[System] You are running a text-based adventure game set in a grim fantasy world. Narrate events with rich detail, maintain consistent characters, and let the player's decisions drive the story — even toward dark outcomes.

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
While this man seems to mean well, you're still hesitant to just go wandering off with a stranger. Not that you aren't with some already, but you know the Captain and Lyssia a lot better than this Adventurer. Also you still feel safer with more people defending you, so you decline.

"Very well, I hope you manage to make it home safely." The Adventurer remarks and takes his leave.

You begin to wander around the camp looking at all the neat things. If you weren't in so much danger and worried about getting home, you'd probably want to stay here. Still wishing to be around a familiar face, you go looking for Lyssia and hope she isn't too busy.

You end up finding her tent, but she's not there. You do see a sleeping black dog though, a big one, bigger than you've ever seen. Scary actually, in fact it's even scarier when it suddenly wakes up and leaps on top of you!

"Grrrrr! What have we here? A little thief? Maybe eating your hands would teach you a lesson and I'm pretty hungry!"

You're so surprised by it talking; you temporarily forget that you're in danger.

"Y…you can talk!" you sputter.
"Of course I can talk!" it snarls before sniffing you a bit. "Snnnn…you don't smell like you're from around here."
"I'm not, where I come from dogs don't talk."
"DOG?!" it growls gnashing its fangs. "I'm a WOLF and maybe you need to learn that lesson too!"

Thankfully Lyssia enters at this point.

"Black Fang, you leave him alone! He's a guest!" she scolds. Black Fang gives you a dirty look, but backs off to his original position where he closes his eyes again

"Thanks…he nearly ate me."
"Oh I doubt that, I know he doesn't seem like it, but he's really a softy."

One of Black Fang's eyes open and he makes a growl, but goes back to sleep. You begin to talk to Lyssia and ask her more about where you're going.

"It's an old ruin of an ancient civilization called Zodan. I know because I found it myself while scouting, of course I didn't explore it in great detail since I figured it would be better to have extra help, but the markings are Zodan. The Zodan are no longer around due to an ancient forgotten war that lead to their downfall, but it's possible that remnants of their power still exists, possibly something we can use against the Nightmare Tyrant."
"Like what?"
"Well we don't know. It's a chance we're taking, but anything that might help against the Nightmare Tyrant will be a welcome relief. Many people believe his powers to be magical in nature, but they aren't. A majority of it is purely mental hence why he is anxious to always absorb the fertile imaginations of children. The Zodan also dabbled in similar psionic activity, so maybe…"

Suddenly a soldier comes running into the tent and you've just noticed how dark its gotten outside.

"Lyssia, we're being attacked by Shadows! They're everywhere!"

She instantly draws her sword and says a few words before leaving.

"You stay in the tent! And Black Fang, wake up, you protect him!"
"Huh? Wha…grah! I have to look after this whelp?"
"DO IT!"

Black Fang gets up and lopes over to the tent entrance and you hear the sounds of battle close by. Soon those sounds are nearly within the tent as a couple of Shadows find your location.

"HERE! HE'S HERE!" one of them hisses before Black Fang attacks them with his teeth and claws. You wonder if he's magical in nature since they fall and dissipate from his attacks. However, it looks as if the Shadows are determined to get you as they begin to overwhelm him as well as some of them on the top of the tent attempting to tear it open.

[User] You look for a weapon

[Assistant]
You would think Lyssia would have extra weapons in here tent, but if she does she's currently using them all, because you can't find anything! Meanwhile Black Fang is being overwhelmed by Shadows and some of them are successfully ripping open the tent.

You wish you just had a weapon of some sort to fight them with…

Suddenly a glowing short sword appears in your hand. You're surprised at first, but when a Shadow comes at you from above, you waste you time in swinging your new acquired weapon at it. The moment the sword touches the shadow, it dissolves and screeches before your eyes.

"HEY, you got a sword how about helping me out over here!" Black Fang shouts out seeing noticing your actions while still fighting off the Shadows.

Without hesitation you help him, oddly you no longer feel any kind of fear as you strike down the Shadows. Soon you and Black Fang destroy all the Shadows around the tent, but the rest of the camp is still locked in battle and when you look up MORE Shadows start pouring from the sky. Lyssia comes running towards the both of you.

"Quickly! We have to get out of here and head towards the Zodan ruins! The Captain says he's going to stay behind to hold off the rest of the Shadows!"
"But…"
"Move!"

You, Lyssia and Black Fang take off into the woods, as the sounds of battle get further behind. There are still a few Shadows in pursuit, but you manage to dispatch them. Eventually you reach an abandoned cottage where you all take refuge in for the night.

"Okay I'm pretty sure we lost the Shadows, we'll rest here for the night and set off for the ruins in the morning. A question for you though, how did you come across that sword?"
"I dunno, I just wished for something to fight the Shadows with and it appeared in my hand."
"Oh yeah? You think you could think up something to get rid of ALL the Shadows? That would really help out a lot." Black Fang says.
"Maybe I could wish myself back home…" you say before Lyssia stops you.
"No wait, don't do that. Your abilities while obviously powerful are probably not stable. For all you know you might end up in the middle of an ocean! The power of the mind can be very dangerous. The Zodan experimented with it and they're no longer around anymore. The Nightmare Tyrant wields mind power for evil purposes in his pursuit to conquer everything in his path. I suggest you don't over abuse your gift. Don't worry we will get you home eventually though."

You sure hope so, while you trust Lyssia, you really do want to get home. You can only imagine how worried your Mom is going to be and you really won't know what to tell her when you get back!

In the meantime you settle down to sleep. Lyssia does as well while Black Fang takes watch since Lyssia points out that he was sleeping all day. Fortunately the night is uneventful and when the morning comes you're on your way. Black Fang doesn't travel with you though; in fact he pads off into different direction.

"Why isn't Black Fang coming with us?"
"He's not my pet if that's what you think. He's a free being allowed to come and go as he pleases, but he'll be around. He just prefers his own company for the most part. If we get into overwhelming trouble I have complete faith he'll be around to help. Anyway the Zodan ruins won't take as long to get to with just us traveling there. We'll be able to cover more ground and take paths that an army couldn't travel through."

As you and Lyssia travel, you and her exchange a bit of information about each others' respective worlds which you both find very interesting. You make a lot of progress in one day. So much that Lyssia mentions that you should reach the ruins by the next day. She says that she has orders to search the place as much as she can, and then return back to the Empire where you can get help from the wizards to send you back home. She hopes that the Captain and the rest of his soldiers are alright and will eventually reach the ruins themselves before she returns to the Empire. When night comes Black Fang makes his presence known again as you settle down to camp again.

"I feel I should warn the both of you that we aren't completely alone in these woods. There's something, possibly several things running around out there. Caught a glimpse of them a couple times, but they seem unnaturally quick."
"Shadows?" you ask.
"No, they would've attacked already. Plus I can smell these things when they're close by. They might be able to stay out of sight, but they can't hide their scent. Smells rotten."
"I had a feeling that we were being watched, I never saw anything though." Lyssia replies.
"They've been staying further away from you two. I think they've been watching me a lot more. They probably think I'm a greater threat…and they're right."
"Glad to see that you're…" Lyssia suddenly stops. "Okay I heard that."

You heard it too and all three of you prepare yourselves. You also start to smell something bad like what Black Fang was talking about. Two demonic looking creatures come jumping down from the trees. One of them is much fatter than the other.

"Well there doesn't seem to be anymore point in hiding, I'm pretty sure we can take them anyway." The thinner one says.
"Uh huh, yeah. Um, Jarac which one are we supposed to take back to the Nightmare Tyrant?" the fat one asks.
"Hago, you really are an idiot, sometimes I wonder how we're even related. The boy you moron!"
"I thought the Nightmare Tyrant only had Shadows working for him." You say out loud to Lyssia.
"Oh the Nightmare Tyrant has many working for him, boy. However it seems that a new battle front has recently opened up and he has great need of them elsewhere, but fortunately we happened to be in the area… so here we are."
"So the Nightmare Tyrant relies on half witted demons to do his work now?" Black Fang growls.
"Hey! Only my brother is half-witted! And for what he's going to do to you, he doesn't need to be very smart. Enough of this talk, let's get to it. Are you ready brother?"

Hago doesn't even reply he just smiles with a toothy grin and advances towards Black Fang. Jarak focuses his attention on you, but naturally Lyssia stands in front of you.

"Run away pretty one if you value your existence, though I'd prefer if you didn't." Jarak says and attacks. He's incredibly quick and manages to hit Lyssia and knock her to the ground. A quick glace sees that Black Fang is struggling with Hago.

You need to act now, you can't possibly fight either of the demons with just your weapon given how quick they are, but even they wouldn't be quick enough to fight the power of your mind…

[User] You think of something to help your companions

[Assistant]
You wish for something that could help Lyssia and Black Fang, and at first nothing seems to happen, but Jarek then notices something when he tries to grab you and you dodge out of the way.

"WHAT? I should've caught you! No human can move that quickly, especially not a boy!"
"Jarek, I feel like something just sapped my…UGH!" Hago grunts as Black Fang claws him across the face. Lyssia also gets back up to strike Jarek across the chest. He reels backward and realizes he no longer has an advantage.

"Our powers are gone! RUN!" Jarek shouts and runs off with Hago following behind. Black Fang pursues them.

"Black Fang wait!" Lyssia shouts and runs after him. Not wishing to be left alone, you follow Lyssia. You have a hard time keeping up, but after a short distance she stops when she sees Black Fang sniffing around a strange gray building. There are no windows, just a single door. It's actually quite tall; you can't believe you never saw it before even in this forest.

"What is this?" Lyssia asks.
"Don't know, but the two demons ran in there. I was tempted to go in, but considering this thing just materialized out of nowhere I thought discretion might be the better idea for once. It's completely featureless except for this small weird symbol on the door."

