The sun was rising in front of them as they sped towards the city atop lush cornfields.

A crew of fifty-three soldiers and a few Omegas had set out. Eleven soldiers had died, most due to the Green Witch. All of them were on a blue platform that a few mages in the front were moving. The dead bodies were set respectfully in the back and would be buried when they got back to Amonis. Some of the seriously injured were being treated by a few druids. Seklei'tre was personally treating Amaar, who had gotten punched by the Warrior. Hui and Han were seated next to him.

"What were you thinking?" Hui said, her tone so serious that Amaar looked a little surprised.

"I was fight -ow- ing an Omega," Amaar said as Seklei'tre mended his broken arm, "what do you think was going to happen?"

"Well," Hui said, "You've made it clear that you can't fight an Omega. Just stick to common soldiers and defense."

Amaar rolled his eyes, "Someone's just jealous they didn't get to fight an Omega.”

"Is that what you think this is?" Hui whispered.

Amaar tensed up. "No," he said. "I was simply joking."

"Yes," Hui continued softly, her voice betraying anger, "Joking. And what would you have done if the blow hit your lungs? What would I have done?"

"It's alright now," Amaar said, sitting up as Seklei'tre nearly finished, "Nothing happened."

"Wrong," Hui said, "You almost dying is something happening. Don't overestimate yourself and die and van-."

"Han almost died too," Amaar said defensively.

"I'm getting to Han," Hui angrily replied, "Don't divert the conversation. Omegas will be coming to kill you-"

Han was about to break in and defend himself- he had nearly died, but he had ensured he wouldn't fully die- when a gray hand found his arm. Seklei'tre silently shook her head and pulled him away. Amaar and Hui didn't notice.

"Do not interrupt them," Seklei'tre said. "Give them their privacy."

Han blinked. "They are my friends," he said slowly.

"Yes," the Strian said, "but... if you go there the girl will scold you, so do not, yes?"

Han nodded. He had totally not thought about that- he wondered how people were able to quickly think of these things. Han thanked the amused Strian and walked away from Hui and Amaar, who still seemed to be arguing. He wanted a quieter place on the crowded platform, so he found an edge and stared at the horizon. Now and then, he would see a few small fortresses. They were common throughout the valley. It was said that before the Dawn, when the Elder Gods banished the Terake and killed themselves in the process, this valley was ridden with monsters. So the first humans who had come here had built many small fortresses to defend themselves in the case of an attack. The entire valley, from Amonis in the east to the Trellian Pass in the west, was sometimes called Fortress Valley for this reason. Han liked the rural lands. Living outside the city seemed peaceful, he would have much more control over his own life. It was not a nice feeling to realize that someone much more powerful than you could ruin your life with a single sentence.

Having no one else to talk to, Han found his way to Arthur Stone, who was sitting quietly near the middle of the fifteen-meter-long platform.

"Can we talk?" Han asked and sat down when Arthur silently nodded.

He looked at the horizon, small green hills dotting the plains. Han liked to work late, so it was not often he saw the sunrise. Especially from outside the city, where the sky was clearer.

"The Green Witch," Han said. "She doesn't wear green."

Arthur chuckled. "Oh, yes. She doesn't like that. Unlike many of her peers, killing isn't her first instinct. That name reminds her of death, or so I suspect."

"Death?"

"Oh, you do know about her famous workings? The ones you based your plan on? She is somehow able to use every bit of power in her Reservoir, and that's a lot, mind you, at the cost of disconnecting her Will to the Flow for a while. That's what she said happens, at least. Yeah, those workings are green. She single-handedly massacred an army of thirty thousand from Aliti once. She's been called the Green Witch ever since."

Han shivered. Both at what was said and Arthur’s casual tone. What was the point of fighting if the opponent could just kill everyone if they were losing too badly?

"And everyone dies?" Han asked.

"Well, not everyone. The more power you have in your Reservoir, the less you are affected. Omegas are not affected all that much, less powerful mages fall unconscious, everyone else dies. In an open field, at least, everyone else dies. It also travels like a green disc, you would be able to avoid it in principle if you see it coming and jump or hide behind a wall somehow. Anyway, I am not an expert in all this. There's a lot of theory that someone might be able to explain to you."

Han hummed and was silent for a while. If their plan depended on making her use these workings, then Han would never be able to get close. And even if it worked, it might end up killing a lot of people. But Arthur would already know this, so why had he agreed to their plan?

