text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, fantasy, war]
  
  Whatever defenses the Torites are going to muster within the time you come back with the Storm as far as you're concerned aren't going to be enough to save them. Better you should come back prepared and your soliders better rested as well.
  
  "I think it's time to leave. In fact I think it'll be best if the entire army moves away from this area." You say.
  "We're retreating?" Flevas asks.
  "Call it a tactical withdraw. I'm not done with this place though. Not done with you either, your input on this was very useful."
  "Um, thank you Emperor." Flevas says unsure of how to take the fact that he's called attention to himself to the ruler of the Empire.
  
  When you return, you give Ackerson an earful of his failure to use his resources wisely and not even informing you of the potential of certain soldiers who could come in useful. You also explain that the only reason why he isn't being demoted is that he had the intelligence to at least see Flevas' combat abilities and send him with you in the first place.
  
  You have the army relocate to one of the towns closer to the Empire for resupplying and reinforcements. There is a bit of downtime, but there is also some routine patrolling which allows you to engage in battle against a group of those centaur creatures. Tedious foes. Constantly galloping away while firing their arrows. You appreciated the bull creatures' attempts at caving your skull in with their axes a lot more.
  
  Eventually you get the message you've been waiting for and that's when you make your way back to the vicinity of the forest. When you arrive, you and the back up mages begin to prepare for your assault on the entire forest.
  
  You call Flevas over, who you see nearby.
  
  "So what do you think to this plan? Be honest."
  "Well Emperor, as I said the svelk in the stories attempted something like this as well and while I know that you certainly have powerful magic at your command, I'm not certain that the rest of your mages having your same abilities."
  "I see. So you don't believe Empire mages are up to the challenge of setting one measly forest on fire and completely burning it to the ground."
  "I didn't say that..."
  "Oh, well you must've also implied that even if our mages fail that I would not have the capacity to pick up their slack."
  "I definitely did not mean..."
  
  You start laughing.
  
  "Relax elf, I'm fucking with you. Beside this isn't the entire plan, the rest of it is over there in the near distance." You say and point over at the airship slowing making its way towards your position. Most of the army is looking in that direction too.
  
  "I heard the rumors, but is that the ship that can fly?" Flevas asks.
  "That is indeed the Empire's new pride in the skies. The Storm. And that's exactly what it's going to do over that forest. Those dryads might be expecting us to attempt a magic firestorm, but I guarantee they're not going to be expecting one that involves a lot of explosions."
  
  The Storm is indeed an impressive sight and you can imagine how it will terrify your future enemies. For right now though, you're content on it just killing them.
  
  Along with the airship and your magic, you also have a row of catapults continually barrage the forest with flaming material. You and the army periodically move and keep on the outskirts of forest while the Storm works its assault within the center of the forest. Between the two, the decimation of the forest is certain even if it does take a few days.
  
  Forest creatures, but more importantly Torites eventually come running out of the forests, some manage to get away, others attempt to fight your army in an attempt to kill you and the other mages, but they naturally fail.
  
  You actually do lose a few of the weaker mages who can't keep up their energy and collapse completely drained of life. Hardly matters since you accomplish your task with vicious efficiency. Eventually the forest goes from being an inferno to a blacked wasteland with only burnt tree husks and stumps left. Whatever is still alive, is going to be easy to find.
  
  You order a search and participate in it yourself, as you are eager to see if there might be some sort of evidence of this mysterious dryad or dryads. It might be that you just burned down an entire forest for no reason, but then it is one less area for the Torites to hide in.
  
  You do sense a faint bit of magic though. Very weak, but there none the less. You immediately follow the trail until it leads you to your goal.
  
  And there you see a naked, heavily burned female creature. Its limbs are slightly longer and thinner than even the average elf. It has a very delicate appearance and might even be considered pretty looking if it wasn't covered in burns and struggling for life.
  
  It pathetically lays on the ground semi-curled up near a stump that is nearly completely burnt. It looks at you with its big eyes and then over nearby at some other bodies you didn't even notice. They look like more dryads though, all dead.
  
  The dryad shakes and clutches tighter to the stump as you approach. It even begins making a few sounds, which causes you to immediately raise a force shield, expecting some sort of last attack.
  
