Prologue - The Last Mission

The sleek black wyverns drifted through the night sky in formation, harnessed by their riders. Each beast carried two men. In this case, they were warriors of the Calidor Empire, sixteen in all. They had been sent to this hidden camp high in the Atrox hills on a mission by their Emperor where a suspected insurgent camp had finally been discovered by the mystical seers.

Captain Akira Fujiwara was their group's commander; a tall lean man with short black hair nearing his mid 40s; he had served the Empire for over half his adult life starting from a squire, apprenticing under various knights and mystics. His overall talents clearly leaned to the former, though the latter had its uses from time to time. Through the years, he grew from that eager young buck determined to prove himself, to the stable veteran whose men would count on to lead the way, to now... a worn and tired old man whose views on what he was fighting for had long since passed.

There was once a time he would have led with conviction, taken point and declared they were fighting for the good of the Calidor Empire. Now, it was just a job, a box to check. He hadn't told anyone except for a special someone back home; after this, I'm out. This would be the last one. In his locker back at base were his decommission papers, a generous severance, and picture of a small farm he had his eye on. Far away from the capital, where he could start a new life of peace with his family. A better life than this...

"Captain... enemies in sight," one of his men interrupted.

He turned to his second-in-command for the mission. Ordinarily it would have been First Sergeant Kenji Takeshi, his long-time trusted friend who had fought beside with on many such missions, but for some reason, he had been reassigned at the last second. Instead, the Empire had seen fit to assign another soldier, Sergeant First Class Inen Taira. His reputation was supposably solid; experienced, loyal and a proven track record of success. Still, a bad omen for changing a team in mid-stream.

Akira silently motioned everyone to reduce their profile against the black sky. Even though they were approaching at night, there was no way to know whether their enemies had mystical night vision. If they were insurgents, they would be fools not to, he thought. The terrain was scattered forest with loose branches and twigs everywhere. Fortunately, the men all had minor enchantments to muffle the noises they made.

At the top of the crest, Akira was the first one to see into the camp and paused. It was a village of two dozen cabins. But where were the warriors? This was supposed to be an insurgent camp, but he only saw women, old men and children.

"Well, well... this will be easier than we thought," Inen whispered. "It appears we've caught them with their warriors on a mission." It took all his will not to openly gloat.

"I don't make war on helpless old men and children!" Akira snarled. "We obviously have the wrong camp!"

"This is the right camp!" Inen corrected harshly. "Even war camps have civilians to man them! Take the camps out while their warriors are gone, and that's just as good as taking out the opposition! Now... do you want to lead this mission, or shall I assume command, as ordered by the Empire?"

Akira's jaw tensed; he knew if he didn't give the order, Inen would and the Empire would back him up. He silently swore and turned towards his men. "First squad, prisoners, unless they resist. Inen, lead second squad around the perimeter and prevent anyone from escaping from the gates to the south."

He watched as Inen disappeared with half the team. It was the best he could do. So long as they didn't resist, he would have them transported alive, instead of chopped down where they stood. Their homes were going to be torched, but that couldn't be helped. He also feared what awaited them in the Empire capital city prisons, but that too was outside his control.

With those doubts set aside, Akira signaled the attack. His men surged forward, armed with swords, light armor and bows. Their small numbers were deceptive; each man was enhanced with small amounts of magic, making them far faster and stronger than any normal warrior could be. He didn't even need to use weapons; his own martial skills were more than sufficient to subdue the hapless civilians, even the ones who futilely attempted to throw themselves at him. Per his orders, his men did their best to strike with reduced force, knocking the hapless villagers to the ground as their Captain could only watch with a mixture of pity and silent rage. This wasn't what we signed up for! As half the villagers were down in the first few minutes, he motioned for two of the men to start immobilizing them while the rest of the squad moved south, herding any fleeing villagers into the awaiting squad by the gates.

Akira took a moment to check behind him. The villagers for the most part were safely subdued. Only a few had been foolish enough to put up any kind of resistance; some of the older men, probably once warriors in their youth, who hadn't realized that their best years were behind them, or thought that honor was better than shame, he woefully thought. Why couldn't you have just made this easier on yourselves?! Still, he had managed to capture most of the villagers alive. Unfortunately, their task wasn't done. Now the dirty work began.

"Shall we begin sir?" one of his soldiers inquired, holding torches.

Closing his eyes a moment and sighed, Akira nodded grimly. He didn't even want to watch, as the smell of oil smoked branches and crackling of wood began to fill the air. The wails of the villagers was the worst of all, something he had heard all too many times.

Then suddenly, he heard new sounds. Taking a few men, he headed to the village gates and paused to see the sight of dead and dying villagers, with Inen standing in a formation of men, with bloodied swords, having clearly cut down the group of villagers who had attempted a run at the gate.

"Nicely done, Captain," Inen commended. "You chased the villagers south from your attack, while my group closes the gate to prevent any chance of escape... the very definition of teamwork," he added with cruel satisfaction.

"You realize... now there's no one left to interrogate on where the actual warriors of this village might have fled?" Akira pointed out.

"Nonsense," Inen pointed out. "We have all those prisoners you so helpfully rounded up. Now... let's take care of the interrogation. After all, we really don't have the capacity to transport prisoners," he added.

Akira flinched; he hadn't considered that, having assumed the Kingdom would have valued the intelligence enough to send transports, but deep down, he knew Inen was right. More and more of their missions were becoming executions. The prisoners he had so meticulously taken care to round up looked at him with a mixture of dying hope and despair, something he couldn't take any more. Waving to one of the men, he delegated the ugly task of "interrogation", if one could call it that, as he sought temporary refuge in one of the huts that still stood.

Akira sighed as he knelt for a moment of private prayer; How did it come to this... Thirty years ago, the Empire was ruled by decent men. There was authority and power, but still a sense of fairness to their rulings. Bit by bit, the people rights, their privileges began to chip away to make way for the ruling classes, and now, with power concentrated at the top, life in the cities was a scramble for survival and desperation was the rule of the day.

Outside, the sounds of screams could be heard as the men continued their grisly work. Akira tuned it out, not wanting to hear what he had heard so many times before. However, without realizing it, he had dropped his guard and failed to notice the sound of the blade moving behind him. By the time his senses were screaming the danger, the blade had already slid through his chest between the plates of armor. There was barely any pain... shock had set in almost immediately... He managed to turn just enough to face his attacker.

"I am truly sorry..." Inen whispered, "But I had my orders, just as you did... "

Akira could have struggled, fought with the last of his strength, but in the end, there was little fire left in him. Was this my punishment... for my blindness to see the evils of the Empire before it was too late... maybe... in the next life... I'll find peace...