Out northeast, Desperado has set up a temporary camp for a short break as well to heal their wounded men. They plan to move out further eastward towards the rest of the mercenary band. However, unlike the freed slaved who are getting the best medical treatments and best doctors looking after them, Desperado doesn’t have the same treatment as they do. They only have a few doctors in their group and they could barely treat everyone at once. They do what they can but it’s not enough to heal, let alone save everyone. More than half of their troops have died during treatment while a few were saved but too severely damaged to be healed. Some of them had to get their limbs amputated and they didn’t have any antiscia to spare for the process.

One of the doctors was a dwarf and he was in the process of treating Luminado’s second in command, the one he called, Riley. The dwarf was wrapping the bandages around her lower stomach area with ointment to treat for the burns she received during her battle. The doctor was just about to finish wrapping the bandages until he stopped for a moment to see her engraved ink on her shoulders. A pair of black wings, reaching from the top of her shoulders all the way to her mid-section.

“Hmph, still being in your fairy tale-like beliefs I see.” The doctor scoffs.

“Are you done yet, doctor?”

“Yes. Now if I were you, I’d get some rest. Your brother said we’re leaving by early dawn.” He said.

“No can do. I have to get moving.”

Riley then stood up from her seat and storms out from the medical tend as she hastily puts on her tunic rushes over to her own tent. Once she enters the tent, she walks over to the cover of her tent where her armor was sitting there. Ignoring the pain from her burns, she hastily puts on her armor, her metal leggings, her braces, and finally her sword and a traveler’s bag. She was just ready to leave the tent until she saw the doctor blocking her path.

“You’re not seriously thinking of doing something so stupid are you now?” he said.

“Mind your own business doctor.” She retaliated.

“You’re just going make things only worse Riley. Not just for yourself but also for everyone else. Now put your things down and get some rest. You haven’t fully recovered yet.” The doctor insisted.

Riley lashed by kicking the dwarf doctor out from her tent and launched him several feet away out in the open. The rest of the mercenary gang watched but were not phased. Riley then walked out of the tent as she was holding a new helm for herself in her hand.

“I’ll only rest once I drop dead or after I have The Dark Children of the Night’s head on a platter. So, until then, stay out of my way Greyrait. Or I’ll have your head as well.”

A few of the mercenary men helped the doctor back up as they also give Riley a scowled look, as well as the rest of the men. This wasn’t the first time she lashed out on the doctor or on her men. But Riley didn’t care about how they looked at her. Nor did she care that didn’t have any respect for her at all since she got promoted. She only cared about getting back to the south city and burning it to the ground. By herself, if she has to. She reached the south side of the camp where her demon horse was hitched to a tree. She mounts the saddle on her steed and was about to jump on top of her horse but then the saddle slips off as she hits the ground.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

Riley quickly got back up and saw Luminado standing on the other side of the horse and he was the one who unbuckled the saddle from her horse. He walks over to Riley and sees her bag was overly stuffed.

“Awfully a lot to pack for a scouting mission don’t you think?” He said sarcastically.

“Brother! I thought you were asleep by now.” She said.

“Please, after the ruckus you caused, how could I sleep at all without you kicking our good doctors around.” He implied.

Riley clenched her fist tightly as she should have known the doctor would rat out to Luminado. She attempts to grab her saddle again but Luminado blocked her path. She attempted to get by him and he would still block her path from getting her saddle. What didn’t help was their height difference. Riley was 5’6 while Luminado was 6’5. She then got aggressive by pushing Luminado aside but he would not budge. Instead, he grabs her by her helmet and shoves her back to the ground.

“I know what you’re doing kiddo and the answer is no. You’re not going back to the south for a silly quest for revenge.” He said.

“Silly? How the fuck is me going down to the south and burning it down to the ground for a chance to kill off those freed slaves along with The Dark Children of the Night a silly thing? We know where they are now so why not attack them while we have the chance?” She angrily asked.

“Do you need a fucking reminder on who we’re dealing with here? You were away with Chief when it happened.”

“When it happened. When it happened. You always say that but never say what exactly happened! It doesn’t matter how many there are of them. I WILL FUCKING HAVE THEIR HEADS ON OUR PIKES IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!!” She furiously yells.

Luminado then grabs Riley’s chest plate and furiously pins her against the tree. Luminado’s anger was building inside of him as he was ready to punch Riley. Riley prepared to brace the punch itself but Luminado took a huge sigh. But then punch the trunk of the tree instead as he punched a huge chunk out of the tree itself. Though it didn’t hit her, it still frightened her from his sheer force of strength. He lets go of Riley as she drops and lands on her butt.

“You really want to know what they did?” he asked with restraint in his voice.

