Crescenza left with the mercenaries almost before the ink was dry on their contract and Duran went with her. After all, smuggling people across the border was one of his specialties.

Duran's decision put him in a difficult position, though. He was supposed to be watching over Toma, Dru and Goldie, but whatever was going on between him and Crescenza was enough to rival his promise to Marius. Goldie was back with his own people, so there shouldn't have been anything to worry about with him and Dru was now officially a part of the Imperial Family, so she should have been fine too. That just left Toma.

The story was that he was Crescenza's valet, so it would stand to reason that he would go wherever she went. It was too awkward to be around Dru any more and he had no other reason to stay in Tiberia. However, Duran refused to take him along.

Toma couldn't come right out and say that Dru was in love with him and that he probably felt the same way. It seemed that everyone in their group was pretty well aware of it, though.

Surely there was no need to spell out why it was such a bad situation. Not only was she a princess, but she was a married woman now, married to the second son of the Emperor. Toma was able to rebuff her once, but could he do it a second time, or a third? Would he be able to keep on resisting until she gave up on him? He wasn't so sure. It was a wonder he managed to walk away the first time.

Toma should've said he didn't want or need any help and walked right out, leaving behind any lingering regrets. It turned out, though, that he wasn't nearly that strong.

Were it not for Corporal Major's warm encouragement, the trainees might never have delivered their logs to the finish line in time. They were called 'logs', but they were more like entire trees with the branches pruned off. It was a sore challenge for a ten-man squad to lift one of the things, much less carry it 300 meters at a brisk pace.

It would be a fair question to ask why Toma was doing something like this while representatives of the major powers were meeting in San Constantino to negotiate an armistice and bring the war to an end, but that was because Toma was a sap of the first order. He could've gone anywhere and yet he remained in Aurea. Even though he knew it was a terrible idea that was only going to lead to trouble, when asked what he wanted as a reward for his service to the Empire, he said that all he wanted was the opportunity to continue protecting Dru, so instead of a fat sack of gold or a little estate in the countryside, he was granted an appointment to the Life Guards so that he could serve as the Princess' personal bodyguard, provided he could pass the induction training, that is.

The Life Guards were charged with the protection of the Imperial and royal families, but there were also an elite cavalry unit that would be called out to turn the tide of battle against the most difficult opponents. In theory, as a personal bodyguard, Toma wouldn't have to worry about the latter, but the troop that came to LeBlanc escorting Goldie wasn't expecting to become Dragon fodder either.

When Toma's squad crossed the finish line they were rewarded by Corporal Major shouting, "Too slow! Again!"

Toma wondered how exactly they were going to be faster the second time without any rest, but it was less about them making time than it was about pushing their bodies to the limit to weed out whoever would break. It was certainly better to find that out on the training grounds rather than the battlefield.

However, before they could start going back the way they came, Lieutenant Horatius their platoon leader approached Corporal Major. When Corporal Major noticed the Lieutenant, he shouted, "Pla-toon, at-ten-shun!"

The four squads of the platoon were put in the ridiculous position of standing at attention while still shouldering their logs. Toma had only learned enough Aurean to understand the common commands and some of the day-to-day necessities, so he couldn't really follow the conversation between the Lieutenant and Corporal Major. Even if he could understand the words, they weren't speaking loud enough to be easily heard.

When they were done talking, Corporal Major saluted the Lieutenant, then turned to the recruits and shouted, "Marisco! Front and center!"

Toma's squadmates muttered assorted curses at him as he left them to bear his share of the load. He hustled over to Corporal Major and the Lieutenant, stood at attention and saluted, saying simply, "Sir!"

The Lieutenant returned the salute but didn't tell him to stand at ease. Rather, he said, "Come with me, Trooper Recruit Marisco. The Colonel would have a word."

The Colonel? Why did the Colonel want to talk to him? Avoiding special attention like this was one of the goals of nearly all trainees. Whatever it was, he was sure to catch hell for it later. There was a lot he could've said, a lot he wanted to say, but his only reply was "Sir!"

The Lieutenant turned to leave and as he was going, Corporal Major motioned with his head to tell Toma to follow him. While Toma went after the Lieutenant, he could hear Corporal Major shout, "Sabato! Give Third Squad a hand!"

