"I am the punishment of God. Had you not committed great sins, God would have not sent a punishment such as I upon you."
-Genghis Khan
Sparx returned the next day with good news. Abel had kept true to his word. There was still a problem, however: the army that we needed now had the necessary numbers, but only half of those numbers had the necessary training. I informed Prowlus of this issue, but he believed that training Abel's soldiers as I had trained his would just prolong the war. While I did disagree with him, I did admit that he had a point. As history has shown, no nation has benefited from prolonged conflict, however, the experience of the soldiers was just as important. Luckily, I figured out a way to not only begin training Abel's forces, but also further train Prowlus' as well. To put it simply, I would test a group of soldiers to see how well they understood my tactics, and how well they could teach those tactics to others. They would continue to train new recruits, allowing us to focus on waging war. Prowlus rewarded me for not only this idea, but for my assistance over the past few weeks by bestowing upon me the title of captain in his army. With my new authority, I ordered small groups of twenty five soldiers each to travel to one of our camps and wait for me to arrive. Before I set off, I gave a speech informing the villagers of the hardships to come.
"Everyone, please gather around. Please, no pushing or shoving. Pipe down, this demands your attention," I began as a crowd formed around me. "As you know, we are going to war, some of you may have friends or family among the soldiers, and some of you might be afraid that you will never see them again. But there are ways that you can help make their time on the battlefield easier. Is anyone here an artist?"
A female cheetah raised a paw, "I am."
"Good, anyone else?"
"Me."
"Me."
"Me."
I was surprised at how many had responded. "Good, two of you go home, start making posters to encourage others to help out by either rationing, growing their own food, or even enlisting in the army. The other two, start teaching others how to paint and draw."
"Yes, captain."
"Now, speaking of growing food, who here knows how to grow their own food?"
"We all do, sir." One answered.
"Good, start planting gardens wherever you can. In your backyard or in public places, these gardens will have food that will be accessible for everyone. These 'Victory Gardens' will decrease the likelihood of food shortages in the village. In the case of a food shortage, all of you will have to begin rationing-"
"I should have asked this before, but what's rationing?" A male cheetah in the crowd asked.
I was surprised that someone would ask this question. You'd think that they would have at least rationed supplies during times of war, but apparently not. "Well, it means you'll have to begin cutting back on the amount of food you eat each day. You may even have to go a day without eating." I answered.
An elderly female approached me and placed a paw on my shoulder. She spoke in a comforting tone, but loud enough for the entire crowd to hear. "Captain, don't worry about us, about whatever problems we may have, whatever food shortages. We'll grow it. We'll manage. Just please, bring our children, our spouses, and our friends home alive." She pleaded.
"I will, ma'am. Don't worry, your family and friends will be just fine."
The old cheetah gave me a warm smile before retreating back into the crowd.
I stood silent for a little while before continuing my speech. "Now, If there are any more questions, feel free to ask. This may be the last time you all see me."
There was no response from the crowd.
"Very well. I leave for our camp in the east tomorrow. But now, I need to rest. You are all dismissed. You all know what you can do to play your part in the war, so get to it, and good luck."
"Wait!" A male cheetah interjected. "Captain, you'll never make it to the war camp without a horse. I own the stables a little ways eastward from the village, so if you have the time, come see me today."
I nodded, before whistling for Sam who was at my side in an instant. "You can take me there now."
"Great, this won't take but an hour."
The stables were nothing special, after all, this world had medieval technology. The horses, however, were nothing if not spectacular. Able to take a beating, fearless, and fast, they were everything that a war horse needed to be. There were four horses stabled. One with a piebald coat, one with a brown coat, one with a black coat, and one with a white coat. When Sam saw the much larger animals, he let out a low growl.
"Shhh. It's okay."
Sam quieted down upon hearing my voice. I observed each horse with care, looking for any signs of illness or medical conditions. I was pleased to find that no horse was sick. It was now down to just personal preference of color. I approached the white horse.
"Horses of this color are rare, and I do like the color white." I thought.
"I'll take this one." I told him.
"Good choice, he suits you."
