Eternal
Sometimes the most dangerous enemy you can have is the one in the mirror. You quickly snap out of your defeatism.
All this self doubt and self-pity is for weaklings. What would the Emperor say if he knew? What would Alison say? You were trained better than that. You don’t have time to worry about a potential future; you have a duty to serve the Empire. And right now part of that job is to test these tank babies.
The only death you should be focusing on right now is theirs.
Doesn’t take long before twenty tank babies along with the other two that were involved in the first demonstration come out fully decked out in armor and weapons. Surprisingly the derro didn’t deck them all out in the heaviest body encasing armor they could give them, though there are at least half of them dressed in such a manner. You can’t help notice that the derro didn’t limit their weapons to close combat, you see some with firearms.
“Well here they are. The future of the Empire. I imagine you’ll want to…” Marik says and then he realizes what you’re doing…
“Lying bastard! Get out of the way NOW!” he shouts and runs back into the room they just came out of and slams the door. The tank babies don’t entirely understand, but they soon do when you cast a bolt of chain lightning at the lot of them. The lightning arc easily fries the tank babies in the metal armor, even the ones dressed less conductive material are standing so close they suffer the shock as well. Combine this with the gunpowder weapons and you even get a couple of small explosions which take out a few of them.
After you’re done with the spell a couple of them are crawling away desperately trying to find cover or escape. Bodies lie on the floor still sizzling and charred from your attack. You walk over to the carnage and put your sword through the chest of one still struggling to breathe. You stomp on the neck of another who is cursing you. Another one actually begs you for mercy; you show none when you hack the top of his head off.
As you continue to check the twenty two bodies for signs of life, Marik finally emerges from behind the door along with some of the other derro.
“Thought the derro didn’t fear death.” You remark.
“We don’t, but we’re not supposed to be the fucking targets today! You lied Eternal! You told me you weren’t going to use magic!”
‘Actually I think my exact words were I wasn’t going to use a single cantrip, and I didn’t use a cantrip.”
“Bah! Trickery!”
“I prefer to think of it as outmaneuvering your opponents assumptions. This was not a battle of honor. I have nothing to prove to these children and even less to you. I went into battle against superior numbers, I’d be a damned fool to not use all of the tools of killing that I have at my disposal. Whenever you go into a combat situation, you ALWAYS use whatever means to destroy your enemy. Fair play, rules and honor have nothing to do with any of it.”
“Hm, well you don’t need to tell me about it.” Marik responds.
“I wasn’t telling you, I was teaching this important lesson to this young girl here, trying to play dead.” You say suddenly grabbing the collar of one of the female tank babies. You lift her up by the collar and can smell the singed flesh and leather wafting from her body. She can barely keep her eyes open, but she’s definitely still alive. She’s the only one that is.
“Now heed this lesson tank baby. You are NOT an Eternal. Nor are any of your siblings. You will NEVER be Eternals as long as I live. You only exist to serve the Empire and if you die in the process you will be grateful to do so. Remember this.” You say as you grab her face to look into her eyes. You see the fear. She understands. Good.
You let the tank baby go and she falls back to the floor while you address Marik.
“I believe I’m going to have trainer come in to teach these children properly. I’d do it myself, but I don’t have the time. Perhaps another Eternal like Brenda or Warrick can do it. Oh and make that one on the floor a squad or platoon leader of some sort. She obviously was strong enough to survive. She at least shows potential. Finally give them a different name as well. I don’t care what, but I meant what I said, they are not Eternals.”
“And you think you can presume to give me orders surfacer?” Marik says.
“I don’t presume nothing, I’m doing it right now! I was given orders by the Emperor himself to handle this the way I saw fit! And I’m telling you WHAT I want done! You don’t like it? Well, I can always go report to the Emperor about your unwillingness to follow the chain of command, unless you’d actually like to go see him yourself that is. Tell me when was the last time you actually took time out of your schedule to do that? While you sit around down here playing with your toys and walking experiments, I’m actually out there making a damn difference and serving the Emperor with ever fiber of my being!”
“Now listen here you fucking sun lover, I knew the man BEFORE he was the Emperor! We fought side by side together during the Troll Wars! I saved his life and he saved mine! You have no damn idea the bond WE share. You can’t tell me shit about how I should or shouldn’t act and you damn sure can’t tell me that I’m not helping the Empire! I’M HIS FUCKING FRIEND!”
“Friend? So what have you done for him lately?”
