I’m sitting on a log decaying on the fringes of the Dokain camp I can see in the distance the rising sun shining its golden light on the new day. Dawn at last. I pray Fantasia is safe. The decision to go with the Dokain army was made in such haste I nearly forgot she was still in danger but with any luck my testimony to the Dokain magistrate will get me the support I need to rescue her. Still something aches in my heart and I cannot call myself Aidoshian. What am I? Why despite all I’ve been taught do I believe the very monsters that killed my family? I’m Aidoshian, aren’t I? No matter what, I must remain loyal to my people.

“Good morrow, Kai,” Lucy says as she walks up behind me and takes a seat on a log next to me. “Did thou rest away thine wariness in preparation for thou summit with our magistrate?”

“No. Too much is on my mind to sleep.” My voice carries an emptiness.

“Think not and put thine mind to rest,” she says as she places her hand on my shoulder in a gentle way. “Thou will require thy strength. I promise thee unto the bright heavens and unto my God and unto yours, only good lies ahead.”

“I wish I could believe you but…”

“I saved thee,” she says softly to me. “I believe in the strength of thine spirit. It compels thee to bear many burdens.” She puts her hand on my chest. “Thou heart is strong and it beats to the drum of the majestic Gods of Aidon.”

“My heart… it trembles now. A man can only take so much before a drum becomes a soft patter in the background.”

She then puts her head to my chest and listens for a moment. “It doesn’t fall on deaf ears and soon thy heart will beat strong again.”

“Do not think so highly of me. I’m but a fallen soldier,” I say to her as she sits back to look me in the eyes.

“Thou art not so translucent. Come with me. I must gather my things for departure is in the midst,” she says as she grabs my hand and snatches me up with her.

She leads me within the camp to a tent near the center. It is quite small compared to the others around it. She quickly takes me inside to the military-style quarters. Only a bed to my right and on the left a holographic computer, desk, and chair in the far corner is a locked container. I remember I have all my belongings with me. My gun and the clothes I have on my back is all I have to my name. The Father relived me of my gun last night in case I go mad like the other Aidoshians that made it here.

“Kai, I too have grown weary. Please honor me with thy presence,” she says as she walks to her computer. “Rest thyself here. I shall relish the company.”

I look around and notice she took the only seat in the tent, so I sit on the bed. The tent is surprisingly lit by a ceiling fan. I have never seen one in a tent before. On her desk next to the computer was a picture frame.

“If you don’t mind me asking, can I see the photo there?” I ask.

“Aye,” she responds.

I reach and grab the frame from her desk and retreat back to the bed. I stare at the photo for a minute. She is with a guy who looks about the same age. They are happily standing in front of townhome in an urban area. She gets up from the computer and walks over to me and sits down on the bed beside me. She scoots in closer to me and points at the man.

“Your husband,” I ask.

She smiles. “Tis mine darling younger brother, Tiburious. I hath yet to marry.” She turns and pulls her hair back to show me the missing earrings on her right ear.

“I did not know you had a brother. Is he back in Doku?”

“Aye. Safe and sound I hope. He has a way of worrying thee, always gettin’ int’a trouble like an ol’ jackass, but he’s all I have.”

“He must be very special to you. How long has it been since you have seem him?”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“This would be the fifth year since I hath seen home.”

“You spent five years away from home?”

“Aye. Father has me travel to many distant lands.” she pauses for a second. “I’m a scout, so I travel frequently. It has been hard though. I’m sure you can imagine,” she struggles to say. It is kind of cute to see her speak in modern Nayate. She blushes a little.

She gets up from the bed and walks back to her computer and starts typing away. I stare at the picture for a long time. All I can think about while looking at the photo is the word family. It plays over and over like an old broken record in my mind. I lie down on the bed and look up at the spinning fan. My thoughts wander off in to the deep recesses of my mind.