"You want her to live," Han concluded. "And our plan is the only feasible one to defeat her without killing."

"I like her, but no," The Red Terror said. "I don't like her that much, not anymore. Han, remember that letting sentiment get in the way here will hurt you a lot. Make a clean cut every time you kill someone. Otherwise, they'll just die more slowly, or maybe they'll kill you if you're slow enough. Anyway, you need to think of war as more than just winning and losing on the battlefield. You see, I like your plan because she would be a really useful bargaining piece. If this works, we could ask the Gazaarians to back off, and they would do it."

Oh, Han hadn't thought of that. So they could feasibly stop the war and save Amonis if it worked. That was a much better risk. Han brightened a little at that- he had the chance to save the city now. Of course, he couldn't be too close when she used such a working, he would die. But he had to be close enough to reach her before she became living again- when her Will reconnected. It was going to be difficult, but it wasn't impossible and out of his control.

"They'll come for me, though," Han said. "And not only the Gazaarians."

Arthur sighed. "I was hoping we could avoid that, but yes. You don't even need to worry about the Gazaarians. The Pupils will come back together again and will hunt you down, and these are the people who hunted the Hunt of Saros. They are good at what they do. But this issue is a winner's quarrel. I can see ways of ensuring your safety by hiding you for enough time. I can see ways of negotiating. It's not the best situation, but we will be holding the cards there. Don't get ahead of yourself, kid. The chance that you'll be able to pull this off is not exactly good."

Han nodded. He was getting ahead of himself. There were still a lot of variables, but there was also a path out of this mess, however narrow. A path in his reach. Nevertheless, he decided to stop dreaming too much of the future lest he forgets the past. So he stopped thinking of the big picture, something he was not good at anyway, and started thinking of all the details again. There were definitely some questions he had wanted to ask. They were on the tip of his tongue but not coming out. Remember, he chided himself. What was it? Ah.

"Why was there treasure in the fort?" he asked. "Why hasn't anyone taken them before?"

Arthur grinned at him. He bent forward and started speaking silently. "One of Kaito's better ideas, I must say. We put the gold there, Han, and then spread the rumors about some great treasures in the villages near the Pass. They probably know that too, but they'll want the treasures, and it wouldn't cost that much to them anyway, so they'll keep doing it."

"So what is the point of this? We're losing people too"

"Information, boy, information. I cannot tell you how valuable information is in a war. For example, we now know much more about the Warrior, besides coming into possession of her most valuable object. She's bound to come for you, I think."

Wow, that's exactly what he needed- an Omega trying to hunt him in the middle of the battle. Or even better, before it. Han found a flaw in Arthur's argument, though.

"If you are talking about Omegas," Han said, "We are at a loss. We revealed five of ours for two of theirs."

"You are assuming they didn't already know about us," Arthur pointed out. "The Gazaarians have a much better espionage system than us- they have been at war for a long time. They know about every single Omega, what our soldiers wear, and more. We don't know a lot about them. Gods, our spy network is so amateurish that our spymaster actually acts shady. We didn't even know they had Mlins working for them. Do you know how useful that will be?"

Han nodded. Ok, he didn't know how useful it would be, but he got the general gist of the strategy. Han had read a few books about strategies but had quickly found out that commanding in a war was like sword fighting. If you read about it, you would think that you understood, but you really didn't until you tried it out. Han realized something that had him smiling.

"We are literally paying them money in exchange for their own information, " Han pointed out.

"Oh, yes," Arthur smiled slyly, "That little piece of irony was not missed."

The fact that people were getting killed on both sides for this didn't make him feel better. He knew that ten people were nothing compared to the thousands who would die when the siege began. But still. Han didn't voice the thought, though. Speaking negative thoughts made them more real, and harder to ignore later in his experience.

They stayed in comfortable silence before Han broke it, "You also were saying something to the Green Witch about being the pawns of the gods?"

Arthur looked at Han for a moment before replying, "One of the three is manipulating the other side, maybe two. No kingdom can conquer so much without some immortal fighting the Game for them. She knows that too."

Han decided to steer the conversation away from the Green Witch.

"Someone is fighting for us too?" he asked.

"Oh, no," Arthur laughed, "Someone is fighting for themselves and coincidentally happens to help Amonis. None of them really care much about Amonis, except possibly for being the bridge to the giants."

