I was born in the 9th circle, closest to the border with the heretic kingdom. youngest of 3 boys. My father was a titled soldier, my oldest brother is one as well, my middle brother was found compatible with the magics granted by the gods and given the chance to be an ascended. They took him when I was 8 and I didn’t see him until I was a man. My mother went to the gods while giving birth to me.

When I was 12 I went to the aptitude test and was assigned to the soldier caste, the instructors were hard but I was strong and my mind was unbreakable, my faith in the gods was rewarded by an upgrade to an officers class.

I entered the battlefield at age 16, I watched every man I led be slaughtered, the kingdom had bought the service of an ogre and we were too far from our holy lands to have the priests smite the beast.

I don’t know how I lived, just that I woke up with a dented helmet in a pile of dead bodies.

They demoted me to a basic soldier and reassigned me to a rear camp to be a messenger.

That is when I found him, he was standing 10 feet tall, a nearly shining white skin tone, eyes on every side of his head. But I knew it was him, even without any emotion to his voice I could tell it was him.

“Brother Ezekial! It has been so long since you were granted this honor. I never thought that I might see you again! What title have you been given?”

But he didn’t speak, he stared at me blankly and then the only eyes where a human should have them shed tears.

“Ezekial, please, answer me. Can you hear?”

They dragged me away and that was the last I saw of him.

Then I was promoted. Border patrol. I was supposed to find any gaps in the kingdoms defense and report them so they might send strike forces across. My survival in my first battle against the ogre must’ve impressed someone, I knew the survival rate for those nearest the border and I was glad they had such faith in my abilities.

And that was my calling it would seem. I had the eye for detail and even when I was found by soldiers of the kingdom I could bluff out with a stolen uniform or cut my way out.

In the 2 years I was on border patrol I helped send over 50 strike teams across the border to shed blood in the name of our benevolent gods.

I was even told to guide the team this time, many traps had been spotted in the woods and my senses were honed.

We crossed the border under the cover of night by slipping between detection arrays that were improperly spaced and not corrected soon enough.

Our target was a new noble house near the border who had insulted our great republic with slander against a saint.

The guards at the front fell easy. Then we crept through the halls killing as needed until we found the nobles room. Half the team split off to find something else.

The rest of the team set up a ward to silence the room.

The noble and his wife were sleeping still as we slipped into the room, Brother Night grabbed the husband and the others took his wife.

After a short time Brother Night spoke.

“For your slanderous claims against our great saint and for your betrayal of our grand republic, your sentence is death by torture and the death of your kin until the 3rd generation.”

There was a crib in the room, I couldn’t watch. I asked to keep watch outside until they were done.

Coward, I’m a coward. I knew what was right but I stood by anyway.

I stood watch until they were done, I banished all traitorous thoughts as I stood outside, Hating myself for not doing anything. But they were higher ranked than me, they couldn’t be lying, and yet that was my only hope.

I killed a guard who had seen me and I took his uniform after removing signs of his death. The other guards who passed by simply gave me a nod which I returned. Clearly they were new and didn’t know the faces of one other yet.

After the second team came back we exited and were back in the republic before dawn broke.

I was given extra time to sleep in the camp.

When I awoke I was told to speak with a priest.

I entered the blue and gold tent and spoke with a holy father.

“Son Great Eye, I am told you had a crisis of faith.”

“Father. I simply did not see the justification for their actions. I do not believe it was right of them.”

“Son, you must understand that the true word has been interpreted many times over and we of the priesthood know best. You shouldn’t question the orders given, a saint himself sent those men to do what needed to be done. We most faithful know that it is in the best interest of our land to bend the rules when need be so long as they are not broken.”

“Right, thank you father. I know what should be done now. Bless the gods.”

It was true then. Words right from a man I thought holy. Defending the death of a family because words her husband said against a saint? Killing soldiers was right, it was just. But against someone who could not defend themselves? Were we not supposed to be saving such people? Showing them the light so they might become right under our gods?

I walked the border for another 2 months before I found an opening.

A giant mole had made a cavern well past the borders of both our nations. I slew the beast and then covered it up to the best of my ability.

