Eternal
You’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to rebuild what these heretics destroyed and now they want your help? You’re in no mood.
“I’ll spare Dendrin’s time and judge you all myself. And that judgment is death, kill this traitor and go wipe out the rest hanging out near our borders.” You say.
“No! No wait! Please, you’ve….” The heretic pleads before one of the Blades cuts his throat. After disposing of him, Glen takes a small group of them to finish off the rest, from what you hear it was easy, but brutal business as usual.
Of course that still leaves a few questions to as who was killing them in the first place. Your guess is if General Ackerson is as sick as the heretic claimed, then perhaps the current power struggle going on involves getting rid of potential wild cards in the nearby region like say groups of fanatical cultists. They are the only nearby major power with battle mages that could reliably emulate the sort of magic the heretics claimed to see.
The only other power that you know of that has a few magic users is the Nalin Empire, but you can’t see Brenda bothering with such elaborate tactics. She’d be more likely to just send a traditional group of assassins or even a small platoon of well trained warriors and even then only to get rid of the shadows closest to her borders. The rumor that she’s planning to invade Delerg seem like just that, rumors.
Still you tell everyone to keep alert and double your own patrols on the Delerg borders just in case. Not much more you can do except wait.
Weeks and months pass and nobody has invaded or even come close to wandering near the Delerg borders. General Ackerson dies of his illness, the government collapses and Mog takes advantage of the situation, but other than that major change nothing else notable happens in Quala. As for the Nalin Empire, not a peep from them either.
You stick to your usual heightened alert status for a little while longer, and then eventually relent a bit by the year is over.
Year 63
“I KNEW I should’ve killed that bastard! I KNEW it!” you yell.
“You couldn’t have known he’d do something like this.” Talia says in an attempt to calm you.
“I should’ve known that he’d do SOMETHING though! Fuck! If he wasn’t dead already, I’d personally find him and kill him myself!”
You’re speaking about Cyrus of course. Years after exiling him you have finally heard from him again in a second hand manner which will plunge you into a war with the Nalin Empire. If the rumors weren’t true before, they’re going to be true soon.
You aren’t exactly sure what Cyrus was up to during his years in exile, but if you had to guess it was planning some sort of revenge or looking for a way to redeem himself (In retrospect, it wouldn’t surprise you if he had been behind the heretic killings as well)…maybe it was both. Either way the day he assassinated Warden Matron Brenda during a speech to her people the whole time shouting “Down with Empires! Dendrin Forever! Shadows Forever!” is the day he fucked all of you over.
He apparently didn’t survive too long after that, but you’re guessing he knew it was a suicide mission anyway. Didn’t take long before Brenda’s successor Tarna declared war on you. Makes perfect sense, seeing as their well-respected leader was killed by a shadow. Doesn’t matter if he was a nutter that was acting alone, someone has to pay. Someone also has to be a good scapegoat while Tarna consolidates her own power and gains enough popularity by destroying her predecessor’s old enemies.
That someone is you naturally.
While the Nalin Empire has to actually march an army over Quala before reaching you, the situation isn’t good. Unlike the first time you fought an Empire, you had a lot more support, even after the Gloom incident, you still had the help of the normal people pissed at the Empire everywhere. The old Empire was also already greatly weakened, corrupt and fighting multiple front battles.
Now? You have no such advantage. The Nalin Empire is a strong power on the rise that is now unified by a very ambitious and focused leader who very much wants to add the destruction of the shadows to the first of her great achievements.
There’s also the fact that you’re no longer a young man anymore. You’re old, tired even. And while you’ll fight harder than someone half your age, the fact remains you’re not as energetic as you once were.
You bury your hands in your face for a moment just thinking about the shitstorm that is to come. Talia rubs your shoulders.
“We’ll get through this. Dendrin saw us see victory over one Empire, he’ll let us see victory over another.” She says optimistically.
