Year 35

Another rebellion put down. You wipe your sword of blood and shake your head as you look around at the chaos. This is the Quala province, the very heartland of the Empire. You shouldn't have to be trying to maintain order here only a few miles away from the capital itself.

"Ha ha ha! Come on bitch, give it up! I'm an Eternal, you oughta be flattered that I'm even wasting my time on your normal ass!" private Felding says as he attempts to rape a nearby girl.

You briskly walk over to Felding and pull him off her. You know damn well that the rest of his kind are probably doing stuff like this all over the place, but this one is in your direct sight and under your command.

"What the hell, captain? If you wanted first dibs you could've just said so! Ah look, now she's getting away!"
"We're here to maintain order private, not create more chaos."
"Oh yeah? Coulda fooled me by destroying the entire town like this."
"Regrettable, but during battle only victory matters."
"Exactly! We won! So now it's time to have our fun with these disobedient peasants. Y'know instill fear in them so they won't do it again."
"You're not instilling fear though, you're just satisfying your own desires."
"Hey, who says we aren't supposed to have fun while doing it?"

It's like talking to a brick wall. You've had these "New Eternals" under your command for a few months now and they are some of the most undisciplined troops you've ever had. You can try to encourage them, you can try to reason with them, you can punish them, and none of it has a real effect. The only constant is that they know of your reputation and know that you're also an Eternal, which makes them just fearful of you enough that they don't attempt to directly challenge your authority like they have with so many of their other commanders.

If it were up to you, you would've had them all killed for treason as soon as they murdered their first CO, but for whatever reason the Empire wants them active. You're guessing because the Empire's desperate. So they were ultimately transferred to you and unfortunately you're not allowed to kill them either…well unless they try to kill you first.

You swear this must be what it's like to be a svelk.

They are like children, malicious hateful little children. It's not even their suspect loyalty that baffles you; it's their complete lack of discipline. Even Kane and Cyrus who opposed you had discipline. Hell, Edgar who was arguably the most emotional and hotheaded of the group was a hundred times more disciplined than any of these new "Eternals." You remember back to your own training and there were a few of your fellows that didn't learn proper discipline either. They never made it past Mistress and the few that did, didn't survive Gruz. Whoever was in charge of their training did a horrible job and should've been executed for incompetence along with the rest of these vicious monsters. That old orc was right, they will destroy what's left of the Empire, but you doubt if they'll survive long after its downfall.

You think back to all the real Eternals. You, Edgar and Brenda are the only ones left, as Warrick killed in the final days of the Felkan War. At least you assume that's what happened, his body was never found and you know he would've rather died than let himself be captured to rot in a P.O.W. Camp. Either way it's truly a loss you never ever got to talk with him again.

From what you know Edgar is still stationed in the Arat province, probably trying to keep his own "eternals" in line to keep the peace there. As for poor Brenda you know she has her command in the Nalin province and probably still quietly grieving for Roldan.

After all you've been through, it's come to this and you're wondering what the hell you're still fighting for. The Emperor? You haven't cared about that unknown ruler for years. For all you know he's some feeble minded inbred idiot figure head that his advisors keep locked away while they bumble around ruling things probably about as well as he would.

The Empire? Perhaps at one time, but as it has lost territory, respect and apparently all resemblance of sanity over the years you've lost all faith that it can ever regain any sort of glory it might have had, if it ever had it to begin with. You've tried your best to stem back the tide of chaos, but you're only one man even if you are an Eternal.

While you ponder your potential future, private Felding interrupts you.

"Hey, cap? You're in a bit of a daze there. So if you're done I'm going to go now."
"Hold on, I have one more thing to tell you."
"(Sigh) What?" Felding says with an exasperated tone.
"You're not a fucking Eternal. None of you little shits are." You say and run Felding through and pull up on the sword unleashing his blood and guts onto the ground. Felding makes a high pitched scream and slumps on top of his entrails after you remove the sword.

"Shit! The cap just killed Felding!" another so called eternal shouts while he and his buddy have just come back from looting some farmer's home. The pair of them look like they want to run, but you make it easy on them.

