Year 70

As the years go by, you know that day is coming soon that you won’t and shouldn’t keep Tulla sheltered from the surface too much longer. Granted you’ll still be with her when that day comes, but having been to the surface every once in a while to keep apprised of the situation, Delerg still isn’t exactly the friendliest place.

Victor dumped so much into the campaign to conquer Delerg he’s been trying to get the most out of it by rebuilding Sinkhole into a proper town (Calling it Triumph). Apparently he’s also decided to make more plans to develop the area namely by chopping down the jungle to the south and to the east. This has been slow going though especially to the east which you know full well just how hostile the jungle flora and fauna get in that direction. (Oddly he hasn’t decided to expand north which is just as well since he’d probably call for the temple’s ruins to be dug up or built over, or something similar and you’d have to deal with his troops more directly.) As a result of all this redevelopment he’s not only got the pitiful remains of the enslaved Delergites working day and night, but he’s also imported many of his subjects from Quala to do work as well. A lot of these seem to be prisoners of varying types. Some are genuine criminals like murderers and thieves. Most though just couldn’t pay their taxes and it was either this or as a conscript to serve on one of the war fronts that Victor is engaged in with other Quala warlords.

Amusingly you’re no longer on the “wanted list.” An eternal captain by the name of Brom that runs the military garrison in Triumph claims he killed you during the final battle for Delerg. (In fact that’s how he got his current promotion) You’re not exactly sure how he “proved” this, but you’re guessing he just threw a black cloak on some dead body, destroyed the face to the point of recognition and made everything up.

Naturally he brags quite a bit about doing it. You’re not sure what’s funnier, the fact that he’s lying about it, or the fact that he managed to fool everyone into believing his lie (Including Victor, apparently).

In any event, it doesn’t bother you since it makes life easier without some angry warlord trying to hunt you down. Besides you’ve got enough on your mind just looking after Tulla.

“Come on, get your head out of those books, its time for your training.” You say to Tulla.
“But we train all the time! Can’t I just finish this one book?” Tulla whines.
“No! We have to keep to a schedule. Now let’s get to it.”

Tulla puts away her book in defeat and leaves the library to head to the training room. It’s been more of an effort to get her to do her training lately.

“Why do I have to train so hard? You never let me go up to the surface anyway.” Tulla says.
“And you won’t be going up to the surface until I’m confident that you can take care of yourself. I know you think I’m just being mean, but trust me what I’m doing is going to ensure your survival. I won’t always be around, you know.”

Tulla doesn’t reply to your remark she just picks up her wooden sword and gets into the fighting stance you’ve been teaching her. You and her spar for a few moments and fortunately despite her less than enthusiastic desire to be here, she does not slack off and proves to be absorbing everything you’ve been teaching her all these years.

“Good. Glad to see you’re taking this seriously. Now let’s try something new.” You say and change up your style. You tell Tulla to pay attention.

An hour later you and her are taking a break. Though it’s mainly for you. Every damn bone in your body aches and the ravages of time never let you forget that your earlier years of near perpetual combat have taken their toll.

“Are you okay uncle?” Tulla asks in concern.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just old war wounds acting up as usual. We’ll pick up training again in a few minutes.”

While you lay prone recovering, Tulla decides to be inquisitive as usual.

“Uncle, did you train as hard as this when you were my age?” Tulla asks.
“Heh heh…I was trained harder than you at an even younger age.” You chuckle.
“Was it the shadows who trained you so hard?”
“Not at first. It was some sadistic svelk bitch that called herself Mistress. She trained me up until I was twelve, and then I was transferred over to the shadows.”
“Oh. So is that when you learned magic?”
“Yeah I learned it eventually. Never really liked using it though.”
“I would like to use magic like a shadow! I’ve read you could turn yourself in invisible, make yourself really fast or even walk like a spider on a ceiling!”
“Yeah some of it was pretty handy I guess. Haven’t been able to use any in years though.
“Because Dendrin doesn’t like you anymore?”
“Not exactly…but something like that…yes.”

You’ve explained a little bit about Dendrin to Tulla in the past, you don’t think she fully understands all of it, but you do know that she spends a lot of time reading the old tomes about shadow history and such. Which is why she’s been getting increasingly more curious about him and the shadows in general. She probably would like to hear a more personal view of the organization.

A view you don’t even want to get into anytime soon. So you try to change the subject.

“Alright, we’ve rested enough, let’s get back to it.” You say getting off the floor.

Just as you’re about to begin, Tulla makes a statement.

“It’s a shame you and Dendrin don’t get along anymore. If you did, you could teach me shadow magic and it would help me survive better.”

You say nothing and just tell her to focus on defending herself. Tulla complies, but she’s not the one that’s preoccupied, you are. The remark she’s just made is going to be the first step in a long series of questions and problems. You know she’s going to eventually ask why can’t she become a shadow. They already intrigue her the more she reads the books.

What are you going to do? Tell her she can’t read anymore? Put further restrictions on her? The whole point of this is to make her independent and avoid sheltering her.

You dwell on this for the rest of day and until you manage to fall asleep…

Nothing happens. You fully expected Dendrin to visit and give some sort of “sagely” advice and most likely try to convince you to let Tulla become a shadow, but he doesn’t.

Weeks go by while you’re still struggling with this decision and you still get no visit from Dendrin. This is one of the rare times you’d actually wish he’d show up and try to convince you just so you’d have a compass of doing the exact opposite. Of course maybe he doesn’t care. He did say he was bored of the shadows for centuries after all.

In the end this isn’t up to him. This decision is on you. Tulla’s interest in the shadows is only going to increase and you’re going to have to let her find her own way or nip it in the bud now. The problem is despite all your own prejudices against Dendrin and the shadow religion in general, you’d be a complete hypocrite if you didn’t admit that the training did provide you with the means of surviving this long. The shadow magic also helped in that endeavor. Even Tulla made that connection.

Tulla already shows much promise combat wise. If she could cast magic, she’d probably become very powerful indeed.
> You don't allow it
Forbidding her to do anything or restricting her is only going to cause her to resent you even more or worse run away completely. You aren’t going to let her be a shadow and become some indoctrinated idiot with no mind of her own though.

There’s only one solution you can come up with, you’re going to have to leave this place and live elsewhere. If the temptation isn’t readily available then it the desire for it may eventually go away. Well you hope at least.

But where could you go? Its not like the surrounding areas are exactly all that friendly. The only places you can think of that might be relatively free of strife are the Nalin Empire and the Felkan Kingdom.

The Nalin Empire is closer since you’d only have to travel through part of Quala. It’s still run by Matron Warden Brenda, and from what you know she keeps it pretty orderly and safe. It’s somewhat amusing to think that you’d be running to a place that is basically the last remnants of the old Empire. Your only real concern with going there is that Brenda’s as old as you and you’ve heard rumors that her second in command Tarna is a very ambitious woman. You might end up heading to a place that will either be going on a war of conquest or even suffering a civil war soon.

The Felkan Kingdom is a much longer trek and you’d have to travel through Quala and Arat, which is daunting prospect given how dangerous both places are. You also don’t know much about the Felkan Kingdom save for the propaganda that the Empire told everyone which probably means it isn’t that bad of a place. It still exists so you’re guessing it’s fairly stable.

In any case you’ll figure it out later, right now you have to make preparations.

When you tell Tulla the news that you need to leave this place and go to the surface her reaction is a mixture of confusion and joy. Confusion to as why it is so urgent to leave, but joy that she’s finally getting to leave. You make up a story of saying you’ve been noticing Victor’s people scouting the topside of the temple ruins lately and how you think its only a matter of time before they try to either start digging or collapse the place on you. This excuse seems to work.

Tulla of course tries to pack some books with her, but you tell her to leave such things, as you need to go quickly and travel light. She complains a bit, but after you raise your voice slightly, she capitulates.

“Okay, I’m ready to go uncle. Do you think it’s raining? I hope so, I really miss the rain.” Tulla remarks.
“Well, we’ll know soon enough, but I need to do one more thing first. Wait by the entrance, I’ll be there shortly.”

While Tulla waits, you head into the garden one last time.

“Talia, I’m leaving now and I probably won’t be returning this time. I wish there was some other way, but I just can’t allow Tulla to become a shadow. I need to take her out of this place. Its for the best anyway, can’t allow her to become sheltered.”

You move closer to Talia’s grave.

“I’ll continue to honor your memory even though I won’t be here anymore. I promise. I love you you…goodbye.” You say and kneel down to touch her grave before leaving.

Immediately after you and Tulla leave the temple, she happily takes in the outside scenery.

“The sky! The trees! Its all as wonderful as I remembered!” she says.
“Yeah, well keep the joy to a minimum, Delerg’s become an even less friendly place than you probably remember too. We need to keep a low profile until we reach our destination.”
“So what is our destination?” Tulla asks.
> You travel to the Nalin Empire
The Nalin Empire is closer and quite frankly you’re too damn old to be sneaking around on long extended trips nowadays.