Lyssia tells you to stand back as she examines it.

"This is Zodan! I saw these symbols in the ruins I briefly explored. We have to go in explore it If the Nightmare Tyrant's minions are in there, who knows what secrets the Nightmare Tyrant might gain? We certainly don't want him to get anymore powerful than he is!"

At this point the thought of getting home is still in the back of your mind, but with all that has happened you can't help, but be caught up in this excitement even if a lot of it has been scary.

You all enter the building, which apparently is a lot bigger on the inside. All the rooms are lit and furnished, but again everything is a dull gray color, the furniture (Most of which looks like it comes from various time periods), the floors, the walls, all of it. Someone must've really liked that color.

Black Fang easily tracks the demons by their smell; however you all can hear their voices anyway. They sound like they're arguing with someone. When you arrive in the room where they're located, you see strange machines and the two demons arguing with a ghostly figure.

"What do you mean?! Teleport this place! We gotta get out of here!" Jarek shouts.
"This place isn't your personal transportation system! I told you that this place uses up a lot of power and needs to recharge when it teleports. Not to mention you insisted on keeping this place invisible the whole time, didn't you think that was going to use up power? You two are just going to have to wait awhile, there's nothing I can do." the ghost replies.
"Argh! If you weren't a ghost already, I'd make you one! Okay Hago, check…"

Before Jarek can give whatever order he was going to give, Black Fang and Lyssia attack. The two demons stand no chance without their enhanced speed. A couple of quick blows and both give other worldly shrieks before they burst into puffs of smoke and disappear. The ghost on the other hand just floats there observing it all.

"Well, I'm glad they're gone, they were really getting on my nerves. Never did like demons. Now what can I do for you?"
"What is this place exactly?" you ask.
"Oh just a relic of the past or the future depending on your outlook on life. It once was a mobile military base if you were looking for something a little more precise. Used for conquest and that sort of thing."
"This is Zodan in nature isn't it?" Lyssia says.
"Yes, but a fat lot good it did them, considering they aren't around anymore, well not in the traditional sense anyway. I take it you're not minions of the Nightmare Tyrant then?"
"Do we look like we are?" Black Fang snarls.
"Well you might, furball especially with that attitude! But the other two certainly don't look the part, besides I know the Nightmare Tyrant turns children into Shadows. Nasty fellow. No redeeming qualities whatsoever."
"So who are you and why are you working for the Nightmare Tyrant?" you ask.
"I'm not. I'm just a caretaker of this place and as such I'm tied to it. I can't prevent someone from using it however they want, I'm just here to make sure it doesn't fall into decay or get destroyed like so many of the other Zodan inventions. When the Nightmare Tyrant found this place he decided to use it to find other possible Zodan weaponry since this place can easily home in on other Zodan ruins. So far with little success as I said most Zodan equipment has lost all its power. Normally he has those mean little Shadows running around in this place chattering incessantly, but for whatever reason he put those two demons in charge. Guess he needed to reassign troops or something."
"Hey I found a Zodan ruin not far from this forest, is that why those demons were here?"
"Yes, there was one located by me recently, but those demons aren't like the Shadows and their minds weren't as shall we say as sharp hence why we're here in the middle of the forest instead of closer to the desired location. While this place is magical in nature, it was primarily designed to run on the power of the mind. The Nightmare Tyrant's Shadows are all psionically linked to him so teleportation isn't a problem. Those demons couldn't focus on anything! Now you boy, I sense a great deal of mental focus in you. Your sword was created from your mind was it not?"
"Yes, it was."
"Ah yes, I can see why the Nightmare Tyrant would want someone like you to add to his power."
"Can this place take me home?" you ask.
"This place needs time to recharge as those demons used up much of its energy with their bumbling. However, you could probably take yourself home. This place enhances the powers of the mind. Normally I wouldn't advise it since as I said it requires discipline, but you seem to have a natural gift at it and would probably be successful. Just visualize your home and concentrate."

It seems so simple! You wonder if you could've done it all along, but that hardly matters, since you can do it now. Lyssia puts her hand on your shoulder.

"Well, it looks like you'll get home quicker after all."
"Thanks for protecting me from the Shadows and demons." You tell her.
"Hey you helped in both battles." She says.
"Oh and what did I do, sit around and watch?" Black Fang remarks to the both of you.

You nearly laugh and thank Black Fang too. The Caretaker then speaks.

"Okay, now I advise complete quiet when you attempt this. It's better for concentration and noise won't distract you. So your friends will have to remain quiet. I'd advise that they leave altogether, as even their random thoughts could interfere. As I said, the chaos of the mind is one of the reasons for the downfall of the Zodan. I'm a ghost so you need not worry about me."
"Fine! Fine! I know when I'm not wanted I'll go wait outside!" Black Fang says and lopes off. Lyssia is about to leave too, but you insist that she stay because you feel safer with her around. After seeing that you really want her to stay she does and says she'll wish for you to get home as well.

You sit in the middle of the room and close your eyes and concentrate. You visualize your home. You see it. You can almost feel it. You're there, until…

"LYSSIA!" Black Fang roars as he runs into the room.
"I told you the boy needs to concentrate and silence!" the Caretaker snaps.
"Shut up ghost! Shadows are outside! A whole mess of them!"

Lyssia and Black Fang quickly run out of the room. Lyssia shouts at you to continue to your concentration.

[User] You continue to concentrate for home

[Assistant]
You were close last time to getting home, you can't stop now. Besides you have to do it quickly before the Shadows get inside!

You attempt to drown out the sounds of battle outside and your concern for Lyssia and Black Fang. Its very difficult and you're having a difficult time concentrating. You see your house, then various people you've encountered, then this place, then total blackness…

"HE'S HERE! GET HIM GET HIM SSSSSS!" you hear a Shadow hiss before you are transported, but it isn't to where you wanted…

When you open your eyes and see nothing but darkness and you are being held down on some sort of smooth cold surface by Shadows and you no longer have your sword. A sinister voice emanates from the darkness and you're completely paralyzed with fear.

"Welcome to your new home and family."


[System] You are the narrator of a dark fantasy text adventure. Describe the world and its consequences with unflinching detail. The player's choices shape the story — for better or worse.

[User] You buy some time

[Assistant]
You have to try.

"Okay. Okay. Hold on guys. I get it and I won't try to stop you…but uh…" you say trailing off
"But what?" Metzger asks.
"Well she's not quite as defenseless as you think. She's sleeping with not just one, but two pistols in there. Not to mention she's a crack shot with them."
"Bullshit."
"I'm fucking serious. You think I'm some bodyguard when all I really am is her glorified porter. I don't think you're aware of all the bitching I have to hear on a regular basis."
"So what are you saying exactly?"
"I'm saying let ME go in there and get her. If you lot go barging in, she's going to shoot at least two of you in the head before you subdue her. If I go in, she'll bitch me, but I can get in close enough and knock her ass out before she can do shit. Tired of working for her ass anyway, it'll be my damn pleasure to turn her over to you personally."
"So let me get this straight, you hate your employer so much that you're willing to risk getting shot just to turn her over to a bunch of slavers?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm…."

Metzger looks up and places his hand under his chin as if thinking really hard about this. Your mind races with ideas of what you're going to do as soon as you enter Elana's room and how much time you're going to have to slip out of a window before Metzger and his crew break down the door when you hastily barricade it.

That last minute planning is all for naught when you suddenly feel a fist to your face, knocking you on your ass. Before you can even get up, Metzger signals to his men to quickly subdue and shackle you.

"How stupid do you think I am boy? You go in there and warn her and make all of our jobs harder than it needs to be. Fuck that. I gave you a chance to leave and you chose to be a hero. Well, hope whoever buys your ass likes fucking heroes, because I anticipate you'll fetch a good price to some of those degenerates."

Metzger's men waste no time in relieving you of all your weapons and anything of value, then they put a bag over your head and knock you out.

By the time you come too, you're practically naked and shackled to two other miserable looking souls in a long line of other hopeless and depressed looking individuals. From what you can tell, you're probably on a ship. You don't see Elana, but you can only imagine that they got her too.

When you ask one of the other captives where you're going, nobody has a clue or they just don't answer at all.

Wherever you're going though, it's going to be a long way from here and an even longer time before you'll be able to make an escape, assuming you ever get the chance.

This is a horrible situation and one you definitely never saw in your future. All you wish is that you were back home with your family. You stifle some of your crying and try to remember that you need to remain strong if you ever hope to get out of this one day.

Your life may not be over yet, but your life as a rogue certainly is.


[System] You are the narrator of a dark fantasy text adventure. Describe the world and its consequences with unflinching detail. The player's choices shape the story — for better or worse.

[User] You go with the Captain

[Assistant]
You don't know anything about this place and you're in great danger, so you decide it would be best if you had as many people defending you as possible. You'd rather stay with the Captain.

"Very well, you may stay with us, just don't make a nuisance of yourself. We'll also be on the move a lot, so don't expect a high comfort level, however whenever we make camp, you're welcome to stay in my tent. For right now though, you'll have to leave it, I'm having a meeting with Lyssia and a couple of my knights to discuss an important plan of action. Explore if you wish, but don't wander away from us, we'll protect you, but we won't baby-sit you."

With these words in mind Lyssia leads you back out of the tent, upon which another knight comes up to her with a message.

"Sergeant, a man has arrived at the camp."
"Is he hostile?"
"No, he says he was just passing through and figured maybe he could trade for supplies here."
"Tell him to move on, this isn't a trading post." Lyssia says and goes back in the tent.

Not knowing what to do next you follow the knight back to the man he was talking about. When you see him, he looks raggedy, but well equipped. He a sword by his side and his leather armor looks more like a patchwork taken from several other suits. The most notable feature is the big backpack on his back. You wonder if he's an adventurer.

