After sitting here for about an hour or so listening to the sorry state the republic is in, let alone the rest of the area that used to be part of the old Empire, you've had enough of it all.

"Stop. I've heard enough about your wretched country. I can already tell what YOU want. You want the Empire back."
"Yes! I want to resurrect the Empire!" Quintus exclaims.
"And that's a lovely thought, but sorry to tell you this, it's dead. Long buried and resigned to the trash heap of history." You remark.

This comment is definitely not what Quintus expected. Jennifer on the other hand isn't quite surprised you'd say such a thing given your own cynical remarks to her.

"But…you're here now…a symbol! A symbol of the old ways! Proof of honor! Proof of strength! Proof of power! You're an Eternal!"
"And? I obviously couldn't prevent the destruction of the Empire. Am I supposed to just resurrect it with my mere presence? Am I to just kill the entire senate and establish perhaps you as an emperor? Do you think the people would accept that?"
"Well maybe not so direct…" Quintus remarks.
"No? Because that might be the only way to get things done around here. And what makes YOU think you'd even be a good emperor? You do not even have the support of the people."
"I do have the support of my constituents! I even have a few allies in the senate!" Quintus protests.
"Well you still don't have enough for what you desire. I'd say that I'd have a better chance of being accepted as an emperor before you would just due to the fear factor and raw power, and I'd still have to be looking over my shoulder constantly before I finally got run out by a complete rebellion or I destroyed so much of Nalin in the process of maintaining order. Given what you've told me of the average citizen it sounds like they're perfectly happy with the way things are. Happy with their hedonistic freedom. Do you really think they're going to listen to a relic of a time when the strong just ruled over the weak and the weak not only accepted it as a way of life, but some were even happy about it? The sheep have been let out of their pens and do not wish to return. Do you believe your people, even those that apparently keep voting for you to represent them are ready to accept a more restrictive and harsher culture? Do you believe you can foster such an environment?"

Quintus remains silent and you throw up your hands at his inability to answer.

"Well you see my problem with your plan. You probably thought when you dug me up; you'd have a powerful tool that would be your key to reforming a parody of the old Empire. And it would be a parody, because even if you were successful, it would NEVER be like the old Empire. You can read all the lore and books you want about the old days and nothing is stopping you from holding fantasies about such days. But make no mistake those good old days aren't EVER coming back. You're about five hundred years too late. I haven't been awake one complete day yet, and even I've come to accept that hard truth…but then I've had to accept so many hard truths. This is just another one to me."

Quintus nods solemnly. The spark that was in him is gone, but you can tell he isn't completely defeated. Jennifer just tries to look away from both of you and shuffles some papers she has with her.

"You…you aren't how I expected you to be…" Quintus says.
"Nobody ever is. Another hard truth I learned a long time ago." You answer.
"Mm…well I seem to be at a loss of what to say. Which is rare considering they often complain that I never shut up in the senate."

"Look, Quintus. I won't deny that your ideals and goals aren't admirable ones. However, I had to drag you back to reality. You still have a long way to go before even bringing something resembling the Empire back. As much as it might be fun to send me to just kill the senate with a firestorm and then establish martial law across the land, it's not going to be that simple. At least not yet."
"Yes, I suppose you're right. It's just I've read about some of your deeds, scraps of parchments really and I guess when I found out you were alive and in my house I just figured all of my country's problem were solved."
"Well, they may still be eventually. Now despite what I've said, I will help you. Because personally, I'd like to see you succeed if only so I could live in a place that didn't seem so damn strange and it's not like I have anywhere else to go."
"So you are going to help bring back the Empire?"
"Well, something like it anyway. I can't promise anything, but I'll try. Now then, with me on your side, you shouldn't worry about the military side of things. I can take care of those matters when they arise, and they most certainly will. You're going to have to take the lead on the political matters obviously, but I can still advise you in this capacity. All my years of working side by side with the Emperor contributed to such skills despite being on the battlefield most of the time."

Quintus seems to have that spark of life again when you agree to help him after all. He happily asks where you should get started. Jennifer at this point is glad to also see things have worked out and says she should leave you two alone to talk more and get back to the dig site. Before she leaves Quintus calls out to thank her.