"Go ahead and run or stay. I don't care anymore. I'm leaving. I will tell you this though, if the Empire sends any of you unruly scum after me, know that I shall take great pleasure in not just killing you, but in drawing it out for as long as possible. Remember this."

And with that last warning, you leave your service to the Empire.

The question now is, where will you go? What will you do? This all feels so wrong when you think about it. You've killed so many for abandoning, opposing, or attempting to betray the Empire and here you are doing the same thing. Was it all for nothing? Was it worth it?

You don't know. You always believed at the time you were right and that you were doing the right thing. Maybe you were, maybe you weren't. You just know that you can't serve something you don't believe in anymore. Especially when everyone else around you doesn't either.

Speaking of not knowing, you don't know how to do anything except kill people. While you're certain that you'd be able to hire your skills out somewhere, the idea of being a mercenary is a little distasteful for you. You'd rather not push the svelk comparison that far.

You could swear loyalty to another government you suppose. Perhaps the Felkan Kingdom? You're not sure they'd want you, what with all their high tech weapons and your own government once fighting against them.

The only other alternative for you is to carve out your own territory and rule it as your own. While it's true you do have leadership qualities, you know nothing of actually running a government. You honestly wouldn't know where to begin.

You rule your own territory

You can't bring yourself to be some like the svelk and be mercenary scum who have no other goals than to earn coin. By the same token you're not going to pledge yourself to yet another government that will probably be just as corrupt and decadent as the one you just left. Maybe in a way, Kane was right. He was obviously suffering a mental breakdown as well as being manipulated, but the concept of forming your own nation would be the surest way to 'get it right." You could run things the way they SHOULD be.

The question is where to start? You'd need at least an army to conquer anything and right now you don't really have that. You're sure you could probably get those "new eternals" to follow you, but there still isn't enough of them even if you were inclined to subject yourself to the torture of futility. Regular soldiers would probably follow you, but nowadays they're so scattered that you'd literally have to travel all over most of the Empire to collect them, not to mention all the fighting you'd have to do during this state of anarchy. The only place you can think of is the Nalin province. It's virtually the one place still left in the empire that isn't suffering outright revolts, though the citizens are reportedly still severely disgruntled, Brenda is also there in command of Fort Glory. Perhaps she'll see the wisdom of your plan and help you, if that's the case you should be able to pull it off.

You find a nearby horse and set off for the south. Along the way you see the landscape of the Empire, which at one time was orderly and even idyllic is now burning and in tatters. Despite the chaos you don't need to do any battle, not even when passing groups of angry peasants who are taking every opportunity to get revenge on their oppressive government and its agents in all forms. You can only assume your reputation is enough to scare them off or they don't even recognize you. If it's the latter then it only confirms your belief that you weren't making that much of a difference in the Empire anyway.

When you get to the Nalin province you find it in much better condition than the rest of the places in the Empire that you've ridden through. Fort Glory looks slightly different, namely it looks more heavily fortified and a lot better cared for than when you left this place. When you approach Fort Glory, you are momentarily halted by the guards, but when you tell them who you are and that you need to see Brenda they immediately let you in.

Brenda is very surprised to see you. She looks a lot different from the teenage girl you parted company with. Her hair is going gray and she has a very "tired" look about her. As if the whole weight of responsibility is crashing down on her, but she still carries herself with confidence and strength.

"When my soldiers told me it was you I couldn't believe it, it's been so long since we've seen one another. Wow you haven't really changed at all." She says almost smiling.
"It is good to see you too, Brenda. Still as pretty as ever." You say, unsure of how to respond.
"Pretty? Now that's a word I never thought I'd hear you say. Let alone to me. Maybe you have changed more than I thought."
"Well I mean I never thought you were ugly, Brenda. I was just trying to reply to your compliment with one of my own."
"Ha ha, a complete lack of tact. That's more like the old you. Still it's nice to hear, though I hope for your sake, you're a better sweet talker to the other girls out there."
"Brenda, I have to talk to you in private about something it's very important and I don't know how you're going to react." You say by passing her statement.
"Oh geez, you're not going to suddenly confess some sort of hidden love for me that you've kept to yourself all these years are you?"
"What?! NO! This is something important!"

