Perceived Fate

Waking up, Malum rose out from his bed and went to get dressed. He called the others awake and they had a vote about what they wanted to do in the morning.

Training was the answer so they headed down to get in some morning work.

Malum was trying to blend in his new style, making it muscle memory took more than a months practice. What he really needed was practical experience and so sparring was what he did.

Gerald was up for the challenge, always wanting some early morning thrill he bashed into Malum and took the danger head on. Never afraid, always exited.

Alicia and Jake fought whilst they did. Greif had only made them closer but that didn’t stop them from tearing each other apart on the training grounds.

It was a good morning of training, Malum only wished it lasted longer.

Alas food was needed so they headed down. During the meal, Malum pondered whether or not to tell his group about the change of strategy but decided against it for their own sake of mind.

Knowing didn’t really do much except give him dread, preplanning was pointless that wasn’t their job so he opted to withhold his knowledge.

Jake and his observing eyes clearly noticed something off about Malum but considering his injury, he thought it was related to that.

Gerald continued his banter, and they all slurped down the slop they were provided. A hearty meal for a group of likely dead solider. Malum looked around at the stuffed canteen. He wandered how many would live in the next 3 months.

Most would die, and looking at their joking faces only to turn gloomy after eating their paste, Malum began to feel sad for them. They didn’t deserve this.

Nobody did really, except for that bastard Baron kid. Malum would happily send that men on his own mission.

Soon even that was over and with that done nothing else remained except the stregtdhy meeting held before every meeting. Usually, it was just empty time. This one however was going to be different.

“YOU BASTARD!”

“YOUR SENDING US TO DIE!”

The crowd did not respond well to the news. Malum joined in, because he agreed with the thoughts and who didn’t find venting fun.

Even better was the one who announced was the murderer himself. Little shit had the audacity to be sad about his soldiers deaths. And yet, he was still going to send them.

It showed which he cared about more.

After the crowd got muted down with threats of violence from the team leaders, the finally continued the speech.

“Your sacrifices are for the good of the kingdom. You will lead it to a brighter future, for your families and your descendants. Your are not soldiers but hero’s leading our country to a brighter future!”

It was a good speech, sadly it was said by a kid who couldn’t out the oomph behind it needed to be make it exceptional. The message was still, `We are sending you off to die` so being unhappy was beyond a reasonable response.

Somehow it wasn’t getting louder but Malum could feel that the tension was getting worse. As people thought over their deaths, or their friends deaths, they slowly began to feel more angry and as it couldn’t be expressed through noise it got shown other ways.

Some held their fists, staring adamantly at the Baron. Others looked towards their friends, and others looked towards the sky. Some prayed to their god, others cursed them.

“Hold your heads high soldiers, for you are bright beacons of hope leading your families, your friends to a brighter future. The Gods will hold your actions highly, your actions clear devotion of patriotism and kindness.”

The reminder of their families caused many to simmer down. Insubordination could lead to actions against not only the offender but also the parents and a few pious ones found logic in the God’s reaction department. Malum couldn’t care if those Gods found his actions heroic, if they wanted to help they would have done so years ago. He was insignificant, and now he was being sold off for someone’s achievement.

Malum solstice in promises of future action. If he came out alive, what would he do as revenge. He would rise to be a cultivator then shove that Baron into the frontlines.

His teammates weren’t taking the news to well. Gerald was perhaps better off, but ever since Jerom died that excitement had been muted down considerably. Now he looked to the friends around him and sadness could be seen in his eyes.

Alicia hugged Jake and the two whispered to each other false hope. The chances of one of them living was already a miracle but both, that was nigh impossible.

If any two were to survive though, Malum would want it to be those two because if it was only one of them, well Malum didn’t even want to see that result.

It speech ended and soon came more news about how the aggression was going to take place. They were going to be split up into groups of 5 and each had an area they would need to capture and clear. This area was going to be marked out with flags and each wave they were going to push forward the camp.

That meant that the burning of bodies, for example, was going to be done on site instead of taking them all the way back. It would also cut down on time in the city as they got further away.

There goal as far as advancement was between two mountains. It wasn’t particularly important the takeaway Malum took was that it would take three months of successful pushes to get where they wanted to be.

The only good news was that the points they were going to receive during the advancement was three-fold so if they survived they were going to have enough to get themselves out of the hell pit that was camp.

They also got equipped with some better sets of armour and a weaponry. The Baron wanted success as much as Malum did.

Except instead of his life on the line, he had his honour and reputation and for a Noble that was nearly the same thing.

With his new heavy equipment on, Malum, his teammates, and the new recruit all received their backpack of supplies and were set off to their new location.

As a traveller Malum had read maps since he was young and so he got assigned to get them to their location. They trudged through the rest of the human domain and soon entered the baron desert of the demonic.

The sun was steadily rising as the group got used to the new weight.

“So, heavy.” Panted the new recruit, his name was George and whilst he wasn’t exceptional and was fairly meek, he had manage to keep up so Malum took on the extra backpack.

They may have took his arm, but that endless stamina had been beaten into him since his youth.

“Thanks!” said the rookie as he stood straight for the first time in a few hours.

His smile was nice, and the sun made the sight something an artist could only strive to replicate. Malum didn’t like his odds of surviving, but the image of his smile would remain in his memory.

`And who knows? Maybe, he could live.` It was those hopeful thoughts that kept Malum marching.

“Are we there yet?” Moaned Gerald. The child began his antics the second he had grown bored enough and from there on out the journey had grown unbearable.

“Thankfully,” Malum looked down again, “Yes, I think we are here.”

The group let out a breath of relief as their legs were starting to crumble.

Malum dropped the two bags and began to forage through their content. He took a bite out of some food and then began to study his map.

The starting position was where the camp was and from their there was three points. Helpfully named, A, B and C.

The goal was to clear from A to C of demon and B was going to used as a meeting points for two different groups. This was in case of fallen men, and to get a better idea of the progress of each group.

Knowing where they had been wiped could allow for the Troop Leader to sort out any high sequence demons and for survival and continued success, this change was key.

Malum continued to study the map as he looked for distinct locations he could use as reference. The amount of knowledge of the demonic domain that was contained in the map was shocking but considering it was just lost human territory it was likely made from older maps.

He warned himself that the map could be outdated but still continued to note down anything else he could use as reference to guide him when they marched.

After he informed the group of his analysis the squad took one final shot of alcohol before the attack started.

The sun rose to its peak soon after, and another wave had begun.

They then spread out into a small line like formation and then after a nod they began to march. There goal was simple, just keep moving and keep on killing.

The newbie was in the middle, as it was the safest place, and Gerald and Malum was placed on the sides. Jake and Alicia had wanted to do differently but Gerald and Malum had already made up their mind.

As Malum pulled out his blade, he began to repeat one single word.

Live. It was everything he wanted, and was all he needed. Everything else came later.

With his creed, Malum marched further and further into the abyss.