The morning was spent doing multiple things for the Generals. They had us carrying equipment towards the Tower. After that, we were forced into training. Men were paired with others, and we were made to go through combat simulations. The hour after that was spent with some of the Generals going through the plan.

As it stood, we would descend upon the enemy encampment. Before that, however, some of us would be sent in an attempt to disassemble the cannons. In the past, our forces had been utterly decimated by the cannons that the enemy had built, as it turned out. In just a few days time, we would be given our rules. Only a select few of us would be given the task of sneaking into the encampment.

After the plan had been thoroughly examined, with some of the Generals discussing amongst themselves a change to the plans, and some of the men just a rank above them (known as scylolytes) assessing the changes, and presenting alternatives, we were allowed a rushed lunch. It was after the rushed lunch, that things became the mildest bit interesting.

A cart had arrived from the West. Within it was a portly man. One of the three scyloytes frowned, before motioning the rest of us to get back to work. Given the fact that none of us had been given tasks, I walked off to find Tim. When I managed to walk up to him, he was bearing a bow, and aiming it across a field. The archer’s range. Or an impromptu set up of one, at the very least. I grabbed a bow, knocked back an arrow, and aimed above the head of my enemy. I wasn’t as good at arching as Tim happened to be, but…

My arrow slammed down into the neck of the dummy in the distance. I smiled, and then aimed for the one of my left. Knocking back the arrow, I pointed it just above his head again. This one, however, slammed into the left arm. Trying again, I narrowed my eyes. The knee. One last time, and then the stomach. I frowned at the results. It had been easy enough to shoot the one in-front of me, but somehow my aim seemed to jolt off as soon as I messed with angles. It was a strange thing, but not something I couldn’t try working on, of course.

Tim on the other hand, had five of his arrows in the skull, eye, neck, mouth, and other eye. On the one to his left, he’d hit the neck each time, all just slightly off to the right of the other. Finally, on the one to his right, which was just beside the middle one of mine, he’d hit the thing in the heart three times. It was truly impressive, and I was about to say something when-

“What great work young lad!” A portly man said from behind us.

Tim jumped, and I calmly turned around to assess who had just extended his greetings. Behind the man sat one of the Scylolytes, presumably the one that had left in greeting. He had a large, round stomach, and stretching golden armor around it. There was a helmet upon his head, with the insignia of a Virotin. As soon as I found that upon his head, I immediately began to put doubt upon whether the man had ever seen a day of an actual war.

As Tim looked to him, a scowl fell upon his lips and eyes. Almost immediately after, however, that expression disappeared, and he smiled up at the large man.

“I certainly hope so,” Tim said, his voice careening with false uncertainty, “With the battle coming soon, I’ll need the best aim I can get. I-I’ve been working as hard as I can to train over the last few days,”

“I’m certain that you have,” The Virotin replied, patting an arm against his shoulder; than, he looked over to me, “I hope that others can learn from your example,”

With that, the man left us behind, being guided by the Scylolyte to other parts of the camp. I looked over to Tim, who had his bow knocked back in a mock gesture. There wasn’t an arrow, so there were no chances of anything actually hitting the Virotin in the back, but I was surprised by the gesture nonetheless.

“Don’t like Virotin’s all that much?” I already knew the answer, but there was no harm in asking it.

“Their rank is meaningless,” Tim spat, “They either suck up to father, or they buy their way in. None of them know how to fight a war. The lot of them are only messing the rest of us up, and practically tripping us over the edge of a cliff!” The vile in his voice was something almost entirely new to me.

“Well,” I said, considering my words, “Do you wanna go back to training?”

“Not after getting a compliment from a man like that, I don’t. But I suppose I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

I aimed my own bow before he did, and aimed towards the one on my left again. Perhaps I wasn’t as angry as he was, but I was certainly annoyed. I didn’t need a man that had likely never held a bow in his life to insult my aim. I certainly wasn’t the best, but I could hold my own. With that thought, I lifted the bow into the air, and aimed just over the head. In a millisecond, I let go, watching the arrow fly through the air, and into that distance. In the top of its climb, it curved downwards, slamming straight into where the ear lobe would certainly be.

Smiling, I aimed for other parts of the body. Exactly three shots missed, whilst the first one, and another hit. It wasn’t the best, but it would serve. Yet despite that thought, I spent almost half of the day trying again and again. I collected the arrows that weren’t broken, and I grabbed others from the crate full of them.