Brenda's a little amused by how you worded your statement especially since she was joking. You just aren't in a "joking mood" though right now and after what you have to tell Brenda you doubt if she will too.

"Look, I apologize for my outburst. It's just that this is really important."
"Okay, we'll go to my office and speak privately there."

When you get to Brenda's office you don't bother beating around the bush and you just tell her everything. Your thoughts, feelings, actions and ultimately your plan and why you came here. Now she really is amazed. You of all people were practically a paragon of duty and loyalty and here you are openly confessing that you've abandoned the Empire.

"Okay, wow. Well you've just been full of surprises today."
"Will you help me?"
"What exactly am I supposed to do? I mean are you seriously asking me to just hand over control of this fort to you while you play pretend emperor?"
"No! I mean shit I don't know I haven't thought out all the details yet I guess. It's just (sigh) Look Brenda, I just left ALL I've known. Everything I've ever been taught to believe in is GONE, if it ever existed to begin with. I didn't have many choices on what to do next and this seemed to be the best choice all things considered. I came here because I didn't know where else to go quite frankly. I see now that this was just as foolish an idea leaving the Empire in the first place, I guess…"
"No it wasn't."
"What wasn't?"
"Leaving the Empire. I mean I certainly understand your reasons. I share them. Maybe not in the exact same way, but they are there. Hell I think in these dark times, everyone shares them. I dunno perhaps you just made that extra step that the rest of us here aren't quite willing to make yet."
"What do you mean?" you ask.
"I mean everyone in this fort and probably the entire province would be for seceding from the Empire at this point. I think the only reason why nobody has done it yet or even rioted is due to way we run things here at Fort Glory. We found it much better by just letting people go about their business if we're not threatening them all the time and actually defending them from real external threats. The only real problem here is the high taxes which the Empire imposes on this region, that of course tends to make people a little grumpy, but not quite enough to riot. They remember what this place used to be like after all."
"Not threatening people you say? That's a pretty wild concept. Did you think that one up?"
"Nah, the credit goes to Roldan, he was the first to suggest it. He probably would've made a better fort commander too and if he had been promoted instead of me, he might still be here…"
"Brenda, okay you can't think like that. If he'd been promoted then you'd probably be dead and…"
"I know, I know. I just get a little sad thinking about him not being here sometimes. Okay, anyway let's do it. Let's break away from the Empire. Like you said, shouldn't take much convincing, though I hope you're prepared for a shitstorm from this. We might not much problem from the population, as I said they'll probably be relieved to not have to pay the high taxes any more, but we're going to get Empire armies to come down here eventually."
"Possibly, but it's pretty bad Brenda. I'm not sure if they'll be able to really do anything, the government is on the brink of collapse. If anything we might be getting an influx of people wanting to come here to join. You're just lucky they didn't saddle you with those new eternals. If they had, I guarantee this place wouldn't be as nice as it is now."
"So I've heard. I suppose I am lucky. This whole province is lucky."

Brenda takes a deep breathe before speaking again.

"Okay so how exactly are we doing this? I mean what system are we going to have in place?"
"Well, given what you've told me about how you've been running things, I've had one new idea. How about YOU run this place and you be the leader?"
"ME? But…I don't know anything about running a nation or anything like that!"
"Seems to me you've been running this place pretty well for years. You know the people and better yet, they know you. I think if I was in charge…well they'd think they were living under the Empire again. No, I realize now my place isn't to rule, but to fight. It really is what I'm good at. About the only thing."
"Now come on, you have great leadership skills!"
"Leadership skills for combat perhaps, but not for ruling. I think whatever is it that you had with Roldan made you and him more in touch with human nature and that's a good thing."
"Yes…it was a good thing. I just wish he was here. I could certainly use his help right now." Brenda says reminiscing.

You pat Brenda on the shoulder in your effort to comfort her; she tells you she's fine though. You and Brenda at that point set your plan in motion to split from the Empire.
Chapter 3A3: Remnant


Year 45

In all the years you served the Empire, you always felt like you were being held back in some way; lack of supplies, lack of equipment, ungrateful rioting peasants, or incompetent commanding officers. In most cases it was never a failing on your part.