"And tell your father he has my thanks as well! If it weren't for you two, we would not be in the better position we are now. Expect a bonus in pay this week." Quintus says.
"Thank you senator. I was wondering though and I hate to ask, but it just came to me. Do you think our new friend here could come back up to the dig site when he has the time? It's just that he was buried there and it might be of great help if he could at least perhaps give us a good indication on where it might be beneficial to dig."
"Well we've got a lot to go over first, but afterwards if he wants to, I have no objections."

Doesn't take you long to agree. You briefly remark that where they were digging was near the Emperor's main chambers and you'd like to see if anything survived yourself. This new revelation causes a bit of excitement from Jennifer and Quintus wondering what other magical treasures that might be of use in the coming days of change or even some scraps of history that can enlighten them more about such glorious days.

You just wonder if you can find the remains of Semra. Call it curiosity; call it a sense of closure.

The first thing you and Quintus talk about is the military. You explain that it is of vital importance to get them to support him the most, but it's also of great importance to get them be more vicious warriors. You say you understand that battles are probably fought a little differently nowadays, but the intense training isn't necessarily just to make them expert fighters. It's also to instill discipline and hopefully a warrior's mindset. Make it so that they want to go to war, that they long for it.

Quintus says that he does already have some pull with the military. A little more than most find comfortable, but of course it's nowhere near absolute. You're glad since that cuts down on a little extra work.

You tell him to track down the most spirited and skilled warriors that are in the military and have them gather somewhere secluded just outside the northern borders of Nalin. You say you need to get started on training as soon as possible, you just hope you don't have too many wash outs (or casualties). You then say you also need to get started on an outside threat.

"What do you mean?"
"I mean you need an outside threat that genuinely scares people. Makes it so people are more supportive of a strong military. Makes it so eventually people prioritize their safety so much that they're willing to give up their freedom just to be safe. I mean I know you've been warning the senate and the people about all the scary things out there and you're right, but people don't believe it until its beating down their door with a battle axe."
"Yes, but how exactly are we going to do that?"
"Well YOU aren't going to do anything except going about your usual business. I on the other hand am going to incite one of those threats you've told me about. Obviously one of the closest ones."
"The usksha immigrants?" Quintus asks.
"Heh, well maybe in due time, but that's bit more on the…political side. Plus its not a large enough threat and the follow through of invading the desert is a logistics nightmare that we are nowhere near in a position to carry out at this time. No, I was thinking something much simpler. Something much easier to incite violence in and a lot easier to get people to fear, namely orcs."
"Oh, do you think you can do it?"
"Encouraging an orc to attack isn't a challenge at all. Herding them to all attack in a specific direction takes a little more skill, but I can do it. It'll just take a little time and we have to make a balancing act of it. Going to have to let the orcs win a few major battles in the beginning at least. It won't be pretty, but it'll also serve to purge some of the less than skilled soldiers you have around here. Some villages on the borders are going to have to burn as well."
"Villages? Are you sure?"
"The problem with the Nalinites is they've never really been under a true threat for a very long time. When the people experience the loss of a couple border villages and see the bloody aftermath, trust me they'll be begging for more protection. When they see the brutality of what an orc horde can do they'll be screaming for justice and for us to march into the Quala Badlands to wipe out every last green skin. The first steps to expansion and the first steps to resurrecting the Empire."

Quintus understands and says it sounds like a good plan. You and he talk a little more about some of the specifics before he eventually says he has a big day tomorrow of arguing against some silly law that one of his opponents is trying to have passed and needs to get some sleep. He says that you may have a bed in one of his spare rooms, as it isn't like the rest of his family is going to complain about you being here. You agree but say that you intend on heading back to the dig site like you promised Jennifer tomorrow and also to get started on that orc situation you spoke on. Quintus remarks that you can take one of his horses and says he hopes to see you within a weeks time.

The next day you ride off to your destination and you feel somewhat calmer than you did when you first woke up. You also feel like you have a worthy purpose now. You know you're going to have a big task ahead of you trying to reform the Empire, but at least it gives you something to do. Who knows, you might even be successful.

Or you might be instrumental in the downfall of yet another nation…

You voices of the past (Matriarch Brenda's writings)

Before you prepare to get some rest for the night, Quintus hands you an old small worn book.

