You need to stay here and oversee the purging of this fort, and the surrounding area. You can’t start running off half assed because you’re a little worried about one soldier even if she is one of the best ones you’ve had under your command. (Not including your fellow Eternals of course)

After slaying all the gnolls still in the fort, you regroup your soldiers and tell one of the sergeants to head over the Blossumdale with a couple platoons and help in whatever way they can. You tell the rest of your soldiers to start rebuilding the walls, clear out the dead bodies and to help you do a sweep of the area.

Your sweep of the area is a tedious, but vital one. A lot of the gnolls retreated to various areas just enough to be out of sight, but were obviously still attempting to regroup again. Good thing you stayed behind to mop up all these little clusters so they didn’t form a big one again. By the time you’re satisfied with your results, the sun is coming up and you return to the fort more than a little tired.

When you get back, you’re happy to see Dawn there.

“Sir, Blossumdale still stands sir, the rest of the soldiers are securing it and the area.”
“Glad to hear it, and glad to see you made it out in one peace. Was the fighting heavy?”
“It was, but from the looks of it, the fighting was worse here. The only problem we had is with a wyvern.”
“Lucky you only had one. We had four of them and I had to kill two of them myself.”
“That’s one more than me then, sir.”

You smile at her remark and after a brief discussion on what the next course of action will be, you get some rest.

Over the next few months the gnoll attacks die down, but they don’t stop completely. Most of your activities involve going further into the wilderness and taking out whatever villages or camps they have. In the meantime your superiors are telling you to stop your actions as the war has been won and now you’re just using up valuable manpower and resources. You really aren’t though; you’ve been doing just fine with the limited supplies that they see fit to give you. Somehow this situation seems very familiar…

While your superiors do a lot of complaining, nothing actually happens to you. It would seem they’re bitching at you just for the sake of bitching. The gnolls might not actually be able to invade properly anymore, but if you let them regroup again, they’ll try it. Your goal is to purge them all, or at the very least drive them away so they don’t try it ever again.

Year 50

“This is bullshit sir, executing those protestors was the right thing to do!”
“Calm down lieutenant.” You say to Dawn.
“No sir, this isn’t right! They can’t punish you just for doing your fucking job!”
“Okay lieutenant I said calm down! Now listen, I need you on your best behavior, because they’re going to question all of us. I saw this happen to my predecessor. (sigh) Who knows maybe I did go too far, I mean I haven’t exactly been following Felkan policies, I’ve been sort of doing my own thing out here for the past ten years.”
“Yeah, but your actions are protecting the kingdom! How can that be wrong?”

You look at Dawn and see that she’s changed quite a bit since she stood here in this office several years ago hesitant to kill baby gnolls. She’s practically like an Empire soldier now. Everyone in this fort is and that’s what is no doubt getting you into trouble. Still, they shouldn’t be blamed for what you just ordered them to do.

“Well, maybe I was protecting the kingdom, but I still wasn’t following the laws. And I certainly broke enough of them. Just don’t worry; I’ll do everything in my power to make sure nobody here gets blamed. I mean you were all just following orders.”
“Thank you sir, but I knew exactly what I was doing and if they put you against the wall in front of a firing squad for treason, then I want to be standing right next to you.”
“…that’s a very…enthusiastic sentiment, but I don’t think that will be necessary. I mean maybe this won’t even be all that bad, they did at least warn me that they were coming. They didn’t even do that with Eckers. Look lieutenant…Dawn, whatever happens don’t go doing something foolish like trying to save me or sacrificing yourself or something. Just continue to serve the kingdom and try to follow the laws the best you can, okay?”

Dawn is visible upset by all this. She turns her head for a moment while sniffling, then turns back to you and agrees. She then excuses herself to get ready for this investigation. Wasn’t really until this moment that you see that you’ve have a very deep effect on her. You didn’t expect to, as you treated her like any one else under your command, well maybe you did compliment her a little bit more, but that’s only because she did more.

Eventually the investigation group gets arrives. To your surprise it consists of only two people, General Benson, and that gnome you saw before during Captain Ecker’s investigation, you certainly hope this turns out a lot better.

All your troops stand at attention and you greet the general. After a brief exchange the well dress gnome parts company with the general who approaches you and just shakes his head.

“I knew we made a bad decision.” He says and motions you to your office.

You sit down and the general sits down and he begins his questions right away.

“Let’s get right to it shall we? You are aware that you’re serving the Felkan Kingdom aren’t you?”
“Yes sir.”
“Oh? You do? Well then, is there any particular reason why you’re treating this area as if you still serving your long dead Empire?”
“I’m not sure I follow you sir.”
“Don’t play stupid with me, I’ve read the reports and followed all your actions for the past ten years! You’ve trained these soldiers to the point that they’re fanatically loyal and dedicated, you started a war with the gnolls and didn’t stop hostilities until you completely eliminated their species, during which time you executed several Felkan citizens in Blossumdale and now you’ve done it again! Tell me, is war, murder and genocide all they taught you in the Empire?”
“Basically.”
“You might not want to be so flip with me, Eternal, your ass is just a step away from the gallows yourself.”
“Sir, with all due respect if I was such a problem for the past ten years, why not get rid of me before now?”
“Ohhh, believe me, if I’d had any say in the matter you would’ve been.”
“Sir, everything I’ve done has been for the good of the Felkan Kingdom. I mean loyal and dedicated soldiers, since when is that a bad thing? Soldiers are supposed to follow orders of their superiors and government. That’s sort of their whole purpose.”
“That’s rather ironic coming from you who seems to blatantly ignores orders like not starting wars.”
“Sir, the gnolls were an ongoing problem even if they weren’t planning an invasion. Isn’t it better that they’re all dead so that Felkan citizens don’t have to worry about getting robbed and killed on the roads? Blossomdale probably wouldn’t be standing if we hadn’t stopped them.”
“Do you really want to bring up Blossumdale captain?”
“Why the hell not? You’re bringing everything else up.” You say starting to get angry.
“Watch your tone, and if you insist…I already know your half assed excuse for executing citizens during the war with the gnolls, but please explain to me why you did it again this time, just so I can try to understand your fucked Eternal logic.”
“Well it’s rather simple, some of the citizens were protesting the new tax that the king imposed. They were in front of the town hall screaming at their mayor as if he was directly to blame. We stepped in to calm them down, they started getting more violent and began throwing rocks. We told them to stop, they didn’t, so we opened fire on them. After rounding up the main rabble rousers who didn’t get shot the first time, we executed them properly.”
“And that’s it? That’s your excuse for gunning down several citizens?”
“If they hadn’t done , what we told them not to do, they’d still be alive right now, sir.”
“And there it is again, they didn’t do what you told them to do, so they got killed, but when it comes to you, you apparently do whatever the hell you want.”
“That’s not true sir I was trying to stop a potential rebellion, you can ask the mayor and any of my soldiers about the situation and…”
“I’m not asking them, I’m asking you! You wantonly executing protestors like that is more likely to cause a damn rebellion not stop one! Or… maybe that’s what you really want Eternal? I mean that’s what you’re doing isn’t it? You train the troops to be utterly loyal, not to the Kingdom but to YOU. You’re starting wars, you’re executing Felkans which is going to cause more harm than good. Maybe this is your way of getting revenge on us? Perhaps you’re trying to start your own little Empire with you as the emperor this time?”

You can’t believe these accusations. Here you’ve been doing what you can for the Felkan Kingdom by fighting off hostiles and putting down dissidents and you’re the one getting accused of treason. You just rub your hands over your face trying hard not to chuckle too much at the dark humor in all this. General Benson just stares at you disapprovingly as he usually does, but remains silent. It is at this point the well-dressed gnome walks in and nods at the general, he lights up some pipeweed and stands in the corner observing.

