Eternal
Brother Shade has gone too far this time in this foolish attempt at a coup. You didn't think he attempt such a thing, but maybe you should've seen it was coming. As such you feel like it's your duty to try to stop him before he can do any major damage.
You speed yourself up and fire your armbow at Shade just as he reaches Master Ebon and Brother Gray. It's not a fatal hit, since your bolt amusingly hits him in the ass; however it's enough to throw him off and whatever power Master Ebon has, he displays it quite prominently when Shade instantly clutches his head as if it's about to explode. While that doesn't happen, he does begin to bleed from his ears and nose. He lets out one long scream of pain before collapsing to floor.
Everyone else stands silent as Brother Gray checks to see if he's dead and then confirms it. You hear a quiet whimper of "I told him." come from the crowd. It must be Sister Dusk who was Brother Shade's lover. Even she didn't help him.
"This is a sad day for all shadows. To think that one of our own would…I cannot speak of it…(Sigh) I am only relieved to see that the rest of you still hold more faith in Dendrin than Shade did." Master Ebon say and then looks at you.
"And I thank you for reacting so quickly brother. I always know your loyalty to Dendrin to be impeccable. I think that's why you need to be one to be in charge of this mission. I know it's grim, but our order has done such deeds in the past. Just think of this as being a means to an end. A means to an end before we're all truly free."
"I…understand Master Ebon. And I accept your confidence in me."
After some discussion on the events that just occurred you are instructed to gather together some shadows to help you put down the revolt in Hewlif. You already know who you're going to pick though, Murk, Bianca and Talia, though you're sensing they have the recent event on their minds.
"It's just like Master Ebon said, this is just one of the things we have to do before we put our own plan into action." You say back at your barracks.
"I just don't know. I mean I don't agree with Brother Shade's actions on trying to kill Master Ebon, but he might've had a point about all this waiting around. When ARE we going to strike out against the Empire properly?" Sister Bianca says.
"Yeah, I mean I know we've had to kill a lot of innocent people here and there for the Empire to keep up appearances, but we're talking about an entire town here. I just don't know…" Brother Murk says.
You can't believe what you're hearing right now. Why all the doubts? Is this the so called faith in Dendrin? You're so frustrated that you lash out.
"Oh for…I thought we were all doing this to serve Dendrin! I mean Master Ebon gets his orders from him and then we follow Master Ebon! It's a hierarchy that I THOUGHT we were supposed to adhere to, that's why I tried to stop Brother Shade in first fucking place! I don't have time for this, look if you lack the stomach to do this, I'll wipe out the entire town myself, and won't think twice about it!"
You turn from your fellows and storm out of Gloom. As you're walking out you can sense other shadows that don't agree with Master Ebon, give you a few glares on the way out. You don't understand any of this. You thought Dendrin's brainwashing technique made them all utterly loyal, you can see now that it has its limits. Granted the only one that actually did anything against the order was Brother Shade, and he at least had enough courage to try to carry out his convictions, unlike the rest who just stood around to watch him die. You find it ironic that you're probably least faithful when it comes to Dendrin himself, yet your loyalty to the order is a lot more secure.
On your way to stop at Lenet, you sense someone following you. You turn and see Talia.
"It's you."
"And a big greeting to you too, brother! Sheesh, I thought you'd wait for me after your rant at least."
"I didn't think anyone was interested in coming with me."
"You should know better than that."
"So you agree with what I did?"
"Well, I have to admit…and I'd only admit this to you…I sort of thought Brother Shade had a point."
"Well of course he had a point. I mean for the briefest moment I thought about helping him."
"You did?"
"Yes, but I didn't because as far as I'm concerned I've chosen a side and for good or ill I fully intend on carrying out its mission or die trying. So if that means I've got to wipe out every town in the Arat province to bring the Empire down, well so fucking be it."
Talia smiles a bit at your statement.
"Now that is why YOU are the only one worthy of me."
"Oh, you just picked me because Cyrus turned out to be gay."
"Ha ha! Nah, I already knew what was up with him even back when we were all in Mistresses class. He was always staring that that one classmate of ours…what was his name…oh yeah Gerald. Can't say I blame him though, Gerald was probably the most handsome in class."
