You are sorely tempted. You are really sorely tempted. However, there are a couple factors at play that are preventing you from doing so. One, you’re dubious about trusting a bunch of gnome souls. It isn’t like they still aren’t your enemy no matter what form they take or the situation at hand. The enemy of your enemy is still YOUR enemy as far as you’re concerned. This could be a trick to get the upper hand on their part.

Second and most importantly, this is still a mission for the Emperor. If he wanted you to work with Mistress to send a bunch of gnome souls to oblivion then that’s what you’re going to do regardless of your personal feelings towards her.

You begin to concentrate and try to mentally shut out the voices. Its extremely difficult, in fact you don’t actually succeed in doing so, but you do stay focused enough to keep up Mistress’ energy. An unearthly howl invades your head as a jet-black orb appears in the center of the room. You feel like its sucking the life out of you and you instinctively start to back away.

“NO! Don’t move! You’ll ruin the spell! It won’t be much longer, look its already working!” Mistress shouts and points to the jars, which are now growing dimmer again. You then see one of the wisps completely disappear; followed by another and another, until they all begin fading away. As the souls vanish, the voices begin to get quieter and more desperate sounding as they beg you to stop. Eventually you hear nothing at all and the orb in the room disappears as well.

“There, that should do it for a while, until the next batch.” Mistress remarks as she wipes her forehead and fixes her hair. “Whew, that was a little more strenuous than I thought it would be, it was very helpful for you to be here. We make a pretty good team…”
“Stop. Just stop.” You say interrupting.
“Stop what?” Mistress asks as if she doesn’t know what you’re talking about.
“You know damn well what. I told you that this attempt to be pleasant isn’t going to work and its totally transparent.”

Mistress smiles, but it isn’t that cruel smirk that you’re used to, its one more of admiration.

“I guess I deserve this hostility. However, I’d rather you hate me than be weak, though I suppose in some ways you still have a few flaws common to your race…but I can overlook those because I know that they will disappear in time. I just wish you’d recognize and shed those flaws soon, because you may need to do so. As I have said before, I have always tried to help you and I won’t stop just because you can’t see that or harbor thoughts of ill intent on me. Like you briefly considering listening to those desperate gnome souls. You don’t think I don’t know how tempted you were to sabotage the ritual just to get a chance to kill me? I could hear everything they said to you.”
“And I didn’t because my main duty was to see this mission done for the Emperor, do you have a point?”
“My point is you have so much more potential than you realize. You just fended off a psychic assault by hundreds of souls. Hundreds of vengeful souls feeding off your already strong desires to do me harm and you still resisted. Not many can boast such will power even if they’ve had superior training by the best teachers. Now your former classmate Kane? He struggles right now with just one miserable wendigo spirit within him and it’s half taken him over already.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s a wendigo now or rather possessed by one. It’s a spirit that possesses a living host and usually turns them into a slavering beast that is constantly looking for meat and flesh to quell its everlasting hunger.”

Well this is a new twist on whatever angle Mistress is attempting to pull.

“If that’s the case, why hasn’t he been going around eating everyone then?” you ask.
“Who’s saying he hasn’t? Wendigo’s may have poor impulse control, but they can be cunning when necessary. I imagine he’s only managed to hide it so well because he’s been associating with the savages and unsophisticated trash in Rask and turned his bloody deeds into the reputation of a ruthless warrior that could be feared and respected. Here? He’s overseeing a death factory with a steady supply of meat. Who’s going to miss a few dead gnome bodies or living gnomes for that matter? The wendigo probably hasn’t completely taken Kane over because it’s gotten lazy and happy with its current arrangement.”
“And of course you’re the only one who knows all this.”
“Perhaps Jacob suspects something amiss, but I guarantee I’m the only one who knows that doesn’t fear the thing that wears Kane’s skin. The beast knows I can destroy it within a blink and it would rather continue to enjoy its current arrangement.”
“Hmm, excuse me if I’m having a difficult time believing you. In any case, it doesn’t change my own opinions on you, so I’m not sure what you’re trying to gain by telling me all this.”
“Look, believe me, or don’t, but I assure you there is no gain in this for me by telling you. I merely used him as an example of how you continue to be superior to your former classmates. (Sigh) Sometimes I wonder if I should’ve showed you just a little more intimacy during our sessions together. Perhaps then you would’ve at least known to trust me.” Mistress says and tries to touch your hand. Once again you recoil at her advances and step backward.

“Do that again and you’ll pull back a stump. And the next time you need to banish gnome souls or whatever else you can do it yourself.”
“Well that’s ultimately not really your call now is it? If the Emperor wants you to help me, then you’ll have to right? Isn’t it a shame that you can’t just do what you want, when you want?” Mistress says with one of her more familiar smirks.
“There it is. I was waiting for one of your sneering comments.”
“Sneering comments? But isn’t obeying the Emperor what you WANT to do? Aren’t you glad to follow his every command because he is as you say infallible? How is my comment a sneering one? It just points out the facts, that’s all. Your problem is you think I’m your enemy when I’ve done nothing but try to help you despite yourself.”
“Sure, whatever, I’m tired of your fat musings.” you say and begin to leave, but Mistress gets in your way.

“I see you’ve still got my dagger. Still can’t completely get me out of your mind even though you have your little shield maiden fluff on the side?”
“The memories I associate with this dagger are something you should be wary of, lest I share them with you.”
“Oh? Well why don’t you use it right now, if you hate me so much? I gave you a chance to kill me once before and you didn’t take it…but it wasn’t because you were a coward. It wasn’t even because you knew you weren’t strong enough to do it. It’s because deep down YOU know that you love me and I will ALWAYS be the only woman for you. ALWAYS.” Mistress says and with a sudden quickness she grabs your head with both hands and kisses you hard on the lips.

And for a split second that twisted part of you enjoys it. Without thinking you nearly begin to put both of your arms around her, then you come back to your senses and push her off of you and draw out the dagger. She backs off.

“Ohh, you know how I like foreplay! Come on, stick it in mommy!” Mistress says with excitement.
“You…you…you’re one fucked up bitch and I’m not playing your game!” You sharply remark and make your way quickly back upstairs.
“Remember Eternal, always AND forever! The sooner you learn that, the better off you’ll be!” Mistress shouts and begins laughing.

As you’re storming out of the furnace building everything is a bit of a blur. You know you knock aside a couple of guards pushing big wheeled containers full of bodies, but you don’t really notice anything else until you see Kane again outside in the yard bellowing orders. He looks different though, like more bestial. You look again he doesn’t even look human anymore. His mouth has become enlarged with several rows of razor teeth and his hands more like claws. The strange thing is nobody else seems to notice this.

You walk over closer to him and now he looks more like he did. You feel like you’re having a hard time focusing. What the hell is going on? As you begin rubbing your eyes you don’t notice Kane walking over to you.

“Hey you’re still here. I trust your business with Mistress went well?” Kane asks you as you open your eyes and there you see it again. That THING instead of Kane. Between what Mistress told you and this, you justifiably feel threatened.

“Get the hell back! I know what you are!” you say and point your dagger at Kane, which was still in your hand.

Kane’s ogre guards look unsure of what to do, as do other nearby guards, but Kane raises his hands up.

“Its okay! Its okay! Nothing to see here, get back to work!” Kane says and then gives a nervous smile, but it isn’t a nervous smile to you, it seems more like he’s barring his fangs. In fact to you he looks like he might even attack.

You don’t know what to do exactly. Obviously you’re seeing something odd with Kane, why you weren’t before is the strange part though. You don’t know if you’re really in danger here or if Mistress did something to you to make you see this and possibly do something rash.
> You leave
Kane isn’t making any move against you and you aren’t going to kill him based on suspicion especially with all the weirdness going on here in general. The best thing you feel you can do is just get the hell out of here.

As you order the gates to be opened you continue to keep an eye on Kane and he does the same to you. You aren’t seeing the monstrous traits like you were anymore which makes you believe that Mistress did do something to you. Possibly when she kissed you.