It’s at that moment you think back to Captain Ecker’s accusations on the gnomes. Maybe he was right after all. Hardly matters at this point, because as far you’re concerned everyone in charge here has been an asshole.

“Sir, I chopped up a shitload of gnolls and executed dissidents in the service of this fucking kingdom and the whole time I’ve done it all I’ve gotten is bitching and general ungratefulness, yet I haven’t complained. I didn’t even complain when you fuckers never sent me supplies on time to help fight the gnoll invasion. I execute some worthless fucking peasants stirring up shit, and I’m the fucking bad guy some how. Sir, I don’t need to re-create the Empire, because as fucked up as the government policies are here, I THOUGHT I WAS STILL SERVING THE FUCKING THING!” you shout.

You slump back in your chair still fuming after your outburst, and that’s when the gnome speaks up in between puffs of his pipe.

“So, Eternal did you want to leave?” he asks.
“What?”
“I’m asking you, did you want to leave? If you can’t find a place here, then perhaps it would be better if you left. In gratitude of all your service to the kingdom, this is a one time offer for you to leave free and clear. There will be no repercussions except that you can never return here.”
> You continue to stay
As tempting as it might be to leave, you did that once before and it hasn’t turned out that great. Besides where would you go now? The only place that you know of that has any resemblance of civilization is the Eternal Dominion, and you’re fairly certain you wouldn’t be welcomed. Right now you’re sort of wishing that you’d stuck around during the last days of the Empire instead of leaving. Perhaps you could’ve made more of a difference than you thought, or maybe you could’ve fit in better among the ranks of the Eternal Dominion. The general was probably correct on a few points. You have tried to make this place more “Empire like”, but it’s all you know. You can only change so much. You wonder how Warrick managed to adapt as well as he did in a much shorter period of time.

The only other option is leaving this land far behind and living as a directionless wanderer hoping that you find something. You can’t do that either. You’ve made your choice and you have to stick by it now for good or ill.

“I want to stay. I pledged myself to this Kingdom and I meant it. So whatever punishment you feel is necessary, I’ll accept, but I just ask that you don’t punish anyone under my command. They’re good soldiers and only did what they were told to do.”

The gnome asks the general to step outside and for you to stay put. You do so and wait in your office mostly staring at the various objects in it. Eventually the gnome returns, he pulls up a chair and sits across from you.

“First things first, you’re not going to be punished for and anything and your actions have been appreciated. Perhaps not by everyone in the kingdom, but in certain circles they are. Personally, I don’t think you were intentionally trying to carve out your own piece of land, I truly believe you were doing what was best for the Felkan Kingdom. However, some are still concerned with your Empire past. I know you can’t help what you were and in some cases still are, but there is always a slight fear there. Especially you being one those Eternals and all.”
“Warrick’s an Eternal, he directly fought against the Felkan Kingdom and he seems be accepted.” You point out.
“Warrick, is a special case…(sigh) I probably shouldn’t even be telling you this, but considering the cluster fuck this situation is becoming, I’m going to be just as honest as you have with me. Warrick didn’t voluntarily join the kingdom, he was made that way.”
“Made? What do you mean? Mind control? Torture?” you say in shock at this revelation.
“I doubt if any torture would cause anyone to switch their allegiances, at least not permanently and we don’t engage in any sort of magic mumbo jumbo around here. No, Warrick was a dedicated foe against the Felkan Kingdom. We tried to get him and his partner for a long time, but never could catch them. Things got even worse when his partner was replaced by that Edgar fellow. By the gods, Edgar was a menace on the battlefield…anyway back to Warrick. Warrick as you probably know was mainly engaged in sabotage and similar tactics. Well, his luck just ran out one day ironically towards the last days of the war. Had a small explosive hit the side of his face by one of the many traps set up.”
“But he lived.”
“Yes, but he wouldn’t have if our medics hadn’t been nearby at the time. When he was found he was bleeding from his eye socket and didn’t even know where he was or who he was. Soldiers probably would’ve probably killed him, but like I said, he was luckily found by a couple of gnome medics, they decided to…re-align him instead. Memories are an unpredictable thing, so attempting to practically reconstruct his entire past would’ve been a fool’s errand, instead they just slowly over time convinced him that he had willingly joined the Felkan Kingdom due to his disillusionment of the Empire as he healed up. It worked a lot better than we thought, I can only guess that Warrick may have had some genuine disillusionment with the Empire.”
“But isn’t that still risky? Couldn’t he still remember what really happened one day?”
“Doubt it, as I’m sure you’re aware from talking with him, his memory when discussing anything before his injury is patchy. In any case we also keep an eye on him…you seem to be taking this well, I would’ve thought you might’ve been angry and trying to kill me by now.”
“Maybe at one time I would’ve been furious, perhaps a small part of me is, but I’m more baffled by the idea that you’d go through the trouble that you as opposed to the more efficient task of killing him.”
“Ahh yes, well that is one of the failings of my race I believe. A lot of us are non-violent at heart; ironic considering that we also develop some of the most destructive weapons in the known world. Peace through superior firepower I suppose.”

With the way the gnome is speaking, he’s practically telling you how things are really run in the Felkan Kingdom. His very presence is proof of it.

“So it’s true? The gnomes do really run the kingdom?” you ask.
“Heh, I wish that was the case, certainly we have a lot of influence, but nothing is ever certain. There are always complications.”
“So why are you telling me all this? Aren’t you worried that I’ll kill you and try to free Warrick from your brainwashing techniques or try to stir up anti-gnome rhetoric like Eckers or others?”
“You could certainly try, but I doubt if you’d be very successful. The only thing you might be able to do is easily kill me and start a small rebellion with your company of Empire-like troops. You’d probably do a lot of damage, but you wouldn’t topple the kingdom. Besides what I’m telling you, I’m telling you for a reason.”

The gnome stops smoking completely and leans forward as best he can with as short as he is.

“There are changes coming Eternal, necessary changes to keep the Kingdom from falling and quite frankly I believe we NEED someone like you. The conspiracy theory that we gnomes run everything is only half true. The fact is, we’re suffering from as much infighting as any other race does. Tell me Eternal, were you aware that a long time ago the gnomes used to live in the Empire as slaves? Hell we were responsible for most of the technological advancements that the Empire even had, like the aqueducts and such. Good thing we never discovered gunpowder during that time, we’d probably still be living under Empire boots.”
“Yes, I did study Empire history when I was little, it was required. Don’t remember anything specific being said about your people though, just that you were slaves.”
“Heh, figures that they would play down our achievements. Truth is, while we were slaves we had comfortable positions. We were treated well and kept safe. Wasn’t until we saw what the Empire did to our Halfling cousins that we made the decision to make a mass exodus. They were slaves too, but not treated as well, so naturally they wanted equal rights like any normal citizen. When they didn’t get that, they pushed harder. When the Empire pushed back, it wasn’t a pretty.”
“Yes, the Halfling uprising. I read about that.”
“Uprising? It was more like a slaughter. We tried to warn them against such actions, but they were too proud even though they had no chance. The Empire as you know wiped them all out. I believe it was the first time we saw the Empire practice genocide on such a scale. We couldn’t fight the Empire, but we couldn’t stay for fear of our own lives. After all what would’ve happened if the Empire decided that we were also getting too uppity one day? When we eventually arrived to these lands the Felkans didn’t even have a kingdom yet, but when it started looking like they would get organized, we made the decision to ingrain ourselves into helping shape it. We would not become slave again, but living in a powerful nation could protect us if the Empire ever started expanding this way, and given the past few decades I’d say we were right.”

A fascinating little part of history you have to admit, but you still aren’t sure what this all has to do with you.

