The General's Dream

General Aldarius winds up accidentally saving the elkai prince who joined the army and ends up in the war with the volkin. The boy, age seventeen, is almost killed before General Aldarius comes to his rescue. Sensing that the boy didn't belong, he questions how the would be prince managed to get in the army in the first place. The prince explains that he joined the army because he wanted to prove to himself and his father that he was something more than just someone who sat in the background of life. He wanted to be more active. General Aldarius doesn't catch on that the boy is the King's son yet until the King himself issues a distress alert across the nation that his son has gone missing. Putting two and two together, this "random" boy who joined the elkai army happens to be the same boy that the King is looking for. He goes to question the boy once more about who he was and why he was in the army in the first place. The boy confesses that he is indeed the King's son and even though he lied about his identity, his reasons for joining the army remained true.

General Aldarius is mildly shocked by this and immediately states that he will return the prince to his father much to the boy's dismay. Aldarius exclaims that the war and army was no place for royalty, that he was not suited for the life of strife and that he would be better off safe behind the kingdom walls. General Aldarius escorts the boy back to the elkai kingdom via carriage. During their way back to the kingdom, they are attacked by Rookiin highway men which Aldarius is forced to dispatch to protect the prince. While this is happening, the prince gains a newfound fondness and respect for Aldarius. The two make it back to the kingdom alive where the King awaits them eagerly. He is relieved to see his son who is actually named Lenneth however his father calls him Lenny, deserving an odd look to the prince from Aldarius himself.

The King goes on to thank Aldarius and wants to reward him. He mentions that he fears that his life and family may be in danger of more attacks such as assassinations and wants to make Aldarius his personal guard for the extra security to which Aldarius reluctantly agrees. During his time amongst the nobles, he notes that the King is actually a buffoon and everyone within the kingdom walls are corrupted with power. This disgusts Aldarius, but it doesn't surprise him. Despite him being a full blooded elkai, this new awareness to his kin's obsession for power changes his outlookf of them, but wouldn't get in the way of his duty and reason for being within the kingdom. One night, a volkin manages to sneak into the kingdom and under the nose of the royal guard. He made it all the way to the King's chamber where he sought to slay the King in his sleep. General Aldarius had been posted near his chambers at the time, catching sight of the sneaking volkin and followed inside. A brutal fight broke out inside the chambers, leaving the assassin volkin burned alive with the use of Aldarius's ashur magica. On the person of the charred assassin, he finds the orders given to them which was signed with a single red V. This V signage is what triggers a memory for Aldarius and prompts Aldarius to investigate the origins of the assassination further. He believes that there is a secret organization that is the leading problem to their ongoing war with the rebellious volkin and wants to put an end to the war once and for all.

Despite his disposition of wanting to be there, Aldarius agrees to be the King's personal guard for a while longer as he looks into the matter. During this, he catches on that the King's Queen is having an affair. It turns out that she was planning treason against her mate whom she has grown weary of. The one in question she was having an affair with was a no name volkin who only sought to gain information from the Queen herself in order to take down the King and thus the elkai kingdom as a whole. Aldarius speculated that this random volkin she was seeing was also behind the assassination attempt, however, he would directly inform the King about his Queen's treachery, in front of his family even during their dinner time, spurred on by the Queen's distasteful talk of the common people which appalled Aldarius. Angered by this heart wrenching betrayal, the King ordered the royal guards to cease his mate and locked her up in a dungeon where she was to await her beheading the next day.