"Alright you, move on, this isn't a trading post." The knight repeats to the visitor.
"Okay, okay, I'll go. But can't I just rest here for one minute? I've been walking a lot and it would be nice to at least know I'm safe for just a moment."
"…well okay, but make it quick, and stay on the outskirts of the camp." The knight says and leaves. You continue to examine this traveler, who immediately knows you are.
"Well, how come you get to stay here? Army camps aren't known to house children." He asks while sitting down on a nearby log.

You explain your situation to this adventurer, and once again you get an unsurprised look from your listener.

"Got the impression you weren't from around here. I somehow could sense it. I always had that ability; it's come in handy a lot. But yes, the Nightmare Tyrant is very bad news; you would do well to leave this world as quickly as you can, no doubt Shadows are already on their way."
"Well I got this army to protect me!" you exclaim.
"Perhaps, but you said it will be awhile before they return to the Parran Empire where you can get properly transported back to your world, in the meantime they WILL be attacked by not just Shadows, but also by whatever they come across in their mission. Tis a long time to put yourself at risk. Not to mention I see a lack of magic in this camp, I wonder about their chances against Shadows if the Nightmare Tyrant unleashes his full power in order to re-capture you."

You're almost sorry you started talking to this man, within a few seconds he's managed to worry you all over again. Here you were thinking that you were going to be nice and safe.

"But…but…well what should I do?"
"Well, if we were back in Null, I could probably get you back home really quick…"

Before the Adventurer can finish you interrupt.

"Null?"
"Oh, that's where I live. It used to be a great city of fantastic magical power a long time ago, but it was destroyed by its own petty bickering. The powerful wizards there began to argue among themselves, factions were drawn and the entire city along with several miles around it went up in a big ball of flame. It was a terrible tragedy that could've been avoided, but there was an interesting effect of the aftermath of it though."
"What happened?"
"Well, no magic works there now, hence the name Null. Powerful wizards can't get a simple cantrip to work there, let alone a spell. Even the Nightmare Tyrant's minions can't go there. Still, it's far from safe. Lots of the Forsaken live there."
"Who are the Forsaken?"
"Oh they're the unlucky folks who actually managed to survive the catastrophe. Not all of them bad, but understandably such a powerful magic disaster had an effect on most of their bodies as well as their minds."

While this is all very fascinating, you still don't see how this helps you exactly.

"While this is all very fascinating, I still don't see how this helps me exactly. I mean if no magic works there, how can I get home? And why would you want to live in such a place anyway it sounds dangerous."

The Adventurer moves closer to you and looks around before speaking.

"Okay, because I can sympathize with being in a tough position, I'll tell you a little secret. Magic DOES work there, but only in one area and it's only a place I know about as far as I know. There's a deep, but small underground dungeon in Null where magic seems to work, I know because that's where I live! I stumbled upon it completely by accident when I was exploring Null. Apparently one of the many trinkets that I had acquired in the past was a key of some sort. It began to glow and then the wall opened up the way for me. Pure random dumb luck. So I went in and discovered that entire section runs on magic or something like it at least. There are some sort of contraption that if you sit down in and visualize with clarity, your wish will come true! I tried it a few times and it was nice, but I'm a wanderer at heart and as such I couldn't just spend the rest of my days wallowing in eternal paradise, plus I was always leery that something bad might happen if I over used the contraption for greed. However I did see it as a good place to make my home away from the road. In fact I use this magic chair to quickly travel to towns and other cities, of course it's only one way, but at least it shortens the trip somewhat. You could probably use the chair to return home. Even if it doesn't work, I could always take you to the Parran Empire to get you back home. It would still be quicker and safer than traveling with an army that has to complete some mission before it can back home. Who knows what responsibilities and dangers it might incur along the way? Think also, in Null, you wouldn't be attacked by Shadows either. It's up to you though, but choose quickly because I have to be leaving soon."

[User] You go with the Adventurer

[Assistant]
You have to admit, even though you want to go back home, part of you really likes it here. Null sounds interesting and anyplace where the Shadows can't get you sounds even better. The Adventurer seems trustworthy enough, but you still hope you're making the right decision.

"Okay, I'll go with you." you say a bit hesitantly.
"Alright, let's get going, we still have a quite a trip ahead of us."

You and the Adventurer leave the military camp and set off on your journey. The Adventurer explains that you'll probably reach Null in a couple of days, but that you still shouldn't worry too much about Shadow attacks, since the anti-magic effects from Null are also in the desert wasteland surrounding the ruined city.

As you travel further, you find that the Adventurer is quite talkative. He speaks about his many journeys, he also mentions briefly of why he chose his "profession" which was mainly because he was bored living in the small village where he was born. When you reach the desert you see a big ruined city far in the distance. You also notice night is starting to fall as it's starting to get dark, though it seems to have come on all of a sudden. The Adventurer has noticed it too and he begins to go for his weapons.

"It's not supposed to get dark that quick…The Nightmare Tyrant! Quick! Run towards Null, the anti-magic field gets stronger the closer we are to it!"

You and the Adventurer begin to run and suddenly you hear screeching behind you, and you turn your head to see Shadows coming out of the sky to capture you. However, they seem to almost be flickering in and out of existence. The unnatural darkness is also being affected bizarrely, since its still "day" in front of you and then complete "night' behind. Eventually you and the Adventurer outrun the Shadows and the darkness, as they both are unable to withstand the sheer anti-magical forces emanating from Null. After some angry screeching the Shadows retreat back to where they came, while you and the Adventurer take a breather.

"See? Told you they can't get you here. Whew, running in this hot desert is tiring. Let's rest here and continue on tomorrow. The real night will be coming soon and actually walking around in Null after night isn't particularly a safe thing to do either, the desert is a lot securer."

You and the Adventurer settle down for the night, he brings out some water flasks from his backpack and gives you one. You drink it all up and it's soon empty, but you still wish you had a lot more.

"Hey, don't drink all of it! We have to conserve it…wait, I know that flask doesn't hold that much water." He says in confusion as you continue to drink what seems to be an endless supply of water in the flask. When you've truly satisfied your thirst the Adventurer takes the flask and attempts to look in it and shake it and finds there's no more water in there.

"Okay how did you do that?"
"How did I do what?"
"You drank enough for two flasks! These aren't bottomless canteens of everlasting water either and even if they were they wouldn't work due to the anti-magic here. So I'd like to know HOW you did that."

The Adventurer is looking at you suspiciously, almost as if you could possibly be dangerous. You stutter and fumble with an explanation mainly because you don't even know.

"I…I don't know…I just wished I had more water…I was really thirsty…" you reply a bit worried. He looks at you for a moment longer and then speaks again.
"Try to wish for a chest full of gold."
"What?"
"Just do it, I want to see something."
"Erm…okay."

You wish and think as hard as you can, but nothing happens. Well that's not entirely true, you get dizzy and fall to the ground. A single gold piece appears near you though. The Adventurer picks you up as well as the gold piece, which is somewhat misshapen and uneven.

"Hmm, so there are limits. Did you always have this ability?"
"Huh? No. We don't have any kind of stuff like this in my world." You say trying to keep steady.
"I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but it would appear you got some sort of weird mental powers independent of magic. I have fought monsters with similar abilities, which is why I was suspicious at first. You ability reminds me of the magic chair I was telling you about except your power can work even in this anti-magical place and it would appear it isn't very powerful. I'd almost suggest that you could attempt to wish yourself back home, but as we've seen, it isn't powerful enough to do that. Still, this is probably a good indication that the chair will be able to get you back home. Here, here's a proper gold piece, I don't need it. Well anyway let's get some sleep, we should reach Null tomorrow."

You pocket the faultless gold coin and the both of you go to sleep. Before you do though, you reflect on this little adventure. You also wonder about your Mom, she's going to be worried about you and probably have the police looking all over for you! And when you finally do return, what will you tell her?

You don't know, but what you do know for certain is that you DO want to get home as soon as possible even if you do find this place very fascinating.

The next morning the both of you wake up refreshed and ready to carry on your journey to Null. You don't get far, when the Adventurer senses someone is following you. You both turn around and see a figure approaching. It looks like a teenage boy, but deathly pale. The odd thing is, he's wearing modern clothing from YOUR world.

"Is that one of the Forsaken?" you ask
"Him? No, if it was it would probably coming from Null not towards it, not to mention it would probably be running at us trying to eat us. It also looks too human and it's wearing strange clothing, in fact it looks more like…well your type of clothing. Friend of yours?"
"Not that I know of, I'm not friends with anyone his age."

He doesn't quicken his pace; he just continues to walk steadily towards your position. When he gets close enough, you can see his face, which looks emotionless. In fact it looks like he's staring right through the both of you. The Adventurer draws his sword, but it doesn't look like this person is showing any sign of going to attack. In fact he just stands there looking off into space.

"Alright, what's your name?" the Adventurer demands.
"John…Johnny Doe…" he replies still staring into the space. "This place…it's dead…numb…like me…"

As odd as he is, something tells you he's from your world. Maybe he's another person the Nightmare Tyrant tried to capture.

[User] You try to help him

[Assistant]
You step forward towards him, an action that the Adventurer doesn't approve of at all.

"What're you doing?!"
"I think you're right, I think he's from my world. Maybe he escaped from the Nightmare Tyrant too."
"I don't trust him, he's weird and in my line of work, if it's weird more often than not, it isn't good!"

You ignore the Adventurer and go back to talking to Johnny, who seems to have begun to direct his attention towards you.

"Are you from Earth?"
"Yes."
"Did the Nightmare Tyrant bring you here?"
"Yes."
"Did you escape like me?"
"No."

