text: ghting courtyard, and picks up two swords. He throws them at your and Tahyrst's feet. He picks up one sword:
  
  "Let's dance." He says. Both of you pick up the swords, with smiles on your faces. You go in three different corners of the arena, and quickly start fighting each other. Tahyrst and Exam are first to start fighting, with you just a few moments behind. You strike Exam, as he's the best swordfighter among you three. He blocks both your and Tahyrst's attacks for a good amount of time. Finally, he's knocked on the ground by Tahyrst who used the chance while he was blocking your attack. You take a moment to triumph, but are interrupted by Tahyrst's attack which misses you by a hair. Not surprised, you regain your bearings quite quickly, and take a few slices at Tahyrst. She evades all of them, but the last which hits her on her shoulder. She doesn't let a sound, but instead uses your tiredness to launch an attack. You do manage to block it, but are overcomed by her. You let your defenses down, and both of you fall on the ground. She prepares to stab you, but something hits her on the back, and she stops. Quickly, Exam comes fourth and puts his wooden blade to her throat. She sighs, and then gets up, defeated. Exam offers you a hand, and you take it. He quickly puts a blade to your throat:
  
  "You're not dead yet, brother." He smiles and lifts you up. You curse a few things to him. He raises his arms:
  
  "Again!"
  
  The rest of the day you spend practicing fighting, like every day... It never gets boring.
  
  > The following morning, you got to get sleep. Regnum forces will be at your doorstep
  You're waken up by the sunshine, all usual. You quickly squeeze in your suit, and grab a potion you cooked up last night, surprisingly still warm (It's a mix of a bunch of plants; it would take very long to explain... It behaves like coffee, keeping you awake.). You exit your cabin, and take a sip of the potion. It's very good; no wonder Tahyrst drinks it that much. As you exit, and head for the nearest balcony, you notice a large Thelion flag. You look at it confusingly, as it seems to be just below the balcony. You approach as fast as your sleepy legs would let you. You look down the balcony, only to be greeted by humongous rows of soldiers. You're first very scared, but you quickly figure out they're Thelion, so the feeling subsides. You look around, and see Exam, Tahyrst and Eward standing at the gate, talking to a soldier. You quickly make your way down there, passing through many stairs. You arrive down to the gate, and quickly notice that the man Eward is talking to is a commander. You approach, and Exam wishes you a good morning. Eward notices this:
  
  "There's the sleeping beauty." He proclaims after noticing you, and Exam laughs: "You seen Aryyn anywhere."
  
  You say no, and realize that Aryyn still hasn't returned from yesterday, when he went to "fetch something". Eward sighs out, and continues to discuss something with the commander, probably tactics. You wonder where Arryn is. You know for certain he isn't dead, because he's the best swordsman in Savandry. He also knew that the Regnum forces were due to arrive tonight. You decide its best not to think about it, as no-one seems to be particularly worried. Eward quickly tells the three of you to head back in the capital, and you listen the old man. After a long climb, you arrive at the balcony, and sit down. There isn't as much as you thought. Exam makes a few comments and jokes concerning the Army's size, but that's it.
  
  You spent the rest of the day training not more than before, but much less. This is probably to keep you rested during the fight, as all the skills in the world are useless if you can't use them. So, the day goes by uneventfully, with the Leachers chatting like old women... But things go a lot more interesting at the end. At about 8 PM, the sun has all but set, and you look at the scenery. You quickly see a man wearing a big furry coat, riding on a horse. He's riding fast towards Bayheath, with his fur coat dancing on the wind. You prepare to warn the rest, but it seems a guard has already done that. The traveler quickly rides to the gate and stops. You get down quickly, as this seems very important for one man to come. Eward comes as well, and prepares his sword. The traveler gets off his horse, and takes off his hoodie.
  
  It's Aryyn.
  
  Eward sighs out, and leaves his sword alone. The commander of the army approaches as well. Eward gets ready to say something, but Aryyn interrupts him:
  
  "No time to talk... I knew we've mistaken." He says while dropping the big furry coat, and placing it on the wall:
  
  "There's more Regnum... Three more armies joined, and they're now a force to be reckoned with." He calmly proclaims.
  