The King's young daughter is to be betrothed to an allying urskin force up in Elaska and Aldarius is asked that he escorts her there. It is assumed that the King's daughter has a unhealthy fascination with him and he knows of it, requesting that the King asks someone else to do the escort mission in his place. The King refuses his request stating that he would be the best soldier to keep his beloved daughter safe. Not having much of a choice, Aldarius agrees to escort the princess on the voyage down to Elaska. During the entire trip there, Aldarius is forced to endure the King's daughter's attempts to seduce him despite Aldarius rejecting her. This gives Aldarius a nasty taste in his mouth about the girl and he quietly begins to despise her and her character. Halfway through the long trip to Elaska, they take a short stop at a lodging where things became much worse for Aldarius. The snobby princess begins to become far more aggressive with her approach in trying to coerce Aldarius to her wishes. She even begins to use her position of royalty and demands that he courts with her. When Aldarius firmly put his foot down that he would not fall to her demands and "gently" shone light upon her behavior, that a princess of her stature should not conduct herself in such an ugly matter. Her unrefined conduct would not stop there however. The princess, having her ego hurt by the General that refused her advances, would go on to threaten him. She would explain in great detail how she would frame Aldarius for rape to her father and watch with glee as the royal guards take his head off. She starts to rattle on about how she was the princess of the elkai kingdom and got anything she wanted. Just as Aldarius feels himself to be trapped by her words, her rant would be suddenly interrupted by a shot to her heart by a precise arrow. With widen eyes, she falls to the ground, gasping for air. Through pained words and tearful eyes, she reaches out for Aldarius to help.

Aldarius stares down at the dying princess, thoughts racing through his mind, conflicting his actions then one in particular settles in then sinks in completely. With darkened eyes, he lifts up the princess and carries her to the bed nearby. He lays the girl across the bed and looks down at her for a moment before reaching over to grab the pillow from under her head. He leans his head to the side, his narrowed eyes held some moniker of pity as he then slowly places the pillow over the princess's face, ultimately smuggling her until she stopped writhing. He did not alter his face the entire time, keeping it stone cold still, much like her body afterwards. Once he was sure she was dead, he lifted off the pillow and gazed into her lifeless eyes. With a heavy sigh he stood staring into the wall for a moment then pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He would then inform the coachman down in another room below of the princess's demise and how they would need to return back to the kingdom and inform of the King of his daughter's demise. The coachman doesn't question him and complies to the need to turn back and goes off to prepare their carriage. Aldarius wraps up the dead princess's body and seats it into the carriage along with him. He rides all the way back to Eingalde with the dead body staring back at him, feeling nothing towards it the entire way.

Aldarius is accompanied by his higher up in telling the King that his daughter had been assassinated and that whoever killed her was still out there. The King, along with his son and high subjects, were in the middle of dinner when he delivered the news as well as her body. The King immediately dropped his silverware in shock and stood up. The realization that his beloved daughter was dead came with his repeated words that she was now deceased. He took her wrapped body from Aldarius and held her in his arms, speaking to himself, "My daughter is dead...? My daughter is... dead... She...." He then looked to Aldarius with questioning eyes. How could this happen on his watch? Aldarius said nothing even as the King approached him with the same question, his shock slowly turning into rage. He was suppose to protect his daughter and now he is being told that she has been killed under his supposed protection. The King points a shaky, accusing finger at Aldarius and shouts that he was to blame and how he wanted his head for this. Even with all of this, Aldarius still said nothing. That's when Aldarius's higher up, Admiral Edgith, steps in-between and attempts to reason with the King. He goes on to explain how it would be in poor taste for the King to behead his personal guard under false accusations, despite how he feels at the moment. This seems to quell the raging bloodlust of the King, but it doesn't stop his shouting for Aldarius to be beheaded, forcing Aldarius and the Admiral to retreat from the premises, leaving the shouting King behind.