  "She isn't casting a spell Emperor. She's whispering some sort of prayer. I think." Flevas remarks.
  "About what and how do you know what she's saying?"
  "I...don't know! It's like she's in my head all of a sudden and I can understand some of her language. Something about...back to earth...child of nature...unnatural force of death...she's very sad."
  "I would imagine so." You reply.
  "Yeah, but it's not for herself, it's for me." Flevas says.
  
  Flevas at this point walks past you and over to the dying dryad. She looks up at him sorrowfully and stops whatever it was that she speaking about. He kneels down beside her and for a brief moment he looks at her sadly as well, but then his face then turns to one of anger and he ends her suffering with a knife to her neck. She gurgles a bit and then dies.
  
  "Another victory for the Empire." Flevas says and walks past you.
  
  You stare at the dead dryad for a moment and survey the surrounding desolation.
  
  "Well, I guess we know they're flesh and blood creatures now." You remark and tell the rest of nearby soldiers to start heading back to the camp.
  
  When you get back, General Ackerson tells you that they're holding a courier from the Broki Kingdom. The courier works for one of the opportunistic barons. Baron Divilak
  
  Apparently this Baron Divilak has heard much about the Empire and sees no reason to resist your inevitable annexation. He claims that he can make things simpler for you by giving out information of major strong points, security secrets, that sort of thing as well as providing his own military support. Of course he wants to meet in person before all this so that you may hammer out any other stipulations and agreements, but basically what he asks in return is to govern over the new Empire province and that he get to execute King Tiklov himself.
  
  It certainly would be easier with inside help and you were originally toying with the idea of taking advantage of the disorganized nature of the Broki Kingdom by having one or two of the barons side with you in the first place. Of course you never know with those scheming types after all if they're willing to sell out everything for their own personal gain now, what's stopping them from doing something similar to the Empire in the future? At the very least, the amount of corruption might tend to be higher than what is acceptable.
  
  With the recent display of power by the Storm, you're wondering if you shouldn't just make a gross display of force and cow them all into submission and dispense with any pretense of a "friendly" take over. Of course the problem with this plan, is you might actually unite the kingdom due to your brutality and it might take longer to conquer the place.
  
  > use the Storm
  Negotiating has never been what the Empire has been about. You go in; you crush your enemies under heel and then sort out the details later.
  
  Without another word, you draw your sword and sever the head of the hapless courier. Blood splatters on the onlookers nearby as the head bounces once on the ground near your feet. You give it a small kick towards one of the soldiers.
  
  "Have that courier's head sent back to the baron in a bag. That will be our answer to his proposals. Well actually the Storm will be the real answer, but for now his courier's head will do." You remark.
  "Oh. The flying machine? Won't that need time to resupply from bombing the dryad forest?" Ackerson asks.
  "Yes, but it'll be fine. Let them wait and sweat it out. When he receives his messenger's head I'm sure he'll mobilize all his little soldiers, ready for an attack. Won't do him any good though when the Storm is laying waste to his castle. Then the rest of us will come in and clean up. After we've annihilated nearly everything within the baron's territory, THEN we will give our own demands to the remainder of the Broki Kingdom. In the meantime, tell everyone to keep alert as usual and enjoy this little respite in what is going to be the shortest conflict of this western campaign."
  
  You retire to your tent where you go through a couple of more traditional letters you've received since you were away destroying the dryads. Two of them are from Decena. One talks about how she's confirmed the rumors of the winged Torites or harpies as they're known. She explains that they're even more tedious foe than the centaurs due to their flight ability. The standard practice is to fill the skies with arrows and bullets whenever possible. Galen has been pulling his weight, but as you've come to expect the Torites have been systematically targeting mages, he's barely escaped death several times and is one of the few wizards Decena has left. Fortunately she doesn't report anything close to the dryad activity Ackerson experienced, but you'll have to send her a message back warning her about them.
  
  Her second letter is something you're hesitant to open, since you know it's going to be of a more personal nature. You sort of thought that maybe her time away from you and her apparent enjoyment of battle would slowly erode her feelings for you, but that hasn't happened.
  
  In any case, you put aside the letter for later and turn your attention to another letter which is from Warrick giving you an update on his findings. He mentions that he's uncovered nothing that would suggest an internal conspiracy yet, but just says that the elven population has been complaining more than usual as of late. So far there is no evidence that they're planning anything from the ones he's brought in, but that doesn't mean that they aren't.
  This gets you wondering about something that occurred earlier and you have Felvas brought to you.
  