“Done? DONE? I just made a legion of soldiers for him, you little kobold shit!”
You look over the tank baby bodies lying dead all over the place. You look at the female one unconscious on the floor and shake your head.
“Yeah, as I said, what have you done for him lately? Maybe he’s your friend, but he’s my father. I’m not debating this anymore Marik.” You say and take your leave.
Marik begins yelling at you in his deep guttural derro language. A slew of curses and other insults fly out of his mouth. While you’re semi-familiar with the derro language you can’t make out all of them. They’re probably pretty vicious though.
Either way you’re hardly concerned, Marik will follow orders because he respects the chain of command and as he said he is the Emperor’s friend. The other reason is because he probably won’t even be angry in another ten minutes. He’ll probably be cackling about some joke he made up in his head.
You’ve had a lot to ponder this day. You were once concerned about the future of the Empire and your own, but you see now that both will continue on even after the Emperor dies. You still have that zest of life within you and you are not ready or willing to just stand aside yet.
You’ve come to the decision that when the Emperor dies you will be the one to take his place. While he’s never said it, he doesn’t have to, it’s just a situation that’s understood between a father and son. Still, you think you need to discuss this matter at some point with your father so that he knows that his legacy will live on after him and you will continue to make him proud.
In the meantime you make your way back to the capital and the palace to report to him. What comes next is a bit of a shock.
“F…father?” you ask.
“Yes, its me son. I believe that’s the first time you’ve called me that.” The Emperor says standing before you.
He looks exactly like he did when you first met him; in fact he even looks a little younger. A fit fortyish man dressed in fine clothing. You just continue to stare in disbelief.
“Ah, yes this. I suppose this would be a bit puzzling. As you well know I haven’t been feeling one hundred percent for oh…about five years now. Had to conserve my strength and power quite a bit to reinvigorate myself. This state I’m in right now isn’t going to last very long, but it’ll be enough for where I’m going.”
“What? Where are you going?”
“Home. And you’ll be coming with me.”
“I will?”
“Of course! This will be a momentous occasion when I return home and your presence will be necessary just as it has been here in the Empire!”
“Forgive me father, but I’m a little lost right now. What is going to happen to the Empire and where is home?”
“Nothing will happen to the Empire son, it can survive a couple days or so without us around I should think. We’ll let Jacob worry about it! Hah! As for my home? Well it’s very very far away. It’s an island to be exact. You can’t get there by any ship though…at least not any more. But you don’t need to worry about that, I know how to get us there. All you need to do is take a day to relax and prepare yourself for the journey.”
This is all so overwhelming you don’t even know where to start or what to say so you just ask the first question that comes to mind and something you thought was inevitable.
“Father, are you going home to die?”
“Die?” the Emperor says and then walks over to you.
“No son, I’m going home to be reborn!” he says and then laughs slapping you on the shoulder. “I’m sorry son if I worried you, what with me coughing all the damn time and dragging my ass around like a dead man. (Sigh) We probably should’ve taken this trip sooner, but we still had to finish off those damn gnomes now didn’t we? Plus I wasn’t sure if it was going to be necessary yet and then you got married, then Semra’s bullshit, it just seemed like stuff kept cropping up. Well now is the perfect time for us to take this trip. I bet you’re glad though now that you know I won’t be dying anytime soon.”
“Yeah…” you answer
The Emperor goes on to say that your report on Marik’s experiment can wait since this trip is much more important. He then tells you that should go rest up and to meet him here tomorrow. You agree and take your leave.
As you make your way to your private quarters in the palace, you don’t know what to think now. You were so certain that the Emperor was dying. After years of denying it you at last came to accept it. You were ready to take his place.
Part of you feels relieved that the Emperor is going to live. Part of you feels confused about this whole situation. And then there’s that part of you that feels cheated. That part of you that wishes the Emperor was still lying on his deathbed.
You think back to what you said to Marik, YOU’VE been the one out there doing things for the Empire. YOU’VE been the one destroying its enemies and keeping it stable. What the hell has the Emperor been doing? Giving orders from his easy chair? Ranting about gnomes? Lying in his bed hacking up a lung? You should be running the Empire not him.
“I can’t believe I’m thinking this. What is wrong with me? This man is my father!” You whisper to yourself. You didn’t want to “step aside” for those tank babies because your time wasn’t up. Why should the Emperor step aside for you? You begin to feel deeply ashamed of your thoughts
While you’re having your moral quandary, Jacob is standing outside your quarters.
