Eternal
Year 25
“Another protest? What the hell is going on now?” you say.
“I don’t know the exact details, just that the miners are protesting their work conditions in the town of Keplavisk.” Lieutenant Verant replies.
“I’m getting sick of these protests, the Empire provides everything for these ungrateful wretches and they complain? They ought to be lucky we haven’t sent slaves to do their job! Alright send a detachment there and if they don’t break it up, kill a couple to make a point and remind them that it could be much worse.”
“Yes sir.”
You sit stuck at your desk wondering when something worthwhile is going to happen. When you were first assigned to this job, the frontier was still dangerous. Even with the elimination of the wendigos and the elven home, there were still minor hostile barbarian tribes running around and sometimes even tribes of ogres or the odd giant who had wandered down from further north.
Eventually you eliminated all of those threats to a degree that they were no longer a factor. Then boredom set in as the area became peaceful. For a moment you tried to take Alison’s advice she once gave you, but the problem is, the peace lasted too long, at least for you.
Lately though the boredom has become annoyance. There has been a shift in the average Empire citizen’s attitude, namely one of insolence. many have started to complain about their jobs, their food, their freedom, everything. At first you questioned if it wasn’t some sort of supernatural influence as that could at least be a rational explanation of this mass madness. When the first open protests started, you handled them in an efficient manner and they stopped for a while, but only for a while. It’s as if the citizens want you to kill them.
And apparently the problem isn’t just here. If anything this sort of open disobedience has been rearing its ugly head in other parts of the Empire a lot more than it has here and a lot sooner.
Don’t these people understand that the Empire protects them and gives them everything? If it were not for Emperor’s wisdom to expand, they wouldn’t even have their homes, jobs in whatever province they hail from, never mind the constant vigilance to protect them against monsters that would rip them apart.
Sometimes you wish you had been transferred to the Arat province. At least there’s a war going on there. You can only imagine that Warrick and Gerald don’t have to put up with this nonsense. Assuming they are still alive, as you have heard nothing about them and despite your new ranking, you can’t seem to get any information on them either. No word about about Roldan or Brenda either, but you do know that the Nalin province is known to be one of the most orderly places in the Empire now.
You would even settle for being transferred to Fort Defiance at this point, they at least have to still have to stem the tide of beasts and monsters from the north. You’ve also wondered about Kane and Edgar. They’re the only two you do have some updated information on, but while you’ve all been in this territory for years you haven’t seen them since the day you separated company. Oh you’ve heard a few stories about Edgar killing giants single handedly, but that’s about it. In fact you’re surprised that neither one of them has earned command of Fort Defiance like you have with Fort Destiny.
Sometimes it’s funny how thinking about something causes it to happen.
You get a message from Fort Defiance and it’s from Kane! He states that he’s just taken command of Fort Defiance and would like to speak with you in person about some possible joint military operations. You naturally leave for Fort Defiance immediately. A certain excitement and even happiness dwells within you, it’ll be good to see a fellow Eternal again, even if Edgar is probably going to still be combative with you. Who knows though? Maybe he’s changed, it’s been years after all.
Your trip to Fort Defiance is uneventful and when you arrive at the fort it’s as large as you’ve heard, but then it would have to be to fend off giants. You are greeted by several heavily armored orc troops and what looks to be a battle mage. (You still never managed to get either assigned to your fort)
“Welcome to Fort Defiance captain! I am to take you to General Kane. He is most eager to see you! Come this way!” the battle mage says and as you are escorted through a series of dimly lit corridors one thought goes through your mind: “General?”
When you arrive at Kane’s office he looks a little different with his head completely shaved, but other than that he hasn’t changed. He also has another man in his office dressed in dark leather armor, with a cloak. You’ve heard of their reputation, but this is the first time you’ve seen a member of the Shadow Guard. You knew a few were stationed up here though.
Kane stands up and greets you.
“Well if it isn’t the Bane of Rask! Ha ha ha! How are you my brother?” Kane says in a jovial manner.
“I’m fine…brother?” you reply being a little confused by Kane’s demeanor and him calling you brother.
“Yes! Of course! We are brothers! We grew up together, we trained together, and we fought together, and we are Eternals! Would that not constitute a brotherly bond?” he says.
“Heh, I suppose it would. Never thought about it before I guess.” You reply with a smile.
“Hey I’d like you to meet another brother of ours, this is Cyrus. Remember him? He was in our class, but he got transferred to the Shadow Guard when they first separated us.”
“Cyrus…oh yes, I do remember him. I have sometimes wondered what happened to some of during that first separation. I guess the rest went to the Shadow Guard then?”