“So, exactly how do I fit in here?”
“The Empire might be gone, but you and specifically the Eternal Dominion are its successors. And from what I can tell the ED looks like its every bit as ruthless as the Empire, perhaps even more so. Some of us are starting to believe the Felkan policies on aggression need to be altered. Due to our past with seeing first hand of what happened to the Halflings, our people are generally disgusted by the thought of slavery or total annihilation of any race. Hence all the policies against engaging in wars of conquest and aggression and the more relaxed political views…well at least until you came along.”
“Well I know why I act the way I do, but there were others who obviously don’t agree with the policies long before I showed up.”
“And that’s true too. Mostly humans though, I suppose humans just have a natural tendency towards conquest. That’s why my circle believes we need to let go of our past a bit and start changing before the grumblings get worse. Perhaps a little nationalism is what the Felkan Kingdom needs to direct the hatred towards external threats rather than crumbling from within. And as bad as I feel saying this, what you did with the gnolls was very necessary.”
“Well if it eases your conscience I probably didn’t strictly wipe out ALL the gnolls, I’m sure quite a few of them just ran far away.”
“Doesn’t really matter, they’re gone and no longer a threat. The fact is we’re probably going to need more like you when we eventually go up against the ED, if only because of your experience, let alone your mindset. You’re going to be transferred; in fact everyone here is going to be transferred to Fort Soot. You’re going to be needed on the frontlines.”
“Isn’t that where Warrick is stationed?”
“Yes, but we’ve got another task for him, his sabotage and stealth skills can be used to help us as opposed to all those years he was working against us. Now there’s some other stuff that needs to be done as well, but you really don’t need to worry about it. All I need you to do is to prepare everyone along the Arat border for a possible invasion. The ED is getting more organized everyday and we can’t afford to be caught off guard. You said you pledged yourself to defend this kingdom…I trust even after all of what you’ve learned here, that pledge is still true?”
“I gave my word and you’ve revealed much about the real way things work around here. That’s probably more than the Empire ever did. The Felkan Kingdom has my loyalty, but I must be allowed to do things my way when it comes to battle and war.”
“That…will be arranged. As I’ve said, other things need to be taken care of, but rest assured you will have support, just one thing, could you stop killing protesting peasants? I understand that’s a hold over from your Empire training, but that’s something you’re really going to have to stop doing.”
“I will. My apologies.”
“It’s alright, just no more of it in the future unless you’re specifically given the order to do so. Anyway probably won’t be a problem, not many villages along the Arat borders anymore since the last war. Okay, I believe that’s it, oh by the way, my name is Klemto Zookwinkle and I’ll most likely be in touch in the future.”

The gnome shakes your hand, straightens his hat and leaves the office, leaving you to take in all of the new information thrust upon you. Oddly the only thing you can immediately think is:

“Klemto Zookwinkle? That’s silly fucking name!” you laugh.
>
Year 55

Another clear night and you look out across the Arat border from the fort roof knowing that the ED could invade soon…though you’ve been waiting for about five years now. If anything you’d wish that they’d hurry up and do it or as you’ve often suggested to Klemto, that you strike at the ED first.

He of course claims he’s still trying to sway the royals to do such a thing, most importantly the king. Seems the gnomes are still playing tug of war with their puppet strings. You suggested that a few assassinations would do the trick, but Klemto was a little upset at you for that suggestion.

In any case Klemto better hurry up and get this war started, because more anti-gnome groups are starting to pop up and it’s getting harder to keep them quiet, especially since they aren’t wrong about their accusations.

As for you, you’re a major now and you’re not only in charge of Fort Soot, but the entire Gan province as far as military is concerned. You’ve been busying yourself with having the soldiers keep to their patrols and training. Instilling the same routines that you did at Fort Green. Your results have been more or less just as successful. Dawn is still your second, though she’s a captain now and she’s more of a concern to you than any potential war right now.

You really should’ve transferred her to another fort, as she’s certainly competent enough to run one and even during the gnoll war you suspected that she had feelings for you that were more than just a professional respect. The problem is, you had feelings for her too and by the time both of you admitted them to each other it unleashed itself in a night of passion. This wasn’t like what happened between you and Alison at Fort Destiny though, you didn’t separate love and sex from each other and now you’re too attached to Dawn to have her transferred.

It hasn’t been an excessive problem in day-to-day operations, but to you it’s a definite weakness on your part. You don’t even know how the hell you can even feel love as you’ve never really experienced it before, but then you remember Brenda and Roldan and they did. They even worked together and married. Perhaps you’re over thinking it.

Speaking of Brenda, you’ve finally got information on what she’s been up to thanks to Warrick’s intelligence gathering missions. She’s apparently still in charge of all of the Nalin province and the only other Eternal that has equal rank to Edgar. She joined the Eternal Dominion years ago when Edgar came to her in Nalin, but Warrick has told you that she isn’t happy with the situation. Warrick has said that she is willing to give out Edgar’s plans and troops movements. So far they’ve been updating their equipment and consolidating their territory still. She claims that Edgar has his sights on either re-conquering Rask or invading the Felkan Kingdom, but nothing is certain yet. The big thing is Edgar has actually managed to completely unite the new eternals under a doctrine that only they are fit to rule and new generations of eternals are still being trained. You have to say, you’re a little impressed by his accomplishments.

Edgar a despot, Warrick a brainwashed spy, Brenda a traitorous informant and you in charge of an army that was once an enemy. If someone told you when you were fresh out of Gruz’s training school that this is how the four of you would end up, you never would’ve believed it.

“Roldan, Gerald…Kane, I can only imagine what you’re thinking as you watch us all from wherever you are.” You say out loud, briefly thinking about the good old days when things were simpler.

You stop with the nostalgia to return to your room to get some rest, where you find Dawn sleeping. You try not to wake her, but you’re doomed to failure. She moves over to cuddle next to you.

“Go back to sleep.” You tell her.
“Hey, if you’re here, who’s in charge of the fort?” she groggily asks.
“Lieutenant Baker.”
“Him? Ugh, I better go on duty…”
“Hey come back to bed. He’s capable of handling it, besides, it’s not like anything is going on.”
“I guess so. I just feel more comfortable with you or me in charge.”
“Yeah, well you’ve been working too hard anyway. You probably need more rest than anyone, so go back to sleep.”
“Mmmm, I’m up now, but if you’d like me to stay in bed, we could do something else…” Dawn says rubbing your chest and kissing the side of your face.

Yeah, you’ve been over thinking the possible downsides of this relationship too much lately. You take Dawn up on her offer and have fun living for the moment rather than pondering the past or concerning yourself about future.

The next morning you return to your duties as usual. For most of the day it looks like it’s going to be another routine one, and that’s when you get an unexpected visit from Klemto. When he arrives in your office, he has a slight frown in his face.

