2412 Rab 29, Briss

Canelis' boots thumped against the sordid ground, swinging her sword at every soul she found. The mission wasn't supposed to be like this, and there's no way they could have foreseen it when they planned a few days before.

If she remembered correctly, the generals sent out spies to the fortress, instructing them to learn all they could about the security, the weapons, and the layout inside. The spies came back and reported everything they could, compiling the findings into a document which eventually made it into Canelis' hands.

The Sovereign used a material called Dwarven metal in making all of Synketros' weapons, from the darts, the swords, and the arrowheads of the crossbows' bolts. Everything. While Canelis pondered about where the witch got her hands on a seemingly endless supply, the generals put their heads together and convinced themselves they could get their hands on it as well and use it to retaliate.

Again, not a bad plan, but there could be something they're missing or a detail they chose not to internalize. And when she tried telling them, General Vadrona leveled her gaze at Canelis and said, "Do you have a better plan?"

She didn't.

And it hit. She'd only be a source of confusion if she kept refuting and not presenting any solutions. Canelis resolved to keep quiet. Let nature run its course. General Anerin was there to back her up, of course, claiming they should heed it if Canelis noticed something, but he was just one voice in a sea of others.

After the failed mission, no one blamed General Varkas and her half-thought plan. Rather, they seemed to have trained their minds to crush the fortress as fast as they could because of the threat to their soldiers' lives.

It wasn't wrong; Canelis felt the same. But in this cycle of rage and scrambling, pragmatism lost its room at the table.

The spies' reports detailed the requested information up to a point, which was another thing Canelis noted. If this was done under normal circumstances, shouldn't it contain grounds of speculation, aspects where the accounts would vary depending on what a certain spy observed? Conflicting thoughts and truths were expected, and it's not a skill to tell an absolute truth at all times. What even was the truth? They have different perceptions of it, anyway.

The mission patterned the time in the last hour of the third quarter, long after the sun had set. Four moons watched over them as they crept into the veil of darkness, believing the fortress was half-asleep with less active patrols and an almost inactive magic-sensing system. The deep red sky brought about by the Crimson Mother's presence added to the dread swimming in Canelis' gut as she crept alongside their small platoon towards the fortress hindering their way towards the capital city.

The plan was simple—get close enough to the wall, disable whatever mechanism was employed in it, and make it back to camp before dawn. While Canelis distrusted the plan, she wasn't going to leave her comrades behind. That's why she joined the platoon despite the exhaustion in her limbs and the heaviness settling on her eyelids.

They didn't waste their magic by staying out of sight. A lot good it did to them the last time. Now, they tucked themselves into dark cloaks and used up every trace of faith they had to the gods who couldn't see them.

Before long, the walls came to view, and just like last time, they rushed towards it with nothing but a sword and a death wish. The reports were correct, and they found an inactive fortress in the middle of the night. Torches burned from sconces at random intervals, plunging several spots of the walls into the shadows they could easily blend into.

Canelis pressed herself against the stone, noting its warmth even though Xai-Ren was scathing at night. She lowered her vision into the trail dimension and somewhere beyond that, studying the wisps of light and color weaving around her and plunging into the wall. Then, something glinted in her periphery, and she turned a little too late to find a sword slicing down at her.

She leaped back, summoning a bolt of light from her fingers. Her beam shone over the chaos, only to find the rest of the platoon engaged in combat. Like the last time, the fortress knew they were coming.

Her eyes widened as she dodged a blow that would have sliced an arm off. The espionage reports. They needed to find who wrote that, and how they connected to the camp in Ok-Sa. What's more, if the spies knew where their reports were going to end up, who's to say Synketros hasn't attacked the temple ruins while they're out here?

Canelis drew her sword with a click and swung it in a wide arc. Blood sprayed in the air and at her clothes, but it's the least of her concern. She flipped over the wounded enemy, toppling him to the ground, and chucked her blade forward. The blade zipped through the air, hitting its target on the back. A Synketrian fell against her comrade, her sword sticking out of her form.

None of them would die, but it'd sure hurt like hell.

The plan told her nothing about a fight, so it must have derailed to the dumps at this point. If what the espionage reports claimed were true, they wouldn't have to swing a sword at anyone, and they would have won the war the next week because the walls have been rendered useless.

But the Synketrians kept coming, pouring from the open gate as if they'd waited behind it all along. Canelis yanked her sword out of the woman's back, flipping in time to parry another blade out of the way. Vibrations ran down her tired arm, but she gritted her teeth. She'd never go down over something as trivial as that.

She shrieked, slashing her blade across the soldier's abdomen as he recoiled from the block. He fell sideways just to give way to another Synketrian bringing his sword down upon Canelis. Her blade flashed as she brought it up, meeting the blow at the last possible second. Metal crashed against hers, and a distinct crack rang through the plain.

Before her eyes, her sword shattered into a thousand shards.

She fell back, rolling away from the unrelenting blow as it surged for her still. Her leg whipped behind her, striking the soldier at the back of the knee. A yelp flitted out of his lips as he fell forward. His sword flew out of his hands with a kick at the wrist, and the tapered edge caught his fall.

He plopped dead at her feet.

She snatched the sword and was about to turn it against those who came next when she glimpsed General Anerin in her periphery. A blue of white and silver flashed behind him. He turned too late. A dagger dug into his neck, sending him to the ground.

And as he exploded into a pile of embers at the soldier's feet, Canelis raised her eyes at the one holding the blade still dripping with the general's blood.

A pixie stared back at her.