Her face darkened as she crossed through the town square, through the ash, past the bodies of her comrades. She had to keep her gaze locked forward, toward the burning palace.

The smoke rose up to the open night sky and blotted out the stars. Every building was on fire, every last one had been a battlefield. When she saw into the eyes of her soldiers, there was no sense of pride left. All that looked back at her was exhaustion, shock. And fear.

Octavia walked at her side, her pen scratching across paper. "This brings our total to five hundred dead and two thousand wounded, and around ten thousand rounds spent, not including the larger field batteries. The Zanaan haven't yet had the heart to tell me how much their resources are taxed."

The helmet of an inhuman rolled down the street in front of Serafin, she bit her teeth and kicked it. "How many of these damn villages are there? Every pass we climb it looks the same like the one before, this is the damned fifth and there!" She pointed north. "Just another pass, with another damn valley."

"That is not quite correct, commander." Octavia did not look up from her notes as they walked. "With every advance we have made northward, resistance has grown fiercer. This place is much different from Retribution point where we made our appearance."

Serafin looked past the inferno around them, at the large stone walls surrounding the village, the holes they had blown into them to storm it. "How long have they exploited our knowledge." They stopped in front of the palace, the ground before them covered in charred corpses.

"And so they deny us another shelter." She pulled her cloak tighter, the icy winds still cut through the thick fabric. "Imagine how great their hatred for humanity must be, to fight like this."

"I hate to speak positively of the inhuman, but it is the proper tactic." Octavia finally looked up at the burning building. "Making every hovel a choice between wasting lives and resources, or giving up the shelter. Commander." She stepped closer, lowering her voice. "We are nearing our limit. Every valley is a few hundred troops we need to set aside for protecting our supply lines, and they are at their minimum as is. If we advance any further they can cut us off at a spot of their choosing and end our campaign then and there."

Serafin's grip around her blade shook. "What good is it to burn down a few towns and then retreat? They will build new hovels in place of these, they will repopulate like insects, and when their numbers are returned to strength, what do you think they will do after all of this?"

She pointed around the square, at the butchered corpses, the hanging corpses, the smashes statues and idols. "They are savages, they do not understand intimidation, they will simply return with even more reckless abandon."

"That is not our choice, commander, with all due respect." Octavia folded her hands behind her back. "We can press on for one more valley, but that is the utmost. The question then becomes only if you wish to preserve this army for the empire, or throw it to the inhumans."

Serafin opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, a breathless Mhali soldier reached them, completely out of breath. He rose his hand in salute. "Commander, first recon unit, you, you must come with me, I would report but, you would not believe me."

Serafin and Octavia exchanged a brief look, before Serafin left her in charge of the new 'base of operations'. She followed the scout through the northern gate, walking across a veritable hill of corpses to reach the other side. With the lack of homes to take over, many of the soldiery had taken to camp under the largest trees to at least find some shelter. Small fires lit up the night in the valley around them, and where firewood was hard to come by, the corpses of the enemy were used instead.

The path upward was treacherous in the dark, many of the torches set up had been snuffed out by the icy winds that Serafin struggled to walk against. From the end of the pass she could see light, which made her heart sink.

But none of her nightmares could have prepared her for the view she had forced on herself when reaching the top.

Unlike other passes before, this one did not slope down into another valley, no. Before her extended a plateau the size of a provincial capital, and beyond the wide open, frozen ground before her, pure white walls, extending right and left from her as far as her eye could see. Light emitted from beyond the walls, a warm orange glow that shone into the night sky.

The craftsmanship was immaculate, the large main gates ornamented with a sense of elegance that Serafin had not seen ever since departing the capital. A seething anger built in her throat, but it was punched out of her the moment her head rose up further.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Beyond the city were three mountains, rising up into the sky. Built between them was a throne, of proportions that seemed impossible. These peaks seemed to serve as nothing but scaffolding for the throne, made for a being of such size that it made a mockery of anything titanic. Her mind went blank, void with fear. For the throne was occupied.

