As the sun began to set on the traveling army, General Denos ordered a ‘company halt’. Once all the carriages had stopped, he turned to face the large group of fighters, some of which, in the next few days would die before there enemies. “Many of you, likely do not know of the ancient army traditions of the Dwarves. I, however, and proud to be of those that do.” He cleared his throat “During the Great War, the night before arriving at any soon to be battlefield, they would throw a celebration, a way of lifting moral before the fight, and for the chance to drink with those they may never be able to again.” A heavy feeling crept on the soldiers, the idea of not leaving the battle was something none wanted to expect to happen to them, and thus ignored the obviously high possibility there was. “And, like our forefathers, these warriors of old, I shall continue this tradition.” A murmur began to develop “We shall make camp tonight and celebrate! Drink to your hearts content, make merry! Enjoy the company of your brothers and sisters, regardless of race.” Denos eyes the soldiers before throwing his arms sky high “Let this be a night all shall remember!”

That was something all soldiers could do gladly. A loud ‘hoorah’ thundered the area, as soldiers jumped off and pitched tents, nine carts in the back with drapes over them, rode to the side and a soldier in each pulled it, revealing beer, and spirits for all to indulge in. At least 30,000 gallons of it sat in the enchanted barrels. These barrels were enchanted to carry far more than normal, thus made transporting supplies, and replacement gear easy and far more efficient than it otherwise would. Fires were lit, and tables were made in makeshift, and as night finally covered the sky, tankards were clanking and laughter filled the night air. Some soldiers simply sat and drank, otherwise were in charge of cooking food and other treats, all of whom volunteered on the notion they got the first plates, another army tradition Denos happily continued from old. Some soldiers were even dueling, testing their skills against other fighters. Some soldiers had instruments, and began playing for fun, others told stories. This group included Tali, we was telling the tale of the first Dark Souls.

“-and through the gate, sat a graveyard of swords-” Fallion smiled, enjoying the sight of Tali enrapturing others with the tales he shared.

Valder approached Fallion, and slammed a friendly hand onto his back. Turning to face him, Fallion found himself greeting a smiling Valder offering him a tankard, something he gleefully accepted, he had died before the age of 21 after all, and it wasn’t like there were cops around to tell him not to, in this world even young children drank from time to time. They clinked tankards smiling, and began to down the amber liquid like it would disappear otherwise. Finishing, Valder let out a satisfied sigh “Now that hits the spot, eh?”

Fallion smiled in agreement, quite enjoying the taste of this alcoholic beverage. “It most definitely does, shall we get more?” Valder grunted in response, and the two approached a table, refilling their tankards, instantly downing the drink, and refilling it again, not downing it immediately this time. The two walked away from the table to more private part, at Valders insistence, he seemed to have some sort of question or questions he wanted Fallion to answer. Fallion however, was unsure what questions Valder would have, then he remembered that of all the group, Valder had definitely held the most interest to the tale, it was quite possible Valder wanted to know more about it, or even if Fallion had a fifth tale he hadn’t shared before. Neither of those would have surprised him. Valder sat down next to one of the scattered trees in the field, and motioned for Fallion to sit, which he did gladly. Taking a large gulp from his pint, Valder cleared his throat and looked at Fallion “About those, erm tales you shared.”

Smiling a bit “What of them my friend?”

“I know a lot of the others mentioned they felt hopeful from the tales, how these unnamed warriors overcame many a difficulty, and in the end achieving their destiny.” He cut off for a moment, his eyes seemingly searching Fallions face a bit, as if the words he wanted were there upon his brow “They were tales of hopelessness in truth weren’t they. In the first tale the warrior lit the fire to prevent the coming dark, however in the beginning of the next, the dark still came, and in the end of that tale the warrior of it became ‘king’ to stop the spread, but then in the third it had spread anyways.” Fallions brows curved in slightly, nodding to answer his train of thought “Those warriors were like gods in power, yet they couldn’t stop something, and at times they ‘ran away’ from certain fights, and in others they seemed fearful...of something...” Valders voice trailed off, not continuing his thought

After a few seconds of near painful silence, Fallion spoke “Do you think there is anything stronger than god? That god is afraid of anything.”

Valder looked at Fallion hard, in a searching sort of way, as if something had clicked in his mind “I…do...after all, if god had nothing to fear, why doesn’t he come down here and force his children to be good boys and girls? Why does he remain near silent? Why does god allow himself to be a sort of passive existence? If god had nothing to fear, how would he be god?” Valder sipped his drink “When I was a boy, one thing my father always said was ‘son, if you think you are the strongest at anytime, give up on trying to become strong. You aren’t worthy of it.’ he had said that many a time in my youth, and on my fifteenth birthday, I asked my father why, and he merely replied ‘there is always someone or something stronger than you. If you are considered the strongest, than you just haven’t met the one to put you on your ass’.”

Fallion nodded, “Wise words, from a wise sounding man.”

Valder nodded “The reason god doesn’t come down here, is he’s afraid of coming across that stronger being, or maybe that stronger being exists in another realm. God stays on his mountain top, so none can take his title as the strongest. The epitome of weak strength.” Fallion stared at Valder in a way he never had before. Previously, Fallion simply considered an extremely friendly dwarf, easy to get along with. However, tonight Fallion began to respect him, he was wise beyond his years, likely wiser than he himself had realized. Fallion had previously considered that after the war, he and Elyisia would form an adventurer party for fun. In that moment he wanted Valder to become member number three, the man had said words that even god had to respect.

“Say Valder, once this war is over, what do you plan to do?”

The dwarf shrugged, taking another gulp from the tankard “I suppose start a family. Maybe build a farm, I hadn’t thought beyond surviving tomorrow.”

“Do you want to travel with me? You know, form an adventuring party?”

Valder looked at Fallion with a twinkle in his eye “Promise you’ll share more fantastic tales?”

Smiling “Promise to have my back, and I yours?”

“Definitely.” the two comrades hugged, in dwarven tradition, forming a party with another dwarf made them ‘blood siblings’. Since adventuring was built on trust, it’d only made sense you’d trust your life to them, the same as you would your family if needed, and expect them to ‘catch you if you fall’.

“Well” raising his tankard “Brothers.”

Returning the gesture “Brothers.” they drank the night away.

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If I’m honest, I originally didn’t plan much for Valder, or really any of the 33rd. However, as I’ve been weaving this story, I found myself enjoying Valder as a character, which is weird to say since I am the one ‘breathing him to life’ as it were. As I’ve gone back and read what I’ve written, at times I forget I wrote it, and I suppose that’s how the feeling arose. The same thing with Tali and the storytelling of his. I began to enjoy his character. I dunno if it is a weird notion or not but I wanted to share that. As always criticism is GREATLY appreciated. As I have said this is my first ‘professional’ work, which I mean in the full story sense since I normally only write short stories. On a side note I’m really feeling like writing tonight, don’t know why but I came home from work like that, so there may or may not be another chapter, it just depends how the night goes for me.