“The Nalin Empire? Are you sure? I thought you told me it was run by an eternal.” Tulla says.
“It is, but she’s like me. She’s a first gen and given that she’s run the place for several decades without any attacks or other major problems it’s one of the more stable places I can think of.”

Your journey out of Delerg is fortunately without conflict. Your journey through Quala isn’t however, though you’re lucky enough to not get harassed by any professional soldier types and its just bandits.

Tulla does well against them, you don’t do too bad yourself considering your age, but during the fight it’s never been more apparent of how old you actually are.

“You okay uncle?” Tulla asks you after the battle.
“Yeah…(pant)…just…well like I’ve said before. I’m just old. Though I can honestly say, I’m proud of you and glad to see that you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself. Now let’s loot these sons of bitches and hope they actually robbed some people before their pathetic attempt on us. I’m pretty sure we’re going to need some money when we get to Nalin.”

When you eventually arrive in Nalin, you make your way to Dalt, which is one of the major cities in the land. Tulla is in awe. Most of her life has been spend underground in practical isolation. She’s never seen anything so busy, everything is almost overwhelming, but she seems to enjoy it. The funny thing is, you’re pretty much in the same situation as Tulla. Most of your life has been spent away from civilization and in isolation. Even when you were around other shadows you were still alone. Unlike Tulla though, you don’t feel comfortable here.

“Uncle this place is amazing! There’s so much here to do!”
“Mm, well keep in mind that while this place isn’t Delerg or Quala, there are still dangers here. Perhaps more subtle ones. Here.” You hand over what valuables you have to Tulla.

“Now with this stuff, you can probably get a room at a quality inn for quite a while. I imagine you’d probably be able to get a job as a serving girl easily, but I doubt that’s something you’d want to do. So I suggest maybe something in the local security or maybe even the recruiting office. Given most of female soldier types I’ve noticed stomping around here, I don’t think they’d turn you away due to gender. Age maybe, but after you prove what you’re capable of, I don’t think you’ll have any problems.”

You give Tulla a hug though she seems confused.

“Uncle, I don’t understand.”
“Tulla, this is your chance to start a new life. I wish you all the best with it, but this…” you make hand motions at the buildings around you. “This isn’t me. I wanted to bring you to a place where you can have a normal life, well as normal as it can get anyway. And I have. As for me, I’m too old to change and get accustomed to new situations.”
“But where will you go?”
“Oh, I’ll be around. You don’t think I’d just abandon you completely do you? I just won’t be here. Besides, I noticed when we took that short cut through the woods; we passed a run down old cabin on the way here. Pretty sure it’s abandoned. Seems like it would be a good place to spend my remaining years.”

You give Tulla a hug. Tulla returns your hug and kisses you on the cheek, promising to visit you at some point when she gets the chance.

You leave the city and return to the abandoned cabin you mentioned to Tulla. The place is indeed abandoned. Needs some fixing up, but you can get to that tomorrow, its been a long past couple days and you’re glad to have proper place to sleep for a change…

“You really think this is what’s best for Tulla? Encouraging her to become some common soldier? A soldier of a government for all intents and purposes is a remnant of what you spent your life fighting against?” Dendrin asks.
“Yeah, I’m amused by the irony myself.” You say. “But I believe she will thrive in this environment or least she’ll have a better chance than where she was.”
“If you’d gotten past your irrational prejudices, and allowed Tulla to become a shadow she would’ve thrived a lot better no matter what environment she was in.
“And that’s what you’re really pissed about isn’t it? You were hoping that the shadows would be resurrected somehow with Tulla? Well sorry to disappoint you, but the shadows die with me and as far as I’m concerned they already died long ago.”
“You short sighted fool, this wasn’t about Tulla, this was a chance for you to finally achieve something worthwhile in your miserable life!”
“Yeah, well I’ve never been here to impress you, so if I’m no longer a source of amusement or interest to you I guess you can start leaving me alone finally.”
“I suppose so. You’re a great disappointment Eternal.”
“I’m sure I am.”

And that’s the last time you ever hear from Dendrin ever again.

In the months to follow you spend fixing up your cabin and generally living a simple life. Tulla comes and visits you as she promised. The next time you see her she’s in a soldier’s uniform. Apparently she made an impression. She mentions that the Nalin Empire is always on the look out for new recruits anyway.

A couple years pass and the ruler of Nalin dies. Apparently Brenda committed suicide, but given how ambitious her second is, you wonder if Tarna didn’t have anything to do with it. You briefly have a concern that Nalin will be plunged into civil war, but fortunately Tarna keeps the Empire together and it was never in such danger. Tarna is perhaps s a little stricter than Brenda is, not that it matters to you since you live a self-sufficient life in the middle of nowhere and have a “daughter” in the army. The only thing you ever have problems with is competing with the nearby kobold tribe for game.

Tulla still visits you from time to time, but the visits get rare due to her responsibilities, but you don’t mind. She’s living her life after all and that’s what you always wanted for her.

 into decades and you live long enough to see the Nalin Empire embark on a war of conquest of Quala. You know Tulla was sent to the front lines because she made one last visit before leaving. You wished her luck as you always do, but you know better than anyone that war is an ugly business and death can come at any time.

You never do see her again. You never know if she was killed or if she was just on assigned elsewhere.

Eventually your last remaining years are spent as you most often lived: Alone and your thoughts mostly revolving around Talia. With your last dying breath you tell her that you’ll be joining her soon.


Forbidding her to do anything or restricting her is only going to cause her to resent you even more or worse run away completely. You aren’t going to let her be a shadow and become some indoctrinated idiot with no mind of her own though.

There’s only one solution you can come up with, you’re going to have to leave this place and live elsewhere. If the temptation isn’t readily available then it the desire for it may eventually go away. Well you hope at least.

But where could you go? Its not like the surrounding areas are exactly all that friendly. The only places you can think of that might be relatively free of strife are the Nalin Empire and the Felkan Kingdom.

The Nalin Empire is closer since you’d only have to travel through part of Quala. It’s still run by Matron Warden Brenda, and from what you know she keeps it pretty orderly and safe. It’s somewhat amusing to think that you’d be running to a place that is basically the last remnants of the old Empire. Your only real concern with going there is that Brenda’s as old as you and you’ve heard rumors that her second in command Tarna is a very ambitious woman. You might end up heading to a place that will either be going on a war of conquest or even suffering a civil war soon.

The Felkan Kingdom is a much longer trek and you’d have to travel through Quala and Arat, which is daunting prospect given how dangerous both places are. You also don’t know much about the Felkan Kingdom save for the propaganda that the Empire told everyone which probably means it isn’t that bad of a place. It still exists so you’re guessing it’s fairly stable.

In any case you’ll figure it out later, right now you have to make preparations.

When you tell Tulla the news that you need to leave this place and go to the surface her reaction is a mixture of confusion and joy. Confusion to as why it is so urgent to leave, but joy that she’s finally getting to leave. You make up a story of saying you’ve been noticing Victor’s people scouting the topside of the temple ruins lately and how you think its only a matter of time before they try to either start digging or collapse the place on you. This excuse seems to work.

Tulla of course tries to pack some books with her, but you tell her to leave such things, as you need to go quickly and travel light. She complains a bit, but after you raise your voice slightly, she capitulates.

“Okay, I’m ready to go uncle. Do you think it’s raining? I hope so, I really miss the rain.” Tulla remarks.
“Well, we’ll know soon enough, but I need to do one more thing first. Wait by the entrance, I’ll be there shortly.”

While Tulla waits, you head into the garden one last time.

“Talia, I’m leaving now and I probably won’t be returning this time. I wish there was some other way, but I just can’t allow Tulla to become a shadow. I need to take her out of this place. Its for the best anyway, can’t allow her to become sheltered.”

You move closer to Talia’s grave.

“I’ll continue to honor your memory even though I won’t be here anymore. I promise. I love you you…goodbye.” You say and kneel down to touch her grave before leaving.

Immediately after you and Tulla leave the temple, she happily takes in the outside scenery.

“The sky! The trees! Its all as wonderful as I remembered!” she says.
“Yeah, well keep the joy to a minimum, Delerg’s become an even less friendly place than you probably remember too. We need to keep a low profile until we reach our destination.”
“So what is our destination?” Tulla asks.
> You travel to the Felkan Kingdom
The Felkan Kingdom is further away from the chaos and while it’ll be a long trek, you feel it’ll be a better place for Tulla to start a new life.

“The Felkan Kingdom? That’s a long distance, are you sure you’re up for that?” Tulla asks.
“Of course I am! I’m not so old that I can’t make a simple trip! Now let’s get going.” You snap.

Your journey out of Delerg is fortunately without conflict. Your journey through Quala isn’t however, though you’re lucky enough to not get harassed by any professional soldier types and its just bandits.

Tulla does well against them, you don’t do too bad yourself considering your age, but during the fight it’s never been more apparent of how old you actually are.

“You okay uncle?” Tulla asks you after the battle.
“Yeah…(pant)…just…well like I’ve said before. I’m just old. Though I can honestly say, I’m proud of you and glad to see that you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself. Now let’s loot these sons of bitches and hope they actually robbed some people before their pathetic attempt on us. I’m pretty sure we’re going to need some money when we get to the Felkan Kingdom.”