"Hmm. I didn't take much notice of any of that."
"No I wouldn't expect you would've. You tended to lurk in the background and just focus on the training and your orders. Though you're still focused on your orders, you're a lot more pro-active about it rather than lurking in the background now. I suppose that sort of unquestioning dedication is what makes you a great fighter though."
You thank Talia for her compliment. For the remainder of journey you and her keep the chatter to a minimum. After all it is true that you do prefer to keep your mind focused on the task at hand.
When you finally arrive near the town of Hewlet, you see a group a ragged Empire soldiers standing nearby. They hardly look like the Empire's "best".
"Are you the shadow people the Empire sent for?" one of them asks. He doesn't look very old, in fact he's probably younger than you are. All of them look like that. You didn't realize how bad it was on the Empire's recruitment front.
"Yes, yes we are and who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm private first class Jones and this is my squad. We're sort of supposed to be watching the town. To make sure none of the dissidents attempt to leave it."
"And?"
"And what…uh sir?" Jones asks unsure of how to address you.
"And so have any of them left?"
"Um, not really. Well I mean I guess a few did before we arrived, but it looks like the rest are hunkered down in the town. I think they're building barricades around it."
"How come the Empire hasn't sent a company in there to just wipe them out."
"Not sure sir, but they said it wasn't the army's priority right now and that's what you Shadow Guard were here for."
You shake your head at the absurdity of this. If there was ever a good argument for overthrowing the Empire this would be it. The sheer inefficiency of this is just ridiculous. Instead of having a group of snot-nosed recruits to play sentry, the Empire could've easily sent in a company of well trained troops to put down the fucking uprising and been done with it! Unless the war with the Felkan Kingdom is going a lot worse than you've heard of course. Right now you're glad you decided to aid the Shadow Guard despite your recent frustration with them.
"So uh, where are the rest of your people? Are they invisible or something?" Jones asks.
"No, it's just us." You answer.
"…just you? But there's at least two hundred people in that town!"
"Two hundred? Then that probably means only about fifty have any sort of combat experience, and maybe out of those, ten of which have beyond the basics. The rest…hardly worth thinking about. Still with only two of us here there are bound to be a few escapees. Oh well, we'll do what we can, the rest of you just stay out the way."
Due to your cold seriousness, Jones is at a loss of how to respond other than a yes sir. You look at Talia, who nods at you as an indication that she's ready.
The pair of you don't speed up or use any shadow magic tricks on your way to the town. The sounds of threatening shouts are blocked out as you approach. A few arrows are shot at you, but they are so pitifully aimed you don't even need to dodge most of them.
As you get closer, you feel the stirring of battle approaching and you can hardly contain yourself. Whether this will help the Empire or the Shadow Guard cause you don't care right now, because all you're thinking about is how finally you'll be getting into a proper battle.
You sense that Talia feels the same way.
The following is a bloodbath, the hapless townspeople are no match for you or Talia. You don't even bother speeding yourself up, you rely on natural raw skill. By the time you've butchered most of the combat capable people, the rest of the townsfolk have either run and hid or tried to run off completely. You catch most of the stragglers though when you find a group of small children cowering in their school house (after running one of their teachers through with a sword) you get an idea.
"Children, this is your lucky day, for today you not only get to be witnesses but also messengers. It is an important message that I want you all to spread to whatever other town you to run to. Tell the people that if they continue to cause trouble, they won't have to fear the Empire, but the Shadows. Oppose the Empire, and you will die. Oppose the Shadows and you will beg for a death that won't come quick enough. We have displayed mercy here today. Remember this."
You then dismiss the children with a wave of your hand who go running and screaming out of the room and probably in several different directions. When you leave the school, Talia waves at you.
"Hey are we chasing these kids down too? I just saw a bunch of them rushing out of the school crying the whole time."
"No, I sent them off with an important message."
"Oh, what was it?"
"Hopefully an incentive for when the big day eventually arrives, the people will be more likely to side with us than the Empire or at least more afraid of us that they won't oppose us. In any case we've done our job here and the Empire shouldn't be bitching about it anymore."