  "So...that was quite the show back there with the dryads." You say.
  "I'm afraid I don't quite understand sir." Flevas answers.
  "Oh come on. You don't need to hide it. You were upset to see dryads get killed. Hell, you probably were upset to see the forest burn to the ground."
  "It was necessary."
  "Of course it was necessary, but the point is you REALLY didn't like it. Not only did you not like it, you were personally offended. Why something like could cause a man to habor ill feelings that fester underneath the skin and come out in ill advised ways."
  
  Flevas is silent as you study his reaction to what you're implying.
  
  "Emperor, I am not a traitor to Empire. I would never..."
  "Yes, yes, yes, I know. You would never betray an Empire that oppresses your people...well if your people's complaints are anything to go by."
  "But I finished off the dryad without your orders!"
  "So? You've probably done a lot of things you don't like doing. Hell, it was a mercy kill anyway. One might even think that you did it just for my benefit. Believing that you were the good loyal elf. Tell me, is that what your people are doing? Are they emulating the shadows and just biding their time?"
  "What?! I don't know! I mean no! Emperor, I..."
  "Silence!" you shout and backhand Flevas to the face causing him to stagger.
  
  "Now then, you've got two options. One is bad, and one is to start telling me the truth."
  
  Flevas rubs his face and then composes himself. He doesn't display anger like he did with the dryad, but he does do that elf thing with his eyes, like they're looking right through you and that you're nothing at all. Semra was really good at it.
  
  "So what do you want me to say? Yes! I HATE the fucking Empire! Yes! I HATE every fucking human I have to work with and put up with their shit! I HATE the fact that my people are the lowest rung of society even though that includes fucking kobolds now! FUCKING KOBOLDS!"
  "Kobolds are very loyal and eager to serve." You respond.
  "And they're damn idiots! So are the brainless orcs and look at what you did to them! They're nearly extinct because you have them soak up all the major fighting during the Felkan War!"
  "They enjoyed the fighting. Besides, they're building up their numbers now."
  "Yeah, so you can use them in the next big ass war! Well I'm fucking sorry we sveld don't feel that way! We don't enjoy conflict and bloodshed! We cherish freedom! Freedom we haven't had for centuries! If it wasn't the orcs hunting us down it was the accursed svelk massacring and torturing us!"
  "Exactly, and you'd think that you'd be grateful for the Empire for saving you from such things like the orcs and svelk."
  "Right. Because humans are so much better? Humans fucking enslaved us."
  "Actually there are probably just as many human slaves than there are elven ones right now."
  "Yeah and all the human ones are criminals! And even if when the sveld aren't outright slaves, they're so destitute or desperate that they're worked like slaves. It's a fucking sorry existence, yet as much as we bitch and bitch and BITCH about our plight, we've got nobody to blame but ourselves."
  "You believe that?" you ask a little surprised at his claim
  "Honestly? Yeah, I do. I believe the sveld have been kicked around so long by everyone and cowed into submission that we love playing the fucking victim. It's actually gotten to the point where it's more enjoyable than actually trying to DO something."
  "I dunno about that. There have been sveld rebellions in the past and a lot of them border on being dissidents to this day." You say.
  "The full blown rebellions consisting of nothing but sveld are a rarity and considering how badly we've been treated why there haven't been more just confirms my belief that sveld prefer playing the victim. In fact the Empire has had more problems keeping humans in line. As for dissidents, I know the Empire frowns upon anyone who dares to look at it wrong, but I guarantee the main ones bitching probably aren't doing anything other than just that, bitching."
  "Sort of like you are now?"
  "Yes, damn it. Exactly like how I am right now! You asked me to tell you the truth, well that's what I'm doing as ordered! Why? Because I'm that good loyal sveld!
  
  You stay silent and continue to listen to Flevas rant, other soldiers have entered your tent believing something amiss, but you wave them away signifying that everything is fine.
  
