Pain dominated his entire being. Everything was fuzzy in his mind, everything was dark. He couldn't tell where he was, but he could tell he was laying down. There was… something else. He just knew it. Something was wrong, but his mind refused to work. Every thought was like pushing through a pit of tar; agonizingly slow, but unable to stop once it started. Laying down. He was laying down on a bed. There was something pressing on his forehead, something soft and… wet? Forcing his eyes open, he stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, which was dimly lit by the light from a candle. There was a window at the far end of the bed that let some light in, but it must be dark out, as very little light came through the curtains. He lay there, staring for a long time, unable to make any thoughts. Finally, he began to focus on moving something. Slowly, his left hand flexed, and he could feel the sheets he was on. They were soft, but damp with something. "Oh!" a voice said. "Are you all the way here this time?" The voice was clearly feminine, but it was unfamiliar.

He responded with all he could: a low and gravely groan of pain. "I need more light, I'll be right back." Heavy retreating footsteps told him he was alone again. He hadn't even said anything. His mind was sluggish and slow, but getting better. He was inside a room, unfamiliar and small, but on a bed, with some woman he didn't know nearby. There was a wall on his right and a door on his left. He managed to reach up with his left arm and grab the thing that was on his head. It was a towel, and in the dim light he could tell there was a dark liquid soaked into the fibers. Blood. It was blood. Why was there blood? He scrunched his face, trying to remember what he could. The battle. He could remember the battle. He could remember the smell of death, and the sound of metal. He remembered the horn blaring behind him, and then turning to see… "I'm glad you're awake. We were afraid you wouldn't make it for some time."

Suddenly every sense he had was turned up to maximum as adrenaline surged through him, the silhouette of the soldier towering over him. His eyes went wide as the beast walked across the room, and though every part of him urged to run, tried to move, he could not even turn away. His heart pounded in his chest, his mind raced with no thoughts but survival, his nerves caused his body to quake, but he could do nothing. He could not move at all, like his body would not listen to his mind. His heart couldn't beat any faster, but his blood pressure soared as the beast set down the candelabra on a table across the room and reached for him. "You're sweating again. Here, this should help."

She spoke softly, but then set something on his head that felt as cold as ice. Finally, his voice worked again, and a howling scream escaped his throat as fear, pain, anxiety, adrenaline, and terror surged through his body. Pressing against the bed, he shot backwards as far as he could, only to find that there was a wall behind his head too, which he collided with painfully. A heavy hand suddenly pressed down on his chest, forcing him back down to the bed. His blood ran hot as he looked for a way out, but the only way out was through the single door that the soldier was blocking. He tried to fight it, tried to loosen it's grip, but he was too weak, to drained to do anything. "Help! Help me! Someone help me!" Finally, his voice formed words, and the sound of running footsteps came. Rushing into the room were several people: two humans, but then there were furred folks, all of whom rushed over not to pull the beast off his chest, but to press him back down onto the bed.

"Easy soldier! Easy!" one human said, his cloak wrinkled and unkempt. "Stand down! You are not in danger here! Stand down! Hold him! Stand down soldier!" They practically threw themselves onto him, holding him to the bed as the giant beast let go. As he lay there struggling, he felt something press against his head again, ice cold just like last time. He couldn't move, his arms and legs were pinned down, and though he tried to throw his head around, he only succeeded in hitting the wall again.

"He's still running a high fever. Hold him still, I'm going to try something." The woman said. The people holding him down pressed even harder as the giant reached over and put a massive clawed hand on his head. Struggle as he might, he could not break free from the monster's grasp. For several minutes he tried to stop whatever this was, but he could only watch as the silhouette grew in size slightly. A wave of dizziness washed over him, and the world became blurry, sounds became dulled. He could feel them lessen the pressure on his body, but no one had let go. They were talking, but the words made no sense to his mind. But as he sat there, things became clear again, the pain became lessened, his heart had slowed, and his body relaxed. "There. That should help to fight the infection."

"Wha- what did… did you do?" His words were slow and slurred now, but he felt better.

"I accelerated your natural healing a lot. It drained my mana reserves, but you should have a better chance of living now."