This answer catches you off guard, so much in fact that you don't react in time to jump out of the way of Johnny's grip. When he grabs your arm, you feel an instant paralyzing numbness causing you to drop immediately. When this occurs the Adventurer leaps into action and strikes Johnny, but when his sword hits Johnny's body, it's almost as if the paralysis crept up the sword and was inflicted upon the Adventurer as well. He falls to the ground clutching his arm and dropping his sword. Johnny follows up by merely touching the Adventurer on the head, completely immobilizing him.

Having incapacitated the Adventurer, Johnny turns his attention back to you.

"No magic can work here, but I can. The Nightmare Tyrant wants to see you. You must comply. Perhaps you will become one of the Shadows. Maybe you will become like me. The Nightmare Tyrant will decide. He knows best."

You attempt to speak, but you're unable to. You can't even think.

"No more talk. No more resistance. Just dead numbness." He says and then picks you up and begins to carry you out of the desert. Eventually when you're out of the anti-magic field, a dark portal opens up, and Johnny delivers you to the Nightmare Tyrant.


[System] You are narrating an interactive fiction game in a dark fantasy setting. Bring the world to life with vivid prose, react meaningfully to player choices, and don't pull punches when the story demands it.

[User] You threaten Warts

[Assistant]
Why risk getting lost or paying this greedy greenskin when you can just force him to lead you out of this forest?

You get closer and then pull out your pistol. Warts eyes go big for a moment.

"Iz dat one of those shooty things?" Warts asks.
"Yep, and better yet, it's one of those multiple shooty things." You respond.
"Hey, I don't got no money humie. The only thing I got in my pants is muh dick and I ain't givin up dat."
"What you're going to do is lead me out of this here forest for free or you get a hole in you bigger than one of your nostrils."
"Grm. So that's how it is huh? Ol' Warts gets cheated again. (Sigh) Fine. You got the upper hand, follow me." Warts says in a resigned tone.

Warts begins to walk and you follow close behind. Several times you get the impression he's going to try to run off, but it seems like he's so reconciled to his fate. Almost like this has happened to him before.

Time passes and it feels like you've been walking through this forest longer than expected.

"Hey greenskin, how much further is it?" you ask.
"We still got a ways ta go. The damn bandits are all over dis forest and I'm trying to keep us away from their camps. So we gotta go the long way less you fancy a fight." Warts responds.
"No, I guess not."
"Grm. Didn't think so. You wouldn't last in a real fight without dat shooter."
"Alright watch it, pimples."
"Dat's Warts!"
"Whatever just shut up and keep moving."

Warts continues to remain silent about his situation as you keep the pistol trained on him. Night begins to fall and once again you begin to get agitated.

"Great, it's getting fucking dark now. If you think you're going to…" you start to say.
"SHHHHHH! Hear dat?" Warts says and stops to listen.
"No." you say, genuinely not hearing anything.

Warts stands still for a moment moving his head as if to hear the sound he heard again, then all of a sudden…

"SHIT! IT'S A BLOOD STALKER! RUN! RUN!" he shouts and takes off ahead of you.

You're actually so surprised by Warts exclamation that you don't even try to shoot him, you just try to follow him as you also run through the trees.

You aren't sure what a blood stalker is and you still don't even hear anything, but Warts never stops shouting about running for your life. He even turns his head to see if you're still following and that's when he takes a fall over something on the ground.

"ARGH SHIT FUCK! MY LEG!" he yells.
"Come on get up!" you say momentarily stopping.
"Can't! My leg's all twisted! You'll have to carry me!"
"Fuck that, you're on your own!" you say and just continue running ahead.

You fully expect Warts to shout obscenities about you leaving him behind, but you don't. Since you haven't looked back, you actually think the blood stalker caught him, but you don't hear any screams.

Then you soon believe that the blood stalker has caught you because you feel multiple sharp sensations go into your chest.

However, you're conscious enough to realize it isn't any sort of creature at all, but instead a swing trap that you triggered while running and not paying attention.

You look down and see several sharpened branches puncturing your body, yet keeping it held up at the same time. Blood comes out of your mouth and despite the pain being fairly terrible, you cannot even utter anything louder than a dying groan.

"Hey Warts! Ya cowardly little grub, youz can come out now! Got da bastard!" you hear a gruff voice exclaim.
"I wasn't hidin' ya idjit, I was pretendin' to be hurt in a fall." Warts shouts back.

At this point the pain is becoming more of a numbness and your vision is beginning to blur. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a green figure bend down to pick up something, most likely the pistol you dropped when you triggered the trap.

"Hey a shooty. Dis what the humie was threatin' you wit?" the hobgoblin asks.
"Yeah, an watch where you point dat thing! I had enough of that already." Warts exclaims.
"Guess you were lucky me an' da boys were out huntin' this way. Too many humies in da forest nowadays."
"Yeah an' fortunately I noticed the signs since I nearly stepped in hobgoblin shit a couple times. Just glad this dumb humie couldn't tell the difference between it and regular animal shit."
"Well you always were an expert on shit Warts."

You can barely hear the two greenskins now as your body continues to bleed out and your organs shut down.

"Heard ya yellin' about a blood stalker. You still usin' dat ol' lie?" The hobgoblin asks.
"Hasn't failed yet surprisingly. Guess people just don't know there ain't no such creature." Warts replies.
"Well, guess let's start strippin' him. Huntin' been a bit thin, so this is actually a bit of luck for us. Tell ya what, you can have what's in his pockets and I'm just gonna keep da shooty and his body for eats, deal?"
"Better deal than I got from this asshole."
"K, hey you lot! Get yer asses over here an' help us pull dis meat off the trap."

Soon several hands grab your limp body and pull it off the spiked trap. At this point any remaining life your body might have had is gone and you don't even hear the further taunts of Warts or his hobgoblin buddies.


[System] Narrate a dark fantasy text adventure. The setting is harsh and morally complex. Describe scenes vividly, react to player choices with fitting consequences, and never shy away from the reality of the world.

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
You and Brenda might have a bit more on your mind now, but this is much more important.

"Brenda, I know emotions are running high right now, but I think we need to go meet Edgar. We can talk more about this later." You say.
"Yes. Yes, of course. We need to get back to business. I'll be okay. This was silly anyway. Need to focus." Brenda says standing back up and wiping her eyes.

You and Brenda ride off to Fort Glory. The ride there is done with minimal talking, but that's sort of to be expected. The thing is you never seriously thought about Brenda in that way until she just brought it up today. Sure you always knew you had that bond from both of you being Eternals and the fact that you've served together for so long. You may have even had the occasional sexual thought about her, but like you said to her, you always figured she would've carried a torch for Roldan. You would've just been a substitute at best.

Now you're having scenarios in your head about the two of you being together in a closer way and you really shouldn't be thinking about that at this moment. Maybe she's right in a way maybe if you did have something together it would cause you to lose your edge. It's certainly clouding your judgment right now and you're not even together.

When you get to Fort Glory you're told that Edgar is waiting for you in your meeting room. When you ask how he seems, the soldiers say he's been stand offish, but not overly hostile. About what you expected.

When you and Brenda reach the meeting room, you ask her if she's ready, and she remarks that she is. The door opens and you both step in and see Edgar sitting in a chair with a big grin on his face. He stands up and addresses the both of you.

"Well it's about time! I've missed the both of you! Come here!" he says jovially with his arms out walking towards you.

"Uh… yeah, hey Edgar. Good to see you too." Brenda says when he gives her a big hug.

Looks like it's going to be a day of surprises…

Edgar stops hugging Brenda and then looks at you. You stand a little back from him as you don't want to be hugged, but Edgar doesn't try it.

"Oh don't worry, I know you're the serious minded Bane of Rask! Bane of Nalin too now I hear! Heh, but how are you?"
"I'm fine Edgar." You say.
"Good, good. I just have to say it's really great seeing the both of you again! I mean you two are like my brother and sister! No, you ARE my brother and sister!"

The last time you heard this sort of sibling talk before was from Kane and if you weren't wary before, you certainly are now.

"Edgar, I'm glad you seem to be in a good mood and all, but I sent envoys to contact you several times in the past and none of them ever returned. We always assumed you had them killed and were angry at us." Brenda says.
"You did? When was the last one?"
"Mmm, last one was about six years ago I believe. After that, I saw no need to waste lives."
"Aw! You should've kept sending them! I don't know if you're aware of just how much anarchy and infighting I've had to put up with! Those envoys probably got killed by the new Eternals and nobody ever told me about it! Hell, they might've even gotten killed by run of the mill bandits, it was pretty lawless back in the early days! Shit, if I had known you guys weren't pissed at ME, I would've made this trek sooner!"
"Wait, so you weren't mad at us?"
"Mad at you guys? What the hell for?! Oh you mean seceding from the Empire? Well I have to say I was more shocked than angry about that. I mean YOU especially." Edgar says pointing at you. "But in time I heard about what you two were doing down here and I respected what the pair of you were attempting to do."

You and Brenda look at each other, wondering what Edgar THINKS you both were trying to do.

"Oh? And what was that exactly?" Brenda asks.
"You saw that the Empire was a lost cause, but you were trying to uphold a portion of it, though this patch of territory. I've heard about your great success in keeping order and how you've even added more land to your nation. Only an Eternal could do something like that and that's why both of you were successful!"

Edgar isn't far off, at least from your perspective. Though he probably has a more idealistic vision of it than the reality, which was this; you didn't know where else to go and over time Nalin was transformed into a "mini Empire" because you didn't know any other way. Brenda's reasons are probably based on simple emotional attachment.

"Well, we were doing the best we could under the circumstances, but you forged a whole new nation, so you've been successful too Edgar." Brenda says.
"Ah yes, but it wasn't easy! There were many times I almost wanted to give up and come join you two! But I knew I couldn't do that, I had a vision that I had to make work! A nation run by Eternals and I'm proud to say it's all finally coming together and I think it's finally time for us, to reunite like we were meant to!"