  "You know why I ultimately killed that dryad? It wasn't out of mercy. It was out of anger that such a creature that attempted to know my thoughts and feelings and dared to feel sorry for me. Fuck that, we have enough of that shit going on in the sveld community. Even some of the so-called kind humans will occasionally do the same and it's sickening every time. In the scheme of things, I'm not an old sveld, but I feel like I know a hell of a lot more how to deal with this shitty life I've been handed. Don't complain and try to just do your job. The best way to do this is in the military. You never have a choice here; it's kill or be killed. It's follow orders and don't think."
  "So is that why you joined the military?" you ask.
  "I joined because I wasn't going to have my wife blowing disgusting humans for coin or have my children begging on the street like paupers. I wasn't going to clean privy holes for some human piece of shit who probably can't even read, yet thinks that they're somehow better just because they're not sveld. I wasn't going to fucking whine about my position in life and get my ass whisked away in the middle of the night by the Eyes or just killed on the spot. I was going to at least TRY to make the best of things even if I hate every damn moment of it."
  
  Flevas' at this point isn't doing that elf eye thing anymore; he's long since lost his calm demeanor and looking far more emotional. You get the impression that he's probably wanted to say this to SOMEBODY for a very long time. And now he has the advantage of telling it directly to the Emperor. You know that has to feel good for him somewhere.
  
  "And with any luck... I'd get to kill some humans in the process. That's why I joined. " Flevas says ending his rant which causes a nod from you.
  
  "Well you'll get your chance soon in the Broki Kingdom."
  "I thought you were using that flying ship."
  "I am, but it can't do all the work can it? Besides, it's just going to be there for added terror for the most part. As usual the regular army is going to do the clean up work. It'll be grim business. Despite the civilian population, we aren't going to be leaving much alive in this particular battle, but as you probably can guess, it's necessary."
  
  Flevas nods and continues to stand at attention unsure of what to expect next.
  
  "You're dimissed." You say.
  "That's it?" Flevas asks.
  "For now at least. If anything else comes up that I think I need to talk to you about, you'll be the first to know. Oh actually there is one more question. Is there anything that you do like about the Empire?"
  
  Flevas doesn't think about it too long.
  
  "There was a law instituted to have svelk killed on sight."
  "Heh, yeah that is a good one." You say and Flevas takes his leave.
  
  You make a mental note, that Flevas should be promoted in the future. His attitude and views are clear, but he's no traitor. As you've always believed, you don't need people to like you, you just need them to be loyal.
  
  In a couple of days the assault is in full force on the Broki Kingdom, or at least Baron Divilak's land. You specifically tell your troops that only Divilak's land and people are to be attacked. Of course if he gets any help from neighboring barons or the king himself then the order is to show them no mercy.
  
  Divilak doesn't receive any help though, or if he was, his allies lost courage when they saw the Storm raining fire down upon Divilak's castle. You can imagine that the Broki have never seen such a thing before and probably hope to never see something like that hovering above them.
  
  To their credit, Divilak's soldiers hold their ground initially, but in the end your army scatters them. You imagine that Divilak probably had one of the stronger militaries in this dysfunctional kingdom given that they didn't run immediately when they saw the Storm. Of course now, that has been reduced to nothing.
  
  While your first plan was going to be to utterly wipe out everyone within Divilak's territory as a message of sorts to the rest of the Broki population to fall in line lest they suffer the same fate, you decide to hold back and the civilian population slaughter and come up with another plan.
  
  "Flevas, there you are. Got an important job for you." You say stepping over several bodies on the battlefield.
  
  "Emperor." He reports.
  "You're going to get to do something very important for your people. Hell, you may even go down in history as a hero to them. Would certainly be a more worthwhile story than about some tree hugging dryads. I want you to round up the remainder of the civilian population with this territory. For every one you bring in, you free one elf from his slave chains. We'll work out the details later, but for now take whoever you think would be best to help you for this mission and if you get any trouble say this is a direct order from the Emperor. I'd also advise you to limit the casualties, but I imagine you already know that."
  "Yes, my Emperor." Flevas says and instantly runs off to perform the task.
  
  With any luck, this is the sort of thing that MIGHT cause the elves to stop complaining so much. Maybe they'll all start following Flevas' example and not only accept their lot in life, but to stop complaining about it. In time maybe they won't even be your "problem citizens" anymore.
  
  Of course the Divilak's people aren't going to enjoy their new designation, but then they're not suppose to. You're still sending a message to the rest of the Broki. Submit or this is what will happen. Your armies scattered, your buildings destroyed, and your citizens enslaved.
  