"And he needs a name. Hmmm…" I pondered on this for a short time when I realized how similar my current situation was to the introduction of Ghost of Tsushima. It was in that moment when I thought of a name for my horse. "Sora. Sky. Light from the heavens." I smiled at the white steed.
"Well, Sora is yours to keep," the cheetah grabbed the reins, "you can either take him back to the village, hitch him outside the gate and you can go in the morning, or I can keep him here for you, make sure he's well fed and ready to go, but you'll leave later during the day and you'll arrive at camp much later. Or, you could stay here for the night, we'll wake up early in the morning, make sure this fella is ready to go, and you can not only get a head start, but you'll get to leave early in the morning."
The choice was obvious, free hospitality for one night, a head start on my journey, the horse being well fed and ready to travel, who wouldn't choose the third option? After an afternoon of learning the essentials of horse riding and a full night's rest, I was ready to travel. The journey took about three hours. When I arrived, I saw that everyone was already awake and waiting for me. One cheetah, a female with black fur, approached me. She introduced herself as Hulda and motioned towards the war map, telling me to take a look at it. It was mostly identical to the one in Prowlus' war room, except each flag had a label specifying what the location was, there were two garrisons and two armories close to the camp.
"We can either attack one of the garrisons or one of the armories, it's your choice."
I began listing the pros and cons of attacking each location. "Well, attacking the garrison would reduce the number of soldiers at Malefor's disposal, while attacking the armory would reduce the amount of supplies available to the enemy. The armory might not have as many soldiers stationed there, so it would be easier to attack, and we might even get the opportunity to steal some supplies."
"So, we're attacking the armory?" She asked.
I nodded. "We're attacking the armory, we oughta head over there now, see what kind of security we'll be dealing with."
"Good idea. I'll get everyone-"
"No, don't bring everyone, we should only send maybe four or five. A larger group is easier to see."
She nodded. "Makes sense. Alright, who do you want to send in?"
"I will go." I answered before observing everyone in the camp. I pointed to two males and two females. "You, you, you, and you will come with me."
They saluted. "Yes sir."
"Alright, everyone mount up, we've got some scouting to do.
We reached the armory by midday, the shadows from the few surrounding trees and the tall grass were our only camouflage. One of the males with grey fur, Roman, motioned for me to approach him. Roman was a bit of an oddity, he would refer to himself in the third person at times during sword fights, and scream actions that he was about to perform. (i.e Roman slash, Roman stab, Roman kick, Roman punch, Roman kill) He wore armor similar to that of a Roman centurion, sometimes wearing a mask which covered his face, he also used a sword which was similar to a gladius, it was light, making it perfect for quick slashes and stabs.
"See that large tent right there?" He whispered before pointing in the middle of the enemy camp. The tent was heavily guarded. "I'll bet they've got some good stuff in there. Iron, steel, leather, maybe even some battle plans."
"Probably, but how are we gonna take out the guards?"
Roman shrugged.
"Captain, come take a look at this." I heard Hulda whisper to me.
"Alright Hulda, what do you see?"
"There." She pointed to a large stew pot on the outskirts of the camp.
"The stew pot? What about it?"
"Don't you have poison?"
"Oh yeah, I like where this is going." I smirked.
Hulda chuckled. "You know what to do. If not the stew pot, then maybe we try that hit and run on horseback strategy you taught us."
"No, I'm thinking that poisoning the stew pot would be less risky, keep everyone outta danger."
"Stew pot it is then?
I nodded.
"Alright then, we should have enough intel to take this place down."
"Not yet, let me survey the area." I said before taking out my binoculars.
It didn't take long before I noticed that there was a row of cages behind the large tent. Moles, cheetahs, and even… Wolves. Yes, wolves that walked on two legs and had the ability to speak just like cheetahs. I was somewhat surprised, yet at the same time, I was not. After all, if this world had two legged cheetahs and two legged moles, it would not be far-fetched to assume that other animals have this same quality. The one thing which confused me was the fact that I had found these wolves here in cages, and I had found Sam, they were the same species and yet they had not evolved the same. I would assume that this was due to some animals not evolving at the same rate, like humans and monkeys back on Earth, and I would learn after questioning one of my comrades that this assumption was correct. I decided that I would stay behind, sneak into the camp and observe how the enemy handled their food. Night came and with it, dinner time for the enemy. They ate with haste, not being careful to check their food for any tampering. Perfect, as long as I would be in and out undetected, the poison plan would work. I quietly made my way out of the camp, and whistled when I was a safe distance away.