“I’m suspecting bad news.” You say.
“Well, it’s fifty fifty I suppose. Warrick has just given me news that Edgar is planning on attacking the Rask frontier. Not exactly sure how long it’ll take him, before he sets his sights on us again though. There isn’t really a government system in place there, it’s more of a collection of isolated towns relying on mercs to keep monsters at bay from what I’m told.”
“Edgar and I were both stationed at Rask for many years. He’s got the advantage of knowing the area and everything else, but he also has to know that the place tends towards lawlessness. He might be able to easily conquer towns, but the manpower involved in keeping them under control is a constant drain. Not to brag, but if it hadn’t been for me keeping a tight leash on things there, the Empire would’ve never gotten control of it as well as they did.
“Heh, well the ED has several eternals to keep a tight leash on it as you say.”
“And those eternals aren’t me.”
“Well, you seem to be in proud mood today.”
“Just stating the facts.”
“I see, well in any case that brings me to the next bit of news. You may be getting a transfer soon.”
“Transfer? Why?”
“Well the king and several others have always been uncomfortable with you in charge of the armies here on the frontlines as you probably know. It’s only due to the threat of the potential invasion and my circle’s influence that we managed to keep you in power here.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? After all their worrying about an invasion for years, you mean they’re suddenly not anymore, because Edgar’s attacking Rask? That’s pretty fucking short sighted.” You say.
“No, the intention is to still keep up the defenses here and keep the same procedures you set in place of course, but just uh, replace you.”
“Right, because I could suddenly raise an army and try to overthrow the throne at any given time…fuck. I thought you were supposed to calm those fears!”
“I tried! I really did! I mean I think I’m lucky we accomplished what we did! And I tried to fight for you on this too, but it’s just too much now and they want you gone. It’ll make everyone feel better.”
“Yes, everyone but me obviously.”
“Hey you’ve always claimed to be a soldier dedicated to the kingdom for good or bad. Isn’t this one of those times where you stepping down quietly to make everyone feel better would be best for the kingdom, instead of causing a fuse and potentially causing more problems?”
“So I accept this, and then what happens? Where am I getting transferred to? Some fort in the middle of nowhere again?”
“Well, that’s just it, you’re kind of going to be transferred to the uh…private sector. Are you familiar the merchant’s guild at the capital? Well, you’ll be the new head of security there!” Klemto says trying to make it sound impressive.

You can’t believe this.

“Are you telling me I’m not even going to be part of the damn army anymore? I’m just going to be a glorified guard?”
“You’ll be well paid and get a better place to stay than this dreary fort!”
“You know I don’t give a shit about all that, I’m a warrior! I want to fight!”
“And that’s still an option! I mean it’s not like you’ll be sitting around doing nothing. In fact with the guild could use a little extra protection since the rise in anti-gnomism going on lately.”
“Trust me, there’s some of that going on here too, right now.”

Klempto seems like he wants to pat your arm reassure you, but decides better of it.

“Look, I’m sorry about all this. It sucks I know, but the popular opinion is just not in our favor. That’s why we want you at the guild; most of my faction of likeminded fellows are there. We think we could still remedy this later.”
“You’d think with all your influence and control of the economy you’d be able to do something about this now.”
“Yes, well it isn’t as easy as you think.”
“Yeah, well it could be.” You say.

Klempto musters up all his courage and points a finger at you.

“And I don’t want to hear you talking like that anymore! I know what you’re implying and the answer is no! Unlike you humans, we gnomes don’t kill one another despite our disagreements! Now I suggest you prepare for your transfer, take care of all your affairs here and a carriage will come and get you in a few days. I suppose you’ll want that Dawn girl to take over here, which will be acceptable. I managed to convince the opposition of that.”
“Gee, thanks for small favors.”

At this point Klemto just backs away from you and begins to leave, before he does though he speaks once more.

“Y’know, you shouldn’t really see this as a bad thing. I mean think about how old you are getting. You humans don’t have that high of a life span. Shouldn’t you want to start slowing down on the war and battle a bit and start concentrating on enjoying your approaching elderly years?”
“If you’re still trying to convince me you’re failing miserably, because that’s the biggest load of shit I’ve ever heard for several reasons that I’m not even going to get into. But I’ll address the age thing briefly. Yeah I know I’m not twenty, but I fucking know I’m still a better warrior than any of the soldiers under my command, let alone an average Felkan soldier. And while you keep saying I’m human, I’m not. I’m a fucking Eternal. We’re better than a normal human and when the ED invades they’re going to SHOW you that they are mainly because they aren’t afraid to do whatever it kill their enemies, unlike you lot.”

Sensing he better leave this time, Klemto quickly runs off out of your office, leaving you to ponder your situation. Just last night you were feeling good in the arms of Dawn, and now you got a bunch of shit shoved at you that you’re supposed to just sit and eat it.

It’s enough for you to attack the Eternal Dominion anyway
> You follow orders
As much as you don’t like it, if even a third of what Klemto said is true, if you went ahead and did your own thing again, you could very well destabilize the kingdom even more, possibly even a civil war. You aren’t looking to become like Kane, and if it means you have to step down to preserve the kingdom, then that’s what you’ll do. It just frustrates you that after all you’ve done, you still aren’t trusted, but perhaps it will always be this way. If anything its perhaps something of a phenomenon that they accepted you in the first place, though if Warrick is anything to go by, it’s only to exploit you.

Resigned to your orders, you make preparations to pass your command to Dawn. She doesn’t like the news any better than you do, in fact she suggests that you should attack the Eternal Dominion anyway, but you explain the repercussions of such actions.

“But you did that with the gnolls and that worked out!”
“Yeah, and that was a different situation. Don’t have the luxury of doing whatever anymore even if I do think it would be in the kingdom’s best interest. Listen, you’re going to be in charge here, so I don’t want you doing anything rash either. No point in you getting into trouble, you understand?”
“Yes, but I still don’t like this. And I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Neither do I, but we have our orders.”
“Well maybe you like your orders, but I still don’t. If you’re not going to be commander here, then I don’t want to serve here anymore either.”
“What?! You can’t just throw away your career like that because of me! Besides without me here, this place is going to need a good leader.”
“I don’t care about all that. I care about you, and if the kingdom isn’t seeing fit to give you the respect you deserve then it doesn’t deserve me as a leader. Besides if all is so great as they claim then they won’t need me there.”
“I really think you should think this through. Besides what are you going to do, if not this?”
“I’m pretty sure with my vast skill set, I’ll find something, I’ll also probably move to the capital and get married.”
“Married?” you say not grasping her insinuation immediately, then when she touches your hand, you get it.

A lot of upcoming changes has been dumped on you this day, you just hope you can adapt to all of them.

Year 58

The Eternal Dominion gains ground every day, yet the people here in the capital act like everything is going well. If you’d attacked like you wanted to, the Felkan Kingdom wouldn’t have gotten caught off guard like it did. Warrick and whatever other spies the Felkan Kingdom had on the field were all fed bad intel, and while the soldiers in the Gan province fought well, the commander who was put in charge of the province was an idiot that allowed most of it get overrun. Even if shitty intel, you’re damn sure that you would’ve at least prevented that from happening. Dawn would’ve too.

You regret not ignoring orders and going through with your plan. Dawn isn’t as hard on herself, but she does sometimes wonders if she should’ve stayed on as commander of the Gan armies. But it’s too late for any of that now. The pair of you just go about your less exciting lives. She a combat instructor at an academy and you still head of security for the merchant’s guild.

In the beginning your job was slightly more engaging, with all the anti-gnome stuff going on. You even prevented a nutjob from blowing up the guild once. Nowadays the anti-gnome sentiment has more or less disappeared. It’s sort of hard to be angry at the little guys who are continuing to make weapons that blow up an enemy that’s bashing the door down.

As a result you’re mostly attempting to figure out the best guards for the various caravans that get sent out. Sometimes you go out on these as well just to break up the monotony. Predictably they’re always supply caravans to the frontlines so you can get the latest and best information on what’s going on, because the gods know that they never claim anything bad is going on in the capital.

Here, closer to the fighting is where you feel a little more comfortable. You really miss it. While your current married life with Dawn is good, and you have no major worries, you still feel the call of war, but you are unable to participate. It’s a very frustrating situation that you never get used to and you never will. It’s just not in your nature.

One day on one of your supply runs, you travel to a town called Yevdin which is in desperate need of almost everything as it is being held by only a few soldiers. Most of the civilians have evacuated save for a few of the stubborn ones unwilling to run. You respect that.

It’s of some surprise that you meet Warrick there; he’s equally surprised to see you as well. While you wait for the supplies to be unloaded, you go over and speak to him.