Upon it sat the figure of a man, his head larger than the "Purity", whose full height when standing would dwarf even the imperial palace. Clad in ornamented robes, it wore no crown, but what being of such stature would need symbols of power? He sat motionless, his gaze aimed southward, only his breathing proving to her that he was alive.

'Run', her inner voice shouted, cried, pleaded. 'As far away as possible, back to the empire, no, further, down to the frozen wastes, as far as we can possibly go!'

But her body was frozen motionless, and the voice grew quiet, withering under the fire welling up inside her.

She turned her attention to her guide. Saw his ragged armour, the dark rings under his eyes, the fear within them. Serafin straightened her back before speaking. "Go back, find Artohsa, Valeria and guide her here, post haste, there is no time."

He gave a weak salute before returning back down the pass, vanishing in the dark. Soon his wavering footsteps vanished, leaving Serafin to herself, her anger, her fear.

She could see no guards upon the wall, only bright blue fires within the towers. Perhaps they thought themselves safe here, so far within their land. But what guards did they need, when this being, this creature was watching over them?

Even their most advanced cannons would struggle hitting even his torso, their greatest undead would be little more than toys in comparison, It could wipe their forces without even noticing they were there and-

"What in the name of Aeterna is this?" Artohsa´s voice ripped Serafin out of the spiral, and back to their first problems.

"The heart of the savages, without a doubt." Serafin turned, staring into Artohsa´s wary eyes.

Valeria, standing at the side of the mage, was already scurrying backward. "We need to withdraw, immediately. We can begin our retreat immediately and be out of these accursed hills in a week."

"No. We will be doing the opposite." Serafin had clenched her hands together. "Valeria, you will return to base and bring everything, and everyone. I want even the last rusted shovel and kitchen boy in front of these gates."

"Have you lost your MIND, commander?" Valeria´s eyes had widened. "Do you see how thick these walls are, how far this city is extending? And, lest we forget, that living GOD watching us at this very moment?" She stepped forward, face to face with Serafin. "If we attack, we will be slaughtered like animals. We will die, miles from home, for nothing."

"What of those who already died. Did they fall for nothing?"

Serafin´s words had Valeria shrink before her.

"Yes we will die, as will many should we retreat. And when, if we return to the empire, what then?" Serafin´s entire body was shaking. "We availed nothing, we have nothing of value to show for our campaign. You would have hundreds, thousands of our soldiers die fighting a retreat, only to have the survivors live the rest of their life in shame? Is that what we came here for, is that what I sent so many to their deaths for?"

Valeria could not meet her gaze.

"I did not! I lead them to this forsaken, savage land to avenge our dead, and I will not let them have them rot in this place without knowing we have fought to our last to repay their loyalty. We cannot win? So we can run back home, have their deaths been meaningless? For four hundred years have greater soldiers than us lived, fought and died for the empire, and I fight for every single one of them, by myself if I have to."

She was out of breath, her screaming had left her throat scratchy as she continued. "We will fight, and we will die, and our charge will be a memory that future soldiers will remember and aspire to. I will not disgrace them by turning back. You have your orders, now carry them out."

Valeria´s arm was shaking as she saluted, and turned to head back down. Artohsa had stayed silent, watching over the great white city.

"So this is the face of certain death, the last I will ever see." Her words were quiet, carried by the wind to Serafin´s ears. "I thought it'd be a dagger in the dark, or some ugly, malformed beast left out of a cage. Nothing this." She rose her arms. "Serene and peaceful."

"It wont be that for long." Once more facing the city, Serafin had to lay her hand on the hilt of her sabre to keep it calm. "This is the heart of their nation, it has to be. Even if we cannot wipe them out, we will break this city, brick by brick, as far as we can. It will be our mark on their world, an indelible sign that not even here, in this inhospitable waste, behind their wicked walls will they be safe from Aeterna´s light."

"I did not take you for the suicidal type, commander." Artohsa kept her gaze turned to the ground. "Pedantic, over-correct and fanatic perhaps, but not this unreasonable."

Serafin sighed and closed her eyes. The cold winds continued to claw at her face, but for this moment she did not feel it. "Me standing here was nothing but a good fortune, nothing I could have expected, or demanded. If I can leave a mark, any trace that I once lived.

Then I would be happy."