For the past few years, you've come to appreciate no longer having any of those limitations. In Nalin everyone more or less works for the greater good of the country. In fact it could be argued that this is more the case here than it ever was in the Empire, at least as far as you saw. Brenda eventually declared the biggest town (Now a city) Dalt to be the capital and moved there to better manage things. You of course are head of the army and remained at Fort Glory.

Despite her initial inexperience at running a nation, Brenda has proven to do a fair job at it. Hand picking town mayors and other bureaucratic types to help run things certainly helps. What also helps is Nalin is a much smaller nation than the Empire was. The long arm of the army doesn't need to go far to catch someone doing something against the law.

Your intimidating reputation as head of the army obviously keeps people in line as well. Still, it isn't complete fear; they know you'll also keep them safe. When Usksha raiders started gathering around the southern borders again, you made sure to strike at them before they could attack any of the southern towns. You wish you could just go into the Usksha Desert and wipe them all out, but you know you just don't have the resources for such a thing. Still, you did find a temporary solution in the form of an equally old annoyance. The kobold tribes who eventually realized that continuing to fight against you would result in genocide, agreed to relocate to the edges of the southern Nalin border where they would help defend it. This has worked out quite well. The harsh terrain conditions closer to the desert as well as the occasional Usksha raids keep the kobold population down as well as aid as a front line defense without having to waste valuable troops.

For the most part everything has been running quite well, perhaps a little too well to the point where you get a little bored, but you don't even mind that now. You're just glad to be part of a nation that isn't crippled by corruption.

"This is the last remnant of the true Empire." You sometimes think.

Of course a certain person might disagree with that thought, namely Edgar.

Edgar hasn't contacted you or Brenda. Brenda wonders if it's because he considers you both traitors for seceding from the Empire, and while that sounds like Edgar, you suspect it's more because he's been very busy. Ever since the Empire fell, Edgar has been busily trying to unite all the new "eternals" under his command and his results are quite surprising. He's not only managed to do it, but he's forged his own nation calling it the Eternal Dominion. He claims it is the successor to the Empire and as general he has vowed to reunite all the old lands by any means. So far he's had varying success, but he's doing well under the circumstances. He's also created a strict hierarchy system where Eternals are considered to be the superior ruling class and everyone else is below them. You aren't exactly sure what to make of this ideology.

Assuming he's successful, you know it's only going to be a matter of time before Edgar comes marching an army from the north. Brenda has the same concerns and lately a majority of the military has been stationed on the northern borders. You just aren't sure it'll be enough. Brenda wonders if an alliance would be best, but the only other major power in the region is the Felkan Kingdom, and you're not exactly sure if they would even be in a position to help, let alone willing to help. The enemy of my enemy isn't always your friend.

This ties in with the other matter that has come up is expansion. Nalin has had a steadily growing population for quite some time and since the south is hostile desert, the western side of Nalin is covered by an equally imposing mountain range and to the north is old empire lands suffering from destroyed infrastructure and near anarchy, the only logical conclusion is to the east.

Slowly over time Brenda has encouraged Nalin citizens to systematically settle the eastern wilderness. The Empire for some reason never colonized this territory. It probably was marked, but just never exploited due to other more pressing matters. In any case, things have gone more or less peacefully as there have been no encounters with any hostile natives and it has proven to be great farming land. While things are peaceful there now, there's no telling what could happen later and due to all the troops on the northern border, the eastern territory has a minimum number of soldiers there. Right now you and Brenda are discussing on how to best to maximize your defenses.