“We need to talk.” He says.
All this self doubt and self-pity is for weaklings. What would the Emperor say if he knew? What would Alison say? You were trained better than that. You don’t have time to worry about a potential future; you have a duty to serve the Empire. And right now part of that job is to test these tank babies.
The only death you should be focusing on right now is theirs.
Doesn’t take long before twenty tank babies along with the other two that were involved in the first demonstration come out fully decked out in armor and weapons. Surprisingly the derro didn’t deck them all out in the heaviest body encasing armor they could give them, though there are at least half of them dressed in such a manner. You can’t help notice that the derro didn’t limit their weapons to close combat, you see some with firearms.
“Well here they are. The future of the Empire. I imagine you’ll want to…” Marik says and then he realizes what you’re doing…
“Lying bastard! Get out of the way NOW!” he shouts and runs back into the room they just came out of and slams the door. The tank babies don’t entirely understand, but they soon do when you cast a bolt of chain lightning at the lot of them. The lightning arc easily fries the tank babies in the metal armor, even the ones dressed less conductive material are standing so close they suffer the shock as well. Combine this with the gunpowder weapons and you even get a couple of small explosions which take out a few of them.
After you’re done with the spell a couple of them are crawling away desperately trying to find cover or escape. Bodies lie on the floor still sizzling and charred from your attack. You walk over to the carnage and put your sword through the chest of one still struggling to breathe. You stomp on the neck of another who is cursing you. Another one actually begs you for mercy; you show none when you hack the top of his head off.
As you continue to check the twenty two bodies for signs of life, Marik finally emerges from behind the door along with some of the other derro.
“Thought the derro didn’t fear death.” You remark.
“We don’t, but we’re not supposed to be the fucking targets today! You lied Eternal! You told me you weren’t going to use magic!”
‘Actually I think my exact words were I wasn’t going to use a single cantrip, and I didn’t use a cantrip.”
“Bah! Trickery!”
“I prefer to think of it as outmaneuvering your opponents assumptions. This was not a battle of honor. I have nothing to prove to these children and even less to you. I went into battle against superior numbers, I’d be a damned fool to not use all of the tools of killing that I have at my disposal. Whenever you go into a combat situation, you ALWAYS use whatever means to destroy your enemy. Fair play, rules and honor have nothing to do with any of it.”
“Hm, well you don’t need to tell me about it.” Marik responds.
“I wasn’t telling you, I was teaching this important lesson to this young girl here, trying to play dead.” You say suddenly grabbing the collar of one of the female tank babies. You lift her up by the collar and can smell the singed flesh and leather wafting from her body. She can barely keep her eyes open, but she’s definitely still alive. She’s the only one that is.
“Now heed this lesson tank baby. You are NOT an Eternal. Nor are any of your siblings. You will NEVER be Eternals as long as I live. You only exist to serve the Empire and if you die in the process you will be grateful to do so. Remember this.” You say as you grab her face to look into her eyes. You see the fear. She understands. Good.
You let the tank baby go and she falls back to the floor while you address Marik.
“I believe I’m going to have trainer come in to teach these children properly. I’d do it myself, but I don’t have the time. Perhaps another Eternal like Brenda or Warrick can do it. Oh and make that one on the floor a squad or platoon leader of some sort. She obviously was strong enough to survive. She at least shows potential. Finally give them a different name as well. I don’t care what, but I meant what I said, they are not Eternals.”
“And you think you can presume to give me orders surfacer?” Marik says.
“I don’t presume nothing, I’m doing it right now! I was given orders by the Emperor himself to handle this the way I saw fit! And I’m telling you WHAT I want done! You don’t like it? Well, I can always go report to the Emperor about your unwillingness to follow the chain of command, unless you’d actually like to go see him yourself that is. Tell me when was the last time you actually took time out of your schedule to do that? While you sit around down here playing with your toys and walking experiments, I’m actually out there making a damn difference and serving the Emperor with ever fiber of my being!”
“Now listen here you fucking sun lover, I knew the man BEFORE he was the Emperor! We fought side by side together during the Troll Wars! I saved his life and he saved mine! You have no damn idea the bond WE share. You can’t tell me shit about how I should or shouldn’t act and you damn sure can’t tell me that I’m not helping the Empire! I’M HIS FUCKING FRIEND!”
“Friend? So what have you done for him lately?”
“Done? DONE? I just made a legion of soldiers for him, you little kobold shit!”