Then as you begin to leave, Kane calls out to you.

“Are you going to tell the Emperor?”

You turn around and face Kane who now isn’t even looking you in the eye. In fact you’d say he even looks ashamed. The funny thing is Kane just gave himself away, though maybe he wanted to.

Since you aren’t exactly sure what the situation is except what Mistress has told you, you ask Kane a simple question.

“Are you still loyal to the Emperor?”
“Yes.” Kane says looking up, straightening himself a little and making a major effort to look you in the eye.
“Then he already knows, otherwise I would’ve been sent here to kill you.”

Kane nods and begins to form disjointed sentences. You imagine he’s probably going to try to explain his side of things, but quite frankly after the day you’ve had here, you don’t care.

“I don’t need to know how it happened. I don’t need to know why it happened. I am not your judge. Just continue to serve the Empire and the Emperor with distinction and loyally as you have been. However the moment that thing inside you takes over completely, the moment you stop doing your duty, the moment you are considered a dangerous liability to the Empire… I will be your executioner. Remember this.”
“I will.” Kane says.

Kane steps forward and raises his hand in a salute. You return the salute, which seems to make Kane happy. You get back on your horse and ride away eager to put as much distance between you and Gnome’s Home as fast as possible.

When you arrive back at your own war camp, your two main commanders Captain Ackerson and Battlemage Galen are arguing over the battle plans as usual. They’re competent men its just too bad that they can’t get along if you aren’t around to bang their heads together. You learned very quickly why Roldan was quick to shove them on to you.

“Sir, I’m glad you’re back, I have tried to reason with this hedge wizard, but the man is being an unreasonable asshole. He doesn’t see that sending in our remaining golems on a suicidal run on Fort Tinker will result in a much quicker collapse of its walls and allow the rest of the troops to just pour in and overrun the place. The quicker we take this fort the quicker we can march on the capital.” Captain Ackerson says.
“And do you realize the waste you’re suggesting? What if we need those golems for our assault on the capital? You think golems are easy to make? No of course you don’t because you’re a muscle bound moron who just thinks brute strength and numbers are going to win the day!” Galen remarks.

You’re in no mood.

“Will both of you idiots shut the fuck up, I’m sick of your petty arguing! Look, use half of the golems to bring down one of the walls and back them up with a couple cannon units. The golems will probably be destroyed and those cannon crews are probably going to get hammered by whatever new gnome invention the Felkans have, but it should be enough. Or come up with something else, I don’t give a shit right now, just get it the fuck done and don’t bother me again until you’ve made more progress!” you yell and leave the war tent to make your way to your own private tent.

As soon as you open your tent, you have another unexpected encounter in your long line of unexpected encounters lately, however this one is much more pleasant.

“Alison? What’re you doing here?”
“I figured I’d surprise you. The eastern front has been pretty quiet ever since we destroyed the majority of the gnoll horde you know. It’s not like I can’t sneak away every once in a while. I was actually surprised when I got here that you weren’t around, so where did you sneak off to?”
“Orders from the Emperor. Special mission. It was…ugh…it’s done and I really don’t want to talk about it right now, I’m just glad to see you. You’re a welcome sight right now.”
“Aren’t I always?” Alison remarks with a smile.

You and Alison speak a bit, but you both know not to waste an opportunity like this and the pair of you get to doing what lovers normally do. It’s a good feeling, but its not just the sex (though that’s certainly good too) its just the fact that you still can’t believe someone can make you feel this way.

You wouldn’t admit to this openly, but sometimes when you’re with Alison you feel a bond there that might even rival your bond with the Emperor. There have even been times you’ve briefly worried if there will come a day where you’d have to outright choose between the Emperor or Alison. The concern though isn’t that you’d have to do it, your concern is that there is the possibility that if it came down to it, you might choose Alison. You try to dismiss such thoughts however, after all when is a situation like that ever going to occur? Better to focus on the pleasant present rather than the possible grim future.

As the pair of you lies together, Alison starts to drift off in your arms and says something a little strange.

“Thank you.”
“Thank you? For what exactly? The orgasm?”
“For this night. I just feel so loved right now. And I love you too. You do know that don’t you?” Alison asks looking into your eyes.
“Of course I know that, I love you too.”
“Just laying here with you makes me feel so safe.” Alison remarks and cuddles into you even more.
“I suppose, but I’d hardly think you’d need me to protect you when you’re more than capable of doing it yourself. Is there something wrong? You don’t normally talk like this.”
“Nothing’s wrong. I guess I just felt a little girly there for a moment. Still, it’s nice to hear you say it to me and it’s nice to know this side of you.” Alison says and begins to drift off.

You briefly wonder if you lived a “normal” married life, most of your nights would be like this. Lying in bed holding your significant other. Getting up in the morning to do your mundane peasant job. Would you also have children? That’s something you’ve never even considered, though given your several intimate encounters with Alison you’re a little surprised you haven’t gotten into possible baby complications. Perhaps you’ve just been lucky, or maybe she’s been taking Stillness potions bought from Empire alchemists. Of course she might just be barren, or maybe you’re sterile. abort

Whatever the case she’s never brought up the subject and you certainly don’t intend to since it isn’t a priority and as far as you’re concerned, never will be.

With these final thoughts you join Alison in sleep.

Hours pass and you are awakened by the sounds of cannons and warfare in the distance.

“Ugh, I guess they’ve started…(Yawn) I suppose I better get up and see what’s going on before Galen and Ackerson start arguing over how to best execute the survivors. Hey did you need to…” you say and then realize that Alison is no longer laying anywhere next to you. She’s not even in the tent. What you do see is a piece of parchment nearby.

You pick it up and you feel something is wrong as soon as you do.

Your first thoughts are perhaps it is some sort of “break up” letter. You have heard of such things occurring with soldiers that have been far away from their wives or husbands sometimes. Perhaps Alison sees the futility in your current arrangement since you have such a significant duty to the Emperor and doesn’t want you to have to “choose”.

However, after you read the words on it you WISH it were a break up letter.

The words merely say:

Always and forever. Remember this.

Your heart sinks. You just slept with Mistress.

She must’ve magically disguised herself as Alison. You don’t even know how to react. Your normally reserved emotions are all over the place. You feel a little sick, you definitely feel rage, but more at yourself for not being observant and falling for Mistress’ tricks once again.

You end up nearly destroying everything in your tent in rage screaming incoherent obscenities not giving a damn about what the soldiers or officers walking by might be wondering what’s going on. In fact it’s a good thing none of them pop their head to investigate since you’re so angry you might’ve killed them.

After you’re spent, you fall to your knees feeling defeated.

“I’m sorry Alison…I’m sorry…” you say over and over again in between catching your breath and looking at your portrait of her.

And worst part of all this, is you still enjoyed your night with Mistress. Even if it really wasn’t your fault, you briefly wish you hadn’t allowed yourself to grow so attached to Alison so this wasn’t even an issue. You should’ve just been concentrating on your duty to the Emperor and now you’re paying the price for not staying focused. You’re focused now though.

With the battle of Fort Tinker already in full swing, you make your way into the war torn fort and unleash the rest of your renewed energy there. Your enemies suffer greatly that day.

By the time its all over you feel slightly better even though you know you’ll probably still have to deal with Mistress’ shit later. Until then though there are important tasks still at hand and the major one being that the Felkan Kingdom needs to be destroyed and you intend to see that through.
>
Year 30

The day has come at last, the Felkan capital; Dessel has been broken wide open. Its defenses have been shattered and all that’s left now is to scoop out the soft underbelly within.

