"So you'll train me?" Alex asked.

"Maybe. First, let me finish the story, and you can decide whether or not you want to learn from me."

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When I was finally healed up and back to one hundred percent I set out again, searching for any stragglers left behind when the enemy pulled out of the area. I didn't find anything, they were given ample Time, after all. I continued until it got late and I set up camp, drawing out a simple shelter ritual for me to sleep in. It created a green dome that I could barely fit in, but it kept me out of the elements, so I didn't complain.

My loneliness was, assuredly, a reason why my mind got as lost as it did. I saw fault in everything anyone did and had no one to tell me I was wrong, and no one cared enough about me to help with my mental state. I wandered and talked to myself. When I started responding is when I should have taken a step back and reevaluated, but alas, I did not.

As I got farther into Carthigia I saw a military outpost. I didn't bother with eternal moment yet, taking the time to summon my chickens. I sent them in and then jumped into the fray, summoning Sonsuz Kiyamet, The Final Moment. I realized this was the first I had seen it, and I had never seen a more obviously magical item. it was made of darkness, outlined and decorated with glowing green constellations, all emitting a dark smoke in its wake as it moved.

It swung through flesh as a normal blade would, even those that had powers granted to them that made them tougher. I swung and killed, seeing exactly where their attacks would land before they did, and knowing how to counter due to knowing every moment of their lives. I activated my eternal moment and finished the rest off, the inherent magic in the ability growing too strong for any of these magi to overcome. I dismissed my chickens and my blade, letting the blood fall to the ground. I turned and looked back to the battleground and saw that Sonsuz Kiyamet, The Final Moment had left cuts in the dirt that I hadn't noticed as I swung it.

I smiled in satisfaction, one step closer to my revenge, and continued onward, deeper into the mountain. I discovered several small outposts and one scout group, but with my combination of powerful enhancement powers, I dispatched all of them in short order. I moved onwards, ever closer to the true territory of the country, rather than the battlegrounds surrounding it.

I had to stop multiple times to rest, but overall it was a straight line northwest, as close to the capital as I could figure. I ran into a more permanent military camp, with high stone walls, a permanent posting of guards, and Carthigian flags marking all of the highest points of the buildings inside. I wasted no time summoning Sonsuz Kiyamet, The Final Moment, and cutting directly into the wall, carving my way through. Someone had an enhanced magic sense and felt me coming. Instead of sounding an alarm, however, they sent someone to try and assassinate me. It would have worked too, if I couldn't see it coming. Then the battle didn't even last a full second as I struck him down before he had recovered from his strike that he was sure he was going to hit.

I continued on and started summoning my chickens as I got closer to the commander's quarters, which were clearly marked for my convenience. As the commander came rushing out, in full battle gear I activated my eternal moment, slowing the burly man with the Murder icon almost to a crawl. I remarked on how they let a man with such a sinister connection lead, though Murder was a strong part of war.

I beheaded the man with a chop of my blade, barely having to dodge between attacks and soldiers. I killed every man I could get my blade into before my eternal moment ran out, then I killed more. I slaughtered indiscriminately, killing anyone that dared catch my eye, draping their remains over myself whenever Time allowed, reveling in the death drifting through the air.

My conviction had never been stronger, and I felt I could kill the strongest of military leaders, of kings, of any gods lesser than Time itself. The battle was short, with the camp unprepared for battle and, apparently, a training camp for those without enough magical talent to connect to an icon. Children I slayed would serve a greater purpose. That purpose is to fix a broken world. In all fairness, none tried to run, and I would be worshipped for it in Rajek. Lanetli the one-man army, they would call him. Slayer of eternities would be whispered all across the world.

I cleaned a small area with a quick ritual and set up a shelter with another to sleep the rest of the day off.

Waking the next morning I summoned a flock of chickens to hunt for me. I set them loose on the wilds around the camp and set out looking for meat. I drank the clean water at the camp and ate what I managed to collect from my chickens and what unsoiled food I could find around the training camp.

"After I eat we can leave, Major General Bakaw," I explained to my chicken that I had decided to summon and make my familiar with a quick series of simple binding rituals. Major General Bakaw was very worried about wasting time, so I ate quickly and set out again, eating up the companionship I was craving from Major General Bakaw.

I continued down the path, arguing loudly about various things with Major General Bakaw. I decided that if he were to die I would be angry. Not as angry as with the death of Elysia, of course, but I had grown close to the glowing green chicken in our short time together. He had been my only companion for this arduous journey and I truly appreciated the sacrifice it took to work with me on such a journey.

With a modern lens, it is clear to see the descent into madness from the moment Elysia died and my murder sprees and then finally the isolation had taken its toll on my mind. Talking to the chicken, oddly enough, helped, but I was still in a dark place, filled with joy and death, hand in hand.

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I walked for several days, stopping periodically to eat and drink, as well as rest, all while making conversation with my familiar. Eventually, I ran across a city, farmlands, and pastures surrounding a fortified city with tall buildings and magical turrets on the walls. I ran forward, letting the feather-light weight of my blade fall into my right hand while my left summoned more chickens. As I got close the turrets locked on to me, but I dodged around the bolts of magic being periodically fired from the machines, easy for me, knowing exactly where they would fall with my future sight and dancing around them accordingly. I got close to the walls with my chickens, getting close enough that the turrets couldn't turn down enough to follow me. I pulled my blade back and swung at the walls, cutting deep grooves into the stone, before I met a ward.