You continue your journey through Quala and continue to feel your age. You don’t have too many more problems in Quala, but Arat is another story.

As bad as Quala is, Arat is still in relative anarchy. You and Tulla are attacked several times and unfortunately it is during one of those attacks that your age catches up to you. In this case your attackers happen to be a small group of svelk.

The svelk are more than a match for Tulla despite her skills, and you as well. Though you manage to at least fight long enough for Tulla to escape. You on the other hand succumb to your wounds and the svelk finish you off with a few bolts to your head.


You’re going to try one last time with Lena. MAYBE you can talk some sense into her.

“Come on.” You say and grab Tulla by her little hand to pull her along as you walk.
“Where are we going?”
“To see your mother.”

Lena usually holds her meetings in a drab looking two-floor house near the center of the village which she’s made into her home since the village was walled up. You go there immediately and find her standing behind a table while she speaks to a bunch of other people standing in the room. It’s packed, but you make your way through the crowd. Lena notices and wonders if you’re here to tell everyone that there’s an attack coming.

“What’s going on? Are those bastards coming to attack us?” Lena asks.
“No, but I need to talk to you NOW.”
“I’m in the middle of something, can’t it wait?”
“No, this is something that needs to be addressed in private, and if you’re unwilling to do so, I’m going to start clearing this room out in a less civilized manner.”

Knowing that you’ll do it, Lena tells everyone that the meeting is over and that everyone should go back to their duties. When the home clears out, you’re left with just Tulla and Lena in the room. You tell Tulla to go upstairs and find something to busy herself with. She complies though she’s not enthusiastic about it. She also isn’t a fool and knows when an argument is about to happen.

“Okay everyone’s gone, now what’s so damned important?” Lena says.
“Well for starters how about your own daughter? You let her wander away like this all the time, knowing damn well how dangerous it is.”
“She seeks you out right? I trust that you’ll look after her.”
“Yeah, but the problem with that is I’m not her damn parent and I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on other things that are of more importance remember?”
“And? I just sit around all day doing nothing? What exactly do you think I do and have been doing?”
“Losing a war and satisfying your desire for vengeance, but that’s not what I’m here about, I’m here to try to talk sense into you one last time…”
“Oh here we go. Wisdom from the old shadow once again. Save your breath I’ve heard your fat musings about our situation time and time again. And as I’ve said before nobody is forcing you to stay. Go on back to your hole and hide with your beloved corpse. That is what you’re best at right?”
“Lena, this isn’t about me, this is about YOU and your family, or what remains of it. This battle is lost, you know it and I know. Everyone probably knows it, but they’re still following you out of loyalty and desperation.”
“You know damn well we can’t surrender.”
“I’m not talking about that! I’m saying you need to take Tulla and just get the fuck out of here. You fought the good fight as long you could; you probably crippled Victor’s army and wasted his resources to the point where he’s probably struggling to maintain his holdings in Quala. I mean I think you’re way past even now.”
“Even? Is that supposed to be a joke? Victor kills us and enslaves us all and because he’s suffering from a little manpower shortage we’re supposed be even? What kind of leader would I be if I just abandoned everyone?”
“Fine then, if you really care about the people then talk them into leaving with you. Hell, I even know of an area where everyone could settle down anew. It’s not the friendliest place, but it’s the northern part of Delerg and out of reach from Victor or anyone else desiring to establish a military presence.”
“Since when have you been some protector of the people?”

Now you start to get exasperated.

“Lena, we’ve had this discussion before, but if you insist…I was doing this YEARS before YOU were even a lust filled idea in your parents’ heads! Protector of the people…I’ve probably been doing more than YOU to protect the people of Delerg even now. At least I’m suggesting a way for them to survive, but let’s get serious for a second. You’re right, I don’t care about any of them, I only care about one in particular. Okay two, but you don’t want me to care in that way…you want me to want me to care on a whole other level but the time for has long since past if it was ever a possibility to begin with.”

Lena’s expression, which is usually one of coldness nowadays, begins to crack a little. She turns her head a bit and brushes her hair in an effort to hide possible tears starting to form.

“Look Lena, the first time you explained your reasons for staying to fight five years ago, you managed to convince me because you were right and despite how I knew this was going to play out, it was still a worthy cause. However, I’m right too. There is nothing to be gained by being a martyr or dying a hero, or whatever it is exactly you’re trying to do here. If you don’t care about your own life, at least think of your daughter’s life. You’ve been distant with her ever since she was born, one would think in these times you’d want to spend more time with her not less. Let alone bad mouthing her father who DID spend time with her or leaving her in the company of a complete stranger.”

“I’m not leaving her with a complete stranger, I’m leaving her with you!” Lena says and begins to break down.

“SHE’LL BE SAFE WITH YOU! SHE’LL BE HAPPY WITH YOU!”

Lena collapses in a nearby chair with her head in her hands weeping.

“She’ll…survive with you…(sob)”

You suddenly realize the situation that Lena has placed you in, and you hate her for it. You shake your head in disbelief. Out of all the things that have happened in your life, this has got to be the most unforeseen to your mind. You have no words; you instead just leave Lena to her crying and walk out the front door.

You stand outside the house for a moment as the rain continues to fall just trying to wrap your head around all of this. You don’t even know where to start. Did she always plan this? Was this a last minute decision? Does she just expect you to…

“Hey Uncle Shadow are you and mommy done fighting?” you hear Tulla ask as she comes from around a corner.
“Huh? Where’d you come from? I thought you were upstairs.”
“I was, but I sneaked out while you and mommy were yelling at each other. Sneaked like you do! I wanted to play in the rain. So are you done fighting?”
“Yeah…I think we’re done fighting…” you say looking back at the door.
“That’s good. I didn’t like it when mommy and daddy fighted either.” She says.

With her question answered, Lena’s attention has already been distracted by the rain, which she gleefully plays in by splashing a nearby puddle. She has no idea what the hell is going on and what just happened.

You watch her play for a moment and then call her over.

“Tulla, come here.”
“Yes, uncle?”
“Do you have any items that are special to you?”
“Yes!”
“Well go in and grab them, but ONLY the ones you think are really important. Some clothes too. We’re going on a trip and we won’t be back for a long time.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’re uh, going to your uncle shadow’s secret hideout. Nobody will be able to hurt us there.”
“Yay! Is mommy coming too?”
“No…she’s got important stuff to do here. Look, get your belongings and let’s go. I’ll be right here waiting.”

Tulla goes inside and you wait. Doesn’t take long For Tulla to come back out with a small bag of her things.

“I’m ready uncle.”
“You say good bye to your mom?”
“Yes. She was crying and sad when I first went inside, but when I told her I was leaving with you, she looked up at me and smiled a little. She told me that she loved me and to do what you say.”

You nod at Tulla’s explanation of events.

“Are you going in to say goodbye?”
“No, your mother and I have said our goodbyes. Let’s go.”

Your trip back to the temple is surprisingly uneventful. You don’t even need to avoid any patrols. You do take the long way though and go through your alternate entrance. This causes a bit of worry for Tulla since she’s never gone underwater before, but you reassure her that as long as she holds on to you, you won’t let her drown and will hold her up to catch her breath using the air pockets in the underground tunnel. Naturally she believes you can do anything so this immediately alleviates her fears.

Eventually you’re home.

“This place is dark and scary.” Tulla remarks looking around.
“Yeah, but my home, and your home too now. You can stay in this room, it was your mother’s at one time.”
“Wow there are a lot of books in that room!”
“That’s the library.”
“What in there?” Tulla asks and points to the cavern with the garden.
“That’s…a private area. Don’t go in there without permission okay? Even if you talking or faint whispering.”
“A ghost doesn’t live there does it?”
“Heh, well sort of I suppose.” You smirk. “But don’t worry she’s friendly…in fact forget what I said, let’s go into that room right now.”

You enter the garden with Tulla hiding somewhat behind you still nervous about the “ghost.” You point out Talia’s grave to Tulla.

“There she is. She doesn’t speak or anything though. She just listens, mainly to me of course. Her name is Talia.”
“Oh is she like my daddy?” Tulla asks making the connection that Talia isn’t a real ghost and just dead.
“Yes, yes she is, but I still talk to her. Because I still love her.”

Tulla starts to ask another question, but you are in mood to answer any more as its been a long strange day. You tell Tulla to go to her room and dry off and unpack. You then mention you’ll see her shortly. Tulla leaves you alone to be with your beloved. You sit down beside Talia’s grave and think about the strange situation you’re in.