“How long do you think they’ll hold out?” Roldan asks.
“A few more hours, perhaps even a day. No more I suspect. I have to admit that I thought the remaining Felkan ruling class would’ve surrendered long before now, let alone fight to the bitter end. I suppose they were still carrying out the will of their gnomish masters even though most of them are dead or soon will be.” You remark.
“I know they had a lot of influence and were responsible for the technological inventions along with running the merchant guilds, but do you really believe the Felkan Kingdom was run by gnomes?”
“Of course. Its what the Emperor believed and ultimately that’s been the purpose of this whole war, to eliminate the gnome threat. Happily with this final nail in the coffin, that’s been accomplished.”
“You know some of them probably escaped long before the war started going badly for the Felkans.”
“Perhaps, but I’m sure in time they will be found. The Emperor’s domain has already been extended much within the past few years alone, I’m sure eventually it will cover the entire world and in the long run all those that oppose the Emperor will be brought to justice. Either by me, or by someone else loyal to his service.”
“Well, until such time I’m just wondering where I’ll be assigned after all this. Personally I’m hoping to get a little free time so I can see my wife Brenda again. It’s been so long and I miss her. I’m sure you feel something similar about Alison.”

You pause for a moment before speaking.

“I will go where my duty takes me after this assignment. Alison understands that, she is a military woman after all.” You remark.
“Well of course, but I was just stating that it would be nice to take a break from duty for a moment to enjoy the company of someone you care about.”
“We’re Eternals Roldan. So is Brenda for that matter. Our existence is duty. You would do well to remember that.”
“I am aware of it! I was just…oh forget it.” Says and walks away from you.

You and Roldan have been a little less cordial to each other lately, then again the two of you never have quite “clicked” with each other for some reason. Actually there are probably several reasons on your side as well as his, but you aren’t going to waste your time pondering them since you are both able to work together in a professional manner and never engaged in anything other than the low level disagreements. As long as the respect is still there between you two, why bother analyzing it?

Besides this mission is nearly over now anyway. You’re fairly certain you’ll be reassigned somewhere else. You do wonder if you’ll get some down time as Roldan mentioned though.

If you do, you’re more than likely going to try to spend some of it with Alison, though you’ve still been going back and forth on how well that’s going to go when you tell her what happened two years ago. You certainly couldn’t tell her something like that in a letter and from what letters you’ve received from her she still doesn’t know. Mistress probably wouldn’t tell her to stir up chaos because it would be more fun letting you worry about it for all this time. You’re just glad you never had to help assist Mistress at Gnome’s Home again, though now you’re even wondering if that was ever a real order from the Emperor when it did occur.

You haven’t spoken to the Emperor directly or even indirectly in quite some time either. That’s actually been a little concerning to you as well. Still, you figure you soon will be when this is all over and the Felkans have finally been crushed once and for all.

You watch the capital smoke and burn in the distance. Occasionally a small explosion causes pieces of the already breached wall fly into several directions.

“Well I’m not going to miss out on all the fun, before it’s over.” You say to yourself and head towards the city.

As it turns out you don’t miss much. The city’s defenders consist of mostly children and elders at this point. They don’t provide too much resistance now that they have no walls to hide behind. The royal guard is still around but quick work is made of them. As for the royals themselves most of them took the coward’s way out. You find several of them lying dead at their lavish dinner table with several knocked over empty wine cups.

Upon further searching you find what you guess to be the royal bedroom and who you guess to be the Felkan king and queen lying dead in the bed. They must’ve taken the same poison since you see the same cups near the bodies. As you study the pair of them and how they are holding hands in death, you notice a crib in the corner of the room. While you’re inspecting this, Warrick walks in.

“Oh there you are. We’ve found that some of these rooms lead to a system of secret passages. We’ve already started to explore them, but we haven’t found anyone yet. I don’t even think they lead outside the city, just to other portions of the palace. Looks like we won.” Warrick remarks.
“Looks that way. Sort of a disappointing climax given how the Felkans insisted on dragging this out. Continue your search though; someone still might be hiding in them. You find any gnomes?”
“No and I don’t believe there are any in city either. At least no reports have popped up about any.”
“Guess we got all of them then. The Emperor will be pleased to hear that. Carry on.”

For the next few days you observe the destruction of Dessel. Roldan remarks that the city shouldn’t be destroyed, but rather appropriated by the Empire as it wouldn’t take much to rebuild the damage and would be easier than building a brand new city here. Orders are orders though. While the Emperor might’ve relaxed his zeal on burning every Felkan city to the ground, he was still pretty clear about the capital. You imagine he sees it as the last symbol of gnomish defiance.

In the middle of this process Jacob unexpectedly visits you.

“Didn’t expect to see you here.” You remark while sharpening your weapon.
“Well the Emperor wants to see you, plus I also have to speak with Roldan and Warrick about their next assignments, so I figured I might as well come here in person.” Jacob says looking around at the destruction. “So, it’s finally done. The Felkan Kingdom is no more. I have to admit, I was worried about this war on more than one occasion.”
“You don’t need to tell me, you told me on more than one occasion. You should’ve had more faith in the Emperor, he knew its destruction was inevitable.”
“Well, thanks in part to your actions no doubt.” Jacob says with a brief smile.
“I am merely the weapon which does the job. If you’re looking for Roldan, he’s in the large tent on that small hill over to the east. Warrick’s probably with him. I need to get going if the Emperor wishes to see me…is Mistress going to be there?”
“I don’t believe so.”
“Good, don’t really need the negativity ruining this moment.” You remark and begin to leave.
“Um…there’s something else I need to talk to you about before you leave.” Jacob says hesitantly.
“What?”
“It’s about the Emperor, he’s uh…well…”
“He’s what?! What is he?! Jacob, just spit it out.”
“He’s sick.”
“What? Sick? That’s ridiculous! I’ve never known him to ever show illness.”
“I know it may seem hard to believe, but I’m telling you last time I spoke with him, he didn’t look well. He seemed very tired and just really pale.”
“He runs the Empire! Of course there’s going to be times he’s going to be tired! It has to be taxing keeping track of everything. As for being pale, he doesn’t exactly go skipping about in the sunlight you know.”
“I know all that. Look, just when you see him you’ll know what I’m talking about. I mean I’m sure the Emperor will live a very long time, but we should prepare…um…just in case…”
“Just in case what Jacob?” you ask beginning to get angry at the insinuation that the Emperor may die. Jacob sensing he’s overstepped a boundary quickly shuts up.
“Erm…nevermind. Forget I said anything. I’m worrying too much as usual…but still…(sigh) forget it. I’ll let you get on your way.”

You shake your head and begin to leave again, when Jacob once again stops you.

“Oh one more thing. Before you go see the Emperor, you’re supposed to make a visit to Gnome’s Home first.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Aren’t all the gnomes there dead by now?”
“Maybe, I dunno. Something to do with souls I think. I never did know exactly what went on there, and I don’t really think I want to know. All I do know is you’re supposed to assist.”
“Assist who? Mistress? I already assisted her once there and let’s just say what transpired wasn’t pleasant. She hasn’t needed my assistance for the past two years since that time, why does she need it now all of a sudden? Fuck that, I’m not helping her anytime soon. In fact if I saw her again, I’d probably kill the bitch after what happened last time!”

Jacob begins to step back from you.

“Easy now, I’m just the messenger here. I don’t even know if she’s there. It’s what the Emperor told me to tell you. I mean if you don’t want to do it, I suggest you take it up with him personally.”

At this point you might just do that. Nobody can question your loyalty or your dedication to the Emperor, but this request…its just asking too much. You thought he spoke with her about leaving you alone and she’s already ignored that. How long must you put up with this svelk bitch?
> You head to Gnome's Home
An order from the Emperor is an order from the Emperor no matter what. If you have to go to Gnome’s Home, then you have to go. If you have to assist Mistress then that’s what you’ll have to do. Doesn’t mean you have to like it though.

You get on your horse and make your way to Gnome’s Home. On your way you think about how you’re going to handle the situation if you have to assist Mistress. Then you realize that the time has come.