  Soon after the razing of the barony, you are visited by a very frightened Broki courier. He is escorted by your soldiers and nervously gives a message to you. It's from the king and apparently he's sending you this message even though his advisors have told him not to. He says for the good of his people and he hopes in your mercy that you will cease your attack as he is formally surrendering the Broki Kingdom to the Empire.
  
  A few days later you meet with King Tiklov who makes a formal showing in front of his people that the Broki Kingdom is now no more and that it now will be the Broki province of the Empire. Tiklov will still remain in power, but only as a figurehead and to be involved in the day to day governing, assisted by some of your own administrators of course.
  
  The annexation goes more or less smoothly, but you come to find out a disturbing discovery. You come to find out that some of the barons had secret dealings with svelk advisors. In fact Divilak was one of them. Certainly explains why the kingdom was involved in civil wars before you arrived. Hell, Divilak's offer to meet with you might've been an attempt on your life.
  
  These svelk advisors of course have all fled to who knows where by now, but you definitely think you know who tried to have you killed aboard the Storm. You also know that it has to be Semra masterminding all this, wherever she is. You'll have to keep alert, but then you always are.
  
  You have the barons that had such dealings with svelk executed. It wasn't like they were necessary any longer anyway.
  
  > Continue
  Year 42
  
  While you doubt this is going to be your last battle with the Torites, you're at least hoping it's going to be the one to break their spirit to the point where they become less of a problem.
  
  Still, the fact that they've finally unified their forces into armies shows you that they realize you aren't going to just go away and their hit and run tactics and attempts to win through attrition aren't going to succeed. It shows you that this is a concentrated effort to get rid of you once and for all. It won't work either and really works to your benefit. It allows you the opportunity to kill a bunch of them in one large grouping now.
  
  Maybe there will always be pockets of Torites lurking in the untamed wilderness but one thing is certain. The territory WILL be the Empire's and the Torites can either submit and see the light like the kobolds eventually did or slowly be driven into extinction like the gnolls.
  
  But that's in the future, right now you're drawing up the plans for this impeding battle. Considering how large the Torite horde is, you've combined your available forces with Decena's army. It was quite the happy day for her seeing as she hasn't seen you for five years. You still aren't quite sure how you exactly feel about her, but she's definitely been winning you over as far as her victories have been concerned. She remains professional always in front of everyone, but the first time she got you alone, she literally jumped on you and wrapped her legs around your waist, planting a kiss on you.
  
  But again, you can sort out your possible complications with Decena later. Now is the time to make sure the both of you come out of this alive.
  
  "We should have the second airship here before we begin our assault. Hopefully that will take some of the pressure off of the Storm to deal with the harpies." You remark.
  "Its isn't just the bird bitches that flap about though. Don't forget, there are still those manticores and those chimeras." General Ackerson remarks.
  "Yes, I'm well aware of both, Ackerson. Thank you for pointing out the obvious. However, I'm more inclined to believe the Torites will be relying on those beasts to attack our people on the ground. The beasts aren't the most graceful of fliers and would most likely just be big target, which they will be for us anyway, but they'll still do more damage to a group of soldiers on foot and horseback rather than a flying fortress before going down." You remark.
  "Those chimera things don't even fly very high. The wings are almost so small that they're just for show. Never had one swoop down on us." Decena adds.
  "Wouldn't be best to have us mages together so that we can join our energy and create a shield for the majority of the army?" Galen remarks. He isn't complaining, but he's definitely trying to find a loop hole to possibly make himself safer and not have to do as much work."
  "Galen, you know that the Torites attempt to target spell slingers as soon as possible. If they actually get you in a group and strike lucky, well there goes a powerful chunk of our fighting force. It'll make things harder for them if you're all spread out. Besides, you're personally going to be hiding behind a small contingent of golems and backed up by Captain Flevas' men. You couldn't be any safer."
  "Huh. So my backup lies in the hands of an elf? Might as well kill me now and get it over with." Galen remarks. You just shake your head and ignore his last comment; he's too valuable to punish right now.
  
  After hammering out the plan, you and the rest start setting things in motion and preparing everyone. You know the Torite horde is on the move not too far from your location. But they aren't here yet and won't be for at least a half-day's time. It gives you a bit of time to at least get some rest since you've been running around attempting to take care of everything and haven't slept. You didn't even realize how tired you were until you lie down on your sleeping bag.
  
