The two great armies of orcs marched under the respective commands of Yargul and the Trident Lord, each intent on pushing through the orc commander’s blockade. Time was running out for the Skull Lord and both knew that if they wanted to survive this war, they needed him to be alive. For Yargul, as powerful as he was, was still only one orc, one orc against millions of other orcs. And no orc, no matter how powerful, managed to fight an orcish horde. Survive one, yes, but to actually fight against it, to emerge victoriously, that was a feat that no orc had ever achieved and would never achieve.
Not even the great orcs of the past had managed this great feat, back when almost all of Orckind were embroiled in an eternal civil war until the birth of the First Orc King. It was a time of constant warfare, lives being taken at rates so high and orcish females birthing babies at a rate even higher. In this environment that lasted for countless millennia, the orcs could only evolve, creating the great orcs of today, although granted it seemed that the orcs were de-evolving from their warrior ways as weaker and weaker orcs began to breed and produce children.
For nothing is without a price, peace can bring advancements in culture and society but at the cost of evolution. Peace is like a dam that a river encounters, the water beginning to grow and stagnate until one of two things happen, the water either flows over the dam or the dam breaks. The “dam” in orcish society is fairly porous right now, nothing more than a fence across a river, the water easily pouring through. But the gaps in the fence are getting progressively smaller and smaller and the water buildup larger and larger.
Soon, stagnation will occur and when that happened, the Surveyor was curious as to what would happen. Of course, it had already made predictions, it was likely Orckind will return to another civil war but then again, it could not. Orckind could’ve progressed to a point beyond such things and instead have managed to find a different solution to stagnation, one that the Surveyor had yet to see in the world of humans. It was certainly possible, orcs were different from humans and would most likely create an entirely different solution to the ones humans made.
However this was all theoretical, to see what would come to pass, it would have to wait and watch. It did hope that, if anything, the orcs would make this interesting. Repetition of data was only useless clutter after all. Speaking of repeating data, it looked to Erwin Rommel, it was rather disappointed with him. So far, the only data it had collected was of how this human underestimated orcs over and over and how spectacularly his failures ended. Hmm, hopefull, however, the magnitude of this failure would serve as a catalyst to spark Erwin’s resolve. From what memories it had received from him, it knew that Erwin was a very capable military leader. One who knew when to press the attack. Of course, it understood that things were different on Earth, information about the enemy could be procured far more easily than in the relative primitive means of Agleon. But, Erwin proved to be an adaptable fellow and surely, the Surveyor thought, he would be able to adapt to this sort of situation. Well, he had no choice in the matter, he would have to make things interesting, otherwise, the Surveyor might as well focus on more important matters.
Speaking of which, the person in question was heading towards his Library right now, searching for guidance. The Surveyor temporarily tore its focus away from the battle and told its Custodians to refuse him access, it felt that it had already provided the means in which Erwin was to win this war, perhaps only the bare minimum but they are still means all the same. If Erwin was unable to utilize these means, then it couldn’t help him in any reasonable fashion.
It returned its attention to Yargul and could only hope that Erwin would come under some sort of enlightenment. And as Yargul’s army marched towards the the blockade, Erwin was helplessly standing before an unmoving Custodian.
Erwin asked, “I wish to see the Librarian, may I have passage?”
The Custodian replied, “The Librarian says he has already provided you with all the means in which to help the humans win back Occasus, if you do not see the answer then you are not worthy helping.”
Erwin demanded, “How am I supposed to conquer the orcs with a weak army and nothing but a tank?! I... I am helpless.”
The Custodian answered, “If that is what you think then the Librarian cannot help you. Go now, you waste valuable time.”
Having been refused access to the Library, Erwin could only return, wondering just what the Custodian meant. The means? He only had an army that was in no fighting condition, a tank that was useless against literally millions of orcs, and... him. And somehow, all this was supposed to mix together in a way that would triumph over the orcs. Out of anger and frustration, he slammed his fist into the side of his tank, unsure of as to how to proceed. The people needed him but he couldn’t give them the help they needed, their looks of hope were trained on a person who couldn’t fulfil their wish.
After all, how would he even be trusted with an army with his failure. Without an army to command, he might as well just give up right then and there. For as weak as the army of the Alliance was, it was still an army and having one was better than having none. Damn, he found himself longing after liquor now, although that would most likely destroy any chance for him to command the army of the Alliance. He sighed and got back in his tank, surprised to see the kids that he had left in there, they had been so quiet that he had forgotten that they were in there with him.
He sighed again and put on a weary smile, “Well kids... this is your new home, the last refuge of the Alliance.”
They slowly got out, one by one, each standing on the tank and looking out over Otium, seeing the pristine buildings and the bustle of humans, especially other kids, kids who didn’t look like them.
Putting on his military cap, Erwin said, “Hold on.”
