text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, villain protagonist, dystopia, fantasy, grimdark]
  
  As much as you might like to help Warrick out, you just really aren't in a position to do so on any meaningful level. Breaking your trade routes with the Eternal Dominion is just foolish. You tell Brenda you'll break the news this time.
  
  You both enter the room where Warrick awaits your answer.
  
  "Sorry Warrick, while we do understand your troubles, we can't help you. What you're asking for is too much and we see no benefit for us or Nalin in general."
  
  Warrick's face doesn't drop and he doesn't get any angrier, All in all, he takes your response a lot better than Edgar did.
  
  "Very well. I shall tell my superiors that you are not interested in any sort of alliance with us. I hope that one day this may change. I suppose I will also take my leave now, sorry to have bothered the both of you, but it was still good to see you again." He says and leaves immediately.
  
  You and Brenda remark on he was probably more disappointed than he let on, but what's done is done and you've all made your choices now. The pair of you go back to bed and try to get some sleep.
  
  Year 56
  
  "We've got to do something about this epidemic. If this keeps up we're not going to have a population left to rule over!" Brenda says.
  "Well so far the problem has hit the eastern territory of Nalin yet. We've scoured the land for healers, medics and a few hedge wizards and they're doing all they can, but this thing is really bad in a few of the towns. I've quarantined all of the major areas where this plague is taking place, but understandably a lot the soldiers aren't exactly keen on their duties there mainly because they don't want to get sick either. The only ones who aren't kicking up much of a fuss about it are soldiers with families in those towns." You reply.
  "(Sigh) Shit. I've talked to all of the advisors and nobody has a clue where, who and why this thing might've started. You got any ideas?"
  "Unfortunately the only one I can think of just a hunch, and I'd rather not believe it. I think Warrick, or at least the Felkan Kingdom had something to do with it. For all we know they could've had saboteurs in here for years planning this."
  "If it was them, I hope Edgar rips them a new asshole now that he's at war with them."
  "Be that as it may, I'm still hoping that wasn't the case, not because I don't want to believe a former friend could do this to us, but more because it doesn't reflect well on my duties to protect the nation. I mean if the Felkan Kingdom had saboteurs here, how was it that I didn't see it until now?"
  "You can't start doubting yourself, we need to focus on the problem at hand first."
  "You're right of course. Well as I see it, if we really want to stop the plague, we need to kill everyone in the quarantined areas, then cleanse everything with fire."
  "Wait, hold on. There's no other way? Can't we just have more medics and healers transferred to those places?"
  "I don't see what good that would do. From the reports a lot of these people are practically dead or dying as it is. It doesn't do any good for them to linger and possibly get others sick. Better to just kill them now and save the medics to observe the places that only have a few sick people."
  "You do realize that something like this is not going to be popular right? I mean are the soldiers even going to be willing to do such a thing?"
  "Well we try pretty hard to keep up the old ways of Empire indoctrination, I don't think we should have major problems, though I suppose those with families might protest (Sigh) I guess we'll have to take care of them as well."
  "This isn't sounding like a great idea. Maybe we should just keep the quarantine and let them all slowly die off. We could always say we're looking for a cure, and whether one comes or not, the problem will take care of itself." Brenda suggests.
  "The problem with that plan is we're diverting soldiers from more important duties and continuing to risk lives that can still be useful to Nalin." You say.
  
  You and Brenda weigh the pros and cons of your limited choices.
  
  > let the healers find a cure
  Killing everyone might have its benefits, but perhaps a less bloodthirsty approach would be for the best right now. You and Brenda decide to keep the quarantine up and just encourage the medics to work harder on a cure.
  
  The next few months are relatively calm, there's a lot of grumbling, but nothing serious yet. No cure has been found yet and while the less affected areas seem to be stabilized, the ones in the quarantine aren't getting any worse either. This is somewhat of a problem, part of the hope is that they would ultimately just all die off if a cure isn't found. As it stands, the ones that have managed to survive the plague are now just carriers which makes them a lot more dangerous.
  
  A few healers try their hand at various cures, but nothing works, if anything you just lose more physicians as they too become infected and have to stay inside. The situation gets worse when you have escapees and the soldiers stationed outside the quarantine area start to show symptoms of the plague and have to be shoved in as well. Eventually you station all those elves you made orphans (now proper Nalin soldiers) all those years ago around the quarantined area, as non-humans seem to be more resistant. You even "deputize" kobolds as soldiers as well as they're virtually immune. This isn't a popular decision, but purging the infected areas would be even less so. You hold out hope that a cure will be found soon.
  
  Year 60
  
  You sit quietly contemplating everything that has transpired for the past four years.
  
  When the plague had managed to re-establish itself throughout Nalin, and worse in eastern Nalin and it became apparent that no one was close to a cure, you went through with your original plan of cleansing the infected areas. There were still protests against you carrying out such a grim plan, but such dissent was silenced. However it was a bit too late at that point.
  