“Well Talia, it probably isn’t exactly how you ever envisioned it, but we have a child now.”
> You shadow shelter for lost girls (Dendrin's Input)
“Planning on turning this place in an orphanage and calling it Uncle Shadow’s shelter for lost girls?” Dendrin mocks. You knew this was coming.
“I’m really in no mood, you know.” You reply.
“Oh you’re always in a mood. Just never a fun one.”
“Well get your jabs in now and get it over with, I know you want to.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you think I’m going to make fun of you and this situation you’ve misjudged me as usual. On the contrary, I think it’s very brave of you to take on such an unfamiliar responsibility at your age.”
“I wasn’t left with much choice, now was I?”
“Sure you were, you could’ve just left the girl to die along with her mother. You didn’t though, I imagine for several reasons. Such as your not so secret need for living mortal company, or your dormant paternal instinct that apparently has gotten stronger in your later years. Even I didn’t see that one coming until you took in this girl’s mother a decade ago.”
“Yeah… let’s not bring her up right now.”
“My apologies. Anyway this should certainly be fascinating to observe.”
“And there it is, the whole reason for your interest. Something new to view. Glad I can always be a constant source of amusement to you Den.”
“Eternal you’re more than a source of amusement for me and I think you know that. I still believe as I did when I let you live during your shadow indoctrination ceremony that you are destined for important things.”
“Well let me know what those important things are when you find out.”
“It may be that you’re already involved in them.”

Before you can make a retort about Dendrin’s usual vagueness, you wake up.


Year 55

You always were one to defy the odds, but you knew it could only end like this.

Luck certainly played a large factor in your favor at the beginning. First off the invasion rumors were still just rumors for quite a while. It gave you and Lena more time to prepare and it was definitely preparation that was needed.

By the time the eternal warlord Victor sent anyone to establish dominance, most of the population had actually been motivated to help. This was mostly thanks to Lena again, as well others she recruited. Victor’s first attempt was surprisingly diplomatic, as he sent in an ambassador of sorts along with a company of his troops in Sinkhole. There was an attempt to talk the Delergites into just capitulating with assurances that no harm would come to them if they had. Ultimately these empty promises were wasted and with your help, the first battle of Delerg was a crushing defeat for Victor. There was a lot of celebrating afterwards.

You knew it was just the beginning though.

The first few years were a back and forth guerilla war. Victor immediately seized Sinkhole and made it his base of operations. Battles were fought throughout the swamp and jungle. Some of the villages were occupied during this time, but there was still hope.

Then came the moment you knew was going to happen and that’s when Victor got tired of playing nice.

Losing way more troops and spending a lot more time than he wanted to, Victor started making demands that if the Delergites didn’t surrender immediately he was going to set the whole province to the torch. He also wanted you personally to be delivered to him dead or alive. He probably assumed that since you were a shadow, you were actually the main one responsible for leading this thing.

There were a couple attempts to assault your home, but you had made sure it was a death trap for anyone even entering the nearby area, let alone the ruins themselves. The other attempt was to surround the area to at least contain you, but that didn’t really work either considering you just used a different access route that you made years ago and they’ll probably never find that one since its nowhere near the ruins and you have to actually swim underwater to access it.

Eventually an order was given to just try to kill you on sight when possible and that the subjugation of Delerg was the main priority.

To her credit Lena managed to maintain the Delergites’ enthusiasm of resisting Victor and most continued to fight, but heart alone isn’t enough sometimes. Victor just sent in more troops and began to make good on his promises of setting the province on fire. Village after village burned. Those that weren’t killed were taken away, probably in slavery.

Things got so grim that you briefly pondered the idea of praying to Dendrin for help if only to try to get your shadow magic back, but given that it didn’t save Talia, you saw no reason to bother. Dendrin even told you not to bother, as he knew you’d never be a believer. Apparently your mere lip service would no longer be sufficient at this point.

Dendrin did suggest that you attempt to convert others to the shadow religion though and he’d be more than willing to grant them powers providing they went through all the normal procedures. You laughed at that idea, you’re no missionary and had no time to bother with whatever self-serving plan Dendrin was hatching. Besides, the Delergites weren’t interested in anything else except surviving the next attack by Victor, they were already committed to one “cause” and that was more than enough.

And now here you are in Lena’s village, the last stand of the Delerg resistance. It doesn’t much resemble a village anymore so much as it resembles a small walled fort now. And when Victor’s forces attack again, it’ll resemble a smoldering ruin.

As you look around the village through the rain you see so many wounded and many more just plain exhausted. Things weren’t even this bad for them under the Empire during its last days. They weren’t even this bad under Brutus’ gang.

This is what fighting the good fight has brought them. Death for those that resist and slavery for those that gave up long ago. All of them have to be thinking or have already thought at one time: “Was it worth it?” Some probably think no. Some probably think yes. And they’d both be right.

It’s definitely what you think and have thought in the past.

The difference is you know that YOU can survive this. You’ll live to fight another day. Its what you’ve always done and it’ll probably what you’ll continue to do until some lucky bastard manages to kill you. Who knows? Maybe that day is sooner than you think.

You really aren’t worried about yourself though; lately you’ve been slightly more concerned about someone else.

And it isn’t Lena.

“Hey Uncle Shadow, are the invaders coming today?” Tulla walks up and asks you seemingly oblivious to the fact that it’s raining.

You have no idea where she got the idea to call you “uncle shadow”, but she’s been doing it for so long now that you don’t bother to tell her not to anymore.

“Probably not in this rain. Victor’s soldiers are still going to need a catapult or battering ram to get through the gates. They aren’t going to be able to drag one of those things here in the mud at least not effectively. Not just mud either, but water as well; the rivers and marsh are overflowing because of the rain. If you look down there you can see we’ve practically got a small moat around us. No my guess is they’ll wait for the rains to stop and then a few days after so the water level drops.” You explain while fixing your hood over your head.
“And then they’ll attack?”
“Yes, and then they’ll probably attack.”
“And will we win again?”

You don’t answer; instead you motion Tulla to the overhanging roof at a nearby sleeping house.

“Didn’t your mother teach you to come in out of the rain?” you say shaking off your own water soaked tunic.
“I like the rain. It feels nice.” Tulla remarks.

It’s funny to see how Tulla was brought up in such a warzone yet she maintains an innocent sense of appreciation for simple things like rain.

“Where is your mother anyway? Shouldn’t she be looking out for you?”
“Oh you know her, she’s busy a lot making plans with people to fight the bad people that attack us. It’s boring to sit there.”
“Perhaps, but you still should stay near her. Its not exactly safe out here.”
“But I am safe, because you’re here and you’re a great warrior! Mommy says so!”
“Hmm. I’ll bet, but I’m also busy and I can’t keep an eye on you all the time.”
“I’ll bet you can! Mommy says that you’re also the fastest warrior here!”
“Mommy talks a lot about me to you does she?”
“Yes! She says that you’re a lot more useful than daddy was.”

You don’t even know how to respond to that. You always figured that even if Lena never did truly “love” Henry, you always thought she at least respected and cared for him. Henry wasn’t a bad guy; he just wasn’t cut out for fighting. It’s certainly not his fault that he died trying to defend this village. He’s only been dead a year and it really doesn’t seem right that she’s bad mouthing him to their daughter like this. Its not really right that she’s always been so distant to Tulla in general, but you’ve never understood that.

Or maybe you do.

Lena’s deluded herself that she’s always pursued this resistance because it’s about defending her family, other families and the homeland from tyranny, and it is to an extent. But her real reasons? She still hasn’t let go of the hate she has for eternals and she wants to kill as many as possible before she dies. (Never mind the fact that it’s mostly other humans actually making up the rank and file of Victor’s troops and Vic himself isn’t anywhere near the battlefield)

In the scheme of things she never really wanted a family because as far as she was concerned her family died when she was a little girl and all that was left was the hatred that burned within. Everyone else to her is a secondary concern. You might be the exception because you managed to better focus her rage and possibly even quell the fire of it a bit.

Who knows what might’ve happened had you taken Lena as some sort of youthful substitute for Talia. Who knows what might’ve happened had Victor not invaded. Would Lena still have insisted on her vendetta?

You don’t know and it isn’t important because it’s the past and now is the present. She has obviously chosen a path and its not one you’re going down because you’re not responsible for her. You’ve helped as much as you could and you’re done.

Still, while it probably won’t do any good, part of you feels like you should go confront Lena before you leave.
> You just leave
You’re not wasting any more time with Lena or stretching this out any longer than you have to. You begin to leave.

“Uncle Shadow where are you going?” Tulla asks.
“Home. And I suggest that’s where you go. Tell your mother if she’s got any sense of self preservation left she’ll get you and herself out of here too.”
“But aren’t you staying to help us fight the bad men?” Tulla asks, not fully understanding the situation.

“No, I’m not. (sigh) I’m sorry Tulla, but even if you don’t realize it yet you’ve been dealt a bad hand in life. If your mother doesn’t flee soon like I think she won’t then I can only tell you one last thing.”

You put your hand on Tulla’s shoulder and look her in the eyes.

“When the bad men come, you HIDE. Find a safe place and hide, and then run when you’re able. Even if you see or hear them doing bad things to your mother you continue to run or hide. They won’t show mercy and they will do bad things to you as well. If you want to survive, you will listen to me.”

It’s a cold hard truth and Tulla just stares at you with the rain continuing to pour down on the pair of you. You think she’s probably more upset that you’re leaving than anything else you’ve told her. You can’t do anything for her though except hope that she absorbs your advice.

