Eternal

Year 21

The time for all out war is getting closer and the Emperor is getting more impatient with delaying it any further. He probably feels he’s wasted enough time with putting out the pitiful rebellious fires and the restructuring of the Empire in the past couple of years.

You’ve been looking forward to a little action as well. You haven’t had much to do in a while ever since your purges in Delerg and Quala. Ever since the official forming of the Eyes they’re supposed to be the primary ones looking after the internal peace of the Empire and rebellious activity has been practically nil. Still, it was practically non-existent just as the Eyes were coming into service. One wonders if it wasn’t due to the threat of a new “secret police” but rather the fact that you had already been overly efficient in purging dissension by depopulating entire areas. Indeed it was probably for the best that you were replaced before you deprived the Empire of potential soldiers for the upcoming war with the Felkans.

Still, there are always those that refuse to give up. The prime one being the so-called “Last Shadow”, Cyrus. Cyrus was an Eternal though you don’t remember too much about him other than he always was one of the stealthier classmates that seemed to never fail in getting a cheap shot on you when Mistress was having you spar against him. You say “was” an Eternal because as far you’re concerned he ceased being one the moment he betrayed the Empire. Now he is nothing more than a traitor who needs to be exterminated.

Cyrus was one of those few shadows that happened to be on the surface at the time of the destruction of Gloom. He also avoided your purges due to initially being in Quala and then eventually fleeing to the rural areas in Arat. He constantly moves around a lot, making hit and run attacks on patrols or caravans. He does travel with a group, but they aren’t so much rebels as they’re just ambitious bandits and thugs. They probably don’t give a damn about whatever Cyrus religious and philosophical views are for opposing the Empire. They’re just in it for the killing and the loot.

Nevertheless, they are a nuisance and given that the Arat province is the staging ground to attack the Felkan Kingdom, the Emperor is more than annoyed that the Eyes haven’t succeeded in tracking him yet and he doesn’t want to waste any proper military on Cyrus mainly because he sees it as Jacob’s fault for various reasons…

“Well he’s your failure Jacob, fix it!” The Emperor exclaims.
“The Eyes have been attempting to apprehend him my Emperor, but he has proven quite elusive. They just need more time to…”
“Jacob when I told you to put together an efficient internal security force I expected you to succeed in this endeavor.”
“My Emperor the Eyes are efficient! I mean rebellious attitudes are the lowest they’ve been in…well probably more than I’ve ever seen!”
“Well they aren’t good enough, if they can’t capture the so-called Last Shadow. I’d send in svelk mercs if I hadn’t put our funding into Marik’s factory to produce new weapons to combat the Felkans. You do realize we have a war with the Felkans to pursue and your bumbling is delaying that task!”
“I understand that, but we shouldn’t go to war until we have everything absolutely settled all internal matters in the Empire first! Cyrus is likely to start ambushing supply wagons and then where would we be?”

You watch as the Emperor continues to verbally abuse Jacob. It’s a scene you’ve seen many times in the past and will probably see many more times in the future. Jacob really does try to serve the best he can and from what you can tell he’s fairly good at his job, but for whatever reason its just never good enough for the Emperor no matter what.

While you normally don’t interrupt such sessions, you do feel the need to interject.

“I would have to agree that if we are to crush the Felkans we should just go ahead and start the process now. As much of a nuisance this last shadow has been, his impact has been minimal and certainly not enough to warrant a paralysis in our military matters. We are a large nation and we are always going to have a few internal matters to resolve.”

The Emperor naturally is pleased that you’ve backed him up in this matter, though Jacob looks less than enthused given that he’s already fighting a losing argument.

“Thank you son. See this Jacob? This is a TRUE Eternal! Not like the rest of those losers, traitors and ne’er do wells you oversee!”

Jacob has no more words, he might continue but knows it would be a futile endeavor and he’s walking on thin ice as it is given how the Emperor is really letting him have it today.

Again you feel the need to interject.

“If I may, I would be happy to assist in this matter with the shadow terrorist.” You say.
“That’s not necessary, I wouldn’t presume to take you away from whatever duties the Emperor has seen fit to bestow upon you.” Jacob replies.
“Considering how inept you’ve been in taking care of this, maybe I should send him to help.” The Emperor says before turning to address you directly. “I did have plans for you to take a command position when we start our assault on the Felkans, but the position will still be there when you’re done with bailing out Jacob if you so desire. I’ll leave it up to you. In the meantime I’m going to finish up my preparations to make the first attack on the Felkans. Now go with Jacob if you wish to help him, or stay here, but in any event I don’t want to hear anymore about this shadow matter from anyone until it’s been resolved.”

Jacob makes his way slowly out the door, though while he hasn’t said it you see a look in his eye that he’s hoping you’ll provide assistance despite his previous words of it not being necessary.