I prepared my forces for combat, my three heroes leading an army of two thousand each. We were going to crush the enemy with pure force. After all, from what I saw, there didn’t appear to be any heroes in this army except for maybe the general and his bodyguards. They must have been elites, to be guards of the general but no matter how elite they were, my heroes would be greater, for they were veterans of many battles and the three of them combined even slew a dragon. No matter how powerful this general was, he could not be as powerful as a dragon.

But my thoughts were interrupted when Azer, one of my heroes, came to report that the enemy was on the move. I hurried outside and with a magnifying crystal, I focused on the movement of the enemy, seeing two forces of a thousand, each lead by a black armored warrior, one of his bodyguards I presumed. But a ways back, I saw another black warrior, although this one appeared to be of higher rank, his black armor accented by silver inlay. It appears that I was wrong and that there was indeed one hero, although it was only one.

But something about that man was off, he was too still, almost like a statue. Now that I thought about it, other than moving into position, the soldiers didn’t move or gossip, as if they were mere dolls played by the puppeteer that was the general. I once again had a shiver make its way down my spine, this… this wasn’t right. But I pushed such fears aside, fear would only cloud the judgement. But I was interested in this battle and decided to watch it for myself, taking the example of my enemy and setting up a tent on the mountainside that had a good view of the battlefield. On the opposite side, I saw the white blob that was the enemy hq with a person clad in black just in front, appearing to be seated. By use of the magnifying crystal, I saw him, for it was a man although his features were hidden from sight by the shadows from his hood. He, as said by the scouts, was seated on a simple black throne. But as if he noticed me seeing him, he looked in my direction. He stared for a moment before looking back at the battlefield, raising his left arm and slicing downward.

Upon his signal, his army began to march forward, ready to meet my forces. I was confident that my forces would be able to defeat his flanks and then close in on his main force, thus crushing him. From there I would join in with my main force and crush the garrison defenders. This battle would be mine and I would have him kneel before me, this man who created the perfect soldier.

But I pushed such thoughts out of my head, there was a battle to oversee. I had given my heroes orders and they knew what to do, now all I had to do was to wait. After what seemed to be an eternity, the armies finally met and the music of battle greeted my ears, although, quieter than what I was used to. Now that I was actually close enough to hear the battle, I only heard the clash of metal and not many screams. With my magnifying crystal, I saw that the enemy soldiers struck with quick precision, each of their strikes fatal and thus not leaving enough time for my soldiers to scream.

They never made a mistake with their strikes, although my men only were able to scream when they weren’t able to block properly, deflecting the strike to a nonfatal area. But their cries were swiftly silenced as another soldier killed them. Now that I saw these “perfect” soldiers, I saw how they worked together in perfect synergy, each one having his part and playing it flawlessly. I then focused my attention on one of my heroes, Azer who was fighting one of the black warriors. I expected Azer to easily defeat him but was surprised when he was having trouble. The warrior was able to deflect his strikes with ease, retaliating with quick, swift blows that were calculated and precise.

The warrior moved fluidly, never stopping once. Even when Azer retreated to take a break, the warrior did not stop, instead moving at a medium pace to meet Azer who had no choice but to fight again. My plan was falling apart, the main force, led by that high warrior had already begun to surround my second force, the warrior practically toying with Avelina, one of my most trusted retainers and the second most powerful hero in all of Vimaris. But it seems that he wasn’t ordered to kill her, for it only distracted her as his forces whittled away at Avelina’s men.

Invaris was in similar shape as Azer, held down by the black warrior and his men unable to defeat the enemy. I could not stand by any longer so I decided to join the battle myself, assembling the remaining three thousand men and charging to reinforce my troops. Those black warriors, they were truly something, they were able to hold back my heroes with ease. Were they trained by the general too? No, now is not the time to be thinking, now is the time for action. I must win this battle, I must defeat him!

With my elite unit of a thousand men with two thousand regulars, I charged towards the enemy main force, sending five hundred men each to aid Azer and Invaris. The remaining two thousand and I reinforced Avelina. I join her in her battle with the high warrior who easily adapted to the two of us, blocking with ease as he took turns attacking the two of us. I expected some of his soldiers to help but they didn’t, instead focusing down on our soldiers and keeping them from reinforcing us.