Everyday I read the one true book as directed. And even beyond that. I even broke into the priests tent and looked over his copy to double check what I was reading.

But I could find no justification for the things I had seen. I could only think of how they had twisted the words sent by gods to justify their own base actions.

I looked for another opening, 2 weeks passed and I found it.

After a day I reported it to command and even asked if I could join the next team as a guide since there were traps in the woods which I hadn’t set off since I didn’t want to alert the kingdom I had found another breach, command agreed that it would be best. I also convinced them I should wear a kingdom uniform just in case we ran into anyone and needed a distraction.

“Brother Night, it is good to see you again. I must apologize for my conduct last we met. I see the truth of the saints words sent though our holy father in the camp.”

“I am glad that you could see reason. Let’s go then, our target is farther into the kingdom and we must be back before they fix whatever error you found.”

“Of course.”

I led them to the tunnel the giant mole had dug. There wasn’t any traps but I said I needed to go first..

As the first man was at the end of the tunnel behind me I offered him my hand then slit his throat and grabbed his sword before pushing him into the rest of the group.

As they fell I got another with the knife I no longer needed, lodging it in his neck with a well placed throw.

Now was the chase.

Of the 6 men 2 were dead before I even needed to fight.

I rushed through the forest, dodging spikes of stone and frost.

The next death was from a pitfall trap, I kicked up some dust to make sure he didn’t see me jump over the thin layer of dirt hiding it and he fell face first into the spikes.

I took a glancing blow from a frost spike but I had to keep moving.

Next was the razorwhip hidden in the dirt.

I stepped over the line, cutting it with my sword as I passed, and sending it against my pursuer. But he was faster than I thought, the blades cut him deeply on his forearm but a layer of ice stopped them from shredding him fully.

I was down a trap, even assuming the rest of my plan worked I would need to finish off a special forces soldier myself with only a sword.

I was starting to feel the effects of running for so long, but so were my opponents.

I found the tree I marked and knew that I was close.

The barely visible changes in the ground made me absolutely sure it was the right place.

I picked up a stone and tossed it back at my pursuers, they dodged but that was the plan. As soon as it struck the ground the explosions started, a chain reaction set off the entire field, and I knew I needed to finish this and run away. The kingdom definitely heard that one.

But it worked, 2 of them were so badly burned they couldn’t even speak the words or move their hands to heal themselves. The final man was even the one who was already injured by the razorwhip.

I could do this, I hoped I could at least.

“You fucking bastard, I’ll bring you back limbless so an inquisitor can have their time with you.”

“I must decline your invitation. But I will gladly end your pain if you would like, I will live a good life with the money Ragne is giving me for this.” I was bluffing, if I lived I would run as far as I could and hide. But I hoped to delay him as much as I could. The ice on his arms was keeping him from bleeding but he wasn’t going to get any faster with time. And angry people make dumb mistakes.

Without the trees in the way I would be at a disadvantage, but I had a plan for that. A little bit of odd movement, a rock tossed seemingly nowhere in particular, a whistle that sounded like I had someone else nearby. These little tricks kept him from being able to fully focus on the fight, he was too busy expecting another trap or an ambush.

But the more he moved the more I realized I didn’t stand a chance, if I ran into the woods I probably wouldn’t make it far. With the empty space between us he could build the speed he needed to catch me.

I decided that at least I didn’t need to win, just make sure we both lost.

I rushed at him, taking his blow to my sword arm, it was severed, but that was alright. Bleeding to death in the woods seemed fitting for me, for my part played in whatever other things the teams I helped send into the kingdom had done. I had blood on my hands, might as well leave it on the trees as well.

With my remaining arm I formed a blade of ice on my fingers, I was going to die so frostbite was the least of my worries. I felt it slide into his throat but I had to make sure he wasn’t going to heal himself, so I grabbed and pulled as hard as I could. Pulling out his windpipe

He bled out on top of me, I just laid there and watched the flow from my own arm slow down. I was so very tired… So I decided to take a little nap. I just wish that rumbling was quieter.