You and Brenda look at each other again.

"Edgar, I don't think it's quite as simple as all that. We're going to have to discuss this, all of it." Brenda remarks and the three of you sit down to do just that.

Edgar starts off by saying that while he respects what you've done, he doesn't think that you're going about things the right way and that you're still thinking like "The Empire" and clinging to the old way of doing things. He points out that within his new regime he's pushed for advances in weapon technology like the Felkan Kingdom has and managed to even "acquire" such gunpowder based weapons. He's also managed to get a few mages to help in getting the Eternal process started again.

When you bring up your experience with the new Eternals, Edgar reassures you that they don't have the discipline issues at all anymore. He says he's manages to instill the pride of being an Eternal into them and they've shaped up enough to no longer behave like the bloodthirsty children you knew them to be. He also says the next generation of Eternals are almost ready to prove their worth now as well and says he has made sure that their training was stricter and more in line with how you were trained.

"Don't you see I'm creating a new nation like the Empire, but how it should've been run! A nation run by us Eternals! Only we are able to efficiently run things. The lessers can either wisely listen to us, or be crushed underfoot."
"That sounds very nice Edgar, but what is our place in this new nation?" you ask.
"Well, you'd be helping of course! I mean we would be ruling as…uh…a council! Yes! A council of three! The Eternal Council!"
"A council huh? Don't you think that might ruin your standing with the new eternals who you've probably conditioned to listen to a single strong leader?" you ask.
"And they'll still listen to me, because if they don't they'll get executed!"
"So…you'd actually be in charge then."
"Well yes. I mean no. I mean…fuck, why are you fighting me on this!? I just want us to all work together again like we should've been doing a long time ago!" Edgar says in an exasperated tone. He's actually getting upset. You're not really being a dick on purpose, but you have a lot of reservations about this plan Edgar has, even if he has genuine good intentions.

Brenda has been fairly silent for a while, but she suddenly stands up and says to Edgar that she needs to speak to you outside. He says okay, but is obviously troubled by how this is going.

Brenda and you leave and after dismissing the soldiers standing outside, you're standing in an empty corridor.

"I think we should join Edgar." Brenda says.
"What? Just like that? You'd be giving up control of your own nation. Don't you have some concerns?"
"Not really. I think you heard me say not too long ago, that I never wanted it. And you heard him, it sounds like Edgar's done a good job so far and just wants our help."
"And I'm not sure if I want to. I know he claims to have those second generation Eternals under control, but I just don't trust them. And now he's saying there's a whole new batch to deal with."
"I'm sure we can handle it, that's probably why he wants us to help. Besides, we'd be with others of our kind at least; don't you wish for that sometimes? To not constantly be alone?"
"Maybe my experiences are different, but not particularly. Besides, you're not alone. You've got me."

There is an uncomfortable silence with that statement. The unresolved issue between the pair of you has reared its ugly head again.

"I know, but I still have conflicting feelings about you and if we don't join Edgar he's going to declare war on us. Can we truly have any sort of meaningful relationship then? Would you become less focused with me on the back of your mind? If we join Edgar, the pressure to constantly run things would be off of us. We would have time to explore the potential for a deeper relationship. Look, I know your feelings on the new Eternals, but I don't think it's just that. You're in charge here at least in the military aspect of things, which quite frankly is the only thing that does matter to you. You don't want to give that up and I understand, but I think you need to look at the bigger picture here."

[User] You don't join Edgar

[Assistant]
Brenda's argument that you don't want to give up a lot of your autonomy is correct in many ways. Perhaps you are a little stuck in the past as well. You still remember having to save Edgar's life on more than one occasion. The idea of him telling you what to do is something that just doesn't sit right with you, even if you have put away your differences with him a long time ago. His council idea, while a valiant attempt is doomed to failure. Ultimately there can only be one real leader and while you don't mind following Brenda, you are not going to follow Edgar. The moment you disagree with him on something major it's going to get ugly again.

"Brenda I understand that you're officially in charge of Nalin so ultimately it is your decision, but call it pride or even a hunch, but I feel that joining with Edgar would only lead to bad things occurring. What we control now is stable and with minimal chaos, maybe it isn't the Empire or even the Eternal Dominion, but it is ours. If Edgar declares war on us for not joining, then so be it. At least that tells us where we always stood with him in the first place. And as for us, well if there is anything at all between us, then that relationship won't be effected whether we're at war with Edgar or not, so you shouldn't even let that cloud your judgment on this matter."
"And what if I decided that we should join with the Eternal Dominion? Would you leave?" Brenda asks.
"Honestly I don't know what I'd do…(sigh) I suppose I'd support your decision even though I didn't agree with it. Where that would leave us as far as a relationship is concerned, well as I said before, if there is anything genuine and meant to be there, then it'll survive it. Wouldn't change my feelings for you."

Brenda smiles at your remark. The first you've seen her do so all day. She then approaches and kisses you and you embrace her. You then both remember you've got Edgar waiting for an answer.

You and Brenda return to the room where Edgar looks a bit on edge. You decide to let Brenda break the news to him.

"Edgar, I'm sorry, but we both feel that Nalin should remain independent of the Eternal Dominion at this time."
"But…but you've seen everything I've done! I've done all this for us! Eternals! Don't you see that?!" Edgar says in an aspirated tone.
"We…know you did and we appreciate it, but I think our path is different from yours." Brenda says and then looks at you. Edgar notices this and tries a different tactic.
"Oh wait. You two are together now? Well that's great! I mean I wasn't aware of it, but that's great! You weren't worried I was going to try anything did you? Ha ha, I've got tons of concubines! I wouldn't dream of coming between you two! Heh, so if that was your only concern, you can join me and…"
"No Edgar, it's not that. We're just happy with the way things are, but thank you all the same." Brenda says.

And here it comes. Edgar's face changes to red and he begins breathing heavier.

"HAPPY? How the fuck can you two be so damn happy living in such mediocrity?! You're fucking Eternals! We're supposed to be ruling the fucking world! You two are no better than that traitor Warrick!"
"Warrick?" you and Brenda ask in unison.
"Yeah, he joined the Felkan Kingdom didn't you know? He joined a former enemy of the Empire! Of course you two probably haven't been keeping up on events since you've been playing grab ass with each other for the past fifteen years! By the Emperor's dead cock, you didn't wait long for Roldan to be dead did you?"

This remark causes Brenda's calm demeanor to shift entirely and she stands up and draws her weapon.

"You say one more fucking thing about my dead husband, and I'll send you back to the Eternal Dominion in fucking pieces!"

Edgar draws his own weapon, but was a little surprised by her response. It's all you can do to hold Brenda back.

"Alright, I think…" you start to say before Edgar cuts you off.

"And you! What the fuck happened to you? You were supposed to be the BEST of us! You were the one that was the leader! Now look at you! You're following Brenda because she's spread her legs for you? Where the hell are your balls? You know when we were young I disliked you a lot, but I always respected you. After our escape from Fort Defiance I liked you as well as respected you. Now? I can't say I feel either."
"Okay Edgar…"
"Out of all of us YOU were the one that was supposed to prevent the Empire from falling! What did you do? You ran away! You know what I did? I stayed until the bitter end picking up the pieces! I saw the fucking capital in flames! I tried so hard to prevent it…I tried…and you didn't help me, (sob) none of you did…"

At this point Edgar collapses back in his seat sobbing and going on about how he failed. His motivations for everything he's done are a little clearer now. Even after the verbal abuse he laid down on Brenda, she sees now he probably didn't mean any of it.

After all these years, Edgar is still like a teenager trying to prove himself by over compensating. You actually feel sorry for him. You can only imagine the internal torment he's been going through all these years since the Empire fell. Justifications, rationalizations, outright blocking out reality, he's probably done it all.

You sit down next to Edgar and pat him on the back.

"Edgar. There was nothing any of us could've done. It was a doomed mission to begin with. You did your best and that's all anyone could've done. Even an Eternal."

Edgar tries to compose himself while you give your pep talk.

"You've accomplished much and you should be proud of your achievements on their own merits, not as compensation for perceived failings. This is your path and your destiny. Brenda and I, we have our own path."
"Okay…okay…" Edgar sniffles.

Before he leaves he apologizes to Brenda and says he has no intention on invading Nalin, but he still hopes that one day you'll reconsider in joining him

"It's possible. Perhaps one day our paths will reunite." You answer.
"I hope that day will be soon, goodbye my Eternal brother." Has says extending his hand.
"Goodbye Edgar." You reply and shake his hand.

After Edgar leaves the fort you sit down and run your hands over your face and taking a deep breath from all the emotional baggage you had to put up with today.

"It's been an overly emotionally day for you today I imagine." Brenda says.
"You're not joking. I guess I am an emotionless golem compared to the rest of you."
"Oh I wouldn't say that. You handled everything very well, for a golem."
"Heh. Well anyway that's one less thing to worry about."
"You don't think we shouldn't still be concerned about him? I mean I know he said he wouldn't invade, but there's always the possibility of a sneak attack."
"Edgar's a lot of things, but he not a backstabber. At least he wouldn't be for us. If he ever does decide to do it, I promise you, it'll be announced in a very dramatic fashion weeks in advance."
"Yes, I suppose you're right. Odd news about Warrick though, thought he was dead."
"Yeah, that was just one of the many surprises today. But I guess that was his path and how he dealt with the fall. It's all in the past now anyway, I'm not going to judge him."
"Well enough about them, I think we've got us to discuss."

You and Brenda retire to your quarters at Fort Glory. After an hour or so of talking, you both decide that it's time to take it to the more physical side of things. The night of passion you spend with Brenda is just one of many in the years to come.