“What’re you doing here?” Warrick asks.
“Staving off the boredom of my current assignment, and you?”
“Waiting for my impending death.”
“Well at least your punishment will be over soon…I thought you were a captain. Why are you a sergeant now?”
“Got busted down for being wrong on the intelligence reports, all those years ago. I guess I should be lucky I didn’t get executed for gross incompetence. I really fucked up on that one.”
“Oh, I’d say you’re in good company as far as that’s concerned, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Besides even if you’d done your mission right, you might’ve just gotten drummed out of the military altogether.” You say.
After a brief discussion with Warrick, you learn that this town is facing an imminent large-scale invasion. Not that the town is really important, but it happens to be in the way of another important target, so it’s going to be overrun on the way. These supplies aren’t so much as to ensure the soldiers’ survival, but rather their survival long enough to make it a costly victory for the Eternal Dominion. Warrick doesn’t appear to be concerned though.

“So, I never did get the whole story, why’d you get removed?” Warrick asks
“Long story, but let’s just say I think the ones running things like things the way they are right now.”
“Surely you’re joking. Why would anyone in the Felkan Kingdom want this situation?”

You could tell Warrick all about the things you’ve overheard, things you’ve suspected and things you’ve outright seen just by being closer to the gnomes in the merchant’s guild. But it wouldn’t make any difference. Warrick’s been on a string for a long time now and despite his own situation, he seems in a very positive mood. Perhaps ignorance is bliss, or perhaps its because he’s still fighting and doing what he always was meant to do. The same thing you were meant to do.

“Come on, we’ve delivered the stuff, let’s get the hell outta here!” the gnome merchant shouts to you.
“You go on ahead with the rest of the guards. I’m staying here.” You say.
“What?! Are you crazy? This place is about to be destroyed!”
“Yeah I know. Tell my wife I really tried, but that this is what I was meant to do.”

The gnome doesn’t try to talk you out of your plan, he just shakes his head and gets in the carriage ordering the rest of the guards to ride off as quick as possible. Warrick says nothing about your decision either. Even though the pair of you haven’t really been in close contact since you both served together in Nalin, he knows why you made your decision.

The next few days aren’t filled with impending doom, but rather one of contentment. In between keeping a look out, and checking your defenses you and Warrick do a lot of catching up on the past, though the pair of you mostly stick to the happier memories of when you both were in the Empire. The other soldiers listen in on your stories. They don’t quite get all of them, but seeing the good spirits of their leader, seems to put them in a slightly better mood as well. And that’s good, their last moments should be as unpleasant as possible, there will be plenty of time for that when the Eternal Dominion arrives.

Eventually the Eternal Dominion arrives with an impressively large force. The small part of you that believed you’d make this out alive shortly disappears, but this doesn’t make you second-guess yourself. You’re still comfortable in your decision and this is certainly preferable to what you’ve been doing for the past three years.

“Sir, it’s been an honor to serve with you.” Warrick suddenly says to you, even giving you the old Empire salute.
“The honor is both of ours.” You say.
“For the Empire, sir.”
“For the Empire, Warrick.” You reply.

The first volley of cannon shots strike the front ranks of the Eternal Dominion troops and the battle is joined…

“Prime Eternal, the town of Yevdin was taken, but we suffered massive casualties, we need reinforcements before we can take Fort Everlast.” A messenger says.
“What?! You idiots! You see what we’re working with here Brenda? I expect this sort of incompetence from our human soldiers, but that army had a good portion of Eternals in it! Bah! These new ones for all their extra abilities, they still lack that spark that we have!” Edgar cursed.
“Why did we suffer so many losses at Yevdin? Do the Felkans have a new weapon?” Brenda asks.
“Reports indicate no new weapon, but there were a group of soldiers that seemed to be incredibly determined. Even when the town was taken, a few of them had taken to an underground shelter beneath the town and skirmished with the force for five more days.”
“We should be so lucky to have Eternals such dedication.” Edgar mutters.
“Any description of these enemy soldiers?” Brenda asks.

The messenger reports that there was nothing out of the ordinary about any of the soldiers and doesn’t have a description since he didn’t know that it was important. He says he knows the leader had an eye patch which clues Edgar and Brenda that that was Warrick.

He also mentions one other that wasn’t in a soldier uniform, but was the last to be killed. Edgar and Brenda briefly wonder a bit, and then nod to each other before dismissing the messenger.

“It was stupid of the Felkans to remove him from command in the first place, but I guess even they couldn’t keep him off the battlefield forever.” Brenda says.
“No, and that was that spark I was referring to earlier. Just think if the pair of them had stayed here instead? Think of all the things we could’ve accomplished! Such a waste. Well it’s over now and with those two out of the way, I think our plan is going to be a lot easier.”
“True, but I still wish things had been different.”
“So do I Brenda, so do I.”


Year 55

Another clear night and you look out across the Arat border from the fort roof knowing that the ED could invade soon…though you’ve been waiting for about five years now. If anything you’d wish that they’d hurry up and do it or as you’ve often suggested to Klemto, that you strike at the ED first.

He of course claims he’s still trying to sway the royals to do such a thing, most importantly the king. Seems the gnomes are still playing tug of war with their puppet strings. You suggested that a few assassinations would do the trick, but Klemto was a little upset at you for that suggestion.

In any case Klemto better hurry up and get this war started, because more anti-gnome groups are starting to pop up and it’s getting harder to keep them quiet, especially since they aren’t wrong about their accusations.

As for you, you’re a major now and you’re not only in charge of Fort Soot, but the entire Gan province as far as military is concerned. You’ve been busying yourself with having the soldiers keep to their patrols and training. Instilling the same routines that you did at Fort Green. Your results have been more or less just as successful. Dawn is still your second, though she’s a captain now and she’s more of a concern to you than any potential war right now.

You really should’ve transferred her to another fort, as she’s certainly competent enough to run one and even during the gnoll war you suspected that she had feelings for you that were more than just a professional respect. The problem is, you had feelings for her too and by the time both of you admitted them to each other it unleashed itself in a night of passion. This wasn’t like what happened between you and Alison at Fort Destiny though, you didn’t separate love and sex from each other and now you’re too attached to Dawn to have her transferred.

It hasn’t been an excessive problem in day-to-day operations, but to you it’s a definite weakness on your part. You don’t even know how the hell you can even feel love as you’ve never really experienced it before, but then you remember Brenda and Roldan and they did. They even worked together and married. Perhaps you’re over thinking it.

Speaking of Brenda, you’ve finally got information on what she’s been up to thanks to Warrick’s intelligence gathering missions. She’s apparently still in charge of all of the Nalin province and the only other Eternal that has equal rank to Edgar. She joined the Eternal Dominion years ago when Edgar came to her in Nalin, but Warrick has told you that she isn’t happy with the situation. Warrick has said that she is willing to give out Edgar’s plans and troops movements. So far they’ve been updating their equipment and consolidating their territory still. She claims that Edgar has his sights on either re-conquering Rask or invading the Felkan Kingdom, but nothing is certain yet. The big thing is Edgar has actually managed to completely unite the new eternals under a doctrine that only they are fit to rule and new generations of eternals are still being trained. You have to say, you’re a little impressed by his accomplishments.

Edgar a despot, Warrick a brainwashed spy, Brenda a traitorous informant and you in charge of an army that was once an enemy. If someone told you when you were fresh out of Gruz’s training school that this is how the four of you would end up, you never would’ve believed it.

“Roldan, Gerald…Kane, I can only imagine what you’re thinking as you watch us all from wherever you are.” You say out loud, briefly thinking about the good old days when things were simpler.

You stop with the nostalgia to return to your room to get some rest, where you find Dawn sleeping. You try not to wake her, but you’re doomed to failure. She moves over to cuddle next to you.