"Have you sent envoys to Edgar? Is it possible that he wouldn't be a problem in the future?" you ask Brenda.
"I actually have a couple times over the years and none of them ever returned. Which is why I'm convinced he's pissed at us."
"Hmm, well guess we better up keep the defenses on the northern borders then. Still, my own reports say he's still nowhere near us. He's been trying to tame the core region of the old Empire as well as maintain order in places he's already conquered. There is the option to take redeploy some of the troops to the east."
"But of course that would weaken us in the north."
"Well yes, but if you're really worried about the east, then that's all I can suggest other than conscription."
"Yeah, thought about that, and I'm not exactly keen on that idea. The people have been happy for quite awhile. We start conscripting like the Empire did, they might not be as happy." Brenda says
"They'll be even less happy, if Edgar comes barging down here declaring them all inferior while letting his Eternal troops run amok."
"You wouldn't allow that to happen." Brenda says.
"Well I certainly would try my best to not let it happen, but let's just say I'm not as certain about things as I once was, there is always the chance things can go horribly wrong."
"Yeah, I understand that. (Sigh) Well, I suppose we can restart conscription. It's not going to be popular, but I think if we stress how much of a threat Edgar potentially is, we'll prevent the civil unrest. I'll get my civilian advisors to start spinning the propaganda. I'll leave it up to you how you want to deploy the troops; I think it would be best to put most of the conscripts on the east though, as I think we'll need most of the experienced troops on the northern borders."
"I'll certainly consider all the options. I guess I'll get to it then and leave you to your work as well." You say and are about to leave when Brenda calls out to you.
"Hey, I know you're very duty bound anyway, but I just want to say, I'm glad you're here to help me."
"Well I'm happy to help, but I'm sure you'd do just as well without me here."
"Perhaps, but it's sort of comforting to have another Eternal around to talk to. I just feel like we connect a lot better you know?"
"Yes, I do agree. We do share a bond that most others will never know."

Brenda goes to hug you and you're a little unsure of how to react at first, but you hug her back. Before you leave Brenda asks you one more question.

"Do you think Edgar's ideology for his nation is correct? Do you think Eternals are superior to everyone else?"

You think about the question for a moment, then answer.

"I think Edgar thinks it is correct. In one aspect, I agree with it, I mean look at the pair of us. We're both in the highest positions of power and people seem to be accepting of it. However, from my own experiences with the new Eternals I'm not actually convinced that THEY are superior to the average human except in combat and sadism which I suppose are good enough to instill fear into the masses."
"Heh, but isn't that what we do?"
"Of course, but we do it because we know it's necessary to maintain order. The new Eternals engage in pointless cruelty because they enjoy it. They're no better than svelks in that regard. They're so eager to move on to next atrocity that they let their emotions cloud their purity of battle. I believe this is a weakness on their part and that is why I do not consider them superior."

Brenda smiles a bit at your answer.

"The Empire really should've made you a general straight out of training. I'm certain you would've single handedly saved it."
"I don't know. Perhaps it was beyond saving by that time. If you'll excuse me…" you say and leave Brenda's office.

As you leave the capital building, you think back on how you left the Empire. While you're satisfied with your decision, part of you does wonder IF you could've done anything. Not just at that time, but before then. Is there another decision you could've made that would've prevented the situation you're in now?

After a brief run down in your mind of endless possibilities you quickly dismiss such thoughts as a fool's game. You were right, the Empire was beyond any help you could've provided. Nalin is your concern now and you need to make the decisions to how to best protect it starting with deciding where to send the conscripts when Brenda enacts her decree.

You send them to the northern borders

As much of a threat Edgar could potentially be, he's not knocking down your door right now and as safe as the east seems to be, it's still mainly uncharted territory. Anything could be lurking over there. Best to have experienced troops there just in case, in fact you're going to have them make scouting expeditions.

When Brenda enacts conscription there is a lot of grumbling as was expected, but nothing more. Many of the conscripts are a little nervous about being put on the northern borders after hearing all the scary things about Edgar and his "baby eating" army. You make sure to keep enough vets there to keep them in line until they toughen up a bit more. You also make sure to keep a close eye on the situation.

Months pass a life goes on as usual, and you begin to get reports on the eastern wilderness. Most of the scouts say that there is evidence of other denizens living further east. In fact there seems to be a small tribal war going on between four separate groups. Two of those are human barbarian tribes, one them is elven, but much wilder than what you know of them and the last one is a race you're not familiar with called the Slin. They're apparently reptilian in nature though, similar to the kobolds, but much larger and meaner.

All of them save for one of the human tribes have been hostile to your scouts. Your scouts report that most attacks were accompanied by slurs and curses against the Empire. Even the Slin have been reported to utter a few recognizable insults in their strange reptilian tongue.