You and Talia take your leave of the newly created ghost town. You wonder if your small idea will have any effect, probably not, though you guess you won't really know until the day of the big revolt comes.
You speed yourself up and fire your armbow at Shade just as he reaches Master Ebon and Brother Gray. It's not a fatal hit, since your bolt amusingly hits him in the ass; however it's enough to throw him off and whatever power Master Ebon has, he displays it quite prominently when Shade instantly clutches his head as if it's about to explode. While that doesn't happen, he does begin to bleed from his ears and nose. He lets out one long scream of pain before collapsing to floor.
Everyone else stands silent as Brother Gray checks to see if he's dead and then confirms it. You hear a quiet whimper of "I told him." come from the crowd. It must be Sister Dusk who was Brother Shade's lover. Even she didn't help him.
"This is a sad day for all shadows. To think that one of our own would…I cannot speak of it…(Sigh) I am only relieved to see that the rest of you still hold more faith in Dendrin than Shade did." Master Ebon say and then looks at you.
"And I thank you for reacting so quickly brother. I always know your loyalty to Dendrin to be impeccable. I think that's why you need to be one to be in charge of this mission. I know it's grim, but our order has done such deeds in the past. Just think of this as being a means to an end. A means to an end before we're all truly free."
"I…understand Master Ebon. And I accept your confidence in me."
After some discussion on the events that just occurred you are instructed to gather together some shadows to help you put down the revolt in Hewlif. You already know who you're going to pick though, Murk, Bianca and Talia, though you're sensing they have the recent event on their minds.
"It's just like Master Ebon said, this is just one of the things we have to do before we put our own plan into action." You say back at your barracks.
"I just don't know. I mean I don't agree with Brother Shade's actions on trying to kill Master Ebon, but he might've had a point about all this waiting around. When ARE we going to strike out against the Empire properly?" Sister Bianca says.
"Yeah, I mean I know we've had to kill a lot of innocent people here and there for the Empire to keep up appearances, but we're talking about an entire town here. I just don't know…" Brother Murk says.
You can't believe what you're hearing right now. Why all the doubts? Is this the so called faith in Dendrin? You're so frustrated that you lash out.
"Oh for…I thought we were all doing this to serve Dendrin! I mean Master Ebon gets his orders from him and then we follow Master Ebon! It's a hierarchy that I THOUGHT we were supposed to adhere to, that's why I tried to stop Brother Shade in first fucking place! I don't have time for this, look if you lack the stomach to do this, I'll wipe out the entire town myself, and won't think twice about it!"
You turn from your fellows and storm out of Gloom. As you're walking out you can sense other shadows that don't agree with Master Ebon, give you a few glares on the way out. You don't understand any of this. You thought Dendrin's brainwashing technique made them all utterly loyal, you can see now that it has its limits. Granted the only one that actually did anything against the order was Brother Shade, and he at least had enough courage to try to carry out his convictions, unlike the rest who just stood around to watch him die. You find it ironic that you're probably least faithful when it comes to Dendrin himself, yet your loyalty to the order is a lot more secure.
On your way to stop at Lenet, you sense someone following you. You turn and see Talia.
"It's you."
"And a big greeting to you too, brother! Sheesh, I thought you'd wait for me after your rant at least."
"I didn't think anyone was interested in coming with me."
"You should know better than that."
"So you agree with what I did?"
"Well, I have to admit…and I'd only admit this to you…I sort of thought Brother Shade had a point."
"Well of course he had a point. I mean for the briefest moment I thought about helping him."
"You did?"
"Yes, but I didn't because as far as I'm concerned I've chosen a side and for good or ill I fully intend on carrying out its mission or die trying. So if that means I've got to wipe out every town in the Arat province to bring the Empire down, well so fucking be it."
Talia smiles a bit at your statement.
"Now that is why YOU are the only one worthy of me."
"Oh, you just picked me because Cyrus turned out to be gay."
"Ha ha! Nah, I already knew what was up with him even back when we were all in Mistresses class. He was always staring that that one classmate of ours…what was his name…oh yeah Gerald. Can't say I blame him though, Gerald was probably the most handsome in class."
"Hmm. I didn't take much notice of any of that."
