Michael and his squad were seated at one of the tables of the inn that was near former barracks of the city guard, near the center of the settlement. His comrades were successful at capturing the burgeoning settlement without much bloodshed, immediately replacing city guards in their role of peace keeping while their general negotiated terms of surrender of the former leaders of Camp Hearth. On the other hand, task which Michael and his squad got was complete disaster. The beginning went great, his infiltration in the guise of shore leave to conduct investigation yielded information that placed Lucas as the top dog of Camp’s adventurers. He then baited him with a lucrative job, instructing him to get the best. And boy, did he deliver. While the rest were focused on the job, with all that which entailed, Michael took a role to drop subtly a tracker here or a mark there to help guide the rest of his squad for a spot for successful ambush. After discovering the magnitude of threat, however, Michael made the decision to finish the job first and marked the spot where they entered into the dungeon as the spot for ambush. His squad patiently waited for two days, as Michael later learned, for them to emerge from the dungeon and from that point shit hit the fan. Lucas managed to avoid them, not only escaping from them but killing Dylan in the process and now they waited for debrief and what Michael could only assume was demotion or discharge from active service.

“I can only hope it will be honourable one at least” Michael concluded.

A loud cracking of the wooden boards pulled him from his thought as he spotted a women clad in leather and latex, her curves subtly accentuated in all of the right spots. General’s second in command, the one woman army and the most elite warrior his unit possessed, Carmen was everything that and more. She approached their table and without a word she pointed at them to move. They sheepishly obeyed the command and after a short hike they found themselves at the office of the now displaced city watch Master, starring at him from other side of the desk was General in the flesh. Michael met the man a few times and every time he felt immense authority and power radiating from him. What made things worse was the catastrophe that Michael was here to report, as Lucas radiated that same thing, although not as strong.

“Yet” Michael mentally added while he saluted his leader.

“What happened?” General asked the simplest of questions.

Michael recounted the whole chain of events, pausing briefly when arriving at the part of Lucas escaping and Dylan dying, but with a hard stare from the General he coughed up the rest of the story. Emma, leader of the search party, took over from him briefly to round up the story about the utter failure of said party.

“You did good, soldier. Although you changed the terms of engagement, that dungeon was a massive threat that would cost many soldiers their lives if you didn’t use the expendables to close it. And equipment you brought back will serve us good. But” General spoke while Michael braced for inevitable punishment that followed “I have to ask you: Is any part of the decision motivated by your friend?”

Michael stared blankly for just a moment, not expecting this turn of event. “No, sir. I can assure you of that.”

“Okay than. We are finished here then.” General dismissed them and Michael left standing while the rest of his squad cleared the room.

“You need something else, soldier?” General asked.

“No, sir. I’m just surprised there isn’t a punishment” Michael blurted out.

The man sighed and lost himself somewhere above Michael shoulder for a brief second, before responding.

“No, soldier. Do you remember the moment we decided to start doing all of this? I said it will be hard, the people that we seek to eliminate are strong and resourceful. That is what makes them the threat to humanity”

Michael nodded and did a quick salute before leaving the room. His mind started rewinding the scene of which general spoke of. Bloody and broken, he stood at attention. His wing in the most recent battle was completely obliterated by just one person, leaving barely a dozen men alive and just Michael standing. He was ready to request the discharge, but at the moment the General started speaking, he forgot all his woes. He spoke of return to good all ways, to regulate and limit the growth and power one person can accumulate and eliminating ones that are not ready to give up on all of that, marking them as future threat to humanity. He finished his speech with a announcement of a month long vacation for everyone and a offer for everybody to release them from service with a one year pay if they don’t want to participate in making the world right again. After that month passed, not only the entire crowd present at the speech returned, but they spread the word far and wide, marking a unprecedented recruitment drive. The unit donned new imagery, gray hairs among them sketching a marking from one of the old world governments whose name Michael forgot and started bringing order to a smaller community of people. As they number and strength grew, so did they ambitions. The method of the rule also proved efficient, people limited to a level they could reach. That responsibility fall squarely at the hands of their archivist, whose class was one of lore masters family that allowed him to study and understand internal mechanisms System used and which they could interact to a limited degree. Michael found himself back at his table at the tavern, this time not joined by any of his squad members. That suited fine for Michael, whose stream of thought went back at that unsuccessful ambush. He saw the face of his long time friend, his brother, a person he decided to sacrifice at the altar of order. Stopping himself from crying, he ordered a whole tankard of ale from the inn keeper and he brought it to him. When Michael mentally sent him credits, inn keeper mumbled his thanks, happy to make something from the army now, instead at the end of the month at discount prices which his unit proscribed as a new law. He proceeded to drown his woes in a glass, but to his annoyance that wasn’t helping.

“I’m sorry Lucas” he mumbled, taking another massive gulp of alcohol. He hoped to never see him again, knowing full well that his friend will never sacrifice his search for level and power for anything.

“Maybe if I just asked” Michael allowed himself a little dip in his sadness before pulling himself out of it “no, it would be futile”

And so he spent his night drinking and when morning came he was almost blackout drunk. That is when he got up and started sprinting back towards the base, hoping to be back in bed before the horn for new day was blown and his duties resumed. The physical activity helped alleviate his drunkenness and he was back just in time. He pretended to get up, stretching and yawning and then went to see what his assignments for the day were. Founding out he and the rest of his squads got free time, he headed straight to Crafters row, a giant half circle where all of the most elite crafters of Camp Hearth hold stores. He needed to visit gunsmith, hoping to use massive influx of cash he got from the job to upgrade and mod his rifle a little bit, having schematics for what he wanted for a long time now.

“Actually, since the birthday two years ago. Lucas gave them to me as a gift” he remembered fondly. At that moment, he spotted a familiar figure somewhere in the mass that went in the opposite way of him, but that moment was so brief he concluded his mind was playing tricks on him. He continued on his way and found the store he was looking for. After a bit of haggling, he agreed with the crafter about the details and price of the order and he left the store, now unarmed. He waved to his colleagues that were patrolling the streets and then he spotted a figure exiting one of the stores. He convinced himself was a figment of his imagination before. He was covered in a black trench coat and wearing a hat that covered a lot of his face. But it was undeniably Lucas, Michael was sure of it. Trying to blend with the crowd, he followed the figure. After some time, the figure stopped at one of the house at Row Street and took out a key that was hidden behind a loose brick, assured Michael it was his old friend. Just to be sure, he carefully approached one of the windows, and carefully sneaked a peek. He saw Lucas out of his coat and without his hat, giving final confirmation to Michael. Just as he was about to back off, Lucas spotted him and his face immediately contorted into a mask of pure hate and anger. Not wasting a second, Michael started sprinting, hoping his memory on where was the nearest guardhouse is correct. Thankfully, it was and Michael stormed through the door, startling the guards.

“Sound the alarm” he shouted.