You can only guess that all of these folks at one time came in contact with the Empire and it wasn't a good experience. Makes sense they would mistake you for Empire troops as well considering that all your troops are either still wearing the same armor or very similar armor. Some of the really old guard are still wearing the same insignias. Sort of like you do actually.

While you're confident that individually these uncivilized savage tribes wouldn't be a match in a straight up fight, there is always the possibility that they could all unite against you which would make things a little more difficult. They've all most likely been living here a long time too, so they'll have the advantage of knowing the land better.

Right now the situation is similar to the one you have with Edgar. They're all preoccupied fighting each other and not immediately close to any Nalin settlements. Stirring up a hornet's nest by marching east could bring that tribal alliance that you don't really want.

Then again you have been getting sort of bored lately…maybe you DO want it a little.

You make the decision and you're wiping out these troublesome tribes before they become a major problem. You're also going to personally lead this campaign of expansion; it's been far too long since you've experienced a real battle again.

Brenda is supportive of the idea, though she reminds you that if trouble comes to the northern borders she's going to have to pull everyone back immediately. Since that could happen at any time, you decide you need to handle this as quickly as you can, but at the same time, not sloppy.

First thing you do is establish a sizable war camp near the closest Nalin village in the eastern wilderness. You then have your scouts contact the human tribe that wasn't hostile and to tell them that you want to meet their leader to discuss about destroying their enemies.

Your scouts return with a crude map and report that the chieftain of the Belkaz Tribe is willing to listen, but that you must come meet him in his own village several miles away towards the southern hills and that if you arrive with more than five men he will consider you hostile and order an attack.

"Acceptable. I was going there by myself anyway." You say taking the map.
"Sir?" one of your scouts says after looking at the other in surprise.
"It's fine. Corporal Bajin isn't it? You did your job. Take a break, and tell the rest that I'll be back soon."
"But…don't you think you should take some of us with you? I mean they're barbarians and not exactly trustworthy." Bajin says.
"Oh I know that, but if I can't handle a simple mission every once in awhile, well what kind of general am I? Relax, I'll be back." You say and gallop away on your horse towards the village.

As you get closer to your destination, you start noticing the usual primitive totems typical of such tribes establishing their territory. Eventually several barbarian types wrapped in furs and other crude cloth stop you.

"This is Belkaz territory! You go back or die!" one of them shouts as they all point spears at you.
"I have business with your chieftain. My scouts contacted some of your fellows about it not too long ago."

After speaking amongst themselves for a moment, one addresses you again.

"You must be leader of the Empire men to the west. Other tribes hate you. Scared of you. Very funny because you are not scary. Not even that big. But other tribes cowards, we not. Come with us and do not try anything!"

You follow the Belkaz to their village which is a fairly large one. You assume that there are probably others, but that this is just their "capital." You get off your horse and look around and see the usual trappings of a primitive village. This whole situation is starting to remind you of your time in Rask. Though you hope that these particular barbarians aren't shapeshifters or spirits in disguise otherwise this idea of yours is not going to go well.

The Belkaz chieftain comes out of his hut. He's certainly a big muscular man. Almost ogre sized. Hell, he may even have ogre blood in him. Heavily tattooed, various tribal piercing. All proof of his manhood and tolerance to pain no doubt. A worn looking axe hangs by his side. Probably has seen a lot of battle. You figure he slaughtered his way to the top like most of his kind do. Whether it was enemies of the tribe or rivals within the tribe, it doesn't matter, he's proven himself to be the best warrior and that's what makes him the leader. The rest fall in line when he give them an order.

He stands before you looking down at you. Probably wondering how someone so small could be a leader of anything.

"Huh. Empire man. You wanted to discuss a possible alliance?"
"No, I wanted to discuss destroying your enemies." You say looking up.
"Hrm? Yeah, I said alliance. You need help destroying other tribes."
"Yes, I need help, but no I do not need an alliance."
"You speak in riddles Empire man."
"My apologies. Perhaps this is something you would better understand." You say and draw your sword.