"Sora." I called.
I heard the horse's hooves trotting to my left, I turned to face him.
"Come on, boy. Let's get back to camp." I said as I mounted the steed who snorted in response. "I know, I'm already sick of this war too. But someday we'll go for a peaceful ride, I promise."
We returned the next evening with the entire group to ensure that if anything were to go wrong, we would not be outnumbered. They all hid where they could while I infiltrated the camp and poisoned their food. The infiltration was surprisingly easy, though I did almost get spotted once when I was hiding around the corner of a tent which an ape just happened to turn. Luckily, I had my knife unsheathed when he did. I tackled him to the ground, covered his mouth with my left hand, and stabbed him three times, one for each kidney, and one for the liver. I whispered "hush now" the first two times I stabbed him, once for each stab. I was irritated when he didn't seem to get the message, so as I stabbed him in the liver, I whispered "shut the FUCK up" in a slightly louder tone. He seemed to understand this time and finally died. I quickly dragged the body to the nearby tall grass, careful not to let any blood spill on the ground. I made my way over to the stew pot and poured some of my most potent lethal poison into it, I then snuck out of the camp successfully. We waited for nightfall. When I heard a bell ringing, I knew that their fate soon awaited them. They spared no time on anything other than getting a bowl of stew and then gorging on their meal. I hope for their sake it was the best stew they had ever eaten, for it would be their last. The smaller and weaker apes began to choke slowly at first, before one coughed up a pool of blood. Then the rest followed, the symptoms progressed to violent convulsions and vomiting blood rather than coughing it up. Bile began to be released along with the crimson liquid, the bile was replaced with small chunks of flesh, and those were soon replaced with chunks of internal organs. Eventually, every ape fell to the ground. Coughing and vomiting, until some had their intestines hanging out of their mouths. And then nothing was left but a pool of blood and guts. This whole process took only thirty seconds. The entire group looked on in shock as the last few remaining survivors had my sword plunged into their back. One of the survivors who miraculously still had the ability to speak looked up at me in horror.
"Wh...what...are….y….you?" He choked weakly.
"I am the punishment of God. Had you not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment such as I upon you." I told him
"Ple...please….sh….show mercy."
"How many times did you show mercy to all those eggs you smashed? To all those lives you took?"
The ape's eyes began to tear up. He closed them tightly, preparing for death. "Never."
I plunged my sword into his skull, killing him instantly. The group approached me cautiously, with Hulda in the lead.
"You butchered them." She said, looking down at the corpses.
"It was nothing," I replied as I sheathed my sword, "come on, let's go see what's in that tent."
The group remained still for a few moments before Roman followed me. We entered the tent to find that it had not just crafting and food supplies, but many different sword and armor types, and most importantly, battle plans. Malefor had ordered that supplies from this camp be sent to the Well of Souls. The Night of Eternal Darkness was drawing near. From these battle plans we learned of more locations of armories and garrisons, as well as the number of apes stationed at the Well of Souls. We seemed to greatly outnumber them. I ordered everyone to bring the supplies outside and sort them by type, food, weapon, armor, shield, and crafting material. I then set aside some of the food. This would be sent back to the village. Then I set aside some more food, some armor, and weapons, these would go to the captives. Finally, I allowed my soldiers to redistribute the remaining supplies amongst themselves. All that was left was one meal's worth of food, some iron, steel, leather and wood, a large shield, and an arming sword. The sword had a nice weight to it, and the shield was surprisingly light, yet it was strong.
"Captain! Come quick!" One of the cheetahs called urgently..
The group was looking down at the cages. Cheetahs, moles, and wolves had all been starved for what must have been days. Their bodies had severe signs of malnourishment. I ordered ten of the group to open up the cages and the rest to bring the food supplies and give each captive some water and food.. One of the captives, a cheetah that stood eight feet tall with golden fur and blue war paint in the shape of an arrow that pointed upwards, was recognized by the group.
