A cool aura spreads out into my body from my left shoulder. The pain from my broken bones is subdued, muted under a euphoric feeling. I sense my own temperature rise as the blood in my veins heats up.

My left hand releases its grip on my hammer, letting it fall to the ground. I see a flash of metal as the town guard throws a stab towards my kneeling form. I can't avoid it.

The limb moves on its own, flicking to swat the town guard's spearhead away from my chest. My heart accelerates, the heat of my blood reaches my brain.

I feel great, powerful. I stand up before the guard can throw another stab. My balance is off, I'm swaying on my feet but it isn't an issue. The guard pulls his spear back to prepare himself to throw another jab.

My left limb seems to be barely obeying my orders. A smirk draws itself on my lips. I don't need it. The guard tenses and I pounce forward, tackling him. I barely register the spearhead hitting my chain-mail as I crash into the man.

As I am about to punch the man, I feel a vibrating impact coursing through my left arm through touch. I look down, finding that it pierced the middle of the guard's abdomen, tearing flesh apart. I lock eyes with the man. He is pale, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Euphoria and blood-lust color my thoughts as I find myself staring at the dying man, fascinated. I feel his blood being absorbed through the glove's leather by my limb.

“It's eating you.” I realize, horrified.

This is wrong. I pull away from the guard, using my body as leverage to try to force my hand out of his flesh. The fingers cling to the abdomen, the man passes out from the shock. I hear steps approaching, another guard.

“Monster! You killed Joe!” The woman screams.

The limb releases its grip at the arrival of this new threat, it starts swaying against my side, in a lazy but threatening manner. I stand and take a few steps back to pick up my hammer from the ground.

The town guard is glaring at me balefully but isn't approaching any closer. I don't see the other two, did they run? I want to smash things. Break bones.

I take a step forward. She moves away, her spear is shaking in her hands. I bring the hammer back. Her expression turns wild, like a prey watching its predator. I smile widely, madly, regretting the fact that my helmet is covering my expression.

I bring the hammer backward, breathing roughly. She suddenly drops her spear and runs away. I stop, frozen in surprise. Should I throw my weapon? I hesitate for too long and she leaves my range.

My head feels light, dizzy. A veil of darkness is covering the edges of my vision, it's spreading. This isn't good... I quickly scrape some flow and assemble a signaling construct and tell the limb to focus on healing.

My muscles are throbbing, my heartbeat is irregular. I fall to my knees once more as the destabilizing effect of what the limb injected me with starts dissipating, slowly.

“Am I a monster?” I ask the void in my heart.

It trembles a little but otherwise doesn't seem to care. My Lady is the only subject that truly matters to it. I look down, staring at the guard who's abdomen my arm pierced. The wound is still bleeding.

I take my helmet off, noticing half a second later that I used my left arm to do it. I lay it down on the ground. My glove's leather is red with blood, all the way to the elbow. My helmet is similarly tainted.

I grab the wounded guard's tunic and rip it to reveal the injury in its entirety. I am a monster. There is so much blood... How can I still be hungry at this sight?

I apply pressure to my stomach with my abdominal muscles and right hand, trying to make myself throw up. Physically pushing this guilt and disgust with myself out.

A line of burning liquid climbs up my throat, scorching my insides. I spit out a small amount of yellow liquid, feeling a tiny bit better.

I hurriedly rip the guard's clothes, makinga long strip of fabric that I then pass around his waist and tie over the injury to try to quench the blood flowing out of the gaping wound. It works a little.

I check his heartbeat at the jugular, I feel it slow down and stop. I panic and punch the man's chest with my left limb without thinking. Crack. I hear the ribs break under my fist. No! Fuck! I'm...

“I'm so sorry.” I whisper out loud, taking hold of my helmet to fit it back on my head. “I'll save the Izla, all these deaths won't be in vain. I swear. The blood on my hands will remain, whether I succeed or die trying.” I make the vow, etching it inside my heart.

Matfrid's two-handed sword is laying on the ground, I order my left limb to pick it up and drag it behind me as I exit this small interstice between warehouses.

“I don't even know how many deaths I'm responsible for. How ludicrous of me. Believing that I have better justifications than Nobility does. I am no better, simply a different shade of monstrous.” I ramble, trying to define what I've become to myself. “I may truly be insane, my Lady.”

I hope they got the fire under control, I should not have taken that risk. I had no right to gamble with lives in that way to save my own. Regrets are for later, there is work to do.

The pain in my shoulder is coming back now that the limb isn't suppressing it. I let it course through me. It makes my back shiver. I take a deep breath before accelerating my pace to reach Teva and Ulf as soon as possible in case some town guards run into them.

There is very little smoke coming out of the granary. No one in sight between me and my companions. The walls are crawling with Rykz, I see some large silhouettes standing in the middle of them but the soldiers fighting them aren't wielding enough torches to dispel the darkness of night.