As you start to leave, you briefly consider taking Tulla with you, but you dismiss the idea. You already “took in” one young girl in trouble and you can see how that turned out. You’re no parental figure and you’re not responsible for Tulla either.

Your journey back home is an uneventful one. When you finally arrive you immediately head to the garden.

“I’m back Talia. For good this time, as I don’t believe I’ll be making many more trips topside.”

The silence continues to question you.

“Why? Well because I’m done with it all that’s why. I mean I tried to relive the thrill of battle and that only has a temporary effect on my good mood, eventually it just gets boring. I’ve explored most of lands and found nothing of interest save for hostile people and unfriendly terrain. I’ve helped those in need and it only serves to either make their situations worse or prolong the inevitable. What’s the point of it all? I’ve come to realize that down here with you is where I belong and it’s where I shall stay for the rest of my life. However long that happens to be.”

After telling all this to Talia, you feel like a great weight has been lifted off of you. It feels good to no longer have to worry about anyone other than yourself again. You excuse yourself to Talia and head off to your bedroom to get some much-needed sleep…

“While I appreciate that you finally had the common sense to abandon a hopeless cause I’m a little concerned by your return to a hermit life style.” Dendrin remarks.
“Yeah, well I would think by now that you’d know I don’t really care about your opinions on my life.”
“But you can still be so much more, or at least you could still be destined for greater things. I see that, how come you don’t?”
“Maybe I don’t want to be destined for such things even if they are true? Maybe I’m happy just spending the rest of my life here? What difference does it make? Besides I’m sure my so-called destiny would only serve to benefit you in some way so that’s not exactly a motivator either. And if you don’t like what I’m doing or you no longer find that I provide you with the amusement that your own pathetic existence so desperately craves then you can fucking leave me alone.”
“Very well Eternal. I can see I should waste no more time with you. My only regret is I did not see your inadequacies sooner. Perhaps I should’ve picked someone more motivated. Oh well. Time to move on.”

And with that, you never hear from Dendrin ever again. You also never go to the surface again.

 as they always do. You more or less keep yourself occupied by writing in your journal and speaking with Talia. It’s not much stimuli, but don’t seem to mind it at first. In time though you begin to get a little more detached from reality. You begin adding new people to speak with, such as arguing with Cyrus on a regular basis about how his tactics will not work against an Empire encampment or laughing at Murk on his latest tale of how he’s failed to woo Bianca.

In other words, you practically go mad. One moment you’re fully aware of your surroundings and living in the present, the next you’re living in the past again. You’ve created your own reality and aren’t leaving it anytime soon.

You continue like this for a few more decades until you eventually die as the mad hermit you are, and like most mad hermits, you leave no lasting presence in the world.


You spent many years practically buried alive, you’re not about to spend your remaining life that way. Better you should just die in battle instead. Of course you only intend on doing that if there are no other options.

So if this place stands any chance at all you’re going to enlist the help of the only person you know that will fight tooth and nail. You have no idea how Lena is going to react to seeing you again, but its something you’re going to have to do.

You travel to the small village that lies to the south of Sinkhole where you know Lena has made her home. Its nameless, unspectacular and the people there live simple lives, but that’s usually the standard for the villages around here.

After asking a few of the locals, one of them directs you to where Lena’s house is located. It doesn’t surprise you that it’s a bit isolated from the rest of the village. In any case it looks a lot better made than the rest. The muscular man outside chopping wood might have something to do with that though. He’s younger than you, though probably not more than ten years and probably a wood cutter by trade. He puts down his axe when he notices you walking up, which shows he doesn’t sense believe you mean him harm. While he’s probably a little surprised by your presence, it’s obvious he knows who you are, why not? Everyone does in this swamp.

“So…the shadow finally comes to visit. I always wondered when this day would come. My name is Henry. Lena has spoken about you on several occasions.”
“Nothing good I expect.”
“On the contrary, she’s always spoken highly of you. If I was a more insecure man, I’d probably be jealous. However, I believe the bond I have with Lena is an unbreakable one…well save for death of course. Even love must give way for reality after all.”

Shows how much he knows given that you still speak to Talia as if she were still alive. Of course you may not exactly be the beacon of sanity.

“Anyway, if you’re here to see Lena, she’s out right now hunting, but should be back soon. I can’t promise that she’ll greet you warmly however.” Henry remarks and then crying is heard on the front porch of the house from a basket. He excuses himself to go see to it.

You watch from a distance as you see Henry take a child from the basket and make the usual parental reassurances to calm the child. The child must only be a few months old, you didn’t know that Lena had a baby recently. You hear the name Tulla being said a few times and then Henry looks back over to you.

“A handful this one sometimes. Still worth it though.” He says to you with a smile.
“Worth fighting for I hope.” You reply.

Henry’s smile disappears at your remark.

“Of course.”
“Well that would make you better than most parents in this forsaken swamp. But the willingness to fight isn’t going to carry the day you know.”

“Neither is an old broken down eternal who belongs to a long dead order.” A familiar voice says. You turn around and see Lena carrying few dead Sul Monkeys and a small Croxidile. She’s changed a bit, a little older and weathered by life, but its still the girl you remember. She motions to Henry to go inside and he nods and complies.

“So that’s the family huh?” you say. “I didn’t realize you had recently given birth. Congratulations I guess. I knew you’d find…”
“Why are you here?” Lena asks as she sets up the Sul Monkeys for skinning.
“Okay, right to the point then…there’s an invasion coming.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of the rumors.”
“I doubt if they’re rumors at this point.”
“So? What are you suggesting then?”
“I really don’t know. I mean…(Sigh) look if there is an army coming from Quala, they aren’t going to be the push overs that were here before.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that too. That’s why I’ve been trying to build up a resistance. I dunno if they’ll be any good in a fight, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Wait, you mean you actually got people to potentially help you? When?”
“I’ve been doing it ever since you abandoned me. Making contacts, building up friendships and all that stuff. I’m surprised that you didn’t know about it, but then you have been traipsing around the swamp for the past few years. Surprised you didn’t just leave for good. I mean what is there for you here?”
“Its my home too you know.”

Lena snorts at your answer.

“Home…you don’t have a home. You aren’t even a true shadow by your own admission. The only reason why you still live here is because you buried Talia in that wrecked temple you call home. You can’t move on.”
“Perhaps, but someone else hasn’t moved on from her school girl crush either apparently. Henry’s nearly my age. He’s my height and his hair is even my color, one might call that… substitution.”
“Don’t you dare criticize Henry! He’s a good man! Better than you’ll ever be!” Lena shouts, but you notice she is careful enough to throw down her skinning knife before getting in your face and poking you in the chest. Not that you would’ve taken it as a serious threat anyway.

“Again perhaps, but I didn’t come here to criticize him or fight with you. Look, I’m going to be fighting the eternals regardless of your answer, but I thought it might be wise to contact someone else who I know is a fighter. Apparently though you’ve managed to find more though so perhaps you don’t need my help. Now if you don’t want or need my help, I shall take my leave, but it’s always here if you want it directly.”

Lena says nothing other than picking up her knife and going back to skinning. You turn to leave and get about a few paces, before she calls back to you.

“Wait. Since you’re more out of the loop than I thought, it might be good to bring you up to speed on the specifics of what is known and what is planned. If only to make sure you don’t get in the way of our own operations with your lone wolf tactics. So let me finish this first and you can come on in. We’ll have dinner before going over some of the details.”
“Very well.” You respond.

After your visit is over, you leave with a better grasp of what’s to come. You just aren’t optimistic about it being enough, but then fighting the odds has always been what you’ve done all your life. No point in changing precedent.
> The family (Henry and Tulla)
While eating at the dinner table, you find that unlike Lena, Henry is actually very hospitable. You discover that your guess that he was a woodcutter by trade was correct. He’s also lived here all his life and still remembers when the old Empire claimed Delerg.

“I do not ever recall seeing you in the resistance during the Empire days.” You remark.
“I wasn’t. At the time I was more concerned with taking care of my first wife who was sick, than changing the government…besides as much as it may make me look like a coward, the Empire did not interfere much with our lives, so I saw no reason to fight. Especially since you shadows looked to have the matter well in hand.”
“Hmm, glad we kept up a good appearance considering we ultimately lost.”
“But the Empire did fall.”
“It may have fell, but it got replaced with something far worse. Sometimes I think things would’ve been better if we hadn’t done shit. Your reasons for not fighting are certainly valid ones, but tell me, what did you do when the eternals first arrived? I have to admit I am not entirely familiar with the last years of the Empire and its immediate aftermath. I was trapped underground for a while you see. But I do know that there were a group of thuggish eternals that eventually laid claim here. I know because Lena and I eventually got rid of them. Why did you not fight then?”

Lena starts to get agitated with you questioning her husband, but he calms her and says it’s quite all right.

“When Brutus’ group came around and set up shop independently of the Empire I just laid low as I would never have been a match for any of them, even if they didn’t severely outnumber me. Fortunately laying low was easy as you can see this village is one of the furthest ones from Sinkhole. It’s practically on the ass end of civilization. Besides, my first wife had died of her illness around that time and I went through an extended period of mourning. I…uh sort of shut myself off from the world I guess. I was in no condition to fight anyone. If anything I might’ve welcomed death at that point in my life. All I did most of the time during those days was visit Alanna’s grave a lot and speak to it.”