The kids did so and he directed the tank to move the nearest orphanage, intending to drop them off. After all, he couldn’t care for them, he was a soldier and a soldier’s duty was on the battlefield. Although this time, it seemed that he would be the only soldier to go out to battle. After dropping them off, he started up the tank and proceeded to head to the Council, where he was dreading his report. He soon reached the current residence of the Council, a grey building of stone like any other, although the buildings around it were noticeably uninhabited.
The only sign of life that could be seen were the two guards that stood outside the door, the two bowing to him with respect, looks that made Erwin’s stomach turn with guilt as he knew that those looks were undeserving. He finally stood before the Council who all looked down on him, their benign smiles soon going to turn into disappointed looks and anger. Erwin didn’t decide to beat around the bush and just decided to be blunt.
“I... I am the only survivor of the army you sent out. We delved deep into orcish territory to free the slaves of weakened orc clans but we soon found ourselves surrounded by four orcish armies. There were simply too many of them, I could only save the children of the slaves while the rest... I had to leave them behind.”
He saw their smiles freeze and he just bowed his head, prepared to receive whatever punishment was necessary. His sense of shame was arguably punishment enough but there needed to be physical punishment as well, otherwise, Erwin wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. Even if his sentence was death, he wouldn’t object, his failure was just too great.
“How could you allow this to happen!?” the Eleventh Elder demanded, “How did you lose our army!?”
Before Erwin could reply, the Fifth Elder interjected, “We put our faith in you, we thought we could trust you! How dare you fail us!?”
The Elders, one after the other, began to accuse Erwin and curse him, Erwin saying nothing and just accepting it all. After all, they were right, he was supposed to be their savior and yet he failed them.
The Elders finally stopped asking shaming and berating him, discussing amongst themselves on how to solve this matter.
The Fourth Elder said, “The question is now, how are we to deal with him? His failure cannot go unpunished.”
The Fifth Elder agreed, “Yes, I say that he be executed!”
The Ninth Elder disagreed, “No, even though he failed, we still need him. He is still the Hero that Light gave us, we shouldn’t be so quick to denounce him.”
The Fifth Elder retorted, “We don’t need this Hero if he cannot do a Hero’s work. Kill him I say and let Light choose another!”
The Eleventh Elder stood up, “I side with the Fifth on this, he is to be killed!”
The Eighth Elder spoke this time, “Fifth and Eleventh Elders, we do not know how or why Light chose him and we also don’t know how soon Light will choose another champion. If he dies now, we may be left bereft of a suitable champion for an unknown period of time. That is a risk that I don’t think we should take. Even though he failed, he is still Light’s champion.”
The Twelfth Elder spoke, “I concur with the Eighth Elder, he still is of use to us.”
The seven other Elders agreed with the Eighth and Ninth Elders, thus allowing Erwin to live by popular vote. But the next course of action was his punishment, the Fifth Elder unafraid to make it one which would humiliate Erwin.
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“He should have a public whipping, fifty lashes I’d say.”
“Nay, a hundred.” the Eleventh said.
Once more the Eighth Elder disagreed, “That would render him unfit for duty and from his report, there is a great orcish presence in the coast. That may mean an attack on us and the absence of the Hero will hurt the morale of the soldiers.”
The Third Elder agreed, “Yes, a different sort of punishment is required.”
The Fifth Elder shouted irritably, “Then what!? How are we to punish him!?”
There was silence following his question to which the Fifth snorted.
“So, it seems that the only course of action is mine. I say that we-”
The First Elder said tiredly, “Fifth Elder, please do not be so hasty.”
“Well there is no other course for action, we might as well take it!” the Fifth Elder insisted.
The Eleventh Elder spoke up, “Yes, his failure cannot go unpunished.”
The First Elder sighed, “Is that not because there has not been enough time to think of one?”
The Fifth was about to speak but the Twelfth Elder said, “Be silent for now Fifth Elder, your prattle only impedes the decision of the Council.”
The Fifth Elder bristled.
“My prattle? Why you-”
“Elders, arguing will not get the Council to reach a decision. Calm yourselves.” the Fourth Elder spoke.
He stared meaningfully at the Fifth, letting it be known that although he had spoken to both, his words were meant for the Fifth. With peace restored to the Council, the Elders began to discuss just what Erwin’s punishment was going to be. Various ideas were thrown around, some like the Fifth’s involving corporal punishment, others were stripping him of his status in the military, and some suggesting that he should be sent to the frontlines and not to return.
It was eventually this last option that was decided upon several hours later, the First Elder delivering this conclusion to Erwin.
“You are to be exiled to the frontlines until the war is either won or lost, you cannot return to the cities of the Alliances, both here and the ones made on land. You will fight on without rest until your death.”