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
Year 55

You and Brenda now rule the nation of Nalin as a married couple. There has been some issue on what your official titles are now. The simplest choices would be emperor and empress or king and queen. Eventually Brenda settled for imperatrix, which would officially make you imperator, though you still go by general for the most part.

In any case life has been good. You don't even mind that things have been slow since you conquered all those tribals in the east. You've been taking a slightly more active role in running the nation from an administrative point of view, but sometimes you still long for the day of a good battle. When that day comes you've also tried to keep up on the changing times of changing warfare. While the days of close combat are far from over, if the Eternal Dominion is starting to slowly incorporate firearms into their ranks, then you better do likewise if only to maintain a show of strength.

The ED isn't hostile though and you maintain a good trading relationship with them. Edgar still hopes you're going to join him one day, especially since you know he's got designs on going to war with the Felkan Kingdom (You gave him some friendly advice to not bother with invading Rask).

He'd probably like you to at least be involved in a joint military operation with him, but you think he's over extending himself and the Felkan Kingdom is no pushover. It's not exactly like you're near the Felkan Kingdom as far as location is concerned either. All you'd be doing is having soldiers die in a war that doesn't even directly benefit your nation.

That being said, Nalin hasn't sided with the Felkan Kingdom either in any way. Again, due to your location, you've had minimal contact with them. Brenda thought about allying with them in the past, but that was never seriously considered (Good thing too). Somehow though you imagine you're going to get dragged into this saber rattling between the Eternal Dominion and the Felkan Kingdom.

Funny how that feeling turns out to be true.

Late one night you and Brenda are awakened from your sleep. Some envoy from the Felkan Kingdom has sudden decided to show up in the middle of the night. Demanding to see the pair of you and claiming it's very urgent. You and Brenda don't get much sleep as it is, so you're inclined to tell your soldiers to just shoot him and go back to bed, but you've got a good idea of who it is.

"You really think it's him?" Brenda ask.
"You really think it isn't? It was only a matter of time. Ugh, I guess we better get this over with."

You shout at the guard behind the door to hold the envoy in the meeting room and keep a close eye on him until you and Brenda get there. After grumbling and getting dress you and Brenda head to the meeting room where you see a familiar face. He's missing an eye, all of his hair and his face has a few more winkles and scars on it now, but you still recognize him.

"Warrick, you better have a damn good reason for waking us up in the middle of the night." You say.
"…you aren't surprised it's me?"
"Not really, I actually thought you'd show up sooner, and how the hell did you manage to join the Felkan Kingdom anyway?"
"It's a long story…but well anyway, I'm glad to see you both. I was surprised to hear about your marriage. Didn't think that…"
"Warrick, I'm tired as well. It's not easy running a nation and I've been doing it even longer than my husband has, so get to the damn point of the visit or let this wait until tomorrow." Brenda demands rubbing one of her eyes.

Warrick looks a little hurt by your remarks, but he gets on with it.

"Very well, to business. The Felkan Kingdom wants an alliance with you."
"Yeah sort of figured that. Anything else?" you ask.
"Erm, no, but…"
"Okay then, the answer is no. We can talk more about old times tomorrow, if you want. Good night." Brenda says starting to turn around to go back to bed.
"Hey wait! No? Just like that?! You don't even want to consider the benefits?" Warrick asks.
"What benefits? If we ally with the Felkan Kingdom, all it's going to do is piss off the Eternal Dominion who we have a good relationship with diplomatically and tradewise. What is the Felkan Kingdom going to offer?" Brenda replies.
"How the fact that we're more likely to leave you alone after the war with the Eternal Dominion is over?"
"Warrick…Warrick…you should know threats aren't going to sway us." You remark.
"What?! NO! I meant, argh look. What I'm saying is if the unfortunate should happen and the Eternal Dominion wins don't you think that they'll try to invade you next?"
"I suppose it's possible yes."
"Whereas if the Felkan Kingdom wins, we have no intention on even expanding our borders."
"Probably true, but that still doesn't help us during the war. A war that is really between you and the ED."
"I can't believe I'm trying to convince YOU of all people to go to war. I would've thought you would've jumped at this chance!" Warrick says in a raised tone.
"Things change Warrick, and just because I'm not jumping through your hoops doesn't mean I've lost a taste for battle. But I'm thinking on a grander scale now. Going to war with the Eternal Dominion doesn't do us or Nalin any good. It's just going to result in dead soldiers at best. We've found that our continued expansion eastward is much better in building up the country. Maximum gain with minimum losses." You say.

Warrick paces a bit and sputters. He obviously thought this was going to go better.

"So that's it then huh? You just take Edgar's side over mine. I thought you didn't like him anyway."
"Warrick, it's not about taking sides. If you haven't noticed we're not exactly allied with the ED either. We trade with them and are on friendly terms, but that's out of convenience more than anything. Trust me, Edgar's been trying to get us to join for years. I don't know what you're even worried about, the Eternal Dominion is formidable I'm sure, but the Felkan Kingdom survived a war with the Empire. I'm guessing you should be able to handle the ED."
"I don't know if we can." He calmly states.

There's a moment of silence where you weren't expecting him to say such a thing so blatantly like that.

"Look, I didn't want to say anything. The Felkan Kingdom is what I serve now and I serve it to the best of my abilities as I did the Empire. To do anything less would be a failure as an Eternal on my part."
"But?"
"But I see the weaknesses that we have and I can't ignore them. It's not public knowledge to anyone outside the kingdom, but we're also suffering a large gnoll invasion from the west. It caught us completely by surprise. The Felkan Kingdom is a mighty nation, but right now it's straining its resources just to stay alive. A war with the ED…and we all know it's coming, could break us. The funny thing is I feel like I'm in the Empire all over again. You know during the bad times."
"I think they were ALL bad times Warrick. We just made the best of them." Brenda says.
"Perhaps. (sigh) I guess I can't convince you ally with us, I mean you've got a good thing going on here and you shouldn't wreck it. I'm glad. Glad that some of us are doing well. But couldn't you at least break off your trade routes? I mean that would at least cause Edgar's attention to be diverted. He might suspect you're up to something and not attack the Felkan Kingdom. At least not right away. It might be enough time for us to put up a better defense."
"Yeah and he might also attack us instead." Brenda remarks.
"I don't think he will, because then he has to divert his own soldiers and resources and then he'll be worried that we will attack. He can't fight a two front war, even Edgar's smart enough not to risk that. And that's if he dares fighting you in the first place."
"That's a big if, there Warrick." You say.

You and Brenda tell Warrick you'll both discuss this in a little more detail outside. He says he understands and will await your decision.

You and Brenda don't have too much to talk about really, since it's basically coming down to helping out a former comrade in arms and starting a possible war with another one or avoiding the situation entirely. Brenda is for staying neutral; oddly you're actually of two minds of this.

[User] You stay neutral

[Assistant]
As much as you might like to help Warrick out, you just really aren't in a position to do so on any meaningful level. Breaking your trade routes with the Eternal Dominion is just foolish. You tell Brenda you'll break the news this time.

You both enter the room where Warrick awaits your answer.

"Sorry Warrick, while we do understand your troubles, we can't help you. What you're asking for is too much and we see no benefit for us or Nalin in general."

Warrick's face doesn't drop and he doesn't get any angrier, All in all, he takes your response a lot better than Edgar did.

"Very well. I shall tell my superiors that you are not interested in any sort of alliance with us. I hope that one day this may change. I suppose I will also take my leave now, sorry to have bothered the both of you, but it was still good to see you again." He says and leaves immediately.

You and Brenda remark on he was probably more disappointed than he let on, but what's done is done and you've all made your choices now. The pair of you go back to bed and try to get some sleep.

Year 56

"We've got to do something about this epidemic. If this keeps up we're not going to have a population left to rule over!" Brenda says.
"Well so far the problem has hit the eastern territory of Nalin yet. We've scoured the land for healers, medics and a few hedge wizards and they're doing all they can, but this thing is really bad in a few of the towns. I've quarantined all of the major areas where this plague is taking place, but understandably a lot the soldiers aren't exactly keen on their duties there mainly because they don't want to get sick either. The only ones who aren't kicking up much of a fuss about it are soldiers with families in those towns." You reply.
"(Sigh) Shit. I've talked to all of the advisors and nobody has a clue where, who and why this thing might've started. You got any ideas?"
"Unfortunately the only one I can think of just a hunch, and I'd rather not believe it. I think Warrick, or at least the Felkan Kingdom had something to do with it. For all we know they could've had saboteurs in here for years planning this."
"If it was them, I hope Edgar rips them a new asshole now that he's at war with them."
"Be that as it may, I'm still hoping that wasn't the case, not because I don't want to believe a former friend could do this to us, but more because it doesn't reflect well on my duties to protect the nation. I mean if the Felkan Kingdom had saboteurs here, how was it that I didn't see it until now?"
"You can't start doubting yourself, we need to focus on the problem at hand first."
"You're right of course. Well as I see it, if we really want to stop the plague, we need to kill everyone in the quarantined areas, then cleanse everything with fire."
"Wait, hold on. There's no other way? Can't we just have more medics and healers transferred to those places?"
"I don't see what good that would do. From the reports a lot of these people are practically dead or dying as it is. It doesn't do any good for them to linger and possibly get others sick. Better to just kill them now and save the medics to observe the places that only have a few sick people."
"You do realize that something like this is not going to be popular right? I mean are the soldiers even going to be willing to do such a thing?"
"Well we try pretty hard to keep up the old ways of Empire indoctrination, I don't think we should have major problems, though I suppose those with families might protest (Sigh) I guess we'll have to take care of them as well."
"This isn't sounding like a great idea. Maybe we should just keep the quarantine and let them all slowly die off. We could always say we're looking for a cure, and whether one comes or not, the problem will take care of itself." Brenda suggests.
"The problem with that plan is we're diverting soldiers from more important duties and continuing to risk lives that can still be useful to Nalin." You say.