“Yes, but only a few of us survived Shadow Guard training. Very few.”
“Sounds like us, a few of our class didn’t make it through our training either.”
“No, it was nothing like what you went through. Trust me.” Cyrus says coldly.
Kane quickly intervenes.
“Don’t mind Cyrus, he’s a little on the serious side, sort of like you eh?”
“As I recall I don’t remember you being so talkative or jolly either.” You say.
“Hey what can I tell you, I’ve changed as the years went by! I’ve learned to take more joy in life and not worry so much about duty or about the Empire!”
This last comment is cause for concern.
“Not worry about the Empire? What kind of talk is that for an Eternal? And I have a few questions, how did you get promoted to general? I mean why would they need a general up here, this fort has been doing fine without one, the Rask frontier is as quiet as ever and there’s a war going on with the Felkan Kingdom. In fact, where is Edgar? I’ve heard so much about his deeds that I would’ve figured that he might get promoted to command here and certainly not to general.”
At this point Kane and Cyrus look at each other and Kane looks back at you with a less cheery disposition.
“Very well. It was only a matter of time before I was going to have to bring this up to you anyway. I’ve made myself general and as of recently this fort is no longer under Empire authority.”
“You what?!”
“I saw the light, with the help of Cyrus here I suppose. The Empire is crumbling, I give it a decade at best and we need to make sure we have a good position when the shit goes down. Don’t you see? That’s why I called you here. You’ve got the plebs further south of the Rask frontier under control and if we combined forces, nobody could stop us!
You’re in shock for a moment. Nothing could have prepared you for something like this.
“…Kane, you can’t believe that I would go along with something like this!”
“But why not? Surely you have heard the reports of the mass civil unrest going on in the Empire, why even in your own area you have had to put civvies in their place.”
“Yes, and that just means we have to work harder to preserve the Empire, not abandon it in its time of need!”
“Bah! Why bother? It had its time in the sun and now its time for something new to take its place. What better than us? We’re Eternals after all. Just think we could even unite with some of our other siblings in this dying Empire to make ourselves even stronger!”
You hold your head in your hands at Kane’s words of secession and treason. This is not the same man you knew, and he is certainly not your “brother.” You never thought the day would come when you’d have to kill a fellow Eternal.
“Another protest? What the hell is going on now?” you say.
“I don’t know the exact details, just that the miners are protesting their work conditions in the town of Keplavisk.” Lieutenant Verant replies.
“I’m getting sick of these protests, the Empire provides everything for these ungrateful wretches and they complain? They ought to be lucky we haven’t sent slaves to do their job! Alright send a detachment there and if they don’t break it up, kill a couple to make a point and remind them that it could be much worse.”
“Yes sir.”
You sit stuck at your desk wondering when something worthwhile is going to happen. When you were first assigned to this job, the frontier was still dangerous. Even with the elimination of the wendigos and the elven home, there were still minor hostile barbarian tribes running around and sometimes even tribes of ogres or the odd giant who had wandered down from further north.
Eventually you eliminated all of those threats to a degree that they were no longer a factor. Then boredom set in as the area became peaceful. For a moment you tried to take Alison’s advice she once gave you, but the problem is, the peace lasted too long, at least for you.
Lately though the boredom has become annoyance. There has been a shift in the average Empire citizen’s attitude, namely one of insolence. many have started to complain about their jobs, their food, their freedom, everything. At first you questioned if it wasn’t some sort of supernatural influence as that could at least be a rational explanation of this mass madness. When the first open protests started, you handled them in an efficient manner and they stopped for a while, but only for a while. It’s as if the citizens want you to kill them.
And apparently the problem isn’t just here. If anything this sort of open disobedience has been rearing its ugly head in other parts of the Empire a lot more than it has here and a lot sooner.
Don’t these people understand that the Empire protects them and gives them everything? If it were not for Emperor’s wisdom to expand, they wouldn’t even have their homes, jobs in whatever province they hail from, never mind the constant vigilance to protect them against monsters that would rip them apart.
Sometimes you wish you had been transferred to the Arat province. At least there’s a war going on there. You can only imagine that Warrick and Gerald don’t have to put up with this nonsense. Assuming they are still alive, as you have heard nothing about them and despite your new ranking, you can’t seem to get any information on them either. No word about about Roldan or Brenda either, but you do know that the Nalin province is known to be one of the most orderly places in the Empire now.