One the way back to their headquarters stationed in New Eingalde, Admiral Edgith asks Aldarius what happened during his mission to Elaska. Aldarius tells him the same thing he told the King, how he was to escort the princess and she wound up killed. Admiral goes on to tell Aldarius that though he may have an air of mystery to him, he still knew his subordinate as a person and that he was not telling the entire story. How he could have easily saved the princess had he healed her wounds seeing as he also excelled in his healing capabilities. Aldarius just stares at his higher up and says nothing, leaving the two to travel back in contempt silence. Three days later the princess's funeral is held at the kingdom with guests of honor. There's the citizens of the kingdom as well as the royal guards being there. Admiral Edgith is asked to attend as well. He brings General Aldarius along despite Aldarius not believing it to be the best idea. The Admiral goes on to tell him that it would look bad if he were not to attend to the funeral of the one whose death he was responsible for. Unable to argue with this, Aldarius agrees to attend. The whole time he's there, he avoids the rest of the public for the entire funeral, keeping to the shadows. The only time he is noticed is while sitting in the back of the church during a sermon. The one who approaches him is the King's son, Lenneth. He sheepishly approached the brooding General and sits by him. Aldarius accepts this without word. He thanks Aldarius for being there for his sister whom he admitted to have been rather difficult and unpleasant to be around. He states that whatever happened to her he is at peace with it and leaves it at that, leaving Aldarius to his own thoughts. Before he goes, however, Lenneth admits that he knows what he wants to be in life and with a proud smile to the one he admires, he goes on to profess that he will become one of the royal guards of his Kingdom until he becomes King himself.

After the sermon, there is a chorus of elkai youngkin to sing away the sorrows of the grieving guests. Lastly, the King thanks all of his guests for attending the funeral and how grateful he feels to have such loyal subjects under his rule. It is at this moment he notices General Aldarius standing away from the others, underneath a shade of a tree. He zeros in on the one who supposedly killed his daughter and outs him out in front of the crowd of mourners, turning their attention on him. With his rage reignited he resumes his rant of wanting Aldarius's head for himself which was not seen as an overreaction at this point due to the gravid loss the King suffered. Seeing Aldarius at the day of his daughter's funeral only added insult to injury, something that was expected. Before things could escalate however, Aldarius quickly removed himself from the scene, once again leaving behind a raging, ranting King yelling out for his head. He waits for the Admiral's return at the carriage. Arriving shortly after the King's speech, the Admiral gives him a grim look before sighing heavily and shaking his head. The two ride in silence once more with Aldarius staring out of the coach window and the Admiral busying himself with a read of a book. The Admiral takes a glance over his glasses across to Aldarius and seemed to be reading into the wistful General instead. Finally, the Admiral closes his book and silently took off his reading glasses to speak to Aldarius, breaking the silence and Aldarius's focus out the window. Aldarius looks at his superior with just his eyes only, his head that rested on the back of his curled hand remained pointed towards the window. The Admiral didn't seem to mind Aldarius's lack of attention on him as he began by giving him a quote he was given himself a long time ago stating that "Rain falls hardest when there is something to wash away."

"You know... I had been given that same quote not too long ago by someone who saw that I was struggling with something, something within... I had... lost my wife about sixteen years ago. She died of illness. Healers couldn't understand what was wrong so there was no cure to be had.... "He pauses to look at his closed book that now fiddled in his hands, seemingly holding back tears of pain at remembering his wife. Aldarius understood this look of grief and slowly turned his head towards his Admiral, his face still hardened, but his stark eyes focused on the older elkai.

"It's been sixteen years since the passing of my wife, and till this day, it still remains fresh in my head." Admiral Edgith looks up from his lap and towards the window, his glossy eyes staring at haunting visions. Aldarius listened on intently. "We've been married for forty years. She was my life... my... everything. She was a good ol gal, Maieth..." The Admiral sniffs and looks back down at his book again, running his thumb over the lifted designs of the cover. Once he had completely composed himself, Admiral Edgith picked up his head again to eye level with Aldarius. He spoke in a serious tone. "I know who you are, Aldarius. I've been there myself. That cold look in your eyes, the distant glare of something.... something that's eating away at you. They haunt you, don't they? You see them every day of your life though they are deceased.

Aldarius looks into the Admiral in silence. There is a hint of suspicious curiosity in his hard eyes. The Admiral nods his head as he goes on.

"Yes, that's the look of someone who has lost everything that was life to him. There are few of us in the army that know of your past, Aldarius, although I did not need to look into your documented profile to know exactly what happened to you. You lost your entire family. You loved them just as I loved my wife. They were everything to you and they were taken from you. That sort of loss, that... pain, changes you."

