"For what?" She was surprised to hear the scout ask her for a favor in almost a normal voice. Kate was usually always in a constant state of anger, yet now she suddenly spoke in a calm manner.

The scout pointed at her ornate armor. "Locals mistook me for a shaman." "They need someone to say prayers for the lost, and all their shamans are dead. I know the words, so I can play the part."

"Spirits will curse you for pretending." Kostya warned her.

"Ha! Can’t curse someone twice," The eyes of the scout twitched in aimless anger, "Besides, I have protection."

"Fine, do it. Just don’t cause problems." Aranea nodded.

"Am I ever?" Kate actually smiled before leaving. This scared Aranea, and she turned to the doctor.

"My apologies for the scene. I will discipline her later."

"For what? We are all on the edge here, and you people at least help us," The doctor released smoke from his nostrils, "I had to choose one out of three people to save," He crushed the cigarette in his hand, "Compared to this, she provided me with a nice distraction. Seriously, there is no need for punishment, she helped us set up the camp this morning and even helped us distribute food to the locals. " He looked into the distance. "If only we had just a bit more hands and resources…"

"You would have had them, had you not cared for all the trash in the Ravage Lands," Kostya suddenly said, with a hint of anger in his voice. The doctor looked at him as if to argue, but the wolfkin quickly continued, "Your group actually provided medical aid for the blasted cannibals. Two of my sisters had to die to save the sorry asses of your fellows from their clutches. Just… just how insane are you people? Not everyone deserves to be helped."

"Free World was founded on a promise to help everyone we could, and this is what we do," The doctor shrugged and continued, "I am sorry for your loss, my friend, but gangs may be made of terrible people, it is true, we know it! But there are children among them, there are genuinely innocent or misguided people among them. If not us, who will help them? I know the gang you speak of. Don’t their kids now live in your state after the soldiers wiped out most of the gang? For the price of a few lives, dozens are now saved."

"Just concentrate your efforts on saving the people who won’t kill you or eat you in response. I assure you, there are aplenty of such people around the globe. That’s all I ask for, sir." Kostya said so sternly. Aranea put her paw on his shoulder before he went too far. She was in agreement with his opinion, but people here needed help. Even if it came from the weirdos of the Free World.

"Look after Kate for me. Make sure she doesn't ruin anything. If weird things start to happen…"

"I will run straight to you," Kostya nodded, hurrying after the scout. The doctor turned around and went back to the tent as someone called him, while Aranea went into the basement of a building nearby.

Inside was Sly, surrounded by countless cables, furiously trying to fix an energy generator. The Free World had its own generators, but they were small and low-powered. Anarchists lived on donations from Iterna, the Oathtakers, and the Reclamation Army, and only Iterna was willing and rich enough to give the doctors of the Free World actual good stuff. So Janine gave orders to fix at least something, to take some load off the equipment of the doctors and ensure that no one would die if the generators of Free World suddenly went offline. Yuki was standing nearby, looking at the watch on her vambrace very condescendingly.

"You either stop now and go to eat, or I will knock you on the head and make you go to eat. Your choice." The warrior said innocently. "Keep in mind, no matter what you choose, the outcome will be the same."

"Just a few more minutes!" Sly howled in desperation, reconnecting the cables. "I just getting to interesting part…"

"You were saying this five minutes ago, yet here we are and I am still bored," The light blinked and went out for a few moments before returning, "And this right here would probably kill someone if we had connected this generator to an energy grid "Sorry doctor, all life support systems just gone dark. Whatever will we do?"." Yuki parodied the voice of a nurse and laughed.

"No, it would not! We have… Son of the whore!" One of the wires exploded into Sly’s face as he connected something, and suddenly the generator behind him began humming. The wolfkin started to laugh madly. "How the hell did this work? Why in the world did this work? I need to know!"

"Ok, I got it, you fixed the damned thing. Now you are going to go and eat."

"No! Wait, I can still improve the output…" Sly howled in despair, reaching for something in the generator.

"Punching time, it is then." Yuki cracked her knuckles advancing on Sly.

"Where is Kaleb?" Aranea demanded to know. She assigned him to help Sly.