  Several towns in eastern Nalin claimed you and Brenda were unfit as rulers for letting this happen and threatened to secede. Resistance probably would've been crushed with ease, but with a shortage of troops due to the plague, general dislike of your rule and others just taking advantage of the coming chaos, it wasn't as easy as it could've been. Opposition was crushed, but ultimately large sections of Nalin had either been ravaged by the plague or civil war. Nalin wasn't so much of a nation anymore than it was a collection of towns in a war torn land.
  
  Eventually the strain of holding so much land with the troop shortage you now suffered was too much and territory had to be abandoned anyway. After some restructuring, the nation of Nalin was much smaller than it was when the Empire ruled over it. It was a small poor miserable country, with equally poor miserable citizens. Edgar has offered to absorb Nalin into the Eternal Dominion and give you a place at his side, but you're still too prideful to except such an offer, even if you know he means well.
  
  "Brooding again, dear?" Brenda says tapping you on the shoulder.
  "Just temporarily lost in thought." You answer.
  "You figure out how to re-conquer all our lost territory yet?"
  "Not quite, but I'm working on it."
  "Well I wouldn't worry about it. I think we had a good run, we should just look at other options."
  "Brenda are you seriously reconsidering joining the Eternal Dominion, because..."
  "No, but there are other options."
  "You mean just focusing on building up what we have left?"
  "Well that's certainly one possibility, but quite frankly I'm not interested in that either. This whole ruling business...it's not fun anymore. I question if it ever was at least for me anyway. You sort of made it tolerable, but I think I'm done."
  
  You get a little worried by this statement.
  
  "You're not talking about suicide are you?"
  "What? No! Sheesh, I'm not ready for the grave, but it is something that is much closer than it was in the past. I mean is fighting over this little piece of shitty land and running it really what I want to be doing in my twilight years? Not really, life's short enough as it is. I've come to that conclusion and that's why I'm leaving all of this behind. I'm guessing you might feel a little different about it though."
  "You're damn right I feel different about it! We can't just run away from this! We've got to re-establish our rule! I know it'll take a while, but it can be done!"
  
  Brenda smiles and touches your face.
  
  "For what purpose? I hate to tell you this, but you're not young anymore either."
  "I...I know that!"
  "Do you? Because sometime I wonder. I love you and you're still a great warrior and you're probably still better than most men half your age, but you can't go around thinking you're invincible anymore. There are guns now you know, someone could just assassinate you from a few feet away and not even engage you in combat. The days of the Empire are over, you have to realize that."
  "I know that too, Brenda."
  "And that's why you're frustrating to deal with sometimes, because you DO know it, yet sometimes you completely lapse into the mindset of the good old days. Look, you know I love you, and I know you love me, but I can't do this mini empire shit anymore."
  "So what's your solution then?"
  "Well, I was thinking we just leave."
  "And go where?"
  "I dunno, someplace else. Further east I guess, someplace far away from this entire region though. I mean there's probably a great big world out there, and we've just been stuck in a small portion of it."
  "Hmm, so you're suggesting we just live like vagabonds and wanderers with no set home?"
  "Well maybe for a time, but who knows maybe we'll eventually find some place to settle down."
  "Wait a minute you're going on about how we're not young anymore, yet you're advocating wandering the wilderness like some young snot nosed adventurers. Sounds like you're talking out both sides of your mouth..."
  "Okay fine, you don't have to come with me, you can sit here and play brooding overlord until somebody either assassinates you or the unwashed masses storm the palace." Brenda says turning away and walking.
  
  "Hold on! Wait! (sigh) Look, I know what you're saying and you've got a point. It's just really hard for me to give all this up. I'd feel like I would be abandoning my post and I did that once already with the Empire. And while it was the best decision I ever made, it still stays with me like a black spot, and I'm sure you know that. Abandoning Nalin is like history repeating itself all over again."
  "Remember what you told Edgar when he visited? There was nothing any of us could've done. It was a doomed mission to begin with. You did your best and that's all anyone could've done. Even an Eternal."
  
  You give a slight smile and nod.
  
  "Okay, Brenda. Let's get out of here."
  
  You and Brenda pack some equipment and take your leave of your rulership of Nalin. You don't even bother assigning a successor or anything like that, you decide whoever wants it bad enough can hold it if they have the desire. You and Brenda head east and stick to the wilderness when traveling through old Nalin territory, eventually you pass through it and you're exploring new land. Living off the land is quite easy for you and the freedom is a nice change of pace. After a few months, you don't miss Nalin at all, and are just glad to be spending more quality time with Brenda.
  
  In the years that follow the pair of you wander, seeing new sights and getting into a few skirmishes a long the way. Eventually the pair of you do settle down close to a small village in a far away land where you live out the remainder of your lives in complete obscurity and peace.