Terin Gaspar stood before the city that they had conquered. Smoke rising from the houses, corpses strewn over, some scattered like bits of flesh that were burned from the initial attack that they had made. First it was the cannons that shook the city, destroying their defenses, and rattling the defenders.

With the defenders shaken up. Terin had raised the sword of light that was supposed to be wielded by the Son of the Light, the Chosen of the Sun, and Light’s Blinder. The blade that was supposed to save people. Made from the sun, the sword of light that he brought down upon the people of Brampi who refused to let the light pass.

Thick walls meant nothing when the heat of the sun itself melted the walls. When the walls protecting them were gone, all that was left was the soldiers of the fleet to rush in, and take the city while the Tree-Armored troops of Arkshelled Island destroyed the city’s inner defenses.

It couldn’t be helped. This was war. Casualties are to be expected when dealing with the civilians.

Terin Gaspar made the choice. To use the power bestowed upon him by the sun to make sure that they could save more of the falling world before them. It was easy to say that to save the world they would need to give up some things. Terin Gaspar looked at the cobblestone street, the ruined buildings, and the festive decorations that were on their houses. Were they planning for a festival? He rather not know or think about it.

Terin took four steps. He found his boots felt the warmth of the blade he brought down on them. On the side of the alley, he saw a man and a woman who held fear in their eyes. Fear as if he was a beast of the end, a monster that had come to destroy them. Waves crashing against the stone made Tern tear his eyes away from them.

He looked at the water pouring from the Great Gates as they flooded the lower areas. Though the water was muddy, he saw glimpses of the sea-kin, the monsters that had been hiding, flooding the lower areas. He could hear them through the beats of their inhumane hearts. A loud thumping beat that sounded like a growl of a predator stalking a cornered prey.

Not far from Terin was the Vitae rounding up the leaders of the city in the plaza. He saw the Captains, Generals, and the Officers of the Fleet facing the leaders of the city. They did not stand as equals, the leaders of the city on their knees, fearful at the sight of the Vitae, the armored living trees of the Elven-kin staring them down.

To them they were foreigners, invaders, and people that they should defend themselves from. What they wanted could not be done, and the destruction of the Great Gates alone would ruin the Icean Spine. They had lost many men in this affair. Their attack had also started a spark in the hearts of those who had been waiting for a chance to rule the Icean Spine.

Terin had heard that there would be a revolt once they were done with this place. The fleet refuses to do anything about what they have done other than tae their ships, iron, food, and supplies that would help them in their voyage. It didn’t surprise Terin that they called them raiders, thieves who have done nothing but bring forth destruction on their lands.

What they had given the Icean Spine was destruction and death. Leaving only sorrow and rising smoke everywhere they go. He couldn’t even take in the air that was surrounding him. Salty air mixed with the burnt corpses made him unable to breathe in deeply, take it all in, what he had done to the city.

The forces behind him as he brought down the sword of light made it as if he was their greatest champion. He was their greatest, strongest, and fiercest warrior with his power rivaling no one other than the Elven-Elder that supervises the Elven-kin. When they see him walk in front of them, they feel the light pulsing from him, the warmth of the sun and the burning of it.

They cheered as he had torn the walls of the great gates. They hailed his name as the Light’s Blinder, the destroyer of those who are against them. The hope in their voices made Terin feel like he made the right choice of choosing the fleet more than the people of the Icean Spine. That this was how it was supposed to be. Terin wasn’t a dullard who couldn’t understand the lack of time that they have. Seas and oceans still needed to be crossed, and if they fought on this continent, this land would do them no good. They would be too tired for the battles to come their way in the great seas.

It was the simple fact that the fleet could not spend time in the Icean Spine, and make do with a war of attrition against the natives of the continent.

It would not benefit them. There was nothing to be gained by spending their soldiers and wasting their resources in the Icean Spine. Time was a resource that they could spend in the Icean Spine, and they had to conquer and destroy their objective so the fleets of the Reconnoiter Company could move on to fulfill their destiny in blinding the eye of the world so that the Light’s Blinder could stop the beating of the heart of the world that threatens the lands everywhere. They must do everything they can before the world caves in and none would be left.

The other choice was to talk it out but time wasn’t on their side.

To save the world.

To give it more time.