“Go back to sleep.” You tell her.
“Hey, if you’re here, who’s in charge of the fort?” she groggily asks.
“Lieutenant Baker.”
“Him? Ugh, I better go on duty…”
“Hey come back to bed. He’s capable of handling it, besides, it’s not like anything is going on.”
“I guess so. I just feel more comfortable with you or me in charge.”
“Yeah, well you’ve been working too hard anyway. You probably need more rest than anyone, so go back to sleep.”
“Mmmm, I’m up now, but if you’d like me to stay in bed, we could do something else…” Dawn says rubbing your chest and kissing the side of your face.

Yeah, you’ve been over thinking the possible downsides of this relationship too much lately. You take Dawn up on her offer and have fun living for the moment rather than pondering the past or concerning yourself about future.

The next morning you return to your duties as usual. For most of the day it looks like it’s going to be another routine one, and that’s when you get an unexpected visit from Klemto. When he arrives in your office, he has a slight frown in his face.

“I’m suspecting bad news.” You say.
“Well, it’s fifty fifty I suppose. Warrick has just given me news that Edgar is planning on attacking the Rask frontier. Not exactly sure how long it’ll take him, before he sets his sights on us again though. There isn’t really a government system in place there, it’s more of a collection of isolated towns relying on mercs to keep monsters at bay from what I’m told.”
“Edgar and I were both stationed at Rask for many years. He’s got the advantage of knowing the area and everything else, but he also has to know that the place tends towards lawlessness. He might be able to easily conquer towns, but the manpower involved in keeping them under control is a constant drain. Not to brag, but if it hadn’t been for me keeping a tight leash on things there, the Empire would’ve never gotten control of it as well as they did.
“Heh, well the ED has several eternals to keep a tight leash on it as you say.”
“And those eternals aren’t me.”
“Well, you seem to be in proud mood today.”
“Just stating the facts.”
“I see, well in any case that brings me to the next bit of news. You may be getting a transfer soon.”
“Transfer? Why?”
“Well the king and several others have always been uncomfortable with you in charge of the armies here on the frontlines as you probably know. It’s only due to the threat of the potential invasion and my circle’s influence that we managed to keep you in power here.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? After all their worrying about an invasion for years, you mean they’re suddenly not anymore, because Edgar’s attacking Rask? That’s pretty fucking short sighted.” You say.
“No, the intention is to still keep up the defenses here and keep the same procedures you set in place of course, but just uh, replace you.”
“Right, because I could suddenly raise an army and try to overthrow the throne at any given time…fuck. I thought you were supposed to calm those fears!”
“I tried! I really did! I mean I think I’m lucky we accomplished what we did! And I tried to fight for you on this too, but it’s just too much now and they want you gone. It’ll make everyone feel better.”
“Yes, everyone but me obviously.”
“Hey you’ve always claimed to be a soldier dedicated to the kingdom for good or bad. Isn’t this one of those times where you stepping down quietly to make everyone feel better would be best for the kingdom, instead of causing a fuse and potentially causing more problems?”
“So I accept this, and then what happens? Where am I getting transferred to? Some fort in the middle of nowhere again?”
“Well, that’s just it, you’re kind of going to be transferred to the uh…private sector. Are you familiar the merchant’s guild at the capital? Well, you’ll be the new head of security there!” Klemto says trying to make it sound impressive.

You can’t believe this.

“Are you telling me I’m not even going to be part of the damn army anymore? I’m just going to be a glorified guard?”
“You’ll be well paid and get a better place to stay than this dreary fort!”
“You know I don’t give a shit about all that, I’m a warrior! I want to fight!”
“And that’s still an option! I mean it’s not like you’ll be sitting around doing nothing. In fact with the guild could use a little extra protection since the rise in anti-gnomism going on lately.”
“Trust me, there’s some of that going on here too, right now.”

Klempto seems like he wants to pat your arm reassure you, but decides better of it.

“Look, I’m sorry about all this. It sucks I know, but the popular opinion is just not in our favor. That’s why we want you at the guild; most of my faction of likeminded fellows are there. We think we could still remedy this later.”
“You’d think with all your influence and control of the economy you’d be able to do something about this now.”
“Yes, well it isn’t as easy as you think.”
“Yeah, well it could be.” You say.

Klempto musters up all his courage and points a finger at you.

“And I don’t want to hear you talking like that anymore! I know what you’re implying and the answer is no! Unlike you humans, we gnomes don’t kill one another despite our disagreements! Now I suggest you prepare for your transfer, take care of all your affairs here and a carriage will come and get you in a few days. I suppose you’ll want that Dawn girl to take over here, which will be acceptable. I managed to convince the opposition of that.”
“Gee, thanks for small favors.”

At this point Klemto just backs away from you and begins to leave, before he does though he speaks once more.

“Y’know, you shouldn’t really see this as a bad thing. I mean think about how old you are getting. You humans don’t have that high of a life span. Shouldn’t you want to start slowing down on the war and battle a bit and start concentrating on enjoying your approaching elderly years?”
“If you’re still trying to convince me you’re failing miserably, because that’s the biggest load of shit I’ve ever heard for several reasons that I’m not even going to get into. But I’ll address the age thing briefly. Yeah I know I’m not twenty, but I fucking know I’m still a better warrior than any of the soldiers under my command, let alone an average Felkan soldier. And while you keep saying I’m human, I’m not. I’m a fucking Eternal. We’re better than a normal human and when the ED invades they’re going to SHOW you that they are mainly because they aren’t afraid to do whatever it kill their enemies, unlike you lot.”

Sensing he better leave this time, Klemto quickly runs off out of your office, leaving you to ponder your situation. Just last night you were feeling good in the arms of Dawn, and now you got a bunch of shit shoved at you that you’re supposed to just sit and eat it.

It’s enough for you to attack the Eternal Dominion anyway
> You disobey orders
You wouldn’t have gotten promoted if you hadn’t reported Captain Eckers, and you wouldn’t have gotten this command if you hadn’t took it upon yourself to launch an attack on the gnolls. The fact is, throughout most of your life, you’ve followed orders, but it’s only when you’ve taken matters into your own hands on important decisions that you’ve gotten anywhere.

Why should this time be any different?

For one thing, just because there are reports that the ED aren’t planning an invasion any time soon, doesn’t mean that’s true. Not that you doubt Warrick’s skills as a spy, but there’s always a possibility that false information is being leaked intentionally and that someone is on to him. Hell, maybe its even Brenda pretending to be on his side, you don’t know.

The other thing is even if the info is true it’s not like they couldn’t still invade during or after their invasion of Rask. And it would be better to catch THEM off guard instead of the other way around, because you’re pretty sure they aren’t expecting the Felkan Kingdom to attack first.

You’re most likely going to get into a shitload of trouble for all this, but when you get this war started, the ED isn’t going to listen to diplomacy, when they get attacked; they’re not going to stop. When that happens the kingdom isn’t going to have any choice but to help you. Or it could just backfire horribly.

It’s all a gamble, but one you’re willing to risk, because you’re damned if you’re going to grow old and just become a guard for fat gnome merchants after all you’ve done and sacrificed. And if you die in battle, then it’ll be a death you’ve been destined for since birth.

You find Dawn and tell her that you want orders put out to all the forts in the province. A full offensive across the Arat border and into ED territory is to be launched.

“So the ED is invading soon?” Dawn asks.
“No, but after we destroy a couple of their forts and towns they will be. Have the message sent out that all forces are to converge on that ED town about twenty miles past the border, Bucklesberg. I’ll meet the rest of the battalion commanders there and plan the next attack after the place has been razed to the ground.”
“Wait, you’re going?”
“Yes, I’m leading this attack personally. I’m not some helpless old man you know!”
“I didn’t say…wait, this plan isn’t official is it? What did that gnome tell you?”
“A bunch of shit as usual. Now I’m going to need you here to keep things orderly on this side of the border. It might get ugly, but I know you can handle it. Just remember, we’re doing this for the good of the kingdom, even if its leaders are too stupid to see it.”