  Everyone is shocked, but Aryyn pays no attention and shells out news:
  
  "I'm not done yet... It seems that another army is going to join them right before the assault." He says, and takes a good sip of water from a glass lying nearby:
  
  "I'm going to need Exam and Tahyrst to come with me to block their path... Eward stay here and control the siege, and you, Aared, help him." He says before heading upstairs to probably get Tahyrst and Exam. He's left you all shocked, and now you understand to trust Exam's feeling. The commander and Eward swear a few things, but realize that there is no use in complaining, and quickly try to adapt to the situation by making new tactics and telling the men the news. You are a bit afraid, since it will be just you and Eward here. And with Regnum having an army matching yours, it's going to be a lot harder. Everyone tries to look calm, unaffected by the news... But you can see the fear. Ever since Aryyn, Exam and Tahyrst have left, time passes slowly, with every second feeling like a minute. Finally, exactly at midnight, you can hear marching. And it's not just you, as everyone jumped on their feet and stared off into the wilderness.
  
  > Regnum's Arrival
  After a while, you can see the great Regnum flag. Their flag is a man on a wheel, obviously greatly tortured even though the flag is in black, on a red background. Quickly you can also see the first dozen horsemen riding over the hill. The number quickly is incremented by hundreds, and after a while the infantry starts showing up. An hour passes before the Regnum army arrives before Thelion. They seem like a reflection of each other, with only the colors differing. Someone pats your shoulder, and you turn around and see Eward nodding and heading towards the stairs. You realize this is a call for you to go with him. You listen, and you two find yourselves at the gate, with the commander. It's not long before the commander of the Regnum army arrives. He's bald, with a big scar over his face. He's suit is large and grand, and he smiles while he's approaching you. The three of you display no emotions of him approaching. He stands for bit in front of you:
  
  "Gentlemen! How are you on this fine evening?" He asks.
  
  The three of you don't say anything for a few seconds, then Eward proclaims:
  
  "We're fine, how are you?" He now approaches the commander. "May I ask why is there a huge army under the banner of Regnum?" The commander's face turns emotionless, and he ruthlessly answers getting in Eward's face:
  
  "The same reason Thelion is on Savandrian soil with no permission." He now steps away and pulls out a scroll. He opens it and reads:
  
  "By the order of Gravys fen Dukson, the sovereign of Vegnum and Kataria, and the ruler of Regnum. This establishment is to be taken by Gravys fen Dukson, the sovereign of Vegnum and Kataria, and the ruler of Regnum, as said by this ultimatum. The ownership is to be transferred from the "Leacher Company" to the "Regnum Ownership Kingdom". Failure to comply will lead to an armored assault of the said establishment. The decision must be made during the first 30 minutes of the proclamation of this ultimatum." With that he closes the scroll and puts it back in his pocket:
  
  "What's it going to be?" He asks.
  
  To be fair, you all expected this, so it comes as no surprise. You all have decided before Regnum came:
  
  "Can I see that contract?" Eward asks. Unwillingly, the enemy commander opens the scroll and hands it to him. Eward looks at it, and comically nods and mummers something:
  
  "Yeah, seems about right." He says.
  
  Eward takes the scroll and violently rips it apart, then throws it at the enemy's feet. The commander doesn't seem to be surprised by this, instead he nods and heads back to his army. As he enters his lines, he screams something in a foreign language, and the enemy army attacks your prepared forces. You pull out your sword and get ready to rush on the battlefield, but Eward stops you.
  
  > listen Eward Out!
  He orders you to follow him instead, and he pulls out his sword. You decide to listen, taking in account Eward's age and skill. The two of you keep to the capital walls, and go around the army. When you ask Eward about why are you going this way, he replies:
  
  "How do you stop a Hobgoblin from poisoning you?"
  
  "Cut the "Paraphliax" cord on the neck... It'll put it in a murderous frenzy, and weaken it severely." You immediately answer, as you've learned about this just yesterday:
  
  "So, to destroy an army you need to kill its brain." Eward says.
  
  "The commander..." You say before arriving to a group of soldiers where you see the enemy commander. You look at Eward and he smiles. You realize what he's thinking about when he pulls his sword. You follow, and soon the both of you charge at the group of soldiers.
  