"Why didn't you do that fifteen hours ago?" someone said, exasperated.

"I had already used up my power healing everyone else. I needed to recharge." The woman reached around for the candelabra, swinging it around to in front of her, and finally he got a good view of who these people were. She had… scales. Scales of violet and purple covered her, with hints of blue at the edge of her head that appeared like small horns, and her eyes of violet shone like amethyst. Her expression was soft like her voice, but there was a fear in her eyes too, like she knew who he was.

"Who are you? What are you?"

The lizard started to talk, but one of the humans cut her off. "That can be discussed later." He turned to the woman, saying "You're the doctor. What are your orders?"

She looked him up and down, sighing. "Well, he's not all the way recovered, but assuming the fever dies down, he should be fine."

The man looked up at everyone, his mind processing where he was and who they were. Two of them were Basitins, one was a wolf Keidran, and two of them were humans. His heart pounded still, but he clearly wasn't in any danger right now. The Basitins wore white robes that held tools and bore a familiar emblem: they were medics, protected by the Sapient's Accords. The wolf wore light leather armor, and carried a dagger on their belt, while their left arm was wrapped up tightly in some bindings. The humans though…

The humans he knew.

One had bright red hair, and though he wasn't wearing his normal armor or even proper clothes, he knew the son of the headmaster anywhere. This was the son of Richard Orlin the Second, the one who ran off to chase after the fallen Grand Templar, the one who had become a thorn in Brahn's side. This was Richard Orlin the Third.

The other one though, he had never seen in person, but knew by the emblem on his chestplate alone. This was Keiren, the Duke of Edinmire. His straw yellow hair had been cut short and was now accompanied by a thin and wispy beard. An orange cloak was draped over his shoulders, but the emblem was there, clear as day on his chest. They stood up, letting the man breathe again as the lizard stepped back, suddenly leaning against the wall. "I didn't realize that took so much out of me."

"Go ahead and lay down. We can handle this doctor." one of the Basitins said with a smile. She nodded and left the room, her heavy tail dragging on the floor as she staggered out.

Keiren sighed, sitting down on the bed next to the man. "You gave us quite the scare for a while. There were times we didn't think you would make it."

"Why am I alive? Why am I here?"

"I won't mince words. We need information. There are things we need to know, things we must know. But those questions can wait for a bit. Let's start simple: what's your name?"

The man was quiet for a moment, debating whether or not to answer. But glancing down at his left arm, he saw cuts that had already healed, scars that he would carry the rest of his life, and he sighed. "Private Fennel Yergil, one ninety second division."

"Fennel Yergil." Keiren repeated. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Fennel was quiet, as if unsure if Keiren was being genuine. "Where are you from?"

It took him even longer before he answered this time, and he was much quieter this time too. "Uian. I'm from the middle of nowhere."

"Uian is far from the middle of nowhere. I know that town. Small, quiet, yet very important. I know that if Uian was not there, people would not be able to travel across the north side of the Kedaria Mountains, and trade would not be possible with the eastern coastline."

"You've been there?"

Keiren smiled gently. "No, Fate has kept me tied to Edinmire my whole life. But I know Uian is very important. Without it, traveling across the north side of the mountains would be a perilous journey with little chance for resupplying. I know that it is the only city along the road in either direction for over a hundred kilometers. And I also know that it rests in the shadow of the mountain of death." He could tell Fennel became uneasy at that name. "Mount Tanji. You've seen it your whole life."

"Just get on with it." Richard said, his patience growing thin.

"I can handle this. Go back to sleep. You too Natani." Fennel watched as the wolf nodded and followed Richard out of the room. Sighing, Keiren turned back to him. "He doesn't have the patience for this, but I'd much rather know who I'm talking to before asking the more important questions."

"Why? Why does it matter where I'm from and who I am?"

"Because where you are from and who you are matter a lot in how you will respond to what I ask. And I suppose that it would only be right for me to tell you who I am."

"I know who you are. You're Keiren, Duke of Edinmire. You and Orlin's son have become the biggest pain in Brahn's side since Trace Legacy left the order."

"Orlin? I'm not familiar with that name, I'm afraid."

