I was in the middle of figuring out how to tie the shoes when one of the knights waltzed in through the door.

At the sound of him entering the door, the happy chatter of the two girls died abruptly.

-Did they really not hear him coming? There's no sneaking around in those metal boots...-

"Sir. Hero I was ordered to show you the way back to the others." He bowed his head. His right fist was placed on the left side of the chest while the other hand held his helmet to his thigh.

"I see. Just give me a moment."

-Damn shoes! How do you tie these things...- I lift my foot and the leather bag that was supposed to act as my shoe starts slipping off. -Shit. Too loose this time.-

"Assist the Hero!" he orders as he slaps the back of the rabbit-girl’s head, strong enough to send her tumbling towards me.

She quickly fell to her knees, ears hanging low as if deflated, and started lacing me up.

-...- I watch her to learn for next time.

She finished one foot quickly and was busy untying the mess I made on the other. It was simple once you knew where the string was supposed to go through, and I didn't need to watch her tie it for the second time, but it gave me a good excuse not to look at the knight.

"How does it feel?" the knight asked in a teasing tone, "Helping the man who will destroy your race?"

Her hands stop for a brief moment and as she resumes I can feel a slight tremble appear.

-So that's what the princess meant by beasts?- I look at the fragile girl at my feet.

"Thank you," I say when she is done and pat her head again.

"Don't! You don't thank a servant and certainly not a slave. This is her punishment and she should suffer. Poke yourself in the eye!"

And the girl does.

"Now the other one!"

She pokes the eye that was not in tears, making them even.

"Stronger!"

I stop her hand before it reaches her eye and she starts to struggle against my grip.

"What are you doing?"

"You know..." I grab her other hand, "In my world, slaves are forbidden by law. So all I see is a little girl trying to blind herself." -Will you stop fighting me already!- I look at the servant girl who backed away to the wall. She seems to be studying the patterns on the floor too intensively to spare me a look.

"Well, in our world, monsters are not protected by any laws. And I suggest you let her complete what I told her to do." He laughs, "Really now. For her sake, you should let go."

"Please..." she pleads with a shaking voice.

Once I let go of her wrist, her long ears start to visibly shake as she plunges her finger into her eye socket.

"How dare you plead for help?!"

-Now what? This is getting very annoying very quickly.-

"Stop breathing!" he orders.

The girl drops to her knees and begins weeping silently.

"Did you listen when they pleaded for their lives? Did you care?" He crouches next to her. "Of course not! You just slaughtered them with no mercy... why should he care then? Why should anyone care for what a monster like you has to say?!"

He was addressing her as she shook on the floor, but she couldn't hear him.

"Oy! Stop her! I don't want her death to be on my conscious!"

"Don't worry about it. She won't die." He grins. "But she will sure as hell wish she did."

-What does that mean?- and as I think that, the girl can hold it no longer and gasps for air.

A feeling of relief comes and goes as I see a weak red shine appear from under her ragged clothes.

"Aarghhh" Disappearing as quickly as it appeared it is replaced by groaning as she spasms in pain.

"See." he looks at me calmly. "The slave’s crest is not powerful enough to make her kill herself. At least not a weak one such as this." He straightens and looks at her pleased for a couple of moments.

"A public seal like this one is more of a torture device than anything else."

As the pain stopped so did the sound of her breathing.

-So she's just gonna hold her breath for as long as she can only to suffer when her body gasps for air on its own... over and over until this guy is pleased...-

"Get up!" I order her.

She does as I say in a hurry.

"Hey now! I wasn't done!"

"Well... It's my turn now." I fake a smile. "Let me have some fun as well."

The knight looks at me annoyed.

"If I'm going to be killing them anyway I might as well get rid of any sympathy as soon as I can. Right?"

"Right..."

-He's still doubting me.-

"Let's see now..." I ignore his looks and circle around the girl, "You're a rabbit huh? So why is it that you are walking like a normal human being? Start hopping!"

And she does.

"Faster!"

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And she does.

"Higher!"

-Whoa, are you serious? You almost hit the ceiling!-

Although she hardly reached my navel standing, when she jumped her feet went past my head.

-How tall is the ceiling? Three meters? Three and a half?- The knight laughed at my surprise.

"Shit. Don't surprise me like that. Hop normally! Now hop like that back to where ever you came here from!"

Without a note of hesitation she flies out of the room in one strong jump and disappears from our line of sight.

"Let's go. I have to tell everyone about this." I speak and walk out the door before the knight has a chance to complain. I get a glimpse of her right before she rounds a corner.

"She's a hare."

"Huh?"

The gathering hall we were walking through was empty now. The magic light that shone over the throne was gone.

"That thing, it wasn't a rabbit but a hare. A battle hare. You'd be wise to learn how to distinguish them apart."

"And how would that be?" I'm genuinely interested.  

"If it's out on the battlefield..." he paused, "it's a hare and you should beware."

"Hilarious!" I say sarcastically as the man laughs at his own joke. "Any other proverbs I should know?"

"Yeah..." He sighs in annoyance at my lack of humor. "A lot of them actually," he mutters.

We continue to walk from one long corridor to another. The surrounding walls are decorated better than any history museum could ever hope to accomplish. Furniture, paintings and statues of such exotic variety and number that there was no way of noticing everything without stopping.

However, as the two men continued walking, the number and splendor of the decorations became smaller and smaller while the number of people grew larger and larger.

Most didn't pay them too much attention, as one was a simple knight and the other was no longer wearing a black raincoat but a set of clothes similar to the rest of the crowd.