  Eward is the first one to engage two soldiers and you quickly slice another one which was paying attention on Eward. Soon two soldiers attack you as well, but you block both of their attacks. One of them tries to slice your head off, but you duck and slice the soldier across his stomach. He moans in pain, and blood together with organs starts pouring out. It isn't long before the other soldier catches you unwary and slices you by the leg. Thankfully, the armor protects the most damage, but it still hurts like hell. He gets cocky and attacks again, but you block it and push him away. You use his disoriented state to thrust a sword through his chest. He kneels on the ground, then you pull out your sword, just to slice his head. It doesn't come off though, but takes off most of the skin... Still, it's enough to kill him. Soon another soldier gets read to land a hard strike on you. Thankfully, you notice it quickly, and cut the soldiers stomach (in the same manner you did before) and kill him. You look at Eward and see that he's almost at the captain. You're a few soldiers away, so you get to work. Three remaining soldiers attack you. You block the attack of the first two, but dodge the third one and thoroughly cut his leg. You proceed to block another soldiers attack and kick him on the ground. You stab the soldier, whose leg is cut, in the head. The soldier who attacked first uses your lack of attention and manages to successfully slice your arm. You moan for a bit, but quickly run your sword through chest. After a bit of resting, you throw him on the ground and pull your sword. You can hear a soldier running behind you. You crouch and slice his stomach behind your back. He falls and kneels and moans in pain. You get up and slice his head clean off. You take a moment to rest, as there are no soldiers left, and then look towards the commander to see Eward struggling fighting him. You sigh out and rush to help Eward. As you arrive, the enemy commander knocks him on the ground. You slide in behind him, slashing his hip. He gets ready to stab Eward, but your attack stops him. He grabs his back and turns to you. In that moment you get up, and attack him. He blocks your attack with ease, and pushes you away. In that moment, Eward gets up, and strikes the commander a few times, with no successes. You get up in the meantime and attack him. He reverts between blocking you and Eward and does this with surprising accuracy and speed. He knocks you away, and then pushes Eward away. He proceeds to attack Eward. The Leacher kneels and stabs his sword in the ground just as the enemy commander attacks him. A red aura is emitted which knocks the enemy commander with great strength. You get up just in time to witness this, and stab the enemy in the back. He moans in pain, and Eward approaches to finish him. The commander notices this and kicks Eward in the same time when he gets off your sword. He's still bleeding. You try to strike him again, but he charges into you and knocks you on the ground. You try to slice him, but fail when punches your sword away. He pulls out a small knife, and there's nothing you can do. He gets ready to stab you. You close your eyes and hear the sound of metal going through flesh. After a while, you notice no pain, an open your eyes In front of you is a blade running through the enemy commander. You first pee your pants, but then both the sword come off of you. You see Eward pulling out his sword from the commander's mouth and offer you a hand up. You accept, and get up.
  
  The two of you take a few moments to catch your breath after this tiresome battle. Eward walks up to the dead commander's body and kneels next to his head. He now pulls out quite a large knife. Your suspicions are right. After a few moments he gets up, and you notice that the body lacks a head. Eward sheaths his knife and grabs the commander's head. He now orders you to follow him, and as usually you comply. The two of you quickly arrive back at the gate, to see that the defense is holding out well. Eward quickly grabs one of the large flags on which is the Thelion flag. He grabs it, and lowers it. Eward then tears the flag off, and sticks the dead commander's head. In that moment, Thelion's commander arrives to stop the desecration of the almighty Thelion. As he's about to grab Eward, the Leacher hands him the flag instead:
  
  "Give this to a soldier, send him in the battle, and tell him not to lose it."
  
  The Commander quickly realizes how much this would help, and nods while grabbing the sick with the dead commander's head.
  
