To L.

The board is being set. The pawns are plagued in the slums. The Black King is still throwing away his pawns, while ours are growing. They need their pieces to become knights. I will keep making moves to get us into check. Push come to shove, we may be able to checkmate. Send my regards to the White King.

Know no Fear, Brother

S.

Loken put the letter down and let out a deep sigh. Had it been a year ago, he would have been trying to put stop something like this. Now, he was orchestrating it. He was the head of it all really.

He didn't like it.

He didn't like planning in the dark. He didn't like that he hadn't asked Arturus on his thoughts on the matter. He didn't like that civilians had to be involved in a political matter, that they themselves had not been previously apart of. But most of all, he didn't like the doubt that was plaguing him.

Was he wrong? If he were in Neverembers position, would he do things differently? Could he have done things differently? What if history looked back at Neverember and decided that he made the right calls? What if Loken was going to be the Horus of his own story?

No.

No, that was not the case. Loken had been their at Horus's fall. Horus was a good man, with great talents and abilities. He had seen what corruption had done to him. It made him a monster. Worse off, a monster with an army at his call. Loken didn't stop him, and it cost him greatly. Many of his comrades had died, his friends and those he considered his family. The Luna Wolves disbanded for seven years after that. He was not going to let that happen again, especially not to innocent people.

Loken had plans in place so an event like that could be stopped. Sigismund had his payment, and the name. He would go through with it if necessary. It would cost him his life, but better to die a hero and a martyr then a villain and a monster. Loken would not fall as Horus did.

Loken heard a knocking at the door.

He raised his head to see a young woman in full plate enter the room.. It was one of the new recruits. Her armor was fashioned to look like that of a samurai's. She had a naginata slung on her back and Waikzashi on her side.

"Captain Loken, Lord Arturus wished for me to tell you that he was going to rest soon. He asked that you get some as well, as he wished to speak with you in the morning. I will be guarding him on the next shift, do you wish for to tell him anything?"

"Tell him that I will as soon as I finish this reading this letter, thank you."

"Yes, sir."

The woman began to exit the room.

"Wait…" Loken added

The woman turned, to look back at Loken.

"Sir?"

"What is your name?" Loken asked

The woman looked slightly confused.

"Sir?" the woman questioned

"I asked, 'What is your name?'" Loken repeated

"Moriko, sir. Moriko Takeko." she answered, a look of confusion still upon her face as the captain asked something he already knew.

"Tell me Moiko, why do you think you were chosen?"

"Sir?"

" . . To join the Luna Wolves. What qualified you, and made you stand out?

She paused for a moment, remembering back to the tournament a few months ago. She been placed first overall in the tournament, but not everyone who placed well had been selected to join. She couldn't figure out the question.

"Was it because I won the tournament?" She asked with a hint of doubt.

"No." Loken responded

"Was it because I already had my armor and just needed a weapon?" She tried agian.

"No." Loken repeated.

She paused to consider what it could be that made stand out to Captain Blackstone and Captain Ulthran. What did she have?

A year ago she was a working on a farm with her mother and little sister. She had never held a weapon in her life, nevermind killing someone. Her father claim to fame was being a mercenary lieutenant for the White Scars, but they had all been wiped out at some battle years ago. It wasn't even noteworthy enough to put in a history book. All she had left of him of him was his armor which she had refitted to fit her. Other then that, she had nothing, because she was nothing, really. Just a girl trying to make a living in the big city, and hopefully sending a little back home to help her mother and sister. She was still getting used to city life when she had heard about the Tournament of the Luna Wolves. Five gold to enter, with a one hundred gold as the prize. That was more then she made in months in the city. So she entered, and, with a lot of luck, she won first place. That still didn't answer the question though.

"I'm getting old Takeko, might die of old age before I get the right answer." Loken said after the moments of silence.

She look over at the Captain. He was out of his armor, but even still he was an imposing figure. He was tall and muscular, the scars across his body told a hundred tales of battles across a hundreds of different most recent one she could see through his clothes. He had been impaled clean through his side by a spear. And yet here he was, still walking and talking, and what more training the recruits. It was a testament to endurance of the man.

So the thought of him dying of old age was unlikely.

"I give up Captain. I don't know." Moriko responded.

"What do you come from, Moriko?" Loken asked.

"I don't come from anything, sir. I have nothing to my name. No great deeds or accolades, except for my father's armor" she answered.

She looked down at the floor, a look of sadness on her face.

"Exactly." Loken responded, a half smile on his face.

The look of sadness disappeared from Moriko's face as she looked up at Loken.

"Do you think that I came out of the womb, shield and sword in hand, ready to fight anything that stood before me? No. I came from nothing as well. I was an orphan before I joined the Luna Wolves. I the day before I joined I had never held a shield or sword in my life. That was 25 years ago. Yet, here I am, trying to reform the Luna Wolves, protecting my liege, and trying to heal from this damn wound. All while trying to teach the next generation what it means to be a Luna Wolf."

Loken fold up the letter and place it on the table. He turned to fully face Moriko.

"I had a great teachers to help my along my way. I stumbled from time to time. Hell, I still do, but I always get back up." Loken said with a hint of nostalgia in his voice, a slight smile on his face.

After a moment, the smile turned into a frown, and then to nothing at all.

"I will tell you about those teachers… But not tonight." Loken said. "Tonight I rest, I have some… things… that I need to make apparent to Lord Arturus in the morning."

"Are people going to die Captain?" Moriko asked.

"We as soldiers must be ready to kill and be killed to save others. That is our calling, that is our purpose. People are dying Moriko, to stop it, we might have spill a little more blood, though I hope that it doesn't come to that." Loken responded.

A moment of silence passed between them.

"I think that's going to be it for tonight. You have to get to your guard shift and I must get to bed. Thank you, Moriko."

"It's nothing, Captain." Moriko said as she moved to leave the room.

"Oh, and Moriko…" Loken added before Moriko exited fully.

"Yes, sir?"

"I will be keeping a close eye on you. Do not disappoint me." Loken said

"Yes, sir!" she said as she finally exited the room.

She was young, but she had great potential. Loken would teach her the History of the Wolves. It's shames and triumphs, it's history and maybe even it's future. Maybe he would tell her about her father. When the time was right.

For now though, he slept. He had much ahead of him in the coming days, whether he liked it or not.