  Just as you lie down and close your eyes, someone enters your tent and you instinctively grab your sword.
  
  "No point in that, I'm not really here you know." You hear a familiar voice whisper.
  
  You sit up and see Semra standing before you, or rather the image of her. She's no doubt using the same kind of magic she did when she tried to convince you to kill Casimir. She's probably nearby somewhere though.
  
  "I thought you said we weren't going to see each other again." You say.
  "I didn't think we would. I truly believed you would die on Mortos. I suppose I underestimated your ability to survive even there. Quite impressive and it's no surprise that you assumed Casimir's throne soon after. Everything worked out for you, but tell me how did you accomplish such a feat?"
  "Just luck I guess. Look, if you came here to kill me, you'll need to get behind the long line of Torites marching towards this place." You say while lying back down and shutting your eyes.
  "My, you're quite confident to stay in such a vulnerable position if you really believe I'm here to kill you." Semra says.
  "No, I know this is just grand standing. If you were really going to kill me you'd have your underlings conspiring with little plots in the shadows."
  "Yes, I'm aware of the troubles you've been having lately and while I'm flattered you believe it to me, I'm actually here to clear my good name."
  "Hah!" you snort.
  "Okay so just my name. In any event. I'm here to tell you that it isn't me, though you do have enemies of the svelk persuasion."
  "I've got enemies of every persuasion and that's not a very convincing argument that you're somehow innocent."
  "Okay how about this then? It's not me because I've been keeping an eye on you and so far you haven't warranted anything that needs me to stop you yet. My daughter on the other hand disagrees. She claims that my...past with you is clouding my judgment."
  "We never had a past Semra. I don't know what YOU think it is, but WE were and never will be an item."
  "Oh yes, that's right. You've got that vicious little young thing on your dick now. Decena is her name? She is quite the warrior. Lot of those moves are familiar, they're all the ones I taught you. Hey have you taught her any of my other moves when you're bedding her?"
  
  At this point you sit back up, annoyed with Semra's remark.
  
  "Is this going anywhere because I have a shitload of beast men to slaughter tomorrow and you're keeping me awake!" You snap.
  "Oooh! Struck a nerve did I? Haven't been able to do that for quite awhile, I really missed it. Tell me though; is it very serious with this one like it was with Alison? Didn't think you'd get over her so quickly. Really though I don't know why you pick any of these females. This new one is just likely to wind up dead, if not by the sword then by age. Her youthful appearance with eventually wither and fade like it does with all of those lesser born."
  
  At this point you lie back down and close your eyes again. You're not playing this game.
  
  "You done already? Disappointed, you used to be so much more fun. Very well, just listen then Eternal. I know you have a hard time with that, but maybe you'll actually heed what I have to say for once. I am not your enemy. As I have said, my daughter is your enemy and she makes her base of operations in a city-state called Ryglik and lies south of the former Broki Kingdom. Of course that whole area consists of several city-states and she may very well move around, but that's the main one she's operating from.
  
  You remain silent while Semra continues to talk.
  
  "Well I'll take your silence that you're at least taking it under consideration. Oh and while you're at it, you still might want to consider giving up all this foolish nonsense. Perhaps you're a better Emperor than Casimir ever was, but you're still mindlessly following a path that you think has been laid out for you. It's almost like Casimir is still barking orders at you."
  "I guarantee Casimir's not saying much of anything anymore." You answer.
  "Be that as it may, I'd hate to see you follow in his horribly misguided footsteps and make the same mistakes he did."
  "Well, I don't have you as an advisor, I'd say that already puts me ahead of the game."
  "Pfft, you'd be lucky to have me by your side. Not my fault you can't see and accept the truth. Anyway, I'll take my leave now. Perhaps we'll see each other, perhaps we won't. Perhaps we'll even see each other in the flesh again, wouldn't that be fun?"
  "Sure would, I could give you your dagger back." You remark.
  "Mmmm, I bet you would. Well if that day ever comes, you make sure you give me a long hard kiss as you're sticking it in me. Oh one last thing, your General Ackerson is planning to betray you at some point during tomorrow's battle. Not sure when and how, but he's got quite a few soldiers willing to work with him on it. More of my daughter's work no doubt."
  
  With those final words, you cease hearing Semra's voice. You briefly open your eyes and find that her image is gone as well.
  