You look over the tank baby bodies lying dead all over the place. You look at the female one unconscious on the floor and shake your head.
“Yeah, as I said, what have you done for him lately? Maybe he’s your friend, but he’s my father. I’m not debating this anymore Marik.” You say and take your leave.
Marik begins yelling at you in his deep guttural derro language. A slew of curses and other insults fly out of his mouth. While you’re semi-familiar with the derro language you can’t make out all of them. They’re probably pretty vicious though.
Either way you’re hardly concerned, Marik will follow orders because he respects the chain of command and as he said he is the Emperor’s friend. The other reason is because he probably won’t even be angry in another ten minutes. He’ll probably be cackling about some joke he made up in his head.
You’ve had a lot to ponder this day. You were once concerned about the future of the Empire and your own, but you see now that both will continue on even after the Emperor dies. You still have that zest of life within you and you are not ready or willing to just stand aside yet.
You’ve come to the decision that when the Emperor dies you will be the one to take his place. While he’s never said it, he doesn’t have to, it’s just a situation that’s understood between a father and son. Still, you think you need to discuss this matter at some point with your father so that he knows that his legacy will live on after him and you will continue to make him proud.
In the meantime you make your way back to the capital and the palace to report to him. What comes next is a bit of a shock.
“F…father?” you ask.
“Yes, its me son. I believe that’s the first time you’ve called me that.” The Emperor says standing before you.
He looks exactly like he did when you first met him; in fact he even looks a little younger. A fit fortyish man dressed in fine clothing. You just continue to stare in disbelief.
“Ah, yes this. I suppose this would be a bit puzzling. As you well know I haven’t been feeling one hundred percent for oh…about five years now. Had to conserve my strength and power quite a bit to reinvigorate myself. This state I’m in right now isn’t going to last very long, but it’ll be enough for where I’m going.”
“What? Where are you going?”
“Home. And you’ll be coming with me.”
“I will?”
“Of course! This will be a momentous occasion when I return home and your presence will be necessary just as it has been here in the Empire!”
“Forgive me father, but I’m a little lost right now. What is going to happen to the Empire and where is home?”
“Nothing will happen to the Empire son, it can survive a couple days or so without us around I should think. We’ll let Jacob worry about it! Hah! As for my home? Well it’s very very far away. It’s an island to be exact. You can’t get there by any ship though…at least not any more. But you don’t need to worry about that, I know how to get us there. All you need to do is take a day to relax and prepare yourself for the journey.”
This is all so overwhelming you don’t even know where to start or what to say so you just ask the first question that comes to mind and something you thought was inevitable.
“Father, are you going home to die?”
“Die?” the Emperor says and then walks over to you.
“No son, I’m going home to be reborn!” he says and then laughs slapping you on the shoulder. “I’m sorry son if I worried you, what with me coughing all the damn time and dragging my ass around like a dead man. (Sigh) We probably should’ve taken this trip sooner, but we still had to finish off those damn gnomes now didn’t we? Plus I wasn’t sure if it was going to be necessary yet and then you got married, then Semra’s bullshit, it just seemed like stuff kept cropping up. Well now is the perfect time for us to take this trip. I bet you’re glad though now that you know I won’t be dying anytime soon.”
“Yeah…” you answer
The Emperor goes on to say that your report on Marik’s experiment can wait since this trip is much more important. He then tells you that should go rest up and to meet him here tomorrow. You agree and take your leave.
As you make your way to your private quarters in the palace, you don’t know what to think now. You were so certain that the Emperor was dying. After years of denying it you at last came to accept it. You were ready to take his place.
Part of you feels relieved that the Emperor is going to live. Part of you feels confused about this whole situation. And then there’s that part of you that feels cheated. That part of you that wishes the Emperor was still lying on his deathbed.
You think back to what you said to Marik, YOU’VE been the one out there doing things for the Empire. YOU’VE been the one destroying its enemies and keeping it stable. What the hell has the Emperor been doing? Giving orders from his easy chair? Ranting about gnomes? Lying in his bed hacking up a lung? You should be running the Empire not him.
“I can’t believe I’m thinking this. What is wrong with me? This man is my father!” You whisper to yourself. You didn’t want to “step aside” for those tank babies because your time wasn’t up. Why should the Emperor step aside for you? You begin to feel deeply ashamed of your thoughts
While you’re having your moral quandary, Jacob is standing outside your quarters.
“We need to talk.” He says.