Various maps and plans were strewn all about Azemar’s office, he had stayed up most of the night working away, trying to find the best strategy to defeat the invaders. At least he had the geographical advantage, the enemy would not know too much of the surrounding terrain while he and his men would, especially the adventurers. They would be his scout force for they would be near useless upon the battlefield. But where was the general now? He was currently dozing away in his armchair, having decided that it would be best to rest and confident in the fact that no one would search for him first thing in the morning.
He was right, as he often was and was able to get three hours of shuteye, although he woke precisely when one and a half hours had passed. It was habit back in his soldiering days, he had been in a squad of five and he had second watch. So he had an hour and a half of sleep before he was woken to keep watch and then he had the rest of the night off. Of course, old habits die hard so he didn’t really bother to get out of it. Besides, it was rather useful for sneaking in quick naps during the day when he knew that no one would search for him for two hours. But on the third hour, there was knocking at his door and he immediately woke up, grabbing the hilt of the dagger that he kept at his waist.
He opened an eye just a crack, keeping his breathing steady, if it was an enemy, he wanted them to feel safe so they would let the guard down. But of course, it was just Aldis, there to report that his personal unit had been assembled and ready to move out. He then “woke up”,straightened his uniform and stretched for a few moments before leaving, Aldis following by his side. After walking down the halls that he knew so well, he ended up outside. There he had his and Aldis’s horses called, riding towards the temporary army camp that was just a few miles from the city.
He didn’t bring his plans with him for he had already memorized the ones that he was going to use as well as a few other backups to compensate for unknown variables. One has a habit of memorizing stuff to push out other memories, of course, the most horrific always remain, no matter how much you stuff into your head. But he soon arrived at the camp where he was greeted by soldiers of his personal unit. He knew them all by name and often returned the greeting with their names when they said hello.
But to each one he met he also told them to tell others to gather in the field beyond the camp, he had to make a speech. Once all eight hundred had been called together, he took a breath and announced,
“As you all should know, we are at war with Seris and they have struck the first blow. Their invasion force has already taken Greenhill Fort and they have besieged Iredale which is expected to fall before we can arrive.”
He paused, allowing the men to gossip before he began again, “But I promise you that they shall not go any further. An army of five thousand has been mobilized to answer this threat and two days from now, we march to meet the enemy! I will be depending on you as you are elites of elites, otherwise you would not be in my personal army. We have a reputation to uphold and I trust you not to fail me!”
He stopped and smiled as he heard all of them shout in unison, “We will not betray your trust!”
He grinned, “That’s good, cuz an old man like me can’t possibly take on ten thousand men! Of course, that number has been lessened as they must hold Greenhill fort and more if they take Iredale so the odds will be likely even! We will also be expecting reinforcements two months from now so let’s do our best to kick the fucking Serisans out of our country!”
He was met with roars of approval and cheering. He continued to grin, he knew that when all hope was lost, he could still depend on these guys. He then dismissed them and headed towards his tent, seeing out of the corner of his eye a moving shadow. Normally this wouldn’t be strange but there was nothing near it that could possibly produce a shadow like that, a perfectly circular shadow which seemed to move away every time he tried to look at it directly. This of course was Ieros’s observer, sent to watch Azemar in particular as Ieros had witnessed his strategic genius.
This observer, unlike the shadows would be able to record everything for later use as though Ieros could see all, he could not remember all. If he were to abandon his focus and simply become omniscient, his mind, being a fragment would not be able to hold all that information. He deploys observers that record memories for him so that he could later add them to his mind. Of course, all that he sees in his body would also be incorporated into his mind which is why he has such an extensive amount of information about Ieros’s life as well as those that he and his predecessors had impersonated.
Eventually, Azemar gave up on trying to get a good look at the black sphere and just ignored it, heading to his tent to rest. He smiled with nostalgia at the sight of a simple cot and a grass floor, he remembered the first time he saw it, claiming that no one could survive on so little. But here he was, actually preferring it to his city life. In fact, he had never touched his bed after laying on it the first time, it was too damn soft, it felt like he was sinking. He always either slept in his chair or on the ground and he didn’t give a damn about what others thought of him. In fact, most of the other generals shared his sentiments, they’d share funny stories of when they were sleeping on the floor and rolled into a wall etc etc.
He smiled as he remembered those good old times and then he found his chest, sitting off where it usually was, directly opposite of his cot. He opened it up, his old soldiering armor still inside. He had been adamant of using the same set of armor no matter what, the plainest out of all the generals and yet he always got the most results. But obviously, that couldn’t happen, armor no matter how much it is fixed will always break. So he got the same design of armor but it was obviously of higher quality, though it didn’t show in the colors.
It was the same dull grey steel with blue paint but the steel was reinforced with magic to give it extraordinary strength. It was the same with his sword, though he did have to give up the old one as it had shattered many battles ago. His new one was just as plain but of course, given the same treatment as his armor. It was sharper than regular blades and far stronger too and he didn’t have to sharpen it either. It could still break in battle but there will always be another one, the main reason why magic swords were so expensive is the craftsmanship, such as jewels or a unique hilt, but he got his rather cheap because he didn’t choose useless decorations.
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Ieros meanwhile continued to watch the progress of the enemy army which had left two thousand soldiers at Greenhill Fort, just as Azemar had predicted. And Iredale was on the verge of defeat, although it managed to stall the enemy and kill or wound three hundred enemy soldiers. That left seven thousand and seven hundred soldiers left to fight vs the five thousand, eight hundred and twenty atheran soldiers. But minus the other two thousand serisian soldiers that would be deployed in Iredale would put the two armies on equal level.
