"Would you care to explain why I needed to come in person?" Serafin was breathing heavily. At the head of a hundred soldiers of Mhall and followed by Valeria she was braving the pass their scouts had discovered before nightfall.

It hinted at civilisation, while the path was not paved, the earth was solid and free of plant life, signs it was often used. Still the walk was nearly a climb, leaving her exhausted as they braved the peak.

"Your orders, commander, were frighteningly specific." Valeria spoke calmly after reaching the height herself. "In every point except for behaviour towards something like this."

Below them extended a valley, covered in trees with a small river running through it´s middle. And right beneath them sprawled a town. Serafin grasped her blade.

These were not the mud huts she had expected. A tall wooden wall surrounded the village, it´s buildings made of the same dark wood as the wall. She could see smoke coming from some of the houses, especially the large structure in it´s centre. The ringing of a bell sounded through the valley, the streets looked busy.

"So this is why you asked us to come along." A woman in long midnight robes finished her climb and took Serafin´s other side. She rose an eyebrow. "I hate to admit it, but my hometown looked quite a lot worse than this."

Serafin stepped forward, down towards the village. "It matters not! There is likely an explanation for this, these savages took many of our own with them, likely exactly for this purpose." She reached up to her head, but found no hat, no brim to pull over her face. Her heart sank as she marched forward, her soldiers in tow.

Her mantle was blowing in the cold wind, it cut across her face. Serafin had stuffed the pockets of her mantle with every little thing she could find to make it heavier, but it was still a far stretch from the comfortable heaviness of her old paladin cloak.

At the passes´ end they found the path reinforced with wooden planks the short way to the gate of the village. It was still open. Serafin looked over shoulder. "Form ranks! This is likely the first time these savages witnessed imperial might, let us make it something they will never forget."

Following their commander they marched as one, rifles shouldered. There were no guards upon the walls, none to block their path. Serafin stepped through the gate and onto the main street, and she looked in horror.

Were she to forget for a moment the world around her, the scene in front of her would remind her of her trips to Atal with Ellyrie. The streets were crowded, stalls standing at the sides, Butchers, fishers, one for herbal remedies, a food stall. Most of the inhabitants were hillspeople, seeing their bark-covered bodies and long limbs, the strange twisted faces, all the while wearing harmless looking clothes, exchanging coins and goods, it made her sick to her stomach.

But what was even worse were the others. Creatures she had never heard of before. Tall figures with wings instead of arms, their heads resembling those of birds, great creatures with six legs that towered above the rest, one whose entire body was made out of rock.

And humans. Walking around not in rags and chains, but no worse than the others, some appearing very wealthy. Cold sweat ran down her hands.

Then it went silent as she was noticed. The music that had been playing stopped, in shock they stared into the barrels now pointed at them. Serafin had to muster all of her strength not to give immediate order to fire.

Instead she walked forward, unsheathing her blade. "In the name of our Imperator Aeterna, the lady of light, saviour of mankind, I, Serafin, acting commander of the imperial expedition, claim this-" She could not say village. Could not give them the satisfaction. "this area for the empire. My kin!" She focused her gaze on a human closest to her. It was hard to ignore the confusion in his eyes. "You are free from the oppression of these inhuman savages, join with me in ridding this place of them!"

Nobody answered her.

"I understand your fear, my kin!" Her eyes raced across the crowd, trying to find a more suited face. Not one was welcoming. "But you need not fear them any longer. Your imperator has sent us to set you free, you need only to come to us." She reached out her hand to them. Nobody took it.

The first people were darting for their houses. The first shots rung through the air, causing further panic. Serafin clenched her teeth together and placed the tip of her blade on the ground, resting against it. "Secure the perimeter! Subdue the inhuman, and kill who resists!"

The outcome was as clear as her orders. Even the most towering of the hillspeople bent the knee when faced with Mhali riflery, the few who had found weapons or reached for them met their ends immediately, as did those unfortunate enough to be nearby. In groups of four they entered the houses, screams and violence followed.

Serafin walked down the main street with Valeria and the mage in tow, who grasped a plate of freshly cooked meat from one of the empty stalls, reaching it over to their commander. "Care for the spoils?"

"No, Artohsa." Serafin didn't look at her, her blade was still shaking in her hands. "How, how can this place be?"

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They reached the centre of the village, with the massive structure now looming over them. "How can mere savages construct something like this?"

"You already answered it, did you not?" Artohsa was devouring the food herself, speaking in between her bites. "Their human slaves and traitorous allies did so for them. It is quite fortunate, no? Imagine needing to take quarter in a filthy little shack."