-7

It was later that night, and the moon was full. White crystals stood in the sky, and purples seemed to fracture and churn in some far off distance. From where I stood in a field, just off to the side of the camp, it all looked beautiful.

Earlier that night, I had made a choice. So here I stood, as far away from the camp as I could. The mask stood in-front of me, and I could tell that it was waiting. Looking away from the stars, I grabbed that visage of turmoil, and latched it behind my face.

The same fire rushed through my veins, but this time, it was muted. I felt the blinding rush of heat, and then nothing. For a moment, I just stood there, studying my surroundings in the same way I always had. In the next, I gripped my sword, and thrusted it in-front of me.

A trail of fire seemed to rush forwards with the blade. It seemed to enlarge the blade itself, leaving flames behind even as the metal moved in a different direction. After that, I sheathed the sword, and grabbed my bow. In the distance, somewhere off to my right, I could see the dummy’s all lined in a row. I aimed for the first, and loosed an arrow. Straight to the head. I aimed for the second, just barely in-front of the first. My arrow shot straight in-front of the first dummy, and slammed into the ear lobe of the second. I could feel my feet pounding, as I ran into the field, and aimed to the third. The dummy physically rattled with the force of the blow.

Fifth, six, tenth, nine, seventh, eighth, eleventh. All falling as my arrows slammed into them. I could feel myself smiling as the last one went down.

After that, I did something completely different. I rose my hands into the air and commanded the buzzing energy all around me. I forced it through the field at a dummy I’d set up in the distance. The energy rocketed forwards, slamming into the dummy. The same effect that had happened to that one boy surrounded the dummy in the distance. I watched it eat the stitched leather alive. When it had consumed the dummy, however, I stumbled backwards.

My breath caught in my throat as I physically gagged. Vision began to swim, and I stumbled backwards. The dummy was eaten, but I felt...I felt…

Unlatching, the mask disappeared. Fading into a dark smoke. I collapsed against the ground in a breathless heap. Behind me came a sound. Clapping. Quickly, I picked myself up, and stared towards the Virotin. He looked at me with a large smile, baring almost all of his teeth. If I didn’t know better, I’d compare him to something almost completely alien, with the look that seemed etched upon his face.

“It seems that you might be more useful than you seemed at first. In-fact, I have just the use for you. I’m certain you’ll learn of it tomorrow,” With that, he walked passed me, and towards the charred remnants of the dummy in the distance, “Now go back to your bed. In the morning, we’ll be moving!”

-7

The travel was long and arduous, yet otherwise, nothing happened. The men talked amongst themselves, and we trained. Three weeks passed as we made our way to the Mages Camp, and throughout all of that, I had heard nothing from the man that had mentioned that I would learn of my purpose in the next morning. Because of this, my heart began to beat faster with each moment that the Generals neared me.

When we were but a day from the edges of their rather expansive camp, however, was the day that I learned what my purpose would be. He stood there, at the edges of a lake, peering into the water. Still with that unnatural smile, he looked back to me.

“I was five years old, when I met a Warlock. His familiar took the appearance of a Blue Jay. Could you believe that? A Blue Jay of all creatures!” The man laughed, yet it felt more like a mockery of laughter than anything else, “Now, the Warlock that I met, was not particularly a nice man, no indeed he wasn’t. Would you care to guess what that man did?”

I said nothing, unable to unlock the clench of my teeth.

“He killed my parents, that’s what he did. Me, a boy who had considered himself to be rather fortunate. I got my candy every time we went to the candy shop, right up until the point that I found my parents lying dead on the floor. Oh, but he didn’t just stop at that, oh no he didn’t,” The man smiled with his bright canines, “He gave me something. A curse, as I’m sure you’d call it. Sharp teeth come with a purpose boy,” His voice was almost a snarl as he uttered the last of his speech, “He made me eat my parents corpses. Made me constantly lust for the taste of human flesh. And can you imagine my surprise, when I met a Warlock practicing his powers in the middle of the night! Oh, and what terrible powers they happen to be! Can you guess what task I have in mind for you boy? C’mon, humor me,”

I stared towards the sharpened teeth, and at the increasingly aggressive stance that the man happened to be taking. His eyes were alight with a positively murderous intent. Still I found myself incapable of saying a single word. Below me, my legs were positively shaking.