Dawn looks a little concerned and it reminds you of when you first asked her to completely wipe out a gnoll village, but then she proves herself, as you knew she would.

“It will be done, my love.” She says and leaves to send out the messengers.

You order all troops in the fort to ready themselves for battle save for a skeleton crew to protect the fort. When they’re completely ready, you ride your horse up and down the line of them and are glad to see the dedication they are displaying. You can see that they have no need for any sort of long-winded motivating speech; they’ve been anticipating this moment for years, just as you have.

“For the kingdom!” you shout which is followed by a loud cheer from your soldiers, then your army begins its march to war.

When you get within a mile of Bucklesburg, a scout reports that the town isn’t completely undefended. In fact there is a larger than normal group of soldiers there along with Eternals. There may even be a mage there.

“Hmm, it might appear that Edgar might’ve been amassing troops to prepare for an invasion after all, either that or he’s just distrustful. Doesn’t matter, we’re killing everything there anyway.”

The battle of Bucklesburg is a massacre. The ED puts up as good a fight as they could have, but ultimately they’re overrun and outnumbered. The town is completely burned to the ground and the only survivors are the few villagers that had sense to run when you were seen coming in the distance.

This is just the first step of the plan. When the rest of your soldiers arrive from the other forts you march again.

By day nine, you’ve taken one the Eternal Dominion’s forts. It’s very damaged from the fighting, but you figure it will serve as a temporary base of operations while you plan your next attacks. After this battle you’ve also confirmed from various documents that you’ve found in the commander’s office that Edgar WAS planning to invade the kingdom, meaning you were right to attack.

On day sixteen you get a message from Dawn, stating that the entire Gan province has been declared “under hostile control” and that all fort commanders are to relinquish their control to the kingdom immediately. Naturally this hasn’t happened, but the rest of the kingdom’s soldiers are supposedly being prepared to take back the province by force, however there is a lot of civil unrest going on as well due to some of the public opinion openly agreeing with conquest. She says that it’s part of the anti-gnome movement that claims they’ve been keeping the kingdom weak on purpose. She also says she is doing everything in her power to keep control of the Gan province and sends her love.

On day twenty-two you get a visitor to Fort Ruin (as you’ve renamed it).

“Hello Klemto, I hope your journey here wasn’t too dangerous, we’ve been trying to keep the road to the kingdom somewhat safe.” You say.
“Eternal, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
“Yes, I suspect we do. So here, this’ll save time.” You say and throw a journal at Klemto who catches it.
“What’s this?”
“It’s the ex-captain of this fort journal. Makes mention of all the plans for the invasion on the kingdom, as well as a few amusing sexual desires. Second generation eternals certainly are a twisted bunch even when brought under control.”
“At least they can be brought under control, which is more than can be said for you.”
“I don’t understand, I’m did this for the kingdom and the proof is right there that I’m right! Don’t believe me? I’ve got more official documents I can give you.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re right! It never fucking mattered! What you were supposed to do is obey orders! You pushed a boundary that’s too far this time I can’t fix this! Not now!”
“I question if you ever could in the first place. I’m sure you only kept me around as long as it served your purpose. Build up the pitiful defenses along the Felkan borders and then just get shuffled off to defend your fat merchants because they’re getting death threats from bigots that actually have a point whether they even know it or not. Face it, YOU fuckers helped create the Felkan government and you share part of the problems with it. Me? I’m just serving it. I told you before, I pledged myself to the kingdom, but my only stipulation was that I do things my way and that I not be held back in doing it. You got in my way and I had no choice, but to defy you. You can’t give a sword to me, and tell me not to kill the enemy with it. That’s what a fucking sword is for.”

Klemto, rubs a hand over his face and sits down in silence. His face has a slightly gaunt appearance than you last remember it. Every time you’ve seen him he’s always been dressed very nice, but even his expensive clothing is a bit disheveled, even a small tear in his jacket. He takes a deep breath and speaks.

“Major, you really don’t know what’s going on back home do you?”
“Dawn sent me a letter recently about a week ago about some of what’s going on. I hear the Gan province has been declared hostile and the rest of the kingdom army is planning to retake it.”
“Yes, and even that is being put on hold, you know why? Because somebody blew up the merchant’s guild two days ago! The day before? A duke was executed for conspiracy to kill the fucking king! At this point the Eternal Dominion doesn’t need to invade us, the Felkan Kingdom will be in ruins by the time their armies even arrive! You haven’t saved the kingdom, you’ve destroyed it!” he shouts with his eyes beginning to water and nearly hyperventilating the whole time. You have to say, you’ve never seen him ever this upset. You quickly get some water from a nearby pitcher and pour him a glass.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do…I don’t know what we’re going to do…” he says in between drinks.
“Look calm down Klemto, maybe it isn’t as bad as you think.” You tell him.
“Bad? It’s fucking tragic! With the destruction of the merchant’s guild, the economy is going to go down the fucking privy hole, the king is an ineffectual idiot that’ll probably be successfully assassinated in a couple months, we’re suffering from civil revolts, we got a rogue province and on top of everything we’re at war with the Eternal Dominion!”

Sounds pretty familiar.

“Well, maybe it is as bad as you say. The question is what are YOU going to do about it?” you ask.
“Do? What can I do? I’m just one gnome! I’m hated in general by most non-gnomes and even most of my own people since they personally blame me, for having a hand in allowing you to be in charge of all the military in Gan. Even most of my friends that agreed with me were all killed in the bombing! I have nobody to help me fix this!”
“You’re wrong there, you’ve got me. Look, take all these documents concerning the invasion plans, and do your best in convincing everyone and anyone important that this first strike was very necessary. If you’re telling me that the king already is in danger of being assassinated…well maybe it’ll be best to let that happen and place someone who is more likely to support the cause. I have to imagine that there’s some power hungry royal ready to step up to the task.”
“Assassinate the king, this is what it’s come to? I don’t know maybe you’re even right, it’s just I really hoped it wouldn’t come to that. We gnomes have been puppet masters, but we’ve never engaged in assassination tactics before.”
“Well, I think you’re going to have to forget your previous tactics if you want the kingdom to survive regardless of who is actually on the throne. It’s either that or cut your losses and leave like I did with the Empire. I caution you though, if you truly believe in the kingdom and love it like I think you do, you might later regret that decision.”

Klemto calms down a bit and looks at you to see that you speak from experience with that last remark. And it is true; there is a part of you that misses the Empire for all its faults. You’re making the best of things and you even manage to be content most of the time, but there is always something “missing” and you can’t get it back.

“Okay, Eternal. Okay. Hand me all the documents that you mentioned, and I’ll get started on a plan. (Sigh) I just hope you can hold back the full wrath of the Eternal Dominion all by yourself.”
“Don’t you worry about that, I brought this problem on, so I’ll be the one to take care of it. Just try to keep the rest of the Felkan army off of my back, even if they aren’t going to help.”

Klemto leaves with the documents and you return to your duties. You can’t be sure what’s going to become of the kingdom, but one thing is certain, you aren’t going to abandon your duty like last time.
>
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 continue as general
You can’t retire, at least not yet. Despite your aches, pains, and old age, you still feel the call of war within and the fire of it still hasn’t disappeared from you. You wonder if it ever will, but until that time, your place is on the battlefield despite your diminished capacity.

Within a few months the decree in passed. Rask is to be invaded, as you knew it would. You know how the powers in charge work. They want results and they want them fast so you’re going to try your best to provide just that, you amass a large army and send it forth to conquer. Since you’ve got access to more powerful weapons this time, perhaps this invasion won’t be as difficult as you think if you show an overwhelming display of force.