You’re going to kill the bitch. This has been a long time coming anyway. You aren’t sure if you’re just going to attack her if you see her or if you’ll do something a little more subtle, but one thing is certain, she’s going to be dead by the time you leave that gnome murder factory.

When you arrive at Gnome’s Home the outside looks about the same the last time you were here and when you’re let inside the gates, it smells about the same as well. Probably even a little bit worse.

You step inside and see a lot less living gnomes and lot more dead ones. A few pathetic examples lay half dead outside their dwellings covered in their own filth. Whatever attempts at keeping this place slightly clean have long since stopped. The entire place is disgusting and you feel like you’re going to catch something just standing here.

“Hey, I heard you were coming, welcome back!” you hear a voice shout. It’s Kane. He’s a bit unkept and wild looking, but still friendly. You notice he doesn’t have his ogre friends with him any more.

“Hello Kane. You’re looking…well.”
“Thanks. I’ve been feeling well. Been keeping very busy what with all the gnome killing and all. As you can see, we’re almost finished. Figured we’d speed up the process by cutting back on the clean up portion, I mean this whole place is going to be shut down after we kill ‘em all anyway. I’ll be sort of sad to see it go, but nothing lasts forever right?”
“Right, so my assignment was to assist in something?”
“Oh yes, sorry. I don’t get to talk to many people nowadays. Anyway Mistress is waiting for you down in the soul obliteration chamber. I’m not actually sure if that’s what it’s called, but given what happens there, seems as good a name as any.”

You thank Kane and make your way to where Mistress is located. Along the way you see the usual piles of bodies being tossed into the large furnaces by bored guards. When you get down to the chamber you see that Mistress is already in the process of preparation. You see more jars containing souls than you did last time and that gives you the idea of how to kill her.

“Hey lover, you’re here right on time.” She remarks.
“Yeah, let’s just get this over with.” You say.
“Well, I’m certainly glad you didn’t feel that way during our last encounter.”
“You tricked me during that last encounter!”
“True, but didn’t it feel so good? Besides its not like anyone knows so what’s the harm?”
“You know what? I’m tired of fighting it, maybe you’re right.” You answer.

Mistress is a bit surprised to hear you say that.

“Er…of course I am! I’ve always had your best interest in mind. That’s what I’ve always been telling you.”
“And I think I finally realize it after all these years. I mean you were the one who practically taught me everything I know. Who would know better for me than you?” you say and walk over to Mistress.

You grab Mistress around the waist and give her a passionate kiss. All part of the act of course and part of you hates it, but the other part is definitely getting excited.

Afterwards Mistress looks at you with a glee that you’ve only really seen when she’s torturing someone. (Which was usually you).

“Okay, down boy, we’ve still got business to take care of here. Glad to see you’re finally seeing things how they really are though. After this bit of business perhaps we can talk more about the future. Our future.”
“Looking forward to it.” You say and slap her on her ass before taking your position on the circle line.

Mistress goes on to tell you that the process will be just like before, but will require even more focus than last time. She says one of the reasons why she wanted your help this time (Other than wanting to see you again) was because she wants to dispose of more gnome souls than usual. She says that while she enjoyed the torture, suffering and extermination of an entire race she absolutely hates the smell and general dirtiness of the place and the sooner she’s out of here the better.

Your plan is simple. You’re going to sabotage the ritual. You’re fairly certain the gnome souls will try to convince you to do it like they did last time anyway.

Mistress begins chanting and soon the spell begins to take effect. You begin to hear the whispers of gnome souls in your head. More than last time and saying the exact same thing.

“Break the circle! Save us! Kill the svelk! Save us from oblivion!” you hear and you begin to do just that and stop focusing your energy towards Mistress. She of course realizes what you’re doing, but doesn’t say anything, instead she just shuts her eyes as if to concentrate harder.

You decide a blade through her body should really take her off her game plan, since she’s either going to have to stop you which will expose her mind to the vengeful souls or not stop you and get stabbed which will have the same effect.

You draw your sword and then suddenly your own mind shield is completely shattered and multiple souls assault your mind. The pain is excruciating and you collapse on the floor and begin convulsing.

“Did you really think I couldn’t see through your charade?” Mistress shouts as your mind continues to be destroyed by the gnome souls. You don’t know why they’re not attacking Mistress, but you see why they’re attacking you. You aren’t innocent in all this as far as they’re concerned. Your involvement in the Felkan campaign has probably resulted in most of the gnomes being rounded up and sent to Gnome’s Home in the first place.

For the first time you not only see the horror that has been this place, but you also experience all of it. Your mind can’t take it and neither can your body which begins to lose all control of its functions. You’re leaking all manner of bodily fluids out every possible place you could be leaking from.

Eventually you’re nothing more than an empty shell, but not quite dead. The souls have stopped attacking and Mistress stands over you.

“I really had hoped you were serious, but I just couldn’t take that chance. I reinforced my own mental shield and cast a repulsion spell. Of course the souls have now completely escaped annihilation, but what the hell, that’s the Emperor’s obsession not mine.”

You continue to stare upward and slack jaw in a comatose state.

“(Sigh) I suppose the malicious svelk thing to do, would be to continue to keep you alive in this state for a little while longer, but I think you’re probably too far gone for me to even get any enjoyment out of that. Besides, even I couldn’t do that to you. I’m just a fool for love I guess.”

Mistress kneels down and takes her dagger that she gave you a long time ago and holds it to your throat.

“Well at least I got to kiss you one last time.” She says and ends what remains of your life.


Year 30

The day has come at last, the Felkan capital; Dessel has been broken wide open. Its defenses have been shattered and all that’s left now is to scoop out the soft underbelly within.

“How long do you think they’ll hold out?” Roldan asks.
“A few more hours, perhaps even a day. No more I suspect. I have to admit that I thought the remaining Felkan ruling class would’ve surrendered long before now, let alone fight to the bitter end. I suppose they were still carrying out the will of their gnomish masters even though most of them are dead or soon will be.” You remark.
“I know they had a lot of influence and were responsible for the technological inventions along with running the merchant guilds, but do you really believe the Felkan Kingdom was run by gnomes?”
“Of course. Its what the Emperor believed and ultimately that’s been the purpose of this whole war, to eliminate the gnome threat. Happily with this final nail in the coffin, that’s been accomplished.”
“You know some of them probably escaped long before the war started going badly for the Felkans.”
“Perhaps, but I’m sure in time they will be found. The Emperor’s domain has already been extended much within the past few years alone, I’m sure eventually it will cover the entire world and in the long run all those that oppose the Emperor will be brought to justice. Either by me, or by someone else loyal to his service.”
“Well, until such time I’m just wondering where I’ll be assigned after all this. Personally I’m hoping to get a little free time so I can see my wife Brenda again. It’s been so long and I miss her. I’m sure you feel something similar about Alison.”

You pause for a moment before speaking.

“I will go where my duty takes me after this assignment. Alison understands that, she is a military woman after all.” You remark.
“Well of course, but I was just stating that it would be nice to take a break from duty for a moment to enjoy the company of someone you care about.”
“We’re Eternals Roldan. So is Brenda for that matter. Our existence is duty. You would do well to remember that.”
“I am aware of it! I was just…oh forget it.” Says and walks away from you.

You and Roldan have been a little less cordial to each other lately, then again the two of you never have quite “clicked” with each other for some reason. Actually there are probably several reasons on your side as well as his, but you aren’t going to waste your time pondering them since you are both able to work together in a professional manner and never engaged in anything other than the low level disagreements. As long as the respect is still there between you two, why bother analyzing it?

Besides this mission is nearly over now anyway. You’re fairly certain you’ll be reassigned somewhere else. You do wonder if you’ll get some down time as Roldan mentioned though.

If you do, you’re more than likely going to try to spend some of it with Alison, though you’ve still been going back and forth on how well that’s going to go when you tell her what happened two years ago. You certainly couldn’t tell her something like that in a letter and from what letters you’ve received from her she still doesn’t know. Mistress probably wouldn’t tell her to stir up chaos because it would be more fun letting you worry about it for all this time. You’re just glad you never had to help assist Mistress at Gnome’s Home again, though now you’re even wondering if that was ever a real order from the Emperor when it did occur.