  "Fucking bitch." You mutter, as now you're never going to be able to sleep with this last bit of information she just gave you.
  
  The big problem is she may very well be telling the truth, because for the most part Semra has never really lied to you. You didn't believe her at the time, but she told you the complete truth about Casimir and his intentions. She didn't have Alison killed either. As usual in her own fucked up way that you still don't understand she has attempted to help you.
  
  Of course that was in the past, she could be lying about everything right now. While she has confirmed your own beliefs that it's been the svelk working against you, she's also trying to put the blame all on her daughter. Granted you know they probably don't get along, but still.
  
  There also has never been any evidence that Ackerson has shown signs of being a potential traitor. Doesn't even make sense, but then again you can't trust anyone nowadays.
  
  Now you have to play a guessing game to as whether or not someone on your own side is going to kill you in the middle of battle. You miss the days when all you ever concerned yourself with were the people on the other side trying to kill you.
  
  > deal with Ackerson
  "Shit." You grumble and get up.
  
  After getting dressed, you march out of your tent with sword in hand. Multiple soldiers on duty ask if you're okay, but you just ignore them and head directly to where Ackerson's camp located.
  
  When you arrive, you tell the soldiers on duty that you want to see Ackerson immediately. The general is of course still asleep and when he gets out of his tent he's still slightly groggy.
  
  "Apologies my Emperor, but what can..." he begins to say and then you cleave his head in with your sword. His face displays a mixture of shock and confusion as the blood trickles down from his head.
  
  You pull the sword out with a sickly sound following it and strike again, this time practically chopping the general's head in two. At this point the weight of Ackerson's now lifeless body pulls downward off of your sword and you wipe your sword off in front of the astonished onlookers.
  
  "Alright, listen up because I'm only going to say this once. This man was a fucking traitor. He was planning to betray me at some point during tomorrow's battle. Don't ask me how I know, the important thing is I know because I'm the fucking Emperor and I know ALL."
  
  You continue.
  
  "That being said, I also know he had some of you in on this plan because he was too damn cowardly to face me like a man. I KNOW who you all are and consider this your reprieve from your benevolent Emperor. Help bring us victory tomorrow against the beast folk scum and I'll forget all about this. However, if I ever get the slightest hint that ANY of you are planning to assassinate me, betray me or be involved in any other type of treason, I WILL make sure that you do not suffer the quick death like I so graciously handed out to the late general here. Do I make myself clear?"
  
  "YES EMPEROR!" everyone shouts.
  
  "Good. Colonel Sini, you're in charge of Ackerson's command now. Have someone remove this traitor's corpse from this camp. I don't want the aura of his failure and cowardice to rub off on anyone else longer than necessary."
  
  You take your leave and head back to your tent. You know what you did might not have been necessary since Semra very well might've been lying, however you're fairly confident that you handled it in such a way that it doesn't matter. You put so much fear into the rest of them that if they didn't think you were all knowing before they certainly do now.
  
  If it is true though, it is sort of disturbing to you that Eldolith managed to somehow convince some of your own military to try to kill you. That's the group you rely on the most and feel you have the most identification with, though perhaps you're taking it for granted that most of them LIKE the military and battles like you do. A lot of them probably joined just to feed their families. Some of them were even conscripted. You can only imagine that she offered a shitload of gold as it doesn't seem likely that she'd have anything else worthwhile to offer.
  
  You'll be glad when the orcs have finally raised their numbers back up and the new Eternals are of age to fight.
  
  Despite everything that went on last night, you miraculously actually manage to get a little sleep before the arrival of the Torites. You're still a little tired, but you think when you get into the thick of battle the thrill of it will kick in and you'll be invigorated. You usually are.
  
  It seems word of what happened spread fairly quickly to the rest of the camps, even to Decena's army. You imagine that will at least have to put Galen in a good mood, maybe he'll whine less now.
  
  When the Torites arrive they certainly look like a chaotic rabble, but it's no mistake that they mean business. The number of harpies fills the sky to the point where you hope that the Storm can take care of such a flock. The second airship is in far distance behind you. Hopefully by the time it gets to engage in battle it won't be replacing the Storm so much that it'll be supporting the Storm.
  