Knowing this, Avelina and I began to attack with new ferocity, seeking to defeat him so that we could turn the tide of the battle but our efforts weren’t enough. Time passed and finally, we were too tired to fight on, barely able to stand on our feet. Our men had been driven far back and we had been surrounded by the enemy. A quick look to our flanks showed that Azer and Invaris were in the same situation, we had been defeated. As I waited for death, the high warrior stepped to the side, a strange door appearing in his place. Within was absolute darkness and the sight of absolute black was strangely hypnotizing.

Then out of that darkness came a figure in black and silver robes, his face hidden by shadows. It was the enemy general, the man who had created the perfect army. I wondered what he was going to do, take me prisoner, kill me? I then cursed inwardly, I had been too confident. Suddenly, Avelina charged towards the general but the high warrior intercepted her attack, doing nothing else as she fell to the ground, too exhausted to move. The general looked at her and then with a wave of his hand, two soldiers picked her up and dragged her back to my side.

I took a good look at them and saw lifeless eyes, these were mere dolls, not men. I should have trusted my fear and gave up on this campaign instead of foolishly believing that I was invincible. But, there was a part of me that was angry, angry that I had been defeated and roaring at me to fight. So, I grabbed my sword and attacked the general as well, a battlecry emerging from my lips. The high warrior made no move but the general did, raising a hand and black chains halting me in my movements. He then walked closer until he and I were face to face.

I glared back defiantly, I was the Princess of War, I would not surrender.

He then shook his head sadly and said, “How disappointing.”

He turned from me and I growled, “What the hell do you mean!?”

He stopped and turned, “Your pride blinded you and thus you lost. It is truly disappointing, I would have expected more from the Princess of War. You are still too naive in the art of war, you have rarely conquered armies and generals that are greater than you. Although, your strategy was brilliant, there aren’t many commanders that would have been able to defend against such an attack but it is too easily countered. If there is one to occupy your hero and an army disciplined enough to work together, your strategy would have been defeated. You also rushed, you should have allowed for time so that your mages could have unified their power. Truly disappointing, it seems I’ve expected far too much from you.”

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I was insulted but I also knew that there was nothing I could say in my defense. Everything that he said was true, I had been far too impatient. I cursed myself for my foolishness but then realized that even if I hadn’t been foolish, I would have been defeated anyways. I had severely underestimated my opponent and paid for it dearly. Death would be welcome at this point, I was a failure and if I was to return now, I would be shamed and kicked out of the family.

As I fell to my knees, falling into the depths of my despair, the general shook his head. I glared at him, hate bubbling and boiling. If he had only never been here, I would be a the greatest in all of Vimaris! The Conqueror of Athera! My name would have been sung in songs and myths for generations but that will never happen, all because of him!

He said in an empty voice, “You are blinded still. You focus on meaningless things. How can you be called the Princess of War if you only think of what happens after it?”

In that instant, my anger disappeared, once more his words had struck deep in my soul and brought for a sense of deep shame. It was true, I couldn’t be called the Princess of War, never had I actually put my mind into this battle, instead only looking beyond it. How foolish.

I chuckled with self-loathing, finally asking, “Who are you, mystery general?”

He looked down at me and said, “You will learn it once you have become worthy of learning.”

He then had his forces round up all my men and then before us he created five great doors, each leading off into empty black.

He turned to me and said, “Those gates will lead back to your nation. I have not been commanded to kill you so you are free to go.”

I was in disbelief, he was just going to let us go?

He saw the disbelief and said, “I have no gain in killing you. Think of it as a fisherman letting a small fish go. He is letting it mature so that either he or someone else could benefit more from catching it. If we are to fight again then I want it to be a challenge. For you to be a challenge you must mature, although how you will is up to you.”

I then laughed at myself, of course this was how one such as him would think. I was hardly even a challenge for him. It really wasn’t worth it for him to kill me and once again, I felt great shame. I should have been able to do better.

The shame bubbled up until I shouted, “Just kill me and be done with it! It is better that I die now rather than to suffer the shame and humiliation!”