You haven’t spoken to the Emperor directly or even indirectly in quite some time either. That’s actually been a little concerning to you as well. Still, you figure you soon will be when this is all over and the Felkans have finally been crushed once and for all.

You watch the capital smoke and burn in the distance. Occasionally a small explosion causes pieces of the already breached wall fly into several directions.

“Well I’m not going to miss out on all the fun, before it’s over.” You say to yourself and head towards the city.

As it turns out you don’t miss much. The city’s defenders consist of mostly children and elders at this point. They don’t provide too much resistance now that they have no walls to hide behind. The royal guard is still around but quick work is made of them. As for the royals themselves most of them took the coward’s way out. You find several of them lying dead at their lavish dinner table with several knocked over empty wine cups.

Upon further searching you find what you guess to be the royal bedroom and who you guess to be the Felkan king and queen lying dead in the bed. They must’ve taken the same poison since you see the same cups near the bodies. As you study the pair of them and how they are holding hands in death, you notice a crib in the corner of the room. While you’re inspecting this, Warrick walks in.

“Oh there you are. We’ve found that some of these rooms lead to a system of secret passages. We’ve already started to explore them, but we haven’t found anyone yet. I don’t even think they lead outside the city, just to other portions of the palace. Looks like we won.” Warrick remarks.
“Looks that way. Sort of a disappointing climax given how the Felkans insisted on dragging this out. Continue your search though; someone still might be hiding in them. You find any gnomes?”
“No and I don’t believe there are any in city either. At least no reports have popped up about any.”
“Guess we got all of them then. The Emperor will be pleased to hear that. Carry on.”

For the next few days you observe the destruction of Dessel. Roldan remarks that the city shouldn’t be destroyed, but rather appropriated by the Empire as it wouldn’t take much to rebuild the damage and would be easier than building a brand new city here. Orders are orders though. While the Emperor might’ve relaxed his zeal on burning every Felkan city to the ground, he was still pretty clear about the capital. You imagine he sees it as the last symbol of gnomish defiance.

In the middle of this process Jacob unexpectedly visits you.

“Didn’t expect to see you here.” You remark while sharpening your weapon.
“Well the Emperor wants to see you, plus I also have to speak with Roldan and Warrick about their next assignments, so I figured I might as well come here in person.” Jacob says looking around at the destruction. “So, it’s finally done. The Felkan Kingdom is no more. I have to admit, I was worried about this war on more than one occasion.”
“You don’t need to tell me, you told me on more than one occasion. You should’ve had more faith in the Emperor, he knew its destruction was inevitable.”
“Well, thanks in part to your actions no doubt.” Jacob says with a brief smile.
“I am merely the weapon which does the job. If you’re looking for Roldan, he’s in the large tent on that small hill over to the east. Warrick’s probably with him. I need to get going if the Emperor wishes to see me…is Mistress going to be there?”
“I don’t believe so.”
“Good, don’t really need the negativity ruining this moment.” You remark and begin to leave.
“Um…there’s something else I need to talk to you about before you leave.” Jacob says hesitantly.
“What?”
“It’s about the Emperor, he’s uh…well…”
“He’s what?! What is he?! Jacob, just spit it out.”
“He’s sick.”
“What? Sick? That’s ridiculous! I’ve never known him to ever show illness.”
“I know it may seem hard to believe, but I’m telling you last time I spoke with him, he didn’t look well. He seemed very tired and just really pale.”
“He runs the Empire! Of course there’s going to be times he’s going to be tired! It has to be taxing keeping track of everything. As for being pale, he doesn’t exactly go skipping about in the sunlight you know.”
“I know all that. Look, just when you see him you’ll know what I’m talking about. I mean I’m sure the Emperor will live a very long time, but we should prepare…um…just in case…”
“Just in case what Jacob?” you ask beginning to get angry at the insinuation that the Emperor may die. Jacob sensing he’s overstepped a boundary quickly shuts up.
“Erm…nevermind. Forget I said anything. I’m worrying too much as usual…but still…(sigh) forget it. I’ll let you get on your way.”

You shake your head and begin to leave again, when Jacob once again stops you.

“Oh one more thing. Before you go see the Emperor, you’re supposed to make a visit to Gnome’s Home first.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Aren’t all the gnomes there dead by now?”
“Maybe, I dunno. Something to do with souls I think. I never did know exactly what went on there, and I don’t really think I want to know. All I do know is you’re supposed to assist.”
“Assist who? Mistress? I already assisted her once there and let’s just say what transpired wasn’t pleasant. She hasn’t needed my assistance for the past two years since that time, why does she need it now all of a sudden? Fuck that, I’m not helping her anytime soon. In fact if I saw her again, I’d probably kill the bitch after what happened last time!”

Jacob begins to step back from you.

“Easy now, I’m just the messenger here. I don’t even know if she’s there. It’s what the Emperor told me to tell you. I mean if you don’t want to do it, I suggest you take it up with him personally.”

At this point you might just do that. Nobody can question your loyalty or your dedication to the Emperor, but this request…its just asking too much. You thought he spoke with her about leaving you alone and she’s already ignored that. How long must you put up with this svelk bitch?
> You go directly to the Emperor
You get on your horse and make your way to the Empire capital.

You’re not doing it, plain and simple. The Emperor can deal with you as he sees fit, but you are not going to help Mistress for any reason. You made the attempt and it resulted in trickery again.

Besides, why the hell should you follow every little menial task? You’ve been instrumental in keeping the damn Empire together; you shouldn’t be subjugated to such indignities! Jacob just told you the Emperor is sick, well he better watch it if he wants to stick around long enough to get better.

You can’t believe you just thought such a thing. What the hell is wrong with you? The thoughts and acts of disobedience are bad enough, but to actually consider…

You can’t even think it again. Something must be seriously wrong with your mind. Maybe Mistress did something more to you. Maybe she did some sort of magic spell to your head to make you harbor thoughts of dissension. At least you hope that’s case, because if she didn’t then you’d have to come to grips that you thought about killing the Emperor all on your own. Whatever the reason, you’ll be keeping that one to yourself.

When you get to the Emperor’s chambers you hear him call for you immediately. Some coughing immediately follows his voice. You’ve definitely never heard him do that before

“There you are my son, I’m glad to see you. It’s been so long since we’ve talked face to face.” He says as he sits hunched over a desk. He almost looks like he’s struggling to prop himself up. Maybe he is as sick as Jacob says. He’s as pale as Jacob said and his eyes are starting to have a sunken in looking appearance. What used to look like a man in his fifties now looks more like a man in his seventies. In fact he almost looks a bit more like how you thought he was going to when you first met him.
You know he’s powerful. Certainly more powerful than you, but he looks so much frailer now. It makes you ashamed that you had thoughts about killing him; especially after all he’s done for you.

“Emperor! I was told you were sick, but I didn’t believe it! How?”
“Sick? (Cough cough) Well I suppose that’s one way of putting it. I’m guessing Jacob told you I was practically on my death bed or something. He still worries too much and you shouldn’t either. I’m not sick, I’m…well its complicated, but suffice to say, I’m not dying anytime soon. Trust me on that one. Now I’d (Cough cough) like a report on the Felkans. Have we finally destroyed them once and for all?”