The first strike is against Kenneth’s Rest which you once knew as Fort Destiny. The place apparently had been converted into a hang out for mercenaries and a trading spot. Your army faces a lot of dark elven mercenaries that were enjoying their pay at the time, but most of them flee seeing as there isn’t any profit in defending a place they don’t actually have any loyalty to.

When Kenneth’s Rest is taken, you ride out to it so you can carry out your orders closer to the action.

“So you’ll be leaving soon again?” Dawn asks.
“You know how it is, if I don’t make a personal appearance they’re likely to fuck up my orders.”
“They can’t handle it themselves?”
“While I’m sure they could, I’m still the most familiar with the area. I think it would be best if I went there myself. Dawn, you shouldn’t really worry. I mean I’m not even going to be on the frontlines and there were more times in the past of when I could’ve been killed.”
“It’s not that, it’s just I dunno, when we got married and as we both get older I suppose I just figured we’d settle down a bit more so we could enjoy our remaining time together.”
“Like a normal married couple?”
“Well, yes.”
“Dawn, I think you know you didn’t exactly marry a normal person.”
“Yes, I know that too. Still, I do wonder when you’ll eventually realize that you don’t need to prove yourself anymore. I think everyone knows you aren’t an armchair general. Ever since the new king took the throne, you’ve actually had nothing but support. I’m pretty sure your name will go down in history.”
“It’s not about that, I pledged myself to this kingdom and its survival. Part of that is me making sure this invasion of Rask doesn’t go badly, because while we’re on top now, I’d rather make sure we stay that way and it doesn’t become a drain on our kingdom which then has a chain reaction of making things worse.”
“You didn’t abandon your duty.” Dawn says to you.
“What?” you ask, turning to face her.
“You didn’t abandon your duty to the Empire. I know that’s why you try so hard here and still do. I’ve always known that the first time you told me of your past. You always speak in such a way about it with a mix of regret and frustration yet always with a sense of pride. You still struggle with that one thing that you consider a failure on your part, when if you think about it…it was the best thing you ever did.”

You hold Dawn’s hand and the pair of you look at each other’s wedding rings. She has an argument that can’t be debated as far as that is concerned. If you hadn’t left the Empire when you did, you doubt if you would’ve been married. Most likely you probably would’ve gotten a knife in the back by one of those treacherous new eternals by this point.

You hold Dawn tightly and kiss her, before explaining.

“You’re absolutely right of course. It was the best thing I could’ve done, but that’s not the whole picture. I was raised different than anyone in the Felkan Kingdom, hell I was raised different than most in the Empire. I was brought up not just for war, battle and combat, but also to this ideal. An ideal that wasn’t reality unfortunately, but there it was still implanted in my mind regardless. The thing is while that ideal barely existed in the Empire as I knew it, I see the spark of it coming to pass here in the Felkan Kingdom, and it’s like I finally belong here and I want to be apart of it’s glory as much as I can before I’m too old to be of any more use. Maybe I’m trying to live out the rest of my life as IF the Empire had never fallen. Perhaps that’s what I’ve been doing all along for the past few decades.”

Dawn nods and understands, but you know she would still prefer you to stay closer to home.

“Someday Dawn, someday.” You tell her before you leave for Rask.

You almost feel like history repeating itself when you enter Kenneth’s Rest, though it’s a comforting feeling.

Using Kenneth’s Rest as your base of operations in the Rask province, you decide the next attack should be the largest town in the region, which is Keplavisk. While Rask doesn’t strictly have a proper central government, Keplavisk is the closest thing to a capital. Take that out and everything else should be a lot easier. You tell your captain that when he enters the smoldering ruins of the town to relay a message to the survivors.

“Tell them that the Bane of Rask has returned.”

Year 75

You have to admit, that while retirement has it’s good and bad points, you think you’ve finally gotten your “struggle” out of your system now. You initially thought after you retired you would still have that “pull” but you don’t. Your successful campaign in Rask was truly a bookend of sorts. Maybe it was a kind of closure for you.

Your retirement basically consists of you spending a lot of time with Dawn which is time well spent as you grow old together. You sometimes wonder if Dawn wanted children, though she never specifically addressed it. Nature never took its course in that area. Dawn is about twenty years younger than you, and she was still in her childbearing years when you first got together. You don’t think it was a problem with her though, you hold the belief that it probably was with you. Perhaps Eternals weren’t meant to reproduce, or maybe you weren’t. Still, you know that Roldan and Brenda never had any children that you know of, so you maintain the belief that it’s one of the limitations of an Eternal. After all if an Eternal could breed offspring his attention might not be solely on war.

Besides your time with Dawn, you sometimes fill your time giving instruction at one of the military academies. You attend the occasional special royal event and recently you just accepted an award for everything you’ve done for the kingdom. There are also plans on having a statue made of you, but that isn’t set in stone (literally) yet.

You sometimes walk down the streets of the capital and see how much it’s changed in such a short time and continuing to thrive. Soldiers marching down the street keeping order. Citizens going about their business, proud of their nation and not trying to overthrow anything.

This is what the Empire should’ve been like.

This is what you were taught to believe in.

And it fills you with happiness that it was you that was part of making this come true.


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 retire
As much as you might like to go on, you decide that perhaps it is finally time to pass the torch to younger and more energetic men and women than yourself. You also know it would probably make Dawn happier. You’ve done quite a bit for the Felkan Kingdom and served as well as you could have under the circumstances. You just wish you had time to do more, or at least the youth, if not the time.

When you step down, its sort of a surprise to the entire Felkan military, they always figured you’d never willingly step down and probably die in office. Even the new ruling class is a little disappointed to see you leave, you were after all instrumental in their rise to power.

A small service celebrating your years of dedication to the Felkan Kingdom is held which you naturally attend and you even give a small speech. It’s all very patriotic and keeps the up the morale and optimistic outlook of the kingdom for everyone. Shortly after your retirement, you do indulge in the frivolities of said retirement; this pretty much consists of not doing much of anything or spending time with Dawn. It’s fun for a while.

When you start to keep up on the news on the Rask invasion, you become increasingly dismayed by what your successor is doing. There are victories at first, but they eventually become costly ones. The Raskians begin organizing enough to make further conquest difficult.

Eventually several lower ranking officers begin calling for you to return if only as a consultant or strategic advisor. You actually would gladly volunteer as you definitely want to help the kingdom and you’re starting to find your retired life a little boring. Unfortunately the current general doesn’t want that, as he wants to take all the credit for the conquest of Rask and if he’s able, to surpass your victories. The fool manages to sway the king in his favor by pointing out that they hold most of the territory and are plundering its resources. The king of course is just concerned with the bottom line, so he keeps him on.

Of course the biggest problem with this, is it’s incredibly short sighted. The Raskians sabotage their mines and fight a guerilla war that makes things even worse. Felkan soldiers die by the thousands over the course of several years and this begins to have a downward spiral. Not a grand one, but it’s noticeable that the cracks are starting to show and people are beginning to protest again.

You don’t agree with how the government is handling things, but you’re a patriot to the end and one day you get into an argument with a group of them on the street. Dawn tells you to let it go, but the more they get in your face, the more you won’t let it go and eventually you feel that call to violence again…

You punch out one of the protestors, which causes more shouting from the rest of the crowd as well as the soldiers attempting to keep order. One the soldiers respectfully attempts to hold you back, but you continue to try to attack the rest of the protestors and screaming at them of how ungrateful they all are. With tensions heating up on all sides, it’s only a matter of time before things escalate and somebody fires a shot and it isn’t from the soldiers, it’s from one of the protestors carrying a concealed pistol.

You feel the impact to your chest and fall to the ground as mass chaos erupts all around you. Dawn screams for a medic and attempts to drag you out of the way, but you’re already coughing up blood and gasping for breath as the chest wound continues to bleed out your vital fluids.

“Dawn…(gasp, gurgle)” is all you can utter before your heart stops beating.