  The cannons and rifles fire as soon as the Torites are within range. Their centaurs return fire with their accurate arrows. The saytr wizards up the ante by casting their elemental magic which rips solid chunks of rock and earth out of the ground and goes flying at your army. It can't be said that the Torites are any less dangerous just because they're less technologically advanced.
  
  High above you the Storm takes on the harpy warriors. Even from here, it looks like a swarm of locusts descending on a single blade of wheat. Looks pretty damn grim for the Storm, you just hope if the crew does get overwhelmed they can keep the ship from crashing near your location.
  
  The bull creatures lead the charge along side their horse beast brethren. Another volley of shots takes out some, but they remain relentless in their charge. The satyr rank and file advance steadily behind. They WILL arrive and there will certainly be enough of them left to give your army a good fight.
  
  Your own cavalry meets them and while they have the best training, they can't overcome the sheer savagery of the minotaurs and as for the centaurs, their very bodies are half horse. They already have the advantage over your own cavalry as far as maneuverability.
  
  Breaks in the Torite army form as they allow their war beasts participate in the charge. Several manticores and chimera of the largest size make their way straight towards you. At their pace, they're going to be the first ones your people will have to fight. A cannon blast rips through one of the chimera and fireball from one of your mages brings down another, but before you know it, a manticore is shredding apart your front line with its talons and impaling others with its spike tail.
  
  What comes next is utter mayhem. Swords and axes cutting and stabbing. Fangs and claws tearing and biting. Magic on both sides destroying several lives in the blink of an eye. It's all very glorious.
  
  Decena's army is holding its own on her front, but then you never had any doubt about that. The only problem they do have is the blasted satyr magic manages to turn the golems against them. Hopefully, Flevas managed to get Galen's ass out of there before they crushed him. The newly appointed General Sini seems to be doing well on his end. You're glad to see that the reinforced fear in their ruler has motivated them.
  
  Still, the battle is far from over yet. The fact that you're simultaneously facing down three bullheads by yourself and a chimera closing in is a great reminder.
  
  You cast a lightning blast at the bulls, which fells two of them, but the third fights through the pain of having his body fried from the inside out. You dodge his axe and follow up with your own sword swing to his meaty leg. The beast roars, but is still undeterred. Two nearby soldiers attempt to help, but are mauled by the chimera which has finally arrived.
  
  The minotaur swings again, but this time you cast a force shield to block the blow. This one has to be some sort of leader or hero or some great warrior to his people because when you swing your sword again to strike, the creature catches its blade and snaps it off leaving you with a broken sword.
  
  "Okay. I get it. A challenge." You say and step backwards from the minotaur who ignores his deeply cut hand to solidly grip his axe once more.
  
  The bull will have to wait though since the chimera has finally gotten around to attack you. The clumsy beast attempts to pounce, but you leap out of its way and blast one of the its misshaped animal heads with a bolt of fire. Roaring in pain and anger, the creature desperately tries to put out the flames by rubbing the flaming head into the dirt. It hardly stops it from continuing to attack with its scorpion tail. While it misses with its tail, one of its other goat like heads spits a cloud of gas at you. You didn't even know they could do such a thing, but then these chimeras are rather random beasts.
  
  The gas is certainly poisonous enough to kill the average person, but then you aren't average. Unfortunately it's still potent enough to make you feel sick and you gag and wheeze when you inhale a good bit of the stuff.
  
  A paw smashes into your side and you go crashing to the ground. You barely get out of the way of the stinger tail again. Then your old bull friend is there to help with his axe as usual, fortunately someone distracts the bull by attacking him from behind causing him to drop his axe. Unfortunately they fail to kill him and he turns around and breaks their neck with his bare hands, still it's given you a temporary respite on what to do next.
  
  > pick up the axe and strike back
  Despite being woozy from the gas attack, you grab the minotaur's axe. The weapon is incredibly heavy, in fact a little heavier than you were expecting. The minotaur advances on you and you clumsily swing at it, but miss completely and you feel the smashing fist of the minotaur across your face which has quite likely broken your jaw.
  
  Sprawled to the ground, you attempt to cast a cone of frost, but the minotaur has already followed up its attack and picked you up off the ground with both hands. Then with one quick move he slams your back over his knee breaking it and throws you in front of the chimera, which has successfully put out the flames you bestowed upon its face earlier.
  
  Your last moments are the chimera's lion head sinking its fangs into your throat.