You look up at her to see her smiling back. After all these years you still can’t resist her cheerful faith in Dendrin. Quite frankly, you really wish you had listened to Dendrin decades ago when he suggested that you kill Cyrus. You might’ve avoided a lot of unnecessary conflict throughout your time as Shadow Master.
Too late now and no looking back. You’ll deal with this problem as you have with all others that have ever been thrust upon you, which is with a weapon in hand. Not really like you have a choice anyway. You tried to open a dialogue with Tarna, but she isn’t interested in speaking to you.
Year 65
You look over at the remainder of your shadows. You know that they will fight to the last and for every one of them that falls, they will take ten enemies with them, but this is your last stand.
By your side stands Talia, even now she holds faith that Dendrin will magically turn the tide of this battle, but you don’t see it happening. In fact you haven’t spoken to him for quite a while. He probably knows when something is coming to an end. He must be still watching since you all have your shadow magic so he hasn’t abandoned you completely.
Seems like he could’ve at least gave you a “Good luck” speech before battle, but who knows? Maybe he doesn’t like goodbyes.
Still, you see no reason you can’t give your own.
“Shadows! The enemy is pounding down the door as I speak so I’ll make it brief. Whether we live or die here today is irrelevant. What matters is that fight so furiously that we will always be remembered. If we live, then they will remember to never attack us again.”
You pause for the next part; because this is what you know will happen.
“If we die…well they will remember the day they almost lost to a force much smaller than themselves. Perhaps a lesson will be learned that those faithful to Dendrin were a force to be reckoned with during their time on this world. And perhaps from there a seed of intrigue will be planted causing some to seek out his wisdom. For while we may die here, we will still live on forever with Dendrin in the afterlife! And there can be no greater reward than that.”
It is an inspiring speech and morale is raised. Talia gives you one last hug and kiss afterwards.
“I love you.” she says.
“And I love you.” you reply back.
The temple doors crack at last and the stone crumbles before the might of the battering ram. Hordes of Nalin troops pour in.
You embrace your final battle.
“I’ll spare Dendrin’s time and judge you all myself. And that judgment is death, kill this traitor and go wipe out the rest hanging out near our borders.” You say.
“No! No wait! Please, you’ve….” The heretic pleads before one of the Blades cuts his throat. After disposing of him, Glen takes a small group of them to finish off the rest, from what you hear it was easy, but brutal business as usual.
Of course that still leaves a few questions to as who was killing them in the first place. Your guess is if General Ackerson is as sick as the heretic claimed, then perhaps the current power struggle going on involves getting rid of potential wild cards in the nearby region like say groups of fanatical cultists. They are the only nearby major power with battle mages that could reliably emulate the sort of magic the heretics claimed to see.
The only other power that you know of that has a few magic users is the Nalin Empire, but you can’t see Brenda bothering with such elaborate tactics. She’d be more likely to just send a traditional group of assassins or even a small platoon of well trained warriors and even then only to get rid of the shadows closest to her borders. The rumor that she’s planning to invade Delerg seem like just that, rumors.
Still you tell everyone to keep alert and double your own patrols on the Delerg borders just in case. Not much more you can do except wait.
Weeks and months pass and nobody has invaded or even come close to wandering near the Delerg borders. General Ackerson dies of his illness, the government collapses and Mog takes advantage of the situation, but other than that major change nothing else notable happens in Quala. As for the Nalin Empire, not a peep from them either.
You stick to your usual heightened alert status for a little while longer, and then eventually relent a bit by the year is over.
Year 63
“I KNEW I should’ve killed that bastard! I KNEW it!” you yell.
“You couldn’t have known he’d do something like this.” Talia says in an attempt to calm you.
“I should’ve known that he’d do SOMETHING though! Fuck! If he wasn’t dead already, I’d personally find him and kill him myself!”
You’re speaking about Cyrus of course. Years after exiling him you have finally heard from him again in a second hand manner which will plunge you into a war with the Nalin Empire. If the rumors weren’t true before, they’re going to be true soon.