You can’t help but see a very strong similarity here. When you look at Lena, she looks away as if you’re going to call her out on her choice of husbands again. Of course you aren’t though, but it does prove you were right about some of your previous remarks about her.

Meanwhile Henry finishes his tale.

“But eventually I realized that I had to move on with life and eventually I accepted reality.”
“Good for you Henry. It takes a brave man to face reality.” You say and drink from your cup giving Lena the option of calling you out on your own flights of fantasy concerning Talia. Of course she doesn’t.

You chat a bit more with Henry. He says while he isn’t much of a fighter due to inexperience, he says that Lena has shown him a few things as she has been trying to teach others as well.

“I have to say, I’ve never quite understood the Delergites’ unwillingness to fight. Well the majority of them anyway.” You mention.
“Surely as a shadow, you know the reason.”
“I do? I’m afraid you’ll have to enlighten me Henry. While I may be a shadow in name, let’s just say I may not be the best representative.”
“Well you are aware of what most of us in Delerg are taught about the shadows right? I mean about how conquerors may come and go, but the shadows will always remain as they have for centuries. And that the shadows will always defend and protect this place. With the shadows around, most people just believe that eventually they’ll take care of the major problems.”
“Yes, I am aware of it, I just never thought any of you lot bought into it so seriously. The dependency issues aside, why continue to believe it at all? The shadows belong to the rubble heap of history now. Surely YOU don’t still believe such things.”

Henry thinks a bit, but not too long.

“Well, yes.”
“You do? Why?”
“You’re still here to help aren’t you?”

You give a smile and even chuckle a bit.

“Heh, well maybe you’re right, Henry.”
“However as I mentioned before outside I am willing to fight and not rely others. After met Lena, I found that there are some things worth fighting for. Now with my new daughter Tulla in this world I find that to be truer than ever.” Henry says while looking at the baby basket nearby.

Lena reaches over to squeeze Henry’s hand briefly. You say nothing to this moment of closeness; you just get temporary lost in thoughts of long ago. You think about how this arrangement is probably similar to something Talia wanted. Well perhaps not exactly, but definitely the family part.

The thing is, you never really seriously considered such things even when Talia spoke of it. Part of it was your foremost concern of surviving the next thing the Empire decided to throw at you. The other part is it just wasn’t something you were excessively interested in. Now though, looking at something like this a little more close up, you can’t help but think “what if?”

Of course that’s not a “what if” that can ever be achieved. Even if Talia was still alive, you couldn’t have children anyway. Quite frankly you’ve spent so much time killing, wouldn’t really know what to do with the prospect of taking care of anything so helpless like a child, though you’d guess that perhaps Talia would’ve been more of the nurturing one while you trained it to fight or something you actually knew about.

The funny thing is you get the impression that Henry serves more of that purpose of a “nurturer” than Lena does, who while obviously loving towards the child, she maintains more of a distance from it than Henry does. Almost as if she’s reluctant to bond with it on a major level.


You spent many years practically buried alive, you’re not about to spend your remaining life that way. Better you should just die in battle instead. Of course you only intend on doing that if there are no other options.

So if this place stands any chance at all you’re going to enlist the help of the only person you know that will fight tooth and nail. You have no idea how Lena is going to react to seeing you again, but its something you’re going to have to do.

You travel to the small village that lies to the south of Sinkhole where you know Lena has made her home. Its nameless, unspectacular and the people there live simple lives, but that’s usually the standard for the villages around here.

After asking a few of the locals, one of them directs you to where Lena’s house is located. It doesn’t surprise you that it’s a bit isolated from the rest of the village. In any case it looks a lot better made than the rest. The muscular man outside chopping wood might have something to do with that though. He’s younger than you, though probably not more than ten years and probably a wood cutter by trade. He puts down his axe when he notices you walking up, which shows he doesn’t sense believe you mean him harm. While he’s probably a little surprised by your presence, it’s obvious he knows who you are, why not? Everyone does in this swamp.

“So…the shadow finally comes to visit. I always wondered when this day would come. My name is Henry. Lena has spoken about you on several occasions.”
“Nothing good I expect.”
“On the contrary, she’s always spoken highly of you. If I was a more insecure man, I’d probably be jealous. However, I believe the bond I have with Lena is an unbreakable one…well save for death of course. Even love must give way for reality after all.”

Shows how much he knows given that you still speak to Talia as if she were still alive. Of course you may not exactly be the beacon of sanity.

“Anyway, if you’re here to see Lena, she’s out right now hunting, but should be back soon. I can’t promise that she’ll greet you warmly however.” Henry remarks and then crying is heard on the front porch of the house from a basket. He excuses himself to go see to it.

You watch from a distance as you see Henry take a child from the basket and make the usual parental reassurances to calm the child. The child must only be a few months old, you didn’t know that Lena had a baby recently. You hear the name Tulla being said a few times and then Henry looks back over to you.

“A handful this one sometimes. Still worth it though.” He says to you with a smile.
“Worth fighting for I hope.” You reply.

Henry’s smile disappears at your remark.

“Of course.”
“Well that would make you better than most parents in this forsaken swamp. But the willingness to fight isn’t going to carry the day you know.”

“Neither is an old broken down eternal who belongs to a long dead order.” A familiar voice says. You turn around and see Lena carrying few dead Sul Monkeys and a small Croxidile. She’s changed a bit, a little older and weathered by life, but its still the girl you remember. She motions to Henry to go inside and he nods and complies.

“So that’s the family huh?” you say. “I didn’t realize you had recently given birth. Congratulations I guess. I knew you’d find…”
“Why are you here?” Lena asks as she sets up the Sul Monkeys for skinning.
“Okay, right to the point then…there’s an invasion coming.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of the rumors.”
“I doubt if they’re rumors at this point.”
“So? What are you suggesting then?”
“I really don’t know. I mean…(Sigh) look if there is an army coming from Quala, they aren’t going to be the push overs that were here before.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that too. That’s why I’ve been trying to build up a resistance. I dunno if they’ll be any good in a fight, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Wait, you mean you actually got people to potentially help you? When?”
“I’ve been doing it ever since you abandoned me. Making contacts, building up friendships and all that stuff. I’m surprised that you didn’t know about it, but then you have been traipsing around the swamp for the past few years. Surprised you didn’t just leave for good. I mean what is there for you here?”
“Its my home too you know.”

Lena snorts at your answer.

“Home…you don’t have a home. You aren’t even a true shadow by your own admission. The only reason why you still live here is because you buried Talia in that wrecked temple you call home. You can’t move on.”
“Perhaps, but someone else hasn’t moved on from her school girl crush either apparently. Henry’s nearly my age. He’s my height and his hair is even my color, one might call that… substitution.”
“Don’t you dare criticize Henry! He’s a good man! Better than you’ll ever be!” Lena shouts, but you notice she is careful enough to throw down her skinning knife before getting in your face and poking you in the chest. Not that you would’ve taken it as a serious threat anyway.

“Again perhaps, but I didn’t come here to criticize him or fight with you. Look, I’m going to be fighting the eternals regardless of your answer, but I thought it might be wise to contact someone else who I know is a fighter. Apparently though you’ve managed to find more though so perhaps you don’t need my help. Now if you don’t want or need my help, I shall take my leave, but it’s always here if you want it directly.”

Lena says nothing other than picking up her knife and going back to skinning. You turn to leave and get about a few paces, before she calls back to you.

“Wait. Since you’re more out of the loop than I thought, it might be good to bring you up to speed on the specifics of what is known and what is planned. If only to make sure you don’t get in the way of our own operations with your lone wolf tactics. So let me finish this first and you can come on in. We’ll have dinner before going over some of the details.”
“Very well.” You respond.

After your visit is over, you leave with a better grasp of what’s to come. You just aren’t optimistic about it being enough, but then fighting the odds has always been what you’ve done all your life. No point in changing precedent.
> The warrior wife (Lena)
Soon, dinner is over and Henry says that he’ll clean up, as he knows you and Lena have things to discuss concerning the possible invasion. Lena motions you back outside to talk.

“Won’t Henry be joining us for this?” you ask.
“He doesn’t need to, he’s already more up to speed on things than you are, besides he needs to clean up and look after the baby.”
“Okay then.”

While Lena goes over to speak with Henry about some more mundane domestic manner, yoou head back outside into the silent darkness. Usually there are a few Sul Monkeys making noises at night, but you’d guess that Lena being a hunter and all, the monkeys have learned to stay far away from this area. You find a nearby stump to sit on and wait for Lena who makes her appearance soon.