  The two of you back up to the castle gate and watch the battle unfold. You sit down just inside gate as it closes. The enemy commander's head is sure to waver the morale of enemy troops. You watch the soldier's outside killing themselves, and your heart rips apart. You're just supposed to sit in here while two armies kill each other. You want to get outside and wipe that smug off of Regnum. You want to slice their heads off and send them all to hell... But you also know that by no means you should do that. You know from experience that heroism is not a trait worth having in this world, as it only leads to trouble. Your selfish part keeps telling you to let these people die, not yourself, as you're "sure to be destined for great things". You decide to listen to it, as no good can come out of you dying right now. You're interrupted by a giant rock hitting the main gate. Fortunately, it's not destroyed, but there's a crack for the enemies who've made through the defenses to come through. You quickly pick yourself up from the ground and grab your sword next to you. These kinds of reflexes come with Aryyn training you nonstop every day. That reminds, as you get up, how's Aryyn doing? Hopefully he and rest of the crew managed to stop that army from coming here. Wait to stop a whole army north. As far as you remember that place is full of marches. How the hell is an army going to make its way through there. Your thoughts are quickly stopped as one of the soldiers takes a slice at you. Luckily, your sword is just under his, so you raise it and stop his attack. You use his moment of weakness to strike him in the knee... From the front. He moans in pain and you run your sword exactly through his neck. He gurgles for a bit, but then you pull your sword out, and he falls on the ground dying immediately. You notice soldiers rushing inside through the opening in the gate. You rush to attack them, but also notice that Eward is having great troubles. You could go and help him, but that would mean the soldiers would come through the gate into the Capital. On the other hand, it might be better to stop the soldiers first, but then who knows what would happen to Eward:
  
  > help Eward First!
  You decide to help Eward. You rush to him, slashing one of the soldiers apart. Eward was just about to get attacked by one of the soldiers, but you slice him across the stomach. The enemy falls on the ground; moaning and you run your sword through his chest. You raise your head and see that Eward is fine. You now rush to the attacking soldiers, and Eward rushes with you. As you arrive, Eward gets ready and... Punches the air? Your wondering is put to an end by the dust wave that comes out of the Leachers arm. It quickly falls on the soldiers who were beginning to climb the stairs. Suddenly, they all start to moan very loudly and they grab their eyes. As all 20 of them fall on the ground Eward sighs out and looks at them. They squirm on the floor for at least 30 seconds. Then, in the same time, they all stop, die and remove their hands from their eyes. Their eyes look old and dried out. There is no more "eyeballs", as the rotten dried out skin is standing there instead of them. Eward looks at you, and with a nod orders you to and himself to go back to the door.
  
  You arrive to the crack at the door. You rush off to find something to close the big gaping hole with, but Eward says with his hraspy voice:
  
  "Stop! There'll be no need..." You are confused, and head to Eward, walking fast. You look outside and see the Regnum forces retreating. You breathe out a sigh of relief and start smiling. It quickly takes up most of your face, and soon you also start laughing, with little tears walking down your face. Eward looks at you and cracks a smile, how much his old scars and wounds let him. The pair of you exits through the crack and walk up to the Thelion commander. He's clearly smiling, looking at the fleeing enemy forces struggling for their life. Thelion forces are savagely hunting them down. You watch with disgust as the soldiers torture the Regnum soldiers, then killing them only when they've gotten bored. You've seen this before, torturing and raping, but it was all committed by the disgusting enemy... By Regnum. At first you watched the enemy troops flee in pleasure, wanting this to happen to them. But now, it seems wrong... You assume that this is what's called "humanity". However, your companions lack this, as they look at the killing in pleasure. You assume that this is because of their amount of skill in warfare, death and killing. In Eward you see a reflection of yourself in the future, a bitter old man with nothing better to do than to kill monsters and men to get a few circles made of gold. And you've seen this in Aryyn as well, he doesn't regret killing all those men, instead he sees them like another block on the road that needs clearing up.
  
  > Waiting for Aryyn
  The three horsemen make their way through the corpses left from the battle. Their faces are recognizable. Aryyn is in the front, Tahyrst behind, with Exam at the end. They all look at the corpses with no emotions. They leave their horse in front of the gate, and then go in past the soldiers that are repairing the crack at the entrance. Aryyn walks up to you two and smiles widely, despite his serious stance:
  
  "Really gave those bastards something to think about." Eward responds with a smile:
  
  "I assume things went alright on your side?" He says. Exam beats Aryyn to answer:
  
  "Dropped an avalanche of rocks on their. You should've seen the look on their faces." Your face remains unexpressed during their conversation. Aryyn notices you. He walks up to you, still in his unusually wide smile:
  
  "How'd you do?" He asks you semi loudly. Eward hears this. He approaches:
  
  "He... He saved my life. He'd make a fine Leacher I tell you." Aryyn proudly looks at you, and you give off a faint smile, appeasing him. After all, it's not his fault he looks at killing like that, in his job people get killed every day:
  
  "Remember that Vidian wine I bought... Time to CRACK IT OPEN!" Exam proclaims with his energetic voice. Everyone agrees and follows him. Aryyn pats you on the shoulders:
  
  "A drink will do you well after a day like this."
  