"Shit!" I exclaimed. I tried to break through, but the wall guards had started leaning over the wall to shoot me with various devices and magic. I was dodging and weaving, landing hits on the wards when I could, and taking hits where it was unavoidable. Each hit, oddly enough, didn't hurt the shield itself, but the magical matrices of the shield. I was doing damage but they were fixing it faster. I needed more time. I needed my eternal moment. I activated it and stood and slashed at the barrier until it shattered, then I forced my way the rest of the way through the thick stone and steel walls.

On the other side, I saw a frozen contingent headed out to the other side of the wall to fight me. I only had a scant few seconds left, so I killed as many as I could after carrying my chickens inside the walls. Most were dead on their feet in moments, but when Time resumed I continued fighting, killing any in the reach of my blade with large arches of death, fighting slowly up the staircase, careful not to slip on the blood coating each step, massive lacerations trailing up and down the wall as I prioritized killing the soldiers while my chickens killed the citizens.

Each and every person here contributed to the death of Elysia, and I was sick of letting them live through it. I killed my way up the stairs and up to the top of the wall, where close confines and friendly fire made my job of eliminating each and every person in the city far easier. As my blade flashed in and out of flesh my familiar led the other chickens to clear out each home. Some they would swarm into, others they would lock shut and burn down by knocking down nearby torches with anyone still inside dying shortly thereafter. I was proud and shouted out to the world "Time is ruthless and unstoppable!" before dodging under another blade swinging my way and killing the man at the other end.

I used eternal moment multiple times throughout the wall-top battle, eliminating large swaths of the men at a Time with each use. After finishing off the last man on the wall, I moved on to the citizens. They didn't have the heart to fight back, and the walls had never opened anywhere but where I had breached it, so they had nowhere to run.

I slaughtered, and I laughed at the sound of a god's blade swinging through mortal flesh, and the green light billowing around me as the ambient magic was converted into Time aligned magic at a rapid pace. I advanced slowly on the last citizen, a woman, too shocked to cry, and clutching the corpse of her baby who had been trampled in the rush to escape, all to no avail.

One simple swing and she no longer had a head or any of the weight of the thoughts that head had carried.

"Indeed, as ruthless and uncaring as TIME itself. You have earned a new power, but what is TIME without people to witness its glory?" said the god as I was transported into his heavenly kingdom in the pyramid of icons.

"What have I earned?" I asked.

"Bakaw!" seconded Major General Bakaw. I started. I didn't know familiars could follow you into a meeting with your icon.

"You have gained the siege magic ritual of famine. You may accelerate the perspective TIME of all plants and buildings in a given area to a TIME where they have been demolished. This is not a fast, or convenient ritual, however, and it should be used wisely, and sparingly." said the god-like being.

I simply smiled and accepted, ready to use the gift if the opportunity presented itself.

I reappeared right where I was standing, however, Time had still passed while I was talking to my icon, and my summoned chickens had taken the corpses and pilled them up after eating their fill.

In this light, the pile almost looked like a throne. It also looked rather comfortable. I sat on the corpses and waited for Rajek to find me.

It didn't take long, a few hours at most. I had figured they were following me through enemy territory, taking out outposts I had missed, but when they entered the city, most of the men threw up, and the rest were just as sick, only able to hold in the vomit. I grinned at the men, even as blood ran off my shoes and drained from the pile of corpses I had made myself comfortable on.

"Admiral Nicholas, you need to follow us back to meet with General Addams." said a man after he managed to stop himself from emptying his stomach on the ground.

"I don't see why I can't report in real quick. You can work on occupying the city and rebuilding infrastructure and such." I said. I was led to several cars parked just outside of the city, and even from outside it was a gruesome sight, with blood dripping from the walls and spilling out of the hole I had cut through it. It looked like I had killed enough to fill the city walls with blood and then some. "hm" I let out when I saw it.

The other men were frightened but led me into the magical vehicles, and drove me back. It still took a long stint, longer than my original trek, having to move as a single unit rather than one lone man, but it was far more comfortable.

It's worth noting that they made me clean off before I got into the cars. When I arrived I was led into the command tent.

"Lanetli, buddy. Did you do what these reports are saying you did?" asked the man, gently tapping the papers on his desk.

"What does it say I did?" I asked. I had no idea how much there was reported already.

"It says you killed innocents. A lot of innocents. Like a disgusting amount of innocents. Like I shouldn't even be asking, but I don't want to lose my best soldier amounts of innocents." he said, his expression falling with every word as my smile didn't fade.

"Yes, but they were Carthigians, so it doesn't matter, right?" I asked.

"Buddy, no. Take him away! He's getting a dishonorable discharge. No, he's being charged with war crimes! He also needs intensive therapy. Maybe he can get out when his doctor deems him safe to re-enter society." said General Addams. "Don't kill the chicken, even though it's a rather. . . demeaning familiar, it's a familiar all the same. Put it in the same cell with him, no reason to piss off the man further."

"I will see you again Major General-" I was cut off.

"I hope so," said the general.

"Bakaw!" I finished, ignoring the other man.