Eternal
You didn’t lie to Kane when he asked you to join him.
You didn’t lie to Brenda when she asked you to join the Eternal Dominion
And you aren’t going to lie to Edgar now. It might not be what he wants to hear, but it’s what he’s going to hear.
“Edgar, I’m not accepting this position. First of all it’s not realistic despite what you want to believe and I think deep down you know that. Second of all, if I wanted the reins of power as you say, I would’ve taken them a long time ago. Did I ever think about it? Sure, but I came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t lead to anywhere good…and given your condition I’d say I was half right. I say half right, because it is apparent that you did gain a loving wife out it, or whatever she is to you.”
Edgar is silent while you continue.
“And while I don’t say my own path was any better, it was ultimately mine and it’s one I intend to finish whatever the future may hold for it. Edgar, don’t worry about what you accomplished and if it’ll last. Just be proud of it now and spend your last moments with your wife. That’s who you need to be concerned about.”
Edgar hacks and coughs up blood and spits it into a nearby bucket and struggles to breathe, but manages to answer you.
“Very well…you’ve made your point. And you’re probably right. You usually were. (wheeze) Bring my…my wife in. I do wish to spend the last moments with her…and farewell…my brother.”
“Farewell Edgar.” You say with a nod and leave.
You step outside and tell Eva that Edgar wants to spend his remaining time left with her. She seems happy with this idea though of course still upset. She runs in and one of the guards says he will escort you out. On the way out, you run into Rissok in the halls and once again he gets into your face.
“Leaving again are we? Just as well you aren’t welcome here anyway. In fact I’d suggest you make it quick. As soon as Edgar’s breathes his last breath I’m going to make a lot of changes around here.”
“You’re saying you’re going to be in charge after Edgar?”
“Of course! Others might say they are, but they’ll be silenced soon enough, just like all traitors will be. I am the only one qualified to run this nation!
“Hm, well…we can’t have that.” you say and with a quick motion you pull out your dagger and stab Rissok in the neck. Blood spurts out like a fountain when you pull it out and Rissok gurgles clutching his throat attempting to curse you the entire time.
You pretty much expected to get your head blown off by the guard standing next to you, but he just stood there and did nothing.
“I had a feeling you were going to do that.” He says in an almost bored tone. “How old is that dagger anyway? That design was outdated even before I was born. We use a much lighter weight metal now that allows a for a smoother cut.”
“Still gets the job done. So I’m guessing by me being still alive, you have no objections with his death?”
“Feh, you could’ve killed him in front of the entire army and nobody would’ve lifted a finger. He was an asshole and I know I wouldn’t have followed him even if the entire Eternal Dominion depended on it. Besides, we third generation eternals are more fit to run things than any of the seconds. Just glad you didn’t decide to stick around, would’ve hated to have to kill a legend.”
“Well if you ever decide to go to war with Rask, you might still get your chance.” You say and the pair of you leave Rissok’s body behind in the corridor as you exit the palace.
A carriage takes you back to the border where a horse is supplied to you to make the rest of journey home. And you are certainly glad to get back. It’s certainly been a strange few days for you, but then you’re use to strangeness going on in your life.
A couple days later you get the news that Edgar has died and that the new leadership of the Eternal Dominion as of now is uncertain. Rask of course is still fully expecting war to come their way, but you suspect that probably other than a few skirmishes, most of the fighting will be within the ED itself, or pushing ahead against the Felkan Kingdom.
You also realize that you really are the last one left now. Kane, Roldan, Gerald, Warrick, Brenda and Edgar all gone. The thought saddens you and you’re reminded of the phrase Gruz told you as he died.
“You’ll outlive everyone…”
It looks like it’s come true at last.
Oh sure there still are all the newer eternals around, but you were the first to be the perfect Empire soldiers in the misguided hope that you could save it. A project that failed utterly for its leaders.
You think about some of the other Eternals in your class that didn’t even make it past training, or the few like Cyrus that were transferred to the Shadow Guard. You also heard there was a group of eternals that came before you, though all of them died in training and never even made it into the field while the Empire was still “perfecting” their plan.
You wonder if all of you had made it and kept together as a separate unit, would it have made a difference? Who knows? You wonder if you’ll even be remembered as the years go by. Not just years or decades, but centuries. Edgar tried to create something to last and while he’ll probably have the best chance out of everyone in your group, ultimately history may just list him as a footnote as some obscure ruler.
As for the rest of you, you’ll be forgotten. At best, you may have the “honor” being brought up in tall tale by drunkards and bards in taverns, which you can live with, but you’d like the rest of your old friends… no, your old brothers and sister to be remembered.
That’s when you get the idea. You shall write you memoirs. Maybe nobody will read them or care, but what the hell, you need something to occupy your time in your twilight years. You’ve got a lot of it after all.
Grabbing a quill and some parchment you begin to write. You want to get as much down as you can, but of course a lot of history has passed and you’re having a little difficulty of where to start.
“Damn, I should’ve done this a lot sooner…oh yeah…might as well start with her.”
Mistress was her name, and that was about the only thing I ever knew about her. Oh that and the fact that she was a sadistic svelk bitch that helped trained me and my bothers and sister to be killers. Not just killers though, Eternals.