  You and your band of Leachers spend the rest of the night drinking, laughing and having fun.
  
  > The following morning
  You wake up in a chair on the balcony. You lazily raise yourself from the comfortable back of the chair. Sitting, you look around and quickly figure out where you are. You grab your head, and lean to the table next to you:
  
  "Good Morning." You hear Aryyn's voice. You raise your head and notice him leaning on the balcony railing. You repeat after him, only murmuring. You manage to somehow get up and limp your way to him. You join him in observing the terrain:
  
  "I've been here for 60 years and this view takes my breath every time." He says:
  
  "How many people have you killed?" You sigh out; feeling now's a good time to ask. He looks at you, then after only a few moments' answers:
  
  "One Million, two hundred and twenty people now." You are surprised by this answer, as you considered Aryyn a cold killer. He notices your surprise:
  
  "Yeah, I am surprised I keep track too. We're not what everyone thinks we are, cold killers blinded with the glimmer of cash... I am sick of it." With that he leaves the conversation and heads back to the keep. You stay watching the landscape, baffled by the welcoming surprise that Aryyn prepared for you. You lower your head and notice that the Thelion army is still here, not packing to leave. In that moment, you see Eward approaching you with "coffee" in his hand. He greets you, and then you ask him:
  
  "Why are they still here?" He looks down the balcony and sees the Thelion army:
  
  "They just beat Thelion... What do you think? Two armies can't fight without consequences. With that fight, Thelion dragged itself into a war against Regnum. It's what Gravys fen Dukson was afraid of... Another war. It'll put Regnum in its place." He says before turning around and leaving. Another war? You're sick of the mindless killing, and it seems there will be a lot more of it. Because of the horrors Regnum does here, in Savandry, you're sure that Thelion will seem like a hero. Once Savandry is liberated, it'll probably take peasants hungry for revenge, and then they'll march to Redhand and Raven. You can only imagine what will happen to the poor citizens of those cities. There will probably be more death than here. But there is nothing you could have done, was it? It's not like you caused the Regnum attack. It wouldn't have been much better if the Thelion army wasn't successful. You decide its best not to worry yourself with this, as there's nothing you could've done and there's nothing you can do. Still, you got to be ready for anything. You turn your head around to the training grounds, and see Exam fighting. You smile and run towards him to beat is ass.
  
  > Days pass quietly, with nothing notable happening...
  ... Until Aryyn called all of you one night on a "meeting". Once you arrive, Aryyn goes to explain how now the time for Tahyrst to carry that Artifact to that wizard is. Tahyrst saw this coming, and she agrees leaving tomorrow:
  
  "Also I got a letter from none other than Count Ryany." Aryyn proclaims just when all of you were about to leave. He pulls out a letter coated I silver from his pocket, and begins to read:
  
  Dear Aryyn and the Leacher Order,
  
  I need your help old friends. It's about a monster... You're specialty, huh? Hah, I am not jestering, this problem is critical for my province. More information once you get here. And if helping an old friend isn't enough for you to help, may I say that my reward is not humble... Far from it.
  
  All the best from Count Ryany Fergasar
  
  Other Leachers smile to this, but you do not realize why. You just roll with it, assuming it's a thing from their immense past:
  
  "So it's settled! The rest of us are going to Thelion to help Ryany!" Aryyn proclaims after a good long laugh:
  
  "What about Bayheath?" Eward asks, never relaxed with always problems on his mind:
  
  "Don't worry, Thelion's army will take care of it." Aryyn responds:
  
  "Excuse me, but when are we leaving?" You break your long period of silence to ask Aryyn. The rest of the Leacher team surprisingly looks at you, like it's the first time they've heard you speak. Aryyn smiles, proud by the courage you summed up to ask:
  
  "The day after tomorrow." He calmly answers. After that disperses all of you:
  
  "Just as I thought everything was done..." Exam grumpily says, complaining about yet another long journey:
  
  "Done?" Aryyn says after he stops:
  
  "Oh, this is just the start." He says before leaving completely.
  
  One journey ends, another one begins
  
  Writing: Ronhil12 Dialog: Ronhil12
  
  Plot: Ronhil12 Project Lead: Ronhil12
  
  TO BE COUNTINUED...
  
  "Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities."
  
  -Dr. Seuss