ZONE TWO

The sun rising over the Dwarven Sea felt different.
Cleaner.
For the first time in years, its light wasn't filtered through the haze of demonic corruption that had plagued these waters.
The battle was over.
The remnants of the demon fleet were either sunk, captured, or scattered to the winds, their command structure annihilated with the deaths of Malakor and his lieutenants.

A council of war was held in the great cabin of the Obsidian Maw, the air thick with the smell of old wood and sea salt.
I stood beside Tulote and Cassandra, facing the two men who held the fate of the seas in their hands:
Captain Triton, his face beaming with a pride that seemed to add an inch to his stature, and Fleet Admiral Kiev Valenski.
The Admiral, a man who looked as though he were carved from the same ancient timber as his flagship, was still visibly reeling from the miraculous return of his long-lost admiral's spirit.

"The reports are in," Valenski said, "the demon blockade is shattered. Of their fifteen capital ships, none remain combat-effective. We have retaken the Dwarven Sea." 

He looked from me to Tulote, his eyes filled with a gratitude so immense it needed no words.

"My fleet... we are battered. We've been fighting a running battle for two years, Lord Regent. Our hulls are weak, our supplies are spent, and our crews are at the breaking point. We are victorious, but we are not fit to continue the fight."

"Your navy has done its duty and more, Admiral," Tulote said, "your orders are to escort the prize ships and our wounded back to the Elven shores. Eledrica's ports are now secure. You are to make all necessary repairs, refit your vessels, and bring your men back to fighting strength. The Imperium will need its navy again soon."

"And you, my lord?" Valenski asked. "Will the Obsidian Maw accompany us?"

I answered before Tulote could.

"No, Admiral. Our work here is done, but the war is far from over." 

I looked at the grand map of the realm spread across the table. 
My finger traced a path from our current position westward, over the land, to a formidable-looking mountain range.\

"The Imperial Navy was only one of the armies we were sent to save."

Triton nodded grimly. "The First Company. Trapped in the Neoth Range."

Valenski's face grew grave.

"The First Company... By Erton, we've had no word from them in months. We assumed... We feared the worst. Theirs is the largest single concentration of Imperial power left in the world." 

He looked at me, his eyes wide with the scale of it.

"Hero, we are talking about two hundred thousand of the Imperium's finest soldiers and their entire legion of war machines, encircled by Dietha's strongest land-based forces."

"Which is why we cannot delay," Tulote stated. "Admiral, see your men to safety. We will see to the First Company."

The parting of the fleets was a sight I will never forget.
Under the morning sun, the two navies separated.
The battered but proud Imperial fleet, with its captured demon prizes in tow, turned its helms east, towards the promise of safety and repair.
The lone, black silhouette of the Obsidian Maw turned west, towards a new, uncertain shore and an even greater battle.

Tulote stood at the quarterdeck rail, watching his brother's navy sail away until they were mere specks on the horizon.
The grief that had clung to him like a shroud seemed to have lessened, replaced by a quiet, solemn peace.

"He's with them," Tulote murmured, more to himself than to me. "His spirit will guide them home. He was the shield of the sea, Arda. His duty is done."

He turned to me, and I saw a new fire in his eyes.

"Now it is my turn. My prowess was never on the water; it was on the land. The Neoth Range... that was the homeland of the half-humans before the Heresy. Before Tigress..." A shadow passed over his face, a fleeting memory of another lost sibling. He shook it off. "I will not fail again."

I stood beside him, my hand resting on the hilt of Yui's dagger tucked in my belt.
The cold steel was a constant reminder.
The victory felt real, the sight of the saved fleet a balm to my soul, but the hole Yui left was still raw.
Erton's lesson had cooled my rage into purpose.
I was no longer a man burning for vengeance, but a weapon honed for a singular task.
I thought of my own children - Idrian, Ioas, Iriam, Izacc - and the promise I'd made to a being of cosmic power.
Every demon slain, every army freed, was one step closer to them.

"A mountain range is a bit out of reach for a ship, no matter how legendary,: Cassandra said.

She leaned against the rail, ever the pragmatist.

"Even one that had a ghost for an admiral. So, what's the plan, boys?"

We convened around the chart table once more.
Triton, now solely in command, traced a course along the coast.
"The Neoth Range is landlocked, aye. But the Elven coast runs west for another two hundred leagues.
There's a port city here," he pointed, "Ormas. It's the closest deep-water harbour to the foothills of the range. We can make port there, resupply, and begin the overland journey."

"Our crew is eleven hundred strong," Tulote mused. "A formidable force, but not an army meant to break a siege of two hundred thousand."

"We aren't the army," I said. "We are the key. The First Company has the strength, but they are trapped. We are the tip of the spear that will pierce the encirclement.
We will take out the powerful demons commanding the siege, break their leadership, and open a path.
The First Company will do the rest."

A new sense of unity settle over us.
Triton and his crew were our transport and our bastion.
Tulote, the Lord War Master, was our strategist and our vanguard, his command of the earth perfectly suited for the coming mountain terrain.
Cassandra, the master of shadows, was our scout, assassin and kept our spirits up.
And I, with the Gladius Nobellus and the power of Order, was the weapon that could dismantle the truly powerful threats that held the lock.

Triton gave the command. The Obsidian Maw, her sails full, came around on her new heading.
The tang of sea was still in the air, but our minds were already turning towards the dust and stone of the mountains.
We left the Dwarven Sea behind us.
One more piece of the world mended.
One more promise kept.

But as I looked west, towards the distant, hazy outline of the continent, I knew the fight for the First Company would be nothing like the battles we had faced before.
We were leaving the open seas and headed into the dark, twisted heart of the land.

But regardless, Zone Two, was secured.