Year 58

Your soldiers stand ready at camp as a single enemy approaches you. He shows no fear and has a look of determination and blazing fury in his eyes. He might even be able to cut down everyone in his path just to get to you, but that won't be necessary, as you have ordered everyone to stand down. This is between you and him. He's an Eternal, a true one that you once served with, if either of you are to die today, it should at the hands of the other. No others are worthy.

He's stood in opposition to you for a few years now and now that his side has finally lost completely, his side has resorted to acts of desperation to continue a long lost battle. This is just another example of that desperation.

The pair of you look at each other and say nothing. It wouldn't do any good anyway, neither of you is going listen. You both believed in the same thing once, but not anymore. In his eyes you ruined all that.

The two of you clash swords.

You remember when you saw him after a long stretch of distance from each other; you felt a sense of relief. There you were in a hostile environment not exactly knowing what would come next and you saw a friendly face that was more than willing to help out.

You land a kick to his stomach and smash his face with the pommel of your sword, destroying several of his teeth. He staggers back mouth filled with blood, but manages to block your next attack.

After that last time you saw him you were soon separated again. Oh sure, you heard about him, and he probably heard about your deeds as well, but you haven't actually seen each other until this moment. No matter who wins, it's going to be the last time.

You feel the deep cut of the sword sinking into your shoulder. Fighting through the pain, you manage to keep a firm grip of your sword and swing it into his side. You both hear a crack signaling that not only have you opened up a severe wound, but also broken a rib or two. He reels back from you as his side now drips red with gore. He's unsteady and breathing hard, but he's not going to stop. He's got nothing left to lose. If you were in his shoes, you wouldn't stop either.

The funny thing about this is you always thought you'd be having this battle with Edgar, not Warrick.

A slash at your leg brings you down to one knee, but Warrick isn't able to capitalize on bringing his sword down on your head, since you slash upward into his groin. He screams out, dropping his weapon and you painfully lift yourself up on your one good leg and land your own strike across his head. The sickening sound of skull meeting metal is heard and he falls to the ground with blood and brains leaking out the side. He gurgles a few unintelligible things, but some of it starts to form complete thoughts.

"You…? Wha…what are you doing here? I thought…you were still stationed in …Rask… I…don't rem…gnomes…"

After all this time, his memory is starting to come back. Your hit to his head, must've done something. You kneel down beside his bloody body and provide him a better last memory.

"I was sent here to help you Warrick. It was a very important mission for the Empire. You got blown up by a trap, but we succeeded Warrick. We won. Remember this."
"We…won…yeah…we…" Warrick mumbles and then finally expires.

You tell your soldiers to burn his body and not to disturb you for the rest of day, despite the medic insisting that you really should have your wounds seen to.

You sit in your tent in silence trying to rationalize killing yet another one of your former comrade in arms. He was trying to kill you. Warrick was on the wrong side of the civil war. A new king had to be installed and new policies had to be implemented. It had to be done, to protect the kingdom. Just like you had to kill Kane to protect the Empire…

It was a shitty end to an honorable man, but death by your hand is probably the best thing you could've done for him and at least in his final moments he believed he was elsewhere. You sometime wish you were.

The next day, you get your wounds properly patched up and get back to the business of holding off the Eternal Dominion, which hasn't been the same since Edgar was assassinated last year. Apparently the new eternals didn't agree with his leadership since it wasn't producing the results they wanted. They might not have agreed with it, but he was doing better than whoever the idiot that's in charge now is.

You wonder what happened to Brenda, you knew she was up there with Edgar in ranking, but since she's not in charge of the ED you can only assume that she was killed along with Edgar. You're the last one left and you think back to Gruz's last words to you.

"You'll outlive everyone…"

It's finally come true.

Year 65

More aches and pains as you slowly get out of bed. With every passing year you feel more of them and it's getting to a point where you can't reasonably get into the thick of battle anymore with sword in hand. Sure you're still a good fighter, but you're slowing down and don't have the strength that you once did. Of course some would say you weren't supposed to be doing that anyway as a leader should stay in the back and give orders from behind the safety of his soldiers. But then you always did cling to your old ways.

Still, it's not like you need to anymore, as the Eternal Dominion hasn't been a threat in years. You knew they'd fall apart soon after Edgar died. Their territory or what's left of it basically consists of petty warlords fighting each other more than fighting anyone else, let along the kingdom. Nowadays your job as a general mostly consists of pushing a few bits around on a map. Sometimes you still try to remain active by visiting areas that are experiencing heavy combat.

With no real opposition anymore and a stronger king in charge, the Felkan Kingdom is entering a period of aggressive expansion. With the newly acquired Arat province under control right now the king is looking towards Rask due to its resources. Diplomatic feelers were sent to see if the towns up there would join willingly, but no luck. You know from experience how difficult it is to hold, as the land is wild and its people are fiercely independent minded especially since they threw off the shackles of Empire rule and aren't willing to have another large government tell them what to do.

While you're certainly the most qualified to carry out an invasion on Rask, you aren't sure if you still have the energy anymore. Granted you wouldn't be personally, but you still remember the headaches of holding the place. Ever since Dawn retired to become an instructor, she's been dropping hints about you retiring as well. Perhaps it's time to follow in your wife's footsteps and join her.

You year 61 (Klemto's Lamentation)

As you think about your own possible future and if your "time" has come to settle into old age and compromise, you also think back to another who was struggling with his own future…

"Eternal, come drink with me one last time!" Klemto says sitting in a very basic chair near an equally unimpressive table. He's not drunk yet, but he will be soon, if he keeps drinking.