You would even settle for being transferred to Fort Defiance at this point, they at least have to still have to stem the tide of beasts and monsters from the north. You’ve also wondered about Kane and Edgar. They’re the only two you do have some updated information on, but while you’ve all been in this territory for years you haven’t seen them since the day you separated company. Oh you’ve heard a few stories about Edgar killing giants single handedly, but that’s about it. In fact you’re surprised that neither one of them has earned command of Fort Defiance like you have with Fort Destiny.
Sometimes it’s funny how thinking about something causes it to happen.
You get a message from Fort Defiance and it’s from Kane! He states that he’s just taken command of Fort Defiance and would like to speak with you in person about some possible joint military operations. You naturally leave for Fort Defiance immediately. A certain excitement and even happiness dwells within you, it’ll be good to see a fellow Eternal again, even if Edgar is probably going to still be combative with you. Who knows though? Maybe he’s changed, it’s been years after all.
Your trip to Fort Defiance is uneventful and when you arrive at the fort it’s as large as you’ve heard, but then it would have to be to fend off giants. You are greeted by several heavily armored orc troops and what looks to be a battle mage. (You still never managed to get either assigned to your fort)
“Welcome to Fort Defiance captain! I am to take you to General Kane. He is most eager to see you! Come this way!” the battle mage says and as you are escorted through a series of dimly lit corridors one thought goes through your mind: “General?”
When you arrive at Kane’s office he looks a little different with his head completely shaved, but other than that he hasn’t changed. He also has another man in his office dressed in dark leather armor, with a cloak. You’ve heard of their reputation, but this is the first time you’ve seen a member of the Shadow Guard. You knew a few were stationed up here though.
Kane stands up and greets you.
“Well if it isn’t the Bane of Rask! Ha ha ha! How are you my brother?” Kane says in a jovial manner.
“I’m fine…brother?” you reply being a little confused by Kane’s demeanor and him calling you brother.
“Yes! Of course! We are brothers! We grew up together, we trained together, and we fought together, and we are Eternals! Would that not constitute a brotherly bond?” he says.
“Heh, I suppose it would. Never thought about it before I guess.” You reply with a smile.
“Hey I’d like you to meet another brother of ours, this is Cyrus. Remember him? He was in our class, but he got transferred to the Shadow Guard when they first separated us.”
“Cyrus…oh yes, I do remember him. I have sometimes wondered what happened to some of during that first separation. I guess the rest went to the Shadow Guard then?”
“Yes, but only a few of us survived Shadow Guard training. Very few.”
“Sounds like us, a few of our class didn’t make it through our training either.”
“No, it was nothing like what you went through. Trust me.” Cyrus says coldly.
Kane quickly intervenes.
“Don’t mind Cyrus, he’s a little on the serious side, sort of like you eh?”
“As I recall I don’t remember you being so talkative or jolly either.” You say.
“Hey what can I tell you, I’ve changed as the years went by! I’ve learned to take more joy in life and not worry so much about duty or about the Empire!”
This last comment is cause for concern.
“Not worry about the Empire? What kind of talk is that for an Eternal? And I have a few questions, how did you get promoted to general? I mean why would they need a general up here, this fort has been doing fine without one, the Rask frontier is as quiet as ever and there’s a war going on with the Felkan Kingdom. In fact, where is Edgar? I’ve heard so much about his deeds that I would’ve figured that he might get promoted to command here and certainly not to general.”
At this point Kane and Cyrus look at each other and Kane looks back at you with a less cheery disposition.
“Very well. It was only a matter of time before I was going to have to bring this up to you anyway. I’ve made myself general and as of recently this fort is no longer under Empire authority.”
“You what?!”
“I saw the light, with the help of Cyrus here I suppose. The Empire is crumbling, I give it a decade at best and we need to make sure we have a good position when the shit goes down. Don’t you see? That’s why I called you here. You’ve got the plebs further south of the Rask frontier under control and if we combined forces, nobody could stop us!
You’re in shock for a moment. Nothing could have prepared you for something like this.
“…Kane, you can’t believe that I would go along with something like this!”
“But why not? Surely you have heard the reports of the mass civil unrest going on in the Empire, why even in your own area you have had to put civvies in their place.”
“Yes, and that just means we have to work harder to preserve the Empire, not abandon it in its time of need!”
“Bah! Why bother? It had its time in the sun and now its time for something new to take its place. What better than us? We’re Eternals after all. Just think we could even unite with some of our other siblings in this dying Empire to make ourselves even stronger!”
You hold your head in your hands at Kane’s words of secession and treason. This is not the same man you knew, and he is certainly not your “brother.” You never thought the day would come when you’d have to kill a fellow Eternal.