What are those? Another kind of Rykz? Baroness Kieft is on the border of the wall, standing with her heels on the precipice. Teva is focused entirely on the small tunnel she is digging while Ulf is still holding the plank to cover for them, there are a couple of arrows lodged in it now.

Kieft is being pushed back by the Rykz warrior's shields, teetering on the edge of a ten-meter fall, just above Teva. I catch her looking down to them, under her shoulder. She calculated this, I can see it in her expression.

“Ulf! Be careful!” I yell out, but he can't see Kieft, the plank is blocking his view.

I rush forward, accelerating my steps despite the fact that every time my feet impact the ground, it shakes my shoulder's broken bones and causes an agonizing pain.

I am much too late. The Baroness is already letting herself fall backward, purposefully aiming to drop on top of Ulf and Teva with her sword out.

“Ulf! Protect Teva!” I yell out, desperately.

Ulf frowns, his beard moving as his expression turns grave. He lets go of the plank and covers Teva by using his large frame. Kieft impacts him, feet first.

I want to yell at her, make her stop because Ulf is already crumbling to the ground, knocked out by her landing on his back. But there is no time and she wouldn't listen anyway.

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Kieft shows no hesitation, she uses her sword to strike downward and slash at Ulf's torso, cutting deeply. The sight impacts me, I stumble and have to catch myself to keep running.

Just three more meters! The Baroness turns to Teva. Her eyes are wide, she is holding her hands over her head in a futile defensive gesture.

“No!” I scream, bringing my left limb, holding Matfrid's two-handed sword, back to throw it. “Kieft!” I roar.

Kieft's head snaps around, her expression pales as I make my limb project the heavy weapon at full strength, aiming it towards her upper body so that it lands in the rubble if it is dodged.

My throw is unstable and the two-handed sword spins in the air, at least it isn't going to land anywhere near Teva. The Baroness overreacts to the threat, she both angles herself away and kneels down, runes on her hard leather armor start glowing golden.

I seize my hammer in both hands and throw a quick swipe at her bent legs. She blocks it with her sword, almost effortlessly. The sight stuns me for a second and Kieft takes advantage to close the distance, throwing a stab towards my stomach before I can bring my weapon back to block her.

Clink. Some of my chain-mail's links break. I feel the sword slide against my right side, cutting my flesh as it goes. The pain is biting, vivid. The worst of it is quickly smothered by adrenaline.

I pull away, can't let her twist the blade and worsen the wound. I feel blood gushing out and trickle down my thigh inside my armor. Kieft is already preparing another attack, a lion strike if I go by her stance.

I widen the distance between us, feeling myself getting weaker. I can't beat this woman... Kieft throws a glance over her shoulder towards Teva who is trying to stop the blood flowing out of the slash on Ulf's back.

The Baroness smirks as she watches me hesitate. I make a low growl and swing my hammer as quickly as I can. She dodges the hammerhead easily with a sideways step and leans in to try to stab me again.

I let go of my hammer's handle, it flies off and impacts the wall. I rush into Kieft's strike, blocking it with my chest before it can pick up enough speed and power to pierce my chain-mail.

The Baroness is startled by both the sound of my weapon impacting the wall and my reckless use of my body to block her lion strike. I make use of her confusion to grab the straps on the front of her leather armor with my left hand.

I forcefully pull her towards me, lowering my head at the same time. My helmet impacts her straight in the nose, breaking it. Crunch. I push her away and bring her back, slamming my guarded head into her unguarded face once again.

Crack. I hear something else break, not sure what since her entire face is covered in blood. I keep hitting her with my helmet, my thoughts are hazy, I'm not sure how long it's been since I started.

I think I've lost too much blood. Crack. I blink a few times, her body is hanging limply from my arm. Is she unconscious? I tell my left hand to let go. Kieft drops to the pavement.

My knee hits the ground. Huh? Did I... I drop on my side. I try to blink the multicolored clouds shrouding my vision, they're not going away. I see Teva open her mouth and speak but don't hear a thing.

She rushes over to my side and takes hold of my right arm. Why is she dragging me away? I feel the ground vibrate under me. I turn my head to use one of the unobstructed corners of my vision to glance around.

There are five large obsidian black balls on the ground, I recognize Rykz legs folded on the sides. The creatures begin to unfurl, they are similar to scouts but... three times larger, their interlocked carapace looks a lot thicker than theirs too.

They are massive, taller and thicker than Ulf is... than Ulf was, by a good margin. These Rykz each have four arms in the shape of re-curved blades. Teva is still dragging me away on the pavement.

I turn my head to glance up at her, she is crying, her expression is distorted by fear. I try to lift my right hand to reassure her but it doesn't appear in my field of vision.