You take a quick glance at his home and most of it is very simplistic and lacks the luxury that he once had. It's obvious he's fallen on hard times now that the civil war has wrapped up. He no longer wears a suit; instead he has on a drab torn shirt and a pair of plain pants. Even one of his shoes has a hole in it.

"No that's okay, Klem…it is my understanding that all of the remaining gnomes in the kingdom are leaving on their own accord. I thought that you would be busy making preparations to join them."
"Of their own accord? Hah! That's rich! Richer than me anyway! No, my dear Eternal, I think the change in the regime has made it quite clear that our kind are not wanted in any capacity. In fact I got a personal warning from that bastard calling himself king right now. After all the shit we did for him too…oh well. At least they're letting us leave peacefully this time. Lot more than I can say for the Empire."

You aren't exactly sure how to respond, but it doesn't matter because Klemto is in a talkative mood.

"Y'know though, I don't blame him."
"You don't?"
"Pfftt no. He's a fucking human. And all humans are alike, power hungry and ready to backstab someone as soon as they get it and crush all those when they get on top. I get it. They got short life spans. Gotta get shit done a lot quicker. All of them do and if persecuting, enslaving or killing an entire race stands in their way, so be it."
"You seem to be taking all this well."
"Well? Well how else can I take it? I certainly can't do shit about it can I? Hell, I'm just lucky I backed the right side of the civil war, otherwise we probably wouldn't be having this conversation and I'd be in a mass grave right now."
"That's a good way to look at things. By surviving you can still make a life for yourself and rebuild."

Klemto bursts out laughing, spitting out most of his drink.

"Ohhhh, that's a good one Eternal. I guess that's why I don't blame you either. You don't know any better."
"Blame me? I didn't put you in your current position."
"Oh and you mean to say you had NOTHING at all to do with the current change in regime? The expansion of the Felkan Kingdom? Hell, even the rise in nationalistic fervor? You can stand here and look me in the fucking eye and say you had absolutely NOTHING to do with that?"
"…very well. Perhaps my actions did set certain events in motion, but I did it for the kingdom!"
"Right! You're right. You DID do it for the kingdom and that's why you don't know any better. You aren't even human. You look like one. You sound like one. Hell, you must even have some feelings like one given your marriage. Still a little surprised about that one…but like you once said to me, you aren't human. You're a fucking abomination that managed to finish a job that a corrupt dead society set in motion long ago."
"And what is that exactly, Klemto?"
"Conquest and genocide. My people…my people escaped the slavery of the Empire centuries ago, and for what? For us to be practically destroyed by YOU. Whether you did it knowingly or not, you managed to complete the job. The Felkan Kingdom? It's not the Felkan Kingdom anymore. It's the fucking Empire. My people? My people are scattered and more divided in away that we've ever known! We…turned on each other…(sob)…we KILLED one another (choke)…you…you did so…(sob) much damage…"

Klemto breaks down completely at this point and cries softly to himself. You really don't know how to respond at all. Part of you actually feel sorry for him, as odd as it may seem. You and he didn't always get along; you never really trusted him and you certainly never forgave his kind for what they did to Warrick...

And yet, besides Dawn, he's the closest you've had to a "friend" since you've been in the Felkan Kingdom. Despite all of what he is saying to you, the fact remains he did help you several times.

And that's where the problem lies…

"(Sniff) And despite all of the damage you did, you are not to blame. We are, or rather I am. I was the fool who believed that you could bring about change for the better. I was the fool who helped you the entire time. There is no way you could've gotten away with most of what you got away with had I not intervened with my connections and even convinced some of my fellows to go down the path to hell. If I had any of the great intelligence that we gnomes are supposed to be known for, you should've been executed the first time we met, but I had to be an optimist. Idealism…the disease of idiots."

Klemto takes a long swig of his bottle draining it completely before throwing it to the floor.

"Klemto…I did appreciate your help when you gave it. I mean that."
"I know you did, just wish I could help myself."
"You can. Like I said, you're a survivor and intelligent. You can rebuild somewhere else maybe even better than ever."
"Heh, while I appreciate your words of encouragement Eternal, I don't think so. You see, I'm not just an exile from the Felkan Kingdom, I'm also an exile from my own people now, or what remains of them. Seems they blame me for what's happened as well…I guess I can at least take solace in the fact that their hatred of me has kept them united them on some level."
"But, surely you could make it on your own, somewhere!"
"I don't think so. We gnomes have always been communal in nature. Perhaps in some ways we DO rely on integrating into other societies to protect us. Hopefully one day we won't and we'll carve out a land of our own. But in any case I won't be there to see it, and I'm too old to try to make it on my own even if I was going to attempt such a mad plan. No Eternal, there comes a time in your life when you realize it's time to retire. I think I probably should've done so a LONG time ago, but I stayed in the game because I thought I could do some more good. Instead I just made things worse, A LOT worse. Sometimes you have to look back at your past, smile at the good times, forget about the bad and enjoy old age. Unfortunately for me there are too many bad times to forget and no place for me to enjoy the good times…"

You begin to get a little apprehensive by Klemto's tone and words.

"Klem…"

Klemto suddenly pulls out a flintlock pistol and points it to his head.

"Goodbye Eternal."

And with those last words you saw Klemto blow his brains out.

Naturally you don't have the same problems as he did, but perhaps he could've been right about there coming a time to retire. Quitting while you're ahead so to speak, and not screwing up your past accomplishments by being too stubborn.

You certainly wouldn't want to end up in a hopeless position like poor Klemto.