The Belkaz immediately goes for his axe, but fails you draw it in time since you land a heavy blow on his forearm nearly chopping it completely off. He bellows in pain and falls back holding on to his dangling bloody limb. Two Belkaz attempt to spear you in the back, but you easily dispatch them with spinning swing to their bellies unleashing their innards all over the ground.

You run another Belkaz through as you advance towards the chieftain who has managed to draw his axe and recover from the initial shock of losing a vital limb which still partially dangles by the skin and bleeds profusely. He swings his axe recklessly at your head screaming the whole time. The battle was over long ago for him though as you easily duck such an attack and aim your sword directly at his groin. Literally destroying his manhood, his screams suddenly become much higher pitched as the useless member falls to the ground along with its two friends.

Dropping his axe, falling to his knees and attempting to hold himself up with his one good arm, you finish him off with a chop to his head, and then another, and then another until his head splits in two. Already dead at this point, you then stomp on his split skull crushing the brain matter leaking out.

The rest of the Belzak tribe at this point is either hiding or staring in awe of how easily you dispatch their leader. You look around and after catching your breath, you speak.

"This man did not lead your tribe to victory against your enemies. As such he was also your enemy and needed to die. This will be your fate as well if you do not submit to my army. If you wish to live and see victory over your enemies, then you will join me. If not…well you will join him." You say and point at their dead chieftain with your sword.

You get back on your horse unopposed and ride back to your camp where some of your soldiers have been mildly concerned about you. You address the camp and one of your lieutenants in particular.

"Everyone get some rest tonight our path to victory begins tomorrow. Lieutenant Harren I'm going to need you to take a platoon and head out to the main Belzak village tomorrow. Be on guard, as usual, but I think you'll find the natives quite agreeable with helping you in any way they can. In fact I dare say after this is all over they'll be some of the most loyal of our newest citizens."
Year 46

It took longer than you expected, but you've at last tracked down the main lair of the Slin. They've stretched this little war out the longest, but this is where it's going to end.

Arrows unleashed by Slin bows hit some of your Belzak skimishers, but your own soldiers advance on the cave opening undeterred with their shields held up to protect them.

You shake your head when you see the remaining Belzak run away. They've actually been completely useless when fighting the Slin. The only time they seemed to prove useful is when you were wiping out the Fleg tribe.

The Fleg were pretty odd as you came to find out that they were decedents of once regular Empire citizens that started believing in some weird cult that took hold in the Nalin province long before you were around. The Empire stomped it out, but obviously the remainder fled here. Surrender and backing down wasn't an option for them. When you got to their last village you found that they all committed ritual suicide. Their cult finally wiped out.

You and your men fight your way into the cave entrance, several large Slin come lumbering from various tunnels hissing and charging at you. You like that. You appreciate a foe that gives no quarter and doesn't run even in the face of certain death.

It's more than can be said of the wild elves. They were fierce fighters at first, but after you wiped out the Fleg and started making great progress against the Slin, something in them must've changed. It's as if all their courage left them. Their elder came to you and begged you to spare them from genocide. These elves were all former slaves that managed to run away from the Empire long ago. The elder spoke of how he should've known it was folly to run away and that eventually the Empire would eventually find them again even if it took them hundreds of years. You told him that the Empire was no more, but his peoples' attacks on your soldiers was something that couldn't be forgiven.

Taking a page from Captain Krozer's handling of elves in Rask, you had all the adults and elderly killed. Any children were taken to become wards of the state. While slavery doesn't exist in Nalin as it did in the Empire, you figure these children can still be indoctrinated to be proper citizens and given a second chance at a better life. Sometimes mercy can be a good thing.

Several Slin lie dead at your feet. More of them continue to pour in as you and your remaining men travel further into the cavern.

No, there will be no capitulation, or cowardly escape through suicide here. Before you killed the elven elder, he told you that the Slin apparently once lived in the Delerg swamps before being driven out by the Empire. (With the help of the Shadow Guard) Funny how all these people managed to settle in the same area and fight each other rather than unite, but then they all had different reasons and ways of life.