"He grew bored of waiting, so I let him go to the hospital and started setting up… Oh Spirits!" Sly evaded the grasp of Yuki and jumped away from her. The helm slid on his head, and he screamed something to Kaleb over the com device. Aranea turned on her own com device to listen and heard the curses of the smaller wolfkin. Apparently, something exploded in his face in the hospital.

Seeing that everything was under control here, Aranea left the basement, going back to the city gates. After all of the tests, Sonya demanded her presence, and Aranea went to meet her. Janine stood on the ruins of the city gates, gazing out into the wastelands. Her head was still tilted, there was no helmet on her head. The warlord was listening for something still.

Sonya, dressed in pitch-black power armor, was standing before the ruined gates. A weird shield-like device was on her left arm, going from the shoulder all the way to the elbow. This was a piece of ancient technology, provided to her by the higher ups. Unlike the Ice Fang order, the Wolf Tribe rarely had the luxury of providing exotic gear to the lower ranks. The higher the rank of wolfkins in the Wolf Tribe, the more important they became and the more advanced equipment they were given. Low ranks were expected to compete and rise, or to fight and die. The helmet on Sonya’s head slid back, revealing her head as she heard Aranea’s steps.

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"You took your time." The wolf hag noted. This was not a sign of aggression, just a statement of fact. There was no time limit on Aranea’s assignment on this day.

"The place is a wreck. If they come back…"

"I know. Because of this weakling in charge, we are reduced to waiting," Sonya growled, "If Ravager was still with us, this entire war would already be over by now. We would have torn the throats of the enemies, devouring their flesh. Instead… we play "his" stupid games."

"His? You mean Wyrm Lord?" Aranea asked.

"As if. This fool will never have the guts for this. These supplies, inviting the Free World, us going ahead of force and guarding them? It's all because the Weakling-in-Charge is embarrassed in front of the locals for allowing this to happen. No, the one behind…"

"Aranea. Sonya. To me." Janine ordered, turning to look down at them.

Both wolfkins leaped up on the wall, climbing on the broken structures. When a warlord calls, you obey. Hesitation means rebellion. Rebellion means a challenge. And only fools dared challenge the warlords. They both climbed and lowered themselves on one knee before their mistress, baring their throats. It was an empty gesture, Janine was no longer capable of dominating in this way. Her jaw was too big, too clumsy, and too dangerous now. Instead, she simply used the claws on her legs. Quite a few wolfkins bore the marks of these mighty instruments of death on them.

"Aranea. What do you think about this situation?" The warlord demanded to know, using her flamecaster to lift the scout's jaw and make her look up.

"It makes no sense. The Resistance intentionally deprives itself of valuable resources. Locals hate them now, they will no longer rat us out for them. It makes no sense." She heard how Sonya chuckled.

"Stupid," With deadly calm, the warlord said. The amber eyes cast light on Aranea’s face. Like Kalaisa, Janine was an alpha, someone who was close to becoming a skinwalker. Unlike Kalaisa, no matter what Janine does, she can’t cross this threshold, the medics said that she lacked something and was thus safe, "Their plan makes sense in terms of the history of the Ravaged Lands. Three times, various warlords from other lands tried to conquer these lands. Three times the Resistance was formed before under different names, and three times they burned their outer cities, taking everything of value to their version of the "Core Lands". Warlords stretch their forces too far, too thin, and eventually perish in the counterattack of the Resistance. A strategy known as "Scorched Land" is at work here."

"And that fool is falling for this," Sonya said angrily, The warlord moved the flamecaster away from Aranea and turned to Sonya, using the barrel of the weapon to force her to look up.

"The only fool here is you," Janine said quietly, "I despise the weakling in charge as well. However, dare not mock our leader so openly in front of the civilians or in a place where they can hear you. Hush your voice when you mock the commander. Obey me, and this situation is forgiven. Or disobey me, and next time I will release the flame," The barrel of the flamecaster was pressed against the throat of the wolf hag. Sonya nodded slightly, "Resistance is missing the scope," The warlord said to both soldiers before her, "Reclamation Army is no petty warlord who gathers an army in the waste. They burn and loot cities? We will restore them, even better than before. Their people will be loyal to us. No matter how thin they want to spread us, it won’t help them. Like an avalanche, we will move ever onward."