“Yes, the capital has been taken and is in the process of being destroyed. The battle mages will be casting defilement spells to make sure nothing ever grows there again. The ruling royals from what we can tell all committed mass suicide.”
“Figures. But as long as everyone’s dead, it’s still good. So what about gnomes? Any in the capital?”
“None. I can only guess we got all of them at Gnome’s Home.”
“One can (cough cough) only hope. So have they all been sentenced to oblivion yet?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t been Gnome’s Home.”
“You haven’t? I thought you got here pretty quickly. Surely Jacob told you that I wanted you to go there.”
“Yes, he told me I was to go there to assist and I know that could only mean assisting Mistress with the destruction of gnome souls. It was with great regret that I disobeyed this order, but I simply cannot help that woman again, if ever. The last time I made the attempt was two years ago when I was assisting her at Gnome’s Home and there was some…unpleasantness.”
“Was there now? I hadn’t heard about this and I spoke to her about leaving you alone, as you well know. So what exactly happened? She try to kill you?”
“No, she (sigh) made unwanted advances on me. I turned her down, and later when I went back to my camp she magically disguised herself as Alison and slept with me that way. I of course didn’t now until afterwards.”
“”Is that all? Here I was thinking it was something serious.” the Emperor replies in a bored tone followed by more coughing. “However, I can see that this is something that was very serious to you so I will of course dismiss your transgression of not following orders…again. In the future I will also make sure that you and her are never to work together under any circumstances. I guess my attempt at being peacemaker didn’t work out. (cough cough) Doesn’t matter anyway, but tell me what are you exactly mad concerning that situation that occurred? I get the impression it’s more than just Mistress fucking with you as usual.”

He’s right. The fact that Mistress tricked you isn’t what bothered you the most; it’s the fact that you unwittingly betrayed Alison. The fact that Mistress cloaked herself as someone you have feelings for…no someone you LOVE to trick you just made it all the worse. You tell the Emperor as much, he nods in between another coughing fit.

“So, you do love this Alison girl then? It’s not just lust or perhaps a fleeting fancy. You actually love her?” the Emperor asks.
“I do.”
“And this girl, she feels the same way?”
“I believe she does.”
“Hmm, you better be sure son.”
“Yes, I know she does.”
“I see… well do you want some advice?”
“From you, of course.”
“ (cough cough) Shit. (cough) Okay, here it is then, you’ll save yourself some pain if you end this relationship altogether. Now just listen. I know you’re an intelligent person and an excellent strategist in the matters of war, but on the matters of love you’re…and I don’t mean this as an insult…but you’re a little inexperienced. It’s okay though, even after several centuries I still haven’t figured it all out yet. But I still know more than you and I’m telling you that you’ll be better off not getting deeply involved with such things. Why do you think I’ve never had an Empress by my side? It complicates things to a whole new level and that’s complications YOU don’t need.”

You’re speechless for a moment. You can’t think of anything to say except…

“Is this an order?”
“An order? No, I’d never give such an order concerning matters of the heart; it is merely advice. You may do as you wish. In fact you may do as you wish for quite some time. I’m giving you some down time in light of our glorious victory over the Felkans. We’ll of course be having some celebrations going on here in the capital so if you get the chance you should probably (cough cough) join in the (cough cough) festivities. When you’re needed to return to duty, I’ll send for you as usual. I also want you to know, I’m proud of you son and for all you’ve done for the Empire and know you’ll continue to serve the Empire loyally (cough cough) and with dedication in the future.”

The Emperor at this point slowly gets up and heads off towards his bedroom area coughing the whole time. You almost ask him if he needs help, but you’d rather not insult him. Besides you’re too busy pondering his advice to you about Alison.

Even you thought about how being in a relationship with Alison put you in a position to fall for Mistress’ trickery. You think about Roldan and how he’s married and it doesn’t seem to affect his judgment, but it’s different for him. He’s married to another Eternal and he doesn’t have the responsibilities you have.

But as they say, the heart wants what the heart wants and you’ve wanted to spend time with Alison ever since you were split up from her. And now that this war is finally over you have the time to do it. Should you break up with her just because of some potential problems in the future with Mistress or anything else?
> You end things with Alison
As much as this is going to pain you to do, you need to end your relationship with Alison, if only to save her life. The more you think about it, who knows what the hell Mistress could do next and she’s already proven to ignore the Emperor’s warnings before. Then there’s the Emperor himself. It’s obvious he doesn’t approve of the relationship, and continuing it could potentially be problematic. You certainly wouldn’t want to fall out of favor with the Emperor even if you do love Alison.

You’re going to keep this as short as possible and hopefully Alison will too. What’s going to make this worse is the fact that this will be the first time you’ve seen each other in years.

You leave the palace and the capital to make your way to where Alison is currently stationed, which means a long ride back to the new eastern frontier of the Empire. You eventually arrive at Fort Stalwart, which is actually just a renamed and rebuilt fort once held by the ex-Felkan Kingdom.

Given your reputation, the gates are immediately opened for you. A few of the older soldiers are also probably aware of your relationship with their commanding officer so orders are already given to alert Alison of your sudden arrival. She meets you even before you make it to her office.

She flashes a smile when she sees you and goes to put her arms around you presumably to kiss you. While you’d love for her to do so, you stop Alison, which confuses the hell out her.

“What’s this? Oh. The other soldiers around. You and your insistence on keeping protocol. Very well let’s get to my quarters so we can get you back into your comfort zone, because its been too damn long.”
“It has and we should get back to your quarters, but I’m fairly sure you’re not going to be in the mood for what you probably had in mind after I tell you what I have to tell you.”

Alison steps back and gives you a tilted look.

“Hmm, sounds serious. You look even more grim than usual. Well let’s get this over with.” Alison says and the pair of you head towards her quarters.

Her private quarters are neat and clean, as you’d expect, on the right wall you see your portrait, which is right across from her bed. Placed in such a way so the first thing she sees when she wakes up is you.

“Alright. Out with it and let’s see exactly how mad you think I’m going to be at you.” Alison remarks closing her door. You sit on the bed and take a deep breath then exhale giving her a look on your face, which contains a hint of regret.

“Geez…this must be bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this. Its almost like you’re afraid to tell me. Shit, maybe I better sit down too.” Alison says taking a seat in one her chairs.
“Alison…I love you. I want you to know that before I say anything else. I never thought I could ever feel this way at all about anyone. It just wasn’t something I was taught or even learned. (whew) Okay enough stalling. Here it is…”

You tell her that you want to end this relationship. You don’t offer too much of an explanation though, just some vague reason that your duties to the Emperor are always going to take precedence and its not fair to her to have a steady relationship with you because who knows where you’re going to be sent to next and for how long.

You expect Alison to show some sign of emotion at this point. For the most part she remains stoically silent just listening to everything, but you can tell she is a little surprised by this news.

“I see…well if that’s what you want I won’t try to argue with you about it. Everyone is an adult here and has the freedom of choice. I must admit this has taken me a bit off guard. I sort of thought our relationship was a bit more than just the occasional tumble, but apparently I was wrong. Wish I’d known before though, I could’ve…never mind.
“I knew you were going to be angry.”
“I’m not exactly angry, I’m not sure how I feel. Look just tell me one thing because I have to know. Are you still having a sexual relationship with Mistress?”

Now this statement catches you off guard.

“What? No! I don’t love Mistress! You know that!”
“I didn’t ask you that. I asked you if you were still having some sort of sexual relationship with her. You don’t need to be in love with her. Hell, you don’t even need to like her. But you’ve told me enough of your past with her to know that you both have some sort of twisted attachment to one another. Now I’m going to just ask you one more time. Have you had any sort of intimate contact with her since we parted company?”

You muster up all your confidence and put on a straight face.

“No. I swear to you. I haven’t.”

Alison stares at you for a long time. Looking into your eyes and trying to ascertain if you’re lying or not. You get the impression she doesn’t believe you, however since you’ve never been known to be a liar (especially not to her) and your facial expression exhibits a look of truthfulness she can’t completely jump to that conclusion.

“I want to believe you. I suppose if I really wanted to know, I’d tell you to swear on the life of the Emperor, but I won’t do that. It wouldn’t make any difference anyway, because in the scheme of things what does it matter if you’re lying or not. You still came to tell me that our relationship isn’t going to work even if we do have strong feelings for each other, and you’re probably right. The funny thing is before I met you; I was pretty much a free spirited type when it came to relationships. I suppose I’ll return to that mindset, but I’ll always wonder what if?”
“Alison…”
“Goodbye Eternal, I don’t want you to see what is going to come next.” Alison remarks as her voice starts to crack.