Sacrifices have to be made for the sake of the greater good of all.

It needed to be done for the good of all.

At least that’s what he wanted to tell himself when he looked at the people he had harmed. That it couldn’t be helped, that this was the only solution that he could find. They wouldn’ surrender, they would not bow their heads at the invaders beyond their walls. So what could he do other than tear their walls down and take the city by force? Terin wanted to believe that all of this was for the sake of the greater good.

But as he looked down at the burned body of a person that had shriveled up because of the heat of the blade that be brought upon them, he asked himself if this was how to save a world, to bring harm to the people that he was supposed to save, care, and rescue from the this coming end.

Soldiers came out of the houses while rounding up the civilians that were hiding. One of the people of the Lord they allied with had urged them to speak kindly, to keep their heads down while the invaders checked up on them. On the far side of the road that he was standing on, there was once a large district that sat on top of this small hill overlooking the Great Seas. When the Brampi Gates were torn open by Terin, the flood crushed the houses, and buildings without any mercy. The survivors were able to climb on the wonderfully constructed canals of the city, and held on for their dear lives.

Like most of the civilians, they were rounded up, and checked if they had any weapon that might threaten the soldiers. There are civilians who thought they would be executed, and died trying to be free. The soldiers of the fleet, though professional, still could be rattled, and he had roamed the city long enough to see four sights of them gunning down the civilians who tried to fight back instead of staying still.

It was said that invaders, raiders, and marching armies would pillage, burn, and take from the city. Such customs were part of the past, and though there are some who are disciplined enough to avoid such customs, there are those who have decided to rob the citizens, take their belongings and make them their prize.

The officers allowed it because it boosted morale. The seniors, veterans, kept their eyes sharp, wondering if there are guards of militia willing to fight back. Ready to shoot their skulls if they dare to fight them.

When they notice Terin passed by, they would look at him with cheers and awe. Terin nodded at the soldiers, while keeping his thoughts to himself. He raised his hand, waved it, and went down the larger canals of this stone-constructed city. He took a long look at the once great gates that stood before them, and eyes traveling to the great body of water that they have created after destroying it. It wouldn’t take long until the lower parts of the Icean would be flooded enough for the fleet to travel across the city, and then head straight for the Great Seas.

Terin Gaspar sat down just next to the flooded staircase leading down once he assumed it to be a marketplace because of a sign carved on to the stone. Below the flooded was a residential area, a place where the lower-citizens gathered. His swing which resulted in the Great Seas being allowed in drowned them. Most of the corpses were either sent down to the lower parts of the Icean Spine or were trapped in the in-betweens. The soldiers of the Company didn’t do anything to remove them. Most of the corpses that were on the road were just gathered, giving a minimum sign of respect while those who had been drowned are left for the citizens to care of.

Not to mention that they were far too busy gathering supplies from the warehouses, transporting them using the beasts that they had gotten from the Icean Spine.

He had heard that they were planning to make cattle of the gigantic beast, hoping that their larger sizes would bring forth more supplies than the cattle that they own, though how much bushel it would take to feed said cattle was up to the Elven-kin who had proposed it in the first place. With the lower parts of the Icean Spine’s breadbasket destroyed, and most of their supplies taken by the fleet for their own, it wouldn't surprise Terin if they would somehow fare well when they had robbed them of all they have.

He found it amusing that it could all be excused with simple words as for the sake of the greater good. That as long as they are doing this for the sake of saving this world, then it was excusable. Perhaps it was, and yet at the same time it was truly the best choice for them. He couldn’t deny that it was the need of their fleet to be successful. This was the choice that he made, and it was the choice that he had to make.

He was their figure, champion, and a voice among the fleet. He couldn’t let them think that the symbol, the son of the sun, was hesitating. Despite all that he had to say about the actions of the fleet, the violence that they had committed for the sake of their goal.

He had chosen to be part of this affair. And once he had brought down the sword of light to them, he had made it clear that he would have taken in the weight of the Officers, Soldiers, and the Leaders of the fleet who were making the choices.

His father had always taught him that a man must make a choice. He was a soldier, and despite being the ‘son of light’ he wasn’t going to abandon what he had learned. It wasn’t exactly his first time making such choices, though it didn’t mean that there aren’t days where he would think of such choices.