The First Elder sat back down, sighing because this was over and because there was still the matter of informing the public on the loss of one of their armies.
Waving his hand dismissively, he said,“You have your orders Erwin, go and do not return until you have won Occasus.”
Erwin saluted, “I shall not return here until Occasus is the Alliance’s once more.”
—THE SURVEYOR—
Curious...
Most curious...
Strange...
What is this?
Battle here...
Not too important...
Yes, study later...
Focus needed elsewhere...
Mysterious...
Another rift?
No, not rift...
Death there...
Anomaly...
Investigate...
Fascinating...
How does it work?
Hmm...
Oh?
Most peculiar...
What is this?
Pain...
Much pain...
Why?
How hurt?
They commence...
Indeed...
Should I?
Observe later...
Birth...
Child...
Interesting...
Interfere?
No...
No need to...
New Emperor?
Examine later...
Yes...
Agreed...
Skull Lord...
Defeat imminent...
No matter...
Yargul more important...
Quite true...
Many others...
But Yargul unique...
Precisely...
Battle start...
Must watch...
Must remember...
Not quite a symphony nor a cacophony, an organized chaos of thoughts of a singular being which acted as individuals. To be rather loosely described by mortals as ‘multi-tasking’ except on a much different scale. Indeed, the thoughts of the Surveyor are things that cannot be fully described by the constraints of mortal language. They are independent of one another and yet cannot really be called individuals for they were, in the end, still the Surveyor’s mind.
Each and every one of them was the Surveyor, sort of like a scientist who managed to create a time machine and used it to bring multiple versions of himself from other timelines into a single one. They are all the same person and yet are capable of independent thought. But not even this description is perfect, for not even those scientists are capable of knowing what exactly is going on in each other’s minds. Sure they have a pretty good idea but they don’t know for sure.
Another description, perhaps more closer to fully encompassing the concept of the Surveyor’s mind would be if you were to imagine two versions of yourself and pick a topic to argue about, one version of you picking one side and the other picking the opposite. Then you’d imagine yourself having an argument with yourself, you already know each other’s, well, your arguments and the counter-arguments to those arguments. This is what the Surveyor does but on a far greater scale, involving hundreds if not thousands of versions of himself. All of his selves are simultaneously debating, agreeing, questioning, answering, wondering, and researching.
And currently, it was doing so to oversee Occasus, Otium, and Ortus at the same time, although the majority of its selves were focused on Occasus, awaiting the battle that Yargul would soon be embroiled in while keeping tabs on the Skull Lord’s own battle. But it couldn’t really forget the subject that it had chosen in Ortus nor could it ignore the situation in Otium, after all, Otium was the last stronghold of humans and elves, they were an experiment still worthy studying until their eventual end.
But, despite the great number of its selves which were busy working, there remained just two which wasn’t doing any of that. Instead, one of them was stationed in Agleon’s orbit, mainly on the moon but it could intervene anywhere around Agleon. This was necessary to intercept any asteroids heading for Agleon. The Surveyor hadn’t planned for this originally but after its trip in space and seeing the asteroids that were flying about at speeds which would wreak havoc with its experiment on Agleon, it decided it best to position a sentinel which would deal with said asteroid before it ever reached Agleon’s orbit.
It could deal with the asteroid without a sentinel but it was to avoid unnecessary tampering with the experiment, for example, the eating of a massive shooting star. Such a thing would heavily affect the minds of the mortals below, taking it to be some sort of ominous omen. No, the asteroid had to be dealt with out in space, so that none of the mortals see it. That way they could live out their lives without the heavy knowledge that they had just avoided their deaths, their ignorance meaning an untainted experiment.
As the second self, the second remained within the Library, keeping up the persona of the Librarian. After all, the Library—its store of information—could not be left unattended. Sure there were the golems but they were only active because the Librarian was there, the golems were all its instruments, its tools to care for the Library. But it was currently being distracted from its task, that distraction being Silren.
After having a nice conversation about a particular event in history, Silren—for the thousandth time—asked, “Could you join me and my family for dinner?”
And for the thousandth time, the Librarian refused, “No, I cannot leave the Library unattended.”
She protested, “But you have the golems, why can’t they watch it for you?”
The Librarian replied, “They are merely caretakers, the Library still needs me to add knowledge to it.”
“Can’t that wait? Please uncle, my sister has been itching to meet you but I can’t take her with me because of the ring’s limitation.” Silren cajoled.
The Librarian paused, yes, she did have a sister. It didn’t possess too much information on her, only the gender of the child and her age, it didn’t even know her name. Perhaps this dinner wouldn’t be too much of a waste, although it guessed it would have to be a bit more sociable.
So with this final consideration, it said to Silren, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to attend today. Yes... I’m not particularly busy at the moment. Okay Silren, let’s go to your home.”