--- --- ---

I awaken to a pounding headache, my right side feels like agony. The sun is up, I'm hungry, thirsty. There is a Rykz worker leaning over me, finishing to wrap some bandages around my bare torso.

I try to speak but the only thing that comes out of my dry throat is a cough. I hear hurried steps, a hand holding a bowl passes in front of my eyes to press it against my lips.

The green-brown liquid inside overflows a little, dripping on my chin. I open my lips and greedily drink it. I try to lift myself a bit when it starts running out but fail and drop back down.

--- --- ---

I reawaken. There is no trace of the liquid on my chin, someone must have wiped it off. I look down, I am wearing fresh clothes but my gloved hand is still red, colored by the blood I've shed. As it should be so that I don't forget.

I sit up, finding myself on a table in the middle of a street. There is a mess of dead town guard bodies laid in a pile to my left, a pool of blood is spreading outward from the morbid stack.

Some of them were cut in half at the waist, others sheared from top to bottom. I inscribe the vision in my mind and get off the table. I can see the wall at the other end of this street, there is a huge breach in the middle of it.

Dead Rykz warriors and human soldiers are lying scattered in the rubble, in-between large rectangular stones that used to be part of the wall. Some buildings near the explosion site were torn apart by rocks.

I glance around, no sign of Teva but I find my equipment on the ground. I pick up my helmet, the entire front of it is red with Kieft's blood. I throw my chain-mail over my shoulders, wincing when the weight presses on my shoulder's broken bones.

I secure my belt around my waist and fit the helmet over my head. I take hold of my hammer, deciding to head towards the granary. The Rykz need food, those under their occupation do too.

I hear sounds of battle on the way, south in the distance. I was out all night and the sun is almost at its noon position. They didn't lack time to evacuate, so why the fuck didn't they? Because of Meria's army? I need to find Fenyz to get me up to speed or get up on the walls and find out for myself.

There are dozens of Rykz workers filling sacks with grain and laying them on empty supply carts just outside of the granary. Teva is sitting on top of a barrel. I take my helmet off and stick it under my left arm.

She isn't moving at all, she doesn't even turn to look at me when I walk up to her. Ulf probably died in her arms. What should I say? I take hold of her shoulder with my right hand, hiding my bloody left glove behind my back.

“Teva?” I ask softly.

“Evil.” She mutters in response.

“I'm sorry?” I blink.

“What we did. I... I was naive. This is... wrong. Evil.” She says while her empty eyes stare at the pavement.

“It was necessary. The Rykz are...” I try to explain.

“Slaughtering.” Teva interrupts me. “They didn't evacuate. Probably because they think their reinforcements close enough to help, except I saw that army's path get cut off by a tide of these creatures.”

A tide? Maybe the eggs hatched. No, too soon and we're too far away. Celyz must have gathered all the scouts together and sent them to block Meria's army off.

“Teva, I'm...” I start but she interrupts me again.

“I don't know what you're thinking, Elizabeth. I believe that you're trying to save the Izla, but... this can't be how it's done.” Teva chokes on her guilt, failing to repress her tears. “I can't contribute to this, I'm leaving the Izla and bringing Frieda along with me.” She whispers in a tight voice. “What we did, what I did. It isn't right.”

I stay quiet. If wars were fought honorably, they would be duels. Teva doesn't need to hear this. She needs to feel like she made the right choice turning away from my path, that what I'm doing cannot succeed.

“Then go.” I reply, controlling my voice so that she doesn't hear my own pain. The loneliness and hurt that attracted her to me when we first met.

“That's it? A cold goodbye?” Teva asks, stunned.

“That's it.” I repeat her words. “Don't try to get paid now, it's dangerous.” I add after pausing.

“How mercenary.” She spits out. “That's all you have to say to me?”

“Head straight back to your village and wait there with Frieda for the war to move further north.” I continue in the same tone of voice.

I clench my left fist behind my back, suppressing my desire to hold this kind woman in my arms, to take away her pain. The slight movement brings her attention to my helmet. I see her cheeks pale, I angle away to hide the bloody piece of armor.

My movement makes her flinch, she controls herself but I've seen the fear and disgust in her eyes. It hurts. I feel a ball of guilt form in my throat.

This is good for her. Everything I do from now on will only make it worse for her if she remains by my side, she needs to stay as far away from me as possible.

I turn away and head towards the breach in the wall. I fit my helmet back on as I walk away. My hurried gait pulls on the injury on my right side. The bits of flesh, healing to reconnect both sides of the wound, are torn apart. I feel the reopened wound bleed over my side.

“Elizabeth! Wait!” Teva yells out. “E.Vil!” She calls out, making me flinch in turn.

“Be well, Teva.” I reply loudly, refusing to stop or turn to look at her.

I engage in the breach, climbing rubble to make my way. My body protests but I ignore it. My Lady will be in that army. I know it.