Fennel looked at him, confused. "Richard Orlin Senior? That was his son, was it not?"

Keiren looked to the door, equally confused. "I'm not sure. We're friends, but he doesn't talk about his past too much."

"I don't blame him. I know his father. A harsh and stern man, he is. Runs the academy with an iron fist."

"I didn't know Uian was large enough to have an academy."

Fennel rolled his eyes. "It's the only city for over a hundred kilometers, but you are right: there is no academy there. I was recruited last summer and went to Durlon to train. I was shipped out from there right to the front lines about a month ago."

"Did you sign up willingly, or were you pressed into service? I know the Templars have been practically pulling people off the streets to fill up their armies."

"I joined willingly." Fennel turned away, as if saying that was going to get him hit, but Keiren simply sat there, listening. "I… I don't care for the Templars. They're fine, but the higher up the chain of command you go, the more corrupt it becomes. Everyone has an agenda, everyone has plots and schemes, everyone is trying to be at the top of the food chain. I only joined them because they told me I could get away from Uian."

"Didn't care for your home?"

"I like it, I really do! But… you said it yourself. The city rests in the shadow of Mount Tanji. 'The Mountain of Death'. The blackened rock and rubble always looms in the distance. Most of the time it's silent. But the times it's not are when you have to fear. When the sleeping demon wakes up, when the world begins to shake, when the ancient defenders begin to move? That's when you should fear. You can feel it. The world becomes hot and dry, the air begins to pulse like a beating heart. You can feel when things are about to happen, you can feel the fear. I wanted to get away from that fear. I…" His voice trailed off as he stared into nothingness. "They were here. I saw them. It was them. They did it."

"The Sentinels attacked the back lines of the Templar army. We did figure that out. We've had encounters with them before. After the Templars sounded the full retreat, we waited to see what would happen, but the smoke blocked our view. I went in with a hundred soldiers to investigate, and we found you among the ruin. You were the only survivor." Fennel face twisted in horror and guilt. "We found you atop a pile of bodies, halfway crawled over and bleeding out. Any longer out there and we would be putting a shroud over you. I know that things might still be… fuzzy- but we need to know everything that happened. Start from when they showed up. Please."

Fennel laid back down and stared at the ceiling. "I was in the reserve. I was only there in case things went wrong on the front lines. The gates were breached, and Commander Cael had ordered us to begin moving into the city. That's when I stopped. I could feel it. Something was about to happen. Next thing I know, I hear screams of panic as a bolt of fire streaks toward the siege tower, and the base exploded. People threw themselves off of the platforms, ready to take the risk of falling down rather than burn alive. I turned around to see what was attacking us, and then… then I… I saw them."

Fennel's entire body tensed up, his eyes wide as his voice trembled. "They poured out of the woods, sweeping over our unprotected flank, crushing anyone in their path. By the time we realized what was going on, they had already begun to slaughter us, throwing fire into our midst. I remember… they were tough. Our magic did nothing to them, barely caused any to falter or stagger. Even our war mages could only slow them down, and they swept over us. Everyone tried to fight back, but it was brutal. I… I ran away. I tried to run. Blinded by the smoke, I didn't know where I was going, and tried to run. I climbed over the bodies of the men who not an hour before were ready to fight by my side against you. They were unstoppable. No sword could break them, spears shattered on their armor, lances bounced away, and anyone who tried to fight back was thrown. Even the horses the knights sat on were tossed aside like leaves in the wind.

"I don't know how I made it out. I don't know how I survived. I should have died. I should be dead. Like everyone else. There were hundreds. Hundreds of Sentinels, maybe even a thousand or more. We couldn't stop them. They crushed us like twigs. They're dead. Everyone else is dead." His body quaked as tears rolled down his face, and he flinched as a hand was put on his leg.

Keiren's eyes welled with tears, the pain and horror all too real for him too. "Thank you. I know that was hard, but thank you. You are not a prisoner here. I'll make sure you get as much care as you need, and when you are ready, we can talk about what to do next." With that Keiren stood up and wiped his eyes. Walking over to the door, his shoulders drooped, his own fear coming out. "Thank you again. Get some rest. At least, try to."