Amon Marched into the training area, the moon was full and over head, no clouds insight, he stopped to take a breath, the maddening piece of paper held partially crumpled in his had, due to his bawled up fist, the training happened to be empty tonight, leaving Amon comfortable to display his discomfort by pacing back and forth,

‘i have to send a letter to the others, I need to warn...No, wait, I have to tell everyone here first, but do I have time to wake and gather everyone outside, that alone would take up the hour that he gave me to meet him, what is the right move here”, Amon said, holding a finger on his cheek tapping continuously, consumed by the scenarios running rampant in his mind he didn’t notice Yumi walking towards him, she gently placed her hand on his shoulder, he felt tense, he paused in his pacing when he felt the soft touch on his shoulder, he looked back to see Yumi, eating a slice of what he assumed was a Sapper orange. Amon gave Yumi a forced smile, sitting at one of the tables that were present in the training area,

“it’s late, so what’s got you up pacing back and forth”, Yumi asked taking a seat next to him, she took a slice off of the Sapper orange in her hands, the syrup like juice trickled very slowly down her fingers, “here, have a slice”, she said,

“That sweet tooth of yours, it’s no wonder you’re up so late”, Amon said, taking the orange slice out of her hand.

“nah, I’m up because I can’t sleep, not since I got back, this orange is just suffering the consequences of that”, Yumi said, wearing a strained smile on her face,

“At least some things never change, it’s a good thing you aren’t severely stressed out regularly, cause I don’t think there is a country out there that can supply you with that much food”, Amon said a small chuckle escaping his breath, before turning back to his serious expression,

“we are I a lot of trouble right now, Yumi”, Amon said, leaning back to stare at the moon,

“how so, as far as I know we are in the same amount of trouble that we were in since we started this rebellion”, Yumi said,

“eah, things just got a lot worse”, Amon said, holding up the crumpled paper for yumi to see, “here read it”,

Yumi took the paper from him, smoothing it out the best she could on the table, leaving a few sticky smudges on the corner of it, her eyes slowly read across each line until she reached the end,

“Aluric that sneaky bastard, I hope you weren’t really planning on meeting him alone, because that would be insane”, Yumi said slamming her sticky hand on the paper, she looked into Amon’s eyes, and even though he said nothing she had her answer,

“amon, are you crazy, even if you held up you’re end, I’m positive he would not hold up his, he is planning to kill you if you go alone”, yumi said,

“it’s possible, I would be an easy target for an ambush, that’s why before I do anything else, I need to know if krio is back yet ?”, Amon asked,

“yeah he got back not to”, Yumi began to say,

“you called my liege”, a voice sang out from the shadows, from the shadows in front of the stepped out a slender figure clad in black, with a pale white mask with an illuminated crescent moon mark, he took a step forward and knelt before Amon,

“Krio, how many times have I told you to stop stalking me from the shadows”, Amon said,

“my liege it is the duty of a shadow to follow its owner”, Krio answered, holding his head up and looking amon in his eyes,

“krio I’m not you’re owner, all I did was save you ass from dying”, amon said,

“and as I’ve said many times before my liege to me that is a debt that can never be repayed by anything but loyalty and devotion”, krio said, Amon let out a defeated sigh, relaxing his posture once more, pressing his back against the table as he sat,

“fine, look I’m sorry to do this to you as soon as you got back from helping out Savera at the Lake of Thunder, but I need you to go to the Argonia snow forest, Demitr is helping hold the line there, tell him to make his way to us as fast as possible with as many men that he can muster, we are going to be finishing this war in two days”, Amon said,

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“Krio rose from his knees, giving a bow to Amon, “your wish is my command, my liege”, he said, taking a step back into the shadows and vanishing,

“it’s ironic really, you saving the life of someone whose sole purpose it is to seek out death”, yumi said, looking on at Amon,

“yeah it isn’t normal for someone to have a reaper working for them, which is why it’s weird that my little brother also has one working for him, besides it wasn’t his choice to be born that way, and how I see it, it doesn’t affect the person he is”, Amon said,

“ohh come on, I wish pix was as half as quiet as krio is, he always has something to say”, Yumi said laughing with amon,

“whats going on out here”, Bard asked, standing in the entrance to the hallway, Barak standing right behind him,

“bard what are you doing out here”, Yumi asked,

“Krio woke up everyone telling us to come to the training area that something important happened”, Bard said, continuing to walk forward, as almost everyone shuffled out, some still half asleep,

“is this Aluric related, because if not I’m going back to sleep”, Aster said, holding one hand under his shirt and the other over his mouth covering a yawn,

“Well amon, everyone’s up and here, might as well tell them”, Yumi said,

“I guess you’re right”, amon said, pushing himself out of his eat, he took a stand on top of the table, he looked on at the crowd of sleepy warriors, he knew his news would wake them, he knew it would stir that fight or flight response.