"Then the declaration of Wyrm Lord was…" Aranea understood.

"Yes. It was "his" bait." Janine’s snout twisted in disgust, "That person used it to bait the Resistance into action." They burn their outer lands, leaving them undefended for us, hoping to endure us like any other storm before. They hope that we will spread ourselves too thin and that we will be decapitated in one strike that comes from the Resistance. Instead, we will take left-alone lands in one move, all without breaking our formation. Reliable rear, rebuilding locations, reporters who will interview the population and shift public opinion to our side... All at the cost of a few lives," Something akin to hate was in the eyes of Janine as she looked at the ruined city, "That man calls it the "Strategy of Darkness" and we are involved in but the first steps of his plan."

"Who are you talking about? If not Wyrm Lord, then who is…" Aranea decided to ask.

"Murzaliev. The chief strategist of the Third Army and kin to Wyrm Lord," Janine returned her gaze to the mountains, as if someone was watching her. This time, even Aranea heard it. Heavy stomping of some beast, something unconcerned about being stealthy. A wave of fear hit her, a horror that she had never felt before. She instinctively knew that death itself was out there in the mountains. Death was looking at them right now. Death! "Snap out of this," Janine said, looking at her, "It… just a fluke. Pay it no mind, there is no one out there," The presence of danger disappeared just as quickly as Aranea felt it, leaving the scout to wonder if she really just freaked out because of nothing, "Anyway, the one responsible for these events is the blue wyrm. Yet I received news from Martyshkina that a band of raiders had been caught and destroyed by a group of mercenaries. Nigel’s Raiders, Easy Going Pals... Someone hired them and used them to prevent the raiders from torching the city to the west. Conveniently…" Janine spoke sarcastically, "…mercenaries stepped in to help only after the raiders declared their intentions to locals. No idea what the mercs told the locals afterwards, but the locals already welcomed us with open arms, as the Regulators betrayed and abandoned them. The locals sent the word to other places, some even believed them enough to join us."

"Then this mean…" Sonya said, and Janine nodded.

"The Procrastinator is making his moves as well. The black wyrm joined the hunt as well, pulling his own strings. The strategy of "Winning without lifting a claw" is also in action, along with the strategy of the blue wyrm. And we are caught between the ambitious and the devil. All the while our master does nothing but hides, allowing his strategists to duke it out," Janine clenched her axe shaft with anger, "This is not the proper way to fight. Not the proper way to conduct war."

"But if Murzaliev forces our enemies to make mistakes, this is good for us, right?" Aranea was unsure who the black wyrm was. She never met either the captains or the commander of the Third army, "We took the city with no losses to ourselves. This is a clean victory."

"You call this…" Janine pointed her axe at the church, where Kate was leading the farewell ceremony. A crying woman was lowering the dead body of a small child into the burning pit. Janine pointed her weapon at the ruined buildings, "…Clean? Ravager took whole countries, seemingly overnight. She stormed the palaces alone, devouring the leaders and the rest, who bowed their knees in horror and fear in front of her. Oh, they might grumble a few years afterward, but all were too scared of her to rebel. She created stability through fear. Yes, the army suffered losses, but this is what we are born to do. To fight. To dominate. Not to... hide while people are being butchered," Janine said as she looked up at the sky, "Murzaliev is too extreme. He should never have been unleashed. Two times he was court marshaled for causing too many big losses among the civilian population, and both times he escaped the judgment as the court of law found his decisions tactically sound and found no evidence of his guilt. And the other one is just as extreme in his own way, taking too long to avoid losses. Without someone to reign them in…" Janine fell silent, before finally saying, "We are not pawns. We could have stopped this massacre ourselves if only intel had bothered to warn us. Yet because of "him", we were left in the dark. No more. Martyshkina and I are of the same mind about this. Sonya, you and the others will take your packs into the wild tonight. Convoys are still going between the cities, barely defended, almost as if someone wants to use them to provoke the Resistance with an easy target. I will not allow them to be slaughtered, screw this "Darkness" and screw "him". Find "them" and call me."