The Slin don't even realize that the Empire has fallen, and attempting to explain it to them at this point wouldn't do any good even if you wanted to bother with such a thing. You're close enough to being one of their oppressors in their eyes and your goals of kill or be killed were locked in as soon as you stepped into their territory

The final confrontation takes place in what you guess to be brood chamber. Even Slin children are vicious enough to take part in battle. The Slin matriarch isn't as big as the ones you've been fighting, but she has the advantage of some sort of primitive magic. She casts a poisonous cloud causing several of your troops that had followed you, immediately gag, cough and vomit. They eventually succumb to the toxins and choking on their own blood and bleeding from every orifice. The cloud doesn't make you feel too well either, but being an Eternal you're made of stronger stuff and have natural immunities to most poisons.
Her brood bite at your legs as you attempt to fight through the haze of the poison cloud. You slaughter all of them and ignore the pain of several teeth cutting through your leggings and into your flesh.

The matriarch hisses at you backing away as you advance towards her. She attempts to cast another spell, but you interrupt her by slashing her staff out of her hand. Lacking any other weapons, she resorts to her natural ones that are just as good to kill someone with. She lunges at you and wrestles you to the ground where you lose your sword in the process.

Having a hard time seeing and breathing due to the cloud, you begin to feel a lot weaker and you struggle to free your arms from her talons.

"Babies! Ssss! You kill my babiessss!" She says attempting to bite your face off. You more your head in such a manner that she only manages to bite your ear off instead. At this time you finally manage to free one of your arms and bring a fist to the side of her head. It isn't enough to knock her off of you, but it's enough to daze her enough so you can free your other arm. With both hands free you take your thumbs and jam them into the red orbs of the matriarch succeeding in pulling one out completely.

The matriarch shrieks in pain holding her face and you push her off of you. Blind and crawling on the ground, she attempts to look for her staff. You stand up and easily grab your own weapon and put the matriarch out of her misery with a chop to her leathery neck. Another severs her head completely.

You stagger out of the Slin brood chamber coughing up some blood from all the poison you inhaled from the now dissipating cloud. Some of your troops that were still fighting Slin in other parts of the cavern see that you're not feeling your best and go to help you.

You don't remember exactly what happened after that. You must've passed out briefly because the next thing you know you're lying outside the cave surrounded by some of your soldiers and a few of the belzaks who must've regained their courage after they ran away. You're still not feeling good, who knows how much of that poison is in your system.

"I've seen this before! He needs certain herbs to cure the poison, and I have some, I can mix up an antidote right here!" one of the belzak says.
"Shut the fuck up tribal, you oughta be glad we're not executing you right now for desertion on the battle field! In fact let's take care of that right now!" a soldier remarks and you hear a scuffle and protests of wanting to help and begging for life.

You struggle to get up, and you manage it just barely. You feel like you're going to collapse again and you aren't sure if you're going to make it to the medic back at the war camp.

In the meantime the belzakians are begging you to call off you soldiers.

You call off the execution

You're feeling so ill at this point that if these deserters can actually do something to help you, you'll give them a pass.

"Release them…let them make their antidote." You gasp.

Your soldiers are hesitant, but fulfill your orders and release the belzakians so that they can do their work. The one who spoke up thanks you immediately and starts asking his buddies to help him mix up the antidote.

You lie on a bed roll drifting in and out of deliriousness hoping they hurry up with that antidote, eventually one of them approaches you.

"This is for you, my merciful general!"

You grab the wooden bowl that they've mixed the antidote in and struggle to sit up. After gazing into the green liquid you drink deeply.

"Yes, drink, soon all your pain will be no more!" the belzak exclaims

You might be ill and your hearing might be off due to missing an ear now, but the tone of the belzak's voice is a little concerning. And you have every right to be concerned unfortunately it's a little too late.

Your throat and your entire insides feel like they're on fire. If you were ill before, that "antidote" you just drank made it ten times worse. You struggle to breathe and attempt to grab at the belzak who avoids your feeble attempts, though your other soldiers grab him and his fellows.

"YES DIE TYRANT! DIE FOR MAKING MY TRIBE SLAVES!" he screams before one of your soldiers cuts his throat.

It's no victory though; your own life ends soon after as the mixture of poisons in your system shut down your body completely.