At least Toma's squad had Corporal Sabato filling in for him. That would make his squadmates hate him a little less afterward. Corporal Sabato on the other hand...

He would worry about that later. For the time being he would see what the Colonel wanted. Something told him he wasn't going to like what was coming.

It was abut a 20-minute walk to the headquarters building from the training grounds. Lieutenant Horatius didn't say a word the whole time and Toma knew better than to speak unless spoken to. He quietly followed the Lieutenant into the building and on to the Colonel's office.

The Colonel was sitting at his desk when they arrived. He wasn't alone. There was someone else there standing off to the side. He didn't seem to be an Aurean judging from how he was dressed. He looked like some sort of nobleman. The regiment's patron, perhaps? Surely they wouldn't have a foreigner as the patron.

Toma's first concern was to follow the Lieutenant's lead and approach the Colonel's desk, stop and stand at attention, salute, then announce himself.

Lieutenant Horatius only said, "Sir, I have brought Trooper Recruit Marisco."

Toma held his salute and said, "Trooper Recruit Marisco reporting as ordered, sir."

The Colonel returned the salute, but much like the Lieutenant before him, he didn't tell Toma to stand at ease.

Surprisingly, the Colonel spoke to Toma in Elban, saying, "Trooper Recruit Marisco, usually I do not make such allowances for foreigners, but because your command of Aurean is still poor and I do not want any misunderstandings from you, I am using your mother tongue. Be aware that this is only because of the extraordinary circumstances that bring you here today. Otherwise, there is only one language in His Majesty's Forces. Understood?"

The Colonel continued, "The reason you have been called here today is because a very important person wishes to speak with you." He paused, then told Lieutenant Horatius, "That will be all, Lieutenant. You are dismissed."

The Colonel returned the salute and once the Lieutenant had exited the office, he picked up where he left off.

The Colonel took a moment to assess that Toma had a sufficient appreciation for the gravity of the situation, then said, "Our nation is one of the greatest powers in Midgart—indeed, in the world—and it would be point of pride to say that we have come this far entirely on our own merits... but that would be inaccurate. We owe much of our current prosperity to a certain... benefactress." He nodded to the other man in the room. "Sir Prateesh here is the representative of that benefactress, a liaison if you will. Sir Prateesh?"

The man stepped forward and touched his neck. He spoke in a foreign language, but his voice was oddly muted and another voice spoke in Elban over his words.

It would seem this Sir Prateesh wasn't that different from the Colonel, so Toma's answer was the same.

Sir Prateesh nodded.

Sir Prateesh reached into his robes and pulled out a disk about the size of his hand. He placed the disk on the Colonel's desk and tapped it a few times. The disk began to glow and Sir Prateesh said something in his language that the other voice did not interpret. A voice from the disk responded to him and a few moments later, the image of a woman appeared before them. She was an older woman dressed in a military uniform unlike any Toma had ever seen before. Of course, the bigger question was how this image appeared in the first place.

The Colonel sprang to his feet and stood at attention with the same sense of urgency as a new recruit. Sir Prateesh was standing at attention as well. He said something to the image and the image replied. Not only did this image appear from nothing, but it could talk and move as well. Was this some sort of witchcraft? Was Sir Prateesh a wizard? If the world could have things like Dragons, why not?

Much as Sir Prateesh had a second voice that spoke for him in Elban, so too did the image. The image's second voice sounded rather younger, so pairing the sight and sound amplified the uncanny quality of it all.

What did she mean by 'planetary governor'? She said she commanded a fleet in the Imperial Navy, but which Empire? Clearly not Aurea.

Toma was told not to speak unless spoken to and since Admiral Globus hadn't actually asked to hear any of those questions she imagined him to have, he decided to stay quiet and let her keep on talking.

"I selected eight promising nations that agreed to cooperate in exchange for a little assistance in fostering their growth. Truth be told, I had picked nine, but those proud, foolish Bokhtaris had my envoy beheaded. I had to burn their capital for that. Such needless waste..."

She sighed, the way you would if you broke a plate or something like that. Toma didn't know where Bokhtar was, but burning the capital of any nation was no small thing, yet it certainly sounded small the way she talked about it.