"Chief Ranuff? Is that you?" They asked
"Aye, lads." He responded in a strong Scottish accent.
"You know him?" I asked.
They nodded. "He's chief of the Highlander tribe. They live in the Highland, an isolated part of Avalar, far Northeast of the valley-" One explained before I cut him off.
"Waitwaitwait. The valley isn't the only part of Avalar? I thought it was."
"No, it isn't. Anyways, Ranuff, what are you doing so far from home?"
"Dirty bastards jumped me. One minute I'm going to meet Prowlus, heard he was taking the fight to that wee bastard Malefor, next thing I knew, I woke up here. You," He looked at me,
"you're the one those bloody banana eaters were talking about?
I nodded.
"Well done lad, you've hit Malefor where it hurts and he'll be crying in the corner soon enough, you ever need any support, we'll be ready."
"Thank you, Chief Ranuff." I gave a bow of respect. "Now, let's get you to Prowlus."
"Bah, no need for that lad, just deliver my message to him."
I nodded. "Yes sir."
"Captain." Hulda called.
I turned to one of my soldiers. "Take him home."
The soldier saluted in response. Before leaving, Ranuff grabbed a large claymore sword from the pile of weapons.
"Alright Hulda, what's...up…" I trailed off as I saw the terrible sight.
Another captive, a shewolf who looked to be around my age with a slim figure, grey fur, and large yellow eyes, was covered in cuts and bruises. She opened her eyes weakly and winced.
"Great spirits… what did they do to you?" I asked.
She coughed weakly. "They… captured me and my family… they… they…" The juvenile wolf started to cry.
"Bastards." I thought.
I could only stay silent and let her grieve. It felt disrespectful to try comforting her with words, so I compensated with a hug, and a series of shushing. Her tears stayed flowing and her cries only increased in volume, but I didn't let go until her cries were silenced and her tears had dried.
"Are you hungry?" I asked.
She nodded before sniffing me curiously. "That's odd, you look nothing like me, yet you smell just like one of us.
I chuckled. "What is your name?"
"Icanna."
"I am Brandon, the captain of these soldiers."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, captain."
After she had eaten, I asked Icanna if she had anywhere to go, a village or other family. She shook her head.
"I have no one, we wolves are just a bunch of families, nomadic packs who live on our own." She explained.
I should've figured. That's how wolves are on Earth, so why would it be any different here?
"You're not alone anymore, you have us. We'll bring you back to the village and you can live there for as long as you like." I told her.
She hugged me. "Thank you."
I returned the embrace with a friendly smile. "You're welcome."
I mounted my horse and pulled Icanna up on the back. I was the only one to travel back to the village. Icanna and I had formed a close friendship during those few hours and sometime during that travel, we had encountered another clan of wolves. This clan was apparently an ally of Icanna's. We learned from them that far to the north one of the largest clans had made a permanent settlement, I asked the leader of the clan if he thought the leader of the settlement would be willing to fight for our cause.
"Cause? What are you talking about?" He asked.
"The… war. Against Malefor." I responded.
"War? Malefor?"
"The Dark Master. Big ol' dragon, purple, evil, has an army of monkeys, wants to kill us all and shroud the world in darkness." I briefly explained.
"I still have no idea who you're talking about, but it sounds like you need help. We'll head north immediately."
"Thanks."
The clan leader looked to Icanna who was catching up with a childhood friend. "So, what happened to her parents?"
"That army I mentioned? They captured her and her entire clan. Butchered them like animals, she's the only survivor."
"Great spirits, she must have been so distraught."
I nodded. "I'm bringing her back to a nearby village. She'll be safe there."
"Well, Brandon was it? If I can't get the leader of the settlement to join you, then you will have me and my clan. Icanna's family was kind to us, and those who killed them need to face judgement." He closed his paw into a fist and placed it on his heart, I did the same and we bowed to each other simultaneously.
Icanna and I mounted Sora and made our way back to the village. When we arrived, the cheetahs were surprised to see Icanna. I gave a brief explanation of events and asked Sayla and her siblings to care fir the young shewolf. They obliged and I reported back to the chief. After doing so, I was approached by Spyro and Cynder.