I drift away to sleep without realizing but quickly wake up to the sound of vehicles driving into the distance. I quickly sit up to see if I’m being left, but before I can Lucy climbs on top of me. She sits on my lap so that we meet face to face. Her mouth moves as if she is saying something but I cannot hear her. I look deep into her cool amber eyes and nearly lose myself. Instantly I know what I want and I know she wants the same. She leans in closer and I can feel the warmth of her body against mine as I wrap my arms around her. Then suddenly the feeling is gone, almost like a jolt shakes me and I wake up.

I sit up and look around. Lucy is still sitting at the computer. She looks surprised to see me jump up so quickly. It was a dream. Strange. I normally don’t have those. Especially one as bizarre as that. I mean if I wanted her, I would go after her not sit and dream about it.

“Art thou well?” she asks, walking over to me.

“Yeah. Just had an unusual dream,” I reply as calmly as I can, my heart beating fast. I can’t help but look at her lips.

“Lucy,” says the Father as he walks into the tent. “The time of thine hour hath approached.”

She quickly gets up and stands at attention. The man looks over at me and waves at me as if to tell me to follow him. I get up from the bed and I walk over to where he is standing.

“Finish gathering thy belongings and take them to the truck by hours end,” he says to Lucy.

“Aye, Father,” she says.

“Come with thee,” he says as he leads me out of the tent. “There upon the ridge, is something for you.” He points to the eastern gate out of the camp.

I try to ask him what it is I’m looking for but I can’t get another word out before he shoos me. I quickly make it to the eastern gate where a man is on guard. He has something in his hands wrapped up in a thick cloth. He says something to me but it is hard for me to understand. He then hands me the long object. I am surprised how heavy it is. The man salutes and leaves. I anxiously unwrap the object. It isn’t until it is completely unwrapped that I fully understand what I am holding. The crystal blade is translucent I can’t see it in the sun. When I gaze upon the handle, terror overtakes me.

“This is Reaka’s sword,” I whisper.

The blade is so clear it does not cast a shadow nor reflect enough light. The blade is five-and-a-half feet long and weighs nearly twenty pounds, yet she swung it fast enough to deflect bullets. All this time I thought the blade was made of glass or crystal. Now that I’m holding it I can definitely tell it is some kind of metal and it is so sharp it has cut through some of the cloth it was wrapped in. I don’t know why they brought me this claymore, this sword of souls, but I will keep it to remind me I have a job to do.

I walk back to Lucy’s tent and she is rolling out the locked chest. A truck pulls up and arms take the container and place it on the bed and drives to the next tent were someone else is waiting with their trunk.

“Have thou prepared thyself,” Lucy asks.

“Yes,” I say.

“Father has charged me to be thine caretaker. Departure is upon us. Let us make haste to the convoy.”

Only a few minutes have passed and we are already on our way out of this dark forest. We are riding in a Jeep in the back of a convoy. Ahead of us are two armored personnel carriers. On top of both of them are .50 caliber machine guns. Rolling up behind us is the Dokian pride and joy—a heavily armored tank called the T-37 Mammoth, once the most feared land war machine, before the Gandole’s Myrmidon made its appearance. Despite its large size and weight, it is quite versatile because it has four separate tracks and its top speed is nearly 80 mph. It fires out of a rotating cannon like a Gatlin gun but only has three cylinders and has the fastest reload time of any tank. The T-37 has one thing even the Myrmidon does not—it is equipped with the world’s only first-generation optical camouflage. Though it cannot become invisible, the tank can easily change color and camouflage itself to match its environment without being repainted. The tank is also equipped with two heavy machine guns on its top.

I’m not quite sure how long it will take before we reach our destination but I guess we’ll get to an airport or airbase soon. Doku is an ocean away. For now I enjoy the ride. At the very least it’s peaceful. I put my head down and think hard about what I will say to their magistrate. It is too late to save the capitol and its people, but maybe not too late to save Fantasia. As long as she lives, we can rebuild even if it’s in the shadows. Aihl’s words, “We want a complete purge of you Aidoshian trash! The fastest way to destroy a people is to destroy their hope, crush their God and the people soon follow,” ring in my head. The Gandole won’t stop until they know she is dead. After all, she is our hope… our last Oracle, our connection to our Gods.