King of Lies

Luck was a fickle thing. It arrived ona whim and blessed those it deemed fit. It never atrived to those prepared to recoeve it, because it knew their hardwork would get them there.

My hardwork had gotten me nowhere so far, but lady luck seemed to think I was capable enough without her help.

Captain Eleron was back and he came with ill news. The king of the country and overseer of this side of the wall had taken ill. He was given the elixer to bring him back to full health long before the message of my need for it arrived.

I thought it would be meaningless even if it came before, but Captain Eleron gracefully explained how much more an arcane talent was worth than the king.

The king was important yes, but he already trained a successor, though he was slightly lacking. Regardless of the skill of the successor, an arcane warrior or mage would have made up doubly for it.

That was how great my potential was. Unfortunately my heart could not handle that power. I would die long before I reached my potential as a mythic.

Fortunately for them, 2 other humans in the groups taken for captain training in the other barracks showed signs of arcane talent. I was no longer as important.

If I was the only one with that talent, they would have risked a sacrifice to their god of health. Someone with comparable status would have to be used in the ritual.

Their health would be mine and mine theirs.

The sacrificed will die, because their faulty heart would not be able to contain their power, but I will be reborn to the full potential of my affinity.

They couldn't risk the life of a general to heal me, and I was glad. I would never be able to live with myself

The crown still took pity on me and decided I was still important enough to nurture.

I was given two arcane texts beyond my current abilities.

"The grey text is from an elite grade monster. It is strength based like the tiger. Once you learn how to replicate the movement of it's energy from that text, it should appear in your mind just like the time you touched the body of the dark wolves." Eleron continued to explain as he took out a vial with grey liquid slushing about inside it "take this after. It will supplement the energy you need. Find me when you manage to do it" With that he left me to my thoughts.

I couldn't help but think about what happened after the tests were done 5 days ago.

The women were given a choice to stay and fight or return to the capital. Captain Darius explained that the kingdom, and the world as a whole, required more soldiers. Their population could not keep up with the rampart increase of their enemy. The fallen.

They had a quota to fill. At least half of them would have to go with Captain Eleron to the capital by choice or by force. Those without any abilities were not given a choice though.

Force wasn't needed. More than half the women willingly agreed.

It was not even a competition. Who would want stay and fight? They were office workers, house wives, retailers.....who would want to die in a war they didn'teven understand?

Needless to say, some marriages and relationships ended then and there.

However what went through my mind at that point, if what they said was true, it made the entire forest ordeal seem more and more suspicious.

What really brought me back to reflect on the past 5 days was something Captain Darius said after the women were led elsewhere by the other Captain.

"Remember your place in this world. You have seen the other side of the wall. You have seen the raving corruption, the fallen." His demeanor changed from that of a prideful warrior to a beaten dog. "They were once human like you, Wolfkin like me, Elves like Eleron. They were once beasts that grazed the earth. But now." He took a deep breath "Now they are abominations. one. Their numbers are immeasurable. They grow with each soldier that falls. They grow with each fortress they conquer. They grow endlesslyas we fight endlessly" his voice cracked"half" he paused "half our world has fallen. Half our population, reduced to a mass of raging monsters lower than beasts." He drew another long breath."Your only goal out there is to kill as many as you can before you fall. Your gods will not save you. Your powers will not save you. Your intellect will not save you and you can not save yourself." A deathly silence decended on the field.

I felt small. I felt cheated. I could have grown in power. I could have been something more than a foot soldier thrown into the heat of a failing war.

Lady luck was a biased whore.

I did not need God or luck. I knew I would die, but I would die believing solely in my self.