be correct! But enough about power struggles, let's talk for a moment just as Eternals."

Warrick's tale of how he came to be in the service of the Felkan Kingdom is a little sketchy. He mentions that during the last days of the Empire he was still under orders to perform his usual sabotaging missions. He says that he managed to integrate himself in their favor by rescuing some of the royal family who were apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time. Children actually. He says he doesn't remember all of it exactly though except there was a big explosion and the next thing he knew when he woke up is that he was missing an eye and was given a job. Already knowing how the Empire was beginning to crumble he accepted.

You proceed to tell Warrick about your time since the Empire fell. He listens intently as you go on about the various thoughts you've gone through since that time. You mention Edgar to him, which interests him greatly. He says the Felkan government assumed that he was killed by one of his own men in a power struggle. He asks if you ever found his body or any evidence of his death. You tell him you never did, for all you know he still got killed by one of his own men, assuming he had managed to get back to the Eternal Dominion.

You also mention Brenda. Warrick displays a bit of sadness when he hears the whole story, and you sort of relive some of that sadness as well. It hasn't been that long since she died after all.

"So, we're really the last two left then?" Warrick says.
"Looks that way, though to be honest I thought you'd been dead for years. Glad to see you're still around."
"Even if we may be enemies one day?"
"We're Eternals. The originals. We'll always have a bond that nobody else will and if we should end up on opposite ends of the battlefield it still doesn't change that. Assuming that day ever comes and we're both still in fighting condition, seek me out as I shall seek you out and we'll settle things in the only way they can be."

Warrick nods at your proposal and is silent for a moment as if deep in thought. He then eventually gets up and tells you he has to leave. He mentions that he'll tell his superiors that the Nalin Empire has no hostile intentions towards the Felkan Kingdom at this time.

The pair of you shake hands and part company, possibly knowing if you ever do see each other again, it won't be on friendly terms. Still, there is a small bit of you that was happy to see an old comrade again.

You return to the business of waging war on the pathetic remains of the Eternal Dominion.

Year 65

"Sir, you are incredibly lucky that the sword didn't hit any vital organs and just pierced the top layer of muscle." Lieutenant Davis says as he applies a mixture of some salve to the wound.
"Agh! Yeah, lucky me. Just patch me up, I want to finish off these wannabes once and for all." You say wincing at the burning sensation of the ointment working to seal the wound.
"General, victory is assured, is it really necessary for you personally be involved in the combat? Your military expertise is better served as the mind. Colonel Gemma says she's got a handle on things."
"Yeah, well if she's got such a handle on things, why did I have to save her ass at the Battle of Julk Pass? And what's this shit about my military expertise is better served with my mind? You're lucky I don't have you executed for saying shit like that! I was killing werebeasts, orcs and other shit you ain't even heard about before you were even a twinkle in your parent's eyes! I'm still every bit of a warrior as I… ah shit! My fucking head!" you suddenly shout and lie back down on the table.

A couple of other medical types apply something cold to your head saying that you need to rest. The plate they put in your head from the bullet wound needs to be "adjusted." You grudgingly comply and close your eyes.

You hate this weakness. Old age, the only enemy you can't outmaneuver, regardless of how hard you try. Death isn't something you've ever been afraid of, indeed part of you never expected to even live this long. But death by old age? Natural causes? That's something you never even seriously considered before, even if it was in the back of your mind.

If you continue your insistence on believing you're still in your twenties, you're going to die on the battlefield. You know that, and you're okay with that idea, but part of you wonders if it's just foolish to throw your life away over being stubborn when you could still live and do more with you life. The Nalin Empire is thriving and you've almost conquered the Eternal Dominion which means you effectively restored most of the old Empire. A feat Edgar was probably trying to accomplish no doubt, but much like him, if you died suddenly, who knows how long it would last before it crumbled.

If you want to leave any sort of real legacy, you would most likely have to step back now and begin to make preparations for a line of succession and you'd need a lot of time to do that to sort out all the details. This would mean you'd no longer be able to take such a personal approach to war again. Your days as a warrior would effectively be over and you'd be back to the drudgery of bureaucratic rulership again.

You have to take a long look at yourself and decide now, if that's what your fate is going to be.

You continue to lead by example

You spend the rest of the day in your personal tent still recovering from your last battle thinking about your situation.

Your head still hurts from where part of your skull was replaced with a crude metal plate and your body aches all over as it has been for years. You're nearly deaf in your one working ear. You've got scars all over your face and body. You even have a couple of missing fingertips now. Yet for good or ill, you're going to at least see this war through to its end. You have to be hands on when it comes to battle. You were raised to be a warrior, a killer, and an instrument of war. There have been times you've had stray thoughts on a different life, but ultimately it's always come back to war.

You weren't meant to be an old man who dies on his throne either through natural causes or assassination, and you definitely weren't meant to find a love and live happily ever after.

You are an Eternal and you were meant to die in battle. Whatever happens afterwards is of minor importance.

The next morning you muster up all your strength and stand. You're a little wobbly, but you manage it and step outside. Several of your staff urges you to rest, but you ignore their concerns.

You plan your attack on the "Eternal City" with your top staff. It was once the capital of the Empire, now it's the last stand of the Eternal Dominion. At this point there really isn't too much strategy involved. You just plan on blowing up the walls and storming the place with as many soldiers as possible. You remark that when the walls are down, you'll be leading the first assault.

"General! You can't be serious! I understand you want to be involved in the battle, but this is going too far! You know very well the battalion that goes in first is going to suffer the most losses." Colonel Gemma exclaims.
"It won't if I'm leading it." You say. "However, when I fall, you're next in line. I trust you know what to do. ALL of you know what you're supposed to do."