"That's what the Witch was saying," Han said, "But why do they care about the giants? They are even further from the rest of the world than us."

"Their magic, kid," Arthur said. "No one else has been able to figure out their system despite much trying, and there has been much trying for sure. The giants practice the magic of boundaries, so they can make portals, shields, and wards easily. Making portals without humongous rituals would be a powerful tool for a conquering army. Holding a few of the giant folk to the sword point would give an army that ability."

Han slowly nodded in understanding. Why had he not thought of that? Now that he thought about it, Amonis had tried, on multiple instances, to ask the giants to make portals to other realms to improve trade. In other words, Han had pestered Sev with the proposals quite a few times before Sev explained that such a thing would invite more trouble in the long term than gain. Which Han still did not believe- one of the founding principles of the University of Amonis was to ensure fear did not get in the way of progress.

"Han, " the Red Terror suddenly said, "I have a question for you if you don't mind."

"No," Han replied. "I mean, yes. I mean that I don't mind."

Arthur's lips twitched a little before he continued, "Do you really want to fight on the battlefield? After you got a taste of it today, I mean. I have never met anyone who likes to work in a smith and fight on the field as well. Very different conditions."

Han opened his mouth to say that he loved to fight before he closed it. Did he? Did he like being a mistake away from his death?

"I want to fight for Amonis," he said, "I want to help as much as possible."

Arthur didn't look convinced. "Maybe. But that's not what I am talking about. When we were leaving, I could sense the excitement, Han. I have seen that before. In myself, and so many young Omegas who love adventure. You were afraid but also excited. Why?"

Han stuttered, "I, uh I, am not sure. I was excited? Maybe. I mean, I think, I would get a chance to use my weapons. Yeah, that's it. That's it. I'd finally get to use my sword."

Han realized he had not been very convincing. Arthur did not look very convinced either.

"As I told you," Arthur said, "I have seen that before in myself. You want to be a hero. That might sound a little... gauche? But it's true."

Han shook his head, "I don't think that's true. I can't become a hero as Amaar or Hui can, I am not a mage.'

"That's not what I said," Arthur said, "As a matter of fact, the fact that you are not an Omega might have pushed you to do this more. To prove you are equally capable."

Han shook his head again but didn't speak. That sounded wrong. Illogical. He spoke after a moment, "It's unfair, isn't it? That a few people get such powers and get fame so easily? Without having done anything themselves?"

Arthur nodded. "I suppose it is, but I never looked at it that way. The problem, Han, is that you grew up in a very peaceful environment in Amonis. The world is only unfair if you expect it to be fair in the first place. If that makes sense. My mom was a famous officer and was assassinated in front of me when I was around your age."

The Red Terror shrugged. "I didn't like it. I cried. What could I do?"

Han thought about that for a moment. He had had this argument with himself before, so he knew what to say.

"I don't mean to hurt," he said, "but what if you were stronger? You could have stopped it."

"And I thought that for a long time. I really did. But, no. I understood how large the world is, during the wars that led to the formation of the Alliance. No one person, not even Reundethor, could fight the entire world alone. We can't control and protect everybody. It's not all in our hands. We do what we can and live in the present."

Han frowned, "That's not the point. You may not be able to stop everything, but you will be able to do more than I can."

"Yes," Arthur bluntly replied, "I will. And as I told you, the world is unfair, and there isn't much we can do about that. But you're missing the point too. I am asking why you are risking your life unnecessarily? Do you want to prove that you are just as strong as an Omega?"

"No," Han said weakly, "I am not strong, and I know that. I do. It's-"

"reckless," Arthur calmly interrupted, "very reckless. Very illogical too, and I would trust you to think things through. Let's go at this from the other end. Why do you like to work in a smith?"

Han brightened a little. "I think I like to lose myself. I know exactly what's going on. If something didn't work, that's because I messed up. There are not going to be any consequences that are not of my own making."

"Ah," Arthur said. "It's about control, then. In the smith, you feel like you are in control and you like it. Do you realize a fight with an Omega or war is the opposite of this?"

"Not if you're powerful enough," Han whispered.

"And you'll never be that powerful," Arthur bluntly replied.

Han turned to Arthur and whatever Arthur saw had his eyes widening.

"Then take this as an oath," Han said. "I started behind but one day I'll be strong enough. Strong enough it won't matter."