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 leave

You thought you left the Empire because it no longer felt like the government you swore to serve. Now that you're actually in charge and made things more like how they should be, you still feel dissatisfied. Maybe you've just got too much "warrior" in you to deal with the minute details of rulership, maybe you just miss Brenda; maybe it's a combination of several things. The point remains that you're burned out on civilization in general and maybe you just need to be by yourself for a while. Granted you've always been a bit by yourself even among your fellow Eternals, but you're thinking you need to be really alone. By yourself and maybe finding your own way elsewhere.

So you pack up some of your belongings and leave. You don't bother even telling anyone, you just go and head east. You keep to the wilderness and eventually when you step beyond the borders of eastern Nalin, you at last feel like a great weight has been lifted off your shoulders. After a few months, you don't miss Nalin at all.

In the years that follow you wander, seeing new sights and getting into a few skirmishes a long the way. Sometimes you genuinely attempt to find a place where you feel comfortable, but it just never happens and you continue your wandering.

While you continue to feel the ravages of old age always creeping up on you, you stubbornly refuse to submit to them. Ever the warrior, you eventually meet your end in battle with a group of opportunistic svelk bandits.