You aren’t exactly sure what Cyrus was up to during his years in exile, but if you had to guess it was planning some sort of revenge or looking for a way to redeem himself (In retrospect, it wouldn’t surprise you if he had been behind the heretic killings as well)…maybe it was both. Either way the day he assassinated Warden Matron Brenda during a speech to her people the whole time shouting “Down with Empires! Dendrin Forever! Shadows Forever!” is the day he fucked all of you over.
He apparently didn’t survive too long after that, but you’re guessing he knew it was a suicide mission anyway. Didn’t take long before Brenda’s successor Tarna declared war on you. Makes perfect sense, seeing as their well-respected leader was killed by a shadow. Doesn’t matter if he was a nutter that was acting alone, someone has to pay. Someone also has to be a good scapegoat while Tarna consolidates her own power and gains enough popularity by destroying her predecessor’s old enemies.
That someone is you naturally.
While the Nalin Empire has to actually march an army over Quala before reaching you, the situation isn’t good. Unlike the first time you fought an Empire, you had a lot more support, even after the Gloom incident, you still had the help of the normal people pissed at the Empire everywhere. The old Empire was also already greatly weakened, corrupt and fighting multiple front battles.
Now? You have no such advantage. The Nalin Empire is a strong power on the rise that is now unified by a very ambitious and focused leader who very much wants to add the destruction of the shadows to the first of her great achievements.
There’s also the fact that you’re no longer a young man anymore. You’re old, tired even. And while you’ll fight harder than someone half your age, the fact remains you’re not as energetic as you once were.
You bury your hands in your face for a moment just thinking about the shitstorm that is to come. Talia rubs your shoulders.
“We’ll get through this. Dendrin saw us see victory over one Empire, he’ll let us see victory over another.” She says optimistically.
You look up at her to see her smiling back. After all these years you still can’t resist her cheerful faith in Dendrin. Quite frankly, you really wish you had listened to Dendrin decades ago when he suggested that you kill Cyrus. You might’ve avoided a lot of unnecessary conflict throughout your time as Shadow Master.
Too late now and no looking back. You’ll deal with this problem as you have with all others that have ever been thrust upon you, which is with a weapon in hand. Not really like you have a choice anyway. You tried to open a dialogue with Tarna, but she isn’t interested in speaking to you.
Year 65
You look over at the remainder of your shadows. You know that they will fight to the last and for every one of them that falls, they will take ten enemies with them, but this is your last stand.
By your side stands Talia, even now she holds faith that Dendrin will magically turn the tide of this battle, but you don’t see it happening. In fact you haven’t spoken to him for quite a while. He probably knows when something is coming to an end. He must be still watching since you all have your shadow magic so he hasn’t abandoned you completely.
Seems like he could’ve at least gave you a “Good luck” speech before battle, but who knows? Maybe he doesn’t like goodbyes.
Still, you see no reason you can’t give your own.
“Shadows! The enemy is pounding down the door as I speak so I’ll make it brief. Whether we live or die here today is irrelevant. What matters is that fight so furiously that we will always be remembered. If we live, then they will remember to never attack us again.”
You pause for the next part; because this is what you know will happen.
“If we die…well they will remember the day they almost lost to a force much smaller than themselves. Perhaps a lesson will be learned that those faithful to Dendrin were a force to be reckoned with during their time on this world. And perhaps from there a seed of intrigue will be planted causing some to seek out his wisdom. For while we may die here, we will still live on forever with Dendrin in the afterlife! And there can be no greater reward than that.”
It is an inspiring speech and morale is raised. Talia gives you one last hug and kiss afterwards.
“I love you.” she says.
“And I love you.” you reply back.
The temple doors crack at last and the stone crumbles before the might of the battering ram. Hordes of Nalin troops pour in.
You embrace your final battle.