But of course, the atheran forces would have to rely upon reinforcements to take back Iredale and Greenhill fort, Seris would still be able to continue their invasion if they still had Greenhill. But of course, this wasn’t the only invasion force, there was another one that was steadily making its way to the Hollowed Pass, avoiding towns and cities to keep the element of surprise. Ieros smiled, he decided to limit himself to only his troops to defend the pass, after all, he wanted to see how things would play out. He didn’t make a strategy, after all he couldn’t really make a viable strategy with only a thousand troops against the ten thousand that was approaching.
Of course, this ten thousand wasn’t of Seris but of another nation, the Vimaris Dynasty. It was a country whose leaders had been of the same family since the day of its founding by Vimaris the Great. They were also rather morally depraved, making them the enemies of the Luxian Theocracy. If word of this was to get out, the Luxian Theocracy would take action but as always, Ieros kept silent of his findings. He didn’t want to deal with the Luxian priests if possible.
He wondered if he should meet the army now but thought it better to wait until they reached the pass. They hadn’t made any mistakes so far and it was highly unlikely that they would suddenly slip up and reveal their presence. He would wait until they reached the pass and destroy them all. Perhaps he would also glean information of Vimaris from their minds and pay its king a visit, after all, it would be a valuable learning experience. But right now, it did not have the time so it merely waited, simply observing all with the omniscient eyes of Darkness.
Under his watchful eyes, he saw the army of Vimaris get ever closer to the Hollowed Pass while the serisian troops had finally taken Iredale and were busy recuperating from the battle. He also saw as the five thousand troops of Athera were assembled over the next two days, after which it finally began to move. Ieros prepared to memorize every last detail of this battle, creating eleven thousand and five hundred and twenty observers, one for each soldier that would be participating in the battle.
He would see the battle from each of their perspectives, from the cowardliest to the bravest, from the expendables to the generals. He would see it all and carefully analyze every moment, every emotion that each human felt as they fought for their lives. The observers made their way to their selected hosts, recording every moment of their lives as they marched to battle.
One such observer followed a young soldier, no more than a boy really, fifteen years of age. Of course, his age was normal among the new recruits, though most would either die or be permanently disabled in the battles to come. Perhaps it is morally terrible but it is necessary, not just from a human’s societal point but as a natural one. War was Nature’s other way to keep the population of humans stable, other than its diseases and predators. War was natural selection at work, leaving the strong or the smart to survive while the weakest and the unintelligent are weeded out.
Ieros already knew of this, which was why it was so wary of emotions. For emotions were the sole cause of conflict, for there would be no conflict if one could not feel love, envy or jealousy. If all was logical, just like Darkness, then all would work like clockwork. But of course, as End said, emotions provided much needed spice. Of course, Darkness did not cared in the slightest, it just saw it as necessary for mortals so that they led lives of relative peace, though it of course judged that it did not need it.
Of course, this may be because it had been affected by the belief of the mortals but that too is uncertain. Perhaps it has just always been this way, a being that lacked emotions, was omniscient and omnipotent. But… perhaps it was needed that such a being was emotionless, for if it was at the whim of every emotion, its power would tear itself apart. Of course, if it did have a past before becoming Darkness, it must have chosen to give up what humans call one’s humanity because it knew this truth. It gave up its emotions, what made it a mortal, once it achieved apex of what any being could do. Perhaps that was why it slumbered, so that it would not be infected by emotions and not only to keep out End.
Speaking of End, she waited, encased within the flesh of Darkness, separated from her clone and the Universe. She, unlike her clone, had more control of her emotions, eons of being ignored has a way of doing that to someone. But then she felt a presence, one of the nine original fragments that Darkness had made before he slumbered the first time. It’s name was the Obscurer, its mission to obscure any information about Darkness, such as its past before Creation and Time. Only it and Darkness knew of such information, not even the other eight fragments knew.
She manifested a form, exact in appearance to her clone, in which to meet the Obscurer who created a room, a table and two chairs. The fragment took a seat, a dark humanoid cloud while she took her own seat, although it wasn’t destroyed by her power. That was because the power of the Obscurer suppressed hers, even though it was a fragment, it had been given a lesser limitation on its power compared to its kin. It was the most powerful of all its kin, it needed to be in case a fellow fragment came to know knowledge that it shouldn’t.
There was silence between the two until she broke the silence, “What is it you want?”
The Obscurer replied, “I have come to ask something.”
She leaned in, mildly interested, “Go on.”
The Obscurer said, “How do you destroy a memory?”
She leaned backwards and then chuckled, “Destroy a memory? I thought you were the Obscurer.”
It replied, “I can only hide or take memories but there is one memory that is too dangerous to be left hidden. It must be erased from the target’s mind. As I lack knowledge on how to erase a memory, I have come to you.”
Her face grew solemn and she said, “Well, you could always destroy the person.”
It shook its head and she continued, “Well, in order to fully erase a memory, killing is the only way. Either the person must forget it on his own or it is hidden from him. It is unfortunate but I am afraid that there is no way to destroy a memory, for you at least.”
It said, “But you can.”
She nodded and smiled, “If you could…”
It refused, “I will not disobey Darkness. Thank you for your cooperation. I will be taking my leave now.”
It stood and faded from existence, the room disintegrating as the Obscurer’s power stopped suppressing End’s. She sighed and dissipated her form, returning to a mass a destructive power. But still, she wondered, just what was the memory that even the Obscurer was afraid of?