"So, how'd it go?" Spyro asked.
"It went perfect. No one died, we took control of an armory, and we found supplies AND battle plans!" I replied excitedly.
"What'd they say?"
"The battle plans talked about some mountain, The Well of Souls, something about bringing Malefor back, and a 'Night of Eternal Darkness.'"
"I know what you're talking about, I've seen a mountain in my dreams, and Terrador told me all I needed to know. You should go speak with him."
"I should, I need every piece of information I can get if I want to win this war."
Terrador told me everything about that dreaded mountain, its dark past, how it had served as Malefor's fortress during his exile, and of the Night of Eternal Darkness. How Cynder's actions had been the catalyst for the Dark Master's return.
"This mountain," he told me, "has been a prison for those who have fallen to corruption and are too far gone to be saved."
"So a normal spirit wouldn't be able to escape, but a dark lord such as Malefor…" I said
"Would be able to." He finished.
"Jesus. We're screwed. It's only a matter of time, and time is unstoppable."
"Don't say that, look at how far you've come. These people trust you, they would gladly lay down their lives for their captain. You've proven yourself to be not just an excellent combatant, but a wise military strategist as well. I want to tell you that you've earned my respect. You've had it ever since I watched you train, and that respect has only grown to what I can only describe as an almost father-like love for you. I never had any children, but if I did, I would want them to be just like you."
I looked at Terrador with an expression of realization. "Are you saying that you…"
"Want to take you under my wing as my own son? Yes. " He answered.
"I… I am honored… father." I leaned up and attempted to hug Terrador. He leaned down to make this easier. The embrace was held for ten seconds before I pulled away. Cynder entered the room.
"Hey Brandon, can I speak with you for a minute?"
I shrugged. "Sure."
While following Cynder I was approached by the village blacksmith.
"Hey captain, I overheard that you brought back some crafting supplies. Let me fulfil my part of our agreement and see 'em." He said in a deep, gruff voice.
This agreement (although it was more of a free service than an agreement) that he was referring to was made after I had fought my first major battle. Essentially, he would forge whatever weapon or armor I wanted as long as I brought him a design and the required materials. Once I had accepted this offer, I immediately got to work, sketching multiple weapons from the medieval period, such as large war axes, longswords, shortswords, staffs, sabers, etc. I pulled out my sketchbook and flipped through a few pages before I found my desired weapon: a hidden blade. I ripped out the piece of paper and showed it to him.
"Hmm, a small blade on the inside of a gauntlet or glove that extends with the flick of the wearer's wrist. Impressive. You want me to make just the blade, or make gauntlets with the blade?"
"Gauntlets, leather gauntlets." I answered.
"Alright sir, you have a deal." He grabbed some of the supplies. There was only a small bit of leather left, but there was still a lot of wood and metal left. Before he went inside of his shop, I stopped him and showed him another sketch. This one was of a chinese guandao. He examined the design before nodding and going inside his shop to put away the materials he was carrying. He picked up the rest of the materials and headed inside his shop.
"You'll still have a few more materials, but I'll just keep 'em here, or you can give me that new sword and shield you got, and I can use the remaining materials to make some improvements to them." He told me.
I handed over my new weapon and shield. "So how long is all this gonna take?"
"A few days. I'll have them ready once you get back."
I thanked him before heading for the village gates where Cynder was waiting for me.
"Brandon! Up here!" She called.
I looked up to see Cynder waving and smiling. I waved back. "So, what'd you want to talk about?" I asked as I made my way up to the top of the gate.
"I wanted to give you something." She said before reaching behind her. She pulled out a guitar. I was surprised at how well made it was. I started to cry as a reaction to not only the generous act, but how much effort and time this must have taken her, she paid attention to every detail that I had listed when I talked about instruments on that hunting trip. On the back, there was a message carved into the wood.
"A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are."
I smiled upon reading the message. I placed the guitar down and hugged Cynder tightly.
"Thank you," I said in tears, "I was so sad when I lost the one I had. My grandfather gave it to me, you know? Just a year before he passed."
"I know, I know," Cynder responded as she returned the hug. She then looked up at the sky. "Beautiful night."