He looked at me and said, “Then do it yourself. I don’t have orders to kill you, only to hold this pass until the war is over.”

He then turned his back and left through the first door, disappearing through it and the door fading out of existence. His army began to retreat to the garrison walls and I was filled with great shame, I hadn’t even been able to reach those walls. I then looked to the dagger at my side and drew it, preparing to kill myself right then and there but Avelina stopped me,

“Princess, although it may be humiliating, we must accept his mercy and retreat. We must use the chance he gave us to grow stronger and get revenge.”

At her words, I realized that to kill myself was cowardly. Azemar would never have given up, if he were to lose and given the chance to survive, he would have taken it and defeated his enemy once he had grown stronger. I would do the same, I will. I will defeat this man, once I have become stronger. My determination rekindled, I vowed that I would defeat this man one day and then left through the gate, expecting disorientation but surprised to feel nothing. And true to his word, we were back home in vimarisian land. The rest of my army was here as well and with my loyal heroes, I braced myself for the return to the capital.

Ieros watched as Ilaris returned home. He had been disappointed, he hadn’t been able to gather as much data as he had liked and looked forward to the next encounter. He had picked to fruit too early, next time he would learn his lesson. With her gone he dismissed the army of flesh and had the shadows devour the corpses left by the battle, assimilating the dark matter produced. He didn’t disregard the possibility of another army coming so he kept his army of golems at the ready but as his presence was no longer needed here, he redirected his attention to the floating garden, seeing Rose dancing alone through the eyes of the Sentinel.

He was slightly worried, perhaps she had been alone for too long and it was beginning to affect her mind. He may have to let her out of the floating garden to mingle with others of her kind. But then again it would also be interesting to see how she would act once her mind was broken but it was better to act on the side of safety. If her mind was to break, that may result in her committing suicide or Magic abandoning her. Either option was undesirable so he decided to introduce her to society. Although, doing so may cause problems as she was naive.

He could always create another persona that would guide and teach her but that person may also gain sentience and just create more trouble. Finally he decided that he would have to introduce her to society and the presence of such a female would also keep those noble girls away. But he also remembered his oath to the king that he would not marry and he sighed, there was that solution to one problem gone. He supposed that she’d have to act as his sister which shouldn’t be too hard. Perhaps being kind to her every once in awhile wouldn’t hurt. But as he made preparations to save Rose’s sanity, Ilaris had just arrived at the gates of the Vimarisian Capital, Aeramore, the city guards surprised to see her return so soon.

I sat on the back of my horse, back straight as I headed toward the imperial palace to report of my defeat. I fully expected to be humiliated and have my title stripped away but I was prepared for it. I needed to start from the basics again, without the pressure of being the heiress. Luckily my magnifying crystal was not only a device which magnified objects with magic, it also recorded said magnifications. So I presented it as my evidence, of this man and the “perfect” army. Needless to say, the Imperial Family was shocked and worried about the presence of a man who possessed such disciplined soldiers as well as three warriors who could best our heroes.

But more worrying was the magic he casually displayed, creating five teleportation gates which by my testimony produced no ill effects whatsoever. This meant that this man could transport his army anywhere in a matter of moments, meaning that he was a force to be reckoned with. But by the lack of identifying marks on his army’s armor, it was safe to say that he was a mercenary leader. But seeing as he had only just appeared now, this would mean that he was going to stay and upset the power balance. We were all extremely worried but seeing as how he let me go, it was also unlikely that he would tell the Atherans of our presence in the war.

Speaking of which, we had to alert Seris that we were backing out of the war, saying that it was no longer worth it to continue. Hopefully this would be enough, although we would have earned the eternal enmity of the Serisian people. But our military is still powerful, even if I was just defeated by this mysterious man. But he is an exception, a man who took time in creating the perfect army. But the laws of Vimaris were absolute so my title was stripped away and I was no longer considered a candidate for the throne. But even though everything has gone to shit for me, I must thank him. He taught me just how naive I was but next time we meet, I will defeat him.

Ieros who still was connected with all of the observers saw this thought of hers and he nodded in satisfaction, he had made the right choice to let her go. This new determination would ensure that their next encounter would be a fruitful harvest.