It was two days after Vas had given his speech. Vas had been training with and visiting fighters around camp from dawn until dusk, and it was now dusk on the second day.

"Commander, it's time."

Vas finished his last swing with barely any amount of force. He'd pulled the practice blade back as he'd swung, effectively striking at Miiche with a feint. Even with a real blade, he'd only have cut into her a small bit if it had hit. However, Miiche had parried the blow with ease, dancing in and around to his right shoulder. She lashed out with her wooden katana, and Vas barely had the time to stop the attack with the cross guard of his wooden bastard sword.

Vas had been reticent to wield the long sword at first, but Sun had insisted that its weight and cross guard would prove superior to the weapons Vas had been using. Vas had to admit that when he was forced to fight defensively, the thick double-sided blade and cross guard lent themselves invaluably. The handle was long enough so that Vas could comfortably grasp it in two hands when he required power, but could switch to one hand when he needed a bit of extra reach or an odd angle. Versatility, not all-out offense, was the name of the game with this sword.

"Commander--"

Vas snapped his attention to the pudgy man at the door. A big man, but definitely not a very active one until lately. He held a huge maul in one hand. Miiche stopped when Vas did and paced around behind him, watching both characters like a cat stalking its prey. Vas took a breath, held it for a bit, and then let it out. "I'm only a vice commander," he said, trying not to let his anticipation show.

The pudgy man waved a dismissive hand, "It's all the same to me, sir. You just tell me where to be, and I'll be there."

Vas nodded, "Where is the commander?"

"Commander Sun? He's in the old shack. It's near the warehouse, I'll take you there. We've set it up as your command center, and we've been showing messengers where it is all day. They have to be familiar with which building they'll run to with crucial information, after all." The man seemed like he'd continue speaking on the importance of messengers and whatnot, so Vas held up a hand. "Take me there." The pudgy man nodded, and Vas put his practice blade down and grabbed his real bastard sword. He clipped the weapon in its sheath to his hip.

As they walked, Vas noticed that there was ash lining the ground. Before now, the ash had never been this far north. Vas guessed it might be spreading. Just another gloomy sign of the times they were in.

It was barely more than half an hour later when Vas stepped inside the shack. Sun had moved his flags so that they could be easily seen from the roof during the day, depending on which flag Sun wanted put up. However, it was now nighttime, and the first attack was expected to happen in less than an hour. Selene, Alex and Joust were around the table with three other people and Sun. "Glad you could make it," said Sun. The man's voice was coarse, like he'd been speaking to people all day. "I heard you were still swinging a sword around, so I sent Ham to fetch you."

Alex watched them and smiled at the rather appropriate name of the large man who had delivered Vas. "Always a pleasure to assist, Commander Sun," said Ham. Sun gave a curt nod, and the pudgy man left without another word. "Hammer, he calls himself. Most people call him Ham and he takes it in stride. He's my best captain, Vas." Sun looked seriously at Vas. "He's a good man, a strong man who won't back down. But he's lazy and he's let his bad habits get the best of him. He'll do his best and he'll do a great job, but if the Risen get this close to the Wall I want one thing to be clear." Sun looked around the room to make sure everyone was listening before he continued, "If they make it this far, we are the last line of defense. There will be no retreat, no regrouping. If they get this far and we cannot stop them, everyone will die. Behind the wall and beyond it, no one will survive."

Vas had run past the endless waves of Risen on his way to warn the troops here. This was likely the end of the human race. There would be no survival. Endless waves of Risen. It was like a survival mode on a videogame; there was no end, no victory. Eventually, you died.

"Commander!" Hammer rushed back into the building like a rolling boulder, just managing to stop before toppling one of the people at the war table. "They're here, commander. The first line has engaged them. No requests for reinforcements yet, but we have been sent a few wounded."

Sun hopped and began giving out orders. He sent Selene to check on the wounded, sent Joust with Ham to ready the fighters in case they were required to bolster a defense. He tasked Alex with manning the flags. Even though it was now dark outside, he said he wanted her to practice and get used to putting flags up. Vas suspected that Sun mostly just wanted the room to be quiet.

Sun also sent the other men at the table off to carry messages to other commanders along the lines.

Eventually only Vas and Sun remained standing at the table. Miiche stood behind Vas, a dependable bodyguard as usual. Sun leaned against the table and his shoulders slouched, "Vas, we're all going to die."

Vas stood straight and watched Sun. "Yes, commander," he said. He didn't know what to say. Vas looked out the open door. Everything was dark now, inside the shack and outside of it. Dark, cold, wet. "But that was always the case, wasn't it?"

Sun snorted and stretched his back. "You were always a smart-ass, weren't you," he said. Miiche giggled, and both men looked at her, startled by the sound. "It's not over until it's over, you know."

"Commander!" The shout came from one of the door guards. A small man ran inside and saluted, "The lights on the Wall just went out, commander!"

Sun looked sharply at the soldier, "Which lights?"

The soldier shook his head. "All of them, sir. The spotlights, inside lights, the entire Wall just went completely dark. It's harder to see out here than ever now."

Sun cursed. "We're going to lose so many men during the night," he spat. "How long would it take to send a messenger to the Wall?" The guard shook his head, "Could be about an hour for them to get there and an hour to get back, if they left now."

Sun walked up to the man and put a hand on his shoulder. "Start running, soldier. Find out what happened."