And with those words she turns her back on you. You leave her to her sadness and feel awful about it, but you know it’ll be better for her this way.

As for you, you’ll just keep serving the Emperor as you always have.
>
Year 32

You look for a seat on the palace balcony to watch Roldan’s big parade celebration.

Well actually it’s supposed an anniversary of the Felkan Kingdom’s demise, but due to Roldan’s important role in the war and his popularity with the people he’s certainly the major focus.

Yes, Roldan’s certainly made advances since the Felkan War ended. He got assigned to wipe out the rest of the gnoll tribes in the west. Something you figured you’d get assigned to do considering you did have something to do with beating back those mongrel men in the first place.

Instead, the Emperor has been keeping you closer to home. With the recently acquired Felkan territory and the westward expansion, the Eyes are a little stretched so you’ve mostly been trying to eliminate the new bandit havens popping up in the old Felkan territory along with helping to fend off any desperate gnoll raids that attempt to sneak through. You’re also supposed to be making sure the new “citizens” aren’t planning to rebel, but given how badly they were beaten down, they’re just glad that you’re allowing them to live. So far no seditious activity has been detected.

You’re not jealous of Roldan, it’s just that you figured you’d be something a lot more important after the Felkan War. You’d rather be out there conquering new lands for the Emperor and getting into the heat of battles rather than playing super sentinel. At least if you were in active battle it would keep your mind from wandering to thoughts of Alison. It seems like not a day goes by where you don’t think about her.

Even right now as you sit waiting for the parade she dwells in your thoughts, until you hear that old familiar and unwelcome voice…

“Hey lover, figured you’d be here. Jacob’s been looking for you. He won’t shut up about how proud he is of Roldan and how he’s so happy about this farce of a celebration.”

You ignore Mistress, but she keeps talking.

“He also has Roldan’s wife Brenda with him. One of your old classmates as you know. She’s aged horribly. I mean this is a celebration; the least she could do is attempt to fix herself up rather than stomping around in combat boots and inadequately polished armor like a common soldier. I mean just because you have a lowly status doesn’t mean you always have to look the part. Oh well, I suppose if one doesn’t know, one never will. But enough about her, how have you been?”

Mistress sits down next to you and puts her arm around your shoulder. You continue to try to ignore her.

“Oh come on, you can’t still be mad at me. You enjoyed our time together. If you hadn’t you wouldn’t have wisely made your decision to split with that little shield maiden of yours. I mean I’ll grant you that she had a certain rustic charm that you sometimes find in lesser creatures, but you knew deep down that she wasn’t for you. Hey, I’ve got an idea why don’t you and I go back to your private quarters and relive some old times? Has to be more appealing than watching this pointless exercise in patriotism. I’ll even let you ejaculate in my mouth and swallow your sweet essence. Come on, I KNOW you’d enjoy that. Seeing me on my knees and debasing myself for you in such a manner. You’d be totally in control. Or maybe you could just bend me over raw and brutally penetrate my…”

At this point you can’t ignore her anymore and you brush her arm off of you and stand up.

“Stay away from me. I’m only going to tell you once.” You say, but Mistress just sits there and smiles.
“And what if I don’t? Will you promise to punish me long and hard?”

Mistress says a few more vulgar things causing a bit of a scene for the other spectators. You don’t know if you’ll even be able to stick around for this celebration. You weren’t in the best of moods before and Mistress’ presence is making it worse.
> You leave the celebration
You aren’t sticking around to put up with Mistress’ usual obscene suggestions; you’re getting out of here. Mistress of course calls out to you as you leave, but doesn’t follow you. On your way out you bump into Jacob and who you presume is probably Brenda, but you don’t even acknowledge either of them you just want out of this place. You don’t start feeling better until you leave the palace and even then you feel like your whole day has been ruined. You make your way through the hectic streets not paying too much attention to the fact that the parade has started. You’re too pre-occupied with your self loathing on entertaining the idea of going back and taking Mistress up on her offer.

Then you hear a lot of screaming and yelling. This is followed by a lot of people running in all different directions.

“General Roldan’s dead!”
“Shadows! The shadows are back!”
“They’ll kill us all!”

You snap out of your thoughts and process this new sudden information. You see one the Eyes nearby and question him.

“Hey you! Where the hell is the rest of your unit? More importantly where the hell is Warrick?” you ask the Eye.
“My unit is trying to keep this area under control while searching the nearby buildings here. As far as I know, Sightmaster Warrick was last seen near the city gates.”
“Well the palace needs some extra protection, I want you to get the rest of your unit over there now. Your primary concern is supposed to be defending the Emperor anyway!”

You make your way towards the city gates, which is a chore, but when you finally get a clear view of the gates, you find Warrick and Brenda arguing with each in the middle of the chaos.

“I’ve got Eyes scouring the city and mages casting detection spells to back them up, I’m doing all I can Brenda!” Warrick exclaims.
“Well you’re sure doing a bang up job of that eyeboy, considering you weren’t even able to prevent my husband from getting fucking decapitated in front of everyone! That was a fucking shadow Warrick! It probably already left the city already!” Brenda retorts.
“I’m well aware of what it was Brenda, I had to track down and fight them a lot more than you ever did!”
“And given that your group was supposed to have wiped them out, you fucked up on that job too!”
“Brenda if you want to go on your own personal manhunt, fine, you don’t need my permission to do it. Go find and grab the nearest mage and have at it! I don’t have time to argue with you, I’m having a hard enough time trying to coordinate everything in this chaos right now.”

Warrick looks semi-relieved when he sees you arrive.

“I’m glad you’re here, you’ve got magic abilities. Can you take Brenda with you?”

Brenda turns to you though she isn’t as happy to see you either.

“Great, the other fuck up who was supposed to have been responsible for the extermination of the shadows.” Brenda remarks.
“Brenda I know you’re angry right now and understandably upset, but I’m not going to tolerate the same sort of verbal abuse you’ve been heaping on Warrick. Now I’ll certainly help you, but we’re going to do this without the arguing.”

Your calm yet firm demeanor doesn’t quell the high emotions going through Brenda right now, but they do at least establish a behavior guideline.

“Alright fine.” She remarks.
“Good, now let’s start checking the sewers.”
“The sewers? Are you sure?” Brenda asks.
“No, but I’m making a good guess that it being a shadow, it probably hasn’t gone far and is enjoying the whole idea of hiding right under our noses and possibly even planning the next step to cause further chaos. Besides, shit is often found in the sewers.”
“I’ve got people already searching the sewers.” Warrick pipes up.
“Yeah well, maybe if you had some stationed there and had a thorough search of the sewers before the parade none of this would be necessary now.”
“That’s not fair, Jacob said…”
“I don’t want to hear it Warrick. As far as I’m concerned Brenda’s got a right to be pissed at you considering you were supposed to be in charge of security for this thing.”

Leaving Warrick behind, you and Brenda find the nearest manhole and descend into the smelly darkness. And it does smell pretty awful. Still not as bad as Gnome’s Home though, you don’t think anything will ever smell worse than that place.

You keep a detection spell constantly on hoping it will catch something worthwhile, but you know this is a long shot and the equivalent of looking for a needle in a haystack. Still, you couldn’t just sit around doing nothing. Brenda might’ve been out of line speaking to you in such a manner, but in some ways you do feel a little responsible since you thought you’d wiped out all the shadows.

Brenda and you are more or less silent the whole time you search the sewers. You never do run into any of Warrick’s people, but then the sewers are just as large as the city itself. It’s not surprising you aren’t having much luck finding a shadow, if one is even hiding down here in the first place.