“That’s what I have been asking! You and chief always avoid telling me what happened that on the big assault of the central! Come on brother! We had them on the ropes! We can do it together!” She yells.

She showed in her eyes that she was determined to get the job done. Luminado on the other hand didn’t see that. He let out a sigh of frustration and grabs his own saddle and mounts it onto his own horse which was next to Riley’s horse and it was slightly bigger than hers.

“You really want to know why? Mount up and follow me. I’ll show you.”

Riley was hesitant at first. She thought her brother finally saw what she wanted to do, but instead, he’s taking her up north, to the southern border. Regardless, she mounts the saddle up and mounts with her brother as they ride their horse and head north. Riley still didn’t understand what her brother meant by “what they did.” Which was not a concern to her as much she wants to turn back and head south. But then she would get another scolding from Luminado if she did what she pleased. A few hours went by and they were close getting close to the southern border. Which remain unprotected since the end of the war.

Riley never once in her life stood at the border itself and it was not what she’d imagined it would be like. She’d always imagined it to be heavily guarded like any other checkpoint but it was abandoned. Broken beyond repair. Every barrier that was meant to fend off invaders were now burnt, destroyed, or even a few still standing but barely. Skeletons of fallen soldiers were left to rot as their horses even crushed a few of them as they trot along. She’d always imagine killing every soldier of the south herself but someone beat her to it. While Riley didn’t mind going through the border checkpoint, Luminado was still hesitating about going through. He remembered going through to break the border and storm towards the central city and dishing out the competition of other mercenaries that had the same idea.

When they broke past the border gates, they storm straight into the massive of other armies that fighting in the midst of chaotic conflict. Thousands if not billions of Mercenary Armies, National Armies, even legal authorities, and lowlife thugs were caught in the midst of the battle itself. Luminado’s army came in like a storm and mowed the majority of them on horseback and then on foot. His memories ended when he saw they were approaching towards the now broken southern border gates.

“Riley.” He calls to her. “What did the chief tell you about the battle when you came back with our troops out west?” He asked.

“Not much. He was much vague about it than you were. Only said that it ended in a stalemate. But that can’t be true. We had one of the biggest armies at the time. And with leading the charge, you could have won!” She said, trying to praise him. However, Luminado was not asking her for praise.

“No, it was a massacre. All of us were set up from the start of the battle. Itself…. By them.” He said with anguish in his tone.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Follow me and you’ll see why.” He said as they continue to march on.

This was the first time Riley has ever set foot beyond the border. Even after the battle, both Luminado and their Chief forbid her from ever setting foot near it. She still wonders why the sudden change within her brother. They march on further to a long trail that led to the final battlegrounds of the war. Up ahead was a huge dust storm that blanketed their view. Luminado stopped as did Riley.

“This is where we see it.”

“See what?”

“The massacre.”

Luminado focused his view over towards the dust storm. While Riley was more confused about what he meant. Until the dust eventually calmed and die down. Upon the dust clearing the view, Riley finally saw what he had meant.

Craters that were at least two miles long, mountains of corpses stacked on one side of the barren field, multiple bodies impaled through multiple spikes piercing out from the ground stretching straight into the skies itself, and multiple banners from different mercenary bands and national armies that were broken or burnt. Though she could see one banner still intact and impaled through the mountain of corpse. But it was not the banner she wanted to see. The Banner of The Dark Children of the Night. Terror and chills ran through her spine while burning anger built up within her. Luminado remembered vaguely of it all. The emesis amount of power and destruction The Dark Children of the Night wielded. It was an army of 3.6 billion soldiers and mercenaries versus two lone hooded figures. Within seconds, they laid waste to them like they were nothing. Luminado just barely survive their attack and was knocked unconscious during the massacre. When he awoke, everyone he knew, his men, his brothers in arms, gone.

“This is their true power. From only two of their members. Laying waste to us all. We were not winning against them a few days ago. They were merely toying with us. And this was only done by two of their members. Who knows how powerful the others are or if they massed an army of their own that we cannot combat against. You see why I said it’s ill-advised to go on your own against them?” He said with remorse in his voice.

“Why? Why would they do this to us? We only wanted true victory for this war. Yet they dashed it all away for themselves.” She spoke with rage building up in her voice.

“Nobody knows kiddo. Maybe they wanted victory like us, maybe they wanted to stop the war, or maybe something else. No one knows who they are or how long they have been around for.”

Luminado then turned his horse around as did Riley. Luminado hopes she would have a better understanding on they were facing. But instead, it only fueled her need for vengeance even further. Although now she would need to tread more carefully on this as well. She finds them even more and make them pay for what they did to their fallen brethren.