Although Torian was tasked with my execution that didn’t mean he was going to attempt to get it done as fast as possible. If he rushed into things it may fall back on him. That said he didn’t want to wait too long.

  So I had a window of time to prepare for my defense, and apparently the defense of civilians too.

  The civilians largely didn’t ask for my presence in town, let alone a military force stabilizing to launch a regime against the empire.

  In fact I was treated with a lot of resentment and it had only been one night since my arrival here.

  Slowly more and more soldiers entered town, I could feel before they even came around the block if they were legit or not.

  After a few more hours of waiting silently all of Rona’s acquaintances rolled into town.

  I stood in an open section of town in complete silence.

  My feet were raised onto stone above the rest, strictly for presentation.

  Their breathing, their heartbeats, their body temperature. All of them showed some level of fear. From stuttered breath, elevated heartbeat, or running too hot or too cold.

  “This won’t work.” I muttered as I stepped down.

  Jerek stood tall.

  Rona followed as I walked away.

  I felt her arm lunge towards my shoulder and I avoided her grab.

  “What the fuck was that, Cade?” She shouted.

  I didn’t turn around. “I can’t train an army who isn’t even able to look at me without feeling fear. Not even the fear that would keep them fighting harder, the kind of fear that immobilizes them.”

  Her head slumped.

  “Look.” I turned to her. “I appreciate you having hope for me, but if they’re immobile when looking at me, they’ll surely freeze up on the battlefield. And what if they fight a Grand Marshal? What then?”

  I felt her heartbeat remain constant. No change in her breathing. And no change in her body temp.

  She was unphased by my questioning.

  “I understand.” She said and she turned away.

  But how?

  How could she have this much conviction and not waver when denied the path she’s walked for years?

  She wasn’t walking away in defeat, she was walking away in shame. Not for herself, but shame that she believed in me.

  Was I going to give up this easily?

  “Wait.” I called out to her. “Maybe I can try something first.”

  Her heart beat just one beat faster. “Really?”

  She was happy, but not overzealous.

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  I nodded.

  We made our way back and I stood tall again.

  “None of you are even close to ready. I need you to all understand that before anything goes further.” I began.

  No response.

  I needed to gauge their readiness. “Who here doesn’t know I’m blind?”

  Several people raised their arms.

  I hardened my tone. “So several of you raised your arm after I asked who doesn’t know I’m blind?”

  I shook my head. “Some of you aren’t very bright but I don’t need my eyes. I have a pact with a divine Goddess who grants me the ability to feel everything in my environment from a person moving, all the way to a blade of grass twitching in the wind.”

  The silence from that sentence filled the air, I was waiting for someone to laugh, interject, or even walk away.

  Nothing.

  “Good,” I continued. “None of you are stupid enough to think I’m lying. If anyone wants to test this by all means, spar me and we’ll put it to the test.”

  One brave soul walked forward and drew his sword.

  He lunged immediately trying to throw me off balance.

  I caught his blade completely negating his attack, the majority of the force from his attack I could stop but the blade itself didn’t cut because my glove was far too resilient for his weak blade.

  “How?” He exclaimed.

  I ripped the blade from his hand and smacked the hilt across his face knocking him to the ground.

  “Here,” I dropped the blade in front of him. “You lost this.”

  My head drifted back up to the crowd. “Anyone else feeling brave?”

  Radio silence.

  “Good.” I stood tall again on the stone.

  I explained to them the timeline we had to work with, and that they’d be fighting the iron legion. If they didn’t like the timeline, the personal sacrifice, nor the long term hardship they could leave now.

  A couple left and twenty remained.

  I addressed who remained. “Not exactly an army, but I’ll beat you all into shape.”

  Their training began that day.

  Training was simple from my perspective, I first brought Rona and Jerek up to pace. Jerek needed little to no assistance from me, and I briefly gave Rona a word or two to focus on and they were all set.

  The same could not be said for the rest.

  The first attempt was trying to teach them the way the book taught me.

  That was a disaster.

  Mana was absorbed into spells from the ambient air and magic would explode injuring many, swordsmanship was sub par, I fought strictly on defense against all twenty of them simultaneously and even then I almost killed two of them.

  They were fragile. Weak. Full of fear. Inadequate.

  Probably not worth my time.

  But the one redeeming characteristic was conviction.

  They never stopped. So we pressed on.

  We kept going, and going, and going, no matter how tired they got.

  Even when one vomited blood.

  I had just explained how they have no need to overdo themselves, that their training would come full circle when it ran its course.

  A trainee began his sparring even when sick, and when tired.

  He missed a parry and another trainee cut jaggedly through his neck.

  The artery burst, sending blood everywhere.

  My legs moved before I realized I was already at the scene holding Gravewake.

  I felt my blade yearn, but why?

  I had no intent to kill, and I needed to heal him.

  But it gnawed at me.

  I caved and pressed its runes against his neck and it began cauterizing the wound immediately.

  I cast a healing spell to help with any internal bleeding and raised my body.

  “Training’s over for the day. None of your lives mean so little to me that I’d let any of you die in training. Go get a beer.”

  They dispersed except for the trainee who I had just saved.

  Even though I was blind he wasn’t able to turn his head fully to me.

  Was I a monster to him?

  “Are you alright, sir?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I’ll live commander.”

  I shook my head. “No titles, my name is Cade.”

  He stood up and brushed debris off his clothes. “With all due respect Mr. Grimmholt, my name isn’t sir.”

  I let out a soft laugh. “Good point.”

  He began to walk away. “First round’s on me. What do you say?”

  I felt his footsteps stop as he shook his head against the wind. “With all due respect, I haven’t earned a seat next to you yet.”

  That amount of honor was a rare thing to come by.

  “I understand cadet.” I started. “Remind me of your name my friend.”

  He turned to me. “Slade Trausborne.”

  Something in me jolted, like I was remembering something. But I had no remembrance of him, or his last name.

  “Very well, I look forward to seeing what you accomplish for me.”

  He nodded and turned and walked away.

  Per usual me and Jerek were sleeping in a cold, abandoned house on the outskirts of town, we mostly stayed there for shelter and used magic to warm the house.

  I sensed his trouble to fall asleep, likely nightmares involving his family. His leaving of the noble family likely jeopardized them, similarly my parents probably are long dead.

  This was the path we were walking, and we were forced down it.

  The issue isn’t whether or not we lose sleep over this.

  It’s how much sleep we’re going to lose over this.

  The cycle cannot continue. The sacrifices of those who came before us cannot have been in vain.

  I refuse to let them pay eternally in slumber while I live like a coward.

  So I must press on. I must continue, and I must become a leader even if it’s the last thing I want.

  For all of them.