“Okay I know we spoke about some of the this at dinner, but what exactly do you know about this impeding invasion?”
“Like I said, all I know is its one of the local eternal warlords in Quala. I think he just calls himself The Victor or something silly like that because of his conquests.”
“Something exactly like that, though I believe he thinks it’s a clever play on words due to his real name being Victor. He doesn’t seem to be an excessively cruel ruler for an eternal, just a very arrogant one. Believes everyone should serve him. His ego aside, he has been one of the more successful warlords in Quala, but I think he’s turned his sights on Delerg for extra conscripts and tribute to help fund conquests elsewhere.”
“Well it isn’t like there’s much else here. So do you have any idea what his military strength might be?”
“I’m not sure, but uh, I think it’s in the thousands.”
“Is that low or high? I mean this does make a difference.”
“I don’t know! I mean I think it might be around ten.”
“Okay…so if its around ten and if he’s not a reckless idiot, that probably means he’ll only send around fifteen hundred troops maximum here, probably less initially since he won’t believe he’ll have any resistance. Now how many people do we have?”
“Altogether we might have a little less than a hundred.”

Lena as she continues to go on about how not all of those that she’s managed to enlist to help are even combat capable. Some have just agreed to help in a no combat way such as passing on information and such. Which means if they aren’t willing to fight, they’ll be practically useless when the battle starts getting heavy and Victor decides to just start decimating entire towns.

Lena finally asks your opinion on the situation.

“So what do you think?”
“I think we’re fucked, that’s what I think. How much have you trained the people that will fight?”
“Some of them already know how, and I’ve trained others a little. I intend on stepping up the training sessions more soon.”
“Not going to be enough, I can tell you that right now, also when I say fight I’m talking at least your level or better. You better get on it fast. Now what about traps?”
“What about them?”
“Have you set any up? I mean time at least could be taken to do that; you are a damn trapper after all.”
“And what do you expect me to do? Dig a hidden spiked pit in a road that people use on a regular basis? I can’t start setting up traps in public areas! I’ve done as much as I can around this village and even then I have to be careful. Some child playing in the wrong area and I’m the one getting blamed.”
“(Sigh) Fine, I’ll figure out something then. I’ll start trapping the less travelled roads and the clearer parts of the swamp and jungle where an army might travel through. You might want to let people know if you’re that concerned with avoiding potential accidents.”
“Why don’t you tell them? You are considered the revered protector of Delerg, last shadow.”
“Because I’m done with people? Because I did all that shit in the past and it didn’t work? If I was really all that respected and revered, I should be able to walk into Sinkhole and say hey, you’re all in great danger and if you want a slim chance of surviving the shitstorm that’s going to come your way then you better follow me and have everyone do it with absolute loyalty.”
“So you want to have the same sort of absolute authority that one of those eternal warlords has because you know what’s best for the lessers?”
“That’s not what I meant, but if you’re going to go there, yeah it would make things a hell of a lot easier. Besides, YOU’RE the leader of this resistance, not me. I’m here to help as much as I can, but as good as I am, I can’t do every damn thing.”
“So far the only thing you have done is point out that I’m doing everything wrong. When you actually start helping let me know.”

You begin to get angry.

“What Lena? You want me to pat you on the head like some doting father and say you’ve done a good job so far and that everything will be all right? Well I’m not going to do that, because the outlook on this isn’t fucking good! A superior force with better resources and most likely better fighting ability over all outnumbers us. You seem to forget I fought this battle before thirty damn years ago with better odds. You know how that ended? Complete destruction of my side, that’s how it ended. We fucking LOST Lena, spectacularly and completely. So what if the Empire fell soon after? Did it help anything in the long run? No, not one bit. Did drunken bards at taverns sing the valiant but hopeless deeds of the shadows or anyone else? No. Was it all fucking worth it at all? No. And do you think when Delerg is eventually overrun, its towns destroyed, its people killed and its jungles burned to the ground; it’ll make any bit of difference what we did? No. And you’re an idiot if you think it will.”

At one time Lena might’ve cried or run away by your harsh words, but she’s much harder now of course.

“If you feel we’re all doomed anyway then why help at all?” she asks.
“Because I’m an a mean old bastard that doesn’t have much else to do with the remainder of life except enjoy a good fight from time to time. And my point is, that YOU aren’t. Remember how after we killed Brutus you wanted to go on a suicidal rampage of attacking eternals in Quala? Remember how I managed to guide you from that by pushing you away? Seems like that worked out pretty well didn’t it? You’re alive and have a family rather than the rotting corpse that you’d probably be if you’d went ahead with your original idea.”

You take a deep breath and exhale and touch Lena’s shoulder before continuing.

“Well I’m making another guiding attempt except I’m telling you straight to your face now. You have a family and you have something to fight for, it’s true. But you’re not winning this. You can get the hell out of this forsaken swamp and make a new life elsewhere. I know you have it within you. Even if you don’t care about yourself or even Henry, think about Tulla. I mean…”
“Let me stop you right there asshole.” Lena says with authority.

“So let me get this straight, you telling me I should just run away? That I should leave my home?”
“I’m telling you, you should survive.”
“Well survival isn’t enough sometimes. Maybe it was when I fled my village as it burned to the ground, but not anymore. I’m fighting BECAUSE of my family. This is OUR home and we aren’t going to be bullied by anyone or run away when things look bad. You once fought for a worthy cause, overthrowing the tyranny of the old Empire. You must have believed in it at one time or else you would’ve just fled the area at the nearest opportunity.”
“To some extent yes, but if it wasn’t for Talia, I probably wouldn’t have stayed as long as I did.”
“Yes, the great love of your life that was the reason for most of your choices…I know. But how long are you going to hide behind that ghost? You told me you once broke up with her for a few years due to a disagreement of faith. You didn’t even think you’d ever get back with her, yet you stuck around in that frozen wasteland Rask and continued to fight the Empire all by yourself. You still must’ve believed in your cause. When you saved me on that terrible night, you didn’t do that for Talia either. You didn’t even do it out of boredom, or the thrill of battle, or whatever other reason you want to hide behind. You did it because you felt it was the RIGHT thing to do.”

You stand silent as Lena continues her speech.

“You’re a survivor, but I do not believe that it’s enough for you either. You still want to fight for a worthy cause and your morality keeps getting more in the way than you’d like to admit. If you were truly just a survivor, you wouldn’t even be here. You want to help me, because you CARE. You’re even trying to convince me to leave because you care. I’m not leaving. Preventing Delerg from being occupied by a hostile force is a worthy cause to fight for. Many won’t fight, well I think as you once told me, they’re weak. And even though it may be frustrating and unrewarding sometimes its up to the strong to protect the weak. I believe that fighting for a positive cause will be setting a good example for Tulla and she will grow up seeing that. And if we die…then at least we all died fighting for something worthy and what we believe in. I would think you of all people would approve of such a death.”

You have no argument.

“I would. Very well, I believe I have most of the information I need here, I’ll probably start doing my own spying into the Quala province and find out more. I’ll keep you posted. I…um…well…” you start to fumble with an apology, but Lena stops you.
“Don’t worry, I know. You’re just a mean old bastard.” She says.
“Heh, yeah.” You chuckle and start to leave, but before you go Lena grabs your arm and leans in to kiss you on the cheek.

“What was that for?”
“For everything.”

You and Lena look into each other’s eyes for a moment and then you turn to leave again. When you get few paces you turn to see Lena still watching you for a moment and then turn to head back to her home.

“Shut up Dendrin.” You mutter as you walk back to the temple.


This isn’t going to be easy or fun for you, but it is regrettably necessary. You’re going to not only have to convince her that she shouldn’t pursue this path, but also push her away in general.

“Lena, you won, be happy with your victory. I know you’d like to kill every eternal out there, but it just isn’t feasible.”
“I won? My family is still fucking dead!”
“And? You think you’re the only one who’s ever lost something dear to them? Going on a vengeance crusade still isn’t going to bring them back and it’s just going to get you killed!”
“What the hell else do I have to live for?!”
“What do you have to live for? You’re still young for one thing, you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. Yes, what happened was tragic for you, but you’ve grown stronger because of it and you survived the ordeal. Now make the most of it. Live your life. Find someone to settle down with or whatever it is normal people do.”
“Normal people…do you really think I can go back to a normal life? Be someone’s little housewife?”
“Okay maybe not normal…look I’m just saying you going on some fool errand of trying to kill every one of those assholes claiming to be eternals is going to get you killed. Not all of them are going to be as inept as the ones that were hanging around here. The other ones? They’re constantly at war and are battle hardened. I guarantee they’ll be much tougher opponents and much more organized.”
“But wouldn’t you be there to help? You could train me more and…you could start up a rebellion in Quala! Just like you did in the old days you told me about!”
“Ha ha. No, those days are long over. I’ve told you that before. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not training you any more. You are not meant for this sort of life. I helped clear out this swamp and now I will probably go back to my previous life of solitude.”

Lena begins to tear up again. It’s obvious she doesn’t like where this is going.

“You’re kicking me out of your home aren’t you?”
“(Sigh) You had to know this arrangement wasn’t going to last forever. I know you’ll find some place to be I mean I’m sure you’ll be treated very well by most people considering you just helped remove their oppressors.”
“Save me your words, (sniffle) I thought we were…a team…I thought you cared…just go away. Leave me alone.”