“Okay Everyone listen up, we now effectively have two days until we have to face down the army of the Artemis guild and the Dracht kingdom”, amon started to say.the whispers within the crowd started,

‘two days what is he talking about’

Amon continued, “two days is how much time we have before we have the decisive battle with the Dracht Empire, and it’s adventures and soldiers”, Everyone in the training area went quiet, some due to shock, the others due to fear,

“what the fuck is he talking about yumi”,Bard asked, but yumi stood there, her arms folded, she looked straight at bard and then closed her eyes, as if to say a prayer,

“trust me this was not my choice, it was an ultimatum forced on me by the first prince and the guild master, Ea Dracht and Aluric, my brother”, Amon continued, his throat feeling dryer as the information he read on the piece of paper in his hand became more and more infuriating to look at,

“they told us to ,meet them on the plains outside the city in two days or they will use their entire might to crush us where we sleep, so as you can see we are going to be at war in two days time, so everyone ready yourselves”, amon said before taking off abruptly over the wall,

“where the hell is he going now”, Bard said, taking off after him, but he soon stopped when he realized yumi hadn’t moved,

“yumi, you damn half pint, what the hell is going on”, Bard said, holding yumi by her shirt’s collar, she could see the anger in his normally gentle eyes,

“his brother asked to meet him alone, in an hour, ten minutes away from the base in the forest”, yumi said, not breaking her eye contact with bard,

“and you’re just going to let him go alone, Aluric is going to try and kill him the moment he doesn’t get his way, and I doubt he’ll be alone, at least one of the pillars is going to be there”, bard said,

“you don’t think I realized that, I’m giving him a head start so that when he gets there it would seem as though he’s alone”, Yumi said, pushing Bard’s hand off of her,

“lets go bard”, she said, Bard looked in front of him only to see yumi heading over the wall also, Bard gritted his teeth, looking around him, to see everyone either in full panic or full shock at the weight of the news, some immediately hauling dull swords or tattered pieces of armor of to the repair shop, bard decided to head after yumi and Amon, on his way to go over the wall he saw Zack sitting in a corner, with his large battle axe on the table and a jug of beer in front of him,

“Zack you’re in charge till I come back with those, just keep everyone from losing their minds and burning the place down”, Bard shouted at Zack before jumping onto the wall

As he headed over the wall, zack could be heard in the background, shouting at everyone to calm down ,

a short while later in the forest

“yumi, Amon, for the sake of Arma wait up”, Bard shouted as he caught up to the pair that were ahead of him,

“you two do know that this whole thing is a bad idea, we should have at least bought zack, savera and one of the boys yumi brought back, then we surround his ass and take him down”, Bard said, his voice deep and gruff, anyone could tell he was not pleased,

“why do you think, the little arrogant bastard wants to talk to me”, Amon replied,

“glad to see I’m not the only one pissed off at the moment, you never did take it well when he provoked you”, Bard said, running along the forest floor matching the paste that the other two were doing while jumping through the trees.

“yeah tell me about”, yumi chimed in, chuckling at the memories of Amon and aluric, as the three of them came to a halt, yumi and Amon made their way to the ground of the forest,

“well it’s going to be a problem now, he told me to come alone”, Amon told the two who were walking a few steps behind him,

“well it’s a good thing we came along then, I know how he thinks better than most, this was definitely a trap to capture you”, yumi said frankly,

“but just in case we’ll suppress our energy and hide”, Bard added in, lifting yumi’s small body off the ground by the back of her shirt

“that’s great cause we have company”, Amon said to them, his gaze fixating on the dark forest that stretched out before him, as Aluric slowly appeared out of it.