You and Brenda weigh the pros and cons of your limited choices.

[User] You kill everyone in the quarantine

[Assistant]
Ultimately, when in doubt killing everyone has worked for you on several occasions in the past, no reason to change tactic now. Brenda really doesn't think this is such a good idea, but you convince her that if there is going to be problems you might as well get them over with quickly.

First thing you do is get every remaining "old guard" officer that's still serving since the days of the Empire and have them put in charge of this operation. You know they won't even question this command coming from you. Then you tell them to go through their personnel rosters to see who is going to be up for this grim task. You personally suggest to include all of those elves you made into orphans years ago. While they may all be good indoctrinated soldiers now, you think they wouldn't hesitate at a chance to kill some humans and would be good candidates for this job. Besides, elves seem to be more resistant to the plague anyway.

Three entire towns are put to the sword, gun and torch until there is nothing left, but burned corpses and hollowed out buildings. In keeping with non-humans being seemingly less affected by the plague, you have kobolds remove the bodies and clean out what they can. They're more than happy to do this as they get the chance to loot some stuff for their own impoverished reservation you've set aside for them.

This action causes an outcry, which hasn't been seen in a long time. Not even when conscription was implemented were things this bad. As predicted you have to execute several soldiers who took up arms against you during the cleansing. Many Nalin citizens aren't happy with the fact that you've implemented several non-humans in helping with this massacre as well. Indeed some begin calling you their inhuman "Eternal overlords."

As far as the plague goes, you did successfully wipe it out from being an ongoing danger. Medics, healers and the like are able to focus their attentions on the places where it's less of a problem and eventually it is gone completely.

The repercussions of this action are that you now have a split nation. Eastern Nalin is still prosperous as the plague barely even reached the area. You also still have all of your supporters mainly from there who appreciate the fact that you stopped the plague from spreading. Western Nalin however is a mess and pockets of lawlessness begin to appear. You naturally take steps in trying to curb this problem by being more oppressive…

Year 60

"You want to move the capital?"
"I don't see why not. It's obvious that eastern Nalin is where the prosperity is, I don't see why us as rulers shouldn't be living there instead." Brenda remarks.
"I do. By having the seat of power here, we still maintain control over this area and are displaying a show of dominance. If we go running to the east, it looks like we're effectively abandoning the area and that's going to make the less desirable elements here even more motivated to pursue whatever lawlessness they want. We need to maintain control."
"Well what if I don't? Ever since the plague hit, it's been a downward spiral for western Nalin. We've tried and tried to get it back to what it once was, but throwing soldiers at the problem is just a bandage. It didn't help that you had soldiers shaking down people looking for other possible Felkan Kingdom saboteurs."
"I had to be sure to make sure something like the plague didn't happen again!"
"Look, I know you don't like losing control of anything and we've had arguments about how the plague was handled to begin with, but we are in a spot now that we need to make a serious change in things if we want to avoid getting overthrown by mobs and our heads on pikes in the future."
"Oh come on, like that's going to happen."
"I said in the future, not immediately. And don't be so sure of yourself, you're not twenty anymore you know."
"I know that!"
"Do you? Because sometime I wonder. I love you and you're still a great warrior and you're probably still better than most men half your age, but you can't go around thinking you're invincible anymore. There are guns now you know, someone could just assassinate you from a few feet away and not even engage you in combat. The days of the Empire are over, you have to realize that."
"I know that too, Brenda."
"And that's why you're frustrating to deal with sometimes, because you DO know it, yet sometimes you completely lapse into the mindset of the good old days."
"So what the hell are you proposing? That we just relinquish complete control of the western Emp…Nalin? That we run and hide to the east, because it's easier?"
"Let me put this into terms you can understand. Eastern Nalin is healthy, thriving even. Western Nalin is very sick and slowly dying. It can't be cured, so what's the best way to deal with it? Cut it off and focus on the more important area that is still of use."

Brenda's analogy to your idea of how you handled the plague makes sense even if you don't want to admit it. Brenda's right about a lot of things, you aren't young anymore. You haven't been for a long time and even though you aren't even on the frontlines of any fighting anymore you find yourself getting tired and weary of the constant conflict that Nalin has been suffering from the past few years.

You've tried to halt the ravages of time to the best of your abilities, but ultimately even as an Eternal, you're not immune to such things. You begin to wonder if the past few years were more about you wanting to relive your "youth" a bit rather than seeking out possible traitors, saboteurs, and other dissidents.

You could insist on staying and Brenda would probably go along grudgingly, but she's also right. You're just going to become even more hated by the citizens in this area and it only takes one dumb ass peasant with a with a gun or even a bomb, to kill you. Maybe at one point you wouldn't have even cared if that had happened, but you've had a long and enjoyable life with Brenda for several years now. A relationship you never even dreamed of before it happened.

You see now that want to live as long as possible with her as your older years advance, because ultimately she is the only other one you have in your life and the only other one that is going to understand you.

"Okay Brenda. Let's cut off the sick limb." You say.

Brenda is happy you see reason and her plan is set in motion.

Over the next few months, the Nalin government is relocated to one of the bigger central towns in the eastern territory, Adlen. The town soon swells to become a city with the influx of people. Military is pulled out of the west next. A few soldiers desert and don't follow in this exodus, but you just let it go. If they don't want to be here, then it's better off that they aren't. Most merchants and businesses are the next to follow.

After these major transfers, western Nalin is declared no longer under protection and an independent territory. This causes some debate on if eastern Nalin is still "Nalin" since technically it was never part of the territory originally. After some discussion eastern Nalin is renamed the nation Naleen. Most of the eastern citizens have oddly developed an accent in which they've been pronouncing "Nalin" like that anyway for years.

As for Nalin, the people that still dwell there are either happy about it or too poor to move. You figure the biggest winners will be the kobolds, at least until the Eternal Dominion sends in forces to take the land, assuming they have the time and manpower. You've heard they're doing well against the Felkan Kingdom, but things could always change.

In any event none of it is your concern anymore. Still, you hope that this really is the last time you have to make a big move like this again, you don't know if you want to bother with a third time.

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
Year 70

It's a calm night and you stand outside on the balcony of your palace and look down at the city of Adlen. Brenda comes out to join you.

"It's good when everything is going well isn't it?" Brenda asks.
"It's definitely going better for us now. Certainly going better than it is for Prime Eternal Edgar too."
"Always thought that was a ridiculous title. I don't understand how he's at a stalemate with the Felkan Kingdom, he was doing so well against them for the longest time."
"I figured he's eventually over extend himself, though he's also had a few personal set backs like several assassination attempts for one. From his last letter he doesn't sound like he's doing too well healthwise. He says the last two times he's been stabbed, the assassin's knife was coated with a heavy duty poison. The bolt that went into his back was too. If he wasn't an Eternal he'd probably be dead by now."
"Well that's better than Warrick."
"Yeah, but from that letter Edgar sent, he said Warrick died at the battle of Yaquan six years ago. Regardless of his loyalties, he died like how an Eternal is supposed to die. Edgar will be lucky if he dies from a successful assassination, because it's sounding like the poison build up in his system might get him first. He's sick and weak. It's a shame really, I remember him being so hale and hearty at one time. If I were him I'd probably give up the ruling nonsense, join his soldiers in the next battle and die in one last blaze of glory."
"Is that how you wish to die? You want to go out in one last blaze of glory?" Brenda asks.
"Eh, sometimes I still think about it, but not really seriously. I guess I've finally grown past it." You laugh.
"Didn't think that would happen actually."
"Well, if Naleen starts suffering an unstoppable rebellion I guess I still got a shot at it. I'll meet the unwashed mobs with sword in hand."
"Heh, well if that happens I guess I'll join you, because I'm too old to be moving the capital again."

You both smile and hold each other side by side still looking out at the city. Yes, life is good when things are running well.

Year 75

You, Brenda and your elite guards step into Edgar's palace, and it's every bit as impressive as you thought it would be. Lots of statues, symbols of war, etc. Certainly a lot of bigger than your humble palace, but then Edgar always was one for overcompensation. You all are taken through the palace to see Edgar, along the way you and Brenda continue to take in some of the sights.

"Isn't weird that all those years we served the Empire that this the first time we've ever stepped foot into this place?" Brenda says.
"Yeah, Edgar must've spent a fortune rebuilding it."
"Did he ever actually meet the emperor?"
"No he never did. He said he assumed that he either fled or burned up in the fire, by the time he got to the palace. For all we know, maybe there never was an emperor."
"Just one of life's mysteries I guess."

Eventually you reach the royal bedroom. An older woman is sitting on a chair outside sobbing. She looks regal. You wonder if this is "Eva" that he's referred to a couple times in his letters. She's not exactly his queen since she's human, but you know she is definitely his companion. Another older muscular man with a stern expression is standing nearby pacing. When you arrive, he frowns even more.

"Oh so you two decided to come after all. A pity." He says.
"And who the hell are you exactly?" you ask.
"Hmm, not surprised a deserter like you doesn't remember me. My name is Rissok and I served under you during the Empire riots. I saw you kill my friend in cold blood. A true Eternal who served with honor!"

"Oooooh now I remember. You and your other buddy were looting houses while Felding was attempting to rape a woman. Yeah, real honor there." You say.
"Don't mock me! You are only here because the Prime allows it! If it were up to me, I would have you labeled as a traitor and have you killed!"

At this point your guards take up a defensive stance and Rissok's do likewise.

"Well if you're going to make a move, better do it quick." You say.
"Stop it! Stop it please! My Edgar is dying! Can't we have one moment without murder and killing?" the woman sobs.

At this point Rissok storms off without another word, the guards stick around and tell you that you and Brenda may enter at any time, but your own guards must stay outside. Before you do, Brenda addresses the woman.