This remark causes a dead silence among your staff. You didn't even say IF you fall, you said WHEN you fall. You realize this and collect your thoughts in what you believe to be your last speech to all of them.

"(Sigh) Look, I'm tired. I'm old. I got more scars than all of you put together. I'm missing portions of my body. I'm in constant pain and I got a fucking plate in my head. I appreciate all the service you've given in the past few years and in some cases decades. Your concern for my life is noted, but I know it's time. I've lived a satisfying life. I won't say good, because I've been through enough shit to know that isn't true, but I can say it had its good moments. And I fully intend on making my last moments on earth satisfying as well by leading all of you to victory before it's all over. So! You all have your orders, and if I'm wrong about my impending death…well I'll see you all in the palace when this is over and you all can taunt me for being an overly dramatic old man. One taunt per person of course."

This last remark lightens the mood enough for a couple of them to smile. One even manages to give a small chuckle. You figure even if you don't believe it, you should try to keep morale up.

The attack on the city commences. It won't really take long to bring the walls down. Never thought the day would come where you'd actually be attacking this place. It's funny, in all the years you served the Empire, you never once set foot into it's capital, let alone the Emperor's palace. You sometimes wonder what exactly happened to the Emperor when the Empire fell. Was he killed? Did he escape? Was there really ever an Emperor at all?

It's all irrelevant now you suppose.

After a couple days of bombardment by catapults and cannons you at last breach the walls enough that the opening cannot be repaired quick enough. That's when you make your move.

"ATTACK!" you shout while galloping forward with your horse, which is shaking you enough to make every bone in your body ache. You've never really liked riding horses, but if you want to be the first one in the city, you need the speed, because running just isn't something you do much anymore.

You get closer and closer to the city nearly getting blown to pieces in the process by the cannon fire. How you aren't shot off your horse by a stray bullet is short of amazing. It's just as well you're nearly deaf, you doubt if you could stand the noise of the explosions if you weren't.

You reach the wall breach and it is there your horse rears up from the wall of pikes held by the enemy. This temporarily saves its life, but a few shots are fired and the beast makes one last neigh before collapsing. You are also hit in the leg by one of these shots, but you fortunately manage to avoid having the horse land on you when you're thrown from it. Sensing that you're an easy target some the enemy soldiers break their formation and attempt to attack you while you're down, but you're far from being out of this fight. Ignoring the pain, you stand up and meet your attackers head on, easily slaying them. You then proceed to fight your way through the breach just before the rest of your soldiers reach it to help you.

The bodies of the dead surround you and the streets are quite literally running red with blood. The mixture of gunpowder and death fills your lungs when you breathe deeply and it smells a hell of a lot better than that poison cloud that Slin witch inflicted on you years ago.

Limping around on one good leg, you help out the rest of your soldiers who are a little faster than you now in engaging the enemy. You tell them all to take the palace, a lot of them shout back at you, but you can only really read their lips due to the noise and your bad hearing.

The Eternal Dominion's last stand has them pulling out all the stops for this battle, at one point you find yourself facing a large group of orc troops in heavy armor and a single battle mage desperately trying to defend the gates of the palace. It's been a while since you've faced either of these enemies, but you're not going to run at this late stage.

Your soldiers engage the orcs and you try to focus on the battle mage who is chanting something, a couple of shots are fired at him, but whatever magic barrier he has up blocks them. When you reach him, his eyes turn completely red and a ring of flame suddenly emanates from him burning you and several others nearby. You fall to the palace steps trying to put the flames out and after managing to do so you realize you're now blind in one eye and the other eye sees a statue outside the palace beginning to move.

"Fuck, he's bringing it to life." You say to yourself. Your body then feels a heavy mace blow to your left arm shattering several bones in it. It's quite possible that you would die right there if not for a fellow soldier killing the orc that attacked you. Somebody helps you up and you're feeling nearly delirious at this point. Someone shouts about you bleeding from the head, but you can't really hear them, you're still focused on the mattle mage, who has nearly brought the statue to life.

Fighting through the pain as usual, you rush at the mage, even knocking an orc down in the process. The barrier doesn't stop non-projectiles and you easily tackle him. He tries to cast a spell, but is unable to when you shove your armored fist into his mouth. As he chokes on his own blood and teeth, you pull part of his tongue out and then smash his skull open on the palace steps painting them with his brains. Whatever magic that was about to power the statue dies with him and it stops moving.

You stand back up with great effort, one of your soldiers shouts something about getting into the palace and you just nod and limp your way inside. Victory is at hand.

You step inside the palace and even in the midst of this carnage it is certainly impressive. You can only imagine what it looked like at the height of the Empire's might. Several of your soldiers engage the last remaining hold outs, but you just wander about looking at the palace. You feel sort of odd, like almost delirious, but you try to ignore it. It has been a tiring day after all.

You see the skirmishing going on in the hallways and rooms, but you're looking for something in particular, the throne room. You eventually find it, and surprisingly it's empty. A couple of vases and banner have been knocked to the floor, but other than that, it's in relatively good condition.

You gaze upon the single impressive platinum throne at the back and approach it. You feel a sudden sense of accomplishment and pride in your deeds. You're also still feeling woozy and you collapse to one knee, but some how it seems appropriate.

"I see. The Emperor…he was still watching…he was always watching…I've passed the test." You says to yourself staring at the floor.

You then look up at the empty throne.

"I have restored the Empire. I have restored its glory. I will take my place with you soon." You say and then pass out, never to wake up.