Admiral Globus was about to continue, but stopped short. She touched her forehead and chuckled almost inaudibly to herself.

"Have you ever wondered why your recorded history is not even nine hundred years? Yes, it is the Year 881 by your calendar if I am not mistaken. Oh, you people have so many names for what happened. We'll go with 'the Calamity'. That's as good a name as any.

"You see, before the Calamity, this world was but one among thousands in a great Empire that spanned the galaxy. Because of the Calamity, your people were cut off from universal humanity and modern civilization. You all had worked so hard to get as far as you had when we returned for you. I wanted to see where this path would take you, so I set up my little experiment.

"Eight nations gained the advantage of a little helping hand in exchange for tribute enough to satisfy His Majesty's taxmen. It was a convenient little arrangement for everyone. However, to play any game, you need to have pieces on the board. Agents of mine such as General Raghavan here can only do so much. And so I took to recruiting promising locals, men like your father and uncle."

Toma was still trying to wrap his head around the idea of an empire that spanned multiple worlds and now he had to deal with the revelation that Marius and Duran were working for this empire. How was any of this supposed to make any sense?

His mother... He realized that if Admiral Globus and her agents were manipulating world events from behind the curtain, they could be the ones who orchestrated this war. It would mean Zadok was only a tool and the person really responsible for his mother's murder was the woman standing in front of him.

Even while Toma felt his stomach churning, Admiral Globus kept on talking breezily about death and misery.

"In my original scenario, Prince Aurelius was supposed to have been taken captive, forcing the Aureans to step up their game or buckle to Zadok. I had gotten tired of the stalemate and I felt the Aureans in particular were getting a bit on the flabby side. They were either going to shape up or make way for Zadok's dominance."

So this was all just a game to her and wars that cost the lives of thousands, tens of thousands, were just a way to pass the time whenever she got bored. Toma was coming to hate her more and more with each passing moment, but while Zadok seemed distant and out of his hands, he was able to hit them back thanks to extraordinary circumstances. He didn't think there were any circumstances extraordinary enough for him to hit back at her, though.

Almost as if she was enamored with the sound of her own voice, Admiral Globus didn't stop talking.

She must've been talking about Marius and Duran and the ambush of Cray's Dragon Riders at Yoffa Gorge. This Radam had to be one of her people she slipped into their ranks. Marius and Duran were probably feeding him information and used that to lure the Dragon Riders into their trap. Of course, for that to work, they had to provide enough good information for them to be trusted. Toma then realized how those Dragon Riders always seemed to find them and came close to catching them on several occasions. Was it all because of the information those two had been providing to Radam? Had Marius and Duran always planned on setting up the Dragon Riders or did they have a change of heart along the way? Toma would have a lot of questions for them if he ever saw them again.

In other words, what was the price for selling his soul? Somehow he was able to suppress the urge to blurt out what he wanted to say at first, it being terribly ill-advised. He then thought for a moment about playing along in the hope that he would find an opportunity to get revenge on the Admiral for everything she had done, but a person like that had to have made countless enemies over the years and if she was careless enough to let anyone get close enough to make a stab at avenging themselves, she probably wouldn't still be here. Also, in the end, even if he could succeed in spite of the odds, what would it accomplish? It wouldn't bring back his mother, Dino or anyone else. There was only one answer.

A faint grin crossed the Admiral's lips as she shook her head.

And with that, the image vanished. Both the Colonel and Sir Prateesh were giving him evil looks.

Nothing Toma could say would make the situation any better, so he said nothing. It may not have improved the situation, but at least it didn't make things worse, which was sure to happen the moment he opened his mouth.

The Colonel looked to Sir Prateesh and asked him, "Do you have anything else you want to say to this.,. individual, Sir Prateesh?"

Toma saluted the Colonel and once his salute was returned, he did an about-face and made his way to the door. He hadn't even gotten out the door when he heard Sir Prateesh speak up again.

Something told Toma that Admiral Globus' agents would do their damnedest to make that happen, but Toma would be damned if he went crawling back to that woman. The only question was how far they'd go and how much he could take. There was a twisted part of him that looked forward to the challenge.