A dry hand landed on Kreedence’s shoulder. He flinched. It was Guardian.

“You did good.”

Kreedence shook his head. “I did good? I slaughtered people, I let so many of our men die and I let these kids…” he trailed off.

“You did good, but you don’t see it. You’ve spent years changing and improving, but you didn’t learn one thing: war is a steed and blood is the hay that fuels it. We lost some, but those losses led us forward. That’s what matters. The soldiers who fell don’t. as we can replace them.”

“And what about the fucking children?”

Guardian sighed and a thoughtful expression formed on his face.

Mangled bodies still laid on the floor and blood stained them. The soldiers had managed to take the children down. The kids slumbered in circles, murmuring something in a foreign tongue. Occasionally, they bumped into one another. The sorcerers had destroyed the kids all for some foolish power.

“Ideas are forming in my head,” Guardian said. “No foolproof ones, but some that could work.”

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“We start by finding a sorcerer as we are soldiers and we are just guessing. A man of this… artform can tell us exactly what those sorcerers did to the kids… I believe I know somebody who’s perfect.”

“Then what’s next? We hide these kids like a dirty secret or execute them like I those sorcerers?”

Guardian frowned. “I’ll finish now: if what the sorcerer says proves my guess, then I can save some of these kids. Some. Two or three. If not, we’ll see what happens. Though I wish to be right: it’d be interesting to see what type of soldiers we can get if we train them from the earliest years of their childhood.”

“Powers that be, you’re really thinking about that?”

“You are too. Men untainted by years of peasantry and by foolish training of inexperienced sergeants could be our way to success. And I know you want that. Being a nomad has exhausted you too.”

“Indeed, I’m tired, but putting people through more suffering just for our glory isn’t a thing I’ll to do get rid of some tiredness.”

“Wash away that guilt, Kreedence. Wash away those good ethics. We’re the Swords of the Guardians and we’ve been for a long time. We can’t get things the way we want and we can’t always decide our destiny. Yet, once in a while, opportunities come and when they do, we must hunt them like starved predators.”

Kreedence sat on the log near the fire. Warmth came over him, but the coldness from within didn’t disappear. He doubted it could.

“It’s been a whole day,” a soldier sitting on the other side said. “What the hell are they doing in there?”

“Who cares?” Kreedence said. “Where are the others?”

“We all found a place to stay. Three get to sleep in the warmth while one sits watch for a few. It’s my turn. As you see.”

You’re definitely smarter than I was your age…

“Ah, go the hell to sleep…” Kreedence waved dismissively .

“What’s going on in your damn mind!? We won a huge victory! Why the hell can’t you just smile and drink, and be happy that you survived an incredible hardship?!”

“How can you? First of all, I’m injured and many others are too. Second of all, we killed a lot and lost a lot ourselves. Oh, yes, now we control a town, but what the hell are we gonna do with it if one in ten rookies die?!”

“Kreed, you’re always worrying, but that’s not your duty. You train us, you command us, but most importantly, you follow what Guardian says. He thinks for days on end for a reason, doesn’t he?”

“I had those realizations long before you. My mind’s being tortured by something else. Guardian did rough things because we struggled. You know how those days were. But you see, even now he still does it. I… I don’t know if I can continue to stand back and listen…”

The soldier frowned.

Ah, what can I expect? Kreedence sighed. I thought them to be doubtless myself…

The fire burned beside a blue walled hut. That hut’s door opened. Guardian walked out, nodding, a line of chained up children behind him.

“For the most part, I was right -- we can save four.”

“That’s good,” Kreedence murmured. He didn’t not believe Guardian’s words, but he did doubt how the kids would turn out. Would they actually save them or just morph them into another demented creature?

“I’ve already chosen a child I’ll save. The three others are all up to you.”

Kreedence shook his head.

“Stop wasting my time.” Guardian crossed his arms. “It’s a cold night and a damn long journey to the temple.”

Standing up, Kreedence turned towards Guardian and the children. Their eyes were empty apart from the sorcerous greeness.

This is insanity! he though as he stumbled back and clenched his jaw. I’ve gotta pick between what kids get to live and which ones don’t?!

Even though anger and sorrow brewed within Kreedence, he couldn’t muster up the words to fight back. He gave in, pointing at a kid who was chubby, at one with black curly hair and at one with amber eyes. He sighed and, again, sat beside the fire.

The soldier gave him a look only soldiers could.

Kreedence grabbed a smoke out of the man’s pocket and lit it with the bonfire’s heat.

The man looked off into the darkness and nodded, grabbing a smoke himself.

“Rest,” Guardian said to the both of them, passing with a band of chained children. “At dawn we work.”

***

The group passed through a thick forest with four children and four soldiers. The other kids had disappeared over the night. Theories about them popped into Kreedence’s head, but he shook them away.

The dark trees cleared to form an opening and let the young daysun shine through.

More sweat covered Kreedence’s skin and his bandaged up wounds started to burn.

The group stopped in the middle of the clearing where a temple built from massive stone circles stood. Guardian motioned for everyone to stay back while he opened a massive pair of doors. He stepped inside with the four children and the doors shut.

Kreedence gestured for the soldiers to rest and guard their surroundings while they waited.

Staring into the horizon, he thought about Guardian, the company and how he always had to wait for him.

Time passed quickly when it had no meaning. They’d get done with this, recruit forty rookies, train them and continue the cycle.

As more time passed, Kreedence’s vision started to blur. The world swirled, lights appeared and disappeared. He stumbled, but caught on to a wall of the temple.

Heat resonated through the stone circle.

Kreedence shook his head, wiped the sweat off and looked at the sky.

It was night.

Kreedence’s eyes widened and he searched for the other soldiers, but couldn’t see a single figure.

The world shook and morphed even more. Then a red light tinted the ground.

Kreedence searched for the source and he found it: a huge red beam glowed atop the temple.

It was day.

Kreedence opened his eyes. He took deep breaths, calming himself with effort while taking in his surroundings. There was no beam that glowed from above and the world didn’t shake. There were also none of the other soldiers.

With a struggle, he stood up.

Damned sorcery, he thought, his mind his still dazed a little.

The temple’s door opened. Guardian walked out, three children in front of him.

“It is done,” Guardian said. “The ritual was… what it was. Not a thing I will ever repeat. But it is a worthy investment. These children are now normal and ours.”

Kreedence tilted his head. Indeed, the kids’ eyes had returned to normal and they acted like children, not soulless beings. They murmured with one another in the common tongue and ran around.

A small grin rose on Kreedence’s face. This was the only comfort he felt in the past days.

“They don’t have names, you know,” Guardian said.

“So now I get to name a pair?”

Guardian nodded.

“Well…Tillon and Magnolia…”

“Good. I got a simple name in mind for my one... ”