"No I wouldn't expect you would've. You tended to lurk in the background and just focus on the training and your orders. Though you're still focused on your orders, you're a lot more pro-active about it rather than lurking in the background now. I suppose that sort of unquestioning dedication is what makes you a great fighter though."
You thank Talia for her compliment. For the remainder of journey you and her keep the chatter to a minimum. After all it is true that you do prefer to keep your mind focused on the task at hand.
When you finally arrive near the town of Hewlet, you see a group a ragged Empire soldiers standing nearby. They hardly look like the Empire's "best".
"Are you the shadow people the Empire sent for?" one of them asks. He doesn't look very old, in fact he's probably younger than you are. All of them look like that. You didn't realize how bad it was on the Empire's recruitment front.
"Yes, yes we are and who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm private first class Jones and this is my squad. We're sort of supposed to be watching the town. To make sure none of the dissidents attempt to leave it."
"And?"
"And what…uh sir?" Jones asks unsure of how to address you.
"And so have any of them left?"
"Um, not really. Well I mean I guess a few did before we arrived, but it looks like the rest are hunkered down in the town. I think they're building barricades around it."
"How come the Empire hasn't sent a company in there to just wipe them out."
"Not sure sir, but they said it wasn't the army's priority right now and that's what you Shadow Guard were here for."
You shake your head at the absurdity of this. If there was ever a good argument for overthrowing the Empire this would be it. The sheer inefficiency of this is just ridiculous. Instead of having a group of snot-nosed recruits to play sentry, the Empire could've easily sent in a company of well trained troops to put down the fucking uprising and been done with it! Unless the war with the Felkan Kingdom is going a lot worse than you've heard of course. Right now you're glad you decided to aid the Shadow Guard despite your recent frustration with them.
"So uh, where are the rest of your people? Are they invisible or something?" Jones asks.
"No, it's just us." You answer.
"…just you? But there's at least two hundred people in that town!"
"Two hundred? Then that probably means only about fifty have any sort of combat experience, and maybe out of those, ten of which have beyond the basics. The rest…hardly worth thinking about. Still with only two of us here there are bound to be a few escapees. Oh well, we'll do what we can, the rest of you just stay out the way."
Due to your cold seriousness, Jones is at a loss of how to respond other than a yes sir. You look at Talia, who nods at you as an indication that she's ready.
The pair of you don't speed up or use any shadow magic tricks on your way to the town. The sounds of threatening shouts are blocked out as you approach. A few arrows are shot at you, but they are so pitifully aimed you don't even need to dodge most of them.
As you get closer, you feel the stirring of battle approaching and you can hardly contain yourself. Whether this will help the Empire or the Shadow Guard cause you don't care right now, because all you're thinking about is how finally you'll be getting into a proper battle.
You sense that Talia feels the same way.
The following is a bloodbath, the hapless townspeople are no match for you or Talia. You don't even bother speeding yourself up, you rely on natural raw skill. By the time you've butchered most of the combat capable people, the rest of the townsfolk have either run and hid or tried to run off completely. You catch most of the stragglers though when you find a group of small children cowering in their school house (after running one of their teachers through with a sword) you get an idea.
"Children, this is your lucky day, for today you not only get to be witnesses but also messengers. It is an important message that I want you all to spread to whatever other town you to run to. Tell the people that if they continue to cause trouble, they won't have to fear the Empire, but the Shadows. Oppose the Empire, and you will die. Oppose the Shadows and you will beg for a death that won't come quick enough. We have displayed mercy here today. Remember this."
You then dismiss the children with a wave of your hand who go running and screaming out of the room and probably in several different directions. When you leave the school, Talia waves at you.
"Hey are we chasing these kids down too? I just saw a bunch of them rushing out of the school crying the whole time."
"No, I sent them off with an important message."
"Oh, what was it?"
"Hopefully an incentive for when the big day eventually arrives, the people will be more likely to side with us than the Empire or at least more afraid of us that they won't oppose us. In any case we've done our job here and the Empire shouldn't be bitching about it anymore."
You and Talia take your leave of the newly created ghost town. You wonder if your small idea will have any effect, probably not, though you guess you won't really know until the day of the big revolt comes.