“Y-you want. You wand me t-t-to stand to let….” I gulped down the saliva building in my throat, “To let you eat me,”

The man stared towards me, before his jaw extended, and a booming sound of absolute joyous wonder descended into the air around me, “Oh, oh not at all my boy! Do you remember the mission extended to ten men? You’re going to do that on your own! Perhaps if you fail, I’ll get to eat your corpse, however,”

I blinked, my thoughts descended in an absolute silence, “Y-you want me to do… What?”

Ten men to disable the cannons on the outer perimeter of the camp. Ten men to sneak upon the enemy, eliminate as many as they could without getting caught, and make sure the enemy had no access to their cannons, or any other artillery. A job that was now being descended onto me. I stared blankly for the outset of a few minutes, before slowly, my thoughts came back to the situation. I knew the answer, I knew the obvious thing. The pure fact that what he wanted me to do, was utterly impossible.

“I… You’re… You’re condemning this entire mission to, to fail, by doing this,” My voice was cracking as I hoped with desperation he would understand exactly what he was doing.

But the man just stared at me, that grin of pure teeth widening. The hatred that gleamed within his eyes was almost too recognizable. He was caught in the past, watching that event repeat as he looked at me. Within his eyes, I was just some vile creature to be murdered. When he looked at me, he didn’t see a human.

“I’m not condemning this mission to fail. I’m condemning you to fail,” The virotin replied, leaning forwards, “And when you do, nobody will remember you. A failed project, that’s all that you’ll be,”

I started to back away, but my feet were rooted in place. He didn’t understand, wouldn’t understand. If the cannons didn’t get taken down, than everyone would die. We didn’t have enough forces to deal with the mages we’d be dealing with, the Knights that we’d be dealing with, and the cannons. Yet all he saw was his hatred for me. All this man properly cared for was revenge. A vengeance he couldn’t take out on…

There was no convincing him to change my fate. He was the highest authority within the camp, and he was perfectly willing to get everyone killed for his revenge. Which meant all I needed to do was not die, and complete my mission. It was damn near impossible, with the reported amount of cannons that the Mage Camp held. But, even if it was improbable, that didn’t mean it couldn’t be done. All I would need were a couple of tools. I already had one, but it would be used for the cannons. What I really needed was…

“I want a knife and leather armor. If you can give me that, I’ll, I’ll,”

“You’ll what, knight,” He snarled my position with his teeth baring even further, “Follow orders like you’re supposed to,”

“I’ll promise not to kill you right here and now,” I finished, staring towards the man with bared teeth.

The mask was already swirling into the air around me. It formed to my side, and I stared into his eyes. He wouldn’t take back the order, but I could do something to make him give me the materials that I needed. That was all that mattered at the moment, getting the two things that could help me achieve the impossible.

“I want… I want the leather armor given to the Generals for the more...Discreet missions, and furthermore, I want a knife, one I can use to stab with in the event that I need it,”

The man had paled just the slightest, but he nodded, “You’ll begin at nightfall tomorrow, is that understood?”

Shakily, I breathed in, but I nodded all the same.

-7

That day came, and I had hardly slept. People were moving, preparing for the day after this, when the invasion would properly begin. One of the Generals had walked up to me, and handed me the armor I would need.

Despite the harsh look on the Generals face, he placed a hand against my shoulder, “You’ll survive this, so long as you keep your wits about you. The most useless advice I could give is to ‘make no noise’, but understand this much; all men fall into patterns. If you can hide and figure out the pattern of the people around you, than you can have an easier time of moving through them. If ever you’re forced into a situation where you need to kill someone, under no circumstances should you leave the body in main sight,” I nodded, thanking the man, before going about fitting on the leathered armor.

As I had suspected, it was a lot quieter than the chainmail from earlier. When I put my sword in its sheath, however, the generation of noise became a lot louder. Taking out the sword, I switched out the sheath for one with a knife. The noise was less. A couple of minutes of thinking caused me to go by the main tent, and place my sword to the side.

Laying down, I stared towards the top of the tent that had been hastily set up. The noise and humdrum of the Knights outside kept me awake for awhile. My thoughts drifted towards the night ahead of me, the reason I was laying down at the moment. I needed the rest, if I were to accomplish the near-impossible.

Yet I simply could not fall back into rest. Each time my thoughts drifted to the circumstance, my heart began to beat faster. It was impossible to focus on anything else, as thought after thought began to imagine the multitude of ways that things could go wrong. Eventually, I stirred to the side, and forced my eyes shut.