"Yeah… Hey," I pointed to a constellation. "Little Dipper."
"What?"
"Look at that pattern of stars. Connect 'em. Looks like a little dipper doesn't it?" I asked.
"Huh, you're right. Hey, look at that one. It looks like a knife."
I looked in the direction she was pointing and laughed. "Now you're getting it."
This little game of ours went on until we had pointed out almost every constellation. Cynder looked at me.
"Brandon?" She asked.
"Yeah?"
"I really enjoy your company."
I smiled. "Me too. You're a great friend."
"Yeah. You know, that night during the hunting trip, after that nightmare, I wanted to leave. Just like how you told me you saw me leave to 'find my purpose' I wanted to leave."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because I knew you would've stayed and… I don't want to abandon you."
I knew where she was going with this. I sighed before giving her a look of sadness. "Cynder, no. Just no. You're a good friend. We are good friends, best friends even. But nothing more, we shouldn't be anything more than that. It would get in the way of so many things, neither of us would be able to focus in battle if we worried about each other, and it's just wrong on so many levels, you're a dragon, I'm a human. It would be even harder to say goodbye if I ever found a way home. I wasn't meant to be here in the first place. We're just not meant for each other. I'm meant for someone back on Earth, and you're meant for-"
"Spyro?" She asked.
I chuckled. "You caught onto that detail as well, huh?"
"Well, you did tell me about my potential future, who wouldn't pay attention to those details? Listen, that's in another place where you never came here. An alternate universe. Alternate universe me can have Spyro if she likes him. But me? I like you."
"I… I can't do that. Not to Spyro, he's my blood brother."
Two weeks ago, three days after Brandon's recovery.
Spyro and I were outside of the Dragon Temple. You see, we were working on moving all of the textbooks and artifacts to a safe place in case it was attacked. The building itself would remain but it would be turned into a death trap once we were finished. I looked at Spyro and he looked back with an expression of melancholy.
"Not ready to say goodbye?" I asked.
Spyro shook his head. "This is where it all began, almost six months ago now. Where I first met Ignitius."
"I understand your pain, bud. Felt the same way when my parents said we had to move. I lived in that house for fifteen years, and all of a sudden, I had to say goodbye. But after a while, I got over it."
Spyro nodded. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?"
"Five days ago, during the battle, you saved me." I said.
"And you saved me."
"I was wondering, since we seem to have such a close friendship, you know, joking around, fighting side by side, we'd risk our necks for each other if it came to it, I was wondering, will you be my brother, Spyro?"
Spyro looked up in thought for a moment before looking back down at me. "Can I see your knife?"
I pulled out the knife from its scabbard and handed it to the purple dragon who used the blade to slice open his paw. He handed me the knife and I did the same. We then pressed the two cuts together with a hand/paw shake and our blood entered the other's body through the open wound. We smiled at each other.
Present day.
"Do you understand why I can't see you in that way? I couldn't do that to Spyro, and you'd be better off with one of your own kind anyway. I wouldn't want you to live a few decades full of love and happiness with me and then be alone for the rest of your four hundred year lifespan. So, please just give Spyro a chance."
"What if he doesn't care about me in that way?"
"He does. When you were getting overrun, he… changed. He became angry, violent. He SLAUGHTERED them, burnt them to a crisp. He likes you. He cares about you. Please, at least give him a chance."
Cynder sighed. "All right... Brandon, will this change how you see me?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, slightly confused.
"I mean, will you want to cut ties, or become more distant from me?"
"What? No, of course not. I mean things might be a bit awkward for the next few days, but I'm not gonna start avoiding you. Why would I? You're my friend, and I'd be a fool to throw away any friendships when I have very few here. Especially if one of those friends is you. So no, we'll still be friends, alright?"
She smiled and nodded in understanding. "Good. I'm glad."
"Hey, why don't you both come back to camp with me? We're going to be taking down a garrison next and we could use the help of a dragon with the powers of earth, ice, fire, and lightning, as well as one with the powers of fear, shadow, poison and wind." I offered. "It's a little late now, though. So we'll leave tomorrow."
"Alright, goodnight." She waved as I walked off.
"Goodnight." I waved back.