"We apologize, we did not mean to cause you distress. Are you Lady Eva by any chance?"
"(sniff) Yes. Yes I am."
"Edgar's spoken highly of you in his letters." Brenda says which causes a slight smile on her face.
"I know that he's better than me in everyway being an Eternal, yet he shows such compassion and sweetness by making me, a non-eternal, his only companion. I don't know what I ever did to deserve such an honor, but I will always be grateful for it."

Brenda asks her if she wants to come in too, but she says she has already said her goodbyes and that he wants to see you both alone when you arrive. Having no other questions, you both enter the bedroom.

When you see Edgar, he's lying in his bed and looking completely unwell. He's pale and his face has a gaunt looking appearance. You can't even believe this is the same man you fought along side at Fort Defiance.

"Edgar?" you ask just to make sure.
"(wheeze) ah…you both came…I knew you would. (cough cough) There isn't much time…I trust you've read my letter?"
"Yes."
"Well then you know that when my death comes, anarchy will ensue."
"Don't you have a successor?"
"I don't know if you've noticed, but I imagine Brenda has and that's we can't have children."

You look at Brenda and she nods and mentions she learned that with Roldan when they were together. It's never been a topic you've brought up, but you always had your suspicions. Edgar continues his speech.

"We Eternals seem to be sterile or barren. I've had people try to look into this problem, but they haven't come up with anything yet. It would seem what makes us superior, takes away our ability to reproduce. Maybe it's nature balancing itself out, so that we don't take over the world like so many of our younger eternals seem to want to do. Anyway (cough cough) I've drawn up official forms for the only two I think could be proper successors…"

You already know where Edgar is going with this.

"Oh no…don't say that's why you dragged us out here…Edgar they aren't going to listen to us! We aren't even ED citizens!"
"This is rather unrealistic Edgar." Brenda adds.

"That doesn't matter! You're still Eternals! (wheeze cough) They'll listen more likely than you believe, why do you think I always spoke so highly of you two? The younger ones will most likely follow without question, your major opposition will probably be the second generation…but there aren't too many of them left, you could easily purge them all if you had to. Please…I tried to build something here…(cough) but I can't go on any longer. The only people who can guide the Eternal Dominion into something worthier are you two. I'm asking not just as a dying man or friend …but as a (cough cough) a fellow Eternal…"

You and Brenda look at each other and you both know your answer. Edgar's trying to guilt you into this mess, but it's just not going to work. This plan of his is doomed to fail and you know it. Every high ranking Eternal is probably going to be vying for power. And you and Brenda have your own nation, your own lives, and you've told Edgar this before, but it's time to tell him one last time.

"Edgar, we're not accepting this position. First of all it's not realistic despite what you want to believe and I think deep down you know that. Second of all, these are your final moments Edgar. Don't worry about what you accomplished and if it'll last. Just be proud of it now and spend your last moments with your wife or whatever you consider her. That's who you need to be concerned about."

Edgar hacks and coughs up blood and spits it into a nearby bucket and struggles to breathe, but manages to answer you.

"Very well…you've made your point. And you're probably right. You usually were. (wheeze) Bring my…my wife in. I do wish to spend the last moments with her…and farewell…my Eternal siblings."
"Farewell Edgar." You say with a nod. Brenda says goodbye as well before you both leave.

You step outside and tell Eva that Edgar wants to spend his remaining time left with her. She seems happy with this idea though of course still upset. She runs in and you, Brenda and the rest of your group are escorted out and back to the carriage that brought you here.

When you finally get back to Naleen, you and Brenda are both glad to be home, though you both talk for quite awhile about this recent event and how it's odd to think that you both are going to be the only original Eternals left soon.

A couple days later you get the news that Edgar has died and that the new leadership of the Eternal Dominion as of now is uncertain. Fortunately you don't really have to worry about it. Naleen is strong enough and far enough away that any sort of chaotic attack from the new ruler is very unlikely. You suspect that most of the fighting will be within the ED itself, or pushing ahead against the Felkan Kingdom.

In the meantime you wonder about your own legacy and if you'll be remembered on any meaningful level. Brenda isn't really concerned about it; she figures you'll both be in the history books as the first rulers of Naleen if nothing else. That sounds fine, but you wonder if that would necessarily be the case, after all you never met the emperor, you don't even know his name or really anything about him except what you were taught as a child and that was most definitely all propaganda. You know even less about his predecessors. History may very well remember the Empire, but information on its rulers is either going to be sketchy or non-existent in another century. Edgar will probably be forgotten in even less time.

You get the idea that a solid written record is in order.

"Since when are you a writer?" Brenda asks.
"I'm not, but maybe we can work on this together, I mean you are part of this too."
"Well that's certainly true. Okay, so how did you want to go about this?"

[User] You create a book painting you in a positive light

[Assistant]
While you toy with the idea of creating a book telling the complete truth, but decide it would probably be better to just do one as a partial propaganda piece. People have enough excuses to complain about you, no need to add more sticks to the fire.

"Sounds like that might be for the best. So are you going to still start from the beginning?" Brenda asks.
"Well I'll briefly touch upon some of my time serving the Empire, but I'll mostly deal with when Nalin broke away from it and beyond. Obviously I'll focus on the most memorable parts, not the times where I just sat around reading skirmish reports."
"Still going to take a while you realize."
"I know it's not going to be in one night, but I feel like a lasting record of us should exist. I mean after we're gone, who's to say that we won't be forgotten soon after? I mean I understand what Edgar was trying to do, but sadly I don't think he's going to be remembered in the scheme of things. I don't think the Eternal Dominion is even going to survive too much longer now that he's dead."
"Hmm, you might be right about that. So you don't mind that the book might be excessively biased?"
"Brenda, ALL history is biased in favor of its victors. Why should we be any different? Besides, I'm sure people will make up more than enough lies about us to make up for it when we're gone."
"Heh, you're probably right about that too. Okay then, let's get started, I want to make sure I'm in a good portion of this history as well." Brenda says with a smile.

You and Brenda immediately get to work on your project. You and her take turns doing the writing for the most part, but the pressures of ruling sometimes get in the way, so it takes longer than it probably would have if you both didn't have other responsibilities.

Your ambitious project takes more than a few years to complete, but when it is finally finished you definitely feel a sense of accomplishment. It may not be conquering an enemy or territory or anything like that, but if this goes the way you want, you will have achieved much more than simple victory. You will have achieved a kind of immortality.

The huge tome immediately copied several times when it is complete. The great thing about being a ruler is you've got underlings that can do this. You make sure to keep the original writing for yourself. The first copies go out to a few Naleen schools, libraries and other places of higher learning where you decree that it is to become required reading. (Another great thing about being in charge!)

In time there probably isn't a single citizen that hasn't at least heard of the book, if not read it. There are a few criticisms about the book from intellectual types claiming that it is little more than the usual propaganda, but such people don't voice such opinions for very long or they quickly shut up about them. For the most part though, the book brainwashes the masses enough that you at least never have to worry about any possible uprisings again.

Year 101

"Brenda…did you say that our book Eternal Vigilance has reached lands outside Naleen?" you ask.
"Yes, I have been told as much, but from what I've heard it isn't popular like it is here. It's been dismissed as little more than the fat musings of tyrants…that would be us."
"Ah, I suppose everyone's a critic. Well I guess we at least we'll probably be remembered by our subjects, for however long that lasts."
"You shouldn't worry about such things right now, it's not important."
"I know Brenda. I suppose it was just a last foolish attempt to keep the Empire alive. I know it sounds odd, but even though the Empire fell long ago, I still felt like it existed in a small form as long as we original Eternals lived. Silly I suppose."
"No, it was just something that you believed in. No sillier than any of the gods that people worship."
"Hrm. The gods. We never were a religious bunch were we? I wonder after I die if I'll meet any of the gods if they even exist."

Brenda gets a bit quiet at that last statement, you don't mean to upset her, but you've got to be realistic at this stage.

"Brenda, I love you." You say.
"And I love you." She says back and squeezes your hand.

For a moment the two of you are just silent for a while. You're were getting tired anyway, but the both of you don't really need to speak to communicate. You know each other better than any two people could. You've been through a lot together and this is will be your final journey with her.

As you begin to get sleepy, you surprise Brenda by making a small chuckle.

"What's so funny?" she asks.
"Captain Gruz…he said I would outlive everyone. I'm glad to have proved him wrong." You say and give Brenda a smile. She manages to smile back through the tears.

Life is slipping away now. This your final battle against an opponent who has stalked you for over a century.

"For the Empire…" you whisper as your last battle cry and finally succumb to eternal sleep.

Your funeral is a big deal. All of Naleen comes out for it, and there is a lot military marching, saluting, and all of that. Various officials give several speeches in your honor about your deeds and accomplishments. Brenda says a few words, but your death has been an emotional drain on her and she saves her strength to get through the day.

You're ultimately placed in a fancy tomb with nice statues of you and Brenda in your "warrior prime" just inside the doorway of it.

A couple months later Brenda joins you in death and she is placed in the same tomb by your side where upon it is sealed, shutting the pair of you in darkness forever.

Your place in history is remembered best in the nation of Naleen, but as time goes on as time always does, you are remembered less fondly. Eventually there comes a day when the latest rulers have your books burned altogether as to establish their own cult of personality. Your book never reached many other far off lands and if it did, it wasn't wide spread to cause any significant impact.

The nation of Naleen goes through various changes of government systems as decades pass by and you and Brenda ultimately become just "names" of past rulers and not much more than that.

Ultimately when it too ceases to be (Conquered by the great kobold/usksha alliance three hundred years later) you are forgotten altogether. Though the kobolds and usksha still stay far away from the graveyard ruins of your tomb, fearing it to be cursed and believing that disturbance will cause the vengeful spirits of the Eternals to rise up.