“Damn it. I’m sorry Brenda.”
“What?”
“I don’t know where to even look, the sewers were just a blind guess. I have no real idea where to look. You probably were right; the shadow probably already left the city and if that’s the case, who know where the hell it fled to.”

Brenda doesn’t say anything at first and you fully expect her to go off on you, but she doesn’t, instead she starts crying. Or rather she fails in trying not to cry. It would appear that the fact that her husband is dead is finally hitting her hard.

“Brenda I…” you start to say and then a faint whistling sound is heard and you feel a sharp pain going through your back. You look down long enough to see the head of a crossbow bolt. Blood spreads across your chest and you stagger around and stare at a grinning decaying face. You then feel two blades separate your head from your body.

The good news is your hunch was correct. The bad news is your detection spell couldn’t work on something that was already dead and as a result so are you.

You can only hope that Brenda gets her revenge and figures it all out, because you won’t.


Year 32

You look for a seat on the palace balcony to watch Roldan’s big parade celebration.

Well actually it’s supposed an anniversary of the Felkan Kingdom’s demise, but due to Roldan’s important role in the war and his popularity with the people he’s certainly the major focus.

Yes, Roldan’s certainly made advances since the Felkan War ended. He got assigned to wipe out the rest of the gnoll tribes in the west. Something you figured you’d get assigned to do considering you did have something to do with beating back those mongrel men in the first place.

Instead, the Emperor has been keeping you closer to home. With the recently acquired Felkan territory and the westward expansion, the Eyes are a little stretched so you’ve mostly been trying to eliminate the new bandit havens popping up in the old Felkan territory along with helping to fend off any desperate gnoll raids that attempt to sneak through. You’re also supposed to be making sure the new “citizens” aren’t planning to rebel, but given how badly they were beaten down, they’re just glad that you’re allowing them to live. So far no seditious activity has been detected.

You’re not jealous of Roldan, it’s just that you figured you’d be something a lot more important after the Felkan War. You’d rather be out there conquering new lands for the Emperor and getting into the heat of battles rather than playing super sentinel. At least if you were in active battle it would keep your mind from wandering to thoughts of Alison. It seems like not a day goes by where you don’t think about her.

Even right now as you sit waiting for the parade she dwells in your thoughts, until you hear that old familiar and unwelcome voice…

“Hey lover, figured you’d be here. Jacob’s been looking for you. He won’t shut up about how proud he is of Roldan and how he’s so happy about this farce of a celebration.”

You ignore Mistress, but she keeps talking.

“He also has Roldan’s wife Brenda with him. One of your old classmates as you know. She’s aged horribly. I mean this is a celebration; the least she could do is attempt to fix herself up rather than stomping around in combat boots and inadequately polished armor like a common soldier. I mean just because you have a lowly status doesn’t mean you always have to look the part. Oh well, I suppose if one doesn’t know, one never will. But enough about her, how have you been?”

Mistress sits down next to you and puts her arm around your shoulder. You continue to try to ignore her.

“Oh come on, you can’t still be mad at me. You enjoyed our time together. If you hadn’t you wouldn’t have wisely made your decision to split with that little shield maiden of yours. I mean I’ll grant you that she had a certain rustic charm that you sometimes find in lesser creatures, but you knew deep down that she wasn’t for you. Hey, I’ve got an idea why don’t you and I go back to your private quarters and relive some old times? Has to be more appealing than watching this pointless exercise in patriotism. I’ll even let you ejaculate in my mouth and swallow your sweet essence. Come on, I KNOW you’d enjoy that. Seeing me on my knees and debasing myself for you in such a manner. You’d be totally in control. Or maybe you could just bend me over raw and brutally penetrate my…”

At this point you can’t ignore her anymore and you brush her arm off of you and stand up.

“Stay away from me. I’m only going to tell you once.” You say, but Mistress just sits there and smiles.
“And what if I don’t? Will you promise to punish me long and hard?”

Mistress says a few more vulgar things causing a bit of a scene for the other spectators. You don’t know if you’ll even be able to stick around for this celebration. You weren’t in the best of moods before and Mistress’ presence is making it worse.
> You stay for the celebration
You aren’t going to let her run you off, but you aren’t going to put up with her either. You see a seat on the other side of the balcony and head to it. Mistress says a few more things, but eventually stops when you aren’t responding to her anymore.

You sit there in silence, attempting not to look in her direction, you almost feel glad when Jacob shows up with who you presume is Brenda, but he begins going on about how proud he is a of Roldan and other things you don’t really care about right now.

“Jacob, I’m in no mood to speak about anything, I’m only here out of formalities. No offense to you, Roldan or anyone. I just really don’t want to be here right now and would like this over with as soon as possible.”

Jacob isn’t sure how to react at first and then he looks over to his left and sees Mistress sitting over at the far end of the balcony. He gets it.

“Apologies.” He says and whispers to Brenda about something before turning his attention to the parade, which is just beginning to get underway.

As you sit there watching you try to lose yourself in the moment, but it’s difficult when you’re fighting the urge to take Mistress up on her offer. Every once in a while you glance over at her and catch a glimpse of her legs. You think about how you’d love to have them wrapped around you while your hands are wrapped around her throat.

While you successfully lose yourself in this violent fantasy you are suddenly snapped out of it when everyone starts cheering very loudly.

General Roldan arrives on a giant extravagant platform carried by a dozen or so elven slaves. He stands there in very shiny ornamental armor with an equally ornamental weapon by his side. He waves to the crowds on both sides and accepts their cheers. Brenda and Jacob are both smiling and Jacob is shouting louder than anyone else on the balcony.

Then something unexpected happens.

A cloaked figure suddenly materializes right behind Roldan. From this distance you can’t be sure, but it doesn’t look entirely human. As the crowd’s cheers become sounds of horror, you see this figure draw two curved blades and in one quick move decapitates Roldan before he even knows there is an attacker behind him.

His body and head don’t even hit the surface of the platform before the cloaked figure disappears again. The elven slaves at this point panic and drop the platform, this is soon followed by the rest of the citizens generally running all over the place and soldiers swarming the streets trying to maintain order. The city is in chaos.

Jacob is just sitting there in shock. Alison has immediately ordered everyone on the balcony to get inside the palace. Brenda on the other hand has already left; you imagine she’s taken to the streets to go find her husband’s assassin herself.

“That was a fucking shadow.” You say to yourself and then you look over to Mistress and see her still sitting in her chair as well, but she’s not in shock. You see a small smirk across her face. That same cruel smirk you’ve seen many times before.

You KNOW she’s behind this and she’s gone too far this time.

You push aside the panicking spectators and rush towards Mistress. She turns to your direction just in time for you to tackle her to the ground and begin punching her in the face. Nobody tries to stop you.

“You fucking treacherous bitch! You did this! I’m putting an end to you once and for all!” you shout.

Mistress’ face is bloody and her nose is broken, but she isn’t without fight left in her. She rakes her nails across your eyes, which is enough for her to wiggle out from under you.

“I didn’t have anything to do with this you crazy bastard!” she shouts, but you aren’t listening to her lies. You don’t even care that you’re half blind, you continue to grab at her so she can’t get away.

“You’re not talking your way out of this, you svelk cunt!” you say and stab her in the stomach with the dagger she gave you. She attempts to cast a spell at you, but you grab her hand and break it before she even gets a word out.

You pick her up off the floor like a rag doll and slam her back against the balcony railing. Her upper half hangs vulnerably over the railing and your intention is to see that the other half soon follows.

“And now I’m going to punish you. It might not take you LONG to fall, but when you hit the ground it will certainly be HARD.” You remark as you hands grab both her legs to finish pushing her over, but Mistress still isn’t done yet.

“There you go, sweet talking me again.” She says and with one last burst of energy and surprising strength she grabs your collar and pulls you forward and the pair of you go tumbling over the balcony.

Your last thoughts before you hit the cold stone courtyard below are of the happier times with Alison followed by the happy thoughts that at least you got to see Mistress hit the ground a split second before you do.