Aldarius says nothing further, but keeps his focus on the Admiral who continues on with a bit of wisdom. "You may think that your cause is just, boy, that this path you're set on is for the better, but believe me and you, that thing?" Edgith points towards Aldarius, seemingly at his chest. "That thing that's eating away inside of you will never have its hunger sated until you learn to let it go."

"I don't know what you're referring to, Admiral," Aldarius says with a course voice, but he knew exactly what Edgith was talking about and The Admiral knew so.

"Yes you do, boy. It's the same thing that pushed you to burn down that entire village of volkin, females and youngkin alike. The same thing that has been eating away inside of me after the death of my wife. I trained it towards the world. It devoured everyone and everything I set my sights on. It changed me, but not for the better, no.... I became a lesser being than what I was meant to be... far from it. It only took the voice of reasoning of my deceased wife to break me out of that destructive mentality. She delivered me from an all consuming hatred that threatened to corrupt my inner self. She put me back on the path I was meant to be on and saved me once again."

The Admiral laughs at this notion and bowed his head again before looking back into Aldarius's eyes. "This path you're on, boy, it will consume you as well if you don't learn to let them go. Let them rest and be at peace as well as allow yourself the same." Admiral Edgith swallows and gives a final nod before sitting back in the coach seat and opening up his book to distract himself once more. Some time goes by during their trip back to New Eingalde and Aldarius winds up falling asleep. While in his slumber, he dreams of his wife.

He sees his wife. She is sitting in a lone chair placed in a seamless white void. her back facing towards him. She says his name in a soft yet stern voice as if asking for his full attention for what's to come. He slowly approaches her, weary of what he sees before him. As he steps closer, he reaches out for his wife's shoulder. The visage of his wife looks over her shoulder at him and smiles. She then stands from her chair to face him, causing the cautious General to step back in fear. With her head leaned to the side, his wife looks into him, a look so deep it rattled the battle hardened elkai to his core. His wife's smile softened and she reached out with a hand to place at his cheek. Though he could not feel in his dreaming state, he shuddered at her touch, he memory of warmth returning to him. She did not waver in her look of compassion and love for him as she said his name once more, gently eliciting his ears.

"Aldarius, you must stop this crusade you're on. You will only destroy yourself in the end...."

Aldarius shook all over, like a scared youngkin before his mother. His knees beckoned to buckle, but he remained standing, too overwhelmed with emotions. "I can't..." he merely rasped, his eyes fluttering shut.

"You must..." the solid vision of his wife went on, her hand caressing his cheek and lifting his head, prompting him to open his eyes to her. "I can not lose you too... my beloved... my... Aldarius...."

The sound of his sweet wife's voice saying his name weakened the elkai's defenses and broke him down to a sobbing boy. He held and leaned into her touch as if it would ground him less he fall to the bottomless black void that awaited him below this serene place. For the many years, his wife along with his children has haunted him ever since they were murdered. Seeing his wife in this state, this... tangible form he can touch swarmed him with nostalgia. "I can't," he repeated through a croak. "I don't know how..."

"You do...." the lilting voice of his wife revealed, her eyes seemingly sighing with something they both understood without words. Aldarius heaved out a choking sob and bit back the rest. This may have been a dream, however the tears were real. Seeing his wife this way rather than a fleeing ghost was surreal and it floored him. The look of reassurance on his wife's face gave Aldarius the strength to straighten himself up and nod in acceptance. "Alright... I will... for you... for them..." The vision of his wife smiled knowingly and slowly withdrew her hand from his cheek before backing away into the blinding light of their surrounding. A light so strong, Aldarius could still see it upon waking, his eyes blinking and bleary.

"Good timing, we're almost back to headquarters," the voice if his Admiral would say, breaking through the ringing of the female's voice in his ears. Aldarius looked around as if he had forgotten where he was for a moment and sat back into the seat with a heavy sigh. Admiral Edgith looks over Aldarius and ails his words, clairvoyant on what exactly the General experienced while asleep. Without a word, Edgith pushes up his reading glasses and returns to his reading.