"What's this?" you ask.
"Something I thought maybe you might find interesting. It's the old journal of Matriarch Brenda, first ruler of Nalin and your fellow Eternal." Quintus answers.

When you handle the book, the spine cracks and some of the pages nearly come falling out.

"Yeah, be careful, as you might imagine it's very old and sadly missing quite a few pages already. For centuries nobody even knew she kept one, but this was found about three hundred years ago when the builders were tearing down her old home to make room for the new senate forum. Such a loss really, tearing down the home of a woman who did so much for this country. I can tell you one thing, had I been alive during those days, I would've made every effort to keep the house as an important historical site."
"So who had this before you?"
"Oh several people. Mostly collectors that didn't really do anything with it save not really keeping good care of it. For a while I do believe it was actually lost, but eventually it popped up again and found its way into that museum run by the Mols. Finally through a mutually beneficial deal I acquired the book from that family."
"I see, well I'm not sure if I feel comfortable reading something that was Brenda's private thoughts."
"Oh. Well, you can just put it on that table over there if you feel that way. Just thought maybe you'd be interested in it. No harm done. Anyway goodnight." Quintus says and leaves the room.

You begin to settle down for sleep, but find you that you can't. You are tired, but not sleepy, probably because you've been sleeping for the past five hundred years!

You explore the room a bit, but there isn't anything much of interest that's going to keep you occupied, well except Brenda's journal. It probably seems silly, but in your mind Brenda hasn't been dead for centuries. In your mind, the last time you saw her was only a few years ago and reading her journal would be an invasion of her privacy.

However Brenda has been dead for centuries and under the circumstances you can't help, but be a little interested.

"Apologies Brenda, but I fear my curiosity has gotten the better of me." You say and start flipping through the journal trying to be a careful as you can since last time it nearly fell apart in your hands.

Really it seems like the journal shouldn't even be handled anymore, it's missing more than a few pages and the writing has faded as well. For all Quintus' claims of respecting historical items of the old Empire, he hasn't even bothered to put the loose pages back in proper order. Still, you manage to make out some of it.

One entry in particular stands out for you mainly because you get the best sense of Brenda's frustration of her situation, but then realizing that she has to do something about it.

Entry 51

Sometimes I wonder why I even keep this stupid thing. I think I had some weird idea that someone needed to keep a record of events after the cataclysm. Still don't know what caused it, nobody does. In another two hundred years is anyone even going to care?

Chaos hasn't completely overtaken Nalin, but I need to keep some sort of order. I don't want to use extreme measures, but it's getting to the point where I'm going to have no choice. They aren't bad people, they're just panicking and scared more than anything else. It's understandable, I am too.

I know who wouldn't be scared, that paragon of Eternalhood. The Emperor's Weapon of Terrible Justice or whatever it is they used to call him. Can't remember all the nics and titles he had. If he were here, he'd probably already be rebuilding the Empire. Alas, I have heard no word of him or much word of anything past Quala really and it's been months. I can only believe he must be dead along with millions of others. Warrick too, though I shed no tears for his passing. It was his bumbling that resulted in my husband's death.

It would seem I am the last of the Eternals. It is a strange sad thing being the last of something. Everyone looks to me like I'm supposed to solve this problem with the snap of a finger, but I'm just one woman even if everyone somehow believes I'm this superior being just because I'm an Eternal.

I honestly wish I wasn't most of the time. I certainly don't feel any more powerful or smarter because of it and nowadays I feel like I'm got a huge target on my back and I have to constantly look over my shoulder because some idiot thinks I'm being a repressive tyrant. People either hate me, fear me, worship me, or a combination of all three.

What the hell do these people want? I'm doing the best I fucking can! Not only am I trying to maintain civilization and order in these dark days, I'm also trying to keep some semblance of the Empire alive. We can't just abandon our way of life because of a terrible disaster.

Or maybe I'm just holding on to something that I know because I've lost everything else. I don't know, but it doesn't matter.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to make some major changes. I'm not even sure what exactly, but changes are going to be made if only so civilization and order can go on and damn what the people think. History can be the final judge.

I just wish Roldan was here.

"I wish you all were here." You say to yourself and close the book.