Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[SeriousConcentrate]

Diana scoffed, though she smiled.

"I wasn't taking it as a proposal. I was merely speculating on our parent's plans for us."

"Besides, I think my heart might already belong to someone else..."

Diana was quiet for a few moments.

"...Anyway, it's only your youth and the fact these were already 'my people'. Things will change when you get older. Hopefully we'll both live long enough to get older."

[Blade Master Model 42]

Wilfort raised an eyebrow when Diana mentioned she had someone in mind, but said nothing to that particular statement. "Getting older at this point is going to take luck and skill. We'll consider our plans once we reach Worus, hopefully we can scrounge up some kind of help. I'd hate to try to march to Exsten with only us, with the arms and armor we have right now."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Perhaps so. We'll see what the future holds for us. But do you think we'll really be able to find help in Worus? I mean, disregarding their cowardly leaders, do you think we'll find any capable mercenaries left?"

[CrimsonEon]

: "I suppose I am." Ceil stated, almost indifferent in tone, as she looked on out to the sea. Her brow furrowed for a few moments before she spoke again,
: "...Are you not concerned, Brann? About where we're going, what we're doing?"

[Blade Master Model 42]

"We have to. If we don't we're as good as dead. I could be the greatest fighter to ever wield a lance, and you the greatest sword arm in all Ostcar, but that would not get us to Exsten. And neither of us is either of those things." Wilfort's hands tightened on the rail. "We need supplies. Allies. Tools. And I need to have faith that if we look for them, we can find them."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"We don't need to fight their armies, though. We need only slip in undetected and murder their leaders. Kill enough commanders and the rank and file will lose their taste for war."

[Swordstar]

"Of course I am. I listen to the others talking about my homeland... Our homeland, and I can't help but feel... sorry for how they view it, shame for our country to have been forced into such a decision, worry that our countrymen will simply hand us over... Anything could go wrong. And Diana clearly has no problem voicing her opinions... I worry that she will insult someone important, that someone will get offended... I just don't get how she can't see that the council did what they thought was best for Worus. We are a country of mercenaries, the loyalty of many of our soldiers is bought and sold. Perhaps the council just realized that to save the lives of their people, it was best to hand over the lance. But Diana... everything is black and white for her. She refuses to admit that there might be shades of grey in the world."

He sighed.

"But I joined this group. And so until I choose to leave, I will follow her. But... I do not know how much further I'll follow if she continues along the path she seems to have chosen. She no longer seems to care about stopping Ansel for the sake of stopping his plans. She seems to simply care about revenge and... I do not think I can condone that much longer."

[Blade Master Model 42]

"Easy to say, harder to do. Do you have any trained assassins, Diana? Because mine are all missing. Sure, we could make our way in, only hitting squads that see us. But what happens when they don't report in? People go looking for them, find the bodies, and suddenly swathes of troops are making their way to shove their swords up our collective ass."

"Make no mistake, this will not be easy. And even if the leadership crumbles, that is no guarantee that we'll go unmolested as we make our way out of the country."

[SeriousConcentrate]

Diana sighed and closed her eyes.

"I know. It all just seems so... hopeless. I'll never understand how Ansel was able to crush three countries so quickly. Faced with that... what can we do, other than die fighting?"

[Blade Master Model 42]

"I've always been a strong proponent of not dying, personally." Wilfort sighed. "I just wish I knew what he wanted the weapons for. I mean really."

Up in the crow's nest, Ursa could see a small dot growing on the horizon before them.

[CrimsonEon]

Ceil turned to glance at Brann, then heaved a heavy sigh of relief.
: "I'm glad someone else here thinks the same. I know I would not speak such, with so many so loyal."
She held out her arm from underneath her robe to examine the depleted gem of her first staff, holding it gingerly as she let it reflect light.
: "Were it so easy to determine what is right and wrong in the face of such calamity. A blinding light of revenge does much to one's sight... The sound of its fulfilment rings hollow, I want to say, it brings no joy nor does it replace the lost, I intended to say." Ceil sighed in frustration, "But I cannot say with confidence that it is the truth. I may heal wounds, but in the light of such overwhelming odds... Can either of us really say what's best for anyone?"
: "Brann. If Lady Durheil does step over... Aims to make a sacrifice that cannot be made... Do you think you would stop her?" The preist lowered the gem in her hand, and she pulled it back into her robes, "I do not think I could."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"He claims for some prophecy casting him as a great hero. I don't believe it... but then, he's conquered everyone so easily. Maybe there is something to it... and maybe in the plans of the gods, I'm the villain here for trying to kill him."

"But I don't care. He's taken my family, my country, my people, my purpose. All I have left for him to take from me is my life... and I'll willingly risk losing it for the chance of vengeance."

She looked troubled.

"...I don't understand why they keep following me, Wilfort. I think they all know I'm planning on marching to what will likely be my death against Exstenian blades, and I've told them time and again they don't have to follow me to that fate. Yet they persist."

[Blade Master Model 42]

"Look, God chose your ancestor to rise up against the dragons and lead humanity into an age where they can live, not as slaves, but as their own people. And you inherit that divine mandate to rule your people. It's why they follow you, and it's why the Exstenians follow Ansel. They trust God, and because of that, they trust you in turn. If that makes sense."

"Ask yourself, deep down, if you feel like standing against Ansel is the wrong thing to do. For me, any man willing to tear apart the world, no matter what his reasons, cannot be in the right. So that's where I stand."

[Swordstar]

"At least in my experience, revenge has never satisfied. It's only led to either emptiness or always looking for more bloodshed."

He shook his head and ran a hand through his already messy hair, causing it to stick out oddly even more.

"I... I'd like to think I would stand up against her. I'd like to think that I would try to convince her that the world has suffered enough loss over this already... That there's enough chaos, enough bloodshed but..."

He sighed and slumped with his elbows on the rail and gave a sarcastic half grin.

"Then I think to myself, 'Well, you're just a wandering swordsman from Worus. Why would the sole remaining heir to the Durheil bloodline listen to you?' And... well... She's already shown she barely listens to those around her when the situation involves her revenge. I don't see that changing any time soon. But... I'd like to believe I'd try. Even if my trying was pointless and led to her thinking of me as she thinks of the rest of our countrymen. I'd like to think that I'd stand up for what I think is right."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"...I know. Divine plans or not, I can't forgive Ansel's actions, and if I'm in the wrong, then that is fate too."