Prologue.

"How did we get here?"

"After all, are we still not able to escape?"

"Even with all the effort and struggle? After all the losses and pain? After we gave all we had?"

"Was not enough the destruction we spread along the way? Can’t I have peace to pick up the pieces I left behind? Haven’t I already given too much for nothing?"

"And, still, there is no light? Only more pain? More losses? More of this unbearable suffering?"

"How did we get here?"

"Was it my fault? One wrong turn I took along the way?"

-How did we get here?

-Don’t you remember? – A low pitch voice comes from the shadows in the cell.

-What are you talking about? – Asks Arthur, trying to distinguish the big figure from the shadows.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

-Don’t you remember how we got here?

-Of course, I do. – Arthur’s is tired. He looks up and see the small crack in the wall. The light that comes from there is not comforting. It only accentuates the darkness.

Silence. And two prisoners left alone, locked in a dungeon cell.

A man and a voice coming through the shadows.

-It seems you forgot that you would not be here if you had chosen any other path.

-That’s exactly what bothers me. – His brows frown. – I could have chosen any path. It’s almost funny. I treated freedom as if it were guaranteed. I should have learned this lesson at the beginning.

-And now do you regret your choices?

The question echoes through the empty corridors. It echoes in puddles of dirty water from neighboring cells. It shakes memories in Arthur’s mind.

-How could I? – His voice breaks. – How could I have lived any other life?

-That is what your eyes refuse to see. – The body comes out of the shadow. His big figure stands in the light for a moment and one great gray-skinned ogre with eyes as black as the night opens his mouth. – It is what your mind has understood, but your heart refuses to believe.

-And what is that? What should I have done? Should I have left them to suffer? To die?

-Eventually, everyone dies.

-And what would have happened then? What type of life would I have lived?

-Do you think that the life you lived was something to be proud of? Make no mistake, human. If you are here, with me, it is not because you made the right decisions.

-And is that it? Is that what you gain for protecting? For loving? And then what? Am I going to die from starvation or eaten by an ogre?

-Eventually, everyone dies. You, at least, had an opportunity to fight for something. You should be grateful.

-Oh, yes. Of course. Gratitude. That is exactly what I feel right now.

Arthur – the “Destroyer” – and Graer Maetar – former leader of the Ogres.