"Okay. Okay. I get it." I stop and wave my hand sharply. "I'm impressed by their reputation! Can you please get to the point already?"

The knight stops as well. He looks around and sees that people are looking at them.

Angrily he pokes me in the chest with his gloved finger.

"Impressed? Did you hear nothing from what I just told you?!" He pokes my chest again. "You won't have time to be impressed when they fall down from the sky, right in the middle of your camp, killing everyone you know before you even think to look at their ears!" Spit sprayed as he tried not to yell.

"And if by some chance you don't piss your pants, and manage to survive long enough to actually notice that their ears are longer than their head, you can die knowing it was a battle hare that killed you! Your friends! And your family!" He grabbed my grey shirt in a fist and pulled me close.

"And even if it is you, Sir. Hero, I suggest you run as fast as you can instead of standing there all impressed. Because even if you do get strong enough to kill a hare, the rest of her tribe will be upon you to make sure you're impressed to death."

Our faces were close enough for me to see the yellow of his crooked teeth and smell his bad breath.

-'Fuck!!!'- My hand tightens into a fist. -'I want to punch him so badly!!'-

My bad habit rises to the surface and I struggle for a moment to get it under control.

-'What's the worst outcome?- I look him up and down again as I breathe in deeply. -'He's obviously a trained soldier... so am I, but I don't have a gun.'- I take a step back. -'I don't know enough about their level of close combat and there's also the whole magic factor that's a mystery...'-

"I apologize." -'This will have to wait...'- "I didn't mean to offend. I've also lost friends because of wars." I lower my head and fidget a bit to sell the act. "I'd slaughter them all if I could." I tense my fists again, this time on purpose.

-'Shit. I want to see if he's buying into it but I can't let him see my expression... it'll be a dead giveaway.'- so I stare at his feet and wait.

The knight takes a step back and his arms fall to his sides. The tension leaves his hands and he swallows a few times.

"How many?" the knight asks after a long pause.

-'Alright... one. Two. Three. Four.'-

"Too many." I look up, close my eyes and sigh.

"When?" he asks.

"The first... five years ago. The most recent, less than one. You?"

"Two months... in the first attack inside the barriers. Does it get easier?"

"Not when you remember it... but after a while you'll think of it less and less..." I try to fake a tear but only manage to gather some wetness in the corners of my eyes. -'Better than nothing...'-

"That's good. I don't want this feeling to go away." he spits in anger.

-'Ohh... I see now...'-

"I tried getting revenge once, you know," I say to him but he isn't looking at me anymore. He’s in his own world now. -'Nothing I'll say will reach him anyway now...'- "It didn't help... didn't bring my friends back and only got more people killed."

"Yeah, well... do you expect me to do nothing? To just let those hopping monstrosities go on hopping and killing others?"

"I don't... but if you kill one, another will try to avenge what you did and so on and so on. The circle has to be broken. Either you kill no one... or you kill everyone. Those are the only good long-term options you have..."

"Good thing you're here then." He reaches and slaps me on the back of my shoulder. "You were summoned to win the war and not killing anyone is impossible if you plan to survive on the battlefield."

"Good thing I'm not planning on going anywhere near one then." I slap the back of his shoulder in return.

Silently the two men stare at each other. Both look surprised and confused.

"You heard the princess... I don't have to fight if I don't want to." The less confused and surprised man said. "I know too well that you are never safe as long as you are on the front lines. And if your magic resembles anything even remotely close to the weapons we have in my world, then everywhere is part of the frontlines."

The other man fixes his armor, adjusts his grip on the helmet placed on his hip and breathes in deeply.

"Two months ago... I'd have called you a bunch of names for saying this. But not today. Let's go," he starts walking, slower and with less pose this time. "I'd love to do the same. Just grab what little I own and head north as far as the settlements progressed. Just live my life and hope I'll die of old age and not by some beast."

"But you won't." -Not until you get your revenge or whatever else your irrationality is making you think you "must" do.-

"No, I won't." He looks around and slows down even more. "I have no one left to live for. So I will fight this war and try to make as many of them feel what they have made me feel."

"I'd tell you to live for yourself but it won't change anything... so instead why don't you tell me what happens if you survive this war? What then?"

"Then... then I..." he lowers his head and thinks for a moment "I don't know... and honestly, it doesn't even matter."

"Of course it does. That's what matters most. The thing you don't know yet is the thing you are supposed to be fighting for. That thing is what will m"

"You misunderstand." he interrupts. "You assume I think of surviving this war... which I don't. We are losing. Badly."

"Isn't that why you’ve summoned us here for? To change the tide?"

"It is." He looks at me for the first time since we started walking again. "And you will. If the expectations held for you come true then eventually you will become an unstoppable force. If my understanding of the difference between us and you is correct... then even one of you might be enough to win this. Let alone fifty."

"So where's the catch?"

"No catch... just bad timing. Even though your potential is unlimited, the time you have isn't."

"It's that bad?"

"You were correct to yell out at the princess's words. You will get strong in a month... you'll see for yourself in a moment why and how. Your future comrades are whispered to as we speak. But it's too late."

-Whispered to?-

"The winner has been decided. We’ve lost. We lost the moment the barriers fell. Without it, we fight when and where they choose... and they won't wait for long."

As we stepped into the building that I was led to, I felt cold.

My new companions were crowded in front of a large stone altar.

-Looks like a bunch of stones thrown together…-

Hundreds of bowls decorated the inside of the building. Glancing inside them at random, as we walked to join the rest, each seemed to contain a different item or substance. A line was starting to form.

The soldier who guided me left to join his comrades who were standing outside.