You don’t say anything else, because saying anything else is just going to make things harder and likely make things worse. So you just leave.

It feels like forever getting back home, but eventually you do and head straight to the garden.

“I’m back home, just like I said I would be. I even brought you something.” You say and put some blue flowers you picked on your way back home on her grave.

“Oh Lena? Yeah she’s gone. I think its for the best she didn’t live here anymore y’know? Dendrin already impedes on us enough. Didn’t need her around too.”

“I mean if she’d stayed she would’ve just been miserable here and eventually we would’ve ended up going to Quala like she wanted and she would’ve gotten herself killed. At least this way, she won’t do it now…well I suppose I can’t be sure of that, but I think the fact that she waited for me instead of charging into Brutus’ place by herself is a good indication. Showed me she’s always heeded my advice and not only that, she’s not as overly confidant as I thought she was. Without me around she’ll eventually abandoned her need for vengeance and settle into the normal life she was supposed to lead. She… deserves it, don’t you think?” you say with your voice quivering a bit.

You begin to wipe your eyes and sniffle a bit.

“No, of course I didn’t love her! What kind of opportunist would I be if I took advantage of some girl half my age that had a shitload of emotional baggage and a fragile personality? I’d be no better than those wannabe eternals that’s what. Besides, I didn’t think of her in that way, I just…look I’m tired all right? I’m going to bed.”

You leave the garden and collapse on your bed. It takes awhile but eventually you start to fall asleep hoping that you don’t have to put up with any smart-ass comments from Dendrin anytime soon.

He has uncharacteristically heard you for once because he leaves you alone for quite some time.

You briefly consider doing what you told Lena not to do and that’s go kill eternals in the Quala region, but really that bores you already. Besides, you feel it isn’t going to be quite as much fun anymore without Lena around.

It suddenly occurs to you that you should do some travelling again. You don’t have much else to do, so why not? Still, this will always be your home no matter what. You won’t leave for good. You just need a change of scenery.

You decide that you’ll travel not to places you’ve already been or already know about, but to parts unknown, namely Delerg itself. Despite it being part of the Empire, much of it still remains unexplored. You decide you might as well stay relatively close to home if you have the intention of coming back.

You pack up some gear and get ready to go, of course saying good-bye to Talia and telling her you’ll return eventually.

Year 50

Passing the time by exploring uncharted parts of Delerg has kept you a bit busy over these past few years. It’s amazing that nobody had done it before, but the stories about the Delerg swamp being much more hostile the deeper you went were true.

You travelled north for quite awhile, but eventually the swamp thinned out completely until it turned into vast bodies of water. Going further would’ve required a boat and you didn’t really have any wish to do that once you saw a glimpse of some of the things lurking in the water.

Travelling east was an ordeal that you nearly didn’t survive. The swamp became more jungle like and it almost seemed as if the land itself was protecting something or otherwise it just didn’t want anyone going further east. You did battle with several beasts that you’d never seen before and probably nobody else from the “civilized” world had either. It wasn’t just beasts that were hostile, or even the plants, but also a short dark race of humans. Their small stature didn’t make them any less dangerous. Eventually you had to turn back because of the constant attacks that even you couldn’t keep defending against. You swear the trees must’ve been spawning the little bastards.

Thankfully as an eternal you’re somewhat resistant to poisons, because it served you well during that time.

Still if you stopped doing something just because it nearly killed you, you wouldn’t have accomplished anything in your life. So eventually you travelled south and beyond the swamp and jungle you discovered a whole new land, yet very much the same as the one you’re familiar with.

Four tribes, two of them human, one elven and another one reptilian, all of them warring with each other and all of them fairly hostile towards you when confrontation was your only option with them.

From what you could figure out, three of the factions were all displaced by the Empire in some way when it still existed. The reptilian tribe apparently was nearly exterminated by the shadows in the earlier days of the Empire as they once lived in the Delerg province. (Which explains why they were especially hostile towards you)

You explored as much as you could and eventually departed leaving the factions to their private war.

Naturally the whole time you were exploring you were periodically returning back home. Delerg itself never changed, it was the same quiet place it always had been. Every once in a while you’d attempt to trade goods in Sinkhole for the rare items you might need, people never accepted any payment you might offer and instead just handed it to you for free. Nowadays you’re considered the last shadow protector of the land and well respected. Of course you aren’t the only one.

Lena is also well respected thanks to her deeds. Her assumption that she would never be able to fit into a normal life again were wrong as she did find someone to settle down. Though she was right that she would not be a simple housewife and is a hunter and trapper by trade. You know she lives in one of the smaller villages, probably much like the one she grew up in, but you’ve never spoken to her directly. You see no point in dredging up the past and you have both gone your separate ways now. You’re glad that she managed to move on, which is more than can be said for others…

“Why have you been writing a lot lately? Never known you to pursue such interests.” Dendrin asks.
“I dunno. Why not? Not like I’m currently wandering topside at the moment and I already read all the books here. Figured I’d write about stuff I encountered or did on my last travels.”
“So you’re writing a book?”
“More like a personal journal. Not like I’m going to share it with anyone.”
“So why do it?”
“As I said, why not? Don’t you have something better to do?”
“Not really, though I thought you would be considering the impending invasion.”
“Invasion?”
“Yes, the invasion. I know you’ve been running all over the place lately, but haven’t you been keeping up on the local discussions, I assumed you had since I know you do visit Sinkhole on occasion. One of those eternals or several of them apparently have figured out this place has no active resistance of any kind and would be easy pickings.”
“Oh that. Yes I’m aware of what’s going on and I’ve been preparing for the inevitable.”
“What? Your usual training? You really think you’re going to be able to pull off what you did before by yourself? You do realize that if this place is invaded again, it won’t be occupied by the ones that were here before?”
“Yes, I’m well aware and as I said, I’ll be ready.”
“Are you planning on leaving?”
“No, but I’m glad you’ve still got faith in my combat abilities…as I asked before, don’t you have something better to do?”
“I might have to find something better to do soon if you aren’t around anymore.” Dendrin says.

You wake up.

You’re also left to ponder his “concern” for you. He’s right in that if there is an invasion, it’ll most likely be a proper army like when the Empire occupied Delerg.

So what can you really do about it if it does happen? Leave? You’re past thinking like that. This is your home until the day you die.

Fight? You probably will eventually just to break up the monotony, but you doubt if you’ll be able to keep your “secret” home a secret. Ever since you made your reappearance it’s a well known fact of where you live by most of the Delergites. Even the group of eternals you got rid of before eventually figured it out, though by that time they were too damned scared to ever launch any sort of offensive.

The other problem to this is you are starting to feel your age. It’s partly why you stopped your exploring and returned home to rest. Fighting your own extended personal war by yourself for any reason is getting to be less of a viable option especially if this potential invasion force is dead set on keeping the province. And it isn’t like anyone else is going to help…

Well perhaps one person might, but the situation would be vastly different and she has her own life now, though you wonder what sort of life that might be when the invasion comes.

The only other option you have is to just lay low in the temple and never come out when the invasion arrives. You could easily seal up the entrance that even if it were found, it wouldn’t be easy to get in.
> You lay low
You had a brief revival of the “glory days” when you first fought along side Lena. And while it was fun while it lasted, you believe you’re done with such things now. A storm is coming and you’re not going to stand in its path because it’ll ultimately be a fool’s game.

You take steps to seal up the more accessible entrance to your sanctuary. It would take quite the effort to try to break in now, but you doubt if anyone will make the effort. You’ve been in this situation before and you handled it just fine. You can easily do it again despite what Dendrin might say.

You do wonder how Lena will handle the situation. She’ll probably fight, but if she’s learned anything, she’d do better to flee with her family. In any case you’ve made your decision and you return to the familiarity of the garden.

“Looks like I’ll be spending a lot more time with you again Talia, just like the old days.”

Year 65

Several years have passed and you still haven’t a clue what’s been going on the surface nor do you care anymore. You haven’t even made the attempt to even take a peek, you’ve kept your entrance sealed and haven’t dug out any new ones. As predicted nobody has attempted to intrude on you, so why bother leaving?

Throughout the years you’ve been trying to keep your mind occupied with your conversations with Talia and even Dendrin when he sees fit to speak to you anymore. You also continue to write in the journal you keep, but if anyone read it now, they probably wouldn’t understand any of it as your thoughts have become disjointed and not of a sound mind.

You babble a lot to yourself nowadays, and not just in the usual way you do with Talia. Over the years you’ve actually been including others, such as arguing with Cyrus on a regular basis about how his tactics will not work against an Empire encampment or laughing at Murk on his latest tale of how he’s failed to woo Bianca.

In other words, you’ve practically gone mad. One moment you’re fully aware of your surroundings and living in the present, the next you’re living in the past again. You’ve created your own reality and aren’t leaving it anytime soon. Dendrin tries to snap you out of it, but eventually he realizes the futility of the task and stops speaking to you altogether. Hardly matters as you’ve got more than enough disembodied voices in your head to keep you company.

You continue like this for a few more decades until you eventually die as the mad hermit you are, and like most mad hermits, you leave no lasting presence in the world.