"I would still not live in a place sullied by these savages." Valeria crossed her arms. "It would be better to burn the whole miserable place to the ground and rebuild." She eyed across her shoulder. Their soldiers were putting the first chains on the inhumans wise enough to submit. "We have the workers now."

A small set of stairs lead up to the building. It´s entrance was blocked by a massive figure, and in a way it gave Serafin comfort. This is what she had expected. This is what the hillspeople were meant to look like.

It´s skin was covered in markings, carved into the bark. It had the courtesy to hide it´s face behind a mask, though it´s features were still appallingly inhuman. Instead of a weapon it clutched a staff in it´s many fingers, seven on each hand, each as long as Serafin´s lower arm.

"Why do you come here bearing weapons, child. My clan has no ill will to the usurper in gold." It´s voice was a deep tone of melancholy that made Serafin gasp.

"How can you, how dare you speak in the words of our imperator!" She stepped forward. "I am Serafin, I am sent here to exact vengeance upon your ill-begotten kind for the horrors you wrought upon the empire."

"I speak the words of all people´s who live here under the protection of the Grand Father, child Serafin. Whatever vengeance you seek to exact, the ones you seek to punish live not here. Eagle and Snake live higher in the mountains, and the Hammer rests at the seat of the Grand Father himself. It is they who took the offer of the black knight to take up arms. Not us."

"The inhuman speaks in lies and breathes deception!" Serafin ignored the shudder running down her back. "It was your people who terrorised the empire, and it is your people who will pay for the insolence of standing in the way of humanity."

"Hrrun." The rumbling of it´s voice made Serafin step back. "An oak fell upon your house, so you come to cut down a forest of birches. You are far from the home that you stole, human. Your treason was overlooked, no matter how many treaties you broke. But this, is too far."

It rose to it´s full height, casting a large shadow over the three. "You wield a blade of hatred, child Serafin. The wounds it cuts will be wrought upon your body in kind. And your master will not care for a moment when you succumb. She will merely find another to take it."

More and more soldiers swarmed the square, their rifles aimed at the large figure. Serafin took a deep breath and stared back up at the inhuman. "I know not what treaties you imagine, we have never had even a single one." The grip around her sword tightened. "I live and die for the empire, and will do so gladly knowing someone else will take my place. Fire!"

The bullets echoed her command, filling the body of the great inhuman with holes. It collapsed, falling head first to Serafin´s feet. It struggled to look up at her, for a moment she could see it´s malformed face. "I weep, for those who follow you, child of the usurper."

Serafin walked over it´s body, and pushed open the doors to the great building. She had been right. It was a form of temple. Long candles illuminated the dark, shining light upon various figures and totems to all manners of idols. Some she had heard of, most however not. On the wall at the side of them she found parchment, in all manners of different languages.

Her soldiers went down, finding a great vault of treasure, cultish objects, insignia, little idols. They carried the plunder out in large bags, joking and laughing with each other as Serafin went up the stairs. With every floor the idols grew larger and more imposing, until at the very top she found only three. One was the figure of an enormous brute, Elthaine. The other was an equally imposing figure sat upon a throne that she could not recognise.

But it was the last figure that turned her fear to dread. Here, miles upon miles away from the empire, from even the most modest temple, she stood face to face with a statue of Aeterna. The fair features, the long robes, two pairs of great wings, it looked no less impressive than the ones standing in temples of the capital.

On a pedestal in front of the statue she found two pieces of paper. One was again written in some inhuman tongue, but the other was in high imperial. Cold sweat ran down her face as she read it´s title.

"The third treaty of lasting peace and prosperity among Human and Jun."

The clauses had her head spin. Clear demarcations of territory, payments of gold, agreements upon trade and the treatment of these inhumans within imperial borders.

And there, at it´s end. A signature. She had only ever seen it a handful of times in her life, when studying the most sacred of texts. But she could recognise it anywhere.

This writing held the imperator´s own signature.

Serafin heard steps come up the stairs. Quickly she took the paper and stuffed it in her cloak, meeting her soldiers before they could see the room.

"This place is infested with inhuman magics, men!" She called to them, waving them back. "Turn back and help recover whatever riches are remaining, this building has to be burned to the ground."

Her head was elsewhere as she took the stairs down. It was deeply brried within the histories. For a hundred years under Aeterna´s rule had humanity not known of inhumans, and since their first meeting laid in conflict. Not a passage, not a line, not a word even hinted of such a treaty.

It did not take long for the fire to be laid, and even less for the temple to go up in flames. The temperature was dropping, so her soldiers stayed close, watching the inferno.

Serafin too stared into the flames, clutching the paper in her pocket. It was not within the histories, it could not exist. But it did.

She did not know what to do.