This is our story.
You didn’t lie to Brenda when she asked you to join the Eternal Dominion
And you aren’t going to lie to Edgar now. It might not be what he wants to hear, but it’s what he’s going to hear.
“Edgar, I’m not accepting this position. First of all it’s not realistic despite what you want to believe and I think deep down you know that. Second of all, if I wanted the reins of power as you say, I would’ve taken them a long time ago. Did I ever think about it? Sure, but I came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t lead to anywhere good…and given your condition I’d say I was half right. I say half right, because it is apparent that you did gain a loving wife out it, or whatever she is to you.”
Edgar is silent while you continue.
“And while I don’t say my own path was any better, it was ultimately mine and it’s one I intend to finish whatever the future may hold for it. Edgar, don’t worry about what you accomplished and if it’ll last. Just be proud of it now and spend your last moments with your wife. That’s who you need to be concerned about.”
Edgar hacks and coughs up blood and spits it into a nearby bucket and struggles to breathe, but manages to answer you.
“Very well…you’ve made your point. And you’re probably right. You usually were. (wheeze) Bring my…my wife in. I do wish to spend the last moments with her…and farewell…my brother.”
“Farewell Edgar.” You say with a nod and leave.
You step outside and tell Eva that Edgar wants to spend his remaining time left with her. She seems happy with this idea though of course still upset. She runs in and one of the guards says he will escort you out. On the way out, you run into Rissok in the halls and once again he gets into your face.
“Leaving again are we? Just as well you aren’t welcome here anyway. In fact I’d suggest you make it quick. As soon as Edgar’s breathes his last breath I’m going to make a lot of changes around here.”
“You’re saying you’re going to be in charge after Edgar?”
“Of course! Others might say they are, but they’ll be silenced soon enough, just like all traitors will be. I am the only one qualified to run this nation!
“Hm, well…we can’t have that.” you say and with a quick motion you pull out your dagger and stab Rissok in the neck. Blood spurts out like a fountain when you pull it out and Rissok gurgles clutching his throat attempting to curse you the entire time.
You pretty much expected to get your head blown off by the guard standing next to you, but he just stood there and did nothing.
“I had a feeling you were going to do that.” He says in an almost bored tone. “How old is that dagger anyway? That design was outdated even before I was born. We use a much lighter weight metal now that allows a for a smoother cut.”
“Still gets the job done. So I’m guessing by me being still alive, you have no objections with his death?”
“Feh, you could’ve killed him in front of the entire army and nobody would’ve lifted a finger. He was an asshole and I know I wouldn’t have followed him even if the entire Eternal Dominion depended on it. Besides, we third generation eternals are more fit to run things than any of the seconds. Just glad you didn’t decide to stick around, would’ve hated to have to kill a legend.”
“Well if you ever decide to go to war with Rask, you might still get your chance.” You say and the pair of you leave Rissok’s body behind in the corridor as you exit the palace.
A carriage takes you back to the border where a horse is supplied to you to make the rest of journey home. And you are certainly glad to get back. It’s certainly been a strange few days for you, but then you’re use to strangeness going on in your life.
A couple days later you get the news that Edgar has died and that the new leadership of the Eternal Dominion as of now is uncertain. Rask of course is still fully expecting war to come their way, but you suspect that probably other than a few skirmishes, most of the fighting will be within the ED itself, or pushing ahead against the Felkan Kingdom.
You also realize that you really are the last one left now. Kane, Roldan, Gerald, Warrick, Brenda and Edgar all gone. The thought saddens you and you’re reminded of the phrase Gruz told you as he died.
“You’ll outlive everyone…”
It looks like it’s come true at last.
Oh sure there still are all the newer eternals around, but you were the first to be the perfect Empire soldiers in the misguided hope that you could save it. A project that failed utterly for its leaders.
You think about some of the other Eternals in your class that didn’t even make it past training, or the few like Cyrus that were transferred to the Shadow Guard. You also heard there was a group of eternals that came before you, though all of them died in training and never even made it into the field while the Empire was still “perfecting” their plan.
You wonder if all of you had made it and kept together as a separate unit, would it have made a difference? Who knows? You wonder if you’ll even be remembered as the years go by. Not just years or decades, but centuries. Edgar tried to create something to last and while he’ll probably have the best chance out of everyone in your group, ultimately history may just list him as a footnote as some obscure ruler.
As for the rest of you, you’ll be forgotten. At best, you may have the “honor” being brought up in tall tale by drunkards and bards in taverns, which you can live with, but you’d like the rest of your old friends… no, your old brothers and sister to be remembered.
That’s when you get the idea. You shall write you memoirs. Maybe nobody will read them or care, but what the hell, you need something to occupy your time in your twilight years. You’ve got a lot of it after all.
Grabbing a quill and some parchment you begin to write. You want to get as much down as you can, but of course a lot of history has passed and you’re having a little difficulty of where to start.
“Damn, I should’ve done this a lot sooner…oh yeah…might as well start with her.”
Mistress was her name, and that was about the only thing I ever knew about her. Oh that and the fact that she was a sadistic svelk bitch that helped trained me